HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
Mr. Fox, adverting first to the 
last part of Mr. Wyndham’s speech, 
said, that, if membersof that house, 
whenthey charged ministry with neg- 
lecting the detence of the country, 
were to be considered as holding 
out an invitation to the enemy to 
invade the country, they had better, 
at once, put an end to the forms, as - 
they had done to the substance, of 
the constitution. The right honour- 
able gentleman has talked of “ two~ 
edged tools.” In a state of war, 
every complaint against administra- 
tion must be of the nature of a two- 
edged tool. A complaint of weak- 
ness conveys information tothe ene- 
my. To whom then am I to make 
my complaint, and to state my opi- 
nion? I wish to.know whether mi- 
nisters are the only persons to be 
permitted to give advice? If what 
I hear be true, Ireland is, at this 
moment, more discontented than be- 
fore the attempt of an invasion. 
I suppose I shall now be told, that 
JT am holding out an invitation to 
the French. No, sir, 1am not in- 
viting the French: I am inviting 
his majesty’s ministers totake mea- 
sures for removing that discontent 
which the enemy may regard as an 
invitation. But we find that Ireland 
is divided into two parts: the con- 
tented and discontented. Upen that 
subject we shal] hear more in future : 
but let not the right honourable 
gentleman, who spoke last, state his 
opinion as ours. 1 have said, that 
the Catholics were in a state of un- 
just exclusion; but I never have 
said, that the protestants had no 
reason for complaint, and that they — 
were not excluded from the essence 
and substance of the British consti- 
tution. But, the right honourable 
geutleman says, “may not men have 
unreasonable grounds of complaint?” 
[229 
Yes: but that is no reason for not 
removing their just grounds of com- 
plaint. Mr. Fox ridiculed the se- 
cretary of wart’s question, how could 
we possib'y be invaded, having a su- 
perior naval force? when the sub- 
ject proposed for inquiry was, how 
we came actually to be invaded? 
Without expressing dissatisfaction 
at the conduct of admiral Colpoys, 
he said, we ought to have had a 
second fleet at home, ready to sail 
from Portsmouth, as soon as news 
of the French fleet reached Eng- 
land. 
Mr. Sturt said, that the repeated 
insults offered to our coast fully. 
justified the inquiry moved for. He 
asserted, that admiral Colpoys’s ship, 
notwithstanding the positive asser- 
tion of Mr. Dundas to the contrary, 
did, in fact, come into port, for lack 
of provisions, particularly of fuel, 
which was as bad as any want ; 
for, he did not think that the trea- 
surer to the navy would like raw 
beef any more than the sailors. But 
he was astonished at nothing that 
this gentleman affirmed; so great 
was his boldness, confidence, and 
assurance. His whole statement of 
the security of [reland was a mis- 
statement; in proof of which he 
read a letter. He hoped in God 
he would not much longer have the 
direction of naval or other affairs. 
« He might wriggle and grin, [Mr. 
Dundas shewing symptoms of un- 
easiness] and twist and toss his head 
about as much as he pleased, bat 
he hoped it would soon be twisted 
somewhere else.” 
Mr. Pitt, after applauding and 
confirming all that had been ad+ 
vanced by Mr. Dundas, than which 
he thought there was nothing more 
necessary to be urged in the pre- 
sent question, observed that tne ge- 
{Q 3] neral 
