STATE PAPERS. 



}65 



ever, to those laws by which the 

 throne, the parhament, and the 

 government of this country, are 

 made fundamentally Protestant, 

 we have not consented to allow, 

 that those who acknowledge a fo- 

 reign jurisdiction, should be autho- 

 rised to administer the powers and 

 jurisdictions of this realm; — wil- 

 ling as we are, nevertheless, and 

 willing as, I trust, we ever shall 

 be, to allow the largest scope to 

 religious toleration. With respect 

 to the established church, follow- 

 ing the munificent example of the 

 last parliament, we have continued 

 the same annual grant for im- 

 proving the value of its smaller be- 

 nefices ; and we have at the same 

 time endeavoured to provide more 

 effectually for the general dis- 

 charge of those sacred duties of 

 a church establishment, which by 

 forming the moral and religious 

 character of a brave and intelligent 

 people, have, under the blessing of 

 God, laid the deep foundations of 

 British greatness. 



Sir, — bj' your Royal Highness's 

 commands, we have also turned 

 our views to the state of our fo- 

 reign relations. In the north, we 

 rejoice to see by the treaties laid 

 before us, that a strong barrier is 

 erected against the inordinate am- 

 bition of France; and we presume 

 to hope, that the time may now be 

 arriving which shall set bounds to 

 her remorseless spirit of conquest. 

 In our contest with America, it 

 must always be remembered, that 

 we have not been the aggressors. 

 Slow to take up arms against those 

 who should have been naturally 

 our friends by the original ties of 

 kindred, a common language, and 

 (as might have been hoped) by a 

 joint zeal in the cause of national 



liberty; we must, nevertheless, put 

 forth our whole strength, and main- 

 tain with our ancient superiority 

 upon the ocean, those maritime 

 rights which we have resolved 

 never to surrender. 



But, Sir, whatever doubts may 

 cloud the rest of our views and 

 hopes, it is to the Peninsula that 

 we look with sentiments of un- 

 questionable delight and triumph : 

 there the world has seen twogallant 

 and independent nations I'escued 

 from the mortal grasp of fraud and 

 tyranny by British counsels and 

 British valour; and within thespace 

 of five short years from the dawn 

 of our successes at Roleia and Vi- 

 miera, the same illustrious com- 

 mander has received the tribute of 

 our admiration and gratitude for 

 the brilliant passage of the Douro, 

 — the hard-fought battle of Tala- 

 vera, — the day of Busaco,— tJie 

 deliverance of Portugal, — the mu- 

 ral Crowns won at Ciudad Rodrigo 

 and Badajoz, — the splendid victory 

 of Salamanca, — and the decisive 

 overthrow of the armies of France 

 in their total rout at Vittoria ; 

 deeds which have made all Europe 

 ring with his renown, and have 

 covered the British name with a 

 blaze of unrivalled glorj^. 



Sir ;— That the cause of this 

 country, and of the world, maynot, 

 at such a crisis, suft'erfrom any want 

 of zeal on our part to strengthen 

 the hands of his majesty's govern- 

 ment, we have finished our sup- 

 plies with a large and liberal aid, 

 to enable your Royal Highness to 

 take all such measures as the emer- 

 gencies of public affairs may re- 

 quire, for disappointing or defeat- 

 ing the enterprizes and designs of 

 the enemy. 



The bill which I have to pre- 



