mis TORY 
render us inexcusable were we to 
sacrifice its honor. He had him- 
self seen much of the miseries of 
war: he had himself seen horrors 
of human distress which had made 
an indelible impression on his heart; 
He was therefore, in his inmost 
soul, a man of peace: yet could he 
not consent, for any peace however 
fortunate, to sacrifice one jot of 
England’s honor. Our honor was 
the most valuable of our interests; 
it was what had always procured 
us the respect and regard of the na- 
tions on the continent. The nation 
had been satisfied with the sincere 
spirit of peace, in which the Bri- 
tish government negociated the late 
treaty ; and if now a restless and 
unjust ambition in those with whom 
we desired a sincere amity has 
given a new alarm; the country 
doubtless would rather press the 
government to assert its honor, 
than shrink from the supplies which 
a vigorous state of preparation 
would require. 
The marquis of Abercorn wished 
to impress the house with the ne- 
cessity ofattending, with more than 
ordinary vigilance, to theawful and 
critical situation of the country. 
Upon the wisdom, policy, and reso- 
lution of Parliament for a few 
months, the very existence of this 
country appeared to him to depend. 
After adverting to the extraordinary 
aggrandizement of our ambitious 
and inveterate natural enemy, he 
declared he was ready to give his 
support to any ministers, who 
would manfully adopt that system 
which.the exigency of the times 
required; but he should never give 
4s countenance to any half mea- 
sures, palliatives, or concessions. 
dlis Lordship then paid the highest 
OF EVDROPE 5 
compliment to the vigorous mind 
and unrivalled talents of Mr. Pitt, 
and expressed his opinion to be 
in favour of peace, which however he 
thought was most likely to be pre- 
served, by being prepared with such 
means of defence as would enable 
us to repel insult and agression. 
He concluded by hoping, that the 
unanimity of the house would con- 
vince Europe, of the unanimous de~ 
termination of the nation, to support 
and maintain their weight and im-~ 
portance in the scale of nations. 
The earl of Carlisle congratula- 
ted the house and the country on 
the tone of the address, which he 
hoped would have the happy effect 
of inspiring publick confidence, 
which was so peculiarly necessary 
in the present state of the country: 
he never had approved of the terms 
of the peace, and considered the 
present administration as weak in 
its original formation, and he had 
not expected them to gain any 
fresh energy in their progress. 
Ministers had hitherto appeared to 
view with indifference the aggran- 
dizement of France: it was an in- 
difference which, at the same time 
that it depressed the spirit of this 
country, inflated the pride and con- 
fidence of the French government 
so much, that they set no bounds 
to their ambition. On whatever 
grounds his majesty’s ministers had 
changed their opinions, he was 
glad to find that they were changed ; 
and he could not telp expressing 
his most cordial approbation of the 
present address. 
The duke of Norfolk also cordi- 
ally approved of the tone and terms 
of the address: it was such as 
became the dignity of the house, 
and would doubtless have its dua 
B3 weight 
