~ 
- 
HES TOMY -O.F sEU RO PE. 
under the auspices of, and circulat- 
ed by the treasury; had flattered 
the nation into a belief of great 
and increasing prosperity, and the 
public naturally looked to Mr. Ad- 
dington with gratitude and admira- 
tion, as the restorer of its credit, 
and iis finances. 
_ The voluntary confirmation of 
the accuracy of these statements in 
the house of peers, by a nobleman 
whose experience in mutters of 
finance and calculation was highly 
rated, still farther confirmed them 
in the public mind; nor was it till 
the period of the debate,to which we 
have given more than ordinary room 
and attention, that the veil was re- 
moved, which had hitherto complete- 
ly bbscared the real state of things 
from the view of the country ; aad 
that a prospectabundantly mortify- 
ing, whether considered with respect 
to the resources of the country, or 
the abilities and integrity of those to 
whom they were entrusted, present- 
ed itself. Itis probable, that the 
extraordinary and unprecedented 
circumstance of the public accounts 
having been tendered to the exami- 
nation of parliament and the public, 
at a time considerably prior to the 
usual! period of their being presented; 
the industrious eagerness, with which 
they were obtruded upon the pub- 
lic in the pamphlet we have already 
alluded to; and above all, the ex- 
treme probability of exaggeration in 
the alleged million surplus, induc- 
ed the minute and critical inquiry 
of those who were not to be imposed 
upon by confident assertion, nor 
apt to give implicit credit to the 
interested egotism of the minister. 
But when it was, in the course of 
_ the investigation, seen, that the 
"parliamentary statement of Mr. 
“Addington ; ; the official documents 
137 
ofthe secretary to the treasury, and 
the gratuitous corroboration of lord 
Auckland, all differed materially 
from each other, it was not difficult 
to infer, that some of these asser- 
tions certainly, most probably, all, 
difered in the same degree from 
truth ; and it was too fair an op- 
sae ah for those who wished to 
possess the country with the real 
state of its resources at the eve of 
the serious contest, in which it was 
about to be engaged, and who 
thought meanly of the capacity of 
administration, not to embrace this 
opportunity of rescuing it from the 
effects of the most dangerous delu- 
sion; and point out the errors, or 
the want of integrity of his majes- 
ty’s counsellors. ‘he result was what 
might have been expected; the 
most thorough refutation and ex- 
posure, of the splendid fallacies of 
the minister. 
The young nobleman on whose 
motion for financial inquiry, the 
debate arose, in tracing the outlines 
of the deception, which had been 
practised on the public, evinced the 
united force of perspicuity and ta- 
lent; and gave te the public, in 
a speech of uncommon merit, the 
fairest promise of future excellence. 
The earl of Moira, (whose abilities 
can only be measured by his integ- 
rity,) deprecated that system of 
financial juggling which had been 
constantly practised on the people 
by the present administration, and 
owned himself deceived in their 
characters, as well as in the treaty 
Amiens, But it was reserved for lord 
Grenville, who, on this cecasion, as 
far transcended all competition, as 
indeed he almost surpassed himself, 
in an effusion of oratory, as perfect 
perhaps as had ever been witnessed 
bya popular assembly, to explore, 
ee 
