GENERAL HISTORY. 



[3 



were rendered remarkable by atv 

 unusual circumstance. After it 

 had been read by tlie Speaker, and 

 lord Jocelyn was rising to move 

 the accustomed complimentary ad- 

 dress, sir Francis Burdett rose at 

 the same time, and having first 

 caught the Speaker's eye, it was 

 decided that he was in possession of 

 the House. The baronet then, af- 

 ter a speech of warm and desultory 

 invective against the principles of 

 the war, the defects of the repre- 

 sentation, and a variety of other 

 matters of grievance, moved an ad- 

 dress to the Prince Regent, intend- 

 ed, he said, " to embrace every 

 point which his own sense of duty 

 to his constituents, and to the 

 country in general, suggested to 

 him as essential.'' Accordingly, 

 the proposed address was framed 

 in the style of a memorial or re- 

 monstrance, laying before his 

 Royal Highness all the instances 

 of misgovernment and oppression, 

 of infringment of the public liberty, 

 and accumulation of abuses, which, 

 in the opinion of the move"", a se- 

 ries of past years had afforded. 

 After it had been read, lord Coch- 

 rane rose to second the motion, 

 and in his speech particularly 

 dwelt upon the misconduct of the 

 war, and the liitle hope of final 

 success. Lord Jocelyn then moved 

 the address, which he had pre- 

 pared, by way of amendment to 

 that proposed by the honourable 

 baronet, and was seconded by Mr. 

 Vyse. Of the debate which fol- 

 lowed, it is scarcely necessary to 

 record the particulars, since the 

 members in opposition, who agreed 

 with sir Francis Burdett in parts 

 of his statementof publicevils could 

 not concur with him in all points, 

 and thought that many of the to- 



pics introduced would be belter 

 reserved for future discussion. 

 They made some objections to the 

 ministerial address, similar to those 

 which were advanced in the House 

 of Lords, and were replied to in a 

 similar manner. The House then 

 divided on sir F. Burdett's address, 

 which had only one vote in its fa- 

 vour besides the two tellers, against 

 238. Lord Jocelyn's amendment 

 was carried without a division. 



On Jan. 8, Jord Jocelyn ap- 

 pearing at the bar of the House 

 with the report of the committee 

 on the address, the question wai 

 put, that it should be brought up; 

 when Mr. Whitbread rose to deli- 

 ver those sentiments on the sub- 

 ject which the unexpected occur- 

 rence of yesterday had prevented 

 him from declaring. He then at 

 length stated his reasohs for dis- 

 agreeing with the address. These 

 chiefly turned upon the fallacy of 

 the hopes attempted to be excited 

 by the present state of the Penin- 

 sula, concerning which he wished 

 for more ample information in se- 

 veral points (which he mentioned) 

 than had been aff^orded ; upon the 

 expression " conciliatory," applied 

 to the negotiations with America, 

 which appeared to him by no 

 means entitled to that appellation : 

 and upon a supposed impossibility 

 of negociating a peace wiih France, 

 arising from the personal character 

 of its present ruler. He was an- 

 swered by the chancellor of the 

 exchequer, who began in a strain 

 of sarcasm respecting the past pro- 

 phecies of the honourable gentle- 

 man, which had been proved er- 

 roneous in the event ; and he went 

 on to show the reasons there were 

 for looking forward cheerfully and 

 sanguinely to the result of the con- 



[B 2] test 



