26 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1800. 



CHAP. II. 



Meeting of the Imperial British Parliament — Speech from the Throne — 

 Address in Answer, moved in the House of Lords by the Earl of 

 Bridgetvater, and seconded hy Lord Sheffield — Opposed by the Earl 

 of St. Vincent— Some parts of the Address approved and some disap- 

 proved by different Speakers.— Animadversions on the Address, particu- 

 larly in as far as it related to the Affairs of Spain and Portugal, by 

 the Earl of Grosvenor, Lord Grenville, the Earl of Moira, and the 

 Earl of Buckinghamshire. — The Address defended by the Earl of Li- 

 'verjmnl — /} greed to in the House of Commons. — An Address moved by 

 the Hon. Mr. F. Robinson, and seconded by Mr. F. B. Lusltingtun — 

 Animadversions on the Address, particularly to tohat related to Spain, 

 by Mr. Ponsonby — The Address defended in all itsparts by Lord Cas- 



tlereagh — Agreed to. 



THE session of the imperial 

 British Parliament which as- 

 sembled on tlie 13th of Jan. was 

 opened by commissioners who stat- 

 ed, in the name of his Majesty, to 

 the Lords and Commons, the rea- 

 son that had determined him to re- 

 ject certain proposals which were 

 directed to be laid before both 

 Houses, for a negotiation with the 

 governments of Russia and of 

 France. It had been required, that 

 his majesty should consent to com- 

 mence the negotiation by aban- 

 doning the cause of Spain, which 

 he had so recently and solemnly 

 espoused. His Majesty continued 

 to receive from the Spanish go- 

 vernment the strongest assurances 

 of their determined perseverance 

 in the cause of the legitimate mo- 

 narchy, and of the national indepen- 

 dence of Spain ; and so long as the 

 people of Spain should remain true 

 to themselves, his majesty would 

 continue to them his most strenu- 

 ous assistance anl support. His 

 Majesty had renewed his engage- 

 ments to the Spanish nation: which 

 engagements had been reduced into 



the form of a treaty of alliance. 

 — Whilst his Majesty contemplated 

 with the liveliest satisfaction the 

 achievements of his forces in the 

 commencement of the campaign 

 in Portugal, and the deliverance of 

 the kingdom of his ally from the 

 presence and oppressions of the 

 French, his Majesty most deeply 

 regretted the terrainalion of that 

 campaign bj' the armistice and 

 convention of some of the articles 

 of which his majesty felt himself 

 obliged to declare his disapproba- 

 tion His majesty relied on the 



disposition of his parliament to en- 

 able him to continue the aid af- 

 forded by his Majesty to the king 

 of Sweden. That monarch de- 

 rived a peculiar claim to his Ma- 

 jesty's support in the present exi- 

 gency of his affairs, for having con- 

 curred with his Majesty in the pro- 

 priety of rejecting any proposal for 

 negotiation in which the govern- 

 ment of Spain was not to be ad- 

 mitted as a party The commis- 

 sioners had received his Majesty's 

 command, most especially to re- 

 commend to parliament, in conside- 

 ration 



