152 Parliamentary Procaedings. 0&.. 5, 



net fhov.' that he was in every refpcft deferving their approba- 

 tion." This alfo feems an unfortunate argument ; the minifter 

 himfelfand his friends inufi; know this particular; and if he 

 knew the produdlion called for would operate in that way, why 

 was it withheld ? 



It r as alfo urged, «' that were the papers difdofed, it might 

 hurt the nice point of honour of Spain," by which it muft he 

 underftood, tliat her conduct had been fo mean and humiliat- 

 ing as not to bear the light : but where ii the minifter, I will 

 alk, who had been able to make any foreign court crouch fo 

 low, who would not have brafted of it in the higheft ftile, in 

 the national Gazette, and all the papers ? 



And i.iftly, the n'.inifter hi felf refted his defence folely on 

 - two points : Firji, " that tlrr laft and the prefent Parliament 

 had both on fornicr occalions concurred with him, and there- 

 fore they had no right now to demand any explanation." This 

 is an old pnd a f'altr mcth'-d that has been ofte;? tried to weaken 

 the pni"t of refponnbility by fone of his predeccfTors, whofe 

 conlrft he would not on other occafions wifh to be thought 

 to inaitate, the fallacy of which has been juft now pointed out ; 

 but the p.rncious tendency of which, were the reafoning ad- 

 mitte ", it would take a volume to difp!ay. The nex^ argu- 

 ment that he relied lipon with great feeming complacency was, 

 " t'^at his opponent had done the fame thing on a fimilar oc- 

 cafion," This might be fo if he were in the fame fituation, and 

 had reafiin to ffar that a difclofnir would prove detrimental to 

 his own intercft : who can doubt, but, if he could, he certainly 

 would avail himfelf of every means in his power to fcreen him- 

 felf ? This, therefore, is but a forry argument to be offered to 

 the world at large. The inference the public have to draw 

 from it is, th.at if both, either h.ave acted, or would adt impro- 

 perly if they had it in their power, both of them Ihould be 

 alike watched, and neither of them obtain any credit for a 

 tranfaOion which they ftrove ^^o involve in obfcurity, when they 

 were called upon for an explanation. 



Totally regardlcfs, therefore, of all the parties in Parliament, 

 ail of whom wiili to effect their own views at the national ex- 

 penre, a well informed public, while it acquiefces with alacrity 

 in befi^o ving Cdntidence "U the minifter of the day, during any 

 imp^rfant negociotien, m order that he may not, by being too 

 much hampered, be obliged to negledt the intereft of the nation ; 

 cught, with a fteady firmnef?, to indft on a fair and clear ftate 

 of the expenditure of every farthi-^g, and the (teps that led to 

 that expenditure My the condud of the negociation, w/>« that 

 negociation ij at ar e:id. This was certainly not comphcd with 

 on the prefent occafion ; which gives room for fufoicions, that 

 ought, met undoubtedly, to b? removed. 



Amicus Plato, amicus Arifioteles,fedmagis arnica Veritas, cught 

 to be the motto of ever^ gocd citizen. 



