us, and which reason dictates. I say, if we and our allies are not false to each other and ourselves, we shall have an opportunity of restoring to Europe peace, on safe, just, and honourable grounds,and nothing but a premature motion like the present, can deprive us of that blessing; and therefore, as a lover of my country, and of justice, I oppose this motion.

MR.William Smith having on a former day submitted to the House a string of resolutions upon the subject of the late loan, setting out with establishing the principle of an open and public competition, and, by a series of facts and deductions, asserting the conclusion-that the loan, then under consideration, was a bad and improvident one for the public, and that the minister in conducting the negociation, and in adjusting the terms, had been guilty of a departure from his own principles, and of a breach of his duty; the debate on this important question was resumed this day.

Upon the first resolution being moved, "That it appears to this House, that the principle of making loans for the public service, by free and open competition, uniformly professed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, has been very generally recognized, as affording the fairest prospect of public advantage,"

Mr. Sylvester Douglas, in a speech of considerable detail, moved an amendment, to leave out all the words of the resolution after the words "public service," and to insert other words, which would make the amended question stand as follows, "That it appears to this House, that the principle of making loans for the public service by competition, which was introduced, and has in general been acted upon, by the present Chancellor of the Exchequer, has been productive in many instances of great public advantage; but that this principle could not be applied in its full extent to the bargain for the late loan, consistently with the peculiar circumstances of the case, and with that attention to the equitable claims of individuals, which ought always to be shewn in transactions with them on the behalf of the public."

MR. PITT:

On a subject naturally so interesting to my personal feelings, as well as so important in a public view, I am anxious to address the house at a period of the debate, before their atten tion is more exhausted. And they will forgive me when I am called upon to meet a charge of the most direct and important nature, in which my personal character, as well as my official situation, as a trustee for the public, are materially implicated, and which has been so diligently and ably pursued, (though I might be content to rest my defence on the impression of the arguments and facts which have been brought forward by my honourable friends) if, even at the hazard of some repetition, I should advert to the points which press most closely upon my own immediate feelings. Indeed I should not do justice to myself, far less should I do justice to the public, if I did not state them in as plain and intelligible a way as possible; at the same time, I will endeavour to reply shortly to many things that have been asserted so much at large in the speech of the honourable gentleman, who brought forward the subject, and were likewise repeated at considerable length in the resolutions and papers before the house.

if

The honourable gentleman*, who has lately spoken, said, that my answer to one point was satisfactory, he would withdraw his support from the charge against me. Though, in the course of what I have to say, I shall not be inattentive to his question, it cannot be expected that I should narrow my defence to that point. It cannot be supposed that from any recent declarations which have been made by the honourable gentlemen, exculpating me from all charge of personal corruption, that from any equivocal and imperfect disclaimers, accompanied, when retracted, by artful suggestions and fresh insinuations, I should have forgotten that it was broadly stated by gentlemen on the other side, who moved for a committee of inquiry, that there was ground of suspicion that the distribution of the loan had

* Mr. Francis,

been employed for the purpose of corrupt influence. They exempted me, indeed, from any charge of having regulated that distribution from any view of sordid gain to myself; and I then took the liberty to say, feeling as I did on the subject, that I was not obliged to them for the exception, or the sort of candour that dictated it. If they formerly asserted that, if the inquiry was gone into, and substantiated, the result would be, to establish the actual interference of corrupt influence; if such declarations were rash and unguarded; if they were dictated by the intemperate warmth of debate, or pushed beyond all bounds of justifiable discretion, and if they are now retracted as unjust and unfounded, I certainly have reason to rejoice in the progress which has been made, in consequence of the diligent and sober investigation of a committee towards a decision so much more grateful to my character and feelings. Undoubtedly there is no charge which can be brought against the transaction of the loan, there is no instance of neglect, there is no error of judgment, there is no want of prudence, which I should not most seriously and severely regret; but still I should consider such charges as light, compared with that which formed the prominent point, and the most weighty one in the present accusation, viz. that in the transaction of the late loan, I had acted on motives of corruption, partiality, and undue influence, to answer political and interested purposes, both within and without doors. I cannot therefore help remarking, that while the ground on which the enquiry was originally brought forward, "that the loan had been employed as the means of corrupt and pernicious influence," is now professed to be abandoned, instead of being, as the house had a right to expect, either substantiated by proof, or wholly and completely done away, it seems to be but half retracted by the honourable mover of the resolution, and to be supplied by ambiguous hints and fresh insinuations. After avowing that it was his opinion, that the committee ought to have asked for no lists, he discovers a strange coincidence between the names in the list of subscribers, and the names of a certain respectable body

of merchants and bankers, assembled for a great object of political discussion; a coincidence which could not be the effect of accident. If this be true, and the fact originated in design, most certainly that design must have arisen from a corrupt motive; and if not for personal gain, that motive must have resulted from a desire to obtain the means of corrupt influence.

*

The honourable gentleman brings no such charge against me. His mode of acquittal is, however, somewhat singular; he imputes to me no motive of corrupt influence or undue partiality. He desires me to say nothing of the transaction relative to the Hamburgh bills, on which nevertheless some part of the resolutions is founded, and which has been ascribed to the motive of a determination to reward the services of an individual by a sacrifice of the public interest. The right honourable gentleman therefore openly disclaims all accusation, while he supports the resolutions which contain the very charge he so much affects to disclaim, drawn up with all the art and address of the most cunning special pleader; and certainly no resolutions could be more ably drawn up, if the avowed purpose of them had been to censure and undermine any man's public and private character. The honourable gentleman's ability in the management of this point has been really singular. - He acquits me of any intention of benefiting myself, or corrupting parliament by means of the loan; but then insists that the loan was improperly made, and that it must have been so made for some undue motive or other; that is to say, he acquits me of two specific undue motives, and exhorts me not to speak, in order that I may leave myself undefended against the suspicion of an endless train of indefinite undue motives, which ingenious insinuation and artful malice may think proper to raise against me. I do not deny that the nature of a transaction may be such as to afford ground for the suspicion of an undue motive, even though the motive itself may not appear on the face of the transaction. If the transaction however be pecuniary, there

are only three motives which can be supposed to operate-personal emolument, private partiality, and public influence; and if, after the most accurate investigation, strong evidence be brought to prove that none of these motives can be traced in the present transaction, I have some right to take to myself credit that no such motives existed, and that the charge has been fully refuted.

The honourable gentleman who moved the resolutions, stated that the committee had decided that there was no ground for suspicion of any corrupt interference; and thus, so far as their judgment went, had put their negative on that ground, on which the enquiry had originally been undertaken. The last speaker on the other side has stated, that he disliked the mode in which that committee was constituted. It might have been supposed that a committee, which afforded to every man, who was actuated by jealousy, suspicion, by public zeal, or, if such a motive could be supposed to insinuate itself, by private pique, an opportunity to state his sentiments, and to display his vigilance, was of all others the least liable to ob jection. It seemed, indeed, probable, in the first instance, that it would be deprived of the assistance of two honourble gentlement whose abilities and diligence none would dispute. These honourable gentlemen, when it was declared that the committee should be an open one, and that all who attended should have voices, had, upon due deliberation no doubt, desired their names to be withdrawn, and seemed to consider themselves as disgraced by being put in a situation in which they should only exercise their privilege in common with every member of that house. I am happy, however, to find that these gentlemen revised their fi rst decision, that both assisted in the committee, and that one of them in particular distinguished himself by his active and constant attendance. It is rather singular that the decision of the committee, by which they negative all idea of corrupt interference, is the only one which the honourable mover conceives to be already so well reco

*Mr. Francis.

+ Mr. Sheridan and Mr. Grey.