430 ADDRESS ON THE WAR. AMENDMENT. had induced him to take that step, but utterly denied any sorrow for the act. He said of Mr. Pitt, at the same time that he vindicated himself, "His integrity and abilities no man upon earth ever held in higher estimation than myself, and I have almost uniformly voted with him on every great national question for more than ten years past, and I hope often to do so again; but I never resigned to him my right of private judgment, nor ever required any other person on earth to make such a sacrifice to me; and however weak or erroneous that judgment may be, after having used all means of information, I should be unworthy a seat in the British senate, were I not to follow it: especially were I not to do so on the present occasion, when I feel my whole soul most awfully and abidingly impressed with a sense of the great danger which must inevitably accrue to this country by prosecuting the war. Insomuch, that I affirm with trembling, that if peace be not concluded before the ensuing summer, all future attempts for negociation may then be too late, and every method we are now using to crush French principles and French armies be the means of bringing both into the nation." Unhappily French principles made awful inroads on the minds of many of our people, and the vile seeds they scattered over the surface of the land are not yet all destroyed; but thanks be to a gracious Providence, we were spared the miseries of seeing the arms of our then hostile neighbours on the shores of England. Though in mercy to those who abhorred the first mentioned evil, the latter was prevented, and Sir Richard Hill's prediction unfulfilled, yet there was so much good sense and upright feeling in the short speech he delivered on the first day of the session, that I cannot withhold it. He supported the amendment of his beloved friend Mr. Wil SPEECH OF SIR RICHARD HILL. 431 berforce, in the following honest expression of his views. "Mr. Speaker,-though I never attempt to deliver my sentiments in this House without feeling that awe and respect which are due to the assembly before which I stand, yet at no time do I remember to have risen under so much distress and agitation as I do at present. Any one, who may have paid the smallest attention to the conduct of so insignificant an individual, must have observed that for the course of many years, I have shewn an uniform and steady attachment to the present administration, and particularly to the truly worthy and distinguished character at the helm of public affairs; I have, therefore, always esteemed it my honour and my happiness, to give him my feeble support and my confidence. But Amicus Plato, Amicus Socrates, Magis Amica Patria. "Sir, my difficulty does not end here. I have always understood that an address of thanks for a speech from the throne, carried with it a degree of personal respect to the throne itself: happy then should I esteem myself, could I give my voice for the original motion this night; but if I am thereby to be looked upon as pledging myself to vote for the continuation of the war, I cannot in conscience do it. How, Sir, could I again look my constituents or my countrymen in the face, were I to vote the money out of their pockets, and the blood out of their veins, in support of a war which has hitherto been disastrous in the extreme, and which, if persisted in, I am persuaded will be most awful in the event! "It is true, when the war first took place, I voted for it as a war of justice and of necessity, nay, as a war which was unavoidable. I was convinced that our alarms, both as to internal and external danger, were far from being chimerical or groundless, and I thought, 432 SPEECH OF SIR RICHARD HILL. and do think, that much praise was due to Government for their timely and wise exertions for the safety of the country. But when our last campaign was ended, and we had fulfilled every engagement with our allies (who, by the bye had fulfilled none with us) I was exceedingly grieved to see that ministers were bent on prosecuting the war, and should certainly have voted for a motion made for peace, towards the close of the last session, by the Right Hon. Gentleman, whose philanthropy is universally acknowledged and whose lenity I myself have sufficiently experienced, when he might, by a word, have crushed me to atoms-had it not been for something which fell from the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the course of the debate, which was, That the French Convention would declare any of their members traitors, who should but mention peace with England. This decided my vote that night; but let it be observed that the sanguinary faction of Robespierre then ruled. Since then, several months have elapsed, during which we have been prosecuting the war with vigour, as it is called; but what have we, or what have our allies, gained by it? I believe the word ruin will answer the question for all parties. Try it for the Emperor; try it for the King of Spain; try it for the King of Sardinia; try it for the Stadtholder; I am unwilling to say, try it for ourselves. But have any steps been taken by us to put an end to the war? I fear none at all. On the contrary, have we not been soliciting, bribing, courting, wooing kings and emperors to carry on the war, almost whether they would or not? And with what difficulty have they at last been coaxed to defend their own territories with English money! "To bring this matter to a short issue-Is there an honest independent man in this House who will ask, SPEECH OF SIR RICHARD HILL. 433 Is there, or is there not, an opportunity of making peace on any tolerable terms?' If it be said yes, then, in God's name1 let us endeavour to do it without delay; if no, then let us withdraw our forces from the continent, and keep them to defend ourselves. Let Old England add to her wooden walls, by which she has ever proved herself mistress of the ocean, and shouted in the vast theatre of the globe, Britannia rules the waves.' I would not be understood, from anything I have said, to lay our miscarriages at the door of the Right Honourable Gentleman; I believe he inherits his illustrious father's sentiments with regard to continental wars, insomuch that what one of our own poets said of a quondam great minister of France, may justly be applied to him, Peace is my delight, not Fleury's more. I believe he kept off war as long as in prudence he thought that he possibly could, and till he apprehended both justice and necessity compelled him to enter into it. But he has been unfortunate, things have turned out contrary to his expectation; and I sadly fear, that unless the present system be abandoned, no change for the better can be expected. Under this persuasion, Sir, I give my hearty approbation of my worthy friend's amendment." With regard to the awful condition of France, Sir Richard Hill well observed: "I scruple not to affirm that the nation or the individual which has cast off all dependance on God, is in a condition of all others the 1 When Sir Richard Hill used this expression, he did it with peculiar solemnity, and not with that deplorable flippancy which is, alas, so common. most miserable, and sooner or later will feel the vengeance of that omnipotent arm which is set at defiance." At the same time, however, he gave this honest warning to his own countrymen: "I believe it is very possible for gentlemen to complain that there is no religion in France, who themselves are contented with a very moderate share of it in England. The Christian sabbath they lament is abolished by the introduction of the decades, and yet themselves are hardly seen from Sunday to Sunday, within the walls of a church. O how are they shocked that the French should institute feasts similar to those of the Pagan deities, whilst they themselves on the sacred day which is set apart for Christian worship, assemble to pour copious libations to the jovial god of wine; but return no thanks either before or after the repast, to the bountiful hand by which they have been so liberally fed. Such, O Britain, are thy believing sons, and thus their faith shews itself by their works in honour of the present war, which they are now prosecuting with vigour in defence of good order, morality, and religion." I am not desirous of canvassing the political views of the author of this honest rebuke, or the wisdom or impolicy of a war which ended in the glory of Great Britain, and the downfall of the scourge of the nations; my object is to exhibit in its true and admirable colours, the character of the subject of my memoir. He spoke only the real sentiments of his upright mind, when he gave vent to the following sentence, which contained the real description of his own course of action. "This is not a time to talk of personal interests and connections. Every good member of parliament will be influenced by no interests or connections but those of his country at large, and neither lean to opposition or ministry, but as he is persuaded in |