I am no peer, nor like to be- but am in middle life, in the mass of citizens; yet I should feel for a son who married a prostituted woman, or a daughter who married a dishonourable and prostituted man, as much as any peer in the realm.

You are afraid of the avaricious principle of fathers. But observe, that the avaricious principle is here mitigated very considerably. It is avarice by proxy; it is avarice, not working by itself, or for itself, but through the medium of parental affection, meaning to procure good to its offspring. But the contest is not between love and avarice.

While you would guard against the possible operation of this species of benevolent avarice, the avarice of the father, you let loose another species of avarice; that of the fortune-hunter, unmitigated, unqualified. To show the motives, who has heard of a man running away with a woman not worth sixpence? Do not call this by the name of the sweet and best passion-love. It is robbery; not a jot better than any other.

Would you suffer the sworn enemy of his family, his life, and his honour, possibly the shame and scandal and blot of human society, to debauch from his care and protection the dearest pledge that he has on earth, the sole comfort of his declining years, almost in infantine imbecility; and with it to carry into the hands of his enemy, and the disgrace of nature, the dear-earned substance of a careful and laborious life? Think of the daughter of an honest virtuous parent allied to vice and infamy. Think of the hopeful son tied for life by the meretricious arts of the refuse of mercenary and promiscuous lewdness. Have mercy on the youth of both sexes; protect them from their ignorance and inexperience; protect one part of life by the wisdom of another; protect them by the wisdom of laws, and the care of nature.

The House divided: Yeas 90: Noes 27. The bill was then read a second time.

ADDRESS ON THE KING'S SPEECH AT THE OPENING OF THE

SESSION.

November 27.

THIS day his majesty opened the session with the following Speech to both Houses:

"My Lords, and Gentlemen; when I last met you in parliament, I acquainted you with the arduous situation of public affairs at that time; and I represented to you the objects which I had in view, and the resolution with which I was de termined to persevere in the defence of my dominions against the combined power of my enemies, until such a pacification could be made as might consist with the honour of my crown, and the permament interest and security of my people. The war is still unhappily prolonged by that restless ambition which first excited our enemies to commence it, and which still continues to disappoint my earnest desire and diligent exertion to restore the public tranquillity: but I should not answer the trust committed to the sovereign of a free people, nor make a suitable return to my subjects for their constant, zealous, and affectionate attachment to my person, family, and government, if I consented to sacrifice, either to my own desire of peace, or to their temporary ease and relief, those essential rights and permanent interests, upon the maintenance and preservation of which the future strength and security of this country must ever princi. pally depend.

"The favourable appearance of our affairs in the East Indies, and the safe and prosperous arrival of the numerous commercial fleets of my kingdoms, must have given you satisfaction; but in the course of this year, my assiduous endeavours to guard the extensive dominions of my crown have not been attended with success equal to the justice and uprightness of my views; and it is with great concern that I inform you, that the events of war have been very unfortunate to my arms in Virginia, having ended in the loss of my forces in that province.

"No endeavours have been wanting on my part to extin guish that spirit of rebellion which our enemies have found means to foment and maintain in the colonies, and to restore to

my deluded subjects in America that happy and prosperous condition which they formerly derived from a due obedience to the laws; but the late misfortune in that quarter calls loudly for your firm concurrence and assistance, to frustrate the designs of our enemies, equally prejudicial to the real interests of America and to those of Great Britain.

"In the last session, you made a considerable progress in your inquiries into the state and condition of our dominions and revenues in the East Indies: you will, I am persuaded, resume the prosecution of that important deliberation with the same spirit and temper in which it was begun, and proceed with the same attention and anxiety to consider how those remote provinces may be held and governed with the greatest security and advantage to this country, and by what means the happiness of the native inhabitants may be best promoted.

"Gentlemen of the House of Commons; I will order the éstimates for the ensuing year to be laid before you. I rely on your wisdom and public spirit for such supplies as the circumstances of our affairs shall be found to require. Among the many ill consequences which attend the continuation of the present war, I most sincerely regret the additional burthens which it must unavoidably bring upon my faithful subjects.

"My Lords, and Gentlemen; in the prosecution of this great and important contest in which we are engaged, I retain a firm confidence in the protection of Divine Providence, and a perfect conviction of the justice of my cause; and I have no doubt but that, by the concurrence and support of my parliament, by the valour of my fleets and armies, and by a vigorous, animated, and united exertion of the faculties and resources of my people, I shall be enabled to restore the blessing of a safe and honourable peace to all my dominions."

An address, in approbation of the Speech from the throne, was moved by the Hon. Charles George Perceval (afterwards Lord Arden), and seconded by Mr. Thomas Ord. Mr. Fox, in a speech of considerable length, entered into the important question of continuing or abandoning the American war, and concluded with moving an amendment to the Address by adding the words, "and we will, without delay, apply ourselves with united hearts to prepare and digest such counsels as may in this crisis excite the efforts, point the arms, and, by a total change of system, command the confidence of all his majesty's

subjects." Lord North having opposed the amendment, and urged the propriety of a vigorous prosecution of the American war,

Mr. BURKE rose with great warmth, and reprobated the language of the noble lord. He averred that it was imprudent, it was audacious; it was something worse, it was insulting in his majesty's ministers to look parliament in the face, and talk such language as the House had that moment heard from the mouth of the noble lord in the blue ribbon. If there could be a greater misfortune than those we had undergone in the disgraceful contest we were engaged in, it was that of hearing men rise up in the great assembly of the nation to vindicate such measures: it was the most alarming part of our condition; it was that which froze his blood, and harrowed up his soul: for if they were not to be taught by experience; if neither calamities could make them feel, nor the voice of God make them wise, what had this poor, fallen, miserable, and undone country to hope for? He was an enemy to dejection, and he never would recommend or preach despair; but if any thing could tend to deject the people of England, to make them despair of their situation, and resign themselves to their fate, it was to hear their ministers come down, after what we had suffered, and impudently tell them that they were determined to go on with the American war. A battle might be lost, an enterprise might miscarry, an island might be captured, an army might be lost in the best of causes, and even under a system of vigour and foresight; because the battle, after all the wisdom and bravery of man, was in the hands of heaven; but if either, or if all, of these calamities had happened in a good cause, and under the auspices of a vigilant administration, a brave people would not despair: they would be animated by their injuries; they would collect energy from disappointment; and feeling and knowing that a great and a good ministry would be instigated, in such a case, to strike some bold, new, and decisive stroke, they would arm, and

resolve to second them; they would gather reinforcement from their hopes; and with a new soul they would proceed to the execution of whatever their ministry would project, and their leaders undertake. But it was not so in the present case. As his honourable friend * had well described it, amidst all their sufferings and their misfor tunes, they saw none so bad, none so distressing, as the weakness or the wickedness of their ministers. The noble lord said the war was not disgraceful, it was only unfortunate: for his own part, he must continue to call the war disgraceful, and not unfortunate; and he was warranted in so calling it. "Unfortunate" was an epithet to be annexed to occurrences wherein fortune only was concerned. The destruction of the Spanish armada, which was properly fitted out, was unfortunate; but surely the stroke against Lord Cornwallis could not be termed so. Fortune had nothing to do with it: there was no foresight, no plan laid down, and every man must from thence conjecture the event: and we were now to go on without plan and without foresight in this war of calamities; for every thing that happened in it was a calamity. He considered them all alike, victories and defeats; towns taken, and towns evacuated; new generals appointed, and old generals recalled: they were all alike calamities in his eyes; for they all spurred us on to this fatal business. Victories gave us hopes, defeats made us desperate, and both instigated us to go on; they were therefore both calamities: and the king's Speech was the greatest calamity of all; for the king's Speech shewed us the disposition of the ministers; and this disposition was not to retreat an inch; to go on, to plunge us deeper, to make us more disgraceful and more unhappy.

But the noble lord says, the king's Speech does not call upon us to go on with this war. What then, does not the noble lord know what the king's Speech is? Is he, as

* Mr. Fox.