the burden of the speech, and the
address, opposition had a fine theme for declamation. The mover of the
address complained, in strong terms, that certain members were so lost
to honour and duty, as to glory in the success of the enemy. Fox replied
to this invective in the words which Lord Chatham had used at the
commencement of the dispute: he "thanked God that America had resisted
the claims of the mother country!" He then continued:--"All the
calamities of the nation are ascribed to the wishes, the joy, and the
speeches of the opposition. O, miserable and unfortunate ministers!
Blind and incapable men!--whose measures are framed with so little
foresight, and executed with so little firmness, that they crumble to
pieces, and bring ruin on the country merely because a rash, weak,
or wicked man in the house of commons makes a speech against them!
Retrospective measures are deprecated; but ministers must bear to hear
them from the representatives of an abused people. He even trusted that
they would hear them at the tribunal of justice, and expiate them on
the public scaffold! He would not say they were actually in the pay of
France, for he could not prove the fact; but he would venture to say,
that they had worked for the aggrandisement of the Grand Monarque more
faithfully and successfully than any ministers of his own had ever
done." Fox then reviewed the origin and conduct of the war, ascribing
our loss to the undue influence of the crown, and connecting the
calamities of the nation with the system of government, and to every
one in power, and particularly to Lord Sandwich, as first lord of the
admiralty He concluded by saying, that there was no hope of better
things until the whole cabinet was changed; and by moving, as an
amendment, a clause, binding the house to apply themselves with united
hearts, to propose and adjust such counsels as might, 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. Mr. Thomas Pitt
followed on the same side, reiterating the oft-repeated cry of secret
influence, and expressing a hope that ministers would not be displaced
till they had brought the nation to such a crisis as must draw down on
their heads their just reward! Other members spoke in reproachful terms
of the condition of the navy, and were answered by Lord Mulgrave, who
proved that their accusations were unjust and unfounded. Lord North
repli