ong as the same principles
which had hitherto guided these ministers should continue to prevail in
the councils of Great Britain. Fox enlarged much on "that most fatal of
all the innumerable errors of ministers," their rushing into a ruinous
and unnecessary war, instead of mediating between France and the allied
powers. He contended that his majesty, by undertaking the office of
mediator, would have added lustre to the national character, and have
placed Britain in the exalted situation of arbitress of the world. On
the other hand, Pitt insisted that the king could not have interposed
his mediation without incurring the hazard of involving himself in a war
with that power which should have refused his terms. Pitt enlarged on
the danger arising to all Europe from the revolutionary decree of the
19th of November, and the insult offered to this country in particular,
in the encouragement given to the seditious and treasonable addresses
presented to the convention. He contended, that while negociations were
pending, war was actually declared by France, and that France, and
not England, was therefore the aggressor. This nation, he said, had
no alternative; and he asked if the house, after a war of three years,
which they had sanctioned by repeated votes and declarations, would now
acknowledge themselves in a delusion? whether they would submit to the
humiliation and degradation of falsely arraigning themselves, and of
passing on their own acts a sentence of condemnation? Pitt said that it
was a war of which the necessity and policy were manifest; and that if
the country should at any time suffer a reverse of fortune, he should
still exhort them to surmount all difficulties by perseverance, until
they could obtain safe and honourable conditions of peace. On the other
hand, he added, if success should attend our arms, the prospect of
obtaining further advantages should not be relinquished by a premature
readiness to make peace. These arguments were deemed conclusive: the
motions both of Fox and Lord Guildford were lost by immense majorities.

PITT'S FINANCIAL MEASURES.

In the course of this session two budgets were produced, and two loans
contracted, amounting in the whole to L25,000,000. The total supplies
granted for the year were L13,821,430. In order to meet the expenditure
many taxes were augmented, as those on wine, spirits, tea, coffee, silk,
fruit, tobacco, salt, horses, dogs, hats, and legacies to collateral
r