f parliament was opened by commission, on the 19th of
December. The speech dwelt on the calamities of war; the progress of the
arms of France; the failure of pacific negociations through the
ambition of the French ruler; and the necessity of union, firmness, and
courageous endurance in the nation, to meet the peculiar exigencies
of the crisis. In the debates on the address, Lord Hawkes-bury in
the lords, and Mr. Canning in the commons, took a very active part,
censuring the actions of the cabinet ever since it had been in office.
No amendment, however, was moved in either house, so that the addresses
passed without a division. Canning's speech on this occasion, though
in some parts it exhibited a show of candour, was, nevertheless, one of
unrelenting hostility to the government. Thus, after strongly condemning
the policy of breaking with Prussia for Hanover, he remarked: "Prussia,
unable to resist France, encroached on us; we had, however, the option
to pass over a just cause of complaint, and to leave untouched the
only state in Europe which appeared capable of forming the germ of an
alliance hostile to the ambitious views of France; but the conduct of
ministers was the converse of their policy. By that conduct Prussia had
been compelled to act without our advice or assistance, and to plunge
into a war, of which, if our advice could not have prevented it, our
assistance might at least have meliorated the termination. Would any man
of common reflection say, that, for the restoration of Hanover, it was
worth while to make war on Prussia? The British government, however,
continued at war with her as long as the resources of Prussia were
unimpaired, and her strength unexhausted; but as soon as there seemed a
prospect of war between Prussia and France, an ambassador was sent to
Berlin, with instructions adapted to all possibilities, except that
which was most probable; namely, the actual commencement of war: for
that no provision had been made. As soon, however, as Lord Morpeth
returned, our government began to see their error, and to think that
there really was something like war between the two powers, from the
trifling circumstance, that the Prussian army was annihilated: and when
the Prussian monarchy shall be destroyed, they will perhaps send
an army." In equally bitter terms Mr. Canning censured the foreign
diplomacy of the country, instancing the case of one minister being at
Paris to negociate peace, while another at