The Speech of Caius Tarquinius in the Upper Affembly, concluded from our laft.

Differ entirely in opinion from the noble lord; I do not think the measure he propofes either honourable to the fages of the law, or juft with regard to ourfelves.-Honourable to the judges it cannot poffibly be, for it is trying them upon anonymous accufation Juft to ourfelves it cannot poffibly be, because we are here affembled not to debate upon rumours, but to determine upon facts; if every idle, if every impudent report, which may be circulated through the channel of our news papers, is to be made a matter of debate in this illuftrious affembly, we fhall have but little time to enter upon the real bufiness of the nation; the prefent, my lords, is a very alarming crifis, and we fhould rather endeavour to prepare ourselves against a foreign enemy, than ftudy to foment our domeftic animofities. But the views of fedition are too plain, too palpable; pretended patriotifm is a weed which never grows in a ferene fky; it thrives only under the howlings of national difunion; and our political reformers difcover errors in the ftate, merely through a hope of being intrufted with the reformation.

The more we confider the nature of the propofed enquiry into the conduct of the judges, my lords, the more your lordships muft fee the fallacy of that argument, which talks of it as neceffary, nay as reputable for the character of the venerable fages; if their characters are to be rendered immaculate by a parliamentary vote

Feb. 1771.

in their favour, will they not be made equally fpotlefs, when parliament declares that the charges against them, are fo evidently malicious, fo fcandaloufly groundless, that they do not merit the minutest examination? Is it not more honourable for the courts of law to treat their accufers with contempt, than to give a serious ear to the accufation? Undoubtedly, my lords; and give me leave befides to afk, whofe doubts of the judges integrity we are to remove? The doubts of the people only who are interested in afperfing them; the doubts of the people who have already pronounced both houfes of parliament corrupt; and who declare, that all our proceedings are determined by a venal majority. Will men of this ftamp, my lords, pay any regard to our testimony in favour of the judges, even if we go into the enquiry propofed? By no means, we shall be branded with the groffelt epithets ourselves, unless we decide agreeably to the prejudices of popularity; they will call us the abettors of guilt, for voting in conformity to the dictates of our confcience; and the judges, fo far from receiving any benefit by the fevereft fcrutiny into their conduct, will only experience an additipal fhare of reproach. Seeing therefore in the first initance, that no pofitive charge is brought against any one of the judges, and feeing in the next, that the propofed enquiry cannot be productive of any good confequences, I flatter myself your lordfhips will not mifemploy your own time, nor infult the purity of our courts, by deeming the partial voice of faction, a fufficient ground for impeaching their integrity,

Very little of confequence was farther faid upon this fubject; the quef

H 2

tion

I remember that the noble lord, who is fuppofed to direct public affairs, and is at least the oftenfible minifter, urged the great number of the papers now lying on your table, as an argument againft fubjecting them to your inspection. The reafoning, to be fure, was not conclufive; becaufe the difficulty of an undertaking ought never to preclude an attempt, except when that difficulty amounts to a palpable impoffibility. But tho' it did not fhew the abfurdity of all inquiry, it certainly fhewed the abfurdity of engaging in fuch a meafure, without due time and previous deliberation. Where a multiplicity of important facts and circumstances are to be difentangled, too much care and circumfpection cannot be employed. If any judgement about the matter can be formed from the minifter's former language, and from the external appearance of the papers, this must now be the cafe. They muft contain many words, however they may be deficient in matter.-In order therefore to enable the members to judge of their contents with accuracy and precifion, I move that they be published in the Gazette. The people, to whom we certainly owe fomething, expect this opennefs and fincerity, this mark of confcious innocence, at the hands of the miniftry. If there is nothing dark or myfterious in their conduct, let them now fhew it, by appealing to the public, and feeling its pulfe. When the papers have been read, and examined by the nation at large, we hall have an opportunity of knowing its fentiments, and of explicitly declaring whether we are, or are not, reprefentatives, by approving or condemning

the opinion of cur constituents. Mucius Scævola (L-d Nanfwered thus:

Mr. Prefident,

WHAT my opinion might have formerly been, I cannot precifely recollect. Perhaps my memory is not fo tenacious as that of the honourable gentleman who mentions the anecdote; or perhaps I did not think my opinion of fufficient moment to be committed to memory. Be this as it will, my opinion now is, that the papers thould be read without delay. There is no neceffity for inferting them in the Gazette; for however bulky they may be in external appearance, the ftyle is not fo verbose, nor the matter to various, as to make it a difficulty for the meaneft capacity to become entire mafter of them in

the compafs of an hour. Horatius Cocles replied: Mr. Prefident,

SINCE the noble lord does not chufe to fatisfy the houfe, or the people with the publication of these papers, I hope he will allow them to lie on the table, and confent to adjourn the confideration of them till we have had time to give them a thorough examination. The confufion naturally produced in the mind, by the first reading of fo many different letters, will neceffarily render our ideas obfcure, and our determinations erroneous. Let us therefore have full leifure to make every due preparation, to fift and canvas the matter before we pafs a final fentence.

Mutius Scævola rejoined:
Mr. Prefident,

THE fame reafons, which induce me to think that there is no neceility for publifhing thefe papers, force me to conclude, that they ought to be immediately read. There is nothing in them complicated or abitrufe. Neither the thoughts, nor the expreffions, are numerous. The weakest understanding, and the most treacherous memory will not here complain of being put to the torture. therefore the houfe is full, and gentlemen feem to have purposely attended on this bufinefs, I do not, fee any good reafon for baulking their expectations, or trifling with their time.

As

Horatius Cocles upon this withdrew his intended motion; and the clerk of

the

the house, directed by Mutius Scævola, read the papers according to the order of their dates. From the correfpondence of the officers of the two contending crowns in South America, it appeared, that the Spaniards had wanted our colony to quit Falkland Ifland in March 1769. By the fame channel it was understood, that, tho' Don Francifco Bucarelli, governor of Buenos Ayres, was obliged by the terms of his official oath to prevent all new adventurers from fettling in the South Seas, he proceeded with much caution, and declared, through the medium of the officer who headed the expedition, that, even after warning was given, he would do nothing farther without the exprefs order of his Catholic Majefty. Words to this purpole are in the fecond or third letter directed to Captain Hunt, or Farmer. From the correspondence between Grimaldi, the Spanish minifter, and Mr. Harris, our envoy at Madrid, it appeared that the Spaniards ufed from the beginning very gentle and amicable terms, and talked of nothing but compromising and fettling all differences in a peaceable manner. This is the fubftance of all the intelligence communicated by the Spanish papers; a circumitance which made Mr. C-11 defire the speaker to make the clerk read the firit of the three propofitions, into which Mr. DI's original motion was divided.

The clerk read"Refolved,

made by Spain, nor of any anlwer
made to fuch claim or propofition by
our miniftry, is to be found from the
beginning to the end of thefe barren
extracts. What inference are we to
draw from this circumftance? are we
to conclude that this affair was of too
fecret a nature to be made public,
that we were not worthy of an antwer,
or that the minifters, in order to give
fome colour to their caufe, were ob-
liged to conceal certain papers entirely,
and to garble and mutilate thote which
they have produced? thefe queftions
feem to me to require an answer; and,
were the director of the ministerial
operations fo well qualified for his office
as he would be thought, he would
have informed us at once of what was
wanting, and of the cause of that
want. He knew that we had ordered
a more plentiful bill of fare, and he
was the proveditor. Yet, though he
furnished our table with one courfe
leís than we defired, and that the first
courie too, he did not fay a word about
the matter. Not a fyllable of apology
came from his lips. Whence is this
taciturnity? was he afraid of touching
a ftring, which in his hands would give
but a jarring found? and did he ima-
gine, that, if he allowed it to fleep,
we would not wake ic? a great mini-
fter will fcorn all fubterfuges and eva-
fions. Confcious of the rectitude of
his intentions, and the wifdom of his
measures, he will always be frank and
open, and difdain the little crooked
politics of a Carthaginian or French-
man. He will act with the fpirit and
magnanimity of an ancient Roman or
an Englishman."

Mutius Scævola anfwered thus:
Mr. Prefident, Sir,

IT would be to little purpofe to give a particular answer to every innuation thrown out by the gentleman who fpoke laft. It is an eafy matter to advance charges, and to fpeak long and plaufibly againft a minifter; because a perfon may align many and various caufes for his conduct in any particular inftance, without ever ftumbling on the true one. What, for example, was more caly and natural than to account for the want of papers, relative to the claim of Spain, by fuppofing that no fuch claims were ever made; or that if they were, made verbally, without the intervention of paper, pen,

and

and ink? yet the ingenuity of an adverfary could never hit on this expedient for faving the honour of a minifter. In my own vindication, however, I muft affert, that this is the real ftate of the cafe. Diligent fearch was made in the two offices, for the papers in question, but none could be found, How then are the minifters blameable for not producing, what does not, and probably never did, exift, and what, therefore, could not be produced ?" Tullus Aufidius replied,

I cannot conceive why the fubstance of the converfation, that paffed between the Spanish and English miniftry, on the fubject, might not be laid before the affembly. The address does not seem to me to call only for papers, but alfo for all claims and requifitions made by Spain by word of mouth. If any claims be made, they must have been known to his majefty, and he could not yet have forgot what minifters were concerned in the affair. Thefe queftions must be answered, elle we cannot help concluding, that it was judged fafe to let us know but half, and that the most infignificant half, of the truth."

On this Lucius Cibo (L-d B-p) obferved:

Mr. Prefident, Sir,

I wonder to hear gentlemen fo earneft for other papers befides thofe which lie upon the table, when they have already fufficient before them to judge of the conduct of administration in this negociation; the fingle question is whether we fhould or should not thank the king for the convention? whether we fhould beftow cenfure or approbation upon the miniftry for their conduct in this affair? injuries may be received, and even acts of hoftility ufed towards us, without a neccility of our recurring to an immediate retaliation; otherwife from the various and perpetual jarring interefts of different powers at this day in Europe, it would be impoffible that any peace fhould ever last three months; gentlemen might affect to compare the convention 1739 with the prefent, but in my opinion the cafe was widely different; for England had then been infult. ed very offentively, varioufly and generally by Spain, whereas the prefent is a very flight affront, and only in one particular inftance; befides, our fituation now is very different from what it has

been; we are now without any foreign alliances whatever, and this circumftance certainly makes it very neceflary to negociate; the convention has fettled nothing as to the matter of right, and Spain itself has with very carneft intreaty to France defired the prefent negociation. Gentlemen furely cannot with to extend our present moft extenfive dominion, at least for fome time; we may furely repofe ourselves with patience for fome time under the laurels acquired by our countrymen in the last war: I do not deny but that the honour of the nation ought to be held very facred, but infift that in this cafe England had been the aggreffor; we made a fettlement in a time of profound peace, in those parts which Spain had always claimed as its right; in thofe parts where even France, its clofe friend and ally, had been forced to relinquish her fettlements; it was therefore no wonder if Spain beheld with a more jealous eye the fettlement of a natural enemy than of a natural friend. Gentlemen may, if they please, harangue upon the vast expence attending our armament, on the fufpenfion of our trade, and on our right being ftill lefs undetermined: gentlemen may lay that the king of Spain had not yet confented to difavow the feizure of Falkland Island, and say also that the convention is only adopting a French meafure, and fubmitting to an ignominious French interference; but I hope this houfe will pay fmall regard to fuch infinuations; I hope it will think the very endeavours to preferve peace at this time, whether fucceful or not, whether the convention thall be ratified or not, deferving of an addrefs of thanks; which he therefore moved.

The motion for an addrefs having been feconded, Mr. NC-t faid,

Mr. Prefident, Sir,

I cannot agree entirely in opinion either with the one fide of the house or with the other: I have my own opi nion. Gentlemen may say that this declaration thews in me fome expectation, dependence, or views, and that I am in want of fome provifion, and take this opportunity to lay out for an offer; but when I look at my coat I find it a very decent one; I feel myself very warm and comfortable; I never knew the time when I wanted, and I