Gazette Of The United States

The disgrace of the nation is still suffered to subsist in England.

Major general lord Cathcart is now within one English mile of Bremen, and it is very probable he will soon take up these quarters, as we move forward.

Orders are issued for the immediate distribution of a blanket per dragoon, through the two remaining brigades, which makes us conjecture that the moment of our embarking (head quarters I mean) is more remote than it was thought some days back.

The last news from Heidelberg mention terrible firing about Manheim.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.
Monday, November 23.

After eleven petitions were presented against the sedition bill and three in favor of it.

A motion was made to adjourn the further consideration of the bill till Wednesday next.

Mr. Fox moved as an amendment, that Tuesday e'en night, be substituted instead; and, after reminding the Right Hon. Gentleman of his mistake, in supposing last Monday that the meeting in Westminster did not speak the sense of the parishes, he contended, that delay could not be desired for the purposes of misrepresentation, because misrepresentation might prevail for a moment, but must be detected by delay. The more debates were held, the greater was the dislike of the bills, though this Administration was distinguished for extraordinary means of spreading their opinions. Discussion, which was the means of counteracting misrepresentation, was all that he desired. When an attempt was made to change the limited Monarchy into an arbitrary one, he wished it done all at once, that the design might be understood, rather than by separate measures, which, by making the potion more pleasant, rendered the destruction more secure. He therefore hoped, that if the bills did pass, it would be without alterations, that the nature of the Minister's views might not be concealed but appear in all their odious nakedness.

Never did man wish more sincerely than he for a true declaration of the people's opinion. The present moment was a crisis in his public life. If the people preferred slavery, and the bills to liberty and the Constitution, he would continue to love them indeed, but it was not in the frame of his nature to be the servant of such a people; and he trusted that he could retire with some consolation to private life. If otherwise, it would remain one of his duties boldly to tell them truths. Should the bills pass by the mere influence of the minister, contrary to the great majority of the nation, and he was asked without doors, what was to be done, he would say, "This is not now a question of morality or duty, but of prudence. Acquiesce in the bills only as long as you are compelled to do so. They are bills to destroy the Constitution, and parts of the system of an Administration aiming at that end."

(Hear! Hear, Hear!) Mr. Fox said, he knew the misconstruction to which such sentiments were liable, and he braved it. No attempt of the Stuarts called for more opposition than the present bills; and extraordinary times called for extraordinary declarations. He moved, that "to-morrow week" be substituted in the motion for "Wednesday."

The Chancellor of the Exchequer said, Mr. Fox's last declaration could not be misconstrued, and he thanked him for making it, that the public might see him setting up his own judgment against that of the majority, of the House, attempting the dissolution of Society, and persuading the people of England to have recourse to the sword if they thought they could succeed by it. Let him not imagine, however, that Englishmen will want spirit to support the laws. The Right Hon. Gentleman would probably find the law too strong for him; but if that should not be so, he hoped that he would find the valour that should aid the law.

Mr. Fox would not retract a syllable of his assertions, which, he said, the Right Hon. Gentleman had so much misrepresented. He had stated merely, that if bills to destroy the Constitution were passed against the sense of the majority of the nation, he would give the advice which he had mentioned. He would stand and abide by his words, which he was then willing to have taken down, if required. The words might be strong, but strong measures called for strong words.

Mr. Windham denied that Mr. Fox's explanation had mended his assertion, which was so plain a discovery of his intentions, that he had not, for some time, heard any thing with so much pleasure. People would now see the necessity for a vigour stronger than the laws. (Here a cry of take down his words!) Mr. Windham explained that he meant stronger laws than the present, and that the laws should be supported by means not wanting upon other occasions. (A cry of Note the words!) Mr. Windham replied, that he would repeat the words if he could, and concluded by expressing his hope that the country would not be so abject as to submit to the Right Hon. Gentleman.

Alderman Newnham stated, that the meetings against the bill were not all fairly held, and that Mr. Mainwaring had not been heard at Hackney, or himself at Guildhall.

Mr. Sheridan thought that the Hon. Alderman had libelled his brother freeholders, and argued, that all meetings in the metropolis and the neighbourhood had been fair, at one of which the Lord Mayor, who had been friendly to the bills, had acknowledged that the meaning of his constituents was expressed. Mr. Sheridan offered to subscribe his hand to all the declarations of Mr. Fox, from whom Mr. Wyndham should have known better than to expect a retraction. When plotting ministers meditated attacks upon the Constitution; when the Secretary at War had made London, the seat of the Parliament, a garrison, and talked of a vigour more than the law, he would advise every man to resist the establishment of the system of terror in this country. No British Robespierre he hoped, would ever domineer over the people of England; Robespierre, who had harassed the people of France with his pretended plots he could not visit the Mayor of Paris without pre.
contemptible wretches would they be? No other answer could be given to the people. Ministers would not always feel the same courage as at present for persevering in their plans.

Mr. Wilberforce said, that such declarations were liable to very different opinions, and expressed his disapprobation of them. It was like telling the enemy, that they were ready to take up arms.

Mr. Grey repeated Mr. Fox's words, and said, that he was ready to subscribe them, and give them to the clerk. He considered the bills as the last blow aimed at the destruction of the constitution. Mr. Fox, he contended had said nothing but what was asserted at the time of the revolution.

Mr. Fox's amendment was then rejected, and the original motion carried without a division.

Mr. Rolle read an address from Devonshire in support of the Bills.

At half past one the House adjourned, after a debate of uncommon warmth, the cries of Hear, Hear! during the last speeches of Mr. Fox, Mr. Windham, and Mr. Sheridan having been louder from both sides of the House than we remember to have ever heard them before.