DUKE OF RICHMOND’S MOTION FOR INQUIRING INTO THE STATE OF THE NATION.
On the 28th of November the Duke of Richmond moved for a committee of the house to inquire into the state of the nation. The debate on this question was postponed till the 2nd of December, and the Earl of Chatham was there to support it. In his speech, the Duke of Richmond once more asserted, that the nation was in a rapid process of decay, and that it could not support the burden of war. The inquiry, he said, should be as extensive as possible, and he proposed the 2nd of February for the discussion; and expressed a hope that all papers called for might be laid before parliament. Ministers assented to the committee; and the Duke of Richmond then moved for returns of the army and navy, both in America and Ireland. Chatham now made another speech, in which he expressed great alarm as to the actual state of those two important fortresses, Gibraltar and Minorca; contending that they were not secure from the grasp of France and Spain. He also took occasion again to extol the Americans, and to plead their cause, still justifying their opposition to the mother country. The motion was granted without opposition.