MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.
Parliament re-assembled on the 24th of January. In his speech, the king expressed great satisfaction at the prosperous condition of the country, in the extension of trade, the improvement of revenue, and the increase of public credit, and said that he relied on their continued zeal and industry for the further advancement of these important interests. His majesty also informed the houses that the disputes which had threatened the peace of Europe, had been brought to an amicable conclusion, and that he continued to receive friendly assurances from foreign powers; but at the same time, he recommended particular attention to our naval strength. He added,—“But above all let me recommend to your attention the reduction of the national debt.”
In the debate which followed upon the address, Fox condemned the whole of our recent foreign policy. Ministers were reproached by him for not cultivating continental alliances, and for their negligence in all their foreign negociations. It was owing, he said, to their criminal misconduct, that the House of Bourbon had been enabled to conclude their advantageous compact with Holland, and he maintained that great danger was to be apprehended from the union of three such maritime powers as France, Spain, and Holland, in a confederacy against England. Fox also attempted to prove that the accession of his majesty to the Germanic confederation, as Elector of Hanover, would give mortal offence to the Emperor Joseph, and would indispose him to an alliance with Great Britain in the event of a future war. He argued, that it was our interest to conciliate and captivate Austria, as the only power in Europe able to keep France in awe. Fox next adverted to a favourable opportunity for an alliance with Russia, which had been lost, and then condemned a commercial treaty, which government had begun to negociate with France. The experience of past ages, he said, proved that England always prospered in proportion as she had relinquished her commercial connexions with that country. He concluded his speech with making some strictures on the Irish propositions and the India Bill. Pitt replied in a cold sarcastic tone, and the address was carried without a division.