MOTION ON BEHALF OF LA FAYETTE.
On the 17th of March General Fitzpatrick moved for an addresss to his majesty, beseeching him to intercede with the King of Prussia for the release of La Fayette, who was confined in one of his prisons. The situation of La Fayette and his companions excited the sympathy of many persons; but there were others who had no fellow-feeling for them. Burke said, that La Fayette, instead of being termed an “illustrious exile,” was then, and ought always to be, an outcast of the world; who, having no talents to guide or influence the storm which he had laboured to raise, fled like a coward from the bloodshed and massacre in which he had involved so many thousands of unoffending persons and families. Pitt denied that La Fayette’s conduct had ever been friendly to the genuine cause of liberty; and affirmed that the interference required would be setting up ourselves as guardians of the consciences of foreign potentates. The motion was negatived by a large majority.