which the successful exertions of British valour never In his official capacity, he had

failed to inspire him.

to call the attention of the House of Commons to the victory which had been gallantly atchieved on the Plains of Maida, by a small body of troops under the command of Sir John Stuart. As the task was grateful to him, he executed it in a manner which made the most lively impression on his, auditors. The event of the Battle of Maida, so glorious in itself, he pronounced to be a sure earnest of future triumphs; and his predictions have been happily verified. The rapid and splendid succession of our victories in Spain and Portugal has now incontestably established the position which Mr. Windham always maintained, that "British disciplined troops possess a decided superiority over those of the enemy*."

It was during Mr. Windham's absence in Norfolk, that Lord Howick called the attention of the House of Commons to a clause which was intended by the ministers to be introduced into the Mutiny Bill, for enabling Roman Catholicks to hold a certain military rank, and permitting to all persons in the army professing that religion the uncontrouled exercise of it. It was afterwards thought expedient that the intended provisions should be made the subject of a separate bill, and be extended to the navy. The misunderstanding which this measure occasioned between His Majesty and his ministers, and the consequent dis

A report of this animated speech will be found at the commencement of the third volume.

missal of the latter from their posts, are subjects that need not be minutely treated of. It will be sufficient to relate, that on the 25th of March 1807, when called upon with the other ministers to deliver up his appointments, Mr. Windham received a flattering assurance of the sense which His Majesty graciously entertained of the motives that had guided him in executing the duties of his office.

In the very short period of a year and six weeks, Mr. Windham had done much for the benefit of the army. He had abolished service for life, and substi tuted service for periods; he had increased the pay of the subaltern, as well as the ultimate rewards of the private soldier ; — and (though circumstances had delayed the execution of it) he had passed a measure for arming and training a great part of the population of the country. Little, indeed, had been done in the way of offensive operations; nor, in the then circumstances of the war, was he at all desirous that his administration should be distinguished by services of that nature. He always professed to dislike a war upon sugar islands. But, had a glorious occasion presented itself, like that which has since arisen in Spain, there can be no doubt that he would have displayed in the conduct of a foreign war, as much ardour and energy as he had shewn in establishing measures for internal defence, and for laying the foundation of an efficient

army.

The Duke of Portland was placed at the head of the new administration. Lord Castlereagh, whom Mr. Windham had succeeded in the war and colonial de

partment, again received the seals of that office; and Lord Hawkesbury, Mr. Canning, and Mr. Perceval occupied the other prominent situations in the new cabinet. In two successive divisions, the ministers succeeded in negativing the motions which had been brought forward for censuring the means of their attaining office. Their success, however, was not so decided, as to render the continuance of the parliament adviseable. It was, therefore, dissolved on the 28th April 1807, in its first session, and within five months after it had assembled.

The seat for Norfolk, which Mr. Windham had two months before been deprived of by the decision of a Committee, was occupied, as has been related, by Sir Jacob Astley, who, after much entreaty, had been persuaded to accept it when Mr. Windham became disqualified; and who could not a second time be expected to retire in Mr. Windham's favour. The kindness, however, of Lord Fitzwilliam, always ready to be exerted towards him whenever an occasion called for it, supplied the loss of other opportunities, and Mr. Windham was returned to his sixth parliament as member for the Borough of Higham Ferrers.

In the first debate of the new parliament he made a vigorous stand against the clamour of "no popery," which he complained had been raised against him and his late colleagues *. Soon afterwards he gave his decided opposition to Lord Castlereagh's bill for allowing a proportion of the militia to transfer their

services into the line, by enlisting at their option either for periods or for life. This he considered as a fatal interruption of his measures which parliament had sanctioned in the preceding year. At the conclusion of the session he brought forward, in the shape of propósitions, a summary view of the advantages which had already been derived from the system of recruiting for periods t.

The expedition which was sent against Copenhagen, in the summer of 1807, received his decided disapprobation. The following is a letter which he addressed to his nephew Captain Lukin, who was employed in the naval part of that service:

"DEAR WILLIAM,

"Pall Mall,

September 5th, 1807.

"I HAVE a choice opportunity of writing to you in the return of Mr. Hoppner, from whom I received the latest, and at the same time, the earliest intelligence of you. Your letter up to the 16th did not reach me 'till after he had called, and given me an account of you as late as the 23d. I feel very doubtful and very anxious as to the result of your operations, though Hoppner seems to think that the whole will be settled by the time that he returns. If it should, the cause must be, either the want of provisions and water, or that the inhabitants cannot submit to the injury to be done to the town; for the works seem to be such as must, for a considerable time,

*See Vol. III. p. 30.

+ See Vol. III. p. 68.

enable a force, however weak, to hold out against a strong one. But success itself will bring with it no satisfaction. I cannot feel that the accomplishment of all we look for is an equivalent, either for the risk that will have been run, or for the certain discredit that we shall have incurred, and ill-will that we shall have excited. Buonaparte's designs upon England will not turn upon his having or not the Danish fleet. Our proceedings in the case of Portugal (though such as I never ceased to regret from the moment almost of my having consented to them) were not within a thousand degrees so exceptionable as these; and they ended accordingly in a way which produced neither reproach nor ill-will. Had the worst happened, our conduct could not well have been charged as having any thing in it unjustifiable or irregular.

"Let me recollect, upon this occasion, to obviate an impression which you may have received from circumstances which I heard only by a fortunate accident, in respect to a point where I should be sorry to have my opinion mistaken. told me of his having met you at sea, and having shewn you the machine with which he was provided for blowing up ships. I was sorry to find that from his account of the orders under which he acted, you might have been led into the belief that it was by my directions that the machine in question was put on board his vessel. Quite the contrary; it was in direct opposition to my opinion. I deprecate such a mode of warfare, as bad in itself, and one by which we should have much more to lose than to gain.

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