Star. — London, England, 1801-11-05 00:00:00

1 c ngle by 1 111 lit to the !.:.! of Ole n "1 cr th . e Co Z of ; cnt, ;'!arts ". , Wreit t. i ~7iq ; ~ r .11:.: lon?._ punti v , I id ,ur , 4nc!, httil Iha iS e (.!:7 G. 6-14 {Hoar t. .ti. 1 ti: r •. :;i ir,anJ it Vain of the .ncccd to ti.e i lan- w lei nkinz LI ieve a:ries nand c 4 the itht 4,1 I Iby efs. by lc- this country teaches us to fear, and our policy calls on us to countered. It may be here ark eel, Are y e , on the principles I have laid down, to wage an eterail war ? I anfwer, that, on the principles I h ive rived, it is clear that there is an eternal refolution on the part of the French to dellroy this country, and I am unable to fee any other alternative. The French have denounced deltruc tiaa againa us, and have marked out this country for a nnihilation, under the title of the new Car thage, by the arms of modern Romc. None here are l • a. morant of the policy adopted by the Romans' is the fulnugatton of their formidable rival. They c u bdued them point by point , always terminating a t ;lorinus war by an advantageous Peace. Every ne. , , tv of the war was attended with new advan tage to the conqueror, and Carthage at laft fell unJer the dominion of a power which never loft ippt of the great objet of univerfal empire. The example of the fate of this once powerful people leids us to compare the continuance of the war the conclufion of peace. It cannot be denied that in fix mon-hs we may again be forced into war. Let gentlemen recollect in what fituation we Mill be placed on the profpeet of renewing the contell. We have let out of our hands every thing • that could at all give us fecurity, and this is the footing on which we may be called upon to con tend with an enemy fo enormoufly encreafed in territory and in power. The queftion then is, Are we in a fituation better fitted to renew the war after furrendering all there objeas, or to have con tinned it with all there poffeffions in our hands ? Having thus given up every acipaitition, all that we have to oppofe to French aggrandizement is our ancient commerce and refources. We are, it feems, in poffeffion of a pyramid of gold which can never be de llroyed : we have a fouree of wealth which aquiv.dent to every exertion ; we may open to French manufacturers the markets of all Europe, may fuller her flops to enter the ports of every part of the world, and Rill we (hall bet enabled to oinftrip them in the career of com mercial enterprife. I am far, Sir, from wifhing to undervalue the importance of commercial capi tal. I know that a fuperiority once gained, it is long before the contea can be conducted on terms of equality. But will Bonaparte permit this great eon tell of indultry and capital to befairly con Ititted; or will he not decide the Woe by the fword ? Wealth, it mull never be forgotten, is a means of carry ing on War, but wealth will not protect a nation from injury and deftruetion. Laying all& then every other confederation, I (hall at prefent fup pole our great object to be fecurity. I alk for no more than plain, downright, grovelline. fecurity Well, then—if France, aiming at umv a-fat em pire, has a defiga for the overthrow of this coun try, the queftion comes to be Cutely abc,ut the dif• ference of the expence of continuing the War, con dated according to the turn which it had neeef- Emily taken ; or the maintenance of a Peace Vial - lifhment founded on principles calculated to afford full fecurity, and confequently large and exten five. Let economy be as great as rt can be con fillently with the public fafety,in the fupport of this eitablithment the expence cannot be materially different from a war expenditure. The (tate of the two countries calls for fuch a huge eflablifh ment, the fecurity of all that is dear to us de mands it. What then is the advantage derived from fuch an ellabliffiment t It merely procures to . the advantage of an armed truce, and this is at: !rat the Peace propofes to fecure. But what advantages, on the other hand, would dre conti nuance of the war hold out to Ili It would have prevented all communication with the enemy, and of confequence laved us from the contagion of their principles. It would have left us in puffeffion of our prefent extended commerce, that is to fir . , the commerce of the whole world. It would have put us in a fituation to have availed ourfelves of the chances of war; for Curdy, Sir, if there arc drinces in time of peace, the number of there chances is much increafed during the continuance of a war. Gentlemen are much accultorned to expatiate on the wealth, the energies, the re ((nieces of the nation ; but when I hear it affertcd that we were in fuch a fituation that we mull have made Peace, I am formaimes at a lol's to know it what the wealth fo much boated of confifte. It lliis wealth does exit, if there energies are awake, ii there refources can be brought into activity, barely, Sir, there never was a period when they could with more propriety be ernpl sycd than at a moment when our existence as a ',Lion is at Rah,. I have already trefpafTed too Ii ng on your time, (a loud cry of boar ! hear! p oh, go on), but there is one point to which 11h fl.ortly ad vert, though it is a fabled to which I cannot allude without pain. Thcrc is a icfcript' n of .nen who have been wholly negleAlcd and deferted in tile Houle, who from the zeal and ennltancy of thei, attachment to the Royal Family of France, ap pear to me deferving of the interference of this country in their behalf in any treaty of peace.— N . tetwithllanding all the hardfhips a nd the priva tions thee have endured, notwithfianding the con Raney of their attachment to the caufe they en i Iginally embraced, notwithstanding their Deady co-operation with the Britifn forces during the was . theft men thus powerfully recommended to the national proteeti..4l, have had their fate wholly dif regarded by the Ministers in forming the prefent treat-, y I think, Sit, the dereliction of the into t . .. 11 of th e r e men i s extreme l y dif grace f u l to t hi Conine ! . I protefl againtt it, as fuch; and I free nirfelf him the moll dillant idea of countenan tie ! : lach iregleft. At leap, Sir, it would not !ums be. Is o much to have Itipalated a fafe return t tl.••ie country, to men who have deferred fu well nt us by their viruses and their attachment. I .re thas s bir, thought it my duty to Rate my fen tenants ore Houle on tile fuojeft oldie Peace. c..ing the dangers og fuch a Peace, I I' us, ‘onetived that I owed an avowal of my fen rani: ins, not merely in duty to myfclf, but ail: in , ac in linty to the Countr y . Throughout the vd. le of the cornett in which wehave been engaged. I inink the chief fault has been, that the pcuplt lave licycr been fufficiently aware of their danger. W fillin g an end to die war, they never have full; ullaweJ themfelves to reflea on thole dan .ere which might flow from the return of rc4cc. The dantrs of the lattet dercription they have too often 'viewed as contingent, while they have been in the habit of contemplating the dangers of war as certain and ruinous. Mr. WILBFR FORCE, after g prokfling very high regard for the Right Hon. Gentleman who had jait fat down, complained a good kcal of the I in guage held by him and thufe of his way of think ing upon thi; occafion. The arguments urged by the Right Honourable Gentleman went exprekly to prove the impolicy of Peace at the prefent mo. ment upon any terms whatever. But the Right Honourable Geuticman, at periods when the dam ' gers apprehended by him were far more formi dable, had exprefsly countenanced the meafure of a negotiation with the Republic of France. War might loon break out again, but though he cer tainly forefaw that it would, he would heartily fupport the prefent Peace. The people of Eng land would thus be convinced that their Govern ment was mild and paternal, and would be in duced, at all future periods, to Rand up by it to the Ida. Mr. Wilberforce then took a comprc. henfive view of the confequences of continuing the contea, and concluded that our dangers, great as • they now are, would thus be greatly encreafed.— He afterwards entered into a conlideratiun of the terms, which he pronounced advantageous and honourable.—He gave Minbiers particular credit for the good faith they had !hewn to all our Al lies. The future hiftorian, he Paid, would cele brate their moderation and firmnelc, and would afcribe the oppofition they met with to party fpi. nit, or an osier-heated imagination. lie made fume more particular ITMA:ks upon the articles rerpening Egypt and Trinidad. The fita, he trufted, did not pledge as to go to war in favour of the Porte, if ever his integrity armlet be vio lated ; and the fccond gave him great uneafiners, as it might throw an additional ohltacle in the way of the abolition of the Slave Trade. Ile knew from the bell anthority, he laid, that, to bring Trinidad into a nate of cultivation, hefides oto millions of capital, We would require no fewer than a million of Haves. He concluded, by de ploring the depravity of tire times, and calling upon all ranks to Rand up in defence of religion and morality. Donor Laws ENCE ftid, that no articles he had ever Peen were Co vague and indefinite as th o le of the Preliminary Treaty with France ; and from that very circumftance he had entertained a hope that the dangers of the peace would be farther re moved from us. But this hope vanifhed, when he raw the Marquis Cornwallis fent hound hand and foot to Amiens. He would not helltate to alert, that no treaty had ever been made that was not infinitely preferable to thole articles in queition. The Treaty of Utrecht, for which the perfons who had made it were impeached, pro vided for the interea of Great Britain more cl fennally than the prefent. What, he would all:, mull be the (late of this country—what her means of defence, after Peace !horrid be concluded ? An argument was ufed, that we had no longer any chance of fuccefs in carrying on the war, and therefore mull make peace on the terms propofed by France ; yet in the fame breath the Houfc was told that our fuceelres, previous to this event, were the molt glorious and brilliant ever known ; and that the Government had (hewn a lingular proof of its juftice and moderation in the tenons it hid made. He wilted Gentlemen would confider the • erica of this peace as far as it regarded other countries over which France exerciiid her domi nion. How fhould we now be able to prevent France from keeping poffeffion of Holland ? Bc fides, the terms now exiting between France and Holland were thole of a dcfenfive and of calve atliacce againft Great Britain, and not againft any other country. The trade and reve- 1 nuts of Holland were diminithed in a great de gree ; and this very diarers was the more formi- I Liable, becatti . e it gave France greater power over that country. It was not alone the cxtoninn of :erritory on the part of France that was to be dreaded ; the had almott on every flit of her a let of affiliated Republics, which flue could at any I time make Me of. She had her feeders and her claws, which the could at any time thrtra out for , the pupae of making them caul - . a difference be- • tweets her and this country ; which might end in • another war. It by making peace now, we timid relax our efforts, and get into another war, what human power, he would a(k, was there that could five this country? France, during the war, could • • ot repair her (battered navy ; we had great power ever her; we confined their fnips w ithin her ports, we cramped all her efforts to become a nawl powe: : but once make peace, and all thefe ad-,, vantages were gone ; and France would loon be enabled to prepare the means for our &amnion. Every thing that bad been done tended only to • inereafe the power of our enemies, and export us to their fowl,: att.tcks. The (silent:4l;on of Eng land was difplayed in the fplenoid equipage of • Lord Cornwallis on his way to Paris, which, by exhibiting the wealth of England, invited military attack ; while the Ltitentation of Bonaparte con soled of tome of his belt grenadiers Icattered along the roads to receive the Noble Lord, and at the • fame time to thew that France was capable and ready to make the attack. Mr. WILMIK MRCS explained. Mr. Eeror raid, he w.ts defirotts WI night to have delivered his feotiments on the fubjeet now before the Houle, and had he had an opporttinity of doing fo, he fhould perhaps have gone into the queftion more at length than he fhould attempt at prefent. He fhould, however, now be fhort in what he offered to the Houk, becnufe beeves aware that any attempt from him to offer an additional trgivenent, would not only be limper !Thous hot al molt prefumption, after the able manner in which the tub en laid been dircioded ahead)! : ho w ever, be could not reconcile it to himfelf to gice a flout vote—He felt is common with many other per tlins, gloomy and &fig-riding apprehenfions—The kw he I.ad of this falM:n. icJ him to differ widc .y in opinion loom th,.f., w hn appinve.: at the Pre an:Marks of Peace now belie th e Hoof.. lle footed and hoped, that a period wool,' come, when Gentlemen in Adrninittration would adopt , a I) dem lull of vigor . tirmnefs. and vigilance. ' ' not only as far as regarded the Internal Govern ment of the Country, but alto would be guided by that wife and well-directed jealoufy of the over-reaching fpirit of that Power, with which we had juft agreed upon Preliminaries of Peace. Having laid this, as to his hope of the future conduct of Government, he mutt now, in a taw words, give his opinion of the Peace, and he pro taled for one, he conceived the mealirre to be' almoll abfolute and unqualified ruin to this Coun try. He knew that PROVIDENCF had frequently, had often favoured mankind, when it was leall expected, and lometimes thatched a whole Na tion from feemingly inevitable ruin ; we there fore might pray, that PROVIDENCE may refeue us in this cafe, from the deltrudion, which he thought : we were threatened with. The Preliminaries now before the Houfe, pall over in a cautious and careful oblivion, all the objeds of the war, after a flrugglc for almott nine years, and into which we were forced for cv try thing that could he efleemed valuable to an Inds oendant Nation. After all, the flruggle had been Bopped, and concluded by a! mere Colonial Arrateeement, and in which we had left France greater C Refourccs than the had before at any tree poll - died. We had left her fuch Maritime Rea. Irces as would furnifli her with the means of arrisang .at that pre-eminent Itrength, by which this country had hitherto not only maintained her own independence and power, hut by which the had been enabled to Alia and protea much of the liberty of Europe. This Treaty had proceeded upon a principle that was molt alarming, for it had abrogated ahnoil all the power of the States of Europe, and by which most of them held their Crowns, and by which we alio had lolt all the fecnrities which we had ac quired in the courfe of the war. He confetfed, that in whatever light he viewed this fubjed. it' appeared to him highly objeationable. Ha, pro trated the danger seemed to him to increala ! upon confideration of it. By this 'Pricey we re cognized ourfelves as a fubordinate Nation in Eurepe—a power fecondary to France : that alone would be fufficicnt matter of ferious apprehentian to him ; and did any Gentleman believe that we could long Rand in that flotation ? This was a great, powerful, and rich Country : it was too great, too powerful, too rich, too much hated, and too much envied, to find any fafety in humi liation. We had furrendered Malta and abandon ed the Mediterranean, and by our relinquifhirg the Mediterranean, we had abandoned three quarters of the globe, fo well conneded by that central fca. He knew not what frefh fources of confidence, where Gentlemen found they could rcpofe more tru t in the power they could not tiara a few months ran. He law no mitigation in the ambition, or in the audacity of eitterprize, or malignity of intrigue. Was it in Holland, in the new Conflitution of Holland, that this fource ofeonSdence in French integrity was to be found ? Or was it Switzerland? Or in the tragicomic fcene of the kingdom of Etruria—by which a new King was created to bring into contempt Monar chy itfelf—buthe fhould keep frith with the Horace, he fhould not go much further into this part of the fubjel, but in whatever way he could fee this meafure, in whatever point of view he looked at it, he could fee in it nothing but an imprudent, a waia ful, a wanton,and unneceflaryfacritice of thelionour and of the inter - al 5 of this country, in order to ac quire a deluave and tranfient repofe without fecu ay, but at the ritk of the permanent fafety and profperity of the Nation. The SACRETARY at WAR raid, he regretted ex tremely the defponding langtfage he had heard that night. Our dangers were great, but there was no room Pk delpondence. He confider cd this the moft important occafion on which Parliament had been alfembled lince the Revolution ; but if wisdom guided its meafures, there was nothing to be feared. After palling a very high eulogium upon Mr. Windham, he proceeded to expects how lorry he was to find that he differed in opinion from that Right Hon. Gentleman. He did not doubt, however, but that by his prcfcnt condud he might continue to do ellantial fervice to his country. The people had given themfelves up to joy with too little reftraint, and had too generally imagined that all danger was pall It was praiser that their eyes fhould be opened, and that they Ihnuld be made fallible of the dltliculties they would have to encounter after the arrival of Peace. The Right Hon. Gentleman then proceeded to combat the politions, that at this moment it was improper to treat, and that we had not obtained adequate terms. He afterwards went on to Phew that the pictures of our danger from French ag grandizement were greatly overcharged. He laid we fhould be as fecure as any State could be, in the prefent unhappy circumftances of Europe. Our dangers from abroad would be warded off by a mixture of firmnefs and conciliation, and our dan gers at home by tie enadwn: tf cobotfirme law:. Per haps fume might think that a better fyflern of at- fence, both for the mother country and our fo reign pollatiions than any hitherto known, might I yet be difcuvered. Certaialy there was nothina chimerical in die hope that, by the adifiance of able I otlicers,ourprefent plansmight be greatly improved. Hoceousr lupported the Preliminaries of Peace. He was fine that Minißers, in the great meafure which they had jult completed, had ben aauated by the bell and matt laudable motives ; they appeared to him not to have been influenced i by a vain claire of popularity ; they let poralarity take its proper place in the procealian it f e ll o w. ed, but did not lead them. Hr walled however, to be underilood to freek only of this meafure, but at the fame time he had great hopes that the red of their candeat would correfpond with that which had alven Inch waved:ll farisfaarice, and that there would he none of theft incroaraments upon the Contlitution which had been abided to by fome Gentlemen. At relent, he flroald not trouble the Houle any farther, cecept to fay, that he highly approved of the Peace, an of the con duct of I:1+ altijeay's Minalers. Mr. ter: s, in allulion to what had fallen from Mr. Elliot laid, the gloom and delpondency which that Hon. Gentleman had expreired for the conic quences of the Peace, and the fallen charier and humble frit of the country, inftead of infcaing this country by fimilar r nt'mei ts, ought, in his mind, and he hoped would, : ink the fliirit of thb Briti'll people to vigilance an.l pattiotic ardour. Ile however glanced over the Preliriinai ics of Peace, which be treated with tome degree of 1 . 4:- verity—at the fame time that he gave credit to iii, Majefly's IViinifters for the heft intention in the Treaty they had fen med. He litid, however, that he ha.! fecn a firing of articles in print, purpiirt mg to be fecret articles of the Ti cat y, whi..h, how. ever, he hoped were unfoninied, .ti they would be highly degrading to linglmel. Lord IlawKESMUlts, in allufion to fome.thing wl.ich had fallen Com an Ili inourthle Friend of' his in the ceurfe of debate, in v‘lliell he bid flared that France had nainifelled a total difinclination to treat at all for .f. fun-endcr of certain tcrlito ries the had conquered from Belgium, and on the Banks of the Scheldt, laid, though they had been propofed in firmer treaties, and partici:bole that of Lille, they had i.sade sin part whatever in the prod ot . the prefent :teary ; an I as to the articles in print al'uzled to by the Honourable ;1 ., . mher who fpoke Lill, he could azure Fa they were ut terly void of foundation. Mr. Dawsom fa id he rote to ply his nitrite to thole Miniflers who had conludeila Peace, v licit appeared to him to meet univert'll et,.l , :ii4..•ien in this Country, and lin seas cualiZed to fay, ,:. t in that past of the United . Nii:gdorn sail whieh he was more peculiarly coutteCied, that the iity. at the Peace was at leaft equal to that which was felt in this Country. He was in Ireland when the news of the Peace artived there, and he could ut.der take to fty, that he did not meet a man who seas well a (reeled to the Government, that is to fay to the Coniiitlition, who did not re;flice at it. It was not, perhaps, right for him, as an Ilifit Member, to enter into a &bullion of the origin of tha War, and the condtia of the B:itifil Miaiff-ic lien,re :lie Union had ta'e..n place, lint lic Llt bimiCif lull! ja. Vied in giving bis decLicel :pivots:salon to a mcafure which he thought calculated to pe::.luce the molt h.niefichil effeCts to the United Kingdfm, and elpecially to that part of it to which he ;lad the honour mi,re particularly to belong. If be were afked whether he thought this PLACE likely to be fecure ? he had nn helitation in anfwering that quellion in the affirmative. With regard to tile terms, he had fuch ar. opinion of the prefent Adminifiration, that he was convinced they were as good as could be obtained. l'pon the whole, he Ihould give this Peace, which he conficiered as particularly nece.Tary for Ireland, his hearty ap probation. Mr. W. WYNNE laid, that after fo many Gen tlernen had fo fully and fo ably fpoken upon this fuhjel, he certainly was unable to add any thing new upon it, but he could not give a filent vote. Ile could not look upon the Peace with the fame fen:imcnts of fatisfadion as many Cent' - • on had done, bccaufe he though: it was one big with dan ger to the Country. Colonel Wool) laid, that to form a correCt judg ment of the fubjen, we mull confider nut merely the relative fituations of France and England, but of thehe Countries in refpeet to other Powers of Europe.—France he co.lidered as invulnerable to any attack from England for the porpok of abridging her Continental power; but he ixlieved few Gentlemen contidered every part of the United Kingdom, as well as of our cxtenfive Colonies, as equaily fccure from France—Undoubtedly by blockading her ports, and deftroying her trade, France might have been induced, within fume in definite time, to accede to better teirns than the prefent,but that the dangers and evils likely to arife from lengthening the conteft , no terms could in his mind compenlhte for. The addition of 40 millions a year to our national debt, exclutive of keeping many hundred thoulands of our moft valuable fubjeas idle,who could be employed in tugs iculture, manufaCtures, and the improvement of the coun try—confidering she *trent Rate of our finances, as well as burthcns of the people, were weighty rcafons with his Majefty's Minifters for conclud ing the prefent Peace. But there were many other cogent reafons, in the prcfcnt political hate of Europe,which he conceived jullified hisMajo ft y's Minitters, in putting an end to to ruinous a conteft. Gentlemen cannot have fo loon forgotten the con federacy of the Northern Powers to defirey tie moll important interefis of this Country ; and, al though the conteft is for the prefent at an end, may we not rcafonably conk:elute that Denmark and Sweden are not Rill fo well difpofed towar,is us, as their own real interc(ts ought to have led them to be ? Ruffia, although governed by a wife and Jolt Prince, yet who would flake the fecurity of their country upon the life of an individual ? What re. liance could be had iilion the creaked policy cf Pruflia ? and Aultria, had the even the ability, has the Bill the inclination to renew the conteft ? Could we expal horn Turkey any important affiftance, at a time when the can fearcely prevent her own tottering empire from Calling t i pieces ? I'sider thick untoward eireunitialwee, was Eng land to wage war againfi Fi.oicc, for the objeCt of reduciag her Continental Power, at the time that thcfc Powers upon the Continent rnoft interelled had theasfelves confirmed it :—Such conduEt would, i.s his opinion, have been more wild and more ehimeti,:a!, than the adventures of Dort cerixote? No pelfun more regretted the over. gross n power of France, hut no one could forefer, but th us very power which is at prefent fo for midahle, not only to this Country bur to En:rope; may contain in it the feeds of its own diffoity ion. —ln regard to the cow - picas which were to be re. floret!, excepting the Wand of Maita. none at - - peared to him to he very material to the inter( Its •'t this country. That Bland. from its firuatinr, lot t 7 fications, and hart:Jur, seas invaluable to this cour:ry ; and In long as we held potletfion ie 0, Fiance could never look towards Egypt an I 'yiia as the road to molefl us in India. rho L rant Trade, although at prefent inconfidere:ble, was, he hclicvcd, chic!!y to he attributed to tare ni, , ft ortsvife monopoly granted to the Turkey Com- I pane, whin neither ufe it hetfc If. and by thci ch ,r -er precluded others from benefiting. As ti• the W e n India Wands, we had hill as many of them as could be fur the Uncivil of the country ; atAll