Star. — London, England, 1815-05-26 00:00:00

011" rot be obliged to make peace With him ender &- on/ ounces of great humiliation Besides, he asked would our finances even be sufficient to carry us though a war of three years ? For all these reasons L e ,!iould support the amendment. Mr. GRATTAN fully concurred in every semi. re .o which had been uttered relative to the miseries c alamities of 'war. He haerconsidered the ques tion i n all its bearings ; the amendment came forward all the advantages and great force which it were c ioable of receiving from the illustrious rank and thrracter of the individual who brought it forth, an d whose modest sense set off the value of his I.,:gh station. In rising with great diffidence to ad. the House upon the present occasion, he (Mr. f;,. ran) rather meant to excuse the vote which he „bla to give, than to hope for any chance of • . able to alter the opinions of others. He could „,, c niaine himself to a silent vote, knowing that ins view of the question, he widely differed from I LA of his oldest, dearest, and most strongly at tidied friends. In entering upon this subject, he tsould admit that they ought to avoid, as much as •ssible, the evils of war; but there was another and 3 gru.tter evil to be guarded against—a peace without security, and a war without allies.—(Hear, hear.) With the immediate question of peace or war, they Lad nothing to do; that point was decided at Vienna; but the plain fact which remains for their considera ian was simply this—would they contend against the Rul-r of France, with the Allies in their van, or would tht•y wait until these powers were disbanded, and nice' the clash single-handed ? As to the pie sent form of Government in France, and the pros. pee: tit security it afforded to Europe, they need only look to its composition for a refutation of any such chan:e. It wes an Elective Stratoeracy, composed ot a rapaci ,, us boldiery, who du not fight to conquer, b ut conquer to tight. The constitution of Franci is war, and the object of that. war the conquest of Eu rope.—(Hear.)—What reason was there to suppose th it Bonaparte would not again attempt that to which iiis whole life had been firmly applied ? Were they blind to his character and. forged ul of his deeds? lied he not almost succeeded in his gigantic plan ot seizing all Europe? He banished the Sovereigns Of Spain and Portugal s to the former, throne he gave Lis brother—his son became King of Rome : he con. trended the power of Prussia—and he prepared an Army to take the King of England. But the great trident of. Britain preserved her station, and shook his Empire. The British Navy saved the land:— Bonaparte cried out, " Your maritime laws ::re ty ranny;" but what he meant to say was, that this monument of our strength, and his weakness, had teemed Europe's being enslaved.—(Hear, Isear.)— lie then SSW that, to conquer England, he most at tack her marine, by piercing her commerce—this he attempted in two ways ; one was, to shut her out nom Continental interviurse by the force of his arms. The attack on her commerce was great ; it affected leer station exceedingly. This country, placed by I. store between the New and the Old Continents, and formed to be the mediuin of communication between both, now stood between two fires. On the one side Continental Europe was in a blase, from the force of • 1 his arms—and, on the ether, the New World, from the influence of his intrigues. Between both this country was ;Makin. but ;he maintained her ascen dancy. His ambition then led him to pierce the faitzets regions of Russia: in th icy progress for northern rapine and desolation,.he encountered Au stria and Prussia. They paused for a moment ;—at lentil a common sense of resistance to aggrandize :mut unized them for self-defence ; the name of Li gland was then cast into the scale, and Eiirope pas saved from spoliation. When the tide of for tune at leng; turned to its natural course, in retribu hution for the evils which had been inflicted, two of the coalesced Sovereigns:conquered the way to thr. capital Of their...direct enemy ; at the gates of his citfthey stood- the umpires of his fortunes, as they 1.4 d lowly Ikea the victims of his ambition ;—they Lae did an Wee Which in the eyes of prsterity will absolve Owns from whatever errors they elsewhere committed. In the noble generosity of their views, t: ey •t•) Men France,. liberty and life; to Bo naparte-, life - and'Elba. (Cheers.;) This was an act as hunourebk to them, as it was undeserved by the ob ject whom they sheltered. 'The one gave to France ruin and disaster, the other a King and Constitution, framed upon enlaiged t liberal, and unexcluding prin ciples—a form of charter well suited M England, hut no' deserved by France—one far diffe.rent from t!.at wnica her weak muddy philosophers, in the hey day of their greaten:. tried to balance in the flimsy ro..chine of their scanned invention--a better one than ever issued from the staring councils of their e:onornistr, Svh;ll 'they endeavoured to est'ablish that sysiein which ha 4 metbo,i , in its madness, and mad ness in its methlid, who in their political worship towed to the goddess of liberty, until their incanta. lions converted'her istto thatoildess of fury—who set taeir political machine in motion at one moment with Lie bleat;r of liberty, at another. with the stormof, anarchy, until its wheels at length took fi re from the force of their own veloeity.—(Ztud dueri)— — The events to whidh lie (Mr. gyration) had referred, at the walls of Paris, remodelled the tfagments of this in congruous system, and caused them to sutyside into a form of Government not dis.imitar to that of England. This system was now usurped. What was to be done? IVere they to listen to the revival of a new system, or ti any system from Bona/sine r Was . he who broke teTreaty of Fontainbleau, which gave him amnesty and station, to come forward and call upon them to :ibis:e 1 4 y the Treaty of Paris, which formed the very basis of his own ekelusivpn? Were they sane to talk of Nib. and listen to such a propositioo?—(Heir, hear); lirliat was the language he field t 5 his army ?—" We t t atatliiiii a throne by new cencptests. It is true I signed an abdication, but that was nothing without use consent of the people. Withoot this my conven tion was invalid." His Ministers and Court say the &Imes—they rr.echo this monstrous abandonment of rrinciple ; and yet. in the same breath, they call upon )ou to trust him !--Will - you take him now who has *inlatect the very principle of affiance, in preference to accepting*that, compact of five powers, whose faith is unerringly pledged ? What hesitation can there he as to• the come they ought to take ? Can they itqubt, armed as they are with every moral and poli tical engine at their disposal, of their power to beat &awn this system in Frame...to beat down an oppo neat. who is not fittn in his government, and who sand; wholly withOtlt claim or title fot his political maintenineet ? Ness ' Otity now Ito 'sai. that, wit • h Austria's immense 'force, and. R ussia's- incalculable ones-with Prussia's stren gth, and England's coun sels—with a forCe of 5 or. 600,000 men ready to take the .field at the onset, France could not resist the attack is-How could she do it ► Her population of 100 millions was now reduced to twenty-five, besides, she had lost her fascination—her spell was gone.— The career of Bonaparte had been developed to the nations of the Continent in its naked colours; his hand of enfranchisement was the grasp of slavery ; to every country that force of arms nr influence laid at his feet, he gave a worse government than the worst that ever previously cursed then: : his army, like the Roman legions under. Attila, carried devas tation and ruin in their train, and could now form no encampment in Europe except within the circle of their enemies. Of all external resources they were bereft. What were their internal ones ? In the first place, the leader of this stratocracy had no cavalry, at least nothing that hole the name of comparison in the scale ; secondly, he had no money; thirdly, no credit; and fourthly, no title--(Hear, hear.) At to the people, if they identified themselves with his cause, where were they when the Treaty of Paris was' signed ?—not upholding his rule, but parties to his deposition.—(lleor, hear.)—lt is impossible there can exist any such feeling for a man who imposed on France the stain of subjugation by a foreign yoke, the spoliation of her national wealth, the plunder of her money by contributions, and the annihilation of her children by conscriptions. Could they cordially attach themselves to tilt man who brought the enemy to the gates of their capital, and fled from.its defence ? He was estranger, selected by thearmy, and unknown' to the people. 'There was no community of interest, if there was, the safety •of Eur Ope required there should be a community of fate. Can it then be as serted, that removing a foreigner from the Throne of France would impose a foreign yoke on that country, Or that the object of the war was for the violation of 'her territory ? The Declaration cf the Allies was a document which ensured her integrity, and the Treaty bf Paris, in 1814, was a perfect ratifi..ation of its principle, and a security from the oppressions of a fo reigner. Are Frenchmen, he asked, so devoid of faith, so blind to their own interest, so neglectful of the solemn ossuranees they have already given, as to rise against the combined Powers of Europe, in order to support a stranger on their Throne ? Was it from pride that they would.act so ? and should the Allies, from delicacy to France, suffer her to ensure the eter nal damnation of a military despotism ? (Hear, /tear.) Gentlemen had asserted that the French nation were favourable to Bonaparte—in the sincerity of his heart he believed it to be no such thing—the sceptre was consigned to his hands by the mere act of the military : an examination of the entire process would manifest the truth of the position. Bonaparte landed in France with 1,100 met), his force on arriving at Grenoble' amounted to SOOO ; but at Lyons he Was hailed by the acclamations of au accumulating army, whose shouts nothing could equal but the reserved silence of the pet, ple. Every circumstance proclaimed it a military elec. tion—a complete triumph over a prostrate and de pressed nation, subdued even in sense—who. ex hausted by long-continucd struggles, and deterred by the imposing aspect of the military force, dare not rise in opposition to the man tlsey nitro abhor—and the same reasons which prevented the declaration of their sentiments against Bonaparte, will account Los their not rising in favour ot. the. Bourbons. Fear operated in both cases, and the result was, eonse quently, similar. The constittoion given by Bona parte has been the theme of panegyric, as the certain appearance of liberty to France. But how could it be expected that such a blessing should proceed from Bonaparte ? Liberty was 113 t a gift he in general be stosved, and as to the efficacy of the constitution, 80-. wane had already destroyed the directorial,. the consular, and that' founded on the. basis ef the Eng lish ; and, having destroyed Wee; could any person promise himself the issorance of a igurth,and that in conjunction with a set of men callenacObins ? (Hear.) Nor was the nature of this union the circumstance toast remarkable at preient, for there was a man who could bear no liberty joined with a party virtho could bear no Government. —( Luel alirlduse. )—He ( Mr. Grattan) had seen that constitution, in which no power was intrusted to the people ; but, Indepen dent of its professed principles, the meaner of intro ducing the constitution was the most deceitful that could be imagined. , It was to be received by sub scription, and above all, the nation were to swear against even the proposal of a Bourbon to the throne; rso that they are to give their oath against the Bour bons, and take his word for their public liberty.— There was no reason to believe that England was not able to cope with Bonaparte, notwithstanding his resources, -his army, his understanding, or his genius ; for the question was not now, whether we had a right to oppose him ? We are actually at war, in consequence of his breach of faith, in con ..equence of his having broken the Treaty of Fun taiahleau. This, however, was considered as no thing. " To be sure," said Bonaparte," I saved my life by means of it, but I am no further bound by it; the entire proceeding was invalid, as dons against my engagements with France; I can do nothing without the concurrence of the people—my Conseil tell me ro !" (Laughter and much applause.) —Mr. Grattan then took a view of the justice and policy of the war, and - contended that all the great war alliances which: had been made in Europe, went on the principle of preventing.the bad effects of the in ordinate ambition of some Sovereigns or the viola tion of 'Treaties by others. lie contended that we should go to war or keep up an armed peace, for it would tae most absurd to suppose that any Minister could think of disbanding his forces at the present crisis ; an armed peace then would be as expensive as a war, without having any of the good effects which the present war is liken to produce. Fer it would be utterly impoisible ever to earn any thing from Napo leon but by absolute force, that alone would have the effect of overpowering tie tyranny of a man who, with the inclination,•hael the ability to disturb the repose of Europe. War would have the effect of repressing the tyranny of k man who, by his false pr o mises - wished to enslave a fine •nation ; this man, who gave an apparent liberty to the press, whilst he threatened death to those who should *rite any thing against his system of government. A great deal had been said about his lioerality and justice in having abolished the Slave Trade, but. care Mould be taken that whits lit gave freedom to the ••,•• • • .• • Africani he did not enslive the .Europeans. (itear.) As to th e character not wish to say o i leon, he would only say a few words, he did otl. any thing coarse of him, btit he was one in whom very little confidence could be placed, for he was known not to keep scru pulously any treaty which was made with him. .11. man, as he was, stained with the blood of million‘ should be looked on with dread and horror, hut it very often happened that vice in moderation was des pised, . whilst gigantic cruelty and oppression con quered bur understandings, and by its unnatural ' Liars hid its real deformi t y. (H ea r, h ear .) Napo leon was a man who had something of theatrical pomp, and certainly was a great actor is the tragedy of European tyranny ; he Was formed for acquiring the government of a country but not for keeping it, his principles were violent, his talents great, hot mis guided and led away by the most uttgoieruable ambition. (Crier of Hear.) The conduct of Mr. Fox had been alluded to, as a statesman who did not wish to go to war with France. No dottht, Mr. fox WAS an abld statesman —one who, from his great knowledge of history, was almost a political prophet ; but the circumstance; of France, in Mr. Fox's time, were quite different from what they were now. At that time Napoleon had been recognized by the people as their ruler—at present by was an Usurper, seeking absolute dominion over them against their consent, and, in violation of the most solemn Treaty, seeking to establish a worse than Eastern. despotism, which threatened the repose of Europe despotism setting at defiance every moral and religious tie which be supposed capable of binding man. Under such circumstances as the present, Mr. Fox would not think of making peace, nor should the present Governmer! be more inclined to it. England, who had been the first to oppose that thirst for universal sway which governed Bonaparte's actions, and deluged Europe with blood England, who more than once had captured the int penal eagles, and snatched invincibility from the imperial standard, should not be the first in the re treat from that cause which she had successfully espoused lieretolore.—( Loud applause; f.r several gne. noler.)—No, she should continue in her glorious career, and by a timely exertion finish the work she had so bravely begun. The Honourable Isleinbet concluded by commenting on what had been s.t d to the subsidies which this country should pay to wards the war ; he said, though he knew that its re sources were not inexhanaible, yet the sum required was not so much to be looked to, as the object which it was likely to procure—a speedy and permanent peace.—(hear, hear.)—lf England acted that pie: which her situ &don required, she would be ever!. thing, it not, she would be nothing in the scale ot nations.— ( Hear, hear, hear.) Sir FRANCIS BURDETT said, lie rose miler great embarrassment, but he felt the necessity of. giving his vote in favour of the Amendment. He ,had listened with admiration to the appeal made•to the passions of the House, and could not be otherwise than struck with the great and brilliant powers dis played by th.! Right Hon. Gentleman who had just sat down; yet_ he was not certain in his own mind that many ot kis statements were not greatly exagge rated. Though he could not doubt the sincerity of the Right I+ n Gentleman, it appeared to him that he had not taken a fair view of• the real state of the question. He had not convinced him that there was an expediency in, or necessity for engaging in a war whivb seemed only to have for its object the restoring again to the throne of France, the family who had been lately proscribed. It was like saying to the French people, You shall have this person for your Sovereign, and no other." But without we had the power of conquering France, we had not the power of thus dictating her population. It was absurd to say that Bonaparte had been restored against the wishes of the people. He had been reinstated by the inclinations of a very great majority of that people, greater indeed than that by which any other man had ever .been received by a country. — He would, therefore, deny that it was by the mili tary alone that he had been restored. There was less proof that King William was received in this country by the unanimous voice of the people, than there was of such an unanimity in France with regard to the reception of Bonaparte. The indignation of our forefathers, and their successful resistance of the pre tensiont of the proscribed monarch James 11. and his family, should be recollected, when we attempted to impose a Sovereign upon another country. We car ried our indignation, indeed, to an unreasonable ex tent, by putting a price on the head of the Pretender ; but this most detestable principle had been revived by the Declaration issued at Vienna, which designated the French people as rebels, and the French Emperor as a fit subject for the dagger of an assassin. It was impossible to get rid of this declaration, it would poi son the whole proceedings of the Allies, and would not have in the eyes of Europe any other effect than that of holding up such a principle to their detestation. Respecting the character of the French Emperor, however, the Riglit Hon. Gentleman had stigmatised it, he had certainly been extremely lenient towards those of certain other great persons, who have ,hewn as little faith in their public proceedings, as it was possible for mortals to chew. They had broken their faith over and over again with this country. It was said that Bonaparte seized Spain, and establish. ed the worst of despotism. What had happened in Spain ? Good GOD We had engaged in treaties with her, which if not literally binding us to her free dom, leagued us with the Patriots. We took them by the hand, praised their valour, fought side. by side with them, for an object common to English and Spaniards, had all their resources at commando and they submitted to an English Commander. How. did we perform our engagement, such at least as they ought to have been ? We abandoned them, and even. gave money to the odious and contemptible tyrant 1 Ferdinand VII. to subvert the constitution, and he had persecuted the Patriots, one of whom was even denied refuge in an English fortress. Had not the Emperor of Russia entered into an alliance with Bo naparte, and seconded IA views against this country ? Had not the King of Prussia received from Bonaparte , that territory which belonged to the Sovereign of this Country ? In short, he need only ti' ask where any proof was to be found of the liberal system and good faith of these Governments, with whom we were in alliance. But it now seemed that it was too late to deliberate ; and that we were actually at "war.— He therefore wished to call the attention of the House to the many offences committed by these Allied So. tereigni,mbielt ought not !o be blurred over, because t • _ . they would not bear. the test Pf inquiry. The div Aim; of Poland, in 1792, was II memorable .!monk • Of their injustice; acid , loaded with its . spoils and 45 blood, they marched to play the same gain*, over again in Prance, which they would have crone if they had had the power: They were now tryilg to do the sink thing, but, as it appeared, with much less per than they had then. o , ving to die tnthusiasrn of the French people, their united efforts. were defeated,. al though the French Itsd lesi arms, less trwnry, and fewer men than they have now. 'll%n Prince kva vlbs.:quently deprive,' of the convests the had gained, was in consequence eatirsly of physic.' circumstance , — Bonaparte was overturned fin4lly by the I; reaches of treaties with chow Powers wi h tvhcrn we were it alliance, but . selfcli they avf,lci not have .kept any longer than sui ed theti Purpose. Thus, then, it was absurd to u a :e the breach of a treaty by NA. Nicola Bonaparte the c use cf a war with lorn.--- Bzsides, the bre Ich ot tread-s wa, crlor.prices with Ole %try name of the Lo.irho:is and Le could no t bast rant With sorrow, that the peace made with Bo naparte, the peace of Amiens, seat not lroken by hint. We agreed to give up Malta, aed we did not give it Ur; till Bonaparte agreed that we should keli it for some years, and we might have kept, it for ever. Bonaparte had been accused of sanctioning murder ; but were nut the French Ambassadors atro ciously murdered when drip •1 out film: kastadt by . Austria, though they were urido- the pr..tection of hit power. Hz o:tly mentioned th:s t > sheer that we could not attribute to Bon spite c , rues which had not been committed by the Allies. By A t :011th% to set up Louis XVI. in opposition VI the people who had deposed him, we bad ci.Si that unfortunate Monarch his head, and had compelled France to become a great Military Nation. ( tleareasear, how.) ;laving, however, by good fortune, and an unes. coincidence ot ciicuosstances, reduced France to her forma limits, the Allied Powers were not con tent to leave her in this condition, but wete aim. luta) , pursuing the same arnbitioul system which they , had opposed in her conduct; handing over millityns of people from one master to another, and calling this the deliverance ot Europe. He then repeated the cessions that had been ordained by the Congress at Vienna, and stigmatized their regulations as at tempts to obliterate liberty from the face ot the world. Wherever these retulatio.is had been made; Bonaparte, he contended, would find friends and Allies. He would fi,.d them in Saxony, in Poland, in Holland, in Sicily, in Genoa, and in I.aly 1 He would find their. in every quarter where the Allies had violated the faith ot Treaties. He would not pretend to be a prophet, but he would say, that suc cess or no success, an incalculable burthea would be entailed on this country. Sir Francis thzn proceeded to repeat all his former invectives against the S ive reigns of the Continent ; and concluded by 0b , ...rv. Lig, that as it was a principle which admitted cf no modification, that every people had a .right to c!tense their own form of government, and as we were 'n delarottring to oppose this right, it was impossible, under suede circumstances, that ti:c war conl,t be either just or necessary, and th..refore he shutld vutt. against the motion. Mr. LAW imagined that the Honourable Baronet had referred to an 7 journals but those of the Hour, and had argued from any principles but those recog. nisnl by the legislature on so many occasions. Ilc could not cmicuive at what period it was that enemy dated his triun.phi in itegaciation, because the merits of every negociazion could at last only by judged of by a successiAn of evens : boy lookin'y at the future errurse.of ev.ents, as far as it was permitted for us to see, he thought we might reasonably and naturally entertain the hope that so great a course of success as had lately accused, had not occurred in vain. He could not but hope, that looking at all t tat was admitted by the Noble Lo. d, (apparently without the suspici )n that it was connected with doubtful questions) was matter indeed of evidence highly imp .rtant. It was important not only that the question connected with so ma ay interests, and deserving of being placed in s z m any views, should meet with a full, solemn, att.i grave discussion, and he therefore hoped that the House, fully aware of its important duties, would proceed to a decision on the present question. . Mr.W.W MINE argued at considerable length, that the past history of Bonaparte fully proved him to be incompetent to any thing like the spirit of an honour• able engagement; the conduct ol his government after the Treaty of Amiens, the usurpation of the Spanish Crown, the attempt to subdue that mootrehy, all were overt acts, and preliminary proofs of the Mis chief he intended. He was not easily to'be taught, after so much experience, that what was called moo derate terms, were terms at all reconcileable with any principles of prudence, much I:ss with any terms that were alike due to France and to the rest of Europe. Mr. PONSONBY could not bring his mind to agree to the sy.tem of policy which the Minister and his Right Hon. Fiend (Mr. Grattan) recommended to the House. It Ministers had relied upon their own *powers, he thought that he should have been able to . answer the Noble. Lrrd, .but he must own chit he found it almost impossible for him to stand before the eloquence of his Right Honourable Friend. The question beforc.the House appeared to him to be, whether they were to sanction by their votes the sti. pulations of the Treaty of Vienna ? The Noble Lord now said, that we had been in a state of war for a considerable time. He, hoWever, appeared to have made that discovery very lately, for In answer to a question put by himself, he had distinctly stated that we were not at war. At the time tLit hip Lordship moved the Address, he told the House that he did not pledge them to war, but only to a star: of preparatien He had now, however, discovered and informed the House, that they had been for a long time is a state of war. If the House were to vote the present Ad dress, it appeared to him that they would he precluded from afterwards objecting to tip^ stipulations of the Congress. Was the House then prepared to vote for the arrangements about Saxony and Genoa, and per h ips for giving up Poland to the Emperor of Russia He would freely adobit that the violation of the trea ties of Paris and Fontainbleau gave this country ; just right of war, if war was expedient. As to the personal character of Bonaparte, - however, he thought that that was not a sufficient ground of war. Aucrto had compromised her first war with him, by swat•! loi up Venice, the most ancient Republic so Ea. 11 50. lowing up Venice, toe most ancient zucputpui; us Jcm . use rope, as an exchange tot the Low Countries, wbic - - - .- -