Star. — London, England, 1802-01-20 00:00:00

FROM THE DUTCH MAILS. Viemn a, Dec. 26.—1 t is here intended to levy -sew taxes on the feveral branches of luxury : in particular on precious (tones, liars, linens, foreign wines, fngar, coffee, cocoa, on fervants, horfes for pleafure,playing-eards, It is reported that the Auffrian ter:itory is now to be extended to the Adda, and for which, in return, Tome bifhopricks on the Blvarian bounda ries are deftined for the Grand Duke of Tufcany. The Archduke Charles has lately received dif patches from the Governor of Alt-Orfowa, which remove all doubts refpening the prefent fituation of the rebel Patfwan Oglou. Having, on his offers of fubmiffidn, received only an i:definite anfwer from the Sublime Porte, and fince he had good reafon to apprehend that the Porte, inffead of in •etting him with the greatly abufed authority Of a Pacha, will rather prefer to *tort. him, on the new year, with a fuperioi cir force, he has fent to the Governor of Nt-Orfowa to know, if he, with his property, could expc!t a fate efcort and nception in the Auffrian States The Arcl•doke CHARLEs fcnt back the following anfwr• with the eilafette, which brought the dif- patches to faid Governor:— - •t As Pafiwan Oglou is in open rebellion againft his lawful Sovereign, fo can neither he nor his ef fees be permitted to pafs or to be received in the Auarian territory, without violating the duties of a good neighbour. But ihould he, neverthelefs, prefume to enter the Imperial territories, he will be repulfed by force of arms.". Biz'', Di c. 2o.—Betides Citizen Sulzer, there are alfo taken into cullody the Citizens Keller of Obringen, and Gotz of Tachfen, both Captains; and they are to be tried before the Cantonial tri bunal, the General Accufer having already orders to profecute them. An idea may be formed of their confpiracy from the Proclamation which they circulated in the diaries of Barken and Andelin. gcn. The fubtlance of it was as follows: • Liberty ! Equality! Tafdien, Dee. "The valiant warden of the Arrondlifonent of Andelfingen and of Wlathenkor to Ckisen Chairman of all the Manben of the Coofiltutional Central Government. " Our foldiers have formed an union to redeem 1 , their country. We are armed again(' that traitor and again(' all thole who have fo meanly favoured that bare &Ilion. We have declared war in rapport of the lawful Central Government, of virtue, religion, and property. This I attelt in the name of every one. (Signed) " Su czalt, Captain of the Corps." Under this was written : " Winthertbur, Dec.,. " Your troops will march hither wards this morn ing at eight o'clock. You will caufe the above to be read to your Commons, and fuller as many mi litary men to pars as come out of the city." NAGUI 9 J aw. to.— Since the fi gning of the Pre. Endemics of Peace, and particularly within there few weeks, the greateft difpatch has been employ ed in the national arfenal, for re-calling old and caning new pieces of ordnance. It is alferted here, that RuffLi is to become fe eurity for the new political arrangements about to be adopted by the European potentates, and that this is the objea at prefent negociating between that country and Prance. An armed guarantee will be particularly dained tom Attain the States of the North. The wounded Ruffians, who were left in our hofpitels, are now to be tranfported to Cologne, from whence, after joining thole from France, they are to proceed homewards. Rorraansu, JAN. ra.—ln confe..:znee of the frog, which is now fet in, a for-.I itop is put to all navigation. The Maefe preterit impartable. PARLIAMENTARY PROCEEDINGS. HOUSE OF LORDS, TUESDAY, JAN. re. The Earl of PORTSMOUTH took his feat. Lord PELHAM entered the Houfe, which, loon after, he moved—fhould adjourn till Wednefday the 3d of February. On the queflion being pat, The Earl of CAILLISLI rote, and Paid, that a confiderable degree of anxiety prevailed with refped to the conks of thefe repeated (hort adjourn ments of Parliament, for which he conceived it incumbent, now, at lean, on Minifters to align their reafons. He was aware of the various re ports which prevailed, as to the probable motives of Minifters for adopting fuch a line of proceed ing ; but thefe he did not think proper then to ad. vert to, but he felt himfelf called upon to fay, that Tome explanation on the part of M in ifters was re eluifite, not only for the fatistadion of that Honk, but to remove that anxiety and uneafinefs which muh naturally aired the Public, on feting Parlia ment at the ufual Chrinmas reed's, adjourned in a way that might be contidered in Tome degree as ♦Li is pinc. In another, and, perhaps, more important point of view,was Tome explanation alfo required from his Majeer's Minifters. His Lord fhip principally adverted to the failing of the French Fleet to the Weil Indies. It was then more than a month, that a French Fleet of more than Sixteen Sail of the Line was known to have failed from Bra, and confidently believed to the Well Indies, and with a confiderahk number of Troops on board : this more than ;loth* was for a legitimate obje.% and fads he hoped it to be ; it was fail to be for the regulation of certain coo. terns and affairs in their own !hands and domi nions in the Well Indies; and, as fuch, if fnecefs frd, might probobly be attended with benefitial tookquenees to our own poffelfipns in thee quar ter ; but hill, he thought fomeawnimoniciltion or explanation was neceary on die part of Iffinificrs on furl an oecafion : nor was this all, his Lord fhip °blared in the prelent Mate of affairs, refoca irw ethic,' the amid,' of thblic mind rerisfiied to be relieved. He uhr u to the exiting cir esimilances of this Country with yelped to Spun; there was, as he ensseihred, no official document . ru determinate tetlimoslal before Parliament which .I , orlv evinced that we *night out he yet in' a date headily With that PolVer, anti yet itwas itochtra that not only a Squadron of five Spanifh I..ine of Battle Ships failed with the Trench force from and under convoy of the French Flag, but that a confiderable Spauifh force, nine Ships of the Line were now colleded at avannah, mak ing, as his Lordfhip (by miftake) (aid, an aggre gate of thirteen Ships of the Line in that quarter, and belonging to a Power, which, for ought they knew, might Hill be an enemy. Thefe proceed ings taking place during an interval, which, with a reference to the prefent date of Negotiation, might only be regarded as a truce, called, he thought, for explanation on the part of Minifters. He hoped, and doubted not, that Minifters had adopted precautions adequate to thefe pol Thole emergencies, and for the fecurity of our valuable Weil. India poffeilions, though his Lordthip ob ferved, that he heard of no force being difpatched to that quarter, but four fail of the line under Admiral Duckworth, from the Cadiz anion. In Ihort, in the prefent circumllances of the Country, as well as with rt.itied to the late repeated fhort adjournments of Parliament, he thought Tome ex planation was called for on the part of Minifters. Lord Pst,xaM rote in confequence of what had fallen from the Noble Earl, The Noble Secre tary of State feemed to deprecate fuch a mode of queftioning Miniftcrs, and on points obvioufly ofi the greate ft delicacy and importance—fuch a mode of proceeding would, if tfireCtly produftive of its ends, go to render the proceedings of Parliament the earlieft vehicles of information on fuch points to the PubliL which, independent of the Irre gularity of fuc h: a channel, the garbled and im peded way in which they fometimes were given, was not the moft corral or unexceptionable mode. The Noble Secretary feemed to fay, that much of what fell from the Noble Earl was clearly irrele vant to any thing which, in the prefent fi tuation of affairs, could regularly be before Parliament ; and, on this ground, he would appeal to the Houfe, as to the obvious impropriety of anfwering fo far the obfervations of the Noble Earl. With refpeft to what the latter had faid relative to the failing of a French force to the Weft Indies, he had to ob ferve, that Minifters were duly aware of that cir cumftance and that they had reafon to think the objects of ;he French in difpatching that armament were of a legitimate nature, and not only that, but they thought the interefts dour poffeffions in that quarter requited that the Expedition fhould be at tended with fuccefs. At the fame time, blini ft ers had taken fuch precautionary Reps outl;e occafiou as to them feemed politic and proper. With re fped to the motives of Milliliters in propofing fuch fhort adjournments of Parliament, adequate grounds certainly did exift for inducing Minifters to ad in fuch a manner, as that the fenfe of the Legiflature might fpeedily be recurred to; but thefe caufes no lonpr exifted, or at leaft in fuch force as to render it neceffary on the part of Ad miniftration to detail them to the Houfe. The Queftion was then put, and their Lordfhips adjourned witil Weduefday the 3d of February. HOUSE OP COMMONS. _ ...... --- The Hon& having met puri'uant to adjournment, and Mr . Spetker having taken the Chair at four o'clock, Mr. Farquhar took the oaths and his ;cat for Aberdeen, Ike. An °dicer from the War Department prefented at the Bar, purfuant to onlcr, an eftimate of exp:mccs of calling Out a* embodying the Arsiith in ant.—Ordered to lie up the Taldr.. ADJOURNMENT. The CHANCr u.os. of the Exuma:Ea Paid, that at the !aft meeting of the Houfe he had expreffed a doubt whether he would not have been juftified in moving an adjournment to the time originally intended for the clofe of the reeds, The reafons - hich had induced him to adopt the courfe he had previonfly purfued no longer exifted in their fcrce, but the more ferioufly he confidered the fubjea, the snore did he fee reafon to think, that in agreeing to the laft fhort adjournment the Houle ailed with their accullomed wifdom and prudence. He was now happy in being enabled to flue, that the caufes to which he had then alluded were com pletely removed. He had, however, to notice, with confiderable anxiety, that an expeCtation had been excited of an explanation from him on the fubjea at the prefent meeting. Nothing, lie was Pure, which had ever fallen from him could at all juftify fuch an ezpeaation, and he trufted that the difappointment arifing from an unfounded ru mous would be prodnative of no difadvantageous act's. Silence is matters of great national con , cern, and of fo important and delicate a nature, did not, by any means, neceffarily fuppofe any with for concealment. The Houle and the public were aware that there were many fubjeas which I could not, with propriety, be difelofed, unlefs fuch a difclofure was caUed for by imperious ne ceffity ; and aging on this principle, the Houfe had, in Many cafes, abflained from preffing for in formation, however dcfirable. Thus far he had judged it expedient to explain the conduft which he was determined to purfue to prevent mifcon cepion : but as to tbs fubjea itfelf, he did not thank any Parliamentary explanation necefary, and too little could not be Paid upon it. He therefore moved, that the Houfe fhould, at its riling, adjourn to Tuefday the td of February. It was lomewhat later than he had propofed at;the former meeting of the I but he hoped no inconvenience could refult from the alteration. The motion being put from the Chair, Mr. ELLIOTT rote to esprefs hi; furprize at the motion of the Right Hon. Gentleman for adjourn ing the Houle to lo dißant a day as the ;d of Fe bruary, without deigning any communication to the /ionic upon :hofe important fubjeas now pend ing, which could not be contemplated withoutex. citing the utmo:l folicitude and ftrious alarm in the public mind. If the Right Hon. Gentleman judged it inexpedient to make to the Honfe any communication relative to the pending negocia tion fur peace, that was another fubjat which could not fail to excite alarm in the mind of every nom anxious fur the maritime fuperiority and co- lott1;i1 poll - atolls of this country in the Weft-Indies. There was no man who contemplated, thole great national ajcils, who could contemplate without alarm the formidable force lent out by the enemy to that quarter of thr a force unparalleled there in any, ',Arty uor 'annals. He was ss Wing to give his Mishirs Mi t aifters crtry 4u: degree 1 of credit fur exerting a proper degree of vigilance on this occation, and for having afted in every manner as they thought necelfary. But W it was argued that the (late of the French Weft-India Hands required a ftrong militaty force to reduce them to order, it could not furely be argued that it was necelfary to accompany that military force by a naval armament (till more formidable. It never could be argued that do. maritime ilrength of the Blacks in ilte French Welt-Indies was fuch as to require a fleet of twenty-five or thirty fail of the line for its Subjeaion. k i lf he could not fuppofe fuch a force neceffary for any proper purpofe, he could as little fuppofe that his Maiefty's Minitters had omitted attending oldie ncetilltry communi cations on the fubjeft. But if fuel, a force was fens without their knowledge and concurrence, during the negociation of a definitive treaty of peace, he could not hefitate to fay the French Government afted with duplicity, and *tuft have had defigns obvioufly hogile. If his Majefty's Minitters, by negleding the neceffary tlioulations on the preli minary treaty, hadleft Fr. nee at liberty to adopt fuch a flep, and France fhould now be inclined to break off the treaty and to renew holilities, his Mijefty's Minifters mutt have molt culpably failed in the vigilance it was their duty to have exerted, if , they had omitted the preparations 'weary to coun- I teraft any hoftile projeas of France in that quarter of the world. Suppose that any difference fhould arife in the pending negotiation upon any point in difcuffion, even of the greateft importance to die in melts of this country, (and it was.by no means un reafonable to In ppofe fuch a difference p o ffible, ) how would the Noble Lord entrufted with that nego ciation on the part of England be fupported in pretling fuch a point with firmnefs ? With what influence could Lord Cornwallis urge any argu ment againft the demands of ! ranee on Inch a point, for inftance, as the divifiOn of the Gnianas, at a moment when France has been permitted to eftablith fo formidable and fuperior a force in the Weft Indies ? If hoftilities ihould be re-com menced, France would now be found to have efta bliffied fuch a degree of force in that quarter of the globe as to oblige this country to meet it there by adequate itrength ; and if fo, he fhould be glad to Mk, where was the triumph of thole Gentlemen who boalled fo much of the cheapnefs of peace ? France by this ftroke had gained all the had before wifhed or afferted—the freedom of the teas, and the jundion of a great maritime force in that quarter of the world mot formi dable to England, where the would he enabled, fhould !madams recommence, to ftrike a blow molt fatal to our interefts. Such was the flota tion of this country at the day upon which the Right Honourable Gendernau deemed all com munication unneceffary. He was not, however, without the thong& reliance, that, thould the defigns of the enemy be really hoftile, he would be ultimately defeated. Such, however, was the charafter of the enemy with whom we had to cope, that it was th.: duty of his Majefty's Mini tiers to be unceatiugly vigilant to meafure our emergencies, in ordcr to ..dapt to them an adequate force. Our emergencies at the preterit critic were indeed preffing ; we had to deal with an enemy who was ,all vigilance, all defign, all energy, all adivity. We could not repofe with fafety for a moment, nor leave open a crevice into which the enemy would not endeayour to iminnate himfelf. His obvious purpofe was univerfal d on . inion, and in purfuit of this we had the molt a v :ou 5 proofs he would tote no opportunity to avail himfelf of ftrength or aratagem. No caution, therefore, was too great, nqr any vigilance too pointed towards Inch an antagonift •• nor could he think it was ex peeing too much from his Majefty's Minillers, that Come communication would have been made this day on a topic which, in the prefent ftate of af fairs, had excited fo much of ferions and alarm ing apprehenfion in the public mind. Lord HAWICESBUItY, though he wifhed at all times to pay refpeh to what:ver opinion might fall from the Honourable Gentleman,yet he mull regret that his fpecch, jult delivered, did not ap pear entitled to his ufual ellimation. It was a fpeech of war, and not of peace • it was a fpeech, not of censure to his Majelly's knitters for any error in the terms of negociation that might im pede or prevent the conclufion of a peace, but it was a fpeech rather expreffive of a with that the preliminaries thould fa il altogether, and therefore he did not think the queftion put by the Honour. able Gentleman entitled to much notice, as the whole of his fpeech was direftly in oppofition to the fentiment which had been repeatedly declared the fence of that Houfe, namely. the Ipeedy efts blifliment of a peace with France on honourable, advantageous, and tatting grounds. The Honour. able Gentleman refitted that fentiment, and the condua of the French Government continued to be marked by new fymptoms of hoftility. This he denied, and declared that if any fuch fymp toms had really been obvious, it would have been the determination, as it would have been the duty of his Majefty's knitters, to have met fuch fymptoms by firm refiftance. But if France had difpofed of a Confiderable (hare of her public force in fending them to the Weft Indies pending the definitive treaty; was it to be forgotten that this country had alto difpofed of a very principal &are of her public force by removing them from Egypt home, and thus increafed con fi derably her own means f defeoce in the event of failure to that treaty ? But if in the condua of the French Government fending loch a force to the Welt In dies there excited no obvious fymptom of holtility to England, either by' fending a ftrength greatly dif proportioned to the grilling neoeffity, or by any all which could fairly warrant fuch a conclitfion, he begged leave to faj it was not fairly tior libe rally drawn. He would go further, and fib that notwithftanding the negligence imputed to his Majefty's Minitters on this occafion, a communi• cation seas had with the French Government upon the fubjea ; what that communication was he hoped it was not expefted he thonld now be called to 'late. But if any thtvg hoftile had really appeared to exill on the part of France, he hoped the Houfe and the Country would give his Ma jefty's Minillers credit for having' eierted every occeflary degree of vigilance, and having bein amply prepared for fach a refl.& The Honour. able Gentleman had expreffed his fufpictons that a proper degree of force was not dispatched fut the Welt Indies, to be ready for any emergency that might occur in that quarter. But how did the Honourable Gentleman know what reps his Majelly's Minitkers had adopted in that quarter, or how many, or what (hips might be fent thither, or from whence difpatched ? The Honourable Gentleman too expretTed his unwil;ingnefs to cen cure Milliners on this ground without proof. He (hould at lean, theretore, have waited the proof before he pronounced the centime. The Honour able Gentleman ailed too with what degree of firmnefs Lord Cornwallis would now maintain any point of importance to England in the pei:d. ing negociation, it refitted on the part of the French Government ? But he would anfwer, that he knew no event to have occurred fince the com mencement of the treaty that would prevent Lord Cornwallis from ufing a language as bold, and tone as firm at this moment upon any point in 1- difeitilion on the part of Great Britain, any more than if no fuch occurrence had taken place.— Maintaining, therefore, the opinion he had already exprefred of the Honourable Member's fpeech, he did not think it entitled to the communication it claimed. Dr. LAWRENCE profefred himfelf by no means fatisfied with the explanation given by the Noble Lord, and could not help confidering the language which he had employed extremely ttrange, when he ailtrted, that an Honourable Member who had spoken before him was not entitled to the fame de gree of attention, becatrfe on the fubjea of the peace his fentiments happened to differ from thofe which Minifters entertained. This was indeed ex traordinary language in the mouth of any Mini fter, that trecanfe a Member of the Houfe was not of the fame opinion with himfelf, his fentiments were to he in a great meafure difregarded, or at leaft treated with comparative levity. He had, on a former occafion, expreffed his own opinion of the peace, and he wished to GOD that he now raw any reafon to rctraa what he had then laid of the perilous fituation in which it placed the country ; but he had to regret, thtit to him every danger Teemed to be encreafed in a ten-fold degree. Was his opinion on this account to be treated with ne. &lea ? He could not difcover any reafon to juflify fuels a mode of confidering the importance of the opinions which Members thought it their duty to deliver in the lioufe; but having Lid fo much, he had farther to ()Verve, that the Noble Lord had wholly mifreprefented what the Honourable Gen tleman had advanced in his fpcech. So far was he from affirming that the French would take this op. portunity of renewing hoftilities, that he had af. !cried in the molt direa terms they would be anxi ous to isvoid all appearance of hoftilities till they had completed the fettlement of their colonies.— Equally erroneous was what the Noble Lord had fuppofed, that the Honourable Member viewed a change of the diftribution of force, while a Defini tive Treaty was pending, a s evidence of hoftility. Such a manftrous propofition as this had never been laid down by the Honourable Member in the courfe of the obfervations he had offered to the Houle. No one would pretend to deny that im portant changes might take place in the diftribn. tion of the force of the refpeaive nations while a negocintion for peace was at ifrue, but it would at the fame time be allowed, that whatever altered the fituation of the one power ? ought to be viewed by the other with jealoufy, and provided againft with cautba. This was precifely the principle which the Honourable Member had laid down, and which clearly applied to the change produced in the fitu ation of France by the failing of the French fleet. A formidable force had left the ports of France for the Weft Indies, and the queffion naturally came to be, whether fuch an immenfe force was at all neceirary to accomplifh the purpofe for which the expedition had oftenfibly been prepared ? For himferf, he molt confcientioufly believed that it was not neceffary, and all the information he had been able to collet% on the ruble& confirmed the juftnefs of this opinion. In his communications with the mother country, Tnuffaint did not pretend to deny the dependency of the colony; his Aide-du-camps addrefred the Agents of the French Republic in America in Inch a manner as evinced their depen dence, and dependence had been acknowledged in cafes which were decided in the Admiralty Courts of this country. In this view of the fubjea it was impoifible to believe that fuch a force was at all necetrary for the purpofe of enforcing the obedience of the Blacks in St. Domingo to the authority of the mother country. He would not indeed pretend to deny that the French Government might be de. firous of placing the depehdence of the colony on a fccurer footing. But aiimitting this, could any one ferioufly believe,or gravely affirm,tbat twentr fix fail of the line were nece ff ary to effea thi s ob. jea ? The thing was impoffible. It might be faid, indeed, that France was much in the habit of con. veyiug troops in Oaips of the line, and this was cer tainly true to a certain degree, but could not be confidered in the prefent inflame as any reafon for employing fo very formidable an armament. The Honourable and Learned Gentleman, after Mu* [hating a little this idea, made force pointed re marks on the danger to which our Welt India poff. feffions were expoled, fuppofing the intentions of the French to be holtile. He particularly alluded to the cafe of Jamaica, and after noticing the di. vifion of the Spanifh and French forces, the former being defined to Cuba and the latter to St. Do mingo, he expreffed his fears that if they had any 4ftile views, the fettlement might be wrefted from us before a Br;tifh fleet could arrive to difconcert their defigns. But admitting that a fleet could protect the fafety of Jamaica. , againft any fudden attack from St. Domingo, he proceeded to afle, what would be the effea of two fleets in oppofite Rations watching each others motions with a spirit of fitfpicion and judo* f—The effea would be what it had been found to be in all fimilar cafes; it would fpeedtly lead to a renewal of hoftilitiss. But id contemplating the confequences of filch a diftribution of our naval force, and confidering it merely as a burden, he begged to know, whether we ought not to prt:tvd, againfi any danger to which the ragtag of the Wrench. asenatnent would