Star. — London, England, 1801-03-26 00:00:00

he ;1,• I fsred that the War has been Iliad:Sul if they , :ire convinced that the fyftem pnrfucd by the old aiinifters has been beneficial, and that the new ones vrofeffing to at on the fame principles are entitled o c onfidence, they will of confequence feel it their duty to accede to the prefent Motion: But if, on the contrary, they think that the War ha: been i m politic in its ccmditel and difaftrous in its con• aqucnces—that the Country, inftead of being in a hate of profpci ity, is now labouring tinder the extremity of dill:els—that the fyftem purfued by t h e n!d knitters, :Ltd to he adopted by the new, naiverfire of all that i s venerable in the Britilh c,•:::tittitiun, they v ill this night rennunce a f)1 ten; of blind confidence, and accede to a Motion , v.! arc ()Neat is Conftitutional Inquiry. ;'he Right lion. Hs Nita Dv an tr —a Sir, the I.!anourable Gentleman, who jute fat down, Las !istted a variety of ciretunftances upon which he' thinks this Houfc ought to enter into an enquiry. '-ii s, he conceives, that the conduel oldie war Irani its commencement—the meafures purfued by !•'s Majeftv's government in Ireland—the late ,l; ;age of 'Adminiftration, together with various a:lier topics, are all of them fuffiCient grounds for I , :a aniry. My motive for riling at this early part the debate is to anfwer the call he has made a aon me, when alluding to the conduft of the late Adminiftration, with regard to the war. lam obliged to him for that call : I Rated 011 former occafions that Iliad no °Nation to have the whole .+f this war conlidered in a detailed point of view, in order that it might be feen what our real Ate adfes were, and how great they were when com pared to the fuccelfes of other wars. I feel no de-1 gree of anxiety with regard to the number of to s introduced by the Honourable Gentleman : the greater part of them will be difeuffed by others before the conclution of this debate, and therefore I !ball confine myli:lf to the fpecific charge that has been made againft myfelf, fo far as I have been concerned in conducing this war. I will Ihewl what was the invariable principle which this coon try always acted upon in every war in which the has happened to be engaged. Whether that principle has been oblerved in the prefent war, and whether the Hon. Gentleman ought to apply to it the epi thets difgraceful and difaftrous? In the firft place, Sir, I thalllay this down as agcneral principle—that thiscounrry will always err in every war the may be engaged i ii, if fhe doe snot c teat her earlieft attention in deftroying the colonial and commercial fyftem of the enemy ; I mean the maritime ftrength of the enemy. This country can never carry on a war with efficacy againft an enemy if our firft attack is notdired:d agamfttheir commerce and navigation, which coaftitutt the ftrength and refources of that enemy. if we deprive the enemy of thefe refources, we difyalify them from pui ruing the means of carryins on an offenfive war aga Mil us. No man can entertain any doubt as to the truth of this princi ple. No man will doubt but that it is as efficaci• mil to deltroy twit refources, as it would be for one of our Generals to deftroy the enemy's maga. nines of floret and ammunition. No war can be concluded with propriety, or fuecefs, milers the diftant colonial poifellions of the enemy are not firft feiaed upon. Now laying dawn there principles as a balls, I Shall Rate how fat they apply to the con duet of the prefent war; and biiefly run over its progrefs in each facceftive year. The war began in the month of February, 1793. In the courfe of that year we took Tobago, and other poliet lions belonging to the French in the Weft Indies, together with the fleet at Toalon in the year 1794, 1 the Minds of Martinique and Cornea ' eec. were taken ; in 1795, we got poffeffion of Malacca, Trin comale, together with a confiderable part of Cey lon, and the Cape of Good Hope; in 1796 the French lettlements in the island of Madagalear were dAroyed, we alto have got peffeffion of Trinidad, Minorca, Pondicherry, Curacoa, Surinam, and fcveral other colonial poffellions belonging to the enemy. There has not been any one ad of this War, to which the principles I have Already laid down do not apply. As I hare mentioned cam fucceffes in this war, it is tight that I Should Slate our fai lures: and I am ready to admit, that we have made unfuecefaful attempts on Ferrol, and on Cadiz. Our attempt on Holland was not indeed attended with as Much fuccefs as had been expeet ad ; but we gained confiderable fuccefs in that ex pedition (a cry of bear ! bear!) The Gentlemen of the Opportoon Bench may cry out bear! if they pleafe, but they ought to recoiled, that what I fay now I alerted before in this Houle, when the fubjet of the Dutch Expedition was difeuffed ; when complete fatisfaltion was given to the Houfe with regard to its fuecefs. 1 Slated that it had three objelts in view, and two of thefeobjeds were fucceAful. The first °bled in undertaking that Expedition was, to caufe :t di verfion of the enemy's force, which was then either collated upon the Rhine or about to be fent thither; the next was, to afford affiftance and fupport to our ancient Allies the Dutch. fo as to enable them to (hake off the yoke of France k and the third object was, to take away the Dutch fleet, and thus prevent it from being the means of our dettatth!on in the hands of an hoftile and inveterate enemy. • In the first and laft of there objects I maintain we have been campletely fuccefsful. With milled to the failure of the Second, I believe this Houte has already t,ive n it as their opinion, that it could not be int al:table to Miaillets. If Sir Ralph Aberctemby td mado good his landing in Holland at the time was intended he Should, he would have reached :.rniterdam before any effedive force could have ken brought againft him by the French; but it %...s not owing to Minifters that that had not hap. lancd. The armament under his command had in proper time to accamplith every rairpofc, hnt it is well known that as Coon as it got out to fea. it wasatailed by a violent liorm. which caufed it to be beaten about the comas of Holland. fo as to give t i l: ;t e h ae at in m y e n a o n tc s i t e where hev he i had wl. i .n on i e ng ile toad and toed cnne l a n l ; eon fiderabl e force near that part of the emill• Yet *fl ee all this. the armament effeeted its landing, and we were able to take ten ails, of the line and tlaiteen frigates; which, if they were not then • taken, would now folio a part of that armed Con - taleracy that is firmed agouti ns in the North of i etelae• It Inelb appear. therefore. as I bar" (hewn on a former ace:a - ion, that iri two off' its Objeets, namely, in the diversion of the enemy's force, and the capture of the fltips, the expedition :o Holland was fuccefsful ; and that nu WilaoM could have prevented the ill fticcefs of the other ()Neff. With regard to the unlitc ce f.f u l at tac k againft F e rrol, when thatiubje& was lately dM:tiff):d in this Houk, it clearly appeared that no blame could attach upon his Majefty's Minißers ; therefore, I will not enter upon a ful ). lca on which :he Houle, after a full hearing, has fi) recently given its opinion. But the great charge of mil condua which the Honourable Gentleman brings forward against Adminiflratian, is that of the manner in which the force which returned (tom Holland was afterwards difpofed of. I think this charge is perfealy capable of being anfwered and when I Rate the &els as they happened, I trait it will appear, that Mi n in ers w ill, i n t hi s inn:ince, be wholly free from blame. Gen:!:inen will month that the Army returned from liol land in the month of Novtmher 1799, before that armament failed to Holland, the nature of the ex- I pedition left no room for delay : it was abUtuely neceffary that aid Ihould be given to the po.a ple of Holland is fpeedily as poilible ; and there-, fore the troops were fent off in a hurry without ' the neceffary requitites or preparation ; the men and the officers hardly kn ew e a c h er ; there was neither that experience or &kit:line Qmang ! them which an army going on a foreign expedt- 1 Lion ought to polfeA ; lo that when they came back ! from Holland, they wanted every thing that was! neceffary to render them fit fin. adive fervice. It is well known that from the time of the arrival of I the troops Lima the middle of March the weather continued to be remarkably fevere. Every officer of experience laid it down that it would be highly improper to fend thefe troops on any further fer vice until they were properly and regularly train ed under their new Officers : end during a cold and fevere winter it was imputlible for them to carry on their exercife with any regularity as a body of men in the field. In the month of Fe bruary his M..jefiy was advifed by his Cabinet Mi. nifters to fend a body of zo,ooo troops to the Me diterranean, to co-operate with our Allies in that quarter. After his Majeßy had been pleafed to Wien to this advice, and to . give his approbation to the plan, a communication upon the fubjefl was made to the Commander in Chief, who was pleafed to give his opinion in a letter to me on the fohjeft ; his words were thefe—" It mutt be evident that, although the number of men required may be contributed, yet they are not at this time in fuch a Rate as to he fit for afloat fervice ; no lets than two months will be necefd fary for their inftruftion and equipment. There fare I hope it will fuit your arrangements nut to call on thole troops till the expiration of that period ; at which time they will be in a Rate to aft in whatever manner his Majefl) may direft." Now the Houle will judge how far the charges made by Gentlemen on the other fide are well founded. I Rated at that time to the Contmander in Chief the great anxiety I felt that the troops lhould be fent off as fpeedily as poffible. Hi; Royal Highnefs made objections that could not be got over. What impropriety was there in all this? It was found impoffible to fend the troops away fooner than the afith of April to the Medi. terranean. A fecond reprefeittation was made to the Commander in Chief, Rating that if soon of thofe troops were fent out they might be improved and difciplined in the Maud of Minorca • and that fending filch a number at that time would prevent the whole of the armament from being too un wieldy. Six thoufand men were accordingly fent out; and thole, with the addition of more troops from Gibraltar and other places, made up a force of about goon men in the Mediterranean. I think it neceffary here to Rate fome fags relative to the refignation of a gallant officer ( Sir Charles Stuart) who commanded in the Mediterranean, becaufc rumours have gone abroad that borne difagreement in opinion had taken place between the Comman der in Chief and this Officer, which made it need: fary that another fhotild be appointed in his Read. On what authority thefe rumours have originated, I know not; but! with to Goo I could now have the only authority that could fatisfy Gentlemen's minds on this fubjeft, but that brave and merito rious officer is now unfbrtunately languifhing on the bed of ficknefs, perhaps indeed he is now no more; ' and from that melancholy circumflance, L am de prived of the benefit of his teßimony. But he has hint elf thited in a letter, that his rcafon for declin ' ing the command in the Mediterranean was, that he was unable to comply with the inftruftions that were given, regarding the adtnillion of a Ruffian force into the 'Rand of Malta. Thus at the very time when Minifters were arraigned for a breach of faith towards Raffia, tHey manifefted the molt anxious de ire to co-operate with that country: and that anxiety was the saute of lofing . the cervices of a molt able and gallant General. The troops ' fent to Minorca failed from this country as loon as it was poffible to prepare them, but they did not arrive there till the month of June. The Honour.. ' able Gentleman has charged 114 Majefly's Mini tiers with being ateeffary to the loft of Genoa, by 11 ,, L fending fuccuins to the Aultrians in time. I n.ide inform the Hon. Gentleman that Genoa was no part of our ohjeft. Thofe who knew the jea loitfy that has ale.ays prevailed among the Conti nental Powers will not be furprized when I tell them, it was not confidered wife or prudent to fend Britiffi troops to aft in concert w ith foreign trnopi. A requitition was emend e made forlome tours which might atlill the Anftriaits in Italy, but the force did not arrive until after the battle of Marengo. It i. impotlible to blame Minifters for no: co-operating with Auntie, when it. i. known tli it the troops were not ready to be fent ; and that at terward% ahnolt all communication WA , fhut up between as and Austria. In fhort all co-operation, after the hank of Marengo, was untiecelfary ; and as the eoortili of Anita.; weft: then changed, it might Jen a been improper. After this !Lae mem of facts, I still lease it to the candour of the Houle tuff far there are grounds to charge us' with mircondna ch‘tihg the early part of the lalt .-ampaiga. It will be oliferired, that in giving a dCiall of the rihcipal of etations of the war, }lave omitted taking notice of our naval fnceeffes. —There is no riccanon to, trouble the Honk with a repetition of thole great and briiliant :achieve ments that have added new hillre to the Britifii name. They nand unrivalled in the annals of lie world ; and it would be impaftihle for any th:ng that I ihuaid now fay in their pi ai!e. to faille that admiration in which they ate already therefore, content my Celt with a thort it:cement of faAas. The number of (hips of the tin: v.ilich have taken from the enemy the courfe of the prefent war, amour: s to no lets than eighty ; we have taken 18, f: igates, 224 finaller Ships of war, betides 743 vela. of different kind, all of I I v. Inch were in a Rate of preparation to attack 'is. Let Gentlemen compare thefc numbers v: i:'.l whit the enemy took fi orn us. In the fir( place they smok three line of battle Ships, two of which were afterwards retaken; they took a Sc gun Ship, which was afterwards retaken ; the fr; , tat es they took ,? were very few, and moll of theft were retaken alk . I am fully warranted in Itating, that at no period in the annals of our Lillory were our naval I fuccelfes In g-eat ot fo brilliant as elnrintt the pre fent war. But an attempt has been made by Gcn- denten on the other fideot tint-lode tnfeparatc our nasal from our military fuccelfes : on what ground I know not. I will a& whether they were not the fame men who planned both naval and military opera tions. Every pi idle was lavithed on the navy by thofe Gentlemeu,and all manner of blame thrown on the army. Whatever has been direded by his Majefty's fervants, on one element, is all wifdom. What ever they have done on land is all folly. Yet the fame wifilom and the fame councils that direacd ' the one, has guided the other. Far be it from me to attempt to depreciate the merits of that Noble Lord, who with Inch diftinguitheil and unrivalled abilities has for lome years prcfided at the head of the Naval Department of the country. I (hall not attempt to deprive him of a particle of that well merited fame and glory vida:::h he has acq!tired. But I believe that Noble Lord would not like to be told that in his mana,, , eine. t „(.the naval de partment, lie had not Are in unif m wall the other fervants of the Crown—that his ads were not theirs—that tleeir councils hal no fn ire in di. reeling them. What h :longs to that Lord belongs to the relit of his Majetly's Mibifters ; what ever has been dote in ih: military department be longs to me ; and I take the relponfibility of it upon myieil. A great part of our fucceffes is ow ing to the means that have been ufcd to cripple the operations of the enemy by land and tea. The army has had its (hare in accomplithing this ohjed ; and it is impoflible to leparate the merits of the one from the other. Betides the deftrue tian of the navy of our enemies, the belt policy we could have adopted was that of feizing upon their colonial poffeilions, in older to prevent their hav ing any markets for felling the produce of them en the Continent of Europe. I cannot flare this bet• ter than by (hewing what an eired the increafe of colonial polfefEons has had on our manufietures ; before the war began the value of our manufac tures exported to the Weft Indies did not amount to one million; laSt year it amounte , l • - t dico,oool. The exports from this country to to all parts of the country of Europe tltrougla Hamburgh, were much greater (Ince the war than during the time of peace, notwithftanding all the endeavours of our enemies to prohibit the impor tation of Britifh goods into the countries fuhjeel to them. I Rate there fads in anfwer to the alfcr dons of thole who fay, that under the late Ail miniftration the manufadures of this country were 'ding .ground. Some partLular kinds of ma nufaaytres may have failed : but upon the whole our manufadures have been in a mrd Rourifhing Slate (ince the war began ; and let who will carry on the war, they will continue to be fought af ter on the Continent. I will fly it again as broadly as poffible, that his Majelty's Miniffers never let any bounds to the exertions they made in hiring the Colonies of our enemies : in this we have been eminently fuccefsful ; and this has been one great caufe of the prefent profperity of the coun try. With refped to the Rats of defence which this country is in at prefent, I !hall juft compare the military force by which it is now defended with that of the year 1796, which will prove that Mi nifters had paid a particular attention to this fubjed. In 1796, the number of Cavalry in Great Britain amounted to 14,333 ; that or Infantry to 53,701. In Ireland, the Cavalry amounted to 4000, the In fantry to 31,639. Gentlemen will fee how much the Slate of the country has improved (ince that time, when I inform them that there are at this time 20,500 Cavalry in this country, together with 84,000 Infantry, lodides what have been fent on foreign finance. In Ireland there are now 43,000 Infantry, with a proportionable number of Cavalry. Thefe troops confift only of the Army and Militia, for I do not include among the numbers I have Rated the different corps of Marines, nor the Volunteers of the king dom, who amount to one hundred and thirty thou land. am now ready upon this Statement of If.a, to be judged, whether I have not paid every Ipollible and neceffary attention to the defence of the country ? I (hall put it to the Honourable !Gentlemen on the Oppofition Bench, that with a body of one hundred and thirty thoufand men, with Britifh hearts, panting with loyalty towards the King, and lice for the ConStitution of this country, if we (hall not be in a (late of prepara tion to meet an invading enemy ? 1 know it has been laid, that forne.of the Volunteer Corps flew ed lonic reludanee in obeying the orders they had received for the fupprellion of riats. Some of ' them certainly Jid Io ; bra they were very few ; ' and I hope his Majcfly's fen:tilts m ill take care chat arms (hall not he Coffered to remain in the hands of thole jx•rfons who on occalions of inlet tumult, refuli:d to employ them in the man ner they were directed. The great body, how ever, of the Voltintiers arc ready to ad in a dif ferent manner; and, whenever they are called upon, to 'land form: mil to prefi.rve the internal peace of the (-norm y. With a force of between three and fonr hundred thoufand men, Inch as this Empire now pore des, I (ball not feel much inclina tion to give way to the panics of thole who may think that the country is nut in a Rate of fccurity • . a:;ainft foreign inviron. I think We may relt quiet, with n conaticlicia that we (hail be fectire tgainft the attempts of :la itivadTtig enemy. This :s my 0p:M.,1 ; hut if there are th-fi: who enta ta:n .t di - Teri:tit o2ininn, I :aim it help it ; it is not in niv power to a .:::liiii:ter comfort to minds al ready difeaf,:d. I have .11:•catiy tic.;:•.: :h.: priaci pl:s On whi.:l this war La , been - cm: bi ' . I ; ani 'hewn the manner in whi.::. thol:.: pr::.ei;:lea !rave been ailp:icsi ansi .....t.•.: tii.ci..--I Call : - ..w itate„ I and prove what I Slate, that the peeler:: war, s . o ' far from behig filch as 1: , .. Tiono:trable Gemlena in defcribed, has on the NV:...ie been attella.: with more fueccf: than ever vat e4.trienccd ill any of the molt brilliant periods ;hat eve:. . i 10:e.1 thc an nals °lna:- country ; and I am toad, to conipare its fnc:effes with thrfe of any war I.h:et may he a...ii cd; but as Gentlemen on t:::: other tide nave been io the habit of applauding tire crndat of the fzven ycar:, war, conduCted as it was by the great Earl of Chatham, I will ta'ke that war, rti,d compare it with dr': one we: are row engag ed in ; and the ilt , :taft: wail draw their own con ch:Con t:om the cutup: In the year 1755, ho;tilizies began 111 A:TIC. iCa : VIC refuit was, the furrender of a fort in New Mt:l:Aland. In the year 1756, Surir.un w.o. taken ; iti 1737, Cal cutta was rC-taken; in 173 E, Senegal and *jure: were taken ; in ,-,y, Gtiadalempe was taken. the battle of Mind= s.-ac won ;in t Vic:, the liava.- nah was taken; in .7Ot, Pondicherry furrender=. During that sv.tr, thirty-two line-of-battle flaps were taken, with fl:1)-tire frigates. Tilde were all the luccefres of die fey= years' scar. Cut se:tat is the fits:eels of the prefent ? We are at this mo ment in poll'effion of every conquelt we made elnr ing that war, except Gt::::lalotipe, and the Ha vannall. Betides this we have taken alrnoft - the whole of the Dutch potreilions: we have dellrir a aid a great Empire in the Eaft-Indies, which had AI WA) • been hoftile to our intereits, and ready to disturb the peace of the Englith in the =ant: y. Here then is a comparifort depending merely on a tiatittent of fans. C0 . ..50 Irmen fhould not target, that in the feven yeas . war there wine three Expeditions which fa:I:.: ; xad t:Mfe failure, brought no (lain on the charaCter of this connt.-, nor of hcr Allies. 'rhey flie.: l l.l :tiro recollen, that cur naval operation:, were r.c:t free from circaiti aances, of Jicgr..ce : a:. that ;iini:',we Ica Mian:•:.i. and although I du not will, to di:lull) the ache, in the dead, 1 mutt fay that there were circurnflax ces attending that lois which brought fome dif grace on the naval fervice of thi, country. Yet this is the war which has been held up to fo much admiration. liiitavotiral , le circuniftances at that • time were not imputed to ntifmanagement ; but a tingle difatter is now fliflicient to blaft the cha rac'ter of this wit% I will not drop my eomparifon here. We have in the cuticle of this war laboured under many diladvantages which did not belong to the turn years war. We have been the &it Nliiiiilers v: nn v,•ere ever recitte.d I', the necelTity of combating with a Itevolutionary Government:— In this country, where WAr has becn carried on, even at this time, in that regular and Contii:u tional mode in which it was always carried on, we have not had recoutfe to levies in mafs or re- • -.- to fill up our troops. Such pra:Ftices, however, .s thefe were powerful engines in the hands of our enemies, and in that refire& they had a great advantage over us : they had all the be. nest which they could de: ive from violence and terror, from contifcation and plunder. But we lhould hay; had le;'s reafon to complain of this un equal contea, if the revolutionary principles had Lcen confined to Prance ale..ne: but they found their way into Great Britain and Treland. I do not now mean to enter into a hillery cry feafon and feeli• fon ; I allude to them no farther than they ()roved difi,elvanta7,cous to us in a military point of view, by rearaining the exertions we fhould otherwile have madeAgaina the foreign enemy. We have had to contend with large bodies of men who had con federated and alfoch,tcd to,getlici for the purpr)fe of overturning the govcromeut, in concert wah cur foreign enemic7. V:ealSo found in our own coun try large bodies of eenfpicators lcd ru by pc:121); w i no rinrie a prat'aice of Ilan:- y)::)-• them • telling them :I) it they mita:: epea too',:iontroni the e:..eray alone that freedom which the C naitotion land cculd never give. None there great colt ies occur red dating the reven year War. Nor were the ..t• that el.r; to the diffi culties arilng from breach..., of faith, and of as we were at the time of the invaron ui Egypt, by the French. Sach aas cfperf.cle were riner ved for the times in w hich we now live. Nor was this all, there &Red at that time left party fpirit than during the prefent scar; the country was then fuppofed to be is danger, all parties bu ried their animofities in oblivion, and united for the defence of their common country. Does fuch a fpirit of concord exilt among us now ? Have we this advantage here ? (A loud cry of bear! bear! from the Opporition Bench;. I do not thank thofe Gentlemen who eLclined . giving us their oppofition, by retiring front their duty in this Houri; particularly in, , rehen I recolleet the opportunities they took of diffusing their principles out of the HOLIfe: I have much more reafon to thank thofe Gentlemen of Opporition who haye attended their duty, and continued pole my coodua. The Gentlemen of Oppon non might, however, by a different line .f eon dua, have animated the fpirit, and united the ex ertions of the country : inlicad to the pangs and I)l:i:ries of the peafan:s, the manufac turers, and almoil all chilies of people, they might have co:ill:led and encouraged :horn they niipt have aiked them xvliat !•tuatioa was ei;m• pared to that of the People of France There things were not done; and toniequently ear diai citifies were the greater: by dies p.limin4 o-:: the evils of a Revolutionary Uovernmeut wit,.h I ;lad to contend with, I concelve 1 (hall have •aitlifully di;Charged the dole of my politic il lif.. With refieca to the charge of my having broke the Mi litia, I (hall never ditelaina the than I had in con verting a great part of that body into an oQolive force; I had an army of 30,0c50 men formed out of it. Fifteen thJefand of thole ate now in tag. land and Ireland. and t!lic fcFc: is as for the fecurity of both cost:tale: as if it u•ab NIP