Star. — London, England, 1801-02-03 00:00:00

. . , •I . . r, •-. 6,ib 3IP ' . . . ......... , . .. • • . f Ir. r \......541 1 ? -- 779 W- - •,, A r.,a, . :•Ve•-"- .• -"" • ~.. \ Pk- 4 , 4 • ~.... .... 1 4 1 1 r. NUMBU 38_ pintLIAMENTARr PROCEEDINGS. MOUSE (W LORDS, MONDAY, FEBRUARY s. At half pan two o'slock tbs.Rien came down to the Houk iu the ufual State, and being feated on the Throne in his. Royal Robes, Mr. QUARM P. R e puty Mier of the• Black Rod, (in the abfence of Sir FRArcta Moer ago x, through indifpofition) was difpatched to order the attendance of the Commons, which Haute, • with the &mettle. at their head, forthwith appeared at the Ear, when his MAJESTY was pleated to make his moll gra. d o es Speech from the Throne, a faithful Copy of which has already appeared in the STAR. ' Ile Du KR of Moareose rote to move the ad. 1 , ilrefs. He began by congratulating the Houfe on the happy event of an Union 'with Ireland, which was likely to be attended with the moit ellentiatbenefite to both England and Ireland, but NI more to the latter country, to which he was hire it would caufe a very great encreak of profperity. This was not a matter of (peculation. The example of Scotland was fufficient to prove that his amnion wls well founded. At the period when an - Union took place between that country and England, great fears had been en tertained that the tights of the, one country would be facrificed to thole of the other. But the libe ralityof England afterwards proved how ground-' ltfs thofe Ears were. The Fisheries , the Com.' merce, and the Agriculture of Scotland, received the greaten encouragement. Even the very tans were laid on in Inch a. manner as to encourage its agriculture. In no one inflame had the Englifh Government confulted its power. The Englith Parliament was too wife not to have teen that the profperity of any one part of the Empire added to the profperity of the whole : and filch would I certainly be its conduCt with regard to Ireland.' , He felt therefore in common with every friend to his country, a peculiar pleafure in teeing Great Britain incorporated by an indiffoluble Union, with a nation which, for open generofity, for talents, and for valour. was not exceeded by ally other country in the world. The richnefs of the fcil of Ireland; the excellent lituation of its ports for trade, its mines • and various powers of pro. citation, would not b e ' fufficiently known till Eng e lifh capital fhould be fent into th- country. At, was with pleafure he refletted that his family had fupportcd the Union with Scotland ; for there wls not a man in that kingdom who did not mite look upon it as the cattle of innumerable bleffings to his country ; and the people of England mull alto lure felt that it contributed to mile their sational glory to a very high pitch. With regard to the Situation in which the country timid at pre fatt as to its provifions, he was lorry to obferve that it could not receive that limply from Ireland, which in ordinary years it had been in the habit of receiving; hut he hoped the mcafures .which had been lately taken by the Legiflature, together with the fpirit !hewn by the people in carrying his Majelly's Proclamation into creel, would com pletely avert the calamities of famine. He had no doubt but that thole meafures would be fol lowed up by others Rill more important, which would tend to prevent the recurrence of fimilar calamities ; that confiderahle tracks of land throughout that country which were in an nnprn (halve nate, would be encloted and cultivated. Ile hoped that certain encouragements would he htld out for the improvement and drainage of the jot lands; and that to carry all thee grand fur ;sites into era% fkilful pet-lons might be fent into the country to examine the different kinds of foil, a_ud give their opinion as to the improvement they Sauk nand in need of. Some alteration thould alle be made in the mode of admitting foreign rem into the country; it was now allowed to be imported fo felon, that the Englith farmers from the injury it cauLd to their produce, frequently threw a great quantity of land into pa fture. From the confederation of domenic fubjeas, he Lid he would next beg leave to call the attention of the. Houle to the prefent !tate of Europe. The prof peas before us wet e certainly very far from being pleating ; btit at the fame time there was no enure %elute ver for defp 211 C y.A general wi at for peace prevailed throughout France, and his Majefty's Mi vino.% had declared that uothing was fir defirous to them as a general Peace. He coincided with eat in that opinion: but he never would content toa pi:ace which was incontinent with the honour and fecurity of this Country. The mefages, how. era, which the Tien Conful of France had feat to London and Vienna, were fuck ae could not be (emptied with or littened to without a breach of firth on the part of the Governments of either of there places. The unfortunate event of the war; however, made it necelfary for Auftria to ne ilociate for a fcparate peace. It was evident crefore, that it was contrary to the policy of Yranc e to ma k e a genera l p ea c e . next l '1.%% that mutt engage the attention of every Lord, was the convention lately uttered into '! certain Northern Powers ; by which they fet a taint as incontinent with the right. and in eas this Country, as it wa., contrary to the efnations ; for it had been laid down by every :*ter on the Ashieet, that an Belligerent Power a t ight to fearch a nonfat edict, in order to that the was not conveying loch goods to the v as might enable hint to profecute the war. It Danes and Swede, underfland perfoftly well hat the rights of nations are, thoueh on the nt necafton they acted In inconfiftently with latations they hail formerly made of adhering thole lawn There was a time when it would T have been prudent in this country to refill fuels • :ohm as that now. formed In the North Letup: , but thanks to the Noble Earl who pre- .. . - tided over the Admiralty ; thanks to our gallant Naval Officers and Sailors, we were now in a situa tion, not only to refill all inch unjullifiabk pro ceedings, but had it in our power to oppofe the . whole world, if it fhould be united againft us.— fOur right to (earth neutral s w as nut to d e p en d on the win of Rnflia ; and if this right was telin. quill*, the maritime ftrength of the country was. gone for ever, and the fun of Britith glory was.fet. As to the violent condua of the Emperor of Rttifia, he Rill hoped that that magnanimous Prince would Make ample reparation to this country for the in jury he had done us; but if he &odd refire to do 1 fo, and Wthe other powers joined him in there UTI. Ijolt pretentious , he was furs - that every . man in this country would be ready to Ifitpport his Majefty's Councils, by. a determination to tefilititch aurei. fion, His Grace then copandesi by Moving As Achirefs, which was as ufual an cam .of the Speech. Earl . . The of Lucaw, in s fhort .anit twat ad- - dreth feconded the motion, and faide.tbn the very able manner in which the N.hle glnke labd , moved the Addrell, v.-oulci more powerfully im- ' , prefs on their minds the propriety of adopting it, 11 ' than any thing be could urge. The Union was lan event, in vlsich every pun who defired the ltrength and happinefs of the Empire at large, I. mull rejoice ; and it *Asa happy thing. that at a moment when the cow& of events Winked all ' our exertion, we had thus fecured the co-operation of the fitter kingdom. Earl FITZWILLIAM lamented that the ;ogee of events had made fo momentous a change in the afpea of Europe, and in the affairs of this king dom. He lamented that he could not this day rife to join in an unanimous Vote of Thanks to ' his Majelly for his molt gracious Speech front the ; 'throne on the occation of the Union with Ireladd, an event upon which his ideas were fitfficicntly known. As the event was now pail, he would exert himfelf to fupprefs nll the emotions he felt ; and would fincerely hope that the very fanguine expectations of the noble Deice would be fulfilled. Ile could not withhold his aftoniflinient that, on a• crifis tb awful, when we were about to be plunged into a new war, his Majelly's Minifters, tnftead of giving information to the Houle, had I called upon them for new confidence and new Pup port. He had not the kart hefitation in laying, that he thought it the duty of that Houle to panfe, and to inquire why we were to go to war before they pledged themfelves to fupport his Ma jell) 's Minilters in it ? He thought that, from a decent regard to the honour of his Majefty, as well as from a fettle of duty to their country, they ought to inftitute an inquiry into the caufes of this calamitous as well as dangerous predicament. It had been his lot, p erhaps more than any other individual, _to u e that Houk to the mainte nance of the principles upon which the war againft the Revolution had been founded. He had deeply Int the confequences of the fpirit that bad broken out in France, and the deftruaion to which it led. He cnnfeffed that his hopes had been dif appointed. The people of France had been called upon to rally round the llandard of order, and to reinflate the ancient family of their kings. The nations of Europe had feltjt their juft and wife policy to join this caufe ; and no man, he Paid again, had gone further than himfelf in maintain: ing the propriety and wifdom of this efforrt, to op posi: the anarchy and diforder of the new datrines. No man would go further than hinifelf, even yet, in combating for the caule ; but he mull own that the thing was hopcicfs. The anarchy, however, to a great degree was gone. France was flow, in fact, eltablifhed into a monarchy. under republican forms, and under a new ruler. It did not depend on the opinion of an individual, and he feared it no longer depended on the power and energies of the nation, to withfiand the ellabliffiment and or ganization of the ncw order of things in France. The die was all---He mutt fubmit. But he could not think it pollible for that Houk, eonfiftent 1 with their duty to their King and Country, to emit inquiring into the caufes of the failure of our efforts, when. fuch large and almoft unlimited powers had been entrusted to Minifters, and when they had all Europe in friendthip with them in the common cattle. It was furely incum- ' befit on them to inquire how, inftead of fuccecd ing in this great objetl, they had all at once plunged us into a contefl with our own allies. 1 plunged us into a contefl with our own allies. Ihe war into which we were now to be plunged. was a war of our own feeking—fur, if he Gould coiled the &rife of his Majefty's Minifters from the words of the Noble Duke, the war was entirely of our own feeking, as far as Sweden and Denmark were concerned. We had it in our power to ful l' mil the difeutlion of the fubjea . of the neutral code ; tor the Noble Duke owns it was furpeuthal in the year 5780, when cutely this country was not in the very difficult thuation in which the stands at present. What evils relished from fuf pending the diteuffion of this quettion in the year 1780 ? It was acknowledged. none. The con federacy died away—lt did nut revive again on the breaking oot of a new war—and this country (uttered nothing from the circumitanee. Why, then, with this experience of a wife and prudent leourfe before our eyes, we did not. again avoid the difeutfion of a fubjea leading t 6 litigation, he could not comprehend ;—it was in his opinion the height of impolicy.—We had by this tunnies's icoofolidated the powers of Sweden and Denmark Iwith that Of Ruftia. Nothing could be more dlr. cilia than the aggreffion of Rasa, and the quef tion of the Northern Confederacy. The violence ' oldie Emperor Paul, the fel zure of our fhips and I feamen,the difrefpea to his Matfty'sreprefentation, a r w e re all separate and diftinom the confederacy 1 fur the magi code; and, Purely policy denvad- TVESD:jr,FEBRUARr Not. ed that we Mould have ,kept them &hitt& But we had thrown into the arms of Paul: the powers of Sweden and Denmark. Surely, Wit was Las ki(' in- Italia to feize and detain our Ihips and property, it was equally )tnjult in us to kin and &lids the hips and property of Sweden and Den mark. It had not been thought.fiecen'ary to our honour or dignity to go to rat aith them before fur the neutral code; and we hall fuirered nothing bjc„itar moderation.' It timely then was important that- they should inquire into the cirountllanar of this mail calamitous and `talk tirocarding on the part of filinifters before they pledged themfelves tofniter into . Olis wat. It was. incumbent on the Ho 'alto to inquire into the life which they had• mark of the powers entruited tothem before .tltcy gave. them more. In the years ;sin and 180., the extrordinary powers which had been given to them, and the encroachments made, on "the pro pertfand freedom of the fubjeft, in orderto arm thept with poker, had been unexampled and yet, what had they done with this power ? Every °NIA of the war had been truftrated. Every I expedition they had undertaken had been attended with difearnature. The expedition to Holland had been marked by imbecility in the contrivance at well as crininal delay in the execution. It it had been aftvd where fifty thoufand men en malted to Min (leis, ecnild b placed molt for the advantage and „bearfir of the enemy, it would have been aaihrefed.—lnßead of attacking trance in her own territerj, which the 'dreads, fend them to Holland, otfOrne otheedepentlancri 431c1 fritter them away, in an unhealthy climate, at a fcafon unfavourable to !M i litary operations! Juft fo had they acted, and yet die fame perfons called again for confidence. Evert Stheref their expe ditions had keen of the fame ?did, and had ended in difappointment and difmay. It was melancholy to think that our brave troops were now fent, after being eight months toad about in traufports, on an expedition which might have been unneecf far'', if a treaty Moll wifely concluded had been honourably fulfilled.-The Noble Earl, after de claring that he could not bring his mind to give fupport to men who had proven thernfelves fo unfit ' for the lituations that they filled, concluded with Moving an amer.dment, to come in after the sth pa. ragraph, in the motion for an Addrefs to his Ma jelly. The Amendment was:-- . . . And that this Houle will proceed with all poffible &Oat& to make Inch enquiriei into the general State of the Nation, but more efpecially into the conduct of the War, and into our re !Wins with foreign Powers, as mall enable us to offer to his Majefty lush advice as we may think mod conducive to the honour of his Crown and the general int erects of his People. And further, to affure his Majafty, That if, owing to any indult and unrearematile pmtcrdions on the part of the enemy, Peace cannot be obtained on fuch terms as are confident with tenuity ; if the reprcfcntations which his Majelly has directed to be maik to die Court of Petariburgh, In coniequence of .be 1 outrages colansideal againft the naps, property, and peons of his fubjeeds, have not received that n paration which the na ture of the tale requires; and if the differences which appear unhappily to have Arden between his Majefty and the utber Northern Powers are of a nature which prcffes fur immediate tiocifiun, and the impoffiliility of any equitable adjultment I renders new and more extended Wars inevitable, we will give 1 his hisjelly every rapport which the means of the Country can afford, in the jolt hope and confidence that his Mairftra paternal care for the welfare of his People will induce him to take Inch madams as (hall prevent henceforward a calamitoUs smite of their remaining itrength and refouttes either by im provident and ineireftual projects, or by general negligen,e and profulion ; and than caftan a wife and vigorous adminittre. ticut of their affair, under the unexampled difficulties in which they are now involved. The Earl of Sofro:A feeonded the motion of Amendment. Hc delired to know of the Noble Secretary of State, why the papers of the reruns of killed and wounded in the Expedition to Hol land had not been laid on the table, agreeable to the order of the Houle ?. Lord Gar vv itst laid it was again(' order for any No* Lord to addrefs a queition to an indivi dual Peer. It did not cell with him why the papers bad not been laid upon die table. The hellion in which they were ordered Was now chiles!, and a new order mull be made for than. The Earl of SUFFOLK aid, that a grofs itutten lion had been &two to an order of that Houle made wo months ago and he thought himfelf eridded to demand of his Majelly's Minitten why it had been fo? The Noble Earl (hewed by the London Gazette that infield of woo men (*aced by Mr. Dundas to have been loft in Holland), there had been aaually killed and wounded, be tween is anti 13,000 Britilh and Ruttians. Hc went over all our late expeditions, toad arraigned them as deficient in wifdom, vigour and prempti tude, by which the (kill and courage ofour troops had been walled, and our arms diigraced. He accufed Minitlers of having artfully determined not to employ a Noble Earl in an expedition (though they profefred an intention of doing lb), for the fame reafon that Thugut had not employed the 1 Archduke Charles, becaufe they were afraid that by his eminent talents be fhouli have given peace , to the nation. The Noble Earl laid dm it was ; onderflood that moll important topics of difcuf- 1 lion were coming on with refpeet to the eftablilli- ments of thefe kingdoms ; and it was believed that there were nub diteutlions in another place refpeet- , ing his Majeßy's foreign dominions, in all which ' the Heir Apparent was• molt deeply concerned. Was his =fent obtained ? Was he called to the Ca binet on thefe fubjeets ? He fhould feel' h his dray to impeach Minitters if they proceeded in there 1 things without the confent of his Royal Highnefs. There were other moll important points on which, in the event of failure, he fhould think it his duty to impeach them—the fending 30,000 men to , Egypt, and elfewhere, and leaving this emmn-y without a proper and adequate deft nee. The rc fufal of Winners to negoeiate, and the unfortn- { nate letter of a Noble Secretary, which would' have difgraced a fchool-boy, way another ftrong C PRICE IX-Pt Nes- ground of impeachment. The violation of the treaty for the evacuation of Egypt, fo wifely made, was another ground. And all our feries of military expeditious was another. Upon all thtle he iliould certainly think it his duty to call Knitters to account. The Duke of A rnor. fepported the original mo tion: Hy rejoiced in the Union, which he doubted not would produce all the benefits which a Noble Duke had foretold. He could not fay that his .ancellors hid fupported the Union- with Scotland and England r but he wits fure, if they were alive now, they would coda's that they had been mif talccn as to its operation.• He objeaed to the Amendment, becanfe it tended to reprefs the energies and enervate the firength of the nation, at a moment when we ought to be unanimous in our exertion. Lord Ros•nav was alto of opinion that Mini. Ras ought to be fupported. It was his opinion that Bonaparte was not &were in his offer to treat for peace ; and that our Minitlers had efted wifely and vigorotdly in the courfe they bad taken. The prefent profpeet, he owned, was gloomy; but he would not encourage a defponding idea. We mull maintain an indcpendance, and our maritime power depended on the principle which the Nor thern Cpnfederacy threatened to overturn. The - Earl of asaritty faid that he could no longer give his fupport to Knitters. They had (hewn themfelves utterly unworthy of the confi dence which they had received. It was the duty Of that Houfe, as the hereditary Counfellors of the Icin to enquire into the ufc of the powers that had%een given to Mini fters. In his mind the pre fent difpute might have been avoided. They had brought it on by their mircondud. They had reverted the principle of par ere fu,srltis, &barn. fuperbor. Their tondo & was percere fujserbir, Jebel. lcre !dialer. Lord ROMNEY, in explanation, laid, that he certainly, at a proper time, fhould be for enquiry into ti:veral trantiraions that were pall, but he Was not for withholding fupport. EarPtirsecte contended flrennoufly, that en quiry would during the continuance of the war feriontly cripple our exertions and impede the fer vice. He had confidence that whenever the ex peditions to Holland, to Ferrol, and Cadiz, lhould be inquired Into,they would redound to the honour of the King's Minilkers, as well as of the officers and troops employed ; but this was not the time for fuch enquiry. He was flattered by the praifes given to the naval fervice. They were all due to , the merits of the Admirals, Officers, and Seamen employed. For himfelf, he could not be toothed by any compliment paid to himfelf feyrarately from the Tell of his Majetty's Minifters. As to the new confli& it was nut poffible to avoid it. Our ma ritime power to effeutially dermded oo the right wt had always maintained, that be confidered it as a combat for our national existence. We could not temporife on the queftion. We had perhaps temporifed too much ; and he was bold to fay that arduous as the conteft was, we had ilrength and ability to coadal it to a happy aim The Earl of CAERNARVON faid, he could not ac quiefee in the doEtrine of the noble Earl, that we could not enquire into failure during the continu ance of the war. His mind revolted from that idea. It was our duty and our policy to enquire and to call Minitters to a rigorous account for the exercile of the powers with which they were liber ally entrufted. It was a fingular thing that no account Was; given to Parliament of the caufe of this new war into which we were - to be plunged— not a paper was laid on the tabk. It ww, not even laid what were the terms of this new confederacy. In this profound ignorance of the caufe of war, he could not pledge himfelf to fupport it ; neither could he for the tame reafon adopt the Amend ment, much as he loved and confided in the noble Earl who moved it. He thought that the Ad drefs ought to be confined to a pure and Pimple upreffiou of loyalty to his Majelly. He begged to know if we had not conceded the point to one power with whom a convention had been entered into. It was a point, which if granted to one, was ,in fae granted to all. Lord Gass mos entered into a reply to all the arguments which had been rated in favour of the addre,fs ; the ground taken for the confederacy, he in part admitted, arote from fearching their ref fels, which he intifted was a right arihng out of the law of nations, and fo effential to the pre fervation of the toperiority, if not the e'tiftence of the Britith navy, that if that right was once given up, he Ihould be alkarned to fupport a motion for any fupplies for that navy,. convinced any hip plies muff neceffarily become nugatory. This confederacy, he laid, was doubly reprehcnfible. as not only having been entered into againit crafting treaties, but even agaitill treaties that had been entered into during the pr'efelit conteft, and which in fact was a revival of the armed neu trality entered into in the year n 7So the cit. cumftance of its being the fecond time of having this right difputed, was an additional real . = why we (hoofd have it decided, and the more efpecially, as its his opinion, we fhould never be better enabled to enter into the cornett than we were at the prefent moment. A noble Lord had Enid he was quite igoorant of the caufe of our difpute with RulEa ; hut if that Noble Lord would refle.l a moment, that not long finer, his Majefiy, in a Speech from the Throne - , had Rated, that the Emperor had feized fomc of our fellow tubjeds and their property, and tllat he had ap plied to the Emperor for reparation; and in the Speech of this day. ha informs the Houfe, that his applications had been treated with si frefpee ; this furely was a futhoient ground to call upon them for their fupport, mad tkey acre called upo7