Star. — London, England, 1801-03-21 00:00:00

‘kl,icti were ready to hurt upon do n.,t 11:.• tit, lamoia!n: of dc:pondencc. I toast ti,at the bravery of our lailors and the 11,1!: eon- Adinir:,ls Ix in be IMllcient enalik Its 1,, ;he cfi, its if all our enemies, and , tr cuirire the flux. But I tilt{ tti : c, v e w,re precipitated into thefe dan ger,. and tiithenkies ? If it was poiiible to have avoided them, how much have Minitters to anfwer for ? I obje.Ste t:;e purillaninions manner in which Minitters have bthaved. Why, during the Lift teflon of Parliament, did they put fuels language • into the mouth of the Sovereign ? They mull then have known well the hoftile difpolitions of Prolix. From the notes of Count Bernllorif and Count Haugwitz, it was long before notorious that the King of Pruflia was a party to the Northern CorCederacy. But Pruflia, like Ruflia, is a power ful Rate, and capable of doing us much mifchief —it would not have been quite convenient to go to war with him who is real Sovereign of Ham burgh, and to him too, therefore, Minillers have. , meanly truckled. Upon their own principles they ought to have declared war againft him long ago. But Denmark and Sweden, and particularly the former, are the objefts of their refentmcnt. To thefe powers their language is bold and menacing —becaufe, my Lords, they confider their as weak and defencelefs. It is never my praCtice to defpond, but I deprecate every fufpicion that I am fo in- . clined. I Rill glory in my country, and think of its refources with joy and exultation. If they are I properly applied, we have nothing to fear. But 1 I confefi I begin to doubt of the fafety of confid ing. longer in a Government which has brought ; u. into this fittration. Let us put our affairs in I able hands, if we with for a fuccefsful Mite to the I (omen. L ordDarnley then:alluding trithe fcarcity, feverely cultured the meafures ushich had been taken to alleviate it, and maintained that they had tendered the fufferings of the people. threefold fc- i vere. Since ever his opinion had been rejected, we had been doing on from bad to worfe, and he had stow experience and the evidence of Las, that his opinion was well grounded. Parliament mot Certainly ought never to have interfered. The 1 Committees had trufted to ignorant fell-fufficient ; men, who had completely mined them. In Ire land he underftooci the fcarcity was Rill more fc- vett. An enquiry should certainly take place, 1 and Tome meafures deviled to make the life of an 4 tax peafant not worfe than an Englilh horfe.— 4 His Lordfhip afterwards adverted to the Catholic ' queftion. He feemed to think that it had been I prematurely agitated. The Irifh Government he I Condemned in the ferereft terms, and alferted that from the meafures of Government had fprung all the (edition and treafon which had appeared in that country. He feemed to allude more particularly to one Member of the Ira Government who fat oppofite to him, and after arraigning him as the author of the mifchief, to call upon him to dif prove thefe affertions. The next fubjed lie touched upon, was the change in the Cabinet. He dif approved of the conduet of the Ex•Minifiers, what ever might be the nature and the caufes of that Osange. It was, molt probably, nothing but a juggle, and if it was not, they had criminally rrelliquifhed their pofts in the moment of danger. —From what I have Paid, my Lords, continued big Lordfhip, I mitt you are firmly convinced "of the necefllty of going into a Committee of en quiry. The ()liens of unbounded confidence can Ito longer be afied upon. A Md. fcrutiny mull Be made into the pail, or the future will refemble it. The prefent pollute of affairs isawful and alarming. Our very exigence as a nation is at Rake. Let us then,my Lords,meet the exigency in a manly man. tier. I call upon that Right Reverend Bench to fup port me. When year after year they fee the human race wafted by the ravages of war, and no prof peel held out of a termination to thofe horrors; et them take pity upon their brethren and thew themfelves animated by the benevolent fpirit of religion which they profets. I appeal to thole who have been introduced into this Houfe . by the in fluence of the Minifter. When ruin is impending, they mat forget private confederations, nor temple to vote for enquiry. Without a change of fyflent they may not continue long to enjoy their honours. I call upon thole who have lately takca their feats among us from the Sifter Kingdom. I honour them highly, and know that they are animated by the trueft love to their country.—A s teeing then in a peculiar manner the bad effects of blind confidence, let them be the foremoll on thisoccalion in the cattle of Parliamentary interference. But with the great en confidence I look to the ancient hereditary No bles of England, whole anceilors have for ages flip ported the caufe of liberty in the fenate and bled for the field. 1 cannot doubt for a moment that they will maintain the rights of Parliament, and Phew a jull jealoufy of the Executive Power. They know that though Mini ft ers midi be trufted, they are to be called to give an account of their tnsft, and to be punithed if they have abufed it. That illations ftatefman, Lord Chatham, Paid in ftrong energetic language, on-an occafion much lets im portant than the prefent, " This is a fearful time ; the fmoothnefs of flattery mull be difcarded, and the rough language of truth mull be carried to the foot of the throne." My Lords, I conjure you by every thing you hold dear, to look narrowly into your circumstances ; I implore you to agree to this motion as you value the fecurity of your property, the happinefs of your families, the glory of your country.—" Awake, awake, or be for ever fallen !" —Lord Darnley concluded by moving, that the Houfe do now refolve itfelf into a Committee of the whole Houle to confider the -State of the Nation. The Duke of Mo X TROS I admitted that it was not only a right belonging to, but a duty incumbent on a both Ifoufes of Parliament to inliituteanenquiry on any fubjett they might think proper; but while he made that adiniffion, he would fay that the right of enquiry oughtuever to be exercifed, except with due diferetion, and upon a conviction of its necef fay. If motions for enquiry were agreed to every time they were made, their Lord/lips mull fee the great inconvenience that would follow : for in- Rance, an enquiry into any expedition would make it neceffary to fend for all the offiters who had been entployed on it, in order to engine them at the Ilar of that Fionfe. The injury which the public service mall filler from fuch a Ilep was obvious to every body.—An enquiry at the prefent moment seas particularly objectionable. At a moment like the preterit, it delirable that the courage of the country fliculd be kept up, but by thefe means the country would be completely difleartened. The nation would tl.ink even that there was fome thing with 'which they were not much acquainted, and that the State was in immediate danger. They. could fee no apparent reafon for a Committee of this nature, and they mutt think that there was loniething dreadful of which they w .-c carefully kept ignorant. He did not fay that there was no ground for enquiry into the (late of Ireland, but a iPecifie motion was about to be made, and then it would be fully confidered. Nirould yon for this rea fon alarm the whole country, and create univerfal I delpondence ? Our difputes with the Northern Powers had been Dated as a ground for enquiry. That queftion had formerly been agitated, and he thought it ought nosy to be let to ref. If any thing had ever been clearly made out, it had been de monitrated by the Noble and Learned Lord who fat near him, (Lord Eldon), that every belligerent power has the rights which we claim. The Noble Lord, in eflablifhing this point, had difplayed a depth of learning and brilliance of eloquence which commanded the admiration of the whole Houle. His fpecch mutt he frefh in the recolldlion of every Noble Lord who heard it—he (the Duke of Mon trofe) therefore fhould nut weaken thatimpreffion by recapitulating his arguments. If the matter in difpute were of imall confequence, that would be a complete proof that the Northern Powers are de termined to quarrel with us, and that we ought to relent the fall intuit they offer us, Pure that if we fubmit to it, it will be followed up by another. But it was eflential in the laft degree, and our very exiftence depended upon manfully alerting it. It would now be feen whether we had dege nerated from the valour and magnanimity of our anceftors ? There were occahons always recurring when the charafter of a nation Was put to the proof. The Noble Duke then alluded to the be haYiour of the Romans after the tattle of Canna, and that of Frederic the Great, when his capital was in the hands of his enemies. But under the Emperors, the Noble Duke faid, when public vir tue was extinguilhed, the Romans were accuftorn• ed to agree to the molt difgraceful treaties, and even to purchafe peace with gold. Pruflia like wife had changed: fhe now cherifhed habits of friendfbip with her natural enemies, and law del tration approaching her unconcerned. Let us not follow, faid the Noble Duke, fuch a vile example : let us rather look to the walls of this Hqufe, and feting how our anceftors triumphed, learn, like them, to be refolute in the mielft of danger. He denied that our military expedi tions had been unwifely conceived or unwifely executed, and he hoped they would continue to deferve luceefs as well, and that they would be more fuccefsful. We had nothing to fear from Ruftia, Denmark, or Sweden, and if Pruflia fhould be hoftile to us, we might enter the conteft with her too without alarm. Into the lubjefft of fear city an enquiry had already taken place. He thanked the Noble Lord for the many handfome compliments he had paid the Committee, of which he himfelf had the honour to be a Member. Had they been favoured, however, with the propo &ions of the Noble Lord and his friends, he did not think the public would have been very much the better. The cavalry mig ht have been haraffed, but the country would not have been much better fu plied with fifh. The war on the part of our Allies had been unfuccefsful, but could they rum mon General Bcllcgarde and General Kray tc the Bar ? He would be very happy to have an op portunity of afking a few queftions of theft cele. braced men, but he was rather afraid that the) would not very punCtually obey the order of tht Lords for their attendance. It was cafe to tall againft fublidizing the German Princes, but tha• fyitem had been acted upon invariably by even Oppolition as loon as it had got into power. In deed could it be doubted that we were in a much better lunation to contend with Prance when Ihs had to employ 200,000 men in Germany, than the could dire& her whole efforts a t ,ainft our poi fellions in the Eat and Weft Indies ? The Nobl. Duke then entered into a laboured vindication o. the laft campaign. He maintained, that tholl who had planned it, and thole who had been en trufted with the execution of it, deferved the great eft praile. By a difpofeable force king kept in the channel ready to ftrike a blow in any quarter, Franc!: Holland, and Spain, were oitlitr a .:(.1 to have a l l their ports and ar fenals in a 4atz of defence, and the whole coati, from the Helder , to Carthageua, to be lined with troops. We had thus lent our Allies the moll fubflantial afliflance, and if the battle of Marengo had had a ditfLrent Ale, we might have (truck at the very vitals of our enemies. The expedition to Ferrol wac by no means a principal part of the plan. If it was fuccefsful a great objed was gained; but if it failed, nothing was loft. The General who commanded there had behaved with the greatell magnanimity and true heroifm, and he only wanted the glory he gathered there to complete his fame. His gallantry and enterprise were known before, but it was not till then proved that he would prefer the good of 'the fervice to his own reputation. He would have deferved the heavieft eenfure had he hazarded the fafety of the army, and refufed to take the refponfibility upon his own fhoulders. Our failure at Cadiz his Grace attributed to the diftemper which raged there at the time. He paired an culogium on the manner in which things had been concluded fine, and faid we Rill continued to make demonllrations and divert - ions. Neither upon this, nor upon any other ground, did he think that the motion could be fupported. It therefore had his decided nega tive. . Lord DARNLty rofe to explain. He never meant that the Britifh fleet was to go to Ruflia while the Baltic was frozen, but before that time, while a fleet was lying near Copenhagen. Lord HOLLAND. I rife, my Lords, to fubmit to jpou a few obfervations•upon what has been ad vanced by the Nobk Duke. I feel at the Came time how inadequate I am to follow the Noble Duke through that vein of pleafantry in'which he indulged in anfwering the fpeech of my Noble Friend ; and I hope I fhall be excufed if in what I am about to fay, I ihould unfr,rtunately miltake pleafantry for argument. The noble Duke, in deed, was fo happy in the ftrain of irony, that common minds might confound what was meant as joke, and what was intended in carneft. 1 am half afraid therefore, that Gillen I am anfwering fome of the points which were urged in roy under (landing gravely by the Noble Duke, I may after wards be told that I am taking the trouble to make a ferious reply to whatwas brought forward in jell. Much has been laid in dißinCtion between the right, which is admitted. of the Houfe to en ter ipso the enquiry moved for, and the propriety of curetting that right. I hope that Inch a dif tinCtion may be allowed to have fome application to the queftion in difpute with the Northern Powers. But of that more at large by and by. The Right of the Houfe to enquire is acknowledged, but we are told that its exercife would be unwife in the prefent circum ftancesof the country. Strange indeed, to cell us that when the circumftances in which we are placed are fo critical, we ought to forbear to enquire into the caufes by which our danger has been produced, that we may be able to chute the heft means by which it may be avoid ed! Strange that we fhould be told that it is ne celfary to defend the country, while the Houfe is forbidden to employ its wifdom to devife how danger may be belt repelled, and defence belt conduCted 1 Thole arguments remind me of a Rory I have heard of a gallant naval Officer now no more. An Officer of rank had introduced into the fleet under his command a fpecies of fignals that were much admired, and the (hips were much exercifed in manoeuvring purfuant to them. An Admiral who did not think that the new fignals were calculated for a time of danger, one day, when the French fleet came in fight, went down and faid to his Captain, " I hope we than have no fignals to day : they are very good for amufe ment when there is nothing to do, but they are not for the moment of aftion." In the fame manner the Noble Duke thinks that when the dif ficulties and dangers of the country are very great, we out to avoid meddling with enquiry. So that nhin every thing is profperous, when no dan gers threaten, and no difficulties embarrafs, it would be wife and proper to Wien to a motion for examining into the State of the Nation. It is faid too that the form of the motion is liable to objec tion. Were the purpofe of it in other refpeds de. ferving of encouragement, what there is praaica bly inconvenient in the form of the motion, I am at a lots to conceive. Motions of a limilar kind and form. have been entertained by this Houle, and the molt beneficial confequences have relished from them. In thoferiods of glory to which the Noble Duke has ref erred, in wars which have been concluded by this country with fuccefs, en quiries like that now propofed have been profecut ed with advantage to the public. Yet in this dif attrous and expeqfive war—a war which after a feries of difgrace and mortification, lies embroil ed us with all Europe, no enquiry is to be grant ed. But to enquire would be to create alarm in the nation. For my part, I entertain no appre• benison of any fuch effed. I fee no inconvenience in (hewing the nation what is their real fituation, and if Parliament does its duty in expoling and in cenfuring mifmanagement wherever, on enquiry, it is to be found, the people, I am convinced, will exert every effort, and fubmit to every facrifice which their Laity and their profperity may de mand. But granting that any of the topics of en y which the general motion includes, were either alreadv under conftderatiun or unlit to be taken up, the • Houfe is competent to determine !Ton what fubjeds enquiry lhait take FL:cc. To enter nto the ,nquiry would have this happy arca : that ‘`.otald thew the country that the Oen: of con i knee which bad produced fo much calamity Was t an end, and that l'arlia. , nzot was returning to • tat fiction in the Confliti.tion which it ought to :end to the exerciti: of aloft lune:inns sthich t het er ends :br any lerz pc: rod without com romitlng ti e public cau:e. With refrefi to the n ?them Confederacy, it night to be confidcred, both whether the principle ma;ntained 'by this country is in itklf pia, and whether it has been exercifccl in filch a manner as a be f cc from all reproach ? It ought to be con littered too, whether we ought to maintain it in the boll) ing manner we have done ? It mull he recolledtd that for more than a century part it has been the policy of England to raife up confederacies againft France for the general defence of thelibert ies of Europe. Now this queftion of the Northern con federacy has given to the war a popular and plan fible pretence, and afforded an opportunity to fir up againft us a confederacy of powers never be. fore found in the fcale of our enemies. In deli berating upon this delicate fubjea it is peculiarly neceffary to proceed coolly, and to avoid any.ap peal to the paffions, more particularly, the popu lar topics of the national dignity and the honour of our flag may be ufed with uncommon effea.— There addreffes however fhould be received with caution. While juftly jealous of the real honour and dignity of the nation, we fhould remember that under the falfe colours of thefe pleating names, every thing rafb, abfurd, and violent may be in troduced and defended. It is obierved by Machi avel as one of the defeas of popular Governments, that they are fo apt to be hurried into intempe rate courfes by a fpirit too jealoys and too much alive to any fubjea that teems to involve the na tional honour. We fhould be careful therefore to confider impartially as well what the public honour as the national charaaer erfjallice and moderation demand. The Noble Duke dwelt upon tome parts of what my noble Friend urged on this point, as if be had fallen into a contratheion, and blamed Mi. niacrs for going to war with tome nations, and for not going to war with all. But my noble Friend complained, not that Minifters did not go to war with more nations, but that they dirated all their vengeance againa the weak. It is indeed matter of reproach, that while all Europe is confpiring againft us on the pretence that our policy is to narrow, and confine the commerce of other Mi. eons, we Mould have fallen upon timfe only that had moll commerce, though the wcai.eft in rc fource. This was to give countea , ty:e to the fulpi. cion entertained, 'and to inflame that -iimolity in which the difpute originates. The noi.le Doke re ! ferrcd us back to antient times to find a parallel to the prefent. In looking back to the wars between Car thage and Rome, we find Carthage animated by t hat tpirit of commerce which eyes any competition w;th jealousy. We mutt recollea that the high tone which that commerce was maintained was eil;:ntial to the fafety and the prof - perk: of Carthage. It was faid that the Romans thoilli not even wrath tbei hands in the Sicilian fca. Other nations 0.o.• our pretenfions as in tome degree partaking of th:s Ipi. rat. We ought to be careful to afeeitain the jut. tice of our claims, and IEII more lb to fa that they are exercifed without hartlinefs and rigour. Ira the manner in which our pietenfions have been al iened, it will be found that there has been little prudence and conciliation. Datrines have been held in this Houfe by a Noble Lord, fortunately for the country no longer in office, the tendency of which was to thew to Europe that, during every war between this country and France, there could be no neutral nations at all. Was it wife,luft, and feafonable to hold forth fuch doctrines ? Let the juftice of the queftion be as it may, let the policy of maintaining what is confidered our naval rights be what it will, there is ample ground of enquiry, were it only to afcertain this, how at this critical rnomentihis point was drawn into the prefent hot tile difcuffion ?—The Noble Duke next indulged himfelf in a (train of mirth about the difficulty of bringing the Auftrian Generals to the bar of the Houle to give an account of the caufes of their defeats. My Noble Friend, however, only objeEt. ed to the fyftem of fublidies, as it had been em ployed by Minifters, and to the obftinacy with which they inftigated the Emperor to maintain a hopeles contelt. The queftion is not, whether in all cafes whatever fubfidies to foreign powers are impolitic, but whether, in the prelim inftance, they had been wifely applied ? He propofed to en quire into thefe particulars, and Rich enquiry oa the face of it is the more neceffitry, as thole fob. tidies have been iarge in their amount, have been unfuccefsful in their application, and have even been attended with unexampled calamity to thole whom they profelfed to aid. If we look hack to the relation of the overtures of Bonaparte, we !hail find more grounds of enquiry and =fore. I re. member when the correfpondence on this fubjeCt was firft under difcuffion in this Houle, fey ..t1 Noble Lords declared that they jullitied by their votes the conduCt of Minifters on that occation, upon the general confidence they repofed in them, though they regretted that the queftion had at all been fuhmitted to the confideration of Parliament. That rejeaion having been attended with to much calamity, every arument on which it was juttified having been confuted by experience, it becomes the duty of thofe Noble Lords to enquire into the merits of a meafure which they allowed to pats unqueftioned on grounds of confidence. The No ble Duke, however, comes to the battle of Ma rengo, and infers that if the Auftrians had but gained that battle, every thing would have gone well •, the Throne France would have been re eftablithed. But fuppoting, though not atimiuiej dick conclufions, will it be faid that it was pru. dent, after the battle of Marengo, to inftigate the Aultrians to perfevere in the contelt f After their defeats in Germany, and the difafters of the•whole campaign, was it juftifiable in Minifters to drive Auftria to the hazard of new difgrace and ditafter ? Is it not worth while to ateertana whether, on the Litt propofals of the French Government for peace, Auftria called upon us to refute to negociate ? It is important to know whether, at the tame time when we refuted Meiling to the overtures of Bo naparte on pretence of good faith to our ally, we were not employing every intrigue to prevail on the Emperor to pertivere in the contelt, and to give us rut excufe for declining- negociation : If melt was the fait, the 'dotal nr the feparate overture in Clacber !aft can be imputed to Tr?. C.:ins but the determir.ation of Minifters to that the door againd all attempts of accomrnoda. tion. Is it not fit to enquire, likewite adictiar it was not for the advantage of Auftria that we Mould have accompanied her in a feparate ne , gociation, and whether, if that courfe had beta purfued, Europe might not have enjoyed the mg, of peace ? Betides, was not the Northern Cor.- fee'leracy known by Minifters to be then under slit cutlion ? Did they not know that Prudia was en pg.:A in that transaction ? Were not all there 6.-- cumfiances fo many additional reafons why it Neu the more defirable to conclude peace before the enemy was firengthened by to many new allies; be fore accommodation was rendered more difficult by the introduaion of fo many new points of du: pute ? The Noble Duke contended next, that the • various expeditions which undertook,have been advantageous to the country. This we know, that to form the armies which were employed :a thefe enterprizes, the ()Item of the Militia, the conllitutional defence of the country, was brok,:t down. It' the meafures alluded to were conceived with judgment and executed with (kill, it is to be lamented - that the refult was not attended with greater ludre to our armies and greater ben* to the country. The Noble Duke, in allufion to the attack on Ferrol, gives a fingular instance of tare benefits of our diverfion. He fay% we went there to make a defcent, and found an army ready to receive us. This indeed affords a curious illuflra don of the wifdom and information ender which the expedition was planned. The Noble Duke de fends likratife the conduit of the officer by whom the expedition was conduced. lam not &loafed to throw the blame on that gallant officer; but if I were anxious to Pave his reputation, I &mild de precate that fort of defence which th e Nobk Duke has employed. The great point for enquiry it, whetherthe expedition was wifely planned, whe ther it was not formed on bad trmatican, and that which was not likely to fucceod ? It isnot the objea of my Noble Friend's motion to du: credit upon the of fi cers of this conntry, = amine into the condutt of its affairs, and to fix tt: blame where it may be due. But the Noble Doke rays, the expedition had a farther deBiaatiots. We'