Star. — London, England, 1812-01-09 00:00:00

IP'" --- t it a nent itself ? *by n give di st inctly, Is she hat ether State papers ? But the fact was, that Fratice only gave a notification, and that too a conditional one, de pendent upon two alternatives. The Honi Gentleman totally abstracted the tonditionality of the instrument f r om its consideration ; but he (the Chancellor) could ne e—What were these conditions ? That Great Bri tain should revoke her Orders in Council, and aban don what is called her new system of blockade, or that America should cause the independence of her flag to be respected: that is, that Great Britain should abandon that system which was founded en the law of nations, and her own immemorial practicee—be cause Great Biitain adopted no new system of block ade, but adhered to her old principles—to those prin ciples and maritime rights, which were the productive causes of her greatness, and without adhering to and asser ting which she could no longer exist as an inde pendent nation. New words had been invented ; ately we had heard of denationalizing ships, which slant, suffering them to be visited by us upon the ocean: but if Great Britain is to be hindered from v i s iting and searching American ships on the high seas according to her recognised and legitimate rights, { 1 then indeed should we cease to be the nation that we have been. As to the observation of the Honourable Gentleman, on the omission if any mention at present of the affairs of the East India Company, that subject be considered as most improper to be now introduc ed, and any mention of it most ill-timed. When it would regularly and according to parliamentary usage come before the House, then it would be coat-' petent for the Hon. Gentleman to favour the House with his opinions on the important concerns of that Company. As to the very heated remarks of the Hon. Gentleman, on his Noble Fliend's speech last night, with respect to the personal character of Bo neparte, he was glad ihat the Hon. Gentleman was set right by his Noble Friend, before he had the ho liner of rising to address the House. His own opinion as to the propriety of identhyieg the personal cha racter a a ruler, with that of the nation which he governed, was, that a peop e uld not suffer for the; crimes of any tyrant, inasniudi as the guia of such a person ought not to be considered as an obstacle to iations of peace. WHITBREAD I do not rise, Sir, to ex plain, but to demand of the Right Hen. Gentleman to explain,"if he meant any personal allusion in some words that fell from him that appeared to me to be of no very delicate description, and therefore I do now ask of that Right Hon. Gentleman if he did in tend any such allusion ?" The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER • 1 could have meant none. The lines are Pope's. the metaphor is that of a spider spinning a new web after one has been destroyed. I thought it applicable to the pertinacious manner in which the Honourable Gentleman appeared to me to have been reviving his prophecies over again ; but I do assure him, that I would not have so applied it, could I have imagined that he would have so construed it—and that were I even indifferent to his disapprobation, which- I am not, I could not be so indifferent to my own e as to de. scend to the grossness of any such personal allusion." (Near, hear, hear!) Mn WHITBREAD—" I •am perfectly satisfied *kb the explanation given by the Right Hon. Gen tleman—and I am sure that had the same words been so applied to him, be would have felt it necessary to ' call for an explanation." General TARLETON spoke at some length against the address. He chiefly relied on the effect which the war would ultimately have on our resources. Already it had cost us 60,000 men, and 18 millions of money. Mr. CREEVEY could not ague to pledge himself to vote whatever sums Ministers should think proper to demand for the war in the Peninsula, without first asking the Minister, what were the financial means of the country in the present year ; and whether our revenue enables us to continue the same scale of ex pellees on which we proceeded in the last year ? He believed, that in the comparison of the produce of the revenue in the last year with that of 1810, it would be found, that there was last year a deficiency of three millions and an half in the receipt of the taxes, while there had been additional charge On the consolidated fund, amounting to a million and 'an half, making a total of five millions, in which the revenue of this year would fall short of that of the last year. How was this deficiency to be supplied ? Was the Right Hon. Gentleman prepared to propose new taxes to that amount ; or would the stockholders agree to their security being diminished by fresh expences and charges being thrown on the consolidated fund ? Would the stockholders now agree to the sinking fund being touched, to shake up this deficiency of revenue; or in %hat manner did the Right Hon. Gentleman propose to do it ? He, therefore, should move, that the Report of the Address should be brought up this day w ee k, instead of this day, in orecr that the pa llets relating to the receipt of the revenue for the last Year might be before the House, before he could Pledge himself to a similar scale of expenditure. The Ministerial newspapers had endeavoured to produce an impression on the public mind, by publishing a statement of the receipts of the last quarter, as eom- I Pared with th ose o f t h e l ast quarter o f t he year 1810. , '1 'lt appeared to him, that the public should, as soon as possible, be put in possession of the real state of the , and that this was more important at a time when almost every:branch -of trade had failed ; and *hen the trade to our East India possessions was so regulated, as to be open to the Americans, and to al ton every body in the world, except an Englishman. He concluded by moving as an Amendment, that instead of the word " now," the words " this day tennight," should be inserted. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER; kssured the Honourable Gentleman, that his view of the great deficiency if the revenue was an unfounded enei It was true that the amount ofehe revenue last Year was not equal tb that of the year 1810, but the revenue of that year had been most remarkably flu •wish i • ng, and the product so extraordinary, that .was conceived a .proper subject of congratulation tube mentioned in the speech ; but although the re venue of the year 1811 was not equal to that of the Year 1810, it was however greater than that of the Year preceding it. It was true, that in the published statements to which the Honourable Gentleman allu 'led, the comparison was only between the last quer krs of the years 1810 and 1811, in which there ape Peered a considerable increase in the last quarter. He Utast alio allow that the products a the revenue for the remaining three quartets *erd inferiot to lose of the year 1810 ; but at the same time he must point out to the 4ttentitin of the House, that in the last guar ter,although it was stated that our trade had entirely failed, the amount of the duty from customs conside rably exceeded that of. of corresponding quarter in the year 1810. From this circumstance, he thought the House might well indulge the hope, that our trade was not at present in that declining situation in which it appeared to some Gentlemen. As to the Excise, which is much the most productive source of our revenue, the receipts of the duties on this account were greater than even in the year 1810. He would admit, however, that, upon the whole, the amount of the revenue of last year fell short by about two millions of the produce of the very favourable year of 1810. As to the security of the public creditors, it was very well known that the quarter ending in January was the heaviest quarter in the year, and yet in this quar. ter there was a surplus of more than 4400,000. The reason why the quarter ending in January was always a heavy one, was, that the taxes imposed, perhaps late in a Session, were not by that time received into the Treasury. In the last year there had been a de. I falcation in the amount of the duties on spirits . : an additional sum of £700,000 had been expected from the distillation from grain; but it appeared that the distillation from sugar had been sufficient to supply the entire demand of the summer. I - Mr. VYSE shortly explained upon a point in which he conceived himself to be misrepresented, by an Hon. General (General Tarleton). He had not, in seconding the Address yesterday, said, that Spain was now in equal security with Portugal ; but he had said that it was equally unconquered. _ _ Mr. WHI'T'BREAD Was not satisfied with the answer which had been given to his Hon. Friend by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. If the income of the country were increasing, so were the expellees ; but if it should appear, that while the expences are increasing .very year, the income was not only not increasing, but was positively falling off, the Right Honourable Gentleman must be, indeed, a very bad financier, if he did not think it high time to look about him, and see from what source this growing ex penditure was to be supplied. It appeared to him, that the amount of the duty on customs was a much fairer standard to judge. of the state of our trade by, than the excise. Did the Right Honourable Gen tleman suppose, that if our trade, and consequently our customs, should decline, the excise would not de cline also? He wished that the Right Honourable G:intleman would say whether he imagined that the revenue could either continue at or arrive to the pros perous state in which it was in the year 1810. If this was not to be expected, he did not know that he could agree to the same expenditure for carrying on the war in the Peninsula in the same manner in which it had hitherto been conducted. As to the mention of the flourishing state of the revenue last year in the speech at the opening of the Session, he believed that it had been a common practice for many former years to allude in the speech to our financial prosperity. Colonel HUTCHINSON, notwithstanding the thinness of the House, could not allow himself to give a silent vote on the present occcasion. He ca -1 vainly dissented most completely from the sentiments contained in the Address, believing, as he did, that the circumstances of the times called for laftgaa : from the House very different from that of adulation. When the address of last year was moved, he had thought fit to express his conviction that it was then the duty of the House to speak out their sentiments, ( 1 - and apprise the Prince Regent of the awful circurn- stances under which he assumed the Government ; 4 that during the preceding reign a great part of the empire had been for ever lost, and the safety of the remaining parts endangered, and that he could neither with honour to himself n-r safety to the country, adopt the plans which had been already pursued with such ruinous and mischievous effects. Every thing which had taken place since that period served to confirm him in the opinion that such was the lan guage with which they ought to approach the Prince I Regent, and he therefore wi , lied to enter 11;s decided protest on this occasion against the principles and proceedings of the present Ministers. With respect to the proposed Address, it stated little, and that little incorrectly, and it kept back and concealed that which was most important. It was not true that our armies had effectually defended Portugal. He certainly did not wish to reflect on the conduct of the General is whom the command of the army in Portugal was i entrusted, nor on the conduct of the troops ; for he believed that every thing had been doneby them which 1 . it was possible for them to do under the circumstan ces in which they had heen placed. But he would ask, if they really meant to state to the country and to Europe, that the English army had effectually se cured the defence of Portugal ? That army was al lowed to remain in Portugal, not because it could not he driven from it, but because it had never yet been i lthe policy or interest of the Emperor of the French to carry on the attack in that quarter. The Right Ho nOuralile Gentleman opposite had said, that he had aff Tcled an addition of 10,000 men to the forces in the Peninsula during the last year ; but could any man `believe that this supply was in any wise effectual for the successful prosecution of the war? Such exertions as had hitherto been made were certainly most inade quate for the defence of Portugal, and we must soon be under the necessity of withdrawing our forces from that country, if the Commander is nut furnished with better means for defence. It was a fact which it was im possible to conceal or disguise, that the enemy had hi therto attempted nothing In which he had not com pletel y succeeded. He would again rgreat here, that he had not the smallest wish to reflect on the conduct of Lord Wellington or his troops. With regard to Spain, it was certainly most undeniably true, notwithstanding all that had that night been urged on the subject by the Right Hon. Gentleman, that the enemy were in reality in the military possession of Spain. Was it be coming then in the House to state in their Address to the Regent,that the affairs of Spain wear a better aspect than they did on the former year,er to tell him that the situation of Spain was in any way improved by our de fence of Portugal? The situation of Spain was indeed now in a very different situation from what it had been in the former year. Sincethat time fortresses and armies had been last; and though many opportunities occur red when assistance on our part could have been given atvarious points, where it would have been effec tual,no such assistance was ever given, and the opportunities were uniformly allowed to pass by unimproved.' But , what were the opinions of the Spaniards themselves, . 'who certainly *ere the hest judges of the assistusee derived by them from the British arms ? Tlivy have told us that the defence of Portugal is not the defence of Spain ; and that that was the Spanish feeling on the subject, was evident from every thing that had come to our knowledge. With regard to Ametica i he rejoiced to see that at l ast th e s e was sor t ie pros . : pect opening of an accommodati o n w i t h th at cum- try. Still, however, the 'question recurred—had Mi.; I flusters done every thing to conciliate that country or had they not rather done every thing which it was' possible for them to do, to provoke and exasperate the Americans ? And with regard to that subject, it was certainly most becoming for them to express the feelings which such a system of misconchict ought to excite, to the Prince Regent. He would now proceed to consider what had been said with respect to the state and condition of Ireland—and after what had been. done to provoke and exasperate the people of Ireland, he conceived that he should be disgraced in the opi nion of every thinking man,'connected as he was with that country, if he did not caress his strong disappro bation of that part of the Address. Afterthe measures which had been adopted, calculated only to disaffect and alienate the affections of the Irish people, it was indeed rather astonishing that any such word as satis faction should come to be employed in reference to the situation of Ireland. By these measures, how. ever, they have sufficiently proved that the Irish are united against them. They had hitherto been most disgracefully managed by their own disunion and dis agreement ; but the policy of Ministers had at length shewn to Britain, that Irishmen of every description. were united in holding it in detestation. So far, there fore, were they from having succeeded iu their plans respecting Ireland, that there was not one part of Ireland, he believed, which had not expressed its strong disapprobation, and that was not beginning to perceive that a union of all could alone protect them from the grasp of an insatiable enemy, from the oppression and tyranny of false and wicked Ministers. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER explained, that he had been misunderstood in the expression he had employed, that the British army in Portugal was stronger at this time by 10,000 men than it was at the same period last year. He did not intend to be understood, that reinforcements to the extent of 10,000 men only, had been sent out, but that on a calculation of the whole force, the augmen tation was to that amount. The question was then put on Mr. Creevey's Mo tion, and negatived. The Report was brought up, read a first ;And second time, and ag;eed to. It w,s ordered that it be presented to the Prince Regent by such Members as were of the Privy Cuuncil. Mr. CREEVEY inquired, whether there WAS any objection to the accounts be ha•l intimated his intention pf moving tor, being kid before the House before the usual period ? The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER replied, that the postponement might be more convenient, as the delay would only be for a few weeks, and the Accounts might not )et be pre pared. On the motion of the Cnattcattoa of the Baca/10ra, it was ordered that the Speech of the Lords Commissioners be taken into consideration to-morrow (this day.) The House went into a Committee on the Act relating to the clearances of ship. la,ien with coal or cols, and the Report hav ing been brought up, it was ordered that a Bill be introduced to repeal the same. _ _ Mr. GRANT, from the Commissioners of Military Inquiry, presented the 16th and i 7th Reports. • l'he Annual Gnat Committees appohned at - the ismsmettee naent of every Sesslot•, were nominated.—Adjourned. THE EVENING STAR. LONDON. THURSDAY, JANUARY 9. Ivut'E OF STOCKS THI'l DAY AT ONE O'CLOCK 3 per Ct. Cons. lot money 620 ex. div.—Ditto for ace. 64} per Cent. Reduced 631--Navy S per Cent. 941 ex. div. 4 per Cent. 78H—Bonds 17s. 18s. pre.—Onunuut ti dis. Exch. Bills (3d.) 1:a. Ss. pre.—Ditto (std.) 9s. 6s. pre. The warrants for the quarterly dividends have been received by the Bankers, and the payments commenced yesterday. A letter from Oporto, dated December 18, which arrived in town this morning, states, that all were quiet with the allied armies. We are glad to hear that large quantities of muskets, cloathing, and stores have been sent from Corunna for the use of the Gal lician army, which we knew to be in great distress. The following is the latest intelligence from Monte Video: 4, MONTEVIDEO, AUGUST IL gg Rondean, General of the rebel army, besieging this place, yesterday sent with a flag of truce the In tendant of his army Don J. A. Calzenas, who was received without the city by our Governor. gg The object of his mission was to inspire us with suspicions for our worthy allies, the Portuguese, whom this emissary of the enemy represented as men corn. ing as auxiliaries, who would themselves wish to be our masters. He added great falsehoods respecting , the Peninsula, assuring us that if it was not already subjugated it soon would be so, which so roused the Governor that he put an end to so useless a con. L ference." A bag of letters was this morning received at the Pcst-Office, from Gibraltar and Malta, by which we have obtained some important intelligence. The yellow fever had lateiy made its appearance in the town Jr f Alicant ; but, from the precautions adopted, its ravages were expected to be of short durafon. At Gibraltar, the alarm of the contag!on had so far ceased, that the quarantine had been taken off from vessels coming from Cadiz, or the west of Cadiz.— The quarantine was continued, however, on all yes sets coming from the eastward of Gibraltar. We have received Spanish Papers, one of wl:ich coiitains the following ari, lc : YELVAS, DZCEMBER IS. " We learn that the French are collecting lArge bodies near the bridges of the Tagus, but they seem At a loss how to shun the impending dangers. It is said their main force will take a position near Ciudad Rodrigo, for the purpose of observing the movements of Lord Wellington. A corps of 1000 fine militia colliers have marched bone for Notqle.': r. I e B .t e 4 7 r .e I* f I iv a C•' I t S. I 11.tt MtMY By a late decisioa of the Secretary it Attr.r, Red. rneft , :il Officers ptoceeding to the Isles of Franc e i au Bour4on, are to be allosi e d Si x M ont h s P ay i n ittl sauce ; and when qdere.l out in the E.tst India Com paq's Ships, are to be placed on the same for:o4g; lti to their aceommodatiou on board, as Officers pro. tieding to C e ylon. The 33d Regiment of Foot, which hss been in In cua aur_11011:14, Teitlll, if now on its passage home. emmom..o•l...mwassallm . NAVAL INTELLIGEN'CB.- Two A tholt Mails arrived this mornings They bring the lira e:ng in elligence : " ANIIOLT, DECEMBER 3R " Only two of the St. George's otigigal convni. have bee.i ascertained to have foundered. Several will be i•bi•ged to minter In Sweden far want of anchors and cables ; and there are abo , it twelve still' missing. The greater part of those which put back into Carlsham, Matweek, and other ports, passed the Sound on the 27th, under convoy of the Pyramus t they all arr;vqd safe, but a Russian and Prussian, who were cut off, and car: ied into Copenhagen by the Danish gun -boats, and proceeded to England on the 28th; under convoy of the Ardent and other ships , of war, left here by Sir JAMES SAleAntz. Al! this English ships which were here have sailed." rALMOUTH, JANUARY 6. No arrivals.—Sailed the Townsend packet, with t mail for Jamaica.—Wind N.W. PLYMOUTH, JANUARY Arrived the Ann tender, with impressed men from Bristol ; and the Neptune tender, with impressed men from Dublin.—Went out of H amoazei to Cawsand Bay the Tossore, $4) ens.—Came up harbour the Anitow, to refit. - Sir EDWARD BULLER, Bart. Aslmi ral of the Blue, and Second in Command at this port, struck his flag yesterday on board the PILLNCZ Fax. nanicic, and. this day set out for London. PORTS MOUTH, JANUARY F. Arrived his Majesty's ships NOROR, FAWN, Rolm. and VALIANT, from the Downs ; the HERMES, from a cruize ; and a convoy, from the Downs.—Sailed his M ijecty's ships ROYAL OAK, HOTSPUR, and Ike- PRTEUX, for off Che:bourg ; and the West India con voy, with a fine breeze at N.E. DEAL, JANUARY S. Sailed the Ocean, Sa U TH, for the South Seas; and .the SPFXULATOR Inept-, with a convoy, for Ports mouth.—Wind N.E. blows herd. HARWICH, MN. 7. This morning arrived the Freeling bye-boat, S. O. HART, Master, from Heligoland, with passengers. They have had much tempestuous weather at the island. On the night of Monday, the 90th ult. a foreign vessel, name not known, and a sloop called the Lubentkr, of Yarmouth, JOHN Brrts, Master, were entirely lost there —crew saved. tilsttAav B.—A number of transpirts, lately arri ycd kern from l'iringo Sound wids ordnance &totes oe board, are ordered round to Portsmouth.—Arrived t!A ARDENT, 64; DICTATOR, 61; R.AMAR slop tf WRr; and Maria transport, from Wingo Sound. THURSO, DECEMBER si A considerable number of fine oak logs, some of them about a f.nft square, are drifting in along all our shores on this side of tht country. No wreck lias yet appeared, although thtre is not • doubt 01 this being part of dot cargo of soma uufureunate vessel. LEITH, JANUARY 6. The Zealous, 74 guns, arrived here on Saturday, from Sheer ness, wi , h the Frencapriwnets which the Regulus had on board when she was obligetr to put back to Sheerness, In consequence of having received Some damage in Yarmouth Roads. The brig Centurion, Mo a Isom, of A berdren, from Mi Handal, was driven into Black Mull Bay, in Long Island, near Chan, lir gyleshire, in a gale, on the lOW ult. with the loss of both anchors and cables. The brig Sprightly, NAIRN, of Aberdeen, which was some tithe misaing, had arrived tartly at St. John's, New Brunswick, on the lsth November, after a severe passage of three months. The whale-fishing ship Elbe, which arrived at Aberdeen on Wednesday last, was stacked on Sunday morning preceding, to the northward of Shields, by a cutter privateer, which gie bosh off. The privateer was, towards evening, seen 'undies to tee northward, between the Coclet and the Fern Isles. When bear ing down on the Flbe, the privateer carried a large square sail and a flying gib, and was observed to be a small black vesstl, of eight or ten tons, with two yellow-painted mouldings round her giant:ale, but bad no stern-boat, and showed a Shedish flag. It is stated is letters from Dublin, dated on Mon day last, that a communication had been made to the Irish Gove;nment, of an association in Dublin, whose object was to separate the two Islands, and to extirpate the Heretics.. The. Privy Council was sitting in Dubli t i Castle when our letters CAlllt away on Monday ; rt which time no further particulars had transpired. I . It is with real concern we have to notice the arrival of accounts at Plymouth from Basque Roads, stating the loss of the barges and curter: belonging to the Conquestador and the Colossus, of 74 guns, coalman ded by Captains Lord W. Bru*ar and T. ALLIAN DES, with about one hundred men of the cress's of both ships. They were employed in a spirited attempt to cut off or destroy a convoy on the French coast. We understand that the greatest part of the boats' crews were made prisoners. We yesterday stated, that the differences between Air:erica and France were in a fair way being al. , justed. We can now add, that the shl Acasttts. ' COTTLE, master, with tobacc.., from Norfolk to Ton ningen, was visited by a British frigate, off Halifax. She was afterwards taktm by a French privateer, and carried into Feacamp, but was, notwithstanding, berated, and permitted either to sell her cargo id I France,.or proceed elsewhere. • Yesterday a Court of Directors washeld at the East India House, when the undmnentionedCoremaniera took leave of the Court previous to departing for their respective destinations, viz. Captain H. P. Tremenlieere, of the Asia; Captain J. Hay, of the /Well ; Captain T. 11. Harris, of the Prince Regent ;—ensf Captain W. L. Psscall, of the Earl ht. Vincoat--for Moires inali Captain J. P. Mansell, of the Coldstream ; and Capita T. • Dembleton, of the Larkins—for St. Helena and Bengal. The following Officers were syoru into the com mand of their respective ships, viz. Captain Halketh, of tle Cirencester, for China direct. Cuptain Lypch, of the Harnett ; C.pcsin Cameron, of the Ann ; Captain Weldton, of th e W es • and Ciiitain JePisins, of the City Loatt,ll.- fix Madras and istnsisi.