Star. — London, England, 1808-02-04 00:00:00

_. .• - .7111r.! `~ -~:' s ~ . . • 4 •.A . t're 4 1 4r ;:• 7 1 --- e e . • V. 4il) .7.1 7 -1)1 O . 4:IFAL • • • ."7" er.:.4;; e 014. • tr . • : 1 • te t . -.• aver JP .t .B no 4 . .11 4 .NC: • . :) • 1 ,4 - ft . #7 • . ,r` , : +l: 4 ' • mr% T .0 b '.l) 7 : ::17:c:t..4Ltiir,44„... • . i~ .- a .., -~i ::~ ~. oBER 595'81 FOREIGN lATELLIGENCE. e nviS OF THE SENATUS CONSULTUWYM REONAUD DE ST. UPON TIM CON ON OF 1809, DLCLARED ' j ug D'ANGEGY, MINISTER OF STATE. al SENATORS--IVhen your -wisdom called out the - pt. , o f 1808, your wishes were directed towards t he peace which signal victories had prepared—you f i s hed to ensure new means of conquering and paci fying, The succe ss sur p assed your hopes—the flames are extinguished upon the Continent—a dura ble peace has been sworn between th has e sreatest Sove. re igns in the world, and Europe. time to breathe. t t here is a Government to which the repose of is despair, to which peace is terror, to which & t or is necessity, and war, hope. England hasreplied m the offer of a generous mediation offered by the Ern. pror of Russa, by carrying fire and the sword into the territories othe r most ancient ally, by professing more so l e mnly contmpt of there of nations, by proclaim more inhumanly the principle of eternal war.— The iedignation of all Sovereigns has'replied to the injurious manifestoes, to the cunning ckelaration.:-.... to the barbarous acts of the Cabinet of St. Jams's.— The predictions which the orators of his Majesty nu de to you in this Tribune a year ago are rea ussd. •It i s,' we said, 4 from the bosom of the Con tinent, which England would set in a flame, that henceforth a terrible war shall be waged against her. 'lt is by applying to her, on all the. European shores, the principles she has applied on all seas, that we shall bring her back to- the ancient principles of the law of Nations and of civilized States. It is by oiling her ships from all the coasts where we have soldiers and allies, that the English Ministry will be , punished for their culpable refusal of giving Peace to the World.' “ Such, Senators, were the words we addressed to you in speaking of the Conscription of 1808 ; '1(.1 be-1 hold a sacred and powerful league is formed to punish the English Oligarchy, defend the rights of nations, and avenge humanity. From the Baltic to the Mediterra xan, from the Nile to the Marva, but few points re main to the English ships, where they can land, or where they awe not forbidden to touch. But it is not nifficient to have, by a just reciprocity, pronounced against England that dreadful sentence of outlawry ; she must not be permitted to be at rest in the seat of kr iniquitous domination, upon any of her coasts, in an of her colonies, under any points of the globe which are not yet interdicted to her. It is necessary, that, repelled from one part of the world, menaced is all others, England should know not where to di rect the little military force of whicle she has the dis posal ; and that our armies, more formidable than ewer, should be ready to carry into her possessions our victosious and avenging Eagles. Such, Gentle wet ate the motives which have determined his Ma jesty to &wad a new Conscription. The levy of the preceding year has been, as you foresaw, the pledge of Continental Peace: the levy of this year will be the presage of a Maritime Peace. The pillage of the arsenal aad port of Copenhagen • thee:figration of the Portuguese fleet , have not yet left the Continent without ships. Our legions can yet reach the English Militia—lreland may yet hope for succour against op pression—lndia may yet expect deliverers ; and while our ancient phalanxes shall march to haasten the day of justice, new legions of young warriors shall be trained to discipline and to battle, under the paternal eye of those warlike Magistrates, of those Senator-Generals, who with so happy a zeal have already for Med brave men to replace those whom war has snatched from the country, or who have been restored to their fami lies. His Majesty will have a superabundance of , means to realize his pacific views, or to execute his warlike projects. To the formidable ar mies of his faithful Allies, his Majesty will unite, for common safety and triumph, so formidable a mass, that suc cess will not long be doubtful. So just a cause will not be in vain defended by so mach force, and pro tected by so many Powers. A league so imposing in its elements, so generous in its policy, so just in its • object, so great in its means, will at length bring hack our enemies to justice through fear , or to submission through victory." PORTUGAL.• &ZPORTS OF THE MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS BELA- viva TO PORTUGAL. [Published in the Moniteur of his. 54.1 The first Report, dated Oct. 21, is as follow : " There is DO Sovereign in Europe who does' not acknowledge that if his territory, his jurisdiction should be violated to the detriment of your Majesty, he would bt responsible for it. If a French ship were rized in the port of Trieste or Lisbon, the Govern ment of Portugal and the Sovereign to whom Trieste belongs, would have to consider that violence and damage done to your Majesty's subjects as a personal outrage they could not hesitate to compel England ti force to respect their territory and their ports—if they adopted a contrary conduct, if they became ac complices of the wrong done by England to your sub iects, they woul‘place themselves in a state of war with your Majesty. " When the Portuguese Government suffered its slips to be visited by English ships, its independence was as much violated by its own consent, by the out rage done to its flag, as it would have been had Eng land violated its territory and its ports. " The enemy ought to be placed in a state of inter- Ilia, in the midst of the seas of which he pretends to reserve to himself the empire. In this poEition, all powers could and ought to expect from each other a mutual support. " And at what moment did Portugal betray the cause of the Continent Ought England to expect still to have an ally, when, exercising her violence on every sea , she menaced the new world as well as the old; attacked, without any motive for aggression, the flag of the Americans, and dyed their own shores .with their blood ; when, scandalously famous by the disasters of Copenhagen, which she surprised in the 'y . It! Y )th of* 11. I. A eth. r tM Ken tratti 4 :untni• I I mot of specit.s ha wit pun tcn ti THtit,SDAI(, FF_I3ILITARir 4, 1.. midst of peace, she sought, in the pillage of her aree nals, for a few sad and bloody spoils. But the scandal of this understanding between the Portuguese Government and England; may be traced to other times. When England meditated,n 1806, the rekindling in Europe that war which your Majesty has so gloriously terminated, she sent a fleet to Lisbon. The Ministers had conferences ; time has developed the object and the result. 44 Have not the English squadrons, sent to the River Plata, touched at Janeiro ? Did not the troops sent to Buenos Ayres and Monte Video receive pro visions from the Brazils ? These distant succours may have escaped the attention of Europe ; but she saw Portugal receive and victual in her ports the English ships destined to blockade Cadiz, to attack Constantinople and Egypt ; those which were to land ' troops in Naples, to stir up revolt ; thost‘ which were to introduce English merchandize upon all the coasts of the Mediterranean , though Portugal knew that all the ports in the South were ihut against them. " A French Coninl, whom Portugal had acknow.l ledged and admitted to the exercises:if his functions I in the port of Faro, has been taken from his house by the Intendant of the Customs, sent to prison, taken out only to be exiled, and the Portuguese Govern ment refused for three months to repair that outrage. " Protestations of neutrality ill concealed this hostile conduct. The Court of Lisbon should have' explained itself without shuffling, Your Majesty proposed to it to accede to the system of the Conti nent ; and had it done so, you would have forgotten every thing. 44 Far from deferring to your Majesty's proposals, ,the Portuguese Government had no other solicitude 'than that of informing the Court of London, of tran quillizing England relative to her interests, of gua ranteeing the safety of the Englis h, and of their pro perty in Portugal. It had neither protected the French nor their commerce ; the persons and trade of their enemies have continued free and favoured.— Portugal promised to join the cause of the Continent, even to declare war against England ; but she wished to make it, if I may use the expression, in concert with her, to furnish her, under the appearance of hos tility, with the means of continuing her trade with Portugal, and through Portugal with the rest of Eu rope ; a kind of war equivalent to a perfidious neutra lity. Succours were demanded of England ; and to gain time, attempts were made to deceive your Ma jesty by vain declarations ; scruples were alleged upon some of the consequences of the war, when none were entertained upon the war itself, which breaks all ties. 44 In vain did your Majesty, deigning to condescend to these metended scruples, modify your first demands; the same refusals were renewed ; Portugal made pro mises, but delayed the execution, under different pre- , texts. At one time it was the Prince of Beira, a child i of 1 4 2 years, who was to be sent to the Brazils to de fend that colony ; at another time it was a squadron was expected from the Mediterrane an, which it wish ed to have in safety in the Tagus. " Thus Portugal, embarrassed by her own artifices, making with the Court of London engagements, real anduseful to the English—with France,vague and pre tended engagements--waited for succours and advice from England, sought to delay the measures of the Cabinet, and, humiliating herself before both, blindly committed to the chance of events, the interests, perhaps the existence of a nation, which unanimously desired her not to give them up to a power so fatal to' ' all its allies. 4 , The epoch, which your Majesty had fixed for the expected determination, which you had 'consented to prolong for a month, arrived : Portugal decided her own fate ; she broke off her last connections with the Continent, by reducing the French and Spanish Le gations to the necessity of quitting Lisbon. 44 Portugal has placed herself in a state of war with France, notwithstanding the benevolent disposi tion of your Majesty towards her. War with Portu gal is a painful but necessary duty. The interest of the Continent, from whence the English ought to be excluded, forces your Majesty to declare it. Longer delay would only place Lisbon in the hands of the English." '4 SECOND REPORT. -^JAN. 2,180 R. 44 His excellency recals to the recollection of his Majesty how necessary were the active and vigilant measures which have been taken, and so well second ed, by the rapidity of the march of the French troops. Portugal only sequestered the English goods, when the English were secure from that measure, which Portugal did not even affect to execute. She con certed her evasion with the English ; and, a little while before we received the news of it, a courier had carried to Italy, where the Emperor then was, new protestations of attachment to the common cause of the Continent. He announced the return of M. de Lema, who had quitted Lisbon, and the arrival of the Ambassador Extraordinary M. de Marialva, pro bably the dupe, as was the courier, of the bad faith of her Court. " Portugal is at length delivered from the yoke of England ; your Majesty occupies it with your troops ; it had been left defenceless on the sea side, and a part of the cannon on her coasts had been spiked. Thus England menaces her at present, blockades her ports, and would lay waste her shores. Spain has had fears for Cadiz—she has had fears for Ceuta. It is against that part of the world that the English appear to wish to direct their secret expeditions. They have embar ked troops at Gibraltar ; they have recalled from that quarter those which had been driven from the Le vant, and a part of those which they had accumulated in Sicily. Their cruizers on the coast of Spain be come more vigilant, and seem to wish to revenge upon that kingdom the reverses they have experienced in the Spanish Colonies. All the peninsula deserves to fix particularly the attention of your Majesty." REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF WAR ON THE MEASURES TAKEN BY FRANCE UNDER THE PRIM? CARCUM . STANCES.-6TH JAN. 46 Your Majesty ordered me to form the first and second Corps of Observation of the Gironde. The first of those corps, commanded by General Junot, has conquered Portugal. The head of the second is ready to follow the first, if circumstances require it. I Your Majesty, whose vigilance is never at fault, wished the. Corps of Observation of the Ocean, con fided to Marshal Moncey, to be in. the third line. The necessity of shutting the ports of the Con tinent against our irreconcileable enemy, and of hay ing upon every point of attack considerable means, in order to profit by any of the fortunate,cirzumstan ces which may present themselves, 'to carry the war into the heart of England, Ireland, and the ladies, may render the levy of the conscriptioa of 1809 ne- cessary. "The party which rules at I.nndon has proclaimed the principle of eternal war ; and the expedition to Copenhagen has revealed it, criminal intentions. — Though the indignation of all Europe has been ex cited against England—though at no period 'has France had such numerous armies—it is not sufficient; it is necessary that English Influence should be at taslted every where where it exists, till the moment in which the Fight of so many dangers shall induCe Eng land to drive from her Councils the Oligarchs who direct them, and to confide the Administration to wise men, capable of conciliating the love and interest of their country with the love and interest of the human race. '6 A vulgar policy would have made your Ma jesty disarm ; but such a policy would be a scourge to France, and render imperfect the• great results you have prepared. Yes, Sire, your Majesty, far from diminishing your at mg, ought to augment them, till England shall have acknowledged the indepen dence of all Powers, and restored to the seas that tran quillity which your Majesty has ensured to the Con tinent.. Undoubtedly your Majesty must suffer in requiring from your people fresh sacrifices, and in im posing new obligatiotas on them ; but you ought also to yield to the cry of all the French—" No repose till the sea be free, and a just peace shall have re-esta blished France in the most just, the most useful, and the most necessary of her rights." PARLMMENTARr PROCEEDINGS. HOUSE OF LORDS, FEBRUARY 8. Lord AUCKLAND presented a petition from Sir James Innes, the Respondent in the Appeal respecting the Roxburgh Estates, praying_that the cause should be heard out of the regular course OD the Bth of May neat. His Lordship, in support of the Petition, principally relied on the advanced age of the Petitioner, which left him little hopes of seeing the termination of the cause, if it were not to be heard until those which preceded it in the list, amounting to more than 160, were disposed of; and on the ground, that the succession to the estates involved the right to several titles and dignities. The LORD CHANCELLOR stated the great inconvenience which had resulted to suitors from the appointment of bye days of hearing. There were now on the list 21 English appeals, 48 Irish, and 116 Scotch. It was of the utmost importance that the strictest equity should be preserved in a matter where, after all that could be done, great delay must occur with respect to some of the parties. If the questions of peerage, which the Roxburgh case involved, might be supposed to take it out of the common or der of bearing, he conceived the best way would be to appropriate to it those days which were usually allotted to the Committee of Privileges. After some observations from Lords Lac or. anata and Seim eta Lord AucKi . AND intimated thathe should delay any further proceeding on the Petition urfn Friday. Lord LAUDERDALE presented a Petition from the Rev* James Scott, Rector of Brampton Bryan, in the county of Here ford, against the Bill now before the House for repealing the Act of the 47th of the Kin e. 75. which Act suspended the operation of the 36th of the King, commonly called the Curates' Act. The petition stated, that Mr, Scott was instituted to the Rec tory of Brampton. Bryan in 1801, and in 1805 was nominated to the perpetual Curacy of Titley in the same county : that in 1806, he wept to China as Chaplain in a King's ship, which is a legal cause,of absence. The petition further stated, that Mr. Scott was ignorant when he accepted the perpetual Curacy, that by the Cu rates' Act be then rendered his former benefice voidable; which, if he had known, be would have procured a dispensation, as L. L. B. of Oxford, to hold two benefices. Further, that during the lest Session oT Parliament, in Mr. Scott's absence, a Bill was under discussion fur relieving those, who; like himself, were igno rant of the Curates' Bill ands t several weeks after this, viz. on the 27th of July 1807, the pn of the said Rectory presented another Gentleman. The petition then stated the provisions of the Act of the 47th of the King, which secu re the ri g ht o 1 Mr. Scott; and afterwards added, that the patron of the rectory approved of Mr. Scott's ac ceptance of the curacy, and immediately thereupon became Mr. Scott's t e nant of certain tythes belonging to the curacy, which he s ubmitted was the strangest proof of the knowledge, assent, and privity of the: patron ; that risen of the first professional eminence were ignorant of the clause in the Curates' Bill. The petitioner then stated, that priuted papers misrepresenting his case bad been. industriauslreirculated to his prejudice. Thep prayed against the bill now in the House, and that he might be heard by Counsel, &c.--Ordered to lie on the table.—Adjourned. • HOUSE OF COMMONS. The American Intercourse Bill went through the C Report ordered to be received to-mortow. The Correspondence between the Directors of the Rank and the First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer, relative to a Loan, were laid upon the table. The Bill for permitting the produce of the Brazils , and other Portuguese settlements, in South America. to be imported in ships of that Country, was read a first time, and ordered to be road a second time to-morrow. The CHANCELLbR of the EXCHEQUER moved, that the Dean of Litchfield ehould be requested to preach before the Hou se o n Wednesday, the 17th instant. NAVAL ASYLUM. Sir C. POLE, in pursuance of the notice be had given, rose to move for leave to bring in a bill to amend the Act passed last Session, for establishing the Naval Asylum. In that bill it was his intention to introduce a clause, tendering it peremptory upon the Governors to appoint persons who hag served in the navy er marines to all offices in that establishment. It was proper, as the establishment was now supported by the public money, that it should be under publis controuL The title of the Act being read, the Hon. Member moved for leave to bring in a bill to antet.d. Mr. ROSE said, that the Act of last Session went no farther than to authorise his Majesty to make a grant of the House at Greenwich, and to direct the appointment of a Chaplain. It was intended to pursue the same plan at the Naval Asylum that was adopted at the Military Asylum at Chelsea. At the latter, the Board was authorized, by warrant under the Sign Manual, to ap , point Milers, and to prepare instructions Ind regulations. He did not think this was a fit subject for legislative intetference. Mr.WIND HAM explained theca:lsthmian of the Military A sy i !tun, and said that a preference was always given, in falls% the sr pointmenu, to military odium. Mr. THORNTON and Lord NEWARK severally explained the regulation for =lntim% the algooliathaent of one of the ;wadi- . [Piticr..SLx,,pEric r: dates to the situation al hitagesst. There hadbeeti two candidates for that office, one of Oboes had been 'diseased - In the Navy, and the other in the armydoidohe•bed alas -had seamen frequently under care. ahe former missed to give up Ida private practice, and the latter had consented, is sonessisense of which he was • appointed. Sir CHARLES POLE said, that be would never compromise his fedinp with respect to the Navy, or any non or set of MO 11011111111 K and that be would divide the House even should he E akfae. The •OIMNCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER explained the progress Society, and suggested to the Hon. Baronet the pro. prier/ Of oldrposing his motion, until the instructions which were in preparation were laid before the House. Mr. , WINDHAM and Mr. ROBE mplsioed. • Lord TEMPLE recommeedelliiilidraos. Friends to goosed der the question. He .tyseed-withetNimgat Hen. Menbac• rife in oft the opposite Bench, that it. 111011iibil0toper to wait structions were laid bedew the Souse. He proposed that the motion should be withdrawn for the present, upon an undarseati ang, that the facts stead by the Hon. Baronet should be enqui red into. • —v.' • • Sir CHARLES Paisilhoeeded, and the motion was withdrawn. Sir CUBILLES'POLE then moved fora copy of she waist =teattli3Osomesseeioners of t e e zed Ar n aNaval namely* • hind of tbe saisrim He next moved for 'a list of Mexandidates for the mast aiiisla in the institution: diehion toaplace.—Ayell 7S—Noes 190: . • - COPENHAGEN. Mr. PONSONBY said, he rose for the purpose of making the motion of which he had given notice to the House. His object was, to ascertain how far Mi nisters were justifiabd in advising his Majesty to ern ' ploy his naval and military, forces in the attack upon Copenhagen. His reasons were founded on his Map jesty's declaration, in which it was stated, that he owed it to Europe to give a ftill exposition of his mo tiyes for recurring to that measure. The subject was particularly' deserving the attention of Parliament, for it was one -in which the honour and character of the country were deeply implicated. It was almost unnecessary for him to observe to the House, that in what the should say of his Majesty's speech, or • his Majesty's declaration, it was not his intention to ap ply it to the private sentiments of the Sovereign, but to his confidential Ministers ; to those who directed his Councils, and were responsible to Parliament and the country for the advice they gave him. Not he could never bring himself to consider the sentiments in that declaration as proceeding from his Majesty ; for the acts to which they referred,. viewing them in the light he did, were as derogatory to the honour of the Crown as they were, in his opinion, contrary to sound policy and the true interests of the country. — In discussing the subject, he proposed to consider the conduct of Denmark prior to the attack upon Copen hagen ; to consider the conduct of Russia antecedent to her knowledge of that event, and, lastly, to consi der the means of France to compel Denmark to place I her navy at her disposal. It would be idle to, speak of the disposition of France ; for there was not a per son in the country who must not be convinced, that it was the anxious wish, the incessant endeavour, of the ruler of France to cembiae and employ all possi ble means for the destruction of the British empire.— In drawing up the resolutions on which he intended to ground his motion for an address to the Throne, he had. occasion to go pretty far back. In the decla ration, dated the 25th of September, 1807, there was a passage,'stating that the Court of Denrnaik had stated as an excuse for her joining in the maritime confederacy in 1801, that it had been compelled to by a power whose authority it was unable to resist.— Now he wished to know where any information that effect was to be found • and he had shaped his resolution for the purpose of obtaining copies of such communications from the Court of Denmark, as con tained•any admission of that nature. These thought e it his duty to move for , becau se the fact was statin the declaration, and stated as one of chief reasons for seizing the Danish navy. He had made some inquiry on the subject from persons who were likely to be well informed, and the result of inquiry was, that Denmark made no such apology, it was called. He was desirous to know the truth the fact. What objection, at this day, could there to laying such papers before the House ? The trans action took place six or seven years ago. It was matter of history, and the . disclosure of the circum stances relating to it were not liable to any of the jections consequent upon a recent event. He was sured the statement contained in the declaration • not founded in fact ; and therefore he wished to' all the information relating to it, if there were before the House. He had shaped another cf his solutions for the . purpose of ascertaining what the conduct of Denmark. He would move, that the reports of the King's Minister at Copenhagen . the course of lait, year, relating to the naval prepara tions o(Denmark, and the means she possessed of manning gni fitting outlier fleet, should be laid be fore the 'House ; for it was to be presumed, if Den mark' had fallen in with the views of France and Russia, that she would, secretly at least, have resor ted to these.means and preperatlons. -It was, he un derstood, the practice in_ Dentiark, that sailors should inscribe their names, in a register prepared for that purpose, so that the number of tailors was always easily ascertained. Whenever they engaged in the mercantile marine, _they were obliged to give notice in what ships they entered. The length of the voy ages Which they undertook, and the comparatively small numbers of their merchant ships, rendered it impossible for Denmark to fit out a considerable .fleet in a short time. It was not there as if was in Eng land, where, from the immense number of our mer chant navy, a press would sweep away, in three or four weeks, seamen sufficient to man a considerable fleet. If Denmark meant any thing hostile from her self, she, molt have given some indications of it previous to the entrance of the British fleet into the Baltic. These of course would be communicated by his Majesty's Minister at that Court ; and as these communications would go a great way towards ex culpating Ministers, he did not see what possible ob jection there could be to laying them before the House. He understood, however, that they meant to refuse that information ; but he trusted the House tl‘ • ;•• • , • • I 1 I • • r li- ce Lk at of si- ed ae, la- mas ad me ) it to his ach :on- he was the had who his Y , as th of re be rans- ;now cum- ie as- a was ) have any, his re- .t was Mt all gen in epara- sed of Lid ba- *IC*