Star. — London, England, 1821-02-22 00:00:00

~..:._- t th r-Payaiament..to have a barracb . li alet ,,, se t e. cfn • yde. Park, and a camp ofAussians 41 '. 1 .ikheasli to superintend the debates of Podia.' i s tit sgete with, and'setife;'ourdomestic s , 'This was the Stii•thise, shim the reign of, ,yvthat such a proposition had been made; ' t lie present attempt was much more atrocious t hat was made even nt the reign of Charles that d, for the propositions of that day were made t he e l s y cn ly, the present AtiOCiOus attehipt was Made ind without disguise. Was thee 'a heart, a heart, whatever political party it might be of, Am did no t boil with indignation at such a -proposi- L 7 gnot the worst part of the transac wwfo-rudit th is e Ministers w at Troppau had declared they Md~Odoubt this country would accede to the system hqw aot3t to be adopted by them; and which system • o ot oaly 'olive up the freedom of Europe, but of .. 4 1, toetts yyy also, and to sanction the introduction s o - ate county of Middlesex of an army of 100,000 i ye as and Cossacks. Such was the proposition for i s hicii the Noble Lord impeached Prince Metternich. l e t here it did not tests for Prince Metternich, and t h e r est of the Noble Lord's Royal and Princely Al j, preferred a counter bill of indictment against the g a ble Lord; they eliarged him with having de..eived gis p tg e o uraged them to erpect that he would accede o w, s ystem. He did not say that this assertion tea • the Noble Lord denied it; but surely the wain of the thste greatest Sovereigns of Europe did alford ggrround for inquiry into the conduct of his o s iesty's Ministers, to 'try the truth of the charge. watt cot preened to gardsat the charge was not sa gessay ; but the bare assertion of a Nlinister was ad 3 su a st ieat ground for the House of Commons to l e y u pon. The production of papers would skew whether the British Ministers had committed the deities, or the Allied Powers had uttered' th e gross est or falsehoods. If the Allied Powers. ow a c ooducttowards Naples on the part of the Bri tish Government, similar to their own, they might sl y o ully infer a similarity of opinion. The British 4leternment had refused to receive the Ambassador ge t atloales; and such had been the conduct of the i paa Powers; We were " willing to wound, but afesideo strike!" But in the commencement of the Fiends Revolution, M. Cbauvelin was received after the French King had been brought back to his capital. A limitation in the power of the King was never sup send to be a reason for lot receiving an Ambassador. la the year 177 g, whets the . King of Sweden had esta blished despotism, no objection had been made to the neeption of his Ambassador; that only was the case when fhe change had been in favour of liberty. In Desmark, a despotism had been mildly established; sod that seemed to be one of the causes of the con duct of the Allied Powers towards Denmark. The disapprobation of the British Government had been iipified, not to the Allied Powers, but to the Nea politans. This disapprobation to the Neapolitans was wholly uncalled for. The conduct of Naples to Sicily lad nothing to do with the relation of Naples to Eng. Ind s or to Austria. However bad in itself, this coun try had nothing to do with it, and was called upon togive no opinion. Ferdinand IV. was King of Bi el/ as well as Naples ; and though the Neapolitan Government might be much to blame, yet there was so ground for interference on our part. A foreign Government might have blarised our conduct terthe Catholics of Ireland ; but should we , have tolerated luck interference ? Many hid blamed the old Con sunniest of Poland ; but would they on that occasion have justified the partition of that country ? He wat sot an advocate for the Spanish Constitution, but it livered to the Neapolitans, that the adoptiOn of fiat Constitution would be a rallying point.-- le 1811, the cry of Sicily was for the Constitution of Ingland, and continued, till, by the Treaty of Paris, mlthe abandonment to despots of independent States, &gland lost the esteem of the world. The English . Ministers sought the appiobation of despots, and now they were arraigned by the despots themselves. It was a singular accusation, that the Revolution had been brought about by a Secret Society, which had i been organized against Murat. Murat said, he had no objection to the Carbonari, if they would only act openly against him. If there was any Society, that profaned the name of the Champion of the Protestant Religion for unhallowed purposes, let them recollect that the great objection of Ministers to the Neapolitan Revolution, was because it had been accomplished partly by a Secret Society. Much had been said of the interference of the Army ; and he would admit that, in a regular Government, nothing was more to be deprecated than the interference of the Army ; but thee was a wide difference between that case and that of an interference in the case of a bad and un settled Government—lnter pace??t et servitutem pluri sum interest. At the time of the French domination, the Carbonari were encouraged all over Italy. He believed there were Carbonari in Lombardy and Venice, but this had not been caused by the Go vernment of Naples. I' was the conduct of the Noble Lord, the abandonment of Lucca and Genoa, and the surrender of Parga, that had multiplied the race of the Carbonari; and the consequence had been firreseen and foretold by the late Mr. Horner.— lt had been said that no complaint had been made of grievances to the Sovereign of Naples. But such an idea arose from a total confusion of a free with an absolute Government, as under the former alone could it be expected that grievances could be re dressed. The Noble Lord limited the right of inter. 'ference to those Powers that might be affected by the proposed changes. By that principle Russia WAS excluded, as Siberia could no more braffected by the changes in Naples than by an eruption of Vesuvius. rri the circular of the NOble Lord, a brief had been pm into the' ands of Russia, and it was admitted that, in the event of danger' to Austria, she would be justified in going to war. But Where was the proof of the danger P—None!---(Hear)—and only a win of bare'possibilities. But he contended it was I beduty of the British Government' to learn if that teas a reason or only a pretence fbravar-:-(Hear).— lii this case no resemblance could be traced to the 'oar against France— At am ate, satins pi. tc feratilts;.4:lloll • rage in Aosta fait Tfie , war against France in 17% was justified the deers of the French Convention proclaiming frater -1 *itnion with all nation: ' and. also upon overt acts of Ntreaion on the part of the French Government. Jut *you the present occasion the Allied Powers had "til the same part as the French Conycntion of, "Pt id' thin? tientorairDecrecof i9th-oiNik umber, which went to encottrage the stbjects of every country to rebel against their Governments. The principles, then acted upon by the French As sembly, those of pbwer run mad, of despotism drunk, had, as it appeared to him, been recently acted upon at Troppau and Laybach. The French Decree pro- mised to assist any subjects who rebelled against their Sovereign : the Hambnrgh Declaration engaged to prevent any reform being effected in the Govern ments of the Continent. To him the Declaration ap - - peared to be an edict against all the laws of nations; and it might be considered a jest ground of war by every free country.—" Jastam gel ism quibus neces sarium et pia arms partition of Poland was justified on the sane principles as were now employed in the very case of Naples. The partitloaing Sovereigns, after lament lug the disorders of Poland, stated, a. the only remedy, that a great part of the country should be divided among themselves. In the year 1791 a free Constitution bad been introduced into Poland, and the Govern. ment had been made hereditary. But the Empress of Russia marched an army into Poland, to support the ancient Constitution; and the King of Prussia, who had recognized 'the new Constitution, seized that part of the country that was most convenient for him. The House was called upon to pronounce a strong opinion upon the most important question that could come before a Legislative Assembly. The consequence, as to Naples, would probably be, that, for some time, there would be a vassal Prince on the Throne, and then Naples would be absorbed into the Austrian dominions. But would not the Emperor of Russia imitate the example of Austria? and Prus sia might, as she had done before, seize the patrimo- ' nial dominions of his Majesty in Germany. By the treaty betwixt Germany and Naples, it was stated' that no change should be made in the Constitution of Naples, that might affect the neigbb'buring Pro-, vinces. The conduct of Austria afforded a clear comment on that article of the treaty, which was to continue a pure Military Government. The oppres sors of Italy when they Called out anarchy, in fact meant liberty, and against liberty were their efforts directed. It was clear that the present movements of that Power were directed, not against the Car bonari—not against the Spanish Constitution—not sigainst the wild schenies of Democracy, but against the smallest relaxation of the system of a stern Mili tary Despotism. If he- might invert the sentiment expressed by one of our moral Poets which ran thus: 1 , License they mean, when they cry Liberty! ' • 11 But who means th at, must first be wise and good!" —he would say, oppose these who first cry Anarchy, I for they must be found the reverse of evil, and good. The hostility of Austria was, in point of fact, now di rected, as appeared from the stipulation to which he had referred, against the principles of the British Con stitution—( Hear, hear).—Certain Powers had intro duced a sort of reasoning Gazettes, and, though the reasoning was all on one side, yet an opposite conclu sion was sometimes drawn from that which was meant to be deduced. The Hon. - Gentleman proceeded to quote the language of M: Gentz and the - Berlin Gazette, which assigned totally different reasons for the conduct of the Allies than what had been as 'signed in their own 'Circulars. The Allied Powers expected that the whole of the noble struggles for our liberty shbuld be characterized as usurpations from our legitimate Monarchs. Could any man who had a drop of British Wood in his veins endure such a proceeding? The Bill of Rights \vas extorted from Charles the First, and so had been stated in the Re cords of Parliament, in perpetuam rei memoriam, The most important Act of Habeas Corpus hid been gained after a struggle of seventeen years ; and to which Charles 11. was so adverse, that he told Has rillon it was impossible to govern mankind under it. By the proposal of the Allied Powers, all those noble efforts were to be branded as usurpationi. Such alli ances and concilialmiet, formed by them, tended to produce the most fatal effects on the happiness of na tions. The Holy Alliance was a wild rhapsody; and these Royal Professors of ethics and- theology should learn, that what had formerly rescued Europe from slavery, the Christian'Faith, could not be made sub servient toldunge it into slavery again —(Hear). — Till the present day,' England had been the ene fly of every kind of oppression. .At the time of the Re formation, Elizabeth,Henry of France, and the Prince of Orange, had put themselves at the head of that great movement of the human mind. Two of these, the Prince of Orange and the King of France, fell by the daggersof assassins, the victims of legitimacy. The third, Elizabeth, died full of years and.glory, though branded by the advocates of legitimacy as the most infamous of Sovereigns. What would have been said of the Revolution of 1688, had such a' Holy Alliance then prevailed ? -It would have been said, it had been effected by an ungrateful nephew and unnatural daughters, a mutinous army, and a Clergy false to their own Creed—(Loud Cheers). — He hoped that the sense of the People of England would be conveyed to the allied Despots, and make them learn how their conduct was viewed by a free People. The Hon. Member concluded by moving for—" Copies of all Correspondence between his Ma jesty's Government and the British Ministers abroad, relative to the late proceedings at Naples." Lord CASTLEREAGH said, that the House could not then assent to the motion of the Hon. Member, unless they were prepared to interfere with the affairs of Naples. At the, same time, he did not mean to deny that a time might arrive when the House would not scruple to afford the desired information. Upon the face of the Document on the table, it was obvious that the' Govern meat of this country was not at all 1 cominitted. Ban had the British Government been implicated, .still, pending the transactions, such a demand as that of the Hon. Member ought never to have been made. Upon this occasion, he had been blamed for not preicribing a system to all the other dwersOf Europe, though the same Gentleman who ntre • made -that charge, had formerly contended, that the policy of the country was t.i lie on its oats, .and to husband its resources—(l - /car, hear).— was too much to be told, after the view that ' d heed taken of the state of the country by the ,Gentlemen opposite, that we should be desired to read a greatmoral, or 'rather an immoral lesson, to the Powers of the Continent. No individual had deserved more of the gratitude of mankind than the Illustrious Monarch who had. been made the chief object of attack. Though he (Lord Castlereagh) disapproved of the conduct as to Naples, yet he would 'always &fend the' principles' of the Holy . . Alliance, which he hoped would long live, for the preservation of the peace of Europe. lie trusted that the Hoose of Commons would never think that the Alliance had forfeited its claim to the confidence of Europe. He could state, from personal know ledge, that none of the Powers of 'the Holy Alliance, had ever formed a wish for territorial aggrandize ment, and that principle operated with equal force in Italy as in the rest of Europe. Should n wish for territorial aggrandizement be felt, it would be iscor rected from the nature of the Alliance itself. A stria v could not look to aggrandizement in Italy shout opposition on the pa r t o f F rance an d t he ' talian States. The Paper to which a reply had beefs made, was not to be regarded as a final arrangemeht ;. and it was a proof of the good faith of the Allies, that a British and French' Minister were present, though they took no part in the transaction —( Hear ). It was said, that Ministers were under a charge ; tut Ministers had distinctly stated, that they were no parties to the proceedings. of the Allied Powers. It would be a most dangerous principle to state gene rally that no case could arise to justify interference in the affairs of Foreign Powers. But the only ques tion between him and the Honourable Gentleman was, as to the extent of the exception. Ile would contend, that . all States might deliver an opinion on passing events. But there was a wide difference be tween an opinion and a remonstrance. Nor could he conceive, that upon all occasions we were to step for ward and cut the Gordian knot of Continental affairs. Though he did not think meanly of the resources of the country, yet we ought to pause before a formal remonstrance was made to Foreign States. A re monstrance on paper would be of little effect, and would only tend to lessen the character of the coun try. But he was happy to be able to state, that the speeches of the Honourable Member had not les sened the estimation, of England upon the Continent. He had stated the same view to the Government of Naples as to the Austrian Government. Though he bad not received Prince Cimitelli in his character of Ambassador, he had often seen him, and there was no cessation of relations between tke two countries. Everything had proceeded in the same manner as formerly. His Majesty's Ministers had lost no time in explaining themselves to Austria that we could not admit that we could take any steps with respect to Naples. At the same time we never had contemplated interference in the question as to how the Allies were to conduct themselvei with respect:to Naples. He thought that the Hon. Gentleman did as much injustice to the views of the Sovereigns, as if they had gone to Naples to place any stain on themselves, or to oppress the Neapolitans. They acted under a view of the interests of all parties. We had never encou raged Austria to go to war,; and he could assure the House, that he was as distinctly separated horn that measure as any party to it, though he could not say that there were in this case circumstances which would warrant an Austrian Minister in proceeding by force against the kingdom of Naples. But he could not come to the conclusion of the Honourable Gentleman. Neither could he agree that the Govern ment of Naples was so immoral and oppressive that the People had a right, wising from necessity, to alter it.--The case of Spain was different. She had a Con stitution previous to the return of the King, who had promised a continuance of a popular Government, and he had refused to sanction it afterwards. But be must protest against the doctrine that a People might rise in rebellion because it might think its Government not exactly free cr representative. In Sicily, the two Houses of Parliament could not agree ; and though our Representative System was given them by a Noble Lord (William Bentinck) who was sincere in it, yet they petitioned the Government to reform that system. if they had asked any in telligent travellers and public men in Naples in the month of March, previous to the July when this Revolution of Naples broke out, they would find, that there was not a country in Europe where such an event was more unlikely to have taken He did not pretend to say that there was not now a very strong party in Naples in favour of a Represen tative system. Hs read extracts from some corre spondence from Naples, to_ shew that the Revolu - tionists had no complaint against the Government, even by their own proclamations, and that the taking off the duty on salt to the amount of one-half, was the only boon to be given to the people. So paternal a Government had never existed in Naples before. He denied that the King made no promise of a Re presentative Government, on his retiring from his dominions. That, he could assure the House, was a false document; for he was in possession of the true one. We were determined to interfere nationally, if any person, subject to this Government, should be ill , treated because they might have had something to do with the Government of Sicily while that country .was under our protection. When the Revolution of Naples broke out, the Government was the most pa .ernal that had ever been known in that country.—. He mast put himself in the situation of an Austrian Minister, and then he must say that it was impossi= ble to allow a sect to start up for the purpose of com bining all the States of Italy in one great kingdom. They had never heard our lamentations for Genoa or Venice, when they were unjustly annexed to Prance., Then the Honourable Gentle Men opposite were only anxious to negotiate with the great Napoleon: The Carbonari Was not a Neapolitan sect, though they, like all other revolutionary sects, were philanthropic enough not to confine their labours to their own bor ders. It was not a secret sect. In Naples they went as Carbonari to the Prince Regent; they menaced and controuled the Parliament, and it had for its ob ject a combined movement in the North of Italy, to drive out the Austrians, or the Germans, as they called them. Under such circumstances, it became the duty of an Austrian Minister to ascertain that there should be a Government with whom to trrm, to prevent such scenes, rather than to suffer a sect to establish itself in the immediate neighbourhood of the Aostriati States, which had for its object to overturn her Government—(Hear, hear, hear).-- Austria was engaged in this measure under the jea lous inspection of the other great Powers, oho would not endure her making to herself a permanent esta blishment in the South of Italy. The Revolution of Naples had been brought about by fraud, and in • secrecy; and the-Subalteros in the Reyolutionary Army, threw up their hats, and thought themselves heroes when they had overturned their Government. A mob attacked the Palace, and it was under these circumstances, as he was told, the King was desired to grant the People a Constitution, like that of Spain; though he believed not a man of the Commit which so advised him, had ever read it. It was not alvrayi that the word Liberty brought freedom with it; nqr that a Constitution, so called, gave anything brit confusion to a country ; which was the lAorst of all kinds of tyranny. If the Neapolitans had a right to Choose a Government for themselves, snreiy tine Hon. and Learned Gentleman would not say that the Sici flans had not a right to have the same? however, the Neapolitans had forced them to abandon that deter mination, by sending an army against them. For these reasons, he should give the motion his de cided negative. Sir ROBERT WILSON argued that our neutra lity would eventually lead us Into a war, through the delay in our Ministers in remonstrating - w th fo reign Powers on this subject. He nas once told by a Minister of high power, in presence of a Russian officer of rank, in Paris, in 1814, that a Treaty was being drawn up, to which Great Britain was a party, which guaranteed the Crown of France to the Bour bons, and the occupation of France for a term of. years by the Allied Troops. He (Sir Rohert Wilsoh) not being then so well acquainted with the composi tion of that House, as k now, tnnok the liberty of con tradicting this statement, by saying that it could not be so! and if it were, it would not be •ancti, ned by Parliament I The other ridiculed this idea, and said they had no difficulty about the thing (la chose) hut in the words in which it was to be submitted to Parlia ment. He rasa himself heard the present, and the late King of Naples, both say that the demand for a free Constitution was general in that country. He wished to know whether the Noble Lord opposite had or had not made this country a party to the military. ' execution of the late King of Naples ? He should be glad, for the honour of his country, to hear him deny this in his place.—[Lord CASTLEREAGH said across the table, " I do assure the gallant General, that this is the first time I have ever heard of itrj—Loud laughter from the Ministerial benches.—He (Sir Ro bert Wilson) begged to assure the Noble Lord, that the .rejoiced in this removal of such an imputation from the character of the country : he had telt it his duty t 6 enquire respecting it thus publicly, because it had been communicated to him as a fact by very high asithority, and becanse he was anxious, if it could be contradicted, that the contradiction should be most complete. His only motive was dictated by a love of country—(Hear, hear, particularly lions Lord Castlereagh)—and he should have been most ready to join in the laugh of the Gentlemen opposite, had he not thought the subject rather too grave a one for jocularity.—( Hear, Hear.)—The gallant Officer then proceeded to animadvert in a strain of great eloquence upon the conduct of the BI nisi %H. nister and the Allied Powers with respect to Naples. The operations of the Carbonari were said to ire se cret : that was not extraordinary when they knew the powerful opponents with whom they had to combat. They were said to be numerous, and to amou.a to hundreds of thousands! So they ought, if their objeot was the assertion of their liberties—and • their numbers would soon, he trusted, become millions, if liberty were to be assailed by despotism !—(Hear !)— In adverting to the acts of sovereign Princes, be wished to speak of them with all possible iespecf. The general decorum which was due to their exalted station imposed that respect upon everybody, and in this instance he had particular reasons, from the situa tion which it had been his Lit to fill near some of these Sovereigns, to speak of them individually with the utmost deference and respect—( Hew, hear). But the acts in which they were engaged became histori cal facts, and could pot be suppressed without doing violence, not only to the dearest interests of the pre sent age, but also to millions yet unborn—(Hear, hear). The Honourable and gallant Member then took a rapid historical review of the acts which, at different periods of their respective reigns, had marked the career. of the Allied Sovereigns, and rendered their present indignation at a military re volution, effected suddenly and secretly, most extra. ordinary. The present Emperor of Russia had ass vended the Throne by the means of a secret mind tar) , revolution—(Hear, hear)—and yet no complaint was made of his accession under such circumstances. Had not another of these Sovereigns promoted the defection of General Yorck from his allegiance? and did not Austria induce the Saxon Army to desert the colours of their Sovereign in the battle of Leipsic ? It was singular that these Sovereigns, who had all in their turn proinoted disaffection, should now threaten to decimate troops which only followed their own ex ample—(Hear, hear).—But how did the present con duct of these Allies' accord with what they had done at Vienna, when, on the 12th of May, 1815 the Mid nisters 'of the Allied Powers drew tip a De claration s which they published to Europe, stating, " that the . Governments they represented knew too well the principles which should guide them in their relations with an independent country, to attempt (as they had been accused) any imposition of laws upon it, to med.. dle with its internal affairs, to assign to it any form of Government, or to give Rulers in compliance with the interests or passions of its neighbours ?"-- . (Near.) His own opinion upon the present transactions of Na- pies was, that the Neapolitans must ultimately sof ceed : they had with them in their struggle the tor dial feelings of the generous and the braQe, who limed freedom in every part of the . earth; and they had at the outset three advantages- 7 1st, the occupation . of Naples; 241 y, the dislodgment of the strongest of their enemies ; and idly, the possession of Sicily. That they had everything to struggle for, they mast feel ; and that they would struggle for their liberties, he was satisfied, unless, indeed, he could think the spirit •of liberty animated a coward hreasr—Wearj. Of the fate of Italy generally, he might sat in the language of a popular author—" Italy bee fallen like a star from her place in the Heiveos. She has seen her harvest trodden down by_ the horie of the stranger, and the blood of her children shed in . qnstre rels not her own— conquering and 'conquered, still herself a slave"—( bear, hear).—The conitraritive diminution of the contending armies had Buie weight with him, when he recollected the noble stand nude by Hannibal upon the same ground againstthe whole power of the Ittiman empire. The Noble Lord should recollect that .Armenitis had nobly contended for liberty upon the spot where Austria ruled, and ert toited from the great historian of the Romans, who were his enemies, the tribute of being " magis triunt phati giant victi seat"—(Hear, hear).—He concluded by dilating that, as a friend of freedom, he rejoiced r , i~; i t . ~~ , -4 ,IP .