Star. — London, England, 1821-03-21 00:00:00

111 of d Austria by the proctoction of rite papies for which b e l t ed moved; but he should vote for his motion, as t h e object of it was to assist in the dissemination; d libertY- The lion. Mr. WARD wished oar neutrality to he dear ead decided; not only physically, but morally ; an d he also wished that our opposition to the plans dew Holy Alliance had been more clearly and po sitively expressed from the beginning. Thennost tau & position for England to have taken was skulking' is the rear of the Allied Sovereigns. Affection to ar own la ve p art liberties should have made us t ake a decisive part in favour of the Neapolitans.-- What bodiless had these Sovereigns to call upon an i n d e pendent Sovereign to give au account of the 'Constitution he had given his subjects? They might * we ll have sent for George IV. to give an account s il t the government of his nation ; and then sent him gbick at the head of 100.000 Cossacks, or Pandours, stn destroy the Constitution of this country—Wear, 4 0 0, —What these Sovereigns considered legitimacy, 'vas treason by our laws. Our Sovereign reigned by the consent of his People ; and therefore the King of, bond was no lit associate for these Monarchs— (Hear, hear). —How could the Autocrat of all the Rossi= complain of Military Despotisms, he whose whole Government was a Military Des potism—so much so, that when he sent for an algebraist, or any o ther learned man, lie would give him military rank, and clap two epaulets upon his shoulders—( Hear)._ Wasthisthe man to be afraid (in conjunction with his g ood brother of Austria) of a military despoti an to be established by the Lawyers and Laz.u-oni of Na• pks?--(ifirear, hear.)—The question was not whether the new Constitution of Naples was good or bad, but whether they had a right to make a Constitution for themselves? The Emperor of Austria was a task master in Milan; and, therefore, he wished to become the invader of Naples. He was afraid the oppression d his Government would be seen mote strongly in the North of Italy, by the freedom of the South. He believed that the best and wisest men of Italy be logged to the Carbonari—(Hear, hear).—The Aus trian iron yoke in Italy could never cease to he hated throughout Italy. All that could be said in favour d the Emperor of Austria was, that he disliked a Ccestitution established by the Carbonari of Naples, because he was troubled by Carbonari in Milan. It ns absurd to think otherwise than that the whole of , civilised Europe would soon o')tain for themselves a mitigated form of Government—(Herr). Lord J. RUSSELL wished to know, if the Noble Lord considered that them was any Treaty on the table which pledged us to guarantee the possession of Lombardy and Venice to the House of Austria. Lord CA 'fLERE AG II said, that possession was gearanteed by general treaties. Mr. CANNING was unwilling to protract the de lee one moment longer than was ab olutely neces sary ; but he felt it a duty, standing in the situation is which he did, both to himself and to the House, to sate his opinions upon the question under discussion. He had no difficulty in stating, that with respect to the order upon which the Note of Sir Wm. A'Court was founded,' he not only took, but claimed a full share of responsi'aility, and for the justification of that Order he was content to appeal to the country, to th world, and to posterity. The Govenunent of this country having determined to preserve a perfect nets tsality—a neutrality not only of word, but of deed— he should have considered them the basest of man. , kind, if, when they had reason to believe, as the Noble, Lord had stated, that the safety of the Royal Family. wasendangered, they had not distinctly , declared dratl the preservation of that perfect system of neutrality would depend upon the safety of the Royal Feeaily. The gallant General who btought forward .this sno- i has had thought proper to allude to the.eonduct nil this Government at the c..nmencement of the war with France. lile had stated Holy, that the instruc-i lions then given were 'of a different character from! those which we had green to our Minister at Naples,. red that a proposition for direct interference, when! the safety of the 'Royal Family of France was me wed, was received by his (Mr. Canning's) friends an only with caution and distrust, but with an ad-I inission of the danger and impolicy of interference. Bet surely the circumstances under which that pro position was then made, were extte.nely.different from t the present. Such an interference was then opposed, because we had no physical means of following it up,' sod it might therefore have created the danger which, we had no means of averting. But if Paris had Weal sated in the ocean instead.ef the Seine, could.there be any doubt that we should then have .given functions to secure the safety of the Royal Family of France, and that those instructions would have been unanimously approved, as-well by the side of the House which.epproved, that which discouraged a similar proposition under different circumstances? GOD be thanked, there had been no occasion to act Von the instructions given with reference to the Royal Family of. Naples, andshat the prudence and discretion of our two Public -Functionaries had not been tasked .on this occasion. He must .say, how. ever, that if those instructions .had not .been given, end circumstances had arisen undermehisils they insight have been roideredneteessary, it would have,been an indelible stain upon the Councils of this count'''. With this single exception, m stated in the note.of William...L'Coart, it seas -the opinion , of diis Ma jesty's Government, wisest , (Mr. Canning) was a Member of it, and he had no doubt :that that opi nion remained:unchanged (though bis own responsi bility had - ceased, and 'he, of .course, possessed MO means of :knowing - thelaet), thatt peffect -neutra lity should be observed--anontireadssence from any ficticipation in.the pokey or councils of she a en impossible:for any one who had:beard the-de bate of: to-night, .andmhoihad:listeaed•to the speech oldie Honourable:and gallant Geste:tali to doubt that lbe policrintenckchto berecomaiaaded to:this coon wag war—(No, no,feass liseOppositiosußetcha). nic House was machfoller novrthan wassvhea the Honourable land gallant General had made his 1101101 1 I bat hetwoald appeal to :the eandidopinica of any man who. :heard him, -whether :the Rea. "led pliant -General .hard not, in 'terms, advised, i t not a war, at least an armed negotiation?—,and 1 ... 11 /kitler' he had not declared, that in the ev.entof the riansef such armed negociation,.this &Pantry:would Mraad to inter the beardless of war in such a came? wfie o the lion. and.gallant General brought forward If action for the production of a. Paper, the contents of __which were known to .all mankind, he would ask, wi lal'oras the meaning of a perseverance in debate, and a divisio n s, if it iris intended to divide, btu to take the sense of the House, no t u p on th e preduetion .of a Paper, selpich for all practical purpoees was in the , possession nf the House, but upon the sentiments and opinions by , which the production of that Paper _was supported? The division of to-night was, in I effect, a division for peace or war. His voice was for peace, and the means of preserving peace were ueutrality—(flear, bear).—He heard some Gentle man suggesting a qualification of the Honourable and gallant General's expression ; but what was the difference iu effect between a declaration in favour of war, and of an armed and menacing negotiation? Did the Hon. and gallant General propose such a negotiation without intending to push it to a war, in the event {): its fajlure? Much had been. said of the change of character which this country bad under gone since former times, but he believed, it never yet presented such a picture of degradation as it would do, if, after assuming a menacing tone, it re tracted its pretensions and slunk back i nto, peace, when negotiation should be found to fail. If be (fir. Canning) knew himself, there was no man in that House who was disposed to view with less distrust an extension of the principles of freedom and good government throughout the Continent of Europe.— Ile was not of the niggardly opinion of some persons in this country, who congratulated themselves on their own freedom, not so much from the positive blessings which they enjoyed, as from their contrast with less happy mesons. He grudged not the parti cipation of those blessings to other countries. With respect to the course which the Neapolitans had taken b asserting their indepenJeace, he must be justified in not looking hack too scrupulously to the past, but not in stimulating them against the Allies. He might look back and pardon, hut he would not look for ward and incite. He trusted he should never arrive at that cool contemplation which enabled the Hon. Member opposite to talk of the murder of Charles the First as of a lawful act—(Hear).—He hoped no degree of liberality, no respect for freedom, would ever induce him to look back on such a transaction with any other feelings than those of the horror and indignation, which it was calculated to excite— (Hear).—He was sure that if be could bring himself to.entertain such an opinion in his closet, be wbuld never utter it in public ; he was quite sure that he would never utter it in that House, and still less would he proclaim it to a nation struggling for in dependence—(Hear).—ln GOD'S name let not this country stand forward in pointing out such a course, as this as the high road to freedom. Whatever, might be the policy of giiing or withholding our aid, the suggestion of crime was at least one of those aids which we might best withhold—( !leer ). Supposing that Naples were, on the faith of our al- Lance, to embark into this war, could them be con ceived anything more degrading, more shameful to this country, than that we should withdraw our as ,sistance and desert her at any period of that war? Away then with the doctrine of an armed negocia tion, it would not only be disgraceful, but treacherous on our parts to propose it, unless we were prepared at once to blend our fate with Naples—(Hear, hear). He would ask the House whether it would be justi hable in Ministers to embark the country into such a question without a determination at once to go through with it; whether they ought to enter into such a contest, not from interest but merely from .qnspath) ? He would ask any Honourable Member' to point out in our history any instance of our having retired with honour from any war into which we had entered from such motives?—(Hear). In Spain, it was true, we - had done something like this; and if there was any part of his political life in which he gloried, it was that period in which he N+ as one of those who advised, in the face of danger, and when ,that country was writhing under the fangs of the enemy, that England should lend its aid—(Near, liter, hear). But did he condescend to argue that. that was not a question which ought not to be ad hered to for better for worse—that it was not an al-• Hance which could not have been broken off without breaking our honour? Spain was the theatre of Bri-: tisk. power and of British valour—(Hear, hear).-- He called upon any Honourable Member to say. 'if during that contest he had flinched, if he had; been oue to listen to any compromise—(Hear, hear).; His argument had always been, that, leagued as we were, it because us to continue war even to a state of exhaustion, it Spain could not be liberated without use (Hear, heaq—Was it to be said to the Government. loch had so aihered to Spain, that we were afraid of dicspots, and fought only for slaves ?—(Hear, hear). Helueuntained, that there were, upon his, side of the question, hearts that beat as high for liberty aithose .who were loudest in its.praise; but he could not in dulge in the exercise of such a feeling at the expense of casting an indelible-stain upon the country ; for he maintained that it was a delusion, a mockery, to at tempt drawing a distinction between an armed nego tiation and a declaration of war—(Hear, hear).--It lead been observed, that this was a great crisis, in which there was a struggle between the monarchical mid the democratical principle. He admitted that this was . a great-crisis, and that there was thoughout the world a great struggle between Monarchy and Demo cracy: it was, in fact, a struggle similar to that be tween the new.and old opinions, previous to the Re formation. in that:struggle, Queen Elizabeth, who ashelii.qp as thegreate.st Sovereign of this coun try, 'had supported the,cause of the.lieformation.-- ? Queen Elisabeth was ! praised for her excellencies by anauthoewho.wes.favourable to her opinions, Rapin. This.author, however, spewed that Elizabeth acted -.lnoireqpon. her:interests than her,private feelings. He shewed, that that Princess, potwithstanding the mai. sacre of St. 13artholonsew, which , was in violation of .the Treaty of .Blois, had subsequently become the godmother .of.dse infant.son,of V,harles the *Ninth, in .whose.Eeign that-massacre bad been committed. .She bad done this tan .at a time when she was an encou rager and ,protecter of the Hugonots of France— (Hear).—tLee them not too. hsastil y asperse the motives of any!Power. Whatever he thought of the Paper signed by the 'Allied , Sovereigns, and .whatever be might thi4 of the difficulties which attended.the pro aent situational ,N,iples (upon which point he was ROr k au, iciently,infornsed), but Sitre he was', taking Owl Allies OR the one, hand, and the Neapolitans -Po the other,. we were, net.at this moment prepated to eater inr,o the contest. Ili ithe urged: that.the ss!pent strug gle is .sinai bar s m. that of the . Reformat/on, then he called Mx* Otem itoroasiier. wbat.tb4 Omni% WIS. Reformation was. If it was urged that their duty led Awn tg interfere. tteti be *anti th# thit Werr an unfaithful Parliament if tbe_y allowed themselves to be led by their feelings to ace in oppoSition to the true interests of the country. Such a feeling Would lead them to the brink of a most dangerous preci• pice—it would Czpose the country to a danger ilotn which they could not easily escape—(Hcnr. He conjured Gentlemen to look to the little help which they had to ride out the storm therbselves be- fore they volunteered to bring any other Power into, port—( Hear, heel).— But would the Hon. and galH lant General who p r op os ed thi s motion go to war in' 'order to establish in Naples the British Constitution . ? Why, it was whispered at home, and pretty loudly too, that the British Constitution was good for very little—(Hear, hear, and a lawgh).—Yet still the gal lant General would say—" Come, my Merry men all, let us fight for the establishment of the British Cou stitution in Naples"--(Laushiag).--f al lowed ie might be to have his doubts in his closet, and if asked, he might perhaps be of opinion, that the British Con stitution, which was of slow growth in this country, could not be expected to flourish very speedily in another. Let the Neapolitans have their own will, and let us not be so pedantic as to suppose that there was no salvation without the pale of our own Con.' stitution—(Hear, hear).—He doubted much whether we could either by example, or by controul, or re monstrance, bring the Neapolitans to the standard of. our Constitution ; let us not suppose that we were to be the protectors of every other Government; let us not enter into the romantic and foolish spirit that we sore to be the regenerators of Europe, or that it was for us to point out the different modifications of Government which ought to exist in every country.—. Let it be remembered, that our interference with strangers was viewed with jealousy ; and before we did so interfere, let the cost attending it, as well as the real interests of the country, be attended to. Let us act with neutrality in the strictest sense of the word. He, for one, would watch with a jealous eye any deviation from that neutrality. The plank upon which we had to cross the stormy and tempestuous wave, was short and narrow ; attempts might be made to bear us &n it to the right and to the left, yet he trusted that we should still preserve a steady and undeviating course, and perhaps the period might arrive when we might be called upon, with unwasted strength and undiminished resources, to interfere in those stormy and agitating feuds which now threat ened other States—(Hear, hear). Sir J. MACKINTOSH rose for the purpose of removing those obstacles which the eloquence of his Right Hon. Friend had thrown in the way of this 'question, and which were calculated to prevent the House from viewing it fairly—( Rear, hear).—After the very able and eloquent arguments urged by the, Hun. Member for Bossiney (Mr. Ward), it was unne cessary for him to enter at any length into the details of the question; indeed, he found it impossible to add anything, either in illustration or argument, to what had fallen from that Hon. Member—(Hear). —lt was not his intention to follow the Right Hon. Gentleman opposite (Mr. Canning) through all the various topics upon which he had touched in the course of his speech. He must, however, at the out• set, disclaim the imputations which had been thrown 'out against his friends, for feelings and opinions that had been attributed to them, not a single one of which they entertained—(Hear, hear).—He must repeat, that it was not his intention to follow the Right Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Canning) in his various clew-sive wanderings, or in his panegyrics on that Government of which he had recently been a Member. It appeared, indeed, as if that Right Hon. Gentleman had opportunely been withdrawn from the Administration, for the purpose of giving him an opportunity of panegyrising his colleagues, and of pro. nouncing eulogiums on the Government—(Hear). — It was not for him now to say whether the Right Honourable Member and his Colleagues had con ducted themselves as they ought to have done in the course of their general pclicy. He could not, how ever, help admiring the ingenuity with which the Right Hun. Member (Mr. Canning) had avoided the main body of his Honourable Friend's (Mr. Ward's) argument, attacking only a parenthesis here and a parenthesis there. 'The Right Honourable Member had, in fact, only gone to the minor details, instead of controverting the main points advanced by his Honourable Friend (Mr. N%'ard). He (Sir James Mackintosh) would not, at that period of the even ing, go into the details of English history in support of - his argument. He felt that a man was not tiied' at all who was not fairly tried. And above all, he felt that a King could not be fairly tried where his enemies were his accusers and his judges. Indeed, he felt that such a trial was only a mockery of jus tice. Neither would he enter into a vindication of the spotless purity of the reign of Queen Elizabeth. The Right Honourable Member..had, in speaking of the reign of this Princess, guarded his expres sions, with his usual dexterity, against all attack. He ( Mr. Canning) must, however, have learned since his arrival in this country, that whatever might be the difference of party, or the shades of opinion in that House, there was but one feeling of unmixed abhorrence entertained towards the proceedings of, the Holy Alliance—(Hear, hear). Their conduct was similar to that of the Holy League of France, under which every atrocity was committed. He trusted, however, that no chord in that House would vibrate to the praise of such Despots--(Hear, hear). The Right Hon. Member (Mr. Canning) said, he was a lover of peace, and, in order to maintain it, he had conjured up an .imaginary party to whom he attri-' buted sentiments which had never been advocated, but which had been always disclaimed, by his (Sir J. Maekintosh's).side of the House. This had been for the purpose of triumphing over the real opinions oldie .House.. lie would, however, refer the Right Hon. Member to what had been said by the Hon. Member for Bossiney. That Hon Member said, he .wished that we should live in peace, and, in order to preserve that peace, he wished that the British .Government had spoken louder and more strongly upon the Neapolitan question,-(Hear, hear, kepr).-- It had been urged, that when once . the flame was kindled, it would be impossible to see where it would end. The policy of this country would,so to involve the whole of.italy in war, to,prodige terror atur Nurope, and ,perhaps eventually to iorOlve this county) , in the contest. •Was it not hard to sup pose, that a remonstrance with other nations would of necessity involve this Anstey in svar ? . s . o .tch a thing had never bees heard of in the history of na . , . .. itietit. WO ii t 4 be for 4 *mot iielitTeJ, that if Franco and England had in the first instance coati Aimed their councils, and remonstrated against' the sietirnlitiaticHt of the Allied Sovereigns, that those councils svotild be despised, and that both those gong tries must neceswily go to war Were France and Great Britain sunk so low as to be tleolso by the _4l,Rie.d Sovereigns ?—(Cheers).—Was it fiir this that we boasted of heving set all Europe free? Was is fbr this that we had fought and bled, loth in Spain and OP the field of Waterloo? (fiear,hcar).—Did all our Imaged and hard-urged conquests come to this as lest, that any remonstrance of Great Britain must yain, unless we were at once prepared to go tsa wilt in support of our opinions ? -..(hear, help-, ftej. He was pf a different opinion. He would affirm, . 103 that an early remonstrance on the part of this coun try would have prtilhecedlbe desired effect, and the sccomi alternative would have been totally unnecel• nary. Adverting to what had been said in an early stage of the debate, the Honourable and Learned Member observed, that it was unnecessary to defend our having British ships in the Meditertanean to tc ceive the Royal Family of Naples. Yet it should be. recollected by those who asserted that England might to be the asylum for the oppressed of all nations, that they who said so had been for seven years the advo cates and supporters of an Alien Bill—(Cheers)...6.. He, too, admitted that this country ought to be an asylum to persons of all countries; but then we ought to act impartially. Now that he was upon this part of the' subject, he would ask a question. Was not the King of Naples conveyed in a British ship to ap pear before that self-constituted, tyrannical, usurping, and insolent tribunal, the " Allied Sovereigns?'-_ Did not the whole country read with horror Ind de testation the conVersation of the Dukc de Gallo, first with Prince Metternich, and next with his master the King of Naples Fq—(Hear,lstar.)—Could it be doubted that that unhappy Monarch was coerced by the Al lied Soveleignso—that he was their infatuated victim, allowed to spells not his own, but their sentiments? —(Hear, hear.)—After the forced Declaration to his own Minister, he was next made to issue a Declara tion, saying, that he bad sworn to maiotain a Consti tution which he had not freely 4 ranted—that he had been a slave among his own subjects, and that be was only free among the Monarchs of Laybach!—(Hear, hear.)—This was a doctrine totally destructive of the monarchical principle in Europe. The Noble Lord (Castlereagh) had, on a former occasion, said that he did not agree with, but that he could not condemn, the principle upon which the Allied Sovereigns acted. But what said the Emperor of Au s t r ia S ?— He totally differed from the Noble Lord (Castlereagh). He said that England was in perfect accordance with the principles of the Holy Alliance, but that circum stances of weight prevented their co-operating with them—( Hear, Hear!)—There was a total difference between witnesses. They had all heard the speech of the Noble Lord, and they had all read the Decla ration of the Emperor of Austria.—[The Right Hon. Member here read the words of the Declaration in French, commencing 4 Des circonstantes particuliera At les plus graves,' &el From this document it was clear, that the Noble Lord and the Emperor of Aus tria differed materially in their statement, with re. spect to the line of policy adopted by this country. His Right Hon. Friend had, at an early period of his argument, adverted to some observations made upon the reign of Queen Elizabeth. He wished his Right Hon. kriend had quoted better authority than that of a French refugee (Rapin.) He would set against , that authority the words of one of our greatest Eng lish writers, no other than Lord Bacon himself, who mentioned, as one of the greatest glories of that 1 Princess's reign, that she protected the Protestantsef . Holland and the Refugees of France—(hear, hear.)—:- . Thus the attack against Elizabeth fell to the ground-:- " And, like the baseless fabric of a vision, " Left not a wreck behind . There was another argument of the Right Hoe. Gen tleman which he should just notice, not on account of its force, but its misapplication. He asked, and with an exulting air, why do you give your support to Governments which do not intend to take, as the model of their freedom, the British Constitution This argument was founded in an utter misconcep. tion of the doctrine of himself (Sir James) and his Hon. Friend. Their only doctrine was to support, not the Government of Naples or its Constitution, of which he was no great admirer, but. the independence of Nations--(Cheers),—which had been assailed by this violent,, unprovoked, and most unjustifiable at tack of the Allied Powers on Naples—(Hear, hear) In this proceeding the Holy Alliance had been guilty of the same offence as the National Convention of France in the year 1792, when that Power endan gered the independent rights of the People ty a sys tem of aggression, of which, the overt acts then were the seizing upon Belgium and Savoy—(Hear, hear). Thus had the Allies violated the laws of nations, disturbed the security of States, and made peace and war a question of policy and prudence with every nation in Europe (the Honourable and Learned Gert, tleman sat down amid loud and repeated cheering). Sir ROBERT WILSON replied briefly, and re capitulated his formefstatements. He denied again that his object was to induce Governmmt to act in the spirit of an armed negotiation, which was to ter minate in war. He wished to .see the British Minis ter interfere in a way that would not have provoked hostility, but ensure peace—( Hear, hear, hear). He denied that the Carbonati had given any ground to the charge made against them by the Noble_ Lord (Castlereagh) of encouraging assassination. Their principles or their ccnduct indicated no such system of political morality. There was no nece s sity fo r bi r o to vindicate them from such a charge, their own con duct gave it the most satisfactory refutation—(Hear). In this eventful crisis of their country, they had plo jested wisely, executed bravely, and communicated a great plan of domestic freedom, with'equal vigour and moderation—( Hear, hear).—The Carbonari were no longer a secret society, their principles were diffused throughout Italy, and there was scarcely and balian . to be met that Was not of:that society. could not allow the Right Honourable Gentian= (Mr. Canning) to say, that recent events• proved there was a great war between the monarchiC4 and deroocratical principles throughout Europe. It was not the regal and popular Bower that were in conflict, but the principles of Arbitrary and Rept-. ,sentative Gorernment—(llear,heer).—Tbese were at Tar4off..AAA Riot Always continue so, until the•.civil , rights of the People were secured, as well as the pie• ' :a