The National Register. — London, England, 1815-03-26 00:00:00

, I 9ct THE NATIONAL REGISTER; HOUSE OF COMMONS. MONDAY. MARCH 20. THE CONGRESS. Mr. WITITBRZAD made his promised motion respecting forriga affairs - , to enable Lord Castlereagh to vindicate the proceedings of Congress, to dear up many misunderstandiogs, and Witte the ea lomtaies that had gone abroad respecting the decisions of that body. The Noble Lord who was the particular object of the present mo tion, had been pursuing a great and brilliant career for many sem evediug months. Selected at first by his friends to repair to Paris, the Noble Lord not only carried with him their confidence, but also that of his political opponents, and that confidence never would have been interrupted tbr one moment, nor would one question have been peeked during the Noble Lord's absence, had not he (Mr. W.) and the Opposition in that House, beheld with astonishment troops marching into various parts to take possession of ill& petqlent sta'cs and to transfer them to new Governors. Such an abandonment of thatmoderate tone, and of those great principles which the Allied Soverriene avowed in the Frankfort and other proclamations (Whine the wend, as they did, that they fought not tier conquest, but to se cure the liberties of the Continent and mankind), appeared to be in t, r'y irre.concilvable. It seemed as if they no sooner got him don n whom they had conspired to destroy, than, suck was their desire for ttioliation and rapine, they instantly began to proceed in the foot steps of him whom, by their moderation, they had overthrown. Had !he Allied Sovereigus died at Montmartre, after they had accom plished so much by the magnanimity of their conduct, and the mo deration of their tanpwage, they would have had the most glorious reentbas of any Riders that had ever appeared in the world ; but since, their paltry trafficking conduct, their abardonment of every lefty principle, their violatioos of plighted treaties, had spread dis gust and discontent in every quarter. Such were the causes that would give strength to him, who, for the time, was destroyed by that mad ambition which led hisn to Moscow. To retrieve Isis character ared that of the country, the Noble Lord had to state what share the Ministers of England, in the name of England, had taken in the par tition of Saxony, the confirmed subjugation of Poland, the Usurpa tions of Austria in the Italian States, and the convicting treaties with Murat and the• King of the Two Sicilies. Previous to conclud iog, Mr. Whitbread wished to advert to the state of France. He (Mr. Whitbread) had always been of opinion, that the late Ruler of France had been raised to his height of power by his enemies, and to himself alone had owed his fall. Should lie now be restored to his throne, it would be from the conduct of the Allies themselves.— Boonaparte had complained of the violation of the treaty of Fon taiisblean, and it was asserted thr.t his pension had never been paid, nor the stipulated provision made for his wife and son and he had stated that a resolution bad been formed to move hint from the island. If that was true, what an. appeal could he make to the fteliogs of mankind ! For Louis XVIII. he (jr. W.) entertained the most sincere respect. Since Isis accession to power, lee had behaved with a moderation and feeliag which did him the heighten honour. Whatever had been done onside had been the act of his Ministers ; whatever of good lead proceeded from himself. Which weever of the contending parties should succeed, he trusted peace' would prevail. He hoped the Rearbons t if they confirmed on the throne of their ancestors ; Would sit more firm from the storm that had passed over them ; and it 4.aon6parta AO* prevail, he tinged MARCH 26. that he might in the sehool of adversity, have been taught a lecion Of moderation that might influence his future cnndnct, and ;m u " him to cultivate the arts of peace ; and that in future, the happiness of subjects might be coucnitcd as well as that of their-sovereigns. The Hon. Gentleman concluded a speech of upwards of two bolus, by moving.— " That an humble Address be presented to the Prince Regent, that he would he graciously pleased to order to be laid before the House an account of what progress had been made at the Congress towards a final arrangement, what transfer and annexation of terris tory had taken place, and what other steps had been taken " Lou] CASTLEREAGH, in a speech which becupied four hours in delivery, entered into a general and able justification of the whole proceedings of Congress. He in the first place protested solemly against the new system of any Gentleman taking upon him to pre4irme disgrace, dishonour, and profligacy in ourselves and our allies upon garbled documents and illicit statements, made to assert ta hat never could be avowed in the eyes of Europe; from which this dilemma obviously aroTe, that either a premature disclosure must be made of pending transactions, or imperfect data must be rceeivcd, which must necessarily lea) to error. The Noble Lord said. the first object be should mention would be the Slave Trade ; lie would now merely say, that those powers who signed the Treaty of Pails bad pledged themselves to abolish the trade as soon as they con:d possibly do it, consistently with the tranquility of their subjects 4 and they would not consider their pledges as redeemed until they had effected the final obolition of the traffic. With respect to the. general arraugementa of the Congress, its first object was the power of Austria and Proa:sia, for the purpose of maintaining a barrier against France ; What had been done no doubt partook of that bus perfection which had attached to all human works ; but it would be hereafter seen whether this object had been effected without injustice or impolicy. With respect to Genoa, on which so much had been said, Lord Bentiuck had no authority to promise that people a free Constitution, - nor did I►is proclamation in fact do any such thing; he only spoke of throwing off the French yoke. Austria will not consent to the Independence of Italy. The onion. of Genoa to Piedmont was agreed on before the Sovereigns left Paris, and in that anion he considered he acted wisely. The Genoese did not raise a hand in support of Lord William Bentinck and the troops he commanded., They had no claim whatever upon any ground of co-operation ; it was a simple nnconditioual surrender —a, complete conquest, in the full intent and meaning of the law of nations. No other motive but the public repose of Europe had dictated its annexation to Piedmont.—lu regard to Saxony that country might fairly i►ave been given to Prussia, by every principle of right and justice; from a regard, however, to the family of the King of that conntry, and to the feeling which it might create, he had resisted the claim. He should content himself with saying that every effort was used to relieve the Poles from, their local difficulties ; and that consistently with connexions witt other nations, they should be governed as far av possible in the cha racter of Poles ; their preserved and their political institutions made, as far as possible, congenial to their national character and sentiments.' Upon this point, however, lie would beg the House to suspend its judgment for the present. The annexation of Belgium to Holland was, in the opinion of all Europe, the best mode of erecting a barrier on that side. The old artificial barrier was found wholly ineffective, and the people of gollautkaud the Netlittlaaas. , • 'my