The National Register. — London, England, 1812-02-16 00:00:00

lIIP 4 - 100 justice and imp.ilicv to A:ru ica. It was absurd to talk of putting down America ; of punishing her I c sumption. It was impossible to put her down. We Lad, in our hoping . , cc rated her, but we could not crush her in our aeeer Llad not evaugh transpired to convince Great Bri t.iin that s'os aho , da retie:ant a peace with America ? No, she was not to he convinced even by practical expel ience; hut France, although she liad acted with equal injustice for a time. 11' S wise enough to drop her injustice f r toe purpase of benefitting by her policy. T he Honourable Gentleman then moved fur the pioduction ot the correspondence be twsen Mr. Pinckeer and the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, from the 10 , h of J. notify MO, and also for the correspondence between Mr. Foster and Mr. Monroe, relative to the negotiations between this coun try and America. Mr. SrS r:•.rnr:n was much surprised at the introduction of so many sulijecot into the speech of the Lion. Gentleman. He was determined to give' his dee;ded negative to the motion, upon the grounds that it could be attended with no possible benef.t, lie denied that this country had acted in any other manner than in a conciliatory manner towards America. She had shewn her utmost zeal for the purposes of conci. nation ; nay, she had almost descended to humiliation, in order to knot her conciliating desiens into effect.—The measures of America were in ~ direct opposition to those of our Government. She had ahewn a spirit of hostility to all the proposals and concessions which England had made, and was willing to make; and she had insisted upon such preten sions as we could not, in conformity with the honour and credit of the moion, recognize. The question was not whether we should go to war with America, but v. hether America woold go to aa ar with us. America Lad acted, but whether for the purpose of countenancing the • hostility of France to this nation, or not, he could not say, in a manner most insultio , to this nation, and most dercgatory to herself. Mr. CUR We.N said he could not auffiently praise the dispassionate manner in which the question had been brought. forward by his Hon. Friend ; and, hi his opini.in, oeitlser the question itself, nor the method in whiel. it had been introduced, gave the least room for the remarks of the Right Hon. Geetlennin opposite. The country was now iu a situa tion which rendered a relaxation of the dsspotic policy pursued by NU nistera indispeoaably necessary to its existence ; awl no where was the necessity more conapicuoas than in all that related to America. Surely it could not in justice be contended, that a people had not a right to carry whithersocver they pleased, their own produce, or the produce of any other country, when they had once become owners thereof. Till the days of the men now. in power, doctrines adverse to the exert se of so ea'oable a tight had never been brooched; and he was happy to think, tho/ the mein who lead acted iq'on it, with so ruinous a pertina,itg, would rod be bog where he Now saw hint, would not long have the power of making the country suffer whatsoever a precipitate judgment might dictate. When he said he hoped nut to see the Right Honourable Gentleman lung there, he was not actuated by any narrow party feeling, by any hope of sharing that power aml_emolument which he and his adherents would be compelled to relinquish, There was hut one question which now excited the public attention which could be said to rival our relations with America, and that was, the dis contents in Ireland; which, it must be allowed, it was the first duty of the Legislature to appease; both these important questions were treated with an equally pertinacious and an equally unconeihatory -The CUANCELLOR of the EXCHEtU Pit spoke at great length against the motion. He denied that the Orders in Council were the cause of the present commercial distresses; the real cause was the continental system ; but for the Orders in Council the distress would have been ten times as great as it is. If he (Mr. Perceval) was of opinion the nego tiation was finally closed, he would not withhold the correspondence moved for; but, however slight his hopes of accommodation might be, while any remained, he would not be the person to extinguish those hopes—on the contrary, he would maintain them as long as he could. An Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Curvet:'; had more than once in the course of his speech, expressed a hope that his Majesty's present Nlioia- Teta were not likely long to bold that situation. Whatever golden dreams might be indulged on this subject, he must say, that as far as he knew any thing about the matter, 1w rather imagined that the Hon. Gentleman would find, that his consolatory prospects would not open upon him quite so pleasantly as he lrtd imagined.—( Hear, hear )—But -it the system which the Hon. Gentlemao so strongly recommended, were to be a system dictated to the Government of this country to pur sue, then, indeed, he should feel happy to quit his present situation, and not to form a part ot any Administration which should pursue a course so hostile, as he conceived, to the true interests of the country. Mr. NVILBERFoRCE thought, that while negotiations were pending between two countries, upon a subject of such great importance as peace or Nv ar between those countries, it was improper to move for pa .pers that may, perhaps, by the discussion they would eventually lead eu,lpr e aeut an amicable adjustment of the existing differences. It was not by discussing, and with all the aggravation of which they were susceptible, the differences between the two countries, that conciliation count be produced—it was not by putting, in the strongest point of view, the injuries which they and this country had mutually suffered and inflicted on each other, that an easy termination of differences could be expected. With respect to the justice or the policy of the Or.tess in Council, this was not the time for entering into that question ; but he could not help calling to mind, that the Honourable Gentleman (Mr. Baring) himself had stated, in a publication of his upon this subject, that the Orders in Council were once popular. They should . FEB. 16. nut, in his opinion, stiffer themselves so feel apprehension, even in the event of war; but they ought, however, to.give up WI much as they comd for peace; but• not so as to compromise the honour of the country by any concession that could impair its dignity or its maritime power. ‘Var, he was convinced, would be productive of great eva to this c buntry ; .:rid the evil to .\ merica, in such an event, would not be less, He was convinced that his Howni..ible Friend (the Charcellor of the ExchequtT) would 1w influenced 115 much as any nian by tne considera tion of those evils that mutt follow from a breach of this kind, and that there was no sact ifice in which he would not cottette to avert t. Fur himself, he would not consent to sacrifice the maritime . or mi. mercial prot-perity of the coentl'y to the fears of-any consequences that may result from war. This prosperity was necessary to ate ex: o s i t i s n t;: y e of the country. There was nothing he desired mo r e t han that the pes• pie of America should be convinced that the di s p o s i t ion of this was by no means hostile to their interests and prosperity ; and he should bs sorry if any thing that may pass in the course of public discus. sion, where the feelings are sometimes too strongly excited, and he inter. preted by the people of that country, or mistaken for t.te more de liberate feelings of the heart. He would again repeat, that there was nb sacrifice which he would not make to avert the evil of war, Lot he could not but express his astonishment at lit aring it asserted, that every thing was fair on the part of Amerita, and every thing oppressive on the part of this country. He hoped hostility would not arise front the present diffortstices. They could not derive advantage from the els. pression of America, and America could not be a gainer by the rain of this coe!ntry. It was a bulwark for the preservation of her liberties, ' and he was desirous that Britain should be no longer understood by the United States as pursuing her own. interests to the rub) of tLeirs. On these grounds he could nut vote for the motion. Mr. Ho - rent N soN thought the subject very important. He disagreed with both the Hon. Gentlemen who had la st s p oken. So far from 1 placing any reliance un Ministers, he completely agreed with the. Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Whitbread), that the business should he taken entirely out of their hands. He thought that war was preferable to humiliation ; and if war could not be avoided without disgrace, that war should he determined on in preference to contempt. He could rot put any confidence in the Minister ; lie did not think him it for leis I' place. His Hon. Friend, Mr. Whitbread, did not care who was the I i tirst mover of those Orders in Council, but lie opposed them on the 1 1 1 ground - that they were unjust. He (Mr. Hutchinson) did not wish that 1 the Right Hon. Gentleman opposite , or his a ssociates, or an y other patched up Administration, should continue to aet upon principles i which be was convinced would shake the Monarchy and the countr y I to their foundations. Mr. A. BARING supported the motion. Mr. Wnr rbe cAn replied to the various arguments that had been ad. I vanced, and (alluding to what had fallen front Mr. I'erceval) observed, that, 'or himself personally, he cared not if the Right Hun. Gentleman remained in office ; but, when he reflected on his country, he felt the deepest regret, for it brought to his mind a trai n of the most p ainful i ; recollectious; and. if the Right Hon. Gentleman's st a te ment were nut I, mere vapour, it was ominous for the Empire :—From an Administva i' tion, conducted as his had been, the country could expect no benefit. The House then divided, when there appeared—Fur the motion, 9.3; against it, h:6 ; majority, 103. . :1 TRIDAY, FEB. 14. WAYS AND MEANS. The CHAN r molt of the Excarotrxx made his propositions fen funding _Exchequer Bills. He stated the terms upon which he proposta funditu: those Bills to be the following, viz :—For every 1001. in Exche quer Bills, the holder should receive 106 1 . in the Navy 5 p er Cents. On the 7th of ' February, when this proposal was originally made, the 5 per Cent-, were at 94, which would give to the accepter 1011. los. 3J. for every 1001. funded, besides a us of the interest up to the 9th of March, amountit g to 7s. Bd. on each 1001. making in the whole 11. 17s. Ild .per ceftt. bonus; of course the 5 per Cents. had been some what depressed since the proposition had been made. They were this clay 931 ; at that price the bonus experienced by the funding would he, not 11. 17s. 1 Id. but 17s. 7d. which, however, he considered %votilkl he sufficient advantage to induce the holders of Exchequer Bills to the amount of 14 millions (the sum to which he meant to limit the a.Te - pt. ance) to fund. It wotild be found advantageous to the Public at sem* future period, that Exchequer Bills were fanded in a Stock bearing so high an interest, especially in the event of a peace. At the same time he admitted that the interest of the present times should not be sacri• ficed to that of posterity. But to prove that the case was as he described, he showed what a burden the funding of Exchequer Bills in the 3 in stead of the 5 per Cents. would be to the Public. To give to the holder an equal advantage, they should allow ICOI. 7s. Bd. for every funded. He concluded by moving his first Resolution, limiting the amount to be funded to 14,000,000 i. Sir T. ToturoN stated, that the amount to he funded this year %vas greater by two millions than that which bad been funded last year. lie did not see any probability that the object of the Right lion. Gentleman would be attained. After some observations from Mr. H. SMITH and Mr. BARING , the SMITH Resolution was agreed to. The other Resolutions in the Committee- were then agreed to, and the reprtordcmd to be brought up on Monday. rEr Mmog.. THE 'NATIONAL E the to