The National Register. — London, England, 1808-01-24 00:00:00

• . • • • 1.1 q ti 1 to TI 11. rt E. 81 1 n 1 it Fr )( fI • 4 a a 3 4 e tl i• , tl 11 . tl tl b p a e ii t' . It if ti t! # It. r h di. • .1 SI tl le • al lad itc• re, • it lfze tar ,yt• ' Kt i. •;' THE NATIONAL REGISTER. °~'x • JAN. 24. " doom.,vas op ins Hoots or Coriooss, " His Majesty has directed the Estimates for the ensuing .year to he laid before you, in the fullest confidence that your loyalty and public spirit will induce you to make such provi vion for the public service as the urgency of again may re quire. ‘• His Majesty has great satisfaction in informing you, that rot withstanding the di ffi culties which the enemy has endeavoured to impose upon the Commerce of his subjects, and upon their Intercourse with other Nations, the resources of the Counts.% have continued in the last year to be so abundant, as to have produced, both from the permanent and temporary revenue, a receipt considerably larger than that of the preceding year. " The satisfactiou which his Majesty feels assured you will derive, in common with his Majesty, from this proof of the Eatidity of these resources, cannot but be greatly increased, if, as his Majesty confidently hopes, it shall be found possible to raise the necessary Snpplies for the present year without any material addition to the public burtbens. 64 Mr LORD!, 4ND GSNTI.SMitIe 46 We are especially commanded to say to you, la the MOW of his Majesty, that. if ever there was a,jusr and National war, it is that which his Majesty is now comp: led to prosecute.— , This war is in its principle purely defensive. His Majesty looks but to the attainment of a secure and honourable Peace ; but such a Peace can only be negotiated upon a footing of per- • feet equality. The eves of Europe and of the world are fired upon the British Parliament. 66 If, as his Majesty confidently trusts, you display in this crisis of the fate of the Conntry, the characteristic spirit of the British Nation, and face unappalled the unnatural combination which is gathered around us, his Majesty bids us to assure you of his firm persuasion, that under the blesssog of Divine Provi dence, the struggle will prove sUccessful and glorious to Great Britain. 66 We are lastly commanded to assure you, that in this awful and momentous contest, you may rely on the firmness of his Ma je.ty, who has no cause but that of his people, and that his Majesty reciprocally relies on the wisdom, the constancy, and the affectionate support of his Parliament. Loan Gdr.r.oir.tv rose to move an Address of Thanks. The Speech, of itself, he said, joined to the notoriety of the events to whic h it referred, left him but little to do in calling for their unanimous concurrence in the Address which he should propose to he carried to the foot of the Throne. It had. It was true, been rumoured that a difference of opinion prevailed respecting one of the topics in his Majesty's Speech, but this rumour, he trusted, was unfounded; for he was wholly unable to coqjecture by what arguments it could be sustained. The restoration of peace between RuSsia and France was immediately followed by a plan for the general armament of the Continent or:abut thi. country. To this scheme Denmark and Portugal were cAlled upon to subscribe their navies. It became the indi , pen , able du ty of Ministers to take the most effectual measures to frustrate that intention; nod this with a promptitude which entitled them to the gratitude of the country, they had accomplished. The hostile dispositions of Denmark had been evinced at various periods during the last seven sears, and the success of the ex pedition to Copenhagen enabled those who could look with a seaman's eye to convince themselves she was on the eve of declar ing herself a party to the confederacy against our marit bete rights. Her arsenals were surcharged with stores, and her fleet was in a forward state of preparatim„ Of the justice and necessity of the attack. the country at fargr entertained the highest approlva- Con ; and had it not been adopted, he had not the least doubt that the forbearance of NI iaisters w, d, insuch vase, have furnished a copious topic of eensure..o( igration of the Court of Lisbon he could not speak in J614(401 He had the most confident rxpectat ion t lint, with a spiritofli ral policy and strict friend ship on both sides, it wouidlkodure the most heneficial effects to the commercial and naval inteints 'of this kingdom. - This event was the more to be rejoiced in,.wittin he looked to our rupture with Rossi°. If sulficient encouragement was given for the raising of hemp and flux in the Brazils, and in some of our • own domi piens, we should . have cause to bless the day which, by suspend nag our intercourse with It us4a, for ever relieved us from that dcperideocy upon her, in which we were hitherto held, fur the Supply of articles so indispensably necessary for naval purposes. With regard to. k merica, every nivo4ition towards conciliation had been evinced by his Majesty's novernment, and particularli y their diiavowing the attack on the Chesapeake. If lie dif itreti scan them on this head, it was iu thinking that they had • 53 hum Mew sberal in their concessions. His Lordship then heiriy toecised ea the remaining topics of the Speech, and ear neatly urged the iniposlaace of unanimity in Parliament, both with a view to its impression upon the people of this country and (Ise Confederated States of the Continent, and as to its (A %ions fendeoey to accelerate the period of a secure and honoui. able peace. He eneciaded with reading a long motion, which echoed the lending particulars of his Majesty's Speech. I.onb A&NYON seconded the Address. inc Mar ut AonstoLK said, there was one point, with regard to which he was under the necessity of disturbing the unanimity of their Lordships' vote on the occasion ; namely, that part of the Speech which related to the attack upon Co penhagen. No information whatever had yet been laid before Parliament to justify that measure. Ministers stated the re luctance evinced by his Majesty with regard to it : he wished they could chew that they entertained a similar feeling. Parlia ment was told, in the King's Speech, that the eyes of ail Europe were now upon them. It was for that reason, he wished Par liament to postpone its decision ttpon the conduct of MinistrN, as to Denmark, until the fullest information .wa , s presented them to chew that she had entered into hostile engagements against us. Ile should, therefore, move, as an Amendment, to leave out the whole of the paragraph iu the Address relative to the attack upon Copenhagen. L'IRD Srnmneru estpressed the extreme regret with which he found himself compelled to concur in the Amendment. lie had come down with an anxious bops that nothing would be in serted In his Majesty's Speech which should create a difference of opinon. He was sorry that he bad been disappointed, Ile long dung to the opinion, and he would not now abandon it, that Ministers would furnish Parliament and the country, with cogent reasons. founded on justice and sound political ex pedieney, fur their conduct towards Denmark, but till they did so, no man could be required to give up the honest feel. ings of his heart and understanding, and his attachment to the ancient policy of the Itritish Nation. Admitting, with the Noble Mover of the Address, that the arsenals of Dentimsk abounded with naval stores, it was clear to his mind, that they could not have been intended against this country, because at the time they were collecting, Russia, who was supposed to have the greatest influence over tier councils. was at war with France. To the *Hedged secret articles at Tilsit, Denmark could not have been a party at the time the attack upon her was meili tiled, for the Treaty of Tilsit was signed on the Bth of Julv. and lon the 3d of August Zealand was invested. He was indeed very much misinformed if the Crown Prince of Deninark did not owe the capture of his fleet to his leasing Zealand destitute of lefence, w ith the view of accumulating a respectable force in Holstein, for the avowed purpose of resistance to the French army, then memieing that Province. lie had, in fact, collected an army in Holstein to the number of '26,000 men, a measure which was totally irreconcileahle with the idea of inteiaional hostilities igainst us. Sufficient time had not elapsed for making hint a party to the Continental system by compulsion. But supposing such a measure to have been in the coutemplytion of the two Emperors, how stood the question ? Ministers alleged, that I tolsteinbeing once in the possession of France. Zealand was at her mercy. The force of this allegation was completely de stroyed by their offering to defend that island, and to guarantee the whole of the Danish territories, should their terms he ac veded to. The Crown Prince could have had no idea of an effectual defence of Holstein, but he seemed to have no doubt of his :NM% to defend Zealand; and if he was not adequate to this, how could the small force vs e could spare .place him in a state of complete security. He was sorry to see a paragraph in the King's Declaration, calculated to pervert the moral feelings of the British people. I%e were told, that we stimuli! fight the enemy with his own weapons. NV hat t were we to imitate :bat monstrous system of iniquity and oppression, which character ised the progress of French dominion ? This was not the prio ri& by which we had risen to our presont enviable condition. —From the sera of our glorious Revolotion, it bad been our boast to act on that homely maxim, whicb was in the mouth of every Englishman, as the standard of his priva:e conduct. Ile a.seed entirely with an illustrious statesman, now tot more, t Mr. Fox) that in our treatment of other states we should .o act, as that, though the arms of their inhabitants might he up lifted against us, their convictions. their feelings, and their ~;iod wishes, must be with us. With respect tis.,Atin rica, he recom mended a continimtion of conciliating conduct, but without sa crificing a single iota of what was eskeotial4o uatitatal -ccurity. He deprecated thy invidiow• terms of" our eitritime rights, and our maritime sovereignty 4" we asserted no ri.;his, but taw •