The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — London, England, 1807-08-08 00:00:00

~;, { 1 .• • • • 4.1 r,""•• which had passed that House, and had been ten to the Lords ; and, secordly, that they be appoint ed to repo t thereon. This, he stated, might pro bably be done to-morrow; and upon blood.:y next he should take an oppor•unity of submitting a mo tion upon the subject. The Hon. Geirlernan then concluded wits moving, " That a Committee be appointed to inspeff the Journals ot . the House of Lords with respell to the Bill to prevent the grant of Places and Pensions in Reversion, which had passed the House of Commons. and had been sent to the House of Lords." No opposition being made to this motion, leave was given, and a Comtniztee appointed accordingly, consisting of twenty-one Members, any five of them to be a quorum. FOREIGN RELATIONS. On the motion that the Consolidated Fund Bill do pass, • Mr. WHITBREAD rose, and obseret•cl, that when a Noble Lord opposite (t.ord Castlereagh) had upon various occasions acknowledged the alarm ing state of the country. And when Bills of such a description as the one now proposed to he pissed. were hurrying through the House with • such precipitancy, he could rot help remarking, that thrt cie duet of s linisters was sufficient to rouse the attention of Members into an apprehension of the danger likely to arise to the country. In saying this, he was only using the words of that Noble Lord himself, and therefore Ministers would excuse him for putting the questions he meant now to propose. An Hen. G..nt. near him, (Mr.Bankes) had jii.t now intimated an intention cf bring ing a ma:ter under their notice upon Monday, which ft was of the utmost importance should be fully and deliberately considered and discussed ; it being ma terially millet/A with their individual dignity, the weltai e of the State, and the purity of Parliament ; aid besides which. expeditions were going forward, the result of which public tumours said might be very speedily made known, and was likely to be of a nature the most important; and therefore he thought the House ought to be found sitting at its post when such mriters were in a• ; itation. Triey al ready knew of the Treaty which had been concluded Meets/ Prussia and France, and also of that which weir in dependence betwixt Russia and the latter Country, and that British ships had been sent to the asitstance of Sweden ; and with all these important matters heiort• Pailiament, the Right Hon. Gentle xnm •site (tire Chancelior of the Exchequer) had taken a large Vote of Credit, ansl had told them that it was because the Volunteers might be called on' and k•l4 upon permanent du y tot months toge ther. which portends chat he Ispyiehends an imme diate invasion die country, and yet they were to be told that Patha-nem •itas about to be oroguecl. pow, lie sincerely wished, 014 Ilia Majesty's Govern., font would pails* well before they gave Hit Majesty adwee to prorogue his Parliament. For his part, he Tully thougt t that those Ministers who so lately shnueht proper to advise His Majesty to dissolve the late Parliament, were bound in duty now to counsel His Majesty not to prorogue the present one, until the consideration of these, and ocher wet) import ant tuhjoas, was accomplished. He also un derstood that it was their intention not to meet Parliament again at a very early period; he, however, not only thought that it would be best not to advise an hasty prorogation, but also to abridge the time cat that intended prorogation. He there fore wished to ask the determination of Ministers upon the.e topics ? The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER briefly answeieel, that it was almost impos;ble to foresee tke variety of *vents which might take place ; and therefore the utmost toat Ministers could do was to provide against probabilities of dangerous and ddficult occurrences arisin. With regard, however. to the view which the Hon. Ger tleinan opposite had taken of the suhjein of coati tiling the sitting of Parliament for any considerable length of time, he was sure that Gentleman must be convinced of the great inconvenience that would thereby necessarily be experienced, and therefore he could inform the House, that a prorogation was a thing necessarily to be looked for as soon as the de pending business could be disposed of. He did not e however, mean to anticipate the day; but it.was al roost unnecessary for him to recall to their recol lection, what was so well known, that His Sla jesty already had it in his power to call his Parlia ment together again at anv time, and in the space of If, days, so than he could not conceive why they should be kept sitting in expectation of events arising which might require their deliberation. mid HENRY PETTY observed, that the an swer made by the Right Hon. Gent. was by no means satisfaillory. A Vote of Credit had been called for lest week, exceeding, in point of amount, any Vote of Credit ever proposed before under similar circumstances. The question, therefore, was, what explanation cr;ull Ministers give of their vice. of ih Jens of the C'3lllltl v. which could call fir such a VIA,! of Credit ? When the House were aware of all the provisictis they had adapted, and relleded wen the effect of as absolute annihilation of all our expectations from, and connections with, the Continent, they would be at a loss to discover ghat further exigencies could call for such an in crease of expense to the public during the remainder of this Summer. The House were already sitting two months later than usual; and, thetefore, these two months would fall to be taken horn the time when any such Vote of Credit would be necessary. Majesty's Ministers, aster having lately in creased the pnblic expenditure to an enormous amount, were, at this late period of the Session, coming down to tell the House City bad not got enough, and were asking 700,0001. more, and this too et a time when the circomstance; might have called fur a diminution of former expenditures. Minister. had state) nothing as to their anichensions of 'ln vasion that couldinstiry a demand to such an extent upon the public rcsoureei of t!..! c..untry. It was an addition made upoo no fired estimate, and on co circumstances whatever being stated. Toe liofte were s niag this last sum upon pure confi (tenet. and for no other purpose than to enable them to advise His Majes:y to delay the meeting of Parliament to a lacer period than they ought to or the state of affairs would w errant them in doing. He *Wald take this opportunity, too. of alluding to the charges that had been lately nude agahot the late Adnunistration, for having made piatiiiiae to Furcigu Poiren e and sot fulfilling them. He thought that when such charges were male, so as to affed the credit and the personal honour o the late Government, it was necessary they should be more distinctly and tielibera:ely stated and discussed, so as to make the pUblic acquainted with the circum stances. It WAS surely necessary that the House should know that the contingency upon which the promise of a supply of cavalry to Sweden had been made, had not adually arrived, so that they would not have been justified in putting the country to expense upon that head. He certainly wished the House could be put in possession of the circumstances, so as to ene:.le them to judge whether it would have been proper to have furnished means to convey cavalry abroad, merely under the expedation of a certain contingency arriving. His Noble Friend, now ab sent from the House, (Lord Howick), had, in his dispatches abroad, never stated any thing beyond assureaces, that should these contingencies arrive, then a certain number of cavalry should be sent. Lord CAS TLEREAGH said, that upon the present Administration coming into office, they had found that a chstind expectation was given to a particular power, that in the event cf a certain con tingency tak.ng place, a military succour, con sisting of cavali y, should be afforded them from this country.-- Now, certainly, as to that contin gency, he had no difficalty in stating, that in the judgment of the Swedish Government, it was con ceived to have occurred, and even to have so far gone by, that that Government actually re presented, that considerable injury had been sustain en by it, on account of such failure. This was also the conception of the two other Allies, for such was the substance of the appeal made to His Majesty's present Government. Although cavalry was the particular description of force which was thus ex peeled to have been sent, yet he could see no reason why measures should not have been taken by the late Administration, to be ready to comply with their promise in case the contingency agreed upon should have arrived; but instead of this, they had completely disqualified themselves from executing that part of the stipulation; so that it was impossible for any subsequent one to have fulfilled the expec tations of our Allies for a very long time after the demand had beer. made. The first moment the present Ministers came into office, they took care to form arrangements for affording Continental assist ance, but owing to the want of timely preparation, they found their endeavours in vain. Mr. WINDHA called the recolledion of the Howe to a statement made by a 'tight Hon. Gen tleman opposite ( Nlr.Canningt upon a former night, of his haying been, on coming into office, assailed upon all hands for the fulfilment of promises of military aid made to Foreign Powys, which had been neglected; but no* it turned but that these promises had been made only to one Power, and that even to a very limited extent. It was said, that in consequence of this alleged failure, the operations upon the Continent had helm disturbed. Now, he could take upon himself to assert, positively, as far as it could come within his knowledge, as a Member of the late Cabinet, that there was no promise made, the performance of which not depending upon any occurrence or contingency, 1 that was not duly empty'. Ttie contingency lupon which the case altuded to depended, had I not adually arrived ; and, therefore, utilises Mi nisters meant to state, that their predecessors had been adually guilty of a breach of promise, they could not, with any propriety, bring forward their random allegations. Now, however, it was only said, that the Powers alluded to had themselves alleged that the contingency had taken place, and that the promise had not been made good. This might really be the case; but was it from thence to be asserted that their construction of the obligation Was net erroneous t It was more natural to think, that these Powers might err in judging of their own cause, than that Ministers were to be responsible for that construction. He thought that no attention could be paid to such allegations, unless they could prove that the late Ministers broke their obligations to those Powers. But if they meant to state that pro mises of this sort should rest upon verbal communi cations, then the question must stand upon the asser tion of his Noble friend, now absent, and upon that of the Foreign Minister with whom he transacted that matter. The presumption, however, was, that it would be in favour of his Noble Friend, as it was very unlikely such a subjeft would be trans acted upon a verbal communication. As to the I allegation, tbat the late Ministry could not be ! ready to have fulfilled the engagement so foamed, on account of the want of the necessary pre paration of transports, he had never heard that people were bound to be prepared for whatever might happen. They employed a much greater number of transports than they found when they came into office. They had tonnage for 6,000 or 7,000 troops, and it was known that ships were always to be had. He only begged that the m itter might be brought to an issue, by statements being produced of the number of transports in hand, at the time each Administration came into office. Mr. CANNING supported the allegations that had been made by the present Ministers, and per. sisted in stating, that upon their coming into office they found the greatest expedations had been raised amongst our allies, for the fulfilment of which no preparations had been made. The intention of our sending a force to the Continent, had been to ope rate as a diversion upon the French army, by assist• ing the King of Sweden in Pomerania, and this was expelled by all the three Combined Powers, Russia, Prussia, and Sweden. He thought that a motion might be made for a statement of the trans- ports during each Administration, and it would tend greatly to the honour of the present one. Dr. LAWRENCE supported what had been stated on the part of the late Administration, and trusted, that the statements of transports would be tailed for by the present Ministers, and produced. Sir THOMAS FURTON spoke in favour of the additional Vote of Credit for 700,0001. as being lbsolutely necessary under the present circum stances. He took occasion to blame the late Mi nisters, as having been the cause of the present cundtal of the Americans towards this country, on account of their having treated with them in any other manner their with a pistol held to their breasts,—He thought our concessions to America were a debasement to this country. The probability of the Volunteers being called out upon permanent duty, was a sufficient reason for • I voting this additional credit, as it would necessarily he a great expense. and he hoped that before PArh ament be prorogued, snmt regulations might be adopted to put them upon a better footing than heretofore, both as an encouragement to 'pea and officers. He trusted also that the Training Bill would be put into execivion, and lik^ the large basket at the hack of a stage coach, bring every person forward by jolting. Mr. HIBBERT thought the late Ministers had made all the preparation that was necessary to be made, as transports were easy to be g.it, had the contingency arrived. When a specific prom se was made by the late Ministers, it appeared to dwindle down to a vague expeCtation Yith the present ones. Mr. ROSE observed, that however easy some transports were to be procured, yet these for ca valry were difliault to be got, and requited great preparation. Mr. WARD expressed his surprise to hear the late Ministers accused of a crime by the present Government, without any evidence being produced to warrant such an accusation. Mr. WM. SMITH disappeovtgkof what had fallen from the Hon. Baronet opposite (Sir Thomas Turtonl, relative to America, as he thought every thing tg.tt tended to excite resentment ought to be avoided. He had that opinion of the moderation of the Right Hon. Gentlemen composing the pre sent Governm-nt, that he believed they would not take the matter up in the manner so recommended, and he hoped that any application of the 700,0001. towards that objed would he the farthest horn their thoughts. He was sorry that Parliament were about to separate without any measu-e being taken to carry the Training Act into execution. Instead of postponing it to another session, he thought the bal lot for that purpose ought to be proceeded in imme diately, as 'well as that for the Militia. Mr. WHI TBREAD did think that it was in ' cumhent upon.the House specifically to discuss this subject upon a given day, before the clove of the session, in order that the accusations against eat late Administration might be brought to a paint. and that it might be known whether they Were ' accessary to the great disasters that had taken place upon the Continent. Mr. CANNING, in explanation, said, that he did not mean to charge the late Administration with having held out any expeitation of pecuniary aid to Russia, although he understood that they had rejected the application for nag ciating a loan in this country, which he consalered to be on their part an improvident resolution. With regard to the call nose made upon him, and those ith whom he aded, to bring forward a specific charge against the late Ministers, he begged to deny that they were strider any such obligation. He would ask, shall those who arc now in opposition assume the liberty of imputing whatever crimes they think fit against His Majesty's present Ministers, .and be perpetually holding up the examples of their own conduit, and contrasting them with that of the present Ministers ? And shall not the latter be allowed to repel such unfounded attacks, and to stand in their own de fence, without being compelled, as it were, to change sides, by turning accusers in their turn, and thus, at all hazards of public policy and safety, to pro dace the correspondence between this country and continental powers Ministers had been accused of having been unnecessarily lavish in their riff s of pecuniary assistance to Prunia : way, such an im putation must either be acquiesced in or repelled ; but, if repelled, must it follow, as a matter of coarse, that His Majesty's Ministers are bound to bring forward formal charges against their prede cessors ? He should rest satisfied with insisting, that .hen he and his colleagues had a charge brought against them of giving that assistance too late, which was sent to our allies, they. were justi fied in stating, in their own defence, that that de lay was not imputable to them but to their prede cessors. Mr. WHITBREAD and Mr. CANNING re peatedly explained. Mr. WINDHAM was wiliing to allow His Ma jesty's Ministers the privilege of defending them- ' selves, but when they brought forward a charge of a breach of engagements to Foreign Powers, the question was, whether they were not bound, by a regard to general justice, and at the demand of the party accused, to bring forward proofs and docu ments in support of that charge? Unless, indeed, they could state that by means of bringing forward such charges, something conneaed with the interests of the country would be disclosed, which would be injurious. If the Right Heliometric Gentleman thought fit, in repelling a charge, to bring forward a direft and most specific and serious counter-charge, he was bound to make it good; and if not, the late Ministers had a right to say that die charge was un supported, and to which they were not bound to pay regard : on the other hand, if the charge was brought forward, Lis HonotuaLle Friends would be ready to meet it. Lord CASTLEREAGH said. that this ground of difference might be reduced within a narrow com pass. The Honourable Gentleman opposite had made a dire& charge against His Majesty's Minis ters, is the shape of a demand, why they bad not sent a military force to Sweden sooner ? The charge against them was made on the ground of delay. He put it therefore to the feelings of the I louse, whether they could do less than state, that, however str.ng their impression was of a military force being sent courser to the Continent, yet, if that force was ado ally :era too late, it was fair to say that this delay arose arum the want of means lett them by their predecessors, and the impossibility thence arising of the Administration's sooner fulfilling the expecta tions of our allies. Ile had also stated tl,at the species of military aid expeded by one of the powers on the Continent was cavalry, but that without a long previous preparation, it was impossible for Government to fulfil it. He had never asserted that there was ever any petal expedation of such assistance held out by the late Micisters, but he had said, that there was a distend expectation indulged of such aid in more than one quarter ; and he had said, that it was wrong to suffer such expedations to be entertained, without taking some measures in order to the fulfilment of them. Such was the statement he had made ; but it WAS one made reluilantly, and had been completely extorted from him, iu consequence of the unfounded charges of delay and inadivity on the part of she present Administration. Va ith regard to • • transports, he had no objedion to bring forwarl a motion upon that subria. It was ascertain:l that a horse-transport could sot be calculated upa sooner than three weeks, from the time that the tender was made, and the contrail entered iuo ; and also, that it WAS in a very gradual manner that tenders were given in for such transports; on tiese accouots Government must be prepared for a c ri siderable time beforehand, in order to put tirir military designs into ixeeution. He had no scruple in saying, that His Majesty's late Ministers were defective upon this point, that their policy was fundamentally wrong in withhold•ng Cominentil aid, at the same time that they raised expedations, without providing the mane of fulfillin g them. or even of putting into execution any plans of their own, even supposing the contiagkincy to happen which might have induced them so to do. Lord H. I'ETI'Y observed, that it appeared from the acknowledgment of the Noble Lord, that no specific assurance had been • eld nut to Sweden ; but at was stated as friviug been a general expeita., tion field out to other powers, which remained uos fulfilled ; then again, the reverse of this statemnt was brought forward ; and then 'lifter leadutg :Lc House this kind of dance, the Noble Lord and , ris Right Hen. Gentleman Nitrite:le, refused the pre d i mi on of :hose document,, which would be taw best means of refuting the charge. He co:i.teoded, that when in the course of retorting different opinions, specific charges w ire made against the late Ministers, of not fulfilling their assurances, or ailing up to their own views of policy, that such charges should act be made without sufficient proof ; otherwise those against whom ti:ey were brought, by Gentlemen• iu office, possessing official information, received an injury. He hoped however, that such charges would uot be beast again ; but if repeated, that they should be accompanied with documents, and as the shape of a direct charge of a criminal nature. tt is admitted, that an expedation was raised of military aid, in cavalry, to Sweden, upon a certain contingen cy ; and it was asserted, that in the opinion of coat Power, that contingency had arrived ; now it that cot tingency was a matter of opMion, how soak it be formally decided in the form of a regular charge 1 And with what propriety could Ministers forward a criminal charge against thus* not nine in office, even supposing theii h had formed an erroneous opinion upon thi, polo.? Lord FOLKESTONE remarked, that one of His Majesty's Ministers asserted it broadly as a fact, that promises lied been matte and not tut - riled. whilst another had reduced the CtitAlhahty of the charge into a mere difference et op:nom. 1.;,r0n the whole, hr thought that Mtni,tets were bcund to make good their charge if they cratlel. After some farther explanation (ruin Dr. LA W. RENCE, the motion was put dud carried, aid the Bill passed. Lord CAS I LEREAGH then moved, "That there be laid before the House returns of toe amount of Tonnage a.id Transports ors the 24m March, Ma, arid on the 24th March, 1807. clis,inguisliing mole ships that were copper-s h eathed, and such as were taken op for home, or far foreign service ; also, a return of the Tonnage and 'Transports on the 24th of March, 1307, exc. usive or th- number engaged for home service, and distinguishing the number fitted tor Cavalry the ciipy letter from the Secretary of the Treasury, d trod :21-:h January, 1807, to the Secretary of the Transport Board, dired , ng the paying OF of the Transports."—Or del ed. _ Mr. HOBHOUSE brought up the Report of the Irish Salt k.xporcat:-.n Bill, which was ordered to be read a third time to•morrow • The Bill for the more sate toil speedy delivery of writs was read a second time. IKISII Altl4S RILL. On the crder of the day being read, for the third reading of the Irish Arms Bill, the Speaker pat the question that this Bill do pass. Lord MIL FON obie‘led, on the ground that after the Union with Ireland the privileges between the two countries were to be the same, whereas the passing of this Bill would pi-mince an odious tbs. tineiou hetween them. This Bill could only be justified by the most imperious necessity, which he did not think was made out, and he was afraid would produce jealousies and dissensions in the Sister Kingdom. He hoped some system of conci liation and amelioration if the condition of Ireland would be adopted. He denied that the church in Ireland would be in danger if the Catholics had their demands granted them. He hoped the sets jets of Great Britaio and Ireland would ae assimi lated by one coma" in s/stem, and that there mi3lit be no &stifle parties of Catholics and Prooestants. Mr. LUSHINGTON expressed his disapproba tion of the measure, although he was sorry to learn, from what information he had received, that a oz. amity for it existed, and he particularly relied in this respeft on the eloquent speech and statement of a Right Honourable Gentleman (Mr. Grattan), w;io wos so well acquainted wth Ireland, and concerned for its interests.--• But he washed the Bill had received sundry amond manic, particularly for prey. ming Magistrates. tie. from breaking into dweiling-hooses of su-pected . pvescas by night ; he alsa wished the dUrAtl,,rl rt the Bill to have been lim.:ed to one year. boils the whole. it was a Bill to which he felt to give an um; assent. felt. PETER MOOR'; said, there &braid 'e neat caution and jealonsy entertained, h c l or e 111[0 . A Bill passed. By this and ass, a system o f irritation was pursued, and thi: notwit hs t andiag the recommendation from the Throne at an eatly period. to take into consideration the Sate cf Ireland. N' proofs or documents to :throe the necessity of sit: measure had yet been laid before Parlia ment ; log if, on the word of a Right Hon. Gentleman ( Grattan), it seemed that such a necessity did esi•ti then he would say !he Bill did not go far etinagti• lie was at laid that such alts of t• • Mon w, r` 0.6 most I.kely to bring about those eff tts which they all wished to avoid. lle should therefore mow, " Ti.at this Bili be read a third time this day thine morthe." This :riseo.dment hiving been Mr. WM t..W.X AD stared bis realutis fit -td,pt ing a different line of conduct now from what i e had pursued ou a former occasion. lie t hen gave a re luBant assent to a similar me asure, upon the cistern. nts of gentlemen of the greatest authetitl ueon Irish affairs ; but he did not raise think it was fit to be guided by the mete assertion of individuals, r