The Statesman. — London, England, 1812-01-09 00:00:00

~,~ IPS OA V yet rebutted. When any person on &CIVIC Oppo- • ciion) side of the house ventured to predict evil con secriences from the measures pursued by Gentlemen • on the other side, theirprophcc'es were reviled or dis regarded ; but what they had always dreaded was un happily like to come to pass ; for after our differences with America had subsisted five years, and Govern ment had resorted to every political subterfuge to avoid cralciliation,• notwithstanding the repeated ef forts of America to come to an accommodation, we had only to expect the fatal catastrophe of seeing that country leagued with France. (Cries of hear! hear! from fhe Op)rosition Benches.) America told is that the Decrees of France, which caused our orders in Coenci!, restricting their neutral commerce were re pealsd ; our answer to that was a flat denial of the fact. 'flie House, as yet, had very little information upon the subject, but, when the necessary documents should be produced . , Ministers would have a loag ac oount to settle, for the correspondence had already appeared in the American Papers. From the corre apondeece between Mr. -Monroe and Mr. Foster, it was evident that the obnoxious Dscrees of Fran( e were repealed on the 2d of November.. [Here Mr. Ferceval said across the table, " America says so."] Mr: Whitbread then challenged the Right Hon. Gen tleman to produce one instance shewing that they had not been repealed; he would call on' that Minister to prove it to America, to prevent the importstion to France of our colonial produce, and deprived her of the use of Peruvian bark, and desolated the Royal Exchange of London.—[//ear ! Var! hear !]--fle would call upon that Mi nister to prove to the Government of America, that it was unable to govern that country. From the Message of the President, and the Report of the Committee of Foreign Relations, nothing but war threatened us, while our Government obstinately refused to evade the tempest by timely' measures. He was exceedingly sorry to understand that the Noble Lord, who proposed the present Ad dress had assumed, as a maxim, that this country never make a safe peace with the present Em peror of France. lie could not pretend to decide the truth of the assertion; but he never knew that the personal character of the ruler of one nation was a reason for another refusin; to negociato peace with ; nor did he see that could obj sa to treat with him as well as with any of the B urbons. According to appearances, s;nuld the p s lit Ruler of France remain letig upon t!;is earth, .iod the war continue, we had the greatest evils to apprehend: for if oer wealth wis 11041 ous, and French wealth real, it conitl he easily foreseen who must fad!, and rather thee protract the pies-vitt de stis•ctiss, war he wished to C oil that Fraace had " snits:ties, and commerce," for which her !. Ruler had tociatessed art ardent wish, but of which he sees at present deprived. Lord JOGEYLN denied Laving used the expres- Fleas which the Hon. Gentleman attributed to him, respecting the Ruler of France: he never interfered with his private but his public character ; and his Lordship requested that when the lion. Gentleman should honour any thing he should say with his no ti te, be would be more correct in his statements. Mr. WHITBREAD, said the Noble Lord must be more correct than him in stating the contents of his own opeoshes, and he regretted his mistake. The CHANCELLOR •of the EXCHEQUER ree and said, that if the wish contained in the last a eitence of the lion. Gentleman's speech was to be f drilled, we should voluntarily grant what we had b hitherto lighting to prevent, except by a treaty so peace, what our enemy has always. ardently de sired, but what he never could procure by force.— [Clreerinss front the Ministerial benches.] He should shortly take a review of all the topics, which required an answer urged by the lion. Gentleman, and tkuhtetl not but he should completely exonerate IWilisters from the blame he had thought proper to at.ach tosthem. If he now despaired of the cause of Spain and Portugal, he requested the Hon. Gentle man to call to recollection the opinions lie had given nron the subject last Session, and compare them and his prophesies with the actual state of the Peninsula, aa.l lie could find his predictions falsified, as well as the authority on which he made them, the boasts of Bonaparte and his Generals. [Hear, hear!] Yet prophesies were to be renewed, notwithstanding the mailifest contrast. nntrov the wefts of prophesy in vain, The dt et. :reatur , 's wa:k a,zaia." [Loud lattzhier from . Pll pants of the llouse.]-4 ; hat lan/ been the empty boast of France, that the English army would he left to exiaust itself In Por tu4al ; while thi it ow .arty, by beginning with the ret!'•ction of Spilt, wo I! make a sure and easy conq lest e f us : but could any person believe, that if I.atf • he !cast hope ci!' s •eress, the English would not be their fiat object ? [Load che,Ting.] But the tyrant was well aware of the imprudence of at ta7kin.; nor have ai my, in conjunction with-that of Portc ; .,al, and wisc!y der i •ed it, wane his troops remained useless upon the peninsula, and he him- I self, exposed to the worl I, exhibits the greatest , instance of fra ad, persfly, iniquity, and imbecility, rec.° riled in history. [Hear, hear, hear LI In a,Ji his predictions respecting Spain, he was disamoint eil by the persevering • gallantry of' that cation; and yet Gentlemen opposite were always ready, Nitv.ii opportunity offered, of extolling his VOIIS and exploits. Valencia, which was to fall before his army, had already held them two months before its wads, and he cool(' not convey nrovisions to or from the places of which he was said to held the mi lita-y possession, without the escort of a large ntiii t ry force, or a small army. Instead of the Spanish it being subdued, it was manifest from every' ac emint that it had increased in proportion to their di ; the natives sustained not an attack with mire courage than they survived defeat. [//rar, lw ,r CouLl any on? say that the a ff airs of Prancel W. Ie now wor e prosporous than they were 'cat year, or :hat t orttual was more likely to fall? The Hon. Gentleman had asked for the opinion of Lord Wel lington ; he would appeal to the House, whe ther it was proper to disclose it, whatever it might be? It would be highly imprudent to expose the ex pectations of any officer while he continued In the service, as It could .only give in advantage to the weeny. • L1.1.at., • Iteari] Government were cer et4eavo;rittg to effect a reconciliation be twist the mo'her c-.intey and the Vanish colonies, to-1 hoped a successful termination ) as their ~~` ' ~ . liF ~ ~ .- • c ' :r. . i i _l ‘ " ~ l opy t 't ti ‘, 1 ) o • ) t '. 1 4 44' le 4 t 4 . ; • gr, TILE STATESMAN. iaterests were the same. Upon another point on hich the HonouraLle Gentleman required infor mation, he could easily give it him, because he knew it would prove satisfactory . The British army was at present full 10,000 men stronger than it was at the same period last year. (Hear I) He could have no hesitation in saying, that peat and very im portant eifferences existed with America, the particu lars of which he must decline at present to gate tar obvious reasons, and in the hope, that they will be amicably removed, but not from any inability to esta blish a good cause on the part of Great Britain. 'fl , terms offered by Britain were mode! - ate and concilia tory, but consistent with the honour and dignity of the country. Let the House look to the conduct of Britain and France to America, as well as the con duct of America to both, and judge whether Britain had committed an unjust aggression . . Should the " fatal catastrophe" of a war break out, he would not disguise that it would bring great evil upon the country, but he was persuaded that America would not be the least sufferer. Whatever Gentle men might suppose, it never was his wish to see Ame rica crushed, or ruined in her trade or her resources; on the contrary, he looked to the Wealth and pro sperity of that country as accessary to those of Great Britain, and that the diminution of tho,a of one must affect those of the other. [hear ! hear !] From every conkideration he was able to give the subject, he did not think 13iltain could, consistently with her undoubted rights and national honour, sub- Imit more than she did to the national honour. Ame rica said, the Berlin and Milan Decrees were Te -1 pealed; he said they were not.—Ufear, hear, i hear!] He plainly saw in every subs... Tent com mercial Decree that the principles were adhered to and acted upon. If America had evidence of their revocation, where was the public instru ment to prove the fact ?—The Decree for repealing them promised only a distant revocation, condition ally that England renounced her new system of blockade,, by revoking her Orders in Council, or America should make her flag respected--tha t was to go to war with England. Since that conditional repeal, however, the Berlin and Milan Decrees were repeat ; edly declared to be fundamental laws of the Empire s and all neutral ships which should not conform to them were declared to be denationalised.—[llear ! hcar !]—Was that a virtual revocation of them ? It was not. But whenever France should revoke them, I Britain would :npeal her Orders in Council, but not relinquish her maritime superiority, which France could not otherwise reduce. He vvas exceedingly glad the Noble Lard had given satisfaction to the lion. Getttleraan respecting his seppesed reflections on Bonaparte. 11. also ,:ereed that his personal cha racter was no reason for tan - using to treat with him for a pane, and concludiag a on safe and honour able terms. Mr. WHITBREAD rose, and tiente!ded to know' whether the flight lion. Gentleman alluded to him in the quotation he introduced into his speech ? The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said, lie borrowed the lines, he believed, from a poem called 6 ' The Spider," without meaning any personal disrespect to the lion. Gentlematt.--Ilicar ! hear Mr. WHITBREAD said he was satisfied, and be lieved that if such a quotation had been applied to the Right Hon. Gentleman he would have felt himself in titled to demand an explanation. General TARLETON stated his consciousness of his own inability to do justice to the importance of the subject, but the affairs of Spain were so disas trous, and hopes of ultimate success in Portugal so slender, that he could not avoid giving his opi nion, notwithstanding the appearance of the House. [Here several Members were going out.] He had not the smallest wish to diminish the military reputation of Lord Wellington, or of the Offi cers under his command, but we were evident ly unable sufficiently to persevere in the con test. It was an old saying, that money was the foundation of all power, and Caesar to obtain power, got money, but we could not be said to have money, while the House was called upon to pay 200,0001. for a new mint, and a depreciated coinage circulated io the country. IVhat was the success of the Spanish armies ! They were flying under time protection of Gibraltar and British cannon. We were told of the exploits of the Guerillas ; but what were they ? Neither more nor less than freebooters, who plun dered alike their friends and foes, anti from whom no good could be expected. At the sanguinary battle of Albucra, the Portuguese brought only 0000 men into the field, althoUgh they had received twelve millions of our money, and Gen. Beresford was com pelled to punish officers and men for desertion, and threaten to chastise others for feigning sickness, and going into the hospitals. Bonaparte, .on the other j hand, raised 110,000 men, of the age of twenty,l with whom he threatened to invade our own country, and attack oar fiery capital. Nettling toed be twee ' l extravagant in us than to cope with him on the Pe ninsula in the present situation of Europe, in which assertion he was much more justified than Mr. Fox, who a ished for the pencil of Cervantes to ridicule the promoters of the continental war, even at a period when France was distracted by a revolution, and all the other European Powers independent, and many of them at war with her. The Peninsula had already cosC.us 18 millions of money, and 60,000 men had been lost in the effort of preserving it from France, and w:thout success, and it was now time for England to desist, before her loss should become greater, and her success less. i Mr. CREEVEY observed, that he intended to be brief in the observations he was about to address to the House, but felt himself called upon to state a few facts upon the present occasion. We had been told, I that our trade and revenne• had increased; but, in fact, they had received a deadly blow ; and it wal.ne cestary to ascertain the nature and extent of that de- I crease, before the House should give a pledge to the extent that was now required. It was inspesilble to carry on the war. In the course of a year, Here had been a diminution of three millions WWI ashall in the revenue, And charge of. oneesillion nod t half on the Consolidated Fond, so that the ieteiati in 1811 bad faller - short fi ve millions of dim of thp pre ceding yeah - Was this to be supplied by new • b *IL , • flow could they be productive when the old, had WWI ..The • eackhnlder's security . was iliVaini‘d by a million Ind a her; :What woulkbedepas I(tne Cossolidatedfiod should .become taadepate . 3 • Xt was his intention to move, that the Address be post. poned till this day week, that a return might be made of the produce of the taxes for 1811, in order to as certain the state of the revenue. 'lf successful iu that, he should then move for a return of the Conso lidated Fund, and the amount of the taxes. He was' warranted in taking this course, by precedents in the reigns of William and Anne. It was then the practice to mike no answer to the Address, till some days hat! elapsed. The Public should know the state of the revenue before any pledge was given. Evi dent attempts had been made by the Newspapers in the interest of Government, to mislead the public mind on the subject of the finances, by stating an advance of 340,0001. in the last quarter of • 181 t, but the case was different if the other three were taken into the accouut. The part of the Speech re specting the India Company was the same as in 1792, and would be heard now with additional interest. In the event of peace, every individual in the world would have the right of trading to India, with the exception of the subjects of England. He indulged a hope that a free trade was hinted at for this coun try; and concluded with moving, that instead of now, the Report should be brought up this day week. The CHANCELLOR, of the EXCHEQUER begged leave to say a few words in answer to the lion. Gentleman. The lion. Member had taken an unfair view of the state of the revenue. Last year it was most flourishing, and, op that account, had been deemed worthy of particular mention. The re ceipt of last year had, in many respects, exceeded the preceding. The revenue of the Customs had diminished, but a stop had been put to the decrease of the Consolidated Fund. In the Excise, the great enurce of revenue, the amonnt had greatly exceeded that of the former year, and, on the whole, the de ficiency had not been more than two millions on the sth of January of the present year. The heaviest quarter was that ending on the sth of January, and that now afforded a surplus of 400,0001. above the charges. In the case of taxes imposed at a late pe riod, the produce could net be great. A large sum had been expected from the duty on spirits ; this had failed, in consequence of distillation from sugar be ing permitted, and distillation from grain had only begun in October. Under all the circumstances, that branch of the revenue might considered as in the most flourishing state. Mr. VYSE said a few words, but in so low a tone of voice as to be inaudible in the gallery. Mr. WHITBREAD felt the propriety of saying a few nerds, though the Right lion. Gentleman, he must admit, had laboured his part with great indus try. If the Revenue had increased, it must be allow ed, so also had our expenses, and he must be a had Financier, who, when he sees that his taxes are un productive, does not continue to diminish his expen diture. It was admitted that the Customs had, last year, fallen off, but the Excise, it seems, had increas ed. The Excise must necessarily follow the Customs. Did the Right lion. Gentleman imagine that the Re venue of the country would continue to be what it had been formerly, and that its expense would not increase ? The contrary was self-evident. With re. gard to mentioning, in the Speech, the state of the Revenue, such had been the uniform practice. Mr. HUTCHINSON expressed his dissent from the Address. lie had been last year, of opinion, that then was not the proper moment for an adula tory Address, but that on the state of the country, and of the world, we should have manfully stated the difficulties we had to undergo. We should have stated to the Prince Regent what had fallen out since the reign of his father, from the counsels of weak or nicked Ministers. That he could not with ho nour to himself, or safety to the empire, persevere iu those plans that had formerly been pursued. To hesitate one moment, would be a dereliction of duty lie entered his solemn protest against Ministers ge nerally, and against this Address, which kept back what was important, and held forward what was trivial. It was not true that we had rescued Portu- - gal, though in this he did not intend to reflect, in the slightest degree, upon the General and troops in that kingdom. Tiwy had performed wleAtever was possible. But they only remained in possession of that kingdom because it was not the policy of France to make a great effort. Were 10,0c0 ad ditional men adequate to the exigencies of our pre sent warfare ? They were hot equal . to the defence of Portugal, and could only for a short time pro- teact the contest. Whenever France chose to put forth her energies, we must withdraw from the con flict. The enemy had attempted nothing in which he had not succeeded. They had scarcely lost any prisoners, and neither artillery nor officers. On the other hand, we had uniformly failed. Neither was the situ*. ion of Spain better than it was last year, as the enemy was ht military possession of the country, and weiseek-slmen--crtit off from all maritime inter- • course with such parts of the country as were said to be favourable to the cause. The Spaniards had . accused us of deserting them after the battle of Talavera, and did not think that defending Por tugal was defending Spain. He was happy to bear of a prospect of peace with America, though we had done every thing in our power to pro voke her to war, relying upon our maritime superi ority. In the feelings of the Prince Regent, with respect to the King, there could be but one voice and one sentiment ; but whatever arrangements might be in contemplation, he trusted economy would lie strictly attended th. Had the whole of the Address been unobjectionable, the state of Ireland alone would have induced him to dissent. lie must ex press unqualified disapprobation of any Address that did not call the attention of Parliament particu larly to that country. Measures had been pur sued, tending to disunite Ireland from Englund, end to shake the monarchy. One consolation, however, wait afforded, the measures of Ministers Ind, proved that Irishmen were united, and that wicked policy had &hewn England that every dt 'scription of j,ishmen Were united in the same mime, and so far frame succeeding, they have only calle d forth the united voice and feelleg . of the country in .oppositien to their plans.... He thanked them for what they had done foe Ireland% and concluded by giving a dime:negative $o the Address. • 'eke •CgAtiieFtLLOßd a the 'EXCHEQUER stated, that he did not inlaid to. say that 10,000 men bad been sent to Lard Wellington ) bat that such LO N DO N: THURSDAY, JANUARY 9,181 g. By a Mail from Malta, which arrived this fore noon, we have received Gibraltar Papers to the ht ult. from which we extract the following : " GIBRALTAR, N0v.20. " Although CM. BALLASTEROS was probably right to suppose. that the enemy's divisions, with :thick be was last week engaga. would be in ►au hurry to renew the contest ; yet he finds this other divisions arc ready to snppiy their place, and that he is net to he allowed one moment's rest. On Wednesday he received information, that Centsrols LEvaz and R'v were advancing against 1 . from the eastward, upon which he retired to his for mer position under the rock, and shortly after some of the ene my's troops made their appearance on the heights of St. Ruh. Afi the whole, hon ever, were not in sight, Gen. BALLASTEROS on the next day made a reconnoitring from the Queen of Spins, and upon his return a skirmish nask place between his party and a French detachment, to which he had two men killed ands few wounded ; of the enemy's loss nothing positive is known. It is understood, that their total number was ascertained to amount to 600 P, foot and some hundreds of horse, w id, a few pieces of cannon, and that they expect reinforcements. 1 cry favourable accounts were received from Catalonia in the het:in• ping of the week! Far from being cast down by the enormous losses which they have sustained, and by the complete disper sion of their army after the capture of Tarr guars, the Catalo nians have plucked up fresh spirits, and created a new arum, which is already 25,00,1 strung, and is expected to be increae. l to :00,000 men before the end of February. The fact is, CIA growing every day mom act more impatient of the yoke, the g Want natives are dete 'stained to shako it oft; and the whole of them are rising en fluter. A printed paper has also heel' reecited Gam A licant, dated the 11th, acknowledging that toe yelbov fever had made its appearance in the town, in consequence of ti:e clandestine intro& etion of three Men who were labouring miner it, from Murcia, its environs, and Aspe, and a NMI from Fiche ; but averring, in continuation, that owing to the . mea sures adopted to pat a stop to it, such as the removal to the La zaretto, not only of the infected individual 4, hut of all the sin'► in the tow n, there remained lit) vestige of it so far back as 6th, when the above precautions were no longer deemed flee— nary, and concluding w his an invitation to the nelghbow Mr, towns to re-open the communication." + 'i V an arld.:ion had IK!,m; made in general to oar tailiialN force. After a few words from Mr. Creevey, the Ar ne „,. ment was negatived, the Address read a (list and ca►d time, and ordered to be presented by such AI, . 3 . bers of that House as were of his Majesty's t Honourable Privy Council. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEgi 1: ; ) . gave notice of a motion for the renewal of the Star:. lug Order of last Session, respecting Notices aLd Orders. Upon the motion of Mr. RYDER, the Speech of the Lords Commissioners was ordered to be tak en into further consideration to-morrow (this day). The usual Standing Orders of the House were :;, e1 read and renewed. Tho House went into a Committee on the A,! sporting the Ckerrauce of Vessels employed i;i Coal Trade; and leave was given to bring in a to repeal the same. Mr. GRANT presented a copy of the 16di 17th Reports of the Commissioners of Mahal) , IL. quire.—Ordered to lie titAm the table. Atljourited till to-morrow (this day). PHEN/X AND HARP. Jr mrs SWAN, jun. having reeentlN entered into en. gagements entirely incompatible. with 11:c cont:.:! of a IP:Tidy Paper, begslotoe to inform the SO. scribers to the PmExix and 11.ing, for fa:.ours hi.: returns his most sincere thanks, flue h: has disposed of 11w Copy-right of that Paper b Mr. LOVELL, who engages to send Me CONSTi. TUTION in its stead ; and he trusts, as ke (0 . lupins of the Co,TtntrioN are to be dermtcd to those iwpartial and liberal pi•incip.fes whichcherer. terize eveft:a free-bGrn and independent Briton, that the manner in ickieh it zrilPbe aridnefed.:a. leave th c,fricnds of the 1 1 11(E NJ and Ill:. to regret from th,• chanv., , ::.'rich has taken ph,cc, Lorrt,L, no:c a ST.ITE Pnr:ONEle in his j,.si,y's Gnat fy . • for two allesgd respeelfullg begs leave to observe, that the STITUTION sill be eon:Leh-4 upon six same I . i • pendent' Principles as the STATl:s..u.s.v has ;:;,.• fornt(y a;z!I will conta,'n all the Imponr, & % ; DozLirte t. GEN - r r.f the prered:nx lazyther with a concise Summary of Forei,...! The CONSTITUTION will also expose all those PrrnLic DELINQUENTS who prey upon the industrious+ part of the Community, and who hare been the chitf promoters of the destructive War in which this Connky is unfortunately engaged. A rr. Mails. hublin Waterford l'atliz 1,61t0n Malta Guernsey Jersey Heligoland • . 0 PRICE OF STOCKS TIM DAY AT 0 O'CLOCK. Bank India Bonds ris. 18s. S per ('ent. Cons. 623 Exchequer Bills Sd. 3 4 pt. 1 per Cent. Red. 63,1 Ditto 34d. 3 6 pr. 4 per Cent:. NI ()twain', } die. 5 per Cent. Navy s4a Consul: fur Acct. 641 Long. Ann. 16 5-16 Lottery Tickets aril i THE STATESMAN. 1 1 110C1.1A1.11 . 10N. _ " I lead-quarters, Gibraltar, N,lv. " There is no longer to be quarantine on vessels coming loon Cadiz or West of Cadiz. On those places between Cadiz and Gibraltar, seven days quarantine. °nail places East of Gibral tar, the same as before."—(VibroaarChroniclso .hut.. 30.) Cadiz Papers were received in tow Tait night to the 21st ult. Tho following are the only articles wor4y of notice : • " YELVAS, Dcc. 15. ." We leant that the Frendt are cqUecting large bodies pear the bridges o(the Tagus, bat they start at a loss how to shun the imPendiitik O . wes.. It is said their main force u ill t.the a po aitteamar Ciadad• godrigpo tot the purpose of ob;ierchig the movements of Lord Weitairovow. A corps of IWO time will is sealers have marched hence for birrtola." J)ne. '*l I