The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — London, England, 1808-03-30 00:00:00

1 i appreciate that as an advantage, which com promised the character and consistency of the coutitcy." The Noble Lord nest adverted for the clamour which had been raised upon the pretence that in the late negociation conducted with the American Commissioners, an intention was mani fested of yielding any of the maritime rights of " this couutry. He proved the delicecy naturally at tached to such an arrangement, particularh upon the right exerci ed by British ertued ships, of search ing for British deserters. or claiming British sailors from on board American merchantmen. The de licacy was musk/trebly increased, in consequence . of the arrangement which had taken place between thisOnvernment and Ameries in 1801. He read the letters of the Duke o f Portland and of Lord Hawker bury, which forbad the condemnation, by our sub ordinate Prize Courts, of American shipstrading cir cuitously in the colonial produce of the enemy.— He next proceeded to state the evils winch a war with America must entail on the dearest interests of this country, and the probable injury which must ensue to our colonies, dept.nding as they did for subsistenee upon the supp:ies afforded by Nn..th America. I.7se evidence produced at the bar of that Howse did, and would continue to prove the evils which a perseverance in such a ruinous system of policy must inevitably pro since import the manufactnring and trading jute re.ta of this country. He had heard an opution eircalated abroad, that the King's Ministers had conceived the wish. of forcing America into a premature quarrel. under the conviction, that hos tilities between the countries could not he for a I°l4 tune avoided, and that they speculated upon the hope of destroying the Americus' form of Go vormuieta.—(AU Ae!from the Ministers, par tienlarlyfreat L9rd Hntehestuirel. .• I am happy." said the Noble Baron, that the Noble Secretary disavows any ouch hope. and treats the imputatiou With such serious reprobatioa ; but of this he may be assured, that such a euinisor has been strongly and generally circulated abroad." After a variety of cogent and able observations. the Noble Baron commeitted on the trite policy of looking to the new world for the counterprise to the military strength and aggrandisement of France on the Continent of Europe. It was with such a conviction that Ile reviewed. with feelings of satisfaction, the emi gration of the Portugutwe Government to South Appetite. In those days of revolution and of eh:lnge, he hail coutemplated, with sentiments of pride, those improvenients winch the progress of the arts had produced, in extending the intercourse between civilized end distant nations, and which contributed to effect such an ainelionited change in the moral and physical condition of mankind.— In every stew of the case, he was inclined to give the preference to the ueutrality of America, rather Ciao to her co-operation with Great Britain in hos tilities against France. At all events, should that power be forced out of her present and true line of policy, let it be in consequence of the violence and exactions of France. If forced into a war against that power, Great Britain will enjoy all the Nlne hts arisitig from the public spirit and republican ardour of the American people. Should even the American Government acquiesce in the views of France. and dueler.. under such circumstances, io their favour, that feeling of hostility against us. amongst the people, will be totally disarmed of ail its violence and poignancy. The Noble Lord coorieded his able speech by moving the following Resolutions: 1. That is apron is Ohio peeve, Mat Rio Majesty Midi bets selasil b voklissio say Ward preaoesassi fires tlis Elied gala et itaireieu,te ism Graces Cesecil, eo sad abetment htthe Iltb urNeesinhar, may, fee interrupting nearly the whole of the comment of the said States with the Centime of Escape ; ere limiting each trade to be cu rled ea, in future, through British pees may, (with the ea teries of seirral and allied ports its creak emesi) thereby warm* it to such restrictions and ditties, sad seem pool& hellos% as the Omorriment of Great Britain mg thbeh it le horn* open it; sod for camisole* the parody af the deems at the said Rasa, its all cams whose Me moo rail be atrompasied dy portimear documents, certHyiag tbe plats of its 'north or ineashetwe. 2. That it appears to this Ham, that racism to the Munoz of the • 'id Orders is Conned, • Negotiates had Lees carried •••i between this Colliery and the Veiled States if America, '.,r the maratmaane of pence end friendship between these ; siol that • Treaty had bees actually sigwe respecting same of the mot neteri. 1 robes is demises ,• that a desire had bees minreseed by the Government of the mid t r head %titre, fee the ....Whim of certain oiler prowl. sines to the mid Treaty, and that a proposal was mink for mettaing the Negotiation fur that purpose ; bet that this We was abruptly aad inteanierstely rejected by His Ma jesty's illinistena This allele tear. sites the said °Ake weer *mei, His aliMe',Diameters had recently retied front the Ministers tailtedi /Mr hi this kitigdoin, amoranees that the in. =Doman of Hie Majesty's enemies elm, is any rat tastasee, brim executed against the maunder sr amogation of tie l'aited State and that fries MI that had psiewelhabsequest to the imbuing of the said De frees, His Allaraty u sllneisturs had every reason to conclude, that my attempt of the enemy so to e;r4. er the imam, w ou ld be dondedly method hr the Government of the Felted States; whereby it swot bare barreassel, either that the said De ems wadi have matinsed to be wholly nugatory and incl. fretual, or that the enemy, by eneleavouriag to enforce the /Milt. would Maw deers the l oiled Stems into* closer con asst.. • dh thin emmte. 4. That it appease to des Hauer, that the Order Mined by His Majesty is Coieit, ea the 7th ef . JsmeatTe 11 , %7% wait not late...dial to iaterropt Neutrals in • enamerce of dis t harry from Poet to Part if the amemyN territories ; that tacit mas maimmumienee isipteuimbintion Aer those who *ere is His Majesty% weir' at the time she mid Order as Muted, aod that as caramelise to that of MN tires to them to the Danish Minestet, 4 as official Note, dated. tie 17th of Mardi mer. That in • Note Areasthe American Xereary of State to Mr. ii.Liwr, dated on the deli of the saute month, consi derably ooensiarar was expressed, made as apprelienem of a rotstrary interpeotatiee of the read Order, mod that the she, • noentiosiivi 'tots was actual y received by His Ma jesty's prem at Ministers is the' mouth of April last. Trt that we iwYpsi hoe beet takes threes uptathe pee. sat hour, fur nowevieg the safoomied apprehemelmasef the Amenran Germinate, as • rite to which they error it lite attached so smell importaare And that by thismii-sioa, mach sameresary irrit4ha hat beep metered to pm ail in Amoebas, bog after it was he the power of His Majesty's Ministers to Mere effeemilly re. cawed the solar ' and fresh obstacte% to remealistioa ell friendship bar* thins wentualy been ssiespired. s. That it is, therefore, the oriole of this Home, that the said Order. are in themselves esjeot nail impolitic ; that the easing of limo at the teas, sad mule the cirmainstames above.wentiesed, was as art tithe atniast hoprivedesee and rashean : mad that, by shemptly breehimg of a frioadly se. tociaten, and withholdirs • ardisfaetery rstdanation oft • point, es wllado it niirtit lays been given a ith so much ease sad yam/Ware, iflis Mertes'. Minister" bane :.tied to dart. pied agar Om policy, which is to cultivate the friendlier of a seem, whose iuteresm and prosperity are so intimately interwore2 with per own : and hare ceitducted themselves in • masse the least adapted to umiak lie Niajesty tw 4ainy trio that maritime snperionty, oa abieli the greatness sad emu theiewisteute of havEjspire au such cispeaa. The Earl of Wrairsioatatsio--" It has been stated, thatthe Orders in Couucil have been the destdiction of American commerce ; that they have alienated Ameiica,- so far as to mulanger a war with that country ; that they have annihilated British trade, and are contrary to the Law of Na tions. I shall consider how far 'this is a true de scription, and whether these consequences are not properly to be attributed to our predecessors, and not to us, whom they accuse as their authors. In doiu3 this, my Lords, it will be neeeissary for me to consider the state of the country, as my Noble Friends found it on their entrance into office.— The Order of Blockade of 180(i had been passed, and also the Order of Council of January, 1807. —By the former of these measures the commerce of one-half of Europe had been completely inter , dieted, and by the latter the direct trade of all I neutrals had been totally prohibited. It 'mastitis ed, in fact, to a total confiscation of all neutral trade. Russia. for instance, could carry on no direct trade with Constantinople, nor with Cadiz, nor with Brest. It was this measure, therefore, that alienated Russia—that led to the destruction of ' Portugal--aiid finally rendered the attack on Co penhagen absolutely. necessary. The blame, there fore, does not lie with us, but with our accusers ; who, though they have done tines, do not hesitate to reproach the present Ministers as the authors of thus state of things. - Bet nothing can be a greater misrepresentation than such charges. The Orders in Council, so far from having such a tett deucy, are a system of conciliation. So far from being calculated to destroy British Commerce, they constitute a system for its restoration. All British commerce was destroyed.—France prescribed what rule* she pleased, and they eatispuntersoi no resist ance. it therefore became necessary to adopt these ()niers its Council, for the purpose of restoring us to that situation, from which we had been removed in the time of those who now impute that state of things to His Majesty's present Ministers. But it has been imputed to us as a crime, that we did uot explaiu the Order in Council of Jan. 1807 to Mr. Madison. The fact, however, was, that an an swer was daily expected from America, until which time a satisfactory explanation could not be given ; .and it was thought better to await that answer, than prematurely to enter into a discussion which might excite an hostile feelin► . and certainly could not lend to a satisfactory result. Had any explanation been given, I should nut, however, have hesitated to have said that it was meant as a mitigated act of retaliation. It wise not, I contend. for Eng land, possessing such naval superiority and pre eminence, to resoatu_silent and patient under her wrongs, without taking one step to redress her inju ries, hut depending entirely for the restoration of her rights upon the feeble efforts of neutral nations. All that my Noble Friends have done has bees with this temper, and for this skiect, total') Tree from all hostile or angry feeling. There is nothing of that character in their conduct; and I contend that the late Ministers, in their mode of conducting the treaty that has been returned froin America. unratified, did more to • irritate and provoke the American People than could possibly be effected by those Orders of Council of which they so much com plain. It is well known that the American Coin missioners remonstrated that they had not powers to enter into such a treaty, and that they were only persuaded, upon the promise of the British Commissioners (Lords Auckland sad Holland) of forbearance in the exercise of those strong mess sures which had been adopted, although no such forbearance actually took place. Lord AUCULAND ridiculed the idea of applying the Order in Conned of January, 1807, as appli cable to the state of things at the present moment. With respect to the charge of duplicity in con ducting the Treaty, he said it was not founded in fact. Nothing could be more fair and open than the conduct of both parties in that business. Two - more candid and iugenuous men than Mr. Pinck ney and Mr. Munroe he never met in the course of his fife, and a particle tending to excite acri mony or or tainted with the slighted wish to over-reach or deceive, never existed during the whole of their conferences. It was, therefore, with surprise, he found himself and his Noble Col league in that business, charged with haying held out a promise of "forbearance;“ as an inducement to the American Commissioners to come to a con clusion. lie pledged himself *that no such expres sion had ever been used fly him or his Noble Friend. [Here his Lordship read extracts from the printed papers. which . fully supported his Lordship's statement, and from which it appeared, that the word had been used iu one of the Notes in the Correspondence of the American Commis sioners, and not by his Lordship.] With respect to the treaty, though it was returned, it did not thence follow that the negociation ought to have been oroken off. Ile knew Mr. Jefferson well, having been intimately acquainted with him two years is Paris, and he was confident that the alterations made as amendments to the Treaty, were his hand writing; but those amendmentswere not insurmount able object ions to 11 Treaty. They were thrown out as ft sulijoets of disetneston. `sink yet were omit beck; as not fit to be entertained upon any account. Ili, Lordship entered into various other livid', and con cluded +nth derlasing it as his opinion, that the Se cretary of State for Foreign Affairs ought to have sent hack a more codciliatory answer. The Eartof Diatsmsv expected something new from the Noble !tools nn the opposite side of the Howe, but, instead of that, he heard only the old stwy—rerriasinstion. He emiclitdeel by observ ing, that the resonator's met with his decided ap peobation. The Earl of LAIIDERIME said. he had not in. tended to have troubled their Lordships any mare on this subject, a it had been most ably discussed by his Noble Colisugues—but what fell from the Solite Lord opposite to lion, by way of invective, and to raise a Liugh twaiiist the late Ministers, indikaid his to break silence. The Noble Lord had stated, th.it the en:el attack ou Copenhagen was caused by Ili, Nlaiesty's late Ministers: The arziometst that had Lccii adduced to prove it., was ton *Trail to require 311 .1/I.lllCl'. and hr would pa-s the tissertion with what it deser.cil, contempt. But the great question for the Noble Lords to consider u as. erlirther the in•a:u re of the late Orders of Ctuto it was a iv(.i one or nut Withoet touching on its policy as to the Continent of Europe, be would speak of America aloae... The Orders 01 Coated were the cause of the eta in Ause.riase it was proved at the Bee of t b l i a l Mossee, ..yesteedily, .on oath, that the Orders of Council were 4U011121 before the embar;;o had taken place. Ho could not consider that measure in any other light but es • wise one of America. If .he had not dimwit the Order; of Council would have carried all her ships, eugageil iu Foreign trade, lido the ports of this country ; it' they were only . carried in. and detained, it would bring on nego tiation, and if it failed, war would be the couee quence, and what would follow ? The Whole of their shipping wonlil be sent into the Prize Court,ttot condemned. It was ridicalous in His Majesty's Mi nisters to assert they do ant believe the Orders of Council were known in America before the embargo. , They were known in this country long before they aline out with the Minieters' muctiou. Ile could aver, that he had read them iu the public prints, long antecedent to their official appearince, and a better weaned of them he had never seen since. At the period when the late Administration went nut of ot4ee, negotiations were carrying on wit , fair prospect of a speedy adjaistinent of all differ ences with America: and wheu Mr. Itlattion'a Note of the tfeth March wan received by Ins Ma jesty's present Ministers, requesting an exphtnatiou of the Order of Commit of the 7th of January 1807, instead of giving an insulting answer, why did not Ministers center with his Noble Friend, Lord llowiek, who would have gircm them its pro per definition ? or if they did nut like that, why not call for the assistance of the J udge-Advocate, as his Notate Friend bad done on a business some thing similar? But the fact was, that His Ma jesty's present advisers felt they had no etiology for their coodnct, and they were attempting every hole they thought they could creep out of. Lord MULCltave spoke at considerable length, in answer to Lord Holland. He contended, that, the Orders i.if Council could not have been kuowu in A mericain time to ilium the embargo, and that t that measure grew out of the recollection of the Order in Council, of the 7th of January, Iso7. He admitted that it was stated; on oath, at the Bar of the House, en the preceding day, that a letter from this country had reached Boston prior totted event, but that it was iinpossible that it could have pro dared such a result. The effects .of these Orders, he contended, were beneficial to the country. Before they were issued, sugar and other colonial produce, were cheaper in France than in England ; but the case is reversed now, and by the operation of these 111CalltIreS, IIUgUE is now four times dearer in France than in Eug laud. The testimony of the witnesses examined at the Bar, he admitted, went to prove that their trade had been injured by the Orders in Council, but the effect, he contended, would he more fairly' ascribed to their on n ingenious speculations. They declined to export to America, as usual, from an apprehension that these Orders would produce a' war with that country, but they had not vet pro du cad that effect; and if it never should take place, they would have none to blame for their losses but theutreives. As to the probability o 1 such a war, it was a subject on which lie did oast wish to speak, and ought not to be touched but with the greatest delicacy. He did not despair of its beiogavoided, when he reflected how much America mead bee lever li'y such a proceeding ; 11.2 would be sorry, however, it Should be th•ugtit that we would press hupon America, rehiaig upon the probability of diss inclination to make resistance. In estimating the probability of the event, .we could not, however, leave out of our calculation, that all her resources were derived from her Customs; that, with the ex ception of the Post Office, she had none other ; that a war with this country would sweep all these resources away, awl that it would grievously distress the country to supply their place by taxation. Lord Ggsaviu.a-...5i lily Lords, the mode in which a Noble Bad (Westmorland) and the Noble Lord who sits next to him (Moderate) have thought fit to answer the arguments of my Noble Friend, must excite no little surprise. Every thing rele vant to the subject-matter before the House--mery thing in tim slightest degree relevant to the resolu tion of my Noble Friend, they have studiously eluded, and for argonnent to refute his reasoning, they fly to subjects the most remote from the ques tion, and which have not the slightest con nection whatever with the matter in debate. A No ble Friend, near me (Lord Auckland) has. with great propriety, stated, that the Orders in Council, u connected with America, constitute the question before the House. and that it is only in relation to that country and this they are now proposed to be discussed. But although the ground is thus explicitly marked, and laid down, the Noble FAA, and the Noble Lord who has just tat down, evince their propensity t• wander from their way, and iu stead of looking to America. they fly to the other extremity, and take shelter in Russia. They re proach His Majesty's late Ministers with miscon duct to Russia, with having alienated that power. and made necessary the attack upon Denmark. Which has fixed a stain upon the cli:.racter of this casontry. awl useful it with ludebtle disgrain.— That the Noble Earl and the Noble Lord should have recourse to matter so irrelevant andextratteous mac well indeed excite surprise. They sorely could not MOM it as argument. But I admit it s characteristic of their habitual propensity to divert the attention of the House from the real question, sod that it may grati4- their unifotnt desire to cast reflections upon, those who preceded them in office.. As, however, the subject of Russia has been intro duced, and in such a way, (trust I may make a few observations, without incurring the censure which attaches to those who have unnecessarily brought . it forward. I ask, what has been that conduct to Russia with which the late Ministers are reproach , ed as the source ofoomuch sail ? Russia applied to them for a loon of six millirem the payment of it to he g urinated by the British Government. All the circumstances of that priapasition are before the •House. the official documents, detailing the whole transaction, having been priuted, and now upon your Coroislips' table. Upon this subject, however, I contend.that from the conditionson which this sum was demanded, it would be. puerile to roll it k loan, and that it was in fact a subsidy ; and when the state of the country is considered at the time this applicatisu was made, I am eanlideutthere is not a man who hears ine who would think it wise 0, 1 4 to have granted 'it. • But it was not merely se lions to he giotronieed . by: dielltritish (Severna. that was sought flit, ft Wits further required, o n should be furnished at Hite per cent. an interea w hi c h t:doubt wlethir - Ministers will be able borrow intmey tbe . ,oilir owe tire. Before thee should consent to Else team which must add bait n ytliteth'ltte Ikea of the country, it stir because nor dutrlo consider, whether the goon be purchased would compeosate•for.the evil ul great an addition to the public burdens, end the consequences that must resu:t from wringi so large a sum from the people. Lut it min said, if this sum were - too large, why not gis, renal ler'snna, corresponding with our mean,. master to this is very simple and Glorious. smaller hum Was not naked, and it was time clot when it aus asked to take it into considerate. For uiy own purl, I am free to confess, that 1 an then, and ant still of op iuion—an opinion which I 464:ye rem ct*llcatrues entertained to comma!' wit! ufit--that after the fatal battle of Au:ALl:its hr. effectual good could be done for Europe by so n ,. dies, and even if they could he attended with an. vantage, 1 am confident that nothing could josh. fro his Majestee Ministers in making so Large au addition to the Public burdens, at a renew. able and well-fideutled expectation, that it would give a decisive turn to the war upon the Continent. —That no touch effect could have been pro. duced, I believe, win' not be contended ; but if any Noble Lord entertains 'a different old. Mom, I am ready to meet him upon that grouts! We have been reproached, however, as if our cos ee.pontlence with Russia were uothing hut a se:ai of reloads to that- country, and with having tits -titictly told her that now she was become a party in the war, she must look to her own meals :and resources. With respect to the amount e. tenus of' the proposed loan, I do repeat that tlicr were unreasonable, and such as I never heard asa man say ought to have been complied with; lei; though we-did net think it wise to grant the rt. quest,. there were other modes by which Rono might hnve tried to attain her purpose. lusted of ninkilig terms for herself, 'why did. she net go into the nomey-marlet like any individual alas waists to borrow money: IN that case she might mime money on the best terms she could, and the wa y wail o p en t o her ; but as to the argumetit that Russia was sow become a inaiu party to the war, and must deiresid• upon her own resources, I tbini it is well-flsmuled. IV lien Russia was called upon as an auxiliary to transport armies to the fronton, of France, there might he a good reason for gru:- log dulls:dies, because they could actually enai.4 her to occouiplish that purpose ; but in the pre. sent case, the Russians were upon their own tiers. Itussin wanted no money to enalble her!l t rampart her troops to a distant pant. They se-t upon their own temtory, where, as principals is the war, they ought to maintain themselves upos their own ground. So fur for the pecuniary pan, of our csinduct femme Huai*, so severely vete', stated, lay the Noble Lords now is antler..— { Upon the wisdoms, the "policy, and the propriety,. I ant now prepared and' ready to meet any sat who would call them in question. As to the m► litary part, it has comae out, from all inquiry and discussion, more triumphantly than I expected. I use this expression, not because I must not hart known the strength of the case from the begin ning, but I mean that I could not have expected that the notoriety of the merits could be so grail as to produce the general conviction and Unpin.. 'ion which I find they have made upon the public mind, where so much pains were taken to more-, preseut them. Among the arguments made use , of for the purp.ise by the Noble Lords in office, it has been said that we ought to hare sent m army• to the Baltic, to eo-operate with the Rus. sians. Now, there is qiie : little thing which these Noble Lords overlook, in their haste to find fault with our military's% stein—l wean the season. They forget that it pie-toed His Majesty to change his Ministers in the month of March, and that we had no opportunity, except between October and Marsh, of sending an army to the Contiiieut. Now, I do not hesitate to say, and I am prepared to maintain, ii contra4icted, that in that interval and top to the last-daf we reinaitied is office, a "is. pole opportunity did not occur of sending ail arne to the Continent, and that in the then state things it would have been, not only madness, ha: highly criminal, to have attempted it. In the last, the very last days of March, I grant, iu tie last fortnight, there were appearances which might Induce souse slight doubt, tut all subsequent to- formation and experience have prated, that three cite:waste/wets were fella. ious, and that a force .1 1.3,000 British troops, if sent to the Continent, mold have made no sensible impression • on tit theatre of war iu Poland, and would be suffivielptif employed by the French army that remained Le hind on the roost of Germany. This lam ilk to state upon the authority of a military recr , who wig sent to the Contiuent for the empress purpose of watching the operations of the Laos pogo, and whose judgment and knowledge octal he questioned. It was the opinion of my Lord Hutchinson,. that a British army might be lei sled - with effect at Stralsund, and hence those doaLts which I admit exissed at the cud of March ; but when Lord Hutchinson, who was at a distance Overt he first inclined to this opinieo, came to tie spot, with better means of information, his Lord ship soon changed his opittion, and wrote home t ll3 ' it would be madness at. 4 folly to send a force to ths . Continent, as there was not a chance thet a sine man of it would ever return. Indeed it was net acknowledged by all parties, that it would have been ridiculous to expect that a British force or s British subsidy, sent in the month of March hot, could have stopped the course of events which het since taken place. The Russians were not over' 'lowered in consequence of the want of either of these aids. Vast as the armies and the reeourto are of that great empire, those means . were net sufficiently prepared, her resources not rightly pre sided, nor all her energies folly called forth to mee t the power of France, which, notwithstanding tl , immense population of Russia, had contrived, 0: calling troops from the remotest countries of Europe. to out-ouruher the Ituesian armies aro their own frontier. Ido believe, that by flee esti' ordinary activity of th enemy, the French arw:et teceeded the kiiissiems Pa the proportion of 3 to _-...01111 Ar k ma, I.eat 14t 4 'at it t lIIt 'rely ki to uf 9 giu dell 111 ve a The A nigh 11011.