The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — London, England, 1803-06-04 00:00:00

F ~. la .. :~ 9 , - v.." } , • A A HOUSE OF COMMONS. reinev, JUNE 3. , Mr. POLE presented the Ordnance Estimates, which being ordered to lie on the table, he gave no tice that he should move for their being referred to the Committee of Supply on Monday next. The House went through the Report of the Com mittee on.the Ship-burning Bill ; which was brOught up, and the Bill ordered to be read a third time on Monday next. • The Ordnance Estate Bill was read a second, time, and eimmitted for Monday. 'lke Convoy Bill was read a third time and passed. Mr. GILEg, pursuant to a former notice, Moved for leave to bring'in a Bill for amending the Ad of the eed George 111. as far as regarded bribery at eledions, in order that the oaths should not be nu gatory as at present, in many cases, but adtei tiistered pursuant to the eireitions of the 2d of George 11. Leave was given, and a Committee ordered to Trepare the Rill. HE CONDUCT OF MINISTERS IN ME LATE NE GOTIATIONS. Colonel I'ATTEN, pursuant to his notice, rose to move a series of resolutions, the importance of which, he said, might well deter persons of his in capacity from coining forward in the presence of so many Gentlemen long distinguished for the posses sion of the most conipetdnt and extraordinary ta knts. He felt himself somewhat entitled to their indulgence, in consideration of its being, through a long parliamentary life, only the second time of his trespassing on their attention. This indulgence, should he obtain it, he would endeavour to repay in the best manner in his power, which was by li miting his trespass to as short a time as the subjea could possibly admit of. The House would recoi led, that previously to the last recess, tie had given notice of a motion which he was induced afterwards to postpone, in deference to the recommendation of others, whose knowledge, and greater political experi ence, he was bound to respect. He assured them, that it was with the utmost reludance he was induced to dissent from that private charader he heretofore re tained in the House, feeling himself, as he did, un- • eve' to undertakings of a more conspictems na ture ; but, having once committed himself, he could not relinquish his °Feel, which we* still as ne cessary as ever,from the silence efthe Ministers, from the time of the notice, which kept the country in such an injurious suspence, and the frequent confident as surances they had given, thatthey had every reason to think, even in the most critical periods, that the nation was in a state of profound and apparently permanent peace. Their conduce, to say no worse of it, could not be otherwise than suspicious, when, while they were making dice assurances, they sent out orders and counter-orders, for the evacua tion and retention of our most iMportant foreign conquests, and finally ceded the whole of them, with the exception only of Malta. I-k oived it to his bro. ther-subjeds to drive Ministers re some explanation on these heads, as they were, in such conjunetures, entitled to a communication, and he knew of no me dium through which it was more proper to give it, than through that of Parliament. But; in the mean time, the monied interest was misled, trade was drimped, and the commerce c f the country locked. • up, in consequence of the alarm and suspence which, as it since appeared, was in the power of his Majesty's Ministers to dispel, by fairly explaining the situation in which we stood. It may be asked of him, why he now felt anxious to undertake a task, which would be much better in the hands of gentlemen, whose experienced abilities, great weig it in the public estimation, and long habits of life, nuct render infinitely more qualified, than he could pretend to be ? The reason was, that he felt himself anxious to remove some rumours and as persions, as unjust as they were ungenerous, circulated amongst the public, injurious to others, on account of his notice. For his part, in times of such extremity and danger, he wished all party distinctions to be forgotton ; he hoped the effea of his motion would be, to ..ee the op. posite (the Ministerial) bench filled with the best talents of the country ; by men of all descriptions whose worth and political talents were airea , _!y stamped by the public opinion. many of whom he then saw in their places, and he there:re was t..,• more disposed to undertake this duty, as he was in his own person too humble and insignificant to have any thing to hope for. Another motive he telt, WAS grounded on the calumnies to which he before alluded—calumnies which, as far as they reeorded himself personally, he declared he should only treat with the contempt they merited ; but the case was altered as far as they also regarded others, whom he was bound to vindicate from the charge of having employed, and put him forward, as their tool or their instrument. lie therefore solemnly declared, that, so far from aging on the suggestion of others, he had never so much as communicated his intentions, on this subjea, to any one, either in or out of the Ilouse, any further than what he had stated from his seat. Thus much he found himself called upon to say in vindication of the Hon. Gentlemen below hint (on the opposite bench), amongst whom it would always be his pride to be classed, as being composed of Gentlemen distinguished for their wis dom and foresight, with regard to the issue of the important events that had ear passed in the ose wh eyes of the world for the last test ys—men, eminent talents justly procured them an unbounded repthem uta tion in their own country, and obtained fo r the resped of every Cabinet in E urope. H ite oe could not, he said , omi t the present portunf melting an observation' rs often obscry of towards some Honoutble Membets on that side the House where ht had the honour freqently to sit. When a Right Hon. Ginatlernen (Mt. o Fox) at t time rose to vindica te the cond o Ct of the First Font of the Admiralty, it was sarcas tically remarked by some person, that the Noble Lord, et a short the line, n- no tices emu furnish w i th fifty sail a that it would be so teem ILIA W'abigs -494, the imputation appeared to him to rest with the Mie sisters themselves, as the insinuations were ordisto, be found in the points. known to be at their defiler.' tion. One of the first points on which he wished for. explapation was the declaration of the Minisaera,. that it was necessary to prepare for tic dcfenpe this country an account of the formidable prepare tions making in the ports of Fa-ance and Hollausk--i t . For his owls pin he made no doubt of the hostile mind of the First Consul, but if he might depend on the report , :of a well-informed o ffi cer, who - paued through these c ountries about that time, the tine statement was, that these preparations, instead of be ing enormously great, were not even sufficient for the colonial purposes fill- Aids they were intente4 and therefore could not be designed or turned' with any cited against Great. Britain. He had also - heard it confidently asserted, upon respedahle aurr thority, that Bonaparte at first sent to the sea-portt those troops upon which he could least depend, ins: order to have them erolasrked for the.colonies; Lett.. that, after his Majesty's Messagn. .hkehlinged his original purpose, and had them replaced by consides rallc bodies of the best troops in his service. While. he said this of the disposition of the French Govern ment', at the time, he would repeat his former asses; tion, that he had a firm conviaion a' the hostile views of Bonaparte against us; that his wish to con= quer Egypt was not for its value as a colony, but in order to-facilitate an attack on our East India pos sessions ; and that, by the overthrow of this couns try, he hoped to accomplish his great and oltimate object--the destrudion of the interest and insist pendence of all the rest' 'of Europe. But WV this, he could only , hope to effect gradual- - ly, and must have found it most for his inter . - est to abstain for the present from any hostilities against us, As to the series of insults and aggres sions so often spoken of, he must, as a young poli tician, necessarily leave a subje!'t of that kind to the examination and discussion of persons better quali fied to judge of them than he could pretend to be. , Adverting next to many of the subjects complained , of in the documents laid upon the table, he expressed it to be his opinion, that many of them should have been brought to a short *see at once ; and at the time that we made representations of commercial Agents being sent to this country fur hostile aurposes, he thought we should have demanded immediate sa tisf.i&tion. Respecting the invasion of Switierland and of Holland, it was enough that they hid the presumption to aim at freedom aril : .lepenilence-- a crime inexcusable in the eyes Bonaparte. We also were guilty of the same offesi,e, and he hoped would ever, in the same way, continue to der serve his hatred without being induced b% me however violent, to surrender the remnant conquests; and should the time arrive. when men of talents, from all sides, would consent to forego their party struggles and differences. te.speding internal objeds, when they should be wil ling to suspend, and even to sacrifice, till a time of total tranquillity thus attempts to obtain a Podia. memory Reform, the Repeal of the Test Aft, &c. &c. and unite in defence or the country against all external danger, the nation would feel confident that such defence would be glorious and successful. Having said thus much, he said, it only remained for him to return his thanks to the House for the patience with which they had been So kind as to attend to him for so long a time, and he would assure them, that it would be a still longer time before he troubled *them again. Hel concluded with moving a string of resolutions, which were the same verbatim as those moved yes terday in the House of Lords by Earl Fitzwilliam, and of which it will he suiEcient to say that they were to the following purport :—That it was the opi nion of the House that his Majesty's Ministers con sidered the whole of the proceedings of the French Government, since the signature of the Preliminaries of peace, were a continual and unremitting series of acts of violence. aggression, violation of treaties and hostility, and so many insults tending to degrade the dignity of the Crown and Government, and in jure the interests of this Country. That by the con dud of Ministers in concealing those proceedings from Parliament, and representing the Country as in a state of profound peace which was likely to be permanent, they ailed unconstitutionally , and greatly contributed to the embarrassment of credit in the commercial interests of the nation , occasioned by the public being kept so long in suspence, and in a state of delusion, that it was toe duty of Ministers, on the con.m'ssion of the first aggression, ft) temonstrate immediately with France, whereby they might have . prevented the present appeal to arms, occasioned by their own uegled. That after having by treaty en. gaged to surrender the Cape of Orood Hope, they sent counter orders to retain it, 'which they after wards revoked, and -finally gave it up. That the Ministers by all this had proved themselves unworthy of retaining their offices, or of possessing the Confi dence or the Parliament and the Public. These, he said, were the resolutions he had at present to pro pose, which, if adopted, would probably be fol lowed up by others. Colonel GRAHAM immediately arose, and said, there was a statement he had to offer to the House, and wished to have submitted it before the motion had been made, but having by accident missed the opportunity, he trusted the House, though it did not immediately press after tke motion as the subject had been but barely adverted to in the last speech, would allow him now to present to its consideration, as owing to circumstances of professional avocation, this was perhaps the last time that for a considerable period he should have it in his power to address them. What he had to say related entirely to the subjed of Malta, which had been so often casorassed former discussions. He had this day .received from General Pigot those papers which could not be produced when called for yesterday. and the sub stance of which the General had requested that he woold this day take au opportunity ofcdosneuicating to the House. This appeared to be the snore iadispen *Ale, as in the public papers it was observed, that the and most pablishedlerpeetin e garrison, and: the manner of its surrender after the Illockade, which he would, with the permission of the House, take the libeky readied • some eke . • „ e. teams from, eei part of his speeth. (1 - nese extrads Were taken Ebte the Publication *of the Maltese de eistitieh wbieli; same time since, made their appear ence mekie of the - public papers). The extras mate,! l a 'Mitt towards the close cer the blockade the French garrison was reduc'ed to the last etretnity, insomuch *lli the French, as the price of a capitu lation, offered to leave hostages for returning all the !Honey and valuables they had taken from the treasu ' kri, the churches, pyiVate hoUseseacc as also all that t h•ri had raised ' by what they called forced contri lutions, 3cc. bet that this condition was not required ' by the English, who suffered them to take away all the cents of which they had plundered the island and the inht.bitante, together with their subseqnent exadkurts e and refirsed to allow the nations to enter the fortifications of the garrison till after the dep: l -.r. , tare of the Filench.r l - In contradigition to this erro neotis and gross statement, ieplained, that (Tee l neral Pigot .eft the arrangement of the terms of the' capitulation to him (Colonel Graham) and Capt. Martin,and that they were both reedy to attest that ho such offer of hostages was ever made by the French. They two had concluded on the terms of the capi tulation, which was afterwards regulaey signed by the Commander inChief, and they Were consequently I released from all responsibility • hut in saying this, ; he by no means would wish to ; hut ear part of the . blame, if blame belonged to it, from .hrinsell to the General, and he was confident he may -eafely say the same on the part of Capt. Martin.. • Colonel GASCOIGNE he'te (idled the Hon. Member to order; us, he said, he was only arguing fralti onauthenticatcd newspaper accounts, end' not from any document as yet befori• the House. - This objection, however, not being supported by the Speaker. Colonel GRAHAM went on Ile said he did esot meatete trouble the House at any length, but .hoped to be indulged for a very short time, 'as tee •chareder of General Pigot was understood to be im ,plicated in the charge. 'I he French, Instead of proposing to leave hostages, demanded to retain all their private property, which was g ranted them, and it. was, of course, ender the pretence of being private property, That they carried off the money inquestinn. With respell to the propriety of acceding to such a capitulation, he would only say, that it was. true the French, is it tiirried out, *ere pushed to g reat ex /tenuity, and had no Mere provisions left than . what wbuld be sufficient t 6 maintain them for twen '•isieftsur-- hobes. But those who commanded the blbtlettle; though the- heard and believed that the enemy were likely to be sObn greatly distressed, by no means however suspe&ed their wants• to he so extreme: but there seem, besides, other strong .con ?efererirene for acceding to the terms proposed. It *as consist red, that it beirrhen the begitning of September, and the Equinot commencing, in ewhich, during a gale in one night, a single ship sight have brought in a supply, which would !citable the garrison to hold out another fortnight. it was recolleded too, that in the preceding month of June, two vessels, laden nith stores for the sup ply of the garrison, got into the harbour in the same night. He was well aware that nobody could suppose him, in saying this, to - cast any imputation on the gallant naval officer who commanded and direfied the blockade, as no person in existence could have a higher opinion than himself of the es sential merit of his services, and that of the fleet. It must indeed have been eminently conspicuous, as a general opinion prevailed before, that there was no possibility of blockading that island with efFed; yet so stridly was it guarded in all weathers, by their vigilance and activity, that the enemy confessed themselves that what had been done seemed to them before to be a thing impradicable. In pursuance of the instru.lions received from General Pigot, be stated that he and Captain Martin proceeded toge ther to the Hoare of the French Commandant, General Vaubois, in order to confer upon the terms. They could not, however, .even in the first instance, propose the worst terms that might possibly be offered, not knowing, as he before oh. served, the precise state of the French garrison.— It was therefore thought prudent to agree to risk no chance of relief, but suffer the men to carry away their property, depositing their arm's the next morning on the glacis. This agreement must be understood as extending only to private property. Mr. CANNING here spoke also to order. He pro fessed the utmost personal resksed fee General Pi got, and a regard of course for nis chars ter ; but he thought it hardly fair towards the Hon. Mover to interrupt the discussion at this moment, by an expla nation that was hut very little connected with it, as the subjed of Malta had scarcely bet ore. been men tioned, though it was very probable that many ap pointments would occur for introducing any expla nation in the course of the debate winch could be deemed necessary. The SPEAKER here interposed, observing, that though what the Honourable Officer had beets stat ing could scarcely be deemed strislly regular, yet there seemed a general disposition in the House to suffer him to proceed, as a matter of indulgence. Colonel GRAHAM said, he was aware of the explanation not being formally regular; bin wished to seize the opportunity while he had it, and ex pressed his thankfulness to the House for its dispo , titian to indulge him. That these Maltese armed inhabitants were not at first permitted to enter the town, was perfedly true, the French having' made that a condition, on account of the great inve teracy that subsisted between ; and there was every net sotitoapprehend that, had they been permitted toenter as soon as they wished it,themost serious andfatal con sequences would have ensued ; and, in truth, the 'English had not a strict right to insist on the resti tution of the treasures and contributions which had been taken before the blockade was even formed. He then went on to state the manner in which the armed Mistese had been commanded--.first by Com. he 11. t,ands of. General Pigot. Lord TEMPLE at last finally succeeded in pot ting an end to any further explanation; by moving, That the Resolutions proposed be now read; which being agreed to, • 'Colonel BASTARD said, he was not at all sorry that the present discussion had been brought fOr ward, as he was convinced that the more apparent would be the justification of the present Ministers, Who found themselves placed in a-situation of Un paralleled difficulty, when all the power of the world seemed to be placed in the hands, or humbled at the feet, of the First Consul.— With the view of arriving at a • fair judgment, he would not take the documents by piecemeal or one by ' one, but codsider them all in the aggregate, and in doing this, he believed that the Ministers would be tomtiletely justified. He joined in the Wish e,. pressed by the Hon. Gentleman !Col. Patten) that all the great talents of the country were concert tered on, the .Treasury Bench, but hitherto he did xialtfind that any more than one Right Hon. Gen: , tleattan (Mr. Tierney) from the other 'side of the • Hotte, had been included amongst the present Ade ministration. He had heard and read several re porty of the return to office of another Right Hon. Gentle Min (Mr. Pitt) whose uncommon genius and talents he, with all the rest of the world, was com pelled to admire. But the only terms in which he understood that Right Hun. Gentleman could be admitted were---(A very general cry of (-refer! also obliged Mr. Bastard here to datist from any further explanation on this topic.) He then said, he found no difference in making up his mind, when he saw two parties contending with each other, at d both aiming at the same thing. (4 peal of lought! , r.) What he meant by the expression, he said, was, that one party supposed the Ministers were too Lite, and the otter that they were too precipitate, in -icoing to war with Prance. The Ministers were tertamly forbearing and moderate t bat in his api. pion there was more true fortitude in bearing than in resenting an insult, particularly when the offend. ed party had not The means of pm:liking It. pis:other laugh). Viewing the question either way, he did not sec how any blame could attach itself to C. . .vernment. What lie principally'hoped was, that oar exertions would not be confined to defensive war only, and he trusted this'country was not yet al low as' o make it despair of finding allies on the Conti nent. Colonel PATTF.N explained, that what he meant by concentrating great talents of all descriptions, wherever they were to be found, was the sole Oka • of the defence and honour of the country. • Mr. I. H. ElLOW!'sit: did not think that any ~.wisdom or talents, however great and eminent, could have prevented this country from being involved in the preterit war. He highly commended the dis creet and sensible speech of the Hon Colonel who ipoke first in the debate; brit with all his respell fat himself and his motives, he could not help saying that he never heard a speech less capable of surf. porting so very serious a motion, and such very strong resolutions, not, in his opinion, could the House ever entertain them, without better Parliamen tary grounds than had yet been alledged for them. He certainly had an earnest wish for the utmost unanimity in the vigorous support of this arduous contest, as it was still manifest, that the few coun tries which had the courage to retain their freedcen and independfnee, were now the most powerful and most opulent, and as • nobody seemed to doubt that the chief views of the First Consul were aimed at the destruction of Great Britain. He did not know to what expressions of ' Ministers reference was made, when -hey accused of holding out to the country delusive hopes of peace. Those who made the charge in order to support It, should have compared the dates of the expressions to the dates of the different documents now upon the table. For his own part, he was sensible that no expressions of theirs had ever given him any more than very feeble hopes of it. He could not conceive, either how those who did not blame his Majesty's Ministers for coneluda ing the Peace of Amiens, could now well turn about and blame them for using their best endea vours to maintain it. In his judgment, if they thought the peace could not be preserved, they should have communicated the information ; but ;1 they had hopes that an accommodation might still take place, it was their duty to withhold it. The letter of the Treaty, as well as the spirit, had been violated by the enemy before the Negatlaticins were broken off, and it was necessary that they should be ; and if great warlike preparations were going on in the ports of France and Holland, it was better that the alarm should be given to the nation too soon than too late. 'Tire was certainly a very good ground of alarm when Bonaparte continued these preparations at the time that he was known to. have abandoned his West India expedition.— As to the sufferings which the commerce of the country might have experienced hitherto from the rupture between the two countries, it was a matter of enquiry, and could not therefore be hastily de cided, by the vague and imperfed information, which was all that coulttyet be colleded. He con. eluded with observing, that however he might wish for the union of great talents in the prosecution of the war, high sounding names, exalted reputations, flashes of merriment, sarcasms of wit, or force of invedive, should never induce him to think that there was not a sufficient fund of talent anti' calm, city in the present •Administration, nor that their conduct hitherto had not entitled them to the confi dence of the public. Lord KENSINGTON said, that he should not , ' feel disposed to trouble the House this aight, if he had not been influenced by the opinion,' that in so perilous a moment, the people had a tight to be acquainted with the sentiments of all their repre, sentativec. • On this question, he did not fully con cur hi the opinions of any of the Gentlemen who went before him. is order to come to a proper decisiotes it Ives tight to consider, what Wai 1.;:e . , 0 r• , • . • • • . . 44'-"°-.41.4.--I."'"r4sm--41 . ,. -"1"--.4.---w‘-------• •••••--- 7- • •---......7-1r ` 7 ' 7 :- --- . -qt jb..._____ ~,,.. .. ( . ' t . .. . . -. .. • . • . 1 ! ' . . • .. • • . N 4 •'.' ~ . . • . . - ' - i•• , -. .i.: • ... ..." 1 . ' •-• '. . • . • -. • ..... _ i -, ... •. , . . • • . ' .../ ..„, - 2 •• 4 .. ' I P ' • . , . , . 4 1 ill . '. tIP ''..• '' . . - • . • .- i •i ' I • - 4 t . . 40 . , ;. ' ' ',,.. .. . • • . k• \•,..., i ' . I' ".. •A• .• ' c . . , s' . . --- - • .. •.. . , . i' - • • • . - • ... . • •:. ... . . . - --....... . !LUMBERS AT U RDAI r s .... . . . . siq . b R ..14 1 lAT G L 1 T E .. 21t4. - Jit if t -• .4 DVERTI S E Ri • . • . . . •- - • . . ~............ . . UMBER 133.] _ . 'JUN t 4, 18 *O3. _ ~ ......... _ [PILICt SIXPENCE. , . . • ' 13IPERIAL PARLIAMENT. . . 1 out men. , lie • did not recollea any other three grosiest•and Indst scindaleusmisrepresentaiions had modore Ball, now Governor of the island, and by charge o f the same nature made in the 1-Ides6, but. Been published'respefting the state of the island and himself aftt4wards, till he resigned the command T-TATTIM fIF CrIMMCIVg . t),.. ...5..........:„... .........,.....A •., is:..l t., .....• .14t), tt.• M;- garrison. and: the manner of its surrender after the into the hands of. General Pigot. • TV; ';';"*.". • 411/, :* . , •• • . . • . • 1111 t rCE. and by inunand in put- moving, which • all sorry .1 ght for- pparent linisters, of tin- . of the nds or i would one by e, and in wculd Wish e+- n) that conceit- • he did ; ; evet: , of the ► ' sent Ade Pena re yf - ht Hon. !nius and VAS COM.. ti which he could be i if Crete, ! I TOM 2/13/ len said, ad, when hcr, ar d louzln! , r.) aid, war, ; too Late, )itate, in !` . l erS Were his opt. 4 It ring than it Offend. • ( *Uter • he did if to G, was, that 'hive war . et xt low I ie Conti- he meant ( criptions, ale (Atka 6 1 that any I ent, could volved in d the dis- lonel who • • • I 1 1 r . 2••