The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — London, England, 1803-06-07 00:00:00

M I P C — MTV"e^ r ;. I • i . ~ 1 I _ v., ?ere in it. Under these circumstance.% the army estimates were voted to an amount that had been held sufficient for the establishment in any war in which the country had been ever before engaged. So far then for the charge of a too great rcduEtion in the army. With regard to the navy, there are many opinions, and I own I have not been without forming judgement upon it. These is one Orem-it stance,which it will be observed,is peculiartoournavy. We are a great commercial nation, and the manning a the naeo must greatly ifitetftre with out trade. A sailor's life is a profession, and therefore it is not so easy to procure sailors as marines and soldiers, who can learn their business in a short time. So early as the first week in August, the marines were reduced; but still there was a large establishment of them. The army was also considerably reduced; yet stillon the Bth March, it was in as good a state as in the time of any preceding war. Now let us See what was the conduct of Ministers at this time. Upon the 17th Odober, they sent out orders so retain the Cape, This was done in consequence of the conduit of France towards Switzerland; and though, I confess, in the November following, ano ther order was sent out for it evacuation, yet what does . this condua shew ? wasit not. saying to France we are not afraid of you : pout must -continet your self as you ought, or dread our resistance ? For, my Lords, we must despise the boast that England, single-handed, is lot able to contend with I. remcc. England, in fait, never heat France to so much advantage as when she . fought her single-hand cd.—[ Cheer-40-11e man who says otherwise must know himself in his heart to be a liar, or he must he most grossly defiant in historical infor m:teen. Now coupling his Majesty's speech with the date of the order, I think it a fair policy to say to France, as they iaiply, we ate ready to meet you; but at the same time,' you sec in us our ardent and sincere disposition for peace. On these grounds, therdore, I feel myself di'posed to nega tive the proposition of the Noble Earl. Ido not think that the present Ministers, who came into power under such difficulties, deserve censure: As far as I have had vet an opportunity of judging of their cenduet it has not deserved censure. Ithink the Noble Karl is perfealy consistent in making the motion, but it has the objeetion of being Very like the proposition which was made a few nights since, and was supported by the very men who brought us into oar present simmian by their gross and shameful miscondua. God forbid they should ever come again into his Majesty's Councils. Under these cirannstances . wish to negative the motion of the Noble Earl." Lard lIINTO said, he did not consider the react. a holkw truce as some were pleased to call it, nor an areliatice, bat a continuation of the war. He thought, however, that the change that had taken place was placed upon too narrow a ground. Ile did not, however, mean to say that Malta, the pound on which it was so placed, was so narrow as not to admit the conclusion that was drawn from it in favour of war. He only meant to say that it was not absolutely necessary to restria it to that round. The principle of the stipulation of the , Treaty of Amiens to secure the independence of Malta, and to prevent its re-occupation by France. 'Mile stipulations, however, becathe impradicahle, and in that situation of things, what coarse we . should pursue became a question. A Noble Lord, aCtuated 7 4 a liberal policy. bad recommended the next test security that could be devised ; but the advice was irreducible to predict., for in effect th ere was no approximation of terms, there was no substi tute that could be adopted in lieu of the original sti. pulationee:ccept its occupation by the troops efEng land. The troops of no friendly Power could answer the purpose, for there was no friendly Power on the Continent, sufficiently free from French influence, pe force, or that would undertake the task, upon whole' we could rely. But this was not the only objection. France had acquired an immense accession of powr * which entirely changed the relatire situation cf the two countries since the time of the ratification of.the Treaty of Amiens, and therefore had the terms been even practicable, we would be justified in insisting upon even a better security for ' the independence or Malta than that stipulated by the Treaty, if such could be obtained. With this accession of power on the part of France and her hostile designs Openly avowed and confessed, it surely would not be contended that we were hound t', remain satisfied with the security which might have been held suffi cient efore France bad obtained so great an u ces sion of power.—Of the importance of the Island of Malta, he thought it unnecessary to say much. If ever it was of importance it might be peculiarly so now, when se many cf the hostile objects of France are within the Mediterranean, and her influence so great over the powers that border upon that sea. 'To - defeat her views in the Mediterranean we must have e superior fleet in it, but that could not be done without the possession of Malta. Formerly we had the ports of Leghorn or Naples open to us, but that was as accommodation upon which we could nut in future rely. Without therefore some such place as Malta for safety, shelter and refitting, even a victory must prove fatal, as it was not to be ex paled that our ships could triumph without suffering some injury, ~nd consequentiy wanting repairs. A war for Malta he therefore considered a war of policy and justice, but he could not be con tent to leave it there. He should place it upon a higher ground ; he Meant the enormous ag .grantlisement of France since the 'lreaty of Amiens. In that interval she had acquired Elba, Parma. Phi. centia, and Switzerland. The former were all great acquisitions, but he admitted they were nothing compared with that of Switzerland, and this not merely on account of the population of that coun try, but its strength and position. By this posses _sion, and the Italian Republic, France had extended herself beyond the Alps to the Adige on the one side, and on the other to the naked frontier of Aus tria. the old friend of England, and the rival of France. He disapproved, therefore, of the Treaty of Amiens, because, in the first place, it did not abridge her power. On the contrary it consolidated and confirmed it, and threw into her already heavy scale, those very possessions of which we had di vested ourselves.. In the second place it left her at liberty to pursue the system of aggrandisement in which she has never relaxed for a moment. It enabled. her to set up that strange new-fangled doCtritte, that because this is a country surrounded by sea, and poseasing a powerful fleet and 4lotari's . .ig commerce, it must have no conneCtion . with • ter,rairma ef the Continent. He considered tiae ciatufuctor Ministers as a sanction for the poli -.o,44.4ossalesinpu • ed the country trove the tta- eat.. a i .. d' ~, tiaras of Europe. They signed the preliminaries at the very time he was acqiiietng, and not with very keat dispatch, the Italian Republic. They did this, and yet we never heard of any remonstrance upon the subject. But it must be et:infested; they ' were not totally passive. They sent out Mr. Mciiire to Switzerland, upon a private mission, which was the very line a timid and feeble state would as dopt towards a powerful neighbour. Mr. Moore was an able aid proper person; but he hoped his next mission would be of a more honourable description. And what was the result of the mission? The sub-. jugation trf Switzerland was complete before his ar rival. As to the disposition of the Swiss, it was of little importance, unless Austria could be induced . to interfere ; and surely Ministers could not have been ignm ant of the disposition of Austria. It must be also admitted that they sent out orders to retain the Cape, but they were secret orders. What good could result from such orders he did not sec. If the war produced by the conduit of France towards Switzerland as was avowed, sure ly the true course would have been to issue pub lic orders, and spew France the consequence of her daring to persevere in her designs upon Swit zerland. Upon the whole then he could not but consider the cenduft of Ministers as timid and irresolute, and as having by the extent of their con cessions brought the country into such a state that nothing farther could be conceded consistent with its interest and honour. He then said, that though France were gorged with Germany, she most have the hearts blond of 'his country added to her acquisitions. He recollafted a story of two knights, which was related by Chaucer. One of them, well fed, strong and vigorous, found his enemy shut up in a dungeon, emaciated by confine ment and want ; he liberated him, fed him, nou rished him, till he had recevered his strength, and then supplied him with armour, that they might meet on equal teems. Precisely such had been the condo& of his Majesty's alinisters : they had aated most gloriously, most chivalrously, by fhe treaty'of peace. He said the Treaty of Amiens had now expired ; it lived only in memory. He should be disappointed if all our efforts and exertions should be only for the sake of one article in the treaty. He hoped there would be a negotiation as soon as a seasonable opportunity offered ; but he hoped and trusted that it would not be upon the basis of the Treaty of Amiens. Lord GROSVENOR said, that in his opinion, nn war had ever been concluded with more spirit and ability, than the last. He was surprised the Noble Karl should have again brought forward his motion after Noble Lords had' so decidedly' ex eeessed their opinions on the same suajed on a former night. Ile said, that some Noble Lords might have doubts respeding the propriety of some parts of the cendud of his Majesty's Ministers, though they might think the whole not reprehensi ble; Now, if any of the particular points in the re solutions before their Lordships should be those on which any of their Lordships should doubt upon the Noble Earl's own views, be thought the motion not likely us oaswer his intention. He consielered the simatien of Ministers was at no time enviable, and concluded b; giving his negative to the passing the resolutions. Lord BOLTON said, he was attuning those per .... ... sons erho did net wholly approve of the conduct of Administration. If a proposition Ilidabeen made to enter intua Committee upon the state of the me. tion, he should have deprecated discussion as likely to prevent that unanimity and temper -which now prerails. In his opinion his Majest;" Ministers simuld be content with the vote obtained on a for mer occasion there were circumstances which pre. chided him from giving that total approbation which Government must desire. He said at the time the 1 Treaty of Aniiens was made, there was' a general wish tur a return of the' blessings of peace ; so far the Treaty was a gain; but even the failure ofthat Treaty was a gain; for it had taught us that t.ar own exertions were to be our guarantee; and he acqui esced with a Noble Lord on the other side, that hares them we should depend. He said, it had also taught a lesson to the other powers how they stliered France to repose in peace ; and he bad no doubt,' that, from the attacks and spoliation of that power, they could ascertain the 'consequences of supporting this country, whenever an .opening may present e self. He, for one, was glad France did not accept the proiositions, which it' appeared our Government had made respeding Malta. Lord WARWICK said he felt himself justified in having dentemidated the late treaty a truce, and not a peace. In the present circumstances, he much de airedeto see a coalition of sentiments, and unanimity of views. He did not consider the late negotiations as a subject of which an opinion was new to be form ed, nor could lie see any good design to be answer- I ed by the resolnticris before their Lordships. Lind SCARBOROUGH spoke against the reso lutions. Lord CA R YSFOR.T rose next and said, he wish ed to-call back the attention of the House to what was the real objed in discussion. To do this, his Lordship went regularly through the several charges which 1:e had to urge against Ministers, for not making the necessary representations and remon strances t" the French Government on the various grounds e f grievance stated in his Majesty's Decla ration, commenting upon each as he preeekeded.— His Lordship tiillowed the •inaler in whicie they stood enumerated in the three Iles>olutkins which had been re:id e ated the first of which had been mimed by his Noble Friend, the Noble Earl near him; as the last of these Resolutions turned upon the ces sion of the Cape of Good hope, in consequence of the order of the tethoi November, after they heit eent our an order to retain it, dated the lath of Oc tober. He argued at some length on the consistency of such conduct, and laid particular stress on the criminality of it. He concluded with declarittg, that he should vote for the Resolutions, the objetat of which was, to pass a censure on his Majesty's Mie nisters. Lord HOBART 'rose to repel the argument!' which the Noble Lord had urged against Ministers, on the ground of the charge of a considerable redua, tion of the military force. He said,'that in faft 'no ' reduetion had been made by Ministers, except of the cavalry, respeding the propriety of keeping . up which, even in time of war, very great doubts had been, and were still entertained. 'The only 'force that was obliged to be disbanded, Was the and that must always necessarily be the cAge *hely. peace oats made. Thu: fencible regitnentt also ilere disbanded on the same act:vent, as ill as' those which had been raised to serve only 1w.•34.1.4 . .• • ..... • . • • • ..«. . :• ' - 's •-, : • • various Ai!ls in commission than of ena P o a r rl t i t :L e m Nv ert a t r : "1 4 . e it r h .the rigar li t t to kY tt slai jspiag, .a larger . number *ere kei4 peace.nof His ha e i p n pT d o o d n u e eeci during acco a t n t y nt o fn f rn sh le i r ps the sloops, &c. in commission in the years 17,4, 17k.1, and in the present year 181)3, from which it appear ed, that those in commission in the year 1781. ex ceeded the number of those in commission in the year 1764 very considerably ; but that those in com mission in 1809 exceeded the number of those in commission in 178 k, so much more considerably, so as almost to double that number. Having thus clearly shewn that Ministers had not disarmed the country in the manner, and to the extent, with which they had been charged by the Noble Lord opposite to him, his Lordship proceeded to take no tice of what had been said about the inconsistency of their condu&, in respea to the orders sent out by them, October the I tith, to retain the Cape of Good Hope, and that another order to make the cession of it to the Dutch, was sent out on the 17th of No -1 vember. this Lotdship remarked, the circumstances under which these orders had been sent out by his Majesty's Ministers. They had been applied to by deputies from Switzerland, for the assistance of this country, when the First Consul menaced Switzer land, and threatened that he would pour in a consi derable lumber of Freud' troops, in order to give it a free constitution. In consequence of the applica tion, Ministers caused a remonstrance on the subject to be presented to the French Government, and at the same time scat Mr. Moore into Switzerland to see in what situation affairs were there ; and to of fer the Swiss pecuniary assistance, provided he should find them able and willing to fight for their liberty, and defend their constitution. On this arrival, Mr. Moore found that the Diet, thinking themselves unable to resist the overwhelming power of France, had determined to yield, and the French troops were actually in possession. ef Switzerland. To this remonstrance the First Consul gave no an swer at all. Besides this act of aggreSsion and violence, the First Consul had, in breach of the Treaty of Amiens, sent more French forces into the Batavian Provinces, -.vhicti, by the Treaty, he had engaged to evacuate those Provincea, and withdraw the trench troops altogether: _Alarmed at this ex traordinary conduit, hisMinisters. thought it their . duty to send out orders, not merAy to the Cape of Good Hope, but to the West Indies, 10 - their oficees entrusted with the care of the different islands ; and I , stated which, by . the Treats , of Amiens, were to be ceded to the French and the Dutch, to ,retain them respeCtively.. Unfortunately those ordei s arrived in the West Indies, and at Demerara, Surinam, &c 5 too late tb answer the desired purpose, those islands hating been ,already ceded. The holding the Cat 4 0, - Geod. gope then became a very different con si deration from what it would have been, if they, should have had the good fortune to have been Ale to detain the whole of the cessions which had been stipulated - for under the express agreement that Batavia should be evacnated and the French troops marched out of, it, ypon consultation, therefore, it • was deemed 'Miser 0 comply v. - ith the Treaty of Amiens respiefing if, and hence it was that Ministers thought. it their duty to send out the order• of the 17th of November, 1802, to cede it to the Dutch, With regard to the value set upon the Cape.of Good HoFe by a Noble Viscount not then present, and by the Noble Lords opposite to him, he would again repeat what he said the other night, that he dui nothold it in equal estimation. If ha waa ; asked, whether he 'thought it of no value i Certainly. be should go the length of answering in the 21ft:illative, ,It had its value un doubtedly, but not to theextent that other Noble Lords attached to it. In the first place it was not necessary that' ships . coming from or sailing to India should touch at it, and. he had been informed .frolp those raen beSt actpsiiinted upon the subject, . that no french erttizers could derive any advantage from it. The usual and the best pralice of our Indiamen was. to keep at least the distance of thirty leagues from the Cape in their voyages to and irons India. In the next : place it -Fas to be considered that Cape Town could hardly be deemed a port ; during the favourable season of six months in the year, ships might lay in Table Bay, but during the service and tempestuous season, ships could only lay in False Bay, liom whence on account of the boisterous sea, the worst of'auy part of the ocean, a French man of war or cruizer could put to sea. But anothee consideration was the immense charge the Cape put us to while it was in our own hands.-- It cost this country no less than one million and a half, whereas it would not cost us . above four hun dred thousand pound& to send out convoys with the several fleets of Indiamen which sailed from our ports at home to lndia,and from India home again. His Lordship said, before he sat down, he must take that opportunity of answering a charge, which he understood had been urged against himself, in another place. It had been said, that he refused to see the deputies from Switzerland, at his office, and had assigned as a reason for so doing, " least his doing so should give umbrage to the First Consul, and the 'French Republick." He did . assure the House, that the report was wholly v.ithout_founda . tion, and the fact was, that he did receive the Swiss deputies twice ; once at his office, mad once at his own house ; and he hoped the house knew him better than to believe, that for a single moment, he ' could either degraded himself, or disgraced the honour of the country so .much as to have assigned she dread of giving umbrage to the French Consul, or the French Republic, as a ground of any one or part of his conduct as a British Minister. The Ear! of SUFFOLK said, he considered.our East India . 'possessions the she, t anchor of the coml . try, andconsequeutly that Malta was a military po sition which it : was of the highest importance to retain in possessien. • Lord GRENVILLE stated, that the object of the resolutW's Was tq inferoliat it was the duty of his Majestrg Ministers to have remonstrated with the Freida Government for the aggressions they had committed ; ; mull he contended, that in not having. &neva, their conduCt had been highly criminal - . Kg ',sited against that system of acquiescence i , , ins;ilt~, which charagerised• the present Government Flip Thrdship was of, opinion the resolutions should havebeeii t4en separately. He recapitulated the char es they • contained, observing that it was the .4114 , .4144 ,Majesty's minister, to have followed up, byltronkrertionstrences And representations, the acts violtMce of ,French Republic. The second, chargeln'the, Etso/miens was partly a proof of the .v.ith an assertion of, that if ,iii-argrentieneof iiaoce had been followed . ur, A TCl'; . AT . • • ~... I with beCciming spirit, it would haVe been priiiiiittive of'a properanswer, or at least, if that answer had been contemptuously refused, the silence of the French Government might have been construed into a de claration of war. Ii certainly would have been so construed by any Government than such a one as at present dire fed the affairs of this country. The Noble Lord proceeded to enumerate the aggressions this country had endured on the part o France ; they consisted, he said, in prohibitions, to the pre judice of our commerce, between the signing of the Preliminaries and the Definitive Treaty of Peace. He could not discover that any remonstrances had been made upon the subjeEt of them, no notice bad been taken of them in the Definitive Treaty. His Lordship also referred to the unjust seizures on the part of Trance, insisting that they had never 'been made the sabjefl of the slightest remonstrance. lie next adverted to the arrest of Capt. D'Auvergne in the streets of Paris; a more gross affront was never offered to any Government, than that was ;* yet this flagrant detention of an officer wearing the King's uniform had never been resented, even by the slightest remonstrance. He expressed his entire disap probation of the conduct adopted by Ministers dur ing the negotiations ; and intimated his intention to enter into an enquiry respecting the representations which he coliceivedthey had been backward in af fording.. He spoke of the manner in which they had established the different articles, at the Treaty of Amiens as unsound,.and was strongly inclined to believe, that at the period on which the Treaty was signed, Ministers were persuaded that the subject of Malta would become a subject of future contention. I It was a matter of much wonder, that, notwithstand ing the various points which existed at the making of the peace for further negbtiition,, as necessary to their final settlement, that although they had been generally considered as di ffi cult, and even unlikely to be established during the discussions, that from the month of April, 1801, until February, 1803, no corn. niunications should be made, with respell to Switzer land. In. May, 1802, deputies were sent from that country to England; and his Majesty's servants were in full possession of all the fads relative to those people, yet no representation took place ; they were acqtrainted with the affairs of Holland, and several i months previous to his Majesty's Message, all the information which has since been laid before the Parliament was known. With regard to Malta it had been foreseen by Ministers that that Island not be under the keeping of either power without be coming a subject o 1 the most anintated inquiries, • and in the discussions to that end Ministers had been trifling. Nev: propositions were continually made, and instruaions transmitted to Lord Whit worth to require satisfadion. The French Minister would demand, what satisfadion do you want, and Lord Whitworth was unable to tell. It was then stated, that to take possession of Lampadosa, and to surer the Republic to occupy Malta for any time, would be to give it to them for ever.—As to the. gaurantee appointed for that island, the No ble Lord did not conceive Russia to be a fit power. and be had to state that the paper which had been laid before the House to that purpose was unaccom panied by a note, which the Republic of France had pbblished; it had been suppressed by Ministers, and related to a declaration made by the Russian Am bassador, that many measures which had been taken respecting' the island cf Malta, were in opposition 'to his instrudions. The Noble Lord called the con sideration of the House, to the object for which the war was undertaken. Was this great and illustrious nation, he' observed, to involve itself in a war. ~on the dispute respeding the paltry island of Lampa dosa. If war had been undertaken to vindicate the I honour and dignity of our gracious and. es teemed Sovereign, that would have been a cause of sufficiant magnitude, if war had taken place, to espouse the part oi.• ,Holland, or the People of Switzerland, we should then have been justified ; but their Lordships would see that something more than Malta, Lampadosa, avid the different causos at present urged by Ministers, was necessary to prove the grounds of the contest which was likely to ensue.-11 the Cape was spoken of. it would be obvious that Ministers had violated the Treaty of Amiens by not having given it up at the appointed time. On the 17th of . August the troops were to have left that place: On the pith of November we find the Dutch 'there, and the English in possession, and if trc aTattle had taken place in consequence, many lives would have been lost, and Ministers would have added one mere . charge to the many brought against them. The Noble Lord could not avoid conceiving that Mi nisters were in full possession , of most of the do cuments which had been advanced before Colonel Sebastiani's Report was made, and that their con dela was highly reprehensible in having failed to make communication at an earlier period than they had done. He concluded with remarking, that the importance of the contest we were now engaged in had been kept back from public observation by Mi nisters, whose measures since the Treaty of Amiens, ' had led to hostilities in. consequence of making an • insecure peace. • The LORD CHANCELLOR claimed the atten tion of the House, while he expresses his astonish ment at the expressions made use of by a Noble Lord who had advanced opinions respecting the conduct of Ministers, which he certainly could not wish to see realized. The Treaty of Amiens and the Peace made by Ministers, had fallen under hip 'censure. It was, however, well known, that at the end of the last war, a war which the Noble Lord considered as a just and necessary war, which the people in general were averse to, from not knowing the' principles upon which 'it was maintained, and the necessity there was for supporting it. When such was the wish for peace among all ranks of society. His Majesty's Ministers made peace, and during the dig.' ficulties they had to struggle with, they afforded V. 1.• tisfadion to the people and relief to the country. The question at such a time as the present was not to investig ate the condud of Ministers, or to say they did right or wrong upon former occasions,'but to unanimously join in defence of the common good. The Noble Lord disclaimed the principle of im peaching Ministers upon charges that had no foun dation, and ebserved, that the British Legislaturs. would not suffer the rod constantly to he hanging over the heads of porsons whose adions appeared to be produced by the purest motives. . After going through ,the three propositions oo counts of the impeachment (as his Lordship termed them) and answering the charges imputed to hi.- Majesty's Ministers very greatly at length, especialiy the various allegations stated in the first count, his Lordship went into a course of general•reasoning on . T