The Sun. — London, England, 1815-03-21 00:00:00

!il s mind - ItY their Troceedinas at Vienna, and shown tha i t they ryere treading in the very steps of the' man who had laid almost the v - hole of Eu rope prostrate at his feet. One of these Sore reiens had in March 1812, enteved iaio a s t.r treaty with him, sigared by Prince tic.' vartzea betg, by which die Emperor of Austria as hoond in every thing that could be hostile to this mot tey. He had undertaken to assist linoarirarte his mad expedition against Russia, aid whirhhad ransed his overthrow for a time XVe should isekve. forgotten that when we saw the Emp rte Alex= alider and the King Frederic William received with civic hononrs in our capital; and vi ring by the side of our Prince Regent,- stanntai with ac clamations, .the time was not very distant when those two personages bad sat beside Burenaptirte for the pni-pose of plotting the overthrow and de struction of this country. Bit when we see them pursuing ti same track-as had been gone over by the t licitly of ofaukiml, we could not but protest against those principles which they had •adopt- • eel, and we ought to tell them, that the only inVans which could contribute to set up agAin the Giant who had disappeared for a tiine, were'the adoption of those very principles which had cans (al his overthrow. He had hoped that such art • impression would have been made on the minds of the Sovereigns, as. would have convinced them that they could not be magnanimous in one place and petty -minded itt ahother: For his owiapart, be was sanguine enough to imagine that Poland would have been restored to complete imlepend -ence ; that Saxony would have heed left entire that Finland would have been Oren back to Swe- Ilen, and Norway to Denmark.; but eveata had proved how entirely he was mistaken. At ohe time, however, it had •heen said, that Russia was, .of all other Powers, fulls - y bent on the rest ora ti on of Pola n d, b ut t h at all these otter Powers .had set themselves against it, and we see the Grand, Duke Constantine tells the Poles, that as they have fonght nobly and bravely for Europe, the tittle would come when . they would have t o con tend tinder the Empero r of Russia for their hide peoultnce. To skew the spirit of the Emperor, he said that he had got 500,000 men in Poland, to settle the affairs of Europe ; but not the smallest movement was made by them in behalf of the in, dependence of that country ; but while, in other quarters movements were going forward to de stroy independence. The Proclamation issued at Dresden, had stated that Dresden, and the whol e of Saxony, were to be delivered_over in full sovereignty to Frederic William, but to be kept in the enjoyment of its liberties and reli gion. As this was a part of the subject i n which ~ve were peculiarly interested, be should read it. After t,uoting the Proclamation, in question?, the Gent;eniaa Proceeded to ob serve, that soon ,afterwards an Order it Prince, R a pid !) was published, :n which he asserted that ! Ire was to deliaer up Saxony. He (Mr. XV.) had asked at the time, about the authenticity of diese l Papers, and was told that no faith ought to be placed in newspaper impositions; It• was said that the Noble Lord was a party to this transac tion, and that his name was to the document.. This vats a nl'.rince.Reptiiii,.and it remained for the Noble Lord to say, t‘bether Prince Repnin lied his authority, or a , liether it was usurped. But it appeared that the Noble. Lord, .actually did consent to give Saxony to Prussia, %tivl we were told that within three weeks after he•had consented to fte cession, the Noble Lord delivered in a Note from England, protest ' in` against the transfer, and that in cousequence, S_axotry was eiveil only in part to Prussia. lie would contend, that the Congress had no moral right to make this transfer, and that it was a scandalous traffic in. human beings. We knew that the Saxons loved their Monarch and their in dependence, and - . that they protested against the cession. Why was his Majesty the King of Saxony to be a sufferer, any more than the other Powers who had turned. about when it ,suited their conveitiencel It was inhuman to pintish the of Saxony, who had beets dragged on to iris undoing, and because he was the last and weakest, that he should have his States partitioned and his subjects torn from him. ile had read his protest with admiration, and thought he had aced like a note. There. was another transaction with re gall] to Saxony that deserved the severest reprobation : it was the case of two Officers, who had led into the field a body of met' tu behalf of the general cause. When tit; y beard of time intended partition) of their coun try, they addressed a memorial to the Congres:, againstit, and the answer was, that milit,ty men kid no right to protest, and they were ordered to be conveyed to a dungeon. Kiehnaner was the person in whose name this announcement was given ; and it was intimated, that what had lolen done, was intended as a warning to ()diets. he believed he had stated the substance or every thing which had occurred in the course of the de bates on the subject of the Congr• ss, while the Noble Lord was away : lie should now call his attention to the transactions in -Italy, which were of a still deeper die. He knew not what had happened to the Noble Lord to make him all at once so coodeacendingio the produetioo ut paa pers. Ile, and two friends had taken the liber ty, with all that humility which . became persons ar unofficial situations (Laughter) to ask pine to make good a promise in Juts' 1814, of presenting a treaty entered into subser;uent to that vt Chaomont. At first the effect of his reply on being asked for this treaty was, " you are going to pass at censure upon it, therefore you shall not have it ;" but on a motion being made, the No ble Lord had had the courtesy to bring down not Only the Treaties which hail been asked for, but s ome which had not. When the Treatywith Ferdinand 'VII. latd first been asked about, the Chancellor of the Exchequer smiltil with his asa al good nature, and said that it could not he given on any account ; but the Noble Lord 1)4 brought it down quite unexpected , y. We had said, that in the tiapplementary Treaty of Chau mont there was something Bite a siipalation for the paymeut of money : But, said the Noble Lord, you have not paid one far thing. if the '!treaty is ratified, the money must be paid ; but not else," Now it turns out that the Tretty has been ratified, and the moatv has not been paid. At that time the Allied Powers t.vei:e in a most tienetitied attitude, and ruade a struts ;:oulitto.o against France. tot the Treaty of Chaumont was hap! ilk dceatecl by the entr y ; o f th e Allies into 1 1 0.7.-, and the mhsequem Treaty was to keep up A lov e r; till the re gu l at i on ' s of the Treaty of Paris -, d been falilled. He had been told, when a,ki ng l o r in ft:rinar ion on this subject, that it was oecessary to keep up a large army of ob. servation till the time, when the Congress should_ have terminated - their labours, and taken PSS : e,S's 1011 of their Stat e s. N ow i t appears t h at Con gress have terminated their business, but nothiog has been done wiaii regasd to the troops, and the men are not paid. He would now" revert to what had taken place - in Italy, whereiu he con•idered the conduct of Austria to- be nothing., less than usurpation, as,rank nod iniquitous- as any that had taken place tinder Buonaparte. in the Tte4tv of Parg, by the. sixth article, it is stated that Holland shall receive an increase of territory. He wished to ask, whether there was .any secret article in that Treaty respecting Belgium ? It teas stipulated that Italy, beyond the limits of the country which was to revert to Austria should , he composed of independent States. He thought when he read that article, that it contained no equivocation, because it was said - that the ancient States of Austria shoal(' revert to Austria, and. that the other States winch were independent previous ,to the Oyer-running or them by the French, should be restored to their former condition. How great then was his surpiise to find that Austria 'had -taken possession of the Venetian Republic. Was this an ancient State or was it not ? Was it to he urged as a instil - I - cation for the conduct of Austria, that it had been unjustly seized. by the ,French and delivered over to Austria,- and that, therefore, Austria, had a right to take possession of it again ? Under this 'vord, ancient State,' both Venice and Genoa and Lucca_ were described. There were some persons in that House who remembered i n 1800, the language,of Mr. Fox (a name which lie could never titter without - I.everence) ; when speaking of the .cession of _Venice by the 'Treaty of Luneville, he compaced it with the in famous Slave Trade, and declared that he would always protest against the infernal traffic, whethe r in black, Or white human flesh. Gen. Mateschal had addressed -the 'Venetians, and told them that they xv , ere consigned to Austria, and this was all they knew of the subject of their transfer. Could any thing be more galling in its nature, or more atrocious . than this deed? But what took place also in the Milanese, where the Viceroy had ac tually capitulated with Marshal 'Belle - garde ?He said that his army had come to occupy the coun try in the.name of the Allies, and not in the name of Austria ; or else that estimable man, the Vice roy, of' whom every body speaks well, would pro bably have. resisted him. The capitulation was, that the. Regency should remain in the exercise of its powers, . till the final arrangements of the Congress shoal. he made. Possession was thus °hulloed of the country; and since that time the Mda;)f l Aahad been usurped by Austria, and a. trihatial iti,,)tituted at Milan, which was the terror of all Italy : it threatened to bring all per sons before it who should dare to talk of the pro ceedings of Austria. They had even been threat ered -with executions, and by this tyranny and cruelty of- Austra, the seeds. of revolution bad been riveted.,among§t the Italians; of which a dreadful result might be expected. There was. another part of Italy whose intended Indi r ie“ II T IE•n(“V!! titl it was rounu Cosa vettivritdaj Put it m execution Befor e the Noble Lord left this country, he had told the House that it wa s well aware of our counectiou with our old ally the King of S city, but that his interests would never he. overthrown. Now it No happened that a treaty appeared, purpotaing to he si a ned in April, 1814, with joachini,Murat, King of Naples. . The Noa. tic Lard knew the value of that person and his army, and how important it wool(' be to detach him from his former master. The treaty wa s signed Lord W. Bentinek, and it was the co uperati in of Joachim with - the Allies, and -his:de fection front the Freilfh, that determined the fate of Italy a for ..the Viceroy said, that -as soon as he learned that Joachim had turned against him, he could no longer maintain himself. , When the 'English Government was taxed with want of faith, lie had .been told, that the Noble Lord had sent to Lord W. Bentiack to say that :Eagland had no hand in the Produnation, and that she would. abide by the Treaty. Alexander also was - said to have written a letter to Murat with his own hand; but the Treaty of Paris took plat e, and then har ing declared that he would not treat either with , Buonaparte or ally branch of his family, it was. understood that it was not sent.. The Hon. Gen tleman then adverted to what had passed respect ing the King of Sicily, when Lord W. Bentinek landed o:i his behalf at Leghorn, and after re peating all those remarks on the occurrence. which ire had made on former occasions, he con tended that this country wits bound to support Sicily by the solemn Treaties of 1808 and 1809 ; but that such was the predicament into which we had got, that either this or the one with Murat must be broken. The Noble Lord would not say that Murat was not to be supported in his preten sions allot yet, .since the .traceting of the Con gress, there haul been something like an hoima tion thrown out that the Kiag of Naples must I descend front his Throne. How wise, how po litic, how admirable was all this—but was it not a breach of hollow.? Yet within these last. three days things may have occurred which will pro bably change this opinion. There now remained the last and „worst point which he had to notice, and in which the Noble Lord appeared to have played a part more personal than in any other. Ile alluded to Genoa. Here tire Hon. Gentleman went into On elaborate review of the proceedings. 'dative to that territory, in transferring it the King of Sardioia; and repeated all the condem natory remarks which lie had applied. to the trans action during the absence of the Noble Lord; ridiculing the letter of General Dalrymple, and concluding. with expressing his opinion, that in the treatment of the Cenoese had been wrought together all the cruelty and infamy that it trans possible to collect into any one point, tie then adverted to the. Slave Trade, •and acru aa l the Noble Lord with having acted with laketrarniness on thitt subject at the woe of the Treaty of Paris, Where, if lie had displayed sufficient energy, th e traffic ?NUM lILLY: buvu teuounccd by - !'ranee itt 0: - ce. lie then adverted to the pretence of Fer dinand VII. that lie would take the subject int - ) his consideration ; and contended that the limiro tion obtained for it to within ten degrees Nor !, of the Equator. for the supply of the Spanish Colonies was a contemptible farce and mockery Alluding to the insurrection in South Ame rica, he prayed to God thitt: it might be ef fectual, as these people had cast from them the only blot in their character—they had altiolish ed the trade altogether. He hoped that Vie So vereigns of Europe would he awakened •to a just sense of their situation by the return of the Exile of Elba, and that they would be convinced that thev mrst not nlay any pranks they pleased, and thir: they would be secure in their iniquity. He asked if.the Proclamation said to be issuelj by hint was genuine, and declared that if it was, he had made out a tale which must strike every man that he had been treated with the utmost injustice by the Allied Powers,. with ought to have given him no pretext whatever' for stirring in thelvorld again. He paid a high encomium to the conduct of Louis :VIII. and &dared that whatever had been done toiresist the invader and conciliate the peo ple, had'heen owing to his own firmness and dis cretion. He concluded his speech, by hoping, that whoever might ultimately be secure on the Throne of France, that the Sovereign would con sult the happiness Of his people and the world, by doing every thing to render peace universal and permanent. He then moved " That an humble Address be presented to the Prince Re gent, praying that he will be graciously pleased to direct that there he laid before the House an Account of the Progress made at the Congress of Vienna, stating such transfer or an nexation of territory as may have taken place-together with such other information as may be given, without prejudice to the Public Service." Lord CASTLEREAGH assured the House, that one of the most painful sensations which be felt on rising on this occasion, arose from the neces sity imposed upon him of trespassing so long as he must do on their patience. The subject was so important, and so complicated, and the ho nour and interest of this country bound up in the honour and the interest of Europe, so impli a sated in* it, that it would be impossible for him to avoid addressing them at very considerable length. He could not hut protest against the manner in whiCh the various topics to which he should have to refer, had been prematurely brought forward, on, imperfect information ; he pro tested against it on account of the dangers to which such improvident conduct subjected the country. The House was now called upon to decide, not merely whether the interests of this country had been protected, and how protected, but to determine if a vestige of character re mained to the country, and the Government of the country, or, (for these were the taro alter natives with which the Honourable Gentleman had thought proper to wind up the drama), whether the Councils of those Sovereigns of Eu rope on whom our hones of peace depended, had any pretensions to wisdom and integrity. On these points he trusted the Noose' would come to a conclusion very different from that which the Hon. Gentleman seemed disposed to adopt, and the task was imposed upon him to repel for them, and for himself, for this country, and for Europe, the insinuations which had been thrown out against all parties concerned in the.negociations which were still going on. He certainly could -riot complain of the mode in which the Hon. lirmight f0r1.V14113 this charges which he considered it Its duty to prefer. He knew he (Mr. W.) was too manly to disguise, in his presence, that - which he had submitted to the Hhttae in his absence. This was, perhaps, the only point of union between them, widely as they were separated in polities. The Hon, Gent. had ne ver hesitated to attaek hint, openly, and he had never hesitated to repel the charges he had neule He had never complained of- the species of attacks made made upon hint as being personally ungenerous, but be had complained of them as being injurious to the public service, as prejudicial to the gene ral interests of the country, and as tending to de prive the. Government of ;advantages : of which no Government ensaged in an. important Negocia tion ought to be deprived. He had felt it his duty on his return to Parliament to protest against that novel practice which had been introduced, of discussiog questions which were the subject of the Negociation before any thing cold(' be cer tainly known respecting them. He must raise his voice against . such a practice; he must deny that any Gentleman., from a morbid jealousy of the conduct of Ministers, should presume to im pute dishonour, disgrace, and profligacy to his own Sovereign and country, and put the Go vernment on their defence, on garbled state ments which lie might be able to collect from fo reign countries, containing assertions and insinua tions put forth .by the agents of other Powers, which they, did not. dare to avow in the face.of Europe.—(Hear, hear, hear !)—The consequence, of such conduct must be to reduce Ministers to this dilemma-a-they must either refute the charges . brought against them, on imperfect data, and therefore necessarily on imperfect reasoning, or they must make premature disclosures of a nature flatten. very -to riteapol - ille- interest. - e would contend that no Ministers %rare fit t o meet those of other Powers who were so low in the esti mation of their own countrymen, that they could not be entrusted of themselves to conclude the busi , nets in which they were engaged -a-who deserved to be attacked while negociations were still pending, by those• who might be expected prima facie to repose confidence in them a The Hon. Gentle man had very candidly called on • him •to-night to acknowledge or disavow the documents on which his charges .wel-t, founded ; but lie had to complain, that 'on these. he had brought forward charges in ;xis absence, when it was not possible they could. be disavowed, even thooglathey were very incorrect. The object of the Hon. Gentle man had been stated to be, to ascertain if the papers which had come into his possession. were or were not authentic. To Obtain this informa tion, Ministers were prematurely called upon - foe explanations, which given, woold'not fail to coma mit them with all the Forcien Powers with which they were connected., 'I his were compelled t o risk, in ord er to excu l aate themselves on in snlated questions, or starer it to be assumed, that.. riot e t te L i ) .9 s thrown zatitii ion. out against them were . If there ha:l been uo difference generally between the Hon. men and himself, as to the mode in whic h b e acks had been matte, on auother peint,ecti trusted there had b e e n e s li tt l e diff eren ce bet" h .d, :hem, namely, as t o t h e responsibilitY would adl hint (Lord Cestlereagh) d t b e charges brought forward against him slioul l to proved. On .the present occ as ion, he begg' he decline .taking to himself treat cover tslitclm Hon. Gent. had offered him ; he insist deeliu e tering himself on the plea, t het he was thtly , " l - , 1 1 dividtud Minister o f t h e C rown —that lie on'o. l Ihible tc a share of re s p ens ibili tv as out "f - Majesty's confidential servales, Uri ot elipary , °' i o casjoos, he sh ou ld 'b e ashamed of assumiee . 14 himself preeminent resnowsibdity the C°",e c i l .. of the Government, but the present , it was impossible for him; without deg.,,,eao,er to his per s on a l c h aracter , to s h e l ter himselt on ' id the cover whi c h h a d b een °t ie re d to him,' 1. " ) ,, that superior re s p ons ibili ty w hiCh attached to tr peculiar w situatiou in hich he had been pl"c' d', ` If there bad b ee n any mot i ve f or sen di i rg lints ac all ou the l a t e , or ou t h e f ormer m i ss i on on " 1 .dz he bad left the country, it certainly was heea ° o f with the knowledge he. hail of the s e ntiments 3 the Governments, and of the prince at the he s t) of it, on all th e grea t po li tica l topics, it "'a' 6° ', ) , 1 posed, in the arduous mid difficult sitnati du which the Minister from this country would sta i ! . n . he might be a bl e to act w i t h out wa i t i ng t°r I e structicms on all occasions, without in" k ' llb s . reference to the Government on every q u t e e e don of importance th at might arise. I t ; he House could suppO se , t h at tinder any "I ever • circumstances of t negociatious he had ~. suffered the affairs of Europe to stand stilt a wish to lessen his own responsibility, by wrjt. ee home for instructions from the Government , de wished mo s t anx i ous l y to put d own t hi s idea. had not done so ; and if he had taken course, he would have betrayed the grea t tw it committed to him on his responsibility, " 1 c e was therefore on this a c count h e was anxi°` assume on the present occasion, in justice colleagues, and still more in justice to hi s ilo character, pre-emine n t tesponsibility, if the nour, - of the Crown, the goo d f a i t h o f the oat ia . o „ or the general policy of t h e country h a d bee° jured, violated, or disgraced, in the eves ot 1114 rope. It was on these principles be . des ireci n o• meet the manly att ac k w hi c h t h e lion" ra 1 ,01 Gentleman had made on him in his presence, lie which bethought, in justice_ to his eoautrY,:ib., (Mr. IV.) ought not to have made on him in l' i !lee sence.—(Hear, hear, hear!) He repeated i t ; / le es had done ‘rroug, under thepeculiar eircont st , 3 . l wy. of the case, he claimed pre-eminent' respons i ., l l ; oos e •He 'wished to discharge a debt due to the e e ck and to the country, by stating . generally do had taken place at Vienna. This lie lcl e very shortly in the present instance, b ce4 : te J the details would on a future day be sli blili bled to the House, and th e y . wou ld b e better et ni to eL then to decide how far he had done what theY ' o r wished hint to do. He desired now to state ";; b e was et present the result of the Congress. t t ee House had by their v o t e di rec t e d hi m to " ec o bee whole•power of-the country to procure tlif joer lition of the Slave Tr a d e . A t present he "1: m eefe for no opinion of the h ouse o n t h e value o s-_ - exertions which - had been made 01 5 t !' e js 'eow . Lion, for perhaps th e mode of viewing t i ", l '",p•A'' neceed W ith out a ieedable '° fey ....r e fire' the llCCOlriplistim,„, „f o teive' tV veittly desired, might naturally dispose them undervalue what lied been done, till they we re to Heed of th e diffi cu l t i es w i th w h ic h h e had hail lo is conte n d, ( k l - 41.1 - could have no difficulty : 1 110 1.05' and were e n a bl e d to co nsider . t tic at iet them at pre- eit have an opport.,te of knowing from the which woul d be . si . remitted to them, wha t h r e ( done, and when th ese „ but Parliament yenta" oat ''ver .lise eb i e i t s f e ' i, g re , ili t e h n e l' ' t l ' ' ll-e ti f e j i t o ili convenient peri o d for t would arrive. When they 'were bet . °•r e et ied he trusted it w ou ld b e seen there "° EL i'E ,' effort which bad not been made on the rooll• Government, t o p rocure th e i nun ediete t ) ° , e heti of that traffic; he trusted it would he seen to rt t h at been no want of zeal on their part to efit iss iefi great object. Th ey h a d ta k en, w hile ( q2 : fo eigi l/ it, a tone whi c h h a d b een painful tt'• Powers, whi c h,. i n d ee d, h as been, in s ° "TheY spects, injurious to our' foreign. relations•wobeet had 'felt, in t a kin g thi s tone , it eras in e te o ur upon then: to.prove that no selfish vievs,. 11 09' own colonial i n t eres t had actuated cis" l " le C oe catieg the cause of humanity ; that , on li t i l e ehe r t teary, they were prepared, while calliu-g ° l , e ( gre 9 t powers to make what-to them appeared ' lle r' . sacrifices, tomake considerablesarrifice °l , ew e t° of England. A determination had bee') s° or , b e c( make the utmost sacrifices that caw° , t niently made. This %%emit! be aelitiowleV a ( e be e f ' . the House saw the pronosiiions whic h o d edl e l made to Spain, Portugel, and Preece ` 4 t , itovr e he it was found what the Ministers of il “' s e as e, to re ot woo; had thought th chisel ves .obl;.ged House would feel those difficalties wer e , n - n e o t . be e n siderahle which such tempte,,iuns icor sufficient to overcome, Firri be 11 99 - cilee induce a dispositiOn not to degrade eon tsb Government which could not the saute view of the subject " 1 " c ll 10` with more rapidity than England , with t i o e, , r o rol. Thic morality, and all her stiff, ior ors e jo r lm herself been brought to take thet diet tl she now pursued. It would be s ec , n rit orill) ' t ee had refused great objects, barb " 1: 04 , 11 , ( 1, cif a pecuniary nature. The f ee osaltedYl .lpc subjects of those nations mus;. be torts seototoor. this boiime in mind, some alie'rat ic ,o, we e da sC made tor the backwerdnesses t e . ti ,„ t o dL• c - - of ee" plaided,, mid we ought not by rev'" ° th e ge i c o rp thew , awl alienate their minds t"rti r° ~,e, L i De —( llL ' te plishMent of the object in ee e; ieee" hear !) The qnwstion he coast( 11 ,,„ it eer y " I P in stete of greater prosperity than lie be brotighlitotoe ori l last lelere the H o u s e. The taws' , eje ct . 1 1 le oho" erol, been able to stete was, that he s i e ve fiw Frence :en engagement that t l ",;_, e v eers . e V ShoUld finally cease at the end of ci beePeote that time, a general declarationu;:i e° .o IA tained from Portugal that, she "', ° , eve rfrade ;bee/ in the gradivil abolition of the 50' , E bel , itft froth a third power, namely, I Cr g t. " . fmu urt eespeet to its partiai, eievatt' 14 7 41 1.11L1'/ I; •i. i ti t; ~5 .