The Sun. — London, England, 1831-08-13 00:00:00

tiere•at ter. The okielvatim he wali going to maiie applied simply to the conduct of his Mejesi,'s Ministers in the txecution of their public duties in that House. He was not going to enter err the large question of flit tiffairs of 'Belgium with Ho{ am?, or of France with Belgium. He wzt going to peat right, if he could, a wide-spread n`ltl wide-spreading misunderstanding. In proce4A4yith this view, he felt that to his Noble Friereo with whom he had lived on terms of r;••ach long and affec tionate intercourse, it was grit; unnecessary to say — although to other Honourable 11leenbers in that House, it might net be unneccs , al , 7 to say—that the d.igh 'respect be entertained for bk . g good qualities, and the Intimate and long knowledge lie had of him, wilich had matured those • riginally high opinions into the greatest 'respect and esteem, would prevent him (Mr. Croker) 'from making i545y motion to offend his Noble Friend, that such might not be supposed to be his intention in the least de l zreg, he begg. d it to he distactly understood that hie ‘ - .)notion applied to the Government in general, if, then, his Noble Friend's name be mentioned in this affair, let it he always supposed to he so in cornwean with the other Minis ters. In whatever he said, tiia was considered as disre spectful to his Noble Fttond ; and if anything wearing ouch a semblance shutii;l happen to escape from him, it was to be consVered as addressed, not to his Noble Friend's personal character, but addressed to him abstract edly- there, as the representative of his Majesty's Govern ment. Before proceeding further, he must recal to the re collection of the House the circumstances which lately occurred with regard to the questions—let him rather say —than the discussions which had taken place in that House on the Belgic question. The House would recol sect that on Friday, the nth of August—but first, hr must beg to ask for that reply to the question, which his Noble Friend could not give yesterday, namely, on what day the communication to him and the Noble Earl at the head of the Government relative to the recommencement of hosti., lities had been made by the Dutch Ambassador ? Lord PALNIERSTON—On Friday. !dr. CROKER resumed. On Friday, the sth of Au gust, the country was surpeleed by the announcement thet his Majesty the King of the Netherlands had entered Bel gium with an armed force. His lion. Friend the Member for Oakhampton (Sir R. Vyvyan) on the meeting of the House next day, as was natural, inquired of the Nebl'e .Lord Chaucellor of the Exchequer who happened to be in his place, his Noble Friend (Lord Palmerston) not being in his, whether it was true the Dutch troops had th ug hostilely entered the new kingdom of Belgium? The Noble Lord (Mihail)) in reply, answered to the following effect, lie would not, in matters of such delicacy, trust too much to his own recollection, but would read the reply as it had gone forth to the world : That his Majesty's Government had undoubtedly reeeiveq information from Sir C. Bagot, that orders for brertkitr;A th e armistice had been given, and he had no doubt that the, Zdmistice leas now broken." . The mention of receiving advices totiching the breaking of the armistice from Sir Charles Ilagot excited his atten tion, because it seemed passing strange that a great mea sure of this kind should have been left to communication at second-hand to the great mediating Powers by the King of the Netherlands. Common justice, natural humanitv, the courtesy doe among nations, forbade the belief that the King of 'Holland shouts? decide upon recommencing hos tiities, and act ❑pon that decision, without directly an nouncing it to England. lie therefore took the liberty of asking the Noble Lord. The zmpliatie mention of Sir Clarks Ba.got'a name induced him to take the liberty of asking the Noble Lord, if the Dutch Government had for warded no communication upon the subject to his Majesty ? The Noble Lord gave him an answer, which, he would do burn the justice to say, was like all his answers, full of ro priety and perspicuiq. the Noble Lord sitid a 'reply to tlis question might lead him into further tlttails than he would be justified in entering upon at the pre.ent time ; but that certainly the first information received was from Sir C. Bsgot. But then the Noble Lord, upon sitting down, received a communication from the only other Mi nister in the House, and it was not too much to assume upon this subject; anti he then rose a second time, and said he would give him (Mr. Croker) an answer, and this answer was It was undoubtedly v.ith the greatest stirpi . l - .;e that his Ma 'testv's Government had received the information that it was in tended to break the armistice ; because at that very moment there had been a Minister sent Rests the King of Holland to this country, in order to enter into negociations. That Minister had had an interview with hie Noble Friend,the Secretary for Ftntign Affairs, and had mentioned nothing whatever of an!' ltdention to break the armistice ; and it was not till late In the evening, after some questions had been asked by a Noble Lord in that House (on Wednesday last), that the Noble Lord at the head of the Foreign Department received information, by despatches from Sir C. Bagot, that the armistice was to be broken." There was nobody that heard this answer who was not deeply surprised at the conduct of the Kint of Holland ; the Noble Lord (Althorp) having positively denie.l that any communication had been made, and having added a strong insinuation of perfidy on the part of the King of Holland, when he stated that he had determined en com mencing hostilities, at the very moment these had been a Minister sent by him to this country, in order to enter into negociations. He had now stated the short facts of the case, and that simply, and not what the under atauding of gentlemen on his side of the House was ; and he believed he could prove that that the state of the case did not bear out the impression which naturally might be formed from what bad been declared by the Noble Lord. But the case was not left in that point ; fur the Hon. 3.lember for Oakhampton (Sir R. Vyvyan) gave notice that he would bring the subject forward next day. On Saturday, accordingly, his Noble Friend (Lord Palmer ston) was pot to a kind of political catechism, which he bore with exceeding good humour. He (Mr. Croker) did not think of embarrassing him with any question, for he was cony'need, by what had fallen from the Noble Chan cellor of the Exchequer on the previous day--he was con vinced, but he was not satisfied ; for he felt greatly sur prised that our ancient and esteemed ally, Holland, bad been guilty of such perfidy. lie w.?,‘ silenced, however, - by the statement of the Noble Chancellor of the Exche quer. Others, however, did put questions to his Noble Friend (Lord Palmerston), and repeated the state ment in general terms, that there was no doubt the King of Holland had broken the armistice, and without notice. He remembered then stretching across the table to his Noble Friend, when he used the words " broken the ar mistice," and suggested to him the propriety of saying, "'renounced the armistice." But his Noble Friend disre- garded this suggestion, and even rose and repeated in a more solemn way, that the Dutch had violated the armis tice. The Hight Hon. Member for Tamworth (Sir R.Peel) then stated to his Noble Friend (Lord Palmerston) that he (Lord Palmerston) had, Perhaps, through inad vertence, used the terms " violated the armistice" and " broken the armistice," which implied had faith on the part of the Dutch Government, and therefore he (Sir R Peel) was desirous of now asking him, wh: ther he really slid mean to say that the King of the Netherlands had broken the armistice, for that his (Sir R. Peel's) view of the care was different? His Noble Friend (Lord P.) ex pressly stated, that he believed his Right Hon. Friend w a s in error, and observed, there were two arrnistii es, one oi which was local, and formed between the Dutch Corn wander at Antwerp and the Belgian Commander at Ant werp, and which might be terminated by a notice of three days ; the other was more general, as it extended along the line, and was formed under the sanction of the five Powers. This, the latter, it was of which he had spoken when be observed the Dutch violated the armistice. Here then were the Dutch not only declared to have violated the armistice without notice to the Belgians, the party against which hostilities were to commence, but likewise of violating it without notice to the mediating Powers ; and moreover, his Noble Friend' (Lord P.) added, that up to the moment at which he was speaking, no com munication had been made to his Majesty's Govern rnent on the subject by the Plenipotentiary of the King of the Netherlands.—(Elear.) On Tuesday again his Noble Friend was put in the confessional, and again the same facts in general were enumerated. Now, such being the statements, he (Mr. Croker)'wartted words to describe his surprise, after all the questioning : in that House, when after another long and protracted de bate in another place, he and other Members of that House in their individual characters, and also by the ordinary channels of information, ascertained that it appeared the Dutch not only had not been guilty of the perfidy with which they had been charged, but that they had absolutely done that which he and other Members of this House had understood his Noble Friend bad denied they they hid &re. In another place, to which he could not more distinctly al lude, that denial had been made. He knew it, because hr had read in th e pu bli c papers an ingenious treatise r.n the subject, introduced in th e s h ape o f a di a l ogue, i n wh i ch h i s Majesty s Ministers and their opponen's were supposed to bear a part ; and in that treatise it was stated that his Majesty's Ministers had ad m it te d t h at on Wednesday morning (his narration, it would be- rernemle•red begat, with Friday evening)—that on Wedn es d ay morn i ng the Minister of Holland waited upon his Noble Friend, and after some conversation delivered to him . a certain l et t er . It appeared also that t h e letter had remained unopened for above twenty-four hours.—(Hear, hear.) The reason that was alleged in the work to whic h he had helm e alluded for this apparent neglect wag, the letter was not addressed to his Noble Friend, but to the conference at large.—(Hear . , bear.) If his Noble, Friend- w mlld-assirre - him .that was not the hahiS2of:i4iiir Ministers to take notice n o f papers addressed,--not to them individually,. but to the forderenee,. of Which they formed a part—rf his Noble Friend would telt him that it was not the practice to 'ino'k into the contents of such paperS Uri the code roam was assembled, ol'.ould pardon his Noble Friend for not have opened the letter; but be should at the same lime think that it was a part of his Noble Friends defy to watch the receipt of such communications ; and , n the instant to take some steps with respect to them. and tot to wait for 24 hours, when the great and petiloina fates of the world, which were thnt treYolding in t4.balitwie, might depend ess thz }otter he hind r&cived.—'(Chcers.; If, fontre:T', With was the'fOrM, he had mi . * to regret that be eutted e perate against what he Must be t ertnitted tt call the peaceful interests of man- kind.--(Jfeal-, bear.) Nothing gave hint greater than that a British Ministernd'oOthang could give hint greater private pain—:',Tat, - .11 that his No!ile Friend should, upon a lirlocipio of mistaken etiquette, have left this itnii - Ortant letter unopened. That letter was most im . especially with reference to the charges which had afterwards been brought forward against the King of Holland. In that letter the King of Holland said, th a t in compliance with the demand of the fire Ministers at the Conference, he had sent new powers to his Plenipotenti aries. Now, who would tot have believed- nhy, more, oho did not believe—When this 'subse' ct wt(s under con sideration on a 'forma ()retsina that the king of Holland had sent these new powets to his Minister as a blind, as a curtain, behind which his military movements were to be madc,—(ilear, hear.) That was the effect produced hi that House—(Hear, hear).- , •an' in the country by what had taken place. Now, , :ellat was the fact ? The confer ence of London hat neat to the Dutch Government to ask for new powers to be sent to its Ministers. The rene.twai of hos- tilitien happened to have occurred thlaasione time with this renewal of the powerato Otis lenipotentiary ; but, except that accidental erittcaderice in time, these two events had nothing t'3 do With each other. In that letter the Dutch 7 `liniatet stated, that in obedience to the commands of his raaster he desired to inform the ceafeaseact that the King of Holland would supoott the neaociations by hia military In thn dialogue to which he had before alluded, it was etatisi that the words were', "by military mea snres."—(A laugh.) It was much the cone thing. (Hear, hear.) Aril it should be observed, that the Dutch Minister not say his master would have recourse te Isis otilitary means if negociation should fail, best that he sVould support the negociationa as they g'en't on by his mi litary means.—(Hear.) No*, his Noble Friend was in possession of that !"_later on Wednesday, at noon, but he did not hoora The words of it till Thursday, at noon ; theehow could lie assume to charge the Dutch Covetin :tient with having broken the armistice toithont notice ? His Noble Friend might be able to explain this—it was a difficult treks bttt he might do it, and certainly it was requis;ee I:a be explained, for in the dialogue supposed to at,Ve occurred in another place—noexplanation of the matter was given. The letter went un—" As the plan of eve blishing an armistice has never been realised, there exists at the present moment only a cessation of hostilities." With that letter ) of which they were in possession on Thursday noon, hoav could his Majesty's Ministers come down to Parliament, and on Friday assert, and on Saturs day reiterate the assertion, that the Dutch Govern meOt had violated the armistice? Why, the Dutch Government said that it was no armistice. He knew there were often great differences about words—there had been truth dispute about the meaning of the word protocol, and a treatise had been written on the subject ; and there might be an r goal dispute about the meaning of the word armistice ; but such cavils, thous h they might possibly do well enough for diplomacy, should not do in the House of Commons.— (Hear, hear.) The Mirlizters ought at least to have stated that though they accused the Dutch Government of having. broken the armistice, that Government assert , d that there was no armistice whatever, His Noble Friend ought to have said, " I am able to prove that there was an armistice, although the Dutch Government deny that there was ;" but still he ought to have said that the denial was made. When he was charging a great, aye, and an honest nation —(Hear, hear)—with such an offence as that of the breech of an armistice, be should have been most cautious in his mode of proceeding ; he should have been careful to . guard not their character so much as hia own, and in stating their acts, he should have given those acts the guarantee of their previous expressed opinion. —(Hear.) But, instead of that, his Noble Friend had left the Dutch Government for seven days under an imputation most in jurious to their character—for seven days (a matter more full of event bad hardly occurred to them since Marl borough was knocking at their gates) they had lain under a aurae made by a British Minister of violating their en gagetnents—a charge which from any mouth ought to be intolerable to a nation as to an individual—(Hear, hear) — and which was only the more intolerable when proceeding from so high an authorliy.—(llear.) Having said thus • much, lie thought he had made something of a prima facie case to justify him in saying that his Noble Friend should have been more or less communicative, and that the Noble Lord, the Member for Northamptonshire, should still have preserved the prudent silence he maintained on the first occasion when this subject was mentioned to the House ; or that, when he had resolved to deviate from that silence, he should have done justice to the unfortu nate Dutch.—(Hear, hear.) He came now to the second scene of this most extraordinaiy drama. He had asked his Noble Friend about a letter of the 2d of August, hut his Noble Friend at first only remembered the letter of the Ist of August. He called his Noble Friend's atten tion in a particular manner to this letter, and then his Noble Friend, with that courtesy of manner which so much distinguished him, got up, and wished to know what his Right Hon. Friend (for so his Noble Friend called him, and so he trusted his Noble Friend would still call him) knew :of that letter? When his Noble Friend was asked about the letter, his answer, in effect, was, " Oh, before I tell you what 1 know abut that letter, I should wish to know what you know about it."—(A laueh.) Why it was impossible but that he must know something about it, for it had been published in a well informed and influential journal, tILe Times of that very morning. His Noble Friend then said that he recollected the letter, but that it hail been read by the Dutch Minister in a very hurried manner. Indeed ! what a Dutchman in a hurry—(A laugh)—in a fuss—in a bustle?— (Laughter.) But if the Dutchman was iii a hurry, that was no reason for the Englishman being in a hurry. The phenomenon of a Dutchman in a hurry ought to have awakened the attention of his Noble Friend. He should have said there must be something strange in this matter, thus to awaken the sensibility of a Dutchman —to arouse the vivacity of a Netherlander. Had it done sV ? No such thing. His Noble Friend had been in a hurry too, and answered him, that he forgot whether the letter was received on Friday or on Saturday. Why this was not the affair of an hour, and the hurry of inatten tion was the more to be regretted ; for if they recollected the information they had received, it did not appear that France had lost an hour. The French Minister, when applied to, at once granted an aid of 50,000 men ; he did not forget the application, and forget on what day the ap plication was made—(Cheers) —be attended to it at the moment, and the application lowing been made at one o'clock in the day, the hour of two had not struck by the clock at Notre Dame when the telegraph at Paris an flounced the event, and, for aught he knew, the garrison of Lille was within an hour afterwards under ammo.— (Hear, hear.) It was not for the men to whom the des tinies of the world were committed, to say that they had received papers, but did not know what the contents of these papers were. And with respect to this particular paper, he .(Mr.- Croker) would fearlessly assert, that it was the key-stone of the whole business—it was the ex planation of -all the diplomacy that hail taken place.— (Hear, hear.) The communication was said to have been made at five o'clock on the Friday evening. Would gen• deafen recollect how they bed come down to that House at .that hour in great numbers, expecting to hear some thing most momentous—and would they recollect the state. of the citizens of London and - Westminster at that motnent ? He would assert,tbat he never recollected to have seen them more agitated on any public event than upon the subject of the ; information then believed to have been received from Belgium ; and yet even then, when public expectation was upon the tiptoe—when the Noble Lord himself was in wonder at having received no communica tion from the Dutch Government—at that moment was it not to he expected that when the Dutch Minister did at length come to make his statement, he would have been received With anxiety—he . would have been heard with attention, and his statement would have been sifted with accuracy.—(Hear, hear.) At that important moment he came with an important document, with a despatch from his Government ; he was no pretender—he had the docu ment with him; yet he was heard with such noncha lance, and the document was read in such a hurried man ner, that his Noble Friend did not know the contents of it ; and above all, the thing was considered so trivial that his Noble Friend did not know whether the occurrence had taken place on a Friday or a Satuiday. That was a fit prologue to what followed. The second letter was more formal than the first—it repeated some of the same ex pbrzsaidoonrs—heirte,watos badedlraeisdeed before not te merely conference, totheDutc t h Am it was directed t o th e Government* themselves. It would bu travel to Petersbutgh—it wo u ld b e sent toV e. ienna—it would he dispatched to Berlin—it would be conveyed to Paris and a i it was therefore drawn up with great er care, and with more formality than the letter of the Ist o f August ought therefore to have attracted! the attention of ; tII, Noble Lord. But besides this, it explained the meaning of the first letter—it said, " The King is deter mined to support his negociations by military means."— Why, this was the same expression as before. He, there fore, the more wondered at the inarticulate hurry of the 1 Dutch Minister, and the itrivatictet haste tf his Vvobie Friend: Whae " mitite-y fheahs '' was a catch-word that shOnial have s:Altele the ear of his Noble Friend—for t'.is colleagues of the Cabinet and himself had,been for twenty-four hours debating what ",movna meant—(A laugh)—and they had resolved that it meant —nothing at alf.,---(LaUfdite'r.) It was a misfortune that they did EI.Ot irt, - eerstand it better ; for at the conference were was a person who understood the meaning of words, and especial'y of French words; but unfortunately that person, among his other great qualifications, was not a proficient in the English language, and it was probably through that circumstance that the words " moyens mi litaires" meant nothing at all. He was hound in justice to his Noble Friend's character to beds ve, that he had not spoken with this indifFeeetwb of the letter With any inteit tion to deeci:ve tmt that what he bad said really arose from an iphortuece of the contents of the letter. But shrely the words " moyenS militaires" ought to have awakened his attention ; they SIMUId have been talismanic wends. Ile should have felt that they haunted him ; he should haVe Let us ask this Dutchman what those words mean ?" Perhaps the Noble Lord might have thought, that as the bearer of the letter was a Dutchman, be could not mulers'titrA French better than English ; hot he &d trot know what the meaning was, and he did .jot care.—(Hear, hear,, hear.) Well; but if he would not ask the Dutchman the meaning of the words, he should at least, have listened with attention to the rest of the letter. But he had not done so. Now the letter, about the meaning of some words of which there was so much doubt, appeared in good English, done by the hand of that ingenious person to whom he had before alluded—the edi tor of the Times. In that letter the King of Holland said he was sorry be was obliged to have recourse to coercive measures, but that he had been compelled to do so, and that this was " the more indispensable because the existing crisis could not be prolonged without at once endangering our public spirit, our finances, our army, end our political exivence." Ile would not enter into the question why ! titer the King of Holland was right in the view he thus took of the matter. It was sufficient to show that that MU' his view, and that he had fully explained it to the Governments of the five Powers. The letter then went on to show that Holland was under no obligation not to proceed—it entered into a vindication in detail of the con duct of the Dutch Government in doing that which they were now accused of doing without notice. It then stated this conclusion—" Thence unquestionably the King's re solution to throw his army simultaneously—(Cheers)— with the negociations carrying on in London ought not to inspire disquietude,"—and was in fact indispensable to the safety and honour of the country. And yet, notwith standing this letter, they were told both on Friday and Saturday, that the attack upon Belgium was a surprise and that no notice had been given of it ; and on the subsequent day it was stated in another place that moyens militaircs did net imply an immediate hostile opera tion, but meant merely a demonstration. He must con fess that his understanding was in despair before such contradiction., and that he could not comprehend them. His Noble Friend and the rest of his Majesty's Ministers were too high-minded men to wish to practice a delusion ; but he must say he could not understand such conduct. He was well aware what diplomacy generally signified. He admitted that a little double-dealing was justifiable in diplomacy; and that a Minister, in the performance of his duty, might reftve to answer ; but if he did answer in the House of Lords—if he (lid condescend to reply in the House of Commons, there should Ise no diplomacy in his statements in either of those places.—(Hear, hear, bear.) Such was the history of this extraordinary matter—such was the history of " the three great days" of the Noble Lord—(A laugh)—he had crucified on the gibbet of in famy the Dutch character ; and for his tiiumpli he had the occupation of the fortresses in Fl 'riders, won with English blood, and built with English money, by the troops under the tri-coloured flag of France.—(Cheers.) Thst tri-coloured flag had not triumphed more in the three days of July, list year, at Paris, than in the three days of August, this year, in Londornz-(Hear, hear, hear.) At times like this it was most necessary that national cha racter should stand high, and charges ought not hastily or carelessly, or without the strongest reasons, to be made against a nation, at a moment when public principle was so much esteemed, and when the Government of France was said to be entirely founded upon it. At such a time, he repea•ed, the Dutch ought not gratuitously to be re probated unjustly. That the Dutch Government had been reprobated unjustly he would now prove. He would appeal to one of the organs of public opinion; he thought he might do so without offence : for, however, he might differ from it as to the extent to which it was an organ of public opinion, or as to right to take upon itself the ex pression of public opinion, he might venture to appeal to Hon. Gentlemen, that at least he did not select an organ of public opinion with any undue partiality. He would read the successive opinions of the able and influential newspapers to which he had already referred, in order to show what was the state of public opinion on this subject. The Right Hon. Gentleman smiled, and he might smile if he (Mr. Croker) had adopted the Times as his authority, merely because it answered his purpose, when the fact was, it possessed no authority at all. But the fact was, that it did not seem to want authority, for it was that paper which first informed them of that document of which the Noble Lord at first thought he had not heard. Although, therefore, he was not inclined to consider it the best guid e in morals or politics, be thought he could hardly select a better guide for the news and public feeling of the day. Well, then, let them hear what the Times Said, when this atrocity of Holland first burst out with such a sombre and suspicious appearance. " The whole conduct of ` our an cient Ally' for the last twelve months seems better to ac cord with the unfortunate condition of moon-stricken mad ness then with the ci aracter of a Prince whom we had been accustomed to treat with respect and confidence for die previous fifteen years." Madness was pitiable and excusable ; hut the same could be slid for " falsehood," with which the same newspaper, on the same day, went on to charge the King of Holland :—" His Dutch Majesty, in his obstinate adherence to his old preju. dices, or his eagerness to gratify his personal spleen, had entered upon a dishonest course, and is playing a very dan gerous game. His conduct displays such strong symptoms of duplicity and falsehood that it must forfeit the support and favour of England, which has hitherto been his chief protection." As to the "duplicity and falsehood" there was no ground for such a charge, beyond the mis-reading of the letter of the Ist of August, and the non-reading the letter of the 2d August. The rest of what be had read was held out to Holland in terrorem that her King, by his conduct, must forfeit the favour and protection of England. Louis XIV. at the gates of Nemignen Bunnaparte in possession of the city of Amsterdam, was not so dreadful a denunciation against the Dutch as this threat, that the falsehood and duplicity of the King mast forfeit for them the favour and protection of England, whi , he might almost take the liberty of saying, had been the mother and the nurse of Holland. So exactly did those sentiments seem to accord with the opinions of Mi nisters, that it might almost be supposed that they had condescended to pen the paragraph—and no great conde scension neither.—(Cheers.) The paper proceeded to speak of a " Special Ambassador ostensibly sent to Dego ciate." What special Ambassador? The House bad heard nothing of a special Ambassador, for, although Mi nisters had been catechised, nothing had been extracted— perhaps from want of ski!! in those who interro gated ; however, the Times knew that a special Ambassador had been seat, and for what purpose. " This special Ambassador, ostensibly sent to neve elite, in order to secure the peace of Europe, suppresses, of course, all mention of his master's hostile inten tions and preparations :" almost the identical words re peated by the Noble Lord twice, thrice, and even four times over on different evenings; and it terminated the tirade with the exclamation, " What useless perfidy !" All the collected venom was reserved for this one shaft— the confident and slanderous assertion that the King of Holland had been guilty of " useless perfidy." The same respectable and well-written passer went en on Monday (and no wonder it should, considering what had passed in Parliament on Saturday) in the following straim—(Sasme symptoms of impatience were here expressed, and not a few Members quitted the House.) He was not surprised at this interruption, for about this hour Hon. Gentlemen were wont to indulge in a different and more palatable species of entertainment ; nevertheless he would read to these who would please to give bins their attention : •, While (said the Times) the King of Hull dad was pre tending to revive, or continue with the five great Powers the negociations for a pacific settlement of his disputes with Belgium, he was at the same moment, and without any announcement to those Powers, actually marching his troops into the Belgic territory for the purpose of taking by force into his own hands the very questions which he professed to submit to their friendly arbitration." Not withstanding this assertion, the fact was, that Ministers were in possession of a double announcement of the inten tions of the King of Holland.—(Cheers.) From thence the paper went on to censure the foul, audaqous, and offensive course of the King of Holland, and to speak also of his frenzy, depravity, and falsehood. Such was the state of public opinion—such the state of inflamma tion ; "and he quoted what he had read as au indication Of the way of the wind of public sentiment set. Such was ' the state of Affairs when that very able—and to give it due praise—that very diligent paper contrived to get posses sion of one of the fetters. He would now advert to what wet said in the TiMes of yesterday.—(Cries of " Oh !" and some murmurs.) He heard some gentlemen entirmor —no wonder ; they knew that he wa - e c.l.! , .iUt to e ,l ) ;-:tv that the cr'im'es hed puldshed a letter of which Ministers knew no more than be had learnt of it when it was read to him in a burry.—(Cheers.) He took the cuts of •' Oh !" as a mark of the suprise of Hon. Gentlemen at the conduct of their own friends, and their modest unwillingness to give him the effect of their voices. He was tracing by the newspapers the course of public opinion—and what did it say yesterday ? '• The King of Holland, it appears by Tuesday's debate, has been charged with something not tar short of perfidy, for attacking Belgium without notice I,f any such design.' Such was the gloss public opinion lett upon the speech of Earl Grey. " liut (it went on) the Duke of Wellington affirmed that his Dutch Maj,•sty had appriSed the conference time enough for such an inter position as blight have stopped the march of the French ti-oopg, that he did intend to support his negotiations by arms. This was denied in the House, and on high tiothority, it being alleged that some of those who had access to the Dutch King's letter could not agree in giving it such an interpretation." He requested the House to mark what followed—" We have the terms of the dispatch before us, and those of our readers who can ferret out mysteries, where we for our part do not see any, are now at liberty to judge for themselves." This, let it not he forgotten, was the very paper which a day or two before had been t,lking of duplicity and perfidy, on the authority of Ministers.—(Cheers.) The paper then quoted the letter referred to in the debate in the House of Lords and proceeded thus:—" Now, from the above and other passages of this remit , kable letter, we are compelled to say that the King of Holland cannot with any fairness be ac cused of an intention to di-guise from the Powers in con ference the nature of his hostile policy towards 13 •Igium." The moment this candid organ of public opinion saw the letter which the Noble Lord did not see, it changed its opinion, and scrupled not to avow the change, it went on : —" He said that he had resolved on employing arms si multaneously with negotiations, at the very time when he was sending M. de Nyevelt to this country, who in fact was the hearer of this very letter. On the point, there fore, of alleged bad faith, he appears to us to be altogether blameless." Such was the verdict of public opinion ; and what he complained of was this—that Ministers, by their silence on a subject which was then pending, but which could not be at all importantly injured by a different course, had drawn down a most unjust degree of odium on the King of Holland. Ii they had behaved with the same fairness and candour• towards that Monarch which they would have oh served towards any gentleman, even a political antagonist, they would not have allowed the imputation to remain for a week unanswered, and delayed, so injuriously the amende honorable.—(Cheers. ) He was aware that he had troubled the House a great deal too touch upon this subject, but • be considered it most urgent that the matter should be put upon its right basis. He thought the House would agree with him, that he had at least made out a case of injustice and cruelty towards the King of Holland, and it became Ministers to explain the share they might, perhaps involuntarily, have had in creating that cruelty and in jus,ice.—(Much cheering.) He should move for a copy of the letter of the Ist August—lie could not ask for that of the 2d August, became the Noble Lord had it not in his head, much less in his office.—(Laughter.) The question having been put, Lord PALMERSTON said—The Right lion. Gentle man having come here to deliver epigrams, has very ap propriately concluded with a bull ; wishing to prove some thing by a letter of the second of August, he moves for a copy of a letter of the first.—(Hear, and laughter.) I think the House has seldom had all opportunity of hearing a more illogical speech or a more Irish motion.—( Hear, hear.) I shall not be able to comply with the Right Hon. Gentleman's wishes, for obvious reasons ; for although the paper may have been printed in the public journals, we cannot pick out this document from the rest unless we are prepared to submit to Parliament the whole series, display ing the course of the negociation. lam not about to enter into any explanation, much less into any defence, of the numerous and long quotations the Right Hon. Gentleman made from the newspapers.—(Loud Cheers.) I can assure him that I, for one, do not write in the newspapers.—(Hear.) I ant neither editor nor part proprietor of any newspaper—(Cheers)—and I do not pretend to be responsible for any thing that appears in those channels of information.—( Hear, hear.) Another thing—l shall not he led away by the attacks of the Right Hon. Gentleman, however they may have been accom panied by the most unreserved declarations of personal friendship. He has certainly taken a very extraordinary (though possibly to him satisfactory) mode of display ing his regard for me.—(Cheers.) He has indulged himself, if not the House, with a speech of at least an hour and a half—(Cries of " two hours !")—two-thirds of that time having been occupied very agreeably to him, and cer tainly not at all disagreeable to me, in personal attacks upon me ; he has charged me with all sorts of loose con duct as an individual and a Minister—with carelessness out of office and negligence in it—with absence from my post—with betraying the interests of my country—with injustice and cruelty to an independent Sovereign, and other trifling offences of the same kind ; but they were prefaced by the most flattering demonstrations (as far as declarations can be considered) of personal esteem and re spect, with a design of drawing me into a discmsion of the whole Belgic question,—( ,, No, no ! Hear, hear !") He did what in hint lay by provocation, accusation, and, what is worse, exculpation ; for I can forgive him any thing better than his e xculpation—(lt-as, and laughter) —but were I to advert to many of the points he has touched, I must necessarily enter into the whole of the transactions—a course which, as a Minister of the Crown, I feel myself bound to avoid. I think he might have acted with greater credit to himself, and with more ad vantage to his country ; but it seems that in the absence of the principal performers, he has been to-night allowed the whole benefit to himself.—(Much cheering and Isughter.) lie has given us a display, part tragedy, part comedy, and part tragi-comedy, and I wish I could encourage him by stating, that be sustained each portion with equal suc cess. Every body knows that he is an exceedingly happy joker—happy sometimes in his self-satisfaction—and erliUe he confines himself to the light and comic strain, he makes himself Agreeable to everybody ; but he must not attempt too much versatility ; he may be a good Statesman of all work, but I assure hitn that he is not a good actor of all work, and in his attempts at the heroic he is apt to con found pathos with bathos, and over le ips the narrow bounds between the sublime and the ridiculous.—(Much laughter.) I recommend lino, therefore, in future if he wish to pre serve his reputation, to observe the rules he has himself so well laid down in some of his earlier and fugitive pro deletions on the dramatic art, to cease to vex the grander passions of the soul— s. To leave high tragedy and stick to farce," lie will yet afford us much amusement ; if it be not very rational, it will at least be very entertaining.—(Continued cheers and laughter.) However he may have performed his part, I apprehend that be would better have performed his duty as a Member of Parliament if he had acquiesced in the course so judiciously pursued by the Hon. Baronet (Sir R. Vyvyan), who postponed the discus sion of these transactions at this most important and decisive crisis. I leave him, however, in full posses sion of whatever advantages he may gain by this forward movement—this resumption of hostilities—this breaking of the armistice ; and he shall not drag me into a debate upon the conduct of the King of the N. ther lands, or into a defence of our own. If I could prove that the Dutch King had acted in au unbecoming manner, I should refrain from doing so, because I feel that his Go vernment has been unfortunate, and that it is e ntitled to respect and forbearance. —( Hear, hear.) I had, there fore, rather lie under the enormous weight of the Right Hon. Gentleman's imputations—the unendurable burden of his charges—than run the risk of doing that which might be considered even unhandsome to the King of the Netherlands. I beg to say that I never charged his Go vernment with p e rfidy. I stated facts to the H ouse , not opinions; and I again say, that I am not answer able for the extracts which th e Right Hon. G entleman has had leisure (and long may he enjoy it) to cull front the news . papers.--(Hear, hear.) I shall not follow him through the statements he I:as made ; but the fact is, that while the Right lion. Gentleman end his friends were in office, previous to the 17th November, an armistice, or a sus pension of arms, was agreed upon, which has now been oken by the Dutch Government. I will state the fact, yet the Right Hon. Gentleman a s ks, and leave it to others to draw the inferen ce . Wh en di d that you had no noti ce th at t h ey when, on the Wednesday f o ll ow i ng a the Dutch Ki ng renewhostilities ? O n T ues d ay, the re, to you communicating th e f act r -2,,dcoafnAyt,iguuspt r ; et a e r i i i t a l bnreeewatdeldte Right Hon. Gentlem an ' s met h o d of let s l r d m b wa e ays reasoning, but let me tell biro that it is not consistent with the ordinaryonly rulessay,that a logict ifhe that u r a s u n e r a t t iscue such should u t course in time which is g iven a da y after t he event.—(Cheer ing.) in this House, and gives his notices of motions the day after he has made them, he will obtain a most decisive ad vantage over his adversaries.—(Laughter.) That advan tage the King of Holland expected to obtain ; for the fact ir, his notice of intending to break the armistice did cot arrive until after it had been broken. What are the words in the letter of the Ist of August, on which sonic reliance has been placed? " That the King will support his negociations by his military means." First, as to the manner in which this supposed notice was given. The l-lon. C-ent!eman efsTresses his astonisment that any man with two es es, and two hands at the ends of his arms. could keep a letter directed to another person in his pocket for twenty-four hours without breaking the seal. I do not know what might be the official habits of the flight lion. Gentleman—(Laughter)—hut this I know, that what he recommends are not mine. —( Cheers.) If I, as a member of the conference, receive a letter addressed to the conference, I do not think myself justified in opening it but in the presence of the other members,_(it ear, hear.) " But (says he), how could a Minister of England at such a perilous moment--when the fate of Europe was hanging net on hoots, but on minutes—receive a coi „. munication brought by a special envoy by the Ligthing steam-boat (fur the winds were not s‘eiit enough, and it therefore came by lightMng), and k ep it unopened until the following day ?" This was; undoubtedly, his best piece of pathos ; hht it *anted the foundation of fact. Th e conference bad invited the King of the Netherlands to send a Plenipotenti,ry to negotiate a treaty of peace ; and if his envoy had replied, " My master will not treat but fight, and here is a letter explaining his mot ives"—l should have lost no time in summoning the members of the conference to re ceive so important a communication. But what did the Dutch Minister say in half an hour's conversation? That he had come to negociate peace, and that his powers were so ample that he hoped to be able to conclude a treaty without. a reference even for further instructions. At that time also he delivered the letter of August Ist; and al though he certainly stated in some detail the grievances of his master as regarded Belgium, he parted from me without giving me the slightest hint that twenty-f.nr hours before the Dutch troops bad entered Belgium. So far, therefore ; I think I have satisfactorily explained why I did not then proceed with Dutch haste to summon the Plenipotentiaries to the conference.—(Much cheering.) . . If I had summoned them, what effect could have been been produced? We must not judge by the results, because on Wednesday na account was received in London fi om Sir Charles Bagot that the Dutch army had marched. But the experiment was tried on the Ministers at the Hague ; for this letter, which the Right Hon. GPti. tleman says is such a clear announcement of hostilities, was successively put into the hands of the Ministers of the five Powers at the Hague; and without anything in the air of that place to blunt or obscure the faculties, it did not occur to them that it indicated the march of the Dutch forces. When our Ambarsador at the Hague heard, from a private friend, that the troops had crossed the Belgic frontier, he went to the Dutch Minister, and, in answer to his demand for explanation, was informed that the passage did not mean that hostilities bad actually begun. The re• sumption of hostilities in fact took pl.:ce at the very moment when the Dutch Government were sending a Minister to negociate.—(Cheers.) " But (exclaimed the Right lion. Gentleman) what did the French Minister do? The te legraphs were put in motion, and with the speed of light ning the French troops were put in motion too." Give me leave to tell him that the English Minister was not much less active. The news was received on Wednesday even- ing, and on that very night the First Lord of the Admi ralty dispatched an express to the fleet under Sir E. Co drington, ordering it to the Downs, that it might be ready to act as circumstances required. Did we wait for the reading of the sealed letter of the first of August, or for the most un-Dutch reading of that of the second of August by the Dutch Ambassador? No; but the measures that seemed indispensible were taken on the instant. What becomes then of the cobweb sophistry of the Right lion, Gentleman? Is not its flimsiness blown to atoms by a mere breath?—(Loud and general cheers.) Has he not been as mistaken in his facts as he has been illogical in his re Ironing ? The fact of the resumption of hostilities was communicated to the Conference on Thursday, and what was then thought necessary \, us done. Thus I hope I have answered, as far as my duty will allow, the very friendly charges of the Right Hon. Gentleman—(Cheers) —but let me remark, that there cannot be a more unfair position for a Minister of State to occupy than to be put upon his trial by personal disclosure of facts most neces sary to his vindication.—(Hear, hear.) Let me observe, however, that when the letter of the first of August was read, with the passage about supporting negociations by military means, I thought it any duty to ask the Plenipo tentiaries, not one, but both, whether they knew the fact that hostilities had begun? They rr plied, that as indi viduals they might know much, but that as Ministers they were not at liberty to state what they knew. I in quired whether they bad any explanation to afford on the subject, and their reply was, that they were not instructed to give any explanation.—(Cheers.) I am not accusing the Plenipotentiaries of anything like improper conceal ment; they were sent to negociate, nut to announce that hostilities had actually commenced. If our intellects were so obtuse as not to understand the words " military means" as a renewal of war, there was the Dutch Mini ster, why was he not asked the question ? He was asked, anti I have told the House his answer. The Right lion. Gentleman has complained that he did not see me here as often as he wished, and he said, with a sneer, that he was always charmed when he found me in my place. The fact was, that on my way from my office — Mr. CHOKER interposed, to state that he meant ❑o sneer, but to express a sincere regret at his absence. He knew that the Noble Lord had been pi esent on Friday. Lord PALMERSTON—Of the Right Honourable Gentleman I may say, that, whoever meets hint, whe ther in public or private, cannot fail to be enter tained. The fact is, that on my way to the House on Friday, I called upon my Noble Friend at the head of the Government, and I found tc•ith him one of the Ministers of the Netherlands, and, after much conversation, and just as we were about to repair to the House of Parliament, the Minister took out the letter, which has appeared in the ne wspapers, and read it hastily. Perhaps it ought to have made a greater impression on my mind ; but it was not addressed to the English Government, and the Minister had no intention to deliver it. O: course, it is not in my possession, and if the Right lion. Gentleman had moved for it, I could only have returned nil. I confess that when the question was put to me last night, that letter was not present to my mind ; but now I remember it, I am at a loss to see in what respect it alters the case. A communication on Friday could not (excepting according to the convenient logic of the Right Hon. Gentleman) be notice of an event that had already taken place on Tuesday. The mode o f reasoning of the Right Hon. Gentleman would, indeed, have been greatly aided if the Dutch Minister• had not read that letter to my Noble Friend and myself—tin ii a week after the march of the army for the Belgic frontiers. Then, indeed, we must have been deprived of all pos sible defence, and the Light Hon. Gentleman would have enjoyed a signal triumph of Hibernian logic.— (Laughter.) As I said in the outset, I will not enter into the general discussion ; the time has not yet arrived when we can do so without prejudice to great pending interests; • and if this were true some days ago, it must be doubly so now, as all must be aware who read the newspapers— the pleasant hut profitless study of the Right Hon. Gen tleman. Any man who locks at the mighty events now passing in Europe—any man who has the slightest know ledge of business—not the long official experience of the Right Hon. Gentleman—(Hear)—who is governed by good sense, and not misguided by passion—(Hear)—must be aware that an attempt to drag me into debate may afford an opportunity for .the gratification of personal vanity or for the display of personal friendship—(Hear)— when the appointed leaders and officers of a party are absent ; but it will not receive the public approbation ; and an individual who adopts such a course will not per form good service for bia country.—(The cheering at the close of this speech was most general and persevering.) Lord BRUDENELL (we believe) expressed his regret that the bias of the minds of Ministers was clearly against the King of Holland, although he saw nothing reprehen sible in his conduct. As an English Member he would say that the first shot fired by the British forces, on land or water, against our ancient ally, would be an indelible disgrace to the country. Ile thought it impossible that any Ministers, filling the situations of responsible advisers of the Crown, could, at the present moment, more com pletely lay themselves open to the accusation brought by his Right Hon. Friend than did the Noble Lords and Right Hon. Gentlemen opposite. They had been ituilty of the grossest injustice towards our old and faithful allies the Portuguese in the South, and the Dutch in the North ; a French fleet occupied the Tagus, and the tri•colour flag was planted in the soil of Holland. He lamented to say that the conduct of the British Government had been incon sistent with itself, and marked by a levity unworthy the executive of a great country. Ile thought the House and the country had a right to complain that Great Britain should have lent her sanction to the entrance of the French fleet into the Tagus. Passing front that subject, however, he would put this question to the Right Hon. Gentle:nen opposite —Why did they do nothing to assist tLe Poles? But there it would seem that we would have had to deal with a different sort of enemy. It Was one thing to abandon a weak country like Portugal or Holland, and quite another to encounter so formidable a power as that of Russia. The fart was, and be confessed it with humiliation, that the tendency of our foreign policy now was to oppress the weak, and truckle to the strong. It must be full in the reeollec lion of the Home that Noble Lords and Right Hon. Gentlemen were in the habit of quoting Lord Chathailll remarkable words, " that if that House did not reforin itself from within, it would be reformed with a vengearo from without." In his apprehension there was nothingi ill became the present Ministers, a- quoting the cel ebrate,' Lord Chatham. If that distinguished Statesman lived j° the present times, he certainly would never live gone j}l l length of the present Reform Bill, however s trong ', I views might have been on that subject. But be that as ;nielit, the bare mention of Lord Chatham's name wa °e , eproach to the foreign policy of the present Administrm• tiori. In the days of Lord Chatham England was r i ,c spected by all the nations of Europe, but in these dar s h bad abandoned all her ancient principles, and ought t o blin d at the name of Chatham—she had abandoned her 0 1 d a 9 faithful Aliieg, rushing forward to grapple with the st•ealo and perfectly ready to truckle to France and to Russia. , Lord ELLIOT (as we understood) said be should tto ub ;i the Home with only one or two remarks. He sh(n3 merely call the attention of the House to the coeciadil paraaraph of a communication from the King of 110110,e in which lie stated, this; under certain circumstances 1" should have recourse to hostilities!, and it was here to b e f obs e rved, that there was a simtiltaneoua comm en cement hostilities and r newal of negociations ; uu lilt wtlt!fl trot.hie the House by too minute a reference to dates; would maintain that throughout it was with the King °f llolland a question of policy and of expediency, and Dot i° /debt ; for nothing could be more explicit than was „ e stat. mint of the King of the Netherlan Is, that if a for e ' s Prince ascended the throne of Belgium, without aceedin!' to the terms which the Dutch Monarch thought it for interest and honour to propose, a Prince so assuming tbe Government of Belgium must be treated as an entIPP Such were the sentiments of the King of Holland; ur i ri c i aim': principles, so avowed, he acted; and now he wilt' 0 inquire of all who heard dim, how such conduct lay 01 ) ; CO the charges which had been urged ? The King of . 1 ,1 Netherlands affirmed that Prince Leopold had not a scen to the throne of Belgium in conformity with those terms, s; upon that eround he declared war against him. Wha t a i especially complained of in the conduct of the Noble IP" was this, that he did not abide by the principles which b e himself laid down. Lord STORMONT wonld not persevere in the motioo, of which he had given notice, but begged to observe, t he j on the 22d of June the King of the Netherlands Ij e stated, that if the treaty then pending were not settled ° I he proposed, he should certainly have recourse t o militso, means. There was another point to which he wished t°, call the attention of the House, namely, that on the P t ; of August the Noble Lord opposite (the Secretary of for Foreign Affairs) was in possession of a sealed comul; nication of the utmost importance, as it turned out, %chi c he retained unopened for 24 hours. Under the circa)", stances the Noble Lord might well have supposed tbat contained matter of importance ; it might, theref ore, veil , naturally he supposed that the Noble Lord would not ha y . lost a moment in calling together the members of the ference and ascertaining its contents. It acco rdin g could be no matte of surprise that his Right Hon. f i l o should express his surprise that the communicat° question should S 1 long have remained unopened. I he t , could be no sort of doubt that in the whole of these 11',„ tern the Noble Lord opposite had taken things too ea s d i Y u ; and he felt perfectly assured that the occurrence referre,, gave an instruction to the Noble Lord, front which it 'l:r to be hoped that in future he would profit. If a ° e ra occasion of the same sort occurred, he would ventare,,, predict that the Noble Lord would take special care ilrocb lose a moment in summoning a conference.- -0 coughing and mdse.) It was quite a mistake i P Jo t Noble Lord to suppose that his Right Hon. Friend n je of 'to blame him for not opening the seal of the packet. ,de complaint was not that the Noble Lord was unwilli t '' o ,4 break the seal, but that he neglected to call the coofe re di together, for the purpose of ascertaining the 0 )° : ; ', l 1:t of these documents. The Noble Lord and his , Honourable Friend were educated in the same " a li school, and the House roust know that to break 8e communications was nut the practice of that school ; 3 0 ,1 a therefore, he was justified in assuming that his ei S n 't,le Hon. Friend would be as slow to recommed as th e Lord himself could he to adopt such a practice. 0 0 ' Sir GEORGE MURRA said, he should be Yell re , willing to detain the House upon an occasion like 6 ' 1) 0 0 sent ; but he was sure that most lion. Members ‘v°l)Ce agree with him, that it was one of sufficient nnp ort" v ° o l to justify his making u few observations. The N ohle t h had complained that he was put upon his defence , "a b.,01 being enabled to produce those docutuenta by which,l;tta his conduct could be justified and explained; but 1 1 , Noble Lord could, with any show of reason, comPlatif the treatment which he himself had received, with - bill much greater cause might the King of H o lland rau°,l' voice in the language of complaint ? for that Mons . ..‘ had been most completely put upon his defence by the Noble Lord wl.n had spoken from the other side of t oo House. The Noble Lord had insinuated, nay, had al ° , 4 1 directly brought an accusation of bad faith against ter, Sovereign. It had been stated in that House , on S't day, that the armistice had been broken and violated r , the King of the Netherlands : that was a grave cb°!_c but when the Right Hon. Bironet, the Member for as s ns worth, pointed out the expression as too strong. an d , y egi/ bably the result of inadvertence, it was then explai n ' l tati there were two armistices—the one local, and con 60711; the opposing forces of Antwerp, and the other gen e yo the ohs rvation being added, that time latter was Vol Wittiow: ally notice ; and that up to the moment at d 1f the Noble Lord spoke, his Majesty's Government 10,0 notice on the subject. On Tuesday, the Noble Lorsoro reply to a question from the Hon. Member for Sndlito said that there had Leen no communication fr°, 31 ,,,01; Dutch Minster of any intention to resume host"' pp, lot of what importance were those statements, whe n 11 0 thing could have been more distinct and explicit that'll,' intimation given by the King of the Netherlandsa --3bs d should resort to military means for the purpose of ,V porting ha negociations? H e confessed himself a' t iO unable to comprehend how the Government n i fill d country could profess not t o know the intention 0 6 1 King of the Netherlands to break the armistice. House only turn its attention to the measures whic`: o 4 4 been taken by the Dutch Government, and the 1"I'" 9 0 which that Government held. It says, that " the ? of establishing an armistice had never been re alised/ 01? exists at the present mom e nt only a cessation of 11° ta 1 7 ! ties." Was, then, the King of the Netherland°, %SI charged with any br e ach, founded upon his pu tt '. ° lo o and to that, which had never been completely estalooolo They were at issue with the Noble Lord as they 1 0 0 e i denied the existence of the armistice ; yet still he " 1 0 imputing to time King of the Netherlands a vit°;llo,, the armistice, when he merely had recourse to means in the event of the negociations not terini n ,' his satisfaction. Of this, however, there co ulci a question, that not a shadow of imputation rest e , , ,o l , l the character of the King cf the Nether! inds. A,41 did he mean to cast any imputation upon the O n " l the Noble Lord, for, as he had himself very' proPet a ti:o it was not in his power to produce those docun - or which alone his defence could be sustained ; and , „I tY part, such was his confidence in the Ministers IV, Crown, he would not tail for them. But it was nco-iti less necessary that the attention of the p u blic s h 0 1 ; directed to all the foreign policy of this coun try -' 0 :1 proceedings which had recently taken place, as i • specting the Netherlands as with regard to Po rtuga X it appeared to him, that British policy had been rewlm; subordinate to that of another power, with regard t 0 ` r he should be the last in the world to use any offe ri %o pression. No man entertained a more sincere 01,-ace(a/ the French nation than he did. His professionaicto ence led him to en'e.tlin for their military cha, rA t i t ool io highest respect ; but, with the feelings of a " - " co ic°i c ould not allow what app e ar e d to him an aqui ° et French views to pass altogether without notice'oerio, same time that hi s Majesty's Ministers might,_ jas'l was in their power t o l a y the documents befors,o ts went, produce a compl e t e justification of their ' l° as', 1 duct. In the m eanw hil e , h o w e v e r, he did thin k l o tie, s i_ rb . ae e ui o ee f be et g tii r nlt e : a ,e t tt a aih t elevßnalarntitttmaiasg:ale:tit matter i f rne ea t ot i , r if e 6soh ß ,u,on r ru i p t li i (r)i s io : er bt i eu t tg u ha l a c att % l. i c t e o r n : : tions in the channel, and a French P filt r To iru ho ci e 4 . 4 : r ; principal harbour of our ancient ally. certainly matters upon which the public wn", and were entitled to the fullest expi,natiou 0 ,1 icy with respect to Belgium, he did not mean her he was then prepared to urge any objection to e thin l! i from Holland, provided in that separatism Pttho,il terests were not neglected—were not a3 crificed I ° ol l ,ol that neighbeurine Power towards which the ousy of Englishmen would not be tiiminishrd • the occurrences. Rumour slid that the fleet unde r be dr roan,; of Sir E. Codrington had been placed at t l of the Congress; but was the army under M ur a l to be governed by the same authority ? WO O r Ode' instance of Congress draw back from Be/ gi : a y r d . a r b d ere : o ; Would he draw back his army as Sc' 00 0 ,,f1' retire with his fleet ? There were many which the attention of the British publi° W e °u „peee b , be strongly directed ; they would refer to th eNr O ( by the King of the French, wherein his Maie s ro ' ie d Of, satisfaction " that the kingdom of Belgium , 64 , b , 0 0 ; of the German Confederation." Now he do dip iaaa , profess to be particularly acquainted with fairs ; but he did believe that it wOO4l be infi trt