The Sun. — London, England, 1803-06-01 00:00:00

Mr. PITT's SPEECH, 1N,T1411 HOUSE or COMMONS, ON MONDAY, MAY 23, ON THE DEDATE RESPECTING THE WAR WITH FE4NCE. • (We have at length obtained, by the assistance of different persons who were present in the House of Commons, the substance of Mr. Speech on the Debate upon the War, .on /Amway, May 23. We lament that any state. Pleat of this sort, formed upon notes or. recolledion, must be imported, though, .we flatter ourselves, it will be found to present a Faithful account of the course of his argument, and of the principal topics by which it was enfore'ed. Many of the most striking and beautiful pas, sages are necessarily omitted, and we do not pretend to 'Convey to the Reader the impression it made on the minds t who heard it. I r was universally admitted to have exhibited the most striking specimen, both of argunien taiive and animating eloquence, ever delivered, and drew forth from the persons present continued bursts of adinira ', • tion and applause. 2 TI/S SPA E' Cfl Mr. PITT began by ol.);erving upon some pas sages of Mr. 14...s.hii.INCS Speech,, the tendency 1..)1 , kkitich he' proleSsed not entirely' to understand, but front which he was led to hope that the Leamed GordeJnon, and those with whom he usu:dly ratted, ti crc nut likely materially to objet to the sub. stance di the proposed Address. He fia t e red him. self that this was likely to be the case, because, whatever difference of sentiment might arise, and much was certainly to be expeeted, - on many points included in the great miss cif information contained in the Papers upon the Table, yet upon the great and important question at issue between this COutry and France, and upon the justice and necessity of the grounds on whic - h we were compelled to enter i nto t he \\co', he thought it almost impossible that the House should not be unanimnus. He stated, that in those trolaaions.which had most immedi- trtely produced oar present sitnation, the Learned i Cetttlonan hinhc:i appeared, notWirhstanding some A ou hts which he had thrown out on particular admit, upon the whole, that there was ~,d, c l ear ( . : virlrice of views of aggression and hos. On the pair of Fritnee, as itlit ifita . thiS ( 1 00ritty iit :staining for its itWut security.. This he maintained to he . the first great point on which the question turn..d ;. and . he CAlntrnaed that the whole aSE HAW I's grpOti, and the circumstances dills to,Egypr, the express and deliberate avowal ly BoritsrAikw. hirrtselt of -his views and inten. tionb icy ci fortv.id conizrencev..'ith Lord rl,v OXTH, aci d the lyclorma; ion of the : , 411lwe inteilliOnS through the o.Z.:ia/ Chaithel of tl u 111inister fur Farrizd 4/ firs, afforded the cleareht and most indisputable evidence th,it die First Consul had formed the de. rerinioation, ev,n while Malta vas yet in our bands, of resuming his hostile projcets against Egypt; th,lt the pursuit of such a pri.jed was an undeniable act ,tf hostility against ;Ins Country, • r 4 4 anti aimed st some of its mos... important interests ; that it was, besides, dire a 60:36,1m both of the Letter and Spirit of the. Tre;tty of Amicn, itself, under pretence of which Treaty abne, our evaco. ittion of that I,land Was dentairded, though under circumAartees whi4,4l, in Other teSeas, aCcording to ,he L etter ' of tb,it Treaty, did not sfuthar.te such a 4eity4nd ; that the diiclogure of this hostile projea justified this Country in requiring flesh se. curity Jgkhtist it, and if such segurity was refaced-, in having recourse to arms for thal. orpose, a t t he tonment.which appeared to beinost for our advan. • ii then more particularly commente3 on each of -'lose be.veral eitp:iaStaliCet; With respect; to the Re— pqrt of SEll,,Ailt He stated that that was dently an Ofti:iat Paper adtbrsqd to'the Givern. merit, by a trers_mi rtgularly counnis.ioned and e m , ployo by the Consul himself; that its contents could never have been published in France but by his consent, and that they were published in let in the Official Paper, under tli4ir dire 4 authority of the Government ; that the whole tenor of that Pa. v er, arid the account thus t iven by St AVT I ANI him_ sdfof his conduct in Egy N, m; de it-impossible to doubt that he Was sent there to prep::te. :fir the execution of a fresh attempt to put that ,Country under the tioruir.ion of France ; but that it %vas not necessaiy to dwell on the particular contents.of th e Report; the inic:e circumstance of a military'in:to h a viilg been sent at that time With such a citnmii. oion to Ezypt, was. a sufficient evide n cp of t h e o .) _ jest of his mission. The time, he rctmiticed, wa, t;ery materii,l, hze:lat,e it it mwe • destroyed the chief which the Vreneli Cr)'tertitn,ni t - had attcuipt::ci, i,i tine & ths. of liil 0,1-0,11 Correi potliko,-;:e, to jo:ddy or exter. U te o.;e or to 4 ,,, y t h e eonsli. t sion to ,be drawn from it. prete:t• that thel - lonour of the Chief Cunstil hart: been wounded by a Narrative of . the Egpe,dition t¢ ;i;ylit, published' lay # re _ spetlable ()fixer in the British ,Artriv (Sir Rots KT Ls6n) 310 that the publicittion of SijAsTiANl's Rel)ort became necessary for lei vital Th e iatts stated in that Narrative, he observed, were not even (octradij.tedby the ftepOrr, but even if they had lit en, in what degree would that circum. :tt: ,, , , ount for originally Sending SEBASti . ri ,1 to Egypt, with such n toinmission as been alrvzdy stated ? :ft app eare d tha t 1 1 , 0 1 0f1 . r4..-r had ;Ictnally embarked tfom.Tonlau on 1111 14 11... itletither, and e illtertrocceding to 1. 4 1 i,. art ived . at Alexandria on the 15'h of Oc. t oiler ; whereat it Is notorkus th:it, at that time,. si r g,,,i ; i l - 11 , 1 , Vitt. cow's Narrative had not aClually bre'n published, alid prohahly not sent to the press. .Wi t i t recpelt to the avowal of his design by the First Consul himself, lie referred to Lard WErr. aeconnt i.n lass i)kpatch of the ;Ist Of Fe. br9ary, }4e observed, that so Lir from the Conver. oat ion appOaring, I sotee persons fold imagined, only loose And de,tiltory, it war t Doc by the express appointtnent of the First Consul-- that it was ti:iref&r , e evidently prepared and .bathe_ .rate, and that it v, , as o.ltia4 (.I , c,iied in the' ff . :r-,t Coniul hiinself, as beiiig the mod, , hatL Ittioptettfoithe pufpOse f f . of convvy !'•.‘ jesty, in Fhtt most clear and autlien , ::, • -cr," ;tis Setit 110 i It tS CO.,""o I to an 4t.) at. course c: : • • • First Consul did riot attempt to disguise his . mate.views upon Egypt, and though he professed to disclaim any intention of seizing it at'presen9 he.aseigned as the reason for his tortearance, "that sooner or later it would belong to Franceele;tber by the failistg to pities of the Turkish by tome arrangement with the Porte." That In a sub._ Sequent conversation with M. TALLeTRAND, it was expressly admitted ti at the acquisition of Egypt had been, and still was, a favourite objet} of the First Consul, but he at the same time endeaVoured to convince His Majesty's Ainbassad.:r, that it was not so gyeat an objed as to allow him to go to War for its attai nment ; and yet, upon being 'pressed to explain what security it was intended to "give, to remove apprehension on this point, far which he had before stated there was a erojed in contemplation,, he referred only to a passage in the First Coostd"s Message to: the Legislative Body, saying( that " there is a Freneh Ambassador at Constantinople, !who is C barged to give every assurance of the disposi tion of France. to wrengthen instead of to 'weaker the Ta rk;:h 'Government." To all the evidence founded on these several. do. eemons, he hat! heard but one argument opposed-7-- the improbability of the French Government thus disclosing its view, if it re.sily entertained them. On this-point it might be schicicnt to observe, that it might indeed be difficult to account for such a disclosure,. even on the supposition of such a project being really intended ; hut that it was not only dif. .ficult, but impossible to account for it at .all, on the ,sepposition ttf its not being intended. He asked whether, on the latter supposition, any motive could be assigned, either for . the Mission haVing been sent, or the Report havine been made and published, or for the avowals contained in the Conversations of the First Consul and of M. TALLtrItAND. lie thought, however, that the difficulty of accounting fur the di.closure, was removed, by referring to the new and peculiar policy which had marked the -conduCt of France on many extraordinary occasions, from the very beginning of the Reeolution, that where any measure was in contemplation more fia. grant and atrocious than another, and more likely to ,shock the general, feelings of Europe, and per., haps to excite vigorous and united resistance, in stead of carefully concealing it tilt the moment of teectition, it had, on the contrary. been studiously announced beforehand; that the objed of this policy had been gradually to familiarize men's minds to that which at first they could scarcely even- believe, and thartheir schemes which, in the first instance,' were received with horror, lied would have, been opposed with indignation, came afterwards to he contemplated with neglect and. indiderenee ; and that which at first no min thought it nOssible seri ously to attempt, was by degrees considered es 'natural am(' probable, and, in' the end, as that which it was hopeless and impossible to. resist. He therefore pot it to the House,,whether, after having observed this pra!tice, it .was possible for us to be so credulous and childish, as to' at on the belief that BoNAPARTZ would abandon the projeds he had formed, only because he had himself told us he Would 'persist in . them ; and whether we thought that if, for whatc4er season, he hail been led pre maturely to disclose this projea, even while Malta, the great seCtlrity against its exeetit;Orf, was still .otfr possessiore he would renounce the attempt when that security had been surrendered by us, anti Putt in l'aa, in" his posse<siOn ? If then the de. steel against .Eypt was apparent, he desired the EhUSC to Cp111(.1:r, whether, uptei every principle e of justice and self-defence, admitted by all the sys. trots of the Law of Nations, and: adopted by the predice of . 411 Coentries, we have not the clear right to take, froli this moment, inch measures of prevention and security as are sofficient to guard against the danger to which we should.be in come. , quence exposed—whether it was not ,ntimitted, on almost all hands, that our possession of . Malta was essential, or at least in the highest degree material, f.,r the defence of Egypt- - -whether the importance of Egypt to this Country .was not in itself ,sufli. eiently evident, from its connexion with the safety of our Indian possessions --and whether it might not at this day be considered as a point of Our . Na. tional PolicY, already decided and attested by- the glgriotta effot is which hail been made, and the he. roil blo-Jd which had been shed in the last War for' recovering it front France, and . which had in a man: tter crinicermed it lit the ; hearts and affeetions of Englishmen ? He therebre wi,heel the House to consider what was to be otir Iwure cinulua, ifc after all the wain. ingi given ti, we aver ttuw to surrender Malta ot: our 11;44, and the attack upon Egypt were to follow in six or in twelve months afterwards, Were We prepar. , :.d for the ridiculous, but disastrous Aternative to which we should be reduced, of ther submitting without a strUggle 'to rational ca. Limity and disgrace, because, foreseeing our danger, we }crib srcklirriwily unit wantonly sacrificed the best op! ins of averting it ; or, when it' was perhaps tot; late to enter upon e difficult and almost hopeless contest, having by our own aet given up the arms by which-We could be .enabled to condat it to a successful issue? If tiW'question were Cithied here, Mr. PITT ob_ served, that..for the reasons he had given, he was prepared to Maintain s , that on these grounds alone the War was both just and fleCeSiary, and such as ought to call forth the utmost exertions of Parlia ment and the Nation in itt support. Rut o far was this front being the case, that there was not :my one of the lenting transaftions subsequent to the Treaty of Amiens, to which His Majesty's Declaration referred, *Melt was not, in his opinion, as far as justice w:is cOncerned, a clear and•eyident .eni r; e' of s.Var„ aid such as would have been ailed Upor, if there were sufficient means ofeo.operation on tile Continent, in almost. every period of t h e history of this Cuuntry. He here referred to the annexation of Piedmont . , as the first ad by which die French Government had proceeded, subsequent r,, the Treaty, to puisue the same sytem of aggran. dizeineot, which had appeared in all their previous coo d uc i, an d %%4601 it' was vainly hoped •they had relinquished. He referred al.o to the transaftion retiittlic,g the German futitmoilics, where the I .te'rich Government,- with an arrogance, he be. lieved unprecedented . in kite Ili"ory ut 1 1. ..urope, hacl ptesumed to diaate to .:all Germany- the detailed moda of arlitll"i'r' t g thQse fridetuniaes, tan which the Diet of the Empire was expressly convened to de. lib(rate, pursuant .to thel'raty of Lunvviae., and had publicly announced their scheme as settled and decided, berore tr was Cven communicated to 'those to•whum it .ought, in- the first instance, to have been proposed. He next passed to the violence ofTerc,l to i Squit. zirland, on which he thought it the less necessary to dwell, because he believed the cooduel of France towards that unfortunate and devoted Country bad exeited otieltniversal - sentiment of detestation. He wished here to declafe (as-this had been a subject so often adverted to on former occasions, when he had been unavoidably absent) that he considered the interference of His Majesty's Ministers on this subjea, as not only evidently warranted by the circumstances, but such as was their duty to employ to the extent to which he understood it to have been carried, in order to give time fur ,learning whether a Confederacy could be formed in Europe, really sufficient for saving th ft Country from the yoke of France ; but that when upon trial all hopes of such a Confederacy vanished, he , thought them equally right in not pushing the Contest, on the part of this Country, to extremities. • He then adverted to the continuance. of the French Armies in Holland, which appeared, froth the • Papers ,on the Teble,, to have been directly inconsistent with the principles on which the Treaty of Amiens had been oegotiated,"and with the engagements ere known to•subsist between prance and Holland. After dwelling on these poiots, lie stated, however, that he thought it less material to discuss whether they were each in itself - sufficient causes of War on the part of this Country, because he admitted that .whatever might be the justice of the cage, our conduct upon them at the time was necessarily regulated, not by that COML. deration only, but by the question of policy, which was unavoidably dependent upon the state of the Continent; but that whatever it might be right to decide upon them at the time they occurred, it was impossible to contend that they were not now ma terial, as symptoms of that deliberative system of ambition and encroachment which had been thus uniformly pursued towards others, and which was now direEted to a quarter where it mediately effected our -separate interests, and was in direct violation of the Treaty with this Country itself. He here drew a strong picture of the 'continued and rapid succession of the ads of violence and.opptession which ' during this period, had desolated so many of theCoUntries of Europe ; and after comparing the irresistible force' and overwhelming prOgress of French ambition to those dreadful convulsions of Nature by which Pro vinces and Kingdoms were consumed and buried in ruins, he asked whether we could contemplare those scenes pf haired: and destruction without refieding how' soon that torrent of liquid fire might direct its ravages agaihst ourselves. Having, here closed leis review of what had passed on the Continent, he next observed, that the period of which lte had been speaking was marked not only by the hostile ads which he had detailed, with re_ sped to other PoWers in Europe, but by others mediately afreding the separate Rights and Interests of this Country. He referred, he said, principally to two points_ which appeared in the CorrespondeoCe. The first point was the demand which had been 'made by the French GoVernment TesOeding .te. straints on the Liberty of the Press; "and the expul sion of the French Ernigranti - reaW remaining in the • Country. On this it was unnecessary to enlarge, because :the insolence of the Propoaition was suf ficiently felt,. :find because it had been at the time resisted by His Majesty's Ministers; on grounds ovhieh were stared 'tVith great force and ability in one of the Papers on the Table; and which lie was persuaded every Member of the House had read with the highest approbation. 'the second point related to the. Commercial Agents—the, indignity and outrage which attended their mission, was one of which it was' ditiieuit to speak with comp sure. The Freneh,Government had made a formal proposition to send persons of this description, who had never been found necessary even when:a Corn- k mercial Treatyiubsisted, at a time when not only there was no such Treaty but when, as appears from . the Papers on the 'Table, the 'commercial intercourse of l its Majesty's Subjeds with France was suffering every ddgree of violence and oppression. This pro:- position had naturally and wisely been refused. The French Government then proceeded clandes tinely to: send tliese Agents in the train of their Ambassador ; and not content with this breach of the Law of Nations, they afterwards addressed to them instrudions, under the official charader in which they had received admittance,: :and the oh. jolt of these instrudions: was, to dire& them to take measures, in time of Peace, for ascertaining the Soundings of Ports, and for obtaining Military infor mation of Districts, adi for. which they would have been:hanged as spies ;in time of War. Under such circumstances, he could not but lament to find that ,His Majesty's Ministers had contented themselves With merely applying to the French Governinent to withdraw those persons, anti had not at once advised His Majesty,: by his own authority, to order them to depart the Kingdom within twenty.four hours, reserving it to himself afterwards to require from France the, reparation due for so gross ate insult. • Be did not, think it necessary to dwell separately' on another head of complaint, the violeitte commit. tell against the Vessels and. Property of His Ma. jesty's Subjedi in the French Potts, and . the with. holding, to this hour, all satisfadion for those injuries. These proceedings, he said, would have been sufficient ground of complaint in ordinary times, but they could scarcely give additional force to the outrageous transactions which he had just enumerated, and which appeared to him as if they had been designedly calculated to include, under two distinct heads, the grossest insults that could he offered tti :the Tridependence of any Coun. try. The first "pretension of which he had spoken, that of restraining the Liberty Of the Press, was nothing short of, claiming the right to didate to us to a point of Municipal Law, and to require that we should. .s.acrifice to the caprice of the First Consul, a known and important priVilege of nit Constitution, and model, at his pleasure, the jtilieial Proceedings and internal regulations of the Country.. The. second pretension, that respeaing I \ ?itt ConinteiCial Agents, rpanilysteci A as had been el. ready stated, an avowed determinat lee .... in defiance of ourformal refusal, Authorized Foils. saries into our Arsenals: rid Ports, in order to ere. pare in time of Peace e the most effectual meant fot beforehand, our annoyance andedeetruelion in time of War, Tilit was nothing less than to insist on our surrendering, Defence, and if the former claim. bad . st ruck. at the the right and the mean s of National liberty, this struck as direCily , at, the gloat eiletY of the Country. It was true, he b elieved and hoped, that the Commercial Agents had at length been , e . eithdrawn, upon the representation of His Ma: eesty's Ministers, but, as he had already state(' and lamented, it did not appear thet any div. avowal had been obtained of the principle en which they had been sent. The claim respeeling the Restraint' upon the Press; and the Expul sion of the Emigrants, had also been suspe nded for a time, in consequence of the unanswerable re p resentations in the Dierach before referred to —But the first part of this Claimhad since been expressly r evived ill ' the course of the late Negotiation.—At all events , he contended Jhat the circumstanc e of the First Consul having even suspended , it as h e did, ,aft forded a striking lesson of the benefit to be derived y from a loin and seasonable resistance —but that the fat of such pretentious having at a n y time beta urged whetter the wereersisted in or with dragwn)( must be rememberedp as the stronge st p rof of the.nature of 'the views which at e really enter" rained, and which be would unquest ionabl y aecolll4 plieh whenever he found it in his ',talker. l i e ° maintained, therefore, that all these Indigeities 'O.: Insults, of which he had before been speaking, on the C''',. as well as the, Encroachments a nd Violoirc" linens, must enter deel into our consideration, I'l, judging of the Character and ultimate Views set tion, Policy of our Enemy. They must tAecisivelY co n ' firm us in the resolution to employ without liesine when, in addition to theseprools of his geuer4 II; the most vigerous a nd determined resistanirt position, both towards this Country and tow' l ' . `• Europe, we found him ntnv engaged in that 14" P of dired and separate Hostility against ourselves, which had already been aegued. On all these grounds, he felt convinced that there never was an occasion on which it m ore e;t3'lY, became the indispensable duty of Parliament tore" cur with His Majesty in the Declaration o f the needs' sity and justice of the War in which we were eng4P ed, and to assure him of their firm and effedo al 'usiroPi, these assurarhces , port. But in giving h e tr that other Gentlemen felt impressed with the Orr o sense which he did, of-the awlul impotence 0 f rho Engagement into which they were preparing enter, and that they considered those assurenrth • nor as formal words of ceremony or custOot, b ur a 5 asoiemn and deliberate pledge on behalf of °lr . ' selves and the Nation whom they repres nr6 l knowing and feeling to their full 'extent the-re' difficulties and dangers of their situation, and of 1 0 ... arduous struggle which it compelled them to e r r :" dure, and being p re p ar ed to meet . n,,,, eiteicoloo and dangers with every exertion and ever y he which the unexampled cireumetanees of the til iv i -! er rendered indispensable for the public enferY. \‘,_ „e his own part, although he, co nsidered the . I , r ‘et a 'War of Neetssity, and one wh ich we cola le:. decline without surrendering both our Security. o ' , 1 .. our Honour, he should enter upon it of ultimate success, if these semiitients were ,0 1 deeply impressed on. the titieds of Par li .“ lne ' ‘„ o e the People, 'flie . scale o f otlf CNCrtiOtti zooid l. ne . be measured by those of 'former times, or (: . oi: lo t: oil t within the limits even of. the g reat, tout e on.: unexampled elforts.of the last War, fie ‘ v " " 3 „,t vinoed that some System far more Ivil'ar°llfoon't .tion for National Defence. effeCtual than any even then adoPted, would be , fa. necessary, both inFinance, and in the Pr e r: b , with little liniou made for . these two pr i mar y en d paramonnt ouia jetis, it would principally depend whether we ti c dio. On the prosri'i 4 ' s r obe effettually disconcert the favourite projea't ' l ' e ye, appoint the main hopes of the Enemy.. It 'l"' , e ,' built dent that if they indulged themselves In anY os pe'flation of success in the present Contest, i t ob i chiefly on the suppositi on 1/14t tilt), C , ~ either break the spirit, and sha ke the deitermi,er. don of the Country, by harassing us w` h I r bel o to Actual apprehension.of Descent upon nor —ri de r. or that they could impair our Resources, end on ,toil out Credit, by the effeEts of a n expensiee i 1x1:56 protratted Contest. To defeat the fire' L' , t t o Purposes, it was not, in his judgment, stalic'eleet make those Naval and Military Prep are tioesa ` ~,,, would prevent any Invasion that might be ati r l , : e e ed fronibeing ultimately succettsful (an cern' vi est he trusted he ,was justified, in common %with 4 ' i , t i ee in considering as uttetly impossible), but ' 4 ' ' L ie, Ilona' Defence, such vigorous and extensive Arrangement' 11 r t er complete Security against even the temporary 4 ,,,e pression to be produced, by such an atte° l l` l l, - ,sd as might taint a sense ef th e In io . might enable every Individual to lay down Iris tee. to rest, in the persuasion and confidence drat tee thing was omitted which could enable Os ' 4 aet t to meet and repel. the danger, at arty metne n '' in any qeatter, in which it might :threaten ''''',,, t of In order to disappoint the second objeete—tToese wearing out our Resources, he trusted t he l - i 00 would from tile beginning form its Syston ' wh i c h nance, not with a view only to the ENOe" c „ c _ to e ~ might be necessary in the first year of the Le c , b n e i t y but that 'they would look at once to the poso I tha;. of its being protraCted to as long'a period 3,s Co' which laeely was terminated —that they woulo ot, cider (oily what, on the probable Seale of the ar t would he the whole extent of the burthens necess to be imposed on that supposition. He wa s . ti P e n r s ; waded, th at it could only outset, means adequate to the whole extent o . L l .4 " tt. purposes, that we , could in file' p r event ow ta' ,1 ",,,,, amount of our Exnences Irons being- kliVrC' 111;4 he by providing. ; t , _,i nil}', and perhaps intolerably augretoedt t' i r ,i ., l „g. WC ;q uid ensure the bes t , chance either el `'r' conteusieet lie ing the. Co n test to a spe ed y 31,10. . conviricieg the Enemy of our sufficteeee to .„_,, tam it, or could meet its continued. I'-at rrpo.. 'if necessary, without the annual recurrence 0tie,,,,,i, ing and accetnulated einbarrassinents. .He 1 ori • wuolLit therefore, that His -Majesty's Ministere , I , e o U , o te ' their part, feel the necessity of brioging ')".iionee points under eonsideration with all ,ta c tic. eo t promptitude and dispatch, and that, if jtossto' : ' thot r oven a fortnight might 0c 6offertd t9,la,re ' , ,11 ~: