The Sun. — London, England, 1814-05-11 00:00:00

IM PERI A L PARLIAMENT. TIOUSE OF LUPS, TIMMAY, MAY 10. Aecount .was, presented from the Custpm-House, bv Mr. Irving., of the quantity of Grain, of all sorts, imported' into Creat Britain since September last.---Ordered to lie on the Their Lordships adjourned for some time during-pleasure, entig at about- tire o'clock tlw Howie resumed. 'the skve Trade Shpt Bill was brought up from the Cam tnons„.l6(.l . re4d a. finit.t ;as were Otutober of Privat LITIEUTY. Did STANTIOPE adverted to lat two Bills before the House the one he described for the better protection of Poor and other Debtors, 1001 to.' pre vent Attornies from running np costs 1 11 , SIM I " daltS to an immense amount: , and the other for . ahol shin;,; the practice of Imprisonment for Debt on Mesne Process, and shortly glanced. at tiver leading features. His Lordship then gave niltice that he; bilObibt on . Thursday move the second read ing 0' the same, and moved thett the Lords he summoned that day. Tim, DUKE or WELLINGTON. • The Earl of ,LivEttpool, rre , voted iNlessage front his Royal Ilighoe,s il,e Prince Regent, which, being read in the usual way, ilyeared-.to the following effect : " Genitor: P. nyal lUghness ets , Prince Regent, oiling in the nanii and on the behalf of his Majesty, acquaints' trio Flonse of Lords, that having taken into his cimsideration the hoportantand sigma services performed by Field Marshal' the Dulie of Wellington, has thought proper to croace him a and Duke of .09 , United Ifdligilum of Great Britain. and Ireland, by the stile and title of Marcus of Donro and Duke of Wellington. And his Royal Highness being desirous, as a farther Mark of his sense of the great and extraordinary services or Field Marshal the Duke of Wellington, in his aiting the renOwn of the British:lllMS, in his repented, signal; and brilli int victories over the armies of the enemy; thereby. establishing tke - safety mud inilopendence of the kingdoms of Spain arid part.igal, andcont rilating so largely to the pre.. sent stitre of tranquillity in Europe, recommends it, there t;) the House of Lard's, to concur in measures necessary to snahle him to grant such Annuity to Field Marshal the . Duke of Wellington, and; he successors to thatAitle, as will enable them tOsuppor. the . high dignity so conferred, and at thisisamc time ta.peoye a lasting memorial of the feelings of his Royal !lightness, and to manifest the gratitude and mu nificence of the Notion." The Earl of Livraroot,titen moved, tile his Royal Highness's most gracions Message be taken iitro comideratioo -to-morrow, and the Lords sunnurined for that day.—Ordered. LOI: c:•S LYNEDOCK, HILL, ANT) BERESFORD. The Earl of LIVE roar, presented a Secant! Message from his Royal Highness, to the follow ing purport : " Geot►oc, P. R.—His Royal Highness the. Prince Regent, acting in the name and on the behalf of his Maje4ty, having Paken into his consideration the distinguished services per , formed by Thomas Lord Lyneduck, Lieutenant-General in his Majesty's Army, in the Course of the was' in the kingdoms of Spain and Portugal, and being desirous of conferring some ,s final Marl; of his favour and approbation on Thomas Lord Lynt‘lock, the two next proving heirs-n►ale to the said Ba rony, recommend* it to the House of Lords to concur in mea sures necessary to ennhle his Royal Highness to carry into ef fect such an important purpose." R0y..1 Message , to the like effect mere also de livered by the Noble Kiri in the cases of Liente nant-Generals Moorland Lord Hill, and William Garr Lord Ilereslord, and which were, with the foregoing., serei:illy ordered to be taken into con. sideration to-morrow. CES :lON OP ,NOTM4Y. The Order upon which their Lordships Were Button - hued heir.g read, Lord Gag If said, the slatjeet . to which he had to call their Lordships' ,most Set ions and deliberate attcution, was one of the greatest magnitude and importance that ever came under the consideration of a 11; itishParliament. It involved the funda mental principles, not only of national policy, but ofruoral and political justice. They would have dreide upon a subject implicating the national r i g ht s o f the people of Norway, and even the very existence of that country as a nation. It was the Cause of people wh.o were known to this Country only by their inoffensive character—by their me ritorious pursuits of industry—by an interchange of good offices; a people, a connection with whom was- peculiarly desirable to Great Britain, who hind shewn" every disposition to improve the con nection, by extending their amicable and commer cial relation's with its. Betore he entered intc 4 th e subject, %illicit he had more directly. to press to their Lordships' eonsitleration, he would call their attention to the Treaty with Sweden, which was :last year laid before the House. Of the prominent it stipulations id that. Treaty he remained unalter ably in the sentiments which he had on a former Occasion expressed upon it, and felt still con vinced, that British policy never sustained a greater shock, nor the British character a deeper stiog, than it' received from the stipulations of that Treaty. Still, howevtw, in what he Was :lballt to rocommend, it, was tar from his intention to urge any thing ineonsisent with the good faith. and ho . of the country, in the fulfilment of: Treaty to which they had heen deliberately, and solemnly pledged, it it could be shown, by a fair construc tion of the Swedish Treaty, that we were hound, under the circumstances, to assist that Power in reducing Norway to its doMinion ray force, con sistently with good faith and ti e true o f I principles ,Hational justice. And in this view of the subject, what he had to submit to the House would re- ferpincipally to fair consideration.—First, whe tiler, under a fair constriteti,m of the,Articles.of the Swedish Treaty, we bad contr act ed each tin obligation as must he contended for, t o juit ify t h e measures now taken by his Majes-ty'a Cloven ] . ment.,---Secondly, whether such an obligation cah be maintained according to the principles of the law of nations, and according to all the acknow ledgedaiithorities upon that siihj titer the Ki,ng of Sweden, by a faithful perfotm n oce of his part of the contract , has entitled 14iinself it?eall upon this country to fl”iSt hiln by its truce in attaining the object in question. ,Ault lastly, whether sound policy, or the trne interests of Great Britain, would jtistify the course of inea *tires now. adopting. On each of ttlese heads the Noble Earl expatiated at great length (hut our 'very confined limits restrict us to a bile( notice of soots of the principal points). De ro tended Warmly, that by a fair construction, and in which he was tile more founded by the explanations given by its framers cm a former occasion, we had not contracted sncli an obligation as called upon its to go the length of blockading the ports of Norway. =-Arlverting to the intervening circum stances, 'be argued the extent of our obligations went 0111 , 1 to the ciindliet of Denmark with re ,spect . to the cession, and not to 'aissist in'coercing tag: people of Not-wily to submit to a foreign domi nation, to a hick they were adverse. Such a line of 'conlitict may• be %variant ed by the Treaty be tween Sweden and Russia upon the subject, hilt not by that between the former Power and this Country; the pei k ceable possessieikofNorwaywas not ginuatiteed, by any fair reasoning it could not ,he contended that we a ere hound t , * such a gun , rantee. By the Treaty wi:h Denmark, concluded iri January last. it ‘taoild appear that the cession of NOrtViiy by Denmark %v.'s allowed to have !wen madeas far as it waswas•in the power of the latter so to do. "And tinder that cession we have etrin-pletely fidtilled, on our part, the relevant obliga tion in our Treaty with Sweden ; it was only in case of the refusal 'of Denmark to agree to the cession that the force of this country was to be employeth This was clear front fair construc tion of •the Treaty; and were it . doubtful 7 ---were the alternative between the performance of a law ful and an unlawful act,- 7 the preference was un qaestionably to be accorded to the former. It was, in . tpiestions of national law and justice, pre cisely as in private and inviolate cases : Contraete militating against the acknowledged principles of ntoral justice told good faith, were void ab' initia. After arguing these points at some length, his Lordship adverted to the question of right as inherent in Sovereigns, o alieriate or transfer ia tegral parts of their &minibus to other Powers., In this part of his disenssion, he referred copi ously, and read a variety of extracts from tile Writings of Crotins, Pidendorff, Vette!, upon the subject, and argued principally from those tau thoritit's, that no such right was held, accOrding to the sound principles of the law of nations, to vest id Sovereigns. , On those principles, Den mark may have the right to cede its rights as a Sovereign to absolve the people of Norway from their allegiance ; but not to transfer the country,. US a patrimonial right, or one of property, to ano titer Power. Such a right was not held to vest even in the most absolute Monarchs, even in the - SoVereign of Turkey. 7He regarded the distinc-' tion hold by some of these publicistes, between patrimonial and non-patrimonial rights, as futile ; alit a short examination into the History of Norway (at which he glanced) would, he said, ,shew that ' it was not a patrimonial kingdom in the sense of the word content-. plated by these writers. Its change in 1660, front a 111;xed to are absolute monarchy, unit... ed with that of Denmark, made a difirence only in the fOrm of Administration, but nti dif-, ferance in the essential rights of the Sovereign ; consequently, taking it .even that point of view, we could not be called upon to compel the Sovereign of Denmark to do that which he had no right to do. He assimilated the case to the' hypothetical one of the Emperor of Austria tempting to transfer his Sovereignty over Bohe mia or Hungary to, some other Power, or to such a proceeding on the part of this Country with respect to, Iceland, Could any man hold that the people in such, cases would not be justified, in re sisting such an attempt, or that the good wishes of every true friend to liberty and the true prin. ciples of national justice would not attend their efforts ? He referred to some instances in the his tory of this Country, with respect to the early English dcminions in France, ill which territorial transfers were made, and . where such were resis-.. ed on the part of the people, particularly in the reign of Richard 11, The case of the,long resist auce of the people of Corsican to Vrench domina tion wakalso adYerted to, and which he deemed to be a case exactly in point with that in question ; but the Noble Earl principally dwelt on the transactions respecting Scotland in the reign of Edward the First,'who had obtained a reintinera-' tion front Baliol of his claims. This he deemed, in a great degree, similar to the recent occurrences in Spain. lie applatidegl,the heroic resistance made by the patriot Wallace to the aggressive conduct of the English Monarch, arid pronounced the con demnation and execution rat the Skittish Chieftain an indelible stain on.the.charaeter of that other wise great Prince. Het:m.lllT then to the topies more. immediately under consideration, he ad verted to the question, whether the King of Swe.;. den had, by a faithful execution of the obligations he had contiacted; entitled hiasell . to 'call upon us for the farther performance of ours ; and, in consideriog this point, be should have first to glance at the conduct of one of the MibiAterialPf ficers, as not having dealt tagentioosly and fairly. The paper which had been proiNced was dattMfront the korcign Mice, 60 May, lifit4„ stating, that a dispatch had been received from Ed.Thornton,Esq. 6th June, 181:3, from which it appeared that the . number of Swedish .troops then in the. field borne what exceeded 30 thousand, besides some smaller coops, parties of recruits, and front the landwher. —The Noble Lord said, that he really expected something more specific than this'. Ile did main tain that, the neglect in this instance was, highly 'criminal. Positive information was what 'he wanted, and ahat he did not get. There was no reason for ,this that he could assign, except that Ministers were afraid that, if the information which he wanted had been given, a strong case of .neglect (as lie strongly suspected there was) would have been made out against Sweden. It) short, , that it would have appeared that, h av i ng been paid up the whole amount of subsidy, Swe den had not faithfully fulfilled the .obligations which by the,Treaty she had incurred. Fork sure ly, it could not be thought that our Ministers, Mr. Thornton and Sir. Charles Stewart; had been so deficient in their duty, as not to have been in 'possession of such information as he had required, and to : have. transmitted it to the Pritiah Government at home. In his opinion, the Crown Prince of Sweden had been guilty ,of a neglect of his duty. Could' that gallant veteran Field Marshal Blocher be examined on this subject, he was convinced. that be would 'give evidence to this effect. indeed, there 114 , • bests complaints, strong complaints, against hie Crown Prince of Sweden, between the termi nation of the armistice and the battle ,of Leip , sic. Subsequently to time battle of Leipsic, he would ask Mott the Swedish Prince hail done, what movement he had made, romlncive to the genetal interests of the Confederation ?—Not one. --No; he had first moved :Upon flaitover, and then away towards the frontiers of Denmark, where the only operations which he-carried on, or could carry on any operation, connected with the general intere;:ts'of Ehrope, but merely with the views of Sweden twainst Denmark, for ob taining Norway.. On the I , lth January Pie treaty between Denmark and Sweden bad been -Con eluded,' by whi , h tlie former ceded Norway to the latter. On the 16111 of February, it appeared that the Crown Prince had . penetrated as far as Liege. Still no movement was made ley him to cu-operate in the operations of the Allies. fart, so palpable was his failure in this respect, that at Liege, on the 16th April, where he remain , ed till that tittle, there was a kind of lame exposi ' tion published in the public Journal of thstt town, 'emanating doubtless from . the Crown Prince him self, in which was set forth an explanation of his 'seeming inactivity. It was said in this paper that no Swedish Min stet had beets invited to the Con gress at Chatillon, and that not‘vithstanding the remonstrances of the Crown Prince, no Swedish Plenipotentiary had been allowed to attend there. was assigued as the cause of his inactivity, and this was published. When ? On the 16th of April ; after Paris had been in possession of the Allies,; sixteen, days ,after the battle of Mont i Martre. It was a mockery to say th a t S w ed en h a d fulfilled her oblikations. There was ample proof of her failure ; but if it were doubtful, there:was need of explanation. Apia, he said, we had not, and could 'not have,, any moral right to agree ' to such a treaty ; and if we had a right, we' were absolved from its stipulations by the negligent conduct, of Sweden. Farther on this point it wes quite needless for him to insist, Ile would now proceed 10 show that all the principles of true policy were against such a measure. He remembered that, when this point had been "ori ginally discussed, a Noble Earl opposite (Lord Liverpool) had contended, that the true Italie) , of Great Britain was to have Norway united to SWe den, as such an [mina would secure toils the va, 7 . Inable trade ot Norway. This argument had been ably answered by a Noble Friend ot his, who had justly mairtained that Seyeden was, by her natu ral interests, ,connected with France, and op, posed to Russia, and that Russia was a country to which Great Britain was netached by the binding connection of reciprocal trading advan tages. Although by the restoration of the an cient Dynasty of France., We might look forward to a long peace, those were 'shallow politi cians who thought that any thing had happened to destroy that rivelship, which would of necessity exist between Great Britain and France. He hoped that Ministersiwould do every thing in their power to conciliate the minds•of the.people of France to A GoVernment introduced under such extraordinary circumstances ; and that they would be aware of the mischief that was to be nitre !tended from the idea that the restoration of the ancient dynasty was the effect of conquest. As to the' effect which would be produced upon the commerce of Great Britain by the union of Norway with .Sweden, his sentiments had nevef , changed. Indeed he doubted much' whether it would not have been best for the interests of Great Britain that Norway should have been erected into an independent state. The spirit mani fested by the Norwegians, in ,particular, inclined hint to this opinion. Viewing, however, the ques lion as one of policy connected. with justice, it was the duty of Parliament to interfere,' and to implore his Royal Highness the Prince Regent to take Off the blockade from the ports of Norway. Ile was 'aware that it had been contended that the cession of Denmark had been merely nominal ; and that it was not Norway that resisted, but merely a faction instigated . by. Denmark. This was a ease within possibility, but it required strong proof. He was instructed to deny that there, were any Danish troops assisting the Nor-, wegians. Norway was entirely garrisoned by Nor- svegian troops, under Norwegian Conmtanders. Since the, cession of their country by Denmark, they had renounced their allegiance to the D , Enish Monarch, and , had prepared to assert their inde pendence With the last drop of their , bloode But if it was true that the resistance WBB merely the partial One of , a Danish faction, the mea sure of blockading the ports of Norway was neither necessiwy nor jost. It wis employ ing serious means to quell that which, of neces sity, would be soon pure!) end to, and was pu nishing a 'whole nation for the offence of a few individuals. If the resistance, however, was made by the people of Norway, be had ..already de scribed the odious character which would ot ne cessity attach to such a measure as a bloCkatle, on the part of Great Britain. If De nma rk had really (holy " kept the word of promise to the ear, but broke it to the sense," it was against her and not against Norway that Onr.foree Should be directed, He knew that it had been said that the people of Norway, by an, anion with Sweden, would he de livered from a despotic Government, and haVe the .benefits of a Free Constitution. It was enough to know that the people of Norway did not like this offer.' It will not for Great Britain to ire tend to know what was for the good and happi ness of the people of Norway better than them,- selves. He denied, however, that the people Of Norway" had been despotically governed tinder Denmark. But if tf.!..y had, they, might say, in the words of the Poet, ---------" Better emlure-the ills we Intve, Than siy, to:others that we linnw not of." He would conclude that policy decided against , the measure which the British Government had adopted. It would he unpardonable if he sat down without alluding to the similarity of the case of the people of Norway to that of the Spaniards. Ferdinand VII. had abdicated his, throne. If lie had no right to do so, neither had the King of Denmark to abdicate his right to Norway. It would he said that Ferdinand haul been compelled. Had the King of Denmark ceded Norway rarity ? No than could say he haul. The question, as to the two nations, rested on precisely the same foundation. Lastly, as to the negociations which it Lad teen Enid were going on respTcting way. If any thing deserving the name of pegccia lion on this sul,ject had been going 09, he %rang have abstained from troubling their Lorikhips that rime ; but when be learned that these neg.° eiations were on jcooditions highly iiljoriooS the rights of the Norwegians as a people, it' tea his duty to disregard then). Alluding IA" Pe r "P who bad come from Norway as an Age,tt, the Nobli •Earl tint this person had expressed his'ino, anxious ‘vkli that he should persevere itr hriligin; on hi!, motion s.and l it tray the moi l : earnest ...lesir( .• of tHe people of Norway that the Aritish sho•tid know their case; adding . , that they well all determined to a man to perish rather than soh , wit to the dominion of Sweden. did not wisl: to involve Great Britain in Any dispine .on solijeet with Sweden or Russia. It the question waS.whether we should interfere, he did say that let who ivould Maintain the contrary, he won1;1 he one to contend that our active interference 01 behalf of a people -under such cireunistancts ‘v B3 perfectly justifiAle. But all that he should nowf te p ic. r : a ell y sctii f t dw by i o e y 'r h e l g m't a i i 7 l b u o i t i ' ib t ;l e e l i o h c h k .e a s ( , l e. toIJe his Royal Highness file Prince 'Regent, humbly re on buffo( the inoffensive people of Norway, .between t t g h ) Government starving t toeir:s.eureb t ) abhor . ed ; ,and ice the mean time to susend all acts of 1)0'01'1 against Norway, and p articularly to take Off the blockade. Earl Hanaowtot felt the difficulty of addressing their Lordships, after the eloquent speech whisk tl'Y bad heard and to oppose himself to the authorities which had been quoted by the N oble Earl. But if he 'could only persuade their Lord' ship* to suspend their judgment, and not to be entirely swayed by,the eloquence and the anth°' cities of that Noble Earl, and to be actuated in their decision by a little irractical COIIIIIIOII sense, lie would not find it ilifhcolt to shew why they ought not to agree to an act of such tinnsnal in terference, as that of addressing the (2(0'0 if► the way just proposed. Following the order of the Noble Earl, he would first make a feW ob ervations on the construction which was tO be put upon' the Treaty • with Sweden. 'file Nqlti e Earl had contended, that by procuring for kSwe den the nominal cession of Norway we. had done all that •we were in good taint PCillnd to do. If the very wo'rdS . of the 'l'ee'ch) , _or& Ilarrowl9l Went no farther than this, lie if , confessed he could not - think that " taint by 0006. act quite up to what wis require(' me by doing uo wore. Dot he would refer the IN4 His Britawn Karl to the words of the 'tre aty. by . Milao: Majesty his go o d id boundttli,cteos r(:).cr,utriiti.,Nince:r,c:i•sitisyabie.ty(Z‘bvittelte:nr)..; ploying his naval co, r opei a every y ls a s t t t a e l i c; t d i o that n t tills K'as to he n it would be admitted that we were bound to pro peiipli ted of the territory. toutl of Norway. If then it was admit c at the cOl'r o: rtehseoln:i:etahtiya n m t o v Happiness dte : i ' e a S tot 1 1: lucked,'' the words of tl'erl'~ccs were so explicit on this point, that sarY for to detain their bordshipg 0 ° of the *object. 'the Nobe Earl had ins.isted Itsvoa hoi strongly ,on, the guaranteed.the perpetual possession of Nor" . - .. „, 1 . Swetleir ; and Great Britain not having eng„ . ` l • o ',.. to such's guarantee, The guarantee to one ( . 11 , e t I ‘ . . y er of been the ther perpetual l y of possessi on tt]i eoi of l t a r l y n")t i l ( i ) e - -nr ' W ° , 11 . t11 : 1 1 : : much,as possible. In the instance Of the ' in qiiestion, it had been avoided. It really du l ( ll . e nt , seem to him that -the .Noble Earl had succee . l o n s in persuading their Lordships that the stiptdat i ,",_ t ho . t . of the Treaty could not be complied %vita, out violating public justice. He had nuked tl,v"out said, that they did not live in times when not fashionable to refer to old authorities foot confirmation .of their sentiments. For d part, he woulcl•refer to those works whirl' 1/3 been quoted by the Noble Earl , wi th much ol 0C tt . " spect for their authority, and a due sense 0f usefulness. His belief in their infallibility , • ever, was limited. Ile would only deem thent,o fallible as true eatholics thought the Popp.' be was sopported by the universal .sentiinentrils the Church. But what was the case ? Fiv e " du , Noble Earl himself- had not 'treated ill' . ' o f tootliorities with Ie n p l a u i c t l i i e r H e li s t p ri e y ct alluded rtstitii6lec part where the propriety, ;of patrimouiat.sove:el it:thttilyneitt:ill:at,ir:pleploinas opposition of other authors on'the subject of inl S „icleS o i, The Noble E)trl ht vereignty and the right o f alienation as r x i v h f o or t t h it r i n e i c g l himselftile,f (5 t )(1) - 1_, and yet : in another part of his work, t. ll , kin t-id the sovereignty of a town or province, 3 i c adopted the very distipction which he hall i 3\704 other place c'ensured. Althotigh, theretore, adie u tel, an authority justly 'esteemed great 0 1 ' s b i l l . h o j a e d c l t y s , i d a i y d , d ‘ , ‘; , l v i e n re e , the p N r O i ri b c l e o r o d o y vv )p i t o c c t i l r t :: !( e i t Noble Earl, had . founded his argument , C l Y' r ls the authori lose all its force by its after` t l` o l stating thing quite inconsistent with %villa It;,it. l o ) t e i fo ti ' i e e ri l l ke a n i Tr a a i l n n c a ti t . iir l e je o t f f a l :Tr i T r r i e tt a ' t r i t e is s il : P t sl " (7l"‘.l°'% e ill Perhapsfind them in many, i in Ctery tii :' drpartini; from the hil ! le s authors who treated of Nativt►y.-- The Treaty of Utrecht, :among others, v" r c i ( i ' o ,.: t xtremely' nice dr rt tire..tion bet territories could ion. 1 7 " c" transferred ;, Sicily had been 'again awl short, historytransferred i ,d a i p o l i e ti s ide h r ‘ l vit h f e l e i ' n i st i Ze s s re o rtt:.l:B:. fermices of this kind. The question th e" tvas n rc ii itutti ct ais to flit nand" of tsttlidnael:::ione:eottli tolg„; in which the. cewoll Inti~►n. But fire ins The Noble Earl lead ruche pett►tancs* nn of ate integral part Lord Chatham respecting America. ? The e'r! C : ween 'the coosfsfilt:eler:iLf"a:l7tyle meanscited y apit:liierfaNbi,e)h.leNE;tninltiand:Zenliabo‘eletilialril s:I; vereign had any riuht to tran,,:lcr the t i Vt34l ( nratintry fluor Whin'. lip it WAS