The Sun. — London, England, 1801-03-21 00:00:00

lents were now necessarily called for by eon,: siderations' of • greater and more pressing ianpor tance. On this view of the subject alone he must decide against such an Inquiry as proposed by the Noble Earl ; but he had still stronger objedions to the Inquiry, which, in the present circumstances of the Country„ was its dangerous tendency.— The Public were . always prone to imagine, and indeed- with much reason, that Intittirks- - of thib kiwi were instituted, not for any declared or ostensible reasons, but for something latent, or ‘from tuOtives which were kept concealed from the view:- He ‘vould.athnit that, with respet to' the state of Ireland, there. might be sOille• circum stances which called for Inquiry ; but fora that end • it was , by no means necessary to go. into a gene r 1 Inquiry into the State of the Nation a pro ,ceeding of thelatter_description would only tend - to instil fear and apprehension into the public mind, and at a moment when sensations of avery different nature should be infused into the People, It was not his intention.. then to touch upon'the afThirs.of Ireland--those may on a future day be regularly the subjefi of. a specific Motion; hut he could not avoid noticing a few points which fell front , the Noble Earl—And first, with regard to the condua. of this Country with respett to Neutral Nations.. He observed, that that Ques tion had been recently and %-ery ably discussed, par ticularl y on the -part of a 'Learned Lord then in his place. It was then decided, as it had been clearly • understood before, that this Country only exercis - ed her clear and incontrovertilale right as a - Be!. ligerent Power, and if there ever exasted any one period in its history more than apother, in which it was incumbent on this Country to assert its right, and to shew its energy and vigour, it eel... thinly.. was . the present. Such a spirit • most suc&ssfully . animated the People of Rome, wheri; the Carthaginians were triumphant in her territory after the Battle of Cannce, and in a similar kVay it behoved this Country to ad in her present • moment of difficulty. and peril. With resped to - the Noble Earl's idea off` the impolicy of ;Mi nisters in not ading vigorously at an earlier pc , - riod against Russia, and in their present projeded. attack upon the Danes„ he must beg to remind the Noble Earl of the respedive geographical.si tuationa of these Powers, and the difference which . existed with resped to • climates. At the period when the hostile and unjustifiable condud of Rus sia called for offensive operations on the part of this Country, the ice rendered all approach im pradicalee—that their Lordships must surely think •tv satisladory . refutation• of the Noble Eau's objection .. With ;Denmark, lying more to the South, the case. was somewhat ferctit ;.added to this, her situation at_ the trance of the Baltic, .I.eittiereti it necessary (con. , sidering the whole in the view of hostile opera. thin), to attack her first. If 20 or 3o of the - Danish. Vessels, could be 'secured in the first in stance, we could obviously ad with the greater ad vantage against Russia--it might be, however,. mnre, martoimons to • begin with Russia, and leave the. Danes, &1:e. in tile rear, but, - • ly, not quite so politic .or ..cure. To speak seriously, however, he trusted this Country - would always be found 'willing to assert, and able to maintain her rights, and on these grounds, not to dedine fair and honourable , War with any . Country.. Rectal-11z then to the-proposition of •.General Inquiry, es proposed - by the Noble Earl, -he proceeded to shew its impracticability:: t o carry that fully into tired,. it would be necessary to have some of the - leading :Austrian ~ Offieers at their bar ; for instance, the Generals.BELLEcAans and KRAY ; but the predicability of this was to be considered ;. perhaps their .Lordships' Summons on such an occasion would riot , every panetu, ally attended to. He should like himself to see these• Officers at the bar ; he could put some. curi ous qaestions to them with respect to -the Eve . ditions so • much dwelt upon by-,the Noble Earl. He must observe, that they were 'not to consider the • ostensible, as the real,or the only object of these ex peditions ; the gr.md object of them was to died di versions, and in as many different points as possi ble. Sy the attention upoteHolland the French were put to incalculable trouble and expellee, in marching Troops from :the Rhine. and the Interior to de.. fend thatquarter.:—.So fir-the objet} was gained, • by an important diversion in favour: of the Au strians. By the plan . adopted by Ministers for - the co-operation 'of ;this Country with. Austria, - the Enemy. was-obliged to keep up a large Army - at LiNendee, at - Belkisle; and • other places'on the Coast.' So much Force, therefore, was •neces„, sarily -taken from her Armies-on the Rhine. The 144,000 men lately sent out, kept the • whole of the Enemy's Coast from the 'i'exel to Cadiz in perpetual alarm and dread,- and prevented' - the Spatiaards frtim contributing their assistance to.: • wards- effecting' ambitious projeds of the Enemy. His -Grace .spoke-favourably of the Clutratter t and conduit of the different Officers who commanded - on these occasions, - deeming them to have roperly executed - their duty,' on the idea • that diversion was the grand übjett of the Cam. paign. • The measure of placing part of time Sol. diets, who 'were..sent Via in the Fleet, into our . • Garrison's in' those quarters, and' taking fresh Tioops from. Ocoee; for service ,in . Egypt, was . certainly a very judicious arrangement. ",‘The Earl of -SUFFOLK here rose, and appeared as irgo/ng to speak to Order; he, however, im mediately sat down, :and the - The Dale of - MONTROSE, proceeded. He • knew not, .he observed,! what the Noble Earl could possibly interrupt him for, exceptit was that he liad.spoken too -long, (a general. try 'of Hear 1 'Mar !) He should only however detain their Lordships to say,. that,- in t his mind, no solid •or adequate reason lied- , been assigned, which should induce 'the: House to go into the proposed Inquiry. . The Earl of , DARNLEY spoke shortly in expla. 11a - ion. ; . <Lord HOLLANb rose, and wosth some degree,, of ‘varinth commented ‘upon the Speech of the Noble Duke. The last. Speaker, he observed,' had indulged himself for the most part in a vein of pleasantry upon subjett of the most awful and serious importance ; _and indeed so) much had lie blended the ironical with the serious, that he was at a loss to /51./OW W hat Tarr or 1113 ZVercil was intended for - the one fir NV hat fir - the Other. 1-k had - -admitted dr the House had • a right to . inquire, but that se the present circarstarices that right should not be exercised—the tircum. stances lie hadsallawed to be awful and mermen. tous, and for that reason the causes. were not to be inquired into. This inference spoke for it. aelk sit-remiadedshias of, the. cot3utt of a gal lant Sea Officer, and a Member of that House (then no more), who had invented; a set of very useful arid' much Signals, -but whichi-in the moment of a&ion, when those-could be ren dered of essential sereice, he forbade the use of, them, saying to his Captain " My dear KEttt. re-Xvieut, we* shall have none of those Signals this day.'" , ---So with the Noble Duke and his 'Right of Inquiry, which he, now it might be of essential service, prohibits the exercise of. •But lie would ask, had their Lordships so soon forgotten the dreadful and calamitous War which had aggrandized the power of France beyond the wildest ambition even of its most sanguine Mo_ . narchs, and that during the whole course of it no one Inquiry: was suffered to take place, or attempt to express their diffidence in that Admi nistration'who had so miserably condutled it I For his part lie thought it more than ever necessary, in order to spew the People their real situation, and to evince to them that the doe - trine of blind . and implicit confidence could be no longer per - sisted in. With resist& to the Noble, Duke's comparison of this Country with antient Romei it' was pot ,altogether corm& ; to compare it to Carthage would have been more appropriate, par= ticalarly with a reference to the present dispute with the Northern Powers"; the Carthaginians at first said the Romans - .should' not be perinitted even to " wash their hands in the SicilianSeas-:- the War 7 engaged in in consequenCe, rendered that , . People odious to the whole world—and it would 'be recolleded that that War terminated in the tiestruClion of ,Cartliage.—With respeCt to those much talletti of Rights, he had his doubts, how far they obtained, at least he was certain that they. were exercised in a most impolitic manner, and one good ground for Inquiry was, the faCt that most of our Allies were:converted : into Enemies.. —His Lordship then adverted to .theeonduCt:of Administration, in rejeCting the Overtures..of Peace made by BONAPArr 6, • in . which .he took occasion to extol the moderation and-sincerity of the Enemy. Their conduct -also he seveiely ses probated in, refusing to -Mike a separate Peace with the Enemy after the Battle of Marengo, as well as io eecourigingAustria to persevere in the contest, after bet affairs were evidently despes. rate. His 'Lordship proceeded . to take notice of the late uosuecessful Expedition - to 'Ferrol. Oii this subject he thought it behoved the House to make Inquiry, ivhether this failure- was' to - be ascribed to the conduit of the Officers entrusted with its execution, or' to these who plaiined it ? For his part,- lie believed the blame would be found •tu attach on those. who planned it.—And , this he inferred, because every Expedition which 'had - been sent out from this Country had. proved equally unsuccessful. Nor could it be admitted as any sufficient apology for the Expedition to. i'errol, or any of our late Expeditions,' that at • the expiration of twelve or sixteen mouths they may at last have - arriVed' at Egypt. Passing from this, his. Lordship said it was an additional , motive for' their Lordships to agree to a Cont.'. mittee of Inquiry, as they had so much to en.' gage their attention with respect to the affairs of Ireland. - The late retirement of His Majesty's Ministers-Trom office, on whatever account,, he.. could not • but consider as, fortunate ; although, -unfortunately for the Country, 'they had left the" effeels - of their -Mal-administration behind." He therefore thought that it was a fit tubjed for the Inquiry of the House, whether or not the Mal. administration of the Country had proved -the cause of her misfortunes ? And if this should turn out to be the faCI, the House would be lousily called upon fora vote of censure and punishment. Under the late , Administration -the Constitution had been materially impaired : the only way to preserve the Constitution was - to restore it to its pristine purity. With regard to Ireland,-he con_. sidered that a system of Conciliation was abso-c lutely necessary' to be,observed, and the abolition of all odious • distinClions on aceounrofßeligion. He should not quarrel with any; be they whom they may, who should contribute-to the Catholic Emancipation ;. at the -same time, he- could place - no confidence in the.sincerity. of those who had opposed all conciliation with the Catholics foimer. ly ' and ifthere was any alteration in their views, he believed it . was the effed, not of On vidion, but of the battle of. Marengo. But if it- should. be found that the new Ministry were seriously,de.s termined to restore the blessings of Peace,.be de= dared this would very- much soften any opposi. Lion he might be disposed to make'to thefts.- In his opinions. the best pledge :they could give of their determination- to - - pursue Peace; would -be by voting for his Noble Friend's Motion.. • • The -Rail rf ' WESTMOIe AND, at cons siderable,:lerigth, and with great ability, -de fended 'the 'eonduet and sincerity of the late Ministers: He expressed his dislike at the term, " 'Catholic Emancipation.' -He considered this expression as little else than a watch-word for Treason and Rebellion: He.was surprized that there were any who dared to make use of stitch an; expression in Parliament, at - a .time when' the: Catholics of Ireland were' in possession 'of every privilege, excepting" that of sitting in Parliament, and of holding certain Public Offices. tWhat, ho would ask, did such persons Meall to do-?• before - they attempted'. td deitroy the System which the wisdom • of their ancestors , had esta.: blished, he would-ask, what. they meant to sub stitute, in lieu' of that- which they =wt. to destroy ? He begged of -those who talked in' this manner, - to consider, that in connection with what they called ,the Catholic Emancipation, was involved the Law of Settlement,- thesAEtiof To leration, and the Union' with : Set:Aland, all of . which would be more or less affected by, such' a measure.- He assured the House that thereas no pains which Government did not take to pre vent their being in any respect pledged to such a . measure ; but, as to what Oto Agents of Ciovern. :new, so called, might do,lhe•should say nothing. AVith regard to the events of the War, was true, there were some of them which had proved unsuccessful ; bat if the crews of former 'Wars were compared-with the present, he apprchhnded that there, would be no discredit by such a Coin parison. At any rate, no fair _argument could be drawn on this. account, agaiost s the s coodna s or ability of Administration. When the successes 'of Sowoito* and other Generals of our Allies had been Tecordetisshe had never heard, by the Op poers of Administration, of the inabilitypf the French GoVernment ; it was peculiarly% uncandid in them, .there to impute any . partial want of success to inability in the late•Administration.:L: - But he would not admit the fait which had been . assumed, that our Expeditions, generally speak, had failed. The , Expedition to Holland ; : - had in various, though not in all restieas, Sue ceeded ; and hough the Expeditions to Ferrol and,Cadiz, had nor ultimately proved 'successful,. • yet they had operated as seasonable sAivetsiOnS hi favour of Austria and Portugal. Upon the whole, his Lordship declared . :that he was not so much dissatisfied with the Expedition to Ferrol as many seemed to be. But it- had been said that our other Alliances • had proved unsuccessful. — This heconsidered as little else than a repetition of the old calumny, in which all such Continental Alliances had been vilified, and of the old, though unjust refletlion, that British blood and treasure had been sacrificed to Continental• Alliances. But if there had been a failttte ofout expeaations, it was to be attributed to events over which the Bri. tish Administration • could have no controul, to the timidity . andfluauation of Foreign Councils, • and to the policy of the. French in disuniting 'other Countries, and to their principles of insatiable con quest and ambition. With respect to the Northern Confederacy, his Lordship entered hut' s .; full examination of its principles, and a defence of His Majesty's Government in resisting them. He declared that 'not a desire of aggrandisement, but a regard-for the very existence, of England, had prevented. this Country froin acceding to this Confederacy. The principles of Maritime Law,' on which, this, Country Stefed, were avowed and to 'abandon a principle . .once avowed, he con. sidered to be worse than not 'avowing a principle' at all. France, he insisted, had ached upon prin ciples more injurious to the rights. of Neutral Powers than this Country had deine. She had, not only confiscated neutral property,,but neutral ships, 'having British property on board ; and from historic fans his ,Lordship. shewed how, the KING of ?Russia, • and • : the EMPEROR bad entered . into similar. engagements. His Lordship :also , stated the. avowed. principles; and cotidua'Of the• Court of SWeden ; and atter adverting. to His IVlajest's•leolty and . forbear- Slice, When he found the exertion of, a similar right, on his part, ecintradieted and opposed, by into NegotiatiOns of Amity with the Danes and Swedes, - he asked, what 'effecct had -this' lenity produced ?----Fresh Treaties had been en tered -into by these Powers with Russia, of an hostile nature to this Country._ The next ground which had been stated fur entering into Intittiry, was the Negotiation for P. ace, . which had been proposed by the Enemy the last year. in his opinion, if Ministers had not refused. entering into Negcrtiations, • under all the - circumstances that time,' they •would not have done their diity.. His lordship denied that any. offensive language. had been used by • Ministers upon that occasion. : No. relleaion which had• been thiown out upon. former Gossernments• •of France, could be . eon sidered as justly offensive to- -those who corn. plained of ',them. His Lordship said, be ;Con sidered the 'objet of, this -Motion for- Inquiry,. was to weaken the. efforts of Administration,' to. cause despondency, and to encourage the hopes of, -the , Enemy.: • For •what other , inference dould the Enemy draw from the adoptioli of this - Mo. tion for Inquiry, but that this CountryscOuld -not go on ? Would net:-: the--' Enemy be 'sled to say,,---."c the-House _of Lords :is hesitating—=-have but.a little rnOre'patienees Frenchmen, and Eng-. land is at your controul---England. will •givo - you back Martinique, esc." - But,, for his part,. he believed that vigototis Councils)- and well ap pointed Fleets, were: our best, Negotiators. He' denied that .any Noble•• Friend of his had led England into the. War ; but it . was• the good sense and. the alarni of the People of England, that called for War ; not but that they knew well the horrors of War, but even these they prefersad to the certain destruftiOn of Peace.. In. entering upon this War,- -his• .•Lordship„ said, we had -all Europe and. Justice on. our. side. It was true i that t ,bacl. pleased the, Almighty to eitablish the French Republic, and to permit"-the Con— tiriental -Nations .to be visited with insult and disgrace. But; he would ask, Were Ministers responsible, because some of the:Allies, lost to their own true interest, had joined the Enemy against the Confederates ?• Still'he would ask, at. what period had England :stood..prouder. as the assertor of its own rights, and-the defender of the Liberties of Europe .. England had:hitherto: prate:tied her; CoMmerce, her. Laws, her Religion, : and Constitution. Upon a subjea of this nature; it was necessary to; inquire,. nut only into what . ,England had paid, but what she. had preer'ved; and after having done this . , to'COllltaSl the Whole.. -with what France had suffered. If on such a principle we calculated our losses and gains, and compared them with those of -other Nations, we should be fottnd considerable &doers by the com. - parison. • •• . . • The Earl of. CARLISLE . thought that ar. Inquiry into the State . :of. the. Nation Was. proper and. necesSary. The Natioq was . plucea m peculiar circumstances of dit fi etiq and danger, in ..-which . much inforinatiOn .was requisite; and investigation Wantei His. Lordship -re remarked, that the mighty fabric' of Adminiitra. tion was departed horn.. •The - Countly:hardly, knew - :how or why the•late Administration liras removed; Our National . diflie.ultie3.'were'very great, and inTrwortiort • to the greatness (Won!. difficulties, tho Country wanted a .strong Admi nistration ; external enemies were uPon use b esides which, there were aU the inte- nor JJ -,anc,utes arising _ siOns, and ManuFaCturers our of employment.---: Were we then, his Lordship asked, to make the experiment of the talents and virtues of the new Administration ?—But with a view of going into a Committee, he begged leave to suggest.se veral Inquiries- -which it would be proper to make. His Lordship Said, he for one should whh,jo. Icpply,.. in the Committee of Inquiry, who it was that advised MAJESTY . to make the 'choice tie hall (loner' triFttiaVCoin 7tni ttee- he - WVuld - Wish al 6o to be informed...WlG it was, than had aciVised.kirs MAJESTY, in the first dawn of _his •Canvalescence; :to take such- zt material step .as. to plit'-new -7 tnen into high and rt- Lsgbnsibie Oitces'i ( -Aa' . vA ;'r -under such difficul ties, duringllts Ni A*,-si'v's illness, the common course slid not .cibt.iin g ,:_lo have rediurSe.. to the PRINCE- of WAvrtii ilkwvqwsk, of what dc .getiption were the new Administration formed, to entitle:them to hula; 4i:our in ale - eyes of . the People The . giiplipfterS the .Jate Nfinitry would lament to set this new Administration n o t going on • With the satte-vigotie. as the old. To :the moderate rarry, 'who was more inclined to Peace, - this Adininiktration could not be accep_ table from :heir elose.cOnnectido with Ahe old ; and they co'ild cxlpc.it liCtlfavOurlitomshose .‘‘ ho considered their inVtalitiency, compared with the old: ; "not, in his opinion; cm.ildany.depenihince tie placed on the sillspOl t which the old-Admini stration would continue to give to tilt new. On all these accounts; zrrtd conkidering the trying si tuation of the Country, Lordthip said; he should vote for the..ing:lirv, aktlinugh he §boul4 have been inclined to. oppose it, : on .the grounds on which it ktd.been oriciinally - introduced. Lord_Fi Ft ' said a few words, which we aid not I .. distindlY.hear. • • Lard SUFFOLK said, he would pot .take up much of -their . Lordships' time ingnlarging upon the Question before the House ; he would merely confine himself tO . . a few 'observations tTon the Military objejas of the late. ,ministration. The first point upon w hich his I..ordAiip _animadverted, :was the Expedition' to Holland. H then corn rnented upon the manner in which 111 C attempt uport - .Ferrol had been ecitiduded. He did not pretend to decide whether it' was or was not pradicable to take that place, .but upon that point he -thought 'the - opinion of the Chief Engl. neer. was one .entitled to the steateSt• respe&.— - .Something had•been:kaia abo')it the dilficulty of taking places, by. eSealade ; upon this subject he - wished to observe, `that in the American War al_ most every place that was taken was by escalade, and that' in the preseut War several places had 'Been taken in the - swine Manner. Having argued upOn these - points ; at sOrne length, _his Lordship concluded with giving his assent to,the Motion. Loid MOIR4 said, that .in the discussion' of the present questiOr, he dirt expel that the Mi nisters would have taken .an'opr?rtunity of ex plaining the situatioo• of . this Convy. His oh., jed was, not so much . to examine into the causes .• of cur foriner misfortunes ; as to inquire- how the evil under we at present LabOured 4.ePttitt lie retuttlied. in-his_opinion, the duty of that House Was, not to look hack tit thetirOeitt moment, bin to begin fromthis , dav to endeayour.to alleviate the situation of the C.ountry.. It. had been ;said, that the ebjed of the•-present 'Motion was to create :a kind of despair ;• but in his opi ' the grearest despair Was, Anti whi c h would not let a People look.aethe,ir situation, ap d .t h ei ." Tore he' wished to appose that kind of desper at i on (if he might use the expression) which. arose from people being . frightened. out of fear. His Lord ship then proceeded to comment -upon the man ner ,in which the Public Force of this Country had :been employed. ft had . been _said 'that it was right to employ a large port of our Forces in such a manner as to distract the at tention- of the - Enemy, and - to make it -necessary for thegi to be preparettin every' quarter ; but if that was Our. intention, Jr Would have been as completely answered if our Arniatneht had never sailed from ourports, because then France would • not have been able . tO'guess where.the 'ltuts -to fall, bat. by' sending the .Fleet to Ferrol, i t _sheaved and took of . .the apPrehetision which ;the that this Country had a specific objef, my might have for OtheFirarts.' the object} o f Ministert was .merely to, alarattlie•Enemy, it was not necessary to effect a landing; .because the mere appearinee 6( our Fleet npon the Coast would hare answered the purpose of effecting a diversion of their force.. If the whisk of the great Arniatnent which we had prepatea had ban employed its threatening the .'Southern Coasts of France, Bo:, NAPAtttit could mat have ventured to send so large a parr of his Forces into Italy, Which' ultimately ~ffeded, the conquest . that COuniry. - flat ,a Noble Lord said, that we were tow. called .upon for peculiar exertions, because we had all Eurolie fur.ourEnemy.., . if, .however,',3.t . was true 'that we were ,in. that, situa6oo,_ the Country : haA right to know how it happened that we had con.. Veiled these States who had been our Friends and Allies, into Enamic . s. ThCir; Lordships ha(' a right to ask, whether every met r os had been emiloyed to prevent this Country' from being placed in so un precedented a sit-nation. At was necessary toknoW what" Were the grounds upon which those State s, who had lately beCorne hostile to us, had aa.ed and, whether the objed' dislike was which, under our present cirCtunstineesi it would not have been - wise to havegiven up. He the n = called - tipotr their liordship • to Consider the di's t!-es3ed state preStu of - the NianufaCtUrevi, a nd the . re upon the Finances of this C.CLM. trY , • V.iL`h . tespca' to the 'present'Attrninistta , tion, Lord,..hip said - that it afforded thin .no gtounis foJiiip.: for 'Peace, .hocause it was not one absuhi to call uiOn Fram.e.to treat with and place I:tinficie:sfcc in, no Ads - 13'414 triftiOo,..that 'did not• CO. juy,,the.conftaene:e of , the Couirtcy Ove'r which it presided. • -The general opition that'pro" 'led in • Was, that though' Tile liersons were .no longer in Administrati , :!, yet - thesame. cities were uded•uporry and' that even if a Peace Werc..concluded, this Country' would not wish to maintain it, if under the exiSting•CiieUrnstancs•s it a ppeared mor e advantageous to break it.