The Sun. — London, England, 1801-03-26 00:00:00

NUMBER 2656.1 IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT. HOUSE OF PEERS; WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25. , Lord WALPOLE, Of Wo9LT ER TON was introduced with the accustomed formalities, as Baron NN; A I.POLE, Of Walpole, swum and took his scat. His Lordship's supporters were Lords BOSTON and BA•YNING. The Bills before the House were forwarded in their retinc tive stages. Three Private Bills were brought tip from the Commons, and severally read a first time. Some routine business was disposed of; after which their Lordship's postponed those Orders which stood for to-mor row till. Friday—to which day the House adjourned. HOUSE OF COMMONS. ViDNESDAY, MARCH 25. Sir W. Sc6rr and several other Members were sworn, and took their Seats. The. Bill for encouraging the growth of Potatoes was reported, and ordered to be read a third time to-morrow. Mr. jortss.rostz gave notice, that after the Easter Holidays it was his intention to make a Motion relative to His Majesty's Vice-Admiralty Courts, in the Plantations. The Report of the-Committee was brought up on the Scotch Molasses Distillery Bill*. Mr. CORRY moved, that there be laid before the 1-louse, Accounts of the Receipt and Expenditure of the Irisb.Tieasury from Lady-Day ,4799, to Lady- Day !Soo ; also, for an Account sliming how the Minty given for the Service of the year 1800, had been disposed of. : These Accounts were presented by the proper Officers aecofdingiy. IRISH BUDGET. Mr: CARRY gave Notice, that it was found ex. Bent to. postpone the bringing forward Resolu tions respecting the Ways and Means of Ireland, froth Friday to Monday next. . ' Sir W. PuLTENEY brought up the Bill for lessen the Burden of the Poor-Rates, by encouraging the raising of Potatoes on the Wheat Follows, dur ing:the Sumdler Season; the Bill was read the first `time, and ordered to be read a second time to. 'morrow; STATE OF THE NATION. - - - "Mr. GREY said, he rose pursuant to the notice he had already given of bringing forward a Motion, to ''whieh he, trusted the House would agree , f or its resol v.. itseltinto a Committee to consider of the State ` - of the Nation. - He was sensible, that under present circumstances, he had undertaken an arduous task, for, when Motions of this nature were made,- which here generally done in cases of public emergency, it .Itad been usual for the person who brought them for ward, to take a comprehensive view of all the -cir cumstanees' which had conduced to render such an 16'0 4 0Y iieefiSNer Agreeably vi this usage, be felt =that it -would"he incumbent upon him to state to 'the House 'as reasons for going into the proposed In q uire, die -necessity of investigating the conduft . o f t he War; the relations which this Country stood in with respect to Foreign Powers, and also the 'lnternal State of the Country.—From the view which he was led to take of each of these, he must say, that the Country appearTd to him to be in a situa tion dangerous and alarming ; at the-same time that :411 these present circumstances of di ffi culty and em_ barrassiuent pressed upon the immediate and serious - attention of the House. To enter upon so wide a field of discussion would doubtless have discouraged him, were it not that he trusted that the general feeling of the difficulties in which the Country was placed, would serve to supply those deficiencies of argu. tient and abilities, which would be too apparent in the Speech with which it would be necessary for .him to trouble the House upon the present occasion. If it had been the pradice, in the present times, of the Constitution, to institute Committees of In quiry in times of national difficulty, nothing more, he apprehended, could be necessary to ensure the puccess of the Motion he should have the honour to snake, than merely to state general circumstances. He was free to confess that, of late years, a ll TV tions of this kind had been uniformly rejeded. Nor was it from a wish of advancing any thing unplea_ sant for the House to hear, that he was obliged to remind them, that the present was the first War in which no Inquiry had been made. He conjured the House seriously to reiled, whether this negled of Inquiry might not have been one cause which had contributed to the dangers of the present moment. They had been told, that to institute Inquiry, was to express a doubt of the propriety of the measures - which had been adopted, and that, if those with whom he generally • aEled, had any thing to state, .; that this might be made the subjea of separate and -• distill& Inquiry. But this was an argument at variance with the general pra&ice of the House, with public duty and convenience. If there was a man present, who, upon a deliberate survey of National Events, since the commencement of this War, would say, that he entertained no doubt of • the wisdom which dilated all the Measures of the late Administration, of the economy which per vaded their management of the Finances, of their ability in the prosecution of the War, and of the Propri ety -. of their conduEl as it respected the rela tions of this Country with Foreign Powers, he de clared he should he disposed to wave his intended N . lotion, and to d ec li ne . those arguments to which it would be necessary to resort in support of it. But there was one general mode of evading Ques tions of this nature, to which he found it necessary, to adveit. It had not been unusual for a sort of Ap peal to be made to Gentlemen on his side of the House.--A call for Unanimity had been resorted . to, and, by way of evading Inquiry, it had been said, " let us not inflame animosities ; retrospea is useless ; let us wily study how we may provide for future exigencies." But he could not consent to such doftrine ; in Politics, as well as in Morals, he believed it would be found that there was no surer way of avoiding future error, than by an acknow ledgment of past mistakes ; 'for without such an ac knowledgment, we should be in perpetual danger of relapsing into fresh difficulties. He begged the House to recoiled that this Country was now en gaged in the ninth year of War against France ; and that we were now threatened with being involved in a War with all the Maritime Powers of Europe.— During this period there had accrued an increase of 270 Millions of National Debt, and an increased Taxation of 17`Millions, whilst at the present mo ment this Country found itself opposed to France, enlarged in power, in influence, and in extent of territory beyond any other period in the days of her Monarchy ; at the same time that she found herself more or less supported by the other Powers of Europe. Was it not then incumbent upon the House to inquire into the Causes which had pro duce& such a situation as this Country was in at present, as ,well as respe&ing the means by which Security might be obtained, against recurring in future to such measures as had produced our present embarrassment ? Every consideration derived from the foreign and internal situation of the Country, particularly of Ireland, called upon the House to institute an Inquiry. He now saw a Right Hon. Gentleman, on the other side of the House, who, whilst in Office, had always professed himself anxi ous for inquiry into the condua of himself, and his Colleagues in Administration, who hid declared himself; at all times, ready to meet investigation into every year, every month, every week, of the condua of the War. That hour was now milted. He should, therefore, give him to-night an oppor tunity of proving his sincerity on that subjeEt, and if he continued as anxious for - Inquiry, as he pro fessed to be, in order that his conduct might be cleared, he would then tell the Right Hon. Gentle man, that the conduft which bad been complained of, might now be fairly investigated. In a Committee of Inquiry instances of mismanagement, in the late Administration, might be made the subjeft of subs stantlve and distinEt Motions. Hitherto, in every • Motion of this nature which had been brought forward, it had been !net by that Right Ho nourable Gentleman, with broad and unqualifi ed assertions, that the War had been eminent ly successful. The only justifiable objet of the War now was, the attainment of a safe and honourable Peace ; but what he wanted to know was, why this objet had not been uniformly pursued ? Comparing the motives which led this Country originally into the War, with its present situation, he challenged any man to prove, that the War had been successful. But not only in this ge neral view of the War it coeld not be deemed suc eessfuT, but it would be found in the detail-of oar military operations that it had proved eminently unsuccessful. If this were stated to be a successful War, he should like to know what would have been an unsuccessful one ? And if vidory was of such a nature, what then would have been a defeat ?"This Country went to war for the professed objeEt of preventing the aggrandizement of France. But had it succeeded in this ? Partial instances of success might be quote:ll ; but he would say, that the se parate successes of the War formed no sufficient balance against the losses which the War was under. taken to prevent. He could not but think that in these respeas the measures of the late Administration were highly impolitic with respedt to the principles upon which they had entered upon Hostilities, as well as in the prosecution of the Contest. It might be said, that we had gained possessions in the East and West-Indies ; but every Measure which had been taken for that purpose, 'was so much a depar ture from the principal objed of the War, which was to prevent the aggrandizement of France in Europe, and the extindion of Faction. Whilst we had been pursuing these successes abroad, France had gained a complete ascendancy on the Continent, and had laid all her Enemies at her feet. She was now not only left in possession of all which she had at the beginning of the War, but had likewise ac quired such an extension of territory, as even the wildest ambition of Louts XlVth could not have dreamt of; nor could it be denied that we were ready to give up to France all her . new extended Empire for the sake of obtaining Peace. ShoUld the Motion for a Committee be agreed to, what he meant was, to follow the Rt. Hon. Gentleman into a detail of military operations. It had been well expressed upon a former Debate, that from the Texel to the Mediterranean, and as far as Cape Gatta, there was hardly a shore that had not wit. nessed the disgraces of the British Army. He might enumerate the unsuccessful attempt against Dunkirk—the retreat through, and evacuation of Holland, of Corsica, and Toulon—also the dis graceful and wicked Expedition to Quiberon, &c. But, oh the present occasion, he should confine him self to the more recent operations of the War.--L About four years ago, an additional internal Force of an hundred thousand men had been raised for the Defence of the Country, against a threatened Invasion ; but when, by the turn of affairs in Europe, that danger subsided, this de fen'sive' force was converted into a disposeable one for the purpose of attacking the Enemy. That at tack took place in Holland. But, in his opinion, never was there a more impolitic attempt to put an end to the War in Europe. If. that fruitless and disgraceful Expedition did not demand Inquiry, none could ; for the result was, that our Army had ca pitulated, and purchased its ransom to return. — Here there must have been a disgraceful failure either of the original plan, or of the execution of it, which deserved to be inquired into.—At the end of that Campaign, this disposeable Force H. • r " / 2 ; , . 444 A' 7 - - , re r•"t " -4 qi‘o ••••-\%., 7 / 4 MIA " 10, THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 1801. was augmented by the remains of the SuppThmen_ tary Militia, for die purpose of assisting our Allies in making an attack upon France. With the remainder of the Holland Army, and the Surplus of the Supplementary Militia, with a great disptise _ . able FOice, what did the War Minister do ? When the First Consul of France made aProposition for PeaCe, they were told, that nothing could pre vent the ruin of the French Armies, but Our making an impolitic Peace ; that nothing but vi gour was wanted o►: the part of Britain, of rendering the Campaign completely successful, and for that suc._ cuss the War Minister would hardly allow a doubt. But what did Ministers do ? No attempt was made with that large force given them till the Armies of France had penetrated into the heart of Germany, and had obtained the decisive Battle of Marengo.— It was alter this that General ABERCROMBY all. peared off Genoa ; and afterwards, when it was too late to do any thing against France, an Expedition was undertaken against the coast of Spain. But in spite , of.,every thing which had.been said in that House, by the General who commanded, he must consider the Expedition to Ferrol as 'disgraceful, and still more so, that which was attempted against Cadiz. Previous to that attempk, he believed Ministers well knew of the Plague whi'ch'then pre vailed ; but they did not abandon it on this account. He wished to know why two great Armies - against Ferrol and Cadiz did not succeed, and on what grou►►d the late Ministers had proceeded ?—These Expeditions had failed, and in a way which he must think was injurious to the honour df the Countri.—That Army it was S now reported was employed against Egypt; and though various dr cumstinces excited hopes of their success, he con fessed that his exile Cations were not so sanguine. It had already been marked with that delay which had proved fatal in other instances: On the third of November it had sailed from Gibraltar, and by the last accounts, up to the end of January, that Army had not put the attack upon Egypt into execution, whilst this delay had given opportunity to France to throw succours into that Country. What occasioned this want of suc- [:PRICE she . PENCE. entering on hisepart into such a Negotiation, the only died of which was, to ',reduce altrio,se the total de. seruaionof.that Monarch. The evenrs.of the War after ithe Battle of Mareogo, prOved France urri.' formly successful, and upon an. extended Line of Operation; therefore - 01re advisers of the, Ementote . of GERMANY, must, have been had judges of the circumstances of.the War. This Inquiry into the . conduit of the late Ministers, became flrthen neces.. sary as an intiingloll to the new Ministers,' in the event of their entering into any fresh _Negotiation for Peace. He bad been {old that the new Minie sters wished for Peace. But he had - not forgottor• that most of these new Ministers had-Supp orte d the former Minister, who had said_ than he was thank-, ful the Negotiation at Lisle had firiled. Therefore-, without agreeing to some Inquiry, Foreign Powers and the Pubilc would be led to suspect the sincerity . ; of any Negotiation entered into by the new Mint.. ; sters. The change which .had taken place in our po. • litical situation required the serious sus estigativrt of the House; that situation was different now from the' time when the Overtures of IgUNAPART7' Were re... jelled.. As formidable a Confederacy was now formed 'against us, as was formerly produced of Powers wno had been originally alarmed at the.pro- gress of France ;--=these very Powers had now united with Faincein a Confederacy against Great Britain: In a Committee he should be glad to argue more tit large the grounds of the opinion be had for. merly stated, as to the Causes of the present Northern Confederacy: The fandamental maxim of all true po licy was justice. He would ask then, whether the proceedings of this Country, with resped to Neu.. tral Powers, 'were didated by justice / lie knew, that in the Swedish Note, the dired contrary was charged against us: It' charged us' with vexations, and that justice was either denied, or rendered so tardy by our Courts ,Mit - ritime, as to render re; ,paation-ineffedual. The honour of the House Was called on to institute an Inquiry, whether, • by i a series of vexations and injustice, we had' not provoked the resentment of, these, Northern Powers ? As to the Querstion at Right, he was not disposed to enter into it. .ft was a 'question involved in perplexity, and, too often decided rather by, power than by the principles 4,Justice.• Even an unpro fitable right was not much worth discussing, : present objeft was; to separate the question from that confusion ,in which the subjed had been , in :volved. Itehad been" said that even the Suspen. sitar, of that Right • would giVe ~ to , our iEnemies an ordimiteckrowct e of recruiting_ their Forces.'• But this was p, confound, the question of contr a. band ; with the question of tree bottoms making free goods... The •Treaties. of• Sweden and Russia contained an express giving op the question of con. traband. :Then the ascertaining Oat, is contra... band , seemedeby theae.Treaties to admit, Of little far,, ,in. in. express Article in the `el ieaty of Aimed Neutrality, these 'Powers . agreed _TM- pnly e to ex'tept aired artieleS•of contrabanda, but also to • refer for an explaiation • of what is coutrabarta s io . the . different Treaties • entered into with these P. oyv Here Mr.. bat proceeded to }poke particular references to the . different Treatgrs . entered -into with Russia, Sweden,- Holland,. in -illustration of, this point.. The Armed :Powers of the North bad also disclaimed the right .of carrying any 'thing into places actually' blockad-• ed. The only .two poipts, in dispute were .tfie . right of free •bottoms milking free goods, and the right of searching ships • under Convoy.. As to the former, whatever might litntht e value of this privilege, it conceded-to the Northern Powers,* would not 'give : them .any actual sight which they did not already enjoy .- by former pc:alio. „The only area would be, to allow France to carry , her Commerce tea- Manniadures i>i Neutral Ships jif she bad any Cukor:tierce to carry on). So far as this was a Question of Trade, lie :.should think s that the Country which had most Trade would find the 'greatest advantage from this principle 'in 'time of War.—But supposing that this principle,. if ,con. ceded, would give to France the power of recruit ing• her Fleets, this ought not to be put in the, balance with the great addition of strength which the contesting it would give to France by means, of .the Confederacy. Already was the communication ,of this Country with the Continent much diminish ed, and in danger of being destroyed, and 'wait not Rho been already stated in the I louse, that at all events this Country would be in no danger.of lOsing her Commerce whilst America would be at liberty to carry her goods / As matters now were, he had been told that by means of Neutral Ships a consi derable:lra& was no.v actually carried. on with France and other Countries. By our resolution of opposing this Confederacy,, we proposed to take from France a Trade which she did not possess, for the,sake of giving her one of real value with other Countries. But, let the Right be what it would, he would ask, whethenir was politic to iIIS;St upon it ? Would it not now, •and at all future times, throw the Northern Powers into the Scale of France And ' , supposing that in the present instance, this Country succeeded in establishing . this right, would it not be liable to have it again contested at every opportunity ? But the Ilouse had been told, that if they abandoned this claim at present, they might as well burn their - Ships 'and disband their Sailors. . In his mind there never was a more absurd argu ment. In the Treaty with Holland, 1674., this priviledge was conceded to the Datch : Spain had also elijoycd the benefit of this very principle ; and in rie,6, the late Administration had cone (e l e d the very same, to France as it had been foi merly yielded to Holland. He wished they could naw recur to the.,e days, when the Coun try enjoyed 'Plenty, rower, and Honour. But that at the end of a long War, we shoeld add to' our difliewlties and dull by inaistir e g on a prin. cess Would the Hon. Gentleman say that means had been wanting,when there was a disposeable force • of no less than 168,000 rank and file in the pay of Great Britain, exclusive of the forces in the Eastt Indies, &c: ? He believed that at no former period did the Armies, at the disposal of Great Britain, amount to half the number, even when the Country was advanced to its highest pitch of glory Ability, activity ; vigour, and enterprize would find resources where ordinary means failed, whereas inability and inertness would fail of improving the advantages which were possessetL They had seen the great Genius of France overcome every difficulty, whilst the-Ministers of this Country suffered the season of t4304;i1- . 0. , ;:a.e.eil I—. 413 , 14 France. has, been completely successful. 1\14:20,y - all' this could not have happened, iithout incapacity on. the part of His Majesty's late Ministers. Instances had also occurred, which afforded ground to charge them with rashness and precipitation, when itf - was considered in what a lofty stile they had dismissed CHAUV EL IN, and refused to comply with the late solicitations of OTTO, to renew Negotiations for Peace. At a time when the first successes of lhe• Allies had encouraged us with the hope of • driving ? France within her antient limits, Ministers had refus ed Negotiation ; and afterwards, when the eventsof the War had shewn how impossible it was to impose a Government upon an Armed Nation, and than° de. pendance could be placed upon our Allies, even then the opportunity of restoring Peace was negleCted.- , - But at present he should confine himself to notice the Overtures which had been made by -BONAPARTE the last - year. When that matter was agitated in that House, he recollected there were many Gentle.' men Who, although they voted lot an Address of Approbation of that impolitic Letter written in answer tO.BONAPARTE'S proposal, did nut pledge themselves against going into a futute Upon former occasions they had .been told of the solidity of the Confederacy, as a reason against Inquiry . ; but he would ask, had Ministers even then no reason to susped the sincerity. of the Emperor PAUL, and the formation of that Nprthern Con federacy which now threatened us ?, Had not Mi nisters then sufficient grounds for such suspicion ?- Had not steps been taken and indications.shewn by these Powers, particularly by the Swedes, that gave strong grounds for apprehending a rupture with the . Northern Powers ? Under all these circumstances, Ministers; ice insisted, were inexcusable in rejeet..... ing the overtures of Peace, and guilty of pursuing a conduit into which the House ought at least to in, quire ; and if this reasoning applied to the overtures which had been made by the Enemy in January last year, how much more to that made in October last He acknowledged that the late Ministers were right in refusing to agree to a Naval Armistice . ; but after the rejediou of that proposal, another overture had been made by the Chief Consul for a separate Peace. Why did Ministers reject this offer ? Was it be; cause of the good faith which was due to our Allies ? —This argument did not exist.. This Country was not hound by any such faith by the EM. P EROR of GERMANY. But after the Battle of Marengo, and the subsequent Convention and Ar , mistice between the Emperor and France, all such obligation was set aside. To give any force to this plea, it would be not only necessary to shew that-we were. bound not to enter into a separate Negotiation, but also, that the EMPEROR of GER MANY remonstrated, after the Treaty. of I iohealin. den, against this Country's entering upon a Nego, tiation for a Separate Peace with France.-----So - far from this,. that the fad he believed would he fclurid to be,, that..ell oar intrigues and pecuniary advances wife with a view of dissuading the Ex, k itjß from