The Sun. — London, England, 1806-12-20 00:00:00

Majesty's Royal House and to the Succession. to the Throne; lamenting that ihe rupture of all inter course with the- Court of Berlin had preventeda timely knowledge of the quairel , between that coun try and France ; noticing the artifices of the enemy to divide us from Prussia, and their goading Prussia into the resistance which hall terminated in her overthrow ; lamenting that, front the policy adopt ed by His Majesty's Ministers, His Majesty's Pleni potentiary to the Court Of Prussia came only, to be a helpless witness of his Prussian Majesty's defeat ; expressing confidence that His Majesty had mani fested the fullest good faith in the Negotiation, and sorrow that we had.laeen- led away by the artifices Of the enemy ; expatiating on the advantages of treating_ in alliance with Russia ; deprecating the idea of suspending military operations, lest negotia tion should be embarrassed by new conquests ; ex pressing the fullest confidence in the valour of His LiajeAy's Navy,. but lamenting the .escape of many predatory squadrons of the enemy, to.the great de struotioi of our trade in the West.lndies,--to the disgrace of our- maritime superiority ; 'deploring the injuries, in point of. maritime.. discipline, suffered in consequence of 'the fluauation Altat.had prevented the military measures lately adopted by the House from being carried into effea ; censuring the delay of our Expeditions in British ports till they ceased to be dangerous to the enemy ; .congratulating His Majesty on the glorious achietrements of his land and sea forces, in the capture of the Cape of Good Hope, by Sir D. Baird cand,.Sir H. Popham ; and Buenos Ayres, by Sir H. Popham and General Beres ford ; and the vidorypf Maida, by Sir John Stuart; which must convince, the enemy, that the British soldiers would humble their boasted Superiority, if ever. the contest., should come , to , be fairly de cidedon British grouel The Address wished it could close here— (a loud ,/ims l / 4 .----Mr.,. Can fling said he had great reluelencein detaining the Honse. so long ;,.but.his duty renderea it indispensibly ne cessary to represent the irreverent use of His Me jesty's power in, dissolving the late .Parliament, • The interference of His Majesty'a . 1 Ministe rs in.thettlec tions bad been most. disgraceful; and - liad afforded ground for, the stigma, that the. House of COmmbns did not fairly represent the. people'. The wealth, And power, and resources of the people, and their bravery and spirit, notwithstanding all, the . dii-- asters that had happened—would be .still able to humble the enemy, and .His Majesty's faithful Coftunons would pledge themselves totheexecut iOn." Those who wish well to the glory. of the British A: my and Navy would (Mr. CANNING observed) support this motion. Those who were of different sentunents would vote for the original Address. He should be sorry, hoWever, that on a night of this kind, any idea of division should go. abroad, so as to be construed into a doubt of the propriety of tan inning the Throne. On this, ground . it was that be would nor press the question to a division:. The SPEAKER read the Motion : very shortly. Lord H !FICK was certainly .not surprised that the very extraordinary motion, of the Right Hon. Gentleman shotild be thought of such a natureas not s.o require that it should be read from the Chair; but he certainly was surprised that the Right Honourable Gentleman should have thought proper to submit to the Hous- not only in this Motion, but in many parts of the Speech with which he prefaced it, assertions , of faas unfounded in truth, and that he should 'have built On those'fatts, without foundation, unwarrant ed conclusions, without investigation or inquiry, without.having recourse to the authority of any do cument whatsoever. On such grounds, the Honour able Gentleman had brought forward an Amendment • charging his Majesty's Ministers . with the most grave and momentous derelic - tions and deficiencies, in the .management of the Army and, Nayy, and of the foreign relations. The, lion,Gentleman ac cused them of having excited universal discontent and disturbance in the Army by an itriproperilistribution • of patronage.; lee accused thenrof prostituting the shered tLane of his Majesty, by dissolving-Parliament et a time when it was attoally summoned to meet for the dispatch of business. The Amendment pro posed by the Hon, .oetiOetuatx contained matters which, if founded in fad, ought.to be referred .to Committee,to ground. upon them articles of im peachment against ; his Majesty's Ministers.—The Honourable Gentleman thought it necessary to offer An apology for himself for being opposition. The Honourable Gentleman wished. for unanimity, but when that unanimity would amount to an ac quiescence in the faults destriniiveTto the Country, it would be a dereliliou of his, dUty to : make it an ' - invariable rule.. The Hon. Gentleman, therefore, contented himself with that qualified concord which, while it marks whatever is wrong, gives a general support- to Government. . How far the Hon. Gen , tleman's Speech agxed with the prin c ipl es h e th us laid down, it was for the House to judge. As to the principles and charataer of -the Opposition that he himself had joined in, the popularity which that " Opposition had enjoyed for fifteen years was the most • 4atisfa6.lory proof of their justice and'propriety... It was an opposition of principle, and never could al 'lsw' itself to giVe way to. the . low hostility of vex . ing and harrassing by a warfare of details. The Hon. Geotleman needed not to have One back to the length of these 15 years 'to illustrate, by' con . crests, the nature of the opposition which he has re oolved to enforce, after that 'painful struggle, in whiell'he was so desirous to support the Government, if dutraid- not sometimes compel him to oppose.— The experience of the late General Eleetion might :Move told him how far this opposition was popu lar, the public sentiment having s heen so strongly manifested' with respea to it, and that when it stood forward proposing to vindicate the injured rights and wounded independence of the People. The Hon. Gentleman accused Ministers for their Conclu& "In the recent Negotiations, and brought forward against :them the promise they had made to sub stitute a direct and manly 'system Of diplomacy, for ferener artifice and cunning, and . th e resu l t o f . that promise. The Hon. Gentleman -also taunted stern with those pretensions of great talents, h.ch, however they may have been put abroad by w. ers, were, never once urged by Ministers them 1-et, disclaiming all pretensions for himself, he,, for one, was ready to say, that. before the fatal stroke which had laid Mr; Fox by the side of his lute 11;tistrigus Rival; and lie _trusted. united both in 'the mercy of God,. the Administration of which . Mr. - rot and j.,ord t - tinville were' the ' chief T4ernH:tera, was one which possessed the greatest 4bare of 'knowledge, iitformation, experience and Mode pf these great was 4.10 w in !lie grave—but; with the eecention of the individual w bowels now addressing the nouse, withetst any dis paragement to the Hon. Gentleman; who, as well as many of those about hins, Would, he allowed, be a vas luabie acquisition. to any Administration, he might challenge any one to leek round, and state from what men. an Administration could be formed with better claims to the confidence of the, Country. The pre sent Ministers were told they were on a bed of roses —they were told so by a Noble-Lord (Castlereagh) who acknowledged that the Continent was in a very unsatisfactory situation—they were told so after the Battle of Austerlitz. Was it possible . for the pre sent Ministers to remove all the' disadvantages that bad come upon the Country in 15 years pregnant with' calamities, during the time of the late Ad ministration, though, perhaps, without any blame to that Administration ?—All that could be done was, 'to offer the best advice and aid in one's power. That had been done. When the Honourable Gentleman spoke in glowing colours of the calami ties of Prussia, and of the evils extended to the world, in consequence of the destruCtion of that Power, he had only to say, that no part of these Misfortunes were Caused by' his Majesty's Ministers. The misfortunes of this case required none of those exaggerations the Hon. Gentleman was so prone to. Flistorl recorded many instances of armies destroyed and empires ruined ; but the destruction of the Prussian Empire was sudden and complete beyond . parallel. A mighty Prince, possessing a vast -army, and distinguished military reputation; was in one day • reduced'to seek safety in a precipitate flight, accom panied but by a few. faithful followers of his broken fortunes. The Hon. Gentleman bad - introduced into his speech the melancholy fate of :the Duke of Brunswick. That gallant Prince, after receiving his death wound, was carried into his palace id a litter ; but when all means of ease and safety were denied bim there, he was carried beyond the frontier ;—he could go no further, and, his brave heart burst. But persecution did ,not stop here. Cmsar was merciful when the. tattle was over, and those who ha& fallen, opposing his ambition, were sure at least of honourable burial. But the son of this brave Prince was refused admission to deposit his venerable father's remains in the vault of his an cestors.: This melancholy fact had been omitted only because there was no preeedent . for mentioning it in the King's Speech. It was, not want of feeling ; . for e lo that reads in remote history of things like_ this, will be able to retain the tribute of a tear'?-.--e And how much more naturally does that tributelow for distresses which happen in our own time, and which we almost see with our own eyes ) When, to use the words of the Poet, we see Darius, great and gook fallen from his high estate, and Weltering in his blood, what heart could be so callous as not to melt with sympathetic grief ? When the calamities were real, and happened in our own time, theirafflic tione must fall upon us with double weight. And was it to besupposed that those who were charged with the weight of Government should be peculiarly insensible, when deprived of the stays and supports which they should otherwise reckon upon, when their best hopes were lost ? Their afflielion was, indeed, Most poignant; but it was some consolation to them to be exempt from the bitter refle&ion that it was brought about by any interposition of theirs, cr by any delay of their timely aid. He came now to the charges relative to 'the Negotia tion, and the war between France and Prussia. It was not the ilia, that we were at war with Prussia on account of Hanover. He would refer to the ic cciunt oft he different proceedings before Parliament : When Hanover was prOvisionally occupied by the Prussian troops, no communication was made-to Par liament—no hostilities were declared, It was only on account of an a& which it was impossible to pass over without the last of humiliations--.ethe - hostile exclusion of British trade from the rivers of the North of Germany, the definitive occuptien of Hanover, and the alliance of Prussia- with France, that hostile proceedings were resorted to by His Majesty's - Government. The Address :to l;-be .Ma jesty on that occasion lamented-that -His Majesty had not direCtly . in the: first instance . , appealed to the tried.. - .affeetion of his ,people Isere.—But it was , not till-the forcible exclusion oe tritish Ships, when it was felt that there was not a'motisent to be loit, that this appal was made. If the'Hoh. Gentleman had been in His Majesty's Councila on this occasion, would he not have, felt biinselt called 'upon to give the same advice ? > With respecf . to the Negotiation with France, he bad also to complain cif the Honourable Gentleman. The Hon. Gentleman bad merely read she Papers published by the French Government, and had given that Government credit forthe impartiality of their selection. He would re mind the Hon. Gentleman, that Mr. Fox expressly stated in his second letter to Tallepand, 26th of March, that if France was ready to treat with us, conjointly with 'Russia, we were willing to enter into Negotiation.; , if she was not ready to treat with us in that alliance, we would . not treat. No answer .was received to this proppaition till the eeth of April, when the Message, relative. to Prussia Was sent down. The Negotiation was considered as at an end, when it was renewed by a fresh overture.-- This would appear more clearly, when the whole of the 'Papers . should have been presented. The Ho nourable Gentleman could 'not depy that there were . just and necessary grounds for hostility against Prussia. But was that a reason . why we should not negotiate with France, if a fair,.oppor tunity should offer ? He would not now descant upon the value of Hanover. Hanover was the,mest valuable Possession; and our-honour was lost if we did not get Hanover. Were wenot to ask Hanover from France because we were at war with ,Prussia-e- Prussia had at that time-united- herself in a treaty of alliance with France, by which British Commerce was to . be excluded from the German harbours, , and Hanover was definitively siezed. Were we then, for the prospe&s of events and circumstances that,might 'never have occurred; to relincitash our right for esse-? : As to the charge of being prevented by the Negotia tiOn at Paris from concerting warlike measures with Prussia, it-was certain that Prussia stowed no,dispb sitiou to such a 'concert. After the,Message of the- 29th April, Baron Jacobi remained in this-country,.. till the lath of August, and no attempt atsconciliii e tion had been offered. There were particulars which, considering the fallen state of Prussia, he was un willing to niention ; but what security had lye teat, ‘ Prussia would 110 . t 'purchase the sanCtiooesi France to the Northern Federation, by deliveriegutirsAnny, in Hanover up to France? As to the State, of.theee.ss lation bet weenPresSia•and France ); alle liet . ivesskit oss n: wo e that pawn teacchesini lad been 4:.smissed,,tur some oftenee taken by Bonaparte ; and that Baron Knobelsdorff had been - appointed in his room, by particular. desire. Baron Knoblesdorff had never called upon Lord Lauderdale, at Paris, and it was re - • ported, that the disputes between Prussia and France were on the point of being adjusted, till the day before Bonaparte set out for the Army. On the foth'of' September, a letter was received from Mr. Thorn ton, enclosing one from Baron Jacobi, informing ,the Minister of Foreign Affairs, that he was corning over in some charader or another. When Ba rdn Jacobi did come, his propositions were un satisfactory. . But the ernba,igo was taken off all 'Prussian Vessels ; the adjudication of all Prussian prize-vessels was suspend?d, and the blockade ofthe Prussian ports was raised. Lord Morpeth had been previously sent off to the head-quarters of His P-ussian Majesty. Baron Jacobi did not arrive. in England till the 30th of September : he did not wait upon him (Lord Howick) till the it th of Oct. and the battle of Auerttadt was fought on the 14th. Even at St. Petersburgh, with which there was so much nearer communication; the designs of Prussia were not 'made known till the 30th Of Septem ber, by Colonel Krusemark, though the Duke of Brunswick had been there a short time before.— Thus it was not till the eth of (Maher that Ge neral Benysen's army began its march towards Prussia. This was also an answer to the charge of instigating Prussia ; for the Honourable Gentle• man, in the same speeds, charged Ministers with in. stigating, and with repressing, that Power. Then, as to the military mission which the Hon. Gentleman says . as not sent till Prussia was destroyed, it was hard todetermine at first what was to be done on this head. A proper person was, in the first instance, to be . chosen ; the choice that was made (Lord Hut chinson) could not possibly be disapproved of ; there was then a mistake in communicating His Ma jesty's orders to t: is Noble Person, which mistake occasioned some delay; but afterlhat, there was not a moment lost. He would not go into the detail of the Negotiation; but in answer to the charge that. the. overture 'towards Peace did not come from France, I as Was asserted in the British Manifesto, he would ask, was there any thing like overture in the letters of Mr. FoX, disclosing the assassination plot ? In disclosing the plot, Mr. Fox had vindicated not him self alone, but also his fellow Ministers. He had already vindicated Mr. Windham.. and Lord. Gren-. vile from similar charges when he was at Paris, and 'declared . t he letters shewn as theirs to authorise such charges to be rank forgeries. It was not in the answer sent to this communication by command of Bonaparte that the overture was made. It was,in a. letter of the same day, communicating, ats,part of the news of the day in France, a part - of the Speech•of . Bonaparte on opening the Session of One of the French Assemblies, in which Bonaparte insinuasee that he was desirous of Peace with England on the basis of the Treaty of Amiens. Talleyrand added, if you wish for Peace, you see on' what terms you may have it. When the Negotiation was renewed, after the suspension he had already alluded to. it was in consequence of a private communication, amounting to a dire& overture, by Lord Yarmouth, offering an unconditional surrender of Hanover. This offer the French never retracted, • though they did other im portant offers, which lett unchanged would prob.thly have made us at peace at the pre4ent moment. The all possidetiCseemed to His Majesty's Ministers the prin ciple to which the Negotiation best applied; and as such it was adopted. With respect to the informa tion the Hon. Gentleman would observe a large chasm iii the Papers. It was occasioned by the omission of Lord Yarmouth's proceedings. He was not an accre dited Negotiator, but his dispatches, which would he produced, would tend much to elucidate the matter in question. It would be found, that we did treat jointly with Russia, till the signing of D'Oubril's Treaty. We-then negotiated alone, because we had no alternative, always hoping-that D'Odbril's Treaty could not be ratified. When the refusal of the ra 'ritication ' was ' known, we offered to negotiate a joint Provisional Treaty for Russia and for ourselves, _in order to .prevent delay. These fads he pledged 'llimsiolt to Make out to the satisfaction of the House on 'a future day, when all the Papers were produced. The anxiArr for Peace was with a view to secure Sicily to , thepresent Sovereign; to Russia, whaii she ought to possess ; to Britain, the same ; to secure • the peke dime Contment ; and byiill alliance with Russia, to establish the means of .preserving frog] win all theretnaining independent States of toe Con ' tineut. A treaty of tliis nature, ou the basis sot the Treaty of Amiens; he thong t would be desirable; and the efforts of his Illustrious Friend, to obtain, stsch a peace, had been marked with that manliness, and • simplicity which, formed so noble a part of his }-iOn: Friend's- charader. Next came the charge:of great miscondutt in the war. He wished : ate Honourable Gentleman to have inquired more particularly before he brought this or his other charges. It was he him ! 'self who Was most particularly concerned here, as being till lately at the head of the Admiralty. But the enemy's squadrons wereat sea long before he had entered into office, the first ha.ving.sailed in_the end of 04ober, the other on the 11thi of December, ' consisting of eleven sail, .which separated into two different destinations. This Squadron sailed two months before the appointment of the preSent Ad-, ministration. Not alinewas there at the Admiralty to assist in tracing those Squadrons, esept the. tic- count of tht-capture .of tWo General' Officers limier _the. ccitivoy of the Lark. Sir. Johli Duckworth ..terminated.aiglorious'crUize by the destrudion of 01. ] one these Squadrons ; the other had escaped; one . hi . one. Measures had been since taken- to prevent the sailing:: of any: other 'Squadron, and these Thea- • sures had : been completely suceessfUl. Only • one ,Squidron had offered to put to sea; and'of five Fri crates. that coMpOsed it. four were taken. No Ship had been able.fo"fe-enter the enemy' s ports withotitbeitsg .. .•. chased; and it was only in a little . port, almost inac-•' . cessibl . to Ships, - .9f War, that the Ve:.isel contaitnogj Bonaparts:s brother had taken refuge, and she lay there now, apparently likely to be dashed to pieces by' storms. A sto the charcre of not having sent at i Army to . the Continent, he asked w hat security w e e could have would _. that Prussia not have given up the English Ar. my ? The Gentlemen who were.now in 'opposition, when they were in administration; had bound thew-. selves to support the War on the Continent ; the last . body of troops did .not embark till the 15th of De cember, a month after the battle of Austerlit z ;: and , .oti the.loth of June following, letters were Sent b v y I the Secretary of. State to order the re-embarkation .of the troups,:leaviug the . Eledorate in as good 1 .. a .slate, as rossib:e 4 .444 . cadegowing to etc ;lie _t or-guard.. To prove thi dubious charaEter Prussia, he stated, that a large Russian Army was employed_ for two months at the beginning of the campaign of 1805, in watching the motions of the Prussians. If an Expedition had been sent to the West Indies, 'it would have arrived in the sickly season, and have been disabled fronreaing, and ex• posed to ruin. When the first intelligence of Sir Home Popham's Expeditir.ti was received, immediate succours were prepared to be sent to him ; and these succours were afterwards diverted to a nearer' objetSt. Sir Samuel Achmuty sailed with a rein foreernent on the gth Oelober, in less than a month after the. intelligence of the Capture of Dieppe Ayres, and he would venture to say no troops ever sailed in so excellent a state of equipment. The next point, the sele&ion of Officers to command the Expeditions that had be..n sent our, ought to have engaged more of the fion. Gentleman's „attend= before he bestowed on it so much obloquy. He ought to wait to know what force General Craufurd commended, aad whither be was destined. But with what propriety could any objeetion to Go- neral Craufurd come from those who had v' . pointed Sir Home Pophatn to a distinct command, contrary to the established etiquette of the Navy, according to which no one is allowed to command s line Of battle ship till he has been ten rears a Post Captain? Sir liome Popham .had been made Poston lyy 1795. Without any, disparagement to. Sir Home Popham, General Craufurd was quite as respetaable a Commander of an Expedition as he was. The only reason why General Stuart was returning from Sicily was, that the, army there had beets augmented from 7 000 to 16,000 men, a force , which had never been known t* be commanded by a .11 , Iajor : General: With respeta to the glorious Victory of Keith, if the Honourable Gentleman bad =, waited a little longer he would have heard his Right Hon: Friend give notice this night of a Motion of Thanks to the Conquerors. He avowed the recall of Sir Home Popham, as his a&, and he advised the re call-Of Sir David Baird. The ground of this was their,fitting.out,- on the-Expedition to Buenos Apes, the ships which should have been retained for the de fence of the Cape, or sent to the Indian Seas. If ath. discretion of this kind were to be assumed at the fancy oievery,Officer commanding on a foreign sta• tion, as interest or imagination Might3.l4ate, there - was an end to all subordinatton to the Government, anti the means of the Country might - be frittered away.,,:without leaving the Ministers the power of executing their plans for thegeneral service of the` State. He took this occasion to advert to .tll6t mischievous. influence Of . *he . patriotic fund, - in . teaching Officers and men to look elsewhere tha'. to. the Government for reward and honour,--rfle allowed ,the value 'of Buenos Ayres to the deve . lopement of the trade of Britain ; but if it were of 'ten 'times ,greater value it should not san6tion the dangerous. abdse by which it Was acquired. The capture of the Cape had been • discussed in the last. Session ; it was, theretbre ; superfluous to dwelt on it now, The only chang'e its the Corps Di,. plomatique, was the substitution of Mr:'Ad.tir Cot . Sir Arthur Paget. - After the imprudent. publi! cation of Sir ,Arthur Paget's remarks op the cowl du& of the Archduke Charles, and the discovery of . Sir .Arthur's cypher, this change The appeal to the people, by disselvt,li; t t,e Parlia ment, was a measure of peculiar propriety in the jr.. sent crisis, when, after a fruitless Negotiation, we were entering on a new War that demanded, exti'ai ordinary exertions, and probably, a continuation . 911 those exertions, without any. dtvvrwoo, foe SUMO years. • Lout CASTLEREAOH made a tong and able Speech inn* which our.;iiihts will not permit us to d:taii. The qUestion was then put, and the original Addle,/ agreed to withour a dvision, and a Committee appointeitt tel draw up the Address. Lord licreirtc* stated, that the Papers on the subject of the NeAoti.tioit were in some forwardness, and ha-hopid tha to-morrow or Monday they would be ready to Of Laid betbie the !louse. A fter a observations frorn x Mr, V.tosittart and Mr. Pt`rt. clv. I, Lord Howick consented to put ow tlic discussion tQ I rida)r setinight. ‘l , ' INDwAta gave notice, that on Monday next he should move the filanica of the Housq to Sir iultri Stuart, the Of : ficers and Troops employed under him, at the glorious Banjo or Mazda.—Atljourned at Halt past eleven. THE SUN.. 10(A14 QUIS lllCtita TALSVM AI.73tAT LUND° N, SATVIDAY, DECEMBER gQ, 1800, TnrsmorningDutchPcpers to the 17 tl)inst. 'fetched town. They contain the 3titls Bulletin, which anf flounces tnes9tulpenCetnent of Itostilitie.s between dig Russians and the French. It appeal* that we were per/ feEtly . correct in • our opinion, that no General Adion had taken, place, between` the 'two Armies. Th. Russian General taken pos te Cession of Warsaw, pushed'Asty Advanced Guard along the Banks of the-river Drizurty.- On the 26th ult. the Advanced Guards of the.: two Arraiea-fel l i in with : each Other, and 'a skirinish place, in 'Which it is Stated that the R ussians ere repulsed, and a' Regituent of CoSsacks-takeit Prisoners. „On the 27th so - me „Enure skirmishing' tniiklplace, in which the French are • representea aS had the ad‘antage ; and on the 28th the French, tinder . DA,yonsT, entered Warsaw, the , Rusians haying .previously re-crossed the Vistula and burnt the bridges. 7 Tht.t KING of PRUSSIA was at Osterode, hi East Prussia, where General Dunoc had gine to-rneet . . Yrsrt a DAY Debates of considerable length :took place iii both Houses, upon , the MotiOns .tor Acl -dresses to the Throne. In the F10 , 315e . 4 Commons aii Auletichnent was moved by Mr. CANstwG,.hut It was negatived without a chvisign ; in the Huse '-cif•Lords the Address vas• agreed' to• amine dissen. Mr: PAULL 1134 again published some letters re lative, to a rneetinJ t' which s was t r -lc,+c:e take s place nAween anciCoionel ‘ELLIUT, but which was prevented by the - Bow-street :Magistrate's. I oNnoN ; Printed by It. 1-lAattlt (of Martlett-court{ Liow-Mrceth and published by W. A. Scam's (at Soutit- Muupup-sirc;j4 gt ttle §4ll-01irce, 'p a Sitaui.