The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1808-01-22 00:00:00

to mewl from the failler,of our pecuniory re-
votaroes, itc. then we Died have a peace. Hia
Lordship again declared. di* he could eat concur
in the Address, unless the part *Hacked to .was
omitted. All he wished fur tit present woo, infor-
mariou to justify Ministers in their attack on Co-
penhagen. 14e was sure that the exalted indivi-
dual, to whom he had the honour of being well
known, would have suffered sever, .1) before he be-
came a party to that transuetion.
The Earl of ABERDEEN defended Ministers
in their conduct towards Denmark, which, he said.
was More justifiable than the proceediugs adopted
by the lute Nlinisters Turkey.
Lord GI4ENI-11.1,t;--4. My Lords, I would not
dischar.re the duty that I owe to my country, and
to on u,vn feelings, if I did ant say, that upon one
point MI which WWII stress Isis heels laid tits night,
no *tress whatever ought to have beau lad. l mean
the reemisintoidation to unanimity and exertion.
'Phis I may truly say is the crisis of our fide. I be-
lieve I may truly say, that upon the wisdom and
fortitude of the two Houses of Parliament, it de-
pend* whether the Brinell Empire, winch has been
for so many ages renowned for strength and liberty.
whether the British Constitution, which has been so
bug the source of the most perfect state of society,
and affordssl the best means of human happiness,
whether, 1 my, they shall be both overthrown in one
proiniscuous fall and ruin, or withstand the idiom,
and rise superior to the danger that accumulates
around then). These, io my humble judgment.
are the circumstances under which we are called
upon to ilefibk,rute ; and if ever there was an octal- •
sion on which we were called to reject all minor
'considerations, and act upon great and liberal
priacil)les, it is the jireselit. moment. I agree with
the Noble Viscount, that it is the duty of the
Rouse. at this tremendous crisis, to express its de-
tenninatiou to maintain the rights and honour of the
country to the last drop of our blood; but with this
conselonsinos I did hope that we might be allow-
ed, for one day, and particularly that day on which
this sentiment was called for, a truce from all little
pamions, and be permitted to express our unani-
mity without any thing to disturb or prevent it.
I did hope that Ministers would have followed
the example of that great utan, (Mr. Pitt), whose
authority they are so ambitious of quoting, who
uniformly skewed, in his practice and precept, that
if there was any one thing to be avoided mote than
another, it was the entrapping Parliamesit, upon an
occasion like the present, into an approbation of
questions that were to become subjects of future
discussion. Look to all the speeches of ilia Ma-
jesty, horn the be.eauning of the present arduous
contest, and 1 challenge the Noble Lords° produce
an instance in which he ever called upon them to
give their approbation to a measure, upon whiNi
they were to be after Wards called upon to delibe-
rate; yet hers the House are called mom to ap-
prove two questions, on one of which they have no
information, amid upon the other, they are told, that
after they have approved it, the paper* necessary
to guide their judgment will be hush before them.
With respect to the Copenhagen business, 1 was
at a great distance in the country when the ac-
count of the. e.veat first reached tue. I have
forborn to declare no opinion upon its jastice
or its policy, because I had no information,
and to form an opinion without iulorination,
although that opinion should he right, is, in toy
view of things, political injustice. The inclina-
tion of may iniud. as far as it entertained • bias,
was that Government had good and *Minima
grounds for this extraorrlinery measure. In use-
sidering, therefore, the line of conduct proper to
be held this day on this subject, I hail resolved tai
say this and this alone. I had resolved to say.
that I had sio doubt Ministers could allege good
grounds for their conduct, and go dispassionately to
the diecussinti of tbe question, as one in which the ho-
nour, the c:iaraties, and the interests of the country
are snore implicated than in any other, in the his-
tory of its existence. A Noble Duke says—* The
eyes of all Europe are upon you." I agIVO they
are ; said I hielievo the impression, its Europe. pro-
duced by the attack upon Copenhagen, is unfa-
vourable to yon in the highest degree. I may say
more than believe. This is a fact which cannot be
contradicted. . I beliere the nations of Europe
hitherto relied much upon the honour and integrity
of England. I believe, therefore, that they are
anxious to see how you will maintain this character.
I believe then that if tt. question of Copenhagen
was taken up in the right way ,and if upon fair grounds
Parliament would ensue to a mature determination
that it would have a great effect upon the nations of
Europe. But what is the ease now ? They madman
the measure, and we, the British Parliament, meet to
approve, without examination. They say. the Bri-
tish Parliament is so deleisetl, and lost to a sense of
its dignity, it has lent itself blindly to a measure
on which it is uoiufonued, and sanctioned it with.
out knowing the grounds. Is this the way to main-
tain the character of the nation, and impress En-
tine. with an ids% of its generoate and juotice ?
That there may be MOPS of iseasysity, in which a
nation is justified in adopting such a measure, 1
admit; lon let me see the situation in which Par-
liament now Mends mosthat point, aryl is relation
to this argument. A Declaration of Hie Majesty
has been published, in defence and justification of
this very measure; but that Declaratioa is not laid
before the Moue ; and here we have a Speech
materially different frosts it. The Ikrelanition was
understood to mean, that secret articles had been
entered into et Tilsit, to which Denmark was
• party, and that she had acquiesced in hostile
memories against • this country. which. I allow
would Ise an art of hostility ; for if you have ascer-
tained that a nation entertains an hairtile purpose,
you are not to wait until that purpose is carried
into effect. But do we hear now of the secret arti-
cles of Tilsit? Europe sari, there are wine, and
calls upon you to produce them. At such u ele-
ment you ought to produce the secret articles or
engagements, or arrangesocuts, (for they are caned
by these different names.) I look into Ilia Ma-
jray's Speech, however, and I find no such thing,
d►utmerely an assertion of information obtained by Ili 4
h/ajestyofaisintentinn, on the part of Irnnice,to arta
as many as possible of the nations of Europe against
us. But let we ask. whether this is not departing
from the ground of secret articles, tegagementw,
and arrw.gemeuts. and sssigning ealy inforinatiiin
of this kind? and whether that ground be twifieielit
to justify the attack upon Denuiark, who, we are