The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1803-06-04 00:00:00

Tif

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eeh'et- " ' ' 'lee* ••
more'litettiinrable to the ehare/ler of thee country
have k said/ that we had delayel the war a month
tot) longs rather than that we should have com-
menced it ad hour too :non. Had the conduit of
his Majesty's Ministers been 'such as to hive prema-
turely brought the country into a state Of -war, or to
have had recourse to such a measure befiire it was
unavoidable, the consequence would have been,
that instead of that determined spirit, that general
maaifestation of resentment and wounded pride, on'
the part of the mass of the people, that indignation
at the conduit of France, and that determined reso-
lution to resist its aggressions, there would probably
have been a relu&ance and supineness on the part of
the people of this country, without whose cordial ex-
ertions and willing co-operations/here. was no hope
of an honourable termination of` the contest; these
considerations had operated on the minds of his Ma-
jesty's Ministers, and influenced their condu& towards
France. Thee pleaded guilty towards the charge of
forbearance, if that ce !id be considered as a crime;
but at the same time denied that there was in these
papers any a& of unbe -ming concession ; he ad-
mitted their forbearance night have been carried to
excess, but, if that was a fault, he trusted it would
be deemed a fault on the right side. Having said
this, much; he Nras anxious to advert to those parts
of the Hon. Gentleman's speech which had induced
him to trespass thus early on the House ; tire lion.
Gentleman had charged the Ministers of Govern-
ment with a failure of their duty, in not having
made communications to this House. He had said,
that opinions had been expressed with regard to
the probability of the continuance of peace, which
had not only not been justified by the result, but
were unwarranted by the a&ual circumstances. At
the time the Hon. Gentleman had alluded to some
expressions of his, he admitted, as far as his recol-
leaion went, that the Hon. Gentleman had quoted
his words. In the course of the debate on the De-
finitive Treaty, his Noble Friend had stated, that he
had no assurance for the continuance of peace, but
such as arose from the interest of the power with
whom he had made it, and the consideration of our
own strength. He had said, that after the treaties of
Paris and Fontenot-, it had been discovered that the
French entertained views which could not be carried
into etre& without a renewal of the war, and there-
fore there was as great a probability of a continuance
of peace, a-, there had been at the conclusion of tnose
treaties he had mentioned ; but he had added, that
there was no chance cf peace but what arote from
our own strength and the idea of our impregnable
security. The Honourable Gentleman hadc also
quoted a part of what he had stated on a for-
mer night, to the effe&, that he knew nothing that
could preclude the continuance of peace.
Let it not be supposed, that it was his intention to
make any compliment to the French Government ;
what he meant to have stated, and what he a&ually
did state was, that he had discovered nothing in the
policy of the person at the head of the French
Government, which was at that time calculated to
induce an idea, that he was a&uated by a disposi-
tion adverse to the continuance of war ; he was,
perhaps, mistaken in his opinion, and, indeed, he
feared be had been—the impression, however, by
which he had been urged to conceive his views
pacific, had arisen from the consideration of his
conduit, since the signing of the Preliminaries of
Peice. He thought the circumstance of his sending
the remainder of the navy of France to St. Domin-
go, favorable to the continuance of peace. It was
an armament, evidently for the prosecution of an
objell, which the First Consul could not have in
view on any other than a pacific system. It had
been said, that on the debate on his Majesty's speech,
he had observed, that he had no idea of the renewal
of war. He denied ever having used any such
words. The fait was this, an Hon. Gentleman had
said, that the war was likely to be renewed in con-
sequence of the expressions in his Majesty's speech.
In answer to which lie had said, that nothing had
fallen from his Noble Friend from which it could-be
inferred that the war was likely to be renewed. He
had said, there was no immediate probability of the
renewal of the war. It had been stated by one or
two gentlemen in the course of the evening, that
in the debate for augmenting the income of the
Prince of Wales, he had described this country as
in a state of profound peace. He thought he had
not made use of any such words ; he could not
speak with so much certainty as to the words im-
puted to him on the :23d November, but he believed
he never had uttered them at time he was supposed
to have urged them. He was speaking of 'the cir-
cumstance which had induced the 'louse in 17e6 to
restrain the income of his Royal Highness the Prince
of Wales. .He stated, that the House was induced to
do so ftom the state in which the country then was; it
being at that time in a state of war ; he had merely
suggested, that a restri'tion imposed during a pe-
riod of war, cught not to be continued during peace.
If he had used the word profound, it had arisen
Merely from that language by which that word was
generally conue&ed with the idea of peace, the
wish it should be permanent. There was one other
occisidn on which he was supposed to have ex-
pressed an opinion calculated to insure the expecte-
hien of the permanency of peace, thet was, when he
submitted his resolutions tespe&ing the Consoli-
dated Fund. He had merely stated that he looked
forward with satisfac'ti'on to the abundant resources
of the country, to its increased naval and military
strength ; and he added, that the resources it pos-
sessed, would not be employed for the aggrandize-
ment of the country, but for the maintenance of
its just rights, and the preservation of the bits-
.sings of peace. He had stated, that the means of
the country would not be applied to purposes of
ambition, but merely to the consolidetion of peace.
He said, lie was glad to relieve the House limn ahy
other reference to his language ; he meant to refer
to that which was much more important. He
desired the House to refer to those records of Par-
liament, in which they would find an expression of
the sentiments of his Majesty's Ministers ; it was
generally known, that the speech from the throne
was by the advice of his Majesty's Ministers, and
certainly he had advised those to which he referred
thosHouse. He desired Gentlemen to look to the
Speech at the commencement of the present sessious,
and to the Address proposed by his Noble Frienchin
answer to it. So far from the Address evincing any
thing like a certainty of the continuance of peace,
the Hon. Gentleman opposite to him had said, that
it Was so similar to the Amendment, that the
Amendment was hardly necessary. On the f43d
11evember, his Majesty had made a Speech front
the throne, in which he referred to a relative sitnet-'
tion of tj,4is country to the other powers, His Ihiee