The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1808-03-22 00:00:00

isgs which must have actuated her in these
distinet situations ! At one -fitoutent Ministers
urge the weakness of Denmark-to:resist
.k.nutce.—
Again, at auotheri it is the all i 11l emit): nod hatred
of Denmark to England should excite olatth. To
refer to 171 so was equally as absurd a way of prov-
ing the present disposition of Denmark, as to refer
to the times of the Heptiirchy, to prove the enmity
of the present Dales to Grelie.Britain. another
mode of defence had been ik up, which •was
the worst of all. This was the perverting the mean-
ing of the letters of my Lunt
Cluwick
and Mr. Cerlirke, a conduct highly culpable in the
Secretary of State, and which has received a serious
and solemn correction in the other House Of Parlia-
ment. These letters go to prove the best policy of
Deutuark is eeutnditt ; the wishes of the nation are
in harmony with. their evident interest ; and the
greatest reliatice is entertained by the King of Great
Britain on the Danish fidelity ; yet all these hare
been perverted, by omitting here and thereat word,
and now and then a perversion. M hen such pa-
pers could be thus ulnae!! and lacerated, it *hews
-
•the penury of the proof they had to exhibit, the
purity of their intentions, and the necessity of
their interference. The correspondence of my Lord
Ilowick and Mr. Heist has also, tho' only treating
of trifling trading disageetnents, been twisted into a
proof positive of the 'motile intentions of Den-
mark towards esei. , The little bickering of traders
I at (ewe behome an assured and fixed hostility.—
But when such was thedisposition of Denmark, why.
were nut her forces stationed in. Zealand, where we
were expected, rather than in Holstein, where ,the
French, her frietids, might have been expected ? This
is in my ;Mud decisive!. ()vet the power of Denmark
we could always exercise a restraining force, since"
such is the nature of her marine, that most of
her sailors during peace are employed in oar
service, as in most instances the Royal Navy
take all the British sailors they find 09 board our
vessels when on foreign stations. Add to this,, that
at that moment the Danish- summer' fleet were all
Isere, and so little idea had they of hostility, that
the Danish Consul, through .whom most of the
trade here Owned ou, assured the • Danish mer-
chants here, there was taithing 10 apprehended
from England. The inability of Denmark to re-
sist is stoat iiisieled nn ; solely, I grant it; but assist-
ed by England aud Sweden, no French force could
injure that country. Of this we have the
best possible authority in the.. opinion of a aural
officer of distinguished merit, who .haamisorted ; it •
walla be easiet to invade Englind from Boulogne,
than Zealand from Holstein. But Denmark would
have been guaranteed in heelieutralitv•by Bussia,
if that neutrality had not beeu-ifltemOtelf4o
be violated by our Government. Beside;sben-
Ina*, by being assailed by the solicitations 'of
both parties for her fleet, might have said to
France, if you attack Holstein I will surrender my
lest to England, to secure Iwo co-operation. Thus
she had the mean* of her defence iu I:et own power,
and hail an invasion of .Zealaiel been attempted,
with our assistance they would have convinced
France of its impotence to effect that Maio-1y tra-
gedy she has so long threuterted• to act oh our.
shores, by the failure of the prologuein Denmark.
Where is thee this over-raling and posverfol,riec
silty ? or where is it proved that tisk eisly spode of
averting the danger was to seize the fleet ? We
have the caresses, the hulks, the 'Petit is flevll.atid
they have cost us by the expense of the expedition
alone, beside" their refitment., times their value.
The last refuge of Ministers was recrimination.
They say we have done no 'more than you at-
tempted in Alexandria, the Dard.uielles, and
at Lisbon." Unjustly have they vilified and
napirsed the measures of those virtuous men.
Is there any analogy between concilietion and vio-
lence, lenity and outrage? At Copenhagen, Mitds-
ten say, e if you can defend yourselves agaiust the
common eneyty, still we will have you% fleet ;" at
Lisbon, the late Ministers let them be the judges,
of their owu ability, and then offer, if unable to
this exertion to convoy thew wife to another he-
misphere. The Turks, too, are but required to
keep the treaty they had made, end when they re-
fused it, tie late Ministers were ;jitstitiablc in do-
ing what they could to compel them. But d will tact
insult the House afresh by leadiag them ir.to that
labyrinth of calumny and 11011 jut.) which
the Ministry of the country so often plunge them.
It is too contemptible an employment for aci ho-
nest man to meddle with. They seemed to be
anxious to assume a resemblance, which no one
of' truth will be willing to grant them. The stile
is suited to the matter. The defence is as shabby
as the act atrocious. They seem to count 'Argu-
ments by the head, not the weight ; and feeling the
weakness of their defence, they snatch arguments
wherever they can catch them ; they have iii their
hurry even adopted contradictory arguments. As
the culprit, who, finding himself in elavexr of
being convicted on the evidence produced ill
Court, resolved to effect his escupe by his in-
genuity, and endeavoured to prove too (AN.+
at the same time, and in different placts.—
The nesswesity ishosild have bean loco:assail...4
proved, to have made out any thine like a tehy-
able defence. But we see nothing like a proof ex-
hibited. There then remains but for the Dense
to determine these three invorteur 41ms:floes :
Ibis the exposition been frank and satisfacte7 ?
Does there exist a doubt of the hostile intent's-ins
of Frame being practicable ? Did there exist no
hope of being able to combat the designs of France
by any other mode than that of ,eizing the fleet
and arsenal if Denmark ? Our situation, if these
he not satisfactorily answered, is truly awful.—
We ate rondeinned in the eyes of Europe. H e
have broken the Law and the Faith of Nations, we
have injured our sillies. Even Sweden is threat-
en, el with destruction by our iniquity. Our na-
tional character—our boasted hoennr—is 4,4 for
ever. And we are insultingly told the aut hers
of our calamity, we should not trouble our heads
or afliict our ennseienees with an npplication of the
strict, but doll and stale rules of ancient inornlay.
or national justice. How differently tlfoitulit Mr.
Burke--.. Justice is," says lie, 4• the stantlitez ;o-
bey of a country, and any departure from it, on
the ground of policy, falls under the vehement
mispitiou of beurg no policy at all." To those Min
despise antiquity, perhaps a modern authority,
of great weight, may bring conviction. Theory
and practice Sr., sot eo different us really, teen
from the sacred pulpit and before gn..e univeni-