The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1808-02-09 00:00:00

enninet of Great Deitairq win that in:
cl.:pendence now to be found, that riensld
enwole nations to judge with impartiality of
the conduct of others e wad it to he found is

Russia, or was it existing in Spain, or iu any other
part of maritime Europe ? Was there any one stilt,
that entertained a sentiment contrary to the will
and dispositiou of the Ruler of Francs:? Could any
eiriliaa, 'soldier, or statesman, dare to avow a sea-

tiruent contrary to h;s pleasure, or derogatory to his
dignity ? To refer to the opinion of Enrope, upon
such a case, reminded iiiinnf the time when Greece

was invailecissel Philip of YLaccelon, for it was then
invariably "the t)raeleof Apollo speaks thus."
He bad taken the liberty of expresiiing his senti-
ments thus ful4r, in order to show, thatajperfect
case was already made out for the character, ho-
nour, and dignity, of the country, and that no fur-
ther informatio• was necessary. Upon these
grounds his Lordship tested against the motions.
Lord HUTCHI?iSON rose, and argued in fa-
vour of the Motions. The Noble Marquis had con-
tended, that it was both in the intention and the
power of France to endeavour to subvert the mari-
time power of Great Britain. and that her fine
step towards doing so, was to get possession of
the Danish navy; now upon this he had tooleterve,
that Bonaparte would. before attempting Holstein,
have thought what would have been the effect upon
the other powers by his doing so. He believed it
I would have been difficult to have got Russia to
consent to a measure that would heve put in the
power of France the key to the Baltic. Whit
would be the consequence if Bonaparte had driven
the Danes from Jutland and Holstein ? He recol-
lected being in Cote, ithagen in September last
year, when France had violated the neutrality of
Hamburgh, it was then the avowed intention of
Denmark, should she be uttacked, to evacuate
Holstein and Jutland, .shicii were difficult to de-
fend, and to retire into their island, to maintain
their independence, and preserve their fleet and
foreign commerce to the last. The Danes them-
selves had a great portion of asin and mortar-boats,
together with the finest flotilla in Europe. He
challenged any man to prove that Bonaparte could
possibly have assembled a sitfficient number of
entail craft to pass the channel from the Island of
Funen to Zealand, a space of 16 miles, and one
of the most difficult navigation in Europe. He
had lately returned from a most important; mission,
and was hopeful that his conduct would have been
generally approved. . Yet he found he had been
alluded to in ante her !louse in a manner inconsist-
ent with his feelings and the whole teaor of his
dispatches. By these he wished his opinions and
actions to be judged collectively, and tea separate-
ly or partially. file snbjcct of Russia, during his
last campaign, was sn intimately connected with
the subject now under discussion, that he could
not help entering upon it in order to jststify his
conduct, and to coutra'lict those sentiments that
had been attributed ao hint unjustly in another
House. The treaty of Tilsit was signed upon the
7th of July, and shostly previous thereto, General
Bennigsen had taken the field with 70,000 men,
and a detached part of his army, amounting to
30,000 men. Against this force was opposed a
French army of 160,000 men. The Russians were
defeated upon the 13th of June, having lost
14,000 men. During that campaign, which lasted
for i i days, there were IM4' officers killed
and wounded, as.d 27 Generals. As far as human
courage could go, it was exerted upon that occa-
sion ; hot it was well known that success in war
did not depend upon courage alone. That he ever
asserted in sly of his dispatches, that war would
hare taken p!sre with Russia, whether Denmark
had been attacked or not, was not the act. No
man ought to attempt to put words in the mouth
of another, which he had neither publicly nor pri-
vately stated ; for what would he the consequence,
if garbled extracts were allowed to be read from im-
portant dispatches? He did positively state, that if
Copenhagen had not been attacked, Russia would
still have been friendly with this country. It be-
longed not to those who suffered a Russian line of
battle ship, and four frigates, to pass through the
Sound, to maintain that the secret articles of the
Treaty of Tilsit were the cause of war between Co-
peithagen and this country ; but it is when their
cause is weak, that they have to resort to such pu-
sillanimous reasons fer their conduct. He left Memel
on the 20th of July, and arrived at St. Petersburgh
:nom the 17th of the following inonth; the Emperor
sent for him two or three days afterwards, and he
went and had an audience of His Majesty. The Em-
pesos talked him if he thought it would be prudent to
elect a general peace ? To this he assented ; and
they were both agreed ns to the necessity of peace ;
upon this the Emperor told him he had no ob-
jection to become the mediator, and soured him
that he attached no false levity to his me-
diation, hut that it was his most anxious
wish that England should make peace, as it
weld be for his interest, and for the interest
of Europe, sod would tend to establish the tran-
quillity of the world. Ile told His Majesty that
a month must elapse before lie cold learn whether
that mediation could be accepted, and assured him
that the war hail been long favourable to this
cauntry. His Imperial Majesty added, that as he
scaa perfectly anxious to establish peace, it was not
an object of consideration with hint what time
should be taken up in its accomplishment ; that he
was acqrainted with the disposition of the people
of England, and also the feelings of Bonaparte ;
adding, that they were such as he would not scruple
to avow, and that he himself (Lord H.) would
not hesitate to acknowledge them. After these
conversations, he certainly was justified in main-
taining • hope that peace and amity might yet
have been maintained between the two countnes,
had not the attack upon Denmark taken place at
that time. This he stated in his dispatch to the
Secretary of State. When the Emperor heard
of the expedition, he said, that the Prince of
Denmark had always maintained a rigid neu-
trality, and was determined to persevere in it ;
that his people flourished under him; and that
therefore nothing could ever change him from pur-
suing that hoe of conduct which he lad adopted.
The Emperor further added, that he must have
satisfaction for this unprovoked insult, as he was
bound to Denmark by the most solemn treaties
and engsgementa. After this, could any one
maintain that the attack upon Copenhagen bail
bad no effect upon the Emperor of Russia ?

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