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London, England, 1807-01-06 00:00:00

Instrnetioos. The next step was, to send Lord Lan-
dentate to Paris, as being one who had had an op-
portunity of receiving mole full instruillions, in this
country, of the real views of Government, in ma-
naging this Negociation. The first thing he did
was to present a note, distiatly requiring a formal
acknowledgment of the basis on which it was to
proceed; for, without that, he must come away.
There was even then something like. an admission,
as France says. tt Shall we sacrifice every thing to
England, and France have, nothing in return ? but
the case may be different, it vou mean that we
shall have an equivalent " There was one thing
worthy of remark, as to this note which Lord Lau- ,
der dale received, there were certain erasures, seem-
ingly from a golden pen, no doubt a pen suited to
en Imperial hand. Coupling it, however, with the
former proceedings of the French Government, and
referring to former explanations with Lord Lauder-
dale himself, it amounted to an admission of
the original basis ; but still the former acknowledg.
ment WAS withheld, and his Lo.dsltip accordingly
continued to demand his passports, till the 11th of
August, and then there came an i• vitetion to a
rew conference. These further conferences, how-
ever, proved equally unfortunate, and his Lord-
ship agaiq found it necessary to declare, that he
must terminate the Negociation and his Mission.—
The non-ratification of the Treaty of D'Otilmil, led
to another offer, apploaching mote nearly to what
was formerly proposed; but still far otherwise than
what His Majesty's Government had a right 'a irsist
upon. Lord Lauderdale renewed fits demand fi r pass- I
ports in a more peremptory manner ; aid they were
• at last granted. Such then, Sir, is the shot t instil yof
the late Negotiation. I have abstained at present
Ifrom any patticular discussion of the terms that
were offered, as I should like to know what it is
that Gentlemen can find fault with at the close of
it. It was stated on the first day of the Session,
that whatever was the conduit of Ministers, it was
at least aridly honourable. lam interested, Sir,
for the cause of my country ; and it it shall be
found, that His Majesty's Ministers should be deem-
ed censurable for negled or omission, althcugb I
should feel deeply any mark of censure of this
House, I must say, that it would be freed of much cf
its virulence, and much of the criminality attachable
to the fault, by the cheeriiig reflation, that neither
the honour nor tie interest of the country ha.' been
basely compromised The Right lion. Gentlemen
opposite, while they say that the causeof die country
is clear, add, that there was muse, artifice radioing
upon credulity. Let them, however, make out such
an assertion by proof—it is one much mire easily
made than proved. Let us refer to the venous
stages of it. Do they mean to say, that the offer
of Talleyrand, previous to the 20th of April, should
not have received any answer to its propositions ?
or that Mr. Fox, in his answer showed credulity ?
or do they mean to allege, Coe he was making
concessions detrimental to the country? The we ale
of his ceodutt showed a tan.fords refusal, on the part
of His Majesty's Goverament, to carry tie Neaoco-
ation upon any terms that might prove inimical to
Russia, our taithful ally. If not in that first part at
the transatinn. then I should he glad to know
where the credulity exists. Whatever dispute or
cavil they may choose to meats, I defy them to
say where any such thing is so bet found. 4 know
of no other credal that could have been pursued.
But, it is said, that the offers of the French were
false and insincere, and ought not to have been
listened to. That they were so I certainly shall ad-
mit, as read ly as any of these Right Hon. Gen-
tlemen ; but granting that they were so, could thit
excuse us for no. listening to their offers? •Suppoeing
that we had had at that time the strongest and best
founded suspicion, what should have been our con-
duet ? If the enemy does exhibit a conciliatory eiis-
pasition. and if we had refused it, what would have
been the opinion of Europe, where so much depends
upon the fate of war ? What would have been the
opinion of our countrymen ? I say that I should not
have been thought to have done my duty —( Lear
hilt, hear hem !)—t say, Sir, that whethet sincere or
not sincere, when the enemy came to manifest an
inclination to treat for peace, it would have been
quite inconsistent in Ministers to advise His Majesty
not to listen to such overtures, and to pursue the
discussion till brntight to a point. This was the only
method by which this country could show to the
world a desire for peace. I say too, that had the
Negociation been drawn out to a greater length, it
might have proved injurious. We have by our con-
dud, maintained still a suite adherence with Russia."
—Here the Noble Viscount entered into an able and
minute detail of the various stages of the sego-
elation, and gave a comparative vies of the various
offers made to us by the enemy, during the course
thereof, 'hewing that they occasionally adhered to
the original basis, and sometimes overturned it.
" The King of Sicily," continued Viscount Howick,
4, was to be dethroned by the French, for the pur-
pose of his son being elated, by the Emperor, King
of the Balearic islands in the Mediterranean. which
could scarcely afford subsistence to him. I cannot
think that any man, having the heart and feel-
ings of an Eeglishman, could have overlooked the
interests of the unfortunate King of Sicily, so
much as to hive surrendered that island to the
enemy, after having undertaken to proted it . for
him, and the more especially upon such terms as
were offered—(Near him i bear bus 1)-1'o these
terms they adhered till the 30th of August, when
they thought roper to relax, aid came forward
with more advantageous proposals. On the 4th of
Sept. they chewed a disposition to make greater
concessions. Hanover, with its dependencies, was
to be granted to its lawful Sovereign. France was
to interfere with Holland, to confirm to us the pas- '
session of the Cape. Malta, Poodicherry, Chamfer.
incise, Tobago, and other places, were aloe to be
ceded to the Crown of Great Britain. These were
terms much more advantageous than at fit sr off. reds
but still they were short of what might have been
acquired, by regular exchaages, upon the looting of
the original agreement. These were the terms of-
fered as the price of our abandoning Russia and the
King of Sicily, and therefore were quite inadmissi-
ble. Bonapatte left Paris on the '.: ith of Septem-
ber, and it was after he had set off to take the com-
mand of his army against Prussia, that these terms
were offered. lam aware that these might all be
said to be very fine offers ; but are they eqeivalent
to our abandoning our honour and good faith?
Tiory are, 110 dcuot, acquititions of great come-