The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1808-02-26 00:00:00

:st•
fiat' offish Hoes& r with the •.
sincerity, that I ghat 'great raiment.
iii endeavoorinw to litintain the propositicin, that
our attack upon Deamark, which has caused.war
with that power and Russia, against thia comatrys
has been a scaucialous, uujustunittle, ,and unpros
coked agges.ion. Ido declare,' that myttope is,
that Ministers may be able to justify themselves;
feeling, u I trust every one must feel, that it,is au
odious situation for one to Le placed in, to endea-
vour to make oat a ease against our own country—
r Hear ! hear ! from the Massuters). 1 only ask
credit for that as beiug my feeling upon this *object.
But then, Sir, we are to expect that they would not
. have been shy in giving us inf rmation. but that
they would boldly and fairly endeavour to make
out a strong case of state necessity. I have a right
to expect that they would grant what I want in the
first instance. I ask for information. that they
would shew us symptoms of the slightest collusion
between Denmark and France. or of the hostile
mind of Denmark towards this country. I did ex-
pect, alleast, that that would have been made out br
some information being produced to this House ;
but when I find that they rest their defence on a
mixture of three assertions, what am I to conclude
from such a conduct ? At one time it was stated to
be the necessity of the case, at another, the provo-
cation on the part of Denmark, and at a third
time, the imitation of Bonaparte's conduct, by say-
ing, that we should execute an act against the rest
of Europe, for the purpose of 'hewing our hatred
against our enemy. Notwithstanding all this mix-
ture of defence, the result of the whole is a total
denial of all actual information that ought to be
given. There never was, in the history of Eng-
land, a eau, in which war was commenced under
such circumstances, and upon which the Parlia-
ment of the country was called upon to require
from the people a sacrifice of their blood and
of their money, while they, at the same time, were
denied information of the causes wlech occasioned
these measures to be adopted. ffentlemen ran
away with the Wes, that information of the sort
new required upon this subject is dangerous, in so
far as it may commit those who gave it. lu doing
this,they overlook the real priutil lea of oar free (.Goa-,
atitution, and that publicity is the very moue of
it. • There may be advantages in a despotic Go-
vernment. likely to arise from secrecy, and working
in darkness and in mystery ; but in our Govern-
ment, we are to balance the matter, to determine
in what way the advantages 'decide ; and whether
we do not derive more advantages from acting in
the real spirit of the C•ustitution, than by acting
Utilise manner which would be most beneficial to
a demotic monarchy. Bobody can doubt tiviti.a
monarchy might have an advantage in
information of the steengtrf of the
1=1; uobody can deny that it would be be-,
to them to bribe both the Cabinet
!OA the Generals of their saversaries; All
this they may do oithout being called to ao-
Want by their own Government. It may also
adveatageons to a despotic Monarch to en-
joy the power of seising persons suveeted of se-
dition, and not be called to account. But, on the
ether hand. can any man !ay, that it would be
better to eat( ad smelt petters to a British Ministry.
and that we should grantAm unlimited rums to
purchase foreign canuets, so .as to make the Mi-
nisters of onr enemies our friends ? Can any one
say. that it would be better to give the Govern-
ment of this country the pOwer to arrest every per-
sou they may be pleased to suspect of sedition
against them, under the Habeas Corpus act ? Can
any man say, that these are advantages calculated
for such a Government as ours? No, Sir, we must
have the spirit of a free Constitution, without en-
deavouriug to mix pith it those advantages which
belong alone to despotism, and which may
enable a despotic Government to be snore vi-
rous upon some occasions. The difference
bebtween a free and a despotic Government
is precisely this, that no Ministry, knowing the na-
ture of our Constitution, can earry on a corres-
pondence with foreign Courts for such purposes as
those alluded to. without knowing that the time
may come when they are bound to produce the
whole communications which have preceded asy
unfortunate and unforeseen circumstances of wa..
Under these predicameuts I may state, that such
communication. as they have made may be divid-
ed into two parts. One consisting of extracts read
by a Right Honourable Gentleman in this House,
who has been censured in another quarter ; and I
wish I could persuade him to fulfil his duty to this
House, by making his extracts more complete ;
the other is the correspondence which they have laid
before the House. Add to these that portion of
information which they positively refuse to tender.
Now, Sir, to the first I refer with regret. ' The
Right Honourable Gentleman opposite reads a
letter upon the subject of the disposition and in-
tention
of the Court of Ccpenhagen • • and he air
reads various extracts from letters. of Mr. Garlicke.
by which we are to declare that Ministers were to
be led to decide that the general disposition of the
Court of Copenhagen was hostile to Great Bri-
tain, and that it was to he in amity with France.
Now, I apprehend that there never was any thing
so garbled and so unfairly stated as those commit-
nications or parts of communicatioee, which have
been read. I shall not tax him with a wilful
neglect, but must say, that he seems to have take*
extracts carelessly from some under clerk, that
will lead one to suppose that such a disposition was
evinced. If a dexterous Secretary were to take
a part here, and a part there, from cornmeal-
cations, it might haeastly done so as to shew a hos-
tile dispuition where no such disposition actuall
existed. I shall suppose, that in authentic
information hail been read by the Right Hon.
Gentleman, communicated in a dispatch received
from the Minister at St. Petetsburgh, stating,
that the Dues had had the baseness to adopt
menus for scuttling the ships we got possesssion
of in order that they might sink in their way
home, that this was contained in one paragraph,
but that the very next one denied that there
was any foundation for such a rumour. What
would have been the indignation of the Home
had they found that a Seeretatry of State had
merely read to us the first paragraph of such a
communication, and omitted to inform as of the
last one ? A libel and calumny, formerly alladed
ti, have been contradicted by Lord Cathcart, and it
now appears that the Dues petformed the stipu-

• .
lathing of tbs napituildicm with the most scrifpu-
kus good faith. - ,It has pow been emitisclicted
with the same Mite •withwhich it was elrealeted.
Vitat I have alluded tdis but u very IA Andes of
the artifices that have beeu practised. if the Right
Honourable Gentleman were to tell au ingenious
clerk to •pick out extracts from dispatches, he
might make oat a case of hostility from say die-
patches whatever. This puts me in remembrance of
a story in Dead Swift's .6 Tale of a Tab," where
an iugeoious supposition was fallen upon by the
elder brother, afterwards aided Lord Peter, in
order that he iiii.eht, be enabled to wear shoulder-
knots, which weresthen fashionable, but which were
not included in the dress prescribed to Ides by the
will of his father, under the penalty of fprfeiting
his estate. Upon looking into the will they
found nothing said of shoulder-knots !.. But,"
saps Lord Peter, 6' if it be not found tolidem rerbis..l
we will ti lid it totidant syllabic." Upon trying that
mode, he found that it would not answer his par- '
pose, and therefore he had next recourse to
'widens hurls. By this means he was enabled,.
with great ease, to make out the word shoeklrr,
but as to the other word blot, still a difficulty
arose, it being discovered that the letter k did
not once peepr throughout the whole will.
this he concluded, that that word had
by mirchance been wrong spelt, he there-
fore composed it by leaving out the letter k, and
thus he thought himself hilly intitled to wear
shoulder-lawts, as being also comprehended in the
dress pracribed to him by the will of his father.
(Laughter). I may refer the Right Honourable
Gentlemun (continued Mr. Sheridan) to Dean
Swift's authority, which 1 suppose he has not read,
but which he may have heard of, as it is one of the
most ingenious essays, taken from particular parts
of St. Paril's Epistle to the Romans, defend-
ing every species of impiety and blasphemy.—
There is another authority to which I may refer
him, I mean the Poem of Ausouius, which he
may have perhaps read in his juvenile days, every
sentence of which is taken from the chaste Muse
Of Virgil. lam sure that the Right Honourable
Gentleman would not bear its comment iu this
House, nor would he condescend to translate it
for the use of country gentlemen, partly, perhari,
through fear. lest some lien. Friel d of his, who
may belong to the Society for the Suppression. of
Vice, might make an application or complaiut to
the
.House, on account of the indelicacies that
had, been practised. (Lord laughing.) Upon
the whole, Sir, it is, in my opinion, truly
killing at, and insulting this House, to lay
...
AMC garbled extracts before us., I give no credit
to any part of the information we have; for not-
withstanding *hat we do know, we are not sure
that we have not been vocal/ imposed upon. and
that other parts of the same dispatch would not coo-
trailict the extracts. To illustrate this still further.
I look at the correspondence of Lord Granville Le-
vesen Gower, the object of which is to make out
that the expedition he Copenhagen was not that
which incensed the Emperor of Itiissia against us,
but that, on the contrary, he was at that time well-
disposed to this eountry. I hope that Noble Lord
is at present in the House, in order that he may
explain to uncertain inconsistencies which involve
us again in confusion. Perhaps, however. pane
crafty clerk has beets loggia *works tile disWeh
is dated the 2d of September, and is written and
produced, it is said, for the purpose of shewingthat
the Emperor of Russu.was not irritated at the ezped i-
tionagainsteopeilhagenand thathe possessed a con-
ciliatory spirit. There are various correspondeuce
in the same dispatch, all dated the '!d of Sep-.
tember, and must all have been received by. the.
Right Hon. Secretary at One and the same time.
I want minnow when these dispatches were sent ?
and whether the only object of them was to shew
that the Emperor testified amity to this euuntry,
although they must all have been written for va-
rious purposes ? In one of the letters .. yesterday"
is alluded to; that might have been three weeks-
ago ; and• another alludes to go-morrow ;" that
might have been, perhaps, as many months pre.
ceAing the day they were actually sent off.—
One of these delightful communications, Ministers
themselves own has been dated the ed of Septem-
ber, instead of the first of that month. Now what
I want to know is, where will this communication
cud ? Ou the very. mine day, conies the letter of
General Buslberg, in which he elpresses.theito-
peror's astonishment at the expedition to Copen-
hagen, inclosed in the same note. In short,
there is no possibility of making common sense
of these communications; nay, they almost
approach to idiotism. We are to suppose
that it is the duty of Ministers to answer each letter
paragraph by paragraph, in the same manner as
we discuss Bills in Comnsittees. If such, then, be
their mode, one paragraph and one answer must
evidently contradict atiotlar. Mr. Secretary Can-
ning. while he writes, in one paiagraph of his ae-
swer, his observations upoit the hostile disposition
of Russia, must In' the next animadvert upon the
mild and mediating one. Thi.. may perhaps be
trick or manreuyre, or what ydu like to call it ;
because the same letter, or at least of the same
' date, communicates to him the false hopes of ac-
commodation, Ind at the same time conveys the
utmost disappointment in such flattering ar pert-
ations, insomuch that ha could never be Juni-
fied in putting such contradictions into his
answer, unless for the purpose of justifying the
paragraphs in His Majesty's Declaration. There
is truly something so very ludicrous in all this,
that it puts me in mind of an old story I have
heard of, concerning an old couuteyman of
' mine, who, like his 'other countrymen, had a turn
4r fficommitting blunders--which turn; 'I 'hope, has
a a little obviated or dimiuished since the Union
, tot two countries; by that union of interests
Aseematuticating also an union of sentiments and
liengenial influence of dispositions, so that ens pee.
enlist turn for blunders rs not now so obeertlible
,as formerly. ( Laughing ).—This countremon.)te
whom I was alluding, happening to bail a wife
who was lying very ill, was advised to call' for s
eticter, who resided at. a neighlmosing town m
'Rome distance, and thought.ot writing him a letter,
'begging him to come immediately) bat; before he
sent it off, it so happened that his wife was dead.
This melancholy event oecasioned.him to write a
postscript to the letter*. bail so ovine's. This was
one Irish blunder: he thinking that it was not at
all necessary to contradict what he hail first stated.

sir I
•
inriArippeteioe tht the letter smart shiver term
the postscripte—(dore fasikter). Tidier was an.
other Irish Mill. but the cloeter, to whom this
letter was sent (who, according to ther story, does
not appear to have, been ciao an Iriiihinauf is not
said fa have written an answer to!' it, infonniug
his employee that he had ordereet his carriage to
the door,• auk the' he would be eitith him w a few
moments ; 14.6 it said that this doctor afterwards
addesda,postscwe to his letter, condoling the Irish.
man open Ate metancholy ciikumstaute, as the
Ministry' in this case have dose in their answers to
Lord Gower's dispatches.. r Loa burets of laugh_
ter). Their esucluct has betku such as to excite the
most serious iudignatieu; sand in such a case it is
difficult to say whether iodignatiou *or ridiculi, he
most excited; but I mayiaay with the poet—
kidicalum test mad vetat
The third point to which) I Intended to allude, is
that portion of the necessary reformatieu which
they refuse : but it teas been so gangly ar-
gued by my Right Honourable .Friend not me,
(alluding to Mr. Ponsonby) in the trintion Which he
lately made, that I should almost think it a paste
of time to animadvert upon it. Oiily litthis be
remembered, that there never has been one rW1):11'.
called for, of which Ministers could prove to me,
that any part would be detrimental to dre..rehlie
service. After such disputes as have already tale-s
place upon this subject, it is impossible fersam, to
expect that any thing I can move for now cais7be
granted or acquiesced in; but 1 shall state a case,l4i.
tar from any thing that passed in the consider:nit)o
of the Right Hon. Gentleman opposite, that he
cannot at least shelter himself upon any of his
former grounds. Sir, I will for a moment put out
of the question our thirst for information upon the
,grounds of the war with Denmark, only repealing.
that after such an act, so reprobated by all the*
world, Sweden only excepted, comes the pars.
graph in His Majesty's Declaration, that Hie
Majesty owed it to himself and to all Europe.
to give a frank exposition of his natives, and
to lay every informatiou before M. Pfotwith-
standing our title to have such information.
I say, I shall put it out of view. I will suppose
that they have made out some filed plea, some
half case of state necessity, some recollection of
former hostilities—then, I ask, is nothing to be ex.
petted by this corm/I'y, as to the grouuds upoes
which we are at war with Russia ? It has been said
to proceed out of the question with Denmark ; bet
in my view I take it at present to be entirely a se-
parate subject. I take it upon me tolarert, tba4
the real provocation given to Russia was 1..4
simply the expedition to Copenhagen, but it visa .
a more heindur and itrecious breach of faith, ho. •
emir, honesty, and political integrity. in the co iidnet
of Ministers, after that infamous attack upon Co.
penhagen had taken place. His Majesty's repro.
seutative at the Court of Russia, Lord G.L. Gower,
tukes, " there was a peaceable disposition
.she bk.,
the Emperor, yet the expedition to COPenfiksea
altered that dispositiou, and tendered hue ile
to us.'' That is a fact, which, if este)
makes against Ministers ; aad I will nruppowort Mh
be so ; so that General &vary bad torned the
question with Russia egaloat us. Lena L
Gower, in his hat letter, dated the 25th of
Oct. expresses, that in his monomial with sire
; Respecter of-Russia, he discovered that. whist Fa/
moutpleted the Eseperoet beediste Words he
twee, that he had intelligence from • the Creme
Prince, that after the capitulation had takeri placei
attempts had been ovule .to offer him new ipiulthe
It had been communicated by Mr. Secretary Cone
ding to Mr. Itiest„ that we would take Holstein
from them tq give it to Sweden. I with to know
wherel,betruth of this matter lies, and tO discover
whether or net we conk', :riot; have Preserved terms
of friendship with Russia, even after tins attack
upon C:copenhtsgen, if we had not thus insueed
•the CrOIVII Ponce through thi -Minister, Mr.
Riest, resident in London ? I take it for grant.
ad, that that upon which I am now to &lime is
authentic infavnation from St. Peteriburgh. It is
from nebspapers, and if -the Right Hose Gentle.
man says he does not believe that such public-a.
tions are authentic, then I will drop the sialijict.
From these, however, we learn, that after we loci
bombarded Copenhagen, sad it had capitulates,.
after we had taken away their Beek, and at the
veri• moment when we were gang to the Emperor
of Russia, to get bum to mediate, he being a neu-
tral Protector of the Isiorth--at that very same mo-
ment, I my, it appears Ministers were threatening,
through Mr. Riese, to take from Denmark a great
portion of her dominions ; 1 mean Norway; eat
even proposing to co-spetate with die Swedish
garrison to take possession of Zealand. All this
too seems to have taken place after we had totally
quitted Denmark, and after the Danes had en-
tered into a capitulation. I want to know whether
there be any truth in oar Commander in Chief in
Zealand having _refused to become a party to O t
a
capitulation? Whether it was a wise cap
or or not is a point I shall not at present ergot, sir
shall I liseteW whether we might to have destroyd
the I)aiiith fortifications and arsenals. That is tat
the present question ; but I argue, that havinscinct
made that Capitulation. it is necessary for Murata:l
to exculpate themselves, by producing inforariat•
to spew that they never did negocime with SiTttAo.l
'to take possession of Zealand, and propose to
mist the tswetlish garrison in .so doing." (Here
Mr. Sheridan read various Eatracts from the
respondence between betweee the. .Dainsh Swell's
Ministers for Foreign Affairs, which appeared in
the French Papers of January last, end which com-
menced in a communication train Mr. -Clitining to
the Danish Minister in London, in 'Lich the f#
met. represented the occaostion of Zeal*, If'e
Swedish name, es one of the consequencettrv
continued hostility of Denmark to the t had the
In thia Correspondence it was eteted, 0 °cc"?'
.King of Sweden judged it neametr)oce of !n1
Zealand with his troops, ice alsbnove dove it
the King of Einti.rois wish, that he ral.__Te'L
";.1 eta "Lig tormtdicrucise.) „Thus our BIM "
relret that be acktintieued 31r.k4 without any ev-
ing of.i.twelestoa fog oarfrandulenteedonapt;
limes'
C164)452A)1., says, he would haver!
"
I)ith our assistance, if he bedht':
bealan..And then what doer; Ramis say ? 11•••
nre"lei of Russia snyt,, " then I think it neer:,
.—"Tepy Finland."--Thnt he hos sdresdy she,
ha
ir`4l.frwill. I doubt, soon occupy
Stockholm.

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