The National Register.
London, England, 1817-01-27 00:00:00

QOut• ding, Cottoo

ann IL ttivo.

No. 468.—V0t. X.

MONDAY, JANU MW 21' 1817.

Ittgat Ziograppn:

tee functions of governmeut we e now exercised in all the
political contests in parliament, . was never once imagined
that any forego influence was i.,lt : bet, in the reign of
Charles 11. when the House or Commons, from a well-
founded jealousy of the crown, fered mare than it aught
to have done, in negotiation witlt'enreign powers, foreign in-
fluence prevailed in proportion to the extent of the inter-
ference. Ought they then to tal.e the pewee of negotiating
from the crovrit, and give it to ihe people, when it was evi-
dently for the advautage. of the latter that it should remain
in the executive government, where the constitution had
wisely placed it?
" The debate, Mr. Grant observed, haul taken a new turn
in the hands of the right honourable gentleman (Mr. Wind-
ham) who spoke last. Every other person who had spoken
in favour of the resolution, had complained that they were
called on for supplies, without having any information what-
ever.of the subject for which they were. wanted; but the
right honourable gentleman, in tlia entirse of his speech, had
turntd round short, and declared, that they had all the in.
formation that it was in the poster of the ministers ever to
give. If so, upon what ground:: he asked, was it necessary
to deny the minister that conftdertee, without which the
negociation could not be carried-on with effect? With regard
to confidence, Mr. Grant observed, that it was not personal
confidence that was expected, or that sort of coutideuce
which A. gives B. but that confidence in the executive govern-
ment, which the constitution, 1* wise purposes, had vested
Ia ministers.
" An honourable Baronet,whollad spoken some time /dace,
had said, the instant the country W4ii pot to any expcnce, the
House was bound to enquire for what purpose; and he had
given a sort of challenge to the House, aid defied any gen-
tleman to produce a single instance, where they had keen
called on tOr supplies without previous explanation. It so
happened, Mr. Grant said, that he recollected a case pre-
cisely in point, and that was 011 the Journals, upon turning to
which in March 1717, it would he found, that the King sent a
message, stating to the Hollir in the most general terms pos-
sible, that he was carrying on a negotiation, in order to tire-
serve the balance of power in Europe, and calling upon the
House for supplies necessary ta carry it on with effect. fu
that instance, without any further information, the. House,
bad voted supplier; but no person thought of withhold-
ing the necessary confidence from the servants of the
crown. Nay, the present parliament, in the present session,
had fully and fairly acknowledged the principle; how else
was it to be understood, that, at the commencement of the
year, they had voted all extraordinary number of seamen,
but upon the confidence in the minister, when, without •:s-
-centling into particulars, he ;,hedged himself their services
would most likely be wanting.
" Having furnished these precedents, Mr. Grant took no•
tire, that Mr.Windlimn hail coticlusled a very eloquent speech
with a deelienatiim against the heiror, of war, and then ex-
, pressed hie wish l.O" peace. Ile jained iu deprecatiug the
calamities of war ; but the eight tiononrable 4eutleman
seemed to have forgotten that the armament heel 'fur its object
the maintaining the permanency of peace by actually avert-
. iug the evils of war, and duly supped:lig the balance of
power in Europe.
A supply was accordingly voted, but shortly after
the general sentiment of tie nation Was so strongly ex•
pressed against the war fit a place so obviously Mi..
• important as Oczakow, that the Premier was obliged
to yield, nr he would have lost much of his influence
with the commercial part of the empire, upon whose
favour and countenance ha always seemed greatly to re-
ly. The Opposition seized vpon this moment to move a
vote of t usurc upon Mr. Bit, but his political friends
were still ready to support him, whether he determined
to light for or abandon 047-akow to the Russians. Mr.
GRANT, like a sturdy champion, in ttirtonque paralus,
a falcon ready to fly at all game, was prepared to defend '
the abandoning of °maker!) as an object of warfare. After
some preliminary skirmishing, in which his usual logical
acuteness was very ably displayed, he proceeded to esti-
mate the value of Oczakon,, which. the Opposition at
sonic times considered as-every thing, and ut others as
nothing, but which he should Tate between the ex-
tremes, as something of a certain value, but not to be '
purchased at too dear a price.
To this end he considered the demand which the
Empress had nt first made ofzliessarabia, Moblevia, and
Wallachia, for an independent kingdom under a christian
Prince ; and that although she had afterwards abandoned
this point, yet she. adhered must pertinaciously to the
keeping of Oczakotr.
" This," said Mr. Gittser, " afforded a clear proof, tliat,
however barren the district, or insignificant the plate, she
deemed it of great importance to her Political views.
" More denended on the care to avert distant dame'. Oita
wits generally imagined; aud it frequently happened, hum
not looking further than the preseet. the grounds of moose-
quences, infinitely mischievous to the dearest inte•ests'of e
state, were laid, as it were, imperceptibly at flit mometa:
He instanced the alliance which Oliver Cromwell entereil
Into with France, and which had since been considered by
most politicians us extremely unwise and impolitic, although
its consequences were unt foreseen at the time it took plate :
but it was in eonsequenee of teat alliance, that, clean+. I'S
after the wars began, which cos: this country and all Europe
AO much blood. and to tench money.
tee alluded to tee beitilli les to casioned by the ambitious
views of Lewis the Fatirteenth. Cy the alliance crelew eft
had entered into with Y.. slice, lie gave ['sluice a peedomisat-
. Joe 1,03,1ce in the. scale
treeEnrope powers, and sunk Mae
I of Spain iy:low its proptree. Hay* at that time over-
t

OR,
MentOirsofthepresenteludges.

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
SIR WILLIAM GRANT,

MASTI:II 01: THE ROLLS.
(Coatimaed from our We.)

THE first time that the name of Sir WM. GRANT
appears in the debates of Parliament, was at the period
of what was called the Russian Armament. This war-
like demonstration of the Minister, who was then con-
sidered peculiarly the friend of peace, the youthfal re-.
Viver of the financial prosperity, the Atlas of the com-
mercial interest of his country, the last William Pitt,
was undertaken in dread of the sudden increase of the
Russian Power; when the mighty Catherine, with more
than manly vigour, wielded the sceptre of the colossal
empire of the north, and threatened in a short cam-
paign to lay prostrate the power of the Turks, and
plant her standard on the walls of Constantinople.
The balance of power in Europe had not then been
ri!aken by the French Revolution, and the Ministry of
the day seemed to entertain more anxious and perhaps
more just apprehensions of the rising strength of the •
.gigantic power, whose empire extends over great part
of Europe, and nearly all the robust and hardy sons of
Asia, than at present. Now, the acquisition of the
greater part of Poland, and of all Finland is allowed
•o the Russians without apprehension, and her path of
conquest facilitated along the two shores of the Baltic
by treaty with all Europe in convention. Then,
however, the pmsession of Oczakore, a small town
and set-port in the Black Sea, was deemed an event
of sufficient importance to disturb the tranquillity
of Europe, and rouse the watchful spirit of the British
Premier.
Mr. Windham, who became afterwards so conspicu-
ous in the Ministry, was then the friend of Mr. Far,
and one of the champions of the Opposition. He ac-
cordingly opposed the armament, not having then
ranged himself on the side of the alarmists.
Mr. GRANT, then Member for Shaftesbury, exposed
with great talent what he stile(' the absurdity of the
legislative intruding itself into the executive part of
the Government. He considered it as wholly uncon-
stitutional, and as depriving the public of a part of the
security which the constitution had given them ; for it'
Parliament interfered with the executive, the Ministers
would be the slaves of the Parliament in the first in-
stance, and that elective body would cease to be a con-
trouling power.
He contrasted the conduct of Mr. Fox on a former
recent occasion, when he left Ministers to their respon-
sibility, upon a bare statement that an increase of sea-
men was necessary, and compared it with what he was
doing upon the present, when, with Mr—lnsiruther,
he inquired not as to the means, but as ta the object
a the nesgociation going on.
" Lt %Vitt 4.Tret ti, Mr. tirant said, on all hauls, that it was
the prerogative of the crown to make war and peace, anti
cart yon negotiations. Why, theretOre, was the necessary
confidence to he denied to the executive government in the
present, more than in any other instance ; because it was ad-
mitted, that the ineastire in gnestion was a negotiation, mid
whether an armed or an unarmed negotiation, he •eclared no
person had disputed that it made any sort of difference.
From he nature of the proceeding, a negotiation was ma-
tinee(' by the minister, because he rout(' himself conduct it.
and was responsible for the whole. To what effect, he asked,
war it negociation likely to be carried on. if it was to be ma •
staged by live hundri it persons? it that house took nerd
eiations into their own hands, they might as well proclaim
them in newspapers, since they must have all the different
tin ciao ambassadors at their bar to vxamine them as to the
yoiota in trams,. Excluwie of this, Mr. Grant said, there
were othee objections of a strove nature. Popular assem-
blies were liketS• to be corrupted in negotiation.
•' The neressat y consequences of the negociations in the
hands of ntnutroos bodies, from the popul•'l assemblies of
Athens to the Polish diet, eve r bad been, and o'er would be,
the publication of what ought to be secret ; ititrigues,diSbPll.
liens, cabals, sad the int; rrosilion of fortign indueuce, As

!tOr
.!.:•‘._l,aittinali lit t itqt.

PRICE 94d.

turned the balance, it cost immense armies, and immense
sums, to set it right again, in the reigns of King William and
Queen Antic.
" As to the question of policy. he observed it could not al.
ways, in the affairs of state, be estimated by the actual value
of the thing contended for, but by thins to which it might
lead. And, as another instance from what small, and •poit-
reittly trilling and insignificant places being starred tii re-
main in the hands of the suceessfill power, great mischiefs
subsequently ensued, he mentioned the history of Philip of
Macedon, and the Athenians, and particularly his famous
letter to them, in which lie expressed his senriwetus of jestice
and moderation, in %% Inch he gave them assurances of his
good disposition to the liberty of Greece but solicited some
small towns, which the Athenians granted ; many of them
saying they were so obscure, and of so little value to them,
that they did not even know their names.--' True (said De-
mosthenes, afterward,) you did not know the names of these
small towns, hat they are keys to provinces, to which Philip
will find his way, anti endanger at last your liberty,'
" Philip passed from town to town, and from province to
province, until at last he had the dominion of all GrePee. So
in this ease the Empress might profess moderation, and add
furtress to fortress, until she became sole mistress of the Me.
diterrarean, and of Egypt. It mit es ideat, therefore, that
it was nut the obscurity of a town, and the want ails beiug
known, that made a line of conduct less justifiable or politic,
inasmuch as though a town might not be generally naticed, it
;night prove of much importance, as being the key of the
kingdom concerned.
" Mr. Lin ANT from this inferred, that Oczakow, although
apparently of trifling value at present, might prove of infinite
importance in the use made of it hereafter he the Russians.
In the consideration of this point, it appeared to him that
there was reason in the measures adopted by the misaisi erg
It was a material thing, in his opinion, for the interest of this
country, that Russia shoal(' nut gain a maritime ascendency.
At the same time he could see disiinctly,that, imp )tans as it
might be, it Was nut worth a war, under the peculiar drea m.
stances in which it war must have been carried on against
Russia, while the people of this country divided in opinion
on the subject.
" With regard to the right honourable gentleman Navin;
put the country to the expenee of an armament, purposely to
keep oczakner out of the hands of Russia, and nevertheless
given it up, that was by no means a matter that might not be
amply justified. Many points had been again and again given
up by negociators, eat only after armaments had been set en
foot, but after battles had been fought, and victories actually
obtained. lustanees might be quoted almost its every reign,
and front every page of history %%herein objects had been re-
linquished, Raft were deemed of great importance at first, and
td obtain which great national expellee had been income&
"To refer only to the reign of Queen Elizabeth, that prin-
cess, in the reign of Henry 11. of Flatlets, insisted nit regain.
big Calais. She armed, went to war; but coma:tiled her ne-
gociatiou for peace withunt obtaining Calais. She next made
terms with the Hugonots, and promised them protect.un, on
their delivering up Hat re, watch she thought might hi.ip her
to Calais. She afterwards übtooloned them, when they made
terms with the ling of France. let would an) hotly say that
the ministers of Elizabeth did nut act wisely in attempting to
recover Calais? Trey certainly did; bat they abandoned it
when they faun/ the object more difficult to obtain thou they
had at first imagined it would prove. So it might be said
with regard to out! efforts to regain Oczakow; to a certain
point it was proper to persist, but circumstances altered the
case.
"It had been said, however, by an honourable gentleman,
if the minister thought his q' 'lion right, and he was obliged
to change it, he ought to have refigued his place. Mr. GRANT
argued, that if ti.eininister's opinion ha,CLeen overrated in the •
cabinet, it would have been magnanimote:to have resigned his
office ; undoubtedly it would ; nay, it would not, perhaps, harm
been honottrable, but the reverse, tut Iron to have held it of
terwards ; but the case was surely different, where the mi-
nister did nut yield to the supra for and predominating opinion
of any other minister, Gut to. the opmitsas if the majority o' the
people of England, which, in so important a point as that of comb,
meowing a war, ought 4/100s tote attended Is.
As to a paper which had been severely commenter upon,
and bailibeen delivered from the Vizier to Sirßoleert Ainslie, at
Constantinople; that paper he saw it' even authentic, related
to a mediation, but last to .a negociation, and was, however
harsh and severe, tin satire on the present ministers in pat-ti-
t:Mar, but might just as well apply to the gentlemen on the
other side, who were in all probability as good ciiristians 'as tOt
-members of the present administrution. •
" Mr. GRANT added litany other pertinent and pointed oh.
servutions ;4nd-expressed a hope that the
~.116e would that •
Mehl. skew it was their opinion, that, un all the existing
circitinstances ministers had acted tightly, amid argued rpm
the liceessity of %Meg a reasonable degree of costfidence to
Inc iaeeentive gavel 'latent ; admitting at the came time, it was
hans to some some ; but that the constitution, after winch:
balancing the degree of good and evil, had ches:itsa to et dvii
it, .me the least dangerom option of the two. He Friacobeili
vie long speech, with deelaeitie, that be should .ate Attila!'
the motion, fl'Otil a CUlWieliOn that ministers had 4eus the
hest they could raider sod :he cireamstinces of thv case."
These speeches evince no ordinary talent. They
are the pleadings of a political lawyer, accustrinted to
argue on either sidc, but there are few lawyers in . the
House of Commons at any time, tvil,t co* bring retssp
(lily to the question, so 4: of historical information,
and of acute political -reasoning as are here displayed.
Thikt he must have been a great acquisition to any
wini.stry must be obvious, and it that whatever
rewani has been g,iveti hint, he has earned it by the so.
periority of hiitaleuts.
(To ba concluded in oar nest) •

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