The Sun.
London, England, 1831-08-13 00:00:00

cot arrive until after it had been broken. What are the
words in the letter of the Ist of August, on which sonic
reliance has been placed? " That the King will support
his negociations by his military means." First, as to the
manner in which this supposed notice was given. The
l-lon. C-ent!eman efsTresses his astonisment that any
man with two es es, and two hands at the ends of his arms.
could keep a letter directed to another person in his pocket
for twenty-four hours without breaking the seal. I do
not know what might be the official habits of the flight
lion. Gentleman—(Laughter)—hut this I know, that
what he recommends are not mine.—( Cheers.) If I, as
a member of the conference, receive a letter addressed to
the conference, I do not think myself justified in opening
it but in the presence of the other members,_(it
ear,
hear.) " But (says he), how could a Minister of England
at such a perilous moment--when the fate of Europe was
hanging net on hoots, but on minutes—receive a coi„.
munication brought by a special envoy by the Ligthing
steam-boat (fur the winds were not s‘eiit enough, and it
therefore came by lightMng), and k ep it unopened until
the following day ?" This was; undoubtedly, his best
piece of pathos ; hht it *anted the foundation of fact. The
conference bad invited the King of the Netherlands to send
a Plenipotenti,ry to negotiate a treaty of peace ; and if his
envoy had replied, " My master will not treat but fight, and
here is a letter explaining his mot ives"—l should have lost no
time in summoning the members of the conference to re-
ceive so important a communication. But what did the
Dutch Minister say in half an hour's conversation? That
he had come to negociate peace, and that his powers were
so ample that he hoped to be able to conclude a treaty
without. a reference even for further instructions. At that
time also he delivered the letter of August Ist; and al-
though he certainly stated in some detail the grievances
of his master as regarded Belgium, he parted from me
without giving me the slightest hint that twenty-f.nr
hours before the Dutch troops bad entered Belgium. So
far, therefore; I think I have satisfactorily explained why
I did not then proceed with Dutch haste to summon the
Plenipotentiaries to the conference.—(Much cheering.)
. .

If I had summoned them, what effect could have been
been produced? We must not judge by the results,
because on Wednesday na account was received in
London fi om Sir Charles Bagot that the Dutch army had
marched. But the experiment was tried on the Ministers
at the Hague ; for this letter, which the Right Hon. GPti.
tleman says is such a clear announcement of hostilities,
was successively put into the hands of the Ministers of the
five Powers at the Hague; and without anything in the
air of that place to blunt or obscure the faculties, it did
not occur to them that it indicated the march of the Dutch
forces. When our Ambarsador at the Hague heard, from
a private friend, that the troops had crossed the Belgic

frontier, he went to the Dutch Minister, and, in answer to
his demand for explanation, was informed that the passage
did not mean that hostilities bad actually begun. The re•
sumption of hostilities in fact took pl.:ce at the very moment
when the Dutch Government were sending a Minister to
negociate.—(Cheers.) " But (exclaimed the Right lion.
Gentleman) what did the French Minister do? The te-
legraphs were put in motion, and with the speed of light-
ning the French troops were put in motion too." Give me
leave to tell him that the English Minister was not much
less active. The news was received on Wednesday even-

ing, and on that very night the First Lord of the Admi-
ralty dispatched an express to the fleet under Sir E. Co-
drington, ordering it to the Downs, that it might be ready
to act as circumstances required. Did we wait for the
reading of the sealed letter of the first of August, or for
the most un-Dutch reading of that of the second of August
by the Dutch Ambassador? No; but the measures that
seemed indispensible were taken on the instant. What
becomes then of the cobweb sophistry of the Right lion,
Gentleman? Is not its flimsiness blown to atoms by a
mere breath?—(Loud and general cheers.) Has he not
been as mistaken in his facts as he has been illogical in his
re Ironing ? The fact of the resumption of hostilities was
communicated to the Conference on Thursday, and what
was then thought necessary \, us done. Thus I hope I
have answered, as far as my duty will allow, the very
friendly charges of the Right Hon. Gentleman—(Cheers)
—but let me remark, that there cannot be a more unfair
position for a Minister of State to occupy than to be put
upon his trial by personal disclosure of facts most neces-
sary to his vindication.—(Hear, hear.) Let me observe,
however, that when the letter of the first of August was
read, with the passage about supporting negociations by
military means, I thought it any duty to ask the Plenipo-
tentiaries, not one, but both, whether they knew the fact
that hostilities had begun? They rr plied, that as indi
viduals they might know much, but that as Ministers
they were not at liberty to state what they knew. I in-
quired whether they bad any explanation to afford on the
subject, and their reply was, that they were not instructed
to give any explanation.—(Cheers.) I am not accusing
the Plenipotentiaries of anything like improper conceal-
ment; they were sent to negociate, nut to announce that
hostilities had actually commenced. If our intellects were
so obtuse as not to understand the words " military
means" as a renewal of war, there was the Dutch Mini-
ster, why was he not asked the question ? He was asked,
anti I have told the House his answer. The Right lion.
Gentleman has complained that he did not see me here
as often as he wished, and he said, with a sneer, that he
was always charmed when he found me in my place. The
fact was, that on my way from my office—
Mr. CHOKER interposed, to state that he meant ❑o
sneer, but to express a sincere regret at his absence. He
knew that the Noble Lord had been pi esent on Friday.
Lord PALMERSTON—Of the Right Honourable
Gentleman I may say, that, whoever meets hint, whe-
ther in public or private, cannot fail to be enter-
tained. The fact is, that on my way to the House
on Friday, I called upon my Noble Friend at the head
of the Government, and I found tc•ith him one of
the Ministers of the Netherlands, and, after much
conversation, and just as we were about to repair
to the House of Parliament, the Minister took out
the letter, which has appeared in the newspapers, and
read it hastily. Perhaps it ought to have made a greater
impression on my mind ; but it was not addressed to the
English Government, and the Minister had no intention
to deliver it. O: course, it is not in my possession, and
if the Right lion. Gentleman had moved for it, I could
only have returned nil. I confess that when the question
was put to me last night, that letter was not present to
my mind ; but now I remember it, I am at a loss to see
in what respect it alters the case. A communication on
Friday could not (excepting according to the convenient
logic of the Right Hon. Gentleman) be notice of an event
that had already taken place on Tuesday. The mode of
reasoning of the Right Hon. Gentleman would, indeed,
have been greatly aided if the Dutch Minister• had not
read that letter to my Noble Friend and myself—tin ii a
week after the march of the army for the Belgic frontiers.
Then, indeed, we must have been deprived of all pos-
sible defence, and the Light Hon. Gentleman would

have enjoyed a signal triumph of Hibernian logic.—
(Laughter.) As I said in the outset, I will not enter into
the general discussion ; the time has not yet arrived when
we can do so without prejudice to great pending interests; •
and if this were true some days ago, it must be doubly
so now, as all must be aware who read the newspapers—
the
pleasant hut profitless study of the Right Hon. Gen-
tleman. Any man who locks at the mighty events now
passing in Europe—any man who has the slightest know-
ledge of business—not the long official experience of the
Right Hon. Gentleman—(Hear)—who is governed by
good sense, and not misguided by passion—(Hear)—must
be aware that an attempt to drag me into debate may
afford an opportunity for .the gratification of personal
vanity or for the display of personal friendship—(Hear)—
when the appointed leaders and officers of a party are
absent ; but it will not receive the public approbation ;
and an individual who adopts such a course will not per-
form good service for bia country.—(The cheering at the
close of this speech was most general and persevering.)
Lord BRUDENELL (we believe) expressed his regret
that the bias of the minds of Ministers was clearly against
the King of Holland, although he saw nothing reprehen-
sible in his conduct. As an English Member he would
say that the first shot fired by the British forces, on land
or water, against our ancient ally, would be an indelible
disgrace to the country. Ile thought it impossible that
any Ministers, filling the situations of responsible advisers
of the Crown, could, at the present moment, more com-
pletely lay themselves open to the accusation brought by
his Right Hon. Friend than did the Noble Lords and
Right Hon. Gentlemen opposite. They had been ituilty
of the grossest injustice towards our old and faithful allies
the Portuguese in the South, and the Dutch in the North ;
a French fleet occupied the Tagus, and the tri•colour flag
was planted in the soil of Holland. He lamented to say
that the conduct of the British Government had been incon-
sistent with itself, and marked by a levity unworthy the
executive of a great country. Ile thought the House and the
country had a right to complain that Great Britain should
have lent her sanction to the entrance of the French fleet
into the Tagus. Passing front that subject, however, he
would put this question to the Right Hon. Gentle:nen
opposite—Why did they do nothing to assist tLe Poles?
But there it would seem that we would have had to deal
with a different sort of enemy. It Was one thing to abandon
a weak country like Portugal or Holland, and quite another
to encounter so formidable a power as that of Russia. The
fart was, and be confessed it with humiliation, that the
tendency of our foreign policy now was to oppress the weak,
and truckle to the strong. It must be full in the reeollec-
lion of the Home that Noble Lords and Right Hon.