The Sun.
London, England, 1812-05-06 00:00:00

tend to do away, and he reminded !cable' tordc,
that it was the American Govdrnment that refused
to ratify the treaty made by its Minister in ibis coma"
‘-a ,
try with the British Government.
The Martinis of LANSDOWNE spoke at some length
in support of what was urged by, his Noble Friend,
Lord Auckland. • -
The 'Earl' of the con-
dua of Ministers.
Earl GREY, the Earl of LIVERPOOL, and Lord
Garrwvawa,-respealivelvadelivered-their sentiments.
After a short conversation between the Earls z-
william and Liverpool, and the Lord Chancellor, it
was agreed, that the CoMmittee should sit at half-
past two o'clock. to-morrow. . •
CHARGE. MADE BY THE AMERICAN GOVERN_
• WNT. • '
The Older 'of the Day upon which their Lord-
ships wete summoned, being read,
Lord HOLLAND rose to bring forward the motion
of. which he had given, notice *on this subje&. He
said the'propositions he was about to submit- to their
Lordships had no reference whatever to the line of
policy proper to be pursued with respeet to the
United States of America. It went to call ter in-
formation on a topic of great importance, because it
affeaed the honour of the cOuntry. He felt ,at a
loss to know upon what obje6ions an-opposition to
such a motion could be founded: It went to the
crimination of no man, or any set' of men ; but
from 'what had met the public eye, he 'conceived it
now 'indispensably necessary that the Go.vernment
of this country should be vindicated froin, what he
trusted was an unfounded charge made against it.
It was in fa& .no less, than while two friendly
powers were engaged in negociation upon ceitain
points of national importance, a Member of. the
British Government had employed a secret agent,
Capt. Henry, in the territories of the United States,
not for the purpose of procuring intelligence, for that
he granted was a legitimate objea, 'but for the pur-
pose of procuring some of the provinces 2r states of
the Union, to, throw off theieallegiance to their legal
Government, and to separate themselves from the
rest. It was • worthy of consideration that this
charge originally came from 'an individual who
avowedly betrayed the secrets of his own employers.
A proceeding of this kipd would come with more
glace from the opeosite side of the House, from those
who had access to the official papers, and to such
means of information. In pursuing the subjea, the
Noble Lord referred to certain:points of the papers;
which had been communicated by the American Exe-
cutive toils Legislature, and pointedly referred to that
pact of the instruofrons to Captain Henry, which
speaks of the probability of the Federalists no longer
submitting. to the distressful situation in which the
conduct of their Government had placed them, and
respecting :their eventually looking up to the Eng-
lish for their assistance—this implied an endeavour
to induce a part of the subje&s of a friendly power
to do that which was against the laws_ of their coun-
try. .If this paper be authentic,. it implied that
Captain H. was employed •in a way that it would
require greater ingenuity to explain satisfaaorily,
than he conceived possible, and it was incumbent
on the government of this county toi vindicate its
honour from so pointed an attack. It was known
two great opposing parties existed in Arnerica.—
What would be the feelings of the -country, or: the
condua of our Government, if while General An-
dreossy was here, a secret agent of the French was
endeavouring to detach Ireland from the Union ?
Anti-unionist as he was, and friend as be was .to
the Peace of Ainiens, he would not hesitate to ad-
vise war, if proper 'explanation was not offered,
were it only through resentment against those who
bad insulted the honour, and practised against the
peace of the country. Ott these grounds he thought
he could look for a general concurrence in his
preposition. He thought the inquiry had Setter
be made by Parliament, as attaching mare weight
than the ad of any set of men in the country, how-
ever respeaable, He thought it .was not likely that
such an Officer as Sir James Craig would have so.
proceeded with Captaio H. withoutinstruaions from
his Government ; nor that lie would have received
Rich communica,ions without. having transmitted
them to the Governmeift here. It also appeared,
that when Captain El/claimed Jais reward, he pre-
sented a memorial to the office where the Noble
Secretary. of State presided,'and referredioSitlamea
Craig for his conclua. He. (Captain FL) had re-
ceived a, letter to general Prevost,, the successor of
Sir. James Craig, recommending him to a Valuable
office in the country which that officer governed.—
Tliat lie was authoritatively employed was evident,
from what _had notoriously passed; and there was
strong presumptive evidence that his Majesty's Mi-
nisters were not only apprised of, but had in no
small degrad authorised such an employment of
Captain H. if a contradiction was not produced as
to the authenticity of these papers, or such explana-
tion given as would vindicate the British Govern-
ment from so gross an imputation. The Noble Lord
concluded by moving and -Address to' the Prince
Regent for the productionsof all Copies of Commu-
nications made by Sir James Craig to his Majesty's
Secretary of State relative to the employment of
Captain Henry in a secret roission_ato the United
States of Arrierica, also of the Correspondence that
took place between his Majesty's Secretary of State
and Str George Prevost on the subje& of .compensa-
-aions claimed by Captain Henry for his set vices;
and also Copies of all instruaions sent to the late Sir
James Craig, from his Majesty's Secretary of State,
,relative to the employment of' Capt. 'Henry in the
United States of America.
•On the question being put,
The Earl of LIVERPOOL itrrtnediately rose,, and
_
said, he agreed with the-Noble Baron that the pre-
sent was a question
_which had no reference with
the line of policy proper to be pursued with respect
to America. It stood upon general principles, which,
'according 'to the circomstancas, were applicable to
the caseof any independent state whatever. It was,
theta:fore, from a strong sense.of public duty that he
dissented from the present motion. He Would state
the circumstances of. the transaction, as far as they
, had come under his view. In the first place, he had
to state, that the employment of the person in ques-
'lion (Captain Henry) as an agent, by the respectabie
officer who then governed in Canada, was never
authorised at' the time, nor was it even known to
his Majesty's Government, that such
.a person had
been employed until many months after the trans-
attion. It was true then,. in , 1808, at the time an
important negociation was pending, a person named
Lavater, had, of his own accord, opened a corm-