The Sun.
London, England, 1802-12-09 00:00:00

. .
• -re, ,e 1
join in hui lie did nOt profess have a know-
ledge of those topict siifficiently particular to noi!lify
him to gi venitich of,an opiniooon them t he believed
the • praises, however; to, be %Veil bestowed on the
.candba of both the Services. The leight Hon.
Gentleman who opened this discussion to-night, had
entered on an EstiMate. of the Establishment of
France, by way of justification of the present pro-
posed Estimate of this Country. To this it wasob-
senyable, that it. was. no greater now in comparison
with -its dominion; thatait was under the House of
Bourbon ; but if it Were soT he Wonid say that all this
preparation was unnecessary,on the principle on which
the necessity •of it was maintained by Ministers,
namely, to chew to France that -We are ready to vindi.
cate our Rights; and support. our Honour, which he
hoped we should- always be able to do. But he world
ask, was it becoming the Representatives of a great
Nation, who had a charatter left that was worth pre-
serving, who were ready, and whom all the world
knew to be ready, to vindicate our Honour and
maintain our Rights, to be taking pains to say we
will do those things? Might not that be as well left to
he inferred from what we had already done ; and did
it in the least degree contribute to raise our charac-
ter by this parade' of it ,? He thought such language
better omitted: The French had no information to
receiveorr the subjett, either of our willingness or
ability to repel any mead: that was made upon
either by land -or sea. Nor did he believe the
French had any-disposition to 'attack .us, and that
witea had. happened between os and Frat'ce had made
Frltece lest. waling • than othqrwise she might have
been to engage with: us. Now. upon the principle
of doing as-we would= be done by, we had no more
reason to express apprehension of attack from France,
than France had a reason 'to apprehend an attack
from us. We were told of the preparations of France
upon her Coasts, but he owned it gave him no
'alarm, for he did not really think they meditated
an attack on this Country. Much-had been said of
the preparations. at Boulogne, that men are there
at work by torch light, that they go on without
intermission night and ally ; but What was the
cause of it'? The Invasion of this Country being
in -view, • there was no such inference to be
drawn, for if -they. repaired that place at all, they
must repair •it in the way .they do, for soon the
stormy -season- will come on, when they will
not be able to do any thing to it.---The truth
was,- that nations, like individuals, often enter-
tained ridiculous apprehensions of danger : we.
had often done so, and ailed upon such apprehen-
sions with regard to Dunkirk ; yet ..Who among us
nose would think of demoliakAng that Harbour for
the benefit of this Country, and yet that bad been
seriously done at one time.—So again when the
French Fleet 'sailed for Saint Domingo, apprehen-
sions were entertained for the safety of Jamaica,
until the thing became too absurd to be entertained
any longer.—bf a piece with these unfounded ap-
prehensions were the present, in his opinion.—
With regard to the condo of France with Swit-
zerland, we shoOld follow the advice of the Sec RE-
TART AT WAR, and not make use of any irritable
language, and nos like his Honourable Friend
(General MAITLAND) say, he would not give a
name to his opinion,'and then deliver it ; but he did
. not see what the present proposed Armament of
this -fdountry could do with the condo& of the Chief
Coasts% with regard' to Switzerland. He then pro-
ceeded to observe
,that it was not the Armament
of. France, or the disposition of France, or Govern-
ment of France, ought to be the subjea of our ap-
prehension e we had but one thing worthy of our
apprehension with regard to France, and that was
the Political Power of France; and that was, in-
deed, tremendous; but he did not see how the Vote
now before the Committee, tended to diminish
that power. He wished the House to look at
these points, not wiih a microscopic eye, but
- with the' eye of common sense, , as every thing
ought 'to he viewed, and then, he believed, so
many would not differ from him, as, he apprehend-
ed, did at present differ from him on this occasion.—
With respect to the condition of this Country, 'he
was- ready to admit, that in comparison With the
rest of the world, that was to say, with the rest
of the European world, it was splendid to an high
degree, both in its resources and its freedom ; hut
the way to consider that subject, was to compare its
present with its former freedom, and then it would'
appear that much of our splendour had been dirtii-
nishede That the Government of this Country was
taken into the' hands which now held it, he rejoiced.
No- event, in his opinion, could have been more
conducive to the well-being, not only of this Coun-
try,. but of all mankind, than the removal of the
late Administration of this Country ; but at the
same•time that be beheld that removal with satis-
faaion, he could not help saying he should like
to see the Governinent• placed in the hands.
of an Hon. Friend of his' (Mr. Fox we presume)
whom it would be well placed, for he-would eondidt:
this Country to the highest pitch of political hap-:
pineit ; hut if that was not to be accomplished, hc
hoped at least he should never- see it in those hands',
in which it was .st) infamously used, for if those per.:
sons came -again into Government, this Country
would, by their conduEt, be soon irretrievably,
plunged into another scene of the same horrors out
of which we had just escaped.
General MAITLAND explained.
The Right Honourable D. RYDER said, that
he had no occasion, and, therefore, felt very lit-
tle. disposition to reply to any attacks that might
have been mde upon Mr. -Psyr's charaaer ; for
the experience of nineteen years of an active politiS
cal, and useful life,' must ever ensure him the gra.
dtude,of his Country. Neither did he see that it
required to be added to the discussion ovlrch took
place' upon the Navy Estiroates, nor' could he
pea any difference. of *Opinion; • as • this Vote was
evidently founded on the same plan as the increase
:of sti,boo Seamen.' If the increase, however, did
not take place, he much feared that this Country
may bid a long adieu to all its greatness, -But it
seemed -that there were some -Gentlemen inclined to
'think'Navies useless, Atmies 'something wOrse;
and even all Continental" Alliances- of any kind ab.
solutely detrimental. These -Alliances were event
decried in such a manner as perhaps to render the
formation .of them impossible, or. at least extremely
difficult. 'When we behold the subjugation of 'the
Swiss, and the progressive 2"itgrandizetnent of.Franse;