The Sun.
London, England, 1803-05-25 00:00:00

C4111.1!c IL
4.11 1.11.1, 4.1 !..• ?.11.• •
uluterStand that the former aggtessions or ranee
were nOw.alludetto, being in thelidielves'ilis-
t and-substantive causes of War;. thety
troduced to shew the general'disposition and intco:-
thins of France. Witholit discussing whet
seers were "or were not'eulpahle in 'not 01:11:.inta ain't&
upon these former aggreision, still their nit going
tuWar upon theSe 'grounds could not preclude thtS
Country, when a fresh canse. of *War arose; 'froth
adding to its case these previous indicatiOns of hos.
billy, Those'previouS ath
,of aggression.: But he
would not .nolv-use -thein as 'patter• coMplaitit
against France,. he would only use them histotieaf„
ly as indicative of the disposition of. France If the
dispute about Malta had arisen between-this Cohn_
try and Spain, or Russia or Turkey, against whom
we lied no' previous'canse .of complaint forbid faith,
you might have justice on your side ; btit 'Sou could
not strengthen your Case. against them by prodUcing
any preVious ads of insult or aggression : but in the
'case Of France, you had not only a distind cause of
War in the case of Malta, but that cause was strength-
ened by the uniform system whichtheFrencliGavern-
tnent, had adopted rOwards this Country; With regard
:to the iniportattee of Malta,'he could only speak train
what he heard or what he observed ; but upon that
piliot he had the opinion of BOnaparte hitrelf, The
importance of Malta was distindly proved by the
.events which had occurred. When the French were
• going to invade Egypt they touched Malta
'when the English were going to drive thent out of
Egypt, they touched at Malta. The inference was-
obvious. As' it appeared now' that. the Mediter..
railcar, was to be the scene of 'struggle het-Wren this
Country and, France, Malta could 'not be; loOked
'span as unimportant. An allusion had' been made to
a statement 'which appeared in a French Paper which
arrived this day, that it was poesible to put Malta
silo the hands of one of the three great Powers who
were' invited to gpatantee it, but we had
in aprevions part of the .Negotiatinn, • that' Russia
.was the only one- of the three Powers'ltt whom'we
could consent to 'deliver. it up, and he did-not un-
derstand that there had been any offer'•4llade by
Russia to garrisonValto, as well as to •guarrantee
it. Theteforethis-: statement. in the. French Paper
kit the case precisely where it was before- Same-
'hil.. kid been said in the course of the Debate
abOut
now before us the experience of a century, in which
Continental .Alliaoces had formed a part of the poli-
tical system of •this,Count ry •we had also the expe-
rience,of..two years. in which .we bad adopted a Aif-
ferent line of policy, 'and experience had shewn
that the latter' plait was ,not the hest calculated to
promote the interests, -or-secure thetranqutility.of
this. Country. We had 'learnt, be hop4d, from 'this
experience a lesson,--that when a Country had-oh,
taitied a certain degree of gre:etne,:,,, it ,teas not
easy for it to retire to a little and oa, row system.
If we endeavoured to abstra4t ourselves front all
Continental concerns, and to 10,,k for enjoyment and'.
security entirely within oun,eives, we should -be ex,
posed to insults, which it would be impossible to
bear, and difficult to avenge. Thii was a lesson
which. he hoped we'thould never forget, that to be
little after we had been great, would , render safety
impossible. A man might be happy withOutTheing
aKing, but when'did abdicated 'Royalty enjoy tratt,
We:had tried, since the peace of AtnienS,
the system of littleness, and we had found that tube
little was not to be sheltered ; to be humble,
not to be safe. it was said at the conclusion cf the
last Contest, leave us but in safety at. home, and lei
Bonaparte do what he pleases on the continent ; bift
if Bonaparte should please to turn Europe against 'us,
in order to achieve the ruin of the only Country that
had withstood his "power, we 'should riot find our
security increased by having insulated ourselves frOM
the rest of 'Etircipe. These were the rounds Upon •
which he ththight the 'war on the part of this country
wan founded in justice and neeessity,.end these were
the grounds upon which he supported the addres,
4,nrd „HAWK ES BURY said that after the
gence wlriOt 'he hid experienced- from the HotiSe
list ni%hr he should be ashamed again to trespass
upon -theiF attention, except: merely for the pur-
-1,0,e of eXpiaining., •a: lad, upon ''which • some
' of misunderstanding- Might ' arise,. he
meafft with 'relation to rtrie ' of the 'dispatches
with regard , to the guarantee of ktissia.-:--
"With regard to 'thii:bilpateli, he wished it to be
-Undersicicid; ..thst'eVen RUssin.would'accepi the
military protedion of Malta that that 40111th-rot
"a'satisidefory adjustment of the Alf-
ferences relative-to drat-Island% -; It was stated that
RusSiti was the only Powerinto whose 'hands, Great
Britaiocould in fad trust the proteaion,: of that
Island : hut it was not' stated that- if Russia hattac-•
ceded to that:proposal, that it-would have beert.per
fedly satisfactory to this GOvernment. His asser-
• tion had been grounded on this circumstance—the
refusal of the Court of Petersburgh to accede,
t,o the. Guarantee, 'the Correspondence which had.
taken place since the Treaty of Peace, and the
sentiments which had been, expressed by the Ito
sian Ambassador at this COurt. He wished also'
to.obsery e, that the, ery' Missenger who had brought
Coitnt Malkoff hiS InstruCtions to offer his good
offices between the two countries lid brought
similar instrudions to the Russian Athbassador at
this Court. , He was not in possession of these
struetionsin an official manner, so as to be-Vnabled.
I'd lay them before the House, hitt they had been
'communicated whim,. and they did hot contain one
word that held out the ides' that the Emperor of
Russia was disposed to take upon himself the
• tary protedion. of Malta. They..only contained
general expressiOns *f good will, and a desire'
theßussian Ambassadorin this Country tobeCome;
if it should he necessary, a' channel for-any explana;
lion that could be cattiest on between .the two Coun.
The only expressions with regard' to Malta in
those instrudions, so far from holding out the idea
of a military protalion'of Malta, stated,•that it was
ilk His Majesty's desire' to accept even of the ge-
neral guarantee, and. that- only upon the tenni
which had been previously mentioned.
Mr. FOX said,: that. after tire long discussion
.that had taken place, after the very able mower in
Which the-question had been argued on both sides,
and particularly-after ike very full and able inves.
tigation of the subjell tast night by his finnoti.r:
able friend, be should be very, unwilling to I

niat'feel' it"; war, ash: at hiure .duty - which
owed - the ...People cite Englind.to ,etultavuor,
possible, iirrescue-them out of a situation of greet
danger, at all•events of certain misery, •even if
the eohoast in which they were abt,nt
.to engage
attended with the must brilliant success.
But bertate hi,eniered into the genera.' question, be
tvi'Aeittosay R. word or two upon the manner in .
whidrit had been taken-op by different.Oeutlemen.
Thea:e 'who 'had spoken in favour- of the.,ariginal
Address Sad expressed an apparent wish to confine..
the discussion entirely to the 'justice of. the War,
and in treat it. as an entirely separate question
from the continCt of .His Majesty's Ministers.—
Now with respeet to the justice of• the War, it
could not, in his opinion, 'be' by, any possibility
separated from an examination of the conduit of
Administration, because the question of the, justice;
of the War, tnightin a very great degree, depend
upon the refusal on the part of France to. give ex.
planation, satisfaOion, or redress; and it would be
necessary to know when and in what MannerMini-
eters had app!ied 'fat such explanation -and redress,
but it- was impossible to contend that by 'Not.'
ing for the original. addiess, they would not
vote their- approbation to Ministers for their
conduct, because the address went to thank His
Majesty for. his uniform efforts to preserve
Peace, which he, could no do until he had. more
compleat prOols, of the fact. The' Honourable
Gentlemen who ,sat below iiim; would, per-
haps, concur in declaring that Ministers had
been_ uniform in their desire ro.preserve Peace,
but would 'they concur in thanking Ministers' for
the thole of theireondtrei in the Negotiation
A Right Hon. Gentleman had said, that there
Was not a word in the amendment to which he was
not 'ready' to accede ;. but that be would voiefor
the original address, though it Contained some pas-
sages to which -he could nut give his consent without
'a long explanation, and without. entering his
protest.. • It was then surely tretter to vote tor the
amendment; in which all could concur, than to vote
for the address, which) required so much explanation.
--411 r. Fox went over the whole ground of the
Correspondence between the two Countries, and
Made comments on each partictithe parr as he went
along, by which'he maintained that it was Manifest
there was a great devil of shuffling on-both sides,.
between the Representatives of. the two Countriis ;
he disapproved of the demand made by the Chief
Consul of France, that any one Member of the
! flouseof the Bourbon should be ordered to quit this
COuOtry ; he had no idea, th'at under any pretence
Whatever an Independent State was to he called on
to deny to any unfortunate, or persecuted Emigrant,
the rights of Hospitality.—He Considered the
plication made to Us. to abridge the Liberty of the
Pass, • to' be 'the offspring. Of the most profound
ignorance of our Laws and Constitution, and a
thing deserving only contempt and' ridicule, He
thought that much too great stress had been kid
On several of the expressions of Bonaparte, by
the commentaries of Lord Whitworth, in his
account of the conversation 'betWeett his. Lord..
ship and the Chief Consul, 'anti that the report kom
memory. ola long Conversarioq, was necessarily, and
at best; a very defetliVa thing ; he ridiculed some
tonclusiona that' were drawn from the tone and.
manner of Ennapart, that •he was proud and
hanghty in talking of an attempt on our coast,
and; saying that, it. was an hundred to.'one that he
would be & i Strayed n.the attempt; anti that he
spatted of, accomplishing his end ; 'this, he said,
reminded' ihim of the most extravagant passage in
the-moat extravagant work of the most extrayagn,a,
'though. admirable, oet,' Drydeo, Who, hadput into
the mouth Of one of his characters, speaking to the
other—"Vou shall not dare, to be so imp:lent as
:to despair."--He tidicolettealso the.itlea of sup.
posing that Bonaparte
_Would:have been s 6 extreme,
ly foolish (unless indeed we supposed him to be flee,
Tor Bedlam), as to tell our Ambassador of his inten-
tion to go soon to Egypt, if he really had that in.
tention. It was true he had expressed aib to
go there, tint:Certainly, no design ; but the de%ire of
a' person' Co du A thing 'vas not n ground for War, else
we should never b,ive been at Peace e
with
the Hous
of Bourbon ; nor was the sending a person to Ugypt
to examine into that place, tear that has been:
Often, done, As 'to the Commercial CrriaTtnis-
'slorairs; who came here in disguiai to take the
soimAings •of our • coasts, he thought that was:
a gteat breach ,of faith; and they ought, to
have been arrested, and satiifaelion demand-
ed and' if refused, that would !mire been
ground for War ; bite there .was nothing of tilde
kimcdone. With regard to the general system Of.
aggraindizcment, unless tt affeeted us immediately,
we ,had no. right to complain of it more 'than
the French had, to complain of us. for our ag-
„granditemerit in Luba ;' if they accused us in this
resp,-`te.t, by way of retaliation of our railin;,, he
lenew of no answer wecouttiMake,'unlesa we imitated
:ihe'Latly who was acecledof disregard oilier virtue
in Orally iostatices—said, « never before upon my
, honour, on this side of the Cape of GOO('
lie ridiculed ail the subjects of complaint made by us
on these'general topics, and maintained that none of
them were just caus,p 'for War ; anti insisted, -if
'they had been so, -we ought to be at perpetual
War with the-regular Government of the,Houseorif
'Bourbon,.and,that we- ought to have gone to War,
with Prussia and Rtissia, for the Partition of Polaad ;
an Ott which, - notwithstanding All we had yet seen,
still kept its pre-eminence in atrocity. In a word,
he saw no legitimate cause of War in any
of these things. The most unjustifiable of all
the cc pluet of Bonaparte. on the subject of annexa,
don or territory, was that -of
.his behaviouroo
Holland and to Switzerland, 'which was certainly,
most cruel; but he maintained, that we had not
a6ted properly in, these particulars. With regard
to the abuse :,of the one .Government towards the
other, there were but two Ways of disposing of
that puint, either to tieMaril sairsizna,ion, or topass
it overin contempt ; neither of which bud We foe.
.
l"weds bcgides, the parties in thisreaped.appeareti
to he pretty neat on et'level. Fiji general 'blame
upon Ministers was, that if-they had:ally subjed of
complaint, they diet riot
:specify it acia
Egtisf.:;tion, Aim then, if satilaaton waa refused, it
titne enough thiok of going tO,Wai, for
insult was' gloat-i-d tar War. Xt war> the refusal

,n)arldetil was'gr!Ji!oci for War..

Thif,

the who* of the can of azir:!yatiou
it Was jajsisitd Lynn On the part of ,;,7r
meat; at,tt he maintained that we ha(l* iwt.o
in our cOnrse in not dera,mtling f,r it
insult whenever weinet it, insteal of watifing for au'
6teninniatloll of insults, and then to make ihe rota
a .stibjecl of complaint ; he accused both side; .l
gteat deal of hypocrisy On thiS and;Cfl.4l4.:
ed us w:ltj) has ing gone.at la,t to War upon a Stitdc.;
principle; .that the possesiort of NLlta, and lot
whih it was improbable we, shotildName
Alliances; because the thing:in contest AVas. ipierest.
ing to none but,oursel yes: The remedy-, for. all
.thiS. he Statettto he. that' of an alyeal to (he Great
Monarch; the Emperor, of Crst fo becOme
Gtiarantee fur Malta, after Arbiter betwei:n
and then; if tharench,showid persist in their co r, re
of injustice, the prObability would...be that" we
should have Allies, because the Matter in contest
would then be generallY intereiting. Ile said that
this 'was the only coarse that could wisely I taken -
by us. He then proceeded to take a view of the
probable effeel of War, and punted thern in very
glowing colours, and took occasion rn ob,erei upon
the Income Bill and other T.t•ises, wlik.it must be:
renewed if we go to 'War ; he applied many of his
observations to the eloquence of Mr',l),tri, who had.
recommended 014 War, and advised 'the frOuSe try
be.aw.,r! of the ruin of theii Conntry,hy the debt-,
sive arts of eloquence, on 'width he expatiated at
great length. lie,observed, that the Aildteei stated
a fait} which but few cold assent to, naniely, that
Ministers had been sincere. in their encleavouri to
preserve Peace, and which no one assented to
out qualifying his' s vote ; whereas the
,Amenklinent
stated that which every body iitlinitied to be true ;..•
the way therefore. to produce unanimity in the'
House, was .-to adopt that whielf every body
vilitted to be true, 'instead of prorsing that Which.
`nobody could asseni to without qufliticationi for
these, --and a prodigious number- of reasont.,, for
which, weThave no room (for:Mr. Fox spoke for near
• three hours), he,concluded with'saying he heartily
concurred in. the Amendment.'

The 41176" EL L 0 &of the EitCH
that.he,never heard with more admiration the ta-
lents. of, the Hon. Gentlenan, nor had greater oc.
easion to lamer,t chat the :.efFusions of his Jrccat
exalted mind 'hauld have been employed for the.
purpose for which they were then applied. 'lt.eer-
tainly was„ nut the intention of that Hun. Gentle.
.man to produce the eget% of unhinging and turnery.,
ing the House, at a period the must important for
the consideration of the most momentous subject
chat could come before Parliament ; and he could
not help lamenting, that the powers of 'birch hhoOld
have. been so employed, and to give eneOurageMent
where there ought not •to be encoutagement given,,
namely, to our ,enemies; not that it could be-
so intended, although it might be 'considered as
likely to have such effett. He would put it tti
the candour of that Hon. Gentleman's mind, and
would askitim, upon reflection, whether thought
the language, he had used was nut likely to accom.:
plish an objeEl, which he could pot-wish to have ac-
comPlished ?—Whether he did not think, that deo
scribing thet,subjeft in the manner in which he had
:described it; was necessary for any good purpose
and whether he thought it fair to .make such an ap..
peal as he had done to the feelings of mankind, for
the purpose of enlisting them, as it were, to fight -
aefainstrtheir 011,qt:duty ? Soch mien lie the
,feel -of the eloqu'ence of the-Hon. Gentleman that •
night ; but be hada firm .reliance on the good sense
and fortitude of the People of- this COuntrY ; and
he 'had a perft# co:lviaiop that at that mo.
'ment they ;felt the daoger of their situa-
tion, and would not be led away by any arti-
fice or eloquence
twhateVer. He should not fidlow
the-Hon. Gentleman into a' minute actail of this
case he shOuld rest it upon its plain and obvious
good sense. L Having been ore of those who'adviseil
lit I\ll.ljesty to bend to Parliament the Message on
which the Addresspow before the HouSe was Moved,
he wag satisfied to rest with the Bouse,, the. cOnsi,
d.fration of. his morives, and that of his colleagues
upon this occasion,- and he hoped the House were
satitified.that no reltiztatice bad ever bun shewn on
hid parttn enter into that discussion chat he had
been desirous to have 'it considered kly 'the House,
and 'that, he had lrequta fly. expressed ltis mind to
that efE.Ct; forthat •he Pratt said, that he should
.not shrink from the moment of discussion ; but on
the 'contrary, had Avaited with impatience for the
arri 61 of this.moment ; that every part ofhis .con,
duct might be canvassed by the Hon 4. He earn.:,
estly wished also to obtain, and he truster, he-should
obtain, the concurrence. of the Hous-e, in 'every part
of his condpft in this particular. .The' hope which
he entertained that such a diseossion woliltl rake
place before the House,iwas now fulfilled. He hoped'
it would be the general-opinion of .the House that
night, that His Majesty's MiniSters had been sin.
core in their conduct, and.their endeavours to pre.
serve Peace, although the Hon. Gentleman who spoke
last,had said they were not so,iuud had objeeted to the
Address on that aceount; Now, what were the words
oftheAddress in that particular ? ." That this House
entertains a just sense of His Majesty's anxious and
uniform endeavours. to preserve to his People the
Blessings of,Peace." Such were the words, and he
never expelled to hear in that House, that such
endeavours for the preservation of Peace had,not
beep sincere: He now, however; knew 'there
Were many ; he wished to God there were not
so many, whin thought they were ,not sincere in
socheodeavOurs, anti there were others who thought
that,, although they were sincere, they had :Oat
been wise in their endeavours to preserve Peace.
-He 'then :proceeded to take notice of what ,had
been 'stated by - Mr. FOX lay way of comment
on the declaration of His Majesty un the .subjea
pow before the House--7un the- point of the.
nities—on . the subjeft of the- French TroOps not
evacuating Holland—of the suhiett of Parma and
Pla`ectitia, and. the anitexafioo.of 'Piedmont—of the -
ease
,of Switzerland, and cm the various other topics
stated in that Declaration. Upon .all which topics
Gentleman seemed to insist that His Ma-
jesty's Ministers had not petformcd their duty, in.
atimuch'n4 they had omitted to make specific Re.
monstralices to Fiancit tti each of these cases at they
occurred, instead: of waiting for the acti,nou,la.