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

. • . - - - • _ , _ -

' which must always be the ease, there was not (Me .!
man to be found who would not say, that it we had
received insults ItOrn france,:: that those inSults
ought not to go uni.edreSsemi ; :inset let that.opinion
he taken in; the same way, as tdthe coodul of f Its
Majesty's Ministers,. and whether Voey had dooe :ill:
.in their power to avoid War, and he believed the
answer of a large majority would he, that they had
np.t ; (Iva was also his feeling upon that sobjsa..—.
- Ile thought that His Majesty's Ministers had pass,
ed over, in the Declarati;el, many. points with re.
spell to svhich the tone of France was more insulting,
' or at ;east as much so as in those they had no-
ticed, He should abstain :from pursuing that line
of Conduct which had been. adopted -hy those on
the other, side, who had spoken of those insults as
topics' of ioflammatioo sachet than as, a grave sub.
jea of consideration, which they ought to be. With
respea to the sepre,sentations- of France respecting
Libels alledged to. be published against the Govern.
tnent of that. Republic in this country, suCh-retneri-
• strances should have beeo treated with contempt—
theanswer should have been, we have no satisfaCtion
to give you, take your remedy. With respeft to
the Commercial Cotnmissioners, did Ministers do
their duty? Were those men sent out of the Coun.
try ? What was the consequence of not don their
duty ? That it still remained a problem, whether
they had received satisfattion from France on
that point or not, and this mixed up with other
things, Was brought forward as matter of 'ag-
gravation against France. Lord Hiswas.saus Y, as
it appeared in the 'Papers, had been
.called upon ,
to send out of the Country certain individuals
because -they were obnoxious to France. Na Iltitoo
would contend that men who'had received the' pro,.
talion of this country., ou_ght to be sent Lott of it ;
_but' it appeared that the
~Noble Lord had made a
promise upon the subjed. got 'how should the Re.
presentations upon that subject haveli:en met ? 1:y
a direa refusal ; and if France chime to avenge Ler_
self, let her do it. The soils& of the aggrandize.
Me
in of France had been ai.readv ably diicussed:
Those who voted against the Peace of Arniens,
Stated this as .a reason why they opposed thst
Treaty. But how was it with respea to His Ma-
. jesty's Ministers ?• The Independence,. of Hol.
land was secured,
,hut the fa'a was that' French
Troops were in the • gatavian lepublic at that
tittle and continued there. Were any Repre-
sentations made respeCting these Troops Several
motions were afterwards nude by those Troops for
the purpose, as. it was Supposed, of quitting the
Batavian Republic, hut they stopped on the frontiers
Of Holland, tinder the 'pretext of being- destined to
stave in the expedition to Louisiana; but, was there ,
any formal reasoristrance 'Upon this subject ? Hp
should have thought' it roper that Miniitersaboblil
have sent'a format represeptaticin, in order that, they
might have had a flartnal answer ; therm they might
have cotne to Parliament with,theirdoUbts
,and
there would now have been no disputeabout rile ob,
jea of War.- The • Independence of Switzerl'aia
was secured by the Treaty of Luneville, yet eight
or nine months after the .signature of that Treaty,
the, French' Troops. Were not withdrawn fititn,that
Country : that Might have dieen considered as an
omen of the bad faith of. France. A considerable
tune eiapsed between the ;signature of the Treaty of.
Luneville, and that, of the Treaty of Amiens, and
still the Fretcb.Troops were not withdrawn ; those
who made the Treaty.of Ainien's snust haVeconsi.
tiered at that time that Switzerland would be kept
by France. • All t.libm,e'Circumstances were stated,
and the argument. by which they were answered, •
was, that it was to he • supposed that the Treaty
;would be executed. A' system of aggrandiiement
was likewise• pursued in:ltaly,"and at the time of
aigoing'the Treaty, Piedmont 'Was in 'faii annexed
to France, py being Mule a Military arrondissement
of that CoUntry, which *MAN cia very little dill'
ferent to being really annexed to France. The
Isle of Elba wits Illeeivise taken under the
proteCtion •of France,'..: and' 'what that' protec...•
stion 'was, was sufficientlY ktrown: All. these ,
circumstances were known at the time the Definitive
Treaty was signed. It was not therefore for those
whO signed that Treaty, or those who sttpported it
to contend, that those reasons which existed at the
time of sigoingthe 'Treaty were now reasons for
Lsting to War. It has ben asked by the Noble
ord (1-I,‘WEEititIRY) on the preceding evening,
was no Country to come forward to take •up 'the
.cause of an. injured Sovereign, or an injured People ?
He (Mr.'. WimattlAn) agreed, that if •a case will
Mack out of injury,.their cause ought to be taken'
up-but it was needleit tostalkof giving what could
nest be given. , That Noble Lord had alluded ta•the'
German ' Indemnities, the Whole of which was' a'
complete systeM of robbery ; lint did the -Nobles
Lord and: his Crolleagues,:who knew such.si system:
Was :resOlved upon at the Treaty. of
did they .set their fiees against it ?:Now, however,:
• we •were to go to War to redress the wrongs of
the Continent. If the Ultimatum on the Table 'was
not the objet f' of the War, in God's name-let theme
know the' obji'el of it ; let them not ruse St false
Spirit in tree. Ctitintry ; let them know Whithie:.the.
objea might be attained Or not without going:to
War.. With respea• to Malta, which seemed ito be.
the sole ohjea in dispute with. a view to Egypt,.
the Noble Lord (Hstwticantlay) had deseanted upon
the perfidy of the Freneh.Government, in throwing
diflculties in the way of the guarantees, but.he fur-
gc.t that the while the French Government were
throwing difficulties in. the way. of .those guano-
tees,' Malta remained in the possession of England,
and that it must haire done so whilst those difficulties •
remained. The Noble Lots] and his Colleagues had
however resolved to fulfil the Treaty of Amiens,
when on the gth day of February a Dispatch was
sent to Lord' Whitworth, announcing that the eva.
Cuation of Malt would-have taken place if a Certain
Circumstance had not happened. This circumstance
was Sebastiani's mission. The Right Hon, Gentle_
man (Mr. Pt rr) had said, that the hnitile disposi..
tion of `the First Consul was
,to be inferred more
from the mission than the Report. MiniSters had
kstated that they knew of the mission, and that
, they knew Sebastiani had seen General Stuart, •as
• in their
,Dispatch' to the French Government they
had stated that -Egypt had not been- evacuated, in
consequence ola Mistake. If the Report was an aa of
aggressioo, he thought thitt Ministers were highly
culpableiri.hot Semonstratin aLthe time. Did that

wax.

Report disclose more of the hostile disposition of the
, First Consul than was befotte known ? Egypt was
always a favourite. objeft with the French
ment, -and Malta alio, with .a view to the' former.
What was dome '6 prevent Malta : from falling into
the hands of the• First Consul.? It waS proposed to
garrison it with Neapolilan troops, when the ceding
.of every military man upon that occasion was, that
it. was in faft placing it in the hands of France, as
the First Consul itqght have it when he pleased. As
to the importance of Malta with a view to Egypt,
it had been stated upon a former occasion by a gal. •
!ant Officer, that it was of no importance in that
point of view, raid he believed that statement to be
nearly, if not-wholly carte:ft. The Chief Consui
was well kown to be a than sUbjeft to: sudden
gusts of temper, and' therefore his expressions in
his, conversation with Lord Whitworth, were not to
be taken in their literal sense. It was not unlikely
that the Empire of the Ottoman Porte might fall by
Means of some arrangement of partition, to which
the First Consul might be supposed in that conver-
nation to allude, and thtiefore his words were not
to be taken in that Sense which Was applied to them]
but at any rate it only resulted, that. all that wt
knew before upon:that subjeft Wa,s-confirnied; It
appeared that Talleyrand had signified tim willing;.
nen of the Frerieli Gbvernment to giye every secu-
rity respefting Egypt ;. he did not think ' that Fits
Majesty's Ministers went far enough in inquiring
what that. security. was; - The 'Emperor of '.Rtes:
sia had Ered
.to guarantee. Malta, leaving
out the 'Maltese langue. This. morning an
important document had arrived, contained in the
French Official Paper, which was a Note froM the
Rtissian Minister to-Talleyrand, stating'in the most
conciliatory terms; thedesire ,of his Imperial Ma.
jest), that the Treaty of Amiens should be maintain-
ed, and his wish to interpose his good offices between
the two Countries, and at the same rime stating;
that the English Government knew that the Emperor,
COW not assent to the Maltese langue;- lICCOUTTe
Of a prev ions arrangement to the contrary. From
this it appeared that his Imperial:Majesty was will.
ing tointerkre between the two-Countries. With
te;peft to the previous arrangement there men.
tionea; ',it appeared very strange, but perhaps
Ministers Might'. be able to explain it satisfac-
torily. This, howeVer, he, *as. sure they
would- not explain iatisfaftOrily; wbv the!' 14d nut
noticed- that. projet of the COULI of .I"ictertiblire'lit
that time, 'when there had beet no Sebastinni and.
no Message to' the Legislative Body. The Publi.-
cation of the. Report of Sehastianii natwithstanding
what had'been said by the Right Hon. Gentlethan
Pt-t•-r). might be considered as an: answer to
Sir Robert Wilson's Work, tespeeting the transac-
tions of cur Arnik in Egypt.
P UT, here interrupted Mr. WHITBREAD,
by way of explanation. Ile had stated, he Said,
that it 'might lie blkdged as an, excuse for, the
.Ptiblicitionz of the Report, that it .was intended-as
an answer t6'.l-he Pamphlet of -Sir Robert Wilson,
but that this could be yin excuse for the Miskiorr,'as
Sebastiani must have been sent on that Mission
belVreihat Paritphle: app"thted. '
Mr. .11//11114,10:11D continued : if- the Message
to the Legistat ive,Bdtly had bieneoniiderea he
as an insult; firs Majesty's, Ministers-might have
demanded 'arid obtained satisfaftiiin imineiliately, as •
-they had done in the case of M. Reinhard, Will)
resped to the refusal of Ressia.tir gnarantee Malta;
'st was contradifted by the Note which had been
.' laid -tipon the 'fable that evening -by . the
Lord.,' 1 He thought that His :Majesty'a Ministers
might still avail themselves of the interference of
Russia, and:that Peace might7stift be preserved..--
•Upon these grounds he should support.the Atnenci..
merit. •

-frP.'.DALLAS said,. that as the question Fad
been so ably discussed already, and as there were so
many Gentlemen much more competent, to t!eliver
their sentiments upon the question than he was,- he
Would not ireSpassiong ,Upon the* attention of the
Fictive. The question before the House inyolved
in 'it two tohkiderations :.-the justice of the War,
and the':Conduft of His„Nfajesty's Ministers in the
Condtift of the Negotiation. Upon the latter point
there appeared to be considerable difference of opi•
nion ; some Gentlernen seemed •to think that Mini-
sters (tad not gone far enough in their efforts to pre.
serve Peace, while others thought that they had :not
taken their stand early enough against the aggres-
sions of France. But'he wished to recall the actin-
• tion of the House to what appeareol to him to be the
only question now beforethem. The question was,
-wheiher the War in which we were now engaged
-was on onr- part a just War or not As to ,the con,
dui} of Ministers during the' Negotiation, that
certainly did hot forrn a part ',of , the considera-
tion before the, House; at" least the 'Address
which had:-.been moved by the. Noble Lordidid
nrit call urns them for- any approbitiOn- of the,
conduct of Ministers. -littt as to the real guts.
tion before the House, he would ask whether there
Was any man-who would say that the cond,od•of
Francew.as nut, in:every:instance aimosti••: marked.
with insult-and aggression against this Country, and
yet it was proposed in the Atuendment, to leave out
all that. part of the Address 'which expressed the
opinion of ParliaMent npon!the justice Of the War.'
if Amendment was adopted, Parliament would
be pledged to.support the War, without giving any
opinion whatever upon the nature of the War which
they pledged 'thetnielva to support. He confessed
that he-came ,to the consideration of the Papers
MIMI had been laid before the House, With a mind
not destitute of partiality for His Majesty's Mini-
sters, .who had concluded a Treaty of:Peace, which
bad been apnroved of by the Country, though per-
haps some of its stipulations were liable to objedion.
it struck him, -therefore, that the perions who had
made such' a Peace must be anxious to preserve'
it; but he Came also to the comideration of these
Papers with another and a superior feeling, viz, an
motions wish, an ardent desire to find his Country
'in the-right, a hope that we should not now, for
the first time, be found to have departed from that
Suitt observation of Treatiesohat course of honour-
able moderation whi.4t had al-ways characterized
our conduct. • These were the feelings which
he came to the consideration of these Papers, and
.nut -.a, wish 'minutely to criticise the condud of
a long and complicated
NMeirea'rtsivinn an arduous, .
Upon the desire of Ministers t 4)

-

maintain T'e ' 1 1 ' I • I ' wen
ace, it, seeme. to 1:111 aipo,si i‘e ••
certain a demist. fiad they, not m tde every cession,
s(firnii}:yrutltaiiltnzet
that
their
it:effeiirrii,lo:,)i:vt
Matta
etaou'dr rieltlythtetyl
nAoitniTui.;:d,, t.extereerprt,
Europe who were to to ac.
cede to that guarantee, in order that Great Britain
might completely fulfil the • Treaty ? It .was out
gulam'reanvareileotnha.tthie,siewild-o,wcrs of
neeessaey-so enter into an examination of the con:
duii of France, with regard to Holland, to .Italye
or to Switzerland- Nobody pretended to defend or
eteuse:their eondu6 -with regard to these States;
Wall fiegarL 10,,,. the execution of the Treaty
of Peace, every thing on the part of, this
Country manifested a desire to execute the Treaty.
Every thing on*the 4'art of Prance was-evasion, pre•
varication, and delay. With regard to the Missipti
of Co!. Sebastiani ,he Should pass that otter, to ,so
much had been said, upon it, with met ely observing
that it'warniT,cleaelmanifestation on the part of'
ttoillfrghliis
France' bf a desire to get possession of Eli-ypt, antt.
chat lie would not g0..t0 .war. for. it. This was 3'
Ecgoyuins,tt,ryofthlantdriag.yptTillveasFilt,sist Lonsul had
faithful pifttite of his mind, Ile will (n)to)ite.ag'‘Obtu:
war, why ? because he is restrained by the snpula•
Bons of a Treaty, bee:nisi :14 is tes:raine4l l'Y a:
sense of honour and good faith i: No, these ore re.
straints intfch too weak for his 'great and bring-
mind, but he will not go to 'W.l'r now for Eg,ri'l
because lie hopes . to get it at another time and by
other means, that is to say, he will choose the taa..
ment when it is most Convenient .for him to g's ta
War for it. The' British ' Government. had catl'r
stantly asked for explanations.of aii, the coo,loci `,"
France, which exPhm ations
were constantly refused!
anti, at last when - the •British Minister 11;18 fed
Parrs, then theY made an °Ter which %eps. in ""
nothing 1c4.1 than to ask tts to participate in a
of plunder and robbery. An Hon..Nleniber (M.r.:
'Whitbread) 11_,:d asked for infOrm ation upon a poi"(
upon which 7k Was essentist that not only he It't,
the House and the Country were eiltir!:::1 to a ii,e6"
answer. He had asked for what purpose ive %%Teter.
ing. to War ? The ansWer.be;Woul(l give to that but
would -he this, " We were goitre to WA' fat
Malta—not ' for' I\4lil ta only, hut' for Eg Yrt—',''°l
only- for Egypt,, but for' I ti
_tn..a---not oily tor Deo,
scheme
but for the 'lntegrity'-of the Britidi linvir''—i
only for ,the fotegrity of the British Eilipite, twill
for the-cause of justice, good faith, and freedom 3"
over the Wothi..-• . • . ' • -
Goierol MAITLAND said, he rose !nerd)" 'l3
chtiToseonntseanicoermeirc
ra t.fiirraciatitnm, taondw';::oll,l4;ilit
c'efslitilesns
but it:
very short space upon the time of the House. It 114
been repeatedly contended; that there were is
grounds laid before the House to- justify thAt -we('
don in the King's Message', that Armament/
were prepaiing in the Ports of , France atul 11°1:
land. • He, however,. begged, leave •to stile, that
there was an Armament in ffeivoetslnys, wlii,:h "'13,13
avow.rdly destinod-for 'Louisiana ;'' t"%ere nµ' re
Armaments in Havre and'Brest,'not :very ellte% ,
ones he admitted, but 'Arinainenti winch cou!dc '',
vey 9or to;000 men,: to distant Colosiic..s, or„c111:t
convey twice that number to- the shores of
iclbt,t' 0
.:Britain or IrelancL. The measure Which IL:arc of
adopted by Ministers was therefore .enCf.,iorind
precaution, and-' this was -converted asitil° aiera lead
who had-before threatened us
of censure. But it was said, • that ""‘ jut—
Consult
'to irritation : What ! irritate' the Firs- •'
en tc'
th ,
with his Army' of 480,000• men ! Surelri
,g flat A
take precautions against such a (Linger' W-- deserving
ground` upon .Which ministers were deser
° ns enn•
of censure. With reseed to. the rr-vl°Aii te,l,
4118 of .France, it had been iiitiversailY 3"1-1 et of
,that• it afforded this Country just c 3 tl'.- '
: ' mal:e
War.. He was. glad to hear Gentlemen'. after
that Confeasion, but he was surPrisedt
113 t hl•
such an. admissiOn, to hear them contend, c ft-,rd,,
PPint yn which Ministers made their'stand, 3 beii,
e,4 no ground of War at all. Ile could nor,. sr,
making one observation upon the report of CG too
In the face of. Fotruile
l*stiani' it w"s iiripOssible to cOnceiVe a more g
iniult-to theßritish Army, and thionglrth'("ll3,,rYid toe
the overeign upon the Throne, land to 1"= ire('
English Nation. And what reparotion Kati been ige in-
tot tliks insult 1 Wily .one shat was was: thot; ite..
suit itself; Ministers were told that this 014•Irerich
.PA(3ttwas necessary as a reparation to the , a in
isEnrgazn,d.tbe, a publication which had grle'reolif
rose to ex was an -expression of his Salta,
iTialsien,•pluint, however, which he (>:1,111 $
former occasion, tespetting the iniPortance at
~,,_414,
which had been referred to in the resent D Pofr
tHaenchea:bneelvlealA torheiarteldtaNteliail,tatlaiasiahle)!dachei ontf,lttoeoinuisria:
Malra as ahsolotel-
i oecessary to this CoortrYc,i,
carry on offensive operations in the MeditrTliflol .
Mr. ELLIOT' siita, that alter the que'";,"7, or
'been so fully ditctissed, lie 'should not t0,,--,,,,,
much of the rime of 'the •HOns'e ;••he wished) '''-:} la
gtoiysiittagteilitsheiomt
en tfiovre
is
hsVe
th,,ricli.hp.ninniii t.,,ikean,tertie::_i.s:o"el,%l:,i:fiv4
however to he diitinftte orkiersto,,,i; itt vhf'l•o
the Address, he meaitt'rnelepy rci express his qntli,:ti
of the just ice of the War on the part of
theethisColl""4,
'he meant to give nn opinion whatever OPon bob
dud of Ministers-The 'War appeared.tO hini
. A esseqf
1115 and necessary,; •he used the wor I*`-'e v tion
w because we et,e-forced into it fin' self;preT.-4 800
.anddefence,_ and he' really would not 'give his
for the rat unless he Was crinvirteed that !too,/
not only just hut necesssry:.---It tvas not' orce„s ti
to eefer to, or to comment upon ilte repeated acltitiS
insult and aggression Offered 'by 'France t° .04
'Country ; 'they had increased every (1': this
went on with accelerated velocity.; '• til, watt
subjeel he was -happy • Icy find ' that the``
re, i
With I
not two opinions its the . Hattie. .. .. it 104. I
Sped to the 'ltlissioti 'of Colonel Sebastioi, r . a.
been said that .France. had given no satisf'l4r) 31,01
planation upon this‘point.; but it arl)44re. :4,Q1104' 1
to be an attt which was almost incapsiltle °itfloor,
Lion or of reparation ; it was 4 . oht
deterininedaA of ageression. - It was trui, its wiSh
entering into. this War eve coinineoLe;i
oir.. coo.
many disadvantages ;we had gileo ol' :41 osts.
ty -
nacos; .we had giVen I:ii to -I, rstwe not
ad ~,4, 1
siiiivi which were important in i military :-fr`ge
ry daY "i :la
rnercial point of view,• and he. was etre 1 ho ~,
and mare Confil mud in tke. opinion Will; l to, Oe ,
, . 4 !iv, g aljrc
zlways entertaimed, that we 41.1,,! f,,... -
cool, toil , t jo
k
~,