The Sun.
London, England, 1803-05-24 00:00:00

The Ntirquis of Si. tco supported the Address.

Lord ,GRENVILLE said,
_it wa4 matter of great
satisfaCtion to hint, because he thOught it was of
yreat advantage to the Country, tkat after twelve
months of almosetotal suspension of the deliberative
fintliona of that House respeaing the most interest.
ing Concerns of the Country, their Lordships were
now caned upon to give to their Sovereign their ad.
vice, in 'circumstances, perhaps of more importance
and moinent than any, other in our history. It was.
iin•additional' satisfaCtion to hire to observe, that
when this..4ituation Was stated to their. L`
exertions His Majesty was advised to make
ire support of the Nation which , he governed, that.
Advice Was echoed through thtt..i'louse with an un-
aninmis qcpression .of the zeal and
.spirit of the.
House; and it was prtienlarly a great satisfaftion
to him to havobcard the opinion echoed throughout
the House now, to whiCh he I.ati long ago been at._
tacked, nor because he had any pride in his fore.
in forming that-Opinion so long ago, but he.
cruse in bis conscience he did believe it to be
flooded on the only principles. by which the
Country could be supported, t.,VVits no satis.,
faCtion to him that necessity at filis moment
4rove u 4 us imperiously as it did io a state
of War, He bail been represented, bp. falsely re,
presented, na an advocate for 'War, when there
was nat. aMong the whole race of mankind, a man
iclio mare seriously felt all the horrort which War
biought . with it than himself, but be wished not
ta.etopcesil from their Lordships that be' foresaw
,that IC:.;tile 450 :his Country again
felt smith res.
i'h belicral that the,expettuaclt which wits 1

.:N;e

tried to avoid. a War, would only soon plonge
in another, and tve now were in point of fad in
War ; and now their Lordships in such a_ crisis
were called upon to give to His Majesty the best
advice they could on a hog series of transactions
so long withheld from their consideration. The
first point was to consider what condud this
Country should pursue, or what principles should
guide the proceedings of that House, and that to.
.wards an Enemy such as we had to contend with.—
The objed was, that Great Britain should be made
superior to France, he meant in this contest, sup.
posing it to he, what most unquestionably it was,
a just and necessary War, that being the only
ground on which he would ever think a War just.
It was now fur their Lordships to consider how this
Country was to be carried through this great con.
test. In doing this, the. first point was, to con.
vince thenselves'of the necessity of the contest,
for witlussit that, it would be in vain for them to
call no others to do- any thlng. Having disposed
of that question, he advised the House to look at
another object, and to cast their eyes back on the
course we had pursued since we had been engaged
in the last contest with France, and then there
woold not tie much difficulty in chusing thoe-ourse
on which they should proceed, and on than subject
he had the satishiaion of thinking 'that the scnti.
mews he had to deliver might be comprised within
a narrow e9MpUra. He excluded for the present
the manner in which the, negotiation had been con-
cluded, that subject, as well -as time.. when it
it was broken OW, and the ground on which it was
broken or would conic before the House at some
future day. Looking at the question now before
the Hoare and asking himself on what grounds he
supported this address, he would say, that the
public faith was pledged to the Treaty of AMiens,
and 'bet efore, if possible, It must have been fulfilled ;
but he thought at the time of its signature that
the ooth Article of it would be impossible
to be fulfilled, and it was now adthitted at least to
have become .so,
.and a little attention to dates,
would prove he was, right in his first observations
upon that subjea ; and he therefore said at that
time, that we should have endeavoured to set that
Treaty right in these points, not by War, but by
Negotiation. He had heard it saitt,by• a Noble
Earl to.night,. that Malta- was so important, that
.rather than not have it, he should give Guernsey
and jersey for it. He should he sorry that semi.
merit went forth without meeting the disappro-
bation of that House. He would ask how it
was possible for that House to consent to give
up thousands of British Sobjeds to most degrad.
ing slavery, for so it would be to allow them
to be annexed to France •I He would say to
that House,,that such was an ad which -they had
no power to do, because they had no power
to do injustice. A Noble and Learned Magi..
strate (Lord rLLINBOROUGH), bad said, that
we were going to War fur every thing that
was deer to us, to which he would add, that
we were going to war for every injury we had,
received, as well as for our rights—His Lordship
said he should not at present go over the Treaty of
Amiens, but he was glad to see reviving in their
Lordships a conviaion that the question of Peace or
War, properly speaking, was not matter of choice
to this Country, but that we must submit to the
evil of it, or endure a greater, which was thdt of •
enduring the insults .and aggressions of France;
War therefore with us' was not matter of choice
but necessity. The state of Europe and of this
Country was such that we cannot exist as a Na.
tion if we submit to any degradation what-
ever ; such a policy would undo us as a
Nation---
the Country would indeed he in existence,' but the
inhabitants of it would be the reverse of what 'they,
have long been, and what' they are at. present
His Lordship therefore did not think it necessary to
go into the Papers before the House, far he was
perfedly convinced of this plain and broad truth,
that the system of France was totally hostile to us,
and that we must put an end to that system; to
do which we must prepare to aa with energy,
to provide efficacious energetic means of War, and
he trusted we should prepare ourselves for it with
this relleaion and conviaion, that whatever may
be the burthcu of the .War, it must he less than
that which we shall feel by avoiding it, for it will
be only coning again to th.: same point at last as
we are now, with diminished means, if wed° not
exert ourselves at this snoment.• His Lord.
ship observed, that on the principle of the Law
of Nations, the French had molt clearly broken
the provisions of the Treaty of Amiens, and upon
that ground had justified our going to War, if any ,
further justification were necessary, after the many
insults and aggressions they had offered to us : by
War, his LOroShip meant, in this caae, a preven-
tive War--a. War to prevent the insults and aggres-
sions of France from being repeated. His 'Lord.
ship took notice of the Report of Sebastiani,
and observed, that if that had only been taken
on board a ship, and come to our knowledge, it
would hart been an infra Lion of the Treaty of
Amiens, and a good ground of War, for it was di.
rally in contravention of the Treaty, which provid.
ed for the integrity of the Turkish Empire in Egypt,
and upon this point His Majesty's Declaration wai
conclusive, With regard to the War being a short
War, his Lordship observed, that if we were not
prepared to enter into the contest as a very seri.
ous contest if we were not prepared to meet
it with all our energy and vigour, in order
to protet our existence as a People—if we
were nor willing to put the whole of our strength
to the machine—if we did not make great excl..
tions, and make them immediately, as our Na-
tional Existence depended upon it, he would advise_
us at once to lie down and submit, rather than pursue
a course, in which we shall at last be obliged' to lie
wetg aalgedhig.t
down and submit to an insolent foe,---He aid hope,
that Lordships would feel this wits no
neraolon or light contest in w hichwe, ze n
Fie 'trusted we should not be satisfed' with
.a coin_
mon plaCe mode of attack, but that it would be an
attack of the utmost readiness ; he hoped, that a spi-
sit •would. pervade their Lordships, and the otter
House of ParliameOt,. and then time Country at
large, by Whieo we should be altogether in the
mass ptrsuacied, chat ,v .c are called ,on to nuke
great sacrifices, AA th..t we are ready to make
great saCiitiCC3, because it see do normal:e them
now,,w-c shall be called upon to snak.tt them bete-