The Sun.
London, England, 1803-06-01 00:00:00

TI/S SPA E'Cfl

Mr. PITT began by ol.);erving upon some pas
sages of Mr. 14...s.hii.INCS Speech,, the tendency 1..)1
,kkitich he' proleSsed not entirely' to understand, but
front which he was led to hope that the Leamed
GordeJnon, and those with whom he usu:dly ratted,
ti crc nut likely materially to objet to the sub.
stance di the proposed Address. He fia t e red him.
self that this was likely to be the case, because,
whatever difference of sentiment might arise, and
much was certainly to be expeeted,-on many points
included in the great miss cif information contained
in the Papers upon the Table, yet upon the great
and important question at issue between this COutry
and France, and upon the justice and necessity of
the grounds on whic-h we were compelled to enter
into the \\co', he thought it almost impossible that
the House should not be unanimnus. He stated,
that in those trolaaions.which had most immedi-

trtely produced oar present sitnation, the Learned
iCetttlonan hinhc:i appeared, notWirhstanding some
Aouhts which he had thrown out on particular

admit, upon the whole, that there was
~,d, clear (.:virlrice of views of aggression and hos.
On the pair of Fritnee, as itlit ifita. thiS (100ritty
iit :staining for its itWut security.. This he
maintained to he
.the first great point on which the

question turn..d ;. and. he CAlntrnaed that the whole
aSE HAW I's grpOti, and the circumstances dills
to,Egypr, the express and deliberate avowal
ly BoritsrAikw. hirrtselt of -his views and inten.
tionb icy ci fortv.id conizrencev..'ith Lord rl,v OXTH,
acid the lyclorma; ion of the :,411lwe inteilliOnS through
the o.Z.:ia/ Chaithel of tlu 111inister fur Farrizd 4/
firs, afforded the cleareht and most indisputable
evidence th,it die First Consul had formed the de.
rerinioation, ev,n while Malta vas yet in our

bands, of resuming his hostile projcets against
Egypt; th,lt the pursuit of such a pri.jed was an
undeniable act ,tf hostility against ;Ins Country,

• r
4 4
anti aimed st some of its mos... important interests ;
that it was, besides, dire a 60:36,1m both of the
Letter and Spirit of the. Tre;tty of Amicn, itself,
under pretence of which Treaty abne, our evaco.
ittion of that I,land Was dentairded, though under
circumAartees whi4,4l, in Other teSeas, aCcording to
,he Letter' of tb,it Treaty, did not sfuthar.te such a
4eity4nd ; that the diiclogure of this hostile projea
justified this Country in requiring flesh se.
curity Jgkhtist it, and if such segurity was refaced-,
in having recourse to arms for thal. orpose, at the
tonment.which appeared to beinost for our advan.
•
ii then more particularly commente3 on each of
-'lose be.veral eitp:iaStaliCet; With respect; to the Re—
pqrt of SEll,,Ailt He stated that that was
dently an Ofti:iat Paper adtbrsqd to'the Givern.
merit, by a trers_mi rtgularly counnis.ioned and em,
ployo by the Consul himself; that its contents
could never have been published in France but by
his consent, and that they were published in let

in the Official Paper, under tli4ir dire 4 authority of
the Government ; that the whole tenor of that Pa.
ver, arid the account thustiven by St AVT I ANI him_
sdfof his conduct in Egy N, m; de it-impossible to
doubt that he Was sent there to prep::te. :fir the
execution of a fresh attempt to put that ,Country
under the tioruir.ion of France ; but that it %vas not
necessaiy to dwell on the particular contents.of the
Report; the inic:e circumstance of a military'in:to
ha viilg been sent at that time With such a citnmii.
oion to Ezypt, was. a sufficient evidencp of the o.)_
jest of his mission. The time, he rctmiticed, wa,
t;ery materii,l, hze:lat,e it it mwe • destroyed the
chief which the Vreneli Cr)'tertitn,nit
-had attcuipt::ci, i,i tine & ths. of liil 0,1-0,11 Correi-
potliko,-;:e, to jo:ddy or exter. U te o.;e
or to 4,,,y the eonsli.tsion to ,be drawn from it.
prete:t• that thel-lonour of the Chief
Cunstil hart: been wounded by a Narrative of.
the Egpe,dition t¢ ;i;ylit, published' lay # re_
spetlable ()fixer in the British ,Artriv (Sir Rots KT
Ls6n) 310 that the publicittion of SijAsTiANl's
Rel)ort became necessary for lei vital The
iatts stated in that Narrative, he observed, were
not even (octradij.tedby the ftepOrr, but even if
they had lit en, in what degree would that circum.
:tt:,,,,ount for originally Sending SEBASti-
. ri
,1 to Egypt, with such n toinmission as
been alrvzdy stated ? :ft appeared that
11,01 0f1.r4..-r had ;Ictnally embarked tfom.Tonlau on
1111 1411... itletither, and eilltertrocceding to 1.41 i,.
art ived. at Alexandria on the 15'h of Oc.
toiler ; whereat it Is notorkus th:it, at that time,.
sir g,,,i;il-11,1, Vitt. cow's Narrative had not aClually
bre'n published, alid prohahly not sent to the press.
.Witit recpelt to the avowal of his design by the
First Consul himself, lie referred to Lard WErr.
aeconnt i.n lass i)kpatch of the ;Ist Of Fe.
br9ary, }4e observed, that so Lir from the Conver.
oat ion appOaring, I sotee persons fold imagined, only
loose And de,tiltory, it wart Doc
by the express appointtnent of the First Consul--
that it was ti:iref&r,e evidently prepared and .bathe_
.rate, and that it v,,as o.ltia4 (.I,c,iied in the' ff.:r-,t
Coniul hiinself, as beiiig the mod,, hatL
Ittioptettfoithe pufpOse ff. of convvy !'•.‘
jesty, in Fhtt most clear and autlien,::, • -cr," ;tis
Setit 110 i It tS CO.,""o I to an
4t.) at. course c: :
• • •

First Consul did riot attempt to disguise his
.
mate.views upon Egypt, and though he professed
to disclaim any intention of seizing it at'presen9
he.aseigned as the reason for his tortearance, "that
sooner or later it would belong to Franceele;tber
by the failistg to pities of the Turkish by
tome arrangement with the Porte." That In a sub._
Sequent conversation with M. TALLeTRAND, it
was expressly admitted ti at the acquisition of Egypt
had been, and still was, a favourite objet} of the
First Consul, but he at the same time endeaVoured
to convince His Majesty's Ainbassad.:r, that it was
not so gyeat an objed as to allow him to go to War
for its attainment ; and yet, upon being 'pressed to
explain what security it was intended to "give, to
remove apprehension on this point, far which he had
before stated there was a erojed in contemplation,,
he referred only to a passage in the First Coostd"s
Message to: the Legislative Body, saying( that
" there is a Freneh Ambassador at Constantinople,
!who is C barged to give every assurance of the disposi-
tion of France. to wrengthen instead of to 'weaker the
Ta rk;:h 'Government."
To all the evidence founded on these several. do.
eemons, he hat! heard but one argument opposed-7--
the improbability of the French Government thus
disclosing its view, if it re.sily entertained them.
On this-point it might be schicicnt to observe, that
it might indeed be difficult to account for such a
disclosure,. even on the supposition of such a project
being really intended ; hut that it was not only dif.
.ficult, but impossible to account for it at .all, on the
,sepposition ttf its not being intended. He asked
whether, on the latter supposition, any motive could
be assigned, either for . the Mission haVing been
sent, or the Report havine been made and published,
or for the avowals contained in the Conversations
of the First Consul and of M. TALLtrItAND. lie
thought, however, that the difficulty of accounting
fur the di.closure, was removed, by referring to
the new and peculiar policy which had marked the
-conduCt of France on many extraordinary occasions,
from the very beginning of the Reeolution, that
where any measure was in contemplation more fia.
grant and atrocious than another, and more likely
to ,shock the general, feelings of Europe, and per.,
haps to excite vigorous and united resistance, in-
stead of carefully concealing it tilt the moment of
teectition, it had, on the contrary. been studiously
announced beforehand; that the objed of this policy
had been gradually to familiarize men's minds to
that which at first they could scarcely even- believe,
and thartheir schemes which, in the first instance,'
were received with horror, lied would have, been
opposed with indignation, came afterwards to he
contemplated with neglect and. indiderenee ; and
that which at first no min thought it nOssible seri-
ously to attempt, was by degrees considered es
'natural am(' probable, and, in' the end, as that
which it was hopeless and impossible to. resist. He
therefore pot it to the House,,whether, after having
observed this pra!tice, it .was possible for us to be
so credulous and childish, as to' at on the belief
that BoNAPARTZ would abandon the projeds he had
formed, only because he had himself told us he
Would 'persist in. them ; and whether we thought
that if, for whatc4er season, he hail been led pre-
maturely to disclose this projea, even while Malta,
the great seCtlrity against its exeetit;Orf, was still
.otfr possessiore he would renounce the attempt
when that security had been surrendered by us, anti
Putt in l'aa, in" his posse<siOn ? If then the de.
steel against .Eypt was apparent, he desired the
EhUSC to Cp111(.1:r, whether, uptei every principle
eof justice and self-defence, admitted by all the sys.
trots of the Law of Nations, and: adopted by the
predice of. 411 Coentries, we have not the clear
right to take, froli this moment, inch measures of
prevention and security as are sofficient to guard
against the danger to which we should.be in come.,
quence exposed—whether it was not ,ntimitted, on
almost all hands, that our possession of .Malta was
essential, or at least in the highest degree material,
f.,r the defence of Egypt---whether the importance
of Egypt to this Country
.was not in itself ,sufli.
eiently evident, from its connexion with the safety
of our Indian possessions--and whether it might
not at this day be considered as a point of Our. Na.
tional PolicY, already decided and attested by- the
glgriotta effot is which hail been made, and the he.
roil blo-Jd which had been shed in the last War for'
recovering it front France, and. which had in a man:
tter crinicermed it lit the ;hearts and affeetions of
Englishmen ?
He therebre wi,heel the House to consider what
was to be otir Iwure cinulua, ifc after all the wain.
ingi given ti, we aver ttuw to surrender Malta
ot: our 11;44, and the attack upon Egypt were
to follow in six or in twelve months afterwards,
Were We prepar.,:.d for the ridiculous, but disastrous
Aternative to which we should be reduced, of
ther submitting without a strUggle 'to rational ca.
Limity and disgrace, because, foreseeing our danger,
we }crib srcklirriwily unit wantonly sacrificed the best
op! ins of averting it ; or, when it' was perhaps tot;
late to enter upon e difficult and almost hopeless
contest, having by our own aet given up the arms
by which-We could be .enabled to condat it to a
successful issue?

If tiW'question were Cithied here, Mr. PITT ob_
served, that..for the reasons he had given, he was
prepared to Maintains, that on these grounds alone
the War was both just and fleCeSiary, and such as
ought to call forth the utmost exertions of Parlia-
ment and the Nation in itt support. Rut o far
was this front being the case, that there was not
:my one of the lenting transaftions subsequent to
the Treaty of Amiens, to which His Majesty's
Declaration referred, *Melt was not, in his opinion,
as far as justice w:is cOncerned, a clear and•eyident
.enir;e' of s.Var„ aid such as would have been ailed
Upor, if there were sufficient means ofeo.operation
on tile Continent, in almost. every period of the
history of this Cuuntry. He here referred to the
annexation of Piedmont., as the first ad by which
die French Government had proceeded, subsequent
r,, the Treaty, to puisue the same sytem of aggran.
dizeineot, which had appeared in all their previous
cooduci, and %%4601 it' was vainly hoped •they had
relinquished. He referred al.o to the transaftion
retiittlic,g the German futitmoilics, where the
I.te'rich Government,- with an arrogance, he be.
lieved unprecedented .in kite Ili"ory ut 11...urope, hacl
ptesumed to diaate to .:all Germany- the detailed
moda of arlitll"i'r'tg thQse fridetuniaes, tan which the

Diet
of the Empire was expressly convened to de.
lib(rate, pursuant .to thel'raty of Lunvviae., and
had publicly announced their scheme as settled
and decided, berore tr was Cven communicated to
'those to•whum it .ought, in- the first instance, to
have been proposed.
He next passed to the violence ofTerc,l to iSquit.
zirland, on which he thought it the less necessary
to dwell, because he believed the cooduel of France
towards that unfortunate and devoted Country bad
exeited otieltniversal-sentiment of detestation. He
wished here to declafe (as-this had been a subject so
often adverted to on former occasions, when he had
been unavoidably absent) that he considered the
interference of His Majesty's Ministers on this
subjea, as not only evidently warranted by the
circumstances, but such as was their duty to employ
to the extent to which he understood it to have been
carried, in order to give time fur
,learning whether
a Confederacy could be formed in Europe, really
sufficient for saving th ft Country from the yoke of
France ; but that when upon trial all hopes of such
a Confederacy vanished, he , thought them equally
right in not pushing the Contest, on the part of
this Country, to extremities.
•

He then adverted to the continuance. of the
French Armies in Holland, which appeared, froth
the • Papers
,on the Teble,, to have been directly
inconsistent with the principles on which the
Treaty of Amiens had been oegotiated,"and with the
engagements ere known to•subsist between
prance and Holland. After dwelling on these
poiots, lie stated, however, that he thought it less
material to discuss whether they were each in itself -
sufficient causes of War on the part of this Country,
because he admitted that .whatever might be the
justice of the cage, our conduct upon them at the
time was necessarily regulated, not by that COML.
deration only, but by the question of policy, which
was unavoidably dependent upon the state of the
Continent; but that whatever it might be right to
decide upon them at the time they occurred, it was
impossible to contend that they were not now ma-
terial, as symptoms of that deliberative system
of ambition and encroachment which had been
thus uniformly pursued towards others, and which
was now direEted to a quarter where it
mediately effected our -separate interests, and
was in direct violation of the Treaty with this
Country itself. He here drew a strong picture
of the 'continued and rapid succession of the
ads of violence and.opptession which' during this
period, had desolated so many of theCoUntries of
Europe ; and after comparing the irresistible force'
and overwhelming prOgress of French ambition to
those dreadful convulsions of Nature by which Pro-
vinces and Kingdoms were consumed and buried in
ruins, he asked whether we could contemplare those
scenes pf haired: and destruction without refieding
how' soon that torrent of liquid fire might direct
its ravages agaihst ourselves.
Having, here closed leis review of what had passed
on the Continent, he next observed, that the period
of which lte had been speaking was marked not only
by the hostile ads which he had detailed, with re_
sped to other PoWers in Europe, but by others
mediately afreding the separate Rights and Interests
of this Country. He referred, he said, principally
to two points_ which appeared in the CorrespondeoCe.
The first point was the demand which had been
'made by the French GoVernment TesOeding
.te.
straints on the Liberty of the Press; "and the expul-
sion of the French Ernigranti -reaW remaining in the
• Country. On this it was unnecessary to enlarge,
because :the insolence of the Propoaition was suf-
ficiently felt,. :find because it had been at the time
resisted by His Majesty's Ministers; on grounds
ovhieh were stared 'tVith great force and ability in
one of the Papers on the Table; and which lie was
persuaded every Member of the House had read
with the highest approbation. 'the second point
related to the. Commercial Agents—the, indignity
and outrage which attended their mission, was one
of which it was' ditiieuit to speak with comp-
sure. The Freneh,Government had made a formal
proposition to send persons of this description, who
had never been found necessary even when:a Corn- k
mercial Treatyiubsisted, at a time when not only
there was no such Treaty but when, as appears from.
the Papers on the 'Table, the 'commercial intercourse
of l its Majesty's Subjeds with France was suffering
every ddgree of violence and oppression. This pro:-
position had naturally and wisely been refused.
The French Government then proceeded clandes-
tinely to: send tliese Agents in the train of their
Ambassador ; and not content with this breach of
the Law of Nations, they afterwards addressed to
them instrudions, under the official charader in
which they had received admittance,: :and the oh.
jolt of these instrudions: was, to dire& them to
take measures, in time of Peace, for ascertaining the
Soundings of Ports, and for obtaining Military infor-
mation of Districts, adi for. which they would have
been:hanged as spies ;in time of War. Under such
circumstances, he could not but lament to find that
,His Majesty's Ministers had contented themselves
With merely applying to the French Governinent to
withdraw those persons, anti had not at once advised
His Majesty,: by his own authority, to order them
to depart the Kingdom within twenty.four hours,
reserving it to himself afterwards to require from
France the, reparation due for so gross ate insult.
• Be did not, think it necessary to dwell separately'
on another head of complaint, the violeitte commit.
tell against the Vessels and. Property of His Ma.
jesty's Subjedi in the French Potts, and. the with.
holding, to this hour, all satisfadion for those
injuries. These proceedings, he said, would have
been sufficient ground of complaint in ordinary
times, but they could scarcely give additional force
to the outrageous transactions which he had just
enumerated, and which appeared to him as if they
had been designedly calculated to include, under
two distinct heads, the grossest insults that could
he offered tti :the Tridependence of any Coun.
try. The first "pretension of which he had spoken,
that of restraining the Liberty Of the Press, was
nothing short of, claiming the right to didate
to us to a point of Municipal Law, and to require
that we should. .s.acrifice to the caprice of the
First Consul, a known and important priVilege
of nit Constitution, and model, at his pleasure, the
jtilieial Proceedings and internal regulations of the
Country.. The. second pretension, that respeaing
I\?itt ConinteiCial Agents, rpanilysteciA as had been el.

ready stated, an avowed determinat lee ....
in defiance of ourformal refusal, Authorized Foils.
saries into our Arsenals: rid Ports, in order to ere.
pare in time of Peace e the most effectual meant fot
beforehand,
our annoyance andedeetruelion in time of War, Tilit
was nothing less than to insist on our surrendering,
Defence, and if the former claim. bad . struck. at the
the right and the means of National
liberty, this struck as direCily , at, the gloat eiletY
of the Country. It was true, he believed and hoped,
that the Commercial Agents had at length been
, e.eithdrawn, upon the representation of His Ma:
eesty's Ministers, but, as he had already state('
and lamented, it did not appear thet any div.
avowal had been obtained of the principle en
which they had been sent. The claim respeeling
the Restraint' upon the Press;
and the Expulsion of
the Emigrants, had also been suspended for a time,
in consequence of the unanswerable representations
in the Dierach before referred to—But the first part
of this Claimhad since been expressly revived ill
' the course of the late Negotiation.—At all events,
he contended Jhat the circumstance of the First
Consul having even suspended,it as he did, ,aft
forded a striking lesson of the benefit to be derived
y
from a loin and seasonable resistance—but that the
fat of such pretentious having at any time beta
urged whetter the wereersisted in or with-
dragwn)( must be rememberedp as the strongest prof
of the.nature of 'the views which ate really enter"
rained, and which be would unquestionably aecolll4
plieh whenever he found it in his ',talker. lie°
maintained, therefore, that all these Indigeities 'O.:
Insults,
of which he had before been speaking, on the C''',.
as well as the, Encroachments and Violoirc"
linens, must enter deel into our consideration, I'l,
judging of the Character and ultimate Views set
tion,
Policy of our Enemy. They must tAecisivelY con'
firm us in the resolution to employ without liesine
when, in addition to theseprools of his geuer4 II;
the most vigerous and determined resistanirt
position, both towards this Country and tow'l'.`•
Europe, we found him ntnv engaged in that 14" P
of dired and separate Hostility against ourselves,
which had already been aegued.
On all these grounds, he felt convinced that there
never was an occasion on which it more e;t3'lY,
became the indispensable duty of Parliament tore"
cur with His Majesty
in the Declaration of the needs'
sity and justice of the War in which we were eng4P
ed, and to assure him of their firm and effedoal 'usiroPi,
these assurarhces,
port. But in giving he tr
that other Gentlemen felt impressed with the Orr
o
sense which he did, of-the awlul impotence 0
f rho
Engagement into which they were preparing
enter, and that they considered those assurenrth •
nor as formal words of ceremony or custOot, bur a 5
asoiemn and deliberate pledge on behalf of °lr.'
selves and the Nation whom they represnr6l
knowing and feeling to their full 'extent the-re'
difficulties and dangers of their situation, and of 10...
arduous struggle which it compelled them to err:"
dure, and being prepared to meet. n,,,, eiteicoloo
and dangers with every exertion and every
he
which the unexampled cireumetanees of the tilivi-!er
rendered indispensable for the public enferY. \‘,_ „e
his own part, although he, considered the .I,r
‘et
a 'War of Neetssity, and one which we cola le:.
decline without surrendering both our Security.
o'
,1..
our Honour, he should enter upon it
of ultimate success, if these semiitients were
,01
deeply impressed on. the titieds of Parli.“lne' ‘„oe
the People, 'flie . scale of otlf CNCrtiOtti zooidl.
ne .
be measured by those of 'former times, or (:.oi: lot:
oil t
within the limits even of. the great, tout eon.:
unexampled elforts.of the last War, fie ‘v" "3„,t
vinoed that some System far more Ivil'ar°llfoon't
.tion for National Defence.
effeCtual than any even then adoPted, would be,
fa.
necessary, both inFinance, and in the Prer:b,
with little liniou
made for. these two primary end paramonnt
ouia
jetis, it would principally depend whether wetic dio.
On the prosri'i4's r obe
effettually disconcert the favourite projea't 'l' eye,
appoint the main hopes of the Enemy.. It 'l"' ,e,'
built
dent that if they indulged themselves In anYos
pe'flation of success in the present Contest, it obi
chiefly on the supposition 1/14t tilt), C ,
~
either break the spirit, and shake the deitermi,er.
don of the Country, by harassing us w`h Irbeloto
Actual apprehension.of Descent upon nor —rider.
or that they could impair our Resources, end on
,toil
out Credit, by the effeEts of an expensiee i1x1:56
protratted Contest. To defeat the fire' L',
t to
Purposes, it was not, in his judgment, stalic'eleet
make those Naval and Military Prepare tioesa `
~,,,
would prevent any Invasion that might be atirl,:ee
ed fronibeing ultimately succettsful (an cern'
vi est
he trusted he ,was justified, in common %with 4 ' i,tiee
in considering as uttetly impossible), but '4' 'Lie,
Ilona' Defence,
such vigorous and extensive Arrangement' 11 r ter
complete Security against even the temporary 4,,,e
pression to be produced, by such an atte°ll`ll,-,sd
as might taint a sense ef the Inio.
might enable every Individual to lay down Iris tee.
to rest, in the persuasion and confidence drat tee
thing was omitted which could enable Os '4aett
to meet and repel. the danger, at arty metnen''
in any qeatter, in which it might :threaten ''''',,,t of
In order to disappoint the second objeete—tToese
wearing out our Resources, he trusted the l-i 00
would from tile beginning form its Syston 'which
nance, not with a view only to the ENOe"c„c_ toe ~
might be necessary in the first year of the Lec,bneity
but that 'they would look at once to the poso Itha;.
of its being protraCted to as long'a period 3,s Co'
which laeely was terminated—that they wouloot,
cider (oily what, on the probable Seale of the art
would he the whole extent of the burthens necess
to be imposed on that supposition. He was.tiPenrs;
waded, that it could only
outset, means adequate to the whole extent o
.Ll.4"tt.
purposes, that we, could in file' prevent ow ta',1",,,,,
amount of our Exnences Irons being- kliVrC'
111;4
he by providing. ;t,
_,i
nil}', and perhaps intolerably augretoedt t'ir,i.,l„g.
WC ;quid ensure the best , chance either el `'r'
conteusieet lie
ing the. Contest to a speedy 31,10..
conviricieg the Enemy of our sufficteeee to
.„_,,
tam it, or could meet its continued. I'-at
rrpo..
'if necessary, without the annual recurrence 0tie,,,,,i,
ing and accetnulated einbarrassinents. .He 1 ori
• wuolLit
therefore, that His -Majesty's Ministere , I,eo
U, o te '
their part, feel the necessity of brioging ')".iionee
points under eonsideration with all ,tactic.
eot
promptitude and dispatch, and that, if jtossto':'thotr
oven a fortnight might 0c 6offertd t9,la,re '
,

,11

3-thmorro7+v Morning will be published, prico ts.

THE SUBSTANCE

OD THZ
SPEECH

THE, RIGHT HON. WILLIAM PITT,
In the Houss of Commows, on Monday,.May 113 d, on the

Deb Ate. oh the War.

Sold by G. and W. Nicol, Booksellers to His Majesty,
Pall-Mall; • and J. Asperne, Successor to Mr. Sovell,