Star.
London, England, 1808-02-04 00:00:00

same ground—but if so, which lsadid not admit, cer-
tainly there was a very wide difference as to the result,
and therefore the present Ministers giined by the
comparison. On the whole, he was firmly of opinion,
that Administration was entitled to the support and
gratitude of the country.
Lord PALMERSTONE conceived that the pre-
sent Motion was precluded by the Addrps voted on
the first day of the Session, by which the House still
stood pledged. He vindicated the expedition upon
the state or Europe, and the necessity there w;s of
guarding against the danger by which we were threat-
ened. Its sustification, he said; might be stated in
two words—Denmark had a fleet and was weak—
France was our enemy and was powerful.
Mr. MORRIS was opinion, that the attack upon
Copenhagen was justifiable on the ground of the well
known determination of France to force the Powers
of the Continent into a Confederacy hostile to this
• country, and the inability of Denmark to resist the
Power of France. The conduct of the rulerof'Frauce,i
in a series of recent instances, afforded just ground kW-.
Relieving that the would not fail to take every neces-
sary step.to compel the co-operation of Denmark.
Mr. LYTa'ISLTON regretted extremely the ne-
cessity he vractmder of withdrawing his vote from the
Right HononouratsicGentleman (Mr. Ponsonby) who
introduced the question, but in obedience to his feel-
ings, and the dictates of his conscience, he was com-
pelled to acknowledge, that, in his opinion, there was
enough before the House is justify the conduct of ,
Ministers in the attack upon Copenhagen: He con-,
curred with the preceding speakers, that the weakness
of,Denmark, and the great power of France, *se
remove all, doubt respecting the speedy submission and
co-operation of the former against. us. Hard, how-
ever, as the measure was, and greatly as he lamented
it, 'et, lie deemed it one of precaution and necessity,
which'he should vote for.
Mr. WHITBREAD was surprised at the deter-
mination of his Honourable Friend to support the con-
duct of Ministers, who had refusod all information,
and that he should have drawn such a conclusion
from the garbled extracts quoted by the Right Ho-
nourable Secretary of State, from papers which he re-
fused to produce. He wished to recal the attention of
the House to the real nature of the question. They
were not called upon to decidewhether Ministers had
been right or wrons, but wirther they were to have
before theininformation to enable them to decide upon
the proPtiety .of that conduct, or be content with the
evasive juitifiCation which they had heard. Were
they to be content with the text without the context,
with extracts of letters instead ofhaving the whole 1et....
ters before them ? One letter might mention ru..
mours which in the next letter might be proved
to be wholly groundless; an extract might be found
to have a different meaning, if the whole were be-
fore the house ;—how then were they to judge whe-
ther this act could be justified, unless they had before
them the documents on which its necessity was foun-
ded ? He denied that any additional security had been
derived to the country from the result of this expedi-
tion, the country was not more secure by a single
plank. He deprecated the use of any means to mu-
' lead the House upon this subject : if the act was
wrong there could be no justification ; if right let Mi-
nisters come to their trial, after laying before the
House all the information they possessed. Minister's
had justified the expedition to Copenhagen upon.'
grounds which they now abandoned ; they now said
they knew long ago of the hostile mind of Denmark.
There were so many different reasons urged, that it
was difficult to ascertain the true one : they had told
several different stories, and had alleged upon record,
grounds which were not only morally, but physically
impossible. They had said that it was after the Treaty
of Tilsit they had discovered the intention of forming
a hostile confederacy against this country; and then
they said it was long before the Treaty ;—which was
their justification ? He believed that Denmark was-
desirous of remaining neutral s---why did not Minis.
ters lay before the House the letters of Mr. Garlick's
and of Lord Hutchinsthi ? No danger could result to
them from their production, because they were in this
country. Why not give those of Lard G. L. Gower?
Where was the necessity of all this concealment ? Did
they object to all the letters of Lord Hutchinson Ileitis
laid before the public ? They had heard much of the
charges contained in the note of Baron Budberg, re-
specting the want'of co-operation on the Continent,
on the part of this country, but could ten or twenty
.thousand men, sent to the Continent, have prevented'
the battle of Friedland in the painful results which
followed. Ministers had, however, said, that it was
long before the peace of Tilsit they had information
respecting the intended confederacy. Before the bat-
tle of Friedland nothing was heard of this ; that bat-
tle took place on the 14th of June ; the armistice
was signed on the :Ist, ratified on the 24th ; the con-
ference on the Niemen took place on the 25th, and
the treaty was signed on the 7th of July. How was
it possible, therefore, that Ministers could have infor-
mation to enable them to take the King's pleasure on
the 19th of July? They had said the King's pleasure,
but it must have been a reluctant assent, when the.
ties of blood and their feelings towards the Danes,
which were so humanely recognized by Lord Nelson,
were considered. But it was said, with a most splen-
did contempt for geography, time and space, that the
information came through Portugal and through Ire-
land, so as to be ready by the 19th of July. The
Hon. Gentleman adduced several other arguments,
to shew that the Danish fleet was not in a state of
preparation. That if the act was necessary to be done,
it was only half done. That if no necessity was shewn,
it was a gross violation of the law of nations, and
seems to imply, that because France had 'overthrowni
a giant, we must slay an infant, and concluded by.,
repeating, that the object of the present motion was
merely to protnrrt that information which was neces.
sary for the detision of the House. „
Lord G. "L. GOWER'did not. consider either the
want of aid from the last Administration, or the attack
ion Co , to have been the cause of the hostility
of RusPseianV real cause was the alteration.produced
by the effects of the battle of Friedland. The views.
Hof the Emperor of Russia might perhaps, in some
measure, be collected from his subsequent conduct.
Now the fifsr thing the Emperor did, when he returned
from Tilsit, was to send for the Minister of the Ma-
rine. The 'first place he visited 'was Cronitadt, and
the first order he gave was for improving the for-
tifications of that.' place. Lordship remarked,
that many perions in this eon, by Uttoed to be of
cyinion that the expedition to CopenUgel was /me

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