Star.
London, England, 1815-04-08 00:00:00

PRESENT STATE OF AFFAIRS.

The Order for taking into consideration the Prince
Regent's Message of yesterday, upon this subject,
oeing moved, that document was accordingly read;
The tail of LIVERPOOL rose, for the purpose
:if moving a correspondent Address to his Royal
Highness on the subject of his most gracious Message.
In doing this, he said he telt it his duty to offer some
observations to the House relative to some points
connected wilt those circumstances, which led to the
present momentous situation of this country and of
Europe. He cnuld, however, assure their Lordships,
tat he particularly wished in this instance, as it was
his gzneral disposition at all times, to be as sparing
of their Lordships' time, as he consistently could,
end nrre especially on the present important occa.
sion, when be was more particularly anxious that
theta should be as little difference of opinion as pos-
sible. He therefore should abstain most carefully
from all topics, which were not materially connected
with the subject bef ,re the House. With respect to
the great and eventful changes which have taken
place is the course of the last 25 years in Europe, in
whichit nkht even be said that a moral convulsion
I'rd Liken place in its system throughout a great part
it, it could scarcely be expected that Europe could
settle into a state of regular or permanent
11.mq:oiler, without a degree of danger of some con-
',Aston occuiring that may tender it the duty of
tvery prudent Government to against, as to
coure and consequences. guard
respect the a to
the important events which occurteJ in the beginning
St March last, events which, during the greater part
of that long interval, could not have been in con-
temPl4!joll ; the prominent consideration was the
great leierality shewn by the Allied Powers with re.
'pert
t• the kingaloni of France, in the pinclusion of
at Treaty which had taken
Vie nice apparent, place. This would be
when they contemplated the great
Katt and resources of that country—its immense
clic:111141ml, the means which it always had at its
ut,d with reference either to future wars or
inquests. It a different line of policy had been
:_4.oseted by the Allies, then might some excuse have
ted; "le Palliation for the conduct et that coon.
tty ! might exit ; but the policy of the Allies was a
,71:nd becoming one ; it was deemed, upon the
and under all the. circumstances, both ripe-
adviseable. that as far as circumstances al-
toe Mi •
ce should be made honourable to
to the other behigete t Powers.
t tht '6" C`):1( ,Aed which might be satisfactory
al and to the feelings of the loyal and good
3ttu;e4eic,';se::t...tvihat. country. Such was the character of
dany
respect
respect to France, and more espe-
‘,,,hicli
;": Peet to that done at Fontainbleau, of
es were now upon their Lordships' table.
lecztus that Treats!
4 great deal of misconception

prevailed, • and that consideration induced him to
trouble their Lordships with a few words bpon the
subject. On that account, the Government of each
country was placed in a situation in which they could
have no alternative. They were anxious to enter into
such an arrangement as might lead to a speedy and
satisfactory termination of a most critical and impor-
tant state of things ; and in justification of their con-
duct, the statement of a few prominent facts may be
necessary. On the entry of the allied armies into
Paris towards the end of March, a declaration was
made by Russia and Prussia, that they would not
treat with the person who was then the Ruler of
France. In consequence of this step, what may be
regarded as a species of revolution in Fiance took
place. What was called the Conservative Senate as-
sembled, and, deposing the then Ruler, a provisional
Government was adopted. Under these circum-
stances, the treaty with the person who bad been the
Ruler of France was entered upon, as the only chance
'of averting 'a civil War in that country, especially
when the power and disposition 'of almost every Mar-
shal in France was well known. Besides at that
time there was a formidable army in Italy which in
all its circumstances, numbers and appointments, was
superior to the one opposed to it, and there was no
doubt of that army proving faithful to the late Go-
vernment of France. In addition to this, the situa-
tion in which the Allied Sovereigns were placed, in
respect to nearly all the fortified places in France,
Italy, Holland, and on the Rhine, being all inclined
to side with, or support the authority of the Chief of
the army. Under all these circumstances, of which
their Lordships would appreciate the importance, the
Allied Sovereigns were induced to accede to an ar-
rangement, which went to terminate hostilities, and
save any further effusion of blood in France ;—and
under that arrangement, the Isle of Elba waa referred
in sovereignty to Bonaparte. The claim was made
by him, by one backed by such a powerful military
support, and under circumstances which gave him, in
some degree, an option upon the question, and he
had chosen that arrangement, to which upon every
principle of honour and good faith among men, he
was bound to adhere. He did not mean to say but
what the Isle of Elba was a peculiarly improper
place, not particularly with a view to any facilities it
might afford with respect to France, but in otl:er
points of view, and particularly its contiguity to
Italy. But under such an arrangement as had been
framed, he defied any man to point nut (if it was
not to be considered as a prison, and it the consi.
queues of the arrangement wet e not to be loss of
personal liberty), any spot from which he could not
have escaped. And with tespezt to ivy me .ins of
guarding against his escape from on isle so situated
and circumstanced as Elba, lie believed there was no
person acquainted with the Meditei tamale that vas slid
not say the whole fleet of England could not blockade
that island so as to have prevented his egress at some
time, were he in the determined disposition to escape.
All he ci ul el say on that point was, that as far as was
consistent with the spitit of the Treaty, an understan-
ding prevailed betaern Ws Noble Friend and the
Officer on that station to take all fair and practicable
measures to prevent that which had since unfortu-
nately occurred. Another consideration connected
with this part of the subject was the resistance which
any person so circumstanced could have opposed to
an attempt of the kind made by one who had the so-
vereignty, the military power, and the police of the
island, at his disposal and command. Two indivi-
duals, whom he had suspected of an inclination to
resist his attempt ; these he had put under testraint,
as he could have done any other person, who in such
A way should attempt to oppose him ; and under
such circumstances he would leave their Lordships to
judge how far an escape could be guarded against.
With respect to a supposed breach of the treaty or. the
part of the Allies, he must deny that any such thing
existed. Their Lordships would see by the Treaty
that an annual payment of a certain revenue was
to be made to him ;—and until the expiration of
the year no breach of Treaty could be complai-
ned of. Besides, with a view to redress, it any
were needed, he should have called upon the
Allied Powers, who were parties to it, for the ful.
filmeat of the stipulations, and then not until redress
was withheld could he be justified in any contra.
vention on his part ; —but the Proclamations pub-
lished by himself, en landing is France, were the
best answers. He complained of no breach, but
declared almost in terms, that when he had made
that Treaty, he intended to break it upon the first op-
portunity. By that Treaty, he had absolutely re-
nounced the Throne of France both for himself and
his descendants ; therefore his landing in France to
take a forcible military possession of that throne, was
A direct vitiation of that treaty, and all its engage-,
ments and conditions. He was not recalled by the
nation, or any part of it, which may have furnished
some shadow of pretence ; but he . eted in defiance
of the treaty, and of all the legitimate and recognized
authorities of the country, and the whole was a re-
sumption of the throne by military power. It could
not be necessary, therefore, to insist that the condi-
tions had been violated, and that the country, conse-
quently, had a just cause of war against him who
held the Government of France at this moment.—
But though the justice of the cause of war may be
established, he admitted that it was another and a
most important consideration, what WAS the cuutse
which it would be wise, prudent, or politic, under the
present circumstances, for the country to adopt. It
was impossible to conceal the dangers which menaced
the country from the present state of things, or those
which menaced Europe in general, when the conduct
f the Ruler of France, tor the last 15 years, was coo-'
sidered, his unprincipled and unjustifiable invasion of
almost every country in Europe within that period.
The nature of the recent events rendered the case
more critical and momentous. His coming under the
protection of the military power, and one of his rust
prolesilo is !wing, that liewouldredeeln the ill
glory of the French arms. Upon thewhollnei,shlehde.

country was how plated in a state in which on'y
these two alternatives presented themtelves—either a
state of armed preparation for defence, or a state of
active %Var.—(fieer, hear). —H. did not request their
lordships to decide upon the latter at. present ; he
Merely stated it as the alternative. He pressed for
no decision upon that, because the question was in-
volved in many circumstances they could not then
have before them.—(Hear, hear). —The question of
war was not only a British but an European question
—(Hear. hear)b —and must depend upon the concert
ketween Great Britain and his Majesty's Allies. He
should act improperly if he called for any other opi-
nion than what the Message from the Throne regu.
laxly called for. The principles to be acted on were
those of national sicu ii, and he trusted an intimate
union and concert in that view, would be established
between this country and its Allies. There could be
no wish on the part of the British Government to
drive the Allies to a more expensive line of policy.
than their own sense of the general security of Ell-
rope may demand—their feelings, and their just views
of what may be most conducive to the general inte-
rests would be properly attended to. On these
grounds, he trusted their Lordships would feel no
difficulty in agreeing to the Address. The alterna-
tive certainly was, a s:ate of armed preparation for
defence, or of active warfare; but the latter was not
then to be decided upon. They had every thing to
hope froth that spirit and disposition to good under-
standing which he believed prevailed among the Al-
lied Powers, and he equally trusted that the country
and Parliament had every disposition to consider the
question in the way that would most conduce to the
general interests of all. The Noble Earl then moved
an Address to the Prince Regent, couched in the
usual terms—echoing the principal points of the
Message, and assuring him of their Lordships con.
currence in all measures that may be necessary for
the accomplishment of the objects stated in his Royal
Highness's Message.
Lord G RENVIL LE expressed his regret, "that any
thing which fell from the Noble Earl, should call
upon him to say more than those few words, he meant
to say in approbation of the Address, as arising merely
out of the Message from the Throne. He deprecated
that any rdcrence should he made to points not es-
sentially connected with those under consizieration,
un the conduct and stipulations of preceding treaties.
and he was sorry to hear front so authoritative a
quarter, that a circumstance of so much importance
to the repose and security not only of this 'country,
but of Europe, should have been left t depend upon
an understanding supposed to exist bet*een an officer
and an individual, not then in an official capacity,
but employed in a foreign mission in a foreign coun-
try. Opportunities would come, when • the proper
information was before the House, of duly contider-
ing thew points, as well. as Waite related to ilk.- Mirk,
Wiese and conduct of the treaties referred to. As
to the Important subject regularly before the House,
he cordially agreed in much of what had been ad-
vanced by the Noble Earl. He agreed as to the dan.
gerous situation in which the country was placed,
and he trusted that danger would be considered in
its true light, as by Englishmen who were not to be
appalled by its magnitude, and whose immediate in-
quiry would be, nut how we came into it, but the
best way in which it could he repelled ? (Hear, hear).
—He agreed with the Noble Earl as to the alterna:
titre he had put—a state of armed and formidable
preparation, or that state, which, though it would
for the present preclude all hope of those salutary re-
trenclintents which were so necessary to the exhausted
state of the nation, and even in a constitutional point
of view, yet he trusted would eventually place the
country in that state in which they may yet effectually
be made. He approved of what was said of esta-
blishing a concert with the European Powers ; the
question was certainly an European, as well as a
British question: but its being an European question
would, of itself, render it a British one. Such was
the only cause from which their hopes of safety could
be derived—what contributed to the calamities of '
Europe for the last twenty-five years, but a principle
of disunion prevailing among its powers ? As soon
as that was done away, and its nations brought to
act in cordial concert, the most salutary, even the
wished-for consequence followed. What was pro-
posed by the Address had his decided and cordial ap-
probatibr. All decision upon the great and difficult
alternative was properly suspended : the day when
they shbold have to decide upon it they would not be
'found lis abandon their duty; but the House, he
trusted, would found its opinion according to those
light, w .ch should be furnished to Parliament on
the sub Deeming as he did of the measures re-
ferred • thy &Wee% it should have his support.
The Marquis WELLESLEY cordially approved
of the (hie of policy laid down in the Regent's Mes-
sage, ithich he trusted would be followed up in a
way colinneasenate to the spirit of the people, the
valour lif its armies, and to those principles under
which country afforded 'a noble example to sur-
roun ' nation*, of the way in which they should
effect •
their own deliverance. At the same time
he waif . dto ptrceive that no disposition ;Totalled
to lau ' the Nation into violent or precipitate mea-
sures. His Majesty's Ministers, in this view, had
lira
shewst 'semen creditable firmness, as well as a degree
Of fa' in what they now called the House to de-
cide u. . • But there were certain passages in the
speec his Noble Friend opposite which lie thought
3
w0...k upon him to state, he could not cOnsist-
entlystri llis duty or his feelings pass over without
even' ' - diming some observations. He had to
disappiobe of much of what the Noble Earl had said
respecting thy consequences to be expected from that
state in which Europe was plated for so many years.
By the stliggestions of a wise aad adequate polar, he
thought Ice rtopbse might have bead established and
evrertheird ; %hope he 'trusted tisk opportunizy for a
conj re, so greedy-to be'desired, was not Irmo.
vetatif lest. The prraCiples• which guided the tor.
ha - lir lth:Trcatiet which led to the late peace:iv
,
' • 4, .. ': • . ' •

Earl GREY made a variety of ohserwttions upon
sew2ral of the points which had elici•ed in the moue
of the discussion. He repeated the sentiments lie
delivered on a former evening, respecting the mea-
sures referred to in the Royal Message, which were
not only these of approval, but of cerr nit iidAtion.—
In a great deal of what fell from his Noble Friends,
in animadversion upon certain points of the N:hle
Earl's speech opposite, he perfectly agreed. Hit
Lordship rather more pointedly referred t, the pro-
ceedings of the Congress atVienita, which he thought
ill calculated to settle the agitations that pt.( vaied.
But these he also thought were points upon which
his Majesty's Ministers would hereafter have to ex•
plain and acenusst fur. And if he WAS not much'

*HAWN -it 4.011 kl Ise proved that a gtati d. rev nt
ignorance, with respect to the real interests of Europe
.as well as of those of th's country, prevailed in those
discussions. it was also to the absence of t.und
policy and an inattention to the pi inciples of political
justice, that the French people were induced to
-reject
their own S .vereign as the instiument 01 t! eta IIA•
tional degradation. Even the '!'teary of Footaine-
bleau was a topic on which it would be incumbent
on Ministers to sliew that the infraction of it 14y it
the other side. The assertion of the right of war he
could not but deem impolitic and iojud:cious under
the present circumstances of the country, for it it wese
not acted upon alter being asserted in such a way, it
would be attributed either to fear, or weakness, or
both. He regretted that the Noble Earl rEd mit
confine himself to the broad and general statements
on the face of the Message. He admitted tie present
state of things was such as to call for the most lop
midable preparations for defence ; but still the infer.
tion of the right of war was decidedly impolitic; and
at best, if such sere proved (which lie did not mean
to contradict), it was but proving halt the case. The
right of making war on a defensive principle was a
very different considera:ion from an interference with
the internal concerns of another country. But suffi-
cient certainly existed to warrant what was called for
by his Royal Highness's Message, and as the House
was called upon for no premature decision upon the
momentous question of peace or war, he had nu hesi-
tation in voting for the Address.
The question was then put—
The Address was voted near. fir.—Ordered to be
presented to the Prince Regent by the Lords with
white staves—and the House immediately adjourned
till Monday.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

• Lord GEORGE BERESFORD appeared at the. Bar, and ta
nounced that, pursue" to the Aafdress of the Hoes,! Ins !toys!
Highness the P/Rice &Vint bad been pleased to order cat
of the Treaty el Parisostsued the I tilt April, and the 3-Ls' et tt e
Papers, comprised in the,Address, should be pro Weed
Mr. Items, flan the CustOos House, presented ti e annual
Accounts of Imports and Exports.
Tie Tobacco Importation Bill was read a third time and pair&