Star.
London, England, 1802-05-06 00:00:00

THE PRINCE OF ORANGE.

The Earl of CAR!.ISLE rofe, [militant to a no 1,
tice lie had given, to call the attention of the Houle ,
to the deplorable situation in which the late Stadt-
holder of Holland and his Family were left, in
confeciaence of the Ihameful defortion of his inte-
seas on the part of Great Br:t tin ; after the num-
berlefs intlances of friendthip which he had fhewn
towards Great Britain, and after having continued
as her faithful Ally, until he was driven out of
his own country. Degrading as the Definitive
Treaty was to this country, and fraught as it was
with mifchief and ruin, there was no part of it
snore difgraceful than that by which the illuftri-
°us Foote in quellion was palled over without
any kind of ftipnlation that could fecure to it a
compenfation for its lotres, or relieve it from the
diltrefres it was now involved in. On this fubjea
he could not view the conduit of Adminiftration
in any other light than that of a low fsvindling
trick, by which the Pi ince of Orange had been de-
prived of his property. After having ceded to
Great Britain conliderable poifeilions in the Eati
and Weft Indies, after thefe having been in a man-
ner kept in trait for him, they were all at once
given up to the French, or the Batavian Repub-
lic (for it Was all the fame) as the price of an in-
glorious Peace ; and for all thefe poffettions—for
the immenfe property he polfeffed in Holland, and
which had been confifcated avowedly on account
of his attachment to this country—the Prince of
Orange was to receive no other compenfation than
promile made by France that he (hook' be in-
:ronified. The indignity and infult offered him,
even in the manner in which he was defcribed,was
a point that ought not to '"e patted over without
notice. This was infult added to injury, and
no chance left him of recovering auy part of his
property. Where was this indemnity to come
from' It was already agreed upon between Hol-
land and France that the former !Wald pay
nothing, although the was in podiffion of all the
property belonging to the Prince. The indemni-
fi:ation could not come from Spain. There was
as little chance of its being obtained iu France or
Germany. It was the bounden duty of. his Ma-
y:l4'6 Government to have aieertained even the
foarces front which this was to come. He was
kep:of to hear the Noble Secretary of State declare
on the preceding evening that he was difappointed
with regard to the Prince of Orange. The decla-
ration did credit to his heart, and was a proof at
hall that the juflice of that Prince's claim v.-as ac-
knowledged by Government. His Lordfhip then
adverted to the feparate Convention fecretly en-
teied into by the French and Batavian •Minifiers
in a private cot net of the room, at the very mo-
ment when the Nt,ble Marquis, whole great name
he was furry to tic atilsed to the Treaty, confider-
eti every thing as faiisfaaorily fettled. His obje&
now was, if pollible, to obtain a copy of this fcpa-
rate agreement, and for that purpofe he would
move That an humble Addrefs be indented to
his Majeily, praying, that he would be pleated to
communicate to this Honfe copies of all feparate
Conventions entered into by any of the parties who
iipted the Definitive Treaty at Amiens, and which
had been communicated to his Majelly.'
Lord PELHAM laid, he was forry not to have it
in his power to comply with the Noble Lord's
Motion, becaufe his Majetly's Government had
not received any fuels communication as that which
the Noble Lord desired to have laid before the
Houle. The faith of France had been pledged
to fulfil the article in favour of the Prince of
Orange ; and he was fare that would be done, al-
though lie mall again false had been difappointed
he innkr:lood that nothing more had been
obtained in his favour. _

The Earl of Cr.r.Lt?LE evpreffed his furprife at
the Noble Lord's reply, becaufe though he could
not have procured a copy of the Convention in
queflion, yet furely the Noble Lord, as Secretary
of State, could have ordered the proper perfon at
Paris to have demanded a copy of it, and to have
tradmitted It to his Majefly's Miniliers. His Lord-
fhip took notice of the lingular expreffion made
ufe of by the Noble Secretary of State, in the
comfit of the preceding evening's debate, viz. that
he ov:ned he had beta di/apple/a, in miff& to
procuring a better fee:nrity for a full and adequate
compenfation to the Prince of Orange and his ad-
herents, for their refpedlive loffes. Surely the
Noble Lord, from the official authority he was
clothed with, might have &reeled the Noble Ne-
gociator on the part of Great Britain, to have in-
ft ilea on a fuller and more explicit and I:gist-At-try
article than the itstii Artkh that now flood in
the Definitive Treaty, frs he was perfuaded that
the Noble Marsittis,if he had been aware that Inch
a Convention would have been ;utcred iirto. as

Ho/land and France, would not have faltered the
honour of the Britifh charafter to have been
(Mined, by a deferticn of the interefts of the Prince
of Orange and his adherents, in dire& violation
of the good faith -of this country, and its indil
penfible duty.
The Marquis CORNWALLIs immediately rote to
defend his own conduit, and laid he could not
conceive that there was any ground to fulpea that
the lath Article of the Definitive Treaty would
not be fclemnly fulfilled. Neither could he con-
ceive that a feparate agreement, entered into by
two of the contra&ing parties to the Definitive
Treaty by themfelves, as it were in their clofet,
without the concurrence or content of the other
contra&ing parties, could polflbly be liable to be
confidered- as affeding the due execution of a
Treaty, for which the good faith of all the four
contra&ing parties were pledged. With regard to
his having deferted, or fuffered the interefis of the
Prince of- Orange and his adherents to be deferted,
he difdained the imputation ; he had deferted no
interefts that this country was bound in honour to
maintain, and he had not the fmalleft doubt that 1
a full and ample compenfation would be procured
for the Prince of Orange and his adherents.
Lord GRENVILLE fully agreed with the Noble
Earl near him, as to the indignity and injury of-
fered to the Prince of Orange, whole rights this
Country molt fhamefully abandoned at the very
time when France was claiming freedom and retii-
tution of property for traitors in every part of the,
world. His Lordfhip having rifen to (peak feveral
times in the courfe of the debate, contended that
the Treaty of Peace itfelf was very different from
that which he and the late Minifters hid laid down
as the balls of the Negotiations at Lille.
The LORD CHANCELLOR faid, that fo far from
there being fuch a difference as that Rated by his
Noble Friend, when he advifed his Majefty to ree
to the prefent Treaty, he did fo, not fo much from
his own judgment, as from the deference in which
he held the opinion as well as the talents of his
Noble Friend, whole projed at the Negociations
at Lifle, was nearly followed in the late Prelimi-
nary Treaty. With refped to the motion imme-
diately before the Houk, he muff confider the
agreement entered into between feveral Powers in
the fame manner as au agreement between indi•
viduals. The aat they may have agreed upon
would not be altered by any arrangement private.
ly made between any of the parries, after the
agreement was entered into. Four individuals in
this country, agreeing to any legal itillrument,
were bound in law by fuch covenant, notwitla
(landing that two of them might privately agree
with refpeat to themfelves to font* alteration in the
general agreement. In the fame manner the four
contracting parties to the Definitive Treaty were
all equally bound by the law of nations to fulfil it,
and it could in no manner be affeded by what two
of them might do feparately. Spain was as much
bound as Holland to fee the Article for indcmni.
fying the Prince of Orange carried into effed ;
land he had no doubt but that the indemnification
would be made. In his opinion the prefent dia
cuffion could anfwer no purpofe whatever. It
could not ferve the Prince of Orange, but on the
contrary render his claim more infecure, and there.
fore he could not approve of the conduat of the
Noble Earl in bringing it forward.
Lord GRENVILLE made a warm reply to this,
and faid, if the Noble Lord (whom he would Rill
call his Noble and Learned Friend, though fome of
his arguments bore of late not the molt friendly
complexion) had Peen the private and unprinted
papers relative to the negotiation at Lille, and not
fpoken from the hfformation of others, he would
not have Rated what he had juft laid relative to the
Proid at Lille, which was far from being accurate.
—this produced a long explanatory converfation
between the Noble and Learned Lord and Lord
GRENVILLE, the former repeating what he faid be-
fore, to fliew that he had not in an unqualified
manner aliened that the Projet at Life did not con-
tain any collateral fecurity to the Prince of Orange
for a full compenfation, but,. as far as he then re-
colleated, he believed that it did not ; and, after
many affurances of his high refped and diem for
the Noble Lord, declared that he had not fpoken
upon the authority of the private and unprinted
papers, but from the printed papers on the fubjed
of the Pr4et of 1797, long (*wee laid on thcir Lord-
fliips"Fable.
Lord GRENVILLE replied, and the LOAD CHAN.
CVLLOR• did the fame.
Lord /Luck:LAND, in a fpeech of fome length,
acknowledged his regret that a more fatisfaanry
article had not been obtained as a fecurity for the
compenfation to he made to the Prince of Orange,
than the r Sth of the Definitive Treaty ; he difliked
both the fubltance and the exprellion of that ar-
ticle ; he writhed to have teen the means of making
the compenfation, the amount of it, the fond from
which it was to be taken, defcribed explicitly in an
article upon the fubjeat. But he was aware that
great allowance was to be made far a negotiator,
and to whom great indulgence was to be (hewn,
becaufe he knew from his own experience in diplo.
macy how much negotiators were obliged to con-
cede in order to obtain a favourite object. He
fpoke high of the claims of the Prince of Orange
on this country, from what fell within his own
knowledge during the four years he had fpent in
Holland as a Minifter for this country, juft previ-
ous to his leaving which the French army were
within feven miles of the Hague. Diffittisfied,
however, as he was with the Definitive Treaty, he
derived fame confolatiop from the Noble Marquis's
dialaration, that he had no doubt but that the
18th article would be folemnly fulfilled by the con-
traaing parties.
The Marquis CORNIVALLIs explained that he had
laid, if the faith of nations, publicly and foremnly
Pledged, was to be relied on.
Lord Palmas( faid that, though he wifhed as
much as any man that a full and ample compenfa-
tion lhould be procured for the Houfe of Orange,
yet it ought not to be forgotten that this country
had done a.great deal for Holland in t 787 and
during the late war, and that it was not our caufe
tingly that the Prince of Orange and his adhereuts
rilqued fo much for, but that of our Allies.

__

fomething like fwindling, ri vg difpofed of the
territories of the Prince of Orange delivered by him
into our hands in truft to hold for him,
Lord HOBART denied that the Dutch Colonies
which we had obtained had been delivered into our
bands by the Prince of Orange or by his means ;
he had himfelf, his Lordthip raid, been the perfon
to receive the anfwer fent by the Governors of the
Dutch Colonies to the letters they had received in
the Prince's name, and thofe anfwera to all thofe
letters uniformly Rated, that the Governors could
give no reply to the orders of the Prince of Orange,
dated from Hampton Court. Lord Hobart men.
tioned the Governors of Berbice, Demerara, Elk.
quibo, and Ceylon, as having given thefe anfwers,
and contended that we obtained thofe Colonies by
force of arms.
Lord GRENVILLE contended that one of thole
Mande was put into our hands through the means
and influence of the Prince of Orange.
Lord HOLLAND Paid he agreed in part with what
the Noble Lords below him (Lords Grenville,
Spencer, and Carlioe) had Rated, but he difagreed
with them materially in fome points. He did not
fo much quarrel with the 18th article in the Treaty,
nor think the terming the Prince of Orange a branch
of the Honfe of Natfatu, was worth fighting for.
He did not believe France would at any time have
allowed the Stadtholder ( who was the fervant, and
not the fovereign of the Dutch Republic) the title
of Prince of Orange.
A converfation arofe about the article of the Prp•
jet of t 797, concerning the claim to hold the Cape,
Ceylon, and Cochin in our hands, by the treaty
then negociating.
The LORD CHANCELLOR had in fome former
fpeech infinuated, that he believed the Minifters of
that day would have contented to recede from a
part of that claim.
Lord GRENVILLE denied this, and raid he had
the authority of the late Chancellor of the Exche-
quer, the late Secretary at War, and he had no
doubt that he lhouid have the tellimony of two
Noble Friends of them prelim, that it never was
meant to recede in the fmallelt degree from the
whole of that claim. _ _ _ _ _ _ .

..... ...
Earl SPENCER, and the Earl of Rossi.vv, both
rnfe and vouched for the truth of this declaration
by the Noble Lori.
At lengTh Lord CARLISLE was permitted to with-
draw his motion. _ _ _

Lord Hot.t.* N n recalled hie motion for the Honfe
to be ftimmoned to-morrow, and moved an Order
for Monday, on which day he agreed to make the
motion he had early in the day given notice of his
intention to make to•morrow.—Adjourned at eight
o'clock.

HOUSE OF COMMONS/

Sir Nat. CLARY obtained leave to bring In a Dill to enable
Lit Majefty to ineorp-mate by Charter a IL.NV !durance Com-
pany in the county of Kent.
Mr. Alderman Cu Pr is brought in a Bill for better fuppl ing
the Cities of Londun and IVeltrniniter with Fith, and for re.
gulating the FM Market of the Lune. Read a firft, and
ordered to be read a feeond time. _ _

Mr. Danl. brought in a Bill for extending the proviftons of
the 34th of his prdent Majt ity, to regulate the mode of ad-
mitlitering oaths at Eledions. Read a Brit, and ordered to
be read a fecond time on Friday, and to be printed.
The SECRETARY at WAR prefented Eftimates of the Army
Services for one month, from the asth inftant to the asth of
June. The Right Hon. Gentleman oblerved that thefe
EN-
mates were precifely on the fame leak of thole prefented to
the Honk for three months up to the asth inftant, as it was
impolable as yet to make up the Minutes for the Peace Efta-
bliihment, but he had no doubt they would be prepared
before the expiration of the month. He hoped under
thefe eircumftances the Houfe would have no objedtion that
he flsould propok a vote on the Eftimates now on the table in
the Committee of Supply on Monday next. He mould alto
.take occaSon to move for the further continuance of the Mu-
tiny Mt fur a foam: period. The Eftimates were ordered to
lie on the table.
Dr. LAW R E NCR gave notice that he mould, on Monday next,
bring forward a motion relative to the French and Dutch
Claims In the Eatt Indies.
The Controverted Elation Bill was read a fecond time and
committed for Monday.
The Bull Baiting Bill was brought in, read a arft, and or-
dered to be read a fecond time on Friday fennight.
The Cummittec on tke Coroners Fees Bill was deferred till
Monday.
The Elettion Treating Mt was read a third time and
paired.