Star.
London, England, 1821-06-22 00:00:00

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dress from the British Ministry ? He should endea•
your, in the following observations, to make out
three propositions:—first, that there was no evidence
before Europe of the impracticability of the Govern-
ment established under British auspices in Italy.
Secondly, if there were such evidence, the ancient
Constitution of Sicily, instead of being restored, was
in effect destroyed by the Decree of the King of
Naplei. Under this head he would shew that the
privileges of the people were abolished. Thirdly,
that the late change re-opened the question, that it was
a change for the worse, and that by the adoption of
measures which involved a flagrant departure from
every acknowledged principle, the King of Naples
placed a Government over the Sicilians which dimi-
nished that security and happiness which the Sicilians
enjoyed during the occupation of the island by our
troops. And,on the first point, he would be glad to know
here were the proofs of the impracticability of the
constitution of 1812, to the state of the Sicilian
people ? He had heard with astonishment and re-
gret the Noble Marquis attempting to ridicule that
creditable effort of the British Commander, to intro-
duce an imitation of the great model of the British
Constitution into Sicily. He had viewed this act of
reverential homage to British Constitutional liberty
with other feelings. He would have thought that
compassion for the poor people who were the objects
of the intended benefit—he would have thought that
a reverence for the Constitution of this country would
have secured the authors of the benevolent scheme
from the ridicule, at least, of the Noble Marquis—
.

and he had thought that it would better become
law. giver of the British station to turn with expres-
sions of cordial approval to the attempts for the esta-
blishment of the spirit of the British Constitution in
Sicily ; and that he would have pardoned, with a
cheerfulness, those superstitiously minute feelings
manifested by the projectors of the great design, and
which every one must regard as the evidences of
their extraordinary affection and reverence for the il-
lustrious of iginal. But they had the evidence of
those who were on the spot of the practicability of
the scheme as opposed to the theoretic sentiments of
the Noble Lord, founded upon general statements
and descriptions. The result of the Noble Marquis's
evidence was this, that the two Houses of Parlia-

rnent addressed the King,of Sicily—upon what sub-
ject the Noble Lord did not state. He (Sir James
Mackintosh) had carefully read all the documents
and authentic statements which he could obtain, and

was unable to discover any testimony to support the
Noble Lord. Where were the Addresses—why not
have been laid on the table?—(Hear, hear).—lf they
existed, they were of force enough to silence all ob-
jection. But was it true, indeed, that the Parlia-
ment demanded the abolition of the Constitution ?
He had heard the reverse. He had understood that
ttit Members of the Sicilian Parliament were of opi-
nion that the Constitution under which they existed
had the efficient means of reform within itself. The
Marquis de Circello said nothing about the Ad-
dressot to the King. Both he and Sir W. A'Court
had spoken of the difficulties they had to encounter
in the bringing about of the projected changes. The
whole of the statements that emanated from the
Government of Naples, as the foundation for this ex-
traordinary alteration, were no more than vague
generalities. There never was an instance, perhaps,
in which so little had been done to compliment the
people, whose hope of liberty was about to be wrested
from them, by the statement of grounds or pre-
tences for the important event. It was not by any
means an unlikely conjecture that the "difficulties"
spoken of by the personages just mentioned, were
nothing more than the objections of the Parliament to
any change in the Government. But he had it in his
power to convince any man that no reliance ought to
be placed on the testimony of the Ministers at Naples.
The Marquis de Circello entered into a statement of
the reasons why the abolition of the British Constitu-
tion was resolved upon. That those were not the real
grounds, as within the knowledge of that Minister,
was testified by his concealment, up to the latest pos-
sible period, of that Secret Treaty agreed upon at the
Congress of Vienna, between the Emperor of Austria
and the King of Naples, in which was an article binding
the latter to consent to no change in the Government
of any part of his dominions, which was not sanc-
tio►ied by his Imperial and Apostolic Majesty. Here
then was the true source of the abolition. The Right
Honourable Member dwelt upon what he called the
false and fraudulent conduct of the Neapolitan Go-
vernment, and upon what he termed the faithless and
hollow friendship of the Austrian Government for this
country. He said, that the conspiracies which gave
so much inquietude to the friends of the Government
in Sicily, were to be traced to the Members of the
Royal Family of Naples. He contended that the Go-
vernment of Sicily, as now established, was a simple
despotism. He shewed that the Parliament of Sicily
assembled every four years, in contradiction to the
Noble Lord, who stated that the Parliament scarcely
ever assembled, and had nothing to do with the po-
litical arrangements of the country. He admitted
that the Government which was substituted in 1816,
gave everything to the King, except the power of in-
creasing the supplies. What if the King had said
there was not enough—who was to controul him ?
Where was the Member of Parliament—where the
Member for Aberdeen—(Alaugh)—to detect the false
addition of the Royal Person, and check his progress?
But it was in this insidious way—by this coup del
grace, that the liberties of every country, where free-
dom had been lost, had been wrested from them.-1
This was :the very receipt adopted on all occasions,
where ;h€ hrdeperidence of one nation was to be sa-
crifiad to the sovereign ambition of another. The
*noble Lord, had ridiculed, to his astonishment, the
practice which had been. acted upon by the Sicilian
Parliament, of coupling a statement of their griev- '
ances with their grants of supply. Anywhere but in
a British House of Commons, he (Sir J. Mackintosh)
would tolerate levity upon an usage as .old as the
British Constitution, and which had beep uniformly
adopted, as the most excellent expedient, by their
forefathers, for enlarging and confirming the liberties
of die country. The Noble Marquis had passed over
this, and other painful parts of the subject, in his
usual easy, familiar under-tone, implying as much as
that the topics were of too trivial a nature to deserve
more serious treatment—

" Et quz
Desperet traetata nitescerc posse relinquit."
He remarked, that it was the fate of every free Con-
stitution to draw upon it the hostility of the powerful

part of the world now-a-days. No complaint was
ever heard cf the Governments of Morocco or 1
Constantinople. But two years experience of any I
state of things founded on principles of liberty, was I
generally deemed enough to convince the Sove-
reigns of Europe, that such a condition of things
deserved no longer to exist—(Hear, hear).—Could
any man doubt from the state of Sicily now, even
upon the chewing of the Noble Lord, and recollecting
the condition on which the British Government con-
sented to evacuate Sicily, that we were bound to in-
terfere? There remained but a little time, perhaps,
when interposition on our part could do any good ;
for there were reports abroad of the embarkation of
ten thousand Austrians for Sicily—the natural guar-
dians, indeed, of such a despotism as that which the
Government of Austria was anxious to maintain
there. There was one passage in the Decree of the
King of Naples so shameful and barefaced, that even
in reading it privately to himself, he could scarcely
suppress his indignation. The King said, " that the
Sicilians ha.' as much independence as was good for
them,"—that was to say, none at alW(Hear, hear).
When he recollected the conduct of 'the Neapolitan
Government all through, and saw the completion of
the wicked system of monarchical aggrandisement,
and contempt for the rights of mankind, he could ex-
press no other feelings than those of indignation and
abhorrence for the system and its authors and pro-
moters—( Hear, hear).
The House then divided, when there appeared—
For the motion - - 35

- 69
- -34

Against it
Majority - - -
THE HOLY ALLIANCE.
Mr. STUART WORTLEY rose to bring forward
the motion of which he had given notice relative to
the dispatch of the Allied Powers issued from Lay-
bach. He regretted that the task of investigating
the principles contained in that dispatch had not
fallen into abler hands. It was impossible that an
English House of Commons could view with indif-
ference the spirit displayed by the Allied Powers in
this dispatch, or could be at ease whilst they pro-
claimed that their wills alone were to be the law of
Europe ;—a doctrine which took away all security
from other States, and would, if acted upon, involve
this country, with its best institutions, in the same
spirit of condemnation, and expose us to be treated
as outlaws.—( Hear, hear).—ln bringing this subject,
however, under the consideration of Parliament, he
was sure his Noble Friend would do him the justice
to think that in no wise did he feel a want of confi-
dence in the Executive Government of this country.
The Noble Lord had himself, on a late occasion, ex-
pressed his reprobation of the principles, in language
which did him credit, and he (Mr. Wortley) felt sa-
tisfied, therefore, that, on all occasions, the Noble
Lord would be ready to discountenance their appli-
cation. But the time was come when the Commons
of England ought, as a body representing the People
of England, to express their dissent from the despotic
principles contained in this document ; and high and
powerful as were the States from which it issued,
he was sure such an expression of dissent on the
part of this country would not be entirely with-
out its effect upon the Sovereigns of these States.
During a late Congress of the Sovereigns at Lay-
bach, there appeared a Dispatch in all the Papers,
which was signed by the Ministers of Russia, Aus-
tria, and Prussia, and purported to be a Circular
from these Powers to their Ambassadors at Foreign
Courts. This document, after stating what had been
done at Troppau and Laybach with regard to Na-
ples, and the efficacy of the measures taken, went on
Ito reprobate the restless disposition which it assumed,
prevailed in all the States of Europe against the legal
authorities, and the dislike which was supposed to
elitist in every country to Government in any form.
The Dispatch then proceeded to state the evils arising
from this restless disposition, and concluded by laying
down the mode in which any changes were to be
made in States for the future, insisting, without re-
serve, that in no case would it be permitted a State
to make a change in its form of Government without
their entire tree will, and that they were responsible
to GOD alone—(Hear, hear). Now, if such were the
law of Europe some years ago, in what situation
would England have been at this day ? Should she
have any liberty—for was not the liberty which we
now enjoyed, wrung often from the Sovereigns of
this country and against their wills ?—(Hear, hear).
It would put an end to Reform in every shape, and
stifle amendment, however salutary, unless Monarchs
could be prevailed upon to give up their despotic
propensities. if this Circular had confined itself to
the States of those Powers from whom it had issued,
of course he (Mr. Wortley) could not quarrel with it;
but when it was laid down as a public law for Europe,
it was then the duty of every State to pay attention
to it. With regard to the proceedings of Austria
against Naples, he had before given an opinion upon
the subject; and though that Revolution, which was
certainly the work of a faction, not of the people, was
put down, yet he could not but condemn the conduct
of the Austrians, because that Power went on this
ground that there was to be no reform, no ameliora-
tion, without the concurrence of those who govern.
As an Englishman, therefore, he protested against
the promulgation of these principles, as most danger-
ous to the freedom of this country, being certain
that, if they prevailed in former times, this country
would never have compassed its liberty (Hear). If they
could be enforced in Spain (and they would had not
France interfered) they would destroy the mannood
institutions which the Revolution had given birth to'
in that country. The Noble Lord had himself ad-
mitted, that things were in such a condition in Spain
that a change was necessary, and that many salutary
effects flowed from it. With regard to the docu-
ments which were published in the Newspapers, as
he was not sure that they were true copies, it was
difficult to found any motion upon them, and he
should therefore move for the production of the on-1
ginal Papers, that the House might take what steps
they thought proper upon them. If, however, the
Minister of the Crown would stand up in his place
and declare that there was no danger to the liberties
of Europe from the promulgation of these principles,
then he (Mr. Wortley) would not press for them.—
What he wished was, that the attention of the People
should be roused, through the medium of this House,
to the tendency of those principles, which seemed to
be destructive of all civil liberty, and of the inde-
pendence of every State in Europe. The Honourable
leniber concluded by moving for Copies of the Do-
cuments alluded to.

The Marquis of LONDONDERRY said, that he'
agreed in all the general principles laid down by the
Hon. Member. He objected, however, to producing
these papers, as it was against the usage of Parliament
to call for papers when no ultimate proceeding was
to be founded upon them. There was no question
as to the authenticity of the documents, but he would
recommend that they should not be called into notice.
The House did not think it necessary in the case of
the Declaration of Troppau, and this was a weaker
case. So long as Ministers did their duty, it was
better for the country to leave the management of
foreign affairs to the Executive Government. The
principles laid down in the document alluded to did
not apply to this country; there was in them an ab-
stract generality of application, but there was nothing
to call for the interference of Parliament. If this
document was replied to, there was a replication on
the part of the Allies, and this would lead to endless
literary altercations, which in the end might produce
a war, or at least disturb the relations which at pre-
sent subsisted between States—(Hear).—The Decla-
ration of Troppau was more directly addressed to
this country, because, in that case, this country was
called upon to sanction the promulgation of certain
principles, and to act upon these principles in the
furtherance of a practical object—namely, the put-
ting down of the revolution at Naples. Yet, in that
case, the Executive Government acted for itself,
and he trusted the House and the country approved
of the steps which it then took—( Hear, hear).—
It would be most mischievous to he producing every
public paper for no other purpose, as it appeared,
but that of examining into and refuting their doc-
trines, and the States of Europe would be thus turned
into a Debating Society for the discussion of general
principles. No ostensible good could arise from the
production of this paper when there was no practical
result expected from it. This Government had be-
fore expressed its opinions in a way which could not
be misunderstood by Europe. The moving for this
Paper and suffering it to lie upon the table would be
to detract from the former spirited proceedings taken
by this Government. The Noble Lord then declared
his total dissent from the princi les contained in the
Circular alluded to. He denied that this country had
any right to take notice of the doctrines promulgated
by any other State—this would be to infringe upon
the independence of these States. He avowed that
the Ministers of the Allied Powers were ill-advised
to publish a declaration which was against all prin-
ciples of sound policy ; but still he was convinced
the Powers had not done it with any view to aggran-
dizement. It was certainly the privilege of every
State to make what internal changes it thought pro-
per; but he hoped we were not a people attached to re-
volution for revolution sake. The revolutions which
took place in this country did not resemble those
lawless changes which the Allies by Circular decried.
In 1688, the leaders adhered to and acknowledged
constitutional forms. They considered revolution the
greatest evil, but they justified it from necessity. The
revolutions on the Continent were brought about by
factions, and as one was the organic source of others,
there was no knowing where the evil would stop.
He did not stand up to justify the Sovereigns, but he
should say, that a great spirit of insurrection was
abroad, and the Sovereigns were perhaps justified in'
meeting this before it attacked them on their own
soils. The revolutionists were given to extreme prin.'
ciples, and the Powers did certainly promulgate ex-
treme principles of a counter-nature, in the hope
neutralizing the effect of the former—(Hear). What
did the Greek insurrection present but an indiscri-
minate slaughter? No tyranny stood in the way of
liberty so much as the vices committed in her name.
This country had already declared its sentiments,
but that circumstance had made no alteration in our
relations with the Court of St. Petersburgh. He
could assure the House that the breathing time which
this country enjoyed after her struggles in the late
war would not be soon broken in upon. The Noble
Lord concluded by opposing the motion.
Sir JAMES MACKINTOSH contended, that the
Noble Lord's technical objections would cut up the
constitutional right which every Member had, to call
for such Papers as he thought the Public were inte-
rested in. It was absurd to use the argument that
they were not to be forthcoming because no ulti-
mate motion was founded upon them ; for a motion
of that nature might be made after the Papers were
brought before the House. He was glad to hear the
Noble Lord avow such principles as he had done.—
The Noble Lord was incorrect in saying our ances-
tors considered revolution as the worst evil, but that '
they justified it by necessity ;—the greatest evil could
not be justified by necessity, for necessity itself was
a choice of the lesser evil—(Hear).—The greatest of
all evils was perpetual slavery—(Hear).—lt was the
scourge and bane of human society. To oppose it,
any sacrifice ought to be made. If these principles
had been promulgated by an obscure State, no notice
should be taken of them ; but was it forgotten, that
they who issued them gave their orders at the head
of armies, and that a great country in Italy had been
conquered under them ? These declarations were
not, therefore, idle speculations. The Allies would
sweep away the laws of nations altogether ; and
Count Nesselrode had expressly declared, that Na-
ples was attacked, not because the revolution was
brought about by a faction, but because the peo-
ple there had dared to rebel—(Hear, hear, hear).
And these despots made no distinction as to their
objects; so that if it was said that anarchists made
no distinction amongst Kings, the charge could now
be retorted upon the Kings themselves—(Hear,,
hear).—Here were the three greatest Powers in Eu-
rope in conspiracy against the peace of Europe—
(Hear, hear).—The principles which they avowed
made them the enemies of every nation, for they at-
tacked all those fundamental principles upon which
every State depends. This then was a case for this
House to interfere in ; and he assured them that the
expression of the People of England would not be
without its effect. There was no security for nations
after the acts which the Allied Powers had been
guilty of. At one time, the divisions amongst the
Sovereigns of Europe afforded a security for the
minor States; but this security had been done away
by the system of partitioning, which the Allied
Powers had resorted to. Neither were the personal
characters of the Sovereigns any security ; for in
1807, when Prussia and Sweden refused to follow
Russia in her alliances, she punished the latter for
her refusal, by robbing her of 'Finland ; and in 1812
treated Denmark in the same way, by robbing her of

Norway. The Honourable and Learned Gentleman,
after some further observations, concluded by sup-
porting the niotion.
Mr. HUTCHINSON denied that the spirit of con-
spiracy was atm oad in Europe. The Noble Lord had
last night libelled as Revolutionists all those who,
through the different States in the South of Europe,
had made any efforts for the recovery of their liberty.
The Noble Lord bad said, that a disposition to pro-
pagate Revoluf had arisen hi neighbouring na-
tions; and the Noble Lord seems to discover the na-
tions from which these revolutionary principles pro-
ceeded. Did the Noble Load, as Minister of this
country for Foreign Affairs, mean to say that those
principles had sprung up in France? He would again
charge the Noble Lord and his colleagues with li-
belling those nations which made an effort to free
themselves from shivery. Ile would repeat the
charges which he ma ie last night against the Noble
Lord and his colleagues, that they were partners in
the despotic measures of the Allied Sovereigns, who
commenced their system of dictation by dragging to
Troppau the King of Naples, and then obliged him
to violate his most sacred promises to his own sub-
jects, and to commit acts of the grossest perjury—
(Hear, hear).—The Noble Lonu could not und rstand
the description of Minor Stales; but his own conduct
has! brought among that description a State which
once stood high among the Nations of Europe. No-
thing could be more tremendous than the present
state of Europe, under two States, who considered
themselves the Dictators of all the States of Europe.
The Noble Lord said they only fought for the peace
and liberty of Europe; but he would tell the Noble
Lord, they had fought for their own aggrandizement,
and against the peace and happiness of all others.
Wherever they moved, desolation tracked their walk;
the protection they afforded, was such ai the eagle
, gave the lamb, " covering and devouring!"
Colonel DAVIES said it was high time for his Ma-
jesty's Ministers to make some declaration as to those
Documents which had issued from the Allied Mo-
narchs. It was well known that 'it was the object
of Russia to get some settlement in the Mediterranean,
and it was her wish to be the rival of this country in
the Mediterranean.

Thi Marquis of LONDONDERRY said he was
not bound to answer every question which the ima-
gination of any Hon. Member would suggest to him.
If a Sovereign Power had invited into his territories
foreign forces for his own protection, another coun-
try had no right to interfere.

Sir It. WILSON insisted that it was incumbent on
this country to take cognizance of the possession of
Naples and Sicily by Russia and Austria, because
that possession might have the effect of annihilating
the ascendancy of this country in the Mediterranean,
and his Majesty's Ministers were bound to satisfy the
House on it.
After a few words from the Marquis of LONDON.
DERBY and Mr. S. WORTLEY, the House divided—
For the Motion
Agait st it
Majority • —6O