Star.
London, England, 1810-03-23 00:00:00

P .

a suspicion, that these same Ministers might misma.
nage and sacrifice the remainder of our regular for-
ces. He, at least, had seen not only grounds of sus-
picion, but proofs, ti‘e most unequivocal, of their
ignorance and incapacity, and he should therefore
support the motion of his Hon. Friend. •
The Earl of WESTMORELAND opposed the
motion.—Not a word had been offered by either of the
Noble Lords in direct justification of the production
of such returns. The only topic insisted upon was the
ignorance and incapacity of Ministers. They went
back to the expedition under Sir John Moore ; to the
battle of Talavera ; to the Convention of Cintra; but
• adduced no one argument in support of the motion
before their Lordships. They contended that his
Majesty's Government would misemploy the troops
that had lately been sent abroad, without pretending
to say how, or where they were to be employed.—
They were faithful to their old maxim and practice—
condemn first, and then inquire.
The Marquis of DOUGLAS supported the mo-
tion and admonished the House not to entrust any
more of our military force to the direction of men
who had proved themselves so incapable of manag-

ing it.
After a few observations from Lord DARNLEY,
in reply, the House divided.—Contents 28—Non-
contents 38.—Majority against the motion 10.
EXCHANGE OF PRISONF.R.S.
On our return below the Bar, we found
Lord HOLL -AN on his legs, arguing in support
of *the motion of which he had given notice, for in-
formation respecting the late discussions relative to
an exchange of prisoners between this country and
France The question was one which deeply affected
the honour and character of the country, as• well as
the private feelings of those to whom it more imme-
diately related. When the condition of our brave
sailors, and of our gallant soldiers, who have so long
lingered in the hands of the enemy, and in a foreign
land, was duly considered, nothing perhaps could be
well conceived more discouraging and desolate.—
They were at that time of life when hope is most ac-
tive in the human breast. They had embraced a pro-
fession which held out to them prospects of honour
and glory, and what has been their fate ? For a num-
ber of years they have now been lingering is capti-
vity ; and though they may not be doomed to dun-
geons; yet are ther deprived of what is most dear to
men. They are deprived of all intercourse with their
friends and relationsr-they are deprived of all means
of advancing their views in life—they are deprived
of every opportunity of displaying that zeal and cou-
rage for the glory and interest of their country, which
promised to be the reward and solace of their ardu-
ous toils ; and they are deprived of all these consola-
tions, not foemanths, or for years, but for a dreary
uncertainty respecting the termination of a war, of
which no human foresight can calculate the close.—
Unfortunately such, it is too well known; has long
bt..) the condition of our brave countrymen, now
prisoners of war in France ; and if any opportunity
has been omitted of rescuing them from that long
and sad captivity, or rather if every offer of an ac-
commodation that promised to have that effect, has
not been eagerly and instantly embraced, his Majes-
ty's Ministers are guilty of the most callous and cruel
indifference to the sufferings of these brave men, and
that neglect and indifference he would consider as
among the blackest of their crimes. No doubt for a
length of time the charge of this cruelty had been
wholly imputable to the enemy. By the most wanton
and unjustifiable abuse of power, and by the worst
violation of the practice and law of civilized warfare,
the Ruler of France, when First Consul, ordered the
British subjects travelling in France to he seized and
treated a,s prisoners of war on the breaking out of
this present war. This unprecedented violence on
her part gave rise to the discussion of questions,
which threw an insurmountable barrier in the way
of an exchange of prisoners. Not only did Bona-
parte thus treat with con; empt the laws of civilized
warfare, but he set up pretentions the most extra-
vagant and extraordinary respecting the nature
and mode of the exchange of prisoners. The Ha-
noverians, who laid down their arms in Hanover,he
wished to hive considered as British subjects, and as
such to be exchanged for French soldiers. These,
and other pretensions not less inadmissible, stood long
in the w y of any arrangement for the'exchange cf
prispn• r,. In the admission of these pretensions it
was impossible for the British Government to acqui-
esce. So far, therefore, the charge of cruelty re-
mained with the enemy. But it would appear that
of late the French seem disposed to relax from these
pretentions, and to have made an offer of coming to
some arrangement on this delicate and important
point. How has that offer been received and treated
by the British Government is the question which he
would now discuss, and of which he was-most anxious
to obtain an explanation ? More than once has the
-my asserted that he had made a proposition for the
ipointment of Commissioners to meet at Morlaix, I
' treat for a bask on which to establish an ex-
Loge of prisoners. That proposition the enemy
.rts was refused or eluded by the British Govern-
tent, lest, as it is observed in the Moniteur, that
,aociation for exchange of prisoners should lead to
negociation for peace. This charge, though made
an anonymous unofficial paragraph, carries still
Mme weight with it, especially when it is considered
it it appeared in the of paper of :he French
,vernment, and that such is the degraded state of
press in France, that nothing was likely to appear
there that could he offensive to the French Govern-
ment. But the charge does not rest solely on this
loose anonymous paragraph. It is repeated in the
)st solemn and public manner in a solemn and (d-
-ial document addressed by the French Minister for
ireign Affairs to the Dutch Minister of Finance.—
iming in such a shape, and from such authority,
charge cannot be overlooked. If it be not re-
ttted by the British Government, must not the
igma of the inhumanity which attaches to this pro
acted disregard of the usages of civilized war now
atach to the British Government and to the British
Nation at large. And is it possible that Ministers
can refuse information on such a subject, in which
not only their own conduct, but the character of the
ation is so deeply involved ? They surely will not
pretend to say that a negociation for an exchange of
prisoners is to be compared to the complex negocia-
don for peace, and that, pending a negociation, it
.ould be improper to proceed in any open declara-
tion respecting the nature of its conditions, or the

4 111 zupty
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