The Statesman.
London, England, 1814-11-19 00:00:00

that troops its t' Netherlands was not tube paid by
Ma country. Great as our interest was to aopport
the independence of liolland; it was not for the in-
terest of Holland itself that we should give her at
first too much assistance. That nation should be
aught to do something to defend itself—Dear,
Aeall—and not be taught to rest the burtheo of
their military establishment nn our shnolders.
The CIIANCELLOR of taw EXCHEQUER
observed, in repty, 'That -the additional'Articte
to the Swedish Treaty might certainly have seen
before the House long ego, and he coukk. only
ascribe its non-ippearattce to some oversight,,, The
substance of it, lioslever, as well as the aekatance
of the Supplementary Treaty of Chaumont, was
stated to the Jlouse iii,the last Session. As to Sicily.
our Treaty with that Government went oW totally
different Principles from arose' vrhictisillisenced nor,
et- igsgetnetsta with
.the ContinentarPoliers. The
King of Stilly bad lost Naples through hii adher-
ence to oar alliances and we had hence been led, hot'
only to maintain a largeforce in that island, but
also to subsidise the Government. The Treaty of
nog eitlytliat Poker was made to continue during
the war is 'kirk it was engaged with Naples; and.
as that stir still aubsistar, the Sicilian Government
still considered Itself entitled to •some subsidiary*,
misleads lilt sus arrangement' wait made. Naples.
had s?goed no 'tsiore than an Acialitice with thin
country. •,
Mr. PONCONRY said, he was not in the limn*
at the time when the sabstatleegf the Supplementary'
Treaty had been comnlealate") the last Session;
bet the ChancellOr of the Exchequer had -nn reason
to be surprised at his want or-Information, when he
himself, as he had confessed, iiiiifootikoown that a
Treaty of the utmost important* to the country 'bad
sot been Laid before the Ihuse:
Mr. WIIITBItEAD said; that although the House'
was not acquainted with' one Item for Which they
were to vote the eight Millions, yet it was at least
much more decorous to have agreed to it after some
Plate, than that the matter should have been passed
et r•n the hurried. manner which the Chancellor of
elle Exchequer seemed to have wished for. Several
very relevant subjects had that night been touched
ea ; and he had heard nothing with more pleasure
than the remarks on the auditing of public accounts,
by his lion. Friend (Mr. Baring). They could not,
indeed, when such semi were voted, be too much

*Hie to the manner in which the public accounts were
;gaited. On the subject touched on by his Honour-
. e Friend behind him (Mr. Gordon), he wondefed
tdlit.Vhaircellbr ot the Eseheq.:er had not been more
lirir,'tad indeed had seemed so ill informed: he
rot* therlvaielaent between this country and the
ngot ite Was the Chancellor of the Ex-
.
torquer notraart, that they were under an agree-
' limit with the Kb; of Naples, while we were pay-
ing the king of Sicily, who was at war with.him ?
The Chancellor of the Exchequer had stated, that
:the 'sing of. Naples had concluded a peace with
Au‘tria."—Was he aware, that the Treaty between
the Em, eroi or Austria and the King of Naples,
was not of peter only, but of alliance?—and that
e war a written pledge given by our Minister to
the King of Naplesittin which be was secured in his
kg/110°Pil °".O • 4blll-l( .King of Sicily
would tint accept an Indemnity for Ms Neapolitan do-
minions, that weshoutd consider our treaty with him
st au end. Yet we, which was a most extraordinary
_ _

. .
fact, w ere paying a subsidy to the King of Sicily, who '
was at war with this King of Naples, with whom i
we were at peace, and to whom we were bound by
an honourable engagement. Our engagement with ,
the King of Naples nas.w well known on the Conti-
nent, though it had not been communicated to the
Muse of Commons ; and it was also known that oar
engagement with the King of Naples was deemed of
the utmost importance to Europe. The Chancellor
of the Exelseqiien bad brought to the recollection of
the Committee events long passed for the purpose of
vemioding them of 'the pledges which had been given
to protect the Royal Family of Sicily. He should
not attempt to go into the subject of our influence
and interference in the internal affairs of Sicily, nor
attempt to enquire bow we hadi fulfilled our pledge
of protection to the Royal Family, and especially
to the late Queen of Sicily (he called her the Queen
of Sicily, since that was the appellation which the
Chancellor of the Exchequer gave to the Royal Fa-
mily of the Two Sicilies), who had been expelled
from her dominions, and who had died in exile. If
the Chancellor of the Exchequer had not been in-
formed of our agreement with Naples, he was sorry
the High! Honourable Gentleman's .information was
W limited. He thought that without further expla-
nation the House should hesitate in granting the
subsidy. There were other circua►stances with re-
spect to the military expenditure which required ex-
planation. As to the army in Belgium, when we were
voting co largo a sum, it would have been proper if
theyjmd been told what the whole probable expence
would he. He hail heard that a survey had been made of
the frontier fortresses in that* country, witha view to
their restoration, and an estimateof the expence of such
repairs as were necessary. The estimate he had heard
stated never at lesq, but by some at more than ten
millions. He wished to know from the Chancellor
of the Exchequer, whether such an estimate had been
formed, whether it had been handed to this country,
and whether it was intended that the whole of that
expence, or a share of it, should be borne by this
country ? The Chancellor of the Exchequer had
treated it as light and immaterial, whether the person
who was to sit on the Thrfine of Hanover, should be
called King or Elector ; and though be had forsworn
wit there was one joke that evening, with which he
bad been as busy as a hen with one chicken [a laugh]
—that there could be no Electors whore there was
no person to be elected. Yet in this country we
had persons elected without Electors. [A laugh.]
These ci-decant Electors of Germany, who had been
created Kings or Archdukes by Bonaparte, were like
the foxes who had lost their tails, and who, to render
their disgrace less conspicuous, wished their fellow
brutes to submit to the same curtailment, [4 laugh.]
These persons bearing titles which had been forced
on them, and feeling uneasy under them, yet ashamed
to drop them, begged the Prince Regent to lay the
same title on his father, and make him a German
King too [hear !]. But a circumstance which was
of serious consequence to this country, was the ag-
grandizement of Hanover. The more the territory
of Hanover was ealargedi the greater was the danger