The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1806-06-06

BRITISH HOUSE OF COMMONS,
April %.
On motion of Mr.. Secretary Fox, the order of
the dav was read. for taking into confederation
his najefty's moit gracious meiIage. The mef-
fage was then read.
Mr.. Secretary Fox rofe, and fpoke TO the fol-
lowing effect sc | am fure that it is impofibIe
that the meifage we have now read can fail to
excite the ftrongef f~enfation in every temper
and ditpotition of mind which can exit in this
Houie. In the hrft place, when we hear it ftat-
ed that his maiety had ATTAINED from appealing
to hisBritih fubiees, on account of the violence
and i%nluitice which had been done to him in the
!eizure of his Electoral d%ominions, it is impofi-
BILE not to feel grateful for that kindnefs and
mildnefs which his majefy has always fhewn to
the fubjects of this realm. 1t was with the mott
extreme reluctance, that he could content TO in
Volve them IN war upon any ground, that was
not Immediately and directly connected with
Britih interefs. After the fentimento of graft
tude TO his majefy for this tender confederation
of his fuhje&ts ofthis kingdom, the next feeling
which mutt he ftrougly excited by the meiiage,
IS a feeling Of nj indignation at the condue of
The court of PruAia.--I hope that every mem
Der, while he feels this iuf Indignation, will. at
49, 4'''t AHhN HNiNIANC lilS piDDItSIN OF unIIInE
the mott vigorous meafures, with a language
temperate and moderate, and which does not
violate that refpea which had been always con-
tldered due to crowned heads, and ought not.
in the prefent times, to be departed from. In
deed, to defcribe judy the meafures which have
been adopted by the court Of Pruf1ia againf this
country, they cannot be called the mcafures of
the king Of Pruffia, for that foyereign is known
to De Of mild AID pacific difpolition, nor could
thty be called the meafnrcs of his minifters, for
no miniftera could freely advife a proceeding 10
violent and injurious to the interets of that
monarch. The meaiures mut be confdered
fuch, as his Prulian maieay had been induced
to adopt, from the pernicious councils of the
enemies OF this country. Had it been my OBJ
'Jett to condemn, in the ftrongett terms, the de.
cIlon OF the Pruflian cabinet, | might have tho't
1t necefiary to lay fame additional papers on the
table, but that not being my Object, / have NOV
ed but for few. More would have been unne-
cehary, as it was not my with TO give the ftrong-
ed pofhble coloring to the accufation that the
mebage contains. Jf we are to underftand thofe
proceedings which have terminated in an out
rage, unprecedented in the hifory of the WORT
proceedings of the WORT times of Europe, il
will be necel1ary to view the tranfaetion a little
earlier. The origin of this proceeding is to be
traced to the convention concluded at Vienna,
on the 18th of December, between count Haue-
WITT and the French Emperor but when it is
conildered, what was the ~htuatioD of Prufia.
at the time that its fovereign concluded that
treaty with France, it muft be recollected, that
its means of negotiation were fill greater than
what 1t derived from its own refources or its own
armies.
The armies of Prunia were undoubtedly nu-
merous and Respectable but was it on them A.
lone that the king of Prunia relied, when he
yuao nayA~fatfn- ,yieI E...-o rG:t .-
not. He had a froDg additional fupport, which
gave weight to his negotiations. The Empe-
ror of Rufia after he had left AufterlitZ, gave
the whole direction of the Rufian troops that
remained in Germany, to the command of the
king of Prufia. This country too had promiE-
ed him A powerful a%liftance by pecuniary fup-
plies, if he Mould be driven to a war with
France. Thefe were the means he poffefed of
giving weight to his negotiations and how did
he apply thofe mears? Why, to feize a part
OF the territories of one of thofe powers which
had been fupporting him in that rank and htua-
ton, which enabled him to conclude his treaty.
(Lond cries If Hsari Hear y After this
treaty was 6gned a comfortable difficulty re-
proceeded, in a great m%eafure, from the juf fcru-
pies Of the king Of Prufia, who perceived that
it would be very hard to prevail upon his Bri-
fannie majeRy to ratify fuch a treaty, and who,
therefore, felt that his title would be 70 bad as
to make the acqtiftioc of Hanover, under thefc
circumstances, a poor equivalent for thofe pro-
yinces that he was obliged to give up to France.
He felt, befdcs, that upon no principle of iuf-
tice could he pretend to take it ON other terms
from thofe which France herfelf had held it on,
and therefore, at FRI, he did not pretend to-
take Hanover abfolutely, but with the power of
relforing il.
France, in the mean time, preHed for the ceE-
lion of Anfpach and Bayreuth. What then did
the King of Pruliia do? Certainly he could not
that the French government would be
TO Legeciate between him and his Britannia
majeay, that he ibould be allowed to retain
Hanover aud therefore he finally refclved TO
feize it without the content Of his majehy, and
under the p~retence of an equivalent for Anipach,
Bayreuth, and thofc provinces which were &C.
TO France. 1t cannot then be faid, that this
and the proceedings which followed il,
were altogether the effc6i Of fear, for what was
the n~ecefity under which his Prufidu maieRy
placed Was it merely the nece1ity of
ceding Anfpach and Biyreuth This might
have been a comfortable Misfortune, yet il was
one which might be fulfilled by nesefity.-But