Page images
PDF
EPUB

or intercourse between the court of Lon- the dearest object of national concern— don and the courts of Petersburgh and national character. He hoped he should Vienna. Were he to speak generally on not be charged with asperity in the rethe subject of peace or war, he would say, marks which he felt it his duty to make on that peace was beyond all question the what had fallen from the noble mover of first interest of England, it was our great- the Address, and from the hon. seconder. est blessing; but this was an abstract pro- He had heard the noble lord with great position; he could not decide positively pleasure, on account of the considerable on this particular subject, in the absence ability which he had displayed: but, with of the papers, which would show, whether the highest deference and respect towards or not peace could have been obtained, him, he was bound to make a few obsercompatibly with the honour and interests vations on the doctrine he had broached. of the country. Of this he was sure, that Ministers, in his majesty's speech, justified the first object of any statesman in the the attack of a country, neutral, as it yet country ought to be to procure a peace, appeared, and unoffending, as it yet approvided such a peace were compatible peared, by declaring that a determination with that honour and those interests. He existed on the part of France, to seize the begged not to be understood, as in the fleet of Denmark, and to convert it into least degree advising, that in any negotia- the means of hostility against this countion this country should tamely listen to try. This was the justification in the the demands of France. To France he speech. But the noble lord and the hon. hoped England would never bow her head. seconder justified the step on the ground At this particular time he was fully aware that his majesty had too long forborn, and how much it became her, to stand firmly had been too long patient of the flagitious on the high ground to which she was enconduct of France to other powers, and titled, by her honour, by her dignity, by that he was right in departing from the her resources. He was most ready to ad- course which, until that hour, he had premit, that his majesty's ministers would be scribed to himself. Now, with regard to fully justified in assuming the attitude he the first ground of justification, how the had described. If England stooped her determination of France to endeavour to head before France she would never raise compel the Danes to join the hostile conit again; but to say, whether ministers had federacy against this country, could jusacted right or wrong in the particular tify our government in attacking the cacase to which he alluded, was impossible. pital, and seizing the fleet of Denmark, His majesty had declared, that all the without knowing whether or not she would papers necessary to elucidate the subject, have agreed to join that confederacy, was should be laid on the table. "Till that beyond his comprehension. If comprewere done, any opinion must be pre-hensible at all, it must be from the suppoHe would, therefore, abstain from any further reference to the conduct of government on this subject. If it should be shown that that conduct had been right, he would approve it; if wrong, he would not hesitate to express his disapprobation. The next subject of great importance in his majesty's Speech was the conduct of government with regard to Copenhagen. If he might describe what appeared to him the intention of his majesty's ministers on this point, it was to obtain from parliament an unqualified approbation of their conduct, without laying before it any evidence of the urgency of the motives by which they had been impelled. They were ready to submit to the house the papers relating to the intercourse between Petersburgh and Vienna, but they seemed desirous to abstain from the production of papers which led to a step involving in itself what ought to be VOL. X.

mature.

sition that the weakness of Denmark might
induce her to submit. Now, if he under-
stood the other ground of justification, it
was, that our government were not bound
to wait for any indications from neutral
nations; but that, because Bonaparte had
acted unjustly to such nations, our govern-
ment were authorised in acting unjustly
too. In the whole course of the present
war it had been the high boast of this
country, that her conduct had been uni-
formly fair, forbearing, just, and mode-
rate. It had been always used as a great
argument in that house, to induce the
ple to support their difficulties with firm-
ness, that however unjust and oppressive
the acts of France had been, England had
evinced an opposite disposition, and had
been as remarkable for her good faith as
France had been for her treachery. The
maintenance of such a character for ho-

peo

nour, dignity, and fidelity, must, in a long

E

had been contracted with the king of Sweden, he had no doubt of the readiness of the house to enable his majesty to fulfil them. But if it was in contemplation to grant pecuniary subsidies to that monarch, he thought the house ought to pause before it sanctioned such an application of the public money. For, in the course of two or three months they might see gentlemen rising up on the opposite side, and speaking of him in terms similar to those which they had this evening heard

contest, be the surest pledge of success. to take up arms against us, not from If, therefore, the right hon. gent. opposite choice, but necessity; and it was besides did not mean to produce any papers, to suitable to the noble and generous feelings throw a light on the inducements for the of the English nation to employ at all Copenhagen expedition, it was impossible times language as healing and conciliatory for him to concur in that part of the ad- as possible.-Another topic of the speech dress which pledged him to an approba- on which he had one observation to make, tion of it. He agreed with the noble was contained in that paragraph which lord who spoke last, that the expedition related to the king of Sweden, and where might be defensible; he would not say his majesty is made to express a hope that that his majesty's ministers were in error. the house will feel with him the sacredThey might be justifiable. The facts were ness of the duty which the firmness and unknown to him, and, therefore, he could fidelity of that monarch had imposed upon not be expected to offer an opinion on him, and that it would concur in enabling them; but should the right hon. gent. his majesty to discharge it in a manner opposite persist in withholding any infor-worthy of this country. If engagements mation on the subject, he pledged himself to move for such papers as would bring the discussion fairly before the house. There were two points which demanded attention; the first was the right, the second was the policy of the measure; on both these points the house was at present without the materials of judging, and the most objectionable part of the address appeared to him to be that the house was pledged to approve of the measure without having these materials before it, There was another topic in the speech, re-applied to the emperor of Russia. It was specting a new state of hostility, in which we had been lately involved with the courts of Petersburgh, Vienna, and Berlin, on which it was almost impossible to de-stowed on the king of Sweden, had been cide till the papers containing the correspondence were laid before the house. He should only now observe, that nothing to him appeared more surprising than the circumstance of England being at war with Austria. That that power, which had uniformly been our prop and support, our partner in misfortune, and our friend on all occasions, should have been in-regulate their judgment.--The house, he fluenced to sacrifice its ancient attachment, and to break the numerous ties by which she was united to us, really seemed to him almost incredible--this was something which he could not understand. But, if Austria had been compelled in her fallen state to acquiesce in the demands of France, he hoped that on the part of this country every degree of forbearance would be exercised towards her. In regard to her, surely no conduct could be too moderate, no language too conciliatory. To France ministers might use as harsh language as they thought fit. She had been liberal in her abuse of us, and those who judged it proper might retaliate. But a difference should be made between France and those powers who had been induced

in the recollection of every one present, that a very short time ago panegyrics, quite as highly coloured as those now be

lavished upon the emperor Alexander, when he was represented as magnanimous, generous, disinterested, in short, every thing that was great and good. Here, too, it was possible, that he might be wrong, but all that he wished was that the house should not give any pledge till they were in possession of the information necessary to

asserted, was equally destitute of information upon the question relative to America and neutral nations, and, till this information was granted, he had no wish to anticipate their opinion. He should only observe generally, that he should be willing and ready at all times to support any measures which might be found necessary for the assertion of our honour, or the maintenance of our interest.-There was another topic of much importance which might have been introduced into the speech, but respecting which it was wholly silent, namely, the present state of Ireland. On this subject not one word was said, though there was certainly none to which it was more the duty of ministers to call the attention of parliament. He

hoped, however, that it was their intention to supply this omission, in the course of the session of parliament. He was fully sensible of the importance which every measure of a public nature derived from coming directly from the servants of the crown; and he hoped that much time would not elapse before they came forward with some proposition calculated to quiet those apprehensions which were at this moment, he was afraid, equally general and well founded.-Having said these few words, he professed to have no intention of taking the sense of the house upon the address. Upon questions where they were wholly without information, it would be absurd to call upon it to express an opinion. And as to the affair of Copenhagen, he promised that he would, on a future occasion, move for the production of the necessary documents, so that it might at least be fairly brought under discussion. All that he wished now was, not to be understood as approving of it, and the remarks he had made were intended chiefly to prevent his being told afterwards, that by consenting to the address he had precluded himself from any future investigation of this important topic. Certainly, no event had occurred in the course of the last century the cause of which so loudly called for inquiry. He hoped that ministers had conducted themselves in a manner deserving the approbation of the people of England; if not, he was well assured that the country would not submit to the obloquy of a disgraceful transaction.

Mr. Milnes said, that in offering his sentiments on the present occasion to the house, he should endeavour, as much as possible, to compress closely, as well the ideas which he conceived himself, as those which had been suggested to him by others. Though the gentlemen on the other side had condemned many of the measures adverted to in the speech from the throne, it had not been asserted by any one, that they had not been completely successful; and, whatever they might think of the principle upon which those measures were founded, they could not but consider it fortunate for the country, that they had, by success, proved beneficial to its interests. without difficulty, concur in the address, He could because he had no hesitation in giving his entire approbation to the conduct of his majesty's government. If ministers had, since the termination of the last session of parliament, performed so many essential services to the nation, if they had crowded,

as had been well and ably stated by his hon. friend, if he would allow him to call him so, into so short a space of time, a greater number of important events than had ever in the compass of a similar period been accomplished, and certainly than had been effected by the administration which preceded them in office, he could not possibly feel any difficulty in supporting the address which expressed approbation of their measures. He looked upon it to be no inconsiderable test of the unobjectionable nature of the address, that neither the sagacity of the hon. member, who had just ceded him, could select any one point to sat down, nor of the noble lord who prewhich they could seriously object. But, when the speech comprehended, as it did, Russia, Austria, Denmark, Portugal, and so many and such various topics, respecting Sweden, it was extremely easy for any gentlemen to comment upon a separate point, on which each might leave that house indulging the high ambition, that his had been the speech which remained unanswered. And when ministers were to be called to account for what they had done, it must follow that those who should do the most, would have the most to answer for. He would agree with the right honourable gentleman opposite, that it would be impolitic to adopt any measure by which the character of the country might be affected, if the powers of Europe retained their independence, or if the government of Denmark could have been considered free to follow that course which its honour and interest dictated. But no gentleman would contend, that there was a power on the continent which could have resisted the mandates of the enemy. The question respecting the Danish expedition had been considered by the right hon. gent. with reference to first, whether the necessity justified the two general propositions; viction of his majesty's ministers respectmeasure; and secondly, whether the coning that necessity, was sufficient to justify them. The first had been stated by the noble lord (Milton,) the latter by the right hon. gent. who had just sat down. It was necessity, and it was equally their duty to the first duty of ministers to act upon the cessity, and if, in acting upon it, they were use their discretion in judging of that neto err at all, it was much better that they should err upon the side of public security. He should not then enter into an argument to shew that government were

www.w

justified in acting upon probabilities, because that doctrine was consonant with the law of nations, if any public law had survived the subjugation of the powers of the continent, or if there was now any rule for the conduct of nations to be found in Europe but that of the Napóleon code. He had lately met with a passage in Vattel which fully justified that principle. The passage he alluded to stated, "that when the security of a nation was threatened, its government should act upon reasonable presumption," and concluded with asserting, "that too scrupulous an attention to justice in times of danger, paved the way to slavery." So far the authority of this great civilian justified the conduct of his majesty's ministers. On the ground of confidence alone he should be disposed to concur in the address, though ministers had not submitted the sources of their secret information either to the curiosity of that house, or to the vengeance of Bonaparte. But though he could give his vote for the address on the ground of confidence as to their secret information, he yet felt, that he could justify the conduct of ministers upon facts which were accessible to them all. If Denmark had been really worse disposed to this country than she was, would she not have pursued precisely the same course she had followed? Would she not have delayed her Declaration till she was fully prepared, and reserved some causes of complaint, till she might seasonably make them the ground of her hostility? We were not to expect any explicit declaration of their motives from powers under the influence of France. Denmark had acted precisely as she would have done if she had entered into the views of our enemy, and this was a sufficient ground for the measures adopted by ministers. The extraordinary concentration of French troops on the frontiers of Holstein, and the submission of Denmark to the decrees of France, and her remonstrances against our maritime rights, together with her active and formidable naval equipments, were sufficient evidences of her submission to Bonaparte. Another ground of his confidence in ministers was derived from a view of the state of Europe. Let us pass over every other evidence, said the hon. gent. and look only at Europe, confederated as she is against us; to Prussia, whose Declaration against England France hardly thought it necessary to conceal in the hard conditions of her peace; to Russia, who,

under great disguise, still found no protection from French controul in her unbroken strength; to Portugal, who equally found none in her weakness and compliance; and to Austria, who, without any maritime interests, seemed forced into this maritime league only to finish and round off this confederacy, to supply whatever was this night wanting in arguing from the analogy of the rest of Europe, and to shew how miserable indeed was the deception, if Denmark ever imagined that she alone of every other state was to be exempted from the invasion of her neutrality. With a large navy, with a more extended commerce, and with the keys of the Baltic in her hands, would Buonaparte have allowed her to remain as a monument of reproach to the vassalage of surrounding countries, and to have broken the continuity of the chain which binds every shore of Europe ?—He ought not to quit the subject without bestowing a remark on the opinion of the noble lord (Milton), that the expedition should be condemned, because the Crown Prince of Denmark was in Holstein, and his forces unprepared. Strange as that sentiment might be, it excited no surprise in his mind. It was a specimen of the politics of the school of which the noble lord was the disciple, or perhaps leader; and when a noble lord (H.Petty) announced that their leading policy was "nos rebus servamus secundis," or that they would never assist a friend till he was in a condition not want it, he could not but think the advice of the noble lord perfectly natural, that we should never resist an enemy till he is in a condition to despise our resistance. The hon. gent. insisted, that the more concealed the attempt, the greater necessity there was to guard against its mischievous tendency, by a prompt and vigorous defeat of it. The treaty of Tilsit had fixed and bound the emperor of Russia fast to the views and measures of Buonaparte; every act of his, since the execution of that treaty, had daily and hourly evinced his increasing adherence to his plans and designs against this country. The right hon. gent. had declined to enter into any argument on the subject of the Rutsian mediation, because information had been promised to be laid before the house; and also on the conduct of the courts of Vienna and Berlin, because he should move for information on those subjects on a future day. He would not, therefore, take up the time of the house, by entering

no speeches or petitions to tell them that privations must be numerous, and the pressure deplorably severe. He hoped ministers wanted not to be told that peace had fewer calamities than war. And, in vindication of that part of the country with which he was locally connected, he would say, that if the noble lord (Milton) supposed that that public voice was meant only to express the existence of misfortunes which all in part felt, he was sure he was right; if he meant to say that it was connected with any political opinion whatever, as sure was he that he was wrong. Under these impressions, he should give his unqualified support to the Address.

further on either of those topics at present; | awake to the exigencies, that they required but he would observe, that he had no doubt on his mind, but that the conduct of both those powers had been actuated and guided by the predominant and overbearing influence of Buonaparte, who would not suffer any power on the continent to continue at peace and amity with us; and therefore he thought ministers were no ways culpable on account of the recent conduct of those governments. He then adverted to the dispute with America, and hoped that the good sense of the moderate and thinking people in that country would so far influence its government, as that matters might still be brought to a fair and reasonable accommodation. His majesty's present ministers had on their part Mr. Whitbread, whatever might have shewn every desire to do away every cause been his disposition not to trouble the of complaint as far as they could, without house with any observations on the present making a sacrifice of our most important occasion, could not remain silent after the rights. Mr. M. then went into the various speech of the hon. gent. who had just sat questions of Russia, Portugal, and Den- down. However he might respect the mark. These were the various topics, which talents of that hon. member, and the disarose out of the Address; they with him be- cernment with which he applied those spoke individuallythe prudence and activity talents in commenting on the eloquence of of ministers, and presented in the aggregate those who had preceded him, he could a prospect the most satisfactory. What not agree with him in his observation, might be the issue of these our endeavours, imputing a defect of sagacity to his right whether peace or war, he could not say; hon. friend (Mr. Ponsonby), than whom if war, we had the hope of similar success; no man possessed that faculty in a more if peace, the consciousness that we had eminent degree. Neither the hon. gent. earned it. That peace, of which they had with all his talents, nor all the concentrated that night heard so much, he would entrust talents of Europe, could overturn the to the hands of ministers. They would on eternal principles of justice which his right the one hand perceive and estimate, what hon. friend had asserted. The hon. gent. the sincerest lover of peace must admit to had quoted a passage from Vattel, in jusbe discouraging; that peace, in its most tification of the expedition to Copenhagen; flattering aspect, would be little more than but this passage would not apply to the a suspension of hostilities, and that no defence of a measure so cruel and unjust formal act of government could root out in its principles, and which he feared rancour and stifle jealousy; and if there- would prove so baneful in its consequences fore we did return the sword, that our to this country. He agreed with his right hand must never quit the hilt, and above hon. friend, that it was possible it might all, feeling that Bonaparte would in his be justified, and he hoped he would follow terms wish to question our maritime su- up the notice he had given for papers to premacy, a patrimony entailed upon us, ascertain that point. The hon. member and therefore not matter of negociation, who had seconded the address, and for they would judge how far a peace was whom he entertained a high respect, had promising under such appearances. He talked of the private morality of the repeated it, that were Bonaparte to abdi-nation; but he wondered that hon. gent. cate his throne, and depose all his minion princes, were he to restore to France her legal government, and to Europe the balance of power, they would not in his mind be equivalent for the sacrifice of our command at sea, or justify ministers in dishonouring this unattainted title, by which we style ourselves Englishmen. On the other hand, he trusted that ministers were fully

did not blush for the right hon. gentlemen below him, when making that observation. Had this country, which had been so long calling upon the Living God in defence of morality and social order, now at length found out that its conduct was wrong, and that Bonaparte, who had been all that time worshipping Baal, was right? By the attack upon Denmark we had gained fifteen

« PreviousContinue »