cates for peace with England, and left us | But it was highly important that such an without a prediction in our favour on one accusation should be refuted. Another side of congress, or an apprehension of imputed cause of war is, that in 1809, our vengeance on the other.-Tremendous when we were engaged in an amicable nemust have been, even among the stoutest-gociation with America, an emissary was hearted of the advocates for war, the no- sent by our government into the territory tion of the mischiefs which we could in- of the United States to dismember the flict upon the coasts and navy of the Unit- union, and to stir up I know not what ed States. How they must now laugh at disturbances. That, Sir, is a charge which their own apprehensions! Tremblingly as ought for our own character, to have been they approached to the first acts of war, directly contradicted by our government what have we not done to re-assure their in the face of Europe. I speak the more nerves, and to take away from them every anxiously and earnestly on this point, reason to wish for the discontinuance of because it is one upon which I might hostilities? be supposed to have something to answer for individually, inasmuch as I had the honour unworthily to hold the seals of the Foreign Office in 1809, at the time when this transaction, if it took place at all, must have originated. For myself, I solemnly declare in the face of the whole world, that if such a mission was dispatch party to it; I never heard of it, until I saw it imputed to the British government in the American declaration. The indignation which I feel on my own account at this accusation, I likewise feel for my sovereign and for my country. I hope and trust that every member of the admi If, however, any man can show me, that six months spent in impotent hostility, and that to negociate with an enemy's fleet instead of capturing it, are the modes of making a cause just, I submit. But, Sir, if it be so very desirable to put ourselves in the right, surely there was a shorter way. The declaration of war oned, I had no knowledge of it; I was no the part of America was received about the end of July. It imputed to us, beside the Orders in Council (which have been sufficiently discussed here to render any further observations upon them necessary), other substantive grounds of quarrel. This document, in the face of the world and of posterity, remains unanswered!nistration of the time, can disclaim all Is it not the custom of European diplomacy, when a declaration of war imputes to one nation provocations to hostility, for the nation so accused to answer that declaration? If, then, it was so desirable to be in the right, why were not means resorted to by the executive government to rebut the attack? Why is there not on the table of this House, and why was there not dispersed through Europe a distinct and satisfactory refutation of the charges preferred by the American government? If it is answered that the hopes of pacification were not abandoned by us, I reply, that such a refutation was rendered even more desirable by the supposed probability of an immediate restoration of peace. For had peace been concluded, then it would have been too late the accusation would have been recorded, and no public answer to it would have been in existence. One of the imputations, for instance, contained in the declaration is, that we had demanded of America that she should force our produce and manufactures upon France. Such a demand would have been most unreasonable and unjust. I bave no doubt that it was never made. knowledge of any such transaction as confidently as I do. But, Sir, such a disclaimer ought to have been made without loss of time. It is not indifferent to the cause and character of this country that it should have lain six months under such an imputation. It may not be inoperative as to the prolongation of the war for the American people may be better satisfied with a war which they think has its grounds in justice and unrefuted calumnies must pass with them for substantiated charges. In both views, both for war and for peace, I could have wished that the experiment had been tried of a system the very reverse of that which we have adopted; that we had been prompt in refuting the accusations of the enemy, and in retaliating his aggression; instead of leaving him by our silence and our inactivity at once satisfied of the justice of his attack upon us, and fearless of its consequences. Sir, with respect to the internal situation of the country, I have no occasion to trouble you with any remark. I have nothing to qualify in my assent to that part of the Address. There is only one point, a point my humble, but zealous and hearty support and co-operation. Unacquainted as I am with the nature of the plan which he may have in contemplation, I of course must not be considered as pledged to its details. I must reserve to myself the right of acting upon them to the best of my own judgment and discretion; but I shall be deeply disappointed indeed if they should be such as to create any material difference of opinion. contests in which we are engaged. In my conscience I believe that there are no present means of terminating them with safety and with honour. I am persuaded, (in the spirit of the observations made by the seconder of the Address,) that the greater the vigour with which we carry on the war, the nearer shall we be to the attainment of peace. It is not by hesitation and indecision that we can hope to attain that object, but by manly and indefatigable perseverance; by strenuous and unrelaxed exertion. not stated, but omitted in the speech, upon which I think it necessary to say a few words. I allude to the Catholic question. Sir, I impute no blame for the omission of this subject in the speech, because I do not conceive that the operation of the Resolution which I had the honour to propose last year, and which this House adopted, was to impose on the executive government the duty of originating the consideration of the Catholic question. I originally had in contemplation a motion Sir, with the qualifications which I have which would have imposed on the exe- stated, I cordially concur in the Address cutive government such a duty; but so far as it goes to pledge with heart and as objections were made by gentlemen soul all the means and resources of the whose support I wished to secure to trans-country to the prosecution of the several ferring the care and guardianship of this important question from parliament to the executive government, I contented myself with moving a resolution declaratory of the determination of the House of Com mons. This resolution being laid at the foot of the throne, did not, as I think, impose on the executive government the duty of originating the question; it did impose on them the duty of making up their minds to meet the discussion to which this House thus pledged itself. When that discussion shall come, I shall be satisfied if I find that government have made up their minds to meet it in a manly manner. Those who remember the occurrences of the debate which took place upon that motion of mine which pledged the House to consider the subject this session, will recollect that at the suggestion of the right hon. gentleman opposite (Mr. Ponsonby), seconded by the recommendation of the hon. gentleman near him (Mr. Whithread), I most willingly consented to surrender the further conduct of the discussion upon the Catholic question into the hands of that venerable individual (Mr. Grattan), who has so frequently brought it forward in this House, and whose experience and ability and eloquence are so well calculated to do it full justice. I was myself perfectly prepared to follow up my motion by bringing the whole subject this session in a specific and practical shape before parliament. But, considering the prior claims of that right hon. gentleman, I did not think it right to resist the appeal made to me in his behalf, for the restitution into his bands, of a question so peculiarly his own. Into his hands I cheerfully resigned it. In his hands I most heartily wish it success. So far as the general principle of his measure goes, he may be assured of The Speaker again put the question, and no member on the opposition bench shewing a disposition to rise, Lord Castlereagh said, that as the only task apparently to be imposed on ministers this night, was rather to give expla nation on points which might call for further investigation hereafter, than to meet opposition on any of the political features of the government, or of the subjects contained in the Prince Regent's Speech, he should not find it necessary to enter very minutely into the consideration of the various matters which had been touched upon. Considering what had fallen from the right hon. gentleman who spoke last to be calling for explanation, rather than as differing in opinion from those who had preceded him, he (lord C.) had waited in the expectation, that if any hon. gentleman on the opposite side had further information to require, that they would state what such information was, and thus enable him at the same time to reply to them, and endeavour to satisfy the right hon. gentleman. It was no small gratification to the country, and to the Prince Regent's ministers, at this momentous and difficult crisis of the world, to find, on the opening of a new parlia ment, that the only claim upon them was for an explanation of the general principles of policy by which their future actions were to be regulated, and that there appeared no ground for censure, no cause for complaint, and no source for apprehension or discouragement. It was indeed evident that the prospects of the country were improved, for if this had not been broadly founded in fact, he would this night have had made upon him, demands of a very different nature from those which had been made. The right hon. gentleman had with perfect propriety divided the consideration of the subject before the House into two parts, connected with the external and internal situation of the country, and had applied himself generally to the former. This in itself was another source of gratification to him, and must, he was sure, be equally satisfactory to the House, when they considered the state in which they were placed about the period of the end of the last session of parliament. When they reflected on the condition of some of the counties at that time, they would be inclined to think that his Majesty's ministers had a very difficult task to perform, and would agree in what had been so ably stated by the noble mover and honourable seconder of the Address, that there was great cause for congratulation in the termination of those difficulties, by the means which parliament had provided-means devised in the spirit of conciliation, although calculated to repress the system of insubordination that then unhappily existed. In the administration of those laws with which they were armed, it was pleasing to him and to his colleagues to observe, that there was no insinuation of an abuse of power; and it was equally gratifying to him to have to state, that the people themselves by their own good sense and allegiance had retraced their mistaken steps, and that their regeneration had grown more out of their own disposition than out of the efficacy or enforcement of the legislative provisions which had been resorted to. In looking to the larger branch of the question to which the right honourable gentleman had directed his attentionlarger as it affected the security and destinies of the world, he must trespass at somewhat greater length upon the patience of the House, in order, not to discuss fully the several important propositions started, but to record what might be the grounds on which ministers would meet these various enquiries, and, if necessary, defend themselves from attack, should they be made matter of accusation. His task in this would have been infinitely narrower if the right hon. gentleman had not built much of the reason for his reserve in cordially agreeing with the Address that had just been moved, on assumptions entirely inapplicable to ministers, and without foundation in point of fact. This the right hon. gentleman had done in the absence of that information which it was impossible for any person not in the administration of the government to possess, but which he would, in so far as was consistent with his public duty, and what he owed to his own and to other countries, endeavour to produce. In looking to our external relations, the right hon. gentleman had first brought before them the most important state of affairs in the north of Europe; he had, secondly, directed their regards to the war on the peninsula, in which we were interested in common with other powers; and, in the third and last place, had alluded to that contest in which we were engaged alone, and which might therefore be considered as more peculiarly within our own province, namely, the war with America-a war which he would ever continue to think most unfortunate and afflicting, however unavoidable and necessary. In endeavouring to follow the right hon. gentleman over these grounds, he would beg leave to vary a little the order in which he had considered the several topics. He would take the war on the peninsula in the first instance, and this he might the more naturally do, because the right hon. gentleman had spoken of it as the point on which they ought, by the ordinary course of policy, to make their effort as a diversion in favour of Russia, since it could not be expected of this country, that it was able at one and the same time, to make a proper exertion in that quarter, and nerve the arm of Russia in the north, by furnishing her with men or money. He begged to assure the right hon. gentleman and the House, that ministers would not be inclined to rebut any censure that might be applied to them, on the ground of relaxation in their efforts to carry on most vigorously the war in Spain; there had been no relaxation on their parts; neither had they neglected any means by which it was possible for them, by previous provisions, to obtain possession of a greater disposeable force. They would not therefore the most consummate generalship, that victory, unparalleled in the history of the war, and as glorious as ever adorned the British name; when that victory made the enemy feel its effects to the utmost extremities of his force, and dislocated his armies; because our illustrious and excellent commander had accomplished this, had they any reason whatever to suppose that the entire French power on the peninsula would be at once extinguished, and the allies enabled to march to the Pyrennees? The public mind was apt to run into a course too sanguine, and to believe any statement which might pretend that the effect of a defeat like this would be the total extinction of the enemy in Spain. found their justification on any grounds of postponement, or inclination to delay executing that which was in their power. He also rejected in their name the defence that might be set up for not calling earlier on parliament to furnish them with more extended means. The ministers of the Prince Regent were prepared to defend themselves on the exercise of the means they actually did possess, or could possess, and their having employed the resources entrusted to them to the utmost, without draining the country beyond that pitch which no nation could sustain or support. Whatever might be the right hon. gentleman's opinion on this head, ministers certainly could not have been expected to make these unnatural attempts But when the House reflected (now suggested as necessary and de- that at the commencement of the camfended as politic) by gentlemen on the paign, the French force on the peninsula other side; by those who had ever incul- amounted to 200,000 men, which was cated upon their minds the necessity there perhaps reduced by detachments sent to was for husbanding our resources, and, the north to 150,000, at the period of the even on the peninsula, keeping our exer- battle of Salamanca, they would be intions within bounds of the strictest mode-clined to take a different and more correct ration. It was not his intention to throw out any invidious reflection on those who had maintained these opinions, and all he wished to do at this time was, to lay in his claim to the grounds on which he should be prepared hereafter to combat any attachment of blame to his Royal Highness's advisers on this subject. Indeed, it was obviously impossible for ministers to enter on an ample elucidation of the measures respecting which doubts might be thrown out, on a night like the present, when all the numerous points of policy connected with the country were thrown open for partial discussion, and their attention was not confined to a single object, though many of those alluded to were sufficiently intricate and important to require of themselves the utmost diligence and powers of enquiry possessed by parliament. He begged leave to caution the House against being, as it was apt to be, led to expect too much from successes, or to despair at reverses, even though they might be such as placed the allied forces in the lines at Torres Vedras. It was neither one disaster, or one victory, that could decide the fate of the peninsula, and it was a dangerous feeling to indulge, which would be elevated beyond correct views even by such a victory as would shortly call for the thanks of the House; or to be depressed beyond occasion by every failure of complete success that might attend our exertions. When by (VOL. XXIV.) view of the subject. They would observe that such a force, when spread over the face of Spain, might maintain the possession of the country, by keeping down the spirit of its population, which they were now unable to do when collected into two great masses. After the memorable battle of Salamanca, they were rendered too feeble to keep possession of Spain, and instead of driving the British into the sea, as they had often vainly threatened, they were driven by the British. But when they gave up the provinces and became a concentrated army, any man looking with a soldier's eye, might be able to see, that even after the battle of Salamanca, the marquis of Wellington had a heavy task to perform to drive the French from Spain. They might worship the spirit of the people of this country, whose exultation on the triumphs of their gallant countrymen in Spain was so great as to induce a sanguine feeling, not warranted by the actual state of the case. But whatever expectations the people built upon, as far as lord Wellington with his knowledge and information went, his prospects had been largely and liberally accomplished. He could assure them, that lord Wellington had received supplies and reinforcements to a greater extent than ever. In the course of last year, 20,000 men had been sent to join him, and he (Lord C.) should be able to contend, that though (G) large reinforcements had not arrived since the battle of Salamanca, this arose from the impossibility of sending men sooner than had been done. The exertions of the government, and in a peculiar manner, of his royal highness the Commander in Chief, to bring regiments to such a state of efficiency as to render them fit for foreign service, had been incessant and strenuous. And he had to apprize the right hon. gentleman, that on the wisest principles the grants from the militia had not been available as a regular force, earlier than the month of May, and that neither the internal state of the country, nor of Ireland, would, at a former period, admit of those forces being spared which might now be united to their gallant comrades in the glorious task of delivering the peninsula. He again repeated, that the greatest possible efforts had been made for an active campaign; and he trusted what he had said on this point would be received as a fair and candid solution of the doubts thrown out by the right hon. gentleman. Thus far he had rather opened the matters at issue between the right hon. gentleman and himself. He perfectly agreed with him, that the aid to Russia ought to be given in Spain; and he was also ready to admit, that as the north opened prospects of greater success, insomuch ought they to make more strenuous efforts on the peninsula. With respect to the war in the north, the right hon. gentleman had laid what was necessary for him to advert to, into a narrower compass, as he had not made any charge in so far as Russia was concerned. He and all the world must feel, and none felt it more than the illustrious person at the head of that vast empire, who was so likely to ameliorate the destinies of the world, that it was not to be expected from this country to make larger sacrifices, or In other quarters, than those in which she was engaged. That great monarch did not call on us for pecuniary support. He said, "you are fighting my cause and the cause of the world in Spain, and there it is that your efforts will be most available and efficacious." His imperial majesty felt this to be the common policy in the common cause, and instead of looking to us for aid in the north, he had looked to a far surer and nobler source-he had looked to the patriotism, the liberality, the unbounded liberality, thè spirit, and the loyalty of his people, to uphold him in great struggle for independence, in which he is engaged, and to us he had looked for the effectual carrying on of the contest in Spain. Of Sweden, to which the right hon. gentleman had alluded, it was more difficult to speak. Without divulging any of those secrets which belong to the cabinet of this or of other countries, he might however state that Sweden as well as Russia had received injury from France, and both had felt it. Russia had taken the field to resist the aggressions of her adversary, and therefore there could be no impropriety in speaking openly of her measures; but as Sweden had not yet taken a step so decided, he hoped the House would be of opinion that he had a duty to perform, which rendered it very difficult for him to make any very open or explicit statement on this point. Yet without exceeding discretion, he might say, that if the exertions of Sweden, necessarily smaller than those of Russia, had required the pecuniary aid of this country, to cause a diversion in the rear of the French armies, ministers would have been ready to have assisted her operations to that extent. He declined entering further into this matter at present. France had committed an unqualified aggression on the Swedish monarchy, which had as yet been only met by a somewhat qualified resistance. What were the motives for collecting the force upon her coasts, it would not be expected for him to explain; but it would be seen with a feeling of hope and exultation, that between these great northern powers, for they were both great, out of their late contention, which had led to the dismemberment of the province of Finland from Sweden :-out of that contention a system had arisen, which happily had not prevented their being linked together in the bonds of the closest friendship and alliance. This fact appeared to be obvious from the very commencement of the campaign, when it was easy to perceive that a perfect understanding existed between the countries, It was evident that Russia reposed confidence in Sweden from the withdrawal of the mass of her troops from their cantonments in Finland. But those who were not satisfied with this demonstration of friendship, must have every apprehension relieved by the event of the personal interview at Abo, after which 18,000 men from the port of Swinburgh were dispatched to Riga, where they arrived in time to join general Wittgenstein at the critical period which enabled him to turn |