Sidebilder
PDF
ePub

Consul to his Majesty's Ambassador at bis audience, in presence of the ministers of most of the Sovereigns and States of Europe, furnishes another instance of provocation on the part of the French government, which it would be improper not to notice on the present occasion, and the subsequent explanation of this transaction may be considered as having the effect of aggravating instead of palliating the affront.

At the very time when his Majesty was demanding satisfaction and explanation on some of the points above-mentioned, the French Minister at Hamburgh endeavoured to obtain the insertion in a Hamburgh paper of a most gross and opprobrious libel against his Majesty; and when difficulties were made respecting the insertion of it, he availed himselt of his official character of Minister of the French Republic, to require the publication of it by order of his Government in the Gazette of the Senate of that Town. With this requisition so made, the Senate of Hamburgh were induced to comply; and thus has the independence of that town been violated, and a free State made the instrument, by the menace of the French Government, of propagating throughout Europe, upon their authority, the most offensive and unfounded calumnies against his Majesty and bis Government. His Majesty might add to this list of indignities, the requisition which the French Government have repeatedly urged, that the Laws and Constitution of his Country should be changed relative to the Liberty of the Press. His Majesty might likewise add the calls which the French Government have on several occasions made upon him to violate the laws of hospitality with respect to persons who had found an asylum within his Dominions, and against whose conduct no charge whatever has at any time been substantiated. It is impossible to reflect on these different proceedings, and the course which the French Government have thought proper to adopt respecting them, without the thorough conviction that they are not the effect of accident; but that they form a part of a system which has been adopted for the purpose of degrading, vilifying, and insulting his Majesty and his Government.

Under all these insults and provocations, his Majesty, not without a due sense of his dignity has proceeded with every degree of temper and moderation to obtain satisfaction and redress, while he has neglected no means consistent with his honour and the safety of his Dominions, to induce the Government of France to concede to him, what is, in his judgment, absolutely necessary for the future tranquillity of Europe. His efforts in this respect have proved abortive, and he has therefore judged it necessary to order his Ambassador to leave Paris. In having recourse to this proceeding, it has been his Majesty's objeet to put an end to the fruitless discussions which have too long subsisted between the two Governments, and to close a period of suspense peculiarly injurious to the subjects of his Majesty. But though the provocations which His Majesty has received might entitle him to larger claims than those which he has advanced, yet anxious to prevent calamities which might thus be extended to every part of Europe, he is still willing as far as is consistent with his own Honour, and the interests of His People, to afford every facility to any just and honourable arrangement, by which such evils may be averted. He has therefore, no difficulty in declaring to all Europe, that notwithstanding all the changes which have taken place since the Treaty of Peace, notwithstanding the extension

of the Power of France, in repugnance to that Treaty, and to the spirit of Peace itself, His Majesty will not avail Himself of the e circumstances, to demand in compensation all that He is entitled to require, but will be ready to concur, even now, in an arrangement by which Satisfact on shall be given to Him, for the Indignities which have been offered to His Crown and to His People, and substantial security afforded against further encroachments on the part of France-His Majesty has thus distinctly and unreservedly stated the reasons of those proceedings to which he has found himself compelled to resort. He is actuated by no disposition to interfere in the internal concerns of any other State; by no projects of conquest and aggrandizement; but solely by a sense of what is due to the honour of His Clown, and the interests of His People, and by an anxious desire to obstruct the further progress of a system, which if not resisted, may prove fatal to every part of the civi lized world.

Order of his Britannic Majesty in Council for making reprisals on the French Republic-Dated May 16, 1803, and taken from the London Gazette of May 17. At the Court at the Queen's Palace, the 16th of May 183, present, the King's Most Excellent Majesty in Council.

Whereas, in consequence of the repeated insults and provocations which his Majesty has experienced from the government of France, his Majesty finds himself compelled to take such measures as are necessary for vindicating the honour of his crown, and the just rights of his subjects; his Majesty, therefore, is pleased, by and with the advice of his Privy Council, to order, and it is hereby ordered, that general reprisals be granted against the ships, goods, and subjects of the French Republic; so that as well his Majesty's fleets and ships, as also all other ships and vessel, that shall be commissionated, by letters of marque, ar general reprisals, or otherwise, by his Majesty's' commissioners for executing the Office of Lord High Admiral of Great Britain, shall and may law. fully seize ail ships, vessels, and goods belonging to the French Republic, or to any persons being subjects of the French Republic, or inhabiting within any of the territories of the French Republic, and bring the same to judgment in such Courts of Admiralty within his Majesty's dominions, as shall be duly commissionated to take cognizance thereof; and, to that end, his Majesty's Advocate-General, with the Advocate of the Admiralty, are forthwith to prepare the draft of a com. mission, and present the same to his Majesty at this board, authorising the commissioners for ex-. ecuting the office of Lord High Admiral, or any, person or persons by them empowered and appointed, to issue forth and grant letters of marque and reprisals to any of his Majesty's subjects, or others whom the said commissioners shall deem fitly qualified in that behalf, for the apprehending, seizing, and taking the ships, vessels, and goods, belonging to the French Republic, or to any per sons being subjects of the French Republic, or inhabiting within any of the territories of the French Republic; and that such powers and clauses be inserted in the said commission, as have been usual, and are according to former prece dents; and his Majesty's said Advocate-General, with the Advocate of the Admiralty, are also forthwith to prepare the draft of a commission, and present the same to his Majesty at this board, authorising the said, commissioners for executing the office of Lord High Admiral, to will and require

the High Court of Admiralty of Great Britain, and the lieutenant and judge of the said Court, his surrogate or surrogates, as also the several Courts of Admiralty within his Majesty's dominions which shall be duly commissionated to take cognizance of, and judicially proceed upon all and all manner of captures, seizures, prizes, and reprisals of all ships and goods that are or shall be made, and to hear and determine the same, and according to the course of Admiralty and the laws of nations, to adjudge and condemn all such ships, vessels, and goods as shall belong to the French Republic. or to any persons being subjects of the French Republic, or inhabiting within any of the territories of the French Republic; and that such powers and clauses be inserted in the said commission as have been usual and are according to former precedents; and they are likewise to prepare and lay before his Majesty at this board a draft of such instructions as may be proper to be sent to the said several Courts of Admiralty in his Majesty's foreign governments and plantations for their guidance herein; as also another draft of instructions for such ships as shall be commissionated for the purposes above-mentioned.

From the Court at the Queen's Palace, the sixteenth day of May, One thousand eight hundred and three.

Eldon, C. Portland, P. Westmorland, C. P. S. Atholl, Roxburgh, Salisbury, C. Townshend, Dartmouth, Chesterfield, Harrington, Chatham, Rosslyn, Onslow, Courtown, Castlereagh, Hawkesbury, Pelham, Cathcart, Auckland, Bayning, Glenbervie, Henry Addington, C. F. Greville, Vice Ch. Wm. Wynne, Thomas Steele, Wm. Scott, Isaac Corry, C. Yorke, Thomas Wallace, J. Smyth, J. Hiley Addington.

SUMMARY OF POLITICS. EMIGRATION.-A report has been made to the House of Commons from the committee appointed to examine into the survey of the coasts, &c. of Scotland, relating to emigration; and, upon the authority of this report, the following resolutions were, on the 17th inst. moved by Mr. Hawkins Browne." That

[ocr errors]

persons emigrating from different parts of "the United Kingdom to his Majesty's "plantations, &c. had suffered greatly from "the crowded state of the ships, from the "want of provisions, &c.-That the ships "ought to be regulated with regard to the "number of persons they take on board, the

quantity of provisions, &c."-Those who read some of the first numbers of the newspaper called THE PORCUPINE, will recollect, that, in an article, entitled "White Slave "Trade," the necessity of some such regulation as that which appears to be now in contemplation was pointed out, and the aid of the legislature therein loudly called for. We cannot, however, help expressing our surprise, that the subject should have lain dor mant for nearly three years, and that it should now have been brought forward by a cause so comparatively insignificant. The present report gives an account of the emigration, during the years 1801, and 1802,

[blocks in formation]

The first observation that presents itself is, the great difference between the last year of war and the first year of the "blessings "of peace," of that peace and plenty, brought us by the treaty of Amiens; and, one cannot but admire the modesty and candour of Mr. Addington in not availing himself of this circumstance in stating the vast increase of his exports of British produce.Four thousand one hundred and ten persons are, we perceive all that have emigrated from the Highlands in the course of two years, and of this number the whole, except 730, have gone to his Majesty's dominions, are still his subjects, and are, probably, as to the general interests of the empire, full as advantageously employed, and full as happily for themselves, as if they had remained in the Highlands, or had come to crowd the Custom-house, the Excise, and the other public offices in London. In the Appendix of the Report, the committee has given an extract from the evidence of a Mr. James Grant of Redcastle, who states, that the emigration, from the part of the country alluded to, since the conclusion of the war, has amounted to 5,000 souls; that an equal number are ready to embark this season; that the whole depopulation to be expected from this cause, might extend to 25,000 souls, a full third part of all the existing inhabitants of the West-Highlands including the adjacent Islands.Truely this is an alarming circumstance, and highly deserving legislative attention; but, how comes it, that the ministers, both the present and the last, have constantly turned a deaf ear to all the representations relative to the emigration from Ireland and Wales? In the latter of these, the means of emigration have been furnished by the parish officers, in order to get rid of the poor. Publications the most delusive and false have been made for the express purpose of inveighing away the ignorant country people, not to Nova Scotia and Canada, but to the United States of America, where they must be for ever lost to the British empire. We know, that these facts

were duly communicated to the present ministers and we also know, that they paid no attention to them; that they made no one exertion to undeceive the people, though ample means for so doing were ready at their hand. How comes it, then, that the subject is now taken up? There have been more than 10,000 souls, upon an average, emigrated from Ireland to the United States, every year for ten years last past. Horrid is the treatment, which these people have met with at sea, and, after their landing, they have been sold by public advertisement. How comes it, then, we again ask, that the voice of neither interest nor humanity has been listened to till now? The emigration from Ireland, not to the King's dominions, but to foreign parts, has been greater in amount, within the last ten years, than the whole population of the West Highlands of Scotland; and, why are not the interests of Ireland, why are not the health and lives of her people as dear to the government as are the interests of Scotland and the health and lives of her people? Where is the ground of this partiality? Is Ireland less fertile than the Highlands of Scotland? Can the people live in the latter easier and better than in the former? or are the land-holders in the Highlands more faithful to the minister of the day than are the land-holders of Ireland? All that appears to be intended by the bill, at present to be brought in, is, to prevent ill-treatment to the emigrants; but, it is very clear from the language of the report, that the ultimate object is to prevent emigration, not only of men but of money; for at the close of the return for 1802, it is said: "this

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

year, the passengers, including freight

money, took out of the country, above "£100,000 sterling cash-lost to it for "ever!"-Almost all the emigrants went to Canada, Nova Scotia, and Cape Breton, and it is not very fair to suppose, that their cash, their dear delicious cash, was lost to the country for ever, unless, by the word country Scotland alone is meant. Besides, why should not the poor Highlanders carry away their cash as well as the noblemen and gentlemen of Scotland and England? We greatly doubt that cash expended by these people on the woods of Canada and Nova Scotia is more completely lost to the empire than that which the Duchess of Gordon, Duke of Bedford, and a list of others too loathsome to enumerate, have expended in Paris. A hundred thousand pounds lost to the country for ever! Three millions of pounds have been thus lost for ever, during the same year, by those who have been crouching at the feet of Buonaparté and his wife. The very baubles bought expressly for the purpose of shining in the eyes of our mortal enemy, who to that qua

[ocr errors]

lity adds the more hateful ones of rebel and usurper, have cost more than all the three thousand Highlanders bave taken to America.-That every government has a right to prevent emigration to foreign parts is certain; it is not only an undoubted, but a just and equitable right of sovereignty; but, as to the expedience of using force for this purpose, that must depend upon circumstances, one of which certainly is not, that the possessers of the land set the un-patriotic example.

FINANCE. The hirelings of the ministry. are always unfortunate in the time they choose for vilifying our statements. Just at the moment when a discussion in the House of Lords was confirming our representations on the subject of Mr. Addington's estimates, some ministerial creature was advertising a refutation of those repre sentations. We have not looked into this, representation, a neglect which we partici. pate with the Public, but certain we are, that whatever sum of the nation's money it has been purchased with has been totally. thrown away. Lord Grenville, in admitting, for argument's sake, the correctness of all the accounts laid before Parliament, and proceeding upon the supposition that peace had continued, clearly made out a deficit of more than £4,000,000 per annum, instead of a surplus of £1,000,000, on which Mr. Addington taught the deceived people to rely, making a difference of more than £5,000,000, between the reality and the. estimates of the minister.-The debate, to which we allude, and which will, of course, be given at length in the Supplement to this Volume, was opened, with great ability by, Lord King, who appears to be a young nobleman of promise. Lord Moira's speech, was one of the best that ever was heard even in that assembly. He acknowledged, that he had been deceived as to the treaty, of Amiens; he deprecated that system of financial deception, which had long been practised upon the people, in order to cover the blunders and misconduct of ministers, and to prepare the way for some new and unlooked-for sacrifice; and, he satirized, in a most happy vein of contempt, the dis play of Lord Auckland's "magnificent receipts."-Magnificent receipts! What a phrase! What a phrase for a nobleman to use! Not a whit less disgusting than the

66

beavenly turtle" of a Right Honourable and guttling Lord Mayor. The speech of Lord Grenville, of which those who were not. present can have but a very faint notion, unravelled the whole of the labyrinthian deception, and exhibited the juggling minister in his native duplicity. Under blows.

like these Lord Auckland was supported by the Earl of Westmoreland; bow, it would not be becoming in us to attempt to describe. The stock-jobbing lovers of peace and plenty; the omnium eaters; all the innumerable swarm of locusts, who, without stirring ten miles from the capital, deyour three-fourths of the produce of the whole land; this destructive race of beings may, and will abuse every one who attempts to open the eyes of the nation, because they must know, that every such attempt tends to their anihilation. But, events will, ere long, speak to them in a most tremendous voice. The thunder already begins to roll, and the bolt will assuredly fall. They may bowl, but their howlings will not save them. They may cry "blood-hounds" as long as they please; but they must have war, and to them most certainly a war of extermination. The stroke may be postponed for a few months, or for a year or two; but it must come, and that shortly. We, for our parts, believe, that another accommodation with Buonaparté will yet take place: another short respite from conflict: and, the war will, probably, be nothing more than a sort of half peace, conducted by the sapient Addington and his colleagues: but, all this will avail nothing, the great and tremendous war must finally come, and then adieu to all the golden dreams of the votaries of the Temple of Mammon. The scenes exhibited in the City of London for the last three weeks are too disgusting, too hateful, to contemplate without a mixture of indescribable loathing and horror; and the man who does not desire to see an effectual bar against their recurrence in future must be lost to every sense of shame as well as of honour.

THE WAR.-It is unnecessary to refer our readers to any official document, in order to convince them that war now exists between this country and France : the fact is notorious; it is our province to investigate the circumstances attending that fact, and to examine into the conduct of those who have, on the part of His Majesty, conducted the discussions which have finally led thereunto. Before, however, we enter on this examination; before we make any statement founded on the diplomatic correspondence now on the table of the Parliament; before we exhibit a confirmation of our former conjectures, that the dispute was invented for the purpose of disguising the real cause of the armament; before we discharge the painful duty of shewing, that the present weak and wicked ministers, after having passed over many just grounds of war, have finally

commenced a war, become indeed absolutely necessary to the safety of the kingdom, but the alleged grounds of which are not only inadequate but totally false: before we enter on these topics, we cannot refrain from making some general reflec tions on the present state of things, com pared with that state, in which we were previous to the signature of the prelimi naries of peace.

After one year and sixteen days of peace, or rather of suspended hostilities, war has again begun, France having during the interval, received from us, all the conquests we had made (the Island of Malta excepted), and having, since the signature of the Preliminaries, and even in consequence thereof, gained an immense acquisition of power and of territory, on the Continent of Europe. Holland, from the whole tenor of our complaints as well as from the well-known fact itself, can now be regarded as neither more nor less than an appendage of the Republic of France. The Cape, therefore, Cochin, Demerara, Surinam, Essequibo, and every other spot of earth, which we have restored to the Dutch, have, in reality, been surrendered to France. To France we knew that we were surrendering the Island of Elba, and its almost impregnable fortress and harbour. This was explicitly stated in Parliament, previous to the conclufion of the Definitive Treaty. We have surrendered to her Pondicherry, Martinico, St. Lucia, and Tobago, and have again given her a footing in Newfoundland. We have thrown Turkey into her arms, given her an entrance into the Black Sea, once more exposed the famed Seven Islands to her intrigues, and laid Egypt open to her invasions. Till the preliminary treaty, the treaty of the 1st of October, 1801, the news of which Lord Hawkesbury was so bappy to communicate to the Mayor of London, till that "death warrant of England was signed, France did not at tempt to take possession of the Italian Re public; it was not till then, that she an. nexed Piedmont to her territory, and that, by hemming up the Emperor in the further corner of Europe, and by new-modelling the constitution and making a new distribution of the territory and of power of the Empire of Germany, she completed her plan for excluding us from all connexion with the continent, and from all hope of its aid or co-operation.-All these possessions, all these sources of power, all these means of defence as well as of offence, all these innumerable and incalculable advantages, France has gained by the peace, and by the peace alone; while, on our side, that peace

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

has brought no one single advantage, but has, on the contrary, been productive of almost every mischief that can fall upon a nation. Not one penny of money has it saved to the state, though it, in great part, has disbanded the army and dismantled the fleet, at the same time that it has blasted our fame for good faith as well as for courage, has shaken the credit and broken the spirit of the nation. Such is the change which the peace has made in our relative state such is the price which we have paid for three hundred and eighty-one days of the "blessings of peace"; such is the difference between a renewal and a continuation of the war; such is the accomplishment of Mr. Windham's predictions, and such the comment on the policy of Mr. Addington and Mr. Pitt. -- Shame on the coward, who, at the formidable pame of this latter gentleman, disguises his sentiments, and affects to believe, that a ministry differently composed would have avoided the present crisis, and would have rendered the peace of Amiens advantageous to the country. If any proof were wanted of the fallacy of this supposition, the diplomatic correspondence and other documents, now before the Public, would most amply afford that proof. No; it is the treaties, the degrading, the infamous treaties, these, and these alone have produced the mischief, and would have produced the same mischief, though not quite so soon, perhaps, in the hands of any set of ministers that His Majesty could possibly have chosen. In these treaties were sown the seeds of war and of destruction to England. This was evident to the most superficial politician, though Mr. Pitt could, or affected, not to perceive it. The arrangement respecting Malta that gentleman highly applauded. Malta is now the ostensible object of the war, and it is become so principally because Russia will, on no account, agree to garrison its fortresses. This was explicitly foretold in less than twenty days after the signature of the Preliminary Trea:y (1); it、 was repeated again and again, amidst the sneers of the ministers and their stockjobbing partizans, one of whom had the folly and the assurance to assert, that "the "independence of Malta was as amply pro"vided for by the Treaty of Amiens, as "the independence of Spain was by the Treaty of Utrecht"! Let it not, there

[ocr errors]

(1) See Cobbett's Letters on the Peace, 2d edit. P. 41. In this letter, and in another, which will be found in the Register, Vol. I. p. 353, the causes of the present rupture, as far as relates to Malta, are clearly pointed out.

fore, be said, that the present evils have not naturally flowed from the peace. A thousand and a thousand times were the supporters of that peace forewarned, that the moment all our conquests were surrendered, war would ensue. The conquests are surrendered; the war has ensued; the warning was despised, but the prediction is fulfilled; and, unless the people are irretrievably sunk in ignorance and baseness, they will now look with veneration, gratitude, and confidence, to those noblemen and gentlemen, who had the wisdom to foresee, and the integrity and zeal to endeavour to prevent, the calamity and disgrace which has since fallen upon the country. (2)

Having thus stated our opinion as to the first, and constantly prevailing, cause of the event which is now come to pass, we shall now, we trust, clearly shew, that the dispute which has immediately led to this event, was begun by our ministers, and from motives, too, very different indeed from those alleged in their divers declarations. By referring to our Register of the 30th ultimo, p. 631, it will be perceived, that, in noticing a motion, made by Lord Folkestone, for papers relative to the retention and evacuation of the Cape of Good Hope, we stated our concurrence in his lordship's opinion, that the retention, or, rather, the recapture of that post, was the principal, if not the sole, cause of His Majesty's message, and of the armament which thereupon followed; and, that the grounds, alleged in the said message were feigned for the purpose of disguising the real motives of the ministers, who dreaded

the charge of perfidy, as well as the real danger to the country, and more especially themselves personally, which might arise, arisen, if the news of the recapture of the and which would unquestionably have Cape bad found them unengaged in any serious dispute with France. Requesting our readers to re-peruse the whole of the observations, to which we refer, we beg leave to call

(2) The members who voted against the treaty of Amiens, in the House of Lords, on the 13th of May, 1805, were: Duke of Richmond; Marquis of Buckingham; Earls, Carlisle, Warwick, Fitzwilliam, Darlington, Radnor, Spencer, Fortescue, Mansfield, Caernarvon, Carystort; Lords, Kenyon, Grenville, Cawder, Minto; Bishop of Rochester (now St. Asaph.)

The members who voted against it in the House of Commons, on the 14th of May, 1853, were: Mr. Windham, Hon. T. Grenville, Lord Temple, Lord Folkestone, Lord Morpeth, Lord Bruce, Lord Kensington, Sir Watkin William Wynne, Bart. Sir Wm. Young, Bart. Hon. C. Dundas, Messrs. C. Wynne, Elliot, Baker, S. Poyntz, Ellis, G. Ellis, Folgambe, Chamberline, B. Cooke, Dr. Laurence, General Lennox, and General Gascoyne...

« ForrigeFortsett »