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constitution, and encouraged by a confidence in the interference of the court of France. I need not tell your lordships that their enmity to the stadtholder, and to the adherents to the old constitution, were replete with objects ultimately of the most dangerous consequences to this country. His Majesty and his ministers, saw the tendency of these combinations against the security of his kingdoms, and the urgent necessity of co-operating with the king of Prussia, to support the legal authority of the stadtholder and of the old constitution of Holland. In mention

tions to be laid before this House, and to assure his Majesty that they shall see with satisfaction any arrangement calculated to prevent jealousies and disputes between bis Majesty's subjects and those of the Most Christian King in the East Indies: -That his Majesty may depend upon their concurrence in such measures as it may seem expedient to adopt, in consequence of the other engagements entered into by his Majesty, as well as such as may be necessary for placing his Majesty's distant possessions in an adequate posture of defence :-That the flourishing state of the commerce and revenues affording the king of Prussia, I cannot refrain them the highest satisfaction, and cannot from observing to your lordships how no fail to stimulate them to use their utmost ble a part he has acted on a late occasion, endeavours to confirm and improve such and how worthy the successor of his im important advantages, as well as to con- mortal uncle; nor can I refrain from cur with his Majesty's paternal wishes for joining my tribute of admiration to that the continuation of the public tranquillity: of the noble earl, of the transcendent miThat they lament that hostilities should litary and political talents displayed by have broken out in any part of Europe; that illustrious Prince so nearly allied to but that they receive with satisfaction the this country, to whom the King of Prussia information that his Majesty continues to thought proper to intrust the command be assured of the pacific disposition of all of his army in Holland. The declaforeign powers towards this country:ration of the Most Christian King, signiThat they reflect with pleasure on the zeal and unanimity shown by all ranks of his Majesty's subjects on the late occasion, as it must give more weight to the assurances which they now humbly offer to his Majesty, that, with every wish to cultivate the blessings of peace, they shall be always, ready to exert themselves to the utmost, when the honour of his Majesty's crown and the interest of his people may require it."

fied by his minister at this court, left to his Majesty no alternative, consistent with those principles which bis regard to the dignity of his Crown, and his affection to the interests of his people, suggested to him.-You saw, my lords, how all ranks of men pressed forward to support the exertions which the king of a free country alone can make when he reigns in the hearts and affections of his parliament and of his subjects. SubseViscount Bulkeley said :-My Lords; quent explanations afterwards took place, Though I experience the full weight of and the declaration and counter-declara the task which I have imposed on myself tion between the courts of France and in seconding the noble lord in a motion Great Britain finally settled the points at for a dutiful address to his Majesty, I issue. The consequences of these events confess I feel some degree of vanity in will, I trust, be the restoration to this claiming your attention at this particular country of her old and natural alliances. juncture, which the wisdom and the spirit All these great advantages have been obof his Majesty and his ministers, has ren- tained to this country under the auspices dered proud and glorious to all who love of a minister, who, besides an hereditary their country, and wish well to its pros- claim to your confidence, has now by his perity. The principal points which his foreign negociations, as before by his inMajesty has dwelt upon, relate to the dis-ternal management of your resources, sentions in the republic of Holland, the rise and progress of which have been the more observed and lamented by the people of England, because they involved with them the dissolution of the old ties and connexions between the two countries. They were broken by the mad in fatuation of a party in the Republic, determined on the destruction of their old

proved himself equal, if not superior, at a very early period of his life, to any of those great characters who have ever adorned this country. It is under his administration that this country is restored to the rank and consequence it formerly held in the political scale of Europe.

The Bishop of Llandaff [Dr. Watson said:-My Lords; when the Commercial

which French policy had entangled them, and to have united them with such firmness and policy, in bonds of amity and interest to this country, are measures for which his Majesty's ministers deserve the thanks of their country, for which at least (however despicable the support of a poor bishop may be in the estimation of men high in rank, and high in office) I now give them mine with cordial sincerity.

One difficulty, my lords, has occurred to me in weighing this subject; it is a difficulty of some importance; I will state it. On the principles of the law of nature and nations, what right had Great Britain or Prussia to interfere by force, in settling the internal disputes of an independent state? Was it the right which every indi

Treaty with France was agitated in parliament during the last session, I made an observation which I will, on this occasion, take the liberty to recall to your lordships recollection. In adverting to the importance of the trade of Holland to this country, I expressed myself, as nearly as I can now recóllect, in the following terms: "I knew not, I said, by what ill-judged policy in one country, or in both, it had happened, that the good understanding which had formerly subsisted between Great Britain and Holland had of late years been much interrupted; sure I was, that it was for the most essential interests of both countries that it should, as soon as possible, be restored; for that I had ever considered Holland as the firmest barrier to this country against the ambi-vidual in a state of nature (and all indetion of France, inasmuch as if France should ever, either by force or fraud, become really or virtually possessed of the marine of Holland in addition to, or conjuncton with, her own, there would be an end of our history as a great, commercial, and free people. And as to that Republic, she was infatuated, I thought, by her divisions, if she did not perceive, that she could never be secured against the machinations of continental despotism but by the shield of Britain."-It would be an abuse of your lordships patience to spend any time in showing, how the present circumstances of the two countries coincide with, and conform to, the truth of this ob-it within narrower limits than he had servation in both its parts; there is not a noble lord in the House, nor a person out of it, who has turned the subject in his thoughts, but must clearly perceive, that the present view of the government of Great Britain and of Holland, are in perfect correspondence with the ideas here thrown out. It was not, however, for the sake of making this remark that I have troubled your lordships with a repetition of the observation; but from a desire of showing the consistence of my own conduct, by explaining the ground of the opinion which I mean this day to deliver.

pendent nations are in that state) possesses, of assisting those whom he sees oppressed by unjust force? No; to say it was that right, is to take the question for granted, since the opponents of the Stadtholder, will not allow that he was oppressed by unjust force. Was it the right of assisting the majority of a country, to recover their ancient civil constitution from the encroachments and usurpation of a daring and deluded faction? I trust, my lords, it was that right; I trust that the majority of the Dutch nation were desirous rather of reinstating the Stadtholder in his authority, than of restricting

formerly possessed; I trust, I say, that it was that right; but I do not know that it was; I am not enough acquainted with the wishes of the majority of the Dutch nation on this head. Upon what other ground, then, is it, that I have proceeded in approving, not merely as useful, but as just, the measures of administration? It is on the ground of self-preservation; for if France had gained Holland, we had been undone.

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There is a question much debated amongst writers on jurisprudence, which is very applicable to the case in point; My lords, it is impossible for me, whose I will mention it nearly in the words of mind is occupied by such ideas as I have Grotius: Contra crescentem potentiam mentioned, not to give a clear and fullquæ nimium aucta nocere posset, licet approbation of the measures, which his Majesty's ministers have been pursuing for the last three months; they have been, I humbly think, founded in great political wisdom, and executed with vigour and expedition. To have opened the eyes of the Dutch nation to their true interests, to have disengaged them from the net by

ne arma sumere?' Grotius and Puffendorff determine this question in the negative. I should blush with shame,' in opposing my opinion to such high authority, if I could not give a reason for it. It is not the mere possibility of our being injured by the growing power of France, that justifies us in taking up arms against

her, but it is the probability united with the possibility; it is the probability that if she had the power, she would not want the will to do it. There is not a cabinet in Europe which is to be trusted with the power of enlarging her dominions; and no one believes that France is more to be trusted than any other. When it is said that Holland and the other states of Europe are independent states, the proposition is true only in a certain considetion; for they all depend one upon the other, like the links of the chain; and it is the business of Great Britain to watch France, of France to watch Great Britain, and of every link of this chain to watch every other, lest any one of them should become so weighty and powerful, as to drag down to perdition, to the loss of personal liberty and political importance, every other. This is the principle upon which all the wars undertaken for preserving the balance of power in Europe have proceeded, and on this principle our present measures are to be justified.

I do not mean frequently to take up your lordships time on political subjects; but having, on a late occasion, with great freedom and sincerity, condemned the measures of Administration, because they appeared to me subversive of the commercial principles by which we had hitherto so highly prospered, and in other respects dangerous to the state; I thought it but common justice to them and to myself, to express my full and decided approbation of the present measures, which I cannot but consider as highly salutary to the best interests of the community. Will the House permit me to indulge my private feelings for a single moment on a different subject? It is a subject which none of your lordships will ever hear without regret, which I shall never think of without sorrow-the death of the duke of Rutland. The dead listen not to the commendations of the living, or, dearly as I loved him, I would not now have praised him. The world, my lords, was not aware of half his ability, was not conscious of half his worth? I had long and just experience of them both. In the conduct of public affairs his judgment was equalled, I verily believe, by few men of his age; his probity and disinterestedness were,' I am confident, exceeded by none. All the letters which I received from him respecting the public state of Ireland, and they were not a few, were written with strong good sense, and in [VOL. XXVI.]

nervous language. They all breathed the same liberal spirit, had all the same noble tendency-not that of aggrandizing Great Britain by the ruin of Ireland-not that of building up Ireland at the expense of Great Britain-but that of promoting the united interests of both countries, as essential parts of one common empire. In private life, my lords, I know that he had a strong sense of religion on his mind, and he showed it by imitating his illustrious father in the practice of one of its most characteristic parts-in being alive to every impulse of compassion. His family, his friends, his dependents, all his connexions, can witness for me the warmth and the sincerity of his personal attachments. From the time this young nobleman was admitted a pupil under me at Cambridge, I have loved him, my lords, with the affection of a brother; and I have, through life, on every occasion of difficulty spoken to him, and I thank God that I have done so, with the firmness and sincerity of a father. Your lordships will judge, then, all private interest totally out of the question, how inexpressibly I have been, and am, afflicted by his death. His memory, I trust, will be long, long revered by the people of this country, long held dear by the people of Ireland— and by myself I feel it will continue to be held most dear as long as I live.

Viscount Stormont protested that it was always his inclination to agree in the Address to the throne; nor did he ever dissent from it, except on those occasions when a sense of his duty superseded all compliment. In the present instance he had no objection to concur with the Address which had been moved. This declaration would not, however, he trusted, be considered as binding him to a general approbation of all the points which were included in his Majesty's speech. Many of those he had not yet had an opportu nity of examining, so as to ascertain whether they deserved his censure or applause; and there were some topics involved in such obscurity, as to render it impossible for him to give any opinion concerning them in that early period of the session. He would give ministers the sanction of his voice for the measures they had lately adopted. He thought the armaments which had been made necessary, in the critical juncture of public affairs, the preservation of the Stadtholder's rights, the restoration of the ancient constitution of Holland, and the [4K].

dearest interest of this country, required vigorous exertions on the part of government; but while he was ready to express his coincidence with those proceedings, he could not but recur to the strange and inconsistent language and conduct of his Majesty's ministers, dating from a period not very remote. Their lordships might naturally suppose that he alluded to the debates on the Commercial Treaty, when that House was so much entertained with the assurances of the amicable intentions of the court of France. When the highest strains of poetical imagination were employed to depict the serene, unclouded atmosphere which we were in future to enjoy a state of blissful indulgence, which nothing could cast a shade on but the unfounded jealousies and visionary suspicions of those, who, like himself, were distrustful of Gallic friendship and Gallic faith. Yet, beautiful as were such descriptions, it could no longer be denied, that at the very moment when ministers were with a childish credulity, swallowing those professions, and cramming them down the throats of that House, a storm was actually gathering which threatened the annihilation of the political importance and splendour of this country. No longer did it remain a secret that the cabinet of Versailles was at that very period exerting every engine of intrigue to possess itself of an absolute control over the United Provinces. That they had failed of their object, he attributed solely to the interposition of Providence; for, had not the French party, or those who called themselves patriots, in Holland, and whom ministers, not very respectfully towards their good friends, had stigmatized as usurpers, been so infatuated as to refuse the redress demanded by the King of Prussia for the indignity offered to his sister, what circumstance could have prevented the French from continuing their machinations in that country? Had that deluded faction come forward, and professed their readiness to make every reparation in their power for the insult which the princess of Orange had met with, surely the King of Prussia could not have found even the slightest pretext, consistently with his own public declarations, for interfering forcibly in the affairs of the republic. This being the case, what merit could administration arrogate to themselves for the happy turn which things had taken? To judge from the language of the King's speech, one would

be led to suppose that the disturbances in Holland had originated within a very short time preceding the late revolution. Was the fact so? or rather he should ask, had not administration, with an unpardonable supineness, suffered the Stadtholder to be driven from the Hague, to be divested of his most sacred and valuable rights, and to be nearly expatriated before they took any steps to relieve him? Lulled to rest by these seducing, but delusive professions of their novel friends, they permitted them to pursue their policy in Holland, without taking one effectual step, with which, at least, the world was acquainted, to counteract them; and if this country had now recovered her ancient alliance with the United Provinces, and regained her ascendance in the political scale of Europe, it was perfectly fair for him to ascribe that glorious event to the singular and unforeseen occurrences which had happened, rather than to the wisdom and foresight of ministers.-Lord Stormont next taking a view of the actual situation of France, suggested a defence for the conduct of the French minister, from the words of Dido to Eneas, res dura, et regni novitas,' &c. He dwelt on the distracted situation of that country, and expressed his hope, that the spirit of liberty which had lately appeared there might become general. To that deranged state, more than to their affection for ministers, he attributed their readiness to disarm.

The Marquis of Carmarthen said, that copies of the Treaties would be laid before the House in a few days, when noble lords would have an opportunity of examining them. With respect to what had fallen from the noble viscount, relative to what he had said when the business of the Commercial Treaty was debated, he had not been so correct. His Majesty's ministers had not said, that any important political advantage which this country enjoyed ought to be given up for the purpose of accomplishing a Treaty of Commerce with France. On the contrary, he had invariably asserted, that, though it was a desirable object for us to live upon good terms with France as long as she would suffer us, yet still we ought to watch all her motions with a jealous eye. Our late success, so far from lulling us into security, would only tend to increase our vigilance, so that no danger was to be apprehended from the supineness or inactivity of ministers, as long as

they enjoyed the confidence of the people, which was so conspicuously manifested on the late occasion.

Lord King approved of the Address. He affirmed that the observations of the noble viscount were, so far as respected our continental influence, highly improper. He wished him to recollect, that he formerly belonged to that detestable administration which had almost destroyed our continental influence, and brought our political importance in Europe to the very verge of ruin.

The Duke of Norfolk expressed his general approbation of the measures which had been carried into execution. He approved also of that part of his Majesty's speech which recommended the putting our distant possessions into a proper state of defence.

The Address was agreed to nem. con.

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"I thank you for this affectionate and loyal Address. The satisfaction which you have unanimously expressed in the measures I have taken is particularly agreeable to me. You may depend, that both in war and in peace my constant objects shall be the honour of my crown, and the advancement of the interests of my people."

Debate in the Commons on the Address of Thanks.] The Commons being returned to their House, and his Majesty's Speech read by the Speaker,

The Hon. Dudley Ryder rose, and in an elegant and pointed speech, moved an Address to his Majesty. He began it with a clear and spirited recital of the progress of the transactions in the United Provinces, where such was the madness of those who had armed themselves to overturn and usurp the lawful government, and so far had it carried them, that they ventured to offer a gross and personal insult to the Princess of Orange. He stated, that his Prussian Majesty had demanded satisfaction for the insult offered to his sister, and the Duke of Brunswick proceeded to the frontiers with the Prussian army to enforce the demand; that the cause of his approach was publicly and

The present earl of Harrowby [A. D.

1816.]

explicitly declared, but such were the violence and obstinacy of the insurgents, that they refused to give the satisfaction required, and carried their outrages so far, that not only every province but almost every town was in a state of rebellion, and the lawful government overthrown. That these acts of insurrection compelled the duke of Brunswick to enter the United Provinces with the Prussian army, where his rapid successes with equal ease and effect restored the lawful government, which was fully re-established by the surrender of Amsterdam, and the reinvestment of the magistrates in their offices. Mr. Ryder dilated with great eloquence on the mild conduct of the duke of Bruns wick, in the first instance, on his firmness and activity afterwards, and on the bril liancy of his success, ascribing the ease with which he had achieved his object to the justice of his cause. He suggested the manner in which France had acted, and proved the strong necessity that presented itself for this country to arm, observing that the steps pursued by government were equally wise and vigorous. He traced the progress of the measures that had been taken, and showed that they were marked by a prudent regard to the circumstances of the country, and a proper consideration of the burthens of the people. When it became absolutely necessary to proceed to military preparation, nothing was more obvious than the energy of government and the zeal of the people. The moment of armament, he said, had been happily chosen, and the event justified its propriety. The whole exhibited a glorious picture to this country, as it proved that a love of justice was a primary consideration with us, that the national spirit retained its original ardour, and that although the wounds of Great Britain were yet green, and she was still suffering in consequence of the late calamitous and unequal war, a war in which she fought not for glory, but for existence, she was nevertheless able and willing to stand forth the protector of the oppressed, and the defender of the injured. By such conduct this country had redeemed her former character, and had raised her head among the nations of the earth. Mr. Ryder dilated on the Treaty concluded with the Landgrave of Hesse, and declared that subsidiary treaties ought always to be cultivated by commercial countries, since the aid of foreign troops enabled them to keep the artisan and the manufacturer, and the

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