in question. As to the collusion of Denmark, he must confess that as an Englishman, he thought and felt that the Danish government (for he would not speak with disrespect of the prince so nearly connected with our own family) had acted with collusion. It ought not to be forgotten, that before force was employed, an alternative had been offered to the Danish government, and when that alternative was rejected, he thought we were right in employing force to secure the fleet; a conduct that was justifiable on the first principle of human nature, self-preservation. Abstract princi. ples of right he respected as much as any man; but in our respect for these we should not suffer ourselves to become the victims of abstract principles of wrong. With regard to the dates which had been adverted to, gentlemen seemed to draw their whole argument from the rapidity with which the expedition had been fitted out and dispatched a rapidity which they had not lately been accustomed to witness. And if the crown prince, or rather (for ministers often governed princes and kings) the Bernstoffs had formed their estimates of the expedition, from the specimens they had lately seen, they would not have expected that Zealand would be so soon surrounded; they therefore thought it expedient to keep their army in Holstein, to keep up appearances. As to the question of peace it was involved in difficulty and delicacy. He had supported the peace of Amiens, as an experiment; yet as the experiment had been made, he was not disposed to repeat it. Whilst Buonaparté continued at the head of the French nation, and should continue to goVOL. L.

vern by military measures, from the moment we should make peace with him our danger would begin. He trusted, however, that ministers would not reject any offers of negotiation on terms of equality, and the point of honour should be never given up.

Mr. Windham thought that honour in any peace that might now be concluded, was totally out of the question; safety was all we could now look for, and this was all he would ask. The honourable gentleman appeared to treat anciently received principles with as little ceremony as the famous French committee of safety had done. Mr. W.however, would still venture to profess an attachment to the old maxim of honesty being the best policy; a maxim which was just as true when applied to the conduct of nations as that of individuals. Nor did he think it sufficient merely to profess it; it was equally essential to act upon it. But an open and public renunciation of this principle was an alarming symptom indeed, and infinitely more fatal to the cause of public morals than many practical deviations from it. It was a state of most hopeless depravity when people began to adapt their theory to their practice. He advised ministers to stop short in this new career, for he assured them they would cut but a poor figure when compared with the enemy, who from long practice, was become a rival too formidable for us to encounter. It never had been disputed that government might have received information which it would be imprudent in them to publish. But there was another question Whether or not they should have acted on such information? Mr. W. [C] suspected,

suspected, that in the case in question, the ministers, instead of preparing troops for an expedition, had prepared an expedition for thé troops. Finding that they had got money in their pockets, they resolved on spending it. Not knowing what to do with the army they had collected, they said, after some reflexion, "God bless us, let us go and attack the Danish fleet."

Mr. Canning, in answer to the question put by Mr. Eden, observ. ed, that ministers had never said that they had in their possession any one secret article of the treaty of Tilsit, but only that the substance of such secret articles had been confidentially communicated to his majesty's government, and that a Jong time previous to the date adverted to by the honourable gentleman. As to the inference attempt ed to be drawn from the advanced state of preparation in which the armament was placed before the treaty of Tilsit, it was notorious that that army was then equipping for an entirely distinct object, when the secret intelligence was received

which made it the duty of ministers to employ it in the service in which it had been so successfully engaged.

Mr. Whitbread, after some observations on the importance of maintaining national morality and good faith, and the possibility of making peace as readily now as at any former period of the war, adverted to what had fallen from Mr. Yorke of a tender or option, as it was called, made to the Danes, that if they gave us their fleet, we would defend them from the French. How? We defend them, who were not able, after seizing their fleet, to keep possession of Zealand for one winter? He concludedwith repeating his conviction, that ministers had never received, either in substance or in form, the secret information which they alleged they had received, and to which they had attributed that fatal and disgraceful expedition.

The report was brought up, and the address was presented to his Majesty, who returned his most gracious answer January 25th.

CHAP.

spect of both moral law and sound policy, it was again and again brought into discussion, and continued to be at different times, and on different occasions, a subject of very animated controversy for almost the whole of the present ses sion of parliament.

In the House of Lords January 28th, lord Hawkesbury moved a vote of thanks to the officers employed in the attack of Copenhagen. His motion, he premised, related merely to the service on which the expedition to Copenhagen was sent, and not at all to the policy of the expedition, the object of which, undoubtedly of great magnitude and importance, was attained by the skill and ability of the officers employed. Here he gave an account of the origin, progress, and issue of the expedition. He praised the promptitude and rapidity with which the Danish ships were fitted out and brought away, and concluded by moving the thanks of the house to lieutenant-general' lord viscount Cathcart, K. T. for the prompt and decisive measures adopted by him in the attack on Copenhagen.

Lord Holland contended that the magnitude and importance of an object alone, was not a sufficient ground for the thanks of parliament to those who had been employed with success in obtaining it. In the present instance there was no opportunity for the display of skill and science. Had there been an opportunity, there could not be a doubt but these qualities would have been eminently displayed. Had it been proposed only to thank the army, he might, perhaps, have

been induced to give it no opposi tion; but when it was proposed also to thank the navy employed in this expedition, he could not but oppose the motion, as there was no opportunity for the display of military naval skill. The high and pe. culiar honour of the thanks of parliament ought not to be rendered too common. In order to preserve its value it ought to be reserved for great occasions, for brilliant exploits and great victories, as in the Roman republic triumphs were never granted but for the most splendid achievements.-Earl Grey spoke to the same effect.- Lord Auckland observed that there was no information before the house to shew the policy or propriety of attacking an unsuspecting and defenceless people; but with respect to the execution of the service, it had displayed great ability, energy, and skill.

Lord Mulgrave, in reply to lord Holland, said, that he could not see on what ground, in the present question, any distinction could be made between the army and the navy. The most skilful distributions were made by lord Gambier in the disposal of the fleet under his command: that part of it which was entrusted to rear admiral Keates was extended for 200 miles, and had for its object to cut off the communication between Zealand and the continent. By this means the Danish army in Holstein was prevented from passing into Zealand. The skill therefore of admiral Gambier had been conspicuously manifested. But in any case when the army and navy were conjointly employed, to vote thanks

to

to the one and not to the other, could not tend to any possible good. It had, besides, always been the practice to unite them in votes of thanks where they were jointly employed.

The motion being put and carried, and the issue ordered to be communicated to lord viscount Cathcart, on his taking his seat in the house, lord Hawkesbury moved thanks to sir Harry Burrard, bart. the earl of Rosslyn, the honourable sir G. L. Ludlow, K. B. sir David Baird, the major generals, brigadiers and other officers employed, and an approval and acknowledgment of the services of the non-commissioned officers and soldiers; which motions were agreed to, and ordered to be communicated by the lord chancellor to lord viscount Cathcart.

His lordship then moved the thanks of the house to the right honourable lord Gambier, for the judicious distribution of the fleet, thereby contributing to the success of the expedition after all negotiation had failed, and for the promptitude displayed in fitting out the Danish ships, and shipping the stores. The duke of Norfolk objected, that the words relative to negotia tion tended to prejudge the question of which notice had been given, and of which the object was, to ascertain the nature of the previous negotiation.*

Lord Hawkesbury replied, that the negotiation alluded to in the motion was merely that entered into by the commanders in their military capacity, and had no reference to political negotiation. After a short conversation, the mo

tion was agreed to, and ordered to be communicated to lord Gambier when in his place in the house. Lord Hawkesbury next moved thanks to vice admiral sir H. E. Stanhope, bart., rear admirals Essington, Sir Samuel Hood, K. B. and Keates, captain sir Home Popham, K. M. captain of the fleet, and the other officers. The duke of Norfolk asked, if it was usual to include in a vote of thanks, the captain of a fleet by name? A conversation ensued about precedents. The earl of Lauderdale observed, that it would be a most singular circumstance if sir Home Popham were to be made the first instance of the captain of a fleet being thanked by name. Some precedents were produced, and the motion was agreed to. So also was a motion for approving and acknowledging the services of the seamen and marines, and the result of both motions was ordered to be communicated by the lord chancellor to lord Gambier.

On the same day thanks to his Majesty's army and navy employed in the Baltic expeditions were moved in the house of commons by lord Castlereagh, who expatiated on the magnitude and importance of the exploit, the difficulties that were surmounted in performing it, and the prompt exertions of the board of ordnance, to whose great exertions it was in a great measure owing that a British force was assembled, ready to act in the Baltic before the middle of August.

Mr. Windham observed, that in the present question, it was the province of the house to decide generally upon the merits of the service,