ed that he was traducing the character of a senator, seldom or never equalled for talents and integrity, and who declared, in an animated debate a few years since, that it was with heartfelt satisfaction he could reflect, THAT HE HAD ALWAYS SUP PORTED THE DIGNITY OF HIS COUNTRY; THAT HE HAD NEVER GIVEN AN OPINION BY WHICH ONE DROP OF BRITISH BLOOD WAS SHED, OR ED!! Yours sincerely, CABINET DISPUTES. CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN MR. PERCEVAL, AND LORDS GRENVILLE AND GREY. No. I. Letter sent in Duplicate to Earl Grey and Lord Grenville. Windsor, Sept. 23, 1809. MY LORD,-The Duke of Portland having signified to his Majesty his intention of retiring from his Majesty's service, in consequence of the state of his Grace's health, his Majesty has authorised Lord Liverpool, in conjunction with myself, to communicate with your lordship and Lord Grey, for the purpose of forming an extended and combined administration. I hope, therefore, that your lordship, in consequence of this communication will come to town, in order that as little time as possible may be lost in forwarding this important object, and that you will have the goodness to inform me of your arrival. I am also to acquaint your lordship, that I have received his Majesty's commands to make a similar communication to Lord Grey of his Majesty's plea sure. I think it proper to add, for your lordship's information, that Lord CasArchduke leaving him to re-establish his bridges, and to pass and repass at his pleasure, was a sufficient proof that it was nothing but a check."-W. M. July 24. How convenient is the art of forgetting! This writer forgets on July 24th, the prediction he had made on June 19th. He forgets all that he had written respecting the defeat of the French; and, unless we accuse him of consummate impudence, he must surely have supposed that his readers had forgotten also! VERITAS. tlereagh and Mr. Secretary Canning have intimated their intentions to resign their offices. I have the honour to be, &c. &c. SPENCER PERCEVAL. No. II. Answer from Earl Grey. Howick, Sept. 26. SIR, I have this evening had the honour of receiving your letter of the 23d, informing me, that in consequence of the Duke of Portland's intention of retiring from his Majesty's service, his Majesty had authorised you, in conjunction with the Earl of Liverpool, to communicate with Lord Grenville and extended and combined administration, myself, for the purpose of forming an and expressing a hope, that in consequence of this communication I would go to town, in order that as little time as possible may be lost in forwarding this important object. Had his Majesty been pleased to signify that he had any commands for me personally, I should not have lost a moment in shewing my duty and obedience, by a prompt attendance on his royal pleasure. communicate with his Majesty's present But when it is proposed to me to combined administration with them, I ministers, for the purpose of forming a feel that I should be wanting in duty to his Majesty, and in fairness to them, if I did not frankly and at once declare, that such an union is, with respect to me, under the present circumstances, impossible. This being the answer that I find myself under the necessity of giving, my appearance in London could be of no advantage, and might possibly at a moment like the present, be attended with some inconvenience. I have thought it better to request, that you will have the goodness to lay my duty at the feet of his Majesty, hum bly intreating him not to attribute to any want of attachment to his royal person, or to diminished zeal for his service, my declining a communication, which, on the terms proposed, could lead to no useful result, and which might be of serious detriment to the country, if in consequence of a less decisive answer from me, any further delay should take place in the formation of a settled government. I am &c. GREY, No. III. First Answer from Lord Grenvile. Boconnoc, Sept. 25. SIR, I have the honour to acknowledge your letter of the 23d instant, and understanding it as an official signification of his Majesty's pleasure for my attendance in town, I shall lose no time in repairing thither, in humble obedience to his Majesty's commands. I must beg leave to defer until my arrival all observations on the other matters to which your letter relates. I have, &c. No. IV. GRENVILLE. Second Answer from Lord Grenville. Sept. 29. SIR,-Having last night arrived here, in humble obedience to his Majesty's commands, I think it now my duty to lose no time in expressing to you the necessity under which I feel myself of declining the communication proposed in your letter: being satisfied that, it could not, under the circumstances there mentioned, be productive of any public advantage. I trust I need not say, that this opinion is neither founded in any sentiment of personal hostility, nor in a desire of unnecessarily prolonging political differ ences. To compose, not to inflame the divisions of the empire has always been my anxious wish, and is now more than ever the duty of every loyal subject; but my accession to the existing administration could, I am confident, in no respect contribute to this object; nor could it, I think, be considered in any other light than as a dereliction of public principle. This answer, which I must have given to any such proposal if made while the government was yet entire, cannot be varied by the retreat of some of its members. My objections are not personal-they apply to the principle of the government itself, and to the circumstances which attended its appointment. I have now, therefore, only to request, that you will do me the honour of submitting, in the most respectful terms, these my humble opinions to his Majesty, accompanied by the dutiful and sincere assurance of my earnest desire at all times to testify, by all such means as are in my power, my unvaried zeal for his Majesty's service. I have &c. GRENVILLE No. V. Letter from Mr. Perceval to Lord Sept. 29. MY LORD, I lost no time in com municating to Lord Liverpool your lordship's letter of this day. It is with great concern that we have learnt from it, that your lordship feels yourself under the necessity of declining the communication which I have had the honour to propose. In proposing to your lordship and Lord Grey, under his Majesty's autherity, to communicate with Lord Liverpool and myself, not for the accession of your lordship to the present adminis tration, but for the purpose of forming a combined and extended administration, no idea existed in our minds of the necessity of any dereliction of public principle on either side. in Your lordship may rest assured, that communicating to his Majesty the necessity under which you feel yourself of declining the communication which I had the honour to propose to your lordship, I will do every justice to the respectful terms, and the dutiful and sincere assurance of your lordship's unva ried zeal for his Majesty's service, with ́ which the expression of that necessity was accompanied. I cannot conclude without expressing the satisfaction of Lord Liverpool and myself at your lordship's assurance, that the failure of this proposal is not to be ascribed to any sentiment of personal hostility. I have, &c. &c. SP. PERCEVAL. that no reply was judged necessary. To this last paper it is understood CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN LORD CASTLEREAGH St. James's-square, Sept. 19. SIR,It is unnecessary for me to enter into any detailed statement of the circumstances which preceded the re cent resignation. It is enough for me, with a view to the immediate object of this letter, to state that it appears a proposition had been agitated, without any communication with me, for my removal from the war department; and that you, towards the close of the last session, having urged a decision upon this question, with the alternative of your seceding from the government, procured a posi tive promise from the Duke of Portland (the execution of which you afterwards considered yourself entitled to enforce,) that such removal should be carried into effect. Notwithstanding this promise, by which I consider you pronounced it unfit that I should remain charged with the conduct of the war, and by which my situation as a minister of the crown was made dependent on your will and pleasure, you continued to sit in the same cabinet with me, and to leave me not only in the persuasion that I possessed your confidence and support as a colleague, but you allowed me, in breach of every principle of good faith both public and private, though thus virtually superseded, to originate and proceed in the execution of a new enterprise of the most arduous and important nature, with your apparent concurrence, and ostensible approbation. You are fully aware that if my situation in the government had been disclosed to me, I could not have submitted to remain one moment in office, without the entire abandonment of my private honour, and public duty. You knew I was deceived, and you continued to deceive me. I am aware, it may be said, which I am ready to acknowledge, that when you pressed for a decision for my removal, you also pressed for its disclosure, and that it was resisted by the Duke of Portland, and some members of the government supposed to be my friends. But I never can admit, that you have a right to make use of such a plea, in justification of an act affecting my honour, nor that the sentiments of others could justify an acquiescence in such a delusion on your part, who had yourself felt, and stated its unfairness. Nor can I admit that the head of any administration, or any supposed friend (whatever may be their motives), can authorise or sanction any man in such a course of long and persevering deception. For were I to admit such a principle, my honour and pharacter would be from that moment in the discretion of persons wholly unauthorized, and known to you to be unauthorized, to act for me in such a case. It was therefore your act and your conduct which deceived me; and it is impossible for me to acquiesce in being placed in a situation by you, which no man of ho nour could knowingly submit to, nor patiently suffer himself to be betrayed into, without forfeiting that character. I have no right, as a public man, to resent your demanding upon public grounds, my removal from the particular office I have held, or even from the administration, as a condition of your continuing a member of the government. But I have a distinct right to expect that a proposition, justifiable in itself, shall not be executed in an unjustifiable manner, and at the expence of my honour and reputation. And I consider that you were bound, at least, to avail yourself of the same alternative, namely, your own resignation, to take yourself out of the predicament of practising such a deceit towards me, which you did exercise in demanding a decision for my removal. Under these circumstances I must require that satisfaction from you to which I feel myself entitled to lay claim. I am &c. CASTLEREAGH. The Right Hon. George Canning. Gloucester-Lodge, Sept. 20. MY LORD,-The tone and purport of your lordship's letter, which I have this moment received, of course preclude any other answer on my part to the misapprehensions and misrepresentations with which it abounds, than that I will cheerfully give to your lordship the satisfaction which you require.—I am &c. GEORGE CANNING. Lord Viscount Castlereagh &c. &c. STATEMENT OF MR. CANNING. It is perfectly true, that so long ago as Easter, Mr. Canning had represented to the Duke of Portland the insufficiency (in his opinion) of the government, as then constituted, to carry on the affairs of the country, under all the difficulties of the times, and had requested, that unless some change should be effected in it, he might be permitted to resign his office. It is equally ture, that in the course of the discussion, which arose out of this representation, it was proposed to Mr. Canning, and accepted by bim, as the condition of his consenting to retain the seals of the foreign office, that a change should be made in the war department. But it is not true that the time at which that change was ultimately proposed to be made was of Mr. Canning's choice; and it is not true that he was party or consenting to the concealment of that intended change from Lord Castlereagh. With respect to the concealment, Mr. Canning some short time previous to the date of Lord Castlereagh's letter, without the smallest suspicion of the existence of any intention on the part of Lord Castlereagh to make such an appeal to Mr. Canning as that letter contains, but upon information that some misapprehension did exist as to Mr. Canning's supposed concurrence in the reserve which had been practised towards Lord Castlereagh, transmitted to one of Lord Castlereagh's most intimate friends, to be communicated whenever he might think proper, the copy of a letter addressed by Mr. Canning to the Duke of Portland, in the month of July, in which Mr. Canning requests, "in justice to himself, that it may be remembered, whenever hereafter this concealment shall be alleged (as he doubts not that it will) against him, as an act of injustice towards Lord Castlereagh, that it did not originate in his suggestion;-that so far from desiring it, he conceived, however erroneously, Lord Camden to be the sure channel of communication to Lord Castlereagh; and that up to a very late period he be lieved such communication to have been actually made." ac The copy of this letter, and of the Duke of Portland's answer to it, (6 knowledging Mr. Canning's repeated remonstrances against the concealment," are still in the possession of Lord Castlereagh's friend. The communication to Lord Camden, to which this letter refers, was made on the 28th of April, with Mr. Canning's knowledge, and at his particular desire, Lord Camden being the near connection and most confidential friend of Lord Castlereagh, it never occurred to Mr. Canning, nor was it credible to him, till he received the most positive asseverations of the fact, that Lord Camden had kept back such a communication from Lord Castlereagh. With respect to the period at which the change in the war department was to take place, Mr. Canning was induced, in the first instance, to consent to its postponement till the rising of parlia ment, partly by the representations made to himself of the inconveniencies of any change in the middle of a session, but principally from a consideration of the particular circumstances under which Lord Castlereagh stood in the house of Commons after Easter; circumstances which would have given to his removal at that period of the session a character which it was certainly no part of Mr. Canning's wish that it should bear. Mr. Canning, however, received the most positive promise, that a change in the war department should take place immediately upon the close of the session. When that time arrived, the earnest and repeated entreaties of most of Lord Castlereagh's friends in the cabinet were employed to prevail upon Mr. Can ning to consent to the postponement of the arrangement. At length, and most reluctantly, he did give his consent to its being postponed to the period proposed by Lord Castlereagh's friends, viz. the termination of the expedition then in preparation; but he did so upon the most dis tinct and solemn assurances, that whatever might be the issue of the expedition, the change should take place at that period; that the seals of the war de partment should then be offered to Lord Wellesley (the person for whose acces sion to the cabinet Mr. Canning was known to be most anxious), and that the interval should be diligently employed by Lord Castlereagh's friends, in prepa ring Lord Castlereagh's mind to acquiesce in such an arrangement. It was therefore matter of astonishment to Mr. Canning, when, at the issue of the expedition, he reminded the Duke of Portland, that the time was now come for his grace's writing to Lord Wellesley, to find, that so far from the interval having been employed by Lord Castlereagh's friends in preparing Lord Castlereagh for the change, the same reserve had been continued towards him, against which Mr. Canning had before so earnestly remonstrated. Being informed of this cir cumstance by the Duke of Portland, and learning at the same time from his grace, that there were other difficulties attending the promised arrangement, of which Mr. Canning had not before been ap prized; and that the Duke of Portland had himself come to a determination to retire from office, Mr Canning instantly, and before any step whatever had been. taken towards carrying the promised arrangement into effect, withdrew his claim, and requested the Duke of Portland to tender his (Mr. Canning's) resignation, at the same time with his grace's to the King. This was on Wednesday, the 6th of September, previously to the levee of that day. All question of the performance of the promise made to Mr. Canning being thus at an end, the reserve which Lord Castlereagh's friends had hitherto so perseveringly practised towards Lord Castlereagh appears to have been laid aside. Lord Castlereagh was now made acquainted with the nature of the arrangement which had been intended to have been proposed to him. What may have been the reasons which prevented Lord Castlereagh's friends from fulfilling the assurances given to Mr. Canning, that Lord Castlereagh's mind should be prepared by their communications for the arrangement intended to be carried into effect; and what the motives for the disclosure to Lord Castlereagh, after that arrangement had ceased to be in contemplation, it is not for Mr. Canning to explain. LORD CAMDEN'S STATEMENT. As it may be inferred, from a statement which has appeared in the public papers, that Lord Camden withheld from Lord Castlereagh a communication which he had been desired to make to him, it is necessary that it should be understood, that however Mr. Canning might have conceived the communication alluded to, to have been made to Lord Camden, it was never stated to Lord Camden that the communication was made at the desire of Mr. Canning; and, that so far from Lord Camden having been authorised to make the communication to Lord Castlereagh, he was absolutely restricted from so doing. As it may also be inferred, that Lord Camden was expected to prepare Lord Castlereagh's mind for any proposed change, it is necessary that it should be understood, that Lord Camden never engaged to communicate to Lord Castlereagh any circumstances respecting it, before the termination of the expedition. STATE PAPERS. FRANCE AND AMERICA. Letter from the Minister for Foreign Affairs to General Armstrong, Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States of America. Altenburgh, Aug. 22. SIR,-Being informed that you are about to dispatch a vessel for America, his Majesty has charged me to make known to you the immutable principles which have regulated, and will continue to regulate, his conduct as to the grand point of difference respecting neutrals. France admits the principle, that the flag protects the merchandize. A merchant vessel having a clearance from her government, ought to be considered as a floating colony. The violation of such a vessel by searches, prosecutions, and other acts of arbitrary power, is a violation of the territory of a colony, and an attack upon the independence of its governinent. The seas belonging exclusively to no nation, they are the common property of states, the domain of all. Merchant vessels of an enemy, being the property of private individuals, ought to be respected. Private individuals, who take no share in hostilities, ought not to be made prisoners. In all her conquests France has respected private property. Warehouses and shops have been left in the possession of their owners. They have been permitted to dispose of their merchandize, as they thought proper; and at this moment there are cargoes, particularly of cotton, passing in waggons through the French army, and through Austria and Germany, to proceed to whatsoever destination commerce may assign them. If France had adopted the practices of maritime warfare, all the merchandize of the continent would have been accumulated in France, and often have constituted a source of incalculable wealth. Such would undoubtedly have been the assumptions of England had the English possessed the same superiority by land which they have at sea. We should, as in the times of barbarism, have seen the vanquished sold as slaves, and their lands divided among the victors. Mer |