MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.
The British parliament did not assemble until the 31st of January. The first topic mentioned in the king’s speech was the marriage of his second son, the Duke of York, with the Princess Frederica, daughter of the King of Prussia. His majesty then informed the two houses that a treaty had been concluded, under his mediation and that of his allies, between the Emperor of Austria and the Porte, and that preliminaries had been agreed upon between the latter of those powers and Russia. The king next expressed his regret that he was not yet enabled to inform parliament of the termination of the war in India with Tippoo Sultaun, but the success which had already attended the British arms afforded, reasonable ground to hope that the war would speedily be concluded. Although events in Europe at this time cast their dark shadows before them, yet his majesty affirmed that the general state of affairs appeared to promise to Great Britain the continuance of her present tranquillity; and he even suggested that some immediate reduction might safely be made in our naval and military establishments. He concluded by recommending the house of commons to consider of such measures as the flourishing state of the funds and of public credit might render practicable and expedient, for a reduction in the rate of interest of such of the annuities as were now redeemable; by stating that he entertained the pleasing hope of their being enabled to enter upon a gradual reduction of taxes, giving at the same time additional efficacy to the plan for the reduction of the national debt; and by recommending a steady, zealous, and confirmed attachment to the British constitution.
The debates on the address principally turned upon the line of policy pursued by the ministry in their interference in the quarrel between Turkey and Prussia, and in the hostility they had displayed towards the latter power. Ministers were loudly condemned for this interference by the opposition; Mr. Grey and Fox taking the most prominent part in the attack. Fox, as usual, introdued France and her revolution and constitution into his speech. The frequent eulogiums on the British constitution which had been introduced into parliament, he said, had been introduced in order to reproach him and his friends for their admiration of what had been done in France, and to suggest the suspicion that he and his friends were hostile to our own form of government. The French, he contended, had done perfectly right in overturning a constitution so radically bad as that of France; but that of Great Britain was so good, though not absolutely perfect, that it merited the efforts of all honest subjects to preserve it. It was hence most unjust to insinuate that those who approved of the destruction of despotism in France, would rejoice in the downfall of the British constitution. Fox concluded by condemning the Birmingham riots; asserting that the outrages had been committed through the laxity or tacit approbation of the magistrates. He remarked:—“It would have been well if his majesty in his speech had spoken of those riots in the terms they merited. They were not riots for bread; they were not riots in the cause of liberty, which, however highly to be reprobated, had yet some excuse in their principle; they were riots of men neither aggrieved nor complaining—of men who had set on foot an indiscriminate persecution of an entire description of their fellow-citizens, including persons as eminent for their ability, as blameless in their conduct, and as faithful in their allegiance as this or any other country could boast.” In reply, Pitt said that the Birmingham riots had better be consigned to oblivion, especially as sufficient had been done for their atonement; and he broadly hinted that Fox revived the subject for party purposes. He warmly defended the conduct of the cabinet in the interference between Turkey and Russia; asserting that the object of it was to prevent the ruin of the Turkish empire, and to preserve that balance of power in Europe which was essential to the interests of Great Britain. Pitt concluded by adverting to the more pleasing topic of financial improvement; stating that the last year’s revenue amounted to £16,790,000, which, after all the expenditure and the annual million devoted to the reduction of the national debt, left a surplus of £900,000; and that, encouraged by this prosperous condition of the finances, he contemplated taking off some of those taxes which pressed most heavily upon the poor.
DEBATES ON THE RUSSIAN ARMAMENT.
Papers relative to the apprehended rupture between Great Britain and Russia were laid before the house on the 6th of February. This gave rise to several debates, in which the spirit of party was strongly displayed. On the 13th of February Mr. Grey loudly complained that ministers had not produced the preliminaries said to have been adjusted between the Russian and Turkish negociators; and that large sums had been unnecessarily spent in fitting out the armament. A week later Mr. Grey moved for a more ample production of papers regarding various portions of the recent diplomacy of ministers; arguing that the whole of the correspondence was necessary, if they wished to justify the steps they had taken. Pitt resisted the demand, conceiving that sufficient had been disclosed to make the house master of all the essential parts of the business, and asserting that confidence was due to the administration, until their capacity or integrity was impeached. The motion was negatived, but on the 29th of February the subject was revived by Mr. Whitbread, who moved the following resolutions:—“That no arrangement respecting Oczakow and its district appears to have been capable of affecting the political or commercial interests of this country, so as to justify any hostile interference on the part of Great Britain between. Russia and the Porte: that the interference for the purpose of preventing the cession of the said fortress and its district to the Empress of Russia has been wholly unsuccessful; and that his majesty’s ministers, in endeavouring, by means of an armed force, to compel the Empress of Russia to abandon her claim to Oczakow, and in continuing an armament after the object for which it was proposed had been relinquished, have been guilty of gross misconduct, tending to incur unnecessary expenses, and to diminish the influence of the British nation.” Many members took part in the debate which followed this motion, but the most remarkable speeches were delivered by those two great rivals, Pitt and Fox. After reviewing our foreign policy from the time of our joining Prussia, in order to prevent Holland becoming the prey of France, Fox said that we were standing forward the principals of every quarrel, the Quixotes of every enterprise, and the agitators in all the plots and disturbances that were every day arising in Europe. He said, if Oczakow was a place of no importance, ministers ought to be censured for having armed and protracted war on its account; and if it was an important place, they ought to be censured for disarming without having obtained repossession of it from the Turks. Fox argued that the Empress of Russia weald have granted better terms to the Turks if England had not interfered; and bitterly complained of Pitt’s reserve and secrecy with parliament. On the latter subject he remarked:—“This is what puts our constitution in danger. That the pride, the folly, the presumption of a single person shall be able to involve a whole people in disgrace is more than philosophy can teach mortal patience to endure. Here are the true weapons of the enemies of our constitution! Here may we search for the source of the present outpourings of seditious writings, meant either to weaken our attachment to the constitution by depreciating its value, or that loudly tell us we have no constitution at all. We may blame, we may reprobate such doctrines; but while we furnish those who circulate them with argumenta such as these, while the example of this day shows us to what degree the fact is true, we must not wonder that the purposes the seditious writings are meant to answer be but too successful. They argue that a constitution cannot be right where such things are possible; much less so when they are practised without punishment. Against the vain theories of men who project fundamental alterations upon grounds of mere speculative objection I can easily defend the constitution; but when they recur to these facts, and show me how we may be doomed to all the horrors of war by the caprice of an individual, who will not even condescend to explain his reasons, I can only fly to this house, and exhort you to rouse from your lethargy of confidence, into the active mistrust and vigilant control which your duty and your office point out to you.” But Fox had by his intrigues brought the country into danger from a war with Russia, more than Pitt had by his armament. Although the laws and constitution of this country entrust the exclusive right of treating with foreign potentates to the king, yet without the knowledge or participation of a single member in the house, Fox had sent an agent to St. Petersburgh to frustrate the objects for which a plenipotentiary from the crown was authorised to treat. And Fox succeeded in his design: it was through his influence that the czarina still obstinately refused to give up Oczakow, And yet Fox condemned ministers for not having succeeded in their negociations! On this subject Pitt’s biographer, Tomline, writes:—“It is to be presumed that Mr. Fox never would have had recourse to such a measure, if he had not entertained a confident hope, that, having already succeeded in rendering the Russian armament unpopular, he should overset Mr. Pitt’s administration, provided the empress could be prevailed on to persevere in her demands. That point he accomplished without difficulty, yet the result did not turn out as he expected—he defeated Mr. Pitt’s plan, and brought a certain degree of discredit and danger on his country, by effecting the aggrandisment of an unfriendly and powerful court, but his own personal ambition remained ungratified.” In his reply to Fox the minister exhibited a noble mind, in not making any use of his rival’s unjustifiable conduct: conduct which was more unconstitutional than Pitt’s rigid reserve, and which was to a certain extent, treasonable. In his reply Pitt defended his policy with great spirit. He asked whether any one conversant in politics could admit that the Turkish empire, being unable to defend itself against Russia and Austria, should be abandoned by the other European powers, every one of which was so visibly interested in the preservation of its independence: whether, if other European powers were indolent, or hindered by untoward circumstances from interfering. Great Britain could coolly leave Turkey to its fate? and whether a British ministry could look on with indifference, while her commerce in the Levant was threatened, and the maritime power of England, not only in the Mediterranean and Archipelago, but in every other sea, must receive a blow from the increase of shipping that would accrue to Russia and Austria, were they to become masters of European Turkey? The interest and honour of this country, he said, required us to pay vigilant attention to the political situation of the continental powers, lest the predominance of any one should destroy that equipoise which was essential to the safety of the whole. And it was evident, he remarked, that the ruin or depression of the Turkish empire would materially affect the balance of power in Europe. All the world knew that the object of Russia had long been to acquire exclusive authority in the Black Sea; and were the Russians to gain possession of its ports, a new naval power would arise, dangerous to all Europe, but especially so to Great Britain, whose safety and prosperity chiefly depended on the superiority of her fleets. It was certain, also, he said, that if Great Britain had not assumed a hostile disposition, the original demands of the court of Petersburgh would have been insisted on to the last, and Turkey would have been forced to submit to a dismemberment. As for Oczakow, he acknowledged that it was not a place of great importance, but as a fortress commanding the navigation of the Dniester, and a point to be gained by the empress in her system of ambition, it was worth some risks, and he conceived that he had done his duty by first attempting to secure this object to Turkey, and afterwards relinquishing it when it could only be obtained at the price of war. At the same time Pitt remarked, Oczakow might have been secured had it not been for the division and opposition in this kingdom; it was chiefly through Fox and his party that what had been done well, had not been done better. Party divisions in this country had encouraged the ambitious designs of Russia; and yet opposition now took merit to themselves for rendering negociations useless; which, but for their efforts, would have been attended with complete success. But he did not envy them their triumph: it was not a triumph over an enemy, but over the council of their king. Pitt concluded by a sarcastic reflection on Fox, which must have been keenly felt by him. In the summer of 1791, the czarina finding that the Whig party was averse to the Russian armament, directed her ambassador to request Fox to sit to Nollekens for a bust in white marble, in order that she might place it between the statues of Demosthenes and Cicero. In allusion to this Pitt said, that if he and his honourable friend Dundas were to go to St. Petersburg, he felt certain that neither of them should be found in any place of glory between two orators of antiquity! Fox replied, vindicating his conduct, and condemning the policy of ministers in the same unmeasured terms as before. But the sentiments of the house were against him and his party: Whitbread’s resolutions were all rejected, either without a division or by very large majorities. During these debates the same question was agitated in the house of lords; but Lord Fitzwilliam, who moved a similar resolution to that of Mr. Grey in the commons, was outvoted by a majority of eighty-nine against nineteen.
DEBATES ON THE AFFAIRS OF INDIA.
It was not on the subject of the Russian armament alone that opposition sought to bring ministers into contempt, and to overthrow their administration. In their plan of campaign they had determined to attack them on the subject of the Indian war, and accordingly, on the 9th of February, Major Maitland moved for all papers necessary to throw light upon the subject. It was the chief object of the opposition to prove that the war with Tippoo Sultaun was unnecessary, and that it had been conducted by Lord Cornwallis without spirit or talent. Such was the substance of the arguments employed by Colonel Maitland in support of his motion, and in which he was supported by Francis, the antagonist of Hastings and Tupey. The motion was on the whole agreed to; Dundas consenting to produce all the papers called for, except copys of any proposals of peace which had been made by Tippoo Sultaun. But this did not satisfy opposition. On the 15th of March Major Maitland moved various resolutions on the Indian war, all tending to reprobate it as unjustifiable, and as the result of a plan laid down by ministers for Tippoo’s destruction. These resolutions were negatived; but on a subsequent day the major renewed the subject, declaring that the papers proved the correctness of his views—that a plan of conquest had been formed, and that the war had been sought for that purpose. In order to settle the matter, after showing the warlike character of Tippoo, and defending the honour of Lord Cornwallis, ministers moved a resolution declaring that the conduct of the governor-general accorded with the true spirit and intent of the rules of government established by the British parliament for the affairs of India, which resolution was adopted.