we would have to pay the enemy dear in making peace, and from coming to the market with fewer compensations to offer, we would be the less able to make our arrangements for Spain, Sicily, and the East Indies, especially considering that, after last war, Ceylon and the Cape of Good Hope were the only equivalents we could obtain from France. His great objection was not to the assisting Sweden to gain military possession of Norway, nor to the cession of a colony to her as the price of her active co-operation in the continental war; but to the principle of guaranteeing what we had no right to guarantee, the permanent possession of that to which the right had not been established by treaty. The right hon. gentleman then offered a few remarks on the mode in which the sense of parliament could be taken on a subject of this description: and concluded by condemning a part of the conduct of ministers; but stating at the same time that he could not think it right to record that portion of the right hon. gentleman's amendment which in a complicated manner referred to the actions of our allies.

Lord Castlereagh replied, that as to the doubt upon which the right hon. gentleman laid the greatest stress,-whether the engagement did or did not amount to a guarantee, he was surprised that such a doubt should enter into a mind so well disciplined in diplomatic matters as that of the right hon. gentleman. He could assure him, however, that no such doubt was in the mind of the Swedish government, as the question of guarantee or not guarantee had been fully discussed in the negociation, and this government had expressly refused to guarantee. (Hear, hear.) Russia indeed, had engaged with Sweden not only to furnish an army to assist in the occupation of Norway, but also to guarantee the possession of it. As to Guadaloupe, we were to give it up to Sweden, but we did not guarantee the permanent possession of it. The king of Sweden was only put in the shoes of his Majesty; the island was to be ceded to him; and although we hoped that he might retain it, there was no guarantee. It was natural, however, to suppose, that two powers who fought together would treat together, and that each would be anxious to obtain for its ally the best terms that circumstances would admit of. We were bound not to oppose the conquest of Norway, but to

exert ourselves for the common interest. With regard to the waver of Norway, it had been made by general Hope, Mr. Thornton, and a Swedish minister, with full powers and officially enabled to come to a conclusive arrangement on that point. As to the Crown Prince venturing a cooperation on the continent now, which he thought dangerous last year, it must be supposed that after the event of the last campaign, he did not apprehend the influence of France over Denmark to be so great this year as it was at that period.

Mr. Whitbread said he had not, in the worst times of the French Revolution, heard arguments more hostile to good government, than those which had fallen from the right hon. gentleman this evening. As well might France say that Ireland was disaffected from the government of this country, and that, therefore, she was warranted in endeavouring to effect the junction of that country to Spain, as we were warranted in saying that Norway was not well affected to Denmark, and, therefore, that we were entitled to enter into a treaty to separate her from Denmark, and to render her subject to Sweden. He had come down to the House, full of all those prejudices against the treaty which it was naturally calculated to produce; and though the noble lord (Castlereagh) had made what he might call an exceedingly good speech, he had not taken the sting out of it, nor enabled him (Mr. Whitbread) to say that he did not still condemn the treaty. We had now been at war for twenty years, in the struggle in which we were now engaged, and in this struggle we had acted various parts, and the part we were now acting was at variance with all our former professions. He then took a short view of the conduct of Russia in possessing herself of Finland. Taking advantage of the imbecility of Sweden, she had conducted herself in the basest manner towards that government, to which, imbecile and insane as it was, the ministers of that day consigned a great armament. Russia was not willing to atone and her stipulation with Sweden was one of mere barter:

we keep Finland, and give you Norway." If Russia would have restored Finland to Sweden, would there have been a single question about Norway? We had seen Russia, without complaint or remonstrance on our part, in the basest manner, deprive Sweden, whom we now jointly pretended to regard as a friend, of her territory.

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The time had now come that Russia was afraid of the encroachments of France-it then became necessary for her to endeavour to make a friend of Sweden; but to do so, she did not say that she would restore to Sweden Finland, but that she would assist Sweden in wresting Norway from Denmark. The noble lord had spoken tauntingly and slightingly of the Danes, of whose injuries the hon. member could never think without the deepest regret; but we had often measured our strength with them, and even lord Nelson acknowledged that there were no harder battles fought than those in which the Danes were engaged. The attack upon Copenhagen had been defended on the plea of the secret article of the treaty of Tilsit, and yet the armament there employed had sailed six days before the nature of that secret article was known. It was to be observed, too, that Denmark must feel more indignant against this country than against any other power in Europe. The count Bernstorff, in the late negociations, had demanded the restitution. of the Danish fleet, and who, when this was refused, was the colleague of the noble lord opposite, but lord Sidmouth, who had declared by a motion, recorded in the House of Lords, that it was his opinion, that they ought to be returned as an act of justice; and that to effect the pacifica tion of Europe, without first doing it, would be most unjustifiable. Yet this was stated to be an insulting proposition when made to the present ministers! They then objected to the proposition that Norway should be guaranteed to Denmark; but did the noble lord think that more unreasonable than it would have been in him, in a similar case where England was a party, and where he was her minister, to have stipulated that Ireland should be guaranteed to this country. He conceived the present treaty to be a most unworthy act of diplomacy. It had been said that, after all, Sweden was not able to stir a step in the common cause; but he had just read an official bulletin, without date, importing that the Swedes had entered Brunswick; was it true? [Lord Castlereagh said, he did not know to what the hon. gentleman alluded.] Mr. Whitbread then read the news from an evening paper, which said, after stating that the allies had beaten the French at Halberstadt, taken 14 pieces of cannon, and en tered Brunswick, that lieutenant general

Tettenborn had put himself in communication with the Swedes, and that he had 10,000 men under his orders. [Lord Castlereagh said that the Swedes were not engaged in this victory.] So then, (said Mr. Whitbread) there were no Swedes engaged in point of fact, and this bulletin was perhaps only issued for the purposes of to-night's debate. The hon. member would not detain the House longer than to observe upon the noble lord's panegyric upon the Prince Royal of Sweden. That nation had followed an example set by this country, of sending from the throne a being unfit by folly and mismanagement to reign, by a revolution without bloodshed or the disturbance of property; and he was happy to find that the founder of the new dynasty in Sweden was a man of so mild a disposition, and one who "bore his faculties so meekly." The noble lord could form no expectations of what any crowned head could do, but in the praises of Bernadotte, he spoke with perfect confidence. He was happy to hear the person alluded to was so deserving of commendation; but he would rather not have seen him a party to such a treaty as the present, to which he (Mr. Whitbread) could not give his support.

Mr. Canning rose to move as an amendment, that while the House assured his royal highness the Prince Regent that they would without delay take his most gracious message into consideration, they must request of his Royal Highness to cause inquiry to be made as to the nature of our engagements with Sweden, relating to the conquest of Norway, in the event of the return of peace.

The Speaker said the amendment already before the House must be disposed of.

Mr. Ponsonby continued of opinion, that nothing could make amends to the character of this country for the adoption of such a treaty as the present.

The House divided on the original motion. For the Motion 115; For the Amendment 224; Majority against Mr. Ponsonby's motion-109.

The House again divided on Mr. Canning's Amendment.-For the original Amendment 225; For Mr. Canning's Amendment 121; Majority in favour of the original Amendment-104.

The House then went into a committee, when the vote was agreed to, and the Report ordered to be received on Monday.

HOUSE OF LORDS.
Monday, June 21.

LOAN BILL.] On the motion for the third reading of this Bill,

The Earl of Lauderdale could not permit it to pass their lordships' House, without making one remark upon the interest which was attached to this loan of twenty seven millions. He had observed, that taking the average interest of loans for a series of years, the interest of this exceeded all former ones, he believed, by 10s. per cent. This was a subject well deserving serious consideration; for if so great an increase took place this year, what might not be the consequences of such increases in future years. He should have expected that the noble earl would have explained the cause of this alteration, in the terms of contract; still it was not his intention to say, that this loan could be procured on better terms; for in fact they were better than, from all circumstances considered, he should have thought ministers would have obtained.

The Earl of Liverpool did not intend to say much in explanation of the subject, to which the noble earl had confined his observations; but if attention were paid to the magnitude of loans, it would be found that the interest often varied according to the amount. A large loan, like the present, being five millions more than the greatest loan of last session, would necessarily carry with it a higher interest, on account of the difficulty which varied with their amount. But, under all the circumstances, he would say, that the present was effected on as good terms as any former Joan. Indeed the noble earl had admitted that the terms exceeded his own expectations. In addition, also, to the reason he had assigned on account of the magnitude, it was also to be considered that the times had their effect upon transactions of this nature. They were affected by the state of the commercial world, and it would be recollected that we had not perfectly recovered from the consequences of those continental measures which at one time were adopted by the enemy. Besides, it was not always true that a loan was pro cured on good terms, because those terms were low. He thought it consistent with the terms of a loan that they should be not only advantageous to the government, but also to the public, and they ought to be such as were fair to all parties.

The Earl of Lauderdale` would not say

what might really be the case of this increase of interest; he had, however, his own opinions upon that subject. But he would never agree to one of the reasons assigned by the noble earl, that it resulted from any effect of that continental system to which he had alluded. He should be extremely sorry to find any such belief in the world; he should regret that the people of the continent could be brought to conclude that Great Britain had been injured by the measures which were adopted by the enemy against her com merce. The fact was indeed otherwise; for he could shew in that period, that the exports and imports had considerably increased. It was, therefore, clear to his mind, that the reason assigned by the noble earl, in this respect, had not been any cause for the disadvantageous terms of the present loan.

The Bill was then read a third time, and passed.

VACCINATION BILL.] Lord Boringdon presented a Bill for more effectually preventing the spread of infection from the small pox. His lordship observed, that though this country had the honour of originating the discovery of vaccination, it had benefited less from it than any other country in which vaccination had been carried into practice. This had arisen from prejudices amongst the people against the practice of vaccination; and thus, whilst in other countries the variolous disorder had been exterminated, it appeared by the bills of mortality of last year, that there had been no less than 1,200 deaths by it in London and its suburbs. At the same time to prohibit altogether variolous inoculation, would be perhaps considered too strong a measure; he had, therefore, framed a Bill, with provisions to prevent the spreading of the infection of the small pox, in the committee on which he should be happy to agree to any amendments that might be thought more adequately to effect the desired object.

The Bill was read a first time and ordered to be printed.

EAST INDIA COMPANY'S AFFAIRS.] The Earl of Buckinghamshire moved the House to go into a Committee on the East India Resolutions.

The Marquis of Lansdowne had expected that the noble earl would have gone into a detail upon the question, but he should

ported that the Committee had gone through the Resolutions, and the earl of Liverpool moved that the Report be received to-morrow.

The Marquis of Lansdowne stated his opinion, that for their lordships to proceed to an immediate determination on this important question, was to preclude themselves from the discharge of their legislative duty. The present measure was not like those which were generally left to the end of a session, a vote of credit, or the consolidation of the stamp duties. Or it would be a vote of credit to ministers, which would amount to an abdication and delegation of their legislative character. If a simple proposition had been brought before the House, for instance, either to continue the charter exactly as it was, or to throw open the trade altogether, then indeed they might have come to a more immediate decision on such a broad and general principle. But when we looked at the Resolutions, we found them including all principles, and adopting none, partly consisting of monopoly, and partly of free trade, partly of arbitrary government, and partly of a system of liberty; partly of an army dependent on the crown, and partly independent of it; Resolutions, in short, which reminded him of Mr. Burke's description of a certain ministry, a diversified mosaic, with here a piece of white stone, and here a piece of black. If it was ultimately found necessary to adopt a system of such opposite and conflicting interests, it would depend upon their lordships' wisdom to adjust and combine them into a settled and consistent form of government. The question was still more important, from the peculiar crisis of the times in which we lived; when the greatest alterations were every day taking place, and when no one could foresee into what form the waves would settle that agitated the face of Europe. His lordship then proceeded to animadvert on several points contained in the Resolutions, which he thought required the most deliberate consideration of the House, before they could decide upon them; the selection of the ports to which merchants should be allowed to import Indian merchandize in this country-the system of granting licences to trade in India-the question of the China monopoly, which did not appear to him to be justified even by the same colour of reason as that of the India trade namely, a probable danger to the existing government-the

collection of the revenue-the army regulations with respect to India-the sending out missionaries-and many other topics of the utmost importance, and at the same time of the utmost delicacy. His radical objection to the proposed plan was, that it appeared to be a system of compromise, which, while it retained the monopoly of the India Company, where it was most valuable, affected to hold out to the country the advantages of a free trade. He feared that this promise was a fallacious one, and that in a country governed by an arbitrary sovereign, and that arbitrary sovereign itself a trader, monopoly must either overturn the free trade, or that, in the struggle between both, the whole system might be endangered. Feeling that the future state of India, would constitute either the shame or glory of the government and the legislature, the imperishable monument of their wisdom, or the melancholy memorial of their folly and precipitation, he should move, as an amendment, that the Report be received this day three months, instead of tomorrow.

Lord Melville said the objections of the noble marquis would be well founded, if this was the first time the subject had been brought before them. But in fact it was several months since the Resolutions had in substance been proposed to them, and they had acquired all the information on the subject which it was possible to collect. Their inquiries had advanced with the season. He thought that more consideration would have been required, if, as the noble marquis suggested, it had been proposed to throw open the trade altogether, than now, when the object of government was to continue the existing system under certain modifications. The principle of the Resolutions was to carry into effect the plan of 1793, and to remove the unforeseen impediments, which, in the present constitution of the Company, were found to interfere with its execution. His lordship contended that it was right to continue the monopoly of the China trade, because we had no controul over the government of China, and, therefore, no power to remedy any abuses that might take place. Many complaints had been made that the period for which the charter was to be renewed was too long, but those who urged this opinion seemed to forget that the experiment could not be fairly tried in a shorter time. In the speech addressed by the noble marquis his lordship