00] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1813. 



believed there was still a Danish 

 minister at Petersburgh ; there cer- 

 tainly had been one after the 3rd 

 of March. What an argument 

 would it afford for universal rob- 

 bery, if a weak power was to be 

 despoiled on the principle of this 

 treaty ! The Prince Royal had said 

 that Norway was a necessary ac- 

 cession to him, and that he could 

 undertake no expedition to the 

 continent without this security 

 from the designs of Denmark. 

 Nothing of this is effected. Nor- 

 way and Denmark have become 

 his enemy, but he has got Guada- 

 loupe and a million a-year, and ail 

 danger vanishes. By the treaty 

 with Russia, Sweden was bound 

 to furnish a certain force to co- 

 operate in Germany, but not till 

 15,000 Russians should inarch 

 against Norway, at a time when 

 the greatest army ever assembled 

 was marching to Moscow. It 

 might be said, it was not Uieir bu- 

 siness to canvas enuagements be- 

 tween two foreign nations ; but 

 when these were referred to in 

 order to justify the excessive en- 

 gagements we had entered into, 

 they should be considered with 

 relation to the principles and policy 

 of these nations. The indemnity 

 to be offered to Denmark was re- 

 markable. It has been asserted 

 that she must necessarily be depend- 

 ant on France, whilst her territo- 

 ries were contiguous to the north 

 of Germany; yet it was in Ger- 

 many that she was to receive her 

 indemnification. His lordship spoke 

 in terms of warm encomium on 

 the efforts which Russia had made 

 to secure her independence ; but, 

 he asked, was not that principle 

 as sacred when applied to Norway; 

 was her independence to be ex- 



tinguished, and her people to be 

 conveyed against their will to the 

 rule and obedience of another so- 

 vereign ? How we could reconcile 

 the spoliation and dismemberment 

 settled by this treaty, with our own 

 policy with respect to the conti- 

 nent as set forth in our declara- 

 tions against the infringements and 

 violations of France, he should 

 leave the noble earl to decide. He 

 understood that this cession was 

 made a sine qua non, and that 

 Denmark had no option, but either 

 to cede Norway with a good will, 

 or to have it taken from her by 

 force. If there were now a nego- 

 ciation for peace, Great Britain 

 could no longer speak of the re- 

 establishment of the ancient states 

 of Europe, if she was pledged to 

 the dismemberment of one of the 

 oldest. After various other ob- 

 jections to the treaty, urged by his 

 lordship with great force and elo- 

 quence, he concluded with mov- 

 ing by way of anaendment a long 

 address to the Prince Regent, the 

 substance of which was, to express 

 their deep regret and sorrow at 

 the principles on which it was 

 formed, principles irreconcileable 

 with the laws of nations, and the 

 true feelings of national honour 

 and public morality ; it also re- 

 flected on the cession of Guada- 

 loupe as altogether unwarranted, 

 and on the subsidy, as inconsistent 

 with the Bnancial difficulties un- 

 der which the country was labour- 

 ing; and it concluded with a re- 

 quest to his Royal Highness to 

 suspend the execution of the 

 treaty. 



The Earl of Harrovibi/ made a 

 reply, which was chiefly a repeti- 

 tion of the arguments used by lord 

 Liverpool. 



I 



