164 
declared in this house, ‘ that there 
was nothing that indicated the re- 
newal of hostilities with France, 
Look to the events of that period, 
as collected in your papers upon 
your table; recollect the public cir- 
cumstances of Europe at that time ; 
and then say whether ministers 
were justified in what they asserted. 
At that very moment, there is 
scarce a circumstance whtich is now 
declared to be a cause of war, or 
coHectively, with others, to form a 
cause of war, which did not exist 
in its full force. Not one of the 
articles of the treaty of Amiens, 
had been executed by France.— 
Parma was annexed to her domini- 
ons by public proclamation, dated 
the 23d of Oct. The system of 
commercial agents which has justly 
been made a cause of war, existed 
in full force, at the period I allude 
to. With the exception of one only, 
every instance of ageression, com- 
plained of, as being committed 
by France against the commerce of 
this country, had occurred long be- 
fore the 23d Novy. It appears 
from the printed papers, that from 
June, to Oct, 1802. Mr. Merry re- 
peatedly informed ministers of the 
different acts of violence commit- 
ted against our merchants and 
their ships. On the 25th of Oct. 
Mr. Merry informed government of 
the most violent and flagrant breach 
of treaty that ever existed, the 
case of the ship George ; when the 
ship was condemned with all her 
cargo, because her captain had on’ 
board, ‘for his own private use, 
knives, forks, and plates, of Bri- 
tish manufacture. October the 
13th is’ the date of Mr. Liston’s 
first dispatch on a subject which is 
made another ground for war— 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 
1803. 
the occupation of Tolland by 
French troops. On October the 
29th, his second dispatch is sent, 
notifying that the French troops 
had begun their march out of the — 
Batavian territories; but that, in-— 
stead of evacuating them, they had 
halted on the frontiers, and occu- ~ 
pied Breda, Bois-le-Duc, and Ber- 
gen-op-zoom. 
appeared upon the subject, in the 
papers first laid upon your table ; 
but the noble secretary of state, 
finding that more information was 
wanting, produced, after much 
seach yamong the pigeon-holes of 
his bureau, another dispatch from 
Mr. Liston, dated a few days after 
the last, in which he says, that the 
Batavian minister at Paris had made 
a remonstrance on the subject of 
the occupation of his country by 
the French, and that he had writ- 
ten a most able letter to the French 
minister for foreign affairs; that in 
consequence of this most persua-— 
sive and most argumentative letter, 
the first consul has been pleased to 
do—what? To cause the French 
troops to evacuate the country? 
No! but to direct them to remain 
where they were, in the occupation — 
of the barrier towns of Holland, in 
possession of the strongest fortresses 
on the frontier, by which means 
they had the key of the country in 
their hands; and this at a period, 
when both the Batavian and the 
English governments, as well as 
Mr. Liston, knew, that the project 
of France at that instant, was to 
sjeze upon those towns, for the pur- 
pose of ultimately making Holland — 
an integral part of the French re- 
public. And Mr. Liston concludes 
by saying, that, upon this occasion 
it was thought adyiseable to humour 
the: 
- 
FRE eK yt Fairs 
This was all that | 
- oes 
