STATE ‘PAPERS. 
and that such their omission and neg- 
lect have been highly injurious to 
the public interests. - 
Ath. Resolyed—That the principal 
circumstances which have, in “the 
judgment of his majesty’s ministers, 
rendered it impossible to execute the 
tenth article of the treaty of Amiens, 
must have been known to his ma- 
jesty’s ministers, either before, or 
very soon after, the exchange of its 
ratifications ; which exchange took 
place on the 21st of May. 
That, nevertheless, no steps ap- 
pear to have been taken, until the 
17th of February last, towards ob- 
taining, by discussion or explana- 
tion with the French government, 
the removal of this most important 
difficulty. 
That, so far from taking any such 
steps, his majesty’s ministers made 
repeated applications to that go- 
vernment during the whole of the 
last summer, to accelerate the execu- 
tion of the article, in its present 
shape, by co-operating with his ma- 
jesty in inviting other powers to 
guarantee it. That, in consequence 
of those applications, the guarantee 
of Austria was actually obtained in 
the month of August; and that of 
Russia was jointly solicited by the 
British and Freneh ministers at Pe- 
tersburg, so late as the 25th of No- 
vember last; many months after his 
majesty’s ministers well knew that 
the execution of the said article was 
utterly impracticable. 
That this conduct, alike incon- 
sistent -with wisdom, dignity, and 
_ good faith, was no less detrimental 
to the interests, than prejudicial to 
the character, of the British nation-; 
inasmuch as the favourable oppor- 
tunity for negotiating on this sub- 
ject, while his majesty was still 
im possession of his other conquests, 
653 
was thereby lost, and the discussion 
reserved to a period when a recourse 
to arms constitutes the only means 
by which his majesty can resist the 
unreasonable demands of the enemy, 
and support the just cause of his 
people. 
5th. Resolved—That it appears 
to this house, that, on the 10th of 
October last, counter orders were 
dispatched by his majesty’s govern- 
ment, revoking the orders before 
given for the surrender of the Cape, 
and of the other conquests then held: 
by his majesty; and that the final 
order, by virtue of which his majes- 
ty’s forces actually evacuated the 
Cape, was not sent till the 17th of 
November last. 
6th. Resolved—That, on the said 
17th of November, the hostile spirit 
of France had (in the judgment of 
his majesty’s ministers) already been 
manifested for more than six months, 
by ‘‘ one continued series of aggres- 
sion, violence, and insult,” for which, 
‘¢neither reparation nor redress” 
had, down to that moment, ever 
been obtained. ‘That the offensive 
principle had already been dis- 
tinctly advanced of excluding: his 
majesty from all concern in the af- 
fairs of the continent. That the 
Spanish and other priories had al- 
ready been withdrawn from the or- 
der of Malta; Piedmont, Parma, 
Placentia, and Elba, had been ur- 
justly annexed to France ; Swisser- 
land had been attacked and subju- 
gated; and the tardy and unsup- 
ported remonstrance of his majesty’s 
government, on that subject, had 
been treated with indignity and con- 
tempt. The territory of Holland 
was at that very moment still occu- 
pied by the armies of the French, 
and its internal administration still 
controled by their interference : 
; and 
