NORWAY. (Hansard, 2 May 1814)

Mr. C. W. Wynn
rose to move for some papers respecting the situation of Norway, to the production of which he understood there would be no objection. The hon. gentleman then moved, that there should be laid before the House, An account of all sums of money paid 632 to the government of Sweden, in consequence of the Treaty entered into between that country and this, signed March 3, 1813.—An account of the number of troops employed by the government of Sweden in the late campaign, in conformity with its engagements with this country, so far as the same can be ascertained from official documents;—The date of the surrender of the island of Guadaloupe by this country, and of the occupation thereof by the king of Sweden; and, Copies of all orders issued from the Admiralty, for the blockade of the coast of Norway. In submitting this motion to the House, he wished to ask, whether any negociation respecting Norway was now going on; or whether, from the hostile measure of starving them into a compliance with the demands of Sweden, which had been adopted, there was no room left for negociation?—In the union which was proposed between Norway and Sweden, it was stated that it should take place with every regard to the happiness of the people of Norway; and the first fruits of this was the system of starvation to which he had alluded. He had further to ask, why the treaty of peace with Denmark had not been produced?

§ Mr. Horner
observed, addressing himself to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, that he had a few evenings since asked, whether his Majesty's government had, in the general order for the release of prisoners of war in this country, made any distinction with regard to the Danish prisoners? The right hon. gentleman (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) then said, he did not know of any such distinction; and, indeed, as he (Mr. Horner) understood we were in relations of peace with the crown of Denmark, he was not disposed to believe that such a distinction had existed. He had since, however, received an assurance, that an order had been issued by the Transport Board to detain the Danish prisoners of war. This was a subject on which he thought the House of Commons ought not to be left in doubt; he trusted, therefore, that the right hon. gentleman would now answer, whether such really was the case or not?

The Chancellor of the Exchequer
said, that with respect to the motion of the hon. gentleman (Mr. C. W. Wynn), he was not aware of any objection to the production of the information he required, as far as it 633 could be given from official documents. As to the question, whether any negociations were now going on with respect to Norway, he had no difficulty in saying that such negociations were pending.—With respect to the non-production of the Treaty of Peace with Denmark, he begged to observe, that before it could with propriety be laid before the House, it should be regularly exchanged with that court. This had not yet been done; but as soon as it had, that Treaty would be added to the other documents on the table of the House. He had only to add, what he had before stated, that he knew of no distinction between the Danish and other prisoners of war; except that he understood a gentleman had arrived upon that subject from the Danish government; in consequence of whose interference some little delay had taken place: but he knew of no other cause of detention.

§ Mr. Whitbread
said, he was happy to hear from the right hon. gentleman that negociations were still carrying on respecting Norway. He was happy, not for Norway as a power, but for Norway as a people. The case of Norway, he believed, was not much understood in this country; it was one, however, worthy of the most serious and solemn consideration. They had been told, that the ratifications of the Treaty between England and Denmark had not yet been exchanged; but they had not been told why. For himself, he found it difficult to imagine a reason, when he reflected on the distance between the two countries. Not only, however, were the ratifications unexchanged, but the treaty had not even found its way into the usual channels of intelligence in this country—he meant the daily journals. He had himself been utterly ignorant of its stipulations, till very lately, that a copy of it passed into his hands; and upon examining them, he found the second article provided that "all prisoners of war should be given up, en masse, immediately after the ratification." Here then was the proper explanation, which the right hon. gentleman might have given in reply to the question that had been put respecting the Danish prisoners; but, instead of this, they were told that a person had arrived from Denmark, with powers to concert the return of those prisoners. Were they to understand, that a sort of Veto had been put upon the exchange of them by the court of Denmark; or, was there to be a distinction made between Danish and 634 Norwegian prisoners, and was the commissary come over to separate the one from the other? By another article of the Treaty it was stipulated, that recourse was not to be had to force, for effecting the annexation of Norway to Sweden, unless the court of Denmark should not join the northern alliance. Really, therefore, looking at the present situation of things, at a moment when we are applauding the magnanimity of the allied powers, in every other transaction, and when we are rejoicing in the effects of that wise, moderate and liberal policy, which they have adopted, it is melancholy to think that so bright a scene should be clouded, that the lustre of such achievements should be tarnished by a spot like this: that we should be engaged to starve a nation into submission to Sweden, whom, as a people, they detest, and whom they are resolved to resist to the last extremity. If, according to the Treaty between this country and Sweden, we are bound to accomplish the cession of Norway, and if the Norwegians must be transferred like sheep from one master to another; surely, by the official and solemn surrender made by the Danish government, that end had been accomplished, and they had now, in fact, become the subjects of Sweden. The question then resolved itself into this: whether the House would sanction the government of this country in aiding Sweden to starve a people into submission to her power and rule; they having, in fact, been transferred, as far as it was in the power of Denmark to make the transfer. When all the papers that would be moved for should be laid before them, it would be seen, whether the stipulations entered into by Sweden had been so performed by her as to call upon England for what she was now doing, in co-operating to produce a measure so detestable. He should be most happy to learn, that the negociations now pending had rendered it unnecessary. When the Swedish commissioners entered Norway, their first demand was, that the arms, ammunition, and fortresses of the Norwegians should be surrendered. This demand was instantly resisted. He knew it had been said, that this resistance was the act of a single individual, who was intriguing to secure the possession of Norway to himself; but that the people of Norway were universally desirous of being incorporated with Sweden, and taken under her protection. From all the inquiry, however, that he had made, and from all 635 the information produced by that inquiry, the inhabitants of Norway, a patient, brave, and enterprising people, were resolved, as one man, to sacrifice their lives in the struggle, rather than submit. This sentiment pervaded every part of the country, from north to south, and the peasantry had already armed, and were suffering the most dreadful privations. In fact, the voluntary sacrifices of the peasants at this time were astonishing, and scarcely credible—they subsisted upon dirt, and such things as every other human creature would revolt at; and were determined that Norway should become a desart, ere they would submit to the Swedish yoke. And under whose auspices was all this carried on? Under those of a great captain, who had been elected to the high situation which he occupied; and who, having thus owed his elevation to the choice of a people, entered into a compact with other nations to deliver to him another people who had no choice with respect to their government. He hoped, for the sake of humanity, for the sake of that great person who had achieved so much for the deliverance of Europe, for the honour of this country, for the honour of government, whose steps with respect to foreign relations he had from a certain period been most happy to applaud, that ministers would be able to extricate themselves from the difficulties in which they seemed involved on the subject; and if not, he hoped he should be able to persuade the House of Commons, on an examination and comparison of the stipulations of the different treaties, that the government and the country were in no way bound to be the abettors of this most disgraceful attempt. At present, he would not further trouble the House. He should be very glad to hear from the right hon. gentleman, why the Danish Treaty had not been ratified, and whether any commissioner had been sent from Denmark to make a selection between the Danish and Norwegian prisoners, in order that the one might be retained and the other set at liberty. Before he sat down he begged to recall the attention of the House to the debate on the Swedish Treaty last year; in the course of which a right hon. gentleman, whom he did not then see in his place, asked, whether the terms of it were to be interpreted into a guarantee of the possession of Norway to Sweden? The answer was, No; and more than that, a noble lord, in remarkable mode of expression, 636 observed, that the right hon. gentleman who put the question ought to be better disciplined in diplomatic terms, than to suppose that the Treaty could be interpreted into such a guarantee. The fact was, that no tie existed by which the country was bound, or which called upon the House to sanction, the publication in the Gazette of Saturday last.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer
observed, that it could not be expected he should be prepared to answer all the questions that had been put to him. With respect to the Treaty with Sweden, it was one which last year had received the approbation of parliament. The House would recollect, that the Treaty between Russia and Sweden was the key-stone of that glorious confederacy by which such signal benefits to Europe had been achieved. For our part, we had done nothing in the course of the whole of the proceedings, but in the strictest concert with our allies, and which we had not been unanimously called on by them to do. It was perfectly true, that we had not engaged to guarantee Norway to Sweden, after the cession of if by Denmark; but that cession had not taken place. It would be improper for him to go more particularly into this subject at present; but he desired that the House would suspend their judgment upon it, until the whole case came before them. The hon. gentleman opposite had been greatly misinformed. It was by no means true, that from one end of Norway to the other there existed a spirit of resistance to the Swedish government. It was equally unfounded, that no liberal offer had been made to Norway on her annexation to Sweden. On the contrary, a more generous offer had been made than in any other case of cession that had occurred in the history of the world. With respect to the causes that had led to the rejection of this offer, the present was not the proper time to communicate them to parliament. As to the Danish commissioners, he was not aware that any officer from Denmark, with such an object as that ascribed to him, was in the country.

§ Mr. Whitbread
asked, whether the offer of a constitution, or of a participation in the Swedish constitution (which the right hon. gentleman had chosen to characterise as the most liberal offer that had ever been made to a nation in the history of the world) was not preceded by a demand to the Norwegians to deliver up their fortresses and arms? He would also ask, if in 637 a country possessed of not more than 7 or 800,000, or at most under a million of inhabitants, 30 or 40,000 persons were not actually embodied to resist the annexation of Norway to Sweden?