BELGIC NEGOTIATIONS. (Hansard, 9 August 1831)

§ Viscount Palmerston
said, that he begged to submit to the consideration of his hon. friend, whether, under the peculiar circumstances of the present moment, it would not be expedient to postpone the motion of which he had given notice. The grounds on which he ventured to propose that his hon. friend should take this course were, first, a circumstance which was known to all the world—the extraordinary and critical state of those affairs to which the intended motion referred. It was well known, that the king of the Netherlands had decided, without any previous notice, to commence hostilities. As soon as information of this circumstance was received in London, a communication was made to the king of the Netherlands, to which, as yet, no answer had been received. The Government would, therefore, be placed in a most difficult position by the discussion to which the motion of his hon. friend would lead. He did not, at the present moment, know whether the king of the Netherlands would recommence negotiations which would lead to peace, or continue his warlike demonstrations. If the negotiations should be continued, as he could not but hope they would, the five Powers concerned in them would naturally act as mediators between the hostile parties. Under these circumstances, he submitted to his hon. friend whether it would be convenient, with respect to the course of these negotiations, to drag him, as the organ of one of the five Powers in that House, into discussions involving opinions as to which of the parties might have been right, and which wrong? Such a course must be attended with inconveniences, which his hon. friend would be the first man to regret. He, therefore, submitted to the consideration of his hon. friend, whether it would not be advisable to postpone his Motion, on the grounds which he had stated, namely, the critical state of affairs generally; and next, that until the Government knew what course the king of the Netherlands would pursue, the Motion would place Ministers in circumstances of difficulty which he really thought hard. As far as his per- 1045 sonal convenience was concerned, he could assure his hon. friend, that he was just as ready to enter into the discussion then as he would be at any other period. He wished the Motion to be postponed on public grounds alone.

§ Sir Richard Vyvyan
said, he would not conceal that his intention was to have attempted to lead his noble friend into discussion, which would tend to explain the conduct of the British Government, but he admitted, that the fact stated by his noble friend, namely, that he had not as yet received an answer to the communication he had made to the king of the Netherlands, was of sufficient importance to induce him to postpone his Motion, though it would be for only a very short period. Nevertheless, he could not conceal from his noble friend, that he thought that the king of the Netherlands had been most unfairly used, as he would attempt to prove, when the conduct of the Conference should come fully before the House. Hitherto the king of the Netherlands had not been defended in that House. That monarch had been attacked and calumniated, and he wished, therefore, that an opportunity should at length come, when the charges which had been brought against him might be investigated, so that it might appear whether he was the tyrant which he had been described to be, or whether, on the contrary, he had not acted as an enlightened monarch, anxious to promote the welfare of his people. In consequence of what had fallen from his noble friend, and expecting that a communication would take place almost immediately, between the government of the Hague and the Conference, he would consent to postpone his motion to Thursday.

§ Lord Stormont
said, he had heard that the French had laid an embargo on the Dutch vessels in Dunkirk. As that act was an act of war, he wished to know whether the Government had received any information on the subject.

§ Viscount Palmerston
replied, that he had received no official information on the subject.

§ Captain Boldero
wished to know whether the Government of England had been so short-sighted as to overlook the possibility of the Dutch commencing hostilities? It was evident, that both the Netherlands and France had been prepared for the event, for they had each marched their armies,

Lord Milton
begged the hon. Member to consider the inconvenience which must result from provoking a discussion on a subject of such magnitude, and involving questions of the most delicate nature.

§ Captain Boldero
said, that the magnitude of the subject was his best excuse for calling the attention of the House to it. He wished to know, whether there was not a distinct understanding between France and England, that, in case of the Dutch entering Belgium, those two Powers should unite to drive them out.