HL Deb 28 July 1807 vol 9 c972
Lord Hawkesbury

brought down a Message from the King, announcing that his majesty had entered into subsidiary engagements with the king of Sweden; that his majesty's minister at the court of Prussia had advanced 100,000l. to the Prussian government; and that his majesty had furnished arms for the Prussian army, to the amount of 200,000l. more. (See the message in the proceedings of the house of commons.) His lordship moved, that the message be taken into consideration to-morrow. This motion gave rise to a short conversation. Lord Holland and lord Lauderdale expressed their surprise that so short a time was afforded, and thought that parliament could not be expected to give their approbation to the arrangements with Sweden, until the treaty was produced. Lord Hawkesbury remarked, that all that Would be proposed by the address to-morrow, would be to return thanks to his majesty's for his gracious communication. His majesty's ministers certainly did not mean to call on their lordships to approve the stipulations, the conditions of which were not yet known to them. Lord Lauderdale said, that at least the amount of the subsidies ought to have been mentioned in the message; that was a species of information which he under- stood was usually given in messages of this kind. In the message relative to the loan to the emperor of Germany last war, the amount of that loan was expressed. The message was fixed for consideration to-morrow.—Lord Hawkesbury delivered another message from his majesty, (see the house of commons,) recommending it to parliament to make provision for such measure as might be necessary to meet any emergencies during the present crisis. In reply to a question from lord Holland, lord Hawkesbury said, that it was merely the usual message delivered at the close of every session, in order to form the foundation of a vote of credit. This message was also ordered to be taken into consideration to-morrow.