was now admitted to be tranquil, and therefore he could see no change in her situation which would be likely to induce the right honourable gentleman to put an end to this odious measure. There could be no end to it, at this rate, during the present war, and he deprecated its adoption the more, as it would furnish the French government with the means of sorely annoying this Country, by depriving the people of their liberty; for it would have nothing more to do than to promul gate the existence of an Irish or an English committee also; and, upon that, it seemed, combined with the popular discontent which such measures must always produce, an English minister may found a reason for investing himself and his friends with the extraordinary power of suspending the constitution of England. Lord De Blaquire argued, that it was better to prevent guilt than to punish it, and gave it as his opinion, that had the habeas corpus act been suspended previously to the rebellion in 1803, that calamitous event would have never happened. Mr. Alexander supported the measure, as one that would be acceptable to the loyal majority of the people of Ireland. Mr. Martin (of Galway) said, that had the question merely been the athirmative or negative of a suspension of the habeas corpus act in Ireland, he should have voted for the former, on account of the knowledge he had of the situation of the country; but as the middle course of an enquiry had been proposed, he was determined to support it. Mr. Dawson said, that as a representative of the Irish people, he must oppose the original motion, unless there were previously laid before the house public and official documents, sufficient to furnish a parliamentary ground for the necessity of the measure. On the question being put, there appeared for the original motion 112, for the amendment 32: majority 79. A debate of the highest importance, and to which the attention of the country was very anxiously turned, came on in both houses of parliament, on Monday, February 11th, upon the subject of the rupture with the court of Madrid. În the house of lords, previously to entering upon the main business of the day, earl St. Vincent availed himself of the full attendance of their lordships, to demand of the noble lords on the ministerial bench, amongst whom he saw some friends of his, whether it ever had been, or was now, in the contemplation of any of his majesty's ministers, to institute any enquiry into his conduct while at the head of the board of admiralty? He was induced to ask this, in consequence of something said by a right honourable gentleman, at the head of his majesty's councils in another place, and he implored of the present government to give him an opportunity of disclosing the source and spring of every action of his private and public life, and especially while at the admiralty board. Lord Hawkesbury replied, that he was not aware of any intention to institute any such enquiry as the noble lord alluded to. The order of the day being then read, for taking into consideration the papers relative to the discussions with Spain, Lord Lord Mulgrave rose, and after stating the wish of the government to put the house in possession of every document which could tend to afford the fullest information on the subject, proceeded to draw a comparison be tween the treaty concluded between the French and Spanish branches of the house of Bourbon, in 1761, commonly known by the name of the family compact, and the last treaty between France and Spain, concluded at St. Ildefonso. The former respected the law of nations, in making an equal relative stipulation between the parties; whereas the latter, the stronger power dictated every thing, deprived the weaker power of its sovereignty, and identified it at once with the weaker party. On the late occasion, however, England was desirous, after the rupture with France, to interfere as little as possible with the terms of that treaty, until the war with Spain becoming unavoidable, it became necessary to know how far the court of Madrid held itself bound to adhere to the letter of the stipulations of that treaty, to which the Prince of Peace (the real governor of the country) returned only vague and inconclusive answers. The speech of the noble lord was extended to an extreme length, on account of the numerous references he made to the various docnments upon the table, and the transactions that took place in the different stages of the negociation.] In proof of the moderation and forbearance of the British government, he stated its acquiescence in the substitution of a pecuniary supply by the court of Spain, for the contingent stipulated by treaty, though by a reference to several treaties of subsidy, which he quoted, it would be found, upon calculation, that t amount of the pecuniary supp furnished by Spain, would cover greater number of troops than Spa was able to muster, and was, in fac more than eight times an equivale for the number of men stipulated a the treaty with France. The vig lance of our government, howeve! became the more necessary, when was discovered that French soldier were clandestinely allowed to marc through Spain, and naval armament were to a certain extent going for ward. He then touched on the me naces against our ally Portugal; the sale of prizes in a manner little shor of piracy; the armaments at Ferrol, and the evasive answer of M. d'An. duaga, that they were to suppress an insurrection that had broken out at Ferrol, and the refusal of any satisfactory answer to the demand that Spain should reduce its naval armaments to the state they were in at the breaking out of hostilities between Great Britain and France. court did not even disown the preponderating influence of the French ambassador, M. Bournonville, while it declined to declare the real state of its engagement with France. In short, every thing announced that the court of Madrid was merely temporising till the arrival of its treasure. As the detention of the frigates made no part whatever of this case, he should not have touched upon it at all, if it had not been already adverted to on other occasions. It made no ground of the war, and was not even known at Madrid, till after the departure of the British minister. He averred it to be justifiable by the law of nations, by analogy, and by obvious expediency. With these indisputable grounds of justification on our That side, it afforded matter of satisfac- want of candour in the instructions tion, to reflect that we began this given to our minister at Madrid, unavoidable war with the treasures that he should get all the explavaof Spain in our own ports, instead tion he could from the Spanish miof being employed to support the nister, and give none himself. His contest against us. After having lordship then moved a very long strained every possible nerve for amendment to the address, assuring conciliation, and exhibited every his majesty of their readiness to sup proof of forbearance and modera- port him to the utmost in every tion throughout the whole of these measure to assert the rights, and transactions, he thought himself jus- vindicate the honour of his crown, tified in calling for the unanimous but at the same time conveying the concurrence of their lordships in strongest censure on the negligent the address he had to propose; the and undecided councils which directsubstance of which was to applauded the whole of these proceedings. the wisdom and justice of his majesty's government in the recent transactions with Spain, and more especially the moderation and forbearance which characterized the conduct of his majesty's government, and which was persevered in so long as the same could be done, with regard to the honour of his majesty's crown, and the interests and welfare of his subjects. The address being read, Earl Spencer, in the view which he meant to take of the subject, disclaimed the idea of being actuated by motives of opposition, and was ready to admit that justifiable grounds for going to war with Spain, existed since the first moment of hostilities with France. With this admission, he must also say, that if our government thought proper to wave that right, and connive at Spain's furnishing a pecuniary contingent to France, instead of a supply in kind, it should strictly have defined the extent to which it would have admitted it. Instead, however, of firness, moderation, and can dour, in these transactions, he thought he perceived in them inanity and indecision, and duplicity and Lord Sidmouth, in support of the original address, observed, that one of the greatest advantages this country gained by its moderation in regard to Spain, was that it thereby provided for the safety of our ancient and faithful ally Portugal, at the same time that it was watchful of our national honour, and triymphed in the result of both. Our tardiness was of itself a sufficient proof of our unwillingness to force the Spanish government into a war, and Spain, which must itself be sensible of our patience and forbearance, must be an unwilling coadjutor in a war, though the time was at length arrived when France thought proper to make her break off her neutrality, and compel her to reluctant hostilities with this coun. try. Indeed, so generous was the conduct of this country, that it allowed Spain to assume an unfriendly appearance, without availing itself of it as an immediate cause of war. Having referred to various documents in justification both of his own administration and that of the present ministers, he adverted to the detention of the Spanish frigates, and reminded the noble earl (Spen er) 1 cer) of a similar procceding adopted by the administration of which he was a member, in the detention of the Dutch ships, before any hostilities were declared between the two countries, and the sinking of some of them in the attempt to make them keep up with the convoy by which they had been detained. He lamented that the noble earl should have stigmatized this war in the manner he had done, because such representations tended to clog the efforts of the people of this country, who had moral feelings which must be consulted and satisfied, before the government could expect to derive the full effect of their zeal and patriotism. These, he said, were the grounds upon which he must oppose the amendment. Lord King spoke in favour of the amendment, and considered this rupture as intended by the present ministers to contrast the vigour and energy of their conduct with the incapacity and imbecility with which they reproached the late administration. Finding they could make no impression upon France, they wreaked their vengeance on the more feeble Spaniards, without making any provision for the security of Portugal, which he apprehended we were not now able to protect. The earl of Westmoreland thought his majesty's ministers could not possibly have avoided this war with Spain; and as to their having made it without a previous declaration, it was neither contrary to the law of nations, nor unprecedented in modern and ancient history. Lord Darnley thought that the omission of the formality of a declaration, could only be justified upon grounds that were clear not only to ourselves, but to all Europe; present, however, he feared that y had the opinion of all Europe again us. The house then divided on t amendment - Contents 36- now! contents 114-majority 78. The debate being then resum on the original motion, earl FitTM william proposed an adjournmen which was opposed by lord Hawke bury, who deemed it unnecessar as the question had been pretty ful discussed already. Lord Grenville then rose, and, i a speech of great length, entere into a general examination of the va mass of papers on the table, all which he thought threw but little ligh upon a transaction which reflecte no credit on the administration, an brought great discredit on the cour try itself. There appeared in thes communications nothing but negl gence, inattention, and mystery For the course of 18 months tha these negociations lasted, there ap peared but four dispatches from mi nisters to Mr. Frere at Madrid; and even these were distinguished only. by their containing nothing to the purpose, or by being unintelligible or contradictory. A challenge hac been thrown out that nothing could be brought against ministers for their conduct in this transaction: he accepted that challenge, and was ready to prove, from their own papers, that they were most criminally remiss, silent, and inattentive to all the eager solicitations of the Spanish government to explain their system; that they had even kept their own agent at the court of Madrid igno. rant of their views; that they had neglected every opening that had been made to them for preventing a rupture; that they had, in the first instance, treated the court of Ma Arid with indifference and contempt, without any provocation, and when they had thus finally driven them into the hands of France, that they acted with violence, injustice, and unpardonable precipitancy. In confirmation of these charges, the noble lord contended, from the papers, that though the British minister at Madrid had strongly urged to his majesty's ministers the necessity of treating the court of Spain with care, attention, and respect; had stated the eagerness of that court to come to a good understanding, and represented the cause of England to be then popular with all ranks of people in Spain, yet the Spanish government, goaded as it was all the time by the French government, and in the utmost state of suspense, could, for several months together, obtain from the British ministers no other treatment but that of silent contempt. Spain appeared desirous to connect herself with England, as the means of keeping her out of the hands of France. According to Mr. Frere's letters, the English government and character were popular with the king of Spain, the nobility, the government, the mercanfile body, nay, even with the mob, and this spirit and happy disposition might have been kept up by a system of conciliation. Yet all this produced nothing. Even the Spanish minister here was treated with neglect, and remonstrances neglected. The offer of mediation made by the king of Spain was treated with indifference and scorn; and as France had not negociated during all this time, had the British minister been authorised to have met the Spanish government, France would have been anticipated, instead of being allowed to negoci. ate, as she afterwards did, and upon VOL, XLVII. her own terms. After dwelling at length upon these points, he further observed, that the whole of Mr. Frere's mission was marked by the same kind of remissness in our ministers at home; that he was left for two, four, six, and sometimes for eightmonths together, without any specific instructions, until he was considered by the Spanish ministry as a person not having the confidence of that court by which he was accredited. His lordship then proceeded to state the conditions of the neutrality of Spain to be, that nothing like an armament should go on in any of her ports, nor any British prizes to be condemned and sold in them, and that British ships of war should experience the same treatment as French in all her harbours. After this had been agreed to, the Spanish government were further told, that the contingent in money must not be paid to France without leaving it to the British government to consider it as a cause of war whenever she thought proper to act thereupon. His lordship then touched upon the personal interview between Mr. Frere and the Prince of Peace, and the former having been succeeded by his brother, who was before only secretary, or chargé d'affaires; the latter's demanding explanations which exceeded his instructions, and his departure after it was refused, leaving no accredited minister, at such a crisis, at the court of Spain. After all this, however, the Spanish minister in London, the chevalier D'Anduaga, waited upon the British secretary of state for foreign affairs, and failing to see him, from indisposition, addressed a respectful letter to inform him that, notwithstanding all that had passed, he was ready to nego C. ciate |