dent that in this manner the corps of gen. Spencer had been of considerable service in marching from Seville to Ayamonte, and stopping a portion of Junot's army that was coming to the relief of Dupont. As to the attacks which had been made upon him for not having sent sufficient cavalry with the Expedition, he was ready to strengthen the right hon. gent.'s argument, and to admit, that it was only by accident that any cavalry at all had been attached to it. It was not supposed that cavalry was a proper description of force to send with those floating expeditions, which might be a long time at sea, before they found a favourable opportunity for landing. Some of the cavalry, however, which were in Portugal, had happened to come from the Mediterranean. He should always protest against the notion that we were never to engage an enemy, unless we were equal or superior to him in cavalry. He would ask the House, would they wish to blot out from the page of our history, those brilliant victories which we had gained when much inferior in cavalry? At the glorious battle of Alexandria, sir Ralph Abercrombie had but 150 dragoons, and the French had 2,400 cavalry; and at the battle of Maida, sir John Stuart had no cavalry at all. In the expedition to Portugal, the government had made sufficient provision even of cavalry. Our army would have been superior to the enemy in this respect, if the cavalry which was in Mondego Bay on the 20th (the day before the battle) had landed. The 18th dragoons were also very near. He would allow, however, that if sir Arthur Wellesley had had the cavalry on that day, upon which he routed the French, perhaps more completely than ever they had been routed on a former occasion, [Cries of hear! hear!] the result of that victory would have been still more glorious. Although he was free to confess this, yet he must entirely resist the idea of government having neglected its duty in any particular. He believed the House must now recollect what was the temper of the country at the time that there appeared a delay in the sailing of the expedition under sir A. Wellesley from Cork. Tagus. He could assure the right hon. gent. that for his own part, after having been attacked for four or five months upon this subject, in a mode, that he certainly had not resorted to to defend himself, he should be extremely glad to have an opportunity of making that defence for himself and his majesty's government, and that the fair case should be laid before parliament. He could assure the right hon. gent. also, that although his sagacity might enable him to lay his fingers on some fault in the present government, yet he felt confident that his majesty's ministers could prove to the satisfaction of the House and the country, that they had not been negligent in the great trust which had been reposed in them: and no greater personal favour could be conferred upon him than in giving him the opportunity of defending those measures for which he felt himself so highly responsible. As to the inconsistency which was stated between the disapprobation of his majesty of some parts of the Armistice and Convention, and the joy which his ministers had manifested in the usual manner, on hearing the news of the evacuation of Portugal, he thought this was a charge which might be easily explained. He believed, that every body had heard with joy the brilliant victories of our army, and the delivery of Portugal from the oppression and tyranny of France. If the right hon. gent, himself did not feel joy on those topics mentioned in the Speech, he could not conceive upon what grounds he had concurred in the Address. If, upon the receipt of the news of the deliverance of Portugal, ministers had not thought it proper to announce the intelligence by the usual demonstrations of joy, their silence would have been considered unfair with respect to the generals who negociated the Armistice and Convention. It would have appeared as if the whole weight of ministers and of his majesty's government was against them. It was not at all extraordinary, that his majesty's opinion on a question submitted to a military tribunal, should not be expressed in his Speech from the throne; but if the right hon. gent. chose to seek information in another man Whatever was the enthusiasm which pre-ner, it would not be difficult to obtain it. vailed in the public mind, for the immediate co-operation with the Spaniards, ministers would have been much to blame if they had not acted upon the information which they received from sir C. Cotton of the state of Lisbon and the forts upon the As to the Answer which had been given to the Address of the city of London, he believed the right hon. gent. would find it very hard indeed to persuade the city of London that his majesty's ministers were actuated by any other view in the advice they gave his majesty on that subject, | with joy; but when the terms and con than the sense which they felt of their public duty; and much less that they could have any wish to use language to the city of London which could be conceived harsh or irritating. They did, however, think, that the business had begun to take a complexion of party, and that the city of London had been surprized into that Address, which appeared to take for granted, that there must have been guilt somewhere, and to demand the punishment of the authors. The Answer was in plain but not disrespectful language; and in using such language, his majesty conceived that he was taking the best means of securing the confidence of that city, which had given him so many proofs of its affection. -As to the intention which the right hon. gent. had intimated of bringing forward for separate discussion all the topics upon which he had touched, nothing could be more gratifying to his feelings, than that those subjects should have the fullest discussion in parliament. This was necessary, not only for the justification of ministers, but that the country should feel the confidence which it was necessary that they should have, in the present critical situa ditions of that Convention were considered, it presented another side of the picture, in which there was nothing to be seen but humiliation and disgrace. The noble lord had asked, what, shall we not rejoice at the event of the battle of Vimiera, which caused the evacuation of Portugal by the French ? Yes, he was as ready as the noble lord was to rejoice at that event, and to agree to an Address expressive of that feeling; but he could not agree to that in an unqualified sense, nor indeed did that seem to be expected from the throne, from the manner in which the Speech of his majesty, delivered by the commissioners this day, by the royal command, was worded: for by that speech his majesty himself regrets the termination of the campaign in Portugal, and states that some of the articles are of a nature, of which his majesty has expressed his formal disapprobation. Then, he wished the house to consider the state in which it stood at the present moment. It was called upon to rejoice at the termination of a campaign which had been preceded by a Convention, some of the articles of which had met his majesty's disapproba tion of affairs. He therefore congratulated ❘tion; and this was the more perplexing, the country that parliament was now met, and that those subjects which were so interesting to the feelings of the nation, and to its honour, would soon be fully and fairly discussed. Mr. Whitbread said it was not his intention to go into a general view of the subject which was before the house, upon the Speech from the throne, nor into all the topics that had been brought forward by the noble lord who had just preceded him, a great part of whose speech had been taken up in planning imaginary campaigns, in order to shew how ridiculous they would be. But there were some points to which he could not help adverting; and, first, as to the Convention of Portugal. He wished the house to be quite sure it understood what it was called upon to do in voting this Address; because, from the speech of the noble lord, it appeared, that we were congratulating the throne for that Convention; and as far as it embraced the consideration of the valour and the skill of the gallant officer who commanded, and the steadiness and courage of the men who fought at the battle of Vimiera, the house had indeed good reason and ample matter for rejoicing-it was in that view of it, an event which filled every heart since these articles which had thus, and condemning the light and fanciful manner in which the noble lord spoke of our campaign in Spain. When it was considered that one of the greatest armies which this country had ever sent into the field was now in Spain; that it was under an officer of the first merit in his profession, possessing the confidence of the government and the country, and that, nevertheless, it was under the necessity of retreating; when it was considered, that news had arrived this very day of Buonaparté, with an army three times superior, hovering near it and threatening its right wing; and when it was also considered, that perhaps before the house should break up that night it was not improbable, that intelligence might arrive of still greater calamities, he did not conceive the noble lord was justified in talking so lightly of our operations in Spain. -He must declare, that the country was now coming to that state, whether by the mismanagement of ministers, or by the force of events, that partyconsiderations must cease [cries of hear! hear!] The hour would, however, come, when the house should call on ministers to render an account of the use which they had made of the immense power which had been put into their hands, -power, which, perhaps, if wisely used, might have had the most glorious events. He should rejoice much to find that ministers could clear themselves from any charge of mismanaging the resources of the country, and prove that all the disasters which had recently happened, had proceeded only from that course of events, which was beyond their control. If, however, these disasters should appear to proceed from the misconduct of ministers, he thought the house should demandcondign punishment on their heads. He could not blame the ministers for sending a British force, in the first in stance, to co-operate with the Spaniards; but since then they had had time enough to consider, whether the sending of a British army into Spain was likely to be of any service; or whether, on the contrary, the retreat of it would not do a positive mischief, by disheartening the Spanish Patriots. It was now doubtful whether we had not been proceeding on false information all along, both with respect to Spain and Portugal. Were our troops agreeable to the people of Portugal, or were we not obliged to keep a certain force there, for the purpose of keeping the people quiet, that is, to strike terror into our friends instead of the enemy? Were our troops, or VOL. XII. were they not, welcome to the people of Spain? He had reason to doubt also that fact. It was fit that the country should know it, and he was fearful that a multitude of Spaniards wished success to Buonaparté, rather than to us. We were not now so sure as we formerly thought ourselves, of the feelings of Spain; we were not perfectly content with the reception which we had met with in the different provinces of that country. The marquis de Romana complained of the reception which the inhabitants of the north gave to the French troops, which made it seem as if they would be well content that the French should conquer. Although we must condemn the ambition and injustice of Buonaparté, in his attack upon Spain, yet the means which he pursued for the attainment of his object were extremely judicious. He abolished the Inquisition, feudal rights, and unequal taxation. This was certainly holding out some temptation to the people to acquiesce in the changes which he wished to introduce. Buonaparté's promise of amelioration had unquestionably produced a great temporary effect, although he might do as he pleased hereafter, and was likely enough to be faithless to his promise: in the mean time, the promise had the same effect as if he were sincere in it, since the people believed that he would ameliorate their condition; whereas, the government of England was not connected with any thing like a promise of the reform of any of the evils of the old government, nor with any thing like an amelioration of the condition of the people of Spain. He knew he might be accused of a feeling which he did not feel most assuredly, that of a wish to aid the cause of the enemy by these observations, by raising a clamour against the war, but he must take upon himself all the inconveniences of that risk by stating these things; he felt it to be his duty to state them on the first day of the session, and to speak out as he felt.As to the Address, there were some parts which had his concurrence, and some which had not, although he did not mean to move any amendment. He had no objection to that part of the Address which pledged the house to support his majesty in persevering in a vigorous prosecution of the war, although he thought that unnecessary, because every war must be prosecuted with vigour until there was an end of it. No man was more desirous that himself to prosecute it with vigour, and therefore that part of the Address had his cordial F a concurrence, not only in contemplation of war, but on the eve of negociation for the purpose of obtaining a just and honourable peace. But, if it was to be understood, that, by such an approval of the Address he was to be pledged to any thing like a bellum ad internecionem, he must not only dissent from, but protest against, it. God forbid that we should abandon the Spanish cause while it was possible for us to support it with any prospect of success; but he was far from being sure that the time might not come when we shall have to treat with France after she shall totally have subdued Spain. He, by no means, condemned ministers for not accepting the propositions sent from Erfurth, as there was no man in the country who could admit of the abandonment of Spain as a preliminary to peace; but what he found fault with was, that the country was apt to run wild with cess. gleam of good suc were suc When the Spanish Patriots cessful last summer, nothing was spoken of, or thought of, in this country, but the utter ruin of Buonaparté: and many politicans of the old school were thinking even of the divisions into which France was to be cut up. It was miserable for the country to be led so far by every tide of good success. He was tired of the vaunting expressions which he had been used to hear in that house for the last sixteen years, about the destruction, followed as they uniformly had been by the aggrandisement, of France. Even if the Spaniards had driven the French out of their country, they could have done but little more against the overgrown power of France. He recollected, that at different periods of the war, it had been said that England would never make peace unless this thing and the other was given up by France, and yet we afterwards were ready to treat with her, allowing her to retain her acquisitions. A few weeks after a negociation failed, we were always ready to call the man, with whom we had been content to negociate, an atrocious usurper. He thought that ministers were not only justifiable in refusing to treat on the terms offered at Erfurth, but that they would have been the basest of mankind if they had accepted such a preliminary. He could not, however, avoid regretting that the country had lost so many fair opportunities of negociating a peace, and that it had at ength been reduced to such a foul opporty, that it could not have accepted tum t eternal disgrace. The reason that withou he did not approve of the treaty with Spain was, that England was bound by the engagement she had entered into to do all she could to assist Spain if there had been no treaty, and she could not do any more atter the treaty. She would, however, appear somewhat disgraced in the eyes of the world, by entering into a solemn treaty which she had no means of fulfilling. As to Sweden, whatever we might feel of advantage from the trade we have through that country, he was sure it would be much better for the poor inhabitants of Sweden and Finland that our subsidy of £100,000 per month was removed, and that they were allowed to make such a peace as was suitable to their interests. As to the firmness and magnanimity of the king of Sweden, they were qualities fruitless to us, fruitless to the cause of Spain, and perhaps ruinous to his own subjects. This last consideration detracted considerably from their merit. He would, however agree that it was necessary for us to furnish the succours stipulated in the treaty. With respect to the manner in which sir John Moore was under the necessity of retiring from Sweden, he had no doubt that gallant officer had reasons which would fully justify him in the eyes of all the world, but there was about that transaction a mystery, which it would at some time or other, he should hope, be convenient to reveal.Upon the improving state of our revenue he could not but feel satisfaction; yet whilst expressing that satisfaction he must be perinitted to observe, that the improvement of the revenue was always attended with an increase of the influence of the crown, and with an increasing corruption of the country. He could have wished, that in the speech some intimation had been given that the Report of the Finance Committee would have been taken up, and if so, whether some retrenchments might not be made. If this were done, the country would pay with more satisfaction what was absolutely necessary. He should wish to hear from some minister that that committee was to be revived, and who were the men that were to compose it. At least, he should hope, that a set of men would not be placed in it for the purpose of counteracting the labours of the others. If this were done, it would gratify the people, if it could not relieve them. He hoped and trusted that this session of parliament would be distinguished by a vigilant attention to the expenditure of the public money; and that if new burthens were to be imposed, the people might at ❘ marked, that the hon. gent. in the same least have the consolation of knowing that abuses were corrected.-He did regret that nothing had been mentioned respecting our relations with America. The same infatuation seemed now to prevail with respect to that country, that existed in the time of the late American war. There were the same taunts, the same sarcasms, and the same assertions, that America could not do without us. He must deprecate a war with America, as being likely to be much more injurious to us than to them. The right hon. gent. (Mr. Canning) had to a proposition most just andreasonable (as appeared to him), returned such an answer, that accommodation seemed at an end, and the American legislature almost unanimously resolved upon shutting all their rivers and ports against our trade. He most forcibly deprecated the idea which some thoughtless persons were but too forward to propagate-which none, indeed, but thoughtless persons could entertain-namely, of a war with that country. Here the hon. gent. ridiculed with great severity the orders in council, and the effects which that measure was expected to produce. In spite of the want of colonial produce, notwithstanding the want of sugar, coffee, and jesuit's bark, the French armies had marched without leaving a single straggler, and the ruler of France had 200,000 men in arms beyond the Pyrenees, while ministers thought to break up his power, by depriving his subjects of the produce of the West Indies! He reviews his troops at Madrid, and they are found amply provided with every necessary. At a period so awful as the present, our relations with America were not even alluded to. Let us heal the hostile feelings of the two countries before it be too late. Turkey also was quite left out of his majesty's speech; a country at present in great commotion, and always in a state of turbulent imbecility. It was surely of importance to know whether that country was to maintain its shadow of independence, or destined speedily to fall into the hands of France. He regretted that no information had been given on the points which he had mentioned, and concluded a very able and argumentative speech by observing, that though there were several parts of the Address of which he disapproved, yet having specified these, he did not think it necessary to divide the house on the subject of that Address. Mr. Secretary Canning, in reply, re breath in which he told the house, that the |
