Star. — London, England, 1815-03-02 00:00:00

the grower. It certainly was so ; but there was ano. Cher and a greater object, and that was—to prevent those great fluctuations to which the Corn Market had been subject, and, by rendering the price more steady, to secure to the people bread at a regular and cheaper rate than they would otherwise have it. Lord LASCELLES said he had voted against 725.; but in doing so, he did not wish to be consi dered as voting for 80s. but desired now to be consi dered as holding himself still undetermined how he would act in the Committee. Sir R. PEELE was of Opinion, if the measure was modified, it would meet the feelings of the manufac. turing Mr. C. SMITH was convinced there was a gene ral feeling against this measure. General GASCOIGNE was also fully convinced the public were generally against the measure, as it now stood ; he did not receive a single letter from the country which did not convey that feeling. He did not on this occasion intend to take the sense of the }louse on the measure, but would do so in every in- tore stage of the Bill. Mr. FINLAY was persuaded, if the price was fixed at 745. or 765. it would meet the wishes of the Manufacturing districts. Mr. BARING thought, for Inany reasons the Bill should not be hurried through the House as was pro posed ; time had not yet been given for the people to express their opinion by petitiontng. He should there fore move, that instead of the Bill being read a se cend time on Friday, it should be read a second time on Friday sennight. Mr. P. MOORE also wished for further time r — He had this day received letters from the country, containing the most serious forebodings as to the con., sequences which would result from this measure. He particularly objected to this measure, which was only laying a tax on the consumer, for the benefit of the grower, and enabling them to feed the people like sheep, and keep them fat and lean at pleasure. /f a tax was to be raised, let it be raised by Government, and for Government—let it be laid on the Loaf at once. Sir J. SEABRIGHT could not allow this mem, sure to eats under the description which had been given to it by the last speaker, namely, calling it a tax for the benefit of the agriculturist and the land owner ; he, on the contrary, considered it as a mea sure calculated to have a directly opposite effect.— ' 1 He was convinced the agriculturist wanted protec tion;, and if that protection were not afforded to him, it would be the most 'evert blow the manufacturer could ever receive. Mr. GRENFELL thought the measure, if adop ted, instead of putting us in the situation of sheep penned up, to be starved or fattened at the will of the grower, would have a contrary effect ; and that, instead of such being the case, it would serve to ren der us independent of the Continent. Mr. MARRIOTT was ready to consent to this Bill being read a second time on Friday, if the Noble Lord, who spoke early in the debate (Lord Las. celles), with other great land-owners, would pledge themselves to propose a lower price in the Committee. If he had not that pledge, he must oppose the second reading on Friday.—(Crics of Qat:rise.) On the Qoestion being put-- Mr. r declared he must take the reuse of the House on it. Sir G. HEAT.HWTE and Mr. P. GRANT were in favour of the second reading on Friday.— The latter Gentleman said there was no question which the people were so little qualified to give an opinion as on this important question. It was said that this was a question between .. the agriculturist and the manufacturers. rid not Gentlemen consi der that neither the one nor the other of these classes could flourish without the assistance of the earth ? Ur. Alderman ATKINS, Mr. Alderman Smut, and Sir G. HICATHCOTE explained. Sir J. NEWPORT was in favour of the Bill being read a second time on Friday. The House bad al ready made up their minds one way or other, and no benefit would result from further delay. Mr. CALCRAFT wished for longer delay. Not half the Members who had attended had yet voted oa either side; and therefore be bad a right UP assume that the minds of those Gentlemen were not yet made up. Hs also wished for delay, because, at present, he was convinced the people in doe distaq; parts of the empire had not yet had time to collider the measure. Mr. WHITBREAD was in favour of delay. He had, through the whole of these discussions, endea voured to express his sentiments with temperance ; he wished to do so still; and he thought temperance required full time ;lipoid be given tor considering this important subject. The House then divided—For the second reading on Friday, 109—Against it, 30—Majority 79. On our re-admission into the Gallery— • Mr. BARING was putting a question to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, respecting certain mo nies said to be detaiaed lit Cadiz by the Spanish Go vernment, the property of this country. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER in reply said, he had no knowledge of any 'such transaction. The accounts, however, would 41e Wore the Heusi in a few dap,-' SIR JAMES Mr. WHITBREAD rose to bring forward his motion respecting Sir James Duff, andohcrved, that whatever good or ill might result from his motion, it was due to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. In the course of last Session a question was put to Lord . Castlereagi whether the Governor of Gibraltar had given up tv , persons seta) had sought kis protection ? The Noble Lord then declared be knew nothing of such transited's:in, and could urn credit it. On inves tigation, however, -it appeared that the statement which 'had been inserted in the Newspapers on the subject Will true, -and that the giving up of these un formate persons had taken place with map) , circum stances of aggravation. A question had also beets put. to a Right Honourable Gentleman as to the trutii of a retain, which stated, that our Ambassador at Cadiz hid prevented cc: van persons, Spaniards;eleap lag, who were flying from the infernal Inquisition of Spain. The reply to this was, the Right Honour .* Gentltansm did not know any *rig of such yansection,lnd a wish expressed fiat be (Mr,Whit b r ead) *mild not lightly bring such charges again, any one. At the saute time, a declaration wee mut, on the peva the Honourable Gentleman, that if such ! a statement could be proved correct, no eine erouldl feel more indignant than he should at it. Yet, wt. withstanding this indignation, no enquiry was made, nor any information on the subject was given to the House. He (Mr.Whitbread) now thanked the RIO' Honourable Gentleman and his colleagues for having withheld that information, as it now gave an °pre. tunity to him to propose an Address to the Prince Regent, in which he should have an opportunity of stating his sentiments, and the sentiments, he was convinced, of the country on this subject. Some time after he had put his question to the Honourable Gen tleman, a statement, professing to be an account of all the circumstances relative to this transaction was pebbshed by General Smith, and in reply to this there' soon after zppeared, in one of the Newspapers, a let ter, signed by one of the unfortunate persons to whom he had alluded, in which he contradicted many of the facts mentioned in General Smith's statement. He (Mr. Whitbread) now, however, called on his Ma jesty's Ministers to explain these pnd some other cir cumstances connected with the Spanish Government. He wished to know how it was that General Whit tir.gliam, a General in the pay of England, came to be the person selected to command the troops which matched to Madrid, and when arrived there, over threw the Cones ? It was now well known what was the opinion which the Spanish nation entertained of this transaction : it was publicly said, that Ferdinand could not, at this time, have stood but for English gold ; and this charge against us appeared to be well founded; for, by a Paper now on the Table of the House, it appeared, that on the 10th of May I . aet, a r a y m m f e o n r t th o f i s ses 2, very 6l7 wasa rm y ' s made General Ge l n t er a l way Mitts [ known, from other circumstances, that o GOvefa• wenthad taken a decided part against the Cortes, in favour of Ferdinand. It was notorious that the Duke of Wellington, who had received his honours and command from the Cortes, resig ned oth them to the King, and was again inv:sted with by Ferdinand.— Ile English Ambassador, who had originally been sent to the Cortes, was also introduced to, and graci ously received by Ferdinand; and thus England gave ;-every possible proof of her determination to support the King against the Cortes and Liberty. Soon after these events, however, some of those Spaniards who had hitherto sided with Ferdinand, withdrew them selves to Cadiz, where they applied to our resident Minister, declaring . their wish to leave Spain ; and they even stated their desire to go to Gibraltar; and, amongst others who thus applied, was the persons to whom his present motion was applicable. They had escaped from Ceuta, but instead of being forwarded to Gibraltar, they were refused admission into that place of safety, on the ground of their being state prisoners; and told, in reply to their application, that the Mediterranean was open to them. Under these circumstances. they were driven to the necessity of returning to Algesirag, where they again tell into the hands of the Spanish Government, and were doomed to languish in a loathsome dungeon. The Honour. able Gentleman then proceeded to adduce several in stances in which out Government had shewn itself favouiable to the views of the present Spanish Go vernment, and said, such was the opinion which the Spiinish people entertained of us, and that it was ge nerally said in Spain, that the expedition now fitting out in Cadiz harbour against the South American settlements, was fitted out with British gold. He observed, he understood that Sir James Duff and General Smith intended to defend their amour,' to, wards the unfortunate men, whp had applied to them for protection, on the grounds that they were bound by the Convention entered into in 1795, between General Nainsforth and General Count Las Lopes • in which it was covenanted, that all deserters and smugglers, of every description, should be mutually given up ; but in that Convention it was also stipulated, that in no case, except in that of atrocious crime, was the individual so given up, to undergo either corporal punishment or imprisonment. He then read the dispatch from General Smith rte 'Earl Bathurst, in which he took no notice of any previous Convention for the delivery of Spaniards an. cased of any crimes; and in which his Lordship stated, that he was unwilling to believe that any such delivery had taken place by General Smith; and conveying the orders of the Prince Reent that no Spanish rengees in Gibraltar should be delivered up to the Spanida Government. So far was it from all peaces being delivered up formerly, that a man who , had murdered a Magistrate in Cadiz was refused to be sent back, whatever his crimes might have been. He then read the answer of General Smith to the dispatch of Lord Bathurst, in which he stated. that two persons were apprehended on the represen tation of the government of Cadiz and Sir J. Duff. and they had got into the garrison of Gibraltar, under fictitious names. But one of these persons authorised hin to state, that they gave into the Town Major, their real names, and that they openly lodged at a public Inn, in Gibraltar. This he was ready to sub stantiate before that House. But it was not till Vil lavicencio, the Governor of Cadiz, had described them as men that would spread the poison of their sedition in the garrison, that General Smith, with out enquiring into their , crimes, sent them, not to thießpanish Consul, ,but to a Spanish Commandant, who treated them whir g re at kindness, compared witirthe indignities they had euffered in GibralUti. He then read the letter of Sir James Duff to Gen. Smith, in which he described the persons delivered up, and that they were going . to leave Gibraltar on account of the recent change in politics. One of the persons described by Sir James Duff did not go to Gibraltar, but escaped AO England—his name was Don M. Caprera ; and finding that Poigblanc and Correa had been delivered up at Gibraltar, be thought himself not safe in England, and-escaped to France, dreading that our Alien Law. would reach him. He then read M. Caprera's . passport, signed li! Governor Valdes, and countersigned as correct, by Sir James Duff, our Consul at Cadiz. Yet did •ir James Du write to General Smith that his own name might be falsified. and that his country should be &traced. Don A. Puigblanc had never been engaged in politics. He was a Professor ip a College to wilich he bad retired, to escape the tyvaniiy of Bo naparse—he had written but two books in his life; one a Hebrew Grammar, the other a work skeins ,I the Inquisition, which Sir James Duff woody de [ cribed its the reasoe foe General Smith iielating his ~*sport, This man and Cortes were confiettd fit 70 days in chains aislOng thieves and tehhen. They :were the brought sutler tdel s vbea'reighbust was advised by. Sir jades Da to write to General Smith, begging bin remonstrance with the Spanish Govern ment, on the ground of a Convention between the two Governments. Whether this memorial had "sesubed its destination be did not know, but no no tics wu taken of it. He was then taken baize Vil lavicencio, and informed that he was free from his tribunal, but amenable to the Inquisition. He how ever escaped to England. Sir James Duff not, per haps, thinking it proper to interfere to prevent it, in consequence of the notice taken of these things in that House. Here that unfortunate gentleman, and all other Spaniards, were frees nor need they Ai to. France for protection. Correa was described by Sir James Duff as having libelled the British taoops at St. Sebastian's; but the fact was, that all the crime of this officer, who had fought for this Ferdinand, was, that he had written a temperate letter to his Sovereign, begging him to give his country a free Constitution. For this he was sent to Ceuta, to be confined to the gallies for '2O years. But the situation of this gallant officer was far more enviable than those of General Smith sr Sir James I)uff. His chains might be broken; the chains of their minds surely never could. The Honourable Member then read the dispatch to, and answer from, Sir J. Duff, touching his administering an.oath to the captains of merchant vessels at Cadiz, that they had no fugitive Spanish I subjects on board, which Sir James Duff admitted but pleaded that he had done so, by the authority of the Secretary of State for the Hcme Department, tin prevent improper persons from coming to this conn. try. He contended that tikh order of the Secretary' of State was illegal; yet was it exerted to prevent the Members of the Cortes, who were once hailed ae the saviours of their country, from escaping the ty ranny of the ungrateful Ferdinand. He instanced a • in which Alien Law had been med. ease oitr prostituts.. A Portuguese, named Conejo, had settled in this country, and not having got his passport signed by De Sousa, the Portuguese Ambassador, he was sent out of th e country. He went to the Brazils; was tried, acquitted, and loaded with honours by the Prince Regent of PertugaL He then m wed an Ad dress to the Prince Regent, express'n the disappro bation of the House in the conduct of Sir J. Duff ; and praying that his Royal Highness would express his strongest censure of their conduct ; and that his Royal Highness would be pleased to interfere, in order to obtain the liberation of the persons confined in consequence of the British territory having been violated. Mr. BATHURST thought the Honourable Gen tleman had taken a very exaggerated view of tht subject. He denied that Sir J. Duff had advised General Smith immediately to deliver up these per sons to the Spanish Government. When Sir J. Duff signed the passports of these men, he did not know that there was any enmity between them and the Go., veinor of Cadiz. According to Putt:slant's own bts ement, he did not enter the garrison according to the rules of the garrison, for he entered by a permit,' and did not at first present himself to the Town Alaj as was the regulation. He thought it im proper to condemn an individual unheard, which would be the case with General Smith, if this mo thin was entertained. He had seen Sir J. Duff (who I was now SO years of age) at Cadiz, and he never heard a greater enthusiast than he was. He could not, therefore, believe that he could so soon become the tool of an arbitrary Government, as he had been dlecribed to be. Hie did not mean to exculpate Ge neral Smith altogether; but he put it to the candour of the House, whether, in such cases, a discre tionary power might not be supposed to be given to a person in his situation. As Lord Bathurst had put an end to these things, lie hoped the House would not pass so severe a censure on these Gentle then as that proposed by the motion of the Honour. able Gentleman. Mr. GORDON said, be conceived Sir J. Dtiffhad merely countersigned the passports of these men, without knowing at that time that they were ob noxious to their own Government. Mr. DAVIS did not see what the name of. Gene ral Whittingham had to do with this question. But he could state that he was a Spanish, as well as a British Officer, and when he received the orders of General glio, countersigned by the King of Spain, directing him to march to a certain point with his troops, near Madrid, waste to disobey those orders, because the consequence might be the abolition of the Cortes 1 Mr. GOULBURN would not enter into any dis cussion as to the merits or demerits of Spain and her colonies ; but he believed both bad been ill gover ned. He could, however, assure the Hon. Gentle. man, that no one more sincerely rejoiced than he did, that Mr. Puigblanc was safe in this country s but he must oppose this motion, because General Smith had had a sufficient censure passed on his conduct in the transactions complained of. But, on a loose para graph in a newspaper, the. Hon. Gentleman had thought fit to impute a direct falsehood to General Smith, which that officer had, however, cleared up. He (Mr. Goulburn) saw nothing in the letter of Sir li J. Duff which was improper, for it was his duty to communicate what he had done to General Smith, to Troup he left it to est as he pleaked, Whether he ills truly or not Intormetrthat these men had gone Imlay with an evil design, it - Nvas his duty to lestlamunicate that intelligence, without loss of time, en the Governor of that place. Mr. Puigblanc had suited, that his passport was kept by the Spanish Consul, at Gibraltar, as he understood was his cus tom. Now that was not the case ; and if the Hon. Gentleman had exerted half the acuteness he had shewn in bringing forward this charge, he would have found, no such thing was allowe d in a garrison town like Gibraltar, General Smith also had still persisted, that these men were found in the garrison under fictitious names. He would oppose the mo tion, (although generill Smith had acted without ,due precaution, and been the cause of what they all regretted—the delivery of these men to the Spanish Government) because his ionduct had received suffi tient censure. Sir JAMES MACKINTOSH thought that the way in which this important subject had been treated by the last speaker, was proclaiming to Europe, that they dent hardly censure such conduct as that com- Otined o(. The law of nations allowed the giving l ip of desseteis qs priseneri, but surely not of potions peed of poliucal offences ; and therefore it was 1 datable in General kmid; to act as he had done ' ski; case. Ilirsl. Duff signed the pstsport of these men on the 14th of March, and on the 16th his letter to General Smith was written, so that these unfortu nate Spaniards could not in that tints have commit ted any new crime against their Government, foe they left Cadiz on the evening of the 14th of March. It was quite clear that Sir James Duff was the first mover of this transaction, for it seemed that he con sidered a man, Who could write against the venerable structure of the Holy Inquisition, as one unfit to live among mankind. But those very unfortunate men, that were betrayed by the treachery of a British Con sul and Officer, were saved by their own Govern- Intent, to wlom they had been delivered over as to a destroying lion. He contended, that the papers laid before the House on this subject, tailed for an inquiry into the truth or falsehood of Gene. rat Smith's account of this transaction. If these persons had violated the rules of the ganiscn of Gibraltar ' they might have been punished there; but that had nothing to do with delivering them up to the Spanish Government. He reprobated the in structions sent by the Secretary of State for the Home Department, by which every petty Agent of the Bri. tish Government, in every part of the world, received the power of shutting the door against British liospi tality, according to their own caprice or prejudice. He believed that no other Government in the world, calling itself free, but this, possessed any such mons trous power as that given under the Alien Act. But he bad reason to believe that these two Gentlemen (Puigblanc and Correa) were but a part of the hun dreds of Spanish gentlemen who had been condemned to pestilential dungeons, or to the sal*: at Cents , in cd4equence of Sir James Duff utilities to grant them passports. But the conduct of Sir JaMet had been de 'fended by an 0 fficer of Government, and therefore it be. came that House to declare its opinion of that conduct. As to General Smith, it was said that he bad been already sufficiently censured but he would be glad if any Gentleman would point out to him in the dis patches, any thing that conveyed a censure on that Officer. He had read Mr. Puigblanc's book against the Inquisition, which was a temperate and philoso phical work, and not at all of the nature of a political pamphlet._ He contrasted the conduct of this Go. vernment towards these unfortunate Spaniards, and that of the French Government in releasing General Mina from the arrest he had been put into, at the re quest of a person, who, he feared, was an accredited agent of the Spanish Government. As long as the act of delivering up men as prisoners to so tyranekcal a Government subsisted, the enthusiastic veneration of good men must cease for the character of this hitherto honourable country. No longer was the flag of this country a protection to oppressed foreigners; for a British Officer had become an Alguazil of the Inquisition, and a British Consul the common gaoler to Ferdinand VII, Mr. W. POI4E admitted that the conduct of Go. neral Smith could not be justified ; but it had been cleared from some misconceptions by his Honpurable Friend (Mr. Goulburn). There liarLbeen a great deal of abuse bestowed on our ally the King of Spain; but he could state it as a fact, that, on Ferdinand's journey from Valencia to Madrid, all manner of per. sons met him on the way, and implored him to put an end to the Cones, whom they considered as so many tyrants. The Right Hon. Gentleman depre cated these kind of discussions, as tending to shake the alliance with Spain. With respect to the Duke of Wellington, his honours were conferred by the Cones, and confirmed by Ferdinand. lse snake the best of the question, what was it r Hera was Gene ral Smith, a very meritorious officer, serving his country, without being aware that he was doing an act of injustice. With respect to Sir Janus Duff, he did not desire these persons should be taken up and given over to the Spanish Authorities, but he wished to put the Governor of Gibraltar on his guard. He passed some high encomiums rpon the character of Sir J. Duff, who had resided upwards of fifty years at Cadiz, and was considered the Fatber of that City ; and who, having served his country faithfully, would, when he died, die poor. He admitted th it it would hate been better if he had not written the fet ter. He assured the • House every means would be used by the British Government to obtain the Ebner ticni of the other persons. Mr. Alderman C. SMITH was obliged to the Member for Bedford for bringing the question for ward, for if it should not be carried, it would do a great deal of good, by preventing similar transactions. Mr. H. ADDINGTON vindicated the conduct of his Noble Relative, the Secretary of State, who had, in the letter written to General Smith, conveyed a censure commensurate with the fault. Mr. DOMINIC BROWN said, if General Smith and Sir James Duff had rendered some great service to the country, he should not bare thought the probation of Lord Bathurst sufficient—so he did not think his censure adequate to the offence I he would vote for the address, and would have done so even if It had been much more severe. Mr. HORNER said, be eo entirely concurred in . what had been said by the last speaker, that it almost precluded the necessity of saying any thing. That the conduct of General Smith could ant be justified was.the opinion of all parties—(//ear, Lear. km)-4 and if ibis waathe case, would the Haase dues ditty in iblit.lning from expressing that, is *eir corporate eapailty, which they all felt individually r By the letters of Sir James Duff, it appeared tut he parti cipated in the offence which had been committed. —e The lionoorable and Learned Member described the persons who had been persecuted as the most illus. trious of the Spanish nation, mot yet they were ire their discussions to abstain lions commenting on the latrocity of the transaction, and suppress their (Cele ings, lest, forsooth, they should lose the alliance of Ferdinand.— Lear.)—The alliance of the Dey of Algiers, the alliance of any of the Barbary pn wen was more to be desired, than the alliance of the usurper Ferdinand. —(Heor, hear.)—He wass iedev_ j de as great a usurper as that penal Who had precede* him on the throne of Spain.--(erhor, haw.) Nothing he was sere could operate on the miserable laden of whom he had spoken ; but if the expression of the f p e eo el p in l gg e ofaSoafrieD7 men could induce the oppressed ranny together, he rise and a shouldrej gsu oice i in hire mat and d res hi si s expressions which would redo u nd t o t h e national honour. Mr. B. hiII'HURST contended, that the con duct of fir J. D 4 was not entitled to that degree of censere which' belonged to General Smith. He thought, however, that the official notice froln tie Secretary Of !hate heirs a< nation Owe% He at I