The National Register. — London, England, 1823-03-03 00:00:00

PARIS PAPERS. Pants, Fr Fr a. 25.—We have received a letter fro* Bayonne, dated the 16th. Many fresh troops bad not then arrived. Two mails from Miutrid were due, but it. was expected they would arrive on that or the following day. 1: was known from travellers that Madrid was quite tranquil. There is a report that Spain has determined, in order to secure the alliance of England, to cede to her, it' it should be required, Ceuta, Eantona, and Mahon. The 'first brigade of the comp equipage of the Duke d'Angoulcme mil arrive at. lbwrdeaux on the 28th inst. It consists of 13 individuals, horses, two carriages, and 13 gendarmes fin. escort. It is reported this afternoon that 5,000 seamen have been ordered to be levied at Brest. VIENNA, Fiat 152.—(Extract foci a private let ter.) —Every thing tends to induce the belief that Austria will confute herself to the suspension of her diplomatic relations with Spain, and that her com mercial intercourse will not be interrupted. If Aus tria, at the Congress of Verona, appeared to depart for a moment from the desire to maintain peace, it• was because it was urgent to divert Russia from an attack on the cast of Europe, which she has long contemplated. In giving a kind of tacit consent to u war in the west, she as a consequence engaged Russia to renounce the idea of a rupture with the Phrte. This pacific system explains the frequent ex change of couriers between Vienna and London. DEBATE ON THE BUDGET. M. Royer.Collard opened the debate in a long and able speech, in which he forcibly deprecated war: he was followed by M. Lubourdonnaye, who stuck to his old text of abusing the Ministers for not going to war sooner, but at the seine time supported the motion for the subsidy : then followed Al. La borde, who painted in striking colours the dangers of war, and the ail but impossibility of success: next came M. de St. Gcry, who voted for the war, on the ground of supporting the dignity of the Crown. M. Delessert then delivered a sensible speech against war, in which he quoted the report made to the Senate is 1808, by the Minister of Buona parte, in favour of war with Spain; and observed upon it, that the Chamber would see how much men in power resembled call other, as Buonaparte's justification rested on the same ground as that of M. de Villcle. M. Castelfnjac made a declamatory harangue in favour of war. General Foy, with great eloquence, lamented that an army, which he as an old soldier could not help wishing to succeed, should be employed in a scrviee in which, us a.. honest man, he must hope it would tail. The Minister Ville° then spoke as fAlows: , — Gentlemen,—The Government will find in the discussion the greatest justification which could be made of the course which it has adopted respecting the affairs of Spain. In fact, of all the speakers who have attacked the elppropriation of funds pro posed by the Government, none have advanced the objection which ought naturally to present itself to those who oppose that appropriation; that is, to prove to the Government that it is in error, in re garding the honour and security of the country to be incompatible with the present state of things. I ask every candid man whtther this he not the real 'question? Is it not the proof which ought to be brought Howard at this tribune? Ilutwhen, instead of endeavouring to iaipress this conviction on your minds, it is attempted to alarm you on the conse quences of the war, and to go into digressions on the opinion of this or that Minister, on this or that act, foreign to a question so important, then, I say, it is contesstal that this question cannot be otherwise re solveii than the Government itself has resolved it.— (Marks of approval on the right.) The Deputy who opened this debate.' who dis puted the right of intervention, has taken care net to approach this point of the difficulty: he has throughout supposed the stale of Spain IQ regular, . so confirmable to prink g des which could nut be applied except to ourselves, that he has exhibited it as the condemnation of those who are imp:used with the bect..ssity of combating it: but lie would certainly be bound, according to ;Lis OWII principles, to conic to very different con lesions, if hr had been disposed to view the present state of Spain, such as it Is, such as has 'placed us under the necessity of haring recourse to war, since we could no longer rtmain at peace with that country with honour and severity. 1 tie non. speaker whom I have followed did me justice w hen he said, the PresitEnt of the Council • of Ministers would wish to preserve peace, to avoid war. He hart no need to speak of a Minister; he had only to refer to the sentiments of the Monarch, to be certain that no Minister could have continued in (Alice, hod lie given counsels such as we are ut this moment supposed to have followed; that is 'to say, to advise au unjust war—a war which, in the situation of our country, we could nut avoid. Yes; and 1 have already declared trout this tribune in the NATIONAL TLEGISTER secret committcc, that it is with regret—it is only because honour and safety require it—that we have recourse to arms: if it had been possible to avoid war, we would have avoided it. We have tiled every means to main Lair amicahle relations with Spain—we have tried by every means to avoid the calamities of war; but things being brought to the situation in which they are, and as' long as the state of Spain shall continue what it is at present, I de dare that there is but one way of attacking the proposition of Government, and that is to prove that it can with honour, with safety, with less injury than will result to the interests which tear, maintain to us as being compromised by maintain peace with that country. The honourable Deputy who has doneme justice with respect to this particular of my character, might have rendered me equal justice with respect to another : it is, that it was only to hear the res ponsibility of (Alice in times so difficult and trouble stone as the present, that I renounced an advantage which I was as likely to procure, with the ideas which he gives me credit for, as any body elec. As suredly, I eannot.give a better pledge of my convic tion that it is impossible for us, with honour and safety.,,to remain in our present situaCon, than is to be fond in my not having quitted office with the opinion that would be attached to my sentiments for the preservation of Spain. If there is sacrifice to male—if I um to give a pledge and a confirmation of the truth of my opinion, that what has been dune has been, as it ought to be, commanded by the in terests of the King and of the country. I have made that sacrifice, and I have given that pledge, by continuing in office with all the burdens they impose upon me, and by renouncing the popularity which I should have acquired by quitting it. A state of peace appears to me u hundred times more preferable than a state of war: so also does a state of war to disgrace—to seeing the most solid interests of my country compromised; and this un doubtedly is the situatien in which the Spanish re volution has placed us. (Numerous voices on the right, " Yes, yes; bravo.") For, as has often been said in the course of this debate, it is only the blind ness and obstinacy of the Spanish revolution which is to blame for all the evils which may result from the present situation of things ; and herein exists a great difference between the probability of events, and the comparisons which it has rieen wished to make with what has previously occurred in Spain. Yes, gentlemen, there is blindness, there is obsti nacy, there is even Jhrgettillness of the interests of Spain on the part of those who at this monnait go vern in :Madrid; and can you believe that in this situation a generous intereentron, dictated by the most :coed interests on the part of France, will be received as was the first entrance of the French ar inks into Spain ? The King declared to you in his speech, that if the war he inevitable, he would contract 'its circle and limit its duration. In vain will it be answered that such expectations were firm:Hy entertained, and that they were disappointed. But why, gen tlemen, were they disappointed ? Bdcause the war was undertaken to establish a fireigner on the throne of' Spain, to overthrow the laws of the country, and to convert the Peninsula into a 'province of France. But when, far from entertaining any such inten tMns, we only present ourselves to maintain the au thority of' the legitimate sovereign, without wishing to impose any law, I do not see how we Lain be pre vented from always remaining masters of the power of. cireumscribing the mode of the war, and of li miting its auration. You have been told, gentlemen, of the dangers to, which our commerce will be exposed. Is it possible that, in a French Chamber, French orators can come forwurd to tell us that the wet. with Spain will compromise the interests of our commerce ? (Voices on the left, " Yes, yes; they are already compro mised.") They are already compromised, lam told. Gentlemen, I repeat the words, for an hon. member has used them before me. You bring into this dis cussion prejudices . which ought not to prevail in it. The annunciation of war has produced. all the effect that war 4saelf will produce; sod that elect is no thing more than a moral effect, for you would be greatly paceled to mention any substantial facts.— (Lively interruption on the left. Silence was re established, and the Minister of Finance proceeded.) —Ought we not to attribute that moral effect, to which I have just alluded, to the exertions of party spirit ? Indeed, who can fear lest the vessels which we have in the colonies should be captured in endea vouring to enter our harbours/ Will it be those who have speculated in colonial comniodities ? (Laughter on the right.) In very truth, gentlemen, I hail al most said that some individuals have displayed a de sire to abuse the credulity of the public ; for you know the state of our navy; you know that in the flatness, in our colonies, and upon our coasts, we have a much greater number Of' vessels of war than that of unhappy Spain, with whose vengeance you me nace us, can furnish from all her ports. In whatever point of view the debate is consider. ea, it will of course happen that the real question , will be discussed; and that question is—can the present state of Spain, of which the effects. as far as they relate to France, can no longer be concealed, continue to exist without producing danger and dis honour to ourselves? You know the facts: you have seen the reply, which asks of France to with draw her army of observation from the Pyrenees. There is one condition of peace. Examine it, gen tlemen, and tell us whether, consistently with the preservation of the honour of the Crown, and the security of the country, there was any other part for the King to take than that which he has determined upon taking. A member front this tribune has ad vanced an assertion entirely destitute of truth, and which I must repel. No, gentlemen, France has not demanded of Spain to udupt the French charter: France has nut made to Spain any insinuation to that effect, nor ought she to have done so. IVe have proved our own institutions: we know that they suit us; but can we answer for their suiting another people? Do you think us so little acquainted with the character of the Spanish people, as to wish to impose upon them institutions which shall nut have originated with themselves? I repeat it, we have no reproach -to fear for our conduct towards Spain. I will say - more; the Go , vernment of the King has done all that was in its power to maintain peace t it has made the groattst sacrifices; and you would now accuse us, in this very tribune, if we had put up from an; other pea. plc what we have fix six months endured front Spain. Nothing but the condition—l will say the almost pitiable condition—of Spain, could have in duced a state like France to exercise such astonishing fin-bear:ince. But after having so conducted our selves for so long a time, it was our duty to ask our selves if such a state of things could continue with out dan g er to our country? ‘Ve thought it could nut; and when the time came for making known our opinion on this point, we did it from profound conviction. For my part, I think I have obeyed merely the dictates of my conscience. I think that peace is preferable to war; but I think, also, that ih the situation of Spain, the maintenance of peace • is impossible,and that at all events it would be more dangerous than war. Fur these reasons, I think that you cannot refuse the subsidies that are required of you. (A general movemtnt of acquiescence on the right side of the chamber.) The discussion was then adjourned at six o'clock ) , fur want of sufficient numbers to make a house. • The galleries were filled with Peers of France and strangers of distinction ; but it was remarked that the English Ambassador was not present. PROCEEDINGS IN LORD PORTSMOUTH'S CASE. The proceedings subsequent to our former report have consisted politely of evidence from different persons to arts of Lord Portsiiiiinth which did fist savour of insanity, excel ' on Thursday last, when Drs. Munro anti Willis wcie exami.nxl, ut the request of the Jury, and each de (dared Isis a Hssictiuu of Lord Portsmouth's insanity, which decided u; ' ' train two so high authorities had evi dently great effect upon else Jury. Mr. Adam then cuuuueneed his observations in support of the evidence in opposition to the Conimissiun, which lie continued all this 1110r11114: (Friday), and hailing con. chided at 12 o'clock, the Court adjourned for refresh ments; at half pain 12 o'clock Mr. Wetherell commenced his reply, and cunelinted at half past three. Mr. Trost er,. the Chief Commissioner, then addressed the July—he continued speaking till six o'clock, when the Jury retired to consider of their VERDICT. Upon the return of the Jury, which was about 7 o'clock, Lord John Fitzroy, the foreman, turned to his brethren and ssid— , ' As many of you, gentlemen of the jury, as are of opi nion, that John Charles, Earl of Portsmouth, is a man of en strand wind and condition, and iurarthle of annoying biassiif and his signify the same by holding up your bands.' All the jury held tip their hands. The foreman then said—" Gentlemen of the jury, as many of you as are of opinion that John Charles, Earl of Portsmouth, has been of 'inseam/ mind awl rundlion, and incapable of iiia toiyiny himself and his affairs, from the Ist of January, In" signify the anion by bolding up your bands.”—The jury were unanimous in the ullirmative. Commissioner TrovreL then stated, that as there had heeu no evidence us to who was heir to the titles and estates of the ■aid Earl of Portsmouth, the said jurors were to announce the fact of their not knowing who was the heir. Thu verdict thus given was then committed in a legal form to paper, and having beets read over to the jury; received their signatures, preparatory to being presented to the Lord am eel The Foreman begged to state, with respect to the Members of Parliament who were upon the jury, that then thought pro per to repeat the observations they had already made upon the subject of • g uponjaries during the sitting of Parliament. and that they were induced to do KO to prevent such a measure from being drawn into a precedent hereafter. Jr. Commissioner Trower.---.• Cent/eaten, if we had not called upon you, or had you thought proper to exercise your privilege, to use the language of o thj of t h e occasion, we should he • Cnd knowswhere." The 00111111liblUO was then di aao l ve d. speakers on this DIAL, Feb. 2G.—Arrived in the Downs, last night, his Netherlands' Majesty's frigate Diana, Capt. Van der Loa, from the Mediterranean, last from the Tagus, from whence she sailed on the 14th inst. Eleven transport's and a frigate, with troops fur thy Brazils, sailed at the battle time. - 6 .ItIRMI ,lor