The National Register. — London, England, 1809-05-14 00:00:00

316 INIYEKIAL PARLIAMENT. • HOUSE OF LORDS. .11onday, May 8. The Earl of Liverpool brought a message from his Majesty, expressing the request made by the Prince Regent of Portugal of a loan of 600,0001. and offering for security the revenues of the Island of Madeira.—Adjourned. Tuesday, May q. The Newspaper Bill, the 6,000,00( - M. Exchequer Bills Bill, and several Private Bills were hroug-lit up from the Commons by Sir James Graham, Mr. Charles Dundas, Mr. lienyun, Mr. Alderman Shaw, and usher Members, and read a first time. THE NATIONAL REGISTER. . . LOAN: TO TUE PRINCE REGENT OF PORTUGAL. The Earl of Liverpool on moving the Order of the Day, fer taking into consideration his !Majesty's Message, stated that at the time of the departure of the Prince Regent of Portugal for the Brazils, advances were made to hint by his Majesty's Govern ment, to the amount of SO,COO/. and that subsequently with the • e w of facilitating the departure to the Brazil: of several per son,: who wished to follow the fortunes of the Prince, advances had been made to the amount of 80,0001. more, snaking a total of 160,000/. from which however 30,0001. was to he deducted, which was charged to indjviduals, and not to the Portuguese Government, leaving a balance of 130,000/. The first advances were made when Parliament was not sitting, and were after w•ards charged in the Army Extraordinaries, and there being a negoriation on foot relative to the subject, it had not been ex pressly mentioned till now. The motion was agreed to, and the Address ordered to be pre sented by the Lords with white staves.—Adjourned. Wednesday, May 10. No business of importance. Friday, May 12. No business of importance. HOUSE OF COMMONS. Monday, .'{lay 8. MESSAGE TROST HIS MAJESTY. Mr. Secretary Canning communicated a Message from his Majesty to the following effect, " That his Ilajesty thought it right to acquaint the Ilouse of Commons, that in consequence of an application from his faithful ally the Prince Regent of Por tugal, his Majesty had consented to advance a loan of 600,0601. to his Royal Highness, to be applied to the Equidation of cer tain expenses of his Royal House, and more particularly for transporting his Court to the Brazils. The Message further in formed th;House, that the Prince Regent had entered into a convention with his Majesty, by which he had pledged the island of Madeira as a security for the payment of the interest and the gradual discharge of the said loan; a copy of which convention his Majesty had ordered to be laid before his faithful Commons. As the isstie of the said loan was necessarily connected with the consideration of the current services of the year, his Majesty thought it right to make this: c ommunication at the present time, relying upon his faithful Commons, to enable him to make good his engagements with his ally.—Ordered to be referred to the iorsideration of the Committee of Supply on _Friday next. The House resolved itself into a Committee of Supply, and the following miscellaneous grants were agreed to : For the British Museum £13,000 To make goad sums granted out of the Civil List last year, and not provided for by Parliament For the Civil Establishment of New South Wales Sierra Leone Upper Canada New Brunswick Nova Scotia St, John's • Cape Breton Newfoundland Tortola For the support of Prote , 4ant Di•ii.rotPrs in Ireland Deficiency in the grant of last year .Atkiou * . 22,160 30,000 17,965 8,430 8,500 20,000 3,100 2,060 11,935 1,040 ••• 9,7 SO 1,740 Tuesday, May 9. CAMPAIGN IN SPAIN. MAY 14. Lord Temple. Never had a more important cause, or more weighty interests, been confided to any Administration, with the fullest powers of management, and the most ample and uncoil teouled resources, in circumstances too the most favourable for success ; and yet after great ex pence, after a loss both of blood and treasure, their attempts had been completely defeated and disgraced, and disgrace and ignominy incurred by the Priti,h name throughout the world. Our army, it was evident, was not to blame, for not only with the consent, but on the stig7es tom of the Ministers •iteinselves, our army had obtained the th;:nks, and the most unlimited approbation of that House. The memory of Sir John Moore had been consecrated to fame, while his fellows in arms had heea amply rewarded by the universal suffrages of the country. If, then, the fault .did riot lie with our army, it must he sought somewhere else. should Minisici.k say that it was to be ascribed to our allies, it must appear very extraordinary, that, at the very time of these defects, they were signing articles of treaty ss ith the same allies, and allowing them all the advantages which the highest exer tions, the most unwearied zeal, and the greatest merit could en title them to. The fault lay in the Ministers, who, when they tent troops to the south, ought to have sent them to the north, and who, by a similar fatality, when they sent.them to thenot ii,, ()tight to have sent them to the south. The, culpable delay of sending our troops friar' Portugal to Spain offer the disgravernl Convention of Ciutra, professedly concluded for that very par pose, was obvious to arty min of the least discernment.-- The delay of sending cavalry to Spain, of the want of which somplaints had been so often made, and for w hich Sir John Moore repeatedly applied, but could not obtain thetn till trans ports were sent from the Tagus to this country to coils ey them. If it was owing to the want of transports, the Noble Lord (Cas tlereagh) would recollect, that almost the first act of,his adn, nistration was to impeach his predecessors for not having- a cer tain number of transports in constant readiness, even when there was no occasion for them. Ministers had not even the paltry-ex cuse of pleading ignorance of the actual state of Spain. He was sorry to say, that while Bonaparte flew on the wings of an eagle to his point, the Noble Lord (Castlereagh) seemed to creep on the back of the tortoise to oppose him ; for, on the very 26tla of October, when Sir D. Baird was only preparing to disembark. at Corunna, was the enemy began to aet wit t\ a force of Ito,ooo men upon the Ebro. The Spanish armies - had already been dissipated, when Sir J. Moore found himself Salamanca, and yet Mr. Frere bad acted that conspicuous part, which the coun try now justly appreciated, and which was detailed in those letters which were rung from Ministers like so many drops of blood, and which were certainly public and official, if any let ters were entitled to that description. These letters were the sole cause and ground-work on which Sir J. Moore felt him self obliged to make that advance against Soult, from whence arose the necessity of a rapid retreat. that was necessarily ac companied with many disastrous circumstances. The Noble Lord proceeded. to pass a severe censure on the conduct of Achninist ra tion, for not in time providing for the defence of Ferrol, and preventing the second arsenal and fleet in Spain to fall into the hands of the enemy. He then went on to pass a high encomium on the conduct and character of Sir .1. Moore. He trusted that the character of that distinguished officer would he felt to he the property of the country, and that all the unjust attacks upon it would be'repelled. He contrasted the glorious auspices under which the campaign commenced with its fatal results, which had been accompanied with the loss of 8001 of our bravest troops, of one of our best and bravest officers, and the expenditure of ti'c millions of money. The Noble Lord concluded a very able speech by moving several resolutions in censure of his Majesty's Ministers, for their tardiness and delay in not having atforded ef ficient assistance to the cause of Spain ; for their having esta blished no proper communication between our army and the Spanish Government ; and that owing in a great measure to their misconduct, the just hopes of the country have been disappoint ed, and the country has sustained the loss of many of its bravest troops, and of several millions of the public money. Lord Castlereagh rose in reply. The Noble Lord complained that our army had been sent to Spain without any plan being laid down for its operations. llut it was surely most preposte rous to suppose that Ministers in this country could direct the operations of our army in Spain, where we were to act only as the auxiliaries, and not as the principals. As to the quarter, however, where our troops were Will to act, namely, the north