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

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: communication 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