The National Register.
London, England, 1809-01-22 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER?

necessity of departing it; disguise. By the appointment of Sir •
J. Moore to his present command, Ministers have fully acknow-
ledged themselves thp sole authors of that unparalleled expedi- •
tiao-7-a laming monument of their virar and foresight ! It ap-
pears, that Government had formed resolution of aiding the
cause of the Snuish Patriot;, but in what manner remains at
present unknown. Ministers seem to have bad no correct infor-
mation upon the internal resources of Spain, and have been misled
and confounCled upon various occasions: Their measures wavered
aceording to the news of the moment, The improper policy which
led to the attack nrin Portugal instradof Spain, and the conse-
cum Convention, are the chief ceases of the enemy being at• pre-
sent in possession of :11adrid, and a great part of the national re-
aources,.and of a great proportion of his army in the presence Of
your troops. We';tre now; for the first time, told, that his Ma-
jesty has formally disapproved of some of the terms of the Con-
vention concluded ia Portugal, hut ,what parts we are not in-
formed. The Commander in Chief has assigned very mysterious
reasons for granting terms so favourable to the enemy, and they
are, the bad equipment of his army, and want of heavy artillery
and cavalry. The second re4min the depends assign for con- 4
eluding and approving the convgntion, is time, to enable the
British army to join the Spaniar4, and pursue the main
object of the scar; yet, the English troops Were not ena-
bled to leave rorlngal for two months after, and then
they were compelled to traverse the whole ground on
font, whilst the enemy had the u-e of our transports to con-
vey them to ,France, w hence they were enabled tto reach
'Spain in less time, and less fatigued than our own troops.
ID the beginninz of Jitly last, the translation of a paper was
circulated thvough this comitry, purporting to have bien pub-
lished by the Supreiir Junta of Spain, and entitled " Precau-
tions." Of 'these prerautiOns mit* Government Qeem in have taken ,
no notice. '' hateVer plan §pain adopts for it own deftnce,
ought to he persevered in, and not changed upon every occasion.
'the grounds upon Sy hich Government refused to annul the Orders
in Council, in favour of Atnerica, are somewhat exiraprdinary.
The HOD. Secretary, in one of hie letters, says, that the Orders
in Council will be persevered in till all nationS shall be convinced
of its inutility, and that it shall have 'falku into harmless and
contemptible fragments. This resolution t think very 'impro-
per and unnecessary, and that a fair opportunity of leveeing.
the !umber or our enemies ought never to be suffered to escape.
6mi:illy for a reason of so little consequence. It is not my
Inteotinu Ift move any Amendment upon th.. present Address,
but Opoo future occasions I shall take an opportunity of taking
the sense of the lloisenpon the Convention, the affairs of Spain
tied our relviou with the United States or America.
Lord CA sT LEA EA The first instance of want of vigour
aseribcd to 'linisters was, their :ending a fleet with a military
force Into the Baltic in the spring, which was not called into
employment, As far as respected our fleet, our interference
was extremely opportune; for the Marquisac Romana, who
was then oil'the shores of the Baltic, has declared, that at the
very time top- acet appeared, the French w erc about to take
pdsse,liqn of Zealand, and frpri thence pa.s over into Scania.
but that they were prevented from thus ;tic:eking the
tiii•Neden by the arrival of our feet, What the circumstances
ere which prevented our force froM twin:: called into action,
.ainisters would have po hesitation to explain at a proper pe-
r.od. The Hight 4iop. Gent. had said, that there iv is a great
crsi4ht in nor providing the Portugal expedition w it h '
cavalry. Cavalry could not be carried about w ith a I!oating ex-
pedition, de,tisicd to act according to dream:lances. His Nia-
Jesty's Answer to the City of Loodini on the Cintra Convention
had also !wen dwelt upon, as farming a at subj-!ct oi ehanze
typiost ills Ntrijevt7's Miniptcrs. I truss, however, that it will
he qtair,lit for att the efforts of Gentlemen on the ote.r side to
persuade the City of London that Government meant or wished
to-'ay any; thing disrespectful to them on that orcaion. Thr
City of Londip had expressed its opinion: his Majesty replied
ss jth correspOndiaz plalnutss, and I trust that nothing
that necaiipti could tend to shake the respect of the City of
Lando:ll(v WS:l6.lOly 'Or their confidence to his Majesty's
•• •
Ministers.
gr. Secretary CA NVIVC...'".4, I have no hesitation to admit
Sir, with the .1: Gentlemen opposite,' that the present
is IN hum phrtont tacknowledge also, that in yahoo suh-
jilts eann:•ct,.:d'iiith his Majesty's Speech there is much ma:ter
for matter consideration`. 'the Rt. lion. Gentleman accuse: us of
having acted , as if whatever was done hastily was done
y Ong. The facts, he tells us, tie has derived from the newspapers ;
tie ought, Si?s, to have told Us more ; be ought to have told st,
;4;11. he 40 his Arguments thefe 41:0, (A laugh). With res.

JAN. 92.

pect to his facts, Sir, I know not
,where he may have got
them ; but his arguments, I am sure are such .as I have seen
repeatedly lately in. those vehicles of infortnnt inn he alludes to.
The moment it was known in this country that the Supreme
Junta was established, Gen. Baird's array was ordered out, and
deputations sent to the new Government to order proper ac-
commodation, for the receptiou of our army at Corunna. It
arrived at Corunna before the necessary
,preparations had bee 4
made to receive them, and before the orders for that purpose .
had beep received from the Supreme Junta. This accounts for
the delay of the debarkation, of which so much has been un-
necessarily said. With respect to the delay of the sailing of
this armament, his Majesty's Ministers were equally
less. Every document on this subject will be freely laid be-
fore the House, and I. cannot help looking forward with plea-
sure to the period, when his Majesty's Government will have it
in its parser completely to clear itself. The Gentlemen opposite
have also said much respecting the propriety of sending our
first armataent to Portugal. From all the militaryopinions of
any consequence, I um convinced that Horogal was the most eligi-
ble point to tt Welt that armiment could be seat. Cqnsidering Port
tugal as formiog part of the same Peninsula with Spaith,-7thetirsc
necessary step was, to drive the Freuch from Portugal, in order
to preserve the contineitv mid to keep up a connection tied cons-.
munleation with the North of Spain. One of the precautions
which the Right Hon. Gentleman says we ought to have taken
was to have got ppsses;ion ofstune town, that might have served.
as a depot and a rallying point, in case of necessity. Lisbon is
exactly place of this description, and therefore, way, au ob-
ject highly deserving of being secured, and where; at this tno3
meat our troops live on the must amicable terms with the inhas
hitants. But the Bight lion. Gentleman is alsq ogeected•that
his Majesty's Government should enter into any formal
treaty with the Government of Spairi. It was generally
understood before the close of the last session of Parliament
that his Majesty had engaged to aid and support the Paiciots:
Will it he of no consequence to Jo,epli ilonaparte, 'that we*
should publicly recogni*e the Spanish Government, and treat
with it accordingly t The Right lion. secretary then adverted;
with his usual'ability, to the remarks that had fallen from the..
other side of the House respecting America. The dispute
was, whether - the French, in .their Berlin Decree, were
the aggressors, or this country in their blockade of the Conti.
tient, from the Elbe so the Weser, a blockade which the French"
say was against the common usages of war, as it was not sustained
by a legitimate force, and therefore, warranted their Berlin
Decree as a measure of retaliation st wbereaS we said it wee sus"
tamed by a legitimate Nrce equal to the extentofblockade. Awe%
rica had Maintained that she had not had time to apply to France
for redress. We gave notice to her Ambassador in London, and
in a week after, in the beginning of January, 4410 toe Orders
of Council. It was matter of notorious fort, however, he
maintained, that the American Embargo was not the consequence
of the Orders of Council, which were not loown in America
when the embargo was laid on. HA observed farther, that at
the moment America was making the propositioss alluded to
this country, she admitted French ships of war into her ports, a
privilege she persistNl in denying to Had this Government
acceded to her propositiowz, therefore, our merchantmen would
have heeu obliged to trade in.her ports without the protection
of British convos, and exposed to be captured by the. French
ships of war, • The American coast would in this .Case have
become rt vest of privateers, and have prevented any beneficial
ee(mlts to this country from its concessions.. The French and wA
were nnt on an equal footing with America,. Let her exclude the
ships of war of both itowert equally from her ports,and then this
country might treat with her on honourable terms; but, in the
present circumstances, he could not. consider her as a fair and•
impartial Neutral Power. With respect to the silence of his
Majesty's Speech respecting our relations with Turkey, he had •
to acquaint the I ouse that Government had not beard from Mr.
Adair, our late M inister in that quarter, since he left Malta the
beginning_of 44-!l,tember last. With respect to Sweden; it was
tveil understood by that Government, hat whatever arrange-
meuts it could make advantageous to itself with its too powerful
neighbour6, woull.be satisfactory to this, country, and delicacy
alone during the last Session of Parliamentprevented this public
avowal. W ith respect to the Potieetition of Ciutra, lie *observed.,
that the Gentlemen opposite addressed those on his side of the
House as persons bound to justify that transaction. This, how, •
ever, was not the case, told .he considered himself at liberty to
entertain the same opinions on that subject us the Right Hon. •
Gentleman. Government, it wasaraz, had had the difficult pick
co act, ot shading between the. resentment of the vublic aall •
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