The Sun.
London, England, 1839-07-17 00:00:00

EVENING EDITION.

again repeat that that peaceable towne-theterick.manue
faeturing town—was worse treated than any town had
ever been treated when taken by storm. He said that
from his own knowledge, and he received the Noble Mar-
quis's to correction for venturing to deliver that opinion.
Another statement that had been made was that there
were plenty of troops—that theie was a Mayor and
Superintendent of police; all that they had learnt from the
newspapers, but they knew nothing, and it was clear the
Ministers knew nothing. They had just been informed
by the Minister., and he would venture to draw this
conclusion from what they had stated, that those
Magistrates, who did not bid the troops interfere until the
town was burnt, and the property of the merchants de-
stroyed, were irresponsible—(Hear, hear)—aoci it ap-
peared-that there was no means of bringing these
parties to trial. Tire Noble Earl (Fitzwilliam) had told
their Lordships that a similar misfortune had befallen that
town. Why, if the town was liable to these unfortunate acci-
dents that was a reason why her Majesty's Ministers should
have taken the utmost precaution to preserve the public peace •
What he said was, that there were means, such as issuing
a Spec al C'orrinniision, of markieg the sense of the Govern-
ment, in regard to those transactions. There might be
an inqu're ins:i•u•el into the eonduot of the Magistrates,
the Noble Marquis knew something of this manner of pro-
c eding, though in a contrary settle, something ought to be
done to mark the opinion of Government in relation to this
important subject. But it appeared that nobody had any
right to notice any of these things. Their Lordships
should take care what they were itbcut lest they should
fail under the lash of the Noble Marquis. They should
say nothing, iworder that the Noble Marquis might not
attack them as unjust, in stating that wrong had been
done—all he hopsd was that he should not have another
opportunity of making similar observations.—( Cheers.)
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE bad not denied
the right of the Noble Duke or of any other
Noble Lerd to advert the circumstances of the
case or to form au opinion on them—but wleat
he did say was, with great submission to the
Noble Duke, that her Majesty's Government were not
wrong in abstaining from forming an opinion on the
circumstances which had taken place in the town
of Birmingham within seventeen hours of the
occurrence, and still more were they not wrong in abstain-
ing to form an opinion in the present imperfect state of
information, and be still adhered to that opinion, and when
the Noble Duke stated that wrong had been done,
it was vsry easy to airnit that, but it was not
so easy to form an opinion as to who were the wrong-doers
in seventeen hours. He would.say that it was the duty of
her Majssty'e Government not to form a hasty opinion, but
te form a deliberate and a mature opinion before they pro-
ceeded.— l Cheere-)
The Duke of WELLINGTON was sure the Noble
Marspria would not eiiiingly or knowingly have misrepre-
sented u hat he had said. He had not alluded to the
magistrates, but to another set of men, to those who
had been gui!ty of riots a few days ago. Those persons
ought to have been brought to trial by this time, by means
of a Special Commis ion, or by some other mode.
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE—There are a great
number of persons taken up, and awaiting their trial.
descuasion then dropped, and a great number of
Psers left the House.

BUENOS AYRES.
Lord STRANGI. ORD rose to present the petition
of which he had given notice, at an early period of
the Session. Learning, from what had passed in the
other House, that cersociationa were going on between
Mexico and France, under the mediation of Great Britain,
he withdrew the notice he had given, lest anything he
could have said should have interfered with that negocia-
tien. It would then have bean his duty to have railed
their Lordships' atteetioir to the general system France
was acting upon, and with the captious eagerness with
which she laid held of the most trifling circumstances to
convert •into a national quarrel, and uniformly endeavouring
to extract therefrom advantages to herself. This petition
related to the blockade of Buenos Ayres, and was signed
by nearly three hundred of tha first merchants, traders, and
shipowners in London ; and he had yet to learn that the
favour and popularity with which her Majesty's Ministers
were viewed in the City were such as to entitle them to
disregard the representations of this petition.—( Hear,
hear, bear.) He would not detain the House with
any details of the original dispute between France and
Buenos Ayres, as at the end of last Session he had
fully expressed himself on those points. He would admit
for the sake of argument, that in this instance might did con-
stitute right, and that France was entitled to make her de-
m aeds and to enforce them by an appeal to force; but he
could not admit that that which might be perfectly just
should be pursued by unjustifiable means ; and that the
means employed by France were unjustifiable, he should
proceed to show. He had a copy of documents
- published by the Government itself, from which it ap-
peared that the French Naval Authorities, desirous of
giving greater extent and efficiency to their blockade,
had established a blockade at, and taken possession of
the Island of Martin . Garcia. Her Majesty bad upon
that occasion called upon the French Government for an
explanation. The explanation was not satisfactory, and it
appeared by papers laid on the table of the House of Com-
mons ow the 17th of April, that Lord Grenville was in-
st rutted to make further applications to the French Go-
verament. The result was a declaration en the part of the
French Government that she would do nothing to alter the
state of the affairs of her blockade. But she had done more
—she bad handed over the Island of Martin Garcia as
a possession to the revolted citizens of Buenos Ayres._
to those very persons whom she hid excited to rebellion,
and as a reward fur their rebellion. Beyond this, still,
France had issued a system of blockade, which he believed
to be contrary to the law and practice of nations, and was
about to extend that blockade along the whole sea boun-
dary of tile territory of Buenos Ayres. When he men-
tioned this subject last, the Noble Viscount said be had
received no information of it.
Lord MELBOURNE was understood to say that he
had now.
Lord STRANGORD wished, then, to know if the
Noble - V;scourit had acknowledged the blockade, because,
, if he had, it would be an acknowledgment of the most peri-
lous principle. But if* blockade were established, it ought
to be impartial in its operation. This was not because the
flag of the very insurgents whom France had coaxed into
a revolt, was exempted from its operation. There was an-
otier evil resulting from this blockade, which was the un-
settlement of all those boundaries of Buenos Ayres, which
had been settled by Great Britain herself, when the last
treaey of peace with Buenos Acres was concluded. li'
Mance. were thus to be permitted to sattle and un-
settle pareela of small Ststes, such a line of con-
duct would be fraught with the greatest danger.
This also not only destroyed the° resources of Buenos
Ayrc e, bur destroyed. the very Constitution of the colony.
The Constitution of Buenos Ayres was based on a prin.
c:ple of deleeatinn, and the consent of all the other States
eas necessary for an alteration of it. France clamour.
ins for a treaty established this hlockade—it was a moyes
de negoeier_but it was a blockade that was most expen-
sive to this country, end it was hardly possible to supp ;se
that this blockade air-old have been allowed to continue at
a great catpe:ise to us for sixteen months, when the whole
object of Prance in establishing it was for the purpose of
obtaining a debt of 0.000/. or 7,0001. It would be
easy Li- him to prove the great importance of the
trade with Buenos Ayres to this country ; but
he would only read upon that point an extract
from a h tter written by Sir Wore-thank Parrish, in
which he described that trade as mot important. H. 3
should not have said a word on this subject any more than
he had done upon the state of Mexico, could he have Sup.
posed that this unjustifiable state of things was likely to
have been determined through the mediation of this coun-
try, but be was forbidden to indulge in that hope by a let-
ter written by Mr. Backhouse, the Under Secretary to
the Chamber of Commeice of Liverpool,- which stated
that he had been informed by Government it was not the
intention of Government to disturb that blockade. Now
he would ask the Noble Lards opposite whether it had
not occurred to them that there was a mode of
making coy preffercd mediatioe very likely to be received—
whether that mode was not by the employment of a suffi-
cient naval face ? The Frescut petitioners expressed
their humble conviction that the commerce of Great Bri.
bin stood in need of greater protection from the naval
force of this country than it at present received ; and that
when it was considered how large a portion of the revenues
of Great Britain was derived from commerce, the peti-
titieners ,considered themselves fully justified in asking
for a complete protection for that commerce wherever it
might be required. Since these transactions there had
been only three sloops of war stationed on that coast.
He did not hlaime the Noble Lord at the head of
the Admiralty for all this, but what he dal
blame was that miserable and stingy system which
crippled, shrivelled, and rendered inefficient for the ser-
'vices expected from it, that great arm of on: national
strength. The naval force of Great Britaie at present
was not adequate to meet the exigencies arising in every
quarter. It would have been far better if the money which
had been expended in the idle trappings of the dietetor_
ship of North America had been applied to the mainten-
ence of national honour and national interests in the
southern part of the globe. The country would then
have had something else to show for its money than the
most volurninous and least readable Report ever laid on
their Lordships' table, after having been previously sub-
mitted to the judgment of private friends. The Noble
Lord concluded by stating- that the petitioners trusted it
would be apparent to their Lordships that the course
adopted by Government with respect to our foreign
policy was most injurious to the liberties of the
country,. and prayed their Lordships to adopt such
measures as would cause the influence of her Majesty's
Government to be exerted in such a manner as would lead
to a more beneficial course of policy.
Viscount MELBOURNE agreed that great attention
ought to be paid to this petition, and the Nob!e Lord had not in any degree exaggerated the importailee of this
subject, or the extent of this trade. He considered it to
be ono of the most beneficial trades possessed by
Great
Britain, fir it consisted in the export of the manufactures
of this eountry.—( Hear, hear, hear). That trade,
cording to the last accounts he bad seen,
was in a acr
flourishing state, and was not so depressed and bsoken
down as the Noble Lord had supposed—yet he
did not deny that by this time that blockade might
have operated very injuriously.—( Hear, bear, heal-.
No doubt Commercial Powers suffered in consequence of
hostilities existing between other Powers ; but ti,ey all
knew the right of blockade was a right not only exercised
in war, but often exercised previous to war, and which the
other party Might treat as an act of hostility if it thought
proper. It was also welt known that the right of blockade
was a right that this, country had not been very spariag; in
the exercise.of ; that it bad instituted blockades of greater
extent and greater magnitude than any other country that
ever possessed power over the seas, arid that it bad en-
forced them with a strictness and severity unknown to other
Powers. They ought, therefore, to be prepared to con-
cede to others that right which they had exercised them-
selves, and be prepared to submit to those inconveniences,
which, when it suited their own interests, or their own
honour and safety, they were not scrupulous in infl et.
ing on others. The principles of fairness and equity ought
to be considered. But he had no hesitation in saying
hat blockades were matters of great misfortune—they
ought not to be lightly instituted, and they ought to be