The Sun.
London, England, 1837-04-22 00:00:00

was designed by the treaty to expel Don Carlos from Por-
tugal, where he was at the time, and to preserve the peace
of Europe. The Noble Duke had said that if the exten-
sion of the principle of assistance to its present amount had
been submitted to him, he would not have agreed to it.—
(The Noble Lord was here urged to sit down, as he ap-

pearad to be suffering under indisposition. He, however,
refused.) He should continue to address their Lordships,
in accordance with the orders of the House, as long as he

could. This country was considered by the treaty in the light
of an auxiliary, and it depended on the will of Don Carlos
that we should or should not assume the character of belli-

gerents. It was clear that we had the right of defending the
Queen. They had engaged to do so, and they were bound
to act, not according to the strict wording and letter of the
treaty, but according to its spirit. They looked to the po-
litical necessity of the case—the Noble Duke did not. He
would allow the pound of flesh, but he would refuse that a
drop of blood should be shed. The Government approved
of the treaty in its full, enlarged, and Statesmanlike spirit,
and for that reason he supported it. They were anxious to
execute the intentions of the treaty largely and fully, and if
necessary to extend it still further. When he had signed
the treaty he had not been without fully weighing the

chances of untoward and disagreeable events occurring.
He had compared the chances of success with those of
failure, and had not hesitated to see that there was every

probability of the objects they had in view being attained.
The Noble Duke denied that such an attainment had taken

place ; but he could not deny that it had been clearly
proved, both to the disaffected in Spain and to the

Northern Powers, that Don Carlos could never reign in

Spain. The expedition of Gomez, too, the strangest event
which had ever occurred in any war, seemed to corroborate
the fact. The people evidently were against him. He
should make one remark more, and then conclude. It had
been said that the suspension of the Foreign Enlistment
Act was'improper.—(Hear.) But it should be borne in
mind that a special clause gave a power to suspend. For
what reason could that clause be inserted if it was not in
contemplation of some such concurrence of circumstances
as had produced the suspension. The possibility of the
power being used was evidently thought of, or the clause
would not have been necessary. The Noble Duke said
that he should not have consented to the suspension, as
he gave a different meaning to the clause. The Noble
Duke, from his great military knowledge, was certainly
well able to judge of what should be done in the case ; but

he would ask him whether, if the Government had refused
to suspend the Act, the people of Spain would not be ready
to exclaim that the English Ministry were indifferent whe-
ther Don Carlos or Donna Isab.Ala reigned over them ?

If the Noble Lords opposite de-sired to have the war in
Spain carried on, they would find that they were in error.
He did not hesitate to say that they showed by their con-

duct that they were Carhits at heart. They had brough
forward the present discussion, which could lead to nothing

and if he could judge by the proceedings in the other House
the intention of the Noble Lords was only to embarrass the
Government. The treaty ought to be carried into effect
in an enlarged sense. The spirit, and not the letter, should
be attended to ; and he could not better conclude than by
quoting to their Lordships a passage from the works of the
finest of all the advocates of freedom, which appeared to
him to be peculiarly applicable to circumstances like the
present.—(The Noble Lord then read the translation of a
passage of one of the philippics of Demosthenes, recom-
mending the Athenians to persevere in their observance of
a treaty against Phillip.)
The Earl of ABERDEEN would briefly advert to the
circumstances which had produced the treaty. When the
Queen Isabella succeeded, according to the will of Ferdi-
nand, he did not blame the Government of this country for
recognizing her claims. Shortly after this event it became
necessary to take a step further, namely, to expel Don
Carlos from Portugal. Don Miguel, with whom he re-
sided, would not agree to any such proceeding. Recourse
was had to arms to procure expulsion, and hence arose the
original treaty so often referred to. England and France
agreed that Don Carlos and Don Miguel should be ex-
pelled from Portugal. Before the treaty which sprung
into existence from that agreement had been ratified he had
brought the matter before their Lordships. The Noble
Viscount opposite (Viscount Melbourne) had expressed his
opinion on the matter in the following terms :—" The
Noble Earl then said that there had been a violation of the
Portuguese territory by the troops of Spain. My Lords,
that was the main ground of the treaty, which arose en-
tirely from the state in which Spain and Portugal stood in
reference to each other, the claimant of the Spanish throne
being in Portugal, gathering around him all the disaffected,
and thus threatening the security of the state of things which
had lately taken place in Portugal. Don Miguel was more
than once requested to desire the claimant of the Spanish
Throne to depart from the Portuguese territory, but he did
not accede to the request ; and, under these circumstances,
I say that, if ever troops of one country were justified in
entering the territory of another, for the destruction of
bands which were being collected for the overthrow of the
Sovereign's Throne, the Spanish army was justified on the
occasion in question. That necessity then existing, and it
being clear that the violation, as the Noble Lord terms it,
must take place, was it not the duty of Great Britain,
connected she is by treaties with Portugal, to take care
that that intervention should be effected under treaty, that
it should be only sufficient for the purpose, and that pre-
cautions should be taken for the purpose, and likewise for
its termination, when its object was effected ? That is
the main ground on which this treaty rests." Here it was
evident that as soon as the object was effected, the treaty
should be considered to have arrived at its termination.
When, therefore, the expulsion of the two Princes had
taken place, the treaty should end. Don Carlos afterwards,
however, returned to the Peninsula, and additional articles
were necessary. They were determined on, and added to the
original treaty. No additional preamble was deemed neces-
sary, nor were any new reasons assigned for the new articles.
It merely stated that, in consequence of new and important
events, a new state of arrangements became requisite. What
were the objects of these additional articles? The treaty
stated " the restoration of internal peace in Spain." Then
came the King's Speech, in which his Majesty spoke of
his " unabated solicitude for the peace and welfare of
Spain," and his desire to procure the " restoration of in-
ternal peace in that kingdom." It was the first time this
country had ever interfered with such an object. His
Majesty's naval stores and assistance were all given to
procure the " internal peace of the kingdom." How this
could be produced by naval interference he was at a loss
to make out. The Noble Lord, who last sat down, had
spoken of giving a large interpretation to the treaty. It
must be acknowledged that if the objects were consi-
dered the interpretation was wide enough. Going a little
farther not only could naval assistance be allowable, but
arms of every sort, even to a park of artillery, could be
justified. But, referring to the plain and manifest con-
struction of the treaty, taking naval assistance in its usual
and common sense, he would ask what could the placing
of 400 marines on board of ships, rated at sixty or ninety,
be considered but a fraud on the country and a fraud on
Parliament ? Their Lordships would recollect that not
only was this country included in the treaty, but
that France was also a party.—( Hear.) Now what
said the King of the French on the subject, in his
Speech from the Throne—" He continued religiously to ob-
serve the articles of the Quadruple Treaty." Now had the
King of the French observed it ? Did he extend the spirit
and take the large and liberal view so much spoken of by
the Noble Lord opposite, or did he limit its objects to the
obvious meaning of the terms in which the treaty was ex-
pressed ? He confined himself to a most exact observance
of the words of the treaty—nothing more. It became ne-
cessary to press on the King the necessity of a more active
interference, and accordingly it was proposed to him to
invade the country, and to intervene to some purpose. The
Noble Lord at the head of the Government avoided the
word intervention. It was too difficult to swallow, so ho
used the term co-operation. This in its turn became out of
use, as its exact meaning began to be inquired into, so a
new term was invented, translimitation. His Majesty's
Government had the full credit of the word assigned to
them with all formality by M. Thiers himself. The ap-
plication to the French King, however, was not success-
ful, for he refused to go as far as the Government in this
country desired. They knew well that if they interfered
effectually they should take the whole internal Government
of Spain under their care and protection. He would
read to the House an extract from a clever French Am-
bassador, stationed at Madrid, on the course of conduct
which the French Government should adopt in case they
interfered :—" As the passions, which the struggle of parties,
and the existence of civil war have excited, cannot be
calmed in an instant, it would be necessary that the French
army, in order to consolidate its work, should occupy for a
space of time, more or less extended, according to circum-
stances, the country to which it shall have given peace, other-
wise the flame would indubitably spring up again either in
the provinces of the north, or in some other parts of Spain.
The length of time for which this occupation should con-
tinue ought to be determined on beforehand, and, in addi-
tion, it should be stipulated most strictly, that the French
troops should not quit the Spanish territory even after the
expiration of the time agreed on, unless after a delibera-
tion held together by the two Governments, and not on
the simple demand of the Spanish Government alone. An
immensity of embarrassment to us, and of evil to Spain,
had arisen from the liberty left in 1823 to King Ferdi-
nand to put an end, at his own will, to the occupation of
the country by our troops. The same fault must not
again take place. Let us never forget that we should
always expect constant caprice on the part of the Spanish
Administration ; and also such caprice as might in a mo-
ment overthrow all that we might have done for preserv-
ing the tranquillity of the Peninsula. We ought to take
our measures in accordance with this view. lam na-
turally led by this state of circumstances to speak of the
line of conduct that we ought to mark down for ourselves