The Sun.
London, England, 1830-02-05 00:00:00

NA spoke of hiss Nlajesty's Speech, -of course, not u the
3poosh of the King, hut of that of his Ministers ; ind of
the Address, not as alit of the Noble Lord who moved it,
bat as the Address of the Minister•. That Address he
could not support, 14 it contained a pledge which he
thought it inconsistent with his duty to give. He begged
pardon of their Lordships for occupying their attention so
long; but having a deep feeling of the present distresses
of toe country, and a strong opinion as to the proper re-
medy to be applied, lie could not help throwing out these
few observations.

The Duke of WELLINGTON—If I hail any doubt as
to the propriety of my determination not to submit to the
proposition of the Noble Eirl who proposed the amend-
ment, that doubt would have peen removed by the obser-
vations which have been made by the Noble Earl who has
jest spoken, particularly in the latter pert of his speech.
Instead of confining himself to the subject matter or his
Majesty's Speech, and to the Address proposed by my
Noble Friend—instead of referring to these topics, mid to:
these only, the Noble Earl has found it necessary or expe-
dient to revert to transactions which took place two years
ago. He has blamed the Government for not havingpre-
sorted a real neutrality between Don Miguel and his 'niece ;
and, in endeavouring to show that there was some ground
for his censure, he has reverted to these Jong past trans-
actions, without giving the least notice that he intended
to take the present Opportunity of bringing these mat-
ter* under discussion. He expressed an eerneet anxiety
that the subject should be attended to, arid discussed
in the course of the last Session, when we would have
been prepared with the proper documents, and the best
information to elucidate the question which he has celled
rep to night, and the transactions to which he refers. He
him not kept to the topics mentioned in his Majesty's
eepeeelo and in the Address in answer ter it, which form
the subject now under the consideration of your Lordship,
but has turned aside to the discussion of matters upon
which there is no information, or, at least, only partial iti-
formstion, before thy House, and has arcued on supposed
fasts which are not in dispatches to be found on your Lord-
ships' tahle, or in any public office, that I know of. There
was no such communication made to us as the Noble Earl
aflutter; to. It is true that Don Miguel did desire that the
British troops might remain in Portugal; but it was not
true that tire communication was made to us In the manner
aientiuned by the Noble Earl, that I am aware of. The
:noble Earl says that we did preserve a real neutrality with
respect to the patriots who were assembled at Oporto, in
in erder to make an effort in favour of their legitimate
Sovereign ; and that we opposed them, and would not
enffer their favourite officers to join them. But the fact
in that the troops at Oporto were not opposed by at, nor
atereteel. Th-y were in themselves sufficiently numerous,
end sufficiently well equipped with all the means necessary
for the operatien, and were joined by the very officers whom
the Noble Earl accuses us from keeping from them. But,
as one of themselves bad expressed it, they withdrew he-
cause t .ey saw that the whole country was against them.
That wa_s a fact which appeared in the correspondence.
We have sot the proper documents before the House at pre-
.seat, to show precisely in what manner his M ijesty's Go-
verom.nt acted as to the queition of neutrality. But I say
that we were rigidly and strictly neutral between Don
.Alieuel And his niece, and between the parties in the
civil war cf Porrugal. We had certainly a corn:nee-
slat treaty with Don Miguel, and consequently in-
terests at stake, which it was incumbent on us to main-
tain, and we were bound to neutrality. We could net,
therefere, suffer tire Portuguese troops, which were as-
sembled at Plymouth, to attack Terceira, or Madeira, or
the Azar s, or Portugal, or any part of tire dominions
which acknowledged the sway of Don Miguel, nor permit
rite neutrality to be violated. The Noble Lord talks of
she convoy that was given to tire Porteguele squadron,
when they were turned aside from Terceira, and animad-
verted on the cruelty attending that proceeding. Perhaps
it is tree that a man was killed on that occasion, although
I do not know that there is accurate or certain information
its to the fact ; hut he that as it may, we were net to blame
for it. We were obliged to maintain our neutrality, and
were completely justified in what he did by the law of
stations.—(Hear, :rum Lord Holland.)—l say that we were
compelled to act iu order to preserve our neutrality, and
that in what we did we were fully justified by the law of
actions. Then the Noble Lord alludes to a correspsnd-
cues, which he says I conducted instead of my Noble
Friend (Earl cf Aberdeen), whose official and censtitu-
ticnat duty it was, as the Earl said, to manage it, But
the correspondence alluded to wee in my hands, and most
properly so, as lone as the person with whom it was car-
ried on Isere no official character in this country. His
official character was not acknowledged, bet when a per-
son did come to this country in an acknowledged official
character, then the correspondence was transferred to my
Nettle Friend, and conducted in the usual form. lam
not prepared with the proper papers and documents rela-
tive to these subjects, and I speak merely from recollec-
;lox. Bat the lest topic of the Noble Earl's epeech is the
scoot important of all, although in that respect ha has
pad but little attention to the recommendation in
his Majesty's Speech. In that Speech his Majesty
says that "It is from a deep solicitude for the per-
=anent interests of his people that Lis Majesty
is impressed with the necessity of acting with ex-
creme caution in reference to the itnportant subject of pro-
ermine measures for the relief of any portion of his sub-
jects." Bile the Noble Earl does net attend to this re-
soonreettiletion, nor does he take time to consider the qnrs-
e:ira, but he conies forward at once with a re-waiver: of re-
!itf, and that measure is of ne less consequence than an
riteratioc in the currency. Tile Noble Earl calla on your
Lordships to act directly contrary to the advice of his Mt-
jeety, end at once to pledge yourselves kerttirent inquiry to
Ala alteration in the Currency. The Noble Ear! talks of
the Speech from the Throne, as if it manifested a neglect
nf, ar:el indifference to, the present distressed state of the
country. There is no man that can more deeply or more
iirseereiy lament these distresses than I do ; and it would
be difficult for any mart who should bold the situation
which I at present fill, without being well aware cf such
distresses when they exist, and without deeply and sin-
cerely regretting them. The Noble Earl says, that his
3lajeety in his Speeelr attributes these distresses to the
seasons. But what does his Majesty really say ? Ile
goys, " That inc feels assured that the two flointee of Par-
lianteot will concur with him in assigning due weight to
she effect of unlivourehle seasons, and to the operation of
other causes which are beyond the reach of Legislative
eentroul or remedy." Surely tho Noble Earl dues not
ratan to deny that due weight ought to he it!q‘igned to
those eauses—and I eannet conceive hew the Noble
Era can draw any inference front these words iai.
plying an indifference on the part of his Majesty or
his Ministers to the distresses of hit subjects. I must
biQ ir call your Lordships' attention to another meat im-
portant consideration connected with the distress. There
is ;nether class of distresa, quite distinct from that aiready
referred to, which really exists to a considerable degree
among the manufacturers. But I ahould like to know
whether this has net been caused by the employment of
patellinery and the application of steam to mister:branches
nf menufacture. Competition, too, has arisen abroad
there is great desire in all people to become menufactu-
rers, and there are new manufactures established in all the
.countries of the world. Now I beg learn to ask if the ern -
etlayment of nmchinery abroad, and the employment of
etc.= to all manufacturing purposes, is not calcnieted to
erentrihute to the distress of oar manufacturers ? ie •
sue of the causes referred to by his Majesty in his Speech,
and your Lordships must consider whether this is or not
one of the sauce: over which Parliament con Id not pot-
eitily have any cantroul ? Ca. Parliament, ray Lords,
terevent the competition of foreigners ? Can this Haase ,
ireterfere to prevent tine application of machinery and stearrr
to manniectures ? or can there be a doubt that the appli-
ention of steam and the employment of machinery, whir
sire competition of foreigners, have made it ceneseaty for
eke manufacturers to give the men they employ as cooed
wages as pussible? All these circumstances have cons-
tined to produce the distress eotepleined of. The Noble
Earl opposite rays that the distress is general and univer-
se:, and unexampled. lam afraid the distrait is general,
lout at the same tiara there are some symptoms its ideas
country which show, notwithstanding the distress, time
the country is advancing ire preepetity. I say that this
is proved by tiocurnente. If the ezporte of Great Britain
_have gone on increasing for some yeaseneelt they were
greeter last year than lazy former year—if the atnenot of
.sf our exports are now greater than ever they were
.before—l say, not only that these aro the strongest
symptoms of the prosperity el the country in-
ereasiag, bat shat the distress eienzei be so great
and unexampled an the Noble Earl wordd make
et. There is not a rail-toad, nor a common road, no;
a eanal in the country, on wi.teli the traffic has not in-
creased every year during tira last few years, and particu-
larly is the last year. It may be true that elotre is a dirni-
3ution of the manufacturers' proitt—it may ha tree that
eke profits are not so great as. they were—het if theen
were no profit there %teeth! be ne employment ; bat the
traffic was usexainpled, which could not possibly talcs
place unless tome advantages were derived from it. It is
true that the advantages are not so great as they were ten
er twenty years ago, but still there were advaatage: ; and
where such an extensive and increasing tied& exists, there
censer he such extreme distress as the Noble Earl repre-
mats. There is another circumstance well worthy your
:Lordships' attention. There is a large class of retail
asters is this country.,. are they in distress? They fill