The Sun.
London, England, 1839-07-24 00:00:00

SPAIN.

The Marquis of LONDONDERRY then rose to bring
forward the motion of which he had given notice, relative
to the war in Spain. In the present state of the contest
in that country, he could not allow the session to close
without obtaining some explanation from her Majesty's
Government. He had moved for papers connected with
the subject last Session, and if any of their Lordships bad
had time to go through them, of which he had some doubt,
—( Hear, hear)—they would find that all the attempts of this
country at mediation between the Carlists and Christinos
had tailed. After the Legion had returned to this coun-
try, they were obliged, at the eleventh hour, to de-
mand from the great powers of Europe their moral
influences to put an end to the atrocities, and to consent
to an exchange of prisoners. He firmly believed that if
the Government had pursued that policy which he
had advised for them, they never would have had
these atrocities perpetrated, by which Europe and
civilization had been incensed. He had moved fur
these documents with the view of ascertaining what sup-
port was to be given to the Spanish Government by her
Majesty's Ministers. He was anxious to know what cor-
respondence had passed between Lord J. Hay and the
Chief, and what stores bad been sent to him. The whole
of the returns were extremely partial, and every endeavour
was made by them to fix upon the Carlists the cause of the
Spanish war. The Noble Marquis then referred to a
letter written by Cabrera, in which he denied the atrocity
that had been attributed to him, and that he had refused
quarter to the prisoners. He had alluded to the letter to
show that partiality with which the returns had been
drawn up. He thought the policy pursued by the Go-
vernment.with respect to Spain was greatly to be con-
demned, as it was calculated to increase the war and
the disasters of Spain. He could not see why, as
had been recommended by Count Nesselrode, the
five Great Powers of Europe should not have sent
Plenipotentiaries for the purpose of seeing if
something could not be done for Spain ; but the truth
was that the Government were powerless, boil in this
country and that, for they could not even make an ar-
rangement with Spain by which the unfortunate men who
had been kidnapped into their service should ba paid, or
interest given them for their money upon their certificates.
the Noble Marquis concluded by asking the following
questions : —First—Whether there were any engagements,
in the opinion of her Majesty's Government, between
Great Britain and France under the Treaty of Quadruple
Alliance which prevented Great Britain from entering
into a negociation with the other Allied Powers for the
pacification of Spain ? Secondly--If Great Britain did
not stand in the same situation as the other three Powers
as to the affairs of Spain, why overtures had been made to
them, and no reference made to the Quadruple Alliance ?
Thirdly—Was it the intention of her Majesty's Govern-
ment to forego their efforts in the cause of Spain ? and
Fourthly—Was it their intention to take more decisive
measures with regard to liquidating the claims of the Bri-
tish Legion ?
The Earl of CLARENDON—My Lords—l am sen-
sil,le that much apology is due on my part to your Lord-
ships for venturing at this moment to claim your Lord-
ships' attention for a short time, and to the Noble Marquis
who has just sat down. I feel that particular apology is
due for being about to adopt a course 14 hich is, I fear,
irregular, and not waiting to address your Lordships till
my Noble Friend on the left had replied to the questions
of the Noble Marquis ; but, my Lords, as the Noble Mar-
quis has so pointedly adverted to me, and as I have no
doubt that the answer of my Noble Friend will be satis-
factory to the Noble Marquis, and that your Lordships
will consequently be unwilling to prolong this discussion,
I am anxious first to offer a few remarks upon the speech
of the Noble Marquis, and I trust that that indulgence,
which I have never yet seen solicited in vain from your
Lordships, will be extended to me, connected as my name
is with the correspondence on your Lordships' table, which
has given rise to the questions of the Noble Marquis, and
having had the honour to be the Minister of this country
in Spain since the commencement of the civil war in 1833
My Lords, the Noble Marquis has informed your Lordships
of the grounds upon which he has thought it his
duty to call the attention of your Lordships to
the correspondence now on the table, but as the
object sought by her Majesty's Government in
mitigating the horrors of the war appears by the papers
themselves to have been fully achieve'', and as the answer
to the question he has put to her Majesty's Government is
to be found in the correspondence itself, and that several
weeks have now elapsed since these papers were presented
to the House, without the Noble Marquis's sense of duty
having moved him to make them a subject of discussion, I
am rather inclined to believe that some other motive than
that which the Noble Marquis has avowed, must have led to
the course he has now taken, and that he considers
the cause he has so long protected in Spain stands at this
moment in peculiar need of his assistance—that the Noble
Marquis, therefore, has come to the rescue less out of de-
sire to see a termination put to the horrors c,f a civil war,
which afflict a portion of the Peninzula, than from the fear
he may entertain that if the mediation which he is so
anxious to bring about be too long deferred it may arrive
too late. My Lords, I know that the subject of Spanish
affairs is one which must be irksome to your Lordships,
and that few among your Lordships can he inclined to
ythoefre
all therefore
in the taken newspapers
thespalpibeers liberty read what is connected with them in the public papers. I
informing
latelymin
Lord-
ships,gyobueren
pub-
lished, by the authority of the Spanish Government, some
intercepted correspondence between Don Carlos and Ca-
brera and the exiled Ministers of that Prince, by which it
appears that Don Carlos is carrying on an intrigue against
his General, Maroto, in whom he pretends to confide, but
whom in his heart he detests. My Lords, as it probably
will not be in your Lordships' memory how that General
came to occupy his present post, I shall briefly state the
facts as they are illustrative of the position in which Don
Carlos must now find himself. Marotto shot—without
trial, or the form even of accusation or condemnation, six
of his brother Generals, whom he looked upon as personal
rivals, for which he was proclaimed to be a traitor by Don

NDON, WEDNESDAY, JULY 24, 1839.

Carlos, Maroto (in order, probably, to prove that be '
was neither), then marched his army against his King, and
Don Carlos, upon his approach, issued another proclama-
tion, recalling the first, and ordering it to be burnt
in every town and village (and when a noxious
document is ordered to be burned in Spain,
it is so by the common hangman), and Don Carlos
further expressed his anxious hope that this would be
received as a satisfaction by his faithful subject Maroto,
whose loyalty nothing but the calumnies of perfidious
advisers could for a moment have induced him to doubt.
Maroto accepted the apology, which for ever degraded
Don Carlos, and made himself supreme. He banished
all the confidential advisers of Don Carlos, appointed his
own Ministers, and has since that time virtually been So-
vereign in that part of the country. Since that time,
however, Don Carlos, in order to recover his lost power,
has not ceased to intrigue against him ; and, as the inter-
cepted correspondence goes on to show, there is now so
much disunion among the Carlists, the want of means is
so great, and the discontent so general, that the cause
never was considered to be in so disastrous a plight. I
know this to be the opinion of some of the most influen-
tial Carlists bath in and out of Spain ; and as their fears
have, in all probability, been caught by the Noble Mar.
quis, he may have thought, by the course he has this day
adopted, to throw his shield over Don Carlos, and to
hide his protege's distress by placing him on the same
footing with the Queen of Spain, and invoking the medi-
ation of the great Powers of Europe, as if the belligerent
parties were on terms of equality. By the papers on
your Lordships' table, your Lordships will see that her
Majesty's Government, complying with the request of the
Spanish Government, addressed itself to the three Nor-
thern Courts, and asked their intervention with Don
Carlos, to cause a stop to be put to the revolting
atrocities committed by his Generals, which ren.
dered retaliation on ti'e part of the Queen's Ge-
nerals a matter of melancholy, but unavoidable, necessity.
The Courts of Russia, Prussia, and Austria responded to
the invitation thus made to them in a manner which did
them infinite honour ; and Count Nesselrode, going still
further, suggested in his dispatch to Count Pozzo di
Borgo, and his note to Lord Clanricarde, that some means
should be adopted for putting an end to the war. The
Noble Viscount at the bead of the Foreign Department
was, I know, ready and most anxious to avail himself of the
indication, for I can call it nothing-else, of the Russian
Minister, but it was necessary for him first to ascertaic
upon what basis Russia and the other Powers would join
with England and Francein any negotiations, as it was
clear that England and France, having recognisedethe
Queen of Spain, and being bound to her by the QuadruPle
Treaty, would not secede from the obligations that those
acts imposed : and I will ask the Noble Marquis, and ask
it fearlessly, would he, if he had at that time been con-
ducting the foreign affairs of this country—would he have
acted differently ? Would he have.disregarded the solemn
compact by which this country is bound to the Queen of
Spain ? Would he have admitted Don Carlos, whatever
may be his opinion of that Prince's rights, or respect for
his character, to treat upon terms with_ the Queen?
Would he have considered the Government of England to
be in the same position as that of Russia, which had re,
cognized neither the Queen nor Don Carlos ? I feel sure
be would not. I feel sure that he must know too well the
value of a treaty to have acted differently from the Noble
Secretary for Foreign Affairs—( Hear, hear)—and that,
like him, he would have felt no further steps could
be taken in the matter, while Count Nesselrode,
replying to his inquiries, said, that for his part
he had no suggestions to make. I will also ask the
Noble Marquis if he is aware of the existence of a protocol,
agreed to by the principal Powers of Europe, and signed
at Aix-la-Chapelle in 1818, by which it is specifically
agreed that if in future the interference of these Poitiers
should become desirable for the arrangement of the internal
affairs of any other nation, such interference should never
take place except at the express desire of that nation,
whose representative should always assist at the delibera-
tions of the Congress which might in consequence be as-
sembled. How then, my Lords, in the teeth of this most
just and politic compact between the Sovereigns of Europe,
could 'a Congress have been assembled for the settlement
of the affairs of Spain, unasked for by Spain ? and what
representative of Spain could have attended such a Con.
gress ? It is clear that England and France must have
insisted that a Plenipotentiary of the Queen should attend,
and only the Queen's Plenipotentiary, because, having ac-
knowledged the Queen's rights, they could not have per-
mitted the claims of a Pretender to the Throne to b 3 re-
presented at the Congress. But would the Northern
Powers have been satisfied with having Spain so re-
presented, as they have not acknowledged the Queen ?
and would they have had any right to insist upon the
presence of an agent from Don Carlos, when they have
not recognized either ? But the Noble Marquis now
appears to think, or rather he says, that future steps ought
to have been taken, and that if the three Powers had been
agreed the Spaniards must have yielded. But here let me
remark, that in this question of agreement lies the whole
difficulty, and prevents the case of Belgium from being a
parallel case. All the Powers were agreed upon the re-
cognition of Belgium ; and that, and that alone, rendered
their joint co-operation possible. Would it have been
possible, if England and France had recognized the inde-
pendence of .Belgium, as they were bound to do, and that
the Northern Powers bad asserted the right of the King
of Holland to the Throne of Belgium—would a Con-
gress, meeting upon such a basis, have led to any good
result ? And its the same way could England and France
have consented to a Congress at which the claims of—Don
Carlos to the Throne of Spain were to be supported ; and
if such claims were not brought forward, and the rights of
the Queen recognized, the Congress would be unnecessary;
for were the Northern Powers to withdraw their support
and aid from Don Carlos, the war would soon be at an end.
But let me ask the Noble Marquis upon what grounds he
says the Spaniards would have yielded ? Does he draw
his deductions upon that point from history, or experience,
or his knowledge of Spanish character. He must have
strangely confused them if he thinks what he says for I
can tell him that neither threats nor protocols of Foreign
Powers would have any more influence upon Spaniards
than they would upon Englishmen, and their only la suit
would be to unite all classes of Spaniards in one bond of
resistance to the Powers by which their nationality was
menaced. True it is that the combined armies of Europe
might march into Spain, and establish there any system of
Government that a Congress of Sovereigns might think fit
toto
such an e
decree;
xpeiebut
expedient—or if li
the Noble Marquis
were, reqruis prepared to resort
does he think the
Powers of Europe would be prepared to march with him—
or if they were, does he think that the Government they
bad set up in Spain would endure one hour after the last
foreign soldier had recrossed the frontier? I have some
experience of that country, and the Noble Marquis may
take my word, that the unsolicited intervention of fo-
reigners in the political institutions of Spaniards, will
always be a miserable failure; and so it ought to be,
and greatly it redounds to the honour of Spaniards
which rendered Marquis will, I trust,
see that
tit
here s h
foourled
aibl et
tseo.e r
eTu
mh es t
allo oche Ise
unpo-
pular, the accomplishment of what he desired, and which
would, if practicable, have, I am convinced, been allowed
by her Majesty's Government with as much readiness and
satisfaction as the Noble Marquis himself woule have dis-
played. I believe, however, the Noble Marquis will admit
that the papers on your Lordships' table prove that British
agency was well directed and productive of good re-
sults, as regards the mitigation of the civil war in Lower
Arragon, and that through our means much human suffer-
ing was diminished and many lives were spared ; and thus,
through the intervention of her Majesty's Government, a
state of things has been brought about, quite as important
and quite as much called for as that which the Eliot
Convention established. The Noble Marquis blames my
Noble Friend at the head of foreign affairs, because the
Eliot treaty was not made to extend throughout the whole
of Spain. My Lords, it was impossible. I wish to heaven
it bad been ; but those who talk on the subject, as the
Noble Marquis has done, are really not aware of the
facts. At all times of political disturbance in Spain,
there are never wanting bands of robbers and malefactors,
who start up in every quarter, and raise a standard of
revolt in their own particular district for the mere pur-
poses of crime, and to have made the Eliot Couven-
tion applicable to such men would have been suffi
cient of itself to have quadrupled, aye, and far more
than quadrupled, their numleers, by offering be-
forehand impunity for their offences. It vvoul
have led to every class of bad consequences, and
never would have been carried into effect but in the
Basque Provinces, where two armies were in the presence
of each other, depots of prisoners and a regular cartel for
their exchange would be established, The treaty was
practicable—it proved a real blessing, added another item
to the immense debt of gratitude which the Spanish
nation owes to the Noble Duke opposite, a debt which I
must say is always cheerfully and cordially acknowledged.
Much praise is likewise due to my Noble Friend Lord E.,
who displayed great ability and tact in negotiating the
treaty ; but I am also in justice bound to say that the
Spanish Government met the proposal of the Noble Duke
in precisely the same spirit in which it was made to them
as on every other occasion the Government and Generals
of the Queen manifested a desire (of which they have
omitted no occasion to prove the sincerity) that the wee
should be carried on according to the usages of civilized
nations, and here, my Lords, I must beg to say in answer
to the unwarrantable remarks of' the Noble Marquis, and
with rsferenee to the evidence to be found in the papers
now en your Lordships' table, that when officers such as
Co!. Wylde, and Col. Lacy, and Col. Alderson, men of
high and unimpeachable honour, who arc bound by honour,
as well as duty, carefully to collect and faithfully to report
to her Majesty's Government every thing that occurs in
the different corps td which they arc attached ; when such
men beer evidence to the humane conduct of the Queen's
Generals, and to their unceasing efforts to secure the war
being carried on with humanity ; and when I myself de-
clare upon my honour that I have found the same feelings
to exist in all the different Ministers and Generals with
whom I have been in official relation, and who have inva-
riably acted upon every suggestion of mine that had for
its object the mitigation of the war, I say, my Lords, it is
most hard, it is most unjust, to confound such men, and
their intentions, and their acts, with the hordes of banditti
who spring up on all sides, and are invested with authority,
by Don Carlos, in order to carry devastation through the
country, to pillage the inhabitants, and to strike terror
among the loyal subjects of the Queen—conduct which is
only natural, after all, for these men spring from the dregs
of the people, and their existence and power depend upon
their atrocities—it is shameful, my Lords, to confound such
men with the Ministers and Generals of the Queen, men
of education and enlightenment, and humanity. The out-
rage is deeply felt by them, and they cannot but be in-
dignant that such opinions should be current in England,
and more particularly among Foreign Powers, and their
Representatives at the different Courts of Europe, who
have doubtless their own :
part,cumr purposes to serve in
representing the two parties now contending in Spain as
not only equal in power but rivals in barbarity. And,
my Lords, while talking of Foreign Powers and their Re-
presentatives, I may be permitted to advert to the scheme
which is, I know, most in vogue with them, and which they
are constantly urging as the only means of arranging the
affairs of Spain, but which, if it were not absolutely im-
practicable, would be of all others the most disastrous,
namely, the marriage of Don Carlos' son with the
Queen. My Lords, upon this I have, in the first place, to