The Sun.
London, England, 1809-05-10 00:00:00

• ss it was declared none .such be sentt-wlthout tt
specific call from a central .lunta.. -The Noble LOrd
• was cn;reCt with' regard to the second promise he
mentionet,te that the assistance to Spain should be
of the kind Most ogreeable to her -wishes.;. Thii pro-
' coke had beep given, and most panClually and *veva-
rlably observed. As for the third promisei• that the
aperatious shouldbe.direaedto British objeas, here
the Noble LOrd 'Was again wrong. In the statement
be (Mr. C.) had the honour to make to the House,
' he-had declared Abet the considgration of British in-
terests would be postponed, and their only interests
would be the. interests, of Spain ; that the wishes of
'Spain shpuld be their rule of condal; and that of
Spain the profit and advantage sbotild.be exclusively
considered. (Here Lord Temple signified that this
was his understanding of the point.)—lf that was
the sense in which the Noble Lord understood the
British interest was promised _to be pursued, on what.
I plea then could he now "say that Ministers had for-;
felted their interest at Ferrol ? It was for Spain, not
fir 'the British Government, to decide on Ahat sub-
jet% These two things we were supposed to die-
,
. ' claim ; the separation of the colonies from the mo-
then country was. not to be thought of ; and we
abjured the idea of stealing ships either under the
preten2e Of placing them in safety, of restotiug them
to the lawful SoVereign of Spain), 'of keeping them,
,for the use of the Spanish people, or under any other'
excuse. Having refreshed the 'recolleaion of the
Noble Lord on both these .00ihts, he should proceed
to consider the justice of the accusation made by the
Noble Lord ai connected with them. The sun) of
the Noble Lerd'S observation Nyai this, that his Ma.-
jesty's Government-set nut upon the principle of res-
.cning Spain from the oppression of France, and
•therefige that an indictment laid against them for
not Ataving brought away the Fleet from I.errol.
He'savy the view. whichlhe Noble Lord took. of the
subjeCt. • The Noble Lord would have been willing .
t.t, have had.lol the varnish of generosity in the first
instance, and all the profits of the seizure in the last.
- In the first instance the Noble Lord 'would have
ntaintaioed,tbe high charaEter of the country; in the
. last he would have availed himself of pillage, when
the interest of the country appeared to dernand
The Noble Lord haying contended that it was bad to
send an army to Spain, and they the-conduCt Of that
army in Spain was also bad, maintained, that it was
worse 061 t 9 aggravate the mischief which heThad
denotinced by refraining from bringing away the
Ferrol Fleet. To have brought away this Fleet
Might' have been justifiable, had the behaviour
Great Britain towards Spain originated on other prin.-
eiples 'man those,on which it did originate. 'lt Was
perfeelly true, that in the contest between Spain and.
her oppressor, Great Britain was not originally.
bonnet to defend the former. 'fie British GoVern-
, toe,t might have said to the Spanish Naiion,
" No-you have been the vassals of Frence, you
love tilled thecoffers. of France, you have nerved
the arm of France against Great Britain. We
al-
ways tale you that the time would come when, in
common with other nations of Europe, -you, would
be punished for your comfit& ; and we rejoice that
that petiod.has arrived. What have you done to
etlith., you to onr aid ? We have a right to take ad-
vantigeof( your destrultion : and' while. France is
• shaking you to dissolution, we have a right to pick
up ynir sciote.red limbs, and Hutto them to our ent,
. vire." Thom was the lanknage which,,in conformity
tea the prattice-of nations, .and in conformity to the
. • principles of justice, might have been held towardi
;Spain but fortunately for the credit, and for ihe
rear interests of dna country, other sentiments pre-
veiled. In adopting the'universal feeling of the na-
I lee, the 13►itish Government'shared in .the universel
leetlng of the nation,' and haring once aCted upon
the principles of liberality, it was indispensable that
'theircoudat should be tried throughout upon the
'same principles. 13,8 suppose the Noble Lord were
to answer''' Yes ; I allow t hatyou ought'not to have.
done any thing viplently.to hurt the feelings of the
Spanish nation •, but •L contend that you ought to',
Live itutde iit,rll an iMpressien on the Spanish Go-
c.ll ;IN:kit as would have induced them to permit you
to do that which your, mutual interests required."—
in the first place, what' ss as the ultimate interest of

hoth ~T.„toriespn this point could not yet be said to
determined. The period had :Oat arrived for the.
Govermuent to call for an examination into
their conduct, to decide whether Or not they had
a•Acd uv4dy, .end Vaught the great contest in which
'they inn] engaged to a happy terrnieation': When'
hat time should, come, and tile whole of cont.,
dna of his Majesty's Government should, be before.
Parliament an ,1 the public, he trusted the result
ould prove, that they had coni.ulted the real interest
theiCeoutitry.. Ir,was. material to distinguish .the
period, when a Govgrnment," having terminated a
cottrsi.• of operations, laid its condua open, and
called for decision upon it from the, period when it'
was attempted to obtain a forestalled decision upon
cOndukt, at what might almost be,Called the coat-
itAlicetueut of its cowrie of operations. it could
not he expeaed that a Government should_ be ena-
bled, to use the words of 'Addison,
" 'lb crowd an Iliactinto one campaign."'

It waa a statement founded.upon Parli'airientary prin-
.ciple and usage; that a case voluntarily offered for
examination must be .differently considered from a
ease the premature examination of which was de-
mended. The Noble Lord, however, fixing him-
self particularly on this subje& of Ferrol, had quoted
dates without any due observance of places: He
had stated it to bet absurd, that while the Beet was
tint secured from the French at Ferrol, at that very
time a treaty was aigninc, in London fur keeping
them oilt,vf the power of The French. The same
f:P110161011 of time and 'place' prevailed through the
.I.:Obte Lord's_speech. The Noble Lord had asked,
svhy. his. Noble Friend had, on the 14th .of Novem-
ber, written instruaions to General Moore to take
toe course which he
,in, fad pu the identical day
adopted ? This certainly was not prescience on the
lart. of lila Noble Friend, because it was a know-
edoe of 'something contemporaneous.; but surely is..
Was no impeachtnent of the discernment at a Go.i.
verittnent, Una it provided at home for that which
fit the very same instant Waft taking place abroad,—
When the Noble Lord had given his notice of the.
present motion, he had promised that a: great part
of his industry and eloquence sheuld be emPloied ou
the treaty conchlded between Great ,Britain and
Spain ; PI) which treaty, however, the ,Noble Lord
had contented himself fuss h making a' single observe-
tion. This phservation prOceeded on' the principle
that the .N'tphltt Lord condemned. the ..provisions
only to,: iirobable and.contingent cases: But it