The Sun.
London, England, 1838-06-20 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 1838.

of England struck us to be putting an end to the war or concluding
it as speedily as possibly. I know very well that there are different
opinions on this question in Europe—that it is received not as a com-
mon case of disputed succession. I know very well that the great
principles which divided Europe as to constitutional or arbitrary
Governments must lead others to look at this subject in a different
view from that in which I regard it, and that the differences in
opinion which exist are to a certain degree irreconcileable, and must
prevent that harmony and union in the proceedings of the different
nations which might otherwise prevail ; but I feel hound to say, from
all the knowledge which I have of what is going on in Europe, as well
as from the character of their sovereigns and ministers, that in every
one of their cabinets there is a most anxious desire to preserve peace
and to make all the sacrifices compatible with their particular interests
and views in order to secure that object. I am perfectly aware that
there were persons of great experience and discrimination who, though
they were as anxious as we could be for the settlement of the affairs of
Spain, thought that the course we pursued in recognizing a compara-
tively constitutional government would lead not to a final adjustment
of the difficulties in that country, but to greater disturbances.
But 1 was not of that opinion. I have great reliance on any
plan for curing the present evil—for meeting the present dif-
ficulty ; and I do think that, for the purpose of securing that
object—for the purpose of securing the peace of Spain, whose
interests must, in all probability, be wound up with Portugal, in
whose welfare and connection with Spain we were deeply concerned, we
were bound to do everything in our power to terminate the hostilities
which originated in the northern provinces of Spain. It was for that
purpose that I, for one, adopted those measures against some part of
which I do not mean to say that objections may not be urged, and which
unquestionably have not been as speedily and immediately successful as
a person might be naturally led to anticipate; but the Noble Lord passed
over this part of the subject with comparative lightness. It is true he
read some opinions of ours as to the success of the Legion when em-
barking for Spain, and those which he read were certainly not very
sanguine. And with respect to the passage quoted as mine I disclaim
having ever said that the sending out of the Legion would lead to
the " immediate" pacification of Spain, or used any expression tan-
tamount to that ; but if the Noble Lord means to say that the
war has gone on longer than we expected, or hoped and wished,
when we proffered our assistance, and Don Carlos has found
greater support and resources than we expected, and that the war has
turned out tobe a matter of more difficulty and endurance than we at
first imagined, lam perfectly ready to admit that. It is impossible to
deny it ; but, at the same time, Ido say, that the course we pursued
had for its object to put a speedy termination to the war, that that was
a wise and prudent object, and that it required and justified the sacrifices
which we then made. These are the general grounds on which I have
acted in this matter—these are the general objects we have had in view,
and your Lordships are well aware of the means we have taken to secure
them. The Noble Lord told us he was certain he should have to make a
long speech, and he has unquestionably kept his word.—(A laugh.) The
Noble Lord has adverted to most of the proceedings of the war, and to
most of the great events which have happened in the course of it, but
he has gone through them in so desultory and unconnected a manner,
that I can hardly find one point on which to defend that conduct so
bitterly and so severely impugned.—(Hear, hear.) The Noble Lord
adverted to the Durango decree, and said that he could not justify it, as
it was impossible that it could be justified. He says that decree would
not have been issued if we had not issued the Order in Council. That
decree was directed against foreigners who came to Spain, and the Noble
Lord was possibly right in arguing that the Legion must be included in
its operation. But that forms no justification for its having been
issued, especially when it is recollected that it was not the act (as was
the case with regard to similar practices enjoined on the side of the
Queen) of officers, soldiers, or unauthorised persons acting contrary
to the directions of the Government, and incurring by it their dis-
pleasure, but that the Durango decree was the act of the Government
itself, claiming to rule, and sanctioning by its authority a mode of war-
fare of such unparalleled horror and atrocity that we know nothing like
it in modern times.—(Cheers.) The Noble Lord has also made an ob-
servation, onewhich I cannot help commenting, on some orders sent to
Canada, which are like the Durango decree. What the Noble Lord
could allude to or mean by such an observation I know not; but
when he states that what I said in this House led the Legion
to embark in the service of the Spanish Government, under the
conception that the Durango decree was not authentic, or
that they would not be included in it, I must express the opinion that it
is impossible to suppose, considering the period at which they left this
country for Spain, that the men of the Legion were in ignorance of the
state of the war, of the Durango decree, or of the risks and dangers to
which they must be exposed by joining that service. The Noble Lord
relied very much on what was done by Colonel Wylde on the reorgani-
zation of the Legion. Undoubtedly Colonel Wylde took a part in the
reorganization of that body, but I can state most distinctly on the autho-
rity of that officer, that he did so entirely on his own responsibility;
and that he stated that he could not in any respect answer for the Go
vern.nent undertaking that the contracts then made should be fulfilled.
The Noble Lord on a former occasion pressed very much the appoint-
ment of a commission to consider the claims of the officers. The com-
mission, however, is no sooner established and the persons who are to
form it arrived, than the Noble Lord expresses his extreme dissatisfac-
tion with it, says it is no use, and that it is without funds. Now
until that commission have ascertained the claims of these officers,
the non-fulfilment of which, I admit, has placed them in a very
distressing situation, and one which entitles them to great com-
miseration, I can say no more than that the Government will use its
utmost good offices with that of Spain in order to procure the satisfaction
of those claims. I have seen the plans proposed for enabling the Go-
vernment of Spain to fulfil the demands against it. Those plans involve
a great change in the financial system, and in the commercial system of
that country ; and no doubt they are founded in sound principles ; no
doubt they are right, and if they were to be adopted would lead to great
benefit. But at the same time there is a difference between recom-
mending a plan of this kind and forcing great changes of financial and
commercial policy upon the Government. The Noble Lord afterwards
went into a tong and minute account of the military operations of the
past campaign, derived from a great many documents and papers. The
Noble Lord began this part of his speech by saying how imprudent it was
even for a general officer to comment upon operations in the field of which
he had not bee n a witness. Now if the Noble Lord, who is a general officer,
feels this incompetency in his own case to comment upon these
operations, I certainly feel that I should. not be justified in offer-
ing any opinion on the subject; and I certainly think that it
would have been better if the Noble Lord, acting upon the principle
which he laid down, had abstained from the observations which he has
made with a view of depreriating the character and detracting from the
merit of those who were engaged in these operations and those who
commanded them.—(Hear, hear) The Noble Lord, amongst other
things, had read letters from officers in these forces severely commenting
upon the conduct of their commanders. Now as for any importance
which should be attached to sorb authorities, I perfectly recollect that
when the Noble Duke was engaged in those operations in Spain, of
which but one opinion exists at the present day, the whole town
teemed with letters from various parties condemning those very opera-
tions which the Noble Duke was then conducting ; therefore, I do
not think that any great stress should be laid upon testimony of
this sore—(heer, hear, hear.) I must again repeat, however, that I
think the Noble Lord would have done better in abstaining
from those very severe comments in which he has indulged, and
upon matters which, according to his own doctrine, be is, under the
circumstances, but ill qualified to judge. The Noble Marquis lies
commented severely also upon the military honours which have been
accorded to the officers engaged in this service, and the civil honours
conferred upon the person who now represents her Majesty at Madrid.
Now, I certainly consider those honours to be well and worthily be-
stowed; but, at the same time, that is not a matter in which I should
urge my individual opinion ; I leave it, therefore, to the public to de-
cide upon that question. Ido think, however, that the abilities end
the career of both those gentlemen, the one in a military, the other in
a civil capacity, and the services they have both performed, are such as
fully to entitle them to the honours which have been conferred upon
them. I have now, my Lords, stated the general principles upon which
I have acted, and the grounds and reasons for the advice which I have
given to his late and to her present Majesty, in regard to the proceed-
ings and operations in the Peninsula; I have adverted to all the points
in the Noble Lord's speech which appear to me to demand reply at
the present moment, and I have stated also the course which I intend to
pursue with respect to the motion which the Noble Lord has made.
Lord LYNDHURST said that as he felt very strongly on some parts
of the motion brought forward by his Noble Friend, he trusted he
should be excused while making a few observations.—(Hear, hear>)
He agreed entirely with the Noble Marquis that the question WO' one
of deep and paramount interest, because he considered every question of
importance that concerned the reputation and character of this country.
—(Hear.) It was certainly not a little amusing to advert to those
predictions to which the Noble Marquis had referred. The
Noble
Viscount opposite declared that he was never very sanguine, but dif.
ferent had been the case with the Noble Secretary for Foreign Affairs.
Ile had been even facetious on one occasion, and had talked of Don
Carlos concealed in his modest retirement in the mountains of Biscay,
at the same time staking his political sagacity on the result of those 'mea-
surei which the Noble Viscount now told them lie had not been very
sanguine about. He (Lord Lyndhurst) did not know whether they
should ascribe the Noble Viscount's doubts to acuteness or indifference,
but certain he was that the Noble Viscount had expressed himself, as
represented by the Noble Marquis, making use of the words " speedy
and successful issue."

Viscount MELBOURNE—The words used by the Noble Marquis
were " successful and immediate issue."

Lord LYNDHURST had understood the Noble Marquis to say
" speedy and successful." However, it appeared that this anticipation
had also been shared by the Noble Earl at the head of the Admiralty, as
that Noble Earl at one time stated that General Evans would go on in
the same successful career he had commenced. The truth of this pre-
diction was very remarkable.—(Hear, hear.) It did not appear that the
Noble Earl possessed any share of that faculty supposed to be peculiar
to the part of the kingdom from which he came, because while he was
thus talking of a successful career General Evans was in full retreat
on St. Sebastian, after his unsuccessful attack on Fontarabia.—(Cheers.)
The Noble Baron to whom was entrusted our foreign affairs had
also been a party to an act which as an anticipation of success was
almost as strong as any prediction.—(Hear, hear.) So confident was
he of the success of General De Lacy Evans in putting down what
he termed the bands of Don Carlos that he sent an order to her
Majesty's ships stationed on the coast of Spain to refuse him
admission should he present himself as a fugitive. Let them compare
the state of the fortunes of Don Carlos at the time of the predictions
which had been referred to with the state of those fortunes now.
(Hear, hear.) The British Auxiliary Legion had altogether disap-
peared, and with the exception of the city of Valencia, the entire of
the province in which it was situate was in the hands of Don Carlos.
The provine of Upper Arragon was in his hands likewise, as was also the
whole of Catalonia.—(Hear, hear.) For his own part he (Lord Lynd-
hurst) was one of those who had always condemned interference in the
domestic quarrels of Spain, and intervention in that intestine struggle
which was unhappily going on in that country. He thought such interven.
tion unwise and uncalled for, and not an intervention which could have
been justified in reference to any sound views of the interests of Great
Britain. But if such an intervention took place at all, he would ask
their Lordships whether it ought not to be carried on in a manner and
in a form becoming the character, the dignity, and the ancient renown
of this country ?—(Hear.) One of the justifications of this interven-
tion was, that we interfered for the purpose of aiding in the endea-
vour to establish the principles of liberty in Spain. Our interference
had been over and over again justified on these grounds. But in what
way had the Noble Viscount and his colleagues shown their attachment
to the principles of liberty in Spain ? Why, they had done so by send.
ing out a body of troops to attack people as attached to their liberty as
we were ourselves—people who were brave, hardy, and independent__
who possessed institutions to which they were as much attached as we
were to our own--institutions which they valued as free institutions,
and to which they were attached by principle, by habit, and by feeling.
The Noble Viscount, in the course of his speech that evening, had
alluded to the Quadruple Treaty. The ground on which that alliance
with the Powers of the west of Europe was formed—the interfe-
rence in the affairs of the Peninsula—was a most monstrous
ground. It was this, that it was desirable to form an alliance
between the Powers of Western Europe—between France and
England, constitutional Spain and constitutional Portugal—in order
to form a counterbalance against the possible aggressions of the despotic
Powers of the North. Never was there conceived in the mind of man a
system of policy more mischievous than this.—(Hear.) He would not
now go into a discussion of what might be the result of that policy if it
had been successful, for happily it had most signally failed.—(Hear.)
They had interposed to establish a Constitution in Spain and Portugal.
But what were constitutional Spain and constitutional Portugal at pre-
sent ? So far as their efficiency as foreign Powers was concerned, it was
no exaggeration to say that to all intents and purposes they were blotted
out from the map of Europe. As far as France was concerned in that
treaty, he would ask, what course was it likely that France would pur.
sue ? Was there any one ready to say, who had observed the conduct or
estimated the mind of the Monarch of that country, that that Monarch
would be likely to pursue any course but that which was most
for the interest and the advantage of his own country :—(Hear,