The Sun.
London, England, 1809-01-20 00:00:00

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admission that Minist'era hail aced with wisdom and the Pyrenees were -open tb the French,
.which they
vigour, whereas, in his 'opinion, they had sitewn flow were and it %VaS notorious; that the road '
neither wisdom oor
,vignor .; what, I:vas the proof of from Paris to hiadrid was as open. for the pas.
their wisdoni the vibratiottit of theircounsels, con- sage of FreuCh thaops as . the read , trom:Paris to
tinunlly.doing and ondoing, embarking, and coon, Autwerp. It was 'notorions also, that the mill
tertn:lnditlgi- or 'where was their:vigour ? They bad .tary power of all Europe,. except Austria, was
coßeoted, it was true, a large fleet of transports, bat at the disposal of Buonaparte.'; what then could.
how had they employed them ? why, in conveying, he • done; by 30,000 British troops against hon,Ooo
back to franca Junor and his rascally. army, with which could be brought into the field,. against tbemi
all their illgotten Wealth and plunder, while our i He adverted again to the absurdity of sending troops,
"men troops were KU withotit any neceisary pro- to be disembarked far from the sett of eaten, and
iisiontor arrabgements.Mode • tor' their march into contended it Was but a mockery of preffered assist-
Spaio. They were-detained for two, Months,
,and atTee to be at. the' back of our allies, and distant
,at tact marched off in the midst of the rainy season; from the place where service would be necessary,,
tlenconsequeoce was, that they fell down daily with . But the mismanagement did not end here; for it
the dysentery. IHis Mijesty, in, his Speech,- had appeared that after the British army had causer]
told them that he disapproVed of some articles of j the French to eiacttatePortogal, there was,not the
the Convention of:Ciutra;,bet.he felt no hesitation least prevision made for theft iirogress into Spain,
in saying,. that he thought; it the. most ,disgraceful, j and it was full two months betofe they could pro-
transalion :tor the Cotintry that had happened sauce. coed ; and when' at lait they began to march, it was
the Revolution. He sari around hitt) some Princes I, in the worst season of the year, through a country
of the Blood Royal; who from their earliest. years, not capaiie Ofitilbrding them support, and by reads
had ,been,bred to arms, and:had -.Studied-their, pro• notorion4 imPracticabie. His Mijesty, in his
fessioe, Why.were none.- olthein appointed to MTh, i Speech, had said, that he had publicly expressed
tuands to.suppert the '.honour of their cooarry his disapprohatiun 'of -same of the articles of the
If they wer., not employed, thew, was another Treaty of enure. He confessed he was a little
Noble Peer who hadliten proofs of Its talents both anxious to know what answer the Addresi would
as a statesman and a Soldier, and it was Silatneftli not make to this communicatton, and was atirprised
to have employed him on such an occasion. He was to ethd it concurred in blaming if,. Of the Treaty
sure he would in Spain have proved another Peter- a of Claw that House knew nothing until it should
borough.: They would not then have experienced •be laid before them—of the expression "of his Ma-
such disgraceful result.. He would not go the, jest Y's disapprobation, that House knew nothing,
Whole length of saying, as he had
War"
said, that . and yet they were called upon to blame the Treaty:
w there never as .a Cuuncil of War but when the He thought .11iniiters might have recollened, th-

•
Commander in Chief was a coward, but this. he
could say, 'there never was a Council of War but
where !here was something wrong about the Com-
mander to Chi 4, and he could add, he never ktiew
a Court of Inquiry, but for the purpose of 'covering
a•blut, and the Commander in Chief in 'Portugal
had let it out on the Court of Inquiry, that he was,
by Lord Castlereagh's diredion, Mall things to con-
sult
.his third in command. His Lordship then ad-
verted,to the debarkation of the troops in Spain,
which, fie insisted, was done with the utmost igoo;-
ranee of the nature of tlte country. He had heard
of a It-Oven-born Minister, who, in Council, asked,
whether Port Mahon was aft island or on'the Con-
tinent the present men surpassed him in geo-
graphical ignoranee,.for they seemed wholly unac-
quainted with the Whole coast of Europe. They
debarked men in the extremity of they Smith to act
in the North ; and now they were retreating. In-
stead of preparing for them at the nearest port,
they were sending Transports to Vigo. Not so
with Junot's ragannitiin tellowi.' They were sent
to
.the nearest port 4- the scene of action 'in Spain.
Re thought. these instances of mismehagensetit and
ignorance 'were so .gross that they ought to approach
the Throne, -his. Majesty fairly, that unless
he petted with his preserM• IVltnisters, be was in dan-
ger of losing his country: having stated his opi-
nion, he should retire. Infirmity would prevent
him from attending- much, perhaps he should never
attend 'again ; " And so,' any • .Lotds (he said), 1
wish' ybo' all good night." • , , .
Earl GROSVEN9O spoke shortly, and stated, he
Could not concor with the Address in-all its parts.
Lord SaueouTit begged not to be understood to
stand pledged in voting for the Address. His Ma-
jesty had stated, that`he had enteted into a Treaty.:
with Spain. The propriety of 'that Treaty would.'
be best discussed when it was laid upon the table.
Lord GRENVILLE rose; and said, he Must ob-
jea to the Address in its greatest part; because
in his view it went to sanction' what bad been
done ;its meastires of w4sdanrt and vigour,- tint also
Went further, and pledged the House as to their_opi..
pion of the wisdom and vigour of what was prokH
posed to be done. Thinking far ditferent ns he'did`e,
of the mode in which the war had 'been conducted;
and of the manner-in Which'it ought to have been
condu6ted, he must give it his decided 'dissent. Fie
wholly disapproved' of sending. a British army into
the heart of Spain; and he did riot think that the
situation of that county at any time warranted the
Hazarding a large British ,forte—large, with resped
to the. means of this country, but small, with Tete-
tree to the armies they had to encounter. He cer-
'Llinly approved of giving the Spanish Patriots every
assistance, but it might best have beets done by fly-
. ing expeditions, . annoying the enemy at all points,
which, by the assistance of our fleetti, might easily
have been effected. Wilco the resistatice to French
oppression first manifested itself in Spain,.fie was
one who 'looked upon it with 'a desponding eye, but
if-there was any one thin; in particular which gave
him more hope than another, it was the wise poitcy
set out in the paper of precautions issued by !lie fiat
Junta. it I.vasthere jnstly:said; 'that the troops of
Spain could not encounter the veteran legions of
Yr-mice in the open held, and therefore it recant... •
mended the avowing of all pitcliediuntles, and, in-
stead of it,'a continual system of hatiMing th'e'ene-
my by hanging on his orit7OOstS. Every pcniun iu
thmeuuntry agreed on the wisdotu Ot the policy, and
yet we had, by our.cOnduCt in sending a large army
into the heart of 'Spent, driven our allies in depart
from' it. But not only was this erreoeously done,
but the very manner was the worst that possibly
could be, adopted. It was only in the North Of
Spain, or the banters of the Pyrent-eS, that a British.
force could have acted with Oat. Atter the French'
'had been driven from IVladrid. and had retired to the
frontiers of Spain, if a British 'toree could have been
promptly sent to the North of Silent, before 1119
ench lad received reinforcementsi they perhaOs
me,,ht hate been driven through the Pyreoeics, those
'ptssses, forced, and the keys at their country put into
thehends of the Spaniards.---Instead of wbirrle, the
troop. were r.ent to a distant and deserted province,
which must of course again fall WO the hands ut •
the conquerors of Spain, and' the Spanish army left
to be defeated. He held It was the utmost folly
to trust Britillt troops in Spa,' while the passes in

doge. at it
was inconsistent with the first principles of British
justice to condemn a.measure Until they had-ex-
amined it. - But though they could not now give
any opinion of -the Treaty, there was abundant to
demand an inquiry. A Military. Inquiry had declared
the •Military Commanders were not to blame, th:fr
they had -acted as became them. -.His Majesty was
dissatisfied with the, Treaty. - What• was the inte-
retice,"that the blame lay elsewhere, and must at-
taeb to- Ministers. The French could only be driven
from' Portugal, either by following them into Lisbon,
and investing the fortresses, or by ordering them to
come into the field, and there beating them. But if
they had nu cannon- to batter the forts, or' no cavalry
to follow op their.viaory in the field, the Generals
were nt.t to ,he., blamed,, hut --the Ministers who
equipped the espedition.;• et. if t; .y were, to aa in
country wide!) would not support the army, but they
mitst'depend on the fleet for supply, they were not
blameable fat not. having a Cuzoutissariat to arrange
that department. The Court ofitiquiry had not gorse
into these points, and' they had. done r!ght in not
doing it.. Neither 'had they in sacred into the Nava-
l • Bat it weeld beetene that HoUge to in-
quire how it happened,. that a British Admiral, ino
•stead. of pnriniughis us,seal 'tom rue.tions to born, sink,
destreg, anti capture the enemy, had sent- their fleet
into port ruere4 as a pledge, to be. restored at the
coeciusion of Peace. These would be all matters
fonne inquiry. His Lordship next expressed
his surprise, that no notice _was taken in the Speech
Of the affairs of this Country relative to AMerica.
He declared his opinion was, that Ministers wished
,to drive us into a state 01 hostility with that people,
which he earnestly deprecated. He argued, that
the embargo
.was mischievous in its etiects to this
Qeuntry, and stated,' t ha t the American, mbassador
- had offered, by his instructions, to rescind the embargo
,with respect to this country, if we would rescind our
Orders in Council with respeci- to them. . From that
moment,. he asserted, a new epode) took place, and
the question assumed quite allot her aspect, for t,y
that concession he asserted, America, in met, made,
common cause with us against
,France, andit was an
infatuation in Ministers not to come to an accornino-
datidn with her. - He knew there were many dis-
cerning:people in this. country, who thought that we
should destroy tdl commerce but our own, and ant:
sutler any other Ship on the 'sea. He knewiatet
whether Ministers'had any affettion tufr this absurd
policy, but it seemed by their-conduel that they
had. But most miserable and deceived would they
find themselves, if they acted upon any such absurd
and mad iipeculation. Beforedie'sat down lie would
just notice the allusion to the overtures made troin
Erfurt!). • He was of opinion that those overtures
Could teiver have hid t 4) peace, situated as both '.par-
ties then .wete with respeet to Spain.. Neither side
could well have treated on the Jai possidetis, Buotta
parteexpetting to reconquer Spain in two months,
nnd we ie possession _of. Portugal. But the proper
tittle for discussing this question world come hereof-
ter, he Should only just now notice a contradictien
between the Speech and his Majestj's late Declara-
tion. That-Speech stete.s; that it was demanded as
epreliminary't hat we should :nut interfere in Spain ;
and the Deelaration; that we. demanded that'the
*emit should cease their iotertin'ence. • Which
was the 1;41 lie knew not, but it seemed to him in
absurd thinglor either side to ask of the other, and'
"of course not to be expeNed Oat either should a`c-
rtiesce in, therefore not likely to lead to a 4 pacifica-
tion. Having no 4 stated in what points he dissented
from the Address, he should just say, that he most
•Cerdially dgreed to the proposition for augmenting
,4inr force; he conceited it would be highly proper,
and would be most 'essentially necessary and useinl,
whier proper and wise managetuent,liereafteri. and
he feared, at no diatom- period,i in our Own defence.
To-that part he most cordially assented ; but be
could by no meant, viewing the .ctinduet of Mints-
ters as he did, concur in the ,Addrees altogether as
proposed. . •
Lord HAwKEseurry, in reply, observed, that no '
one could be-more sensible that) he was of the ex-
twine imporaoce eft the events to which the Noble
Bari») had alladt :I; he imaginel,- lu that the
Address was so worded, as not to pledge any NOhle
Lord to ahy opinion lespetititig the measures which
,his Majesty's Government had adopted in porstaapce
et th.:tra. if it was coosidera that light, ha

might venture to aasnre their tordslilpe'that it 'te.e,
not so intended. Mast certainly as Jong as .theSna-
thards seethed disOsed to. prove true to themselves,
an long should diem cause meet, on the ye r Of great
Britain, itith the molt cordial and entarticeupport
Apisthat lie conceived to he a point Upiin which there
would no ditterende of qpiniott. A diversity 'of gee-
itiment might, no doubt, arise tvapeaing tke spec tic
nature of' the support to be Out afforded. The spit.:
chic nature of that support vi;otild-therefore be mat-
ter of minute detail, or •fintire explanation and dis.
cussien, and therefore could not be supposed to be
at all involved in the vote of the present Aditre,t.,
which simply'Calla upon the House to Concur with,
his Majesty -in the assurance, " that so lopg as' tne
•people of, Spain remain true to themselves, This Ma-
jesty will continue to theM his most strentionsaonf;.,
• aance and support." Fi'aitfiftil to that assurance, the
:engagements at first eetered itito With Spain, when she
resolved to oppose the enemy, !Wheat) since throwtj
into a formal treaty, which sveuld be dell laid belotat
their Lordships, and which was ineanyo record. did.
`opinion which we enteratitted ihaegenerous and'
;patriotic determination which Spain' lud Lifien to
assert her independence. Priam such air lissoranee,
on the part .of this country, we surely were not tube
deterred by disasters ; but, .on the contrary, as these'
disasters seemed to accuMulate, the readier should he.
.be to hold to the enduring patriotism of Spain every
sort of hope and assistance.:. It was unfortunately;
but too frequent in such cases,, to yield to first re 4
verses, and .to begin to despond at-the first forve
fortune. Such.he confident wonid nor .he,, the
cases)" Spain; indeed, so to consider it, would be to
view, it, in a narrow and unfair point ot view. Even
though the reverses and calamities should be ihcreashri
and aggravated, the temper of Spain would not allot
her to despair.: Indeed, it' we consulted the history
of different nations, circumstanced as Spain now
was, and animated by a similar spirit, we.should, see
that it took not merely one campaign, nor the struggle
of a year or two,. but the unbroken perseverance of
thirty years,, ultimately to defeat the efforts of their
invaders, and finally to triumph in the nssertiou of
tlteir national independence: Perseverance in such
,rases was the virtue to which chiefly was to b look*
ed for the triumph of such a cause. But we !Jeri;
not merely to look afthe cause of Spain as the Itost
noble and the most-interesting that could engage slat:
attention and concern of mankind. No doubt, While
we considered it as such, we most els° look at' it with
a selfish eye, .and then must .we be coovinced that
with-the fate of Spain was our security inseparably
linked.; that in 'whatever betel her were our dearest
intereats, indeed, our very existence, perhapsi necess
earn)? involved, Not only, therefere, was it a tenting
of honour • and Minitel ion. that should' interest os its
the fate of Spain, but anear .regard to -oar own satety
anti security. How then was it welt postable for the
House to hesitate in Concurring-in the essurance of the
continuance of British support, especidly, as he' hilt-
before observed, such an assurance as that the Ad-
liras called for could .pledge*no Noble Lord to any
specific mode in which that support and assistance
should be atforded. Thai, he would repeat, should,
inattei of future discussion and explanation, and
therefore he should not 'now deem it necessary to
go into the detail of what must hereafter etene un-
der a full and Complete investigation. He should
now, however, briefly touch on some of the points
which. the Noble Baron bad so largely descatited on.
The Noble Baron had talked so much of thee.apedis:
lions to Spain and to Portugal. He even approv4
in some measure:o4mb' expedition*, rather.indeed
of Ate substance than of the-tuanner.ot them. He
would have them confined to the coasts ; but that
upon every:view of things, would have oven finnid
imphsaible. That every possible support should be
given to -Spain, in men as well as in money; WilM
agteett•upou, all sides., tedeed, that epee:mei to be
mineral opinion, of the country. Botb. were
accordingly offered atidTgrotttnt. the expedition
to Portugal lied not hem com4idered its its proper
light. Had we, however, hp force in that country,
what would have preventild Getieral Junot ft om
marching to the support of General Dupont. Sq far,
therefore., the detention of 'Jima in Portugkti may.
have contributed to, or insured the surrender- of Du-
pont. As to the sending of a British force to Por-
tugal in. yreference to. spain, that measure w n
adopted compliance with rite representation 3 of.
the Spanish -.lentos.' That the French should t,e
expelled train Portugal, by the British army, and
thus succour Spain, was the opinion and wish, in. 4.
oulcif the N-orth; but the South of Sp4in. The
satire aPPlicatinti was tbade,to•General Silencer asst
Sir A. Wellesley. The expulsion of the French
from Portugal, was as much a Spanish as a Piirtti'.
guese 'question. Iu Portugal was achieved one Of
nnoat brilliant expeditionssand, perhaps, in the shot h.,:
time of any, that eeertedounded to the.; honour of the
British arms. The moment• it was finally deEtihed
for Portugal, that moment. was the force destined,
provided with' the necessary artillery and cavalry,
at least in the extent which any General NV,YII,I
quire; and no where could the Br.itish artillery have
more distinguished itself; either in the opinion of
those w commanded it; or even in. the eyes 0. the
enemy and of Europe.. As ,to the retleaiens tnalle
by the Noble Baron on the proceedings of the Court
instituted to inquire into the causes that led to the
Convention of Cintra,lie Should ntit'now enter into
any diseussion. The Addreis went no 'fat ti4i. thirrn
to say, that the House concurred with his I\lajosty.
regretting that the campaign hi Portsigal was tormi.
nated by an Armistice an Coneentioh, of some 1.1
the -pans of which his Majesty has been obliged to
disapprove. No opinion was here called for let whieh
the House could inaity degree he pledged tty the
Anawer returned to the Addrestiel the City of
don, he was at a lots' io see any, votloti fur ti e
Noble Baton's observations.- As,fai• as ic,c. it d f
inquiry, no refle4tion or SttlaWe WAS made upon it ;
but ,when it prejudged the conduct et the (Aim'
engaged in that. transaction, and the gbAratter of the