The Sun.
London, England, 1840-02-26 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1840.

ment of the Catholic religion in all its power and all its
intolerance. As to the conduct of the two parties, the
liberal and the despotic, in their success, let their Lordships
compare the conduct of the two parties in 1823 and in
1537. He asked the Noble Marquis what, in his conscien-
tious opinion, would kave been the conduct of Don Carlos
if he bad been successful within the last few months?—
( Hear.) Did the Noble Marquis think that the usurper
would have received his opponents into power and confi-
dence ? or would he have imitated the example of his bre-
ther Ferdinand, who, in 1823, broke every promise which
he gave, and violated eve!), pledge which the General of
100,000 foreigners had given in his name, establishing a
system of persecution, of executions and gibettings, of
which modern history will furnish no such instance ; and
doing this in spite of the remonstrances of the Duke d'An-
gouleme, who felt himself disgraced by the violation of his
pledges Was Don Carlos • more amiable man than his
brother ? Was he less hampered by his connection with
the fanatical party ? Was it not, on the contrary, the fact,
that Ferdinand endeavoured to free himself from their
control, and that ho was distrusted by them ? Whereas
Don Carlos had for years before his brother's death been
inti iguing with them for the possession of the throne.
There could be no doubt that he would have restored that
pai ty to their full domination, and that they, exasperated
with all that they had suffered for the last ten years, would
have wreaked a terrible vengeance on their opponents. But,
on the other hand, what had been the conduct of the Con-
stitutional party ? Had the Noble Marquis, or those who
thought with him, heard that any of the Carlists
who had submitted were punished or imprisoned, or had
their goods confiscated? On the contrary, every engage-
ment had been faithfully kept, and the forgiveness and
fidelity which had been manifested by the liberal party
reflected the greatest credit on Spain. He must admit,
however, that part of whet had been said by the Noble
Marquis was true. The civil war was not quite at an
end, and that much time might elapse before the country
which had been so long agitated by a question of life and
death would subside into a state of perfect tranquillity.
He must say to those who represented the opinions which
the Noble Marquis represented that nothing but misrepre-
sentation could occasion the regret and disappointment at
the step which had been made towards the perfect tran-
quilization of that country.—( Hear, hear.) He ould
consent to the returns for which the Noble Marquis moved,
and he trusted to the candour of the Noble Marquis, when
he perused
his dthosepape, to state to the House that they
bad removed prejudices.—(
Hear, and a laugh.)
The Earl of ABERDEEN ( who was at first nearly
inaudible) was understood to say that he was; but little
disposed to take any part in the discussion, not because the
subject was not worthy of it,
.but because the conduct of
both parties had been so atrocious and disgraceful, that
it was difficult to feel an interest in the success of
either, or to regard their proceedings without feel-
ings not far removed from loathing and disgust.
He would not stop to inquire on whom was to be
poured the greatest measure of indignation ; but
it must be admitted that any Government organized and
possessing institutions ought to exhibit conduct very diffe-
' rent from that which distinguished the court and camp of
Don Carlos (as we understood). But the Noble Earl
opposite (Lord Clarendon) surprised him when he des-
cribed an act of treachery as a great measure of pacifica-
tion, and yet it struck him that the Noble Earl might say
with him that, however much we may like the treason, we
must hate the traitor. But perhaps he (Lord Aberdeen)
might have learned a good deal from the Noble Earl, and
0,13 wrong in looking upon that act of treachery
ag immoral and disgraceful on the part of General
Maroto. He thought the conduct of that General
could only be looked upon with condemnation.
Whatever was the character of Don Carlos, and he (Lord
A.) had never given an opinion about it in that House,
yet the treachery of his General who was trusted by him waa
unjustifiable. It was all very well to say that that officer
had only returned to his duty, to his lawful Sovereign.
That was not a fair way of putting the question. The
contest in Spain was one of disputed succession, and one of
the most difficult ever known. Tbo laws of Spain recog-
nised the claims of Don Carlos, and three out of the five
!Treat powers of Europe had not yet acknowledged the
Queen. The support of Don Carlos was not, there-
fore, to be looked upon as rebellion against a
lawful Sovereign. It might have been that Don
Carlos had succeeded ; and would the Noble Earl
then be prepared to denounce as rebels those who had sup-
ported his opponent ? He did not blame the Government
I r acknowledging the Queen, and establishing friendly
relations ; but that was a different question from mixing
ourselves up with the contest of that country, and taking
part in the unhappy disputes which prevailed there. The
Noble Earl (Lord Clarendon) had said that he was bound
by treaty to take part with the Queen.

.
Lord - CLARENDON begged to say that the Noble
Earl misunderstood him. What he had said was, that her
Majesty's Government were bound to do everything in
their power to promote the pacification of Spain, and that
the officers were instructed to promote every negociation
:chick' held out a prospect of permanent tranquillity.
Lord ABERDEEN wished to bring the attention of
the Noble Earl and the Noble Viscount (Melbourne) to
the obligations of the Quadruple Alliance, which he re-
carded as a most impolitic treaty. When the Noble
Viscount sat on the Opposition side of the House he had
very odd notions of the manner in which treaties ought to
he observed, and once stated that for the last 150 years
England had the worst character in Europe for disregard •
ng treaties.—( A laugh.) He d ffcred from the Noble
Viscount in that, and thought this country remarkable
fur fidelity in that respect, and the more so
as popular Governments were generally considered to be
the least to be relied on. The object of the quadruple
treaty was the restoration of internal peace in Spain. It
was entered into in 1834, when Don Carlos went into
Portugal, and its first object was to remove the. two
Princes, Don Miguel and Don Carlos, from the Peninsula.
After that had been effected Don Carlos escaped from this
country ; the articles of the treaty were renewed for the
purpose of restoring peace in Spain, this country undertaking
to furnish ammunition and stores for the use of the Queen,
and the King of the French undertaking to prevent supplies
from being conveyed to the Pretender through his territory.
If the restoration of internal peace in Spain was to be the
only termination to this treaty, what a prospect of inter-
vention and of interference in the internal affairs of Spain
was open to this country. This country could not expect
to separate itself from the internal condition of that
country as long as anything in the shape of disturbance,
or of misgovernment, existed. It was not the expulsion
of Don Carlos, or the cessation of war, but the internal
peace of Spain, that was to give a cessation to that
treaty. This country had never entered into a similar
treaty before, and he thought it was most impolitic, and
most likely to lead to very mischievous consequences.
What was to be gained by it ? The Noble Earl (Claren-
don) had said, that liberal institutions, and a liberal Go-
vernment, had been established, and that that was a
subject of congratulation. The Noble Viscount at the
head of the Government had said, two or three weeks
ago, in speaking of Turkey, that they ought not to look
to the opinions, or religion, or character of countries, but
that it was the essential interests of England that were
to be looked at.—( Hear.) He (the Earl of Aberdeen)
agreed with the Noble Viscount upon that ; and,
generally speaking, he thought the Noble Vis-
count was correct upon these subjects when he
followed his own judgment, and did not listen
to the advice of others.—( Hear, bear.) But the
Noble Earl had talked of arbitrary Governments, and the
despotic union of the North. That was all very well for
declamation, or a paragraph in a newspaper, but it was
not a course of policy which any Government ought to
follow. One of his great objections to the treaty was,
that be thought it had contributed to that state of estrange-
ment and alienation which at present exists with
the French Government. That treaty, which was to bind
them to act in union with France, had, be was convinced,
been the main cause of any degree of estrangement which
existed at the present moment.—(Hear, hear.) They
had heard of nothing but mutual complaints as to the mode
in which that treaty had been carried out. He said
nothing of the French alliance ; no person could de-
sire more to cultivate the friendship of France than him-
self; but friendship might exist for every salutary purpose
between nations, without an alliance for carrying into effect
a common object. He should be glad to know what was
the interpretation which the Noble Viscount put on the
obligations of the quadruple treaty as it existed at the pre-
sent moment. It appeared to him that all the engage-
ments were on the side of the English Government. He
supposed the Queen of Spain undertook to govern well
because England was to restore internal peace, but every
onerous engagement was on our side. Would the treaty
be at an end as soon as the Noble Viscount chose to say in-
ternal peace was, in his opinion, restored. Another point
he wished to refer to was the claims of the officers and men
of the legion, for whom their Lordships must feel
that sympathy which their deplorable condition deserved.
The Noble Earl (Clarendon) appeared to have exerted
himself very laudably in their behalf, but his efforts had
not been attended with success. He (Lord Aberdeen)
had concluded a treaty in 1829 for the indemnity of cer.
tain of British subjects, who bad suffered from the vio-
lence of the Spanish authorities. A large sum was paid
by the Spanish Government in money, and for the remain-
der bonds were issued, the payment of which was gua-
ranteed by the British Government being a party to the
treaty. Those bonds retained their value when other
stock was worth nothing, inasmuch as the name of Great
Britain was a sufficient security. The annual amount of
the interest on those bonds was only 31,000/., and
yet that had not been paid. It was no answer
to say remonstrances had been made. The engagements
of the legion were only binding on the Queen, but this
treaty was binding en Spain ; and if Don Carlos had suc-
ceeded, the fulfilment of that treaty would have been
,exacted from him, or forty-eight hours would not have
ha
elapsed without reprisals being threatened, unless he d
liquidated these claims. It was absurd to say, however
reduced the Spanish finances might be, that they could
not extort 30,0001. a year in fulfilment of their own en-
gagement:.—( Hear, hear.) He was not certain that
these persons claiming under that treaty might not ha's,
a claim against the English Treasury for the amount. He
had brought this subject before the House two years ago,
and he hoped the Noble Viscount would not think it un-
reasonable if he expressed a hope that he would not have
to bring it forward two years hence.—( Hear, hear .)
Viscount MELBOURNE observed, that as his Noble
Friend (Earl Clarendon) had stated there would be no ob-
jection to the production of the papers,
into any statement as to the part which British agents
he should not enterand
British officers had taken in the affairs of Spain, as it
was obvious that that subject could be discussed with much
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the animadversions made on it by the public pre.s, he
thought his Noble Friend (Earl Clarendon) was justified
in going into some explanation of the circu in-
stances under which that treaty was concluded.
The opinions urged by the Noble Earl (Aberdeen) op-
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cause the Treaty had been concluded, and had been acted
upon. As to the observations that had been made about
he termination of the proceedings, he would observe, .
that if the enemy's General had shown a desire of giv. '