The Sun.
London, England, 1812-02-21 00:00:00

EA-KL OF WELLINGTON

On the rimtion of ' the CLIANCELLOR of tilt Ex-
CHEQUER, the House tleSolved itself into a Committee
on the Deltsuge of the -Prince hegent respcaing
Lard Wellington.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER then ad-.
,addressed the Chairman to the. following. effect
" Mr. LUWINGTON—I cannot think that it will
be necessary for nioo
,trouble the Committee with.
many observations in ofd,.-T-to induce them to con-
sent to the Re'sialhlion which I shall hare the honour,
to propose, in confoimity to the gr:Tious. Meiiage
of his Royal Highness the Prince Regent. It is, in-
deed, impossible that the House of Coinin.ons sh,Arld
tail to recoiled, or that t lie nation at large shotild
fail duly to appreciate the various- great and distie- •
guiShed services which - have :matkat the brilliant
career of m v 'Lord- Wellington in the course of-the
late campaigns in Spain and Portug-al. Although
'differences of opinion May exist with respect to the
expediency and policy of the efforts which Great
Britain has been., and is now Making in the Penin-
sula, althUugh.different views -4nay be entertained of
'the wisdom, of their effims, 'I am prsuaded, Sir,
That those diffetences of opinidn, and those differ-
ent views, will form no ground of dissent from the
present -motion. The question before us is, whe-
ther the Officer seleded in the first instance by his
MAjesty, and subSennently confirmed by his Ito, al
the Prince Regent, to dired the military
operaiions in the Peninsula, has, or has not conduct-
ed himself with such di.Stinguisiked zeal, and such con-
summate professional ability, as while it iLes infinite
bononr to himself, does infinite honohr tO the coun-
try, whoSe armies he was appointed to command
Sir, the impression of the House. this soh-
jed is evident ; and, under suety an impreSsion,
feel that it would be a graluitous tiesi-asS on their
time, to cuter' into any detail of those various
achievernentS. of the' gallant Eat!, which have on
fothier occasions receited the distinct and repeated
approbation of Parliament. The circumstances un-
der
which his Royal Highness the Prince Regent
has, for the last twelve months& exercised-the Royal
Authority, have pre,,ented him at an earlier period
from adequately marking the high seme which he
entertains of the merits of that distinguished Gene- -
rah His ROyal Highness, however, has availed
himself- of the first opportunity of- conferring on
Lord Wellington the honours which are -s.O justly
his due. Our 'own cotiviaion Orthe nit:tits of
tord WellingtOn is well known. But_ the CoM-
mittee will observe that Great Britain does not stand
single in the opinion which she entertains of his de-
seris. They have beet) the uniform theme of the
applause of our Allies, an applause peculiat
fested at the close of the Ivst distinguished opera-
tion in which Lord Wellington was engaged ; for
when the tidings of that great victory reached the
Spanish Government, they marked their sense of its
value by a signal and honourable stamp of their
high approbation. To the merit of this service indeed,
the recent dispatches of the enemy theruSelves afford -
ample testimony. Those dispatches declare that the
occurrence appears incomprehenStble.--An the first
instance,, the French General spoke of the great im-
porsance of the fortress of Ciudad Rodrigo, and
boasted of the preparations which-he. had-made to
relieve it, hOlding out to his mater 'expectations of
the mostlgiorious result to the French rarnis. But
when he subsequently learned that this fortress,
which he had calculated that it would take Dine, or.
ten days to subdue, 'was reduced in as Many Mi-
nute,, astoniShMent and dismay took The place of
confidence and elation.Sii, I ant convinced that
the Committee will nnartirrfonSly agree with me
that we have but one lolierform On the pre-
sent occasion, and that is, to-.adopt the-recommend-
ation of his Royal Highness the Prince Regent,
with res.ped to the proposed giant to the Earl of
Wellington—l therefore move, ,

,‘ That it is the opinion of this Committee that a net an-
niiity of zoeol. he grime& to his MijeSty, out of the Con-
solidated Fkind, for the purpoSo of enabling his Majesty-to
grant an 'annuity of a similar amount to General the, Earl of
Wellington, in addition to the forrer annuities granted to
him, and subje,d to the same limitations."

Mr. WEILTSEIED KEENS made a few observationS,
but in so low a tone of voices as to be scarcely au-
dible in the gallery ; we however understOod the
Hon. Gentleman to intimate that in his opisiioa, the
sum proposed was much, too Small a remiineralion
for the services of the Noble and Gallant Earl.

Mc. FREEMANTLE declared, that he had seldom
experienced an -occasion in which the diScharge of
his public duty corresponded so completely with tire
gratificition of his private feeling. The conduct of
the gallant Earl who was the subjeat. of the motion
had always been most exemplary ; but in the pre-
sent instance he was persuaded .thatthere would not
be a disSenting voice in theC,,mmittee. The de-
serf of Lord Wellington was acknowledged by the
whole world. It wAs quite unnecessary to, go into
a detail of his manifold services. He had bepn a
soldier from his earliest youth, and' his country 11:411
ever derived• the greatest benefits from his exertions,
Invariably persevering and zealous, Lord Well!vg-.
too never 41p*ed personal convetti'etwe'ot ad-van-;
racie_to tempt' him from the line of his;public duty.
When to fight was necessary, he bravely fought. ;
but he never permitted any artful or affeeted-
monstration of Cie enemy to induce him to lead his.
army into a contest, the consequence of which he
could not early anticipate. It was useless, however,
to dilate on the merits of this distinguished -Gene,.
ral ; and, he should therefore. content himself
with expressing his most cordial concurrence in the
!notion.

Sir "FNANCIS BURneTT said, that although he
was the last mzn who would oppose any proper re-
muneration to those from whose exertions the coun-
try had derived benefit, yei that he could not agree
to the Motion on the grounds tydn which it-was at-
tempted 'to be-supported. He allowed that he, as
well as the House at large, was a ‘'ery incompetent
judge of the merits of a Military Commanderi.more
especially in the comparative ignorance of the latls
under which he necessarily laboured ; ;but 'fiofri
he did know, it appeared to him that Lord Welling-
ton bad under his command a very large force.
Now he had always understood that the merit of
a M.litary Commander consisted in the being able
tri accomplish a great object with iyadequate mons.
Ju his opinion, it was impossible taconceive less done
with such ample means than that which LoidWelling-
ton had achieved. He had no wish to dctrad from the

reptflatiortnt Any Man ; but ms-k; of
disapprobation were no proofs of the fallacy of, his
stetenietee Let the t‘orrimittee recolleel the force
which Lord Wellington had commanded. In the
first plice, 54,000. English troops of the line, ;and
30,000 regular PortugUese troops hi' British pay,
niaking in the whole 84,000 troops of the
To these were afterwards added 30,000 more regn-
lar..Nitugic6ser troops in SfitiSli pay, Making above
110,000 troops of the line. It had been. stated that
the Portuguese, Government maintained Io,oua.
troops, being in the whole aboYe '.20,000' tegular
soldiers. T 4 these were likewise to be added the
Portneue.ie militia, consisting of eo,ooo Men, form-
ing th% ;rand aggregate of an errny,of ahove 200,000
men. It must also be recolleeted ohm: the armed
*population of Portugal amounted to 150,000 men.
)hider such circumstances, and with such a twee at
his command, he was really at a loss to conceive how
Lord Wellington could be justly entitled to the
praises of the Right Honourable Gentleman. Did
the Committee recollect the entrance into Portugal
of General Massena with sixty thousand .men, who
'maintained their ground for such Scocsi lerable pe-
riod of time ; whoin famine alone compelled to re;
teeat, and w ho, when they did retreat, although they
retired in the face of a superior army, and through
an hostile population, -lost no single 'advantage, but
maintained themselves unbroken and untouched?:
Was there much cause of triumph on that occasion?
Ana in the present campaign what bad been ob-
tained ? Ciudad Rodrigo ! He had, been haw ned
by military men that this was 'a fortress which any
army preponderating at the moment must inevitsbly
reduce; that the out-works wete °finite avail, and
that' it required a garrisoteof 4000 men. The gatei=
son which it contained, however, when acacked
by' the British, did eot exceed 1500 in n4nlier,—
The place was assaulted by twelve -thousand troops,
and Lied Wellington himself said in his dispatches,
that the feint which was not meant aeltially to ope-
rate, had really succeeded in taking the place.—
"(Hear, tear 1) Gentlemen cried " Hear, hear !"
What he had stated might she,w valour in the
troops; -but it was a strong proof of the weakness
of tare place. To)ay such stress on a victory like-
that, was 16 shew the country was' in -a- most fallen
and degraded situation. In another quarter the
'French hid achieved considerable advantages. Su-
chet had conquered Valencia, and in the course of ,
the campaign had sent, to France forty-seven thous-
and prisoners, including two thousand officers. Ba-
dajoz, notwithstanding,the evident anxiety of the
British General to relieve it, had fallen. In the at-
tempt to succour that place, twelVe thousand men
had been lost at the battle of Albuera. Hep:esutned
that his statement was an exaggeration. 'At any
rate Lord Wellington bad been compelled to retreat.
And yet of how much greater importance was Ba-
dajoz than Ciudad Rodrigo. The former .only 120
miles from
,Lisber. and the access to that city easy
and unmolested; the latter three hundred and '
twenty miles from it, and the _approach . guarded by'
formidable passes.' The joy, therefore, manifested
on the tieduCtion of Ciudad Rodrigo was for the }stir=
pose of public delosion ; but even had that fortress
been of Much greater importance, he thought few
would contend that its redualion would, materially
influence the final issue .. et the war in Spain. In
the mean tune, ifr
the people of England were,tO pay
so dearly for such advantages as they were termed,
the sooner that war- was over the better.- -There
was one faei which, in his opinion tva's decisive
respect to.the probable termination of the contest.
Wherever the Ereglish bad power in Spain, the In-
quisition was establisher) : wherever the Plench had-
power, that detestable institution existed no longer.
Was -that the kind of liberty which Englishmen
were.called upon to maintain with their blood and
treasure ? HeJiad 'already described what in his
opinion would" be sufficient grounds for rejeCling the
motion ; but his strongest and most insuperable ob-
.leaion remained behind—the state of the people of-
England. In his opinion it
,would be most inde-
fensible to. grant „such a sum .from the public reve-
nue at a moment vfliets the situation of the Em-
pire had forced itself on the consideration •of •Par;
liameet ; and when Parliament had been able' to
devise no better means of counteraCtingahe ,effeos
of hunger and despair, than by increasing the num-
ber of capitol punishmems. ;•Far better would the
money which was now moved fOtt be applied in the
alleviation of those distresses, and` te hoped that
before Parliament' had consented to hang men for
offences, prompted by necessity, it would _have at ,
least inquired into the mode of presenting a recur-
rence of such events. In the present state of the
country, therefore, lie could by no means agree, to
the motion ; but if the case was directly the rcei
verse, he should still objCa to it.. If the here
which existed with respect. to the issue of the con-
test in the Peninsula 'were as flattering, as in his
opinion the despondency was Just—if .the achieve-
ments dwelt upon with such emphasis Lad been as
great as in his opinion they were unimportant—if
the mete of the country Vrthi as flourishing as 'it w
depressed, and, in his. opinion, almost hopeless,
still'he should oppose the motion, while Gavel mnent
posf.essed oilier funds from Which the grant might
with more propriety.be derived—funds frent which.
pensions and allowances were issued unfit to ,meet
the public eye. At least, Until these, flinds were
exhausted, and not even then, would he. consent
for such a puipbse to draw upon the already ex-
hausted pockets of the people. The objeLst of the
grant was, to confer additional splendour on, Lord
Wellington. If this splendour were transparent as
.well as brilliant, what a mass of human misery
would be discovered behind it !

Mt. CANNING declared, that had he anticipatacl
any possible difference of opinion on the motion he,
fore the Committee, it would have been on the
amount:of-Abe grant, which, iu compliance with the
gracious message of the Prince' Regent, it w.a4 pro-
posed to make to the Noble and Gallant Earl who
was the just Objea of his. Royal Highness's favour
and. recoMmendation. In th:t view.of the•subjeM,
had-the suggestion of an Hon. G,ntleman (Mr. W.
Keene): to increase the grant, been reduced •:to:a
formal proposition, he :Should certainly hove voted
for it, had he not been
,Withhe`d by the Wish that
such a question should pass the House. with unani-
mity. But really for the species .of dissent which
the Hon. Baronet had adovted;he confessed that he
was whdlly unprepared.--He did not pretend, • any
more than the Honourable Baronets to be capable of
judging with the skill of a tactician on thd condutt
of military men and military rneaaures; but it Wes
impossible for any Man, bowevor ianoraut of mai-
,

1

ttot)e'o6rfiridireg; ttlbi elbcifolcri6rite-Wri'alna hit bperen4lttidsta%l.l the
Peninsula—to recolleal the existing feelings of the
country, and those feelings when that emiuent and
distinguished commander, Lord Wellington, lee,
appointed fro direct the energies' of the British ;nine,
I
without pavit°r him that bre-nage of applinsa „hie,
R. hi 4 unrivalled talents and unwearied exertions so
loudly denrmded. - Little wor.ald the 'obseeva.tions of
the.HonOurable Baronet avail in persuading Eng;
lishmen not to reward, One who had contributed .6
essentially to the advantage and to the honour of tlia,
EmpireaL-The Honourable Baronet had ietroduc d
into his speech several topica,,on alte,„ge
lie, (Mr/C.) owned. that,' they were but rernete:i
connected With the question, the House_weele p„,r
hapa par hapa permit him to touch. He would beg :d
with the allusion of the Hon. Bart. to the distresse.:
of the manufeeurers. .Good' God !' ekchritned .
Mr. 'Canning, let the state of commerce and rria '
nufactures be what they may, and no man lamenti
the depression which they Suffer more than myself,
is this a petiod.when Englishmen are to be' advised,
not to purchase military glory, for that is already cur
own ; but to abstain from expressing gratitude for
such services'es my Lord Wellingten had perform-
ed, because, forsooth! there is a class of the coat-
munity v. hose distresses we pity--whose distresses
we•would most willingly relieve-t--but whose
tresses, believe from my soul, would be infinitely
aggravated, if, by listening to the suggestions of the
Honourable Baronet, we were to consent to degrade
the national character. The Hbnourable Baronet
next contended, that if this grant were made at all,
ought to be made out of hase funds which, ac-
Cording' to him, Government. had abused. Was it
so : Were these funds proper subjects of the jea-
lousy and suspici6n of Parliament ? If so, he for
one, would not agree that out of those hinds sneh a
itnan as Lord Wellington should be rewarded: he
'for one would not og-tee that the baseness of the
purpose to which (according' to the Honourable
Baronet) they had hitherto been applied, should be
ennobled by such a dignified appropriation of them:
Tbenext subject on which the'Honourable Baronet
had indulged the House with his opinion, was the
merit of Suchet. The Honourable Baronet had
placed Suchet in a much higher rank 'as a general
than Lord Wellington; and had dwelt with great
complacency on condu& which, he said, ipod• ex-
torted the applause and admiration of mankind. In
auswerao all this, it would be Sufficient for;drim -to
say, that Suchet's military- skin. was not the subject
of the present motion. As he wasuot yet aware that
it was the intention of the Hon Baronet to move :in
ainendment to Orbit the name ofWellington, and ilk.-
gut that of Suchet, be would abstain frbm further
observation on the subje6, 'assuring the•Honeurable
Baronet, however, that whenever he chose to bring
forward such a proposition, he :was prepared to
meet him; and disclaiming all ungenerous,solici-
turte- to diminish the deserved reputatipn•even of an
enemy. Generank, however, . the Honourable:
Baronet characterised the exertions of, the Noble
and Gallant Earl as unworthy of the rewards
a grateful country was anxious to bestow upon hirn ;
and be particularly described the immediate 'achieve-
went in Which_ the present question ortgivated, as
unimportant and unavailing. Let the Committee re-
!c:Alect that Lord Wellington was sent out to satin
Portugal, at a Moment When Portugal was in ex-
treme danger,. and that at the present moment there
was no. question with respect to her safety. •
the Committee" recolle6t, that wht.r. Lord Welling—
ton , was sent out to endeavour to save Portugal lit,
-was empoWered after that first service to extend
his exertions to Spain, then in a state abroach-
ing to desperation; and that after having per-
formed that first Service in Portugal, the Noble and
Gallant Lord did extend, and successfully extend,
his operations in Spain. To the one country he.had
-given salvation—to the other hope. WhCo teach
liorriige 'had been paid to this distinguished iottlyi-
dual by the countries which he had so, -essentially
assisted, was it becoming. in his own cOu.-..try to
doubt his desert ? For his part he coal not per-
suade himself that there was a second man in the
House esf Commons, who, when he saw that the
fist aa of these prerogatives which had lain ,dor-
mant so long, (how,properly he would not now ;:r-
-gue) was to Mark with distinguished hotrour the-in-
dividual whom, by a singular and illostrioas cern-
ealanea, it was the last k`t of those prerogatives to
mark with distinguished Tinanour, .avoted hesitate to
hail v% HI joy the opportunity afforded him of shar-
ing in that gentral sentiment of applause and grati-
tude which pervaded the whole community. The
_Honourable Baronet grudged the Noble and, Gat-
. lant .Earl the, paltry sum of • 20001. per atinum.—
Far diffMt4 was the condua of the countries who
had the more immediate finfatis of i!scertaining his
meeits. In 'addition to 'the title granted ira
Purtugal, was a revenue of 5,0001, a year. As
Captain . General of: Soil); Lord Wellington had a
salary .offered to him of 5,0001. a year ; and a;
Marshal of Portugal, 7,0001. a year. These sums,
atnounting to 15,000 pound's a year, were granted
for his services by the. foreign countries in which
those services had 'been • performed. It was pro-
,posed to give hint two thousand .pOUnds. a Tear, Ira
his own country,' and the alintiourable Baronet
lifted up his hands and eyes at stabil a gross violation
of public economy l—These however,
offered by foreign .gratitUde, Were 'dt-clirad by the
distinguished person on whom they were bestow-
ed, and who was' satisfied with having done his
duty. The Honourable liatonet, it seemed, knew
the interests of. Spain and Portugal better than
Orme countries did themselves.• The Hon. Bare.
11.:,r contended that the one had purchased her salva-
tion, and the other her hOpes, at too 'dear a rate;'
he was apprehensive that nneallieS were roaming
riot with: joy, and was solicitoi to correct their
eateherant feeling, 'and to shew them that they had
not the just grounds for exiaitatibti of which they '
fondly themselves to be possessed.- :He
(Mr. C.) all Owed that the present was•ridt a fit op-
portutiity for considering the Spanish, questiou..l374
guarding hiaseU from' being supposed tci ground the
vote which he should give on that 'consideration, ha
might, perhaps, be 'permitted to say, that the last
achievetrient of the Noble and gallant Earl,whatever
mielithe its militaty merit, would have a moral el-
feat,' which, at the present-critical moment, must,
operate most powerfully throughout the,Poninsula,
by preventing those dazzling consequences which the
gleriesof a rival Gen.might otherwise occasion. It •Wea
an vent happy and aospicious,and•he was -pet sanded
that it wuuld sac difficult to find its parallel in India

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