The Sun.
London, England, 1812-03-17 00:00:00

DISTILLATION FROM CRAIN IN IRELAND

Mr. M. FITZGERALD wished to knOw whether it
Was the intention of the Right Hon, Gentlenhin" op-

polite, in tl:t remit state of Irelaild, with respe&
to corn, to propose the prohibition of the distillation
from grain, and the adoption of tneasures to prevent
ihe export of grain ?

.The CHANCELLOR Of Ille EXCHEQUEIt+ S reply was
wholly_ inaudible in the gallery,.but. w,,e-presunie that
it was in the negative; for
_ _

Mr. M. FITTG ERALD give notice that on Wednes-
day he would call the attention of the House to the
subject.

PORTUGAL.

The Prime Regent's Message respecting Portugal
having been referred to a Committee of Supply, the
House,resolved itself into the said Committee.

Lord CASTLUREA9H, in rising to submit to the
House a Motion on the subject, did not feel that*it
would be necessary for hint to trespass on their pa-
tience at any considerable length ; or to adduce
many arguments to shew the expediency of afford-
ingehat assistance to Portugal at the present mo-
ment, which had been sanetioned-by the approba-
tion sof Parliament, at former periods, when the ad-
vantages attendant upon it were by no means equally
evident. Indeed the question appeared to him to
be drawn into such a narrow compass, that it was
scarcely possible for any one to doubt :the principle
of expediency on which the proposed giant rested,
unless one of the following propositions was affirm=
ed, viz. that it was so fundamentally wrong to sub-
sidize any foreign power, that no application 'of that
nature ought to be made to Parliament ; or that
the state of the war in the Peninsula was
that, notwithstanding the treaties by which the
two countries were so closely united, notwith-
standing the glorious" successes of our arms, and
notwithstanding the sale= faith which Parlia-
ment had so' repeatedly pledged on the subje&,
no further exertion should be made by Great
Britain, but that Spain and Portugal should be
left to the dreadful fate which 'awaited them. Un-
less one of these 'two grounds was taken, he con-
fessed himself wholly at a loss to conceive how she
present proposition could be opposed. It was far
from his wish to re-agitate those topics which at
former periods had given rise to much controversy.
It was unnecessary to recur to those topics, in or-
der to sustain the motion with which he should con-
clude. Nor would it be politic to recur to them ;
for he was persuaded that if the Committee should
agree with him in thinking that the same pecuniary
support should be extended to Portugal as, was given
in the last Session, they would also agree with hint
in thinking that it should be done with as much
unanimity. as possible; for whatever differences of
opinion might have ekisted in Parliament at
a time when the experiment of assisting Por-
tugal had not been tried, now that it had been
tried and proved successful, he trusted that a
general disposition would ultimately be mania
fested to mark by an unanimous vole, the ap-
probation with which the British Perhament
re-
garded the exertions of the Portuguese in the com-
mon" cause and the fidelity which they had mani-
festO under those numerous circumstances of ex-
treme peril and difficulty, to which the various for-
tunes of the war had necessarily exposed them.—
Without, therefore, dwelling'at any length on the
'topics to which he had alluded, he would just csil
to 01. e recolleCtion of the Committee, that when
the pi inciple of the present proposition was broach-
ed o veers ago, a ,great disposition existed in
Parlimnetit to doubt whether any military exertions
witieb it :might -lend occasioually to Portugal,
could be eltituately successful. Many Gentle-
men of high military tharaCter seemed inclined to
believe that the Portuguese army, which it -was
the objeft of that proposition to raise and subsidise,
could never be brought into such a state of disci-
pline, as to render it efficiently 'serviceable. The
division on that occasion exhibited a strong feeling in
the minds of a great number of Hon. Gentlemen,
that the encouragement in a military point of view
held out by the preposition, was by tio means ade-
quate to the expense of it. Those, however, who
enjoyed more intimate means of judging of the
probable result, pressed the vote on the House ; it
was passed, and in the course of -the year tire efforts
made in Portugal in 'consequence were such, that in
the next Session of Parliament, -even those who
had opposed the proposition in the first instance,
candidly-allowed chat it had been productive of the
most advantageous results. Accordingly, when the
proposition was agars brought forward, these who
voted against it in the first instance abstained from a
repetition of that vote ; representing however, at
the same time, that although they admitted that !he
measure had produced,great advantage, yetahat after
all, the efforts of the combined British and Portu-'
guese armies had ended only in shutting them up itr
the lines of Cintra, and leaving the enemy in posses-
sion_ of the remainder of Portugal. - At least the
Committee would feelehat this obstacle to an una-
nimetui expression of sentiment was removed ; for
the vote of last Session had enabled Lord Welling-
, ton to drive_the enemy over the frontier, and expel
them wholly from Portugal. P.alament therefore
was now called upon to contemplate a system, not
Which, might lead, but which actually had led to
the most brilliant success. The Committee, in com-
hig Loth: consideration of the present Resolution,
wou:d be divested of all those difficulties which had
- heret.ofore existed on the sUbjea. He would, how-
ever, m die a few observations on the principle up-
on whici,
,the present proposition rested. If ever,
there was a question of subsidy which could be
maintained on sound, legitimate, and justifiable
grounds, it was this. Li the first place, it was
subsidising a power with which we were connected
by a kind of natural feeling. Indeed, it could hardly
be censidered in the light of a subsidy ; for the
measure afforded such effeauel aid to the British
army, charged as that army was with important
operatiOns, comprehending otir own essential inter-
ests, that the money tight with poaoriety be voted
on that view 'of !he subject alone, and without any
particular reference to Portugal, for it was impossi-
blenof to admit, that those splendid exertions of
Lord Wellington would have fallen very short of
their existing extent had that Noble Lord been de-
prived of the support of that pate of the army which
had arisen out of the policy, on which the present
proposition was founded. That such was the true
clienteles of she Portuguese army was felt by the
enemy at Busaco, who considered it as British, and
attributed it to Lord Wellington as a stratagem of
• wars that (or the purpose of alluring an attack, he
had clothed the British soldiers in the Portuguese
uniform. Ariother ground for granting this sum was,
that it would be applied and administered snider the

inspeSinn of tritisli Ofgcers. Netter had any stab,
sidy been 'afforded, for the faithful application of
which such complete.securuy existed as 'this 1t he
Government of Portugal. There was another ‘.iew
to be taken of the subjee. This was not money
granted to Portugal in *exoneration of any chatges
which •he Might faitly be,expeaed to bear' herself.
The Government of Great Britain had been accused
on former occasions of unnecessarily subsidising to,
reign powers. BUt this remark was not applicatole
to Portugal. It waS asaiisfatiory and interesting
fad, and one which he was sure the Committee
would learn with pleasure, that such tad. been the
fmancial exertions of Vortugal. that at the prr,ent
moment, after all the effeEts of the war, after te
country had. been in 'the temporary _ro,,sessiOn. of
the enemy, and drained ev,n by that t,-rup()rary
possession, the revenue of Portugal applicabl.., to the
prosecution of the war was at a higher point than
before the commencement of -the cbhtest. The
Portuguese Government was in the actual collodion
of a greater revenue, and cherished hopes that b 1
measures now in progress, that revenue would b.:
considerably increased. They came to the Britii)
Parliament only to assist them in making, those
ertions adequate to the great cause in which the tW..)
countries were so deeply interested: On thewhol ,
therefore, he trusted that although there might be
ground for doubting the expediency of such a pro-.
position as the present, when originally made, yet
as the experience' of the two last years had ci,m7
pletely disptoved the soundness of those apprelien-
shows, the Committee would, by an unanimous de-
cision, mark the feeling of respect which They enter--
tained -for the exec Lions, and for the fidelity of Per.
tugal; for it was a prond circumstance" for that
country, that when it was overrun for a lime by the
enemy—when the British army, aduated by mo-
tives of profound' nilitary policy, retired is To:rt s_
Vedras that they might again advance with greater
effe6l—the faith of' the Portuguese. remaiced. invio •
late; there was npt the most momentary adherence
on their part to the enemy; they submitted to all
the military inflidionS which their firmness occa-
sioned; they bore the devastation of their count:y
without repining—and in-no single. ibstanc..! 1,1 erc
theyfalse to the common interest, The Noble Loral.
then concluded by moving the following Resolu-