The Sun.
London, England, 1847-06-16 00:00:00

ment it will be protected from the just consequences of the
indignation of the people by the interference of forces
led on by England.—(Cheers.) Henceforth the liberty
and freedom of Portugal are but shadows—but a name.
For however unanimous the feelings of the nation may
be—however determined their struggle for liberty, and
however successful the result—at the last moment li-
berty will be snatched from them by the interference of
France and Spain, aided by Councils, and by the arms of
England.—(Cheers.) England is no longer our power-
ful ally, under whom we were said to rest, and of whose
protection we were sure when oppressed." From this
time they would look upon England as leagued with her
enemies.—(Hear, hear.) He did not stop to
inquire whether the terms proposed by England
were fair and equitable, whether they would be faith-
fully carried out, whether the national lovers of freedom
might be satisfied, whether the. Junta would have acted
otherwise than they had expressed themselves, but he
could not forbear inquiring when they anticipated that
they could withdraw their forces from Portugal, and
whether, when they had done so, those of France might
not enter the country, whether it was not probable that
by the voice of the nations of the continent they might
be called upon to continue that intervention to a greater
extent than they could now anticipate? By the treaty
they were pledged to afford aid to the Queen until she
had accomplished the pacification of her dominions,. but
did that stipulation mean the total suppression of the
power now arrayed against the Queen—the suppression
of civil rebellion ; or did it mean the removal of the
causes which had led to this outbreak ; or did it mean
the pacification of the people, not physical but
moral and mental, and the conciliation of the
affections of the people of Portugal ? Did they
mean to frame the laws of the country, to interfere in
the elections, to interfere in the internal affairs of Por-
tugal—that the tribunals of justice should not be prosti-
tuted to power—that the voters should not be overborne
by force, or prostituted by the bribery or undue influence
of the Government? but if they did not do this, they
gave no guarantee to the people of Portugal that their
liberty would be protected. Then with respect to the
conference—suppose it should consist of Costa Cabral
and others of the extreme party, how would they act?
Were they prepared to see another revolution commence,
and by the exercise of their authority to protect public
justice and to make themselves rulers and arbitrators?
To him it appeared an intervention of an intolerable
character ; but it seemed to him that it would become
far more intolerable if they were going to do all
this. He saw nothing but embarrassment and jea-
lousies, which they would find it difficult to
remove. He hoped that the faith of the Crown might
he maintained—that the electoral law might be passed
—that the Cortes might be summoned—and that they
might respect the feelings of the people ; he hoped that
those feelings would not carry them beyond patience,
and lead them to the adoption of extreme measures.
What had been done was irredeemable, and must be
execrated; and if, on the contrary to his apprehensions,
it led to a restoration of tranquillity and the establish-
ment of constitutional liberty in Portugal, he should be
clad. He. however, felt confident in his own mind, that
the course they were now pursuing was impolitic, and
he could not think it consistent with his own duty to
shrink from bringing the subject forward, and he trusted
their Lordships would not consider it consistent with
their duty to abstain from vindicating themselves
in the eyes of the world and in the eyes of
posterity against a participation in the course which
her Majesty's Government were pursuing, and that they
would express their sense of the reckless injustice of
the course which the Government had pursued, and that
they would vote against that which appeared to him an
act of great injustice, and at variance with the fundamen-
tal principles of the laws of nations. (The Noble Lord
resumed his seat amidst loud cheers after submitting his
motion to the House.)
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE thought it his duty
to offer his most decided protest against the motion of
the Noble Lord. When the Noble Lord, in adverting to
the cruelties which had been committed, stated that Mr.
Southeron had been most active in alleviating them, he
forgot to state that his conduct had been directed and
pointed out by her Majesty's Government. He felt, in
entering upon this subject, he was not called upon by
any observations made by the Noble Lord to vindicate
the expediency, under certain circumstances, of interfer-
ing in the affairs of other nations. Although the opi-
nion that no interference in the quarrels and discords of
other nations should take place had been always held by
a small minority in this country, vet all those who de-
served the name of good and sound politicians, were in
favour of the contrary principle, and thought that
intervention in the affairs of other nations was
sometimes not only expedient but necessary.
In the first instance, he felt it necessary to
call the attention of their Lordships to the relation in
which this country stood with respect to Portugal. That
peculiar connexion was founded upon the geographical
positions of the two countries, and upon the system of
commerce which was carried on, and for ages that rela-
tion had remained nearly the same down to the present
time. They practically knew that in the more distant coun-
tries, such as Japan or China, the consequence of wars
and revolutions could not affect this country, but expe-
rience taught them that in no ono instance had Portugal
been touched without immediately and strongly affecting
the intere-ts of this country. The Noble Lord had, in
the course of his observations, inferred that this country
was not only a consenting party, but gave that approba-
tion which was implied by silence to that course of
circumstances which had been described as leading to
the disturbances which had taken place. They were
bound to refrain from giving any indications which
could be construed into a support of the proceedings of
either side as long as actual intervention of the Govern•
ment and the nation was uncalled for. There were three
stages in the policy which the Government had adopted.
There was a time when they took only the part of
spectators—but itv-erested spectators—of the internal
discords of Portugal, and they could see that no one of
the conflicting parties came free from blame into the
tribunal of public opinion ; but there were times in
which all of them had committed acts which more or
less required the disapprobation of those who were
interested in the affairs of Portugal. The state of the
country had been described by Sir H. Seymour, in page
221 of the report upon this subject. He stated that the
most alarming disturbances had been the consequeece of
the indulgence of all those evil passions which had been :
called forth by the disputes between the Crown and
the people. The whole of the attempt of the Govern-
ment bad not been an attempt to overthrow the dynasty
of Portugal—it was not an attempt to introduce any new
laws into Portugal, but merely an attempt to bring the
Crown of that country into more close communication
with the people, so as to obviate many, or all of those,
disturbances which had taken place in that country. .
The Government laid between three chances—namely,
despotism with Donna Maria, a republic with the Junta,
and despotism with Don Miguel. So that between all
those chances, it was hard if one of them would not
eventually become the ascendant, unless some interfer-
ence took place upon the part of the Government of this
country. From the dispatches of Mr. Bulwer, it would
be seen that there could not be a more anxious wish to
co-operate with this country, than that which was shown
to exist on the part of Spain. It was said, however, that
Spain should act under the command of the English Go-
vernment. Now, was that language to be used to a free -
and independent Government? He thought Spain was
quite as interested in the affairs of Portugal as this
country could possibly be, and he could not con-
ceive how Spain could possibly be more indifferent with
a view to their interests, than this country. The Noble
Lord said that they had an opportunity of carrying war
into Spain. Now, an interference on the part of Spain
with the affairs of Portugal, would have had the effect of
embroiling France and England; but even that inter-
ference on the part of Spain would have been less absurd
than the course pointed out by the Noble Lord. The
Noble Lord (Stanley) had taken advantage of M.
Guixot to draw a conclusion in favour of his
views. They ought not to let it be sup-
p aed that in the course of events, that if they
had come down with a war on Spain, that France would
have remained perfectly neutral ; and he thought, there-
fore, that the Government had pursued a wise course on
this question. They had "not," as Mr. Canning said,
somewhere in that speech to which the Noble Lord
(Stanley) had referred, " waited for war, but gone be-
fore war." And the policy the Government had pursued
would have been that adopted by Mr. Canning.—(Hear,
hear.) They (the Government) had endeavoured to
reconcile the Queen of Portugal to the feelings of her
people. They had endeavoured to give her subjects hope
that they might be able to induce the Qtteen to
revoke those unjustifiable measures which excited
the indignation of her subjects.—(Hear, hear.)
He thought that the Noble Lord (Stanley) was
most unreasonable in his condemnation of the appoint-
meats of the Government. They could not have made
a more judicious selection than that of Colonel Wylde.
That Gentleman had been engaged for many years in the
Peninsular war, and had become acquainted with the
habits and feelings of the people of Spain and Portugal,
and that knowledge could not tail to be a most valuable
acquisition in the situation to which he had been ap
pointed. He believed that no more eligible person
could be chosen than that gentleman, and unless the
Noble Lord told him (the Marquis of Lansdowne) some
speciarcircuinstance of disqualification, he should still ad-
here to his opinion. Sir H. Seymour also was a most eligible
person, possessing, as he did, knowledge and ability.
lie must say that the Noble Lord had totally failed to.
make out this part of his case ; and in the correspond-
ence that had taken place between Colonel Wylde and
Marshal Saldanha, the latter said ;—‘• I give
you my
word and honour that nothing. could be more painful to
me than to think that I have given cause of complaint."
And what was the conduct of these gentlemen ? Was
it not in cionformity with their character ? Both Colo-
nel Wylde and Sir Hamilton Seymour naturally ad-
dressed themselves first to the leaders of the Queen's
party. But the Noble Lord said that when they wen!
Portugal understood that they were to favour the
interests of the Queen, and that their views were to be
directed to establish a Government totally different to
that then existing in Portugal. Now, these gentlemen
went out to Portugal upon the distinct impression that
their measures were to be directed to the restoration of
the Legislature of the country in its fullest efficiency.
They were told also that the insurgents were to be in
eluded in the amnesty. A better provision could not be
procured for the insurgents, though the Noble Lord said
that they had derived no advantages from the inter-
ference of this Government. lie contended that the
Government throughout had acted in a manner
calculated for the security of the peace of
Europe, and had succeeded in securing a constitution
for Portugal. In effecting that they had achieved more
than if they had gained a victory at Torres Vedras.
With respect to the argument as to non-interference he
did not think the arguments of the Noble Lord were
satisfactory. Abstinence from interference might be
carried too far in public as well as in private life. Then
might arise a state in which interference became a duty.
.
It was the same way public life. The views
of the Noble Lord reminded him of what took
place at a trial. A person wu murdered