The Sun.
London, England, 1848-06-06 00:00:00

early opportunity should be given of vindicating it, as
he hoped it would be vindicated; and represented, it as also
due to the character of the country be and
Government rieht
with a view of setting the S
respecting their mistake, pifalimishistaken they we're.
'n the Government
Prepared, as he
in any measure was,for vtionclicating the character
of the country, he felt assured he would be
the better able to pursue that course f
out-
set, he admitted that a grievous error i, in the
had
been com-
mitted on their part. He should like to know from the
Noble Lord whether it was or was not the fact that the
whole grounds of the charges brought against their Am-
bassador were assigned in the papers before them? It
was most essential that they should know that ; and he
could conceive no grounds for concealment upon the
subject. It was impossible that the Noble Lord should
not be cognisant of the whole facts, for he had every in-
dividual before him from whom information could be
obtained—the Ambassador himself and the special
Envoy from the Court of Madrid, with whom he be-
lieved the Noble Lord was in communication through
the Spanish Ambassador. He knew the story on one
side and the other ; be knew what the other accusations
were, if other accusations existed than those con-
tained in the papers. He believed that the dispatch of
the Noble Lord was an unhappy and unfortunate piece
of diplomacy, but that that could form any justification
for the expulsion of their Ambassador was what no man
in that House would believe.—(Hear, hear.) He might
and did lament'that any instructions given to their Am-
bassador—though not exceeded by him, as far as his
judgment led him to form a conclusion—should have led
to a result so humiliating to them—that the Government
of Spain should have rejected the dispatch of the Noble
Lord, and that they, as a nation, should be insulted.
As the Noble Lord had justified the conduct of the Am-
bassador the latter should receive no blame from him
(Mr. Bankes). But having gone to that extent, which
in his opinion was far indeed, the Spanish Government
went a step further, when they not only returned the
Ambassador's dispatch, but rejected also the Ambassa-
dor, telling him that though he and his nation "might
not be offended," yet that he had better not stay
there, but take himself off in order to avoid offence.
—(Hear, hear.) The House had before them, in the
papers presented by the Government, the dispatches
which had first passed respecting these matters. Un-
doubtedly those dispatches were from the first consi-
dered in that House to present points for grave consi-
deration. It had seemed to him, and he believed to
others, that an interference had been proposed with the
affairs of a friendly power which no Government could
have borne without resentment ; and, certainly from the
first, he had anticipated that something would follow
calculated to disturb the friendly relations subsisting
between England and Spain—relations which had existed
for many years, and which were maintained by many
important considerations. True it was that Spain owed.
to us a debt of gratitude; but it could not but be felt by
a generous people that a claim of that sort insisted upon
at all times, and under all circumstances, could not be
,advanced creditably to ourselves nor without offenced
riv to at
pa•oud, a chivalrous, and gallant nation. He condi
eod
but feel, moreover, that if Spain had
dead.
advantages from us we bad also derive
vantages from our connexion with Spain. I
first
and thou t
was in her plains that our gallant army h
learnt to beat the warriors of Napoleoe, g
Spain would never forget her obligations., yet the con-
stant reiteration of them by us might arouse something
bordering on a vindictive feeling to supply the place of
international friendship. He regretted these unhappy
dispatches, therefore, on other grounds than the mere
dismissal of our Minister. He regretted them, among
other things, because he feared they might b
drawn into a precedent. It was for that reason that he had
been most anxious to press forward this debate so early.
_He wished to guard against these papers being placed
let the library of that House without there being an-
nexed to them an immediate protest—an immediate re-
enoustrance. He wished to guard against the possibi-
lity of any one saying in future times, " Oh, a great
affront has been offered to us, but there is a precedent
for our treating it with silence ; fur in 1842, when
Lord Palmerston was Foreign Minister, a British Am-
bassador at the Court of Madrid was contemptuously
dismissed. The papers on the subject are all extant
—and not one word was said by Parliament or by
the country on the subject."--(Hear, hear.) That was
what he desired to guard against. And now let him
come to the consideration of the documents that were
placed before them. In the outset he must complain
that the papers presented to Parliament as " papers rela-
tive to the affairs of Spain" were mere extracts, and
very partial ones. What did the House think, for in-
stance, of such a correspondence as this:—
" Mr. Bulwer to Viscount Pahnerston—l have just had an
interview with the Duke of Sotomayor, who, having re-
quested to see me, stated" .
(Loud laughter.) Absolutely that was all.—(Renewed
laughter.) That was a complete paragraph in a dispatch
of our Spanish Ambassador to his Minister, communi-
cated for the information of the British House of Coin-
monsl—(Cheers.) Almost on the same page with this
remarkable State document was another dispatch, in
which Lord Palmerston expressed himself highly dis-
pleased at the decree of the Cortes giving the Government
of Spain extraordinary powers. Why, what right had the
Noble Lord to be highly displeased or offended with such
matters? These powers were voted by the Spanish
Cortes by a majority of 148 to 45 in one house, and of
63 to 83 in the other assembly. He must remark, too,
that a great portion of these " papers" was composed of
extracts from newspapers. He (Mr. Bankes) did not un-
dervalue newspapers. He had no doubt that in Spain,
as in England, there were papers conducted by men of
the highest talent and of the purest character; but as
newspapers both in Spain and England were anonymous
publications, he must always feel regret when he found
them brought forward as authorities upon matters of
State.—(Hear, hear.) Only two hours had elapsed since
the last series of papers upon this subject had been deli-
vered to Members of the Legislature, and in this series
there were, he must remark, extracts from newspaper.,
which be thought the Government had scarcely exercised
a wise discretion in introducing. One of these was from
the lieraldo of May 24, which, after setting forth that
fears were entertained in Spain of the anger of England
in consequence of these events, proceeded thus:
" singular reflection however arises, via., the impossibi-
lity of England taking offence at present, in consequence of
the hostile attitude of Ireland, which is wasting her re-
sources—by the increasing deficit in her treasury—by the
suspicions entertained of her throughout Europe—in conse-
quence of her friendly relations with the court of Vienna—
and finally, by the proceedings of the Chartist party, which
calculates on the support of the new Parliamentary party,
headad by Messrs. Hume and Cobden—( Loud laughter)—
who will no doubt take advantage of the difficulties into
which the country is thrown, in order to kindle the torch of
civil discord throughout the land."
(Much laughter and some opposition cheering.) These
were the documents the Noble Lord gave to them as
part of a great Parliamentary record.—(Hear, hear.)
Thus it was that state papers were made up—(Cheers)
—and he must say that it did seem to him that these
sort of things had been put together with considerable
haste in order to occasion a delay—that they had been
collected with much toilsome industry in order to gain
time.—(Cheers.) He now came to the next important
document—the Noble Lord's memorable " confidential"
dispatch to Mr. Bulwer of March 16. It would be re-
collected that it ran thus :
" I have to instruct you to recommend earnestly to the
Spanish Government and to the Queen-Mother, if you have
an opportunity of doing so, the adoption of a legal and con-
stitutional course of government in Spain.
—(bear, from the Liberal side.) This was pretty well.
The Cortes it would be remembered was sitting at the
time, carrying what they thought legal and constitu-
tional measures" by large majorities.
" The recent fall of the King of the French and of his
whole family, and the expulsion of his Ministers, ought to
teach the Spanish Court and Government how great is the
danger of an attempt to govern a country in a manner at va-
rience with the feelings and opinions of the nation ; and the
France catastrophe which has happened in must serve to
show that even a large and well-disciplined army becomes an
ineffectual defence for the Crown when the course pursued by
the Crown is at variance with the general sentiments of the
country. It would then be wise for the Queenh of- Spain in
the preserit critical state of aff:itrhsetboasstirsene en the Execu-
tive Government by ealargine-
to
opt(i)enr which the ad-
ministration is founded, and by calling
of those men who possess the confidence of the' councils some
party."
(Much cheering from the Liberal side.) Now it might
have been good for Spain and this country if the policy
recommended by the Noble Lord had been adopted,
but certainly if the Noble Lord wished to defeat such a
measure he could not have adopted a course more cal-
culated to carry that object.—(Hear, bear.) He (Mr.
Bankes) was ready to admit that the feeling of Spain
towards us had not been very fitvourable, and that the
acts of the Spanish Government had not been very
kindly. We had probably suffered some disappoint-
moat by the course Spain had chosen to pursue with
reference to our free-trade policy. In November last,
Mr. Bulwer applied to the Duke de Sotornayor for some
alteration of the duties with reference to woollen goods.
A correspondence ensued, and the House would recollect
that when the matter was brought before Parliament, the
Noble Lord stated that he thought we ought to be satis-
lied, because we were placed by Spain in no worse posi-
tron than she placed France. To put ns in the same
position in which she placed France was not in his (Mr.
Bankes's) judgment exactly all that ought to satisfy this
country; and if the interference of the Noble Lord had
been confined to matters of commercial relation, he cer-
tainly should not have objected. There was not, as he
conceived; any better employment of time for Ministers
than watching our commercial relations with foreign coun-
tries; but he did doubt the expediency of interfering with
the political affairs of nations, and especially of en-
deavouring to force upon them certain individuals and
parties to act as ministers and governors of the country.
—(Cheers.) Why, what should we say if the Spanish
Minister for Foreign Affairs, seeing the Chartists in
lingland and the repeaters in Ireland in a state of dis-
content, were to write to us, insisting that it would be
better for Great Britain, if the Government were placed
upon a wider basis, and if Messrs. Cobden and Hume
were
at once called to the councils of the Sovereign ?
(Hear, hear.) What should we say if, having told us
that they were to conclude by stating, that whether we
adopted such measures or not, hey would at least have
the satisfaction of having given timely warning ?
(Cheers.) The Noble Lord mightnoi say that Spain was
England—he in peculiar relations towards and—he might insist
on the sort of obligatory link which existed—and which
Spanish he seemed to think bound the nation to a
state of subserviency to us because
Cases
fbenefits re-
ceived ; but this was not enough. shad hap-
pened before where diplomatists as able as the Noble Lord
had been concerned, and where a very differenttohe;:ard
had
been assumed on subjects by no means dissimilar to
that under discussion. The Noble Lord, he was
would not be offended with a comparison which he
would institute. Holland, at one period of her history,
was a state divided by opposite factions. She was under
the greatest obligations to us for the preservation of her
liberty, and for atfordieg her the means of carrying on
her commerce. At such a time, and at a period of great