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

to :England. That Nobleman has published an ae-
cou et of his mission, which I think I see in the hands of
the Honourable Member for Pontefract.—(A laugh.)
Thi i Marquis states that Lord Palmerston had very
gre at difficulties to contend against
pa
gsainsnh
tisbultibheirsty meaorvneersctaneses
in t he cause of Spain and of
eve ry obstacle that stood in his way, and on the 22d
of April, 1834, the preliminary articles of a treaty
of quadruple alliance were signed. At that period
the Duke of Richmond, Sir James Graham, the
Earl of Ripon, and the Nobleman who has recently
taken so active a part in the question in another House
(Lord Stanley) had not retired from theCabinet.—(Hear,
hear.) The Marquis states that the effect of even these
preliminary articles was signal and immediate. Don
Car‘os assented, and it was supposed that the pacifica-
tion of Spain would be the result of the articles. This
anticipation was not carried out. Don Carlos retired
into the provinces, and the entire of the Basque popu-
lation arose for him; the Court of Spain was filled
with dismay, and the Marquis Nliraflores, instructed by
his Government, again waited upon Lord Palmerston,
and to use his own language, " implored his aid with
adjurations, ardent and unremitted." Lord Palmerston
redeemed the pledge he had given, by aid, naval, inili •
eery, and moral, and there cannot be a doubt, but that for
the interposition of England, Don Carlos would have
been King of Spain.—(Loud cries of "Hear, hear,"
from Mr. Baillie Cochrane.) The whole population of
the Basque provinces, the Church, the monastic orders,
the nobility, and the still nobler peasantry of Spain,
were all the Carlist party.--(Renewed cheers from the
same quarter.) It is said by the Duke of Sotonsayor,
in very sonorous Castilian, that England interfered from
selfish motives. From what selfish motives I cannot
conjecture.—(Hear, hear.) The people of this country
filled with an ardent love of liberty, which I trust will
ever inspire them, gave energetic aid to a nation strug-
gling for freedom ; but England, as Sir H. Bulwer well
pointed out, had nothing to gain in the matter but the
lofty consciousness of having assisted the Spanish people
in the assertion of their right to free institutions.
Theseinstitutions were established, and they remained
stable till the fail of Espartero. The late Minister of
this country, I well remember, expressed deep regret for
that fall, and in his regret Lord Aberdeen fully con-
curred. I am far from disapproving of the policy of
Lord Aberdeen towards Spain. It was Lord Aberdeen
who appointed Sir H. Bulwer to the post he lately occu-
pied, and in this appointment Lord Aberdeen manifested
a just and most sound appreciation of the valuable ser-
vices which Sir H. Bulwer had rendered to his country
at Constantinople and in other quarters.—(Hear, hear.)
It is said that Lord Aberdeen never interfered in the
affairs of Spain. I will show the contrary ; I will show
that Lord Aberdeen did interfere in the affairs of Spain,
and this in a manner which reflected upon him the
greatest honour. Sir 11. Bulwer wrote to Lord Aber-
deen that he had heard from persons of good authority
first,
and it was in contemplation to plight the Queen
and then communicate the fact to the Cortes, when it
should be too late to revoke the betrothal. Thereupon
Lord Aberdeen at once sent directions to Sir H. Bulwer
to call upon General Narvaez without delay, and to say
to him that he could not, indeed, believe the report in
question, but that if any such illicit and discreditable
Proceedings were intended, the British Government
would protest against it as an infringement on the Spa-
nish Constitution, as exposing the Queen to danger, and
as calcuated to spread confusion and peril throughout
the country. Here, surely, was a case of interference—
(Hear, hear)—and, as such, if Lord
.Aberdeen was war-
ranted—and warranted he was—in interfering, Lord
Palmerston was called upon ,to do so when he saw the
Cortes about to be abolished, and every vestige of free-
dom about to be swept away. In 1846 Lord Aberdeen
retired from office, and Lord Palmerston, upon acceding
to it, naturally directed his attention to the affairs of
Spain. I have read the remarkable dispatch of July,
'1846, to which reference has been made by the greatest
journal of this country, which, in relation to it,
speaks of the dispatch as having proceeded from my
Noble Friend, when baffled on the great Montpensier
machination. Now, it was not till September that the
Spanish marriages took place, and at the time of the dis-
patch in July there was no sort of quarrel with Spain
on that subject. But the Cortes had been rendered
a passive instrument in the hands of the Government,
the liberty of the press was a nullity, the property and
the liberty of the subject were outraged with impunity,
and men were daily put to death without a shadow of
trial ; the name of freedom had, in a word, become a
mockery. Lord Palmerston, struck with this spectacle,
did what a British Minister was bound to do under the
circumstances—he intimated to the Spanish Government
that it was not for the purpose of establishing a grinding
tyranny in Spain, that the English Government inter-
fered to settle the crown of Spain on its present basis.
—(Hear, hear.) The circumstances of 1848 are diffe-
rent, be it remembered, from those of 1846. In 1846
there was no European convulsion ; the authority of
Louis Philippe was ostensibly stable. In 1848 occurred
those mighty events at whose aspect contemporaries
stand appalled, and at which history will look back
with amazement. 'The Noble Lord was warned by Sir
H. Bulwer that revolution threatened Spain, that the
Carlists were in motion, and that, if they were en-
couraged to come forward, a disastrous civil war
would be the inevitable result, involving the country
and its throne in the utmost misfortune and peril. His
Noble Friend hereupon transmitted that dispatch which
has been so repeatedly referred to. But when this dis-
patch was given to Sir H. Bulwer, did he at once rush to
the palace and deliver it up in the abrupt manner sug-
gested ? No; he kept it by him for twenty days, re-
serving it as a last expedient—as a final resource. Mark
the dates—the dispatch was received by Sir IL Bulwer
on the 21st of March ; on the 23d the Cortes were dis•
solved ; on the 31st an insurrection took place at Madrid.
On these occasions Sir H. Bulwer offered counsel to the
Spanish Government in the most amicable spirit ; but,
as yet he did not produce the dispatch. His preliminary
efforts were of no avail; he went to the Queen-Mother
with as littte effect; and, at length, on the 9th of April,
Sir 11. 13ulwer, finding that every other expedient had
been exhausted, and thinking that Lord Palmerston's
dispatch might produce an effect which his own verbal
communications had failed to do, sent in the dispatch,
and it is but an act of justice to Sir 11. Bulwer that I
should here read an extract from one of his letters in
vindication of the conduct he had pursued, and which,
I submit, perfectly justified that conduct. In the letter
dated April 22, 1848, Sir H. Bulwer says :
"In this state of circumstances I consulted my instruc-
tions; I had already acted upon them by giving friendly and
intimate advice without any effect being produced. It began
to be very probable that Count Montemolin might show
himself, supported by the Liberal party, and with the cry of
the Constitution of 1812: this was here canvassed on one
side, a Republic on the other_ Now, if the Pretender raised
his banner, proclaiming constitutional principles, and we
were called upon to support Queen Isabella, her Catholic
Majesty upholding military government, it would be difficult
for us to support the military government against the con-
stitational one, or to desert Queen Isabella suddenly, on the
ground that we disapproved of the course she had pursued,
unless there was some proof that we had so disapproved. My
unofficial conversations had no authority. Even if her Ca-
tholic Majesty fell without exposing us to this difficult and
particular question, it might be said, Why did not Mr.
Bulwer warn the Spanish Government of the dangerous
course they were pursuing? Why did he not do so with all
the weight that a formal communication of the views of
Great Britain would have afforded-?' It was, my Lord, in
view of all these various probabilities that I gave the sane-
tion of your Lordship's name, and of my opinion to the ad-
vice I presumed to offer. It was not, that lam aware of,
couched in improper terms; I did not, therefore, expect a
voluntary hostile reply, or that the present Government of
Spain would involve amongst Queen IsalJella's enemies her
Majesty's Government, with more than the precipitancy with
which it had included in this category distinguished and
loyal Spaniards. The result shows I was mistaken."
And toe result does show this.—( Hear, hear.) 'The
Hon. Member has read paragraphs from the Spanish
newspaper, the Herald°. The Hergldo was edited at
one period by Sartorius, and is still wholly under his
influence, or, as the French express it, inspired by him.
It may, in a word, be considered the organ of the
opinions, feelings, and views of the Spanish Govern-
ment, 'The Hon. Gentleman has read au extract from
this paper, whence it appears that the editor and the
Government expected a revolution in England, mistak-
ing a Chartist procession fur a national march—(Hear,
hear)—not knowing that in England liberty and order
have entered into mutual guarantees—(Hear, hear)—
nut knowing that our institutions are built on a rock,
and bound together with an imperishable cement—
(Hear)—ituagining, in short, that our polity was as
frail as the weak, loose structures which continental ar-
chitects are pleased to call constitutions.—(Hear, hear.)
Under this impression it was that the Spanish Govern-
ment thought it could put contumely upon my Noble
Friend and upon the English nation, torgetting the ser-
vices coutereed by us upon Spain—(hear)--or rather,
perhaps, I may say, resenting the obligations we had
conferred upon her.—(Hear, hear.) The Spanish Go-
vernment thought, under such circumstances, to put an
insult upon my Noble Friend; and the Hon. Gentleman
over the way says that the Government of England has
been humiliated. It would be strange, indeed, if the
Government of this great and powerful country—a
country which had the power to avenge an insult, but
could afford to despise one—it would be strange, indeed,
if the Government of England could be humiliated by
anything that could be done by the Spanish Government,
that, in its need, fell down on its knees before us.—
(Hear, hear.) But instead of relying on this, I prefer
to insist that with truth, with right, with reason, and
with honour, humiliation cannot co-exist.--(Hear, hear.)
The Hon. Gentleman spoke of the quarrels of individuals
and of nations, and said they were the same thing. It
is, I admit, with nations as with men, and I will put this
case to the lion. and Learned Gentleman. If a man
calling himself his friend had fled to him for aid, if the
rairequiredsed
prosperity,
rthe
hs
epesruitassistancepyp,t itoihaaennti
nonladthfembdrrs
From
become
me
the
given,e
his and
earth,
surety
uebutt y hea
elevated
dv
pledgea
tnotm onhi ly
tom
int
ngr tand,ud weree i wasf efeeeerti
en
wills
thsh
acavonentulaiminr contumely,
ryhb:aatinthwdit,n,h,
ugeilndiosnntsenuatoldo
uinsult
orothtfhe rei Hon. and Learned Gentleman s
recoiled. and that the intended insult m
feelfell full upon the
degraded. ingrate himself and not upon his benefactor ?
This point et view applied to the whole of the present
transaction. From the first report of Sir H. Bulwer
down to the letter dismissing Sir 11. Bulwer from Spain,
on grounds of which the annals of diplomacy afforded
Tao parallel—(Hear, hear)—Sir H. Bulwer had beers
assailed with every species of calumny, with every
threat, assassination included, and with the declaration
that he was abandoned here. But he is not abandoned
here.—(Cheers.) He is not abandoned by Parliament,
he is not abandoned by the Government, he is not aban-
doned by my Noble Friend at the head of the department
in which Sir H, Bulwer has so ably served, and who, I
tarn well assured, will rather throw his office to the
winds than desert the man who has so devotedly, under
his direction, served our common country. The lion.
and Learned Gentleman asked whether any other
charges have been made against Sir 11. Bulwer ? I
know not what further allegations may be adduced by
the Spanish Government, but I know that calumnies of
the vilest sort have been put in circulation against him.