The Sun.
London, England, 1805-02-13 00:00:00

SPANISII WAR.

lvlr. G. JOH taSTotit ttp,vt-ki the ()pact of the
for resuming the. Adjourned b:bate consi.
aeration ,of the Papers laid before the House re.
speding that event.
The SPEAKER having put the question,- several
'Memtaers rose, among others, Mr.'T. GR RNVIL LE)
Mt. WINDHAM. and Dr. LAWRENCE ; anti the
Setootix. having explained the usual praaice of
e:!e House with regard to the preference to be
given 'to that MeMber ;who rose, the last to speak
when the Debate Was adjourned,' Mr. WINDHAM
and'Or. Lawat wee, who might have claimed the
preference, yielded to Mr. J:
Mr: RAINE was anxious' to rise early in the
Debate, as at a latet hour the House might be eager
tip hear• those :Gentlemen whose talents were ac.
knowledged, and whose opinions on so important a •
question would "nattirally be looked' to with oolici.
ttide. What he presumed to offer tothe House,
he would endeavour to divide into two points ;
the policy of the 'War ;- zit, the manner in which
-the War was began. Oa the litter he should touch
first, as the niust important, inasmuch alit involv.
eel
.the National Honour. The manner of corn.
meozing the War was, in his opinioti,' far from
justifiable ; and he did'not hesitate to say, that it
WO very little 'short of an aet Olpiracy. This he
was.confident was a grave charge', 'but he, did not
lisiard it on light grounds. • For, from pretty wide.
conSulting the best authorities on the Law of Na.
dons, he ((mil they bore him out in asserting' that
the 'manner of commencing the War was a breach
of the national faith 'pledged, and contrary to the
letter and the spirit:ol'lll.3c Law. Besides, was it
warranted by any preeedint ? •The precedents so
much insisted upon on the first .night by a Learned
and Right Hon. Gentleman (Sir Jolts' NICI1p1.1.),
did not appear to him to bear upon the question.
Moreover, they were all token from the history of
the last century ; and none of theM, even that upon
which the greatest stress had been laid, did not ap.
ply to the present case, or the principle uprin which
it: was bent. The auihority to which he• alluded
was thit of Bynkershoak, a most respeetable loth°.
City undoubtedly, He did. not hesitate to pledge
himself that no such principle could be deduced from
that Writer, or from any other'of the highest chi.
router, to justify-the .commissioo of hostilities with.
out,a previotis declaration War : 'they crise.
quentlY not bear on this c:ise, or at least they do
riot affeet the question. under discussion. The cap.
ture of the Dutch Smyrna Fleet in the reign of
charles IL was, perhaps, a case more applicable,
when the attack upon it was made, because it de.
• dined paying those honoars
.to the British Flag
which the spirit of our Navy ,has prompted it to
challenge. Bad as were those times, the case is far
from being so bad as the present, for then there
were no grievances under discussion between Eng.
land and Holland. The Dwell were prepared to
resist ; the treachery, theretore,'was not so flagrant
as in the present case, which could' not be glossed
over because it Was successful.' The Learned Gen.
110410 dwelt at come length Upon other ' precedents,

[PRICE SIXPENCE.

and next proceeded .to enforce' the principle, that
as long ,as the Negotiation- was pending between
the two States, so long were they reciprocally bound .
to • abstain from all kis of hostility.. With that
principle the present case did not conform.—
like the satyr in the table, we en-deavoured to
blow hot and cold at: the same time, and fired on
those with whom we were negotiating untier cover
of 'Flag of. Truce. The Learned Gentleman next
proceeded. to animadvert on the 'different 'position's
in the •declaration, and contended, that it-betrayed
contradielion,..hesiration, and inconsistency, and an
unacc-Ountable flthuation of opinions and measures.'
slll.these grounda.fully justified him in giving" his
decided ,assent to: the Ainiiiiltnent proposed' by his
Hon. Friend.. • • •
Mr..BANKES contended, on the contrary, `that
ever there was an „ instance of good with and,
sincerity in the condua of this Nation, that in oance
-was most eminently displayed on our part' towards
the Spanish Nation, and for that reason, more parti.
-eolarly, he was induc...d t9-.vote for the
The conha which Ministers now'pnistiol enabled
them to repel the aspersidra so onjusily thrown upon
the charader.of our Government. in the.. Span ish- De.
claration„ and would completely clear them before
the tribunal of the world, that must tiiiirmitely.
judge and peonounce. upon the case. As it was t!::
duty of our Government, under such circuin3tancec,
to be vigilant and Cautious, so it was the ditty 1/4.t
the Sprinish'.Court to be- candid, open, onto
cere—yet they were as deficient in the 'discharge
of that dory as we wfire_conuicuous in our at.
tention to the turner The Hon: Gei4leritn then
went into an examination of the evidellee which alp_
peered on die face of the Correspondence, and argittd
fromit.that the conduct tit Spain appeared, in Most
instances to be involved in &alit and tilystery4 .
more particularly resraing the objeel of the Ar. ,
moments, the ~nat tire of the Conventtoti with Prance,
the amount of the sum counnuced eer' the contingent'
stipulated, and above all in concealing
.Cetitrio anti '
des of that convention:- which, he was .cOnfidenr,
were intended to be put into execution sooner or latei
against..this.Country. Under- such at? in4ression'
could. Ministers have aeted olterwise than'they'have
done ? undOtibtedly not anti therefore he frit him.'
self ,hound, in..fairness,.. to approve their cotidutt,
and give it the sanaion of his vote:
• Mr..JOHNSTO/Viii. in opposition to the Hon.
Gentleman who had just sat:down, thought the dia.
ridter and the honour •of the Country deeply-coca.
promised in the dicussions, the official d3coments
of which were now under cnnsicieraiion of the-
House. He Would maintain this opinion; although
he was ready enough to. believe 'that the greater
-part of. die Country was'fond !if, a. VicarwiThSpaln.'
The idea of being at War tl 'jib it Power vu!,;!riv
t y, .$5
congenial enough tt.,, .popular-st,,:imeot ; but he
trusted that the liothe'would not .010%, ro ha
but ~td aw 4, by any such delnsion, ‘but cx:tinioe
with the scrictest scrutiny the Papers before them,
ere they Ventured to concur in-the Address proposed
by the Right Hon. the CHANCELLOR of the Ex.
CHEQUER. lie was not unwilling to allow that
the Treaty of St.lldefonso might constitute a ground
of War fur Great Britain against Spain ; 'yet such
as it was, it was little more than a transcript of the
ancient Treaty Called the FaMily 'Compact, which
had subsisted -between the different branches of the.
House of Bourbon' sitting on the. French and Spanish
Thrones. The articles were of a similar• tendency,
and yet when this, Country went to Wirt. with'
France in 1778, this Treaty. was. not considered
a sufficient ground to induce hostilities with Spain,
.nor to provoke us to take measures such as we lately
had recourse to. It was decidedly his opinion, tho
in the relative situation of- die two nations it.' woa
clearly the policy of Great 13ritain tai cultivate
good uotieroanding with Spain; and Lord Hawkes.
bury, should certainly have employed some .Gen.
rieman'olltigli birth and conciliatory manners for
that purpose. When first the French demand
fur pecuniary suceours- was communicated to the
British Court no expresaion of their disipproba.
tion followed ; and in his mind it would have been
much more expedient to allow Spain to pay this
Subsidy than to force her into a War. He denied
'the position of the Right Honourable the CH AN.
CELLOR of the EkCHEQUER, who seemed to think,
that 'the dedutlion of one • million from the three
agreed- on fur the' purpose of paying debts from
France to Spain was immaterial. That Right
Hon. Gentleman had likewise,.not fairly estimated
the equivalent which this sum bore to, the canal,.
gent stipulated for. One million was at most not
too' much for the expense. of sixteen sail of the line,
and the other million which was left for the enuiu.
anent and support of za.,000 Troops was not' ade.
quate to the purpose. lititain could not tbaintain
them fur twice as much. How was this arrangement
at that time viewed by England ? Will any man
assert, that it was then the intention of Govern.
anent to 'do any thing more than protest-I-Go.
vernment had principally argued the point on • the
instructions 'and dispatches that passed,between out
iVlinister at-Madrid and his Court at home ; and
as they'ought tb have done, on the Notes and
Lettera that paSsed betweed Mr. Frert and' the
Court of Spain. Fran .the tenor of such of Mr,
Freres Letters to M. CCYaiIOS as had been present.
edit) the House, he conceived that than Gentleman
had tedeived his instrudions from the Right Hon.
.the CuAncELLott.of the EXCHSQUEit rather. than
• from the NolAe SECRETARY of STATE. Mr. JOUN.
srims here criticised several of Mr. Freres Notes,
both on account of the manner in which they were
composed, and the matter. which they contained,
particularly one of the 21 January, to M. Cc.
Y-0110s, which might well require explanation, as it
was written in the most 'barbarous •k.sr;lnch •he