The Sun.
London, England, 1802-05-14 00:00:00

'tad the command of the Portuguese Army was, he
ilad no doubt, disqualified by his great age, from ~
those t-aertioris which such a service required ; but
in point of faEl, it was the opinion of. the most.
experienced Officers of the British Army, that he
was not capable of making. those dispositions and
exertions which the- defence of that Country ere-,
quired. If the advice of the British Government
had been complied With, other Measures . were in:
agitation which might have been effeanal in eheck-
ing the-progress of the French and. SpapiSh Army.
This advice was not, however, adopted by the Por-
tuguese Government ; they ktated, that, if Great
Britain, would furnish an --Army of ee,ooo men,.
she might: appoint a -General ; but, otherwise the
command could not be taken from- the person who.•
then commanded the Portuguese Army, ,and, ,cir-
cumstancedasewe then were, we could not spare so.
large a body of ferces.L---Afterwards, when the •
French and Spanish Armies had advanced:into Por-
tugal, we released- her from all lermbligations to
this Country, and every advanced her a Subsidy to
enable her to treat on-better terms. • After this we
were not hound in honour to go further.: we were
not bound to get back her possessions for her, yet.
this'Country had done-it, . and -we had done that for
her in this Treaty, which he believed was never
done by any other Country for an Ally under such
circumstances.' His Lordship then proceeded to,
state the advantages •gained by Portugal by
our stipulations in . her favour, respeCting. her
boundaries in America, over those which she
stipulated for herself--ssadvantages of which, he said,
the Portuguese Government were perfectly. sensible.
But, • at all events, there .was no departure in the
-Definitive Treaty, as far-as related to this subjeet,
from the basis established in the Preliminaries.—
The .next point which- his Right Hon. Friend had
referred to, was Newfoundland ; and upon this sub-
jeet h. had only to obseree, that every thing was
left as it was before the War. With regard to the
Cape of
Good Hope,. the only difference between'
the Preliminary . and Definitive Treaty, was one,
which, in the opinion of those who were best in.
formed upon. the subject; was advantageous to this
Country.- As to Malta, the only qUestion to be
considered was„ whether the arrangement which -
had been-made, was, 'under all the circumstances of
the case, as good as. could. be expeEted. When we
••took possession of thatlsland, we declared our in-
tention to restore it to the Order, and to procure
for the inhabitants some advantages. which therroon.
duia so fully entitled them to. It was at one time
• intended to have placed- that . Island under' the
proteetion,of Russia.; but the ill. judged measures
adopted by the Government of that Country,
rendered such a measure -impossible. , After what
had been said in .the Preliminaries, there.could
be no doubt, —limn it. was intended to restore
the Sovereignty of. the Island to the Order; but the
manner was objened to, and in particular, it had
been said, ,that •the Order of -Nobility had been
disgraced by the introduetion,of a 'Maltese:Lang:se:
but surely, such an advantage was due to the mi-
dis& of the Inhabitants of that. Island; who, previ-
ous to the landing -of the: British Troops, had, .tin
der the direCtion.el a British Officer, carried on a
spirited_ and saiccessini warfare against the French.
And, as it was the opinion of Officers well qualified
to judge upon the subject, that the Inhabitants of
that Island were - themselves sufficient for its de-
fence, the propriety of tbe.measure which.had been
adopted, could not, under all the circumstances, he
'thought, be doubted. With regard to the Poster
under whose proteaion ,Malta was placed, it had
been offered to the Emperor of-Russia, but from a
change of the Poitics of that Cabinet, it was re-
- fused ; His Imperial Majesty offered to guarantee
the independence. of the Island, provided it was
placed under the prote6tion of Naples. He was.
sorry, that from the situation in which the King of
Naples stood, he was not so powerful a ProteCtor as
could be wished ; but the whole of that Monarch's'
condutt during the War was such, as to entitle him to
- the fullest confidence.—He had besides the strongest
motives. of interest to induce him-to protea the in_
dependence of Malta, fromo its contiguity to that ,
which must now be considered as the- most valua-
ble part of his dominions, the Island of Sicily. Bfit
notwithstanding all this, the independence of Malta
'might still be considered as insecure, if it was not
also goaranteed by Austria, a -Power which, next
to Naples, was.the most interested in. its indenend.
ence.—Having disposed of these points; his Lord-
ship then proceeded to take a general view of the
question with regard to what had been said of the
Naval Force of this Country, he wished to join
issue with the Hon. Gentleanan on the other side. -
He- was ready to contend that no Peace we had, ester
made had (all things considered); left this. Country
in so good a naval condition, compared with France,
as the one we had just concluded. If- the situation
of Europe had been different, undoubredly a dif-
ferent YeaCe might have been concluded ; but if the
Continent bf Europe was in anunfortunate situation,
we had at least the satisfaction of knowing that no
blame was attributable to us, no exertion on, our
fide was wanting• lot the question now was,
whether by the Peace we wete roe placed in such
2 situation, that ive should -be fully/ equal to
meet France if the contest. wete renewed ; and
whether it was. not wise for us ,to make Peace
with our strength, reseurces,. and spirit 'Linea-
hausted, rather than cbntinue the contest to the
last extremity, without any proiyeet of itilvantage
to compensate for the loss we. must 'sustain ? There-
was one subject which Gentlemen seemed studiously
to have laid cut of their consistent:ion, when they
spoke of the great advantages that France would
derive from the acquisition of Louisiana, -and that
seas, the immense benefit that would ;Scottie to this
Country Isom our hating obtained the possession of
tete Mysore, and by the destrgtion of a Power
in India. :who was the natural Ally of France,: ,
and the inveterate Enemy of Great Britain...—.
If we - had obtained great acquisitions, in the,
East, our power in ,the West _lndies had also
g tea tly increased, our ancient Colonies had been
rendered one-third. more valuable than they had
been before the War, and we had besides acquired
the extensive and fertile Island of Trinidad, which
possessed one of die best naval stations in the West
Indies. 'Compare this with the 'situation of the
'French in flit quarter ; look at the situation of St.
Donsingo, that Colony from which France had for-
derived such irnwense advantages. Sop-