Star.
London, England, 1809-02-08 00:00:00

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desultory manner into a variety of topics ; and if the
House should grant the Committee, two Sessinns
would not be sufficient for the inquiry Dropi)sc2. The

Noble Earl appeared to him to be tvtally . armed
on most of the snbjects to which he adverted i:t the
course of his speech. He agreed, however, as :o the
impropriety of the presumptuous reflections thrcten
olit against a Noble 'Friend of his, the practice of
whose life tuns in direct opposition to these indecoi
rocs observations. He was happy to learn, that if
these presumptuous. observations were carried to cer-
tain points, they will be punished ; but as t' the ne-
cessity of any particular legislatiVe provision, he
would reserve his opinion "until a case was made out.
The Noble Duke justified the Government for not
having interfered in the internal concerns of Spain,
and for having been entirely guided by the wishes of
their allies in the conduct of the campaign. Any in-
terference of that kind must have ached the indigna•
tion of the people that country, and have autho-
rised them to say, Give us your assistance, but leave
us to model our own Constitution as we please. The

plan of the campaign he contended was the best
adapted to assist•the Spaniards that could have been
devised. The British army entered Spain under the

expectation that either the army of Blake or Castanos,
or both, would have joined it, but unfortunately they
were no more. They engaged in pitched battles
with the enemy, the consequence of which was that
they a ere defeated and dispersed. Our army having
no support was therefore under the necessity of re-
treating. He must oppose thelnotion as being of too
general and indefinite a nature.
Lord DARNLEY expected that a number of '
their Lordships would have started forward to ex•
press their opinion of the serious disasters that occur-
red since the conclusion of last Session—disasters,

which, he contended, were solely to be attributed to
the misconduct of Ministers. He expected that, in
point of decency, Ministers would have laid dom•
ments before the House to enable their Lordships to
decide upon those charges which they had professed
themselves so ready to meet. What hope could they
have entertained that they would be able to stop the
career of Bonaparte in Spain ? For his own part, he
never expected Spain would do any thing, when he
saw that all their force was incompetent to expel the
French troops that had retired into BiscayandNavarre.
Lord GRENVILLE observed, that the motion
brought forward was particularly calculated to meet
all the objections made byhis Noble Friend. Through,
whatever quarter opposition came, he did not expect
it to proceed from Ministers, when the last sound he
heard uttered by them in that House was a challenge
to enquiry. Were their Lordships to be deterred by
the labour that.might possibly attend the proposed
investigation from entering into it ? As to the motto
proposed being unparliamentary, or at all contrary to
the practices of the House, it was so far from it, that
it would be seen, on reference to the Journals, that a
Committee of the kind was granted during the Ame-
rican war. The instance he alluded to was the sur-
render of Lord Cornwallis's army,the greatest disaster
that had occurred, next to the recent events in Spain.
It was the practice of the House to pursue inquiry in
the precise mode recommended by his Noble Friend.
There was no mode more parliamentary cf affording
Ministers an opportunity of meeting that investigation
which they affected to challenge. One new ground
for inquiry had arisen since last he addressed them.
Circumstances had occurred to impress the public
with an opinion, that Ministers intended to rest their
case upon the discretion of an Officer employed by
them, and that Officer now no more. If any circum-
stances more imperiously than another called for exa-
mination, it was this very circumstance. No small
pains • had been taken to convince the public,
that the measures that were taken were not in con-
sequence of the orders of Government, but the
result of the discretion of individual officers. Let the
truth be known. He trusted that in justice to the me-
mory of that Officer, who had fallen for his country,
the whole conduct of the Spanish campaign would
be speedily investigated. Tt was to bring this before
their Lordships that his Noble Friend had proposed
the motion, which they would be called upon to re-
ject. The Convention he thought was blameable,
rather officially than in a military paint of view. The
occurrences in Sweden were swallowed up in the para-
mount importance of ttle events in Spain; bat it would
be for Ministers to explain why the Commander of the
British forces was under the necessity Nf h!s
escape in disguise, to avoid the indignities to which
he might be exposed. There was no more
ment.iry mode of pursuing all these important inqui-
ries than that proposed. The objections made would
have been valid, if their Lordships had been called
upon to condemn without inquiry, to make what is
called a short question of it, and bring it at once to`
the test of numbers.
Lord ELDON stated, that Ministers were not dis-
posed to draw back from inquiry. The object of the
motion was not to go into an examination of particu-
lar subjects, but to take under their consideration the .
state of the country. For twenty-five years that he
had experience of the proceedings in Parliament, he
knew of no instance in which such a motion had been
acceded to. He had even the authority of the Noble
'Baron who spoke last for rejecting it. The Cintra
Convention, the conduct of the war in Spain, these
were tongible subjects, mid therefor. proper matter
for a motion ; but he could not agree to grant a Com-
mittee upon undefined objects. He could agree
to no
motion of so general a nature. If the Noble Earl
would move for any information respecting the Con-
vention, or Spain, or any other subject fit for their
Lordships to entertain or discuss, he might have it ;
.but he deprecated that he or his colleagues in office,
should be met with these dark and carping insinua-
tions. Let Ministers be censured if they deserved it;
if not, acquit them., ".In a Committee of the nature
proposed, it would be competent for any Noble Lord
to discuss the liberty of the, press, or any other sub-
ject, though not matter pl' immediate charge against

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