Star.
London, England, 1830-05-21 00:00:00

Isar followed ; in 1803 the whoi- of Louisiana was ceded to America 1
,f • tound sum ; and in 1606 Mr. Jefferson wrote to Mr. Munro,
American Ambassadot in this country, that the Gulf of Mexico
5..,s a part of their waters ; in 1813 the Floridas were added to Ame-
...;•a ; and in 1823 it was said that he even looked upon Cuba as the
most dt•sirable object to fill up the measure of their political great.
'.ess. al; liongli it was admitted that it could only be obtained by war.
—Si. far he had rhe yen that the object of the United States was the
ro.set.ien of the Gulfs of Mexico, of Panama, of Guatemala ; and
.t must be in the forethought of statesmen that we must maintain our
'FM" in that Gulf. or give up our commerce with the new Repub.
I,e. Ilene.: again he repeated the necessity of preventing Cuba !sting
emdc a point of attack upon the part of Spain against Mexico, or
its possession by the United States. He was sensible that he had '
wtarit.l the house, but the importance of the subject was his best
apology ; discussion would he heard not only here, but elsewhere,
and he hoped that Spain herself would feel inclined to follow the
policy she had adopted in her treaty with the United Netherlands
in 1809. 3lexico was the great source of the precious metals; and
in this, as well as every country in Europe, there was a degree of
suffering which would be greatly allevived by increasing the pro-
ductive power of that republic. In the name of Europe he called
upon this government to interfere; for in his conscience he believed
that the increase of their mines would prove of the most essential
kende to every European State. We had a right to say above all
other countries, that such a hopeless walfare should at last be
discontinued.

Sir R. PEEL said he did nut at all quarrel with the speech which
had been made upon the presentation of a petition. He (Mr. Gus-
kisson) spoke in his individual capacity, while he (Sir R. Peel)
stood in the situation of an adviser of the Crown, and could not
therefore indicate the policy of the Government upon a question of
so much importance. The speech of his right hon. friend divided
itself into two points : the first was, that England was to protect
Cuba from any attack by Mexico; and the second, that in conse.
quence of a supposed interdict, we were bound to protect Mexico
from any attack by Spain directed from Cuba. Upon the latter
point, for obvious reasons, he must abstain from all discussion, al-
though it was competent for him to Bay a few words upon the past
policy of this country upon this interesting subject. His right hon.
friend considered that in 1824, or early in 1825, this government in.
terfered to prevent any hostile expedition upon the part of Mexico
and Colombia against Cuba, and that therefore we are now called
upon to prevent any hostile expedition from Spain against the new
Republics. On this point, however, there was a very great misap.
prehension ; and the great question was, did we issue any inter-
dict, or did we incur any moral obligation, by treaty or otherwise,
to prevent any aggression by Spain upon her former colonies ? It
was stated certainly that such an interdict was given ; but Mr. Can-
ning, in all his dispatches upon the subject,said that England would
maintain a strict and unqualified neutrality. No doubt he deplored
the continuance of the war; he wished its termination ; bat still
j•ersevered in saying, that we would maintain a strict neutrality.—
He (Sir Robert Peel) was here bound to admit, that if any inter.
diet had been placed upon Mexico as to an attack upon Cutts ; the
same fair dealing should be applied as between Cuba and Mexico.
Now, he was prepared to deny the existence of any such interdict.
In the first place, there was not a single trace of any such thing to be
found in the Foreign Office; and while the regularity of Canning was
not less remarkable in his department, than his eloquencein that
horse, it would by no means be unfair to deny the existence of such
an interdict. In the second place, if ever it did exist, it was not
issued at the instance of Spain. Spain never claimed onr
vcntion on that subject, and therefore we had no right to say that
we interfered either in the alleged or existing rights of either of the
belligerents. He would not now enter into discussion upon the
tight of Ibis country to interfere as to the duration of their con.
test. The interdict was supposed to be issued in the year 1824, or
early in 1825; the government of the United States then did in.
terfere ; they appealed to Russia to mediate between the con.
tending parties, and on the 20th of December, 1825, Mr. Clay ap.
plied to the then Colombian minister at Washington, with a view to
prevent any attempt upon Cuba, until the interference of Russia
might be fully considered by the Republic. The Colombian minis.
ter, in reply, stated that he knew of no meditated attack upon Cuba
from the port of Carthagena, or any other; while ultimately, the
Mexicans,yielding to the kind advice which they had received, gave
up any idea of the threatened attack. In this dispatch not the
slightest allusion was made to any interference upon the part of
England. He was aware that his hon. and gallant friend (Sir R.
Wilson) had stated something contrary to this.—(" No, no.")
Well, Mr. Canning was now no more, and therefore nothing very
positive could be said about it. He (Sir Robert Peel) was then a
member of the Government, and he certainly was not aware of any
such interdict as had been alluded to. Of the second point he
was quite satisfied, and that was that it never, as he before stated,
was communicated to Spain. In the third place, from documents
laid before the Government of the United States, it was clear
that the interference between Spain and the new Republics was
entirely upon her part ; and upon the fourth, which was the
great and last point, he held in his band a document, which being
of an official character, be perhaps ought not to use ; but upon
a question of so much importance as the present he might be
excused in deviating a little from the usual course of proceed.
ing. The document which be held in his hand was an extract
of a dispatch from Mr. Canning to Mr. Dawkins when he
went to the Congress of Panama, in which he stated, it was
desirable that Cuba should remain a colony of Spain ; and that
we had refused to join in any remonstrance to Mexico or Colons.
Ilia as to the threatened attack upon Cuba. So far it must be
quite clear that Mr. Canning issued no interdict upon the subject.
Some remonstrances might verbally have been made as to the danger
of exciting one part of the population of Cuba against the other;
but our great object was to conciliate if we could, and at all hazards
to preserve neutrality. He (Sir R. Peel) was not at all indifferent
to the great advantage of re-establlshing tranquillity in Mexico.
Spain, Mexico, England—the whole world, must be interested in it;
and he would deeply regret if any thing should occur to destroy the
independence of the new republics. He deprecated the discussion
of any question of the abstract right of interference upon the pert of
this country or any other; but he would speak in the language of
friendship to Sain, and never, perhaps, was there any occasion when
our advice would be better taken ; and we should earnestly exhort her
not to waste her energies in fruitless expeditions, but to consent to
terms for the independence of her former provinces. In common
with every other country, feeling for the happiness of nations, we had
a deep interest in the settlement of this great Iluestion; our commerce
had suffered, pirates infested the South American seas, and put down
they must be, even though the consequences should prove to be such
as we did not contemplate. While Spain threatened Mexico and
Colombia, internal dissatisfaction would be fomented—angry pas-
sions would be vented—their great resources could not be de-
veloped ; while, on the other hand, Cuba and Porto-Rico would be
kept in a state of continued apprehension. Spain had not
the smallest chance of success in re-oonquering her former
dependencies, and even if she could he was quite satisfied that
she would be imposing the greatest burtben upon herself by
her temporary success.—(Hear, hear.) He hoped that Spain
would listen to the advice which she almost daily received from
this Government, and in so doing she would at once be con.
suiting her own dignity and resources, and the happiness and
the commercial intercourse of the Republics and the whole civilized
world. There was a time when we stood in the same relation to
our own provinces in the same part of the world, as that in which
Spain now stood towards her revolted Colonies. And what was the
conduct of Spain then ? In 1799, Spain was so satisfied
with the fruitlessness of our contest with the North American
States, and of the injury which its protraction inflicted upon
the interests of other nations, that she interfered and offered to
England her friendly mediation for the purpose of restoring
peace. Spain then advised England, if she was not
at once to recognise the independence of the United States, at
least that she should consent to a truce—the same advice which
England now gave to Spain ; that she should consent to a true
which might lad to negociation and end in a total cessation of hoed-
Mies. England then rejected the advice of Spain, but did she regain
her colonies ? If Spain now rejected the same advice in her turn, the
same results would attend that rejection ; she would fail to re-esta-
Wish her sway over an empire which she bad long ceased to have the
power to retain, and by a pertinacious adherence to a fruitless though
harrowing system of warfare against the peace and tranquillity of the
New World, she might be loosening the ties of amity between her-
self and the nations who were the most friendly to her in this.—
In thus offering his friendly advice to a great and Independent
country like Spain, he trusted that he had not said too much, nor
that it would be thought that he had been trenching upon the free
power of her government to act upon its own independent views.
Bat be hoped also that he bad said enough to rescue the government
of Great Britain from the suspicion of any thing like indifference
to the tranquillity and the prosperity of the rising states of South
America. There was another most important and delicate point to ,
which he would address a few words—.era to what had fallen from
his right honourable friend relative to the views of the United States
and the designs of her government, or any portion of her popu-
lation, upon the South American territories. Ile hoped the United
States, a great and powerful nation, pooeseting the freest institutions
in the world, and being justly proud of her power and her freedom,
would have too much generosity and good sense to make the weak.
nets of another country rising into liberty by the same struggles,
and through the same ditheoltiis which she experienced, the vhstim
erabe instrument of her own sot. bite would ratol.
lest that, by taking hoer of defence against the
attacks of Spain, she wool open her own princi-
ples, and exposing the now copied from bee own,
to inevitable failure linch would be the cootie-
queues of the United taking dis Nurse some apprehended.
lie bothansuch expeetatiolL He phiced, he bad every reason to place,
the • osmium in As pritate assurances and the public
Clot• of the dicers iivo whose hands the adminienra&n of the
Gossuninout of the Hotted Elates bad been entrusted. He had been
personally amid by oat of thorn-4nd that one ha believed as Lo