The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-06-07 00:00:00

Emperial 13arlianuat.

HOUSE OF LORDS, MoNDAy, JuNE .3.
The Earl of DUR ti AM took the oaths and his seat. • The noble
lord was introduced by the Earl of Albemarle and Earl Grey.

PORTUGAL.
The Duke of WELLINGTON said he was well aware how little
interesting all topics relative to foreign affairs were at the pre-
sent time, when all men's minds were occupied with questions
of paramount importance relating to the internal concerns of
the country, and its commercial and colonial interests. But he
was also aware, that if there was any nation for which more
than another this country felt, and justly felt, an interest, it was
Portugal (hear) • and particularly with respect to the question
he was about' to submit to their lordships' consideration,
and which, in his opinion, involved materially the interests and
honour of this country. (Hear, hear.) He had on more than
one occasion, since the formation of his Majesty's present ad-
ministration, ventured, in his place in Parliament, to suggest
to the noble lords opposite the necessity of taking measures to
prevent the existence of a civil contest in Portugal and the Pen-
insula between men of extreme political opinions. This advice
he had frequently urged upon the ministers; but he was sorry
to say, that from the commencement of the formation of their
government—at any rate from the period when they felt them-
selves secure in office, they had proceeded in a course directly
injurious to the government of Portugal; and he would prove,
before he sat down, that they had done every thing in their
power to bring on that contest now unfortunately existing in
Portugal. On former occasions he had given the government
full credit for not having been the cause of the invasion of Por-
tugal by the French' in the spring of 1831, which led to those
unfortunate circumstances in which the country was now placed:
but he then trusted to what he had heard stated in that house
and elsewhere, and he had not had an opportunity of seeing the
sinctesseuernes adopted them, and he was now po-
sitively papers;
he, e, however,
convinced
th a hadt
the measures
government in April, 1831, aided and assisted the design
_pre-
viously entertained by the French government of invading Por-
tugal. (Hear, • hear ) When the French arrived, they did not
immediately take possession of the Portuguese fleet; indeed,
before they were to -en possession of, the French Admiral sent
a treaty of peace to the Portuguese government, in which he
stated, that " France, always generous, makes no fresh de-
mands." The Portuguese fleet was not at that time included
in his claims; though it hi'd since been discovered by some law
officers of the Crown in this country, that because there had
been a war (where it had existed he was at a loss to imagine,)
and a subsequent treaty, the surrender of the Portuguese fleet
was a matter of course, in consequence of ulterior demands
made by France, and acceded to by Portugal because she had
no means of resistance. This, then, was what his Majesty's
ministers called "aiding an ally." (Hear, hear.) There was
la very curious circumstance attending the capture of the Por.
tuguese fleet to which he begged to call their lordships' atten-
tion, as tending to explain the whole nature of these transac-
tions. During the period of this expedition Don Pedro, the
brother of Don Miguel (whom he would not call the King of
Portugal because he was not recognised by this country, though
he was unqueStionably King de facto,) was in Paris. After the
arrival of the French squadron in Portugal a steam-vessel was
sent out with despatches to the French admiral ; and it was
not until after the reception of these despatches that any claim
was made on the Portuguese fleet. \Vas there then no
connexiou between the arrival of that steam-boat and the
claim afterwards set up for the surrender of the fleet? (Hear.)
After the arrival of Don Pedro iu Europe a course of transac-
tions commenced quite opposed to the law of nations, and con-
trary to the usual practice of Europe : he alluded to the equip-
ment in European ports of vessels destined for the Azores, to
be employed against the de facto sovereign of Portugal. Be
did not deny that these proceedings had taken place while he
was in office; but he used every effort to prevent the British
ports and arsenals being made the means of fitting out an ar-
mament against a country to which England was bound by so
many treaties. In a short time afterwards greater activity was
shown by the agents of Don Pedro; loans of money were at-
temted to be raised, and a very large body of men was assem-
ble Sat the island of Terceira. A squadron was also collected
there, and commanded by officers who had been in his Majes-
ty's service. He must do the government the justice to say
that they did remove from his Majesty's service the officer who
at that time undertook the command of the naval force of Don
Pedro, but he was very much surprised to hear the noble earl
opposite, in reply to a question put by hint (the Duke of Wel-
lington) the other night,—whether a certain officer who had
proceeded to Portugal to assume the command of the forces at
Oporto had been removed from his Majesty's service,—say,
that all he knew of the circumstance was from what he had seen
in the public newspapers. It was certainly true that in 1831
his Majesty's government did dismiss from the service the gen-
tleman who assumed the command of the naval forces of Don
Pedro; bet how had they acted in the months of November and
December of the same year? At that period considerable levies
of troops were made, which were embarked in ships on the
river; among which were the Asia. the Congress, the Fairy,
and the Juno. Information was given to government of the
existence of this armament, and of the intention of fitting out
others in his Majesty's ports; but his Majesty's Secretary of
State for Foreign Ailkirs refused to take any notice of the in-
formation. The gentleman who acted in this country for the
Portuguese government then went and gave information to the
commissioners of customs, they being the persons specially
charged by the act of Parliament passed for the prevention of
enlistments for foreign service with its execution. After taking
the opinion of their law officer, they gave orders that the vessels
should be detained; and if the matter had stopped there, no-
thing could have been more satisfactory ; but instructions after-
wards came from a superior authority—whether from the Trea-
sury or the Foreign-office he could not say--directing the vessels
to be released. chose vessels were accordingly released, and
sailed to Terceira
, carrying
with
them the very men who after-
wards landed in Portugal. Was this the performance of trea-
ties? was this neutrality on the part of the British government ?
He knew that his Majesty's ministers were strictly neutral;
that if, on the one side, Don Pedro had raised as many, men, as.
be chose here, cavalry as well as infantry, and if he had fitted
out ships and sent oht stores and ammunition, so also might
Don Miguel, and he had only to send here and take them out.
But he would beg to reminethe noble lords, in the first place,
what was the law of the country, and, next, what was the law of
nations. Upon this subject, Don Miguel, though not acknow-
ledged by us as a rightful sovereign, yet was not and could not
be otherwise treated with by this government than as a king
de facto. We enforced from him the performance of treaties.
There could be no doubt that Dou Miguel was in possession of
great advantages as a king de facto, and moreover there was
the Portuguese nation, which was also interested, (hear, hear,)
and as little doubt that she ought not to be deprived of what
was due to her. Then,what was the law of nations? He would
read the-opinion of .one who was .still alive, but it was the opi-
nion of a man whose name was never mentioeed without excit-
ing in every bosom sentiments of reverence and admiration.
This individual had lived to see his admirable decisions adopted
by the civilised world as their rule of conduct. Need he say he
meant Sir William Scott, now Lord Stowell (hear, hear); and
it was his opinion that he (the Duke of Wellington) was about
to read respecting the rights of neutral nations, and the
ueces-
sits there was on the part of every power to respect the rights of
others. " Strict neutrality (said Sir `W'. Scott) was a neutra-
lity consisting of a complete abstinence, not only from interior-
in.. in warfare, but from giving any kind of assistance to one
aide or the other." The judge did .not say that a neutral might
sive assistance to both, but that he should not give any to either.
The very meaning of the word was to withhold succour from both
• dies and that was the doctrine held by all the authorities on the
p Sir W. Scott
subject. added, "No country could be released from
the operation of her neutrality unless she gave notice that she
would change her line of conduct. M'hile nations remained in
this situation they could not in practice act contrary to it, and
if they interfered they must do so by giving an open notice, or
by a declaration of war. No solecism (added the ) e
.i„ags,
could
be more inns
• chievous than that the subjects of a country
should assume the right to act hostilely without
of the state itself. It was the right of states, and they solely
could assume a belligerent attitude. They had the right and
the power to prevent their subjects from doing so, and there
was no doubt this country had the right to us 50.,, (Ilear,
hear.) The Foreign Enlistment Act required and made it
incumbent on the officers of government to perform these
duties ? The officers of the government did perform their
duty—they arrested the vessels when about to sail illegally,
and they acted accordinly to their duty and to law. Then,
however, the government came forward and said " No, this is
not a case for interference, and you shall not do your duty."
The question then was, had there been a breach of the law
of nations and of the law of the laud, and if both had been
observed, and that his Majesty's ministers had done their duty,
all this would have been prevented, and then a country to which
we were bound by alliance would not have been the seat of
war for near 12 months, and exposed to uisasters which hail
befallen it. Lastly came the fact of a few days' old, that of an
officer, a distinguished officer of his Majctsty's navy, going
with steam boats and transports, and this. officer was to invade
the Tagus. Ile (the Duke of Wellington) had heard this,
and fot the honour of the country Inied _ had asked the noble
earl (Grey) whether he knew of it, a his answer was that
he had only read it in the newspapers. (Hear, and a laugh.)
If this system should unfortunately succeed, what would be the
result? A civil war in Portugal, and that would not be the
smallest mischief, for he defied any one acquainted with the
state of the peninsula to say that this would not also be fol-
low ed by a civil war in Spain. Setting aside, then, the breach
of engagements with Spain, who relied on our neutrality, and
so relying supposed we would not allow this invasion, sure he
was that neither the interests of the country nor the honour of
the sovereign could he safe while
such conduct was pursued.
The sking had frista , that- tli,rone. pleated his royal weird that
this country should be neutral, and his Majesty's ministers had
repeated that pledge: If they were so, aim that this were their
policy, let them, in the name of God, recall from both sides
every subject of Great Britain, and let us be really and truly
neutral, and then we should soon see the happiness of a country
with which the interests of England were so intimately bound
up. Ile would .conclude by snoring—"'That an humble ad-
dress be presented to his Majesty, to entreat him that he would
be graciously pleased to give such directions as were necessary
to enforce the observance by his subjects of his Majesty's de-
clared neutrality in the contest now going on in Portugal."
Earl GREY defended the conduct of government, and con-
cluded his speech by saying that if Donna Maria were not sup-
ported a large portion of the Portuguese population, it was
impossible that her empire could ever be established or
state that the atm -
main-
tained. It was incorrect to of Don Pedro
was entirely composed of foreigners. ~„ no most exaggerated
account of the number o
f foreigners in Don Pedr '• army that
he had seen stated it at not More than 3000 ° s men. This cer-
tainly was not one-
third of his army, independently of the popu-
halms of the second cityiii the Portuguese empire.
In conclusion, he called
upon the
house to reject the motion
which he would meet with a decided negative. (Cheers.)
:Marquis of Latasdown, Lord
After the Earl of Aberdeen, the
a tisdown,
Wyntord, and the Lord Chancellor, had dressed the house,
lOn a division the numbers
the Doke of Wellington replied.
were :
For the motion ...............
Against it ................

. . so
.. . . Gs

We understood IStlhaaj rt
ii,rt
xai
egsa iwnesrtemnionti sctae . z
On re-entering the gallery we found
The Duke of CUMBERLAND on his legs, s Faking to some
p
motion which he had, proposed during the exclusion of -strangers,
and which he concluded by moving for leave to withdraw.
After a few words from the Duke of Richmond and Lord
Kenyon, which were perfectly unintelligible in the gallery, the
motion was withdrawn.
Lord KENYON then, moved that a committee be appointed to
draw up the address to his Majesty.
Earl GREY was understood to sac that the motion was un-
hecessary, as the address was already prepared:
Lord KEr4voN then moved that "the' Lords with white staves
carry up the address to his Majesty."
The motion was put and carried, and the house adjourned.
_ -

lIOUSE OF COMMONS, MONDAY. JUNE 3.

The SPEAKER took the chair at a few minutes past 12.
Sir H. Vivian took the oaths and his seat.
Sir S. WHALLEY presented a petition from a person calling
herself the Princess Olive, praying to be admitted to the rights
and privileges of .a Princess of the blood Royal; and also a
petition from an individual named Charles Wheeler, complain-
ing of the conduct of the police at the late affray in Coldbath-
fields. .

Sir T. FREMANTLS said he had given notice of the presen