topic in his majesty's speech was his majesty's refusal of the overtures of France and Russia for a treaty of peace, founded upon the abandonment of Spain to the mercy of the common enemy. But whoever looked to the situation of this country, and the circumstances which led to her connection with the Spanish nation, would not be disposed to consider it the duty of his majesty to accede to such a proposition, so dishonourable to the character of the British empire; or that such an accedance could tend to obtain a purpose so desirable as peace and security to this country, much less to the rest of Europe; bat, on the contrary, that a vigorous prosecution of the war must tend more effectually to an honourable peace, than any partial or temporizing system of pacification; and that we were bound to that country by every principle of honour and good faith, to contribute every aid in our power that could enable her to resist the usurpation and tyranny of the ruler of France. It might appear to some, that the cause of Spain, over which the dawn of new liberty at first appeared rising, had now become less interesting than at first it appeared; but he knew no subject more highly interesting, than a great and powerful people rising, as it were, unanimously, to resist the tyranny and usurpation of a foreign despot; nor any thing more worthy the support of Great Britain, than the struggles of a nation asserting a cause so congenial with her own. Speculative men might differ as to the measures Spain might be disposed to adopt. But, even if it did not appear that Spain wished to restore Ferdinand, yet such a disposition was not incompatible with their resistance to a foreign tyrant; and, if we con sidered the inevitable results of ultimate success to the enemy in the subjugation of that country, we must feel the policy, as well as the duty, of extending to her the powerful aid of the British arms, to uphold her in this arduous conflict; in which, not only the remaining interests of this country, but of Europe, were at stake. Under these circumstances, the resolution. of his majesty, called for the applause and support of the house. To desert the cause of Spain, in compliance with the proposition of France, and Russia, would be an act of dishonour incompatible with the character of the British nation; and even all the advantages of peace would not be worth purchasing at such a price as that of incurring the certain contempt of Europe and of posterity. The honourable member concluded by moving an address to his majesty, which was, as usual, an echo of the speech. Mr. Lushington rose to second the address, and he entered at large into the reasons for supporting the cause of Spain. He said, "I trust, therefore, that every member of this house will feel, that the faith of Great Britain, solemnly pledged to Spain and Sweden, must be religiously observed, and that the preservation of that faith, in all cases of difficulty and trial, is the surest tower of safety of this 'country, and the best hope of deliverance to the rest of the world. His majesty has expressed the lively satisfaction he has derived from the achievements of his army, in the commencemeut of the campaign in Portugal. Sir, there is not a hamlet in this empire which did not partake of his majesty's feelings, in viewing the successes which crowned the valour of his troops, whilst they were under the sole command of my right honourable friend; though the nation universally shares in the anguish of his majesty's heart, upon the extraordinary infatuation which sacrificed all the glories of Vimiera to the enemy. Yet I trust that the disappointments and difficulties which have occurred, great and severe as they are, will have no other effect than to inspire us with additional vigour, and stimulate us to new exertions, in the confidence that the same skill and heroism will hereafter lead to happier results. Mr. G. Ponsonby said, the awful circumstances under which the present session was ushered in, he should think, would of themselves, without his majesty in his speech having adverted to the deplorable situation of Europe, have inclined the house to enter upon the subject, and to give it their most serious and attentive consideration. His majesty had in his speech in formed the house, that there was no chance or hope of closing the present unfortunate contest, but by an active and vigorous perseverance in carrying on the war in which we were now unhappily engaged. He had no doubt but his majesty was perfectly right in this: but though he might agree in the position laid down in the speech, he could not but fear for the issue and event of the contest, when he considered that the conduct of the war was likely to remain in hands so weak, so feeble, and so imbecile, as those of his majesty's present ministers. Never, he believed, in the history of this country, had it been recorded, that the public force had been directed with so little skill, foresight, and effect, as during the time in which it had been und er their control and management. Here he entered at large into the conduct of ministers with regard to Sweden and Spain, observing that they appeared to have had no fixed point in view, but to have vacillated and fluctuated as circumstances changed, and to have depended on the chapter of accidents. They had acted, evidently, without any settled plan; and from such conduct no good could possibly be expected. By the inquiry which had been instituted as to the convention in Portugal, it appeared that sir Arthur Wellesley had been sent out without any particular instructions, he had accepted a sort of roving commission, and was allowed to act as he might think circumstances warranted him to do. This was, in his opinion, the very worst system that could possibly have been adopted. With an army that was not large, it was altogether incompetent to do any thing effectual. His majesty, in his speech, had told the house, that "there were some parts of the convention which had met his formal disapprobation." It happened, however, that these parts had hitherto remained an entire secret, till they were thus recently disclosed; for no one that he had met with knew what those parts were. But though no individual has yet been capable of finding them out, it would indeed be extraordinary if that house did not use its utmost endeavours to know them. The vigour of his majesty's ministers had been most peculiarly evinced in this expedition to Portugal; for it appeared, from the proceedings of the board of inquiry to which he had before alluded, to be the undivided opinion of all the generais concerned in it, that the convention was not to be avoided, from the want of every thing essentially necessary for the equip ment of the army, and most parti cularly larly from the great deficiency 4 cavalry. How came this to be the case? Was the noble lord (Castlereagh) so limited in his means, that he could not, from the whole disposeable forces of this country, send out more than two hundred cavalry? Was the noble lord in want of transports? Who would imagine such a want as that could ever be in the contemplation of the noble lord, who had so often lamented in doleful strains, and almost with tears in his eyes, the want of those vehicles for our troops, and particularly for cavalry, with which he had accused a right honourable friend of his, not thea in his place (Mr. Windham)? Who would have imagined that the noble lord's vigour would so have slept, as that our army should have suffered for want of cavalry so very essentially as to be the principal cause of our generals' being compelled to agree to a convention which had stamped such an indeLble disgrace on the arms of the Country? In the papers containing the proceedings of the inquiry, there were some things relating to the cavalry, which were actually Judicrous. One of the generals says, they were old, lame, and some of them blind, and altogether unfit for service; nay, that some of them died on their passage from old age and weakness. The second reason assigned as an excuse for the convention by the last general of the three sent to Portugal, was time. Where commanders-in-chief relieved each other quicker than relays of posthorses, time had been urged as highly important. It was thought necessary that in a given time the French should be got out of Portugal, in order that our army might march into Spain to the assistance of the Spaniards. Yet though the convention was signed the 30th of August, it was near ten weeks afterwards before our troops reach-, ed Spain. The uchle lord had conducted the French troops in transports to a port, from which their march into Spain was very short; but our troops had a distance of more than 500 miles to march before they could be of the smallest service to the Spaniards in assisting them to drive the French out of Spain. The house had that day been told in the speech, that his majesty had expressed his formal disappro bation of the convention; yet his majesty's ministers had thought proper, on receiving the account of it, to fire the Tower guns. His majesty seemed to have a nicer feeling and a more tender regard for the honour of his arms than his present ministers entertained; and therefore, though they had thought proper to fire the Tower guns, he was of opinion that it was necessary to give a formal disapproba tion of it. He thought it would have better become his majesty's ministers to have waited till they knew from the Spaniards themselves, how our army could be most essentially disposed of for their defence and assistance; and then they would not have sent their army to Portugal on an expedition which was ultimately closed by this disgraceful convention, on which they thought fit to bestow the honour of firing the Tower guns. The whole nation, however, thought differently from ministers on this subject, and the first city in the empire thought it proper and necessary to address his majesty on the occasion. In this address.the corporation of the city of London prayed prayed that his majesty would be pleased to institute such an inquiry as would lead to the discovery and punishment of those by whose misconduct and incapacity the cause of this country and its allies had been so shamefully sacrificed." To this prayer an answer was returned, "that it was inconsistent with the principles of British justice to pronounce judgement with out previous investigation." They were received by ministers with peculiar rigour; and the lord mayor, aldermen, and commonCouncilmen, were completely overturned. He found himself, how ever, at a loss to conceive how any thing contained in this address could be called contrary to any principles of justice. But, in his opinion, ministers had, on that occasion, put into his majesty's mouth language that was neither suited to the constitution of the country, nor proper for the mouth of its sovereign. There was a flippancy in it which was very foreign to the importance of the subject, and the dignity of those concerned in it. If his majesty thought it fit to rebuke his subjects of the city of London for what they had done, there was unquestionably a language much more suited to the occasion than that which had been adopted, which was captious and petulant, and unworthy the source from which it flowed. It looked as if his majesty's present ministers were irascible at the proceedings of the corporation and citizens of London, who had so often before shown themselves pliant and amenable to their views, and that they could not brook this deviation from their general rule of conduct. He again enlarged on the affairs of Spain; adverted to what was said in his majesty's speech with regard to Sweden, and was sur, prised no notice had been taken of America, and concluded by saying that he had no wish or intention to disturb the unanimity of the house on this occasion by opposing the address, but he should take an early opportunity of desiring the opinion of the house with regard to the convention in Portugal, the conduct of the war in Spain, and also as to the conduct of ministers respecting America. Lord Castlereagh said, that the general approbation which the right honourable gentleman had given to the assistance afforded to Spain, relieved him from a great part of what he should otherwise have had occasion to observe upon; and he should now only have to take notice of what had fallen from the right honourable gentleman relative to the conduct of the war. Whatever might have been the want of vigour in his majesty's present ministers, so much complained of by the right honourable gentleman, he believed the country would not have much more to hope for, if the reins of government should fall into the hands of the right honourable gentleman and his friends, who had given such ample proofs of zeal and anxiety for the welfare and interests of the country, by deserting all those who were then allied for the defence of the cause of Europe. The first objection the right honourable gentleman had made was to want of vigour in Sweden. With respect to our naval part of that expedition, no one could deny that it had been attended with a most powerful and beneficial effect; and the marquis de la Romana had, on his arrival here, declared, that if it had not appeared the the day it did, his army, consisting of 9000 veteran Spanish troops, which it saved, was to have passed into Zealand, followed by that of Bernadotte, for the purpose of taking and keeping possession of it. It had also been attended with the most important and beneficial effects in keeping the Russians in check, and preventing them from greatly damaging, if not destroying, the Swedish navy. As to the land expedition, it was sent, without waiting for the signing of a particular article relating to it, at the express desire of his Swedish majesty's minister here, to co. operate with the forces of his Swedish majesty. What was the reason for calling it back, he had no reason to refuse disclosing, except what related to our ally. He agreed that his majesty's present government had the most important and weighty responsibility attached to them, that had ever been exercised by that of any country; he owned they had only to ask for money and to have it; and he was ready to meet the right honourable gentleman, or any others, on the question, that his majesty's present ministers had used the ample resources which had been intrusted to their management, with as much power and effect as possible; and if the great cause in which they are engaged did not prosper in their hands, it would not be from want of zeal, activity, or vigour, but from a preponderant and overpowering means which there was no possibility of accounting for or counteracting. As to the idea which had been thrown out, of the propriety of directing our forces to Spain in the first instance, instead of Portugal, he must say there rever was a fallacy more absurd than the idea of a very inferior 1809. force occupying the passes of the Pyrenees, and cutting off entirely the communication between two armies infinitely superior. This fallacy seemed to arise from the idea that an army, when once landed, could put itself on march the next morning to attack the enemy. There were some persons who appeared to think that an.army once landed could act as speedily as a ship when it has left the port. The difference, however, was very great: the ship had nothing to do but to go with the wind, and meet the enemy; whereas an army when landed had much difficulty in collecting provisions, and the means of transporting the necessary baggage. If the present administra tion were, however, to have waited till every thing was ready for the reception of our armies, they must have stood as still as the last vigorous administration, who actually did nothing while in office. [Cries of Hear! hear! from the ministerial benches.] He would venture to say, from the melancholy experience of the fate of general Blake's army, that if a British army had landed at St. Andero, and scrambled as far as general Blake advanced, none of them would ever have come back. He was convinced that there was not a single military man who would support the idea of a campaign in the Pyrenees for a British army. The right honourable gentleman had stated, that the expedition which achieved the deliverance of Portugal had been sent to sea to seek its fortunes, without any particular direction from government. The fact, however, was directly the reverse. The expedition under sir Arthur Wellesley did sail with a most precise and determinate object. It had been ordered to go immediately to B the |