altar are to be defended or avenged only by an enrolled soldiery; that the peaceful population of a country must be passive under every species of outrage and of wrong. That our army has had any share in committing or countenancing such excesses is not pretended, and would not admit of excuse. Our business with the enemy is in the field. But that I should, therefore, whine over his sufferings and his lossesthat I should deny or disguise the satisfaction, which I derive from the consideration that every French soldier, who falls a sacrifice to Spanish vengeance, is one oppressor the less for the rest of the nations of the world,-would be a hypocrisy, which I disdain. Long may the struggle be! And be its course as deathful to the French armies as heretofore! One French army has already been worn down and destroyed in Spain: and I know no precept of humanity that forbids me to exult in the prospect of a similar fate awaiting those, who are now the instruments of tyranny and violence. And if the Spaniards have their suf- make his inroad when he thinks fit, to comferings to endure, at what price do the mit what excesses he pleases;-but that French carry on this war? at a price he is only to be met in the listed field and which no former war with the other pow-by regular battalions, that the cottage or the érs of Europe has ever cost them. The hon. gent. indeed, has lamented, that we should be parties, as he expressed himself, to the system of warfare pursued by the Spaniards, which he describes as transgressing the limits of legitimate hostility. I would intreat the House to contrast that sentiment with what fell from the same hon. gent. in a former debate, when another hon. member detailed to the House the abominable atrocities committed by the French on their approach to the Isle of Leon. On that occasion the hon. gent. affected to discredit the statement of crimes so shocking in the recital, and warmly deprecated the introduction of such horrible details into the discussions in this House, lest their circulation should have the effect of substituting wicked enormities of that description for the more humane spirit of generous warfare! Generous warfare! Good God! the generous warfare begun by Buonaparté against unoffending Spain! the generosity of him,-the outrageous violator of every sacred obligation, the bloody and unfeeling destroyer of the rights of sovereigns, and the independence of nations! Far am I, as far as any man, from justifiing the commission, under any circumstances, of excesses, which deform the character, and brutalize the feelings, of man. But the crime and the shame are in the original perpetrator. There are insults and injuries, which to have endured at the hand of an oppressor, degrades a man in his own esteem, and forces him to recover his level by a signal and terrible revenge. Such are the inflictions, which the French armies have poured out upon the Spaniards. If ever acts of ferocious retaliation might admit of extenuation, it is in such a cause, and upon such provocation as they have received from an enemy unrestrained in his career of ambition and blood by any law human or divine. Such is, in my opinion, the justification of the Spaniards. Thus they defend and avenge their invaded country-their pillaged and desolated homes-their murdered parents-their violated wives and daughters and who shall say that such vengeance is not justified in the eyes of God and man? Who shall pretend that the assailant of unoffending and defenceless innocence is privileged from resistance or retaliation, that the invader has a right to War is unavoidably attended with ca. lamities, as well as with glories. Its glories are sullied and darkened by its calamities: its calamities redeemed,-or in part redeemed, by its glories. But if we accustom ourselves to look only at one side of the picture in the case of an enemy and at the other in our own;-at all that is gloomy on one part, and all that is brilliant on the other-if we count for the enemy all that he gains and all that we lose-but for ourselves only our positive gains, without admitting into the account the losses of the enemy: against such a mode of calculating results no spirit can long stand animpaired;we go to the field already half subdued; we may intitle ourselves to commendation for the fineness of our sympathies; but we are utterly unfitted for continuing the contest. I fear, that I may have detained the House to an unpardonable length upon the subject of Spain: though I feel it even now difficult to tear myself from it. I hope however that my excuse for having dwelt upon it so long may be found in the share, which I personally had in the counsels and measures of this government at the commencement of the Spanish struggle, and in the desire, which I natu rally feel, that these counsels and measures should be distinctly and fairly understood, but, above all, in my earnest zeal for the success of our allies, and for the continuance of our effective support of a cause involving as much our interest as our glory. I shall now proceed to follow the hon. gent. briefly into one or two of the other topics, to which he has alluded. As to the statements made by the hon. gent. with respect to Sicily; to the disaffection of its inhabitants; to the probable change in the policy of the Sicilian government and the consequent critical situation of the British army in that island, I shall only assert, as an individual, (having no official knowledge to support my assertion)-that I believe his opinions and his apprehensions to be unfounded. I do not believe that there is any correspondence open between Buonaparté and the queen of Naples. I have not seen the letter to which the hon. gent. refers, but from the description of it, I should doubt if it be genuine. As to the effect of the Austrian marriage upon the politics of the court of Palermo, I cannot oblige the hon. gent. to forego his conjecture, though I do not agree with him in it. I will only say by the way, that I am glad to miss, in the hon. gent.'s speech of to night, the epithet of "felix" which he applied on a former night to this inauspicious alliance, The painter of old, when he drew the picture of the sacrifice of Iphigenia, despairing to express the workings of anguish and shame in the countenance of the father by whom she was sacrificed, hid Agamemnon's face in bis robe, so would I have the hon. gent. deal on this occasion with the emperor of Austria, and at least not insult his paternal feelings by ascribing to them the character of" felicity." But whatever may be the soundness of the hon. gent.'s speculations in respect to the ultimate policy and conduct of the court of Sicily, I am not prepared to recommend the anticipation of treachery: I cannot agree therefore with the hon. gent. to withhold the vote of credit, lest part of it should be expended in defeating the designs of the enemy upon Sicily, and keeping him out of possession of it too long. I am stili less prepared (even if that were a cheap expedient) to seize on Sicily for ourselves. From Sicily-declaring, that in Europe he sees nothing to require or justify so large a vote of credit, the hon. gent. passes to America, and specifically objects to the vote of credit on the ground, that a war with the United States is no longer probable. I hope and trust it is not. The recent proceedings of congress have effected so much of what it was the anxious wish of the government, of which I was a member, to attain, that I trust all our differences with America may be speedily adjusted. In truth I had never much doubt upon my mind, that America, if left to her own policy and to the effect of those discussions, which would take place in her own legislatures, general and provincial, would at no distant period arrive at that point, at which by the late act of Congress she appears to have arrived. No man is more anxious than I am for an amicable accommodation with that power. But I trust, at the same time, that the change in the policy of the United States has not been effected by any improper concessions on our part; a circumstance, which I can fully disclaim, during the period that I remained in office. I should rather hope, that it has been the consequence of a determined adherence to that system, which has been so often declaimed against in this House, but which has proved as clearly beneficial to the commercial interests, as it has been consistent with the political dignity, of this nation. The hon. gent. has introduced into this part of the diseussion a reference to the instructions given to our minister to the United States, (Mr. Erskine) upon which it was not my wish to have touched, if the hon. gent. had not forced me to do so, because I cannot touch upon it without speaking unfavourably of the conduct of a gentleman towards whom I entertain no feeling of hostility whatever. But, as the hon. gent. has thought proper again to advert to the subject, I am compelled, in my own defence again to assert as I have repeatedly before asserted, that Mr. Erskine, in the arrangement, which he concluded with the American government, did violate both the letter and the spirit of the instructions, under which he acted. That he violated the letter of his instructions, is admitted by every body-by the hon. gent. himself. Mr. Erskine was expressly directed to do certain things, which he did not do. But it was not, as the hon. gent. insinnates, a mere formal error-a merely literal mistake. Mr. Erskine violated the spirit of his instructions, because, being authorised to concede Sir, I have now only to add, with respect to the bill before the House, that it is not, because I think that a war is to be apprehended with America, or that a question may arise as to the abandonment or seizure of the island of Sicily, that I assent to the vote of credit; but because I wish to enable his Majesty's ministers to aid to the utmost extent, to maintain to the last extremity, the contest in Portugal and Spain, and also to take advantage of any opportunities which may arise, for the annoyance of the enemy, and for which, without a vote of credit, they might be unprovided. For the application of the means, which this vote entrusts to them, the ministers are responsible. And I can assure the hon. gent., that, if he and his friends had now the conduct of the government, for the same purposes, and under the like responsibility, I should not be disposed to withhold from them that degree of confidence (whatever it be) which this vote may be construed to imply. certain points to the American govern | horrible acts of retaliation, stated to have ment, in consideration only of concessions been committed by the Spaniards, though to be by them reciprocally, and simul- he was persuaded they had been provoked taneously made-he did that absolutely, by the atrocities of the French, yet they .which he was instructed, to do only con- were too shocking to be countenanced. ditionally, and thereby lowered the tone, If the contest was to be continued in and just pretensions of his country. I am Spain he had no hesitation in stating, still ready, as I ever have been, to go that he would rejoice in all the legitimate into the full discussion of this question, losses which the French might sustain whenever the hon. gent. may think there in the progress of the war. This proper; but unless he should advert to it feeling, however, was confined to losses again I shall now take a final leave of it, suffered by the casualties of open and and never again revive it. regular warfare, but, when he heard of drowning 700 French prisoners in cold blood, he could not give way to any other feeling than a sensation of horror and reprobation. As to the war in the peninsula he should only say, that, as Buonaparté had declared he would not negociate till he had subdued Spain, if Spain were to be used by his Majesty's ministers as an instrument of negociation, it might be desirable to carry on the struggle there. With respect to Sicily, he had good information that the people there were not attached to their government, and if a French force were to land in that island, he fearedthat between the vaciliating policy of the government and the decided dissatisfaction of the people, our army would be placed in a very dangerous situation. It was true the command of the Sicilian army had been given to the British general, but, if its sentiments should change with circumstances, the same government which conferred the command of its army on our general, might as readily transfer it to a French general. Whilst he made these observations, however, he would not be understood, to mean that we should take measures upon an anticipation of treachery, but that argument appeared to him to come with a very bad grace from those who had defended the unprincipled attack upon Copenhagen. The policy which he would recommend, was, that every endeavour should be made to conciliate the Sicilian people, to attach them to their government, and render them zealous in co-operating with our army for the effectual defence of their country. Having made these few remarks be should not refuse his assent to the vote of credit. Mr. W. Smith was ready to do justice to the eloquence of the right hon. gent. but could not avoid confessing, that notwithstanding the impression, which such a display of oratory was calculated to make, the papers upon the table, and the dispatches from lord Wellington, afford a conclusive answer to the splendid hopes still held out in the specch of the right hon. gent. All the representation of persons lately arrived from Spain, were more in conformity with the contents of lord Wellington's dispatches, than with the right hon. gent.'s sanguine picture of the prospects of that country. Did, he would ask, any recent accounts encourage the expectations raised by the inspiriting declamation, which the House had just heard? Did not, on the contrary, the latest advices demonstrate that no hopes were to be entertained of co-operation on the part of Spain? With respect to the Mr. Whitbread, in explanation, adverted to the general scope of the right hon. gent.'s (Mr. Canning's) speech, which was, in fact, no answer to him, but which seemed to have been prepared rather as a reply to a speech expected from a right hon. friend of his (Mr. Sheridan) who had announced his intention of bringing forward a motion upon the subject of Spain. That motion, however, was abandoned; but yet the right hon. gent. was resolved that his prepared speech should not be lost, and therefore the House had been entertained by his display of eloquence. With regard to the allusions made by the right hon. gent. to his opinion respecting peace, he could assure the right hon. gent. that he had not abjured, as he seemed to suppose, nor abandoned, but omitted stating any opinion he had ever expressed upon that point. He still thought, that up to the invasion of Spain, the continuance of the war was solely owing to this country. For the termination of that war he still naturally wished and hoped, and he confessed that his hope of peace was considerably encouraged by the circumstance of the right hon. gent.'s exclusion from the cabinet. As to the misconduct or cruelty ascribed to Buonaparté, he believed that nothing of the kind could exceed that actually committed by lord Wellesley in India. It did not, therefore, become the friends of that noole marquis to be so forward and loud in their complaints against Buonaparté. In concluding, the hon. member took notice of the omission of ministers to advert to the singular attempt to steal Ferdinand the 7th from France, an attempt which these ministers could not deny nor venture to justify. Sir H. Montgomery, perceiving that the hon. gent. having no personal knowledge of the transactions in India must have derived his information relative to the marquis of Wellesley's conduct in India, from other sources, undertook to say, that such information was totally false. Mr. Whitbread asked whether the hon. baronet could deny, or would attempt to vindicate the conduct practised towards the Nabob of Arcot, who was given into the hands of his enemies, and never more heard of, or the invasion of his territory, with all its consequent cruelties. Sir H. Montgomery asserted that, to his knowledge, lord Wellesley was 2400 miles from the spot when the Nabob of Arcot was so surrendered. Mr. Whitbread observed, that such might be the case, but that none of the cruelties which took place in Spain were upon the same principle attributable to Buonaparté. For they were not committed by him but by the army. Probably, indeed, Buonaparté was as little concerned as lord Wel lesley in the personal perpetration of any cruelty or injustice, but was that an admissible defence for any government which knew, or ought to know, of the misconduct of its agents? Mr. Canning said a few words in vindication of lord Wellesley and Mr. Frere. -The bill was then read a third time and passed. HOUSE OF LORDS. Saturday, June 16. [EAST INDIA LOAN BILL.] The Earl of Lauderdale contended, that the East India company had no right to divide 10 per cent. which they now did; and therefore he could never sanction this grant of 1,500,000l. as a loan, for their assistance. That they were taking such a dividend, contrary to law, he appealed to the 33d Geo. 3. c. 52.; and he would defy any noble lord to stand up and say, he was not warranted in this construction of that act of parliament. If any doubt could possibly be entertained, he would remove it by moving "That the judges be called in, for the purpose of proposing that question." The Earl of Liverpool thought the House would be placed in a very embarrassing predicament, if they should call for the attendance of the judges, without having considered whether they would, or would not propose any question. Lord Holland conceived it was very clear, from what had been stated by his noble friend, that the company, contrary to an act of parliament, were taking such dividends to themselves; if so, it would be highly improper that such expedients as this loan bill should be resorted to, for the purpose of supporting them, to the injury of their creditors. This motion was put, but negatived, and the bill was read the second time. [APPROPRIATION BILL.] Upon the sccond reading of this bul, The Earl of Lauderdale called the attention of their lordships to the many improvident grants in this bill. He should not oppose the measure; but he could not help noticing the sum granted for the purpose of carrying on the Caledonian canal. Already 350,000l. had been expended, and 250,000 7. more was intended for the same undertaking, yet there was not a sensible man in Scotland who did not perceive it would produce no ultimate good. There were 270,000l. granted as secret service money, and yet he could not imagine how the present state of the affairs of the continent required so large a sum, unless it were to raise up such characters as the baron de Kolli. He next adverted to the large grants for Ireland, for the various hospitals, and for agriculture. There was no less a sum than 10,000l. granted for proclamations; and for printing and publishing, upwards of 22,000l. being a greater sum than what was required for the two Houses of Parliament. It was his decided opinion that a greater saving might be made by attending to the various grants included in this one bill, than by the abolition of all sinecure places in the kingdom; and he thought it more suited to the consideration of a certain committee in the other House of Parliament. The Earl of Harrowby agreed with the noble earl that more saving might be made to the country by an attention to these subjects, than by any diminution of sinecure places. He also concurred with him respecting the amount granted to the Caledonian Canal. At the same time these sums had been, as to other subjects, equally large in former administrations. After a few words from the Earl of Rosslyn, the bill was then read the second time. [DRURY-LANE THEATRE BILL.] The Duke of Norfolk, so far from meaning to oppose the bill, thought it founded on the most honourable motives, and framed for the justest purposes; and he heartily wished it success. He still, however, retained his opinion, that if it could be done, consistently with justice and good faith, there ought to be a third theatre in the metropolis. The new theatre, he hoped, would not be of the magnitude of the former one: and if it was only of a size fit for hearing and scenery, the necessity of a third would be increased. He was sorry, therefore, not to see in the present bill any provision for using both the patents possessed by the proprietors. Lord Holland gave notice, he should move the third reading on Monday. HOUSE OF LORDS. Monday, June 18. [AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE.] Lord Holland trusted, that the motion he was about to submit, would meet with their lordships' concurrence. Whatever might originally have been the difference of opinion on the subject of the abolition of the Slave Trade, it must now be the general wish that other countries might be induced to concur in that abolition which had been so happily effected here. He was not disposed at the present moment, to propose any censure upon ministers; his only object was, that a pledge should be given by the House by an Address to the crown, praying, that further steps might be taken, to induce foreign powers to abolish this nefarious traffic. More might have been done by his Majesty's ministers, particularly with respect to Sweden. With reference also to the peninsula of Spain and Portugal, he thought enough had not been done. There were only two provinces of the Spanish` dominions, into which, upon the narrowest and most miserable view of a mistaken policy, the importation of slaves could be now of the least consequence, namely, Cuba and Buenos Ayres; to these provinces, according to his view of the subject, the abolition would be highly beneficial, and to the rest it must, so far as any supposed mistaken interest was concerned, be a matter of perfect indifference. He was aware that with respect to Portugal there was greater difficulty, because the trade was carried on from one Portuguese port in Africa to another Portuguese port in the Brazils; and he willingly gave praise to ministers for their proposition for purchasing the Portuguese territory in Africa, which would have placed the subject upon a totally different footing. He thought, however, that some course might be adopted to effect an abolition which was so highly desirable, or at any rate to prevent British capital from being covered by a foreign flag in carrying on this inhuman traffic. It might ultimately come to be a question whether the law of nations, well understood, did not authorize the treating all those persons as pirates who persisted, in defiance of all reason, justice, and humanity, in trading in human flesh; but in the mean time, no practi cable inducement ought to be left untried, to bring about, by common consent, a general abolition of this disgraceful traffic. In the treaty which his noble friend (lord Auckland) and himself had negociated with the American ministers, an article had been introduced with reference to this subject. Parliament had not then finally agreed to the abolition, and consequently an article upon the subject could not be introduced with that force and effect, as if the abolition here had actually been sanctioned by the legislature. That treaty, it |