try; and when the catholics came to hear that Mr Whitbread had set up for their advocate, and had quoted this phrase in support of their cause, it was to be hoped they would reject his advice, and deny that he had any right to plead their cause on such grounds." The mere mention of the Irish catholics called up General Montague Matthew.* "He defied any man," he said, "to say that the catholics of Ireland were rebels. The person who should presume to say so did not deserve to live, but to die by the hands of the common executioner. No communication, good, bad, or indifferent, had taken place between them and the French since the year 1796, when Arthur O'Connor met Hoche on the borders of Switzerland. Atrocities were talked of:-Never had more atrocities been committed by the most desperate despot than by the British government :-of all despots, the British government had been the worst. How they dealt with kings whom they wished to dethrone, Sir Arthur Wellesley could inform them: -in the East they did not imprison kings they murdered them. There was a gentleman in the House, who was secretary of state in Ireland in the year 1798, he could inform them what was then the situation of Ireland."-Here General Matthew was most properly called to order by the Speaker:-he, however, continued in the same irrelevant strain. "Other members," he said, "had introduced Ireland, and the catholics of Ireland were alluded to in the negociation then under debate. He would

tell Earl Cambden, if there was ever tyranny in any country, it was in Ireland, under his administration." Being again and repeatedly called to order, he said, "then he must give up the year 1798, the scalping, and all the rest, and the best thing he could do, was to sit down."

Inapplicable and mischievous as the tenour of this speech was, it was defended by Sir Francis Burdett. "On addresses," he said, "which were proposed to be voted to his Majesty, he understood it to be a matter of right in any member to enter into a discussion of the general interests of the country. It might be disagreeable to the ears of Englishmen to hear the perilous situation of their country described,-to hear enumerated a train of occurrences more calamitous and improvident, probably, than had ever disgraced any nation on the face of the globe; but still, had he not been instructed by the superior judgment of the Speaker, he should have been of opinion that General Matthew was entitled to have proceeded, and might fairly have introduced any parallel instances of atrocity, when told, on the other side, that the act of the Emperor of the French, by which this country was precluded from listening to his overtures for peace, was an instance of the most unparal leled atrocity which had ever disgraced any country. Whatever were the merits of Buonaparte, which unquestionably would not be fairly discussed in that house, it would, at least, be allowed, that he knew the best means of accomplishing the ob

jects he had in view. Having, then, received from him a taunt as to an unprotected part of our dominions, let us take the hint, and by an act of our own render a repetition of the taunt unnecessary. It had been said, that beat a fool in a mortar with a pestle, he would never quit his folly:we have been beat in a mortar for many years, but what had we got but disgrace?"

Sir Francis then proceeded to speak of the affairs of Spain. "If we were to assist the Spaniards," he said, "it was the duty of ministers to have seen that there was a rational hope of attaining our end: if they had proceeded upon light grounds, they had been guilty of a crime of the deepest magnitude. After having obtained accurate information as to the real state of public feeling in that country, they should have seen that there were 300,000 men in arms; that all the passes were secured; that a British army would be able to fight with every advantage; that the soldiers would not be subject to the want of food; and that they would only have to fall, if they did fall, in the field of glory. If these things could not be insured, it was their duty not to have landed a single man, but to have supplied the Spaniards with arms and other necessaries, which might have prolonged the

contest. They had trusted the British character and honour on the rotten plank of the Spanish government and the inquisition! The absurdity of acting on the divine right of kings had been the misfortune of this reign,

in support of it we had made an unavailing waste of blood and treasure, but we had never yet embarked in any legitimate object. It suited administration now to say, that the internal government of a country should not be interfered with. How did this doctrine accord with the idea of that contest in which, for the last fifteen years, we had been engaged with the French, simply because they chose to alter their internal form of government? Instead of a monument to the memory of the minister who involved us in such a war, he deserved to have lost his head on a scaffold.-The House is called on for an address of thanks. I, for one," said Sir Francis, "have no thanks to bestow: kings are too much exposed to have adulation poured into their ears, and this has been the cause of the overthrow of too many of the thrones of Europe. We have not heard that any of the kings who have of late years fallen under the dominion of Buonaparte were in want of courtiers. It is fit that the king of England should occasionally hear the truth from his Commons, and no better opportunity than the present can possibly present itself.-Mr Canning has objected to the thought of this being a sinking country:- he himself may be rising, but the country is sinking; and there is too much ground to believe that it will sink still lower, if a reform does not speedily take place."

Lord Henry Petty applauded the speech. "In the principal parts of its sentiments,-sentiments," he said,

"which were delivered with such an eloquence as could not soon be forgotten, he cordially concurred; and there was no man in whose sentiments he would be more happy to feel it consistent with his opinions to concur than Sir Francis Burdett." Mr Canning could not help expressing his astonishment and regret at hearing this. "To the talents of Sir Francis," he said, “and to his sincerity also, no man was more willing to do justice than he was; but without meaning any thing disrespectful to that honourable baronet, he must say that he was grieved to hear the noble lord, who was naturally to be ranked among the great men of the country, and who was to be looked to as one of its probable governors, declare such an entire concurrence in sentiments so dangerous in their nature and character. If the evils which Sir Francis Burdett deplored were so grievous, why did he not bring them forward in some distinct and tangible form, and not fasten a general declamation upon a question of this nature? why not propose some practical remedy, such a remedy as any minister could apply, and not continue to repeat his doctrine, that the whole frame of the government was not worth preserving?"

There was a cry of No! No! Misrepresentation! from the opposition benches at this part of Mr Canning's speech; and Sir Francis appealed to

the House, whether such an imputation was applicable to him? whether the course which he had pursued that night, as he had uniformly done, in reprobating the abuses that prevailed in the administration of government, could be fairly deemed inconsistent with the profound veneration which he felt for the genuine constitution of the country? Upon this Mr Canning replied, that he referred to the phrase of "absurdly contending for loyalty," which the baronet had introduced in his speech. Sir Francis explained his meaning to be, that the argument respecting loyalty in Spain was pushed to an extremity inconsistent with the freedom of any nation, and particularly with the constitution of England. But though this particular phrase might thus be fairly explained, and nothing fell from him in this speech contrary to that veneration which he expressed for the constitution, it is not the less certain that, during the whole of the Spanish revolution, Sir Francis Burdett and his partizans have shewn a callousness of feeling toward the patriots, and an indifference toward the best interests of mankind, which were not to have been expected from any true lovers of liberty.

Mr Whitbread found himself too

weak to divide the House upon his amendment, and the address, as originally moved, was carried without a division.

VOL. II. PART I.

THE HE campaigns in Portugal and Spain were concluded, but they were to be fought over again in Parliament. A vote of thanks Jan. 23. was moved to Sir Arthur Wellesley, for the battle of Vimiera. Earl Moira protested against it, because Sir Harry Burrard was not included. "That general," he said, "had approved of the dispositions made by Sir Arthur for the battle, and thereby made himself responsible for those dispositions. He had the command; he was present, for a great part of the time, in the hottest of the engagement; and he controuled the opinion of Sir Arthur respecting the advance to Torras Vedras. Had the army been defeated, he must have participated in the shame of the defeat: surely, then, justice required that he should partake of the triumph of the victory, especially as, after what had transpired in the Court of Inquiry, to leave his name out of the vote of thanks would be, in fact, to pass the severest censure upon him." This inference was totally denied by the ministry. Lord Mulgrave said he knew Sir Harry Burrard well, knew his sentiments upon the subject, and that that gallant general

General

utterly disclaimed all right to thanks which he felt he had not earned. This assertion did not preclude a repetition of the same arguments in the House of Jan. 25. Commons, by Lord Folkestone and Mr Whitbread. Stewart replied, that no man could have a higher respect for Sir Harry than he had; but he could not help observing, that if the thanks of Parliament were to be voted him, it would be impossible to make the army understand for what; for the soldiers had seen the activity of Sir Arthur Wellesley, and knew that Sir Harry Burrard did nothing more than come into the field.

On these questions no division took place, all parties being agreed that the services of Sir Arthur Wellesley and the army under his command deserved the thanks of their country. The question upon the convention of Cintra was a trial of strength. Lord Henry Petty moved two resolutions, stating that it had disappointed Feb. 21. the hopes and expectations of the country, and that the causes and circumstances which led to it had in a great measure arisen

from the misconduct and negligence of his Majesty's ministers. These reso. lutions were introduced by a speech of considerable length. Lord Henry began by saying, that "no proceedings which had yet taken place upon this subject were of a nature to preclude the expediency and necessity of a parliamentary investigation; for the Board of Inquiry was a tribunal incompetent to give satisfaction to the country, and irreconcileable with all the received principles of law and equity:-Opening its doors to the public, calling upon the very parties to give their testimony, and drawing from them information by which they were to be subjected to criminal prosecution, it was calculated rather to defeat than to promote the ends of justice.

"It is not my intention," he pursued, “to discuss the extent of the insurrections which broke out in Spain; but if they afforded any room for military exertion on our part, government could not have been found more fortunately situated with regard to military means than it was. There was at that time a considerable expedition prepared for distant service, there was another force in the Mediterranean, under General Spencer: it had been sent to take possession of Ceuta, but when it arrived, the attack upon Ceuta was found impracticable. Soon after wards a new prospect of vigorous exertion opened upon Lord Castlereagh, and a third army was sent upon a voyage of discovery and observation, to look for an expedition in the Baltic. Thus, then, when government was called upon to co-operate with Spain, it had in actual readiness three distinct masses of disposable force. Lord Castlereagh was actually rich in his own failures. It was

resolved to send a force to assist the Spanish patriots: Sir Arthur Wellesley was appointed to the command; and the ultimate destination of the expedition was Portugal. There was nothing in the possession of Portugal itself,-nothing in the possession of the port of Lisbon, as a source of immediate succour to the Spaniards,

nothing connected with the real interests of our faithful ally the Queen of Portugal, or of her subjects, that could point out, much less justify that destination; for of all the calamities that can be inflicted upon a country, the conquest of it by a power not able to retain it is the greatest; because it is thereby exposed to all the calamities and horrors of two revolutions. It subjects a country to calamities, of which the immediate evil inflicted by the conqueror is the least; for it draws out all the lurking vices that are concealed in the bosom of society, and brings all those dormant bad qualities into play, which never fail to accompany and aggravate the convulsions of a country. These evils are inflicted even by a change from good to better; but how much more must they be increased when the change is from bad to worse! Such an assistance this country could not be called upon to afford, neither was Portugal inclined to require it; and such was the only assistance we could give to Portugal, independent of Spain. But we now have been taught that it is not on the Tagus that Buo aparte was to be restrained in his pursuits. In the progress of his unlimited schemes of ambition, it is not to momentary triumphs, to the eclat of public rejoicings, or to the firing of Park guns, that his exertions are directed. Because he aims at ultimate advantage, and hopes for ultimate success