pire, that he never deigned to look at it, or turn his head that way. The mighty lion which we went to attack, brushed us off with one sweep of his tail. Mr. Canning had argued, that if the expedition to the Scheldt could not have been useful, no other expedition could have been useful. His gallant friend, General Tarleton, how ever, had pointed out another expedition, which would have promised much better diversion in favour of Austria. The attack on Flushing, even if any beneficial result could have been expected from it, was not made in time; and the delay proceeded not from any other impediment than the Characteristic vacillation of government for it appeared on the trial of General Monnet, that he had information of the intended descent so far back as the 22d of April. Ministers, it seems, were aware of the fatality of the climate. But this was one of the casualties of war, and therefore, in their opimion, to be cheerfully encountered. Certainly, if the object in view was worthy of the hazard. But here the object was contemptible, the means mighty, and the consequences ruinous. It was said that the object of the expedition was to be effected by a coup de main. What did the two late secretaries mean by a coup de main? Did they suppose that Antwerp and Lillo, the fortified forts, and the well-secured fleets in the Scheldt, were all to be taken by this miraculous coup de main? Even with all his respect for Lord Wellington, he could not approve of the battle of Talavera. It had no good end; and tended only to establish the great

valour of our soldiers, which was never questioned. It was, at best, but an exhibition of rash confidence and victorious temerity. Our victories at Maida, Corunna, Vimeira, and Talavera, had been held up that night as monuments of our eternal glory: but Mr. Whitbread beheld them only as so many

gladiatorial exhibitions. None of them were happy in their consequences, or beneficial in their results. That of Maida lef the inhabitants precisely in the same state in which ministers said, had we made a diversion in the north of Germany, we should have left the inhabitants of that country-at the mercy of a cruel enemy. It had been said by ministers last session, that a battle ought never to be risked in Spain until there was an efficient government in that country. Yet they now. recanted the principle, by conferring honours on Sir Arthur Wellesley; for whom, and for the country, it would have been more honourable had he never changed his name. His conduct in Spain seemed the result of infatuation. After defeating, or rather following and harassing the retreat of Soult from Oporto, he recrossed the Douro, for the purpose of forming a junction with Cuesta. Soult, in the mean time, recovered, recruited, and re-established his corps, which advanced, and menaced the allies on the Tagus. Sir Arthur fought, and gained the battle of Talavera, and, in three or four days thereafter, retreated to an unhealthy province, at an unhealthy season, for the purpose, as he singularly termed it, of refreshing his troops. In the marshes of Estramadura he remained some C3

months,

months, and then retreated to Portugal, for the purpose of defending it. The excuse alledged for this was, that we would not take supplies as the French did. If the Spaniards had been really glad of our assistance, we should have received supplies without compulsion. But the truth was, that while we were starved, the French were fed; a presumption that the Spaniards regarded us with jealousy. It was said that

site would have acted if they had remained in office; but he was inclined to think, that upon every principle of policy and of feeling, they would have given every as sitance in their power to Spain. Judging, as well as he could, of the state of the world, he was firmly convinced that the state of Spain was much better now, as far as concerned this country, than it was when the Duke of Portland's administration

30,000 men. But would not Buonaparte know our force, even to a drummer? Where we had 30,000, he would have 60,000. We remained in Portugal just at the will of the French emperor, and at his option he would drive us out of it. It had been said by our enemy, that "the genius of France guided our armies." Alas! (said Mr. Whitbread) it now presided in our cabinet; for whether we considered their ignorance, their imbecility, their bigotry, or the fate with which Providence visited all their measures, our enemy, if he had had the nomination, could not have selected men more suit able to his ends, or more pernicious to our interests.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, after a full account of the circumstances, manner, and views with which the present administration was formed, and touching on the everlasting questions about orders in council, the catholics in Ireland, and the expedition to Copenhagen, which was alledged to have been the cause of Russia's taking part with France, adverted to the affairs of the peninsula. With respect to these, he could not tell how the gentlemen oppo

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were ultimately to subdue Spain, she would possess diminished means of annoyance to Great Britain. She would not derive any revenue from her conquest. She would not be able to withdraw a single soldier from the Spanish territory, With regard to that part of the address which related to the expedition to Walcheren, it did not pledge the house to enquire into that enterprise; neither did it pledge the house not to enquire into it. When the documents, promised in his majesty's speech, should be laid before them, it would be for the house to decide whether they would call for more, and 'whether it would institute an enquiry or not. After the able discussion of that subject by his friends Lord Castlereagh and Mr. Canning, little remaimed for him to say. It had been affirmed, that the damage sustained by the enemy in the destruction of the basin at Flushing would soon be repaired. Now the fact was, that this basin had been two or three years in constructing. And it had been so completely destroyed, that the ablest engineers had given it as their opinion, that it would be much easier to build it anew. His majesty's go

vernment

vernment had been accused of sending supplies to Walcheren, after it was in contemplation to abandon it. It was to be recollected, however, that had the armistice been broken off, instead of being confirmed, the evacuation of Walcheren would not have taken place. Whether it was worth the expence of a garrison, however, was another question, which had been decided in the negative.

The next subject to which Mr. Perceval came, was, the appointment of Lord Chatham to the expedition. The gentlemen oppoSite had indulged in reflections on that noble lord, which might, with great propriety, have been omitted. Whenever it was possible that the conduct of an individual would be subjected to an enquiry, justice demanded that the public mind should not be prejudiced against him. The result of the enquiry, if any enquiry hould be thought necessary, would, in a great measure, decide the question of the propriety or impropriety of the appointment of that noble lord to the command of the expedition. He could not, on the present occasion, avoid expressing his regret at the manner in which Lord Wellington had been attacked in his absence. If this practice of vilifying political adversaries were persisted in, it would damp the ardour, and check the spirit of our officers. The honourable gentleman who had seconded the motion, had also, in a most unjustifiable manner, commented on the conduct of several officers of a less elevated rank, whom he had chosen to term, "missioners." But in the whole

of the speech of the right honourable gentleman to whom he was now alluding, there was no part which he more sincerely regretted than that in which he spoke of the affairs of Spain, and the exertions of the Spanish people. For his part, he was persuaded, that neither in ancient nor modern history could an example be found of a country sustaining a contest like that which Spain had so long supported. Never, in recent times, had 250,000 Frenchmen been in any country for such a length of time without subduing it. At every defeat a new army sprung up; and the Spaniards, animated by their hostility to the usurper of their rights, would maintain a deter mined resistance to the last.

With respect to the late campaign in Spain, Mr. Perceval could not admit that in any instance disgrace had followed our arms. As the movements of Sir John Moore, in the year 1808, and the battle of Corunna, had saved the south of Spain that year, so, he believed, the expulsion of the French from Portugal and Gallicia, the junction of Lord Wellington with General Cuesta, and the battle of Talavera, saved the south of Spain in 1809.

On a division of the house there appeared,

For the amendment, 167.7
Against it, 263.

House of Commons, Thursday, January 25. Lord Barnard appeared at the bar, with the report of the address to his majesty, in answer to his most gracious speech. Sir Francis Burdett rose, and said, that he had listened with the ut most candour and attention to the sentiments of the different gentlemen who had already delivered C4

their

their respective opinions on the various topics which the full discussion of the king's speech naturally embraced; both to the sentiments and arguments of those who thought themselves still qualified to govern the country, and to the sentiments and arguments of those who thought themselves better fitted for that arduous situation. And the result of the whole was, to confirm more and more that calm conviction of mind, with which he had entered that house, of the necessity, sooner or later, of an entire change of system; and a thorough, constitutional, and temperate reform in parliament. With respect to the leading complaints made against the present ministry, never were men in such a state of self-abandonment. They had nothing to say for themselves; and could have confidence in nothing but in that assembly, in which there seemed to be a mysterious something, that might justify the most culpable, in expectations the most extravagant, not only of impunity but protection. Yet he could derive no hope of any benefit to the pub lic from a change of ministry. Change of men could do nothing, while they would be necessarily obliged to act up to that fatal system in which all our danger lay. He enumerated several, among the many acts of administration since the commencement of the recess, which had been the subject of general complaint. Of these there was one more immediately growing out of the system to which he had alluded, than the rest. This was, the insult that had been inflicted, in his majesty's name, on the corporation of London. The

king's speech, at the opening of parliament, ought to be a general exposition of every prominent event and extensive operation that had occurred during the recess, and not a mere milk and water compo sition, turning merely on general positions, not to be disputed, and so cautiously shaped and modelled by the apprehensions of ministers, as to slide harmlessly through discussion. The present speech said nothing of the state of affairs in India. While in this respect the speech was defective, in another it was redundant. He alluded to what had been tacked to the speech relative to the poorer order of the clergy. He should be sorry to oppose any method of relieving their wants, if this could be ef fected without imposing additional exactions on a burthened and almost exhausted country. If the poor clergy were so indigent, they could not derive relief from a fitter source than the wealthy part of their own calling. The higher order of the established clergy were, in all conscience, rich enough to contribute to the poorer class of their brotherhood; and while they were amply gifted with the means, it would be invidious to express a doubt that men of their profession would be wanting in the inclination.

Mr. Yorke called on the house to observe the remarkable words made use of by Sir Francis Burdett, whenever he spoke of the house of commons, whom he always called "this assembly," ," "this room," or "this meeting." If by this the honourable baronct meant to insinuate that they were not the legal and constitutional representatives of the people, he dissented from

any

my such monstrous doctrine, and gave it as his opinion, that the reform recommended by the honourable baronet would only increase the danger it was designed to remedy. He would support his majesty's administration; he meant, that he would never enter into any systematic opposition against it. He approved of the address, because it did not pledge the house to any thing. As to the Walcheren expedition, that part of it which had succeeded, had been very much undervalued. The Scheldt, for four months of the year, was not navigable, and the French fleet had begun already to feel the want of their basin. The capture of Flushing was an important service. Here General Tarle ton turned up his eyes.-Mr. Yorke lamented to see in his honourable friend, on the present and other occasions, such a disposition to withhold that defence from brother officers in their absence, which it would so well be come a brother officer to make. With regard to the advance of Lord Wellington to Talavera, he thought there was no part of that illustrious officer's proceedings that was not worthy of his exalted reputation. Yet if there was any thing that might admit of the nicest investigation of military criticism, he would select two points, one was, the seemingly too great reliance placed by that gallant officer on the Spaniards; the other was, his not having secured the pass of Banos, which Sir Robert Wilson had so gallantly defended against a superior force for nine hours. These were the only points on which he thought there could be any doubt.

General Tarleton still maintained that the merit of Lord Wellington was equivocal. He had blamedthat noble Lord, when present in the house, for the convention of Cintra; for to him it was almost entirely to be attributed. He might have known that it was first necessary to secure the supplies. From the days of Homer till now, armies could not march and fight without eating. General Tarleton admitted that the army had gained great glory at Talavera. But the conduct of the general was a totally distinct consideration, and that alone he blamed.

Sir John Sebright thought the present ministers incapable of serving the country efficiently at the present awful crisis. He did not blame the right honourable gentleman at the head of the government, whom he highly respected, for the dissentions and bickerings, &c. that had lately occurred in the cabinet. But if there had been an efficient head, there would have been no such dissentions. With regard to th. Walcheren expedition, he could not see the neces sity of waiting for the production of papers before they gave their opinion upon it. What could those papers contain? Could ministers shew him a new map of Europe, essentially different from all that he had ever consulted?— As to the glorious victory of Talavera, as it had been called, there was a glory of the soldier, and a glory of the general. The former had been displayed in all its lustre. at Talavera. But although he admired Lord Wellington, he did not think that he had, in the advance into Spain, acted the part of a wise generaf. Before he ad

vanced,