-I call on those who tell us that the Basques are fighting for their immemorial rights, and who protest that we ought not to interfere in the struggle, to tell me for what purpose the Duke of Wellington sent 50,000 bayonets to Spain? And if it was no violation of the treaty, nor inconsistent with our political obligations, to employ bayonets against the Basques, how have the government offended against the principles by which British statesmen ought to be swayed, in allowing British subjects to use the weapons which it is admitted the Duke of Wellingte/ Gransmitted to the Peninsula? There is no distinction between the transmission of arms and the authorization of British subjects to enter the service of Spain; and they indulge in mere factitious sensibility who contend that the Basques, after having associated their cause with an avowed despot, are engaged in a struggle which entitles them to the sympathies of Great Britain. The constitution gives the Basques the same privileges as are awarded to other Spaniards: it places all Span jards upon a level; and the Basques are not contending for a participa tion in the rights of citizens, but for an exemption from their liabilities. I come to the order in council. Let it not he supposed that our government volunteered in granting permission to British subjects to enter into the Spanish service. On the 7th of May, the Spanish minstry applied to us for co-operation. It was feared that direct intervention would alarm the sensitiveness of Castilian pride. In 1819, the the Foreign Enlistment Act was passed; but a power was reserved to the crown to suspend its operation. It was clear that circumstances were anticipated under which it might be deemed judicious that foreign enlistment should be allowed. It was thought, in 1823, by the Whigs, that though circumstances had arisen at that juncture, and that a good moral effect would be produced by repealing the act, and thus signifying the interest we took in the liberties of Spain-(I may incidentally observe that the noble lord the member for Lancashire voted for the repeal of the act; how he will vote to-night it is not for me to anticipate)-the application to which I have referred having been made to the Whig government for assistance, it was thought that the wisest course would be to issue the order in council. Let us see how far that proceeding, which was, beyond all doubt, in conformity with the spirit of the treaty, has been justified, in point of policy, by events. Three charges have been brought against the Legion; and insubordination, inhumanity, and want of disciplined intrepidity in action, have been attributed to them. With respect to disorganization, it existed to a considerable extent; but it ought to be recollected that, even in the best armies, it will, under peculiar circumstances, unfortunately arise. Was not the retreat of the Duke of Wellington, after his defeat at Burgos, attended with a lamentable loss of discipline, for which the Duke of Wellington is not in the slightest degree responsible? And how can it be wondered at, that such levies as composed the Auxiliary Legion should in the midst of hardships, certainly not occasioned by themselves. have been deficient in subordination?

With respect to the excesses into which the Legion had been be rayed, let it be remembered that, although they were not justifiable

they were not unprovoked. They gave no quarter, and they received none; to the merciless they showed no mercy; and I question whether the gallant officer opposite, at the head of the best troops in the service, could, notwithstanding all his habits of control, restrain his men from vengeance, if they saw their fellow-soldiers lying butchered and mutilated with every incident of the most degrading ignominy before them. But from every participation in these offences against humanity, General Evans is entirely free. No order of a vindictive character was ever issued by him. And if a single officer, under the influence of excited passion, let his feelings burst forth in an ebullition of reprehensible resentment, and that fact is stated in an anonymous publication, how unjust it is to charge the entire British Legion with that want of humanity which has been imputed to them. But while the gallant officer is thus at once vehement and pathetic in reprobating the excesses of retaliation, what will he say of the atrocious Durango decree, by which murder in cold blood was enjoined by Don Carlos? The Tories will of course condemn him; but, while they condemn him, they recommend measures of which the effect will be to plant the crown of Spain upon his head. With respect to the last charge-the want of valourit cannot be denied that a portion of our troops gave way. But I believe that most troops, excepting those which have acquired a veteran stability, e occasionally subject, in a moment of surprise, to such moral disasters as, in the instance referred to, befel the Auxiliary Legion. Having admitted the occurrence of this deplorable incident, give me leave to ask whether it is not, in some degree, countervailed by those examples of high courage which, in many other instances, the Legion have furnished? Was it quite legitimate to expatiate with so much force upon a single calamity, and to omit the mention of those achievements for which the Legion deserve no ordinary praise? The Spanish Cortes and Government thanked General Evans after the battle of St. Sebastian; the French general expressed his warmest commendations; and I shall, I hope, be pardoned for suggesting that an incident which, to a French soldier, afforded matter for congratulation, ought, in the mind of the gallant officer opposite, to have, in some sort, counterbalanced the unfortunate transaction upon which the gallant officer has so strongly dilated.

I pass to the second branch of the motion of the gallant officer.— Nothing can be worse, it seems, than the failure of the Legion, excepting the success of the marines. The gallant officer would withdraw the Legion because, as he erroneously conceives, they have failed; and would withhold the assistance of the marines because they have succeeded! This is exceedingly anomalous. Let it be observed that i' is not upon any large ground of public policy that he recommends that the marines should be removed from the field in which they have won laurels that have borne precious fruit. He dwells entirely upon the nature of the service to which he conceives that these fine troops ought to be confined, and insists that it is only upon the ocean they should be permitted to serve their country. I answer the gallant officer by a reference to their motto. "Per mare, per terram" sets all discussion

upon this part of the question at rest. Read the treaty with a view to the interests of your country, and not to the speculations of your party, and you will rid yourselves of miserable dissertations on mere words and phrases, and arrive at the just and lofty sense of this great quadruple compact.

It is alleged that the measures of the government have not produced any good results. Try that allegation by this test. If those measures had not been adopted-if the Auxiliary Legion and the marines had not given their co-operation, what would have befallen the Spanisk people? Do you not know, on Major Richardson's authority, that Bilboa would have been taken by assault? and would not the British seamen have seen from afar upon the main the Durango standard of Don Carlos floating from the castle of St. Sebastian? Take another test, if you please it. Let me suppose this motion carried. If you carry the present motion-if you prevent any acknowledgment of the Legion-if you break the character of this force-if you withdraw the anarines from the north coast of Spain (the importance and efficiency of whose services you cannot deny)—what will be the result? The courier who will convey the intelligence will convey tidings of great joy to St. Petersburg, to Vienna, and to Berlin; and he will convey tidings of great dismay wherever men value the possession of freedom or pant for its enjoyment. It will palsy the arm of liberty in Spain. It will fill her heart with despair. A terrible revulsion will be produced; from Calpe to the Pyrenees the cry, "We are betrayed by England!" will be heard, and over that nation which you will indeed have betrayed, Don Carlos will march, without an obstacle, to Madrid.

You cheer me in mockery-do you? Who are you that cheer me? Not your leaders-not the men who are placed conspicuously before me. They know, they feel, the impolicy of these rash manifestations They profess horror at the atrocities of Don Carlos, and deprecate his triumph; but you that cheer me, disclose your hearts, and exhibit the wishes by which your political conduct is determined. Cheer on-exult in the anticipated victories of despotism in Spain, and with your purpose let the people of England be made well acquainted. But, turning from you, I call upon the rest of the house, and to the British people beyond the house, to reflect upon the events which must follow the triumph of Don Carlos. Do you not know. him: Do you stand in need of any illustrations of his character? What was it that befel Spain when the constitution was suppressed in 1823? Do you not think that Don Carlos will improve upon Ferdinand's example, and recollect what nodel was held out to him? Have we forgotten the massacre at Cadiz? Is Riego's blood effaced from our memories? Do you doubt that the same terrible career of remorseless, relentless vengeance will be pursued by the marble-hearted despot by whom such horrors have been already perpetrated? With whom, attended with what companionship, encompassed by what councillors, did Don Carlos land in England? Did he not dare to set his foot upon our shores with Moreno, the murderer of Boyd and Torrijos beside him? But what further evidence of his cha

er and his propensities do we want than his terrible Durango ordi

ence? I have heard it asked whether it be befitting that in Spain, the theatre of so many of those exploits whose memory will be everlasting, the British flag should be lowered in discomfiture, and before mountain peasants British soldiers should give way? I feel the force of that question; but there is another which I venture to put to every man who hears me, and, among all those that hear me-above all-to the gallant officer by whom this motion has been made. I invoke the same recollections--I appeal to the same glorious remembrances; and in the name of those scenes of which he was not only a witness, but in which he bore a part, of which he carries the honourable attestation about him, I ask whether it be befitting that in Spain- that in the country whose freedom was achieved by such prodigies of English valour, where so many of your fellow-soldiers, who fell beside you, lie buried-is it, I ask, befitting that in that land, consecrated, as it is, in the annals of England's glory, a terrible, remorseless, relentless despotism should be established, and that the throne which England saved should be filled by the purple tyrant whose arms have been steeped to the shoulders in the blood of your countrymen-not slain in the field of honourable combat, but when the heat of battle had passed, and its sweat had been wiped away-savagely and deliberately murdered? Their bones are bleaching on the Pyrenean snows-their blood cries out; and shall we, intrusted as we are by the British people with the honour, and the just vengeance of our country-shall we, instead of flying to arms, facilitate the ascent to the throne of Spain of the guilty man by whom these outrages upon every law, divine and human, have been committed: Never! The people of this country are averse to wanton war; but where the honour of England is at stake, there is no consequence which they are not prepared to meet-no treasure which they are not ready to lavish-no hazard which they will not be found prompt to

encounter.

LORD NORMANBY'S GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND.

SPEECH IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, APRIL 19, 1839.

IN one opinion expressed by the learned member for Bandon (Mr. Sergeant Jackson) I entirely concur. It would be difficult, indeed, to dissent from him, when he declared his speech to be "no joke." That speech may be distinguished by ability; but, among its multifarious merits, we should look for originality in vain. I will not say that it was, so far as its topics were concerned, " tedious as a twice-told tale;" but I may venture, without any departure from good breeding, to suggest, that its principal materials were of a nature to ensure, among the gentlemen behind him, untired applause for the untiring reiteration of the same charges in nearly the same form of phrase. It is fortunate for the learned gentleman that he may indulge in such repetitions without the hazard of incurring any expression of weariness from his admirers. I pass from the learned gentleman to the speech of my honourable friend, the member for Finsbury,* who announced, at the opening of this evening's discussion, that he intended to move an additional amendment connected with the extension of parliamentary reform. I shall content myself with making two observations on the course which he, and some gentlemen who act with him, are disposed to take. Let me be permitted to advise them to take care lest they fall into the very signal error which was committed by the Tories in 1830. By the effects of that mistake they are still pursued, for their reconciliation, however strenuous the professions of its sincerity, is not yet complete. Let me be allowed, in the second place, to remark, that when the member for Finsbury and his associates condemn the conduct of the present ministers, with the exception of the policy pursued by them in reference to Ireland, they make a very large exception indeed. That exception includes a great segment of the empire-one-third of the population of these islands a country whose government has been attended with almost incalculable difficulties-which, to preceding administrations, has been the constant occasion of enibarrassment, and has shaken cabinet after cabinet to their foundations-which, as it has already exercised a great influence over the councils of England, is likely to exercise an infaence at least as great over her future fortunes—which, after having cupied the attention of the legislature for many years, is, at this roment, of an importance so paramount, as to exclude all other subjects from our thoughts, and to engross the solicitude of every man who takes the slightest concern in the events by which the destinies of this great ation are to be determined. When, therefore, it is observed, that the Whigs deserve no praise except for the government of Ireland-unconsciously, perhaps, but most certainly, the highest encomium is passed upon the present administration, and a merit is admitted to belong to them, by which a multitude of errors, in the eyes of true reformer»,

Mr. T. Duncombe.