Sidebilder
PDF
ePub

XII.

CHAP. had Spain, it should not be Spain with the Indies.' I called the New World into existence, to redress the balance of the Old."

1823.

103.

indepen

dence to South Ame

rica, but only acknowledged it.

It is one of the most curious truths apparent from hisMr Canning tory, how identical are the impulses of the human mind, did not give at all times and in all countries, in similar circumstances, and how insensible men are to the moral character of actions when pursued for their own benefit, to which they are sensibly alive when undertaken for the advantage of others. The English had loudly exclaimed against the iniquity of the Northern powers in pretending to preserve the balance of power in the east of Europe, by dividing the spoils of Poland amongst each other; and they dwelt on the selfishness of Austria, in after times, which held out the Russian acquisition of Wallachia and Moldavia a sufficient ground for giving them a claim to Servia and Bosnia; but they thought there was nothing unjustifiable in our upholding the balance of power in the West, not by defending Spain against France, but by sharing in its spoils, and loudly applauded the minister who proposed to seek compensation for the French invasion of the Peninsula, by carving for British profit independent republics out of the Spanish dominions in South America, at the very time when he professed the warmest interest in its independence. But be the intervention of England in South America justifiable or unjustifiable, nothing is more certain than that neither its merit nor its demerit properly belongs to Mr Canning. The independence of Columbia was decided by a charge of English bayonets on the field of Carabobo, on 14th June 1821, more than a year before Mr Canning was called to the Foreign Office.1 It was the ten thousand British auxiliaries, most of them veterans of Wellington, who sailed from the Thames, the Mersey, and the Clyde, under the eye of Lord CastleIxvii. § 69. reagh, in 1818, 1819, and 1820, who really accomplished the emancipation of South America.2 Mr Canning did

1 Hist. of Europe, c. lxvii. § 73.

Hist. of

Europe, c.

not call the New World into existence, he only recognised CHAP.

it when already existing.

XII.

1823.

104.

of the South

Mr Canning.

Europe, c.

There can be no doubt, however, that this recognition was of essential importance to the infant republics, and Recognition that it was the stability and credit which they acquired American from it which enabled them to fit out the memorable republics by expedition which in the next year crossed the Andes, and at the foot of the cliffs of Ayacucho achieved the independence of Peru.1 Mr Canning's measures, when 1 Hist. of he had once determined on neutralising the efforts of Ixvii. § 76, France in this way, were neither feeble nor undecided. 77. On the 26th February 1823, he obtained from the British government, by order in council, a revocation of the prohibition to export arms and the muniments of war to Spain, a step which called forth the loudest remonstrances from the French minister in London at the time. This was soon after followed by still more decisive measures. On 16th April, Lord Althorpe brought forward a motion, in the House of Commons, for the repeal of the Act of 1819, which prohibited British subjects from engaging in foreign military service, or fitting out, in his Majesty's dominions, without the royal license, vessels for warlike purposes; and although this proposal was thrown out by a majority of 216 to 110, yet the object was gained by the proof afforded of the interest

"As far as the exportation of arms and ammunition was concerned, it was in the power of the Crown to remove any inequality between France and Spain simply by an order in council. Such an order was accordingly issued, and the prohibition of exporting arms and ammunition to Spain was taken off." -Mr CANNING'S Speech, April 16, 1823; Parl. Deb., viii. 1051. It was prohibited since 1819, both to Spain and the colonies, on the remonstrance of the Spanish government.-Ante, chap. iv. sect. 95.

"Hier je me suis plaint, et très-vivement, de la permission d'exporter en Espagne toutes armes et munitions de guerre; permission que le ministre vient de donner, de son propre mouvement, en révoquant l'arrêt qui s'y oppose. Des marchés importants d'armes et de munitions se traitent; des banquiers, membres influents de la Chambre des Communes, sont entrés dans ces spéculations que le gouvernement encourage de la manière la plus manifeste."M. MARCELLUS à M. DE CHATEAUBRIAND, Londres, 28th Feb. 1823; MARCELLUS, 151.

XII.

1823.

CHAP. which the cause of the insurgent colonies excited in this country. In June, Mr Canning refused to recognise the Regency established at Madrid after the entry of the Duke d'Angoulême; and in July, on a petition from some respectable merchants in London engaged in the South American trade, he agreed to appoint consuls to Mexico, Columbia, Peru, Chili, and Buenos Ayres. His language on this occasion was manly, and worthy of a British minister. "We will not," said he, "interfere with Spain in any attempts she may make to reconquer what were once her colonies, but we will not permit any third power to attack them, or to reconquer them for her: and in granting or refusing our recognition, we shall look, not to the conduct of any European power, but to the actual circumstances of these countries." And when Prince Polignac, the French minister in London, applied for explanations on the subject, and urged the expedience of x. 712; Mar- establishing, in concert with the other European powers, monarchical states in South America, Mr Canning's reply Reg. 1823, was, that however desirable the establishment of a 146; Can- monarchical form of government in any of those provinces might be, his Government could not take upon itself to put it forward as a condition of their recognition." 1

1 Parl. Deb.

tignac, i.

299; Ann.

27, 145,

ning's Life,

334.

[blocks in formation]

Thus was achieved, mainly in consequence of the French invasion of Spain, the recognition of the independence of the South American republics. Whether they were fitted for the change-whether the cause of liberty has been advanced, or the social happiness of mankind advanced, by the substitution of the anarchy of independence for the despotism of old Spain, and whether British interests have been benefited by the alteration-may be judged of by the fact, that while the exports of Spain to her colonies, before the war of independence began, exceeded £15,000,000 sterling, the greater part of which consisted of British manufactures, conveyed in Spanish bottoms, the whole amount of our exports to these colonies is now

XII.

(1852), thirty years after their independence had been CHAP. established, only £5,000,000; and that the republic of Bolivia, called after the liberator Bolivar, has entirely disappeared from the chart of British exports.

*

1823.

106.

teaubriand's

designs in

the South

states.

But whatever opinion may be formed on this point, one thing is clear, that M. de Chateaubriand has furnished M. de Chaa better vindication of the British intervention in South America than any consideration of commercial advan- regard to tages could have done. It It appears from a revelation in American his memoirs, that Mr Canning only anticipated his own designs upon these vast possessions of Spain, and that, instead of British consuls negotiating with independent republics, he contemplated monarchical states under Bourbon princes. "Cobbett," says he, " was the only person in England at that period who undertook our defence, who did us justice, who judged calmly both of the necessity of our intervention in Spain, and of the view which we had to restore to France the strength of which it had been deprived. Happily he did not divine our

* EXPORTS IN 1852 FROM GREAT BRITAIN TO—

[blocks in formation]

XII.

1823.

CHAP. entire plan-which was to break through or modify the treaties of Vienna, and to establish Bourbon monarchies in South America. Had he discerned this, and lifted 1 Congrès the veil, he would have exposed France to great danger, for already the alarm had seized the cabinets of Europe."1

de Vérone,

i. 358.

107.

Mr Canning

at Plymouth. Sept. 14.

The great danger which there was at that period of Speech of Europe being involved in a general war, and the ardent feelings which Mr Canning had on the subject, cannot be better illustrated than by a speech which he made at Plymouth in the autumn of this year, memorable alike from the sentiments it conveyed and the beauty of the language in which they were couched. "Our ultimate object," said he, "is the peace of the world; but let it not be said we cultivate peace, either because we fear, or because we are not prepared for war: on the contrary, if, eight months ago, the Government did not hesitate to proclaim that the country was prepared for war, if war should unfortunately be necessary, every month of peace that has since passed has made us so much the more capable of exertion. The resources created by peace are the means of war. In cherishing these resources, we but accumulate those means. Our present repose is no more a proof of inability to act than the state of inertness and inactivity in which I have seen those mighty masses that float in the waters above your town, is a proof they are devoid of strength, and incapable of being fitted for action. You well know, gentlemen, how soon one of those stupendous masses, now reposing on their shadows in perfect stillness-how soon, upon any call of patriotism or necessity, it would assume the likeness of an animated thing, instinct with life and motion-how soon it would ruffle, as it were, its swelling plumage-how quickly it would put forth all its 2 Ann. Reg. beauty and its bravery, collect its scattered elements of strength, and awake its dormant thunders!2 Such as is one of those magnificent machines when springing from inac

1823, 146,

147.

« ForrigeFortsett »