co-operation in the total abandonment of that purpose, and that the trade would The Chancellor of the Exchequer said, that the forts mentioned by the hon. gentleman were under consideration at the time of Mr. Perceval's death, but the change of government, which followed upon that event, prevented, as yet, any further con Lord Castlereagh remarked, that as no objection was made to the production of the papers moved for by the hon. gentleman near him, whatever foundation there might be for the apprehension of the hon. gentleman who had just sat down, would be a subject better fitted for discussion on some future day when these papers might be on the table of the House. Mr. Bennet wished to know whether or not, in spite of our efforts to prevent it, the Portuguese and Spaniards did not carry on a traffic for slaves with the British colonies-a traffic composed of piracy and oppression? He wished also to make another inquiry connected with this interesting subject. We had a chain of forts in Africa, which, during the existence of the Slave Trade, were used as depots for slaves. He was positively informed, that during last summer, the governors of some of these forts actually supplied no less than 47 Portuguese vessels with slaves. Had steps been taken by government to put an end to this shameful abuse? Lord Castlereagh expressed his regret at not being able at that moment com pletely to satisfy the hon. gentleman's enquiries. He could assure him, however, that the exertions of his Majesty's government had been used most sincerely to prevail upon those countries with which they had any influence to concur in terminating this abominable traffic. He trusted that these countries were inclined to adopt the measures suggested to them for Mr. Bennet wished to know whether the government had received any communication respecting the breach of the Abolition Act by the governors of any of these forts? Mr. Goulburn said, there had been one communication to that effect, made to the naval commander upon that station, but upon investigation it was found to have been. groundless. The motion was then agreed to. Mr. Wilberforce proceeded to move for further papers connected with the same subject. He confessed that he had listened to the speech of the hon. gentleman opposite (Mr. Browne) with some disquiet, as, in the early part of it, there seemed an intimation similar to that which had so frequently been urged in parliament against the abolition itself, namely, that the existence of an enormity in one place justified the practice of an enormity in another. This disquiet, however, was removed by the conclusion of the hon. gentleman's observations. With respect to the scheme of enlisting Africans on the coast, to fill up the black corps in the West Indies, he confessed that he was acquainted with the original intention of carrying that scheme into effect, and that he thought it was accompanied by guards suflicient to prevent it from being abused. How far these guards had actually turned out to be adequate to their object, was certainly a question of considerable importance; and one which ought to be investigated deliberately, and not incidentally. But at any rate, it appeared to him that all idea of compulsion-of slavery-was wholly out of the question.-With respect to the conduct of our navy on the African station, it had been such as reflected upon it the highest credit. Even the common sailors had refused to share the wages of iniquity; in one case in particular, in which a number of the gallant general, upon his signal services, upon his high merits and great achievements, there could exist no difference of opinion. The House should recollect, that the honours which had been hitherto conferred on lord Wellington by his sovereign, were not sought for by him; that such honours were not conferred merely for the gratification of the individual, to be worn by him as memorials of his military great ness, and testimonies of his sovereign's regard, they were conferred as an example to others--that they might feel those mo unfortunate African slaves, men, women, and children, had been discovered hidden on board a vessel professedly laden with cattle. These wretched beings had been induced to conceal themselves and to abstain almost from breathing, by the master of the vessel, who told them, that if they were discovered, they would be killed and eaten. They were, however, discovered and released, and this occurrence afforded an additional proof of that humanity by which our naval officers and seamen were no less distinguished than by their bravery, and the eminent services they had ren-tives to noble exertion, to gallant service, dered to their country. As to the abuses that were alleged to have crept into the enlisting for the black corps, he repeated that they ought to be enquired into, and if they really existed, to be stopped.nours of such a nature should be always But he confessed he did not believe, that with the guards which had been devised, any such abuses could prevail. He concluded by moving, "That there be laid before this House, copies of all communications received by the lords commissioners of the Admiralty from the chief naval officer at the Cape of Good Hope, so far as they respect the carrying on of the Slave Trade in that settlement, or in any of the neighbouring islands."-Ordered. GRANT TO THE MARQUIS OF WELLINGTON.] The House resolved itself into a Committee of the whole House, for the purpose of taking into consideration the Prince Regent's Message, relative to the marquis of Wellington. On the Message being read by the chairman, Lord Castlereagh said, that in calling the attention of the House to the Message which his Royal Highness had been graciously pleased to lay before them, he might, he believed, feel and express a confidence that, at least upon the principle of the Message, there could exist but little, if any variety of opinion. There was, he was convinced, no person who then heard him, that could feel any unwillingness to repay the services of so gallant and so distinguished an officer as the marquis of Wellington, with every title of honour that the crown could confer, and every pecuniary reward the country could afford to bestow. Whatever difficulty there might exist in the calculation of what was due to his services, and what was due to the nation; whatever might be the limits they would feel it necessary to impose upon the principle of the Message, and the generosity that dictated it, upon the claims of and military fame, which could not fail to hold out a generous excitement to every person that had the happiness to live under our free and happy constitution. Ho conferred less with a view to the indivi dual than to their general effects; but the House must also feel, that in conferring such honours, there was at least an im plied engagement that they should be neither burthensome nor painful to the person who received them, but conferred in such a way as to make them worthy both of the crown and of the people. The honours with which the marquis of Wellington had been graced, were not merely bestowed by the crown, but were called for by the voice of the nation. And he might say with truth, that the sanction and approbation of that House had followed so closely upon the gift of the sovereign, that the honours of the brave general were not less under the sanction of parliament than of the crown. By such conduct they had, at least, marked the extent of his claims. Lord Wellington, though yet a young man, though much he hoped of his valuable life would be yet spent in the service of his country; however, young as he was, he had received more testimonies of his sovereign's favour than any subject who lived before his time, not excepting even the great duke of Marlbo rough. It was the singular fortune of that distinguished officer, that in addition to the rewards and honours bestowed by his sovereign, he had received upon six different occasions what was not less flattering or less honourable, the thanks of that House:-on lord Wellington, who was younger in years but not in experience, the thanks of that House had been conferred not less than eight times, six of which had been for his services on the peninsula, where he was opposed, not as he had been before to an Indian enemy, but to armies long accus, tomed to victory, to armies commanded operations. It was not necessary to press by men of the first military talents, trained these things upon the attention of the in the school of danger and experience, House, they were in the recollection of confident of success, for they had been every person. The questions now for accustomed to conquest, with their laurels them to consider were; first, What was fresh and yet blooming round them. Such the policy; and, 2dly, What were the were the armies, such were the captains means of rewarding such services? With whose laurels withered before the bright-respect to the policy of rewarding military ness of his fame. Fortunately for the services, although there were many quesworld, those laurels had been transplanted tions of policy, in the consideration of to another region where they would which he would not refer for examples to flourish, he hoped, for ever, not for the de- the councils of the enemy, there could not struction of mankind, but for the protec- however be a better policy than theirs, in tion of their liberties and their religion, so far as it regarded rewards for military and their rights. Never did the country service. Let them look to France; could produce a man who had received so large they find in that country one general of a measure of parliamentary and national any merit, who was not loaded with all approbation. No man had been ever so the rewards and the honours that it was greatly and so justly distinguished. In in the power of their ruler to confer ? the peninsula, taking all together, his cata- Different, indeed, far different were they logue of successes unchequered by any from the rewards and the honours of the thing to diminish their glory, was the gallant marquis; different in the grace greatest that any individual ever before that belonged to them; different in the had to boast of. Those successes were in services that gained them, and in the the recollection of the House. Every per- principle on which they were bestowed. son who heard him must recollect the They, it was true, were highly rewarded, battle of Busaço, in which a victory was but their rewards were such as the brave gained over nearly double numbers; the Wellington would disdain to accept. A battle of Fuente de Honore, and other right hon. gentleman (Mr. Canning) had battles which, if not fought immediately truly stated upon a former occasion, that under his eye, were fought at least under his though placed at the head of the Portudirection; also the battle of Albuera; but, guese army, the pay attendant upon above all, the attack upon the bridge of which situation was not less than 8,0001. a Almarez, conducted by general Hill, year, when asked to accept that pay, he under the direction of lord Wellington. answered, that whatever services were in Soult confessed, that from the moment of his power, he would be always willing to that successful attack, the measures he had perform for Portugal; but as he received planned with Marmont were completely the pay of his own sovereign, he would deranged. The army of Spain was forced not accept of it from another. The pay to act in two divisions, and its generals had been suffered to accumulate in the were prevented from their intended co- expectation that his feelings might at some operation. It was indeed true, that his time be prevailed upon to accept it. He splendid course of military successes was was apprised that the money was to be not unchequered by retreat. Retreat, delivered to him, but with a generosity however, was not defeat: and in the re- never before excelled, with the noble treat to which circumstances obliged him, self-denial of a soldier, he begged it should he still gave evidence that the resources be disposed of for the Portuguese army.of a great mind did not forsake him. In Reverting to the system of the French short, within the space of four years, he army, the noble lord observed, that not bad beaten the proudest marshals of only were the successful officers of that France. He had beaten Marmont, he had army rewarded with such honours beaten Soult, who was himself considered could be bestowed on them, but with posas a host; he had beaten Massena and sessions (which it was a disgrace to acNey, and Jourdan. In no one instance cept) granted out of the countries which did he lead a British army into the field, they had devastated, in pursuance of that in which they were not crowned with unjustifiable principle on which modern glory and success. He presented the new France had uniformly acted, of making and grand spectacle of four years suc- the territory of one sovereign afford the cesses, without any of the disasters that means of desolating the dominions of anoare naturally attendant upon military ther-Happily a different system pre as vailed, and he trusted would ever prevail into the possession of an individual who in this country. The troops of Great would be too happy, if parliament agreed Britain went forth to fight for the interests to the proposed vote, to surrender it in and tranquillity of other nations as well as order that it might be handed down to of their own; and their officers, althongh posterity, as the spot granted by the legis they might accept the honours conferred lature in testimony of their approbation of on them by the legitimate sovereigns of the services of that illustrious individual the countries in whose cause they were by whom that title was first assumed. contending, were not disposed to avail With this view, he was persuaded that the themselves of any pecuniary advantage, Committee would deem that he best disunless it flowed from the country to which charged his duty by proposing that a sum they belonged. He now came to consider of money should be vested in trustees for what, under all the circumstances of the the purchase of lands to descend with the case, it appeared to him to be becoming title of Wellington, and to be enjoyed by in parliament to grant in the present in the future representatives of the noble marstance. If he had to consider lord Wel- quis. He would, therefore, not trespass lington's services in a similar point of further on the time of the House, but conview to that which called forth the muni- clude with moving, "That it is the opificence of parliament on a former occasion nion of this Committee, that a sum, not -if he had to consider them under cir- exceeding 100,000l. be granted to his cumstances similar to those under which Majesty, to be vested in trustees, for the lord Nelson's services had been considered use of the marquis of Wellington and such -if such a calamity had occurred as the other persons on whom the title of marquis death of the noble marquis (and no greater of Wellington shall descend, and to be calamity could befall the country than employed in the purchase of lands, tenethe loss of such a treasure); if the noble ments and hereditaments to accompany marquis were by such a melancholy oc- the said title, and that the said sum be currence put out of the reach of the fur-issued and paid without any fee or other ther favour of the crown and the further deduction whatsoever." notice of parliament, he should then, in submitting a proposition to the Committee on behalf of the noble marquis's family, be influenced by a very different feeling; but, considering that lord Wellington was comparatively young in the service, considering that he was placed in a great crisis, which had, indeed, principally arisen out of the noble lord's own exertions in the peninsula; considering that he might yet render important advantages to his country and to the world, he was not willing, however high his merit, that the honours of the crown and the bounty of parliament should be at once exhausted upon him. Under these circumstances he was anxious to submit to the Committee such a proposition as should at once mark their sense of his great and glorious services, and their recollection that he -might, and in all probability would, experience the further favour of the sovereign and the further bounty of parliament. An additional motive to a concurrence in the vote which he should have the honour to propose, and which he was sure that the Committee would seize with avidity, was, that by a happy coincidence of circumstances, the manor of Wellington, from which the noble lord derived his title, had passed from its former owner Mr. Whitshed Keene did not rise for the purpose of opposing the motion. In all military cases, when a reward was asked, proper attention should be paid in proportioning it to the quantity of forces by which the achievement had been performed; but the success of the marquis of Wellington, especially considering the means he had at his disposal, had far surpassed the most sanguine expectations. Considering the price of landed property, he did not conceive the present grant as too considerable, and when he reflected that the marquis of Wellington's services were warm in the minds of every one, he even thought that the House might have gone farther. Sir Francis Burdett said, that however strong the claims of lord Wellington might be, he could not think that they were much advanced by the advocacy of the noble lord or of the hon. gentleman who had just sat down. The noble lord had dwelt, with much satifaction, on the peculiar advantages and blessings of our happy constitution, under which such opportunities were afforded of rewarding merit; but before this praise was entirely acquiesced in, there were two considerations which presented themselves to those who were appointed the guardians of the pub that of general Moore. Though a retreat might be no proof of demerit on the part of a general, he could not think it furnished grounds on which to call for parliamentary remuneration. To him, as a man of a plain way of thinking, it appeared, that the results of the campaign had been disaster and defeat. The victory of Salamanca appeared to be a victory forced upon lord Wellington. After that victory he could wish it to be explained whether it was good conduct to proceed against Burgos, whether in the conduct of that siege there was a want of ability in the commander, whether the project was a bad one, or whether the ministers of this country had given him positive orders to advance against it without furnishing him with the means of taking it. In one of lord Wellington's dispatches there was a singular paragraph; "Your lordship is aware I had little hopes of success at Burgos; yet after the battle of Salamanca it was necessary to proceed against Burgos, to ensure the success of the campaign." Thus, then, the consequence of that victory was disaster. He did not wish to undervalue the services of Lord Wellington, but the victories he had gained in Spain had none of the characteristics which distinguished those of the duke of Marlborough. The advantages that general gained he retained; yet it was not till after the decisive battle of Blenheim that parliament rewarded his services. Now in the peninsula it had been observed, and by military men too, that marquis Wellington had brought his army into dif ficulties, but his men had fought him out of them again, and that in the capture of the fortresses which he had won, a waste of life was to be complained of. This he understood to have been the case at Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz, which places had been stormed without a breach being previously made. A similar com lic property-namely, the merit of the claimant in the first place, and in the second, one of not inferior importance, out of what fund the proposed remuneration ought to come. On this last point he was of opinion, that while such enormous funds were in the hands and at the disposal of government, and while the amount of taxation was so great and so complicated, as to render its collection in a great degree impossible-while all this was the case, ministers ought to be ashamed to apply to the public purse. In the resources and the patronage they possessed, there were surely abundant means of remuneration; and it should be recollected, that when there was a general outcry against the number of sinecure places, the ready and constant answer was, that these places in the bands of government enabled them to reward the services performed by the servants of the public. If this were the defence, there could be no doubt that the funds accruing from those places should be appropriated as they were said to be. But there was also another fund on which it would have been more becoming in ministers to have drawn-he meant the Droits of Admiralty, which strictly ought to be appropriated to reward the services of naval officers, except where they were applied to the purpose which had been stated the other night, of indemnity in the case of American captures, in the event of a peace with that power. But when this fund was employed in grants to the princes of the blood, who did not hesitate to accept of them, and in other purposes equally foreign from their original and proper designation, he then thought that it might also be found fit to apply them on the present occasion also. With respect to the conduct of the noble marquis who was the subject of the present motion, the noble lord had told them that retreat was no proof of demerit; unquestionably not; and there were many in-plaint he had heard respecting Burgos. stances on record of late years, in which He did not wish to divide the House on retreats had been conducted in such a the grant, but he wished to move that the manner, and under such circumstances, as consideration of the grant should be deplaced them far beyond the most bril-ferred till some enquiry had been made liant victories; but this was the first time he ever heard that there was merit or glory in a most disastrous retreat. He was not perfectly sure that the military hospitals had not been abandoned, but from all that could be known from returns, private letters, &c. there was reason to believe that the losses incurred in the retreat from Burgos were not much less than in into this extraordinary campaign. He did not see that flattering success which the noble lord thought he saw in the siege of Cadiz having been raised by the enemy. The cause of Spain to him appeared infinitely more hopeless than it was at the commencement of the campaign. If lord Wellington had never marched to Madrid, and if he had not |