XXI. 1826. CHAP. proclaimed king; and Portuguese regiments in the Royalist interest having been driven into Spain, they were there received with open arms, equipped afresh, and led 1826, 191. back to maintain the cause of absolutism in the Portuguese dominions.1 1 Ann. Reg. 50. Mr Can ning's speech ject in the House of In introducing this subject to the House of Commons, Mr Canning, after narrating the treaties, offensive on the sub- and defensive, between Great Britain and Portugal in 1661, 1703, and 1815, said: "This being the state of our relations with Portugal, when the Regency of that country, in apprehension of the coming storm, called on Great Britain for assistance, the only question we had to consider was, whether the casus fœderis had arisen. In our opinion it had. Bands of Portuguese rebels, armed, equipped, and trained in Spain, had crossed the Spanish frontier, carrying terror and devastation into their own country, and proclaiming sometimes the brother of the reigning sovereign of Portugal, sometimes a Spanish princess, sometimes even Ferdinand VII. of Spain, as the rightful occupant of the Portuguese throne. These rebels crossed the frontier, not at one, but at several different points-first on the province of Tras-os-Montes, and next in the south, where we on Friday received an account of the invasion of Alentejo, and the capture of VillaViciosa, a considerable town on the frontier. Can it be denied that these repeated and systematic attacks do not call for the interposition of this country, in virtue of the ancient treaties in behalf of its ancient ally? If a single company of Spanish soldiers had crossed the frontier in hostile array, there could not be a doubt as to the character of the invasion. Shall bodies of men, armed, clothed, and regimented by Spain, carry fire and sword into the bosom of her unoffending neighbour, and shall it be pretended that it is no invasion because these outrages have been committed by men to whom Portugal had given birth and nurture? Had Spain employed mercenaries to effect the invasion, there could not be a doubt of its hostile character; and does it render it less CHAP. so that the mercenaries in this instance are the natives of Portugal ? XXI. 1826. 51. "In some quarters it has been said that an extraordinary delay has taken place between the taking of the Continued. determination to give assistance to Portugal, and the carrying of that determination into effect. But how stands the fact? On Sunday, December 3, the Portuguese ambassador made a formal demand of assistance against a hostile aggression from Spain. Our answer was, that although we had heard rumours to that effect, yet we had not yet received such precise information as justified us in applying to Parliament. It was only on Friday that that information arrived. On Saturday his Majesty's confidential servants came to a decision—on Sunday that decision received the sanction of his Majesty -on Monday it was communicated to both Houses of Parliament and to-day (Tuesday), at the hour on which I have the honour of addressing you, the troops of Great Britain are on their march for embarkation." 52. "The reasons I have stated entirely satisfy my judgment that we are imperatively called on at this crisis to Continued. render the aid to which we are bound by treaty to Portugal. Nothing short of a point of national faith or honour would justify me, at the present moment, in anything that approximates even to war. Let it not be supposed from this that I dread war in a good causeand in no other cause may it ever be the lot of this country to engage. I dread it upon other grounds. I dread it from an apprehension of the tremendous consequences which might arise from any hostilities in which we might now be engaged. Some years ago, on occasion of the invasion of Spain by France, I said that the next war that would arise in Europe would be a war, not of nations, but of opinions, and that it was by neutrality alone that we could maintain the balance between them. Not four years have elapsed, and already my anticipa XXI. 1826. CHAP. tions are realised! It is a war of opinion that Spain is now waging against Portugal, and who will venture to foretell to what consequences such a war may lead? It is the contemplation of the new power which will rise up in any future war that fills me with apprehension. It is one thing to have a giant's strength, but it would be another to use it like a giant. 53. "The consciousness of such strength is undoubtedly a Concluded. Source of confidence and security, but in the situation in which the country now stands, our business is not to seek opportunities of displaying it, but to content ourselves with letting the professors of violent and exaggerated opinions on both sides feel that it is not for their interest to convert an umpire into an adversary. The situation of England, amidst the struggle of political opinions which agitates more or less sensibly different countries of the world, may be compared to that of the ruler of the winds as described by the poet— "Celsa sedet olus arce, Sceptra tenens; mollitque animos et temperat iras ; The consequence of letting loose the passions, at pre- XXI. 1826. us cease our interference when that duty ends. We go CHAP. to Portugal not to rule, not to dictate, not to prescribe constitutions, but to defend and preserve the independence of an ally. We go to plant the standard of England on the well-known heights of Lisbon. Where 369; Ann. that standard is planted, foreign dominion shall not 197, 198. come." 1 new 1 Parl. Deb. xvi. 356, Reg. 1826, this speech, out for Lis bon. 2 Ante, c. 103. Never, perhaps, did a speech delivered in the British 54. House of Commons produce such an effect as this did, Vast effect of which was enhanced by his still more eloquent reply, and the exgiven in a former volume, in reference to the French pedition sets invasion of Spain,2 where he said he had called a world into existence to redress the balance of the old. xii. §§ 102, The effect was electrical, both upon the House and the country. All hearts were moved, all heads swept away by it. In vain Mr Hume, and one or two others of the partisans of economy, urged the impolicy of thus hurrying into a war of which we could neither foresee the duration nor calculate the expense. His objections were overruled. Such were the murmurs of the House that he could scarce obtain a hearing; and his amendment, "that the House be called over this day week," found only four supporters. Both Houses, by overwhelming majorities, supported the Government. The troops were embarked with such expedition that, though they only received their orders to march on December 11, on Christmas day they began to land in Lisbon, amidst the cheers of the multitude, in whom the well-known uniforms inspired confidence. Six thousand men were soon established there, and this vigorous demonstration, as is often the case, averted war by proving that it was not dreaded. The incursions from Spain ceased, the frontier was no longer disquieted; and France, which was the real principal in the affair, disavowed a proceed-3 Ann. Reg. ing which it was no longer prudent to acknowledge. No 205; Parl. hostilities ensued. Before eighteen months had expired 370, 398. the troops had all returned to England, without having 1826, 202, Deb. xvi. XXI. 1826. CHAP. fired a shot; and this affair passed over with no other result but that of rendering Mr Canning the idol of the liberal party throughout the world, and demonstrating to the astonished nations the elements of war which, amidst all their pacific interests, slumbered in the breasts of the British people. 55. There can be no doubt that Mr Canning's decision on Reflections this occasion was both wise and honourable. There could on this point. have been nothing more derogatory to British honour, or in the end subversive of British interests, than to have permitted French interest and domination to extend over the whole Peninsula-the very thing which it had been the object of all the campaigns of Marlborough and Wellington to prevent. The entire success of the demonstration leaves no doubt as to its wisdom. But it is a curious proof of the manner in which party influences or opposite interests can blind even the clearest intellects, that neither Mr Canning, nor his numerous and enthusiastic supporters in the House of Commons or the country, saw that the principles on which his intervention in defence of Portugal were based, were directly the reverse, and afforded the strongest condemnation of those on which his own previous conduct in regard to South America had been founded. If it was right of him, as it unquestionably was, to put forth the strength of England to resist the incursions of armed bands, raised and equipped in Spain to effect a revolution in Portugalwhat shall we say to his own conduct in permitting bands of adventurers, armed and equipped in England, to sail from the Thames, with Tower muskets in their hands, to revolutionise South America? Intervention is always an odious and dangerous thing, and only the more dangerous when it invokes for its cover a sacred name, a heartstirring principle; but it is not less so in the hands of the Liberals than in those of the Conservatives, when it sets forth from the Thames, in the name of freedom, to desolate South America, than when it starts from St |