272 



'o( sul)niitting to the most severe priva- 

 .tioiis. Tliere was also anotlier charge 

 against tlieni, wliicli it certainly required 

 an explanation to remove. He alliiiled 

 lo the deposition of King Ferdinand at 

 Seville. Taking that (tirciimstaiice a!)- 

 Rlractediy, he was ready so adniit that to 

 depose a monarch for three days, and tlien 

 restore him, looked very like an act of 

 insanity. But he spoke with the high au- 

 thority of General Alava, v.liea he assured 

 the House that that very act which had 

 called forth such sarcastic remarks, was 

 the very salvation of the life of Ferdinand. 

 It was al the moment when the suspicion 

 was generally felt of his intention to re- 

 move himself to the French army; and 

 when, under the increased irritation, it was 

 the general conviction of every man of 

 inlhience that, if any body of armed men 

 |irescnted themselves, it would be impos- 

 sible to prevent a sanguinary act of ven- 

 geance. And yet that very measure, re- 

 .sorted to for the very purpose of saving 

 liis life, was made the unjustifiable pre- 

 text for proscription and exde. What 

 conlidpnce, then, he would ask, could be 

 placed in the assurances of the government 

 «f France, which sanctioned and encou- 

 raged such acts of oppression anil cruelty? 

 ^Vliat depci'dence should we repose in a 

 government which basely denied its pur- 

 poses, and refused every offer wliich this 

 onimtrv had made of mediation? What 

 claim i'or confidence could France have in 

 tlii.s country when we recollected Ih^it he 

 who commanded its army in Spain— the 

 Duke of Angouleme, by a violation of all 

 those honourable Icelings,— the breach of 

 which consigned the otfender to the de- 

 tistalion of mankind,— consigned, he would 

 .say, because he could have prevented it, 

 the gallant, the patriotic, but unfortunate 

 Kiego to the scaffold ! It was to the per- 

 sonal courage of Riego that the Kins; him- 

 .sclf owed his life ; and, notwithstanding the 

 pains taken to cast obloquy on the cha- 

 racter of that great man, his name would 

 live among those who h::d fallen in the 

 rause of civilization and humanity; while 

 the name of Angouleme and the murderers 

 of Riego would be banded down to poste- 

 rity with execration. It had been said 

 that Riego was guilty of cruelty, but that 

 was not the fact. If it was, the French 

 would not have been slow to publish it ; 

 nor would the Spanish government be 

 remi.vs in selecting such instances as would 

 place it beyond doul)l ; but the whole 

 was a gross calumny, designed to misre- 

 present the character of a hero and a 

 patriot, lie hoped, that the Right Hon. 

 Gentleman (Mr. Canning), instead of 

 crcditnig such stories, or permitting his 

 mind lobe inilueneed by such impressions, 

 would remember the character which this 

 country ought to holil, and adoj)! means 

 for i)laciug Ucr in that btatioy which she 



Political Affairs in March. [April I , 



had a right to assume among the govern- 

 ments of Europe. The object of that 

 great confederacy could no longer be a 

 secret; the house and the world must be 

 aware, that it was to establish despotism 

 in Europe, and check the civilization and 

 improvement of mankind,— to establish a 

 dominion over all States, and exercise that 

 dominion to the injury and enslavement 

 of the human species. He would now 

 proceed to notice some points which, as 

 they referred personally to himself, he 

 could not approach without some feeling 

 of anxiety. He had hitherto refrained 

 from noticing the transactions of last 

 year, in which he was himself concerned, 

 not that he shrunk from the most "open 

 avowal of the conduct he had adopted; 

 but because he was unwilling to force him- 

 self prematurely on the public attention. 

 Even the public wrongs and private ca- 

 lamiiies which be suffered, became tole- 

 rable, under the conscious rectitude of liis 

 motives. But now that this question was 

 regularly before the house, he owed it to 

 his own feeling, and to the feelings of those 

 in any way connected with him, to state 

 how the matter stood. When an attempt 

 was made to misrepresent and to defasue 

 him, he considered that he was bound, 

 standing as he did in that house, upon a 

 perfect equality with any other member, 

 to repel the .charge, to meet the calumny, 

 and vindicate his honour. For this pur- 

 pose it would be necessary that he should 

 make a short statement of his proceedings, 

 calling, in the first instance, upon every 

 lion, member to put his hand upon his 

 heart, and say whether he would not feel 

 j)ridc as well as regret, in resisting and 

 exposing o()pression, though he might re- 

 gret the necessity of becoming the historiau 

 of his own achievements. The insignia 

 which he had received from the different 

 governments of Europe were conferred 

 upon him, for services which they had re- 

 peatedly acknowledged. The first order 

 with which he was presented was the 

 Order of Maria Theresa. It was given 

 him by the Emperor of Austria, as a re- 

 ward tor the part wliich he had taken in 

 an enterprise, the brilliancy and sncce.ss of 

 which had j)eihaps never been excelled as 

 a military achievement. On that occasion, 

 the Emperor of Austria, having advanced 

 with a small party, found himself with his 

 little detachment in the presence of two 

 divisions of the enemy, who cut him off 

 from the main body. While in that sitna- 

 tion advices caine from General Otto, 

 that all was in <ianger of being lost, if the 

 Emperor was not rescued immediately. 

 The cavalry, with whom he (Sir R. W.) 

 was staliuntd, rushed forward to the 

 charge, and the enemy's infantry, after a 

 vain attempt at resistaiice, were overpow- 

 ered. The great proof of the success of 

 this operation was, that the Emperor was 

 rescued. 



