700 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1S04. 



London. Nevertheless, tliat cabi- 

 net, which must have resolved in si- 

 lence before-hand, for its own par- 

 ticular ends, upon the renovation 

 of the war with Spain, and MJiich 

 it was always able to declare, not 

 vith the forms and solemnities ])ve- 

 scribed by the law of nations, but 

 hy means of positive aggressions, 

 which should turn to its own profit, 

 sought the most frivolous pretexts 

 to bring into doubt the conduct of 

 Spain, which was truly neutral, and 

 to give demonstrations at the same 

 time, to the desires of his Britannic 

 majesty, to preserve the peace, all 

 ■with the intention of gaining time, 

 cajoling the Spanish government, 

 and holding in uncertainty the opi- 

 nion of the English nation upon its 

 own premeditated and unjust de- 

 signs, which could in no manner be 

 approv«d by that nation. Thus it 

 is, that in London it appeared art- 

 fully to accept various reclamations 

 from Spanish individuals, which were 

 addressed to it ; while its agents in 

 Madrid magnified the pacific inten- 

 tions of their own sovereign : but 

 they ncTcr shewed themselves satis- 

 fied with the frankness and friend- 

 ship with which all their notes were 

 answered, rather anxious for pro- 

 claiming and magnifying armaments 

 which had no existence, and pre- 

 tending, contrary to the most posi- 

 tive protests on the part of Spain, 

 that the pecuniary succours given to 

 Prance were not merely an equiva- 

 lent for the troops and ships which 

 were stipulated in the treaty of 

 1796, but an indefinite and immense 

 stock, which did not permit them to 

 consider Spain in any other light 

 than as a principal party in the war. 

 Moreover, as there was not time 

 'entirely to banish the illusion under 

 which they laboured, they exacted, 



as the precise conditions upon which 

 they would consider Spain as neu- 

 tral, the cessation of every arma- 

 ment in her ports, and a prohibition 

 of the salo of prizes brought into 

 them. AjuI, notwithstanding that 

 both of these conditions, although 

 urged in a tone superlatively 'MUgh- 

 ty and unusual in political transac- 

 tions, were immediately complied 

 with, and religiously observed, 

 they persisted, nevertheless, to ma- 

 nifest their >vant of coniidence, and 

 they quitted Madrid with eager- 

 ness, iininediafely after receiving 

 dispatches from tlieir court, of 

 which they did not communicate a 

 particle of the contents. The con- 

 text which results from all this be- 

 tween the condui5t of the cabinets of 

 London and INiadrid, must be suffi- 

 cient to shew clearly to all Europe, 

 the bad faith and the secret and per- 

 verse ;iims of the Kng'ish ministry ; 

 even if thsy had not manifested 

 them by the abominable crime of the 

 surprise, battle, and capture of the 

 four Spanish frigates, which, navi- 

 gating in the full security which 

 peace inspires, were fraudulently 

 attacked in consequence of orders 

 from the J'.ntjlish government, sign- 

 ed in the very moment in which it 

 was faithlessly exacting conditions 

 for the prolongation of the peace, 

 in which every possible security was 

 given to it, and in which its own 

 vessels were provided with provisi- 

 ons and refreshments in the ports of 

 Spain. Those very vessels, which 

 were enjoying the most perfect hos- 

 pitality, and were experiencing the 

 fidelity with which Spain was prov- 

 ing to England the good faith of her 

 engagements, and how firm her reso- 

 lutions were to maintain her neu- 

 trality — those very ships carried, 

 concealed in the bosoms of their 

 commanders, 



