HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



127 



mamleJ neither. Totally iisflueiic- 

 fd and controlled by France, utio 

 •vvas cxiisperattd in the highest de- 

 gree at seeing her prey suatciied 

 from her Jjr;»^p? the io^s of so mueli 

 treasure, was decisive upon her 

 iflcasures, and she commanded Spain 

 to issue a declaratioti of war. This 

 event took place on the 12th of the 

 month of December, of the last 

 year*. 



The Spanish manifesto upon this 

 occasion is a very feeble composi- 

 tion as a state paper. It allows, in 

 its outset, ^' the extreme dilficulty 

 ."of Spain, or Holland, avoiding a 

 ■*' war \fiih the enemies of France, 

 "when their connexions witlithelat- 

 " ter power were considered- — "' 

 and rested the propriety of the 

 conduct of the conrt of xMadrid on 

 I an implied promise, if not an actual 

 convention, thatits neutrality should 

 j be strictly observed, and respected 

 I by England, upon certain condi- 

 tions, which it asserted and declared 

 opain had adhered to ri<joroiisly. 

 I To support this reasoning, \kv only 

 I fact adduccdwas, that Mr. Frere, in 

 I one of his notes, declared that his 

 I Britannic majesty wished, as long 

 as possible, to suspend the period of 

 hostilities, if certain conditions were 

 adhered to : that Spain strictly 

 observed them, and that therefore 

 I the British government was hound, 

 by their own declaration, not to 

 commence hostilities. Tiic-c grounds 

 for defending the Spanish declara- 

 I tion of war, were, it must be con- 

 fessed, extremely imrrow . 



On the other hand, (he liriti-jh 

 I government positively denied that 



any such convention or declaration, 

 ever existed. that there was no 

 system of public law which could 

 countenance the principle, that the 

 m3r.i implied or constructive pro^ 

 nii.'.e of an existing administration, 

 at homcv should have the power to 

 bind every succeeding government 

 to acquiesce in a conduct of iictual 

 hostility', carried on by a third 

 power, under the name of neutrali- 

 ty, ihat the order to detain the 

 treasure ships was justified by the 

 information then received, and that 

 the execution of it was rather in th^ 

 nature of an embargo, and a pre- 

 cautionary measure, which might 

 admit of es[)laiiation and satisfac- 

 tion, than one of actual hostility. 

 And, finally, that the war, so much 

 com[)laincd of, was llio act of Spain, 

 iter (leclaiation being, in point of 

 fact, the first unequivocal and irre- 

 trievable measure of hostility which 

 took place between tiie two coun- 

 tries. 



Such were tlie material points of 

 argument upon which the govern- 

 ments of Spain and Great IJritaiij 

 rested their justilication. The offi- 

 cial piipers upon wliicli they were 

 grounded have been laid before the 

 public, early in the commencement 

 of (he present year, and an investi- 

 gation of them will enable the world 

 to judge for itsell". At home the 

 sut)jeet was warmly debated in both 

 houses of parliament, an ample de- 

 tail of which will be found iindei' its 

 proper head in the preceding pages, 

 ^^'ille differences of oi)inioii un- 

 doubtedly existed, in those great as- 

 semblies, as to the justice and equi- 

 table 



* For the order of council to detain the Spanish Ships, vide v- 

 <.u\ for the Spanish declaration of war, manifesto, and the ad 

 >""{ieace to the Spanish nation, tidt ihid. p. 699— TOi?. 



ol. for 1004, p. 608, 

 ddicss of tlie prince 



