18 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1810. 



mons to put forth its penal powers. 

 It was no time for civility. It was 

 no time for ceremonious!}' waving 

 the best interests of the state, in 

 courteous compliance with the 

 feeUngs of tliose who iiad either 

 betrayed or endangered them. 

 The present was not a time for 

 shaping amendments to the imagi- 

 nary niceties of those gentlemen 

 who revolted at all idea of punish- 

 ment. It was the time to speak 

 out, and pursue with unwearied 

 zeal public defaulters of every 

 description. 



Lord Castlereagh said, that, con- 

 scious of the wise policy on whicii 

 tlieexpeditions, on wliich so mucli 

 ofthat day's discussion turned, were 

 formed, and the manner in wiiich 

 they had been directed to the at- 

 tainment of their objects, he had 

 more reason to court than to 

 shrink from inquiry ; nor did he 

 fear the exercise of that penal jus- 

 tice, with which Mr. Ponsonby had 

 threatened him. But he trusted, 

 that the House would not, like the 

 honourable gentleman, think it ne- 

 cessary, in order to furnish the 

 grounds of charge, or subjects of 

 inquiry, to recur to the whole 

 course of the administration, in 

 which he had lately a share. 'Ihey 

 would not attempt, he trusted, to 

 bestow censure beyftnd the trans- 

 actions of last year. It was not his 

 intention to make any invidious 

 comparisons ; but in the military 

 and naval strength of the country, 

 much improvement hadlately taken 

 place. The Baltic was in our pos- 

 session. The Brest fleet had been 

 •learly annihilated. And the fleet 

 of the Tagus had been brought 

 into our ports; and, he would ask 

 il Spain would have discovered 

 that spirit of re.istance and enthir- 



siasm against the common enemy, 

 if she had not been conscious of 

 acting in conjunction with this 

 country ? He would also ask 

 whether, amidst the political mis- 

 fortunes that surrounded us, this 

 country was not only in a state ol 

 safety, but of unexampled pros- 

 perity ? 



VVitli ail our power and prospe- 

 rity, however, this was not, com- 

 paratively speaking, a military 

 country. We could not go to the 

 continent as we did to sea. Our 

 military efibrts being directed to 

 the continent, depended on the re- 

 sults of the efforts and engage- 

 ments of other powers, to whom 

 we could only be auxiliarj'. But 

 whatever might have been the re- 

 sult of last year's campaign, the 

 military glory of this country had 

 been much promoted. The prin- 

 ciples on which tlie late campaign 

 in the peninsula had been con- 

 ducted, were far dift'erent irom 

 limse on which the antecedent 

 Spanish campaign had been un- 

 dertaken, being particularly con- 

 nected with the security of Portu- 

 gal. Lord Wellington had a dis 

 crelionary power; and that power 

 he mostjudiciously exercised. Had 

 he not advanced to Talavera, he 

 must have disgraced himself and 

 the British army. Never had a 

 greater victory been achieved than 

 that at Talavera. — As to the ex- 

 pedition to Walehcrcn, the means 

 were wanting to move it sooner, 

 the transports not having arrived 

 from Portugal till the 5th of July, 

 it was impossible to transport 

 40,000 men to the north of Ger- 

 many ; and had it been possible, 

 in a military point of view it would 

 have been improper, fiom the si- 

 tuation and the disposition of the 



