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When the Emperor re-established order in
France, great difficulties were removed, and
I saw new motives to continue attentive to
the former system of alliance. When En-
giand declared war against France, I happi-
ly endeavoured to continue neuter, and to
preserve to my people the happiness of peace.
England afterwards possessed herself of four
of my frigates, and made war upon me,
even before it had been declared ; and then
I was under the necessity of opposing force
to force; and the calamities of war, to my
subjects, were the consequence.-Spain, en-
vironed by coasts, and indebted for a great
portion of her prosperity to her ultra-marine
possessions, suffered by the war more than
any other state. The interruption to her
commerce, and all the destruction incident
to such a situation affected my subjects,
and some of them had the injustice to attri
bute these events to my ministers.-At last,
I had the happiness to see my kingdom tran-
quil within, and free from inquietude, so
far as respected the integrity of my domini-
ons, I being the only one among the kings
of Europe who sustained himself amid the
storms of these later times. Spain yet en-
joyed this tranquillity, not then obstructed by
those councils which have misled you from
the right path. You have too easily permit
ted yourself to be misled, by the aversion of
your first wife towards France; and you
have thoughtlessly participated in the inju
rious resentments indulged against my minis-
ters, against your mother, and agains myself.
It was now necessary to recollect my own
rights as a father and a king. With this

serve you as the most dutiful son-2. That there a cortes should be assembled; or, if your majesty should object to so numerous a body, that all the tribunals and deputies of the kingdom should be convoked.-3. That in the presence of this council my renunciation should be executed in due form, and the motives stated which induced me to ⚫ make it. These are, the love I bear to my subjects, and my wish to make a return for their affection towards me, by securing their tranquillity, and relieving them from the horrors of a civil war, by means of a renunciation, having for its object your majesty's resumption of the sceptre, and your return to govern subjects worthy of your love and affection.-4. That your majesty should not be accompanied by individuals who have justly excited the hatred of the whole nation. 5. That should your majesty, as I am informed, be neither disposed to reign in person, not to return to Spain, in such case, that I should govern in your royal name as your lieutenant. There is no one who can have a claim to be preferred before me. I am summoned thereto by the laws, the wishes of my people, and the love of my subjects; and no one can take more zealous and bounden interest in their prosperity. My renunciation, confined within these limits, will appear in the eyes of the Spaniards ew proof of my preferring their preservation to the glory of governing them, and Europe will deem me worthy of governing a people to whose tranquillity I have shewn myself ready to sacrifice whatever is most flattering and alluring in human esti mation. That God may preserve the im-view, I caused you to be arrested, and I portant life of your majesty for many happy years, is the prayer of your loving and dutiful son, who prostates himself at your royal feet.-FERDINAND.Bayonne, May

t. 1808.

No. VIII-Letter from Charles IV. to his

Son Ferdinand.

My Son-The perfidious counsels of the men who surround your person, have placed Spain in a critical situation. The Emperor alone can save her. Ever since the peace of Basle, I have been firmly persuaded that the essential interests of my people were inseparably connected with the preservation of a good understanding with France. No sacrifice has been omitted by me in order to obtain this important object. Even when France was under the direction of ephemeral governments, I suppressed my private feel ings and listened only to the dictates of policy, and the welfare of my subjects.

found among your papers the proof of your crime. But at the commencement of this career, I melted at seeing my son on the scaffold of destruction, and I admitted my sensibility to be excited by the tears of your mother. I forgave you, notwithstanding my subjects were agitated by the deceitful expedients of a faction, of which you have yourself been the declared leader. From that instant I resigned all the tranquillity of my life, and was compelled to add to the distresses I felt for the calamities of my subjects, the afflictions occasioned by the dissentions in my own family.-My minis ters were calumniated to the Emperor of the French, who believing that the Spaniards were disposed to renounce his alliance, and seeing the discord that prevailed even in the bosom of my own family, under various pretences, inundated my provinces with his troops. (To be continued.)

Prinica by Cox and Baylis, Great Queen Street; published by R. Bagshaw, Brydges Street, CoventBaden, where former Numbers may be had: sold also by J. Budd, Crown and Mitre, Pall Mall.

VOL. XIV. No. 17.] LONDON, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1808. [PRICE 1OD

In the London Gazette Extraordinary, in which were published, by the government, the several documents relating to the late Convention in Portugal, the Armistice, which was the basis of all that followed, and which, as far as it was departed from, in the subsequent negociations, was rendered less injurious and disgraceful; this Armistice, which was, on our part, negociated by Sir Arthur Wellesley, and which bore his signature; this Armistice was published, was, by the government, communicated to the people of England,. in the French language only, while all the other documents were, in the very same Gazette Extraordinary, published in the English language only.

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Sir

SUMMARY OF POLITICS. CONVENTION IN PORTUGAL. Hew Dalrymple is arrived. He landed at Portsmouth on Tuesday last, the 18th instant; and, if I am rightly informed, his reception was not a bit more favourable than that which the citizens of London lately met with at St. James's. The reader knows, that Portsmouth abounds in government dependents of various sorts and sizes; yet, Sir Hew had to pass through hisses more loud and general than ever assailed the actors of a damned play. It is said, that so great was the indignation and so violent the apparent intentions of the populace, that it was thought necessary to surround the General with men, armed with pistols and swords. This was but a scurvy reception for a commander of an expedition; and, I must say, that I give the populace but little credit for it, seeing how silent they have been upon former occasions, when a similar feeling was called for. Sir Hew Dalrymple is looked upon as a man without powerful friends. Therefore it is that he is assailed. It is base to complain of him without, at the same time, complaining of those, whose example he has followed as closely as circumstances would pertuit. There is, it seems, to be a meeting in the County of Hants; but, no address, or petition, will have my vote, unless it point at all those, whose deeds have brought disgrace upon the nis of England.--Sir Arthur Wellesley came to Plymouth, and he had the discretion not to make any great noise upon his landing. He snugged it in, in the Plover sloop, and off he went, as fast as post-horses could take him, to that place where one man is not known from another; and where a man may walk about and be hidden at the same time. This must, however, have been a little mortifying to the high Wellesley. It was not thus that he used to enter Calcutta. He must, upon hurrying out of the wherry, at Plymouth, in order to bundle himself into the post-chaise, bave looked back, with longing eyes, to the

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triumphal arches in India, and to the hundreds and thousands of gilded barges, that used to attend him and his high brother, in their excursions upon the rivers of " our empire in the East." I dare say, that he.. began to wish himself back again in that country of glorious wars;" in that country where we always come off victorious; in that country where we are great conquerors; in that country where there are no Frenchmen to fight against; in that country where there is no "licentious" press, and whence any man, be he who he may, is liable to be transported, at a moment's warning, if he dare to print or speak any thing displeasing to the Commander-in-Chief. If the late Convention, or one like it, had been made in that country, no man would have dared to utter even a whisper of disapprobation. In a country so situated as to its laws, it is very easy to be a great commander. The newspapers, and all the things printed in that country, are, before they are struck off, taken to a person appointed by the ruler, who strikes out with his pen all that he disapproves of, sometimes inserting other words in the stead, and, in short, leaves not one word, even in the advertisements of books, or of any thing else, that he thinks will be displeasing to the Governor General. Oh, what a fine thing it is to be a hero in that country! But, I think it may be as well for us not to expose ourselves to the contempt of the world by talking of the "gle

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ry" which our armies acquire in India, especially now that we have seen ore of these Indian heroes pitted against a general, of France.- Nobody has inquired, how Sir Arthur, how the "Chevalier du Bein," who beat "Monseigneur le Duc d'Abrantes en personne; how this gallant gentleman came to come home; how he came to quit the field of glory. Nobody has made this inquiry, and yet it is an inquiry very. necessary to be made. We were told, that one great object of the Convention was, to gain time;" to get our army, as soon as possible, into the passes of the Pyrenees,"

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there to meet the French and to stop them in their way to Spain. Has a man of our army yet moved in that direction, though it is now two whole months since the Convention was signed, and though it was not pretended, even by Sir Hew, that Junot could have held out more than two or three weeks? Has a man of our army moved in that direction? No; and this, at the time, in my very first article upon the subject, I said must and would be the case. I. knew that we should not send away our army if we could. I knew, that we should not leave the Portuguese people to do any thing in the way of settling their affairs; and, besides, it was easy to forsee, that a sea-conveyance would be wanted for the troops, which conreyance we had made over to the French. There the army is, then, at the end of two months, just where it was the day after Wellesley's "glorious victory." What time has been gained, then? How has the Convention answered the purpose of hastening our army towards "the passes of the Pyren

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nees?" But, how came Wellesley to come away, when it was so necessary to 64 He is not repush on to meet the French?

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called." O, no; he is upon "leave of absence." What! get leave of absence, at the very moment when the army was to be pushed on towards the passes of the Pyrennees!" The conqueror of Vimeira" get leave of absence at such a time! Leave to be absent from fighting! No: he will not like this ground. Well, then, will he say, that there was no prospect of the army's marching towards the passes of the Pyren nees, or moving towards any other point of real war? Will he say this? If he do, then we ask him what was meant by gaining time, in making the Convention, and what that same service was, which was in contemplation at the time when the Convention was made? Admitting, then, that he is come home simply upon leave of absence; that, the fact is as his partizans say; he stands in this dilemma: either he is come home for the purpose of avoiding another meeting with the Tartar Duke, or any of his like; or, the pretext of gaining time by the Convention was a false one.-The real truth, however, I take to be, that the ministers, or some of them, when they found that nothing could reconcile the country to the Convention, they, knowing (what the public did not at first know) that Wellesley had been the chief instrument in making the Convention, sent off with all possible speed, an order to Sir Hew to give him a leave of absents. To keep him there they world no recall him they

did not like. The middle course was determined upon; and, it was, too, of great importance, that he should have an opportunity of telling his story first. This accords with all the rest of the proceedings. There has been, from the first, an evident intention to screen Wellesley, let what would come of the other parties concerned; and this intertion becomes, every day, more and more certain. As to our army in Portugal, so far from being disposed of in the way that was expected, and that it was pretended it would be, it is, it appears, taking possession of different towns and districts in Portugal; seating itself quietly down as in a country that it has won; while our generals are issuing proclamations for the keeping of the people in order. It is said, that we have forty-seven generals there. What a deal of wine they will drink! What a fine expence they will be to us! they will be to us! General HOPE (of the

ardent-minded" family) has issued a proclamation that would not have disgraced the late Lord Advocate of Scotland himself. The fact is, that our whole army in Portugal is now employed in keeping the people of Portugal in order; that is to say, in prevent ing them from forming assemblies of representatives and choosing men to conduct their affairs, as the people of Spain have done. Who did not suppose, that, as soon as we should have beaten the French in Portugal, and relieved that country from the presence and the oppression of its invaders, we should have left the Portuguese to take care of their own affairs and marched off to the assistance of the Spaniards? Was not this what we all supposed? And was it not under the pretence that our army would be set loose to march into Spain; was not this the sole pretence under which a justification, or an

excuse,

was found for the Convention? Now, it appears, however, that our army has got into such snug quarters, that it has no desire to move. It has been moulded into a superintendant of the police; a sort of Gendarmerie, or of Holy-brotherhood, established in Portugal. Are we told, that the security of the monarchy of Portugal requires this; for that the people, if left to themselves, might fall to work to make a government of their own? Let us be told this plainly, then. Let us be told, if this really be the motive, that we are fighting and labouring merely for the support of the old royal families against the new royal fa milies, and not at all for the freedom and happiness of any people in any part of the world. Let us be told this, in so many plain words, and then we shall know how to think and to feel. The king's reception

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of the city of London Address and Petition has excited a little discontent in the minds of many persons, even in this humbled country. But, before we proceeed to make any remarks upon this, let us insert the documents themselves. "TO THE KING'S

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mons

MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY. The hum"ble and dusiful Address and Petition of "the Lord Mayor, Alderman, and Comof the City of London, in common "council assembled. MOST GRACIOUS "SOVEREIGN, -We your majesty's most "dutiful and loyal subjects, the Lord Mayor, Alderman, and Commons of the city of "London, in common council assembled, "most humbly approach your majesty, "with renewed assurances of attachment to your majesty's most sacred person and government, and veneration for the free "principles of the British constitution; to

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express to your majesty our grief and "astonishment, at the extraordinary and "disgraceful Convention lately entered into "by the commander of your majesty's "forces in Portugal, and the commander of "the French army in Lisbon.-- -The cir"cumstances attending this afflicting event "cannot be contemplated by British minds "without the most painful emotions; and "all ranks of your majesty's subjects seem "to have felt the utmost concern and in

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dignation at a treaty so humiliating and "degrading to this country and its allies. "After a signal victory gained by the valour and discipline of British troops, by which the enemy appears to have been cut off from all means of succour or escape, we "have the sad mortification of seeing the "laurels so nobly acquired torn from the "brows of our brave soldiers, and terms "granted to the enemy disgraceful to the "British name, and injurious to the best "interests of the British nation.-Be"sides the restitution of the Russian fleet

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upon a definitive treaty of peace with "that power, and the sending back to "their country, without exchange, so "large a number of Russian sailors, by this ignominious Convention, British fleets are to convey to France the French army and its plunder, where they will be at "liberty immediately to recommence their "active operations against us or our allies. "The guarantee and safe conveyance of their plunder, cannot but prove highly irritating to the pillaged inhabitants over "whom they have tyrannized, and for "whose deliverance and protection the Bri"tish army was sent, and the full recogni"tion of the title and dignity of Emperor "of France, while all mention of the go

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"of court,-HENRY WOODTHORPE." To which Address and Petition his Majesty was graciously pleased to return the following answer I am fully sensible of your loyalty and attachment to my person and government. --I give credit to the "motives which have dictated your Petition that " and Address, but I must remind you "it is inconsistent with the principles of

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British justice to pronounce judgment with"out previous investigation.I should "have hoped that recent occurrences would "have convinced you, that I am at all times "ready to institute inquiries on occasions in "which the character of the country, or "the honour of my arms is conceded, and "that the interposition of the City of Lon. "don could not be necessary for inducing me to direct due inquiry to be made into a transaction, which has disappointed the hopes and expectations of the nation." --They were, as the newspapers state, all graciously received, and had the honour TO KISS HIS MAJESTY'S HAND. What, all? Ali a kiss a-piece? Mr. Waithman, who moved the Address, and who, in making the motion, talked about Dunkirk and the Helder; did he get a kiss too? I would give trifle for the ascertaining of this fact They kneel, I think I have heard, when the kiss. This must have been a highly diverting scene to Sir Arthur Wellesley, who was at court, and who, as appears from the newspapers, was the first person presented to the king on that day,

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upon his return from Portugal, on leave of absence." He must have enjoyed this scene. The thing was perfect in all its

parts. Nothing ever was more so. The Londoners" most humbly approach" with a "most humble and dutiful" expression of

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assurances of attachment to his Majesty's "most sacred person and government;" but, then, immediately afterwards, they fall to expressing opinions relative to the Convention in Portugal, and to pray, that something or other may be done about it. Whereupon they get a good hearty slap; and then, being of the true breed, they all kneel down and fall to kissing the hand, by which it has been bestowed. Towards such people the king certainly acted with great propriety; for, if not only his person was the "most "sacred" person, but his government also

the "most sacred

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by whose misconduct and incapacity the 66 cause of the country and its allies bas "been so shamefully sacrificed :" the an swer to the Petition of 56 was as follows: "I thank you for these professions ""of your duty to me; my concern for "the loss of my island of Minorca is great and sincere; my utmost care "and vigilance have been, and shall be ""exerted to maintain the honour of the "nation, and the commerce of my subjects. The events of war are uncer. "tain, but nothing shall be wanting on my part towards carrying it on with "" vigour, in order to a safe and honour""able peace, and for recovering and securing, by the blessing of God, the "" possessions and rights of my crown ""—I shall not fail to do justice upor any persons who shall have been want ing in their duty to me and their coun ""try; to enforce obedience and discipline in my fleets and armies, and to support the authority and respect due "" to my government." -In the year

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1757, when the immortal Chatham was "at the head of affairs, after the failure of "the Rochford Expedition, a member of "the common council had given notice of

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a motion for "an address and petition "to his majesty on the miscarriage of "the late expedition to the coast of "France."The Lord Mayor acquaint"ed the court, that on Monday the 1st day of October, 1757, William Blair,

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66 66 government; if this was the case, what presumption was it in these citizens to interfere in the exercise of the functions of either? And, if this was not the case, then the citizens told a barefaced lie, and, as having done that, were well worthy of the rebuke they received. They first say you are the most sacred of human beings, and your government is as sacred as you; they appear to approach with fear and trembling not to be described by words; and then, all of a sudden, they begin to sport their opinions about the operations of the army and the conduct of the generals, seeming to forget that the army is under the absolute command of this "most "sacred" of persons, and that all the ge nerals have been selected by this "most "sacred" of governments.-1 am glad, however, that they kissed the king's hand after he had given them what they deserved; because it showed, that they were penitent; that they were come to their senses; that they had seen the folly, not to say the impiety, of presuming to dictate to beings the most sacred" here below. The Morning Chronicle has taken part with the citizens, who, after they got a great way off, seem to have grumbled at the King's answer, notwithstanding they had kneeled down and kissed his hand. This print has quoted some instances of the conduct of the late King, upon similar occasions. The passage is as follows: "A very strong. "Petition was presented by the Corporation of London to the King, in the year 1756, respecting the affair at Minorca,

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Esq. one of the clerks of his majesty's "most honourable privy council, cams "to the Mansion House and acquainted "the Lord Mayor, that he waited on his ""Lordship to let him know, his Majesty "had given proper directions for an in

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quiry to be forthwith made into the le "haviour of the Commanding Officers in "the late expedition against France, and "the cause of the miscarriage of the said ""expedition, and that such inquiry would “be carried an and prosecuted with the "utmost expedition, vigour and effect."

Now, why it should be more incon"sistent with the principles of British jus

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tice, to petition for an inquiry of this "kind in 1808, than in 1756 and 1757, it "is impossible to conceive, unless indeed

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we should suppose, that lord Hawkesbury "is a much better judge of the principles "of British justice than lord Chatham. "The Address presented on Wednesday, "and that of 56, are the same in spirit, "and almost in terms. How then are we to account for the difference of their re ception? Why should the one be con

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