Lord Dundassaid, that, in consequence of certain rumours which had been alluded to elsewhere, he wished to ask a noble lord opposite, whether or not there was any foundation for those rumours? He entertained no feeling of hostility to the noble lord in putting this question, which he was quite sure would be answered satisfactorily; convinced as he was, that that noble lord was incapable of carrying on any correspondence hostile to the interests of this country.
§ Lord Beresfordsaid, he wished to make no observation on the manner in which this accusation had been made, under circumstances which prevented the antidote from being applied to the poison. After a long residence in Portugal, and an intimate acquaintance with that country for upwards of twenty years, it was not extraordinary that he should have been on terms of friendly intercourse with many 1316 individuals there, or that he should have occasionally corresponded with them. Accordingly, he had been in the habit of corresponding with the late king, and with many of his ministers. Some of these letters were on matters of friendship, some on matters of business. He had been occasionally consulted, as an individual, on subjects of policy, and had stated his opinions in reply; but, whatever those opinions might have been, there was no great danger to be apprehended from them; for, in no one instance, had any counsel which he had given been followed. He repeated, that he had had correspondence, and should continue to have correspondence, with many people in Portugal. It was said, that he had had correspondence with the duke of Cadaval. He certainly had. From the friendship that existed between that, individual and himself in Portugal, some intercourse had been continued between them since his return to this country: they had each written three or four letters. Now, the charge which was stated or mooted in another place, he wished to meet fairly. The accusation against him was; first, that he had encouraged Don Miguel to pursue the course which he had adopted; and secondly, that he had given him to understand, that that course was approved of by his majesty's ministers. Before he went further, he begged to state, that the correspondence to which he had referred, had been well known to lord Liverpool, to Mr. Canning, and to other ministers of the Grown; and he never had the slightest doubt of the propriety of that correspondence suggested to him by any one of them. This was known to his noble friend, the duke of Wellington, he had shown him the letters as they arrived; but he had not shown him the answers. In looking over the correspondence, he could only find one part alluding to the opinions and intentions of his majesty's ministers; and, so far from giving any encouragement to the proceedings in Portugal, he had done directly the contrary. He would give to this part of the statement made in the other House, as strong a contradiction as words could give. It was most incorrect to say that he had encouraged Don Miguel in any one of his proceedings. He never had given him the least encouragement; he had advised him quite the contrary.
§ The Duke of Wellingtonsaid, his noble friend had shown him the letters which he 1317 had received. They were private letters. The last, written after the events in Portugal, desired him to suspend his judgment; and this letter his noble friend had not answered. As for authorising his noble friend to write to Portugal the opinions of this government, he never had done any such thing. He knew too well what was due to his majesty's representative at the court of Lisbon, to authorise any communication to be made to the government of Portugal, except through our ambassador.