Mr. Yorkerose for the purpose of making his promised motion, relative to the Convention and Armistice in Portugal. He wished particularly to call the attention of the house to some political circumstances, by which it would appear, that some opinions of gen. Bernardine Freire, with respect to the Armistice concluded in Portugal, coming to this country before the dispatches of sir Hew Dalrymple, had tended to prejudice the public mind against that officer. A plain statement of the circumstances would tend to shew things in, perhaps, their proper colours. Sir Hew Dalrymple, it appears, landed in Portugal the day after the battle of Vimiera, and had proceeded, not from England, where he might obtain exact information in every point of view, but from Gibraltar, where he must necessarily have been uninformed. He had not been in the country above an hour and a half, when general Kellerman arrived with a flag of truce; in this situation, he of course was under the necessity of being completely guided and governed by the officers whom he found on the spot; he then, under their guidance, concluded an Armistice, with a view to negociate a Convention, and a copy of this Armistice he communicated to gen. Freire, for the purpose of ascertaining his sentiments upon it. What was the consequence of this highly political step? Why, gen. Freire, to whom sir Hew Dalrymple had sent the Armistice, in order to profit by his judgment on it, immediately wrote off to ministers here, the most unfounded comments concerning it! This was made public here, and tended very much to inflame the public mind against sir Hew Dalrymple. He therefore thought it now material that his own letter on the subject to lord Castlereagh should be laid before the house. Sir Hew Dalrymple had not thought proper to avail himself of these 102 papers before the Court of Inquiry, because they were of a political nature, and the court had been instituted for purposes merely military. In justice, then, to the character of that officer, he hoped these documents would be now produced, from whence he was likely to acquire some advantage. The only representation which had been made to our generals in Portugal, by the Portuguese generals upon the subject, was a letter from the bishop of Oporto to sir Arthur Wellesley; and this communication was made some days after even the Convention had been signed. He should be one of the last men in the house to move for any papers by the production of which government might be in the least degree embarrassed; he trusted there would be no objection on their part to comply with his present motion. He was of opinion, that the conduct of sir Hew Dalrymple had been much misunderstood, and he would ask whether it would be candid in the house to refuse him a justification. He had met a most severe censure; a censure, too, which perhaps those who gave it did not justly estimate. The heroic spirit of our army was almost proverbial, and those who condemned our officers on slight grounds, condemnations eagerly echoed by a venal press, ought to be severely reprehended. He would appeal to the case of sir Robert Calder, who, after much service and splendid victories; had been very hardly treated. He then moved, "That an humble Address be presented his majesty, that he will be graciously pleased to give directions that there be laid before this house, copies or extracts of a Letter from lieut.-general sir Hew Dalrymple to lord viscount Castlereagh, dated 23d Dec. 1808; together with such of the Enclosures therein contained as relate to any representations stated to have been made by any of the Portuguese authorities at Oporto to the Portuguese minister in London, or to lieut, general sir Arthur Wellesley, upon the subject of the late Armistice in Portugal, signed at Vimiera on the 22d of August 1808, in so far as the production of the same may not be prejudicial to his majesty's service; and also, copy of a Letter from lord viscount Castlereagh to lieut.-general sir Hew Dalrymple, in answer thereto, dated 10th Jan. 1809."
Lord Castlereaghopposed the motion, on the ground that he had left it to the discretion of sir Hew Dalrymple, whether or not he would have those papers produced 103 at the Board of Inquiry, which he declined. He was not aware that any impression had been made on the public mind adverse to the officer in question, or that it would be of such importance to his character, as the right hon. gent. seemed to think, to have these papers made public. Of this he was certain, that every representation which could be favourable to sir Hew Dalrymple, had been laid before his majesty before the final decision.
§ General Tarletonsaid, although he would not object to the motion, yet he could not help thinking it would not have any beneficial effect in justifying that disgraceful Convention, nor any of those connected with it. This general succeeded to the command of an army, equal if not superior to the French, in cavalry, in infantry, and in spirit. These were opposed to an army composed of bad materials, for the army of Junot, it must be recollected, were not like the army of Spain; in short, it was such an army as might very likely have triumphed over the Portuguese, but not over the British forces. He should be sorry to hear any officer expressing himself as that right hon. gent, had done, for although he (Mr. Yorke) had been Secretary at War, he appeared to have a very different tinge of mind from any military person as to military transactions. Many officers had told him that a great and pernicious effect had been produced in Spain, in consequence of the previous Convention of Cintra; and this he believed, as it could not be deemed honourable for any officer to go with the placard of Cintra about his neck. Never were there 28,000 men of a finer description than those employed under sir Hew Dalrymple, and yet we had nothing like the Convention of Cintra that stood in the annals of the British history. God forbid that we should ever look upon it in any other view than as most disgraceful; for he would rather place his hand in the fire, than put it to such a Convention as that was. The letter called for had not been transmitted till eleven days after the Convention of Cintra, and he thought that the generals ought to be condemned for their delay in sending dispatches.
Lord Ossulstongenerally differed from the hon. mover on the subject of the Convention of Cintra, which he did not consider as at all honourable or advantageous to the country. He often found it the case that where men very strenuously 104 upon all occasions stood up for the royal prerogative, they were very little interested in the honour of the country. (This we understood to be the substance of the noble lord's speech, but as he spoke in so low a tone we may not be completely correct.)
Mr. Yorkerose in some warmth to repel the insinuations of the noble lord; he had held a seat in that house much longer than the noble lord, and was as warmly interested both for the country and constitution. He had been educated in the principles of the Old Whig School, and was as zealously attached to the interests of the people as the noble lord, or any of his ancestors.
The motion was then put, and negatived. Mr. Yorke then moved, That the copy of a Letter, dated Sept. 8, 1808, containing an account of the number of transports employed in carrying French and Spanish troops from Lisbon, should be laid before the house.—Agreed to.