The Marquess of Londonderrysaid, that on a previous occasion, in the absence of the noble Earl at the head of the Government, he had put a question to a noble Marquess, in order to know when they were likely to receive the ratifications of the quadripartite Treaty. The noble Marquess, in answer had been pleased to be somewhat jocular on it, and had said, that the illustrious Don Miguel was safely on board one of his Majesty's ships. If so, that prince ought to have arrived by this time; but he had not yet heard of his arrival. He did not now intend to put another question on that subject, for he 596 was well aware, that by the departure from the system of non-interference. Don Miguel had been driven out of his kingdom, and so had Don Carlos, and he believed that the same sort of non-interference would be adopted to keep them out. What he wished to ask was this—in what manner did the Ministers intend to receive the illustrious prince Don Carlos, who, he was informed, had now landed at Portsmouth: He put no question about Portugal, for since the unfortunate situation in which that country was now placed, all eyes had been turned towards Spain. He understood that Don Carlos had now been one week at Portsmouth. How long he was to be detained there, it might be as well to know. There had been great delay—it was not for him to say unnecessary delay, but great delay in receiving the illustrious prince. There had been some sort of omission as to the preparations for his reception. He understood that the Under Secretary of State for the Foreign Department had gone down to Portsmouth, accompanied by the Marquess of Mira-flores, and that there had been attempts made to induce the illustrious prince now on our shores, to renounce the rights he possessed. If these reports were true, they were beyond anything that had ever been heard of in history. The reports were so general that he really thought he was doing a favour to the noble Earl in giving him an opportuntity of correcting them and of denying them in the face of Europe. The illustrious prince, Don Carlos, had the same right to protection and to good treatment as Donna Maria and as Charles 10th, and he did not believe it possible that the Government would hold out an example of attempting to seduce men in their misfortunes from the path which their duty to themselves and their country required them to follow. He hoped it was not true that attempts had been made to induce the illustrious prince to do that which might hereafter prejudice his cause, and the cause of Spain. He hoped he should receive a satisfactory answer to the question as to the way in which the Government was to receive Don Carlos.
§ Earl Greywas afraid that upon this, as upon a former occasion, his answer might not be deemed satisfactory by the noble Marquess opposite. Indeed, he hardly knew what the noble Marquess wished him to affirm or deny. The noble 597 Marquess had entered into a desultory statement of what he supposed to be the object of the arrival of the prince, and he asked in what manner Don Carlos was intended to be received? He (Earl Grey) must disclaim any supposition that it was necessary for him to make any statement because certain statements had been made elsewhere, he could not tell by whom, nor on what authority. But he was ready to admit, that Mr. Backhouse had been sent from the Foreign Office down to Portsmouth. With respect to the object of that mission, if, on any future occasion, the noble Marquess thought fit to make a Motion on the subject, he should be ready to meet it; but he should now only say, (expressing no opinion on the question, whether Don Carlos was or was not connected with the cause of the Peninsula)—he should only say, that Don Carlos would be regarded as a prince of the royal blood of Spain, and as such he would be received, and treated with the attention and honour due to his station.
The Marquess of Londonderrysaid, that he hardly knew what the noble Lord meant by saying, that the illustrious prince would be received with the attention due to his rank and station; for if what he had heard was correct, Don Carlos had been riding about Portsmouth in hackney coaches. He had never understood what the policy and the cause were that made Ministers depart from the principle of neutrality. But now that they had departed from it, and that the unfortunate prince was here, he called on them to say whether there had not been a mission from them to induce him to abandon his just rights to the throne of Spain? If such had been the case, he must say, that the mission had been one of the most atrocious that he had ever heard of.
§ Earl Greyobserved, that when the proper time arrived, the papers, respecting which the noble Marquess had formerly inquired, would be laid upon the Table of the House; and if the noble Marquess thought fit to introduce a Motion on the subject to which he had now referred, he should be prepared to meet it.