SPANISH INDEMNITY BONDS. (Hansard, 24 July 1838)

§ The Earl of Aberdeen

said, that in giving notice that he should to-day present a petition from the holders of Spanish Indemnity Bonds, he had ventured to express an opinion, that he should make out a case, which called for the interference of the Government in their behalf; and he must say, that if the privation and sufferings of any parties were calculated to excite the sympathies of her Majesty's Ministers and obtain from them relief, in the present case those inducements were doubly strong—because the Ministers had been themselves partly the cause of the misfortunes, and the Government was bound to see, that relief was extended. These claimants differed widely from the common class of claimants on the faithless government of Spain. They had heard in that House of the great hardships of those persons who had been connected with the Auxiliary Legion, and who had implored frequently the assistance of Parliament, owing to the impossibility of obtaining the liquidation of their just claims by the Spanish Government; and though, perhaps, in their case, the Government at home, in consequence of the tacit encouragement which it afforded to that expedition, might be, in some degree, morally bound to assist those claimants; still, it was not at all legally bound to interfere in their behalf further than to use its good offices in endeavouring to procure from the Spanish government the payment of their debts. So the holders of any Spanish stock, who had suffered so seriously from, the bankrupt policy of that government had no claim except on the good offices of the British Government. The credit of their own Government was not to be called forward to support those who, by entering into these speculations, had taken the chances of dealing with a government of that character; but those persons, whose petition he should present to their Lordships, stood on a different footing; they were claimants under a treaty which had been ratified by their own Sovereign; and unquestionably, if the Government did not see, that the conditions of that treaty were carried into effect, the claimants were justly entitled to come upon the Govern- 557 ment for indemnity. The state of the case, was briefly this; in 1813 a convention had been entered into at Madrid, when Sir W. A'Court was British ambassador at that court, by which the Spanish government was bound to indemnify those persons who had suffered in the war in the South American colonies. That Convention was ratified by Ferdinand on his restoration, and a commission was appointed to carry it into effect, but little hope was entertained, that the obligations under it could ever be fulfilled. He remembered, that Mr. Canning had spoken despondingly of the success of that commission, but claims were registered under it to the amount of two millions sterling on the part of British subjects, and Spanish claims to the amount of twelve hundred thousand. Subsequently, however, a compromise had been entered into, by which the British claimants compounded their claims, for 900,000l., and the Spanish for 200,000l That compromise had been carried into effect; of the 900,000l., 600,000l. had been paid in specie at the time, and 300,000l. had been created in bonds, on which the interest had been paid regularly till within the last three years. Now, he having been the person who had negociated that treaty, the persons who held those bonds imagined, that he would probably take an interest in its fulfilment, and had, therefore, applied to him frequently to lay their case before Parliament; but he had dissuaded them from petitioning as he had thought, that they might safely rely on the honour and credit of the Government to see, that a treaty of that kind with such conditions should be carried into effect; but when he found, that the whole amount was only 30,000l. a-year, he considered it impossible, whatever might be the state of the Spanish government, that that sum should not have been paid, if the Government here had used proper means to enforce its payment. Culpable as he thought the remissness of Government had been, he did not wish to indulge in any unnecessary reprobation of their conduct; he only wanted to stimulate them to exertion—to whet their almost blunted purpose, and to force upon them the necessity of exacting that act of justice, which, he was sure, there could be no difficulty in obtaining. He would just ask their Lordships—supposing, that this had been a claim on Don Carlos, and that he had been successful in the civil war— 558 would they not have heard long since of a threat of reprisals? And did they not believe, that if a threat of reprisals had been issued the money would have been produced before this time? If fraud and dishonesty were practised by a government, even though it were a liberal government, such ought to be the course pursued. These parties, then, had not merely a claim on the justice of the Spanish government, but they had also a claim on the honour and good faith of this country, which was bound to see that that treaty to which those persons had submitted on the faith of their own Government, was strictly fulfilled. Such, indeed, had been the confidence which that circumstance inspired, that at a time when Spanish funds of every other description were unsaleable in Europe, these bonds not merely kept their former standing in the market but actually rose in value. He did say, then, that if these bonds were found to be no better security for payment from the Spanish government than any others, the loss ought not to fall upon those holders, but that they were entitled to be indemnified by their own Government. He would now present the petition. He would not make a motion on this occasion; but he thought, that these parties ought to receive some redress. If, however, nothing could be done, he thought, that the House ought to come to some resolution on the subject.