HL Deb 15 May 1866 vol 183 cc955-9
LORD HOUGHTON

desired to ask the noble Duke the First Lord of the Admiralty, What were the instructions given to Rear Admiral Denman with regard to the Blockade of the Chilean Ports? Serious hostilities had for some time existed between the Republic of Chile and Spain, which had resulted in the bombardment of the town of Valparaiso by the Spanish fleet. The town of Valparaiso stood on a coast which was open and unprotected; it had no fortifications, but at the same time was an important commercial port of the Republic of Chile. Well, the Spanish Admiral had thought it his duty, not only to blockade Valparaiso, but to bombard the town in such a manner as to occasion a very large destruction not only of Chilean but of British and other foreign property. As to the act itself, it did not become him, on the present occasion, to give any opinion upon it. It might have been within the rights of war, but he thought—though he might be wrong—that to bombard a perfectly innocent town, which had not offered any resistance, and had not fired a single shot, was an act without a parallel in the recent annals of war. He did not believe that during the extremities of our war in the Crimea, either in the Black Sea or the Sea of Azor, any town had been bombarded which had not assumed offensive operations against us. That, however, was a matter which might be brought before the House at some other time. On the present occasion his ques- tion referred to the conduct of the British Admiral. Rear Admiral Denman was well known in this country, and certainly he was not a man to shirk responsibility under any circumstances. His conduct on the West Coast of Africa would be in the remembrance of their Lordships. He was then in a position of great difficulty, and the error he committed—if he committed any at all—had been on the side of enterprize and courage. But the British merchants at Valparaiso, having lost a very large amount of property, naturally felt annoyed, and they seemed to imagine that the conduct of Admiral Denman was not what it might have been. He had been informed that they held a meeting after the bombardment, and passed resolutions condemnatory of the conduct of Rear Admiral Denman. It was stated also at the meeting that the Admiral had given them some assurance, or something which they took as an assurance, that the British and American fleets would intervene to prevent a bombardment of Valparaiso. He believed that Admiral Denman had only one ship, and that a wooden one, while the Spanish Admiral had an iron-clad, and the American Commander had a turret ship of peculiar construction, but well suited to the present mode of warfare. He mentioned these circumstances, because they might have had some effect upon the decision of Admiral Denman. The ultimate fact, however, was that the British Admiral altogether declined to interfere in a defensive manner between the Spanish fleet and the Chilean town, and the bombardment took place. A very large amount of British property was destroyed, and the merchants there, and he believed some commercial bodies in this City, were inclined to make Rear Admiral Denman, and through him the British Government, in some degree responsible for the loss which had been sustained. He desired that this matter should be clearly stated, and that justice should be done to all parties. He therefore begged to put his Question to the noble Duke.

THE DUKE OF SOMERSET

In order to answer the Question of the noble Lord (Lord Houghton) it is necessary that I should first state what were the instructions originally given to the senior officer on the coast of Chile. The first instructions were sent out as early as the 17th of November last. At that time we first heard that there was a blockade of the coast of Chile. The fact was communicated by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and the first instructions were sent to Commodore Hervey, who was at that time Senior Officer in the Southern Pacific. These instructions contained a copy of the despatch forwarded by the Foreign Office for the guidance of Her Majesty's Charge d'Affaires in Chile. That despatch was to this effect— Her Majesty's Government rely upon your using your utmost exertions for the protection of lives and properties of British subjects in the lamentable state of things which prevails in Chile; but you will be careful not to transgress the limits of intervention permissible to the agent of a neutral Power; and Her Majesty's Government would be prepared to approve the exertion of any friendly influence which you might bring to bear on the contending parties within those limits, to mitigate the horrors of war, or to bring about a cessation of hostilities until reference could be made to the Spanish Government in Europe. At that time Admiral Denman was not on the coast of Chile, but he was on his way there; and when he was at Panama we sent to him these clear instructions, to the same effect as those which had been sent to the previous Senior Naval Officer— My Lords desire me to inform you that the course hitherto pursued by Commodore Hervey in regard to the hostilities between Spain and Chile has been fully approved by Her Majesty's Government. You are to observe the strictest neutrality towards the contending parties, and to give all the assistance in your power to Her Majesty's Charge d'Affaires in Chile in his endeavours to protect British interests and to bring about a settlement of the dispute which has been so prejudicial to neutral trade. My Lords have communicated the contents of your despatches to Her Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, who has informed their Lordships that he entirely concurs in the instructions now given to you. Your Lordships will, therefore, perceive that under these instructions Admiral Denman was ordered to be strictly neutral between the contending parties. Now, if he had interposed in any way to prevent the bombardment of the city it is obvious that he would have been taking a decided part on one side, and acting, therefore, in direct contravention of the instructions which had been given to him. I believe that this was what actually occurred. When Admiral Denman arrived at Valparaiso he communicated with the Senior Officer of the American force there, and they thought that—although, I understand, the American officer had received much the same instructions as had been given to Admiral Denman—they thought that any bombardment of the town, if done on a sudden, would be attended with such loss of life, and would be an act of so much cruelty that they might protest against it. Accordingly they made it known that if the bombardment did commence without a notice of a few hours at least being given to the town in order that the women, children, and non-combatants might retire, they would proceed to interfere to prevent it. That was a measure of humanity alone proposed to be carried out by Admiral Denman in conjunction with the officer in command of the United States forces. Even that, however, was somewhat beyond the instructions which had been given. But, in fact, a notice, not of a few hours merely, but of four days, was given of the bombardment, and the conditions, therefore, which would, in Admiral Denman's opinion, have justified his interference no longer existed. He was then strictly bound by the letter of his instructions, and could do nothing else but withdraw and allow the Spanish vessels to fire upon the town, or rather the railway station and other buildings. I have heard that in consequence of the withdrawal of the inhabitants there has been hardly any loss of life. I believe that only two persons were killed, and they were looking after their property, and were killed rather accidentally than in consequence of the bombardment. The loss of life, therefore, has been very small. In regard to the loss of property, as the bombardment was directed against the Custom House, and as that was full of English, French, and other foreign property, I am afraid that a very considerable loss has fallen on all the foreign merchants; but with respect to that I must add that notice had been given to the merchants early in December, and it had been proposed by the English Charge d'Affaires that they should remove their goods from the Custom House. That gentleman had communicated with the Chilean authorities, who expressed their willingness to allow the merchants to withdraw their goods on certain conditions; but the conditions were somewhat vexatious, and the foreign residents, moreover, trusted that no Power would in these days attack an unoffending town, and therefore they preferred leaving their goods in the Custom House to taking them out on the conditions which were proposed, and the result has been that a great destruction of their property has taken place in consequence of the bombardment. I be- lieve I have now answered the question of the noble Lord.

LORD DUNSANY

said, he could not help thinking that the terms in which the conduct of Admiral Denman had been spoken of by some of the residents were very ridiculous, although great allowance must be made for the exasperation of men who had just seen their property destroyed. But no one who knew that gallant officer could for a moment believe that he would be backward to undertake any work in which it was his duty to engage. The noble Duke had alluded to a contingency which might have happened, and the British Admiral would then have found himself in a position in which he ought never to be placed. The residents had certainly a right to expect some notice before the bombardment commenced, and with the view of obtaining it Admiral Denman no doubt gave the intimation he did to the Spanish Commander-in-Chief; but he thereby placed himself in a very awkward predicament. If he had felt it necessary to resist the Spanish fleet he would have found that he had no adequate force for that purpose. He believed, however, that an iron-clad had now been sent out to him, although he feared it was rather late.

THE DUKE OF SOMERSET

said, that there could have been no use in sending out an iron-clad ship to Admiral Denman unless new instructions were sent to him at the same time. But his instructions were that he was to remain strictly neutral between the belligerents; and however much that which had occurred was to be regretted, the evil might have been increased if we had mixed ourselves up with the quarrel. Admiral Denman's instructions were that he should remain strictly neutral; but the intimation he gave to the Spanish Commander-in-Chief was no doubt to induce him to allow sufficient time for women, children, and non-combatants to leave the town, and probably it had the effect desired.

House adjourned at a quarter before Nine o'clock, to Thursday next, half past Ten o'clock.