180 - SUBSIDY. TO PORTUGAL The order of the day being read for taking into consideration the Message of the Regent concerning the Subsidy to Portugal, Marquis Wet.i.r.sLEy, after expatiating •on tSe necessity, as well as the policy of continuing. ode 'exertions in Portugal, and bestowing much praise on the Portuguese troops, for their stea din_.ss and bravery in the late campaign, moved an address to the Prime Regent, in answer to the Message. Lord GRENVILLE spoke at great length in opposition to the inot4in ; he thought their Lordships, by sanctioning this Reso lution, would go on rapidly accumulating the already over whelmiug expenditure of the country, and would accelerate that ruin whi,.ll wit, fast approaching. Lord Li v r.RPOOL replied to Lord Grenville, and the motion was agreed to without a division. FRIDAY, MARCH W. The Royal Assent was this day given by Commission to four Public and nine Private Bills. The Public Bills were the Mu tiny. Bill, the, Marine Mutiny Bill, the Population Bill, and a Bill to regulate the Wages of Workmen employs•cl in Silk Ma nufactures. The Commissioners were the Lord Chancellor, the Duke of Montrose, and the Earl of Aylesbury. TwO Pub lic BilLs, the Irish Sugar Exportation Bill, and the Irish Linen Exportation Bill (Bounty Bills) were i - titd a second time; and sevoral Inclosure Bills, sent up from the Commons, were read a first time. After which the I louse adjourned. SATURDAY , MARCH 23. At three o'clock the LORD Cil ANC ELLOR took the Woolsack, when the Irish Sugar Drawback Bill, the Irish Lintli Bounty Bill, the Dublin Coal Bill, and the Dublin Wide Street Bill, were severally read a third time and passed, preparatory to their re ceiving the Royal assent on Monday next, on which day the present Acts will expire. After some further routine business their Lordships adjourn ed until•Munclay. HOUSE OF COMMONS. MONDAY, MARCH 18. CANAL BILLS. Upon the motion for the second reading of the Cambridge Canal Bill, Mr. CA r.vv.itT opposed it. Colonel Duckett supported it, and 11r. Brand wished 1_ should he deferred. 'the House divided,—For the second reading 90; against it 34 . Majority in its favour 56. The Grand Surrey Canal Bill was read a second time, and ordered to be committed. • The Croydon Canal Bill was read a third time and passed. DEFENCE OF POR *FUGAL. Difr. PERCEVAL, in a Committee of Supply, to which the Prince R. ge;a's message relative to the Portuguese Grant had been referred, rose to propose the sum of two millions for the nc.:• of that kingdom this year. In rising, he said, to call the attention if the House to the subject of Portugal, he could not forbe,n- i 4' !Mg the hope, that he would experience little or no oppositio„ .0 the resolution which he intended to submit to the Committee; althoua•h there has been sonic oppoSition in the conve of the last Session, and though the sum for the assistance of the - Portuguese was very materially increased, yet circum stances had so much altered, that it was not likely a similar oh. it-talon should be urged, even to the larger sum. lie concluded by moving a Resolution, which was in some measure an echo of the concluding part of the Regents' Message; " that two millions be granted to the Regent acting in the name and on behalf of hig Majesty, to maintain 30,n00 Portuguese in British pay, and ' to be tardier applied to the aid of Poi tugal in the present con test, in such a manner as circumstances should appear to require." VoNsortav said, that his greatest apprehensions of the eotttenuences to which a perseverance iii the present measures mifht lead, originated from that treaty by which we had blindly and impolitically bound to wage war against France in the Peninsula, until FerdiAand should be resored to the throne ofhis ancestors. This we had engaged to do, without reserve or ex ceUtion. Could the Right Honourable Gentleman bring forward any argument to justify this rash an ; most improvident 'engage ment ? While we were called on to maintain the war on such a Trill: isle, he was unable to see when there could be a limit to it. 111.2 Riala Honourable Gentleman Ir d stated that the reason for a: kind a larger vim this year than was voted in the last Session was. that the contributions of the Portuguese were int e rcept e d by the euemy, that the m e an s f e ll i nto the enemy's hands. the French had occupied, it seems, so large a portion of the Portu guese t errirory, that their Finances could not be brought to the support of the common cause. How wad this to be reconciled • ,THE NATIONAL' RE-GTSTER. to those numerous statements in which the enemy had been do scr:bed as occupying no more of that country than was cpvered . by his armies ? ( Hear ! Hear ! ) He appealed to the recollection of the House how frequently this declaration had been repeated? The Right Hon. Gentleman had stated, that our success ought to encourage us freely to unite in the prosecution of the contest. — It was far from his wish to under rate the valour and achieve. ments,of our army; but he must declare, that he was not aware on what occasions this success had been obtained. Was it in the fall of Rodrigo, or the - subsequent reduction of Almeida ? It could not be denied, however, that we had now last the whole. of that country, with the exception of Lisbon and Its environs. Was this country to exhaust its resources in the hope, the vain hope of drawing Buonaparte into an equally large expenditure Ile Right Hon. Gentleman could hardly have well considered the probable effects of such an attempt. Yet he could not, he. conceived, be ignorant of the'expence of sending money to bon at the present period. He spoke greatly within bounds when he asserted, that upon every hunched pounds sent fix rn this country, there was an immediate loss of thirty. In stating this he defied contradiction.—(.blear ! Hear !)—Bu: this was not all, when the money arrived, it was paid half only in cash al.:d half in Portuguese paper, already much depreciated. HOW long is it supposed that this country can sustain such a burder;./ Had they not already reached a period when an issue of Eiclie 'cider Bills was found necessary to maintain the credit of their merchants ? The Right Hon. Gentleman had himself told them, that the EmperOr of France was reduced to the necessity Of en deavouring to succeed in his objects by a protracted contest. — He feared the Right Hon. Gentleman, with all his knowledge, knew little of the intentions of Buoziaparte. Ho believed his own information was perfectly authentic,which represented the enemy to have a disposable force of 400,000 men, over and above the whole number zit. Spain and Portugal. Was it not known to the Right Hon. Gentleman opposite, that he was also col lecting a great force in the North ; and if this was the case, be could not see any subject of congratulation in the confinement of almost the whole of our own troops in a corner of the Penin sula. He did not wish to divide the House, or to give any sort of angry opposition, but he desired the House to reflect on a few circumstances. The ex pence of transports chicfly . employed be tween this country and Lisbon was three millions, of the *army fifteen or sixteen, of the navy four or five. By the estimates be , . fore the House it appeared, that the whole expenditure was not less than 23 millions. All this for the preservation of a few gar rison towns. Mr. PEELE observed, -that if it did appear, that with one sixth part of our own military force we employed in Spain and Portugal, one-half of the enemy's disposable strength, surely be . might assume that it was the interest of the country to per slit hi the struggle and trial for an honourable issue. Gen. VARLET() N adverted to the sacrifices we have made in the Peninsula. We had sent thither 53,000 men, and we had lost the whole of the Peninsula, except that part which lay be fore Cartaxo and Lisbon; in addition to which, we had also sent to Portugal.2,ooo,oool. sterling in bullion. We had, during the whole. period we were eugaged in the contest, been nmking rk trograde movements, and ruin alone could he the result. As to the ttcestion before the House, he was deci,!illy of opinion 11. - tt the (louse should noti in the present state of commercial di tress, send two millions more to Portugal. Hti could demon strate that the Portuguese soldiers could have been had for one third less than that whiCh was now paid them. lle proceedt a to chew that the Portuguese troops had r.ever been of any actual service. They had never been what they ought to have helm— . a manoeuvring army, such as our - Local Militia would have befit with the same training. The present'war, if to be carried on in the PeninsUla, must be a warfare of finance; and the fatiii truth must at lengthbe told, that we could not maintain ourselves in that country. The question Was 'ik now, how our army was to get away out o:4 Plot titgal ;'but, when that should come to be done, he was afraid it would be foinid to be a difficult matter. — Gentlemen opposite agreed that this -country must go through • the purgatory of invasion ; but he was afraid if ail - a:re went oil in their present state.they must also encounter the purgatory of , a revolution. He_ (General, TarletoP) looked to the matter it a more manly manner than those on the other side did. They viewed it in a dastardly point of,view. He was fur fighting with full uuracrs Getitharien opposite seemed to wish to Wait till the country had encountered every disaster, and till their means were diugnished, and the spirits of their troops broken by 'de feats in other quarters. O.n these grounds he was against the grant. p• no- Resolution was then put, and agreed to without a division. rhe P.epbrt w;ts ordered to be-received to-morrow ) and the Committee to sic arlin on Friday. COM NIERCIAL CREDIT. The Cann czt.r.ost of the - itc H writ .then moved the OrJer of the 1) of the - Ha - use gbink a Committee on the Bill re lating to Commercial Credit. • MI ... • '