CANNING AND SPAIN.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]
SrR,—Is there not an error on this subject in your second leading article in the Spectator of August 5th ? You say that if France and Germany were to seize Belgium and Holland we should make the enterprise fruitless by seizing in turn the colonies of those States, and then proceed: "We should simply do what Canning did when it seemed that Napoleon would conquer Spain,—that is, we should tear from the subjugated State the possessions which rendered it worth subjugating. That was what he meant when he said that he had called a new world into existence to redress the balance of the old." Canning was Foreign Secretary for the first time from 1807 to 1809. During that period he" tore" no possessions from Spain. He sent Sir Arthur Wellesley with an army to help her in the struggle against France. The famous expression quoted was made use of in a debate in 1826. Canning became Foreign Secretary a second time in 1822. Very shortly afterwards, in 1823, Louis X VIII, to forward the views of the Holy Alliance, sent troops to Madrid, upset the newly granted Constitution, and compelled the Government to resume its despotic ways. He also threatened the newly acquired liberties of Portugal Canning immediately recognised the independence of the revolted Spanish colonies. This was what he meant when he used the words :—" I was determined that, if France had Spain, it should not be Spain with the Indies. I called," &c. These words had nothing to do with Napoleon's motion, and Canning did not " tear " any colonies from Spain ; he only recognised, and strengthened immensely, a fait accompli. He saved Portugal by sending English troops to the Tagus; but the threat was sufficient; they were never disembarked.—I am, Sir, &c.,
Reform Club, Pall Mall, S. W. W. B. DUFFIELD.
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