“I have had a visit this morning from S—— and C—— upon the subject of this convention in Portugal. They, and some of their friends, are very desirous of bringing before the country, in some regular form, the main iniquity of the business,—which has been lost sight of in all the addresses,—and of rectifying public opinion by showing it in its true light.* A military inquiry may or may not convict Sir Hugh Dalrymple of military misconduct. This is the least part of his offence, and no legal proceedings can attach to the heinous crime he has committed; the high treason against all moral feeling, in recognising Junot by his usurped title, and deadening that noble spirit from which, and which only, the redemption of Europe can possible proceed,—by presuming to grant stipulations for the Portuguese which no government ever pretended to have power to make for an independent ally,—covenanting for the impunity of the traitors, and guaranteeing the safety of an
* The feeling of the country seems to have been more generally roused on this occasion than almost on any other:—“The London newspapers joined in one cry of wonder and abhorrence. On no former occasion had they been so unanimous, and scarcely ever was their language so energetic, so manly, so worthy of the English press. The provincial papers proved that from one end of the island to the other the resentment of this grievous wrong was the same. Some refused to disgrace their pages by inserting so infamous a treaty; others surrounded it with broad black lines, putting their journal into mourning for the dismal information it contained.”—Edinburgh Annual Register, 1808, p. 368. |
| 176 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 34. |
“It is important to make the country feel this; and
these sentiments would appear with most effect if they were embodied in a
county address, of which the ostensible purport might be to thank his Majesty
for having instituted an inquiry, and to request that he would be pleased to
appoint a day of national humiliation for this grievous national disgrace. This
will not be liable to the reproof with which he thought proper to receive the
city address, because it prejudges nothing,—military proceedings are out
of the question: what is complained of is, a breach of the law of nations, and
an abandonment of the moral principle which the words of the convention
| Ætat. 34. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 177 |
