sword had been moved in Europe in favour of Don Carlos. When Don Carlos
went to Spain, in the summer of 1834, there were not three battalions in
arms in that country in his favour. This I positively state as a fact.
But, on the contrary, in the space of forty leagues there were forty
fortified posts in possession of the queen's troops. Now, my lords, this
is a positive fact; and I say that, in the year 1835, when the armistice
was negotiated, when the exchange of prisoners was negotiated by Lord
Eliot, Don Carlos had then acquired a superiority over the queen's
forces, who were obliged to take up a position on the right of the Ebro.
That is to say, between the interval of time I have mentioned,--and this
is a positive fact upon which your lordships may rely, and to which I
pledge my word,--between the summer of 1834 and the period at which the
exchange of prisoners was agreed upon in 1835,--that is, in the course
of a very few months,--the superiority had been gained by Don Carlos in
that part of the country, so far that he had forced the enemy to take up
a position on the other side of the Ebro, abandoning all their fortified
posts, except Pampeluna and one other; and, I must add, they had very
wisely abandoned them, because they found they could not march to their
relief through the country. Now, my lords, this is literally and truly a
fact; and it is a fact not to be forgotten, with respect to the present
contest in Spain. I say, then, that it was the business of this
government not to have interfered by force. We ought not to have done
so, according to the noble marquis's principle--that there ought to be
no interference between two hostile parties in a nation like Spain.

_June 19, 1838._

* * * * *

_The Legion a failure._

The noble viscount has told your lordships, certainly, that he sent out
an expedition; and the noble marquis has informed us that it has always
been the policy of this country to encourage such expeditions. Now,
without meaning to assert that the result of that expedition was a dire
catastrophe, I must be permitted to say that the legion has been, in my
opinion and conviction, a complete failure. It has cost the Spanish
government an enormous sum of money. Great expectations were raised
respecting it, not one of which has been fulfilled. When the legion went
to Spain, the Queen of Spain's army was in all the provinces, with the
exception of Biscay and Navarre.