king to his
majesty, under a reservation of a disputed right of sovereignty,
expressed in the very declaration or instrument stipulating such
restitution, can be accepted or carried into execution, without
derogating from the maxim of law touching the inherent and essential
dignity of the crown of Great Britain? This motion was negatived; and
subsequently the Duke of Newcastle moved for an address to the king,
in approbation of the convention, and of the wise and moderate measures
which had been employed to procure it; which was carried by a large
majority. So far as parliament was concerned, the question of Falkland
Island was, by this motion, set at rest; but out of doors it long
continued to be a matter of dispute. One party maintained that the
possession of Port Egmont was of the utmost importance to England, and
that by the secret article, which it was said existed in the convention,
implying that after all we were to give it up, the national honour had
been meanly sacrificed. The caustic Junius and other writers took this
side of the question. Another party, however, at the head of whom Dr.
Johnson may be reckoned, endeavoured to demonstrate that the whole group
was worth little or nothing, and that it would have been absurd to go to
war about them. Both parties adopted exaggerated language to prove their
propositions; but whether they were of any real value or not, it behoved
England, according to state maxims, to resent the conduct of Spain, in
treacherously falling upon her colony at Port Egmont in times of peace.
No argument, indeed, could justify such an invasion of the dignity of
England's crown and the rights of her subjects. But one thing seems
certain arose from this affair; namely, that if the interests of the
country were sacrificed by this convention, private individuals, at
least, reaped great advantage therefrom. The sudden signing of it,
when war was well nigh pronounced by the prime minister, gave rise to
stockjobbing, and in the course of a few days large fortunes were made
in Change-alley. This formed one of the most weighty charges brought by
the opposition against ministers in the course of the debate. Colonel
Barre, indeed, directly accused them of being implicated in these
unworthy transactions. "A Frenchman," said he, "being in your secrets,
has made nearly half a million of money by jobbing in your funds; and
some of the highest among yourselves have been deeply concerned in the
same scanda