318 THE PRESENT CRISIS OF SPAIN. 



Apponi, excel in diplomacy. Spies and common and private informers 

 are justly reprobated, and their character is marked with the stamp 

 of infamy in all civilized countries'; but it is quite the reverse with 

 diplomacy, because the greater is the shrewdness, roguery, and du- 

 plicity of a diplomatist, the more he will be esteemed by his em- 

 ployers and by the diplomatic body. 



Diplomatists, therefore, are in their public capacity dangerous and 

 immoral beings, and the atmosphere they breathe in and the persons 

 with whom they associate are always to be approached with great 

 prudence and caution. But, when a diplomatist represents a king who 

 is already well known for his dishonesty and perfidy, his very ap- 

 pearance in a country during a national crisis must excite public 

 alarm and general distrust ; his movements and acts, nay, even his 

 nods and signs, are to be carefully watched, to frustrate his treacher- 

 ous machinations and to counteract his political intrigues and courtly 

 snares. 



Louis Philippe, during three weeks, has employed all his resources 

 to find out among his creatures a devoted ambassador to whom he 

 might confide his secret intentions with regard to the present crisis of 

 Spain, and he has at last succeeded in selecting his man, and Count 

 Septime de LatourMaubourg has been officially appointed ambassador 

 to the court of Madrid. Were we to judge of this diplomatist from 

 his past career, we must say that his nomination, accompanied by 

 the official disbandment of the French legion which was forming in 

 favour of the liberal party in Spain, speaks volumes against 

 the "sincerity of Louis Philippe towards the popular government 

 of Spain. In fact, Count ^Septime de ' Latour Maubourg is. the 

 most servile tool of the King of the French, has always shown him- 

 self a doubtful friend of the people, and has acquired the reputation 

 of being an artful politician. It is not unlikely, nay, it is more than 

 probable, that this* French plenipotentiary, before he leave Paris, 

 will have received, not only from his master of the Tuilleries, but 

 from the representatives of Austria, Russia, and Prussia, those in- 

 structions which generally originate from such channels, and the 

 means of acting " double parts/' 



Diplomacy, then, is the only real foreign enemy that Spain has to 

 contend with, and its ministers mttst beware of the foreign ambassa- 

 dors, and of their friendly promises and mediation, because they are 

 capable of assuming all sorts of faces and characters to deceive them. 



