82 



Political Affairs in January, 



Siipli conJiict would, of necessity, ex- 

 cite general reprobation. Those cabinets 

 wliicli sincerely desired' the good of Spain, 

 Jntimaled during two years llieir senti- 

 ments, by the nature of tlic relations 

 which they maintained with its j;overnmenr. 

 France saw herself obliged to confide to 

 an army the protection of her frontiers, 

 and probably she will be compelled also 

 to confide to it the task of putting an end 

 to those provocations which have rendered 

 it necessary. Spain herself has rebelled, 

 in some parts, against a system which is 

 foreign to her habits, to her kuown loyalty, 

 and to her entirely monarchical traditions. 

 In this slate of things, the emperor, our 

 august master, has determined to take a 

 step which cannot leave to the Spanish 

 nation any doubt as to his true intentions, 

 nor as to the sincerity of the wishes he en- 

 tertains in her behalf. It is to be feared 

 that the dangers arising from vicinity, 

 which are always imminent, those which 

 menace the royal family, and the just com- 

 plaints of a neighbouring slate, will termi- 

 nate in creating, between him and Spain, 

 the most grave embarrassments. It is this 

 painful extremity which his majesty would 

 avoid, if possible ; but, as long as the king 

 is not in a condition to express freely his 

 ■will, as long as a deplorable order of things 

 facilitates the efforts of the artists of revo- 

 lutions, who are united by one common 

 bond with those of the oilier countries of 

 Europe, to trouble its repose, is it in the 

 power of the emperor, is it in the power 

 of any monarch, to ainelioralc the rela- 

 tions of the Spanish government with fo- 

 reign powers? On the other hand, how 

 easy would it be to attain this essentia! 

 end, if the king recovered, with his perfect 

 liberty, the means of putting an end to ci- 

 vil war, of preventing a foreign war, and 

 of surrounding himself witii the most en- 

 lightened ai:d the n)0St faitlifid of his sitb- 

 jects, in order to give to S|>aiu those in- 

 stitutions which her wants and her legiti- 

 mate wishes require. Then, free and 

 tranquil, she could not but inspire Europe 

 with the security which she would herself 

 enjoy; and then, too, the powers which 

 now protest agaiust the conduct of her go- 

 vernment, would be eager to renew with 

 her relations truly amicable and founded 

 upon mutual good-will. It is a long time 

 since Russia annoiuiced these grand 

 tiuths to the attention of Tsfauiards. Ne- 

 ver had their patriotism higiier destinies to 

 fulfil than at this moment. M'hat glory 

 for them to conquer revolution a second 

 time, and to prove that it can never exer- 

 cise dominion in a country where ancient 

 virtues, an indelible attachment to piinci- 

 ples which guarantee the duration of so- 

 ciety, and respect for a holy religion, will 

 always triumph over anarchical doctrines, 

 and the artifices employed to extend their 

 fatal influence. Already one portion of 



[Feb. Y, 



the nation has declared itself. It only re ■ 

 mains for the other portion to unite in- 

 stantly with their king to deliver Spain — 

 to save it — to assign it, in the great Euro- 

 pean family, a place so much the more ho- 

 nourable, becausp it would be snatched, 

 as in 1814, from the disastrous triumph of 

 military usurpation. 



In directing you, TV), le Comte, to com- 

 municate to the ministers of his most Ca- 

 tholic majesty, the sentiments developed 

 in this dispatch, his majesty is willing to 

 believe that neither his intentions, nor 

 those of his allies, will be misrepresented. 

 In vain will malevolence endeavour to re- 

 piesent them in the light of foreign inter- 

 ference, which seeks to dictate laws to- 

 Spain. 



To express the desire of seeing a pro- 

 tiacicd misery terminate, to snatch from 

 the same yoke an unhappy monarch, anit 

 one of the first among European nations, 

 —to stop the effusion of blood, and to fa- 

 cilitate the re-establishnieutof an order of 

 things at once wise and national, is certain- 

 ly not attacking the iudepemlence of a 

 country, nor establishing a right of inter- 

 vention against which any power whatever 

 would have reason to protest. If his im- 

 perial majesty had other views, it would 

 rest with him and his allies to let the Spa- 

 nish revolution complete its work. Very 

 soon every germ of prosperity, of wealth, 

 and of power, would be destroyed in the 

 Peninsula ; and, if the Spanish nation can 

 suppose these hostile designs to be enter- 

 tained, they should look for the pioof of 

 tlieir existence in the indifference and the 

 inaction of the allies. 



The reply that will be made to the pre- 

 sent Declaration, must decide questions of 

 the very hiyhtst importance. Your in- 

 structions fioui this day will point out the 

 deteruiiuatiun that you are to make, if the 

 dispositions of the public authority at Ma- 

 diid I eject the means which are offered for 

 securing 10 Spain a future tranquillity, and 

 an imperishable glory. 



The Spanish ministers have replied 

 with Roman spirit and Spartan brevity 

 to the impertinent observations of the 

 Holy Alliance, and tlieir domestic 

 concerns. 



Circular adihessed to the Ambassadors of 

 Spain at ike Courts of Rmsia, Austria, 

 and Prussia. 



It would be unworthy the Spanish go-- 

 vernment to answer the notes of Rus^ua, 

 Austria, and Frussia, because they are 

 only a tissue of lies and calumnies; it con- 

 fines itself to making known to you its inten- 

 tions. — 1. The Spanish nation is governed 

 by a Constitution which was solemnly re- 

 cognized by the emperor of Russia, in 

 1812. — 2. The Spaniards, friends of their 

 country, proclaimed, at the beginning of 

 the ynar 1812, this Constitution, which 



was 



