176 



Political Affairs 



quarter where owr maritime commerce 

 »tands in need of this protection. Cruisers 

 will be appointed in every place wbere our 

 coasts are likely to be menaced. 



If war be inevitable, I willdirect all my 

 cares to circumscribe its circle, and limit 

 its duration. It will only be undertaken to 

 conquer peace, whicli the stale of Spain 

 would render it impossible to attain. Let 

 Ferdinand the Seventh be free to give to 

 his people institutions, which they cannot 

 hold but from him, and which, by insuring 

 their repose, would dissipate the just in- 

 quietudes of France, and from that mo- 

 ment hostilities shall cease. I undertake 

 before you, gentlemen, the solemn engage- 

 ment of this. I was bound to place be- 

 fore you the state of our external affairs. 

 It was my duty to deliberate, and I have 

 done so, after mature consideration. I 

 Lave consulted the dignity of my erown, 

 and the honour and security of France. 

 We are Frenchmen, gentlemen, and will 

 ever be unanimous in the defence of such 

 interests. 



The following opinion of Prince 

 Talleyrand on the address in reply 

 to the speech from the throne, has 

 been printed, and we copy it ver- 

 batim, as an able and conclusive view 

 of the questions pending between 

 France and Spain : — 



It is now sixteen years since, com- 

 manded by him who then ruled the world, 

 to deliver my opinion on a conflict in 

 which he was about to engage with the 

 .Spani>h people, I had the misfortune to 

 displease him by unveiling the future, and 

 pointing out the niiiltitude of dangeis that 

 would arise out of an aggression equally 

 rash and unjust. Disgrace was the re- 

 ward of my sinceiiiy. After so long aa 

 interval, I find myself, by a singular des- 

 tiny, under the necessity of renewing the 

 same efforts, and the same counsels ! The 

 epeecli from the throne has almost ba- 

 nished the last hope of the friends of peace. 

 It is menacing to Spain, and, I nnist say, 

 it seems to me alarming to France. How- 

 ever, war is not yet declared. Peers of 

 France! a moment, a single moment still 

 remains to enable you to preserve the 

 king — to preserve your country from tlie 

 chances of so dangerous an euttrprize. 

 Hasten to fulfil the most sacred of duties, 

 to undeceive the king, who is misled with 

 respect to the wislies of France, the wants 

 of his people, and his own interests, no less 

 than with regard to the state of Spain, 

 which is represented to him as being weak- 

 ened by internal dissention. The wishes 

 of the French people, it is almost u-eless 

 to make the assertion, the wishes of the 

 French people are tor peace. Satiated 

 wiih military glory, they lioped, under tiie 

 goveninipnt of their king, to repair, in die 

 bosom of peace, the miseries of a thirty- 



in February. [March 1, 



one years' war. All the parts of tiiis vast 

 empire, which presents so many various 

 instances, are unanimous on this question. 

 Lille coincides withStrasburg, Lyons with 

 Bordeaux, and Marseilles with Grenoble. 

 The roost insolent party*spirit cannot dis- 

 piitc this fact. And how should it bu 

 otherwise? In this case, have not the 

 shipowners of Bordeaux and Marseilles 

 the same interest as the manufacturer of 

 Lyons or Rouen P Is not the one in danger 

 of being robbed of treasures which he has 

 embarked on the sea — and is not the 

 other, by being suddenly deprived of his 

 most important outlets, exposed to the 

 risk of being compelled to shut up those 

 warehouses which once constituted his 

 glory and the prosperity of our country? 

 Need I mention that portion of the popu- 

 lation who live by their daily labour, and 

 who, through the reduction in the price of 

 that labonr, now earn only a part of the 

 wages necessary to support their families, 

 and who, from day to day, may run the 

 lisk of being deprived of this last re- 

 source ? Can yon suppose, gentlemen, 

 that the most flourishing stale of agricul- 

 ture can escape the disasters that assail in- 

 dustry and trade ? In the present state of 

 society, all branches of prosperity are 

 linked together. The losses of the mer- 

 chant will, in their turn, fall upon the cul- 

 tivator, and the agricultural class of the 

 people will be drained of tlie money that 

 will be lost on the desolated plains of 

 Spain. Why do not the powers of the 

 world count, at this terrible moment, 

 what are the suffrages ? On one side 

 there is a whole people, and, on the other, 

 what shall I say? — some individual in- 

 terests which endeavour to turn to their 

 advantage, exclusively, a restoration which 

 was intended for the benefit of society at 

 large. I have the courage to speak the 

 whole truth. The same chivalric senti- 

 ments, in J789, letl aside generous hearts, 

 and seduced imaginations; but they could 

 not preserve the monarchy ; they may de- 

 stroy it in lt!23, and legitimate monarchy 

 is the want of France. The war is not, as 

 some persons pleased to say, a question 

 relative to dynasty ; it is altogether a party 

 question. The interests of loyalty were 

 not concerned, but only those of a parly, 

 true to its ancient hatreds and its ancient 

 pretensions, and which is less ambitious to 

 preserve than to re-conquer. It is wished 

 to obtain revenge on the tops of the Py- 

 renees. What substantial motives could 

 induce France, now so happy, so tranquil, 

 and so prosperous, to risk the chances of a 

 war with iSpain? What has France to 

 complain of? All her complaints are re- 

 duced to this — the Spanish charter is full 

 of imperfections. I think myself, that it 

 is full of imperfections : but how long is 

 it since nei«;hbouring nations have be- 

 lieved themselves authorized to exact of 



