372 



it would npi ear tliat liis rival and success- 

 ful negocialor, M. Cliatcaubriand, hailed 

 it witli a trinmpliant pleasure in a dis- 

 patch dated January the 23d. In that 

 dispatch the French Minister slated, 

 " The Duke of Wellington made no 

 objection, in the name of the King his 

 master, to the precautionary measures 

 taken by France on her own frontiers, 

 whilst these measures were evidently 

 authorised by the riglit of dtfendiiig 

 herself, not only against the dan2,ers of 

 infectious disease, but also against tlie 

 moral contagion of political intrieuc, and 

 finally against the violation of the French 

 territory by casual military incursions.' 

 Tile whole case of France niight certainly 

 be justified on this single admission of 

 Mr. Canning, lu the dispatch of Sir 

 Charles Stuart to Mr. Canning, dated 

 Jan. 23, it was stated that, '• without 

 questioning the sincerity of his iSlajcsly's 

 Government to maintain peace, he (the 

 French Minister) is convinced that it is 

 impossible seriously to press the subject 

 on the Spanish Government in sufficient 

 lime to lead to the result wc desire." — 

 It concluded with stating — " The lan- 

 guage of the French Ministers shows that 

 they would be glad to avail themselves 

 of an amnesty, accompanied by any 

 change, however trifling, if brought about 

 by the authority of the King of Spain, 

 which might enable them to avuid a 

 declaration of war." 'J here was, how- 

 ever, another dispatch, of the same date, 

 which asserted that noihing would do 

 but a surrender of the Con>tilutioii. It 

 would appear from the communication of 

 M. Chateaubriand to Mr. Canning, dated 

 January 23d, but not received till the 

 27th, that the King of France's Speech 

 was repeated in substance; and it was not 

 till the 28lh of January that Mr. Canning 

 thought pioper, for the first time, to make 

 a declaration against the principle of in- 

 lerleiing with the intenial concerns of 

 independent slates. Even then he did 

 rot make it in the manner of a strong 

 and open protest addressed to France, 

 and in the face of Europe, but in a 

 private letter to our Minister abroad, in 

 which the propriety of keeping up the 

 iiegocialion was still urgec, ilicugh M. 

 Chateaubriand had given them to under- 

 stand that France would not then be 

 satisfied with any thing short of submis- 

 sion on the part of Spain. In the dis- 

 patch of the 2bth of Janiuiiy, Mr. 

 Canning made an admission such as never 

 was made before by a Minister of this 

 country ; namely, that it was tcr the sake 

 of France, and at her desire, that we 

 were suggesting to Spain, in a tone of 

 friendly counsel, alterations similar to 

 those which France was proposing as 

 the alternative of hostilities. Again, 

 with respect to the Speech of the King, 



Political /tjfairs in Jpril. L^lay 1, 



after M. Cliateanbriand had urged in its 

 favour the necessity of using strong lan- 

 guage to the Chambers — with the Speech 

 itself before him, and the dispatches that 

 refeired to it — Mr. Canning thought it 

 advisable to suggest to the French 

 Minister tliat the Speech was open to 

 tv\o interpretations. M. Chateaubriand 

 was of course again delighted with this 

 instance of creilnlity, and, contrary to 

 his own previous declarations, he set 

 about explaining it away. If there 

 wanted any other evidence to show that 

 France had all along desired the surrender 

 tf the Constituiion of Spain in favour of 

 absolute power, the note presented to 

 the King of Spain by M, Lagarde, and 

 transmitted by Sir \Vm, A'Court to this 

 Government, was a siifticitnt proof. M. 

 Chateaubriand, seeing how anxious Mr. 

 Canning was that Ihc negociation should 

 po on, and seeing that it could not pro- 

 duce the smallest mischief to the views 

 entertained by his own Government, 

 informed Mr. Canning, in a dispatch 

 dated Feb. the lUtli, that, if the Spaniards 

 would consent to cieate a second Cham- 

 ber, military opeiatioa'i should cease. 

 In answer to that comiutinieation, which 

 did not arrive till the lyth of February, 

 Mr. Canning forwarded a long note to 

 Sir C. Stuart, the object of which wa«, 

 plainly to make out a case for Parliament. 

 Such were the negocialions wliich had 

 terminated in war; and a war, the 

 result of which Ministers themselves 

 admitted that no human foresight could 

 calculate. On the 7tli of July, France 

 created a couuler-revolution in Spain, 

 and that justified her in forming an Army 

 of Observation, While she pretended 

 to be the friend of peace, she had sent 

 out to the West Indies with a view of 

 promoting war. If they thought it 

 honourable insidiously to endeavour to 

 undeimine the efforts of a free people, 

 for the sake of a Monarch who went to 

 his throne on the baggage of the British 

 army, they might resist the Address 

 which be was about to move. If they 

 did so, he would only pray that posterity 

 would have mercy on them. If, on the 

 other hand, they were desirous to see 

 the Sovereign of England resume his - 

 proper place, which was not at the head 

 of despotic Sovereigns, but of indepen- 

 dent States, they would agree to the 

 Address which he should now propose.— 

 His Lordship then moved an Address, 

 thanking his Majesty for having ordered 

 the Papers relating to the iaie negocia- 

 tioiis to be laid before the House; 

 expressing their regret that the inter- 

 ference of this country for the preser- 

 vation of peace had proved ineffectual; 

 and at the same time their opinion that 

 the manner in which the negociations had 

 been conducted by Lis Majesty's Ministers 



was 



