16.) M. de San Miguel to Sir majesty's government would think William A'Court. Madrid, January 12, 1823. Sir;-Under date of the 9th inst. an official copy of the late communications which the representatives of France, Austria, Prussia and Russia at this court, have made to the Spanish government, by order of their respective courts, together with the answers given to them, was forwarded to Mr. Jabat, his majesty's minister plenipotentiary in London. At the same time orders were given to the aforesaid minister, to read the whole of this correspondence to his Britannic majesty's secretary of state for foreign affairs, and to declare to him, that the principles and resolutions of the Spanish government would never differ from those consigned in these docu ments. His Catholic majesty's government will, consequently, have but little to add in the note which I have now the honour to address to you, by royal order, together with the inclosed gazette; which contains an official and authentic copy of the communications in question, which are not forwarded to you for want of time. You, sir, who have been an eyewitness of the events which have occurred in this capital during the last three months, and of the scene which it has presented during the last three days, can inform your government better than any one else, of the firm determination of all Spain to defend her national independence at all hazards, and never to acknowledge a right of intervention on the part of any foreign power. The justice of the cause of the nation is so obvious, and its right to be independent so sacred and imprescriptible, that his it an affrent to your judgment, sir, to dwell any longer upon this point. Any defect, which the present constitution of Spain may have, ought to be discovered and remedied, freely and spontaneously, by the nation itself. The contrary would tend to establish a right of the most terrible and insupportable oppression. The Spaniards are, at present, identified with the constitution promulgated in 1812.— They all behold in their present monarch Don Fernando the 7th, the sacred and inviolable person of their constitutional king; and it cannot be concealed from you, sir, that this respect professed to the king, is extended to all the members of his royal family. Spain, unvarying in her principles, awaits calmly, the result of the answers which have been given to the communications of the four great continental powers; but she flatters herself, however, that blood will not be shed in Europe, for questions so evident in themselves; and that France will lay aside her system of precaution, as she calls it (su llamado sistema de precaucion), which, without being of the slightest utility to her, is the source of so many evils to Spain. To England, who has taken in the conferences at Verona so moderate and pacific a line, it now belongs to crown the work; and to prevent an effusion of blood, which can be productive of no pos sible advantage to the interest of any nation. To England, too, ber longs the task of making the French government perceive the error which it is committing, in taking measures and precautions, which only produce contrary results to those, which it states itself to have in view. 1 The existence of its Army of Observation on the Pyrennees, and the protection afforded to the insurgents, are entirely incompatible with that tranquillity, which the French government says it wishes Spain to enjoy. His Catholic majesty's government hopes that this fatal contradiction will at length disappear: -and, in attaining this object, it feels that it can no where look for more effectual assistance, than from the cabinet of Great Britain, the exercise of whose influence to this effect, will not, it trusts, be denied. I beg, sir, that you will be pleased to lay before your government, the communication which I have now the honour of making to you, and I embrace this opportunity of renewing to you the assurances, &c. &c. (Signed) EVARISTO SAN MIGUEL. No. 17.-Mr. Secretary Canning to Sir Charles Stuart. Foreign Office, January 24, 1823. Sir;-I enclose to your excel lency a copy of a note [See Inclosure in No. 15], which M. de San Miguel, the Spanish secretary of state, addressed to sir William A'Court on the 12th instant, and requested him to transmit to his government. The object of this note is, as your excellency sees, to obtain the good offices of his majesty's government with France, for the purpose of averting hostilities. It is needless to repeat to your excellency, how anxiously the king, our master, deprecates a war between two powers, whose collision must so deeply affect the general tranquillity of Europe; or how confidently his majesty infers from the desire for peace, so repeatedly expressed by his most Christian majesty's government, a disposition on their part to avail themselves of every opening for adjustment and explanation with Spain. I have therefore received his majesty's commands to direct you to request an audience of M. de Chateaubriand, so soon as this despatch shall reach you; to read to him M. de San Miguel's note; and to inform him, that Mr. Jackson (who was the bearer of sir William A'Court's last despatches, and by whom this despatch will be delivered to you), will wait at Paris, for the result of the deliberations of his most Christian majesty's cabinet upon M. de San Miguel's note, in order to convey to sir William A'Court your excellency's report of that result. In your conversation with M. de Chateaubriand, your excellency is not to over-rate the value of the distinctly expressed, in the note of concessions, implied, rather than M. de San Miguel; nor to repre sent it as completely satisfactory, and as leaving nothing to be de sired:-but it is just and reason able, at the same time, to consider the circumstances under which it was written. Assuredly, the more enlightened part of the government, or of the Cortes, of Spain, does not believe the Spanish constitution of 1812 to be, in all its parts, usefully and permanently practicable. But if there exist imperfections in the frame of the government of France, or of England respectively, should we consent to reform those imper fections, on the demand of a foreign power, and under the menace of a foreign war as the penalty of our refusal? Even by the mode in which the demand was made by France, that part of the Spanish government er nation, which might be willing to undertake those ameliorations of the present constitution of Spain without which it is alleged to be unsafe to her neighbours, has been placed in a situation of great diffi culty. Is it not plain, that the same proposition completely changes its nature, according to the manner in which it is brought forward? that: one, which, if submitted through the regular channels of diplomacy, might be matter of wholesome advice or amicable remonstrance; when addressed to a nation aloud, and in the presence, as it were, of all the world, be comes a taunt and a defiance? The publication of the despatch to M. Lagarde, while it was yet on its road to Madrid, is, I know, de fended by the alleged necessity of tranquillizing the public mind at Paris. But if the public mind at Paris required to be tranquillized, was not the public mind at Madrid liable to be inflamed? Your excellency will not under stand these observations to be made with any view of inculpating the proceedings of the French govern ment, with which, abstractedly, we have no concern.. I would recall M. de Chateaubriand's attention to the situation in which the French government has placed itself towards Spain, by the manner in which her first al: ternative for war has been pro pounded only for the purpose of impressing upon the French go vernment the necessity of not omitting any fresh opportunity, however little promising they may deem it, for again stating to Spain the grounds of their dissatisfaction and the nature of their demands. The French government desires to assure itself of the safety of the royal family of Spain, and of a dis position in the leading members of the Cortes, as well as of the government, to turn to advantage any occasion that may occur, or that can be created by a prudent and gradual course of measures, for the remedy of the defects in the Spanish constitution:-a channel is now opened to the French government for endeavouring to arrive at those assurances. A precipitate removal of the royal family from Madrid-would be the instant and infallible consequence of the march of a French army across the frontier. If the amendments in the Spanish constitution are absolutely necessary and it is hopeless to bring about those amendments otherwise than by arms-has the French government chalked out to itself the course by which a suecessful invasion is to be made to lead to the desired result? The occupancy of Madrid, as repeated experience shows, is not the dominion of Spain. The king, and the Cortes, will be established else where, and what is then to follow but a continuance of civil and fo reign war, spreading misery and devastation over the whole kings dom? These considerations your excellency will suggest to M. de Chas teaubriand, in a tone of perfecti amity and good-will; and with the assurance of the most entire per suasion, on the part of his majesty's government, that the prosperity and tranquillity of France are objects in which Great Britain has, herself, the deepest concern. It is seen and acknowledged here, and acknowledged with no feelings but those of congratulation and satisfaction, that every year's contis: nuances of peace to France, must consolidate more and more her post litical institutions, and promote those improvements in her interior condition and resources, which as sure to her the high rank that she holds among European nations. But in proportion as we feel this sentiment sincerely, we deprecate the fearful experiment of a war, in which there is so little to gain by success; and at a hazard which appears to us as imminent as unnecessary. The immediate object, however, of your interview with M. de Chateaubriand is, to bring before him the overture from M. de San Miguel; to offer his majesty's minis ter at Madrid as a channel of communication with the Spanish government; and to assure the French government of the anxious desire of his majesty, to promote, in that or in any other way, the attainment of such a settlement with Spain, as France may deem consistent not only with her safety but her honour. This despatch will be delivered to your excellency, I hope, on Sunday; so that you will have an opportunity of communicating to M. de Chateaubriand the Spanish note, the day before the meeting of the Chambers. I trust the new opening which it affords for discussion and possi ble accommodation, may be felt as some relief to the French government, under the difficulties of their present position. I am, &c. (Signed) GEORGE CANNING. No. 19.-Sir Charles Stuart to Mr. Secretary Canning.-Received January 26. (Extract.) Paris, January 23, 1823. I saw M. de Chateaubriand yes-. terday. He told me that the duke of San Lorenzo had communicated to him the instructions which had been laid before the Cortes-that he must admit the moderation with which M. de San Lorenzo had spoken, respecting the situation of the two governments; but that a conciliatory tone is assumed by the agents of Spain, which does not pre vent the adoption of principles the most incompatible with the tran quillity of Europe, by the govern ment and by the legislature of that country-that at the moment they admit all the defects of their constitution, their readiness to concur in measures to produce a change, and their wish for the publication of a general amnesty, their societies are the most active in their endeavours to organize revolt in France:-in short, that the enormity of the evils resulting from war is not to be compared with the consequences which must result from the success of intrigues which the French ministers have no means of preventing during the continuance of peace. Without questioning the sincerity of the efforts of his majesty's government to maintain peace, he is convinced that it is impossible seriously to press the subject on the Spanish government in sufficient time to lead to the result we desire. The language of the French ministers shows that they would be glad to avail themselves of the publication 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 avoid a declaration of war. No. 20.-Mr. Secretary Canning to Sir William A'Court. Foreign Office, January 26, 1823. Sir;-Mr. Jackson arrived here on Tuesday night with your des patches to the 12th of this month, and on Friday that gentleman was re-despatched to Paris with instructions to sir Charles Stuart, founded on M. San Miguel's note of the 12th instant, requesting the good offices of his majesty for the prevention of war with France. A copy of these instructions his excellency is directed to transmit to you by Mr. Jackson, and to apprize you of the result of his execution of them. Since Mr. Jackson's departure for Paris, I have received your despatch of the 15th instant, and therewith despatches from sir Charles Stuart, which appear some what more favourable to the preservation of peace, than any of the late reports from Paris. As you will receive by Mr. Jackson, intelligence from Paris of five or six days later date, and so much the more important as the meeting of the French chambers will have taken place in the interval, it is useless for me now to speculate on events, which will be to you, when this despatch reaches you, matter of positive information. I shall therefore at once proceed to state the course which you are to follow in either of the two possible alternatives,-1st, of the government of France having decided for war,-2ndly, of its having consented to avail itself of the opening presented by M. San Miguel's note; and to make known through you to the Spanish government, the conditions on which it may be prepared to withdraw its Army of Observation. 2 In the former case, you have nothing to do, but to profess anew his majesty's fixed determination, to maintain during the war as strict and impartial neutrality: always ready at the same time to listen to any call for the renewed interposition of his good offices; if balanced success, or a reviving sense of common danger and mutual interests, shall better incline the contending parties to accommodation. In the other case, you will probably receive from sir Charles Stuart a statement of the terms which the French government deem indispensable, either for their honour or for their safety, in breaking up that system of precaution, the continuance of which operates as a bar to pacification: and the time will then be arrived at which you can, without the suspicion of a dictatorial or an uncalled-for interference, press earnestly upon M. San Miguel a frank and friendly opinion, in support of such of those terms as appear to you to be not unreasonable. The amnesty which, if issued in the king's name, would, as it appears from sir Charles Stuart's despatch of the 23rd, be satisfactory to the French government, it is unnecessary for me to instruct you to urge; since you have informed me of your intention to urge it to the utmost of your power. Neither you nor the French government have over-rated the effect which such an act would be likely to produce throughout Europe. To liberate the person and family of the king not only from danger, but from the appearance of restraint,-to give something like force and free-will to the actions, of the executive power-to rescue the deliberations of the Cortes: from the overawing influence of the Clubs-are, next after the amnesty (which should perhaps precede them all) the alterations-the most desirable, and those which would give the greatest confidence to foreign nations. |