Class B. No. PARIS AND MADRID. Page 1822 28 28 --- 28 1. Mr. Secy. Canning to Sir William à Court.. Foreign Office, Dec. 3, 2. Mr. Secy. Canning to Sir William à Court.. Foreign Office, Dec. 9, 3. Mr. Secy. Canning to Sir William à Court.. Foreign Office, Dec. 9, 4. Mr. Secy. Canning to Sir William â Court.. Foreign Office, Dec. 17, 5. Mr. Secy. Canning to Sir William à Court.. Foreign Office, Dec. 28, 6. Mr. Secy. Canning to Sir William à Court.. Foreign Office, Dec. 29, 7. Mr. Secy. Canning to Sir William à Court.. Foreign Office, Dec. 29, 8. Sir William à Court to Mr. Secy. Canning.. Madrid................... Dec. 24, 9. Mr. Secy. Canning to Lord Fitzroy Somerset, Foreign Office, Jan. 6, 1823 Incl.-Memorandum of the Duke of Wel lington .... .... .... London 28 29 29 30 30 31 34 10. Mr. Secy. Canning to Sir William à Court.. Foreign Office, Jan. 6, 11. Mr. Secy. Canning to Sir William à Court.. Foreign Office, Jan. 9, 12. Sir William à Court to Mr. Secy. Canning Madrid.... Dec. 26, 1822 36 13. Mr. Secy. Canning to Sir William à Court.. Foreign Office, 14. Sir William à Court to Mr. Secy. Canning.. Madrid................... 15. Sir William à Court to Mr. Secy. Canning Madrid. 16 Sir William à Court to Mr. Secy. Canning.. Madrid. Incl.-M. de San Miguel to Sir W. à Court, Madrid 17. Mr. Secy. Canning to Sir Charles Stuart.... Foreign Office, Jan. 24, 18. Sir William à Court to Mr. Secy. Canning.... Madrid.......... 19. Sir Charles Stuart to Mr. Secy. Canning.... Paris 20. Mr. Secy. Canning to Sir William à Court.. Foreign Office, Jan. 26, 21. Mr. Sęcy. Canning to Sir William à Court.. Foreign Office, Jan 28, 22. Sir Charles Stuart to Mr. Secy. Canning 23. Sir Charles Stuart to Mr. Secy. Canning.. 24. Sir Charles Stuart to Mr. Secy. Canning Paris...... 25. Mr. Secy. Canning to Sir Charles Stuart.... Foreign Office, Feb. 3, 26. Sir William à Court to Mr. Secy. Canning.. Madrid........ Jan. 21, 27. Mr. Secy. Canning to Sir William à Court.. Foreign Office, Feb. 9, 28. Lord Fitzroy Somerset to Mr. Secy. Canning, Madrid...................... Jan. 25, 29. Sir Charles Stuart to Mr. Secy. Canning. Paris.. 30. Sir William à Court to Mr. Secy. Canning.. Madrid... 31. Sir William à Court to Mr. Secy. Canning Madrid.. 32. Sir Wiliam à Court to Mr. Secy. Canning.. Madrid.. 33. Sir Charles Stuart to Mr. Secy. Canning.... Paris. 34. Sir William à Court to Mr. Secy. Canning.. Madrid........ 35. Sir William à Court to Mr. Secy. Canning.. Madrid.. 36. Sir William à Court to Mr. Secy. Canning.. Madrid.. 37. Sir William à Court to Mr. Secy. Canning.. Madrid....................... 38. Sir Charles Stuart to Mr. Secy. Canning... Paris............. 39. Sir William à Court to Mr. Secy. Canning.. Madrid........ 40. Sir William à Court to Mr. Secy. Canning. Madrid........ 41. Sir William à Court to Mr. Secy. Canning.. Madrid.. 42. Sir William à Court to Mr. Secy. Canning 43. Mr. Secy. Canning to Sir Charles Stuart.... Foreign Office, March 31, PARIS AND MADRID. No. 1.-Mr. Secretary Canning to Sir William à Court. (Extract.) Foreign Office, December 3, 1822. In order that you may be fully informed of the manner in which the Question of Interference in the Affairs of Spain has been treated at the Conferences at Verona,. I have directed Copies of the principal Communications received from the Duke of Wellington on that Question, to be prepared for you; and I herewith transmit them to you for your information. No. 2.-Mr. Secretary Canning to Sir William à Court. (Extract.) Foreign Office, December 9, 1822. On the day after I had dispatched my last Messenger to you, M. de Colomb, the Spanish Chargé d'Affaires, requested a Conference; at which he first read, and then delivered to me, the Extract of a Despatch from his Court, of which I inclose a Copy.* No. 3.-Mr. Secretary Canning to Sir William à Court. (Extract.) Foreign Office, December 9, 1822. I HAVE received this morning, the Duke of Wellington's final Dispatches from Verona. No argument will be left unemployed on the part of His Majesty, which may tend to allay a warlike disposition in His Most Christian Majesty's Councils. His Majesty's Mediation between France and Spain, if solicited by Spain and accepted by France, would be gladly given and earnestly exerted, to settle the Disputes between those Powers, and to preserve the Peace of the World. If Spain be disposed to solicit that Mediation, She will entitle Herself to it, First, by redressing our grievances,—and, Secondly, by a confidential and spontaneous assurance, that His Catholick Majesty and His Family are altogether safe from violence. Upon this latter Point, it is not intended that you should make any direct demand to the Spanish Government. It could not properly find its place in a diplomatick Communication to the Minister of His Catholick Majesty. But M. de San Miguel may be easily led to understand, how important an aid would be afforded to any interposition of ours in behalf of Spain, if We could accompany it with the declaration of our entire conviction, that on this point Europe has nothing to fear. No. 4.-Mr. Secretary Canning to Sir William à Court. (Extract.) Foreign Office, December 17, 1822. I TRANSMIT to you an Extract+ of a Despatch which has been received from the Duke of Wellington at Paris. * See Enclosure in No. 7, Verona and Paris, page 13. + See No. 8, Verona and Paris, page 16. You may confidently assure the Spanish Minister, that no effort has been, or will be left untried, on the part of His Majesty, to prevent a War against Spain. No. 5.-Mr. Secretary Canning to Sir William à Court. (Extract.) Foreign Office, December 28, 1822. I RE-DISPATCH your Messenger with the inclosed Copy of an Official Note* presented to the French Government by the Duke of Wellington, the day before his departure from Paris. You will communicate it to M. de San Miguel; and if desired, will furnish him with a Copy of it. No. 6.-Mr. Secretary Canning to Sir William à Court. Foreign Office, December 29, 1822. (Extract.) SIR CHARLES STUART has transmitted the Answer of the French Government to the Official Note presented by the Duke of Wellington, at Paris. In that Answer (of which I enclose a Copy+), the French Government, while it declines accepting the proferred Mediation of His Majesty, on the ground that there is no specifick Point of difference, to the removal or explanation of which, Mediation can be distinctly applied, expresses nevertheless the pleasure with which it. views the "conciliatory dispositions" of the British Government, and the hope which it derives from those dispositions, of the continuance of Peace in Europe. Sir C. Stuart, at the same time, reports to me, the Instructions which have been transmitted by the French Government to their Minister at Madrid. M. de Marcellus has been with me this morning for the purpose of making, by order of his Government, a similar Communication. As the object at Verona was to induce us to make common cause with all; so the object of France, since she has to a certain degree reconsidered for Herself the measures framed at Verona, appears to be to induce us to concur in Her separate and mitigated measure. The truth is, as you are aware, that our objection to joining in the measures settled at Verona was an objection of principle not of degree; an objection not capable therefore of being overcome by a mere modification of the execution of them. It would have been idle to offer our Mediation to France, if we had been prepared to unite with Her in the conditional menace contained in the Despatch which she has now addressed to Her Minister at Madrid,—a menace softened perhaps in its terms, and less precise as to the conditions on which it depends, than those of the other Continental Powers, but still vicious in principle, as at once demanding of * See Enclosure in No. 10, Verona and Paris, page 17.' + See No. 11, Verona and Paris, page 17. M. de Villèle to M. de Lagarde, Paris, Dec. 25, 1822. ~ Spain something to be done in the arrangement of Her internal concerns, and denouncing (in however comparatively distant and obscure a manner) War as the consequence of refusal. In speaking to M. de San Miguel upon the subject of those Instructions, you will disclaim for your Government any participation in this proceeding of the French Government. But you will avow the deep interest which the King, our Master, feels in the agitations now prevailing in Spain; His Majesty's anxious hope that the Spanish Government and Nation may avoid any excess, either in action or in language; and His Majesty's unabated desire, to employ His Good Offices, in whatever way may be most useful to Spain, for averting the dangers with which She is threatened, and for reconciling Her to France and to all Europe. No. 7.-Mr. Secretary Canning to Sir William à Court, (Extract.) It may be of so much use to you, in the present critical state of things, to have with you some Person, in the Duke of Wellington's entire confidence, and capable of communicating in His Grace's name with Individuals whom he has personally known, and who are now in the Spanish Government or Councils, that Lord Fitzroy Somerset has agreed to undertake a Journey to Madrid, for the purpose of affording you such assistance. Foreign Office, December 29, 1822. He will set off in the course of next week, and will remain at Madrid as long as you think he can be useful to you. (Extract.) No. 8.-Sir W. d Court to Mr. Secy. Canning,—(Rec. Jan. 2, 1823.) Madrid, December 24, 1822. MR. JACKSON is arrived, and has delivered to me your Despatches of the 9th ultimo. I am now really inclined to believe, that we shall come to an amicable and satisfactory termination of our Discussions with the Spanish Government. My conversation with M. San Miguel this morning, began by his pulling from his pocket a large roll of papers, with which, he said, he was going down immediately to the Cortes, with the view of requesting authority from that Body, to settle every Question at issue between England and Spain. "We are sure of England, he said, and satisfied with Her Position; and We hope that the Cortes will enable us to make Her satisfied with Spain. We cannot expect Her to range herself on our side, nor to send Troops or Fleets to assist us; but we are persuaded that she will never assist our Enemies, nor furnish them with the means of invading us. It is, moreover, so much Her Interest to prevent War breaking out between us and France, that it is quite unnecessary to ask for Her Mediation.-There is certainly nothing to induce us to ask for such a Mediation at present; but we are at sea, surrounded by dangers, and menaced by storms, and it is impossible to say, that we may not yet require a friendly hand. But we see nothing yet to make it necessary for us to ask any Mediation, nor have we at present any intention to solicit one." I have thought it adviseable, Sir, to repeat to you this conversation, that you may be able to draw from it your own conclusion as to the probability of our Mediation being solicited.-I am myself of opinion that such a step will never be resorted to, till every other hope has failed and certainly there is nothing in the Despatches from Paris, nor in the conversations or conduct of General La Garde, to make this Government despair of avoiding a War without our Mediation. No. 9.-Mr. Secretary Canning to Lord Fitzroy Somerset. MY LORD, Foreign Office, January 6, 1823. In returning to your Lordship the Memorandum which the Duke of Wellington has put into your hands, of the Points upon which it may be advantageous to The King's service, that your Lordship should communicate verbally his Grace's sentiments to such of the Persons now taking a leading part in the Affairs of Spain, as may be likely to be influenced by a Communication of this confidential nature, I have very little to add to the contents of the Memorandum; and that little relates rather to the mode of your acting upon it, than to the substance of the Paper itself. Important as the aid which your Lordship will bring to Sir William à Court must be, you will, I am sure, be aware of the absolute necessity of not appearing to be invested with any Separate Mission, which might detract in the eyes of the Spanish Ministers from that Gentleman's official or personal authority. Your Lordship will be so good as to consult Sir William à Court's wishes and opinions as to the occasions on which, and as to the Persons with whom, you should enter upon the topicks entrusted to your discretion; and you will report to him your several conversations, not disguising from the Individuals with whom those conversations are held, that you are to do so. At the same time, however, that you will be thus careful to mark your relation to His Majesty's established Minister, it will be essential to avoid creating the impression, that the suggestions which your Lordship has to offer on the part of the Duke of Wellington, as the friend and well-wisher of Spain, are only in another shape demands on the part of your Government. A voluntary adoption of the suggestions of the Duke of Wellington would enable us to mediate for Spain with France, with an effect infinitely more powerful. But we do not, like France, demand any thing of this sort, as the price of our forbearance to break with Spain. |