The Express.
London, England, 1847-01-28 00:00:00

SPANISH MARRIAGES.

CORRESPONDENCE LAID BEFORE PARLIAMENT.
Inn MAIVICIA or NORMANDY To ougeourr TON
(Reeerra Sept 2.)
_ _ . _

. ,
PARTS, Serr. Lord,—l this morning received •
note from M. Cina, requesting to see no after his return
front the Chambers, a little before six. Upon my keeping
the appointment, he began by telling me that he had news
from Spain that the marriage of the Queen with the Duke of
Cadiz was settled. I said that the last intelligence we had
received from thence bad induced us to think such a result
not unlikely. He mid he had no details, as be had received
it by telegraph. He then added that the Queen was at the
same time to give her sanction for her rioter's marriage with
the Duke do Montpensier. "At the same time ? " I in-
quired. "Not at the tame time," he answered "not to
tyke place at the same time." I said I laid no stress upon
that; that, of course, I was entirely without instmctious
from my priernment, to give their opinion upon a
communication so entirely unexpected; but that I could
not avoid, at the very first moment, expressing
strongly my great regret at what he had just commit-
nkated to me, and my conviction that it would excite very
unpleasant feelings, both in the British government and in
the country. Ile said, "he trusted nothing that would lad."
I replied that, on the contrary, I thought it was the step
the most likely to continue irritation. " But," he inter-
posed, "if the Queen has children ! " (Si elle a des enfens,
nous remota.) I asked whether that meant that the union
should not take place utiliss she had children? "No, no ! "
he exclaimed, " I can make no such promise." I asked
whether, in point of fact, when the matter had beea men-
tioned before, between him and Lord Aberdeen, he had not
came to such an understanding ? He replied, " that he had,
but that he had told Lord Aberdeen, in February last, that
if he saw any danger of • Coburg marriage, he should con-
sider himself absolved from that engagement. He had con-
sidered that danger arrived, and, in consequence, hie course
I was changed, when he saw, for the first time, a Coburg
Prince placed in the list of candidates ; that the
late government had declared such a marriazte en-
tirely out of the question." I denied that there re-
mained any trace of such an understanding, and that, from
what your lordship had stated to me, I did not believe that
any such had ever been communicated by Lord Aberdeen ver-
bally to you. Ile said he could assure me such had been the
case, on his word. I said that I could, of course, only speak
negatively, and moot take his positive assertion, but that any
personal understanding of that kind could not bind the Bro-
th& government. He then pressed me to read a letter from
Count Jamie, detailing what had passed with Lord
Aberdeen at Windsor, as a proof that your lordship, to
whom the letter bad been read, was aware of this a month
ago. I said that what was known to us officially was,
that the l'rince of Coburg was not an English can-
didate; that, having been otherwise mentioned as a
I candidate for the hand of the Queen of Spain, we of course
considered the choice of him as open to her Majesty; but
that the last despatch I had read to him showed that he was
not the person recommended by the British government.
" Ye'," he said, ' but that was on the 28th of August the
other was on the 199th of July. I then made a proposal of
joint action with reference to the two princes. I was left all
that time without an answer, I could not wait: in the in-
terim J'ai agi." I said that, at any rate, the result had
proved this delay on our part to have had no concealed
motive: that we should have the consolation of knowing
that, throughout, our conduct had been perfectly straight-
forward and open, and that we only desired the independ-
ence and happiness of Spain. Ile replied, " And what
should interfere with that? When the Duke de Montpen-
aier marries the infanta, they will reside in Paris ; France
will gain another princess ; Spain will not have an additional
prince. Our line has always been the same," he added, " I
announced it four yeah ago. A prince of the house of
Bourbon for the queen, not a prince of the house
of Orleans." I said, in reply, that theoe were limits and
distinctions of which we knew nothing; that he could
not expect that others should view in the same light any-
thing that tended towards a union of the two crowns.
" 'That," he said, " need not be feared ; it is guarded against
by the treaty of Utrecht; our line is always the same, a
Bourbon on both thrones, but not the same.' I said, "Of
course the danger to which I alluded was not an actual uni in
between the two kingdoms, but a rapprochement towards
such a result;" and that we could not recognise the validity
of the policy to which he had alluded as established ; that
much regretted what had occurred ; there were few subjects
which could excite an anti-French feeling in England, where
there was such a friendly disposition; that I feared, how-
ever, this was one ; that it would certainly completely destroy
any credit for the suppooed sacrifice the King had made in
declining the Queen's hand for his son ; that he must not
suppose that it was only in England that such a feeling would
be excited ; and that, valuing as I did the French alliance,
I could not but foresee that • feeling of general uneasiness
might produce a different state of things from that which
had hitherto ezisted. He interrupted me by saying that he
did not think it would produce the effect I expected in
other quarters. I added, that be must only un-
derstand me as unexpectedly called upon to express my own
conviction', upon a subject on which, when I received his
message, I little thought I should be under the necessity of
speaking ; but that I could not hold out to him the expecta-
tion that the sentiments of my government would be more
favourable. After explaining to me that the Chambers
would probably finish on Friday, and that it was his intention
to leave Paris for ten days, on Sunday, I stated that that
would he before I could receive anything from my govern-
ment, in reply to the communication I should have to make
to them. But we settled that I ehould hereafter arrange
with him how and when we should meet, and thus we
parted.--I have, &c., (Signed) NORM SNAT.