The Sun.
London, England, 1822-12-31 00:00:00

FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE.

'From the Moniteur of Sunday, Dec. 291
ROYAL ORDINANCE.
'44 Louis, by the grace of God, &c.—We have
ordered and do order as follows :-
44 Art. 1. The Viscount de Chauteaubriand,
Peer of France, is appointed Minister Secretary
of State for the Department of Foreign Affairs.
" 2. Our President of' the Council of Ministers
charged with the execution of this Ordinance.
Given at Paris, &c., Dec. 28.
(Signed) " LOUIS.
"And also by the President of the Council of Ministers,
" JII. DE VILLELE."

" Louis, by the grace of God; &c.—We have
ordered and do order as follows :
" The Duke Mathieu de Montmorency, Peer
of. France, iS appointed Minister of State, and a
Member of our Privy Council.
" The President of the Council of Ministers is
charged with the execution of this Ordinance.
" Dec. 28.—Signed as the preceding."

[The Moniteur likewise inserts two parrgraphs from the
_Echo du Midi: one purporting that an unprecedented fall of
snow has cut, off the regular communication with Spain ; the
other, that it was a mistaken assertion of the said Echo du
Midi that the Constitutional troops of Spain had violated the
line of demarcation, and had been fired on by the French troops.
On the contrary, it is now enabled to assert, that the French
territory had been respected.]

[From the Journal des Debats of Sunday.]
" The journals have not failed to fasten upon
the change which has just taken place in the Mi-
nistry ; and the voluntary resignation of a ?Ai-
nister, respecting whose honourable character all
opinions are united., is become a text for reflec-
tions which, by whatever motive they have been
dictated, do not appear to us to bear the stamp
of wisdom and justice. We, in our turn, shall
exercise the right of 'expressing our opinion on a
political event, the importance of which we ap-
preciate;.,and without being anxious about a com-
plete refUtation of the unpleasant conjectures
hick - have been eagerly formed, we shall cor-
rect some important errors which we have noticed
in some journals with which it is our wish always
to agree.

" We find in two of these journals a double
confession, which from its value appears to us to
deserve to be collected. The least suspected
and the most flattering testimonies are those
.which escape from adversaries at the very moment
•..of the most earnest and active hostility.
We have seen appear, (says one of those
journals) men of spotless purity, [d'un blunt sans
melange—of a white without mixture,] and of a
demeanour which gives reason to hope, that they
will always walk with the same step towards the
same object. * * xlt is not to be expected that
a difference of sentiment should arise among
Ministers heartily devoted to the same cause,
-precisely on the subject of a question on which it
would seem that all Royalists must concur.'
" The last composition of our Ministry (says
another journal) was such as must have satisfied
• ail Royalists.' And afterwards it is added—
' 6 The same motive which induces us to deplore
a partial change, would make us deplore a change
still more considerable ; and this motive is the
interest of the monarchy which only can prosper
by the permanance of its. doctrines, and which
would soon become the prey of its enemies, if
its defenders were to be the first to break the tie
by which it is necessary they should be united.'
After concessions so formal, it appears to us
that the attack on a Ministry, composed of mem-
bers so pure and so truly royalist, ought at. least
to be moderate, and that some expressions of
.doubt and mistrust would naturally find their
place among the complaints and reproaches which
•are addressed to it. Who, indeed, will be per-
suaded that a Royalist Ministry could ' fear to
yield to the will of the Royalistopinion.of France ?'
and that with respect to prudence and knowledge,
a Ministry constituted in opposition to the po-
litical will of all the Cabinets of Europe,' merits
• the- regret which a more considerable change'
than that which has taken place would excite in
the minds of its rigid censors ?
Passing over so singular a contradiction, and
limiting ourselves to reply, that at all times it
has been the practice to abstain from judging
statesmen by a particular transaction, because the
causes must-readily escape the penetration and
the actual knowledge of persons at a distance
• from the helm of affairs, but that, on the contrary,
-experience every day teaches how to appreciate
-trunsactions by the tried character and the itc.
knowledged talents of men who have the direc-
tion of measures, and who take upon themselves
the responsibility. We inquire about a Minister
as about a General. May he be depended on—
is he faithful, brave, skilful ? And when the
affirmative is not contested, then soldiers, officers,
.even Generals march with confidence under his
orders. The journals which now attack the
IN'Tinisters have relieved us from the necessity of.
replying to the.question propounded.
" It is, then, the consequence of a new kind
:of contradiction, that after a recognition so ex-
plicit of the royalism and zeal of Ministers, an
.appeal is made against them to all the passions,
and that some even go thel length of holding out
to them the approaching meeting of the Chan).
• bens as an alarming prospect. No; the noble
Chamber of Peers harbours in its bosom no ele-
•ments of opposition formidable to the present
:Ministry.. The depositary of all conservative
principles, the first Chamber of the Kingdom
would, were it needful, sustain with its august
Influence a Ministry who have known . how
maintain at . once public peace at home, and
the dignity .and independence of the Crown
abrOad.
• " But the-Chamber of Deputies! 'We have
-.before us (says the Journal 'we have already'
• quoted) the aspect of a Chamber which is advanc-
ing with views •avhich are not doubtful.' Yes,
doubtless, the Ministers have constantly present
to their minds this Chamber, which is advancing,
reinforced with an almost complete series of
Royalists, the election of whom is in a great mea-
sure their work, and will become their recotn-
pence. We also know this majority, and we are
equally of opinion with our adversaries, though
in a sense diametrically- opposite to theirs, that
4 its views are not doubtful;' that, like the King's

'Ministers, without dreading as without provoking
war, it wishes for peace, but a peace reconcileable
with the interests of our Bourbons, with the
safety of France, with national honour, with the
law of nations, and the sacred rights of Royalty
and of the Royal Family. It is the Chamber
which will also have, in its high wisdom and in its
legislative foresight, to decide which have the
greatest claims to the gratitude of the country,
namely, those who without a correct knowledge
of facts would not fear prematurely to endanger
immense advantages; or those who, placing
themselves in an attitude at once imposing and
pacific, have the courageous prudence to leave to
time and reflection the care of determining when it
may suit the King's Government to seek for
guarantees* in measures more efficacious than the
counsels of good will and good neighbourhood.
" Is there not, besides, on the part of the
opponents of Ministers, a little presumption
in wishing to associate with their opinion all
the Royalists of France, and in character-
izing as the enemies of Royalty all those who
do not fully participate in their opinion on an
important question ? It would be better to
leave this mode of inquiry, which is merely
a begging of the question, to adversaries of
another description. What is proved by an as-
sertion, which it is free for every opinion, and
every shade of an opinion, to take advantage ,of ?
When you have twenty times repeated, ' All
royalist France is desirous of war,' shall we not
be at liberty to say in our turn,all royalist France
wishes for peace ? Who shall decide between
us ? And yet for once be consistent : you have
said, the Ministry is royalist, and is anxious, as
far as is compatible with honour, to shield France
from the terrible scourge of war. We also glory
in the honourable name of Royalist; and im-
prisonment, exile, spoliations, and persecutions
of all kinds, have, during a period of thirty
rears, sufficiently testified our fidelity to the
K'ng, and our devotion to legitimacy. Because
we differ from you on a disputed point of admi-
nistration and policy, have you a right to deny
and blot out our titles ? But know, however,
that if you were even to stretch the tyranny of
opinion to such an extent, you would not have
advanced a single step. Every day we hear the
sentiments expressed by Royalists not less tried
than ourselves—by brave men who have shared
all the misfortunes•of our Princes—by deputies
whose talent is as well known as their royalist
principles—from all the provinces we receive
universal demonstrations of attachment to the
principles which the Minister professes; and
which we have constantly defended ; and all
these demonstrations we dare venture to affirm
are addressed to us from a feeling of interest for
the Throne and the legitimate Monarchy: We
therefore might also boast of a universal royalist
opinion in consonance with our own ; but we
will not imitate the injustice of our adversaries,
we will not tell them that they have ceased to be
Royalists. We admit that most of the persons
opposed to us yield to the impulse of a very ho-
nourable feeling ; we will only add, that this
too-exclusive feeling, which is designedly in-
flamed by the liberal opposition, must inevitably
have the result of dividing men and opinions
whom the necessity of a common defence ought
always to unite. 'We would inform them, that
however just may be their confidence in their
own talents, there is, perhaps, a little arrogance
in believing that they alone are wise and en-
lightened, and that they alone can take a com-
prehensive view of a subject, especially when
the prospect is not before them, and when their
position deprives them of the power which they
cannot deny the Minister possesses, of embracing
the whole political horizon at one glance.
" The Ministers of the King, therefore, cer-
tain of the purity of their intentions, as well as
of the motives of their definitive resolutions, have
to await the convocation of the Chambers in the
greatest tranquillity. The majority of the Cham-
ber of Deputies will not be tempted to accuse
them of weakness ; they have too long had proofs
of the courage and monarchical devotion of M. de
Villele and M. de Corbiere. They know the
talents and the zeal of these two statesmen ; they
have heard them speak from the tribune, and
they have since followed with their eyes the acts
of their administration. Royalist France applaud-
ed their elevation to office, as well as that of
their honourable colleagues ; and the fruits
which it now reaps from their administration are
too precious ever to be forgotten. In their hands
France has seen the royal authority consolidate
and develope itself ; conspiracies have been
stifled without costing a single sacrifice on the
part of public liberty ; the frontiers have been
protected by a faithful and courageous army as-
sembled under the'standard of the Lily ; courage
and honour in adversity have been welcomed
with the kindness due to misfortune, and respect
for humanity has been nobly exhibited, consist-
ently with the observance of a strict neutrality.
No! he is not a weak man who has directed, by
his counsels, so many acts in which prudence and.
energy are united ;.ire will not be considered a
man of narrow and timid policy, who has shown
himself capable of comprehending the profound
wisdom, and of soaring to the height of the views
of the most enlightened monarch in Europe."

[From the Gipette (lc France.]
On the 13th of December, in the evening, a
courier who left Paris on the 6th brought dis-
patches to Verona from the French Government.
They were communicated immediately to the
illustrious personages who remained in that city,
and gave rise the same evening to a meeting of
the diplomatists. These dispatches caused the
most lively sensation. They contained, it is said,
some observations on the affairs of Spain, which,
appeared of a nature to induce the belief that
France, while approving the noble conduct of
MM. de Montmorency and.de Chateaubriand at
the Congress, and acknowledging the necessity
of putting an end to the eVils and inquietudes
caused by the revolution of that country, hesita-
ted nevertheless to have recourse to the expedient
of war ; and that she hoped to obtain by nego-
ciations and menaces (menaces) a result favour-

able to the security of monarchy and of social
order. Very shortly after the communication of

* The letter of the President of the Council to the King's-,
Ambassador at Madrid.

these dispatches, a courier, addressed to the
French Ministry, set out for Paris, and it was
remarked, as we have before noticed, that im-
mediately after the arrival of this courier in the
capital, the ultimatum of the Courts of Russia,
A ustria, and Prussia, was sent in all speed to
Madrid.

[From the Constitutionnell
The Etoile of Saturday contains the following
article :—" From this date, the management of
the Etoile passes into other hands." For our
parts we believe that the editors le have merely
changed their gown.
[From the Journal du Commerce:l
The Etoile of last night informs us that an-
other hand is intrusted with the direction of its
erratic course. This annunciation occupies 'only
two lines, and it is the only article in the Paper
that is worthy of credit. One might be puzzled
to conjecture what the future course of the Star
(Etoile) would be, did we not know that it is
always turned towards the rising Sun.
The Quolidienne of Sunday has a long article
(understood to be from the pen of the Baron
Vitrolles), lamenting over the dismissal of Mont-
morency as a national calamity. The same
Paper asserts that Count Pozzo di I3orgo dis-
patched a courier to his Court (Russia) on
Friday.

[From the Courier Francais]
The diplomatic notes sent to Spain by the dif-
ferent Allied Ministers at Verona with the ob-
ject of claiming greater power for the Crown,
will arrive about the time that the King of Spain
was exercising one of the most important prero-
gatives of Royalty—that of refusing to sanction
a decree of the Cortes. Such a fact says more
than all the declamations of certain journals, and
than all the insinuations of diplomatists.

SPAIN.
[From the Paris Papers.]
lIIA imp, D> c.21.—1n the Sitting of the Cortes
of the 17th, communication was made of the King's refusal to
sanction the Decree on the manner of proceeding with respect to
the apprehension of conspirators.
The following document, setting forth the motives which
have induced his Majesty to refuse his sanction, was read :
" The King. having attentively examined the law on the
mode of proceeding for the apprehension of persons conspiring
against the Constitutional system, which law was decreed by
the-Cortes on the 19th of Nov. last, after having heard the
Council of State, conforming himself to its opinion, and exer-
cising the prerogative granted to him by article 144 of the Con-
stitution, has resolved that the said law be referred back to the
Cortes. , `
" Assuredly nothing is more worthy of the attention of the
Cortes than the adoption of strong and vigorous measures, ca-
pable of reaching the, factious and conspirators' by depriving
them of the slightest hope of escaping a judicial trial, and of
course the punishment which, if convicted, they will not fail
to undergo.
" His Majesty enters fully into these opinions, and on that
account his Government proposes that the Cortes shall declare
that it is necessary to enforce article 308 of the Constitution.
But his Majesty's Government is of opinion that the law sub-
mitted for the royal sanction is not necessary in order to obtain
the desired object, andbesides that, it contains provisions which
would produce much greater inconveniences than the advan-
tages which could be derived from it.
" When this law is said to be unnecessary, it is not on .the
supposition that the case contemplated by art. 808 of the Con-
stitution has not occurred ; on the contrary, no person is so well
convinced as the King, of the necessity of resorting to extraor-
dinary means, to consolidate still further the influence of the
fundamental law of the nation, which is already deeply rooted
in,the hearts of the majority of the Spanish people, and ob-
jected to only by some individuals who are blinded by igno-
rance and supersgtion, or swayed by personal interests and the -
gold ,by which they suffer themselves to be corrupted. His
Majesty, at the same time, is persuaded that the provisions of
the Constitution itself, 'as well as those of the laws explanatory
of its text which were subsequently passed, particularly that of
the 11th of September, 1020, sufficiently protect the welfare of
the state, inasmuch as concerns the arrest of the conspirators,
and that there is no ground for passing exceptional laws with
respect to them which would not apply to other delinquents.
" Certain prejudices, which the enemies of the constitutional
system endeavour to strengthen and extend, have caused some
unreflecting individuals to imagine that the fundamental law
would, by minute difficulties, embarrass the free exercise of
the Judicial Power in the arrest and punishment of delinquents ;
but the law of the 11th of October came very opportunely to un-
deceive these ignorant or evil-disposed men. Combining the
respect which is due to personal liberty, which is the objectof all
public freedom, with the interest which the State has in not suf-
fering crimes to go unpunished, that law declared that in order
to warrant the arrest of a Spaniard, it was sufficent that there
should be evidence which would prove the existence of an
anterior crime, and some motive or ground of suspicion that
might lead to the presumption that such or such persons had
committed it.

" If it should be said that this is not sufficient to reach con-

spirators, the Government still possesses the power which is
given to it by the 1724 Article of the Constitution ; and the
Cortes, also, in the exercise of their functions, can declare that
the extraordinary case contemplated by Article 302 has occur-
red, and in conformity with that declaration suspend some of
the formalities which the same Constitutional Code directs to be
observed in the arrest of any individual.
" What above all things appears indispensable is the pre-
vious and summary information of the existence of a crime.
This is the safeguard of liberty, and the dike which opposes
the irruption of judicial power, and prevents it from becom-
ing a perfect despotism, so much the more oppressive and for-
midable, as its independence is greater, and its errors less capa-
ble of being remedied.
" The law under consideration weakens the rampart of indi-1
vidual security, and in some degree shakes the social edifice to
its lowest foundations. It confides to Political Chiefs—that is

to say, the Executive Government—the exercise of judicial
functions; for is it possible to characterize in any other way the
power of arresting individuals and keeping them an secret for
the space of 30 days; and during this time to make inquiries
and to collect proofs of the crime, in order, as the result may
warrant, either to set the prisoners at liberty, or to send them
to be dealt With by the Judge of the First Instance ?
"Besides, if this article were to be sanctioned, the power of
an agent of the Government would be more extensive than that
of the King himself, since the King cannot, without infring-
ing the fundamental article of the constitution, authorize the
detention of a Spaniard for a longer period than 48 hours ;
whilst, on the other hand, according to this law, every political
Chief, or any person delegated by'him, might extend the period
of confinement to 30 days, without being subject to any respon-
sibility for the exercise of his authority.
" It would be more analogous to the judicial attributes, and
more conformable to constitutional principles, that such extra-
ordinary powers, if they be deemed necessary, should be con-
fided to the judicial authorities ; by this, at least, would be
avoided the inconvenience of intrusting the exercise of extraor-
dinary powers to an agent of the Executive Government, who,
having the public force at his disposal, is more capable ofabus-
ing them. _ _

-"
But, in the opinion of his Majesty, it is not fitting that the
Executive Power and its delegates should be invested with
such exorbitant and dangerous powers • it is sufficient for
them to possess those which are given by the Constitution, a
strict observance of which is the most secure guarantee of our
liberty.
" Other reasons might be adduced ; but those which have
been thus succinctly stated, are sufficient to enable the Cortes
to appreciate the motives which have determined his Majesty
to withhold his sanction from the present law.
" Perhaps this is the first time that the Executive Power in
a civilized Nation has refused to sanction a law, the object of
which was to extend its powers; probably there is no other in-
stance of a Legislature possessing so much confidence in the
Government, that it did not fear to grant it greater privileges
than it was itself desirous to possess. It 'generally happens
among all Nations, that the one body is as jealous of these con-
cessions as the other is anxious to extort them, in order to ex-
tend, under any pretence, the sphere of its power. It was,
therefore, reserved for the Spanish people, at the glorious epoch
of their political regeneration, to exhibit to the world the happy
harmony which prevails between its constituted Powers as a
spectacle worthy of a free people, and the,most certain and
most evident proof that its liberties are established on an inde-
structible foundation.
" FRANCISCO FERNANDEZ GASCO.
" At the Palace. Dec. 16, 1822."

* The Etolie is supposed to be connected with the Foreign.
office : it changed from Pasquier to Montmorency, and will
now again change with Chateaubriand.

QUEEN OF PORTUGAL.