The Sun.
London, England, 1847-01-25 00:00:00

(PPint

LONDON, MONDAY, JANUARY 25, 1847.

The cobweb of plausibilities which has been accu-
mulating round the question of the Montpensier alli-
ance ever since the opening of the French Chambers,
was blown away on the 20th ultimo by the very
enunciations of M. GUIZOT himself. That eminent
statesman may be capable of distorting truth with
some adroitness when compiling elaborate statements
in his cabinet; he may be, and unquestionably is,
very felicitous in making out a marvellously sophis-
tical case on the wrong side, when dropping docu-
ments one after another into his Ministerial portfolio ;
but in the tribune of the Chamber of Peers all his
speciousness blunders into the most naked guile, all
his ingenuity stands forth as the most palpable
hypocrisy. On explaining to the Chamber of Peers
on the evening in question the policy pursued by the
) French Government in relation to the marriages of
I the Spanish Princesses, M. GUIZOT very ostentatiously
reminded his auditors that he was speaking "in the
presence of the Chambers, of France, of England, and
of the KING." In addition to this he distinctlyaffirmed
that he by no means spoke for the purpose of defend-
ing the policy of his Administration. He was not
defending that policy, and yet the whole of his
harangue had nothing about it distinguishable from
special pleading! We would undertake to declare in
the most positive and deliberate manner posssible,
that there never was articulated a ministerial expla-
nation so manifestly flawed by reservations, so im-
pertinently disposed towards the British Government,
so miserably characterised by shameless and con-
temptible shufflings. M. GUIZOT had the coolness to
insinuate that some such course might be expected
from him in his pretended explication of the mysteries
of French diplomacy in the Peninsula. During the
preliminary portion of his address, he observed, " I
am fully aware that my words may have some in-
fluence on the present delicate situation, and I pray
the Chamber to imagine what my position really is,
and to go freely with me both in my frankness and my
reserve." Those expressions were a most necessary
stomachic to enable the Peers to digest the very
crude explanations and assurances vouchsafed to them
by the Minister. It was the trumpet blown before
the Pharisee, and which only rendered his hypocrisy
the more ostensible.

After insisting upon the doctrine which had
continued to be the actuating principle of the French
Government in regard to the Peninsula since 1841,
namely, that under all circumstances the hereditary
sovereignty of Spain should not be permitted to pass
out of the Bourbon dynasty, M. GUIZOT entered upon
an enumeration of the different suitors to the hand of
her Majesty Queen ISABELLA 11. First, the Comte
DE MONTEMOLIN, he remarked, was the candidate
supported by the three Northern Powers, and was
virtually rejected by the populace ; secondly, the
Comte DE TRAPANI was the candidate supported by
Queen CHRISTINA, and so on throughout the cata-
logue, from Prince Lzorom3 of Saxe-Coburg, to Don
HENRIQUB and ultimately to Don FRANCISCO. "No
one," says M. GmZOT, "is more con-
vinced than myself that the struggle for in-
fluence in Spain between England and France is
disastrous to her." A very prettily-turned sentence,
that—under the circumstances ! It reminds us, in-
voludtarily, of lAGo crying shame upon the caitiff
who would " stab a man in the dark," at the very
moment he is pinking RODERIGO with his Damascus.
It were superfluous to enter into a minute analysis of
the fallacies and mis-statements of M. GUIZOT
when addressing the Chambers on Wednesday.
Our columns contain the documents relating to our
Peninsular and Parisian correspondence, laid upon
the table of the House of Commons on Friday even-
ing by the Minister for Foreign Affairs. Those
documents, together with the internal evidence of
M. GuizoT's own oration, form the most fitting
commentary upon these flagitious distortions of
the truth. And, supposing the falsities of
the French Government in this matter were not
sufficiently manifest already, Lord PALMERSTON
will very shortly deliver in his counter-statements,
which, we doubt not for a single moment,
will be amply elucidative of the guile of
France and the candour of England in this
ugly transaction. We must, nevertheless, com-
ment upon one observation uttered by the
French Prime Minister. "Never," said he, speaking
of the co-operation which was so desirable between
England and France, in reference to Spain, "never
has England entered frankly into the concert; her
policy was one of reserve and procrastination ":
Scarcely had the echoes of his voice in pronouncing
r
those syllables died
away, when the air vibrated
with his expressions
with esteem towards Lord
ABERDEEN, for the cordiality with which
he had co-operatedFrancee during the Adminis-
tration of Sir R. PEEL. The inconsistency
we
this
t
would be altogether incomprehensible,
remark that the panegyric upon Lord ABERDEEN no
was merely an introduction to au abusive -
allusion to