The Sun.
London, England, 1847-01-14 00:00:00

THE SPANISH MARRIAGES.

We have received from Paris copies of the docu-
ments respecting the marriages of the Queen of Spain
with Don Francisco d'Assis and the Infanta with the
Duke de Montpensier, presented to the Chamber of De-
r uties by M. Guizot on Tuesday last.
The following are translations of the most important
d i,ipatches :
LORD PALM.ERSTON TO LORD NORMANBY.
Foreign-office, September 22, 1846.
My Lord,—l have had several communications with
the Count de Jarnac, and a conversation of some length
with Monsieur Dumon, on the subject of the intended
marriages which have been announced for the Queen of
;;;pain and for her sister the Infanta ' • and in these com-
munications and conversations I have explained fully
and without disguise the sentiments entertair.ed by the
British Government upon the Queen's marriage, and the
strong objection felt by them to the proposed marriage
of the Infauta, and I have now to instruct your Excel-
lency to bring those opinions and objections in a more
fcrmal manner under the consideration of the Govern-
ment of France.

And grit, with respect to the marriage of the Queen
Isabella, her Majesty's Government have good reason
to believe, and it appears, iedeed, by the avowal of the
French Government, that this marriage was brought
about by French influence at Madrid. Her Majesty's
Government rejoice to think that the British Govern-
ment was no party to that arrangement.
Her Majesty's Government might indeed remark that
the steps then taken at Madrid, by France singly, to
bring about this marriage, were hardly consistent with
the proposal which that Government states itself to have
made to her Majesty's Government, that the two Go-
vernments should act in unison in regard to the advice
to be given to the Court of Madrid upon the subject of
the marriage of Queen Isabella ; because it appears that
at the time when the French Charge d'Affaires in Lon-
don was asking the opinion of the British Government
upon this matter, in order, as he stated, that if the two
Governments could come to an agreement about it, they
should each give the same recommendation, the French
Ambassador at Madrid was already in possession of in-
structions from his own Government to endeavour to
bring about the Queen's marriage with one particular
candidate ' • and that consequently the question about
which the French Charge d'Affaires was offering to de-
liberate in London had been already decided by the in-
structions which had been sent to the French Ambas-
sador at Madrid.
It is true, indeed, that no proposal on this subject was
formally or distinctly made to her Majesty's Government
by the Government of France ; but what passed was
nearly as follows:
The day after I had sent off my dispatch (No. 6) of
the 19th of July, to Mr. Bulwer, I showed a copy of
:hat dispatch to the Count de Jarnac, as an explana-
tion of the views which her Majesty's Government, in
the short time during which they had been in office,
had taken of the question of the Queen Isabella's mar-
s iage, and of the existing state of things in Spain ; and
I gave him the dispatch to take home with him, that he
might confidentially send a copy of it to his Government.
Count Jarnac made several remarks on the dispatch,
and objected both to that part which related to the
marriage of the Queen of Spain, and to that part which
related to the political condition of Spain.
-Upon the latter part, he expressed apprehension that
the observation made upon the system of rule which
has of late years prevailed in Spain might, if made
known in that country, produce bad and inconvenient
effects ; but it is to be presumed that the French Go-
vernment did not share those apprehensions, because a
copy of that dispatch, though it had been communi-
cated in confidence to the French Government, was sent
by them to M. Bresson, and was by him made known to
several persons at Madrid.
But upon the first part of my dispatch, Count Jarnac
observed, that it seemed to him to put forward the Prince
Leopold of Saxe Coburg as a candidate for the hand of
the Queen of Spain, while it excluded Count Trapani
from the list. That this was inconsistent with what had
passed between the French Government and the late
British Ministry, between whom it had been agreed that
while, on the one hand, the French Government should
withdraw the Duke of Montpensier, or any son of the
King of the French, from the list of candidates, the
British Government, on the other hand, should withdraw
the Prince of Coburg, and that some descendant of
Philip V. should be recommended as consort for the
Queen of Spain.
I said, that I found no trace in the Foreign-office of
any such agreement.
That what I understood to have been the ground taken
by her Majesty's late Government was, that unless the
Queen of Spain were likely to marry a French Prince,
to which the British Government would, upon political
grounds, have an unquestionable right to object, the
marriage of the Queen of Spain was a Spanish question,
with which no foreign Government was entitled to inter-
fere so as to control Queen Isabella's choice, whether
that choice might fall upon a Bourbon or upon any other
Prince. That the British Government would make no
objection, therefore, to her selecting a descendant of
Philip V., although it did not join in endeavouring to
impose any such restriction upon her; that Prince Leo-
pold of Saxe Coburg was not a candidate put forward
or supported by the British Government, and that, on
the contrary, the British Government thought for many
weighty reasons that a Spanish Prince would be a
fitter husband for th© Queen, and that among Spanish
Princes Don Enrique seemed to be the best suited to be
her consort.

I said that these views had been made known to Mr.
Italwer by my predecessor in office, and that Count
Jarnac would see that, in the beginning of my dispatch,
I referred to and adopted tho instructions which had
been given on these points by her Majesty's late Govern-
ment. That, consequently, it was impossible that Mr.

Bulwer should suppose that the mere circumstance o 1

the Prince of Coburg being mentioned by me as one of
the candidates for the Queen's hand, was to be construed
by him as an intimation that the British Government in-
tended to support or to recommend that :Prince. But
that, moreover, my private communication to Mr. Bulwer
would prevent the possibility of any such mistake.
But I denied that there is any such parity between the
relation of the Prince of Coburg to the Royal Family of
England, and the relation of the Duke of Montpensier to
the Royal Family of France, as would afford any ground
for such a bargain as that which Count Jarnac claimed
as having been made.
The Duke of Montpensier is a Frenchman, and son of
the King of the French ; the Prince of Coburg is not an
Englishman, and is only cousin to the Queen of Eng-
lead, while his brother is married to a daughter, and his
sister to a son, of the King of the French. That his
connexion with the Royal Family of France is therefore
fully as close as his connexion with the Royal Family of
England, if not more so ; and that it is impossible, in
any point of view, to look upon him as an English can -
d'date, or to make his withdrawal by England a condi-
tion of the withdrawal of the Duke of Montpensier by
France.

That if indeed the question had been as to Prince
George of Cambridge, there might have been some parity
established between him and the Duke of Montpensier.
Bat I said that in point of fact I had always understood
that when about three years ago, and before the Prince
of Coburg was talked of as a candidate, the French Go-
vernment had proposed, and had laid down for its own
guidance the principle that the choice of the Queen of
Spain should be confined to a descendant of Philip V.,
the French Government itself had pointed out that by
so doing it excluded any son of the King of the French;
and therefore the decision of the King of the French that
the Duke of Montpensier should not be a candidate for
the hand of the Queen of Spain was not part of any bar-
gain about the Prince of Coburg, who had not at that
time been mentioned as a candidate, but was the result
of the sense which the King of the French spontaneously
entertained of what was due by France to the faith of
the transactions of the Treaty of Utrecht, and to the just
value attached by other States to the maintenance of the
balance of power in Europe.
I said, moreover, that in using the word " candidate '4/'
to designate Prince Leopold as one of the Princes who
had been publicly talked of as a possible consort fur the
Q teen of Spain, I employed that word in its ordinary
and colloquial sense ; and that it did not imply that the
Prince of Coburg was put forward by the British Go-
vernment, or even that the Prince had himself taken any
steps in the matter. But, at the same time, I distinctly
told Count Jarnac, and I afterwards repeated the same
thing to him several times an other occasions, that the
opinion of Lord John Russell, of myself, and those of
our colleagues who had had time to give their attention
to Spanish affairs, was the same as that which had been
entertained by her Majesty's late Government—namely,
that a Spanish Prince would be the most prudent choice
for the Queen of Spain, and that Don Enrique seemed
to be the Spanish Prince who was the fittest lbr the
high position of being Queen Isabella's consort.
It is impossible, therefore, that either Count Jarnac
or the French Minister could, from the first moment,
when any communication took place between the two
Governments on these matters, have had any sdoubt as
to what the opinions of the British Government were
with regard to the best choice to be made by the Queen
of Spain.
The Count de Jarnac stated upon that and upon other
occasions that it would afford the French Government
pleasure if her Majesty's Government should instruct
Mr. Bulwer to give effect to those opinions by recom-
mending a Prince who should fulfil the French condition
of being a descendant of Philip V., while at the same
time he he Possessed the qualification of being a Spanish
to which we appeared to attach importance.
lie said, also on a subsequent occasion, that if the
British Government should determine to recommend
was s
Don Enrique, he sure that the French Government
would be willing to u
they hoped that if it B;l'o%4'e:t ingiving that advice ; but
turn out that at Madrid the
objections to that Prince were insurmountable, the
British Government would not afterwards oppose the
choice of Don Francisco.
I said that her Majesty's Government did not con-
sider themselves to have any right to make anopposition toDon Francisco in such a case, although, for
which I had explained to him, they could not takreeascoonns.
themselves the responsibility of recommending that
:Prince.
It seems, however, that about the time when these
communications with a view to an united course between
the two Governments were passing in London, the
French Ambassador at Madrid, in pursuance of instruc-
tions which must have been sent to him some time
be -
was co-operating in the: employment of moral. co-
erei, n to compel the Queen of Spain to accept a Prince
who was not the candidate whom the British Govern-
ment was willing to concur with the Government of
France in recommending.
Her:Majesty's Government are quite ready to admit
that there was no engagement on this matter between
the two Governments, and that each was at liberty to
give to the Spanish Court such advice about the marriage
of the Queen as it might:think fit. But her Majesty's Go-
vernment do not exactly see why such anxiety should

T }I

have been expressed in London to ascertain the senti-
ments of the British Government on this matter pro-i
with a view that the two Governments might
be enabled to take a common course, while at the same
time• such precipitation was displayed at Madrid in hur-
rying on a course which the French Government had
been informer; was one in a hich the co-operation of the
British Government was not to be expected.
But the marriage of the Queen of Spain is a matter
which concerns Spain chiefly, and other countries only
indirectly; and although her Majesty's Government
may have its own opinion as to the manner in which
that marriage has been settled, they would probably not
have thought it necessary to make any official commu-
nication to the French Government on thaematter, if it
had been an insulated transaction, and had not been
coupled with the projected marriage of the Infanta to
the Duke of Montpensier; thus forming part of a most
objectionable political arrangement.
It is the projected marriage of the Duke of Mont-
pensier to the Infanta which renders the present com-
munication necessary, and it is against that marriage
that the British Government must formally remonstrate
and protest.
Such a marriage would give just cause of political
jealousy to other powers, and unless accompanied by
public acts in France and in Spain, of which as yet no
mention has been made, might give rise to questions
calculated to disturb the peace of Europe.
The British Government hopes that the Queen of
Spain may live many years to enjoy a long and pros-
perous reign, and wishes that her approaching marriage
may be blessed with an ample succession to the Spanish
Crown ; but the uncertainty of human affairs renders it
necessary to contemplate the possibility that the Crown
of Spain might devolve upon the Infanta.
If this should happen, the Infanta being married to
the Duke of Montpensier, that Prince would be placed
in that very position of consort to the Queen of Spain
which the King of the French three or four years ago,
himself, as I have before stated, practically acknowledged
that no son of his ought to occupy, and thus, in conse-
quence of such a marriage, that event which the King of
the French declined to arrive at by direct means might
by indirect means be brought to pass ; and it appears to
her Majesty's Government that good faith requires that
what has been relinquished in one way should not be
sought after in another.
But if the line of Queen Isabella were to fail, and if
there should at the same time exist issue of the marriage
of the Infanta with the Duke of Montpensier, a serious
question might arise respecting the succession to the
Spanish Crown. For it is perfectly clear, that by virtue
of the renunciation made at the peace of Utrecht by the
Duke of Orleans of that day, all his " descendants, male
and female, from that time and for ever, are excluded,
disabled, and incapacitated from succeeding to the throne
of Spain in what manner soever the succession might
fall to their line," and therefore the children and de-
scendants of the Duke of Montpensier would, in conse-
quence thereof, be excluded from succeeding to the
Spanish Crown. But, however plain the words, and
however positive the effect, of that renunciation must be
acknowledged to be, the children or descendants of this
marriage might endeavour to set up a claim in virtue of
the rights which they might allege to have inherited
from the Infanta, and thus, unless all pretence for doubt
on this point were at once removed by some valid act of
renunciation en the part of the Infanta for herself and
her descendants, the stipulation of the Treaty of Utrecht
might be set aside by an evasion, or the peace of Europe
might be disturbed by another war on account of the
succession to the throne of Spain.
But these considerations might also give rise to a
question of more immediate practical application, be-
cause there seems good ground for the assertion which
has been made in Spain, that in consequence of the eX-
, elusion of the line of Orleans by the transaction of
Utrecht, the marriage of the Infanta to the Duke of
Montpensier would be contrary to the law and constitu-
tion of Spain.
Her Majesty's Government can scarcely believe that
a Government so anxious as that of France has pro-
fessed itself to be to respect the tranquillity of neigh-
bouring states, and to preserve the peace of Europe, ca❑
insist upon the completion of a marriage which threa-
tens immmediate danger to the one, and is calculated to
place in serious jeopardy the other.
But even if the objections to this marriage which are
founded upon the Treaty of Utrecht and the law of
Spain were as weak and untenable as the British Go-
vernment considers them strong and conclusive, the
British Government would still protest against this
marriage as inconsistent with a due regard to the ba-
lance of power in Europe, and as necessarily tending to
affect injuriously the nature and character of the rela-
tions between England and France.
It is impossible for the British Government to look
upon this marriage as a mere domestic arrangement be-
tween two royal families. It is a political transaction
between two great European Powers; and it would tend
to link the policy of the one to that of the other in re-
gard to the foreign relations of both in a manner which
would be dangerous to other States.
The British Government attaches great importance to
the maintenance of friendly relations both with France
and with Spain; and as long as the British Government
in its dealings with France shall have to consider only
what may be justly due to the interests and honour of
France; and in its dealings with Spain shall only have
to show a similar respect for the honour and interests of
Spain; there is reason to expect that t'se spirit of justice
and moderation which it may be hoped will always
direct the councils of England will secure the continu-
ance of peace between Great Britain and those two
Powers. But, if Spanish interests are to sway the
foreign policy of France, or, if French interests are to
sway the foret,,n policy of Spain, Great Britain may
find herself involved in serious differences with one of
those Powers, without having given it any well•founded
cause of complaint, and mey be unable to re-establish
friendly relations with the one without submitting to
what may be unreasonable and unjust demands on the
part of the other.
The British Government considers the projected mar-
riage of the Duke of Montpensier to the Infants as cal-
culated thus to link together the policy of France and
Spain ; and as France must be admitted, without any
disparagement to Spain, to be the greatest power of the
two, this marriage would tend to affect, most injuriously
for the interests of other States, the political indepen-
dence of Spain.
But the injurious effects of this marriage would not
be confined to their direct operation on the foreign re-
lations of Spain. They would be felt also through the
medium of her internal concerns. _ _

Past experience does not warrant any confident ex-
pectation that 4pain will in future be entirely free from
those violent outbreaks which have so often taken place
within her territory of late years.
The French Government has wisely laid it down as
a rule of conduct to abstain from any armed interference
in the internal affairs of in on these occasions. But
if this marriage should oncluded, and a more close
and direct connexion shoo thus be established between
the two reigning families, will not the chance be in-
creased that some military interference of France in
Spain may not only involve France in a struggle with
the national passions of the Spauish people, but may also
lead other powers again to make Spain one of the battle-

fields of Europe ?
It is impossible that Great Britain can be an indif-
ferent observer of as event which may lead to such re-
sults ; and it is not in the nature of things that an event
so brought to pass, and calculated to produce such
results, should not exercise a most injurious influence
upon the relations between Great Britain and France.
The manner in which this projected marriage has been
arranged, the political views in regard to the future which
it discloses, the possible consequences which it might
produce, not only to the friendly relations between Great
Britain and France, but in many supposable cases to the
peace of Europe, induce the British Government ear-
nestly to remonstrate against it, and to express their
anxious hope that it may not be concluded.
Your Excellency is instructed to assure the French
Government that the strong objections which the British
Government feels to this marriage do not spring from
any unworthy jealousy of the natural greatness or of the
just power of France.
In a great European crisis, not very long wince gone
by, Great Britain was the foremost to acknowledge the
great importance of maintaining the French monarchy
unimpaired as an essential element in the balance of
power in Europe. The present Government of Great
Britain fully *hare, in this respect, the sentiments of
their predecessors of that day. The British Govern-
ment will rejoice to see Franca happy, prosperous, and
powerful. But France possesses within her own ample
territory, and in her own immense resources, the means
of maintaining that high position which Providence has
destined her to occupy among the nations of the world;
and all attempts on her part to establish, by indirect
methods, an illegitimate influence over other States,
which, though not so powerful as herself, are equally en-
titled to perfect national independence, must, from the
very nature of things, end at last in disappointment and
failure. But the struggles through which that failure
will be brought about must be productive of evil to
France as well as to all the other States that may be in-
volved in them.
Her Majesty's Government being desirous of giving
to this communication the most friendly form which is
consistent with a full and authentic expression of their
sentiments, do not instruct you to embody the sub-
stance of this dispatch in a note, but I am to desire
that you will read this dispatch to M. Guiaot, and tha
you will send him, officially, a copy of it.

I am, &C.

M. GUIZOT TO M. LE COMTE DE JARNAC.
Paris, Oct. 5, 1846.

Monsieur le Comte,—The English Ambassador called
on me some days ago (25th of September) to communi-
cate a dispatch, dated the 22d of September, addressed
to him by Lord Palmerston, on the subject of the mar-
riages of the Queen of Spain with the Infante Don Fran-
cisco d'Assis and of the Infanta Don Luisa Fernando
with the Duke de Montpensier. You will find a copy
annexed. I have laid it before the King in Council ;
and I send you the answer of the King's Government
to this communication, begging you to lay it before the
Principal Secretary of State of her Britannic Majesty.
At the conclusion of his dispatch, Lord Palmerston says,
that" the Government of her Britannic Majesty is de-
sirous of giving to this communication the most friendly
form which is consistent with a full and authentic ex-
pression of its sentiments." You will assure Lord Pal-
merston that the King's Government also entertains feel-
ings of 'the most, hiucert3 friendship towards England_
and its Government,
an ent, though
cmoamintlaaiinntsthe rights interests of France against
p
representations which appear to it
unfounded.
I am anxious, in the first plaee'
te to free
Government myself
beginning
from r o
ofm a
charge which Lord Palmerston, at his
dispatch, brought against the King's
and
which has, I confess, occasioned me some surpir sei
. He
remarks that we, not long ago, proposed to the English
Government to come to an agreement and to act in
unison as to the advice to be given to the Court of