The Sun.
London, England, 1848-07-03 00:00:00

THE SPANISH QUARREL.
The following is a translation of the principal portion
of a dispatch of the Duke of Sotomayor to M. Isturitz,
in justification of the dismissal of Mr. Bulwer from
Madrid, which only arrived after M. Isturitz had left
England on his return to Madrid. Diplomatic relations
with our Government having ceased, the dispatch could
not, of course, be presented to Lord Palmerston:—
" THE DUKE OF SOTOMAYOR TO THE MINISTER PLENIPO-
TENTIARY OF HER CATHOLIC MAJESTY AT LONDON.
" Your Excellency,—The Government of her Majesty
having been informed that the Count de Mirasol has not
been received by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and
being aware of the papers submitted to Parliament by
the same Minister, believes it opportune to remind your
Excellency of the communications of the 15th of April
(No. 1), of the 12th (A), and of the 17th (No. 2) of May
of the present year. The first two of these dispatches
contained the reasons which rendered the continued re-
sidence of the Britannic Minister, Sir H. L. Bulwer, at
_this Court, impossible, and the last explained the motives
for presenting to him his passports. The will of her
Majesty is that your Excellency, in obedience to her
royal cuinurinds, shall read and present copies of those
document.; hen convenient, if it has not already been
done, to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of her Britannic
Majesty.
" It is also necessary to the Government in the present
state of this important question, to present to your Ex-
cellency some observations on this subject as precise as
possible, together with some justificative documents, in
order that your Excellency, making requisite use of
:them, may better explain the reasons upon which the
Government rests, and correct, by completing it, the col-
lection which has already been published in Londen, and
of which your Excellency has remitted copies.
" In taking this step the Government of her Majesty
does not feel itself called upon to remind that of her
Britannic Majesty that it would not judge it necessary if
it was solely a question of proving the sentiments of
adhesion, and the desires of good harmony which
Animate them both. This point de depart established,
the Government ought to inform your Excellency that
one of its principal complaints against the last represen-
, tative of her Britannic Majesty is that he changed the
nature of, or concealed those good desires, and, moreover,
that be gave to his Cabinet inexact news, to the detri-
ment of the consideration which the Government of her
Majesty endeavoured to inspire him with. The proofs
of this, which the Spanish Government reserves to itself
for the present, ought also to exist, and even in greater
numbers, with the English Minister of Foreign.. Affairs.
- Upon this point the Government invokes the good faith
of Lord Palmerston. He will permit me solely to re-
mind him of the accusation of imprisonment of the
Queen, the projects relative to the journey to Madrid of
the Duchess of Montpensier, the supposition of infidelity
in the army, and of the discontent of the people—an in-
fidelity and discontent belied by so many recent facts, and
which then were not in accordance with the signal proofs
of consideration and of deference of which he was con-
stantly the object.
The second complaint, not less important, is that Mr.
Bulwer entertained intimate relations with the seditious,
and engaged to disobedience the public functionaries, as
shown, amongst other proofs, by the letter of General
Serrano (No. 3), of which I send you a copy, and of
which I reserve to myself the original, and which proves
that Mr. Bulwer availed himself of even the holiest rela-
tions to weaken the subordination and turn the loyalty
of the soldiers. Your Excellency will make use of in
this case the intimate nature of this writing, and the
open and frank character of its author.
" The third complaint is that Mr. Bulwer took in
the unfortunate events of the 26th of March a
greater part than agreed with his elevated position,
as proved, first by the report of the Political Chief
of Madrid, dated the 21st of May (No. 4). In this
report that authority affirms, amongst other things,
that the English Legation is the centre from whe-ace
spread all the intrigues and all the revolutionary de-
signs ; that the plot is organised even in the house of
Mr. Bulwer in accord with M. Salamanca) that Mr.
Bulwer is present at the meetings which take place at
the house of one Caballer, Rue de la corridora de San
Pablo ; that English agents are seen mixed with the re-
volted, and other things to which, though the Govern-
ment has not given them entire credit, public opinion at-
tributes some importance.
" That which completes the proof of this complaint is
the disclosure of Mr. Bulwer, contained in his dispatch
(No. 13 of the English collection), in which he says,
that in the last moments of the combat of the 26th there
was a difference of opinion between the chiefs of the
conspiraey. This demonstrates superabundantly that
he was acquainted with the most intimate secrets of
the conspiracy. 1-Ie afterwards adds, that no general
order was sent by those persons whom the populace
obeyed. Your Excellency will make it understood that
this single revelation proves evidently that Mr. Bulwer
knew that the revolted had an organization in which
certain persons designated commanded the populace, and
that he ought to know them since he was sure that they
had expedited no order, and that, in fact, he had an exact
knowledge of these orders when ho affirmed that none
possessed a character of generality.
" The fourth complaint consists in the welcome
(accueil) given to the insurgents by Mr. Bulwer, a wel-
come which he himself avows in his dispatches (So. 31
and 37 of the English collection).
"Your Excellency will manifest that the right of asylum,
supposing, it was admitted and incontestable, which is ab-
solutely inexact, could not be rationally defended in the
manner, to the extent, and in the object which Mr. Bulwer
pretended to arrogate to himself. It might be tolerated:to
accord asylum to such or such person as succour and
defence in case of pursuit; but to give it, net to a per-
son, but to a great number of individuals, as Mr. Bulwer
has himself avowed in his before-mentioned dis
patches—not to persona pursued, but to conspirators—
not to offer them a refuge against the Government.
but to render to them more easy the means of hos-
tility against it (as it is a thing universally known,
and of which the Government has the most com-
plete certitude, that those who took refuge at the
English Legation after the rising of the 26th of March
took part in that of the 7th of May)—is what cannot be
permitted in any manner, and what no person can sus-
tain; for it could not be permitted nor sustained that a
Legation should convert itself into a species of citadel
where conspirators put themselves under cover, whence
they issued at will to combat the established Govern-
ment, and where they sought an asylum anew, and then
again prepared to put in execution those projects of over-
turning order and destroying institutions.
" The fifth complaint is that the Envoy of Her Bri-
tannic Majesty, little satisfied with this conduct, and un-
intimidated by the charges which public opinion brought
against him as to the events of the 26th of March, gave
occasion for similar charges relative to the events of the
7th of May following, furnishing against him the gravest
imputations.
" If it were not one to have retained and concealed at
his house so long a time those who combined and occa-
sioned these events, and even some other persons, as
• M. Orense and others who took part, according to the
public voice, and after what remains evidently proved in
the preceding complaint, it will, doubtless, be sufficient
to prove this by the judiciary declaration of Sergeant
Marcos Diez (No. 7), in which, referring to one Julian
Gonzalez, he manifests the belief that his comrades who
had escaped counted on an assured asylum at the Eng-
lish embassy.
" The sixth complaint against Mr. Bulwer is of having
excited insurrection in the provinces. This event which
Mr. Bulwer announced as probable in different provinces,
especially in Catalonia and Aragon, according to his
dispatch No. 2, was realized only in the provinces which
were visited shortly after by the agents of the same
Bulwer. However, the opinion of almost all was that
the influence of the Britannic Envoy inflamed the dis-
contented. Amongst other documents, without number
which the Government might send, and will send, if ne-
cessary, to your Excellency, whether provincial journals,
dispatches of the authorities, or private correspondence,
it merely transmits you now a very small number, but
the most interesting by the character of their contents,
and by the excellent character of their authors.
(Here follow the several documents.)
" The general opinion at Seville that the conspirators
counted upon the protection of the English Minister re-
siding at Madrid, is supported by the testimony
of the authorities and the fact that a military
insurrection broke out in that city. The circumstances
of this insurrection render it impossible to believe that it
took place without the co-operation of Mr. Bulwer.
" The following is what the Captain-General of An-
dalusia, Don Ricardo Shelly, wrote to the Government
in his dispatch of the 24th of April (No. 25):—` I know
in a positive manner that the Second Commandant of
the Regiment of Guadalajara, Don Jose Portal, receives
letters from Mr. Bulwer, and the other day he showed
one of them, though insignificant, to the First Com-
mandant of the same corps, Don Vicente Vorgas, and
this correspondence could not fail to call my attention,
on ,oc side Portal is not a brilliant chief, his
lanely is not of the most distinguished, and, on the other
it is c.lrtain that Mr. Bulwer is the director of our revo-
lution.'
" This rebellion, which the Captain-General of Seville
feared, broke out, and we already know all the circum-
stances by the official dispatches. The mover of this
rising was the Commandant Portal—Portal, who sepa-
rated from the Spanish army, was again admitted into the
ranks upon the recommendation of Mr. Bulwer, during
the ministry of Pacheco, and who since has obtained ad-
vancement in virtue of the same protection—Portal,
whose father-in-law, General Ocana, was raised to the
grade of marozhal de camp, on the occasion of the double
Royal marriage, surmounting obstacles which the favour
and perseverance of Mr. Bulwer only could surmount—
Portal, brother of a lady with whom Mr. Bulwer has
had constantly, and has yet relations, of which I do not
describe the character, but which have been intimate
and very close, to such an extent that this lady resided
in a house adjoining that of Mr. Bulwer, with which
there existed secret communication.
" The Government would have wished to close its
eyes to so many facts, and its ears to so many accusa-
tions, it would have wished to believe nothing of all this;
but it could not oppose itself without peril to the feeling
of public opinion, not only in Madrid, but in all Spain
against him who was regarded as the principal mover of
these last events. Yet, before quitting the subject, the
Government must protest upon three very important
points :—lst, it is disposed. if necessary, to prosecute
(poursuiure) him who would render the English people
or Government responsible for, or participator in, the
• accusations pressing upon Mr. Bulwer ;2, in considera-
' Lion of the peace and the dignity of the two Cabinets,
it sends merely that which it thinks the most necessary,
reserving to itself a great quantity of documents,
which only at the last extremity it will communicate
* with the greatest secresy ;3, lastly, neither now nor
• ever has it intended to give any offence to Great Britain,
' nor to loosen the ties of good friendship, which it pro-
: pore to strengthen every day. Animated with this
sprit, the Government must remind itself that when it
learnt that Mr. Bulwer gave incorrect information to
. his Court, it bad it rectified by its representative at
London ; and more recently, when the events of France