The Sun.
London, England, 1834-04-29 00:00:00

MADRID.

CIRCULAR OF THE MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AF-
FAIRS, ADDRESSED BY HER MAJESTY'S COM-
MAND TO THE DIPLOMATIC AGENTS OF SPAIN
AT FOREIGN COURTS.]
" You will herewith receive a number of copies of
the Royal Statute for the convocation of the general
Cortes of the kingdom, which her Majesty the Queen
Regent has ordered to be observed and promulgated
with all due solemnity.
The mere announcement of such a document will
sufficiently point out to you its importance, as the ex-
posicion presented to her Majesty by the Council of
Ministers, and which precedes the statute, sufficiently
explains the manner in which it will be your duty to
support this important measure in any communication
you may have to make to the Government, to which
you are accredited.
" There are three important points, however, arising
out of this exposition to which I ought more particu-
larly to call your attention :
" 1. The necessity of convoking the Cortes—a ne-
cessity which is proved by the express provisions of
our fundamental laws, requiring the convocation of
the Cortes on the accession of a new Monarch to the
throne, and especially of a monarch in a state of
nonage, as well as on the occurrence of great emer-
gencies, or when it becomes necessary to levy new
taxes and contributions. _ .

" Nor will it escape your penetration, that as there
unfortunately exists a Prince of the Royal Family who
is stirring up civil war under the pretence of a right to
the throne, it is convenient or rather it is necessary to
cut off all pretext for usurpation, doing this by the
only means recognized as legitimate in similar cases
by our ancient codes and customs.
" 2. The necessity for the convocation of the Cortes
being demonstrated, it will be still more easy to prove
that what has been done has been no more than the
re-establishment of our ancient fundamental laws,
making them co-ordinate, for their greater force and
vigour, with the common interests of the throne and
the people. There is no important provision to be
found in the statute which is not also to be met with
in the ancient institutions of these kingdoms, with this
notable advantage, that such only have been re-esta-
blished as are compatible with the existing state of
society, and as are not attended with inconvenience or
danger ; at the same time that others have been re-
jected which were suited only to the period in which
they originated, and which were, in many instances,
prejudicial to the royal authority.
"3. This reflection naturally leads to another of
the greatest importance, and which has had much in-
fluence on the august mind of her Majesty, and that is
that the re-establishment of the ancient laws of the
monarchy, which no desuetude could annul or pro-
scribe, affords the surest means of strengthening her
daughter's throne ; assembling around her the peers
and deputies of the kingdom, and employing the royal
authority for the suggestion of ameliorations and re-
forms, which cost so much blood and tears when ob-
tained by means of revolution, thus lessening the at-
tendant dangers and providing new pledges and
guarantees for the future, to the government as well as
the people.
" Concessions which emanate from the throne, and
which bear the stamp of their high origin ; institutions
which are eminently monarchical, and yet favourable
at the same time to true liberty; a legislature in which
are included the chief classes of the state, and in whose
composition the principle of property forms one of the
chief elements,—Cortes, in short, which are called to-
gether by the voice of the Sovereign, who can sus-
pend, or, if necessary, dissolve them ;—in a word,
every safeguard and guarantee which prudence or ex-
perience could dictate is to be found embodied in this
royal statute.
" But in thus acting it has not been forgotten that
the surest mode of maintaining the royal authority in-
tact, when the spirit of the age and the general state
of the world is considered, is not to refuse to the peo-
ple what they have a right to ask for with reference
to our fundamental laws, but rather that the royal
power should be employed in the determining by an-
ticipation to what extent concessions and reforms may
be useful or necessary, pointing out the most conve-
nient course, and making it to be respected with firm-
ness and dignity.
" These simple suggestions, in connexion with what
you will find in the exposition of the Council of Mi-
nisters and the Royal Statute itself, will serve you as
a guide in explaining the views and intentions of the
Government, for which purpose you will give to both
documents all possible publicity, presenting them to
the Cabinet to which you are accredited in their true
point of view, and in a manner more or less direct,
as circumstances shall suggest, taking care by every
means in your power that the spirit of pkrty shall not
be suffered to pervert public opinion to the prejudice of
the legitimate cause of our Sovereign the Queen.
God protect, &c.,
" FRANCISCO MARTINEZ DE LA ROSA.
" Madrid, April 14."