The Sun.
London, England, 1850-05-17 00:00:00

SPAIN.

The following is the correspondence which took
place between Al. PIDAL and Lord PALMERSTON on
the subject of the renewal of our diplomatic relations
with Spain :

No. 1.
SENOR PIDAL TO VISCOUNT PALMERSTON.
Madrid, March 30, 1850.
Most Excellent Sir,--The Spanish Government, which
deplores, and has always deplored, the state of iu.er-
ruption which has for some time past existed in the
diplomatic relations with the Government of her Majesty
the Queen of Great Britain, and the causes which have
pronuced this unfortunate state of affairs, desires no-
thing with more sincerity and good faith than the re-
newal of those relations in a manner worthy and suit
able to the character of the two Government., and the
renewal of the ties which for ages have united two
friendly nations, bound together by so many interests,
and by so many and such glorious recollections.
Animated by this desire, the Spanish Government
does not hesitate to give a new proof of the sincerity of
its sentiments, and of the high esteem in which it holds
the friendship of Great Britain, by taking the initiative
in the steps destined to bring about a re-establishment at
the ancient relations.
The Spanish Government believes that, in order to
bring about so desirable an object, there .is no.occasion
to enter into a discussion of events already past. The
Government of her Catholic Majesty regrets and
deplores those events, and desires that they should be
sincerely and completely consigned to oblivion.
But the real state of the ca-e, and, above all, the Con-
sideration due to a friendly nation, require that the
Spanish Government should declare in the most explicit
and solemn manner, as by the present note it dues, that
in the measures which in alarming circumstances it felt
called upon to adopt, it was not in any wanner whatever
its intent:on to give the least offence to Great Britain, or
to hurt her dignity in the slightest manner.
If, in consequence of these proceedings, and of this
frank and explicit declaration, it should suit the Cabinet
of London to re-establish the ancient diplo-
matic relations, the Spanish Government declares
itself ready to receive any Minister whom it
may please her Britannic Majesty to send
to Madrid, and it flatters itself that in the frank and
friendly manner in which the representative of England
will be treated, and in the efforts which, on its part, it
will make to draw closer the relations between the two
countries, the English nation will find a new proof of the
interest and importance which Spain attaches to the
friendship of Great Britain, and of the upright intentions
with which it is animated in this respect.
The Government of her Catholic Majesty trusts, then,
that the step which it comes forward to_take will not
prove ineffectual; and that her Britannic Majesty's Go-
vernment duly responding thereto, relation's of mutual
consideration and friendship will be re-established and
maintained in a firm and durable manner, in conformity
with ancient ties and recollections, and,with the con
venience and interest of both nations.

The undersigned, &c.
No. 2.
VISCOUNT PALMERSTON TO SENOR PIDAL.
Foreign-office, April 23, 1850.
Sir,—The Government of her Britannic Majesty has
received tie note which has been addressed to it by
the Government of Spain through the intervention of
his Majesty the King of the Belgians, expressing the
regret of the Spanish Government at the existing in-
terruption of the diplomatic relations between Great
Britain and Spain ; stating the earnest wish of the
Spanish Government that those relations should be re-
sumed ; declaring that in the circumstances which led
to heir interruption the Spanish Government was not
actuated by any intention to give offence to Great. Bri-
tain ; proposing that past events should be consigned to
oblivion ; and further saying that if in consequence of
this frank and explicit declaration it should suit the Bri-
tish Government to re-establish the ancient diplomatic
relations between the two countries, the Spanish Go-
vernment declares itself ready to receive any Minister
whom it might please• her Britannic Majesty to send to
Madrid.

PEDRO J. PIDAL.

The British Government being as desirous as the
Government of Spain can be that those friendly rela-
tions which had so long subsisted between the two coun-
tries to their mutual advantage should be re-established
in a manner consistent with the honour and dignity of
both nations, accepts this overture in the same spirit of
conciliation in which it has been made; and the British
Government is willing, in accordance with the desire ex-
pressed by the Government of Spain, to consign past
events sincerely and completely to oblivion.
Her Majesty will therefore appoint a Minister to the
Court of Madrid.

If Sir. Henry Bulwer had been at the present moment
unemployed, the deep interest which that Minister has
always taken in the prosperity of the Spanish nation and
in the honour and dignity and stability at the throne
of the Queen of Spain, would have led her Majesty's
Government to think that .no person could have been
better qualified-than he would have been to re-establish
in a solid and durable manner the diplomatic relations
between the two countries. But Sir Henry Bulwer being
et present employed on the Queen's service elsewhere,
her Mojesty will select some other suitable person to
represent her at the Court of Madrid; and in return the
Bridsh Government itsuies the Government of Spain
that any Minister whom the Queen of Spain may be
pleased to appoint to the Court of St. James's, will be
received with that cordiality which` is due towards the
representative of a power connected with Great Britain
by ancient and most honourable ties.
I have, &c.,

(Signed)

PALMERSTON.

GERMANY.

--- • —.-
The following is a translation of the Prussian reply
to the Austrian circular of the 26th of April :
." Baron Prokesh Osten, the Austrian Ambassador
at .this Celia, has
,communicated to me a proclama-
tion of his Government, of which I enclose a copy,,and
by whiCh he is instructed to invite his Majesty's
Government immediately to send a plenipotentiary .to
Frankfort-en-the-Main, for the purpose of entering
into consultation with all the members of the German
Confederacy, who have likewise received invitations-
to the saute effect. The subjects of these consulta-
tions, as stated in the enclosed circulars are,
first, the constitution of another Interim' .in the
place of that which expired on the Ist instant;
and, second, the revision of the federal constitution.
Her Dtajesty's Government sympathises with the re-
gret which as expressed in the said dispatch at the
unfavourable resu;t of the preliminary negotiations
between Prussia and Austria on this subject; but his
Majesty's Government shares likewise the conviction
of the duty which is incumbent upon all members of the
Confederation, to.take care that the affairs of the Con-
federation shall not .want a general direction, and to
assist in the suitable reformation on a legal basis of
the federal constitution, which is not, indeed, appli-
cable to the relations and circumstances of the present
time.
His Majesty's Government has made certain
proposals for the institution of another Provisional
Government. These proposals, it seemed to his Me.
jesty'e Government, offered the easiest solution, and
appeared most applicable to the facts of the case.
And, having done this, the Government of his Ma-
jesty the Ktng cannot submit to any responsibility, since
the non-acceptance of these proposals has caused a la-
mentable delay, and since the Interim bus expired
without all arrangements having been entered ibto
to protide for a new one. The same facts of the case
to which I alluded above determine the stand which
his Majesty's Government takes in its consideration
the questions relating to the revision of the
federal constitution. The recognition of these
facts alone can promote that harmony of views on the
principles on which the future creation ie to rest, and
the absence of which is so justly lausected by the au.-
trian Government, since it hue hitherto prevented the