The Sun.
London, England, 1845-01-27 00:00:00

RANELAGII,

In consequence of this note I had two interviews with
Lord Aberdeen, the result of which will be found in the
letters following :
LORD RANELAGII TO LORD ♦BERDEEN.

May 26, 1844.
My Lord,—On the 17th of March last I had the
honour of submitting to your Lordship, on the part of
Don Carlos, certain propositions with which I had been
intrusted by that Prince.
Your Lordship admitted the importance of the pro-
posals, and I had the satisfaction of being assured that
they should be referred to Madrid, whence an answer
might be expected in ten or twelve days. On the 17th
of April following I had received no communication from
your Lordship, and I again solicited an interview. I
had the honour of attending your appointment accord
ingly on the 19th, when you postponed your decision
until the arrival of a messenger from Madrid, expected
on the Wednesday or Thursday following.
On the Ist of May, being still without your Lord-
ship's commands, I informed you by my note of that
date that I was under engagements to leave London for
Bourges in two days, and begged a few minutes' inter-
view before starting.
To that note I received no reply.
On the evening of the 2d I called at the Foreign-office,
where I learned from your message that your Lordship
was engaged, but that you might possibly see me on
your return from the House of Lords. I replied that,
being myself engaged, I could not return on that possi-
bility ; and, having deferred my departure as long as
possible, I started the next evening (the 3d inst.) for
Bourges, without any communication whatever from your
Lordship.
I have ventured to recal these circumstances. I now
take the liberty of asking you for a positive answer.
I have the honour, &c.
RANELAG IL

LORD ABERDEEN TO LORD RANELAGM
Foreign-office, May 27, 1844.
My Lord,—Your Lordship delivered to me in the
month of March a letter from Don Carlos. . . .
I informed your Lordship at the time, and without
hesitation, that I would give no encouragement to these
propositions, and that in my opinion, as far as I under-
stood them, they were entirely impracticable. Never-
theless, as we had no desire to pronounce any authorita-
tive judgment upon this question, and as the decision re-
specting the Queen's marriage belonged to Spain alone,
I promised to bring under the consideration of the Spa-
nish Government the overture of Don Carlos, and to
inform you of the result. I wrote accordingly to Mr.
dulwer without delay ; and I also communicated what
bad taken place to the French Government.
The next time I had the pleasure of seeing you, al-
though I was enabled to state to you that the opinion of
the French Government was entirely in conformity with
my own, I was not in possession of any intelligence from
Madrid upon the subject; indeed, up to this moment I
have received no communication from the Spanish Go-
vernment.

I have not thought it necessary to isstruct her Ma-
jesty's Minister to press for any precise or definite
answer from the Spanish Government. In truth, none
such could, perhaps, have been expected. The proposi-
tions of Don Carlos were so vague as not to be very in-
telligible; and, indeed, I do not now fully comprehend
whether his Royal Highness intended to abandon his own
pretensions, and those of the Prince his son, to the
crown of Spain, or whether this concession was limited
to his own person. At all events, the propositions, ex-
plained verbally by your Lordship, could only be con-
sidered as informal and unofficial
Under these circumstances, your Lordship will per-
ceive that I am not in a condition to give you the positive
answer you require in the letter which I hays had the
honour of receiving from you this day.
ABERDEEN.