The Sun.
London, England, 1845-01-25 00:00:00

LORD ABERDEEN TO LORD RANELAGII.

Foreign-office, June 3, 1844.
Your Lordship appears to be surprised that I should
have described the propositions of Don Carlos as being
" vague and not very intelligible;" but I cantruly say that.
I thought I had formerly made this opinion sufficiently
obvious to your Lordship, and had expressed it accord-
ingly. Indeed, I feel this to be so much the case, that I
am, even now, entirely at a loss to understand them
with any degree of precision.
I am aware that the propositions involve some personal
concessions on the part of Don Carlos and the marriage
of his son with the Queen of Spain. But what may be
the extent of the concessions which he is disposed to
make, and whether the renunciation of his pretensions
to the Crown of Spain be absolute, or only conditional
upon the marriage of his son, I have no knowledge
whatever • neither do I know on what footing the mar.
riage itself was proposed, and in what character the
young Prince was to be regarded. If the pretensions
of Don Carlos were merely to be transferred to his son,
so far from such a marriage tending to the " pacification
of Spain," in my opinion it would be much more likely
to bring civil war into the palace, as well as to spread it
throughout the country.
The propositions, as verbally explained by your Lord-
ship, and so far as I understand them, were not mate-
rially different from those which at various times have
been made to her Majesty's Government from other
quarters, although not with the same direct authority of
Don Carlos himself. To all these suggestions, but
without interfering in any degree with the free decision
of the Spanish Government, I have always expressed
myself as decidedly adverse ; because, it appears to me
that, instead of leading to the union of different parties
in the State, they would practically recognise and esta-
blish the existence of hostile principles in Spain, and
would bring into direct collision the two systems of de-
spotic and constitutional government in that country.
Notwithstanding these opinions, I feel it to be my
duty to make known to the Spanish Government the
overture of Don Carlos, so far as I could collect its im-
port from your Lordship's statements, but without offer-
ing any advice or recommendation, and leaving that Go-
vernment to deal with it as they might think proper.
ABERDEEN.

LORD RANELAGIX TO LORD ABERDEEN.
Nov. 22, 1844.
My Lord,—On the 17th of March last, and again on
the 20th of April following, I had the honour of refer-
ring your Lordship to special instructions which Lord
misconstruction,
Palmerston had conveyed to some of her Majesty's Mi-
nisters abroad, respecting myself ; and I explained the%
those instructions prohibited my presentation at tha r,•._,-
of the Sovereigns, at some of the most important of those
ssrencetihveadCtohuerthsewnehnerreefthbeeyinrgepardeead.entedlnas,
by
yutehhe feLrinlnmtaanyde
Courts, Ido not know that any practical inconvenience
can occur to me from Lord Palmerston's inhibition ; but,
gaontdteend). so liable to
as I observed to your Lordship, I was, and am, most de-
sirous that orders, in themselves so unjust, and (should
I trust, therefore, I am not now premature ' in hoping
that I no longer remain under an apparent •
stigma, east
upon me only on account of my firm attachment
buentefromr
prin-
ciples so long and so ably maintained by to sthheoiurldcabueseco
and the leading Members a he your Lor hip
ministration. r Majesty s present Ad-
RANELAGEL

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your
Foreign-office, Dec. 4, 1844.
Lor ship's letter, in which you advert to the fact of
specialinstructions having been addressed to several of
her Majesty's Ministers abroad, prohibiting them from
presenting your Lordship at the Courts to which they
were accredited ; and you express a desire to be relieved
from the apparent stigma cast upon you, as you declare.
only on account of your attachment to principles which
hod long been maintained by myself and by the leading
Members of her Majesty's present Administration.
On referring to the records of this office I find that
the instructions in question were not called for by any
principles or opinions entertained by your Lordship, but
were issued because, after having joined the army of
Don Carlos, you " had actually taken part in operations
in the course of which the Carlists were engaged with a
portion of the British co-operating force, in the neigh—
bourhood of Bilboa."

For this cause, also, your Lordship was forbidden t 1.3
appear at the Court of his late Majesty.
I know not what are the principles to which 7/our
Lordship alludes, as having been maintained by nye and
by other members of her Majesty's Administration ; but
if they have any relation to the supposed right of Dots
Carlos to the Crown of Spain, I think it prVer to tn.
form you that I have never, on any occasl_,Val, expressed