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

LORD RANELAGII TO LORD ABERDEEN.

May 28, 1844.
My Lord,—l deeply regret that your Lordship did
not, by granting the interview which I, solicited previ-
ously to my departure for Bourge;, render it unnecessary
for me to seek, by my last letter, the answer which I
might then clearly have obtained, and to offer the re-
joinder which it now Pecomos my duty to make.
The object of Dun Carl,,s was to obtain, by the friendly
mediation of your Lordship, the adoption of measures
calculated to insure the pacification of Spain. Such
measures could not, in the opinion of his Royal High-
ness, be effectual, nor command the assent of all partier,
unless they involved a compromise between the male and
female lines in the blood royal.
The propositions which I had the honour of submit-
ting to your Lordship rested upon this principle. But
your Lordship remarks that the " propositions of Don
Carlos are so vague as not to be very intelligible," and
you assign this as a reason why you deem it unneces-
sary to press for " any express or definite answer from
Madrid."

The suggestions of Don Carlos were, it is true, capable
of modifications, according to the circumstances of the
case, but these modifications lay, all of them within
limits, which, however ample, were very clearly defined,
and the entire plan was based upon a foundation no less
simple and intelligible than the marriage of the present
Queen of Spain to the Prince of the Asturias. . .
It' details were left open, it was that the path to a
settlement so important iould be unembarrassed and
free; and ])on Carlos was Willing, on the pri: ciplei
which I have here set forth, and within the limits which

I had the honour clearly and fully to describe to your
Lordship, to abide by the decision of the English
Government. RANELAGIL

LORD ABERDEEN TO LORD RANELAGH.

Foreign-cffice, 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 bo much more likely
to bring civil war into the palace, as well as to spread ti
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 difkrent parties
in the State, they would practically recognise and esta.
blish the existence of ho,tile 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 itn-
' 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 RANELAGII TO LORD ABERDEEN.
Nov. 22, 1844.
My Lord,—On the 17th of March last, and again on
the 20th of April folluwing, I had the honour of refer-
ring your Lordship to special instructions which Lord
Palmerston had conveyed to some of her Majesty's Mi-
nisters abroad, respecting myself ; and I explained that
those instructions prohibited my pros( ntation at the re-
spective Courts where they resided. Inasmuch as I have
since had the honour of being presented, by the command
of the Sol ereigns, at some of the most important of those
Courts, I do not know that any practical inconvenience
can occur to we from Lord Palmerston 's inhibition ; but,
imn ohsotpdineg.
saisroluusbse thatrorders, t o y o in themselves
now premature
unjust,seianna ti u aranenl ' d (should
their cause be forgotten) so liable to misconstruction,
so remainably
b l
yunder
maintained an
b apparenty o stigma,
firm attachmenitintoa, cast
prin-
ciples
account
lam 0 f m y
tha that I
s 0
00 l
ohnmgg eand
gLordship
uponsii (I)tit
irdnul esbte, only countermanded.
on therefore,
and the leading Members of her
ministration. Majesty's present Ad-
RAN ELAG 11.

LORD ABERDEEN TO LORD RANELAGH.
Foreign-office, Dcc.4, 1544.
My Lord,—l have had the honour of receiving your
Lordship's letter, in which you advert to the fact of
special instructions 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
had 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 to
appear at the Court of his late Majesty.
I know not what are the principles to which your
Lordship alludes, as having bren maintained by me and
t
supposed by other members of her Majesty's Administration
if they have any relation to the ppose.d right of Dori
Carlos to the Crown of Spain, Ithinkroper to in-
it p
form you that I have never, on any occasion, expressed