Star.
London, England, 1823-10-15 00:00:00

SPA IN.
Vim vinfirtbus ov SUNDAY.
DECREE OF THE KING OF SPAIN.

The scandalous excesses which preceded, accoml.
panied, and followed, the establishment of the Demo-
cratical Constitution of Cadiz, in the month of March,
1820, have been made public, and known to all my sub-
bects. The most criminal treason, the most disgraceful
aseness, the most horrible offences against my Royal
person—these, coupled with violence, were the means
employed to change essentially the paternal Govern-
ment of my kingdom into a democratical code, the fer-
tile source of disasters and misfortunes.

My subjects, accustomed to live under wise and mo-
derate laws, and such as were conformable to their man-
ners and customs, and which, during so many ages, con-
stituted the welfare of their ancestors, soon gave public
and universal proofs of their disapprobation and con-
tempt of the new Constitutional System. All classes of
the State experienced the mischief's caused by the new
institutions. Tyrannically governed, by virtue and in
the name of the Constitution, secretly watched in all
their private concerns, it was not possible to restore or-
der or justice; and they could not obey laws established
by perfidy and treason, sustained by violence, and the
source of the most dreadful disorders, of the most deso-
lating anarchy, and of universal calamity.
The general voice Was heard from all sides against
the tyrannical Constitution: it called for the cessation
of a Code null in its orgin, illegal in its formation, and
unjust in its principle; it called for the maintenance of
the sacred religion of their ancestors, for the re-estab-
lishment of our fundamental laws, and for the preserva-
tion of my legitimate rights—rights which I have re-
ceived from my ancestors, and which my subjects have
solemnly sworn to defend. This general cry of the na-
tion was not raised in vain. In all the provinces armed
corps were formed, which leagued themselves against
the soldiers of the Constitution: sometimes they were
conquerors—sometimes they were conquered; but they
always remained firm to the cause of religion and of the
monarchy. Their enthusiasm in the defence of objects
SO sacred never deserted them under the reverses of
war; and preferring death to the sacrifice of those great
benefits, my subjects convinced Europe, by their fidelity
and their constancy, that although Spain nourished itr
her bosom some unnatural children, the sons of rebel-
lion, the nation in general was religious, monarchical,
and passionately devoted to its legitimate Sovereign.
The whole of Europe—well aware of my captivity,
and of that of all the Royal Family, of the deplorable
situation of my loyal and faithful subjects, and of the
pernicious doctrines which Spanish agents were disse-
minating on all sides—resolved to put an end to a state
of things which constituted a reproach, and which me-
naced with destruction all thrones and all ancient insti-
tutions, in order to substitute impiety and profligacy.
France, intrusted with so sacred an enterprise, has
triumphed in a few months over the efforts of all the
rebels of the world, collected, for the misery of Spain,
upon her classic soil of fidelity and loyalty.
My augest and well-beloved cousin, the Duke d'An-
goulemel at the head of a valiant army, a conqueror
throughout all my teiritolies, has rescued me from the
slavery in which 1 pined, and restored me to my con-
stant and faithful subjects.
Replaced upon the throneof St. Ferdinaixj, bt
ju•t and w ise hand of PROVIDENCE, as well; as by the e-
netou, efforts of my noble allies, and the valiant enter-
prise of my cousin the Duke d'Angouleme and his brave
army, de,iroirs of applying a remedy to the most press-
ing necessities of my people, and of manifesting to all
my real will in this the first moment of my recovered
liberty, I have authorized the following decree:
Art. 1. All the acts of the Government called Constitutional (of
whatever king and description they may he), a system which op-
pressed my people from the 7th of March, 1820, until the Ist of
eetoher,lB23, are declared null and void, declaring as now de-
clare, that during the whole of that period I have been depriv
:Hy liberty, obliged to sanction laws and authorize orders, decr
and regulations, which the said Goveniment framed and executed,
against nil will.

2. I approve of everything which has been decreed and ordered
by the Provincial Junta of Government, and by the Regency, the
cne created at Oyarzun, April 9, the other May 26, in the present
year, waiting, meanwhile, until sufficiently informed as to the wants
of my people, I may be able to bestow those laws, and adopt those
sneasures,which shall be best calculated to secure their real prospe-
rity and welfare, the constant object of all my wishes.
You may communicate this decree to all the Ministers.
(Signed by the Royal hand.)
Port St. Mary, Oct. 1. DON VICTOR SAEZ.

FROM THE JOURNAL DES DEBATS.
I'ORT ST. MARY, ocromilt
The French Ambassador has presented his letters of
credit to the King, and experienced a reception parti-
cularly gracious. To-morrow the King proceeds to
Xeres: he will afterwards pass eight or ten days at Se-
ville, and thence will repair ti Madrid. Ills Majesty
has retained provisionally the Minister of the Regency.
He has just issued a decree, in which he declares, that
being re-established in the plenitude of his Royal Pre-
rogatives, he desires that Cadiz and the Isle of Leon
may to-morrow be placed under the command of the
Duke of Angonleme. The .decree was sent to Cadiz
this morning, and we do not yet know how it has been
received 10.

MADRID, OCTOBER 3.
Don Victor Saez, Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs, writes, under date of the Ist of October, to Don
Luis Salazar, Secretary of the Navy, as follows :
" The King, our Seignor, has been pleased to direct,
that I should transmit to you the following Decree :
In order that the business of the kingdom may not be retarded
during my residence here, I authorise you, as my first Secretary of
State t, to transact all the business which may arise. You will act
in concert with all the Secretaries of State, until I, the king, return
to Madrid. 44 4 Gon preserve you, dtc.' "
Dun Victor Saez charges Don Lour Salazar to in-
form the Regency, that the King has resumed the reins
of Government, and that lie is very well satisfied with
the zeal, the prudence, and the justice with which they
have governed the nation in his Majesty's name.
[The Journal des Debals has a long article, which
commences by quoting a remarkable passage from the
King of France's speech at the opening of the last Ses-
sion of the Cirambet s, in which he said that Ferdinand
should be free to give his people institutions, which they
could only receive from him. The journalist observes
that the Royal words are n•w accomplished. Eulogies
are lavialfed on the conduct of the Duke of A ngouleme,
and the following boast is made :—" The victories of
the Revolution are not effaced ; but their recollection no
longer exercises a dangerous influence. Other victories
are interposed between the Throne of the Bourbons and
the Usurper:l

which our Private Correspondent alludes, is ho doubt.
as he conjectures, from the pen of M. CHATRAURRIAND.
It will be read with nearly as'great interest here as it
bas been done in the French capital. Our Correspon-
dent mentions a curious fact with respect to the Decree
of the KING of SPAIN, annulling all the acts of the
Constitutional Government. It was not countersigned
by any of his Ministers, but by his Confessor !
(PROM THE ItIONITEUR.)—OFFICIAL PART.
PARIS, OCTOBER 12.

At twelve o'clock this day, there was sung in the 11
Church at Notre Dame a solemn Te Deum, in token ofl
gratitude for the happy deliverance of his Catholic
Majesty the King of Spain, in presence of the King,
the Princes and Princesses of the Royal Family and the
blood. Salutes of artillery were fired at the departure
of the King from Notre Dame, and on his arrival at the
Tuilleries. At night the public edifices and private
houses were illuminated.

A letter from Port St. Marie, dated the 3d October,
contains the following details: —" Our troops made
their entry into Cadiz to-day. couriers have been dis-
patched to all the corps of the army with letters from
the King of Spain, desiring them to lay down their
arms. The King has set out for Seville, where he will
remain some days before returning to Madrid. The
militia had shut the gates, and refused to submit, but
the King sent them a positive order to °pelf the gates to
the French ; and on the 2d they sent word that they
would receive the French garrison.
Our squadron entered the port of Cadiz also to-day.
Our land troops occupy the ports and eztelior forts,
while the Spanish troops are evacuating the Isle of
Cadiz, where our troops will enter to-mot row morning.
A division of our troops has taken possession Of the
Cortadura and the Isle of Leon, while another will en-
ter Cadiz.

The communications are established between Cadiz
and Port Saint 1114rie; a crowd of officers and curious
people have set out to-day for that town. The war is
finished.

General Bourmont is named Governor of the troops
in Andalusia.

The King is at Xeres. He was not to take his depar-
ture for Seville till Monday, where he will sojourn for
eight days, and then proceed to Madrid. He is accom-
panied by General Count Bourbon Basset. The Prince
left on Monday, but his itinerary is not yet known. To-
morrow, without doubt, we shall know the march of
the army.
The King has ordered that the militia shall be dis-
armed and disbanded. They have orders to return to
their hoiles, under pain of being considered as traitors
and rebels.

The Duke del Infantado will be Generalissimo of the
whole of the Spanish army.

EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM XERES, DATED OCT. 2.

41 The Duke of Angouleme snd the Prince of Carig-
nan, accompanied the King to the Te Deus,: of Thanks.
giving, sung at Port St. Mary.
At one o'clock the Marquis de Talaru was pre-
sented to the King, and at four o'clock the King set
out from Port St. Mary, accompanied by the whole
population of the town and country, who followed him
as far as Alceza, where he arrived at six o'clock. The
King will pass the night here. It is impossible to de-
scribe the delight of the inhabitants of Xeres.
(FRONI TILE JOURNAL DES DERATS OF SUNDAY.)
The King, in his Speech at the opening of the last
Session, observed :
" If that war is inevitable, I shall do all in my power to circum-
scribe its extent and limit its duration : it shall blundertaken but
to obtain by conquest that peace which the state of Spain may ren-
der impossible. So that Ferdinand the Seventh may be at liberty
to give his people those institutions'which they can only hold from
him, and which in guaranteeing their repose may dissipate the just
inquietude of France: from that moment hostilities shall cease. To
this, Gentlemen, I now pledge myself in the most solemn manner."

These Royal assurances are accomplished, and in
spite of the reports which malice circulated, there has
been no departure from the principle laid down by the
King, so that even at the price of some concessions they
might have terminated an undertaking so important to
the safety of France and of all Europe.

Tilt first hostile flag that the soldiers of legitimacy fell in with
was the tri-coloured standard. The Spanish Revolution had taken
this for its ensign and rallying point. It was the proclaimer of
principles and victories whose existence was gane by. A single
cannon-shot put an end to the imposture, and 30 years of illusion
vanished into air.

Then opened the prevent campaign, which, traced out on the'
plan of the Duke d'Angouleme, was the admiration of men skilled
in the military art. Catalonia has had its separate army, in which
Generals Dumas, Donnadieu, Curial, d'Eroles, under the orders of
an old Marshal of France, full of honour, 'displayed everything
which activity,• patience, and courage could effect. In the mean.
time the strong places of Navarre and Biscay were masked by Ge-
nerals Hohenlohe, Canuel, and d'Espagne. The provinces on this
side of the Ebro being so occupied, two columns separated from
the army—one under General Molitor, which commencing opera-
tions by the battle of Logrono, delivered Valencia and Murcia. from
the revolutionary yoke, and forced Ballasteros to capitulate before
Granada; the second, under General Bourke, put to flight the rebels
of
Astoria and Galicia, and compelled Morillo to make submission.
In the centre of these columns, which, clearing the east and west
coast of Spain, were destined to join under the walls of Cad*
marched that column, which, under the immediate orders of the
Prince Generalissimo, was to make its way by the shorter route to
the last rampart of the Revolution. The Prince halted a moment
M Madrid, organized a Government for Spain recognised by the
Great Power, of the Continent, sent before him Generals Boor_
gent and Bourdesoulle, directed the movements of the divisions of
Generals Bourke and Molitor, and whilst they attained their ob-
jects, he set out to carry by storm the fortress of the Trocadero, to
bombard Cadiz, and force this city, deemed impregnable, to open
its gates and yield up to him the Royal prisoner.
A fresh reserve entered Spain suddenly, under the orders of Mar_
shat Lewiston, to take Pampeluna, direct its march on Lerida, and
butyl the reduction of Catalonia, where Figueras fell into our
hands by the brilliant affair of Lees •

wherever necessity might require them. Thus, in siz molten,
the French army had advanced from the banks of the Bida,
soa to the Bay of Cadiz, touching on all the points of Spain,
In this short space of time it had marched over many leagues
the hostile soil, fought battles, carried on sieges, took fortresses
assault, and approached to stifle the Spanish revolution in its vet(
birth-place, in that insular situation inaccessible to the milkers
power of Bonaparte. One of the last names which we see figte
on the field of battle for the cause of the Bourbons of Spain
that of Larochejaquelin ; the Vendean blood has lost none of It%
virtue on the plains of Estremadurv.

It would be unjust to forget the part:which our rising marine 14
taken in these successes. By its blockade and the attack made ei
Algeciras, ft occasioned the surrender of important places. 137
the taking of the fort of Santi Pelt% it opened the Isle of Lese,
where it made preparations for the disembarkatiou of our soldiers.
—Everything has been great, noble, and chivalrous in the deliver.
ance of Spain. Legitimate France will preset ve for ever the glory
of having interdicted Letters of Marque, of having been the first to

re-establish on the sea the right of property, respected in all wars by
land between civilized nations, and whose violation in maritime

law is a remnant of the piracy of barbarous ages.

Before our entry into Spain it was a question whether
we existed, whether we had or had not an army, whe.

- -
titer it was faithful at a time when everything was

done to corrupt it, whether a few battalions could with
safety be collected together under their colours. It was
necessary to end this state of uncertainty ; an occasion
presented itself to settle this question. It was necessary
to defend France from the moral contagion of the trot!.
bles which agitated Spain. The experiment has been
tried, and the same event which has delivered us from
being revisited by revolution, has proved that Legiti-
macy has soldiers.

If) Among the circumstanc hich signalise this event,
there is one we particular wish to remark, as con-
nected with the political interests of our country. This
is the fitst time since the commencement of the Mo-
narchy that France has wail war under a Constitu-
tional Government regularly organised, and the watch.
ful eye of the Liberty of the Press. How many exclaimed
at the opening of the campaign that it would be impos-
sible to enter on this war without suspending public
liberty ! How did they figure to themselves that such
would have been the result of military operations under
Bonaparte, if an active opposition should attack his
successes or exaggerate his reverses ! Whilst we, lust
escaped from a thirty years' revolution—we, a prey to.
party spirit—we, menaced by a faction which felt itself
vitally attacked—we have dared to undertake and con-
duct this war without silencing the expression of their
opininhs.

How ! The first time the white flag was displayed
over a field of battle in an army whose fidelity it was
their interest to calumniate, did the French Government
dare to leave the Press free, when it had its power to en-
force a law for its suspension ? Was it not to be ex-
pected, that as this in effect has happened, that part of
the Pi ess would go on to pervert facts, to question our
victories, to invent defeats, to blame our plans, calum-
niate our intentions, sit in judgment on our Gene, als,
scandalise the very principle of a just war, and make it-
self the champion of the enemy ? Admitted. Notwith-
standing all this a legitimate King braves.all these dan-
gers. He has no conscription to demand, no ambition
projects to conceal. He was compelled to have re-
coin se to arms to sustain the rights of the Monarchy. This
speaks aloud that no just law of exception was neces-
sary. France has proved, that with a Government firm
and vigorous, the Constitutional Monarchy of Louis
XVIII. can achieve triumphs as brilliant as the absolute
Monarchy of Louis XIV.

Two Revolutions, struck down by a single blow, the
arms twice snatched from the hands of the factions—
such are the immediate effects of a campaign of only six
months. Other immense and incalculably great results
for us originate in this event. To speak only of that
which strikes every observer, our successes in Spain
make our country rise in the military rack of the great
nations of Europe and re-assure our independence.

The victories of the period of the revolution are not
effaced, but they no longer exercise over the memory a
dangerous influence. Other victories now interpose
themselves between the throne of the Bourbons and the
Usurper. A particular character of order and modera-
tion, the character of legitimacy, has marked successes
to which no painful sentiment is attached. It is observed
that their object is to preserve, whilst that of the other
period was to destroy everything.
The French soldiery, who model themselves after
their leader, have shewn .themselves religious, orderly,
brave, and have reflected in each engagement the image
and virtues of their Illustrious Chief. And such a Chief! "
the heir of sixty-eight Kings, that Prince, who, schooled
by adversity, will one day mount the Throne, and serve
as an example to the child who is preserved as by a
miracle to succeed him: that Prince, who, though or
pressed by a revolution whose empire he went forth to
overthrow, found in his breast, even in the midst of
triumph,- only sentiments of generosity for the van-
quished, pity for the guilty—with one hand planting
the standard of Victory, and with the other arresting
her vengeance, and affording shelter to her victims.

The attention of Europe has contemplated with asto....
nishment this new spectacle of an army, which has cod
nothing to the' country which it has delivered, of an
army in whose ranks all parties have sought a shelter,
of an army which is about to retire after its conquests
from that country, bringing back nothing, asking no-
thing but the affection of that people *horn it hai pre-
served ;—the spectacle of a Prince who will leave every
where behind him a memory adored, and counsels of
kindness and wisdom, which, please PROVIDENCip will
not be lost upon its population. For it is altogether im-
possible that Heaven will permit human passions to break