Star.
London, England, 1823-10-04 00:00:00

BPAIDT.

EXTRACT OF A NOTE PROM THE ispANlslt MINISTRY,
DATED, AUGUST 23.
The undersigned Secretary of State, &c. in transmit-
ting to you the accompanying documents (the Royal
Correspondence in the STAR of Thursday is here alluded
to), is convinced that it is not necessary to point out to
you the contrast the worthy conduct of his Castilian
Majesty presents, on this occasion, with the ill-advised,
not to say insulting, intimation which the Duke d'An-
gouleme has ventured to*make in the name of his august
uncle, the King of France.
It hitherto any doubts may have been entertained re-
specting the real intentions of the French Government
with regard to Spain, none can any longer exist, after
the perusal of the letter of the Duke d'Angouleme ;
from which it must be evidently inferred, that the pru-
dent reform of our political institutions, intended to give
to the Royal Authority the necessary force, and avoid
all danger or motive of apprehension on the part of
other Powers, is no longer wished; but that it is sought
rather to obtain possession of the King and his Royal
Family, in order to convert them into instruments of the
aforesaid Government; and, without allowing to Spa-
niards any moderate Constitution, to bury the nation in
opprobrium, and deprive it of all independence, of all'
liberty, and all guarantees. It is supposed that the King
is trot free, and it is attempted to sustain this 'falsehood,
as evident as it is absurd, notwithstanding so many and
such solemn declarations of his Majesty himself to the
contrary—notwithstanding so many and such unequivo-
cal acts of his own, which destroy all idea of restraint,'
and notwithstanding the tranquillity and uninterrupted
order which reign in Cadiz, the respect shewn to his au-
gust person, and the character and pr inciples of his Mi-
nisters. The French are the only persons who drove the
King from his Palace in Madridr-the only persons who
drove him from Seville: in what way can they now,
therefore, pretend to restore to him that liberty which
they alone deprive him of, by demanding that he should
be delivered up absolutely to.their disposal and influence?
♦This is the only explicit proposition conveyed in the let-
ter of the Duke d'Angouleme.; this is the preliminary
sine qua non; and those who feign that a Monarch is
not tree among kis own faithful subjects, wish it to be
thought that he will be so among foreign troops who
shave invaded his kingdom, and among rebels and trai-
tors, who are desolating it in union with the enemy.
"Let Ferdinand VII. be free," said the King of Fiance,
to give to his subjects institutions which they can re-
'teive from him alone, and the motive of the war shall
cease." The civilized world has beheld with astorish..-
ment, an aggression founded on a pretext of this kind,
and heard with alarm, a' ma'am destructive of the most
sacreJ rights of nations; but, after all, his Most Chris-
tian Majesty did not say that he would only consider
the Catholic King free when he should have him in the
French army; neither did he announce his intention of
dictating, or suggesting to him.the institutions which he
was to give his subjects. Now, however, the Chief of

•
the French army arrogates to himself the power of de-
ciding when the King of Spain is to be considered free,
and even in the case when he should be pleased to con-
sider him as sucla. His Majesty is not to be free to grant
any other institutions than those which may be agreeable
to the Cabinet of the Thuilleries, since he is not only

told (f what kind they are to be, but also, only in con-
-

Enmity to them, is ha offered the co-operation of France
an 1 her allies, in order to consolidate them.

And what are the institutions so Led ulonsly prescribed
to his Catholic Majesty, in order that he may bestow
them on his subjects? Pi echely those the least recou-
cilable with the dignity of his Crown; the most proper
to debilitate the royal authority ; to enervate the action
of the Government and destroy its tn.i:y ; the least con-
formable to the spirit of the age, and the exiting state
and habits of the nation, and the most likely to perpe-
tuate therein divisiuns, the opposition of interests, and
the cladling of parties. One must be ignorant of the
history of Spain to propose, in the present day, the an-
cient Cortes of tli Kingdom, as the guarantee of order,
justice, and good administration. Juntas, or particular
assemblies in each of the three Biscayan provinces; dif-
ferent Cones in Navarre; others again of three distinct
classei. in Arragon, Catalonia, and Valencia, all which
'ceased to exist many years ago; others still different in
the kingdoms of Cattile, which never had any fixed
form, and experienced numberless vicissitudes. Such
is the bond with which it is sought to unite all Spa-
niards, and consolidate the Monarchy—assemblies so
heterogeneous in themselves, that a true national re-
presentation never existed, and it was as freauent to see
those who were called the Attorneys of the People pros-
tituted and sold to the prevailing power, ai it was to
see the Royal dignity outraged and oppressed through
the ambition and preponderance of some of its sub-
jects. Such are the means by which it is attempted to
strengthen the authority of the Monarch, and secure a
just liberty to the nation.
It would be useless to stop to offer reflections on this
point, and it is only possible to explain the proposition
of the Duke d'Angouleme, by understanding it in the
same sense in which the authors of the Royal Decree of
the 4th of May, 1814, also spoke of the, ancient Cortes.
Too vain is the name to leave any hopes to those who
reflect, as the real intention alone is, through this me-
dium, to re-establish the former absolute power. Hence
was it easy for the idea to be addressed to the Duke from
Paris, and thus, after the lapse of a century, would the
plan of Louis XIV. be established, which is in fact the
real object of the present war. It dues not suffice to
car' y it on in so unheard-of a manner as that of esta-
blishing what is called the Regency of Madrid, and
through its means overturning all that had been done
'in the space of three years by a legitimate Government,
acknowledged by the invaders themselves, as well as by
the whole of Europe ; it does not suffice to deprive
Spaniards of the right of constituting themselves under
that form of Government most suited to them ; it
moreover, necessary, that they should be deprived or
every Constitution whatsoever; and that for having
wished to be free, although without licentiousness and
Without detriment to France, they, together with their
King, are to endure the yoke it is attempted to impose
'upon them. By reducing to an extremity of this kind a
high•minded Monarch and people, incapable of compro-
mising with infamy, it is no' doubt wished to shut the
door to peace, and seek out pretexts for ulterior views
of ambition, or for an indefinite military occupation.
—What can no longer be disguised is, that however de-
sirous the Spanish Government may be to put an end
to the present disastrous war, the only proposition that
has hitherto been made to it on the part of France, and
the tone and terms in which the Duke d'Angouleme
makes the same, are in themselves such that it is not
possible fur the Government to acquiesce, without dis-
honouiing itself, and sacrificing the dignity of the throne
and the fate of the nation. Neither can it any longer
be disguised, that if the threat is carried into effect, as
held forth in case compliance is refused to a proposition
so irritating, that it has only had fur object to compel
those to whom it is addressed to reject it, it is to be ap-
prehended that the residence of the King himself, and
of the Royal Family, being attacked, the destruction
may reach their persons, and that possibly all the efforts
of loyalty and of virtue may not suffice to guard them,
in the last extremity, froM a crime instigated by despair.
If the French Government had proposed to rid them-
selves of the august Family reigning in Spain, with dif-
ficulty could they have hit upon a measure mote suit-
able than the conduct they have pursued within the last
six months. The Spanish Government must therefore
protest, and does protest loudly, in the face of Heaven
and earth, against the consequences of the violence
committed by the French, and against those which may
follow, from their further attempts. In this critical
situation of his Catholic Majesty all Monarchs haie'a
direct interest, in like manner as in the actual cause of
Spain.all nations have, more particularly those enjoying
a representative system.
To the Spanish Government it does not belong to
step forward to make proposals to France, nor is there
time to make them, conformably to the tenour of the
Duke d'Angonleme's letter, as.much filled with violent
and irritating pretensions, as it is distant from offering
terms compatible with the dignity of his Catholic Ma-
j,neasrt
cyll
yw,
ai tnh d t t
hintegrityn
oa
un
rd
andii) delpthe ne
rdteyncoef osfptahnei
aMr
dos:
Within these precise limits, neither the King nor the
nation will refuse those prudent and useful means which
may lead to a solid peace, honourable to both parties,
under guarantees solid and secure, because without them
there can be no proper safety for Spain, nor would the
result be attended with all that consistency that is wished.
The under.igned, &c.—Cadiz, August 23.
•
A corn mercial letter, dated Warsaw, the sth Sept. saps:
On account of the very beautiful harvest throughout Poland,
the prices of all sorts of grain have undergone a great depression.
In the Walwood of Kalish, the korzec of rye costs cooly slit aortas,'
and in the province of Volhynla, even wheat may be puscbased for
that sum."
PRINCE HOHENLOIIE WANTED.—About two months
since, a young Lady of Axminster, being in company
with two or three other females, was informed by one
of them that she had a spider crawling on het neat;
she screamed nut, on the announcement, and has ever
since been speechless!