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London, England, 1822-12-10 00:00:00

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FIMgCE •AND SPAIN.

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FROM Tilt JOURNAL DES DEDATS OF SUNDAY..
Our readers are too well informe4 to require from
us, sky by day. new view, on the political situation
Europe.-• The great interests which determine that
situation, and the great difficulties which render it
complex, are not of a nature to change eveay morn-
ing and every evening at the will of certain writers
who make it their business to alarm ardent imagina-
tions and uninformed minds. It is.perfect quackery,
and unworthy of any Journal which lays claim to
self-resnect, to indulge in an eternal iepetitien of the
same chimeras, the same declamations, and the same
invectives, on the subject of a question which is doubt-
less highly important, bat which, on that very
,pc-
count, ought not to be approached but win the con-'
scientious intention of speaking only truths at once
certain and useful.
It is, however, easy to understand the object of the
revolutionary Journals, skilfully disguised as it is,
in daily representing war with Spain as a solemn re-
aolution of the Congress of Verona, though nothing
yet announces that aay Power is disposed to such a
war, and though the preparations nowhere corres-
pond with a hostile determination definitively adopted.
To describe such a war as a continental crusade
against Representative Governments, is an amuse-
ment in which the revolutionary writers are the more
ready to take part, as they confound, under the
vague name of Representative System, Governments
of the most different kind, and even things of a to-
tally opposite nature—the Charter of Louis XVIII.
end the Constitution of the Cortes—the anarchy of
Madrid and the liberty of London. Besides the ad._
vantage of being this able to calumniate Monarchs,
the declamations of the Revolutionists have the far-
ther object of impelling to this truly incalculable war,
some sincere, but not well-informed friends of the
cause of Monarchy. We know very worthy persons
who have fallen into -this. snare. " The Liberals,"
say they, " do not wish for war .a.itnst Spain; there-
fore we ilnyali sts ought to wish tOr it."
puerile reasoning ! deplorable blindness ! The re-
spectable Liberals are doubtless sincere in their wish
that there should be no war with Spain ; but the re-
Nolutionary Liberals wish it, anxiously desire it, and
pray for it from the bottom of their hearts. They
wish for it, because it would involve, at least so they
hope, the King's Government in the most cruel em-
barrassments—because it would render necessary an
extraordiary expenditure of 200 millions a yearbe-
cause, by draining the sources of public wealth, it
would mortally wound that credit which is alone ca-
pable of supplying the means of such an expenditure—
because it would create obstacles to our commercial
navigation—and finally, because it would open. a
series of chances which no human prudence could
previously calculate, but among which there would
be a thousand possibilities of events, fatal to legiti-
macy and favourable to convulsion.
But the Revolutionists will not avow these criminal
topes; they cannot advance except by an oblique
path. They place high the interest which they take
in Spain, the Respect which they bear to the Consti-
tution of the Cortes, and the chimerical hopes which
attach them to the success of institutions founded oft
that anarchical code.
By this plan of tactics, they drive into a dangerous
warmth those who, having their political opiuions
composed merely of sentiments and phrases, forget to
calculate the true interests of their country, and to
balance certain sacrifices against possible tesolts.
NVe congratulate ourselves for having spoken of
Spain only with reserve, and at intervals; by which
means we have been enabled to establish what we said
on facts. Were we to pay attention to the pains 'aliich
all the journals of Europe have taken to discuss, ex-
plain, and investigate our articles, we should be
tempted to believe that we had said more on this great
question than those who have every morning and even-
ing expatiated on it with such admirable confidence.
The long silence of Verona has proved that the
crfficultie, with which the affairs of Spain appeared
to us to be environed were far from being vain sub-
tilties. The august Council of Monarchs paused
long in sight of the dangers which we pointed out,
and also of others, to which, from prusleace, we did
not choose to allude.
The official declarations which have appeared, and
which clearly indicate great circumspection, are in
no way opposed to the principles which we have laid
down on those interventions by force of arms, which,
though excusable in a case of extreme necessity, are,
as Lord Londonderry justly observed, always excep-
tions flom the true law of nations, and which may
. .
give birth to great misfortunes when directed against
a generous nation of high patriotic feeling, and im-
patient not merely of a foreign yoke, but even of

ibreign succour.
Those good men, who appeared at first surprise,
at the nature of the view we had taken, have has,
tened to renounce their error ; and now, enlightened
by reflection, do us the justice to acknowledge that
we have opposed useful truths to a dangerous delu-
sion.—The dispesition to listen to reasoning and facts,
in preference to declamations and reveries, having
become almost general, we shall now indicate a par-
ticular point of view, which is one of the most im-
port.mt, and to which little attention appears hitherto
to have been paid.
France, it is said, possesses the right of putting
Clown a state of things is Spain, which keeps France
herself in constant danger.
We have no need here to examine the limits and
conditions of this right. We shall merely spew, that
the exercise of this right is very difficult—very ha-
zardous to direct in the particular situation of France'
with respect to Spain. We set out at first with the
principle that every idea of conquest, of aggrandize-
ment, or of territorial indemnity, is out of the ques-
tion. The pure and noble object which alone can
enter into the views of the King's Government, is to
establish in Spain an order of things which shall not
menace legitimate Monarchies—a desirable end, if it
were possible to attain it. But what a responsibility
for us, if in choosing wrong our means, we fail of our
object ; for to fail or an object is in all cases to make
it recede further horn our reach, in many to render
future success imposible. The continual danger re-
sulting from the situation of
.Sparq might qot cease
With.thepresentsta(e of thingsq; would be
necessary that those .who (ken rew the. existing
Government should substitute another Government
which might afford us a pledge of tranquillity. Now

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we are convinced that no haraan pot k could, eta.,
by, means-of a protracted military tkcesipatien,:gos
rantee a stable and tranquil state of things in Spain.
Bet a military occupation appears to us pregnant
with dangers still more pressing, and of a nature far
more important.
_Suppose the present. state cf affairs changed by an
armed interference, however suceessful—suppose us
at Madrid, surrounded by a victorious army—the
King and his august lamay have' been respected by
the Revolutionists—they have not been dragged to
the Isle of Leon! What Government could be ista-
bli.,bell in Spain?. It is, pot forms only• whichvare-in
question here—it is men. There have been hi Spain,
between the yeats 18214 and 1820, at least ten coin-
plete changes of Mintstiy ; • there exist from forty to
fifty persons who have successively tilled the . places
of Ministers, and who, almost all, have been disgrace-
fully dismissed. Siich, espeCially,was the lot of MM.,
Pizarro and Garay, 'AM acknowledged on all hands,
that. absolute power ought *not to be restored in Spain
—that it is morally/dead ; and who alone excited a
certain expeciatioo of stability, resting on their well-
known talents. We know that thesecontinual changes
were attributed to the inherent 'defects in absolute
power, as it is.,mcreover, no one wishes to raise its ghost.
But three years Of constitutional rule have not been
less fruitful of change, dictated by dissensions suc-
cessively created among remarkable men, and their
coteries improperly *called parties. There have been
nearly two Ministers for each year, and without reckon-
ing protiisiohal Ministers, Ministers ad' interim, and
Ministers refusing- to act, we may compute at 30 or
40, the number of men who have sat iii" Council, all
in turn sca'ndaliied anddiscredited in public opinion.
Now, from whencerwill you take men invested with
that superior moral -force which is especially neces-
sary to a Government, legislative and restorative?
The Ministerintniatter seems to be exhausted. Every
combination has been tried.—all classes of citizens
have been put to the proof—Noblemen of rank, Pre-
lates, Advocates, Journalists, Monks, Naval' Cap-
tains, and Engineers, figure in the diverse lists of ad-
ministration. •
Spain is arrived at the point to which perpetual
changes must conduct every nation delivered over to
this dangerous sport. Men are for the moment
without moral credit, and authority only inspires
ephemeral confidence.
Suppose, however, a French army of 80,000 or
100,0041 men master of Spain. What means exist
of orpnizing a Government capable of duration,
and Of securing the future tranquillity of the coun-
try, after the return of the liberating army? • Where
are to be found the elements of such a Government ?
It is necessary, then, always to recur to a pi
longed military occupation. But might not as much
security be produced by an army of 30,000 men
stationed on the Pyrennees, as by 100,000 men scat-'
tered over the whole Peninsula?
This difficulty is therefore a very weighty reason
in addition to all those which render the mere possi-
bility of a political situation which would force
France to make war against Spain a subject to be
regretted. We admit, rnd we always must admit,
that the revolutionary violence of some Spaniards
may-, in spite of all the prudence of the Fr euch Go-
vernment, occasion this unfortunate necessity.
But we think that one of the means of abating
the violence of the Spaniards would be to refrain
from expressing with vehemence a desire forcibly to
change in Spain an order of things which might be'
succeeded by one still worse, from the mere attempt
or even bare threat of change. By wishing that
Spain should be allowed time to reflect and to com-
pose itself, we do not aid the revolutionists of Ma-
drid; on the contrary, we believe that such a pro-
ceeding would paralyze their power, for it is founded
only upon fears and the illusions of passion ; reflec-
tion would destroy' it, and more rapidly than is pro-
bably imagined. We. desire, and always shall, that
in time, and with the consent of the King, there
should arise. in Spain, we will not say a party, but a
union of men sufficiently powerful and sufficiently
skilful to acquire and retain in their hands an autho-
rity adequate to effect, without foreign interference
or civil war, the modifications which assuredly all
enlightened men in. Spain wish for, but which they
have.good reason for not approving of as long as
they are proposed to them. in a hostile manner. It
is in this view of the subject that we agree with the
Aloniteur in regarding the friendly relations subsist-
ing between the Bourbons of France and Spain as a
source of hope.
A foreign Power could not give to a Spanish Mi-
nistry the necessary qualifications to enable it to sup-
port itself without assistance. Must an army of oc-
cupation, then, be left in Spain? No, it will be said;
improved political institutions would suffice to conso- I
lidate the state of things that would be established.
It is a very .dangerous thing for a foreign Power to
form, or to assist in forming, Constitutions. It is pos-
sible, at this moment, to strike off at a heat, a good
Constitution for Spain?
Spain swarms with Nobles, but it has few of a de-
scription to compose a political aristocracy of any
strength. Have we not seen how the vet y small num-
ber of landed proprietors who exist in Spain were de-
lighted with the law against majorats, and how they
hastened to sell their feoffments one after the other ?
Have we not seen, and do we not still see, Spanish
Grandees of the first rank Members of Patriotic So-
cieties? A Chamber of Peers in Spain vi•ould doubt-
less be an institution capable of becoming a guarantee
hereafter ; but at present it would be itself without a
guarantee, as well as without power.
The mass of persons who take a part in politics in
Sp'ain is at present composed of three classes; or,
more properly speaking, there are in that country
three democracies naturally distinct. The first con-
sists of the beneficed Clergy and the Monks ; this class
i; the least friendly to the existing Constitution, but
it is not favourable to any other Power than its own
—it inclines in a great degree towards a Republican
theocracy. Merchants form the second class ;, pro-
bably indifferent as to the political institutions, but
decidely opposed to military occupations. The third
class is compoied of the Liberal Nobles, Military
Officers, Lawyers, and of all persons who are actively
connected with the present state of things. The rot
of the nation have no political ideas. I mistake—they
possess one which prompts them to shoot or stab
every toieigner who would attempt td enter their
Fountry in a hostile fiitmier.
Now, frame wise, well-balanced Constitutions for
people thus strange to the manners and social state

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1777'.

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finer Eurbpean nations. Thetiest"constiiution
wi • put an end to Guerillas, or conspiracies, nor
ime
furious contests of parties.
persons, doubtless full df ezuditiont propose
to re-establish the ancient Cortes of Castile, and Arras'
son. Tais proposition tas been favburably received
by all that party. who are desirous of
.armed interfe-
rence; but to induce its abandonment, it is sufficient.
to point out that the old Assemblies of tortes (that
of Artagon especially) possessed a still more extunsive
power than their actual successors ; and that the
famous oath of the Arragonese," If' net, not," is a
principle of insurrection far more popular and dan-
gerous than the abstract theories set out in the Con-
, stitution of Cadiz.
Chatters, ancient or modern—theories, good or
evil—Lthese things have no power to cure the fever of
civil commotion.
Force—wisdom—these are necessary:. but where
shall .we look for them in a nation agitated—dis-
tracted ; in a nation which foreign invasion may drive
to acts of irremediable fury ?
Take the case as we may, any central power esta-
blished. at Madrid, by the, assistance of foreigners,
would infallibly be met with opposition in the pro- 1
vinces ; and that opposition, in the present moral state
of Spain, will never have to look far for melidisposed
'to rush to the field with muskets on their shoulders.
- We will add, too, that we have hopes from the cha-
racter and ft om the spirit of the Spanish nation,which
did -not commence a revolution to establish anti-
monarchical institutions—to crush the throne and the
existing dynasty ; hut which, having taken up arms
to defend its lawful Sovereign against a usurper, found
itself compelled, by events, to create a Constitution
for itself by war of a rallying point —a Provisional
Constitution, of which it foresaw the defects, and
which it reserved to itself the right of revising. Will i
the Royalists forget that Cadiz was the La Vendee,
of Spain ? Shall we despair of seeing those wig° de-
fended their legitimate rulers against Bonaparte, cor-
rect, cf themselves, those excesses which have not ori-
ginated in their plan of Re solution, but to which the
coincidence of circumstances only has given birsh ?
• Implying chat if the King failed of his duty, the subjects
'ed from their allegiance. .

'l'l!ii:, EVE:vsIING til'Altl

LONDON.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1822.
TUE FUNDS.

STOCK EXCHANGE, TWELVE O'CLOCK.

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