Star.
London, England, 1827-10-04 00:00:00

wail myself of all
of ft me, betake,

my eruntry a silence which is necessary
portant points. 1, however, willingly resio ,
to this sacrifice, in the full confidence that my country-
men will recollect the maxim of one of the mo.t illus-
trious ()yawls of our Congress—" that to deliberate and
=solve in political affairs, it is necessary to have the
heart in the head."

Two charges are made against me : the first, 44 the
having acted contrary to the tenour of my instructions ;"
the second, 4. the having signed a convention not only
ignominious, but injurious to the essential rights of the
nation." These are the two points to Which my defence
shall be directed.-
It has been considered as indisputable that a Nlinister
Plenipote niary cannot at any. time or under any cir-
cumstances depart from the teat of his instructions,
whatever be the evil which he may avoid, or the beae.
fits l-e may hope to auain. It is added, that such a
conduct is unexampled in the history of diplomacy.—.
Tnefe propositions are taken for granted as principles
by my accusers, and form a dogma with the multitude.
The whole, however, is founded in error. There are
Cases in wl,ich a negotiator may refuse That which his
instructions have directed him to concede; in which
he may grant what he is imperatively ordered to re-
fuse; and mai consent to modifications which he is not
expressly authorised to make. These cases are not-new
in history. Among many which I might adduce, 1-
shall select two:

The first 'occurred to Martiny, Bishop of Elne. who
was sent by Louis XI King of France, to negotiate a
truce with Edward IV. King of England. Martiny
concluded the twee, but departed from two express ar-
ticles of his instructions. Louis XI. being highly dis-
pleased with his conduct, put him ea his. trial before
the Parliament. Martiny defouled himself by saying
that what the King had verbally tecommended to him
was to obtain peace with England ; that without de-
parting from the two points specified in his instructions,
it was impossible to obtain it, mad that he chase t ather
to expose himself to the disgrace of having his conduct
reproached for giving the Kng the time necessary to
r:cover himself,. than to lose without resource the object
of his mission. The Parliament acquitted Martiny.
The second cassis that of the Spanish Plenipotentiary,
Count diAr 'oda, who, finding that the peace, which
WAS negotiating ittthe year 1782, between Spain,France,
and England, depended solely upon the restoration of
Gibraltar, which was made a sine qua non by his Ce-
tholtc Majesty, took upon himself to declare, in tt‘e
name of his Sovereign, that he renounced Gibraltar,
and accepted in its stead thefloridasltorn France, not-
withstanding that this was in contradiction to the most
imperative and absolute instructions. Count d'Aranda
thus exposed himself to the disfavour of his Court; but
by this transica ri he merited to rank among the men
who have rendered themselves most illustrious in the
career of diplomacy. Other cases of the same kind may
be seen, Wrquefort, book ii. sec. 5.
Unquestionably such eases must be allowed to be
extraordinary. A Minister Plenipotentiary tan never
so compromise himself without being thoroughly in-
formed of the ideas of his Government—of the state of,
its political systern—o! the position and the interests of
Abe country_ nhich he represents. Farther, a Plenipo-
tiary cannot depart from the letter of his instructions
to agree to any thing which may compromise the
essential rights of the nation. It is alone for die pot-.
pose of having those rights that he may depart from
the letter of his instructions for in such case their letter
'must be held to be contrary to their spirit, and to the
essential object of the oegociation; for it must here be
recollected that the first duty of a Government is to
sacrifice every thing to the national existence, and never
to sacrifice that existence to any thing, however grand,
noble, or glorious it may appear to be.
Let us now apply this doctrine:
The essential object of the mission of the Plenipoten-
tiary to the COurt of Braail was peace, or the immediate
cessation of hostilities. The pen refuses to sketch the
picture of the Republic at that time. It is sufficient to
say, that it was such that the Government believed it to
be threatened' with dissolution if peace were not imme-
diately made. I was sent to treat upon a basis which
was rejected by the Emperor of Brazil, but it was ne-
cessary that peace should be promptly negociated.
I shall not stop to detail the reasons which rendered'
this proceeding urgent. They may be considered as
included in the propositions confided to me by the Pre-
sident of the Republic and his Ministry, at she time of
my departure:—" Peace is the only starting point of
both sides. If the war continue, anarchy is inevitablet
if we cannot obtain peace, we must resign ourselves'to
vassalage. Since the Republic has agreed that titO
Banda Oriental should be separated, and form an inda
pendent state, the war has no longer any object:'
I strongly felt the immense confidence which was
placed in me, by iturusting me with the negotiation of
peace under such circumstances, and at the same time
could not conceal front myself the tremendous dangers
in which the situation of men and things placed me.—
Nevertheless, I yielded to my destiny, and departed,
full of the idea that peace woeld be an essential benefit
to the Republic for repairing its losses, and for its ex-

On my arrival at the Court of Brazil, I found that the
difficulties which were previously of a most serious
nature had vastly increased. Three days anterior to
my arrival, the Emperor of Brasil bad solemnly de-
clared before the assembled Chambers his determi-