Star.
London, England, 1821-02-02 00:00:00

CIRCULAR DISPATCH

TO HIS BIAJESTY'S MISSIONS AT FOREIGN
COURTS,
LA4:I SEIONE THL lIOC%E OF LOADS, IN PIJASEANCE ON AN ADDIMA

10 uu 3LUSATT, FURVAJIY 1821.

JAlt. 19, 1891.
Stx—l should not have felt it necessary to have made any com-
munication to you, in the present state of the discussions begun
at Truppau, and transferred to Laybach, had it not been for a
circular 4:41111111l1IliCilti011 which had been addressed by the Courts
of Austria, Prussia, and Russia, to their several Missions, and
which his Majesty's Government conceive, if not adverted to,
might (however unintentionally) ounvey, upon the subject therein
alluded to, very erroneous impressions of the past, as well as she
presut sentiments of the British Government.
It has become, therefore, necessary to inform you that the
King has tear himself obliged to decline becoming a party to the
1711;:as/Ifell ill question.
TheSellleu.SUlCaumbrace two distinct objects:-Ist. The esta-
blish:mitt of certain general principles fur the regulation of the
future political conduct of the Allies in the cases therein de-
scribed The proposed mode of dealing, under these
priueiples, with the existing affairs of Naples.
The system of measures proposed under the former head, if
to be teLiprocally acted upon, would be in direct repugnance to
the fundamental laws of this country. But if even this decisive
objection did not exist, the British Government would neverthe-
lees regard the principles on which these measures rest, to be
such as could not b.: safely admitted as a system of international
law. They are of opinion that their adoption would inevitably ,
sanction, and, in the hands of less beneficent monarchs, might
hereafter lead to a much more frequent and extensive interfe •
reuce iu the internal transactions of Stat6s, than they are per-
suaded is intended by the august parties from whom they pro-
ceed, or can be reconcileable either with the general interest, or
with the efficient authority and dignity of independent Sove•
reigns. They do not regard the alliance as entitled, under ex-
isting treaties, to assume, in their character as Allies, any such
general powers, nor do they conceive that such extraordinary
powers could be assumed, in virtue of any fresh diplomatic
transaction among the Allied Courts, without their either am/-
Inning to themselves a supremacy Incompatible with the rights
of other States, or, if to be acquired through the special acces-
sion of such States, without introducing a federative system in
Europe, not only unwieldy and ineffectual to its object, but
k iding to many most serious inconveniences.
With respect to the paitkular case of Naples, the British
Government, at the very earliest moment, did not hesitate to
express their strong disapprobation of the mode and circum-
stances under which that Revolution was understood to have
been (fretted ; but they, at the same time, expressly declared to
the several Allied Courts, that they should not consider them-
selves as either called upon, or justified, to advise an interfe-
rence on the part of this country : they fully admitted, how-
ever, that other European States, and especially Austria and the
Italian l'owers, might feel themselves differently circum-
stanced; and they professed that it was not their-purpose to
pripidge the question as it might affect them, or to interfere
with the course which such States might think fit to adopt,
with a view to their own security, provided only that they were
ready to give every reasonable assurance that their views were
not directed to purposes of aggrandizement, subversive of the
territorial system of Europe, as established by the Late treaties.
Cron thew principle► the conduct of his Majesty's Gowen-
meet with regard to the Neapolitan question •has been, from
the first Ironton, uniformly regulated, and copies of the sue-
celsive instmetions sent to the British Authorities at Naples for
their guidance, have been from time to time transmitted for the
information nt the Allied Governments.

With rcLarti to the t"xpedation which is expressed in the cir.
colar above alluded to, of th r assent of the Courts of London
and Paris to the more gener.l measures proposed for their adop-
tion, founded, as it is alleged, upon existing treaties: in justifica-
tion of itv own consistency and good faith, the British Govern-
hunt, in withholding 6uch ascent, must protest against itch in-

teepeetation iseing.put upon the teeatiesin quzstion, as is thereit.
assumed.

They have never understood these Treaties to impose any such
obligations ; and they have, on various occasions, both in Parlia-
ment and in their intercourse with the Allied Governments, dis-
tinctly maintained the negative of such a proposition. That they
have acted with all possible explicitness upon this subject would
at once appear from reference to the deliberations at Paris, in
1815, previous to the conclusion of the Treaty of Alliance, at
Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1818, and subsequently in certain di...citations
which took place in the course of the last year.
After having removed the misconception to which the passage
of the Circular in question, if passed ovtr in silence, might give
countenance; and having stated in general terms, without, how-
-1 ever, entering into the argument, the dissent of his Majesty's
Government from the general principle upon which the Circular
in question is founded, it should be clearly understood, that no
Government can be more prepared than the British Govern-
ment is, to uphold the right of any State or States to interfere
where their own immediate security or esserit:al interests are
seriously endangered by the internal transactions of another
State. But as they regard the assumption of such right as only
to be justified by the strongest necessity, and to be limited and
regulated thereby, they cannot admit that this right can receive
a general and indiscriminate application to all revolutionary
movements, without reference to their immediate bearing upon
some particular State or States, or be made prospectively the
basis of an alliance.

They regard its exercise as an exception to general principles,
of the greatest value and importance, and as one that properly
grows out of the cireuhistances. of the special case ; but they at
the same time conaider, that exceptions of this description never
can, without the utmost danger, be so far reduced to rule, as to
be incorporated into the ordinary diplomacy of States, or into
the institutes of the law of Nations. As it appears that certain
of the hlinistep of the three Courts have already communicated
this Circular Dispatch to the Courts to which they are accre-
dited, I leave it to your discretion to make a corresponding
communication nn the part of your Govenimett, regulating
your language in conformity to the principles laid down in the
present Dispatch. You will take care, however, in making
such communication, to do justice, in the name of your Govern-
ment, to the purity of intention, which has no .doubt actuated
these august Courts, in the adoption of the course of measures
which they are pursuing. 'flu, difference of sentiment which
prevails between them and the Court of London on this matter,
you may declare, can make no alteration whatever in the cor-
diality and harmony of the alliance on any other subject, or
abate their common zeal in giving the most complete effect to
all their existing engagements. I am, &c.
(Signed) C AST LER F. A G 11.

THE EVENING STAR.

LONDON.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY-2, 1821.