Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1825-12-12
in the conferences at Aix.la. Chapelle,


agitated for the first and last time
among the great European Powers.
".Aftcr the total silence which Spair
has preserved relative to the opinion
put forth by the Powers who were pre-
sent at these conferences, when thi:
question was proposed to them, two
points were clearly established:-lst
That Spain had not the serious inten
ton of proposing to the Americans &C
ceptable conditions; I'd. That the send.
ing this question to be decided by q
Congress could not be attended by any
profitable or satisfactory results.
"Since that time Great Britain has
entirely abstained from touching or
the point OF a negotiation with the Col.
onies, until the month Of May, 1922
when Spain itself made spontaneous
declaration that she wished measures
to be taken for the re-establishmen'
Of peace in the two Americas, upon
an entirely new basis, which, however,
she did not explain.
sin reply to these communications,
Spain was requested to accelerate, as
much as possible, its negotiations with
the Colonies, as the course of events
was so rapid as not to allow of a fur
Their delay: but no suggestion was
made to adopt independence as its ba-
sis.
"The first mention Of this basis,
which took place in the month Of No
vember, 1922, proceeded in fact from
the Spanish Government itself, and a,
this period it was intimated to the res
ident Minister of Great Britain al
Madrid, that The Cortes were occupied
in bringing about negotiations with the
Colonies on the basis ofthcir independ-
neutrality-suspicious. which were in fact
opened, and were attended with hap
py result in respect to Buenos Ayres,
though his Catholic Majesty has since
rejected them. 1t was since this last
communication from the Spanish Gov
eminent that England announced her
opinion that nothing was to be hoped
from negotiations founded upon any
other basis than that declared by the
Spanish Government itself.
"This opinion, communicated, as
has been already stated, through con.
fdential channels to Spain, was, near
year afterwards, that is to say, in o.
tober, 1928, declared by the undersign.
ed to the Ambassador of France in
London, in a conference, the tenor of
which was Communicated 10 Spain
and the other powers. /. was repea-
ted and confirmed at late period in
the communications which the under
signed addressed in January, 1924, TO
Sir VIM. A'Court
"Thus nothing can be less correct
than the assertion, according to which
England is made to lay down the basis
Of independence as a conditional sine
qua non of her cooperation in the ne.
eotiations with Spain and her Colo
MES.
owe now come TO the second COM
piaint Drought against the English !
Government Of having violated the
right of nations. Has it been ever re-
garded as an axiom, Or has any gov
eminent ever considered it practical
maxim, that in no time or circumstan-
ces, government de jacio can acquire
rightsto recognition, or authorize a |
third power to recognize it, that third
power having great interest in estab-
fishing and securing its relations with
the government d. facto.
'Such proceeding on the part of a
third power certainly does not decide
the question fright against the moth.
er country.
"The Netherlands separated them
selves from Spain long before the 10th |
century; but Spain did not formally re-
nounce its sovereignty over that State
until the peace of Westphalia, in l64s. |
In 1910 Portugal declared It's inie-
pendence Of the Spanish monarchy; but |
it was only i'll 1858 that Spain rccog.
nised its independence by treaties.
"The separation Of the Spanish Colo.
MES from the Mother Country has nei-
Their heen our wish nor the object of our
desires; it has been caused by events
in which the English Government took |
no part, but which, we think might
have been prevented if our advice had |
been listened to in time.
"But this separation has produced |
a state Of things to which the British |
Government must adapt its measures
and its language not precipitately, but
with mature reflection and circumspec-
ton
"The continuing to call by the name
Of Spanish possession a territory in
which Spanish power and occupation
have been extinguished, can be of no
practical utility to the Mother Coun-
try, and may endanger the peace Of
the world.
CAL political communities are re-
sponsible to each other for their con-