It is well known that Kin...
The Times, 1824-11-04T00:00:00

It is well ki,owi thlat Kinig FiEvnDrNAND, ever since his triumpaniat returm from Cadiz, has been trying every metho(d wbichl ingcniuity could devise, or knavery adopt, to get money, or, as the saying is, to raise the vinid. It is -well knowii that he hias bcen of late particularly hard pressed-thLat his civil and military servanits liave become imnpatient for thcir arrcars-that his Allies are clamorous for iademnity-that iis necessitics :re overwhelining, andt his coffers empty. It is likewise as well kinown, that from the state of lisordEer and coufusion in to which his mal- administration has plingedl his unilhappy kingdom, no hope can be placed on the ordin ary resources of hiis Governrment, anld that tihe moniks anid ecclesiastics, wlho have hitherto partially supplietd Ihis wants, are not disoosed to continue their sacrifices, withiout receiving, likc the priests of old, .the largest sbare of the offerings presented oni the altar. Credit, th en, is FEIRDINAND'S onily resource; andl, alas ! for the ancient chivalrous hionesty of Spain, the credit of any swindler itl Europe is as higli as that of its Sovereign. Accordingly, all the banikers of any note in England, France, Holland, or Germany, have refused to rely omi the word of a King who has already brokeni his solemn en- gagemcnts; andt, whethier. Jew or Clristiani, have ndopted itas au article of their coinmonl financial creed, that faith mauxt be kept-if not with heretics-at least witlh amoney-lenders ! We have beci led oIIce more to allude to thenectessities and dishonest dealings of hiis Cathiolic Majesty, by an article in a French paper of a recent date, -whicih contains a correspoidence between a Paris banking- louse (tlhat of GvEnEu ne FoXCIN andI Co.,) and M. BUnRGOos, ani agenit of the Spanish Gov4rmnent, in June last. It will be recollected, that as soon as FE1LDINAND _eTQcX cd Port St. Mary, about a year age, hie tihrew himiself trtto thc a;ms of the patrty wbich had, through the organ of aRegency acting-in his name, ainulled the acts and eancelled the obligations of the Government, over which he had for three years presided-with his owII cordlial consent and the acknowledgment of the otherPotentates of Europe. This junta seemed to have regarded a breach of faith with political heretics as a positive duty, and were there- fore obliged to look, in their legitimnate straits, to a quarter dliflerent from that which had supplied their Constitutional wan4ts. Adventurers, accordingly, presented themselves, who renounee(l all regard to tile bonds of the Cortes, but could orTer no security for their own promised advances; and a combination of the greatest capitalists of Europe made tentlers, in which a recognition of these bonds was to be stipulated. Of the former,the Spanish Ministryrequired guarantees which they cotuld not supply, and on the latter theyretorted conditions which they wvould not admit. Thus, houses who had no credit of their own, were alene left to support the credit of a ruined Government ; and the great banking establishments which could have restored in some degree its finances, were frightened from aiding it by seeing former perfidy proposed as the basis of future engagements. The correspondence before us shows the determination of everyrespectable capitalist to demand a recognition of forner loans, in whole or in part, in an absolute, or in a qualified manner, as a prelimLnary to a negotiation for any new ad- vance. The heusc of M. GuERIN nDR FONCIN and (Co. had disposed during last summer of some of the Royal bonds of Spain, and had procured a petition to be transmitted from their office in favour of the Consti- tutional loans. They had likewise employed an agent at Madrid to treat for a new loan, in which the debt contracted by the Constitutional Government should be included ; and this negotiation lasted fo.. two months, with considcrable hopes on their part that it migbt termi- nate in a satisractory arrangement. During this period they wrote the Royal Spanish Commnissioner at Paris, M. XAVIER DE BURGos, a letter explanatory of the proposals which they had offered to the Spanish Ministry, and by whicli they were willing to abide. Their two first propo- sitions were,an acknowledgment of the whole of the foreign loans contracted or recognized In the interval between ] 820 and 1823, at an interest of 5 per cent.; or an acknow- ledgmentofthecapitals ofthe said debt with a reduction of interest to 3 per cent. In the former case they offered to take tlle new loan at 80, in the latter at 75. If, however, the state of the Spanish revenue, accord- ing to representations from Madrid, rendered it impos- sible for the Government of FERDINANI to recognize its debts on either of these scales ot' interest, the con- tractors finally propose a measure to whichi they think Spa- nish good faith can state no objection-namely, that the Constitutional loans slhall be considered as the fruit of usur- pation and anarchly, antl as suoh annulled; but that the Spanislh Governtment shall reimburse the suLms actually advanced to the Spanish Treasury, and applied to public services solong as Ambassadors from the prinecipal Powers of Europe wvere accredited to the (Courtof Madrid; and,that till the final liquidation ismade,30 or 25 per cent. of the nominal Yalue of the bonds shall be received in payment of the niew loan. In this latter case they offer to contract for the said new loan at 70. The answer of MJ. de BuRGos to those most reasonable propositions is short, and therefore we here subjoin it entirc:- PARIs, Jutne 29, 1824. I have morc than once had the honour of stating to you, that the propositions which you lhave again renewed in your letter of yestetday conild not be admitted. * You must have been convinced of this by the manner in which they have been received at -Madrid. lWhat cannot be done in that city it is not possible to do in Paris. " I have the honout to be, &c., " XAVIER DE BURGOS, " The Commissioner for the Financial Affairs of Spain." Such is the state of Spanish credit-sueh is a sample of FERDiNAWD'S honesty. His Cathtolic Majesty may. rest assured that his credit will not improve till his system is changed-that he cannot borrow as an absolute Sovereigni, till he pays his Constitutional debts-and that deeds signed by his hand, and acts clothed wvith his sanction, while he exercised his regal authority, and whlile Ambassadors from all the States of Europe attended his Court as a limited but independent AMonarch, cannot be cancelled or annulled on a subsequent allegation that he then was not frce. It may not be unimportant to remark, that the knavery of the Spaniish Government has produced great u'istress among a considerable class of small annuitaiits at Paris, and that a great proportion of thc petitions presenited to the new King on his entry to the palace ofl his ancestors, prayedl his Christian iMajesty to inspire with more honiest principles the member of his family who mnisgoverns Spain.