Glasgow Courier. — 1846-09-19 (Glasgow, Strathclyde, Scotland)

FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE.  AFFAIRS OF SPAIN.  Madrid, Sept. 8.  A petition of the Liberal party, addressed to the Queen, against the marriage of her sister with the Duke of Montpensier, has been printed, and copies distributed for signature. There are twelve places in Madrid named for that purpose. The following extracts from the document will be found interesting:—  " It is now a century and a half since Spain—that Spain, strong and powerful, at whose name the boldest nations bowed down— that Spain in whose dominions the sun never set—that possessed Europe; that discovered and conquered America; that invaded Asia; that took possession of Africa ;—that same Spain has at this day scarcely a spark of life. For a century and a half the invading torrent has been pouring down upon us from the crest of the Pyrenees' and on all sides destroying our nationality. Our customs are French; our language would not be understood by the Leona, the Ilerreras, the Cervantes, or the Solis. Our fathers could not recognise our costume. Our Government is French, our Administration French, our laws arc framed on a French model, and a French law it was that was near depriving your Majesty of the crown of Spain. To destroy that law it became necessary to rouse the energy and patriotism of the Spanish people, and to carry on a war of seven years. "Senora, French invasion is increasing every day; and in vain all the instincts of nationality are rising against it. A few men, despising all that belong to their own country, only value, in policy, in legislaion, in uses, in customs, in language, whatever comes from the banks of the Seine; and, profiting by the exalted position in which they are undeservedly placed, endeavour, now more than ever, to make of Spain a satellite of France. On the other hand, Senora, the direct influence, not only of French ideas, but of the government of that nation, is felt on all sides, even to the point that the most influential member of that Cabinet is enabled to boast in the face of the Parliament that Spain is ruled by a French party. When we read and see such things, Senora, the blood mounts to our faces, and our hearts are filled with bitterness at seeing that the descendants of those who triumphed at Pavia, are reduced to devour in secret and impotent silence their shame and their dishonour. For the last century and a-half, Senora, we are travelling this road of destruction. If you open the page of history which corresponds to that period, you will find nothing but misfortunes coming to us from the other side of the Pyrenees; wars to which we have been dragged by France; wars, which we have had to sustain against its usurping and invading projects; losses, immense, irreparable, which its relations and its interests I have occasioned us. It is now time that a vigorous hand should put an end to this invasion of every species of evil; and should raise on the Pyrenees a dyke of Espanolisen against which the impetuous and destructive current shall dash itself. "Nations, Senora, have their antipathies as well as individuals; and in the present case the antipathy of the Spanish people, not to the French people, lint to all that France imposes on us, that antipathy is well founded. Could your Majesty go amongst the masses of your people, and hear their voice—the voice of the high, the middling, and the low ;—one cry you might hear,—one cry only, and that is, "Put no trust in France !" You are not acquainted with the antipathy against all that is French in Spain. You do not know, because you cannot know it, that universal and deep-rooted antipathy. To give your Majesty an idea of its magnitude, we shall only inform you that, in the ordinary language of the people, the words 'traitor' and ' miscreant' do not rouse in their hearts so much aversion as Afranceaado. " Ah! Senora, if you knew hoe much this nation has suffered from the assaults that have proceeded from France; if you knew how much it has suffered during the present century alone, you would not be surprised-at this hostile feeling against our neighbours. The most iniquitous of all treasons was that perpetrated by the French Government in 1805. It brought on us a war which commenced .with the 2d of May, and during which the most obscure family as well as the highest suffered immense losses. Our fathers lavished their goods their blood, and their lives, to place OD the throne of France a branch that had been expelled from it; and that branch, with the blackest ingratitude, paid us, nine years afterwards, for our services by tearing from us the liberty we had won for ourselves. The justice of God fell upon the ungrateful, and Frenchmen were those who avenged us. A. new branch mounted the throne; and scarcely was it placed in the post it had so long sighed for, when the unfortunate Spanish Liberals were persecuted by that same Government that flattered them the day before. The Minas, the Valdez, the Isturiz,—yes, Senora, the Isturiz themselves, can tell you what was the conduct of the King of the French." .It concludes by the expression of a confident hope that her Majesty will not, in defiance of the laws of the kingdom and the constitution, permit the immediate successor to the crown to marry a French prince. In addition to the signatures yesterday, a great nnmber have been affixed up to the present time, 4 o'clock rad. The Expectador, Clanwr, and Eco del Comercio were seized this morning by the police. The last-named appeared at a late hour, bat with several blank passages in its leading article. The cause of their seizure was their having published some observations on the note addressed by Mr. Bulwer to Senor Isturiz, the day before yesterday, on the subject of the Infanta's marriage with the Duke of Montpensier. The first-mentioned paper expressed itself the strongest on the question. It ends its leading article by saying, "We should not be worthy interpreters of the national opinion if we did not offer to the distinguished British Minister at this Court the homage of our gratitude and admiration for the clear and skilful manner (always supposing the news we give to be correct) in which lie has given expression to the wishes of the Spanish people towards their old comrades of the oar of independence." "Public opinion," it exclaims, "rejects the Montpensier alliance. We are sure that the Spanish army will not make itself the accomplice of the suicide of their country; and as to 100,000 French bayonets with which it appears we are threatened in the distance, there is the paper of Mr. Bulwer to wrap them in; and if any still remain, why, there are Spanish hands to break them."