to the whole south of Europe, placed Austria under the painful necessity of having recourse to measures which ill accorded with the pacific course which she would desire invariably to pursue. She She has witnessed a portion of her dominions surrounded by sedition, and fettered by incendiary plots, and on the very eve of being attacked by conspirators, whose first efforts were directed against the frontiers. It was only by great efforts and great sacrifices that Austria succeeded in re-establishing tranquillity in Italy, and in defeating projects, the success of which would have been any thing but indifferent as to the fate of her own provinces. Besides, in the questions relative to Spain, his imperial majesty cannot do otherwise, than support the same principles which he has always so decidedly manifested. Even in the absence of any direct danger to the people confided to his care, the emperor will never hesitate to disavow and reprove what he thinks false and culpable, in regard to the general interests of human society. Faithful to the system of preservation and peace, for the maintenance of which he has contracted inviolable engagements with his august allies, his majesty will never cease to consider disorder and subversions, whatever portion of Europe may be the victim of them, as an object of deep solicitude for all governments; and whenever the emperor can make his views manifest amid the tumult of these deplorable crises, he shall think that he has fulfilled a duty, with which no consideration can induce him to dis pense. It would be difficult for me to believe, M. Count, that the declared judgment of his imperial majesty on the events which are passing in Spain can be misunder stood or misinterpreted in that country. No object of private interest no conflict of reciprocal pretension-no sentiment of mistrust or jealousy can inspire in our cabinet an idea in opposition to the welfare of Spain. The house of Austria has only to turn to the annals of its own history to find the most powerful motives of attachment, regard, and good-will towards a nation, which may with just pride recall those centuries of glorious memory, in which her sun of grandeur never set towards a nation, which, powerful in respectable institutions, hereditary virtues, religious sentiments, and in love to her kings, has rendered herself illustrious in every age by a patriotism always loyal, always generous, and very often heroic. During a pe riod still recent, this nation astonished the world by the courage, devotion, and perseverance, which she opposed to the ambitious usurper who endeavoured to deprive her of her monarch and her laws; and Austria will never forget, how useful was the noble resistance of the Spanish nation at a time of great danger for herself. It is not to Spain, either as a nation or as a power, that can be applied the severe language which is dictated to his imperial majesty by his conscience and his love of truth; it applies only to those who have ruined and disfigured her, and who persist in prolonging her sufferings. On meeting his august allies at Verona, his majesty, the emperor, has had the happiness again to find in their counsels the same tutelary and disinterested dispositions which have constantly guided his own. The tone of the dispatches, which will be addressed to Madrid, will vouch for this fact, and will leave no doubt of the sincere anxiety of the powers to serve the cause of Spain, by demonstrating to her the necessity of pursuing a different course. It is certain that the grievances which oppress her have lately augmented in fearful progression. The most rigorous measures, the most hazardous expedients, can no longer give authority to her administration. Civil war rages in several of her provinces; her relations with the greatest portion of Europe are deranged or suspended; and her relations with France have even assumed so problematical a character, as to justify serious disquietude respecting the consequences which may thence result. Would not such a state of things justify the most fatal forebodings? Every Spaniard, who knows the real state of his country, ought to feel that, in order to burst the fetters which now bind the monarch and his subjects, Spain must terminate that state of separation which has been the result of late events. The relations of confidence and sincerity must be re-established between her and the other governments; relations which, by guaranteeing on the one hand, her firm intention to associate herself in the common cause of the European monarch, may, on the other hand, furnish the means of estimating her real will, and of rejecting every thing calculated to pervert and restrain it. But to attain this end, it is especially indispensable that her king should be free, not only as regards that personal liberty which every indi vidual may claim under the reign of the laws, but that liberty which a sovereign ought to enjoy in order to discharge his high vocation. The king of Spain will be free from the moment that he shall have the power of putting an end to the evils which afflict his subjects, of restoring order and peace in his kingdom, of surrounding himself with men equally worthy of his confidence by their principles and talents; and, finally, of substituting for a regime acknowledged to be impracticable even by those whose egotism or pride still attaches them to it, an order of things in which the rights of the monarch shall be happily blended with the real interests and legitimate views of all classes of the nation. When this moment shall arrive, Spain, wearied by long sufferings, may flatter herself with re-entering into full possession of the advantages, which Heaven has allotted her, and which the noble character of her inhabitants insures to her; then will she be restored to those relations which unite her to all the European powers; and his imperial majesty will congratulate himself upon having nothing left to offer her but the wishes which he entertains for her prosperity, and all the good services which he may have it in his power to render to an ancient friend and ally. You will, M. the count, make of this despatch a use the most appropriate to the circumstances in which you may find yourself on receiving it. You are authorized to read it to the minister of foreign affairs, as well as to give him a copy should he ask it. DISPATCH from the Count DE BERNSTOFF to the PRUSSIAN Charge d'Affaires at MADRID, Dated VERONA, Nov. 22, 1822. Sir;-Among the objects which fix the attention and demand the anxious solicitude of the sovereigns and cabinets assembled at Verona, the situation of Spain, and its relations with the rest of Europe, have occupied the first place. You know the interest which the king, our august master, has never ceased to take in his Catholic majesty, and in the Spanish nation. This nation, so distinguished by the loyalty and energy of its character, illustrious from so many ages of glory and virtue, and always so celebrated for the noble devotion and heroic perseverance which made it triumph over the ambitious and despotic designs of the usurper of the French throne, possesses claims too venerable and too solid to the interest and regard of all Europe, to permit that its sovereigns can view with indifference the miseries that actually oppress it, and with which it is menaced. An event the most deplorable has subverted the ancient bases of the Spanish monarchy; compromised the character of the nation; and attacked and poisoned public prosperity in its very sources. A revolution, which sprung from military revolt, has suddenly broken all the bonds of duty, overthrown all legitimate order, and dissolved the elements of the social edifice, which cannot fall without covering the whole country with its ruins. It was thought possible to replace this edifice, by extorting from a sovereign already despoiled of all real authority and of all free will, the re-establishment of the con stitution of the Cortes of the year 1812, which, confounding all ele ments and all power, and assuming only the single principle of a permanent and legal opposition against the government, necessarily destroyed that central and tutelary authority, which constitutes the essence of the monarchical system. The consequences have fully made known to the Spanish nation, what are the fruits of so fatal an error. The revolution, that is to say the letting loose of every passion against the ancient order of things, far from being stopped, checked, or modified, has developed itself in a manner at once rapid and terri fying. The government, powerless and paralyzed, had no longer the means of either doing good or preventing evil. All its powers were found concentrated, accumulated, and confounded, in one single as sembly; this assembly presented only a conflict of opinions and views, of interests and of passions, in the midst of which propositions and resolutions of the most heterogeneous kind were constantly pro duced, resisted, or neutralized The ascendancy of the fatal doc trines of a disorganizing philosophy could not but augment the general delusion, until at last, as might naturally be expected, every notion of sound policy was abandoned for vain theories, and every sentiment of justice and moderation sacrificed to the dreams of fallacious liberty, From that moment institutions, tablished under the pretence of offering securities against the abuse of authority, became merely the instruments of injustice and vio lence, and the means of covering this tyrannical system with an appearance of legality. Without the slightest hesitation, the most venerable and sacred rights were abolished; lawful property was violated; and the Church was stripped of its dignity, its prerogatives, and its possessions. It may be thought that a despotic power, exercised by a faction only to the injury of the country, would soon have fallen to pieces, if delusive declamations from the tribune, ferocious outcries from the clubs, and the licentiousness of the press, had not kept down public opinion, and stifled the voice of that sound and reasonable part of the Spanish nation, which Europe was well aware formed an immense majority. But the measure of injustice was filled, and the patience of faithful Spaniards appeared at length to be exhausted. On all sides discontent burst forth, and whole provinces became the prey of civil war. In the midst of this dreadful agitation, the sovereign of the country was seen reduced to an absolutely powerless state, deprived of all liberty of action and of will, a prisoner in his capital, separated from all his faithful servants who still remained attached to him, loaded with insults and contumely, and exposed, from day to day, to attempts which, if the faction did not provoke them, at least they had retained no means of preventing. You, sir, who have witnessed the origin, the progress, and the consequences of the revolution of the year 1820, can testify that there is nothing exaggerated in the picture of it which I have thus rapidly traced. Things have now reached such a crisis, that the sove reigns assembled at Verona at length feel themselves compelled to inquire, what are now, and what will hereafter be, the nature of their relations with Spain. But It might have been hoped, that the dreadful calamity, with which Spain was attacked, would have experienced crises of a nature calculated to bring back that ancient monarchy to an order of things compatible with its own welfare, and with relations of friendship and confidence between itself and the other states of Europe. this hope has been hitherto frustrated. The moral state of Spain is at the present moment such, that her relations with foreign powers must necessarily be doubtful and uncertain. Doctrines subversive of * all social order are openly preached and protected. Insults, directed against the principal sovereigns of Europe, fill with impunity the public journals. The revolutionists of Spain disperse their emissaries, in order to associate with themselves, in their pernicious labours, whatever conspirators may be found in foreign countries against public order and legitimate authority. The inevitable effect of so many disorders has particularly manifested itself in the change of relations between Spain and France. The irritation, which has resulted, is of a nature calculated to create the most just apprehensions as to the maintenance of peace between the two countries. This circumstance alone would be sufficient to determine the assembled sovereigns to break silence upon a state of things, which every day threatens to compromise the tranquillity of Europe. Is the Spanish government willing, or is it able, to apply a re medy to evils so palpable and so notorious? Will it, and can it, prevent or repress the hostile consequences and the insulting provocations which arise with regard to foreign governments, from the position in which the revolution has placed it, and from the system which it has established? We conceive that nothing can be more contrary to the intentions of his most Catholic majesty, than to see himself placed in a situation so extremely painful with respect to foreign sovereigns; but it is precisely because this monarch, who is the only authentic and legitimate organ of communication between Spain and the other powers of Europe, finds himself deprived of his liberty, and restrained in his will, that those powers consider their relations with Spain to be compromised and deranged. It is not for foreign courts to judge what institutions would harmonize best with the character, the manners, and the real wants of the Spanish nation; but it does indubitably belong to them to judge of the consequences which experiments of this kind produce with regard to themselves, and to regulate by those consequences, their future determinations, and their future positions, with regard to Spain. Now, the king, our master, is of opinion, that the Spanish government, in order to preserve, and re-establish on a solid foundation, their relations with foreign powers, cannot do less than give to these last unequivocal proofs of the liberty of his Catholic majesty, and an adequate guarantee of their disposition and ability to remove the causes of our regret, and of our too just inquietude respecting it. The king orders you, sir, not to conceal this opinion from the Spanish minister, to read to him this despatch, to leave a copy of it in his hands, and to request him to explain himself frankly and clearly upon the points to which it refers. The PRESIDENT of the Council of Ministers, charged ad interim wilk the Department for FOREIGN AFFAIRS, to the Count De La Garde, his MAJESTY's Minister at MADRID. "M. le Comte ;-As your political situation may be changed, in consequence of the resolutions adopted at Verona, French candour requires that you should be directed to make known the views of the government of his Most Christian Majesty to the government of his Catholic Majesty. "Since the revolution, which took place in Spain in April, 1820, France, notwithstanding the dangers which that revolution presented for her, carefully endeavoured to draw close the bonds which unite the two kings, and to maintain the relations which exist between the two nations. "But the influence, under which the changes in the Spanish monarchy were brought about, has become more powerful in conse quence of the very results of these changes, as it was easy to be fore seen. "A constitution, which king Ferdinand on resuming the crown neither recognized nor accepted, was imposed on him by a military insurrection. The natural conse quence of this transaction has been, that each dissatisfied Spa |