factions, or rather persons: in ours, there is but one opinion, one general desire; an hereditary mo. narchy, and Ferdinand VII. on the throne. The French, shedding torrents of blood during their anarchy, proclaimed no one prin. ciple which they did not afterwards reject; they made no law which they did not violate, and at last they submitted to a barbarous despotism. The Spaniards, who, on account of the perfidious inva. sion of the French, found them. selves without a government, and without communication with each other, have not shewn themselves terrible or bloody, except towards their enemies, and well know how to meliorate their institutions, and consolidate their liberty, without overthrowing the state. form vows for us. Let us be constant, and we shall gather the fruit which victory will produce: the laws of religion satisfied; our 'monarch either restored to the throne, or avenged; the fundamental laws of the monarchy restored and con secrated, in a manner solemn, and consonant with civil liberty; the fountains of public prosperity pouring benefits spontaneously, and without impediment; our relations with our colonies drawn more closely and become more fraternal, and consequently more useful; in fine, activity, industry, talents and virtues stimulated and rewarded to such a degree of splendour and fortune we shall raise our country," if we ourselves correspond with the magnificent circumstances which surround us. These are the views, and this is the plan which the junta proposed to itself from the moment of its installation, in order to fulfil the two primary and essential objects of its institution. Its members charged with an authority so great, and mahiking themselves responsible by entertaining hopes so flattering, do not fail to see the difficulties they have to conquer in order to realize them, the enormity of the weight which hangs over them, nor the dangers to which they are exposed; but they will think the fatigues, and the devotion of their persons to the service of the country well paid, if they succeed in inspiring Spaniards with that confidence, without which the public good cannot be secured, and which the junta dares to affirm it merits, from the rectitude of its principles and the purity of its intentions. O Spaniards! How beautiful a perspective of glory and felicity we behold before us, if we know how to profit by the singular epoch; if we fulfil the high purposes which Providence points out to us! In stead of being objects of compassion and contempt, as we have therto been, we are about to become the envy and admiration of the world. The delicious climate we enjoy, the fertile soil whence we draw our subsistence, our geographical position, the riches which nature has lavished upon us, and the noble and generous character with which she has endowed us, will not be wasted gifts in the hands of a vile and enslaved people. Already the Spanish name is pronounced with respect in Europe, whose nations, which lie tram pled upon by the French, hang all their hopes upon our fortune; even the very slaves of the tyrant, groaning under his intolerable yeke, 2 Aranjuez, Oct. 26, 1808. Extracts 'Extracts from the Correspondence with the Russian and French Governments, relative to the Over. tures received from Erfurth. No. I.Letter from count Nicholas de Romanzoff to Mr. secretary Canning, dated Erfurth, 30th September (12th October), 1808-Received Oct. 21st. (Translation.) SIR, -1 send to your excellency a letter which the emperors of Russia and France write to his majesty the king of England. The emperor of Russia flatters himself that England will feel the grandeur and the sincerity of this step. She will there find the most natural and the most simple answer to the over ture which has been made by admiral Saumarez. The union of the two empires is beyond the reach of all change, and the two emperors have formed it for peace as well as for war. His majesty has commanded me to make known to your excel. lency that he has nominated pleni potentiaries who will repair to Pa. ris, where they will àwait the an swer which your excellency may be pleased to make to me. I request you to address it to the Russian am. bassador at Paris. The plenipotentiaries named by the emperor of Russia will repair to that city on the continent to which the plenipotentiaries of his Britannic majesty and his allies shall have been sent. In respect to the bases of the negociation, their imperial majesties see no difficulty in adopting all those formerly proposed by England, namely, the uti possidetis, and every other basis founded upon the reciprocity and equality which ought to prevail between all great nations. I have the honour to be, 9 the SIRE, The present circumstan ces of Europe have brought us to gether at Erfurth, Our first thought is to yield to the wish and wants of every people, and to seek, te in a speedy pacification with your majesty, the most efficacious remedy for the miseries which oppress of all nations. We make known to your majesty our sincere desire in vo this respect by the present, letter. The long and bloody war, which has torn the continent is at an end, without the possibility of being reori newed, Many changes have taken? place in Europe; many states have been overthrown. The cause is to be found in the state of agitation and misery in which the stagnation of maritime commerce has placed the greatest nations. Still greater changes may yet take place, and all of them contrary to the policy of the English nation. Peace, then, is at once the interest of the people of the continent, as it is the inte rest of the people of Great Britain, We unite in entreating your majesty to listen to the voice of humanity, silencing that of the passions; to seek, with the intention of ar. riving at that object, to conciliate all interests, and by that means to preserve all the powers which exist, and to ensure the happiness of Europe and of this generation, at the head head of which Providence has my master the two letters which his placed us. (Signed) ALEXANDER. No. III. Letter from M. de Champagny, to Mr. secretary Canning, dated Erfurth, 12th October, 1808.-Received October 21st. (Translation.) excellency the count Nicolas de Romanzoff has transmitted to me from Erfurth, I have received his majesty's commands to reply to the official note which I have the that which is addressed to him, by honour to enclose to your excellency. However desirous his ma SIR; I have the honour to trans-jesty might be to reply directly to mit to your excellency a letter his majesty the emperor of Russia, which the emperor of the French you cannot but feel, Sir, that from and the emperor of all the Russias letters signed by his imperial mathe unusual manner in which the write to his Britannic majesty. The grandeur and the sincerity of this step entirely deprived them of the chajesty were drawn up, and which has will, without doubt, be felt. That cannot be attributed to weakness, racter of a private and personal which is the result of the intimate found it impossible to adopt that communication, his majesty has connection between the two greatest mark of respect towards the empe sovereigns of the continent, united for peace as well as for war. ror of Russia, without at the same His time acknowledging titles which his majesty the emperor has commanded me to make known to majesty never has acknowledged. your excel. lency, that he has nominated plenipotentiaries who will repair to that city on the continent to which his majesty the king of Great Britain and his allies shall send their plenipotentiaries. With respect to the bases of the negociation, their majesties are disposed to adopt those formerly proposed by England her self, namely, the uti possidetis, and any other basis founded upon justice, and the reciprocity and equality which ought to prevail between all great nations.I have the honour to be, with the highest cousideration, &c. I am commanded to add to the contents of the official note, that his majesty will hasten to commuSweden, and to the existing governnicate to his majesty the king of ment of Spain, the proposals which have been made to him. Your excellency will perceive that it is abshould receive an immediate assu solutely necessary that his majesty. the government of Spain as party rance, that France acknowledges the intention of the emperor of to any negociation. That such is Russia his majesty cannot doubt. His majesty recollects with satisfaction the lively interest which his imperial majesty has always manifested for the welfare and dignity of the Spanish monarchy, and he wants no other assurance that his imperial majesty cannot have been induced to sanction by his concurrence, or by his approbation, usurSIR,-Having laid before the king pation, the principle of which is (Signed) CHAMPAGNY. His excellency Mr. Canning, &c. not 1 not less unjust than their example is dangerous to all legitimate sovereigns. As soon as the answers on this point shall have been received, and as soon as his majesty shall have learnt the sentiments of the king of Sweden, and those of the government of Spain, I shall not fail to receive the commands of his majesty for such communications as it may be necessary to make upon the ulterior objects of the letter of count Romanzoff.-I have the ho nour to be, &c. (Signed) GEORGE CANNING. To his excellency the Russian ambassador at Paris. 1 No. VIII.-Letter from Mr. secretary Canning to M. de Champagny, dated Foreign Office, October 28th, 1808. SIR,-Having laid before the king my master the two letters which your excellency transmitted to me from Erfurth, one of which was addressed to his majesty, I have received his majesty's commands to return, in answer to that letter, the official note which I have the honour herewith to enclose. I am commanded to add, that his majesty will lose no time in communicating to the king of Sweden and to the government of Spain the proposals which have been made to his majesty. Your excellency will see the necessity of an assurance being immediately afforded to his majesty, that the admission of the government of Spain as a party to the negociation is understood and agreed to by France. After the answer of your excel. lency upon this point shall have been received, and so soon as his majesty shall be in possession of the sentiments of the king of Swe VOL. L. den, and of the government of Spain, I shall receive his majesty's commands to communicate with your excellency on the remaining points of your letter.-I have the honour to be, &c. (Signed) GEORGE CANNING. No. IX.-OFFICIAL NOTE. The king has uniformly declared his readiness and desire to enter into negociations for a general peace on terms consistent with the honour of his majesty's crown, with fidelity to his engagements, and with the permanent repose and security of Europe. His majesty repeats that declaration.If the condition of the continent be one of agitation and of wretchedness; if many states have been overthrown, and more are still menaced with subversion; it is a consolation to the king to reflect, that no part of the convul sions which have already been experienced, or of those which are threatened for the future, can be in any degree imputable to his majesty. The king is most willing to acknowledge that all such dreadful changes are indeed contrary to the policy of Great Britain.-If the cause of so much misery is to be found in the stagnation of commercial intercourse, although his ma jesty caunot be expected to hear, with unqualified regret, that the system devised for the destruction of the commerce of his subjects has recoiled upon its authors, or its instruments,-yet is it neither in the disposition of his majesty, nor in the character of the people over whom he reigns, to rejoice in the privations and unhappiness even of the nations which are combined against him. His majesty anxious. ly desires the termination of the sufferings of the continent, Ꮓ The The war in which his majesty is engaged, was entered into by his majesty for the immediate object of, national safety. It has been prolonged only because no secure and honourable means of terminating it have hitherto been afforded by his enemies. But in the progress of a war, begun for self-defence, new obligations have been imposed upon his majesty, in behalf of powers whom the aggressions of a common enemy have compelled to make common cause with his majesty ; or who have solicited his majesty's assistance and support, in the vindi. cation of their national indepen. dence. The interests of the crown of Portugal, and of his Sicilian majesty, are confided, to his majesty's friendship and protection. With the king of Sweden his majesty is connected by ties of the closest alliance, and by stipulations which unite their counsels for peace as well as for war., To Spain his majesty is not yet bound by any formal instrument; but his majesty has, in the face of the world, contracted with that nation engagements not less sacred and not less binding upon his majesty's mind than the most solemn treaties. His majesty therefore assumes that, in an overture made to his majesty for entering into negociations for a general peace, the relations subsisting between his majesty and the Spanish monarchy have been distinctly taken into con sideration, and that the government acting in the name of his Catholic majesty Ferdinand the Seventh is understood to be a party to any negociation in which his majes. ty is invited to engage. (Signed) GEORGE CANNING. No. 12.-Letter from count Nico. las de Romanzoff to Mr. secre tary Canning, dated Paris, 16th ―(28th Nov.) 1808. Received December 6th. (Translation.) SIR, I transmit to your excellency my answer to the note of the 28th October, which you were pleased to address to count de Tol. stoi; and I hasten to seize this fresh opportunity of renewing to your excellency the assurances of the high consideration with which I have the honour to be, &c. (Signed) LE COMTE NICOLAS DE ROMANZOFF. His excellency Mr. Canning, &c. &c. (Translation.)-NOTE. The undersigned minister for fo. reign affairs of his majesty the em peror of all the Russias, has the honour to reply to the note of the 28th October, signed by Mr. Can. ning, secretary of state for foreign affairs to his majesty the king of Great Britain, and addressed by his excellency the Russian ambassador at Paris:-That the admission of the sovereigns in alliance with England, to a congress, cannot be a point of any difficulty, and that Russia and France consent to it. But this principle by no means extends to the necessity of admitting the plenipotentiaries of the Spanish insurgents: The emperor of Russia cannot admit them. His empire, in similar circumstances, and England can recollect one particular instance, has always been true to the same principle. Moreover, he has already acknowledged the king Joseph Napoleon. He has announced to his Britannic najesty, that he was united with the emperor of the French for peace as well as for war; and his imperial majesty here repeats that declaration. Ile 1 |