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XII.

1822.

8.

extent of

American

in advances to the revolutionary governments of the CHAP. Peninsula and their revolted colonies were so great as almost to exceed belief. They were stated by Lord Palmerston, in his place in Parliament, at £150,000,000 Immense between 1820 and 1850; and a considerable part of this the Spanish immense sum had been advanced before the end of 1822, and South Payment of the interest even of those vast loans was loans. thought, and not without reason, to be entirely dependent on support being given the revolutionary governments in the Peninsula and South America. It was well known that the independence of the revolted colonies had been mainly secured by the insurrection of the army assembled in the island of Leon, which had also overturned the monarchy of Spain; and it was expected, with reason, that the utmost exertions would be made by the royal government, if once restored, to regain their sway over regions with which so lucrative a commerce was wound up, and from which so large a part of the royal revenues was derived. Great fears were entertained, which were afterwards amply justified by the event, that the king, if restored to unrestricted authority, would not recognise the loans contracted by the Cortes, nearly the whole of which had been supplied from London. Influenced by these considerations, the large and powerful body of English capitalists implicated in these advances, made the greatest efforts, by means of the press, public meetings, and detached publications, to keep alive the enthusiasm in regard to Spanish freedom and South American independence; and with such success were their efforts attended, that the people of England were kept almost entirely in the dark as to the real nature and ultimate results of the contest in both hemispheres, and the enthusiasm in their favour was all but universal.

A feeling so general, and supported by so many heartstirring recollections and warm anticipations, could not fail, in a country enjoying the popular form of government which England did, to communicate itself to the

XII.

1822.

9.

the Cabinet

ning on the

subject.

CHAP. House of Commons; and so powerful was the current, that it is probable no ministry could have been strong enough to withstand it. But, in addition to this, there Views of were many circumstances at that period which rendered and Mr Can- any resistance to the popular wishes in this respect impossible. The Ministry, which had narrowly escaped shipwreck on the question of the queen's trial, was only beginning to recover its popularity, and the king, who had so long laboured under the load of unpopularity, had for the first time recently experienced, in Dublin and Edinburgh, the intoxication of popular applause. It was not the time to check these favourable dispositions, by running counter to the national wishes on a great question of foreign policy. Add to this, that the Cabinet itself was divided on the subject, and a considerable portion, probably a majority, were inclined to go along with the popular views regarding it. Mr Canning, in particular, who, on Lord Londonderry's death, had exchanged the office of Governor-general of India, to which he had been appointed, for the still more important one of Foreign Secretary, was an ardent supporter of these views. He was actuated in this alike by sentiment, ambition, and necessity. His feelings had originally led him to take part with the Whigs; and although on his entrance into public life he, by the advice of their leaders, joined Mr Pitt, and became one of the most ardent opponents of the French Revolution, yet it was its excesses, not its original principles, which he condemned. His first inclinations never deserted him through life. The steady supporter of Catholic emancipation, he had also warmly embraced the new views in regard to freedom of trade which were then beginning, not only to prevail in Parliament, but to influence Government. During his keen contest for Liverpool, he had been thrown much among, and been on the most intimate terms with, the leading merchants of that city, and become acquainted with all their sanguine expectations as to the immense benefits

XII.

1822.

which would accrue to this country from the establishment CHAP. of South American independence. A steady supporter of Wellington during the war, the idea of the work he had achieved being undone, and French influence re-established in the Peninsula, was utterly abhorrent to his mind: a politician influenced rather by feeling and impulse than reasoning and reflection, he did not see that the cause he was now so anxious to support in Spain was precisely the same as that which he had formerly so energetically combated in France. Finally, he was ambitious, and a great career lay open before him; he was the man of the people, and they had placed him in power; he was the champion of England, and his present greatness, as well as future renown, was wound up with the maintenance of its interests and the furtherance of its desires.

10.

of Verona

powers.

When views so utterly opposite were entertained on a great question of European politics, upon which it was Congress indispensable that a decision should be immediately agreed on adopted by the powers most immediately interested, and by all the by whose amity the peace of the world had hitherto been preserved, it was not surprising that the other powers should have become anxious for the result, and eagerly sought after every means of avoiding the dreaded rupture. If England and France came to blows on the Spanish question, it was obvious to all that a desperate European strife, possibly equalling the last in duration and blood, would be the result. For although the military strength of France, backed by that of the Northern powers, was obviously far greater than that of Spain supported by Great Britain and Portugal, yet who could say how long this would last, and how soon an outbreak at Paris might overturn the Government there, and array the strength of France on the side of revolution? The throne of Louis XVIII. rested on a volcano; any day an eruption of the fires smouldering beneath the surface might blow it into the air; and if such a catastrophe should occur, what security was there either for the independence of other

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1822.

CHAP. nations, or the ability of the Northern powers to withstand the advances of revolution supported by the united strength of France and England? These considerations were so obvious, that they forced themselves on every mind; and in order to avert the danger, a congress was resolved on, and VERONA fixed on as the place of its assemblage.

11.

Members

It was originally intended that Lord Londonderry, then Foreign Minister, should himself have proceeded to gress there. this important Congress; but his unhappy death rendered this impossible, and the Duke of Wellington was appointed to go in his stead. It was thought with justice that England, in an assembly where the leading object of deliberation would be the French intervention in Spain, could not be so appropriately or efficiently represented as by the illustrious warrior who had effected its liberation. from the thraldom of Napoleon. He was accompanied by Lord Strangford, the English ambassador at Constantinople, the present Marquis of Londonderry, and Lord Burghersh. France was represented by her Foreign Ministers, M. de Montmorency, M. de la Ferronnay, who was highly esteemed by the Emperor Alexander, at whose court he was ambassador, and M. de Chateaubriand, who was admired by all the world, and who, at his own request, had left the situation of ambassador at London to share in the excitement and deliberation of the Congress. From his known semi-liberal opinions, as well as his great reputation, he was selected to be in some degree a check on M. de Montmorency, who was the representative of the extreme Royalists in France, and might, it was feared, unnecessarily precipitate hostilities. The Emperor Alexander was there in person, accompanied by Nesselrode, M. de Takicheff, M. de Strogonoff, his ambassadors at Vienna and Constantinople, and Count Pozzo di Borgo. Capo d'Istria, on account of his known interest in the Greek insurrection, was absent. Metternich, who soon became the soul of the negotiations,

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1822.

365, 373;

was there on the part of Austria, with Count Lebzeltern, CHAP. the ambassador at St Petersburg; and Prussia was represented by its veteran diplomatists, Prince Hardenberg and Count Bernstorff. Florence was at first 1 Cap. vii. thought of as the place of meeting; but at the request Lam. vii. of the Emperor Alexander it was exchanged for Verona, 94, 96; Lac. on account of the latter city being a sort of midway Chateaustation between Spain and Greece, the two countries grès de Vewhich it was foreseen would principally occupy the atten- 22. tion of the Congress.1

iii. 407,408;

briand, Con

rone, i. 17,

12.

of Verona.

Verona, a city celebrated alike in ancient and modern times, is situated at the foot of the Alps, at the place Description where the Adige, after forcing its way through the defile of Chiusa, immortalised by Dante, first emerges into the smiling plain of Lombardy. It is chiefly known to travellers from its noble amphitheatre, second only to the Coliseum in solidity and grandeur, and the interior of which is still as perfect as when it was filled with the admiring subjects of the Roman emperors. Its situation, at the entrance of the great defile which leads from Germany into Italy, has rendered it the scene since that time of many memorable events, when rival generals contended for the mastery of the Empire, and the Gothic hordes descended from the north to slake their thirst for spoil with the riches of the fairest part of Europe. The great contest between Otho and Vitellius, which Tacitus has immortalised,2 was decided under its 2 Tacitus, Hist. ii. 30, walls; the hordes of Alaric, the legions of Theodoric, 34. defiled through its gates; and it was from thence that Napoleon set out at the head of the redoubtable grenadiers who decided the terrible strife between France and Austria on the dykes of Arcola. Nor is the charm of imagination wanting to complete the interest of these historic recollections, for it contains the tomb of Juliet, and has been immortalised by the genius of Shakspeare.*

* See "The Tomb in Verona," a fragment, but one of the most interesting of the many interesting monuments of Sir E. B. Lytton's genius. 2 R

VOL. II.

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