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XII.

1823.

acclamations; the Ministry was changed; the Infant CHAP. Dom Miguel was declared generalissimo of the army, the Count de Palmella appointed Premier and Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the whole Cabinet composed of royalist chiefs. Everything immediately returned into the old channels; the revolutionary authorities all sent in their adhesion or were dismissed: and to the honour of Portugal be it said, the counter-revolution was completed without bloodshed, and no severer penalties than the exile from Lisbon of thirty of the most violent members of the Cortes, and the loss of office by a few of the 504, 512. Liberal chiefs.1

Ann. Reg.

1823, 178,

190; Ann.

Hist. vi.

99.

return of

it the Duko

in

d'Angoulême to

of Paris.

Dec. 2.

The return of the Duke d'Angoulême, and the greater part of his army, after this memorable campaign, was Triumphant a continual triumph. It was no wonder it was so; had proved one of the most remarkable recorded history. In less than six months, with the loss only four thousand men, as well by sickness as the sword, with an expenditure of only 200,000,000 francs (£8,000,000), they had subdued and pacified Spain, delivered the king, arrested the march of revolution, and stopped the convulsions of Europe. The campaigns of Napoleon have no triumphs so bloodless to recount. Great preparations had been made in Paris to receive them in a manner worthy of the occasion. On the 2d December, the anniversary of the battle of Austerlitz, the prince made his triumphal entry into Paris on horseback, at the head of the élite of his troops, surrounded by a splendid staff, among whom were to be seen Marshals Oudinot, Marmont, and Lauriston, General Bordesoult, the Duke de Guiche, and Count de la Rochejaquelein. The aspect of the troops, their martial air and bronzed visages, recalled the most brilliant military spectacles of the Empire. They passed under the magnificent triumphal arch of Neuilly, finished for the occasion, and thence through the Champs Elysées to the Tuileries, through a double line.

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1823.

CHAP. of national guards, and an immense crowd of spectators, who rent the air with their acclamations. The municipality and chief public bodies of Paris met the prince at the barrier de l'Etoile, and addressed him in terms of warm but not undeserved congratulation on his glorious exploits. The prince, modestly bowing almost to his charger's neck, replied, "I rejoice that I have accomplished the mission which the king intrusted to me, re-established peace, and shown that nothing is impossible at the head of a French army." Arrived at the Tuileries, he dismounted, and hastened to the king, who stood in great pomp to receive him. "My son," said the monarch with solemnity, "I am satisfied with you;" and, taking him by the hand, he led him to the balcony, vi. 242, 244. where an immense crowd, with redoubled acclamations, testified their sympathy with the scene.1

1 Lam. vii.

267, 270;

Ann. Hist.

100.

sistance by

Russia to France rejected.

This triumphant career of the French army in Spain Offer of as- was viewed with very different eyes by the powers in Europe most interested in the issue. The Emperor of Russia, who had warmly supported the project of the intervention at Verona, and anxiously watched the progress of the enterprise, offered to move forward his troops from the Vistula to the Rhine, and to cover the eastern frontier of France with his armed masses. Mr Canning, justly alarmed at so open an assertion of a

* "Nos vœux vous suivaient à votre départ,' lui dit le préfet de Paris, 'nos acclamations vous attendaient à votre heureux retour. Depuis trente ans, le nom de guerre n'était qu'un cri d'effroi, qu'un signal de calamités pour les peuples; la population des états envahis, comme celle des états conquérants, se précipitant l'une sur l'autre, offraient aux yeux du sage, un spectacle lamentable. Aujourd'hui la guerre relève les nations abattues sur tous les points d'un vaste empire. Elle apparaît humaine, protectrice et généreuse, guerrière sans peur, conquérante sans vengeance. Votre vaillante épée, à la voix d'un puissant Monarque, vient de consacrer le noble et le légitime emploi de la valeur et des armes. Les trophées de la guerre, devenus la consolation d'un peuple opprimé, le volcan de la Révolution fermé pour jamais, la réconciliation de notre patrie cimentée aux yeux du monde, la victoire rendue à nos marins comme à nos guerriers, et la gloire de tous les enfants de la France confondue dans un nouveau faisceau; tels sont, Monseigneur, les résultats de cette campagne, telle est l'œuvre que vous avez accomplie."-Moniteur, Dec. 3, 1823.

66

XII.

1823.

right of protectorate over Europe, strongly opposed the CHAP. proposal. France," said he, conceiving her safety menaced, and her interests compromised, by the existing state of things in the Peninsula, we have not opposed her right to intervene; but she should only act singly, and the strictest neutrality should be observed by the other powers. If, in defiance of all stipulations, the European cabinets should act otherwise, England would feel herself constrained to enforce the observance of existing engagements, and would at once consider the cause of Spain as her own." M. de Chateaubriand cordially seconded these remonstrances, and respectfully declined the proffered succour

"Non tali auxilio, nec defensoribus istis."

The armed intervention of Russia was thus averted by the union of the two western powers; and as the revolution of Portugal threatened the influence of England in that country, Mr Canning and the Prince de Polignac, the French ambassador in London, came to an under- 1 Cap. vii.

standing that France was not to interfere between the 209,214. Cabinet of St James's and its ancient ally.1

Mr Canning

publics of

rica.

It was with undisguised vexation that Mr Canning 101. beheld the triumphant progress of the French arms in Views of Spain; and deeming, with reason, the throne of the in recognis Bourbons greatly strengthened, and the influence of ing the reFrance on the Continent in a great degree re-established South Ameby the successful issue of the campaign, he resolved upon a measure which should re-establish the balance, and at the same time, as he hoped, materially benefit the commercial interests of England. This was the RECOGNITION OF THE REPUBLICS OF SOUTH AMERICA. His intention in this respect had been long before divined by the able diplomatist who conducted the French interests in London; and we now possess the history of his views from

*

* "Il est temps de jeter un regard sérieux sur l'avenir, et sur le dangereux ministre qui est venu se placer à la tête des destinées de l'Angleterre. Il

XII.

1823.

CHAP. the best of all sources-his own recorded statement. "When the French army," said he, "was on the point of entering Spain, we did all we could to prevent it; we resisted it by all means short of war. We did not go to war, because we felt that, if we did so, whatever the result might be, it would not lead to the evacuation of Spain by the French troops. In a war against France at that time, as at any other, you might perhaps have acquired military glory; you might perhaps have extended your colonial possessions; you might even have achieved, at a great loss of blood and treasure, an honourable peace; but as to getting the French out of Spain, that is the one object which you would certainly not have accomplished. Again, is the Spain of the present day the Spain whose puissance was expected to shake England from her sphere? No, sir; it was quite another Spain: it was the Spain within whose dominions the sun never sets; it was 'Spain

nous faut sa chute ou sa conversion. Il ne tombera pas; ses ennemis n'ont pu l'exiler sur le trône des Indes. M. Peel, jeune, ferme, et populaire, s'avance sans impatience vers le ministère, qui ne peut lui manquer un jour. Lord Wellington, guerrier peu redoutable sur le champ de l'intrigue, a dû céder aux talents et à l'habilité de M. Canning. Il ne tombera pas; il faut donc pour nous qu'il change de conduite, et que de Briton qu'il est, il se fasse Européen ; faites reluire à ses yeux l'éclat d'une grande gloire diplomatique : assemblez un nouveau congrès, qu'il vienne y traiter, à son tour, des intérêts de l'Orient, des colonies Américaines, de nos quatre dernières révolutions éteintes en deux ans, la Grèce, l'Italie, le Portugal, l'Espagne! Que l'Europe le couvre de faveurs! Inaccessible à l'or, il ne l'est pas à la louange: enfin réconciliez-le avec ses anciennes opinions monarchiques, et pardonnez-moi si, malgré mon jeune âge, je parle si librement avec vous des plus hauts intérêts de mon pays."- M. MARCELLUS à M. DE CHATEAUBRIAND, 17th December 1822. “Ne comptez pas sur l'Angleterre. Elle se refusera à toute mesure même pacifique, et cachera sous l'apparence de quelques demandes sans force réelle, son indifférence profonde des intérêts purement continentaux. Ce système de séparation ou d'égoïsme est imposé à M. Canning par ses amis, et surtout par son intérêt. Cet intérêt même peut le pousser à des concessions d'opinion personnelle, qu'on n'eût jamais obtenues du Marquis de Londonderry. Ainsi on le cerra reconnaître la Colombie pour gagner le commerce, épouser la cause des Noirs pour plaire au Parlement, puis suspendre son action jusqu'ici favorable à la réforme catholique. Enfin il fera tout pour accroître cette popularité à laquelle il devra son maintien, comme il lui doit son élévation."-M. MARCELLUS à M. DE CHATEAUBRIAND, Londres, 3 Octobre, 1822; MARCELLUS, Politique de la Restauration, 96; and LAMARTINE, Histoire de la Restauration, vii. 222.

with the Indies' that excited the jealousies and alarmed CHAP. the imagination of our ancestors. When the French

army entered Spain, the balance of power was disturbed, and we might, if we chose, have resisted or resented that measure by war. But were there no other means but war for restoring the balance of power? Is the balance of power a fixed and invariable standard; or is it not a standard perpetually varying as civilisation advances, and new nations spring up to take their place among established political communities?

XII.

1823.

"To look to the policy of Europe in the time of Wil- 102. liam and Anne, for the purpose of regulating the balance Continued. of power in Europe at the present day, is to disregard the progress of events, and to confuse dates and facts, which throw a reciprocal light upon each other. It would be disingenuous not to admit that the entry of the French army into Spain was, in a certain sense, a disparagement -an affront to the pride, a blow to the feelings, of England; and it can hardly be supposed that the Government did not sympathise on that occasion with the feelings of the people. But, questionable or unquestionable as the act might be, it was not one which necessarily called for our direct and hostile opposition. Was nothing then to be done?-was there no other mode of resistance but by a direct attack upon France, or by a war undertaken on the soil of Spain? What if the possession of Spain might be rendered harmless in rival hands-harmless as regarded us, and valueless to the possessors? Might not compensation for disparagement be obtained, and the policy of our ancestors vindicated, by means better adapted to the present time? If France occupied Spain, was it necessary, in order to avoid the consequences of that occupation, that we should blockade Cadiz? No: I looked another way; I sought materials for compensation 1 Parl. Deb. in another hemisphere.1 Contemplating Spain such as 395. our ancestors had known her, I resolved that, if France

1

xvi. 394,

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