only to the Roman constitution; he threw himself
on the good-will of his patriotic countrj-men ; he
put forth only the vigor of his own geidus, and
the vigor of the law ; he never thought of calling «
in the assistance of the Allobroges. Teutoiies, or ^
Scythians of his day. And now I say. that if "
the King of France calls in the modern Teut on e.«,
or the modern Scj'thians, to assist him in this
unholy war. judgment will that moment go
forth against him and his famil}', and the dy-
nasty of Gaul will be changed at once and forever.
"The principles on which this band of con-
gregated despots have shown their
readiness to act are dangerous in the concluded
extreme, not only to free, but to every
1823.]
HISTORY OF EUROPE.
413
independent state. If the Czar were met with
his coiisistory of tyrants and armed critics, it
would be in vain for tlie Ulema to plead that
their government was one of the most sacred
and venerable description ; that it had antiquity
in its favor; that it was replete with 'grand
truth ;' that it had never listened to ' the fatal
doctrines of a disorganized philosophy;' and
that it had never been visited by any such
things as ' dreams of fallacious libertj'.' In vain
would the Ulema plead tliese things ; the ' three
gentlemen of Verona' would pry about for an
avenue, and when it suited his convenience to
enter, the Czar would be at Constantinople, and
Prussia would seek an indemnity in any prov-
ince England might possess adjacent to their
territory. It behoves every independent state
to combine against such monstrous pretensions.
Already, if there is any force in language, or
any validity in public documents, we are com-
mitted to the defensive treaties into which we
have entered. If Spain is overun by foreign
invaders, what will be the situation of Portu-
gal ? And are we not bound, by the most ex-
press treaty, as well as by obvious interest, to
defend that ancient ally ? Above all things,
we ought to repeal, without delay, the Foreign
Enlistment Bill — a measure which ought never
to have been passed. Let us, in fine, without
blindly rushing into war, be prepared for any
emergency; speak a language that is truly
British, pursue a policy which is truly free;
look to free states as our best and natural allies
against all enemies whatever; quarreling with
none, whatever be their form of government ;
keeping peace whenever we can, but not leav-
ing ourselves unprepared for war; not afraid
of the issue, tut calmly determined to brave
its hazards; resolved to support, amidst any
sacrifice, the honor of the crown, the independ-
ence of the country, and every prin-
via^4i)^64 c'pl^ considered most valuable and
' sacred among civilized nations."'
This animated and impassioned harangue
40_ contained the sentiments merely of
Mr. Canaing an individual, who, how eminent
adopts the soever, did not in the general case
iion-Vnterfcr- °^ necessity implicate any one but
ence. himself, or, at most, the political
Feb 24. party to which he belonged. But
on this occasion it was otherwise. Mr. Brough-
am's speech was not merely the expression of
liis own or his party's opinion ; it was tlie chan-
nel by which the feelings of a whole nation
found vent. The cheers with which it was
received from bolii sides of a most crowded
House, the vast impression it made on the
country, tlie enthusiasm it every wiicre excited,
proveu, in the clearest manner, that it carried
the universal mind with it. Mr. Canning was
not in the House wlicn this importa'it debate
occunVid, having vacated his scat upon liis ap-
pointment as Foreign Minister, and not been
yet again returned ; but Jie gave liis sanction
to the principles it contained on 24l!i Febru-
ary, when he observed,' "I am compelled in
justice to say that, when I entered upon tlio
office I have the lionor to fill, I found tlie prin-
2 Lord Lon- ^iples on which tlie {government
donderry'8 was acting reduced into writing,
Memoir; An- and tiiis state paper formed what
te,c.xu. 419. I n,aybc allowed to call the po-
litical creed of Ministers. Upon the execution
of the priucii)les tliere laid down, and upon it
alone, is founded any claim I may have to credit
from the House." And again, on 14th April,
in the debate on the Spanish negotiation, ho
suid, " I cast no blame upon those who, seeing
a great and powerful nation eager to crush and
overwhelm witii its vengeance a less numerous,
bat not less gallant people, are anxious to join
tlie weaker part}'. Such feelings are honorable
to those who entertain them. The bosoms ia
whicli they exist, unalloyed by any other feel-
ings, are much more happy than those in which
that feeling is chastened and tempered by con-
siderations of prudence, interest, and expedi-
ence. I not only know, but absolutel}' envy,
the feelings of those who call for war, for the
issue of which they are not to be responsible ;
for I confess that the reasoning by which the
war against Spain was attempted to be justi-
fied appears to me to be much more calculated
than the war itself to excite a strong feeling
against those wlio had projected it. There
is no analogy between the case of England in
1793 and France in 1823. "What country had
Spain attempted to seize or revolutionize, as
France did before our declaration of 19th No-
vember, 1792? England made war against
France, not because she had altered her own
government, or even dethroned her own king,
but because she had invaded Geneva, Savoy,
and Avignon ; because she had overrun Bel-
gium, and threatened to open the mouth of the
Scheldt, in defiance of treaties ; and because
she openly announced, and acted upon, the de-
termination to revolutionize every adjoining
state. But this country is not prepared to give
actual and efficient support to Si)ain ; absolute
bond fide neutrality is the limit to which it is
prepared to go in behalf of a cause i p^ri. Deb.
to which its Ministers can never viii. 242, b90,
feel indifi'erent."' ^^^•
On the other hand, it was maintained by
M. de Chateaubriand in the French 41.
Chamber, in a speech worlliy of liim- M. do cha-
self and of these great antagonists: aJJlJ'J,'",,,,!.,
"Has a government of one country in the
a right to interfere in the affairs of French
another? That great question of in- t.'ha'n'Jers-
ternational law has been resolved by diflVrent
writers on tlie subject in dilfercnt wa3s. Those
who incline to tlie natural right, such as Bacon,
Fulfendorf, Grotius, and all tlie ancients, main-
tain tiiat it is lawful to take up arms in tiio
name of the iiuman race against a society which
violates tlie ])rincipies on wiiicii the social order
reposes, on tiie same ground on whieli, in par-
ticular states, you punisii an individual nialc-
fuetor who disturbs llie pulilic repose. Tlioso
again who consider tlie (piest ion as one deiiend-
iiig on civil right, are of opinion that no one
government has a riglit to interfere in the afi'airs
of another. Thus the first vest the right of in-
terv(!ntion in duty, the last in interest. I adopt
in the abstract the pi'inciples of the last. I
maintain that no government has a right to in-
terfere in the afhiirs of another government,
in truth, if this principle is not admitted, and
above all by people wlio enjoy a free constitu-
tion, no nation could be in security. It would
always be possible for the corruption of a min-
ister or the ambition of a king to attack a state
414
HISTORY OF EUROPE.
[("IIAI-. XII.
wliiih nttemptotl
Ill many oiiscs wars woulil bo imiltinlit'il ; jou
would adopt a principle of eternal liostility —
a principle of which every oiio wouM consti-
tute iiini!:clf judirc, since every one might say
to hi? nciiriibor. Your institutions displease me;
change them, or I declare war.
"liut wlicu 1 present myself in (his tribune
to defend the riglit of intervention in
Continued. *'**' atVairs of Spain, how is an excep-
tion to be made from the principle
which I Jiave so broadly announced? It is
thus: When the modern political writers re-
jected the right of intervention, by taking it
out of the category of natural to place it in
that of civil right, they felt themselves very
much embarrassed. Cases will occur in wliicli
it is impossible to abstain from intervention
without putting the state in danger. At the
commencement of the Revolution, it vras said,
' Perish the colonies rather than one principle,'
and the colonies perished. Shall we also say,
' Perish the social order,' rather than sacrifice
a principle, and let the social order perish ? In
order to avoid being shattered against a prin-
ciple which themselves had established, the
modern jurists have introduced an exception.
The}" said — ' No government lias a right to in-
terfere in the aftairs of another government,
except in the case where the security and imme-
diate interests of the first government are com-
promised' I will show you immediately where
the authority for that exception is to be found.
The exception is as well established as the rule;
for no state can allow its essential interests to
perish without running the risk of perishing
itselt Arrived at that point of the question,
its aspect entirely changes ; we are transported
to another ground ; I am no longer obliged to
combat the rule, but to show that the case of
the exception has accrued for France.
''I shall frequently have occasion, in the se-
quel of this discourse, to speak of En-
Contiiiued. g'^'^d \ for it is the country which
our honorable antagonists oppose to
us at every turn. It is Great Britain which
singly at Verona has raised its voice against
the principle of intervention ; it is that coun-
try which alone is ready to take up arms to
defend a free people ; it is it which denounces
an impious war, at variance with the rights of
^ nations — a war which a small, servile, and big-
oted faction undertakes, in the hope of being
able to burn the Charter of France after having
torn in pieces the Constitution of Spain. Well,
gentlemen, England is that country ; it alone
lias respected the rights of nations, and given
us a great example. Let us see what England
has done in former days.
"That England, in safety arnidst the waves,
and defended by its old institutions
Continued. — that England, which has neither
undergone the disasters of two in-
vasions, nor the overturnings of a revolution of
thirty years, conceives it has nothing to fear
from the Spanish revolution, is quite conceiva-
ble, and no more than was to be expected. But
does it follow from that, that France enjoys
the same security, and is in the same position?
When the circumstances were different — when
the essential interests of Great Britain were
compromised — did it not — justly, without doubt
— depart from the juineiples which it so louiUv
invokes at this time? Kngland, in entering o.i
the war with Friincc, piililished in 17'.i;i llio
famous declaration of Whitehnll, from which [
read the following extract: 'The iiitcntion an-
nounced to reform the abuses of the French
government, to establish personal freedom and
the riglits of property on a solid basis, to secure
to a numerous people just and moderate laws,
a wise legislature, and an equitable adminis-
tration — all these salutary views have unhap-
pily disappeared. They liave given place to a
system destructive of nil public order, sustain-
ed by proscriptions, exiles, and confiscations
without number, by arbitrary imprisonments
without number, and by massacres the memory
of which alone makes us shudder. The inhab-
itants of that unhappy country, so long de-
ceived by promises of happiness, everlastingly
renewed at every fresh accession of public suf-
fering, the commission of every new crime, liave
found themselves plunged in an abyss of calam-
ities without example.
"'Such a state of things can not exist in
France without involving in danger
the countries which adjoin it, with- continued,
out giving them the right, and im-
posing on them the duty, of doing every thing
in their power to arrest an evil which subsists
only on the violation of all laws which unite
men in the social union. Ilis Majest}^ has no
intention of denying to France the rights of
reforming its laws; never will he desire to im-
pose by external force a government on an in-
dependent state. He desires to do so now only
because it has become essential to the repose
and security of other states. In.tJiese circum-
stances, he demands of France — and he demands
it with a just title — to put a stop to a sj'stem
of anarchy, which has no power but for evil,
which renders France incapable of discharging
the first duties of government, that of repress-
ing anarchy and punishing crime, which is daily
multiplying in all parts of the countiy, and
which threatens to involve all Europe in sim-
ilar atrocities and misfortune. He demands of
France a legitimate and stable government,
founded on the universally recognized princi-
ples of justice, and capable of retaining nations
in the bonds of peace and friendship. "The king
engages beforehand instantly to stop hostilities,
and give protection to all those who shall ex-
tricate themselves from an anarchy which has
burst all the bonds of societj-, broken all the
springs of social life, confounded all duties, and
made use of the name of Liberty to exercise
the most cruel tyranny, annihilate all charters,
overturn all property, and deliver over entire
provinces to tire and sword.'
'• It is true, when England made that famous
declaration, Louis XVL and Marie ^^
Antoinette were no more. I admit continued,
that Marie-Josephine is as yet only
a captive ; that her tears only have been caused
to flow. Ferdinand is still a prisoner in his
palace, as Louis XVI. was in his before being
led to the Temple and the.scafFold. I have no
wish to calumniate the Spaniards, but I can
not esteem them more than m}' own country-
men. Revolutionary France gave birth to a
Convention ; why should not revolutionary
Spain do the same? England has murdered ita
1823.]
HISTORY OF EUROPE.
Charles I., France Its Louis XVI.; if Spain fol-
lows their example, a series of precedents in
favor of crime will be established, and a body
of jurisprudence of people against their sover-
eigns.
'• England herself has admitted the principle
for which I contend, in recent times.
Continued ^^® '^"* conceded to others the right
for which she contended herself. She
did not consider herself entitled to interfere
i:i the case of the Italian revolution, but she
judged otherwise for Austria ; and accordingly
l.oi-d Castlereagh, while repudiating the right
of intervention in that convulsion claimed by
Austria, Prussia, and Russia, declared expressly,
i 1 his circular from Laybach of 19th January,
1S21 — 'It must be clearly understood that no
government can be more disposed than the Brit-
ish to maintain the right of any state or states
to intervene when its immediate security or essen-
tial ititerests are seriously compromised by the
transactions of another state.' Kothing can be
more precise than that declaration ; and Mr.
Peel has not been afraid to say on a late occa-
sion in the House of Commons, that Austria
' was entitled to interfere in the affairs of Na-
ples, because that country had adopted the
Spanish Constitution:' no one can contest the
right of France to interfere in those of Spain,
wiien it is menaced by that Constitution itself
'â– Can any one doubt that we are in the ex-
ceptional case — that our interests are
Couiriued. essentially injured by the Spanish
revolution? Our commerce is ham-
pered by the suffering consequent on that con-
vulsion. We are obliged to keep vessels of war
i'.i t!ie American seas, which are infested by
pii'atps who have sprung out of the anarchy of
Kurope; and we have not, like England, mari-
time forces to protect our ships, many of which
have fallen into their hands. The provinces
of France adjoining Spain are under the most
pressing necessity to see order re-established
beyond the Pyrenees. Our consuls have been
menaced in their persons, our territory three
times violated: are not their 'essential duties'
compromised? And how has our territory been
violated? To massacre a few injured Royal-
ists, who thought themselves in safety under
tiie shadow of our generous country. We have
been obliged, in consequence, to maintain a
large army of observation on the frontier ; with-
out tiiat, our southern provinces could not en-
joy a moment's security. That state of semi-
lio^tility has all the inconveniences of war
witliout the advantages of peace. Shall we,
in obedience to the partisans of peace, with-
draw the army of observation ? Certcs, we are
not yet reduced to the necessity of flying before
the chevaliers of the Hammer, or giving place
to the Landaburian bands. England herself
has recognized the necessity of our army of
observation, for the Duko of Wellington said
at the Congress of Verona, 'Considering that
a civil war has been lighted on the whole ex-
tent of tlie frontier whidi separates the two
kingdoms, no one can contest the necessity of
establishing the army of observation.'
"It was not I who spoke first of the moral
- contarfion, l)ut since it lias been mcn-
Continasd. tioncd by our adversaries, I confess
that it is the most serious and alarm-
413
ing of all the dangers. Is any one ignorant tluit
the revolutionists of Spain are in correspond-
ence with our own ? Have they not by public
proclamations invited our soldiers to revolt ?
Have they not threatened to bring down the
tricolor flag from the summit of the Pyrenees,
to restoi-e the son of Bonaparte? Do we not
know the plots, the conspiracies of those trai-
tors who have escaped from the hands of jus-
tice in this country, and now pretend to invade
us in the uniform of the brave, unworthj' to
cover their treacherous hearts? Can a revo-
lution which rouses in us such passions, and
awakens such recollections, ever fail to com-
promise our essential interests? Can it be said
to be shut up in the Peninsula, when it has
already crossed the Pyrenees, revolutionized
Italy, shaken France and England? Have the
occurrences at Naples and Turin not sufficient-
ly proved the danger of the moral contagion ?
And let it not be said the revolutionists in these
states adopted the Constitution of the Cortes
on account of its excellence. So far from that
being the case, the tirst thing they were obliged
to do, after having adopted the Spanish Con-
stitution, was to appoint a commission to ex-
amine what it was. Thus it soon passed away,
as every thing docs which is foreign to the cus-
toms of a country. Ridiculous from its birth,
it expired in disgrace between an Austrian cor-
poral and an Italian Carbonari.
" Whence this extraordinary passion for En-
gland, and praise of its constitution, ^^
which has suddenly sprung up among continued,
us? A year has not elapsed since
the boulevards were covered with caricatures,
which insulted in the grossest manner every
thing connected with London. In tiieir love
of revolution, the same persons have forgotten
all their hatred for the soldiers who were for-
tunate at Waterloo: little docs it signify what
they have done, provided now they aid them
in supporting the revolutionists of Spain against
a Bourbon. How has it happened that the
Allies, now so much the object of animadver-
sion, were not then regarded in the same light?
Where was their jealousy of the Continental
powers when they paraded with so much sat-
isfaction their apjiroval of the coup detat of
nth September, which revolutionized the legis-
lature; or the prosecutions of the Royalists,
M-hich shook the foundation of the throne? Wlio
heard tlien of the dignity of France, or its being
unworthy of her to t^eck support in the appro-
bation o'f foreign states? When wc had no
army — when wo were counted as nothing in
tho estimation of foreign states— wlicn little
(Jerman states invaded us with impunity, and
we did not venture to utter a complaint— no
one said that we were slaves. But now, when
our military resurrection has astonished Eu-
rope — now, when wc raise a voice in the coun-
cils of kings which is always attended to— now,
when new and honorable conventions exjiiate
tliose in which we expiated our victories, we
are now for the first time told that we arc
placing our necks under a Imniiliating yoke
" I admit at once. France has no title to in-
termeddle in the internal conecrns ,.
of Spain. It is for tlie Spaniards to coniinued.
determine what species of constitu-
tion befits thein. I wish them, from the bottom
41G
HISTORY OF EUROPE.
of iiiv heart, lihortica coiniiionsurale to their
iiioi'iil.s iiislitulioiis which may put tlieir vir-
tui'S lu'voiul tlu> roaoli of fortune or the eupriee
of men. Spaniards! It is no enemy of yours
who thus speaks; it is he who liad predicted
the return of your nobk' destinies, when all be-
lieved you forever disappeared from the scene
of tlie world.* You have surpassed my pre-
dictions; you have rescued Europe from a yoke
wliich the most powerful empires had soui^lit
in vain to break. You owe to France your
misfortunes and your glory ; she has sent you
these two scourges, iJouaparte and the Revo-
lution. Deliver yourselves from the second, as
you have delivered j'ourselves from the first.
"As to the Ministers, the speecli of the Crown
has traced the line of their duties.
Concluded '^ '"^J ^^^'^ never cease to desire peace,
to invoke it from the bottom of their
hearts, to listen to every proposition compati-
ble with the honor and security of France ; but
it is indispensable that Ferdinand should be
free ; it is necessary that France, at all hazards,
should extricate itself from a position in which
it would perish more certainly than from all
the dangers of war. Let us never forget that,
if the war with Spain has, like every other war,
its inconveniences and perils, it has also for us
this immense advantage: it will have created
an armj- ; it will have caused us to resume our
military rank among nations ; it will have de-
cided our emancipation, and re-established our
independence. Something was perhaps awant-
ing to the entire reconciliation of Frenchmen ;
that something will be found beneath the tent;
companions in arms ai'e soon friends; and all
recollections are lost in the remembrance of a
common glory. The king, that monarch so wise,
so pacific, so paternal, has spoken. He has
thought that the security of France and the
dignity^ of the Crown rendered it imperative
on him to have recourse to arms, after having
exhausted the counsels of peace. He has de-
clared liis wish that a hundred thousand men
should assemble under the orders of a prince
J who, at the passage of the l)rome
iii. ^ si. ' showed himself as valiant as Henry
IV.' With generous confidence he
v"^38'4^-^*' ^*^® intrusted the guard of the white
Lam.'vii.' flag to the captains Avho have tri-
J29, 137; umphed under other colors. They
Fe^uT^'}5 ^^^^ ^^^^^^ *"'" ^^^ I^^^'^^ °^ victory;
1823. ' ^^ ^^^^ never forgotten that of hon-
or."^
This splendid speech made a prodigious
sensation in France, greater perhaps
immense ^^^^^ ^^Y other since the days of Mir-
sensation abeau. It expressed with equal force
produced and felicity the inmost and best feel-
speech. ^"S® of the Royalists; and those feel-
ings were on this occasion, perhaps
for the first time, in unison with the sentiments
of the great majorit}' of Frenchmen. The na-
tion had become all but unanimous at the sound
* M.de Chateaubriand alluded to the following passage
in his Genie du CArisiianisTne, published in 1803 : " L'Es-
pagne, separee des autres nations, presenfe encore a I'his-
torien un caractereplus original. L'especede stagnation
de mtrurs dans laquelle elle repose, lui sera pcut-etre utile
un jour ; et lorsquc les peuples curopeens seront uses par
la corruption, elle sevle poiirm reparnitre arcc eclat sur
la scene du mnnde, parce que le fond dcs mopurs subsiste
Chez elle." — Genie du Christianisme, panic iii. t. iii. c. 4.
[ClIAP. XII.
of the trumpet. The inherent adventurous and
warlike spirit of tiie Franks had reappeared in
undiminished strength at the prospect of war.
Chance, or tiie skilli'ul direction of Government,
had at last found an object in which all classes
concurred — in which the ardent loyalty of the
Royalist coincided with the buoyant ambition
of the people. In vain the Liberal chiefs, who