pour raffermir la tranquillité de la Péninsule. Les Monarques et leurs Cabinets apporteront à l'examen de cette question le même esprit qui les a dirigés jusqu'ici. Des motifs d'une gravité incontestable et pleinement justifiés par les résultats, avoient déterminé les Souverains à intervenir dans les affaires de l'Italie; ils sont loin de vouloir prolonger cette intervention audelà des limites d'une stricte nécessité, désirant bien sincérement que les circonstances qui leur ont imposé ce pénible devoir, ne se réproduissent jamais.

Nous avons cru utile au moment où les Souverains vont se séparer, de rappeler par le précédent exposé les principes qui les ont dirigés dans les dernières transactions.

Vous êtes en conséquence chargé de faire communication de cette Dépêche, au Ministre dirigeant les Affaires Etrangères de la Cour près la quelle vous vous trouvez accréditée.

Vous recevrez en même tems une Déclaration conçue dans le même esprit, que les Cabinets ont fait rédiger et imprimer, pour porter à la connoissance du public de l'Europe les sentimens et les principes dont les Augustes Souverains sont animés, et qui serviront constamment de guides à leur politique.

Recevez, etc. etc.

No. 40.-Proclamation of the King of Sicily, on his return to Naples. Naples, 15th May, 1821. (Traduction.)

LE moment où la Providence nous accorde la grâce de rentrer dans notre Royaume, après l'heureux rétablissement de la tranquillité publique, est infiniment cher et précieux à notre cœur. Tous mes vœux seront accomplis si ce jour devient le commencement d'une époque de satisfaction et de félicité pour nos Peuples.

Les calamités et les délits qui ont eu lieu sont nombreux et graves; ils n'ont produit en nous qu'une affliction profonde, par suite de la ruine de toutes les branches de la prospérité publique, et par les maux et les peines qu'ils ont causés à l'immense majorité de nos fidèles Sujets, restée entièrement étrangère à ces déplorables désordres. Aucun ressentiment personnel n'a eu ni n'aura jamais part à nos décisions. L'unique pensée qui nous occupe, c'est de faire oublier, par des jours de paix et de prospérité, les égaremens désastreux par lesquels quelques coupables ont souillé les dernières pages de notre histoire.

Notre premier soin sera de pourvoir à la réorganisation des différentes branches de la législation et de l'administration du Royaume. Nous nommerons à cet effet un Conseil composé d'hommes choisis parmi les plus intégres et les plus éclairés par la reflexion et l'expérience. Si le succès répond à notre juste attente, les Lois fondamentales qui seront établies dans ce Conseil feront naître dans l'esprit de mes fidèles Sujets la consolation, la confiance, gage d'un avenir heureux, en effaçant de leur souvenir des projets chimériques qui ne pouvaient occasionner que des regrets amers et de longues adversités; ces Lois leur

assureront ces biens réels qu'un Gouvernement sage et paternel doit dispenser, mais dont la paisible jouissance et la durée ne peuvent être garanties que par un attachement inviolable à notre très-sainte religion, à la pratique des vertus publiques et privées, aux droits de la Souveraineté légitime, et au maintien rigoureux de l'ordre, et de l'ordre de choses légalement établi.

En attendant, tant pour rassurer les bons et ceux qui ne sont qu'égarés que pour contenir les pervers, nous nous reservons de manifester nos intentions souverains, afin que les intérêts de la justice soient d'accord avec cette clémence qu'il nous est si naturel de pratiquer. Naples, le 15 Mai, 1821.

FERDINAND.

SPEECH of the King of Spain, on the Opening of the Cortes. 1st March, 1821.

(Translation.)

GENTLEMEN Deputies, IN seeing myself surrounded a second time by the worthy Representatives of this heroic Nation, who have given so many proofs of their love and attachment to my Royal Person, my grateful heart cannot resist rendering thanks to the Almighty, who, having re-established me on the Throne of my Ancestors, by the valour and constancy of my faithful Subjects, has designed to consolidate it, in prescribing for its basis, the Constitution, which has been sanctioned by the Extraordinary Cortes, and to which I have freely sworn, conformably to the wish of the Nation.

The happiness of the People whom Divine Providence has confided to my care, which is, and always shall be, the object of my most ardent anxiety, has decided me to adopt a system which the Nation desired, and which the lights and advancement of the age, also imperiously demanded.

The result has corresponded with my expectations, and I have seen with the greatest satisfaction, Spanish loyalty rallying around the Throne of its King, and manifesting on every side, and by unequivocal testimonies, its adhesion to the new institutions, which are destined to uphold the future grandeur and prosperity of the Nation, are the best support of my Throne, and give the greatest lustre to the splendour of my Crown.

The enlightened and judicious measures adopted by the Cortes during the preceding Legislature, in order to give new life to a Nation nearly exhausted by its sacrifices, to relieve the People from burthens which pressed heavily upon them, to restore public credit and animate industry, in fine, to cause all the different branches of the Administration to prosper; all these dispositions, united to the admirable moderation, to the spirit of peace and unanimity which reigned in all their Councils, and to the testimonies of respect and of attachment

manifested by such worthy Representatives for my person, have filled my heart with the liveliest satisfaction.

I am well aware, notwithstanding so many efforts, that the wounds of the Nation cannot be cicatrized except by time. The disorder and general confusion occasioned by the War, the disasters which followed it, the immense destruction of capital, the confusion produced in divers usages and customs of the Provinces, the defective and complicated system of Government, and the necessity of covering, without delay, the urgent wants of the State, have not permitted the establishment, as I could have wished, of a uniform system of Finance, suited to the principles which at present serve as our guide. I am confident that the Cortes, during the present Session, will bestow all their attention to so important a subject. The perfection of such a system can only be the work of time; and in carrying it into execution, the Cortes may rely upon my invariable zeal, as firmly as I am assured of their assistance and co-operation.

The Minister of Finance will submit to you the Budget of Expenditure for the financial year; the Ministers of War and Marine will inform you of the necessity of completing the organization of the Army, in order to render it as effective as it ought to be, in the existing state of affairs, and of obtaining that amelioration of the National Marine which is imperiously required.

Meanwhile I have the satisfaction to announce to the Cortes, that a general activity is beginning to prevail in all the Provinces of the Monarchy, which assures to us the future progress of agriculture, the arts and commerce. Our credit begins to improve abroad, and it will also improve at home, so soon as we shall have made completely manifest, the powerful means at the disposal of a Nation, governed by a Constitutional King, and a Representative System.

If the actual state of the Provinces in America has not changed, in relation to Spain, War has at least suspended its ravages in Terra Firma. The effect which the events in the Peninsula must produce in those Countries induces us to hope that we shall see them again united to the Mother Country, as integral parts of the same Empire.

But it is necessary not to dissemble: in the midst of the satisfaction which effects so salutary as those produced by the Constitutional System, to which the adherence and universal consent of the Nation, and its resolution to defend it, have been expressed; attempts of some discontented persons, supported by the illusions of those who, at all times, nourish chimerical and criminal hopes, have been so employed as momentarily to disturb the tranquillity of the Capital, and of some of the Provinces: this has caused me the deepest affliction.

I hope that the Cortes, in fulfilling its important functions, will be persuaded of the necessity of taking prompt measures to repress the

audacity of those who, encouraged rather than repressed owing to the moderation of our system, would dare to disturb good order; and that they would give, at the same time, to the action of Government the necessary power which, under existing circumstances, the maintenance of the public tranquillity requires, and without which it is impossible to overcome the evils which have afflicted the Nation for so many ages

The state of our Diplomatic intercourse with other Powers remains unaltered. We happily preserve with them, the same relations of amity and good faith, which existed at the epoch of the preceding Session.

The Ratification which I have thought it advisable to give, with the authority of the Cortes, to the Treaties with The United States of America, for the cession of the Floridas, and for the settlement of Boundaries, should have reached that Government a considerable time since; but we have as yet had no advices to that effect.

The apprehensions, and apparently well founded, that were conceived, as to the hostile intentions of the Regency of Algiers against our commerce, have not been realized; thanks to the vigilance of the combined squadron of the National Marine, and that of His Majesty the King of The Netherlands.

The determination taken in the Congress of Troppau, and confirmed in that of Laybach, by the Sovereigns of Austria, Prussia, and Russia, to interpose in the changes of the political system effected in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, has excited all my solicitude, from the consideration which I bear towards the Royal Family of that Kingdom, united to mine by ties of blood; and by the interest I take in the happiness of that Nation; and because it is of the utmost consequence that the independence of States, and the sacred rights of Nations, and of their Princes, should be scrupulously respected. I have, therefore, thought it indispensable to the honour of my Throne, and to the dignity of the great Nation which it is my glory to govern, to cause it to be understood, by suitable communications, that I will not recognise any proceeding whatever, that may be contrary to the positive Law of Nations, upon which are founded the liberty, the independence, and prosperity of mankind, a principle which Spain, on its part, will inviolably respect with regard to other Countries.

I have the satisfaction of announcing to the Cortes that the Allied Sovereigns, according to all the communications that I have received, up to the present time, have been and continue agreed in recognising the same principle with respect to Spain.

Such are the objects which I hope the Cortes will take into consideration, in order that the Constitutional System may be consolidated, and that we may accelerate the prosperity and welfare of the Nation.

I have now stated all that it is necessary to communicate to the

Cortes, relative to the political situation of the Kingdom, in all its relations, internal and external, with the precision which so solemn a duty imposes upon me, and according to the best information I possess on the different points upon which I have touched.

I have purposely deferred, until the conclusion of my discourse, to speak to you of myself, in order that it might not be thought that I considered my own interests, in preference to those of the People whom Divine Providence has confided to my care.

It is necessary, however painful, that I should submit to the wisdom of Congress, that the machinations of some ill-disposed persons, who strive to seduce the credulous, by persuading them that my heart conceals views opposed to the system which governs us, are not unknown to me. Their object is only to inspire doubts as to the purity of my intentions, and the rectitude of my conduct. I have sworn to the Constitution, and I have always endeavoured to observe it, so far as has depended on me. Would to God that every one did the same! The outrages, and acts of irreverence of every description, which have been manifested towards my person, inconsistent with that order and respect which belongs to my dignity as a Constutional King, have been published to the world.

I have no fears for my life or for my safety; God who reads my heart, watches over, and will preserve both, as will the majority and the best portion of the Kingdom. But it is my duty not to conceal from Congress, which is more immediately charged with preserving the inviolability that should attach to the person of its Constitutional King, my conviction that these insults would not have occurred, if the Executive Power had displayed all the energy and vigour which the Constitution has prescribed and the Cortes desire. The want of firmness and activity on the part of many of the Authorities, has given rise to the renewal of such excesses; and, should they continue, it will not excite astonishment should the Spanish Nation find itself enveloped in numberless evils and misfortunes.

I am confident that this will not be the case, if the Cortes, as I hope they will, unite intimately with their Constitutional King, occupying themselves without relaxation to remedy abuses, to unite opinions, and to repress the machinations of ill-disposed persons who wish only for disunion and anarchy.

Let then the Legislative Power co-operate with me, in that which I have undertaken in the face of the Nation, viz., to consolidate the system which it desired, and has obtained, for its welfare, and perfect happiness.

FERDINAND.