XII. 1823. the warrant; but, overcome by the violence of the crisis, CHAP. and the cries of the deputies around Manuel, he refused to obey. "Vive la Garde Nationale!" instantly burst in redoubled shouts from the opposition benches; "Honneur à la Garde Nationale !" was heard above all the din in the voice of Lafayette. But the difficulty had been foreseen and provided for by the Government. The national guard and troops of the line were instantly withdrawn, and thirty gendarmes, under M. de Foucault, an officer of tried fidelity and courage, were introduced, Lam. vii. who, after in vain inviting Manuel to retire, seized him Ann. Hist. by the collar, and dragged him out, amidst vehement Moniteur, gesticulations and cries from the Left, which were heard 1823. across the Seine, 1 1 vi. 107, 109; March 5, 61. enthusiasm war. These dramatic scenes, so well calculated to excite the feelings of a people so warm in temperament as the General French, might, under different circumstances, have over-excited by turned the monarchy, and induced in 1823 the Revolu- the Spanish tion of 1830. They were followed next day by a solemn protest, signed by sixty deputies who had adhered to M. Manuel in the struggle, among which the signatures of General Lafayette, General Foy, and M. Casimir Perier appeared conspicuous. But no other result took place. The public mind is incapable of being violently excited by two passions at the same time; if the national feelings have been roused, the social ones are little felt. It was a perception of this truth which caused the Empress Catherine to say, at the commencement of the French Revolution, that the only way to combat its passions was to go to war.2 The din, great as it was, caused by the Hist. of dragging M. Manuel out of the Chamber of Deputies, 1789-1815, was lost in the louder sound of marching men pressing on to the Pyrenees. The civic strife was heard of no more after it had terminated; nothing was thought of but the approaching conflict on the fields of Spain. Incessant was the march of troops towards Bayonne and Europe, c. xiii. § 7. XII. 1823. March 15. CHAP. Perpignan, the two points from which the invasion was to be made. The roads were covered by columns of infantry, cavalry, and artillery, moving forward towards the Spanish frontier, in the finest order, and in the highest spirits; and the warlike enthusiasm of the French, 1 Lam. vii. always strong, was roused to the very highest pitch, by Ann. Hist. the prospect of vindicating the tarnished honour of their arms on the fields of Castile, and re-entering Madrid as The Duke of Angoulême set out from Paris, to take the command of the army, on the 15th March ; and as war was no longer doubtful, the anxiety on both sides arose to the very highest pitch.1 188, 194; vi. 108, 112; Moniteur, March 16, 1823; Cap. Conquerors. vii. 120, 126, 145, 146. 62. tion in the army. On their side, the Liberals, both in France and Prepara- Spain, were not idle. Their chief reliance was on the tions of the presumed or hoped-for disaffection of the French army; sow disaffec- for they were well aware that if they remained united, the forces of Spain, debased by misgovernment, and torn by civil war, would be unable to oppose any effectual resistance to their incursion. The most active measures, however, were taken to sow the seeds of disaffection in the French army. Several secret meetings of the Liberal chiefs in Paris took place, in order to concert the most effectual means of carrying this design into execution; and it was at first determined to send M. Benjamin Constant to Madrid to superintend the preparations on the revolutionary side, it being with reason supposed that his great reputation and acknowledged abilities would have much influence with the revolutionists in Spain, and be not without its effect on the feelings of the French soldiery. But this design, like many others formed by persons who are more liberal of their breath than their fortunes, failed from want of funds. Benjamin Constant, whose habits of expense were great, and his income from literary effort considerable, refused to undertake the mission unless not only his expenses were provided for, but an indemnity secured to him, in the event of failure, for the loss of his fortune and XII. 1823. the means of repairing it, which his position in Paris CHAP. afforded. This, however, the Liberals, though many of them were bankers or merchants, possessed of great wealth, declined to undertake; the Duke of Orleans was equally inexorable; and the consequence was, that Constant refused to go, and the plan, so far as he was concerned, broke down. All that was done was to send a few hundred political fanatics and refugees, who were to be under the command of Colonel Fabvier, and who, though of no importance as a military reinforcement, might, it was hoped, when clothed in the uniform of the Old Guard, and grouped round the tricolor standard, shake the fidelity of the French soldiers on the banks of the Bidassoa. Their first step was to issue a proclamation 195, 197; in the name of Napoleon II. to the French soldiers, Chateaucalling on them to desert their colours, and join the revo- grès de Vélutionary host, a proceeding which amply demonstrated, 254; Cap. if it had been required, the necessity of the French inter- 148. vention. 1 * 1 Lam. vii. briand, Con rone, i. 252, vii. 147, Mr Canning While hostilities were thus evidently and rapidly 63. approaching on the Continent, and the dogs of war were Feelings of held only in the leash, ready to be let loose at a moment's and the English warning, to desolate the world, England, indignant and people at agitated, but still inactive, remained an anxious spectator of the strife. Never were the feelings of the nation more strongly roused, and never would a war have been entered into by the Government with more cordial and enthu * "Vainqueurus de Fleurus, de Iéna, d'Austerlitz, de Wagram, vous laisserezvous aller à leurs insinuations perfides? Scellerez-vous de votre sang, l'infamie dont on veut vous couvrir, et la servitude de l'Europe entière? Obéirez-vous à la voix des tyrans, pour combattre contre vos droits, au lieu de les défendre; et ne viendrez-vous dans nos rangs que pour y apporter la destruction et la mort, lorsqu'ils vous sont ouverts pour la liberté sainte qui vous appelle du haut de l'enseigne tricolore qui flotte sur les monts Pyrénées, et dont elle brûle d'ombrager encore une fois vos nobles fronts couverts de tant d'honorables cicatrices? Braves de toute arme de l'armée française, qui conservez encore dans votre sein l'étincelle du feu sacré ! c'est à vous que nous faisons un généreux appel; embrassez avec nous la cause majestueuse du peuple, contre celle d'une poignée d'oppresseurs; la Patrie, l'honneur, votre propre intérêt le commandent; venez, vous trouverez dans nos rangs tout ce qui conVOL. II. 2 U this crisis. XII. 1823. CHAP. siastic support on the part of the people. This is always the case, and it arises from the strength of the feelings of liberty which are indelibly engraven on the minds of the Anglo-Saxon race. Their sympathy is invariably with those whom they suppose to be oppressed; their impulse to assist the insurgents against the ruling power. They would support the colonies of all countries, except their own, in throwing off their allegiance to the parent state those who attempt the same system in regard to their own, they regard as worse than pirates. They consider revolution a blessing to all other countries except England: there the whole classes possessed of property are resolute to oppose to it the most determined resistance. They think, with reason, they have already gone through the ordeal of revolution, and do not need to do so a second time; other nations have not yet passed through it, and they cannot obtain felicity until they have. Mr Canning, whose temperament was warm, his sympathy with freedom sincere, and his ambition for his country and himself powerful, shared to the very full in all these sentiments. No firmer friend to the cause of liberty existed in the British dominions at that eventful crisis, and none whose talents, eloquence, as well as political position, enabled him to give it such effectual support. In truth, at that period it may be said that he held the keys of the cavern of Æolus in his hands, and that stitue la force, et des compatriotes, des compagnons d'armes, qui jurent de défendre jusqu'à la dernière goutte de leur sang, leurs droits, la liberté, l'indépendance nationale. Vive la liberté ! Vive Napoléon II. ! Vivent les braves!"-CHATEAUBRIAND, Congrès de Vérone, i. 254, 255. In the Observateur Espagnol of 1st Oct. 1822, before the Congress of Verona was opened, it was said-"L'épée de Damoclès qui est suspendue sur la tête des Bourbons, va bientôt les atteindre. Nos moyens de vengeance sont de toute évidence. Outre la vaillante armée espagnole, n'avons-nous pas dans cette armée sanitaire dix mille chevaliers de la liberté, prêts à se joindre à leurs anciens officiers, et à tourner leurs armes contre les oppresseurs de la France! N'avons-nous pas cent mille de ces chevaliers dans l'intérieur de ce royaume, dont vingt cinq mille au moins dans l'armée, et plus de mille dans la garde royale? N'avons-nous pas pour nous, cette haine excusable, que les neuf dixièmes de la France ont vouée à d'exécrables tyrans ?"-L'Obserrateur Espagnol, 1st Oct. 1822. XII. 1823. it rested with him to unlock the doors and let the CHAP. winds sweep round the globe. But though abundantly impelled (as his private conversations and correspondence at this period demonstrate) by his ardent disposition to step forward as the foremost in this great conflict, yet his experience and wisdom as a statesman, joined to the influence of Mr Peel, who threatened to resign if an active intervention was attempted, restrained him from taking the irrecoverable step, and preserved the peace of the world when it appeared to be most seriously menaced.* Resolutely determined to abstain from all intervention in the affairs of Spain, and to do his utmost to prevent France from taking that step, he Politique was not the less determined to abstain from actual hos- de la Restilities, and to keep aloof from the conflict so long as it 151, 152; was confined to continental Europe.1 He had too vivid Life, 334; a recollection of what the last Peninsular war had been, i. 296. to engage without absolute necessity in a second; and "Leave the Spanish revolution to burn itself out within its own crater. You have nothing to apprehend from the eruption, if you do not open a channel for the lava through the Pyrenees. It is not too late to save the world from a flood of calamities. The key to the flood-gate is yet in your hands; unlock it, and who shall answer for the extent of devastation? The beginning of strife is as the letting out of waters.' So says inspired wisdom. Genius is akin to inspiration; and I pray that it may be able on this occasion to profit by the warning of the parable, and pause."-Mr CANNING to M. de CHATEAUBRIAND (confidential), 27th January 1823; Congrès de Vérone, i. 475. "Well, then, to begin at once with what is most unpleasant to utter: You have united the opinions of this whole nation as one man against France. You have excited against the present sovereign of that kingdom the feelings which were united against the usurper of France and Spain in 1808. Nay, the consent, I grieve to say, is more perfect now than on that occasion; for then the Jacobins were loath to inculpate their idol: now they and the Whigs and Tories, from one end of the country to the other, are all one way. Surely such a spontaneous and universal burst of national sentiment must lead any man, or any set of men, who are acting in opposition to it, to reflect whether they are acting quite right. The Government has not on this occasion led the public-quite otherwise. The language of the Government has been peculiarly measured and temperate; so much so, that the mass of the nation was in suspense as to the opinion of Government till it was actually declared; and that portion of the press usually devoted to them was (for reasons perhaps better known on your side of the water than on ours) turned in a directly opposite course."-Mr CANNING to Viscount CHATEAUBRIAND, 7th February 1823; Congrès de Vérone, i. 475. 1 Marcellus, tauration, Canning's Martineau, |