preceded by an order to all French, Italian, and Piedmontese refugees, to quit the Swiss territory; including even those who had resided there with the permission of their respective governments, and had done so for 10 and 15 years. This order, which was strictly executed, did not result from the extraordinary powers granted to the council of state, but was an excrcise of the authority conferred on that body by the constitution.

These proceedings, which were known to have been adopted in consequence of admonitions given by Austria in the name of the Holy Alliance, accompanied with lists of names transmitted from Vienna, made a deep impression in Switzerland. For though little account is made there of the liberty of the press, which, except in three or four cantons, can hardly be said to exist, the Swiss felt humbled at receiving dictation from a foreign power, and mortified at being forced to send away numbers of unfortunate foreigners, who were persecuted on all sides, and were without any place of refuge.

In July, the matters, which had excited the jealousy of the Holy Alliance, were brought under the consideration of the Swiss Diet, who appeared fully sensible of the necessity of acquiescing in whatever was demanded of them. A committee was appointed to consider the subject; and the report made by them was such as was better suited for an Austrian minister to receive, than for a Swiss patriot to adopt. They reported, that, if, on the one hand, the circumstances of the times afforded sufficient motives for adopting prudent and general measures of police with respect to the press and foreign refugees, yet on the other hand, none of the re

lations fixed by the federal com pact should be violated, or the sovereign rights of the Helvetic states endangered; on this account a resolution of the Diet would not be advisable: it would be better to send a pressing invitation to all the cantons to adopt vigorous and satisfactory measures for preventing in newspapers, journals, pamphlets, and all kinds of periodical publications, every thing which might be contrary to the respect due to foreign powers, or might give them just grounds for complaint. With regard to the police superintendence of foreigners, they recom➡ mended that measures should be taken to prevent fugitives from entering or residing in Switzerland, who had left their country in consequence of their crimes, or of any interruption of the public tranquillity, or who, during a regularly authorized abode in Switzerland, should carry on intrigues against a friendly foreign power, or to trouble internal tranquillity; that the entrance of foreigners should depend on their possessing valid certificates from their recognized local authorities; which, in the case of those whose governments had ministers accredited to the confederation, should be recognized by those ministers. This proposal was unanimously approved.

Still, the Holy Alliance was not satisfied. In consequence of a conference of their ministers held at Paris on the 31st of July, notes similar to each other were presented, on the 20th and 21st of August, to the Helvetic government, by the ministers and chargés d'affaires, re- · siding at Berne, for the courts of Austria, Russia, Prussia, France, and Sardinia. The demand was, that about 200 refugees of various countries (many of whom had been long

dead!) should be expelled from Switzerland; and as the sovereigns would not allow them to reside either in their dominions or in Spain or Portugal, these victims of proscription were to receive passports for the United States of North America, to which they were to proceed by way of Hamburgh or Bremen. The French minister further required, that Switzerland should consent to arrest and deliver the deserters and refractory conscripts, who might take refuge in that country. In proportion as Switzerland was submissive, the despots of the continent rose in their demands: and before the end of the year, they called upon her, not for restraints merely, but for the total suppression of the liberty of the press; for the banishment even of those foreigners, who had been naturalized in the cantons; and for the abolition of clubs and reading societies.

While Austria was thus busy in the affairs of her neighbours, her own provinces exhibit no event of any importance. She agreed to compound for the debt due from her to the English government by paying a small part of it; and provided funds for the purpose by contracting for a loan in London."

The emperor of Russia extended his hatred of secret societies, even beyond his own dominions: for he promulgated an ordinance, requiring all consuls and vice-consuls in his service, resident in foreign countries, either to resign their situations, or to withdraw from and to abjure all Free-masonry societies, with which they might have been previously connected."

Nothing decisive was yet known as to the course which Russia

meant to adopt, with respect to the celebrated ukase by which she usurped the whole of the more northern part of the western coast of America and the ocean intervening between it and the opposite shores of Asia. On the one hand, it was asserted, that a Russian frigate had driven away some American vessels, which had transgressed the appointed limits. On the other hand, the committee of the society of ship-owners in London, stated, that, having made application on the subject to his majesty's secretary of state, they had been informed, that representations had been made to the Russian government, and that, in consequence, orders had been sent out by the court of St. Petersburg to their naval commanders, calculated to prevent any collision between Russian ships and those of other nations, and, in effect, suspending the Ukase.

The present year cannot boast of the dangerous honour of a Congress, unless that name is to be given to the meeting between the emperors Francis and Alexander at Czernowitz. This interview took place in consequence of arrangements made between the two sovereigns, while they were at Inspruck, in the Tyrol, after the close of the Congress at Verona ; and its sole object was, to confer on the affairs of Turkey, Francis arrived at Czernowitz on the 4th of October: on the evening of the 6th Alexander entered it: the latter departed on the 11th of the same month, and the former on the 13th. Prince Metternich was not present: under pretence of sickness, he remained at Lemberg, where he was visited by count Nesselrode.

bouring seas. Spain admitted the claims generally, leaving their particular amount to be determined by future arrangements; and a sum of 40,000,000 of reals (400,000l.) was ordered to be inscribed in the great book, to answer them when adjusted.

On the 9th of January, San Miguel read, in an open sitting of the Cortes, the menacing communications from the four members of the Holy Alliance, together with his replies to them. These replies were in the form, the one, of a note addressed to the Spanish minister at Paris; the other, of a note addressed to the Spanish chargés d'affaires at Vienna, Berlin, and St. Petersburg [See Public Documents, 154* et seq.] These documents insisted on the right of Spain to manage her own affairs without regard to foreign interference, and on the inconsistency of the allied sovereigns in now assailing, with invective and threats of war, the very constitution which they had themselves acknowledged. The reading of the notes was listened to with unbounded applause, both from the members of the legislature and from the spectators in the galleries. Galiano, the head of the violently liberal party in the Cortes, then proposed an address to the king on the present situation of affairs: all voices were raised in favour of the suggestion. Arguelles, the leader of the mode rate party, marched, in this instance, pari passu with Galiano; and a motion made by him, to ad

journ for eight-and-forty hours, that Europe might be convinced of the deliberate coolness by which the councils of the Spanish legislature were directed, was at once approved. Arguelles was appointed a member of the committee of

Diplomacy, charged with the framing of the address; and Galiano bore testimony to his conviction-that, however they might differ on the details of the public service, Arguelles would, whenever the safety and dignity of the nation were at stake, be the foremost in defending them.

On the 10th, the Austrian, Russian, and Prussian ministers applied for passports; which were transmitted to them on the 11th, accompanied by three exceedingly laconic communications.*

On the 11th, Galiano presented to the Cortes the draught of an address to the king, signed by

These notes were couched in the following terms:

Answer to the Note addressed by the Prussian Minister.-"I have received the Note which your Excellency transmitted to me under the date of the 10th, and, contenting myself with stating in reply, that the wishes of the govern reply, that ment of his most Catholic Majesty for the happiness of the Prussian States

are not less ardent than those manifested by his by his majesty the king of Prussia towards Spain, I transmit to your Excellency, by royal order, the passports for which you have applied."

Answer to the Russian Note.-"I have received the note which your excellency transmitted to me yesterday, for my sole reply, to stating that you the 10th instant, and, limiting myself, have shamefully abused (perhaps through ignorance) the law of nations, which is always respectable in the eyes of the Spanish government, I transmit, by order of his Majesty, the passports you desire, hoping that your excellency will be pleased to leave this capital with as little delay as possible."

Answer to the Austrian Note.-"I have received the note which your

excellency was pleased to remit to

me, dated yesterday, the 10th, and having now only to say, that the government of his Catholic Majesty is indifferent

whether it maintains relations or not with the court of Vienna, I send you, by royal order, the passports which you have required,"

himself, and by Canga, Alava, Arguelles, Saavedra, Ruez de la Vega, Adan and Salva. It was to this effect [See Public Documents p. 157*]: that the Cortes manifested to his majesty, that they had heard with the greatest astonishment the assertions contained in the notes of the cabinets of Paris, Vienna, Berlin, and Petersburg; because these diplomatic communications, besides being inconsistent with the established practice of civilized nations, were insulting to the Spanish nation, its Cortes, and its government; and that they had, at the same time, heard with the greatest satisfaction the judicious and decorous answer made by the Spanish government, exposing the falsehood of the imputations cast on the nation, and expressing its determination to maintain its rights. After some further obser vations on these points, the address concluded by declaring, that the Cortes were prepared to maintain, at every risk, the dignity and splendour of the constitutional throne, and of the king of the Spains, as well as the independence, liberties, and honour of the Spanish nation, and to decree whatever sacri fice might be necessary for the preservation of interests so invaluable. It was voted without one dissenting voice. The reply of the king was communicated to the assembly on the same day; it breathed the most ardent sentiments of patriotism. "The sentiments," said his majesty, "of honour and national independence, so profoundly rooted in the hearts of Spaniards, offer me the securest guarantee, that the existing po litical institutions the object of their predilections will continue unalterable, notwithstanding the efforts of their most violent ene

mies; how, in this respect, can I entertain the slightest doubt, when I am a witness of the effusion of the patriotic sentiments and generous resolutions, which will render the sittings of the National Congress on the 9th and 11th of this month eternally memorable?

"For myself, convinced more and more of the imperious necessity, that all the children of this great family should assemble round the constitutional throne, I will steadily follow the route which my duty prescribes to me: and if the spectacle of a nation, devoted to the defence of her independence and laws, do not restrain those who me ditate to invade her, I will place myself at her head, certain of vie tory in the most just of causes, which is, at the same time, that of all the free nations of the earth.”

Amidst all this excitement, the British ambassador continued to exert his endeavours to preserve peace. The course, followed for this purpose, was, by recommending to the ministers to make some modifications in the constitution: for if that were conceded, we believed that France, on her part, would withdraw her army of observation, after which harmony between the two neighbours might easily be restored. The Spanish ministers, however, would not listen to any proposals of concession: such a suggestion, they declared, could not even be mentioned in the Cortes.

The approaching war was the only subject, which occupied the attention of the Cortes in its suc cessive meetings; and on every occasion the mention of it called forth expressions of the most stub born resolution never to yield. The speech of the king of France to the Chambers was communis