gary and Bohemia, the following communication:

From the moment that the king determined to second the unanimous wishes of his people, in adopting for his states the constitution of Spain, one of his first cares was to make known to the cabinet of Vienna-the only cabinet with which he had engagements the circumstances which had given occasion to this event; and to assure it, at the same time, that it could not in troduce any change in the relations of amity and good understanding which happily subsisted between the two courts.

Prince Cariati was intrusted with this honourable mission; but all his efforts to execute it were unsuccessful, the Austrian ministry having declined, under different pretexts, all explana tion on the affairs of Naples. A fatal prejudice had taken possession of its councils, and it declared against our political reform before even it could form a just opinion of it, and almost on the first rumour of it which reached Vienna.

Anxious to enlighten the imperial court of Vienna on the true state of our affairs, the king hastened to write himself to his majesty the emperor, his august nephew and son-in-law. Duke Nicolas of Serra Capriola was commissioned to present the royal letter to his imperial majesty, and to announce to the Austrian ministry the destination of the duke of Gallo to the embassy at Vienna, in room of prince Ruffo, who, by an inexeusable disobedience to the orders of his government, had forfeited the confidence of his sovereign and of the nation. Un

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happily the mission of the duke of Serra Capriola had no better success than that of prince Cariati. He did not obtain permission to see his imperial majesty; he was told that the emperor did not think himself bound to reply to the king's letter, which he had received on the supposition that its contents were of a nature purely confidential. Orders were at the same time dispatched by the Austrian ministry to the frontiers of the empire, commanding the duke of Gallo to discontinue his journey to Vienna.

This ambassador, who was provided with a credential letter from the king, and with other confidential letters of his majesty to the emperor, was in fact obliged to stop at Klagenfurth; and having addressed remonstrances to the Austrian ministry against a treatment as unhandsome as it was irregular, prince Metternich answered him by a note, dated the 2nd of September last, that in consequence of a revolution which saps the foundations of the social edifice, and threatens at once the safety of the thrones, of acknowledged institutions, and the tranquillity of nations, his imperial majesty would be acting in contradiction of the principles which he had invariably made the rule of his conduct, if he accepted the mission with which the duke of Gallo was intrusted.

We must confess that the more we reflect on these phrases, the less can we comprehend their meaning, especially when we weigh attentively and candidly the events that have taken place in Naples. Because the king, free in his palace, in the midst of his council, composed of his ans

cient ministers, formed the resolution of satisfying the unanimous wish of his people, by granting them a system more adapted to their necessities, more conformable to the knowledge of the age, and which he would have granted them earlier, had not their desires been concealed from him, the cabinet of Vienna imagines that thé social edifice is sapped to its foundation! When the legitimacy of the rights of the reigning family has been loudly proclaimed, guaranteed, and confirmed by the general wish of the nationwhen this nation has shown, from the first moment of its political change, the most profound veneration and the most absolute devotion to the king and royal family, it is pretended that the security of thrones is menaced! When it is universally known that we have carried, even to scrupulosity, the respect for the rights, independence, and institutions of other nations, having refused to intermeddle in any manner whatever with the affairs of Benevento and Ponte Corvo, though those states are hemmed in (enclaves) by the kingdom, and the inhabitants addressed to the king the most urgent request to be reunited to the monarchy of the Two Sicilies-and when, in literally executing a burthensome stipulation which extraordinary circumstances had imposed upon us, we pay with the greatest exactness, to prince Beauharnois, the five millions of francs which the government had engaged to supply to him-it is maintained that acknowledged institutions and the repose of nations are endangered!

Fortunately the facts just stated are too notorious to be

doubted, and the cabinet of Vienna has not even for a long time been able to dissemble their acknowledgment. Therefore, in

the confidential explanations which his highness prince Metternich has had with the prince de Cimitile, he attacked us with other arms. According to the opinion of his highness, the Carbonari were the sole instigators of the events that have happened at Naples; they forced the king's inclination and the majority of the nation, excited the army to rebellion, and proclaimed a defective constitution, which offers no gaurantee of stability.

Such are, in short, the new grievances which the Austrian minister urges to the prince de Cimitile against our political reform. Let us examine them with calmness and without bitterness.

Whenever a sect or any faction obtains any concession by force, it is in the nature of things that sooner or later an opposition is formed and augmented, and at times acquires even the ascendancy of the triumphant party. In our country, on the contrary, far from perceiving the smallest trace of dissension, nothing is seen but a perfect unison of sentiment, principles, and desires. Unbounded devotion to the king, and his august dynasty-inviolable attachment to the constitutional system-a resolution to defend it to the last extremity: such is the profession of faith of all the inhabitants of the Two Sicilies. We do not except the inhabitants of Palermo, whose difference of opinion arises from other points of less general interest; with the exception of what has taken place in that quarter, no violence, nor the slightest re

action has disturbed the tranquillity of the kingdom. The orders of government are respected; justice is impartially administered; the taxes are paid; the discipline of the army is maintained; individual liberty, that of opinions, is full and entire; and if an exaggerated zeal for the public good at first caused a few aberrations, they soon disappeared at the firm and paternal voice of government. The elections for deputies to parliament, that infallible thermometer of public opinion, would alone suffice to prove that the nation is animated with one single sentiment-that of its own welfare. Men, distinguished for their virtues, services, and talents, have been chosen, from one end of the kingdom to the other, to represent the nation. No disparity of opinion was dis played in these selections. The best citizens obtained the preference. Is there still wanting an incontestable argument that it was not a sect which operated our political reform? Those who were the foremost to cry out for a new system-those, in short, whom report had proclaimed as the promoters of our political change-were not elected. Can it be believed that if a sect had brought about this change, as it is insinuated, that sect would not have insisted that its chiefs

should figure among the representatives of the nation? A still stronger argument against the opinion endeavoured to be inculcated on Europe, that the government is here at the mercy of a faction, we will bring forward from the great example of moderation and long amity which we have given to civilised nations, by permitting the Austrian legation

and consulship to exercise freely their functions in this country, whilst at the same time our ambassador was obliged to stop at Klagenfurth, and our consul was dismissed from Milan without the slightest ceremony, and on the interference of the police. Had the government been less strong in itself-had it been ruled by a faction whose passions are always impetuous-would it have been able to restrain the effects of the national pride, justly irritated at such a treatment?

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As to the defects imputed by the Austrian minister to the Spanish constitution, we will in the first place observe, that no foreign power has the right to call either good or bad that system which an independent sovereign has thought proper to adopt for his own states. But if one wishes to judge of the stability of governments by the institutions which direct them, it is certainly`no longer a problem in this age, whether this stability can be more easily obtained by an arbitrary or constitutional system. charter of Spain may have its defects, undoubtedly, but its principles bear the stamp of reason and of all the virtues. The nation, moreover, has too great an interest to perfect its institutions, not to apply its attention to the modifications which it may suppose convenient to adapt to its wants the new system by which it is governed, inasmuch as the act of the king's proclamation left to the national parliament the right of proposing any such modifications. cabinet of Vienna may rest therefore secure on this point; for we have it greatly at heart to give to our sytem all the stability

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susceptible in the undertakings of men, convinced that the first merit of a constitutional government is that of fortifying the state against the commotions occasioned through despotism or licentiousness; and the wisdom of men commendable for their qualities, whom the nation has chosen as their representatives, seconded, moreover, by the rectitude and paternal sentiments of the king, is a sure guarantee of the fulfilment of what we have

here advanced.

Having plainly demonstrated how perfectly unfounded and unjust are the wrongs imputed to us, we will enter into the discussion of the last argument which the Austrian minister might oppose, although until now it has not been brought forward.

There exists in the treaty signed at Vienna on the 12th of June, 1815, between the courts of the Two Sicilies and Austria, a separate article in these terms:

"The engagements entered upon in this treaty by their majesties, to secure the internal peace of Italy, imposing on them an obligation to preserve their states and respective subjects from fresh re-actions, and from the danger of imprudent innovations, which might be the forerunners of them, it is understood by the high-contracting powers, that his majesty the king of the Two Sicilies, in re-establishing the government of the kingdom, will not admit any changes irreconcileable either with ancient monarchical institutions, or with the principles adopted by his imperial and apostolic majesty, for the interior government of his Italian provinces."

The vague and ambiguous

phrases of this article require an explanation. It is well known that in diplomacy the literal sense of treaties is the only one that is relied on. The king, having conformed to the understanding of the said article at the time of the restoration of the government of Naples, has fulfilled his promise. And it is worth remarking here, that the question rested on a mere understanding, and not on a condition or any obligatory engagement for an indefinite time.

Upon what foundation, therefore, can Austria impute it as wrong to the king, his having yielded to the unanimous wish of his people, who demanded the Spanish constitution? However, admitting it even as an hypothesis, that the above-cited article was obligatory for ever, it must be proved, in order to reclaim against its infraction, that the change operated in the form of our government is in opposition with monarchical institutions. We might, on the contrary, maintain that institutions consolidate thrones, since they render the persons of sovereigns inviolable, and guarantee the legitimacy of their rights; but the question does not here turn on the discussion of theories. The point to be proved is-and we think we have sufficiently proved it-that Austria cannot reasonably take advantage of a stipulation which related to different epochs and different circumstances, in order to justify an opposition to our political reform.

To what, then, can we attribute the attitude that Austria has taken, and still daily assumes against us? What can be the motive for the augmentation, excessive as well as precipitate, of the

Austrian troops in Italy? As long as the king imagined that, in taking this step, the cabinet of Vienna had in view only the maintenance of the good order and the interior tranquillity of his Italian states, his majesty respected the right which every power has of doing in its own country, whatever may appear advisable. But when the court of Vienna obstinately refuses to enter into any explanation with that of the two Sicilies, and to receive the representatives and agents of the king-when the emperor refuses to reply to the confidential letters of his majesty-when the Austrian cabinet circulates notes among the allied powers, the Germanic confederation, and Italian governments, against the new order of things established in Naples when, in short, the newspapers of Vienna and Milan officially promulgate sentiments hostile to us, which a self-respect ing government should never authorize, the king would be wanting to the sentiment of his own dignity to what he owes to the brave and generous nation whose destinies have been confided to him by Providence-if he showed himself indifferent to so incon ceivable a conduct on the part of a friendly and allied government. In consequence, his majesty has ordered the undersigned to address himself to his highness prince Metternich, to require a positive and categorical explana tion respecting the intention of these extraordinary armaments, and respecting the attitude that Austria has assumed towards the Neapolitan government; an attitude as contrary to the bonds and sentiments of friendship existing between the two courts, as it is at

variance with the principles of fraternity and disinterestedness towards a nation which has closely admired her great virtues; for, certainly, if any circumstance could tarnish the splendor of those virtues, it would be the aggression which Austria might meditate against the kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Posterity would scarcely give credit to such an injustice-an outrage so hostile to the rights of nations, and the more odious, as the same power which would render itself guilty of such a crime never opposed the smallest state of Germany in framing constitutions to themselves, and took no step, at least no public one, towards Spain, whose example we followed.

To other motives, therefore, must be attributed the war that Austria would undertake against a pacific nation, solely occupied with its own welfare, and anxious to maintain the best understanding with every foreign power, and to cement the particular relations existing between the courts of Naples and Vienna.

The high opinion which his majesty the king has of the personalities of his majesty the emperor of Austria, is to him a guarantee of the justice and wisdom that will preside at his deliberations; and he believes that he is not mistaken in thinking, that at no distant period the Aus trian government will shake off its prejudices against us, and that the bonds of friendship which formerly united the two states, will be again cemented for the reciprocal advantage of both nations. But if, unfortunately, this hope should not be realised, the king and the whole nation-being determined to defend, to the last extremity,