HL Deb 22 June 1848 vol 99 cc987-90
LORD STANLEY

said, that he wished to ask a question with reference to the recent communications between our Government and that of Spain; he would enter into no discussion upon the merits of the case, but confine himself to a statement of so much of the correspondence as would make his question intelligible. After the Spanish Government had taken the very strong step—a step so strong as, in his judgment, hardly to be capable of entire vindication under any circumstances what-ever—of dismissing Her Majesty's Minister from Madrid at very short notice, they must have been aware that that step must necessarily be regarded with great jealousy, and probably with great indignation, in this country; and they hastened to remove the impression it would produce by sending over the Count Mirasol upon a confidential mission to explain to the British Government the circumstances under which that step had been taken, and to vindicate, if possible, their own procedure. He arrived on the 25th of May; but the noble Lord the Foreign Secretary, whether correctly or incorrectly, came to the conclusion that it was his duty not to receive any communication through the Count Mirasol, and he informed the Spanish Minister in this country that if the Government of Spain had any communication to make to the British Government, he (the Spanish Minister) was the proper channel through which it was to be made. In a private note of the 29th of May to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, M. Isturitz stated that, in consequence of this determination of the British Government, it would be his duty to transmit to them himself the statements of which the Count de Mirasol was the bearer; and two days afterwards Lord Palmerston inquired when the communication would be made; but M. Isturitz then replied, that in the circumstances in which he was placed, he did not feel himself fully authorised to present those communications with which another person had been charged, and that he could not take upon himself to make them. On the 6th of June Lord Palmerston in consequence addressed to M. Isturitz a letter, of which the following was the concluding portion:— Her Majesty's Government cannot acquiesce in a course of proceeding so disrespectful to the British Crown. If the Count Mirasol has brought any statement which it is fitting that the Government of Spain should submit for the consideration of Her Majesty's Government, in explanation or in justification of the conduct pursued towards Her Majesty's Minister at Madrid, Her Majesty's Government are entitled to call upon you as the official and accredited organ of your Government at this Court, to make that statement, and to send it to me in writing forthwith. I now formally and officially call upon you to do so; and it is my duty to add, that if you do not do so within two days after the date of this letter, Her Majesty's Government will deem themselves entitled to assume that Count Mirasol has brought no statements or explanations which are in the slightest degree deserving of consideration; and that the Spanish Government in sending him hither had no serious or becoming purpose in view; and I have further to say, that as no statements can be admitted by Her Majesty's Government except those on which the Spanish Government acted at the time, no supplementary statements which may hereafter reach you from Madrid can be received, nor can be taken into consideration by Her Majesty's Government in forming their final judgment on this important matter. On the next day, the 7th, M. Isturitz sent to Lord Palmerston an answer, which concluded thus:— This mission, which the Gentleman intrusted with it would have been able fully to execute as he might have thought proper, might have been considered by Her Britannic Majesty's Government a sufficient satisfaction or otherwise; but, without perverting intentions and words, never, at any possible period, could it be called a proceeding disrespectful to the British Crown, since, on the contary, it was expressly intended by the Spanish Government as an act of consideration and just respect called for by the circumstances in which it originated. Motives, on which I abstain from passing any judgment, determined your Excellency not to receive the Count Mirasol, without your Excellency being able to know, officially, whether he came with a diplomatic character or not—a quality, however, which was not rigorously indispensable for the fulfilment of an honourable and friendly mission. However that may be, the refusal of your Excellency, and the approaching departure of the Count Mirasol from England, have already disposed of this question, to which it has been attempted to give undue importance, and your Excellency will find me prepared to follow out the principal question in the fulfilment of my duties. No one so much as myself deplores the present state of the relations between the Government of Her Catholic Majesty and that of Her Britannic Majesty; and I will not allow an opportunity to pass without expressing my desire to bring it to an early and satisfactory termination. I have nothing to add now to what I have already written to your Excellency upon this question, except that I am prepared to receive your replies or your resolutions. If at a later period, if during the sojourn which I may have to make in this capital, my Government sends me communications to transmit to your Excellency, I shall transmit them; and your Excellency will use your discretion in receiving them or in rejecting them, as appears to be indicated in the concluding paragraph of your Excellency's communication of yesterday, the 6th, to which I have replied to-day, the 7th, before the term fixed in the unusual intimation contained in it. The reply of Lord Palmerston, dated the 12th, went into an elaborate examination of the communications which he had received, and the noble Lord intimated that under the circumstances M. Isturitz would do well to quit this country forthwith. In consequence of that intimation, he did quit, on the 14th inst., without having delivered to Her Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs the papers explanatory of the act of the Spanish Government, which had been thus sent over by a confidential agent, who had been despatched with such anxiety that not a moment should be lost that he arrived here, as he (Lord Stanley) believed, before Sir H. Bulwer. Her Majesty's Government had laid the correspondence on the table as being closed; but he (Lord Stanley) believed that M. Isturitz had not left this country twenty-four hours before a despatch from Madrid arrived, giving him instructions to communicate to the British Government the papers intrusted to Count Mirasol, and also forwarding additional papers. Apart from diplomatic etiquette it would certainly seem that a knowledge of these communications was necessary for a full consideration of the merits of the case, and in order to enable Parliament and the country to form a just estimate—he would not say of the question whether the Spanish Government were justified in dismissing our Minister, but—whether they had fair reason to believe that his conduct was a departure from the ordinary functions of a Minister in a foreign country, and that he was intriguing for the purpose of overthrowing the existing institutions of Spain—a belief which would go far to remove part of the offensive character of the very strong step they took in removing him. There appeared, however, to be considerable difficulty in presenting to Parliament the papers upon which the question turned. He wished to ask, whether the communication intrusted to Count Mirasol had been subsequently tendered by the Spanish Minister here, or the Secretary of the Embassy, or any other person, to the British Government, and received by them; and whether, if so, it would be laid before Parliament?

The MARQUESS of LANSDOWNE

said, he would abstain, like the noble Lord, from going into the merits of the case, and that after diplomatic relations between this country and Spain had ceased, no further communication was received from the Embassy, or could be received.

LORD BROUGHAM

said, that as diplomatic relations had ceased, they could not be in a fair position to judge of the conduct of Spain.

The MARQUESS of LANSDOWNE

said, that the Spanish Government had had an opportunity of stating their case, and had abstained from doing so.

The EARL of ABERDEEN

considered that Parliament could not, in this state of things, and with the imperfect statement laid upon the table, pronounce any judgment upon the question, but must wait for that information which Her Majesty's Government had declined to receive, but which he presumed the Spanish Government would take means of communicating to the world.

The MARQUESS of LANSDOWNE

said, that Parliament had not yet been called upon to pronounce any opinion upon the subject.

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