Such is the picture of the finances under the Administration presided by M. Coletti, publicly drawn by the Minister of Finance himself.

Her Majesty's Government look upon the above declaration as entirely falsifying all notion of the exercise of a severe economy as asserted by M. Coletti, and consequently as completely justifying them in adhering to their determination of requiring the Greek Government to apply a certain portion of revenue to the service of the Greek Loan for the half-year just fallen due, as well as to the instalments which will hereafter fall due. They must further observe, that if so disorderly an administration of Greek finance were suffered to continue, they would feel themselves compelled, by virtue of the treaty engagements contracted towards Great Britain by Greece, to take such further measures as might appear to be necessary for insuring the establishment of such a state of things as should afford a fair security to Great Britain that the sums which ought to be applied, and might be applied, annually to the service of the Loan, should no longer be squandered by negligent or corrupt administrators, to the prejudice of British rights.

LONDON:

PRINTED BY T. R. HARRISON.

Instructions to Mr. Ouseley, Her Majesty's

at

Majesty's Minister Buenos Ayres, for his guidance in the Joint Joint Intervention by England and France between Buenos Ayres and Monte Video.

Presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of Her Majesty. 1846.

Sir,

No. 1.

The Earl of Aberdeen to Mr. Ouseley.

Foreign Office, February 20, 1845.

YOU are already aware that the first and most important duty which will present itself to you upon your arrival at your post, will be the endeavour to effect a cessation of the hostilities which have been so long carried on by General Rosas against the city of Monte Video, and to restore and secure peace throughout the State of the Uruguay.

You are also aware, that at the close of last year the Government of Brazil, in its character of a neighbouring Power, and being a party to the Convention of August, 1828, which declared the independence of Monte Video, as well as deeply interested in the restoration of tranquillity on its own frontier, urged upon the Cabinets of London and Paris, through the Viscount d'Abrantes, the necessity of prompt and effective interference in order to put an end to the war; and you will have learned by the personal communication which you have lately had with the Ministers of the King of the French, that the determination of Her Majesty's Government to accomplish this object is shared by the Government of France, and that it is the intention of the two countries to unite their influence, and, if need be, their force for that purpose.

I will now proceed to give you some instructions by which to guide your conduct in the discharge of the important duty before you.

It is not probable that the new Representative of France who is about to be accredited to the Government of Buenos Ayres will have reached that city at the time of your arrival; and although it would be improper to attempt any coercive measures, except in strict concert with your French colleague, there seems no reason why you should not try the effect of amicable representations without any delay.

Your first steps, therefore, will have to be taken singly; and it is the wish of Her Majesty's Government that they should be directed to set before General Rosas, in candid and friendly terms, the danger in which his refusal to listen to former representations from Her Majesty's Government has placed him, and to induce him at once, and of his own act, to desist from taking any further part in the operations against Monte Video.

You will therefore lose no time in entering into communication with General Rosas, and with his Ministers. You will state that the spirit in which Her Majesty's Government address themselves to the Government of Buenos Ayres is not one of hostility to that State, or to the influential individual who is at the head of it; on the contrary, that the advice which you are instructed to offer is conceived in friendship, and in a true regard for the interests of the

Republic. It can scarcely be necessary to assure the Government of Buenos Ayres that we have no selfish or exclusive objects in view. General Rosas will himself fully comprehend and acknowledge the true character of our proceeding. You will say that, in exhorting General Rosas to desist from the contest to which he has made himself a party, Her Majesty's Government disclaim all intention of interfering in any manner with the independence of Buenos Ayres; they do not deny the right of that State to wage war like any other independent Power, provided always that the war be conducted according to the Law of Nations and the practice of civilized men. But the war in which the Argentine arms are at present engaged is waged against a State, the independence of which Great Britain is virtually bound to uphold; and the object of that war is to place the domestic government of Monte Video in hands other than those to which the consent of the State has entrusted it. This alone might justify the interposition of a Power under whose mediation the independence of Monte Video was established; and certainly the fact that the war is without any national character, so far as Buenos Ayres is concerned, and that General Rosas is by his own confession engaged in it as an auxiliary only and not as a principal, would enable him, without any sacrifice of honour or independence, to submit to a termination of the contest, by the peaceful interposition of friendly Powers. You will earnestly entreat General Rosas so to consider the question, and, by accepting the mediation of England and France, to open a door to its settlement before it is too late to do so with dignity; and you will represent to him that the time is come when the rejection of this advice will involve him in dangers and difficulties, from which he cannot hope to escape without serious injury to his power for that the long continuance of the war, the daily increasing losses and injuries to which European interests are exposed, the hopelessness of its termination, and the barbarities which mark its character, have, in addition to the claims of Monte Video for the preservation of her independence, determined Her Majesty's Government and that of France to unite for the purpose of putting an end to it. You will assure General Rosas that, not only is this determination taken, and the means of accomplishing it at hand, but that its execution cannot be long delayed, unless it shall be anticipated by a timely and becoming acquiescence on his part in the proposal about to be made to him by England and France. You will add, that you state this not as a threat, or in order to accomplish by words what Her Majesty's Government will hesitate to enforce by acts, but as a kindly warning, and with a sincere desire to avoid the necessity of adopting measures offensive to the dignity of a State with which Great Britain has hitherto preserved her relations of friendship unbroken.

I must leave to your own judgment the mode in which you will press these considerations, or any other which the state of affairs at your arrival may suggest to you, upon the attention of General Rosas; but I am inclined to think that in the first instance it will be better not to do so by formal or official communications; and, although there should not be any reserve or secrecy on your part towards the representative of France, who may be actually resident at Buenos Ayres at the time, it is probable that, until the arrival of the French Minister with the instructions of his Government, the chances of success to our common cause will be best consulted by your speaking in the first instance independently, and singly, as the Minister of Great Britain.

If, as Her Majesty's Government cannot but hope, your representations in that character should have their due weight, and the Government of Buenos Ayres should withdraw its troops from the Banda Oriental, and its naval forces from before Monte Video, or should issue orders for a suspension of hostilities and the raising of the blockade, the first and most important object which Her Majesty's Government have in view will have been accomplished. The terms upon which peace shall be finally settled and declared between the two Republics may then be properly left to the united mediation of the friendly Powers, to be discussed and recommended to the two principal parties so soon as the arrival of your French colleague at Buenos Ayres may enable you to act together in the matter.

It is essential that you should observe a strict impartiality in the propositions which you may make to the contending parties; but the character of the contest, and the absence of all substantial and national objects—at least on the side of Buenos Ayres-make it difficult to prescribe any conditions as a proper basis whereupon to negotiate a peace. The point, however, to be principally kept