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two kingdoms, assures us that our neutrality will continue to be respected. Nothing shall be neglected on our part to prolong its duration. The relations of amity which exist with all the powers of Europe are the augury of that durable peace which forms the object of our wishes.

I thank you, gentlemen, for the numerous proofs of affection and devotion which you have given to me, and to all the members of my family. I regret that the breaking up of the Diet, joined to the bad season, should have presented an obstacle to the execution of the

wish you manifested for the coronation of the Queen, my spouse. That wish shall be satisfied on the next meeting of the States-General.

On your return to your homes and to the bosoms of your families endeavour to strengthen public peace and union. Be friends, be Swedes. Let that proud name remind you that constancy is the greatest of all powers; but that weakness and discord, by destroying states, undermine the freedom of mankind. I repeat to you, gentlemen, the assurance of my good wishes and royal sentiments.

STATE of the RUSSIAN FINANCES.

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year, and certains claims on the government which had been admitted. Of the loan concluded with Messrs. Rothschild in London, in the year 1822, he could not give an account until it was completely terminated. Its amount was stated to be 43,000,000 of silver roubles, but of which only 23,000,160 silver roubles had yet been inscribed in the great book of the public debt. The result of his details appeared to be that the public debt on the 1st of January, 1823, stood as follows:

48,100,000 florins. 3,364,000 roubles in silver. 34,505,753 in assignats.

20,620 roubles in gold.

9,015,412 in silver. 240,945,711 in assignats.

Debt bearing 5 per cent. perpetual } 61,362,360 roubles in silver.

interest

The sum destined, according to the regulation of the sinking fund commission, to the diminution of the mass of assignats in circulation,

consists for the year 1822, of 32,402,715 roubles.

ASSIGNAT BANK.-According to a statement under this head, the

law prohibiting new emissions of assignats has been strictly observed and the quantity now in circulation amounts to 595,721,010 roubles.

LOAN BANK. The sums advanced by this bank in the year 1822, chiefly for assistance to manufacturing establishments, amount to 10,495,731 roubles 50 copecs in assignats. According to the account presented by the bank, its profits amount to 8,557 roubles 334 copecs in gold; 81,681 roubles 18 copecs in silver; 1,444,284 roubles 82 copecs in assignats.

COMMERCIAL BANK.-The capital of this establishment, fixed at 30 millions, was completed in 1822. Its transactions during the same year extended to 185,230,858 roubles 72 copecs. The loans on

merchandise exceeded those of 1821 by 4,366,552 roubles 31 copecs. There remain due on protested bills of exchange, the payment of which the Bank is prosecuting before the ordinary tribunals, 2,351,313 roubles 50 copecs.

The profits of the bank and its factories, deducting their expense, amount to 1,810,615 roubles 55 copecs.

The bank had in all its transac tions strictly followed the prescrib ed rules, and the examination of the accounts showed that the total of the returns of that establish ment and its factories, in the year, 1822, is 890,079,035 roubles 10 copecs in assignats, und 6,900,616 roubles 31 copecs in metallics.

REPLY of the SPANISH GOVERNMENT to the NOTE of the FRENCH MINISTER.

Under this date I communicate the following by Royal order to the Minister plenipotentiary of his majesty in Paris:-" The government of his Catholic Majesty has just received a note transmitted by that of his Most Christian Majesty to its minister plenipotentiary in this court, an official copy of which document is directed to your excellency for your necessary information.

"The government of his Catholic Majesty has few observations to make on the said note. But in order that your excellency may not feel any embarrassment with regard to the conduct which you ought to observe under these circumstances, it becomes it to manifest frankly its sentiments and resolutions.

"The government was never without the conviction that the institutions adopted freely and

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powers which had recognized it. But six years' experience, and the general wish, induced him to identify himself, in 1820, with the desires of the Spanish people.

"It was not a military insurrection which gave rise to this new order of things in the commencement of the year 1820. The brave men who declared themselves in the island of Leon, and successively in the rest of the provinces, were only the organ of the general opinion and wish.

"It was natural that this order of things should produce discontents that is an inevitable consequence of every reform which aims at a correction of abuses. Individuals are always to be found in every nation and in every state, who can never submit themselves to the empire of reason and justice. "The army of observation which the French government maintains in the Pyrenees is not calculated to quiet the disorders with which Spain is afflicted. Experience has proved, on the contrary, that this sanatory cordon, which afterwards assumed the title of army of observation, has only served to nourish the wild hopes of the deluded fanatics who raised the cry of rebellion in several of the provinces, by giving them a pretext for cherishing the idea of an approaching invasion of our territory.

"As the principles, the views, or the fears which have influenced the conduct of the cabinets assembled at the Congress of Verona, cannot serve as a rule for that of Spain, the latter abstains, for the present, from replying to that part of the instructions of the Comte de Lagarde which relates to the said Congress.

"The days of calm and tranquillity which the Government of his

Most Christian Majesty wishes to the Spanish nation, are not less anxiously desired by herself and her government. Both being persuaded that the remedy of their misfortunes can only be the work of time and perseverance, they make, as it is their duty to do, every effort to accelerate such useful and salutary effects.

"The Spanish government justly appreciates the offers made by that of his Most Christian Majesty to contribute towards its happiness as far as lies in its but is persuaded that the measures and precautions which the latter has adopted can produce only contrary results.

power;

"The assistance which it is now incumbent on the French government to give to that of Spain is purely negative. The disbanding its army of the Pyrenees-the restraining the factious enemies of Spain, and the refugees in France

and a marked and decided animadversion on those who take pleasure in blackening, in the most atrocious manner, the government of his catholic majesty, as well as the institutions of Spain and her Cortes, is what the law of nations, as respected by all civilized countries, requires.

"For France to say that she wishes the welfare and tranquillity of Spain, while she constantly keeps lighted up the brands of discord, which give aliment to the principal evils with which she is afflicted, is to plunge into an abyss of contradictions.

"Moreover, whatever may be the determination which the government of his Most Christian Majesty may deem advisable to take in this conjuncture, that of his Catholic Majesty will continue tranquil in the path pointed out by its

duty, the justness of its cause, the character of constancy, and of firm attachment to constitutional principles, which eminently distinguish the nation at the head of which it is placed; and without now entering into an analysis of the hypothetical and ambiguous expres sions of the instructions transmitted to the Count de Lagarde, it concludes by observing that the repose and prosperity of the nation, as well as every thing that may augment the elements of its prosperity, can interest no power more warmly than Spain herself.

"Constant attachment to the constitution of 1812, peace with all nations, and the denial of the right of intervention in her affairs on the part of any power, form the national motto and rule of conduct as

well for the present as for all future times.

"Your excellency is authorized to read this note to the minister of Foreign affairs, and to give him a copy if he request it. Your judg ment and your prudence will suggest to you the conduct, firm and worthy of Spain, which ought to be pursued on this occasion.

"This I have the honour tð communicate to your excellency by order of his Majesty; and I take this opportunity of renewing the assurances of my distinguished consideration, and of praying that God may preserve your life many years.

"Your Excellency's attentive and constant servant kisses your hand. EVARISTO SAN MIGUEL "The Palace, Jan. 9, 1823.

"To the minister of France."

NOTE transmitted by the SPANISH MINISTERS to their CHARGE'S D'ÁƑ• FAIRES at the Courts of VIENNA, BERLIN, and PETERSBURGH.

Under this date I communicate to the chargé d'affaires of his Majesty at the court of — -by royal order, the following:"The government of his Majesty has received communication of a note from. to its chargé d'affaires at this court, a copy of which note is transmitted to your excellency for your information.

"This document, full of perverted facts, defamatory suppositions, accusations equally unjust and slanderous, and vague requests, does not call for any categorical and formal reply on any of its points. The Spanish government, deferring to a more convenient opportunity the exhibiting to all nations, in a public and solemn manner, its, sentiments, its principles, its determinations, and the justice of the cause of the generous nation at the

head of which it is placed, is for the présent, content to declare

"1. That the Spanish nation is governed by a constitution solemnly recognized by the Emperor of all the Russias in the year 1812.

"2. That the Spaniards, friends to their country, who proclaimed, at the commencement of 1812, that constitution which was abolished by violence in 1814, were not perjured men, but had the imperishable honour of being the instruments of the general will.

3. That the Constitutional King of Spain is in the free exercise of the powers which the fundamental code has conferred upon him, and whatever may be alleged to the contrary proceeds from the enemies of Spain, for the purpose of blackening and calumniating her.

"4. That the Spanish nation has never interfered with the institutions or internal government of any other state.

"5. That the healing of the ills which may afflict Spain interests no nation more than herself.

6. 6. That those evils are not consequences of the constitution, but proceed from the enemies who endeavour to destroy it.

"7. That the Spanish nation will never acknowledge the right of any power to interfere or mix itself in its affairs.

"8. That the government will never deviate from the line traced for it by its duties, by national honour, and by its unalterable at tachment to the fundamental code sworn to in 1812.

"Your Excellency is authorised to communicate this despatch ver

bally to the minister for Foreign affairs at, giving him a copy if he ask it.

"His Majesty hopes that your Excellency's prudence, zeal, and patriotism will suggest to you that conduct which is firm and worthy of the Spanish name, and which, in the present circumstances, ought to be followed.

"This is what I have the honour to communicate to your Excellency by order of his Majesty, and I seize this opportunity to renew the assurances of my distinguished consideration, praying God to preserve your life many years. I kiss your hands. Your attentive and constant servant,

"EVARISTO SAN MIGUEL. "The Palace, Jan. 9, 1823. "To Senor

"Chargé d'Affaires at

ADDRESS to the KING of SPAIN, voted by the CORTES in the Sitting of the 11th of January.

Sire, The extraordinary Cortes, in hearing the notes of the Cabinets of Paris, Vienna, Berlin, and Petersburgh, which your Majesty ordered to be communicated by your ministers to them, have unanimously resolved to direct their voice towards the august throne of your Majesty, in an expression of the feelings by which they are animated.

The Cortes would fail in their first duty-they would inadequate ly express the wishes of the people whom they represent-if they did not declare the surprise and indignation which they felt at the strange doctrines, the manifest falsehoods, the calumnious imputations which these documents contain, particularly the three latter, as vicious in their substance as contrary in their

form to the principles established among civilized nations monstrously insulting to the Spanish nation, to its most distinguished children, to its Cortes, to its government, and even to the throne of your Majesty, which, supported by the constitution, does not suffer less than it from the attacks directed against it

in fine, to your sacred person, whose good faith and whose love for your people they endeavour by an impious temerity to call in question.

The Cortes, Sire, have heard with singular satisfaction, the frank, honourable, and energetic answer which your minister has made to those notes, and which you have communicated to the Cortes. They cannot but approve of the noble disdain with which your govern.

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