The Greville Memoirs, Part 1 (of 3), Volume 1 (of 3): A Journal of the Reigns of King George IV and King William IVGreville, Charles
History
The Greville Memoirs, Part 1 (of 3), Volume 1 (of 3): A Journal of the Reigns of King George IV and King William IV
Greville, Charles
Great Britain -- History -- George IV, 1820-1830; Great Britain -- History -- William IV, 1830-1837
her in the attempt. England refused to give any answer to the
demands of France, and demanded in return what was her case
against Spain. To this no answer was given. The part then taken
by the Duke was to deprecate hostilities, both publicly as
Plenipotentiary of England and privately in the various
conversations which he had with the Emperor of Russia, who seems
to have been the strongest advocate for making war with Spain.
The imprudence of the Spaniards has afforded some colour to the
right assumed by their enemies of interfering with their affairs,
for they have upon several occasions attempted to foment the
troubles which either existed or threatened to appear both in
Naples and Piedmont; and the Emperor of Russia told the Duke that
he had detected the Spanish Minister at St. Petersburg in an
attempt to corrupt his soldiers at the time of the mutiny of the
Guards, and that he had consequently sent him out of the country.
The Duke replied that if the Emperor of Russia had reasonable
grounds of complaint against Spain, he would be fully justified
in declaring war against her, and that he would advise him to do
so if he could march 150,000 men into Spain; but in suffering
three years to elapse without making any complaint he had
virtually renounced his right to complain, and that it was unfair
to rake up a forgotten grievance against Spain at a time when she
was menaced by another Power upon other grounds. The Duke
said that the Emperor of Russia once talked to him of the
practicability of marching an army into Spain, and seemed to
think he might do so. The Duke said that the French Government
would never allow it, when he said he could send them by sea. The
Duke told him it would take 2,000 ships. One of the arguments of
the Emperor of Russia was this: that constituted as their
Governments were (military Governments) it was impossible for
them to tolerate consistently with their own security any
revolution which originated in military insubordination.
[Page Head: DUKE OF WELLINGTON ON FRENCH INTERVENTION.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account