Peaceful settlement of the Frontier. July 1846. nations so closely allied in origin, in language, and in manners, would of necessity have much of the character and involve many of the horrors of a civil war. Although the language of the Democratic party in the House of representatives continued to be angry and vehement, a cooler temper showed itself in the Senate, and, after much discussion, resolutions were arrived at and passed, which appeared to open the door to fresh negotiation. Aberdeen at once seized the opportunity, and before Peel's ministry was driven from office he was enabled to announce that a successful compromise had been arrived at. The point at issue had been the possession of Vancouver's Island and the inlets and islands immediately opposite to it. The continuation of the fortyninth parallel would have deprived us of these districts, which, by every claim which can be raised to newly settled country were legitimately ours. The Americans, not uninfluenced perhaps by the evident approach of a war with Mexico, consented at length to accept the forty-ninth parallel as the frontier as far as the middle of the channel which separates the continent from Vancouver's Island. The boundary then followed that channel down to the Pacific. At the same time the navigation of the northern branch of the Columbia river, and of the river itself from its bifurcation to the sea, was made equally free to the citizens of both countries. The patience of the English Government, its firmness when negotiations were broken off, its readiness to renew them upon the first opportunity, deserved the marked success it had secured. France. From the time of the Reform Bill a close friendship with France Difficulty with had been regarded as the necessary policy of England. The establishment of the Orleans dynasty had at the time largely influenced the course of English politics, and it was supposed that the two constitutional countries of the west formed the natural counter-weight to the great absolute empires on the east of Europe. Louis Philippe shared in this view, but it was by no means thoroughly accepted by the French nation. The King, a man of astute mind, who, though his rule followed constitutional forms, was strongly disposed to rule as well as to reign, found it difficult to pursue a straightforward course. Though succeeding when the critical time. arrived in maintaining the English alliance, he was on several occasions obliged to countenance ministers whose views were of a far less friendly character. As early as the year 1835 the English Government had found that the entente cordiale existed more in words than in reality; and in the East, so opposed had been the interests of the 1844] THE TAHITI QUESTION 147 two countries, that it was only under the pressure of the treaty of July 1840, into which the great Powers had entered without the cooperation of France, that the French Government had unwillingly accepted the settlement of the Egyptian question. In all probability it was the influence of the King himself which had alone prevented open hostility. The Guizot-Soult ministry, which had succeeded to the more warlike ministry of Thiers, though avowedly established for the purpose of maintaining the alliance, was strongly infected with the desire then prevalent in the country to act an independent part, and win back for France a preponderance in European politics. Hostile feelings Palmerston. While Palmerston was at the head of foreign affairs there was little chance that the estrangement between the two Courts would be allayed. He was without fear, and did aggravated by not hide his fearlessness. He had been the author of the treaty of July, which had been a severe blow to the pride of the French. He mistrusted the genuineness of the French professions of friendship. He disliked Guizot, and was the uncompromising adherent of what he considered English interests. The accession of the Conservatives, though the objects of national policy were not avowedly changed, introduced a change in conduct; so much so that both publicly in his speeches and in his private letters, Palmerston thought himself justified in charging the Government with a readiness to sacrifice English interests for the purpose of maintaining friendly foreign Ministers in power. He instanced the acquiescence, on the part of the English Government, with the French acceptance of the protectorate of Tahiti. It had been twice offered to England and twice refused, but with the assurance that Queen Pomare might rely on English assistance against the interference of any other Power. None the less England had looked on calmly when Pomare was compelled, under severe pressure, to place her dominions under the French protectorate. But if the Conservative Government was at any time open to this charge, events took place collision with in the island in 1844 which drove it to a firm and successful assertion of the power of England. Smarting March 1844. under French encroachment, Pomare had ventured upon some acts of independence, trivial enough in themselves, but which the French attributed to the interference of the English Consul, Mr. Pritchard. A French ship of war appeared before the island. In spite of his consular immunities Mr. Pritchard was arrested, and the admiral proceeded to annex the island. This was more than the English Government could put up with. It demanded and obtained a disavowal on France in the part of the French of the action of their admiral, and ultimately, though with great difficulty and against a resistance pushed almost to the verge of war, obtained a sort of apology and a promise of a money indemnity for the injured Consul. Rivalry with But it was in Spain that the covert hostility of the two nations was chiefly displayed. The establishment of the constitutional throne had been the joint work of the French and English. But the cessation of the war against the Carlists had been followed by factious and party struggles among the Constitutionalists themselves, scarcely less disastrous and anarchical. Two great parties, the Moderados and the Progressistas, disputed the Government, and had found support respectively in the Governments of France and England. The interests of Lord Palmerston and of Mr. Villiers, subsequently Lord Clarendon, the English Minister at Madrid, were decidedly with the Progressistas. As decidedly did the French Minister support their opponents. In 1840 General Espartero, the Progressista leader, secured the success of his party, and Christina, the Queen-mother, was compelled to withdraw. The young Queen Isabella and the Government fell into the General's hands, and he was made Regent. But only two years later an insurrection, which the French almost openly supported, put an end to his reign. Christina had found a supporter in General Narvaez, a man of cruel and absolute character. With his assistance she returned, the constitution was again reformed in a less liberal direction, and a law which had rendered the consent of the Cortes necessary for the Queen's marriage was repealed. French interest seemed thus for a while paramount at Madrid, and the obstacle withdrawn which had hitherto stood in the way of some matrimonial arrangements which the French Court had had in view for the purpose of rendering its predominance permanent. As early as 1840 the question of the marriage of the Spanish Queen Suitors for the had become a subject of interest, both to the French and Spanish Queen. English governments. The first suggestion, which came from the side of Spain, was a marriage between Queen Isabella and the Duc d'Aumale, Louis Philippe's eldest son. The French King and his Minister saw that it was out of the question that England should allow Spain to fall directly into French hands. They therefore rejected the suggestion, but taking credit for this concession, attempted to obtain the consent of Lord Aberdeen to a stipulation confining the choice to members of the Bourbon house, descendants of Philip V. So unjust and unnatural a limitation 1845] THE SPANISH MARRIAGE 149 on the free choice of an independent Queen should have met with instant rejection. But Aberdeen, eagerly bent on supporting the entente cordiale with France, contented himself with taking up a position of complete neutrality, and, while asserting that the Queen's choice ought to be free, implied that England would make no opposition to a Bourbon marriage if it in no way threatened the balance of power. The pretension of the French Court to lay this restriction on the Spanish Queen was rendered particularly irksome by the limited choice afforded by the condition of the Bourbon house. It was impossible to suppose that the sons of Don Carlos, so lately in war against the constitutional monarchy, could be agreeable suitors; they were in fact regarded as out of the question. The late King's brother, Don Francisco de Paulo, had two sons, Francisco d'Assis, Duke of Cadiz, and Enrique, Duke of Seville; but of these the elder was on every ground quite unfit to become the Queen's husband, and the younger was a man of wild and undisciplined character. There remained Count Trapani, the younger brother of Christina, a member of the Neapolitan Bourbon house; and although he was under the disadvantage of being a Neapolitan, and therefore unpopular and despised by the Spanish people, he seemed to be the least objectionable of the suitors. It appears to have been agreed between Guizot and Aberdeen to favour his suit, and with this intention Bulwer was sent as Minister from England and Bresson from France. But although the Courts at home desired to act in agreement, it soon became evident that neither Bulwer nor Bresson were inclined to allow the rivalry of the English and French parties in Spain to be thus obliterated. While Bresson, who appears to have been a man of haughty and unscrupulous character, boasted openly of the triumph of French influence, Bulwer waited quietly till the overbearing manner of his adversary should alienate his adherents, and frustrate the attempt to force Trapani on the Queen. French proposals for marriage. the Infanta's Sept. 1845. It was just at this time in 1845 that Bulwer, while passing through Paris, was first informed of the intention of Louis Philippe to marry the Duke of Montpensier, his second son, to the Infanta, Queen Isabella's sister; and in the autumn of the same year, on the occasion of a friendly visit of the English Queen to the French Court at Eu, the same plan was talked over. Guizot and Aberdeen had an opportunity of a personal explanation, and the French minister reaffirmed what he had already intimated to Bulwer, that though the French were desirous that both princesses should marry Bourbons, there was no intention of arriving indirectly at the Spanish throne through the marriage of the Infanta. He added that Christina had already assented to that marriage, but that it should not take place till there was a direct heir to the Spanish throne. Louis Philippe also personally assured the Queen that this was the case, using the words, "that he never would hear of this marriage until it was no longer a political question, which would be when the Queen was married and had children." On these promises the Court and Government of England had fully relied. Yet within a few months Guizot wrote instructions to Bresson in Madrid which showed that he either had or pretended to have suspicions of the honesty of England. He directed him, should the Bourbon marriages be imperilled, at once to act directly and with vigour. The excuse for this conduct is found in the probability which at that time existed of a change of Ministry in England, and the substitution of Palmerston for Aberdeen at the Foreign Office. The change did not take place; nevertheless the transmission of the instructions to Bresson was shortly followed, February 1846, by a memorandum read by the French ambassador in London to Lord Aberdeen, which offensively suggested the dishonesty of England, asserting that France would hold herself absolved from all her engagements if a marriage with any one not descended from Philip V. became probable and imminent. The instructions and the despatch taken together amounted to this, that under certain circumstances of which France .was the sole judge, all previous engagements were cancelled, and that the ambassador should if possible discover the existence of those circumstances. Conscious of his own rectitude, and relying upon the King's promise, Aberdeen disregarded the memorandum, no copy of it was given him, nor on his accession to office was Lord Palmerston informed of it. Change of government and feeling in $pain. Meanwhile in Spain, though Narvaez had been driven from office, his partisans, the Moderados, under the premiership of Isturitz, still retained power. Yet even they began to find their dependence upon France irksome, and awoke to the glaring iniquity of forcing upon the young Queen a husband whom she detested. They began to turn towards the English, and to revert to an old project which had already been once set aside, of marrying Isabella to Leopold of Saxe-Coburg. The ambition of Christina led Proposal for her to support this match, which indeed offered many advantages. Personally well fitted to please the Queen, Leopold was connected with both the French and English courts, and his selection might be held to imply the desire of Spain, marriage with Isabella. |