execution of the stipulations contained in the present convention, shall be settled between the postoffices of the two countries as soon as possible after the exchange of the ratifications of the said convention.

It is also agreed that the measures of detail mentioned in the present article, may be modified by the two post-offices whenever, by mutual consent, those postoffices shall have decided that modifications would be beneficial to the post-office service of the two countries.

Art. XVI. The high contracting parties engage to recommend, with the least possible delay, the one to his parliament, and the other to the chambers, that they should be empowered to carry into execution such of the stipulations of the present convention as may not now be in conformity with the laws of the two countries respectively.

Art. XVII. The present convention is concluded for an indefinite period. If, at any future time, circumstances should render desirable any change or modifica tion in any of its articles, the high contracting parties will concert upon the subject; but it is understood that unless by mutual consent, neither the convention, nor any of its stipulations, shal! be invalidated or annulled without a previous notification of six months. During that term of six months, the convention shall continue to be fully and entirely carried into effect, without prejudice to the settlement and liquidation of the accounts between the two post offices after the expiration of the

said term.

Art. XVIII. The present con

great merit, and the dawn of your freedom was regarded in many parts with envy, in others hailed with applause, and in all it was received with benevolence.

"To you, who are about to perfect the work then commenced, no less honour will accrue; for if that war of aggression was so fearful from the military force and the unequalled capacity of the military chief who attacked you, the civil war which now so cruelly tears us to pieces is not less terrible in its effects, while in its origin it is by far more painful. To pacify irritated passions, to unite opposed opinions, to conciliate clashing interests, to overcome enemies at home, and to annihilate intrigues abroad-oh, how great a source of difficulty and disorder! What obstacles to the grand object for which you are assembled hereinsuperable to all others than Spaniards! But everything is to be expected, gentlemen deputies, from your constancy and wisdom; and without doubt, the generous efforts of those who are about to triumph in this second essay will receive from posterity the same applause and renown as have wait. ed upon, and will still wait on, the acts of those who triumphed in the first one.

"No sooner was I convinced that the real wish of the nation was, to have re-established the constitution of the monarchy proclaimed in Cadiz, than I hastened to swear to it, and to command that it should be sworn to and observed in all the kingdom as the fundamental law. And it being also the national will that this law should be revised and corrected, in order to effect the better the ends for which it was ordained, I convoked immediately the Cortes

for the purpose of deliberating respecting this salutary reform. I, at the same time, assembled around my person, and composed my government of, individuals possessing my entire confidence, and who, being well known, could, as I believed, inspire confidence into the nation. I hope that the line of government adopted by them, has not rendered them unworthy of it, and if, in any of their acts, they have felt themselves obliged to exceed in any way the sphere of their functions, I do not doubt, that, considering the irresistible necessity of saving thereby the state, they will find the justification thereof in the equity and benevolence of the Cortes.

"The foreign powers, which in both hemispheres have recognised the indisputable rights of my august daughter, continue to maintain their former relations of friendship and good correspondence with me. Among them, the august allies of the queen, who signed the treaty of quadruple alliance, show themselves always disposed to support it; and, in accord therewith, continue to afford us co-operation and aid as before. To the valuable assistance, for which we already are indebted to the generosity of his Britannic majesty, has been since added the support given to the operations of our army of the north by means of the naval force which took such a part in the glory acquired before St. Sebastian on the 5th of May last, and the supply of 100,000 muskets, so important to us in our present situation. To his majesty, the king of the French, we are equally indebted for the re-inforcement, which, under the command of a worthy general, has already been incorporated with the auxiliary legion

from Algiers, although the cabinet of his majesty, the king of the French has since thought fit not to carry forward the arrangements for increasing the co-operation on the part of France. From her most faithful majesty I receive daily new proofs of goodwill, and at this moment arrangements are going forward with her government, which I flatter myself are likely to have a fortunate result, with a view to dispose of the auxiliary Portuguese troops in the most advantageous way.

"The other powers of Europe, with respect to whom we do not stand in the same relations, do not, however, on that account fail to manifest a pacific disposition towards Spain, although some of them have ordered the chargés of their legations in Madrid to withdraw, for which reason similar orders have been issued to our envoys employed at their respective courts. The cabinet of the two Sicilies has alone given me cause of great complaint, which, on account of its importance, as well as on account of what I owe to the dignity of the nation, and of the throne of its queen, have obliged me, much to my regret, to recall my chargés d'affaires at Naples, and to command the agent of that government to depart from Spain. All information on this disagreeable incident will be fully afforded to the Cortes by my secretary of despatch for foreign affairs; the measures adopted do not involve on my part any feeling of hostility nor will they prevent the commerce and communications between the two countries from continuing on their former footing.

of the state of the negotiations with some of the new states of Spanish America; and being always desirous of bringing them to a conclusion, as the interests of the mother nation and of those countries demand, will not delay to ask from the Cortes the authority necessary for the conclusion of conventions, to accord which the govern◄ ment believes that no insuperable difficulties will be felt.

"It is an arduous, not to say an insuperable, task, at periods of agitation and disturbance such as the present, to attend duly to those branches on which public prosperity and the progress of civilization depend. My government, however, as far as the state of things allows, will not omit, as far as possible, to provide for their maintenance and advancement; having constantly in view the importance of making practically known to the inhabitants of every village the advantages of the constitutional system, in order that all the productive classes should become identified with the new interests created by it. Amidst all

those matters, the necessity is more than apparent of attending properly to the national militia, at once the protecting force of the rights of each citizen, the bulwark of liberty and of order. This institution has received a remarkable increase of number, and some improvements in its regulations, which render it capable of fulfilling the useful objects of its establishment. If from want of arms it has not yet been able to present such a respectable aspect as properly belongs to it, now that the battalions of the national guard are supplied with the arms which, as I already said, have been furnished by the British government, they will be

equally to be feared from their complete armament as from their heroic decision and patriotism, and will form the impregnable rampart of our institutions and of our independence.

"In despite of the toils and cares that surround the throne of my august daughter, I have not neglected the interests of our ultramarine provinces; the situation of those provinces does not allow the complete re-establishment of the articles of the constitution, which, relating to the designation of ministers, appoints one solely for their political government; but considering it necessary for the prosperity of these fertile countries that the affairs of their government should be directed by one law, and on one plan solely, I have thought proper to give charge thereof to the secretary of despatch for the marine department, together with matters of commerce, in consequence of the strict analogy which they all have with those of mercantile navigation and that of war. The mercantile code, which requires some reform, will, in a short time, be reformed and assimilated to the institutions under which we now live, and presented to the Cortes for examination and approbation.

"The same difficulties which, with respect to so many objects of public interest are experienced in consequence of the painful state of the nation, are also felt in rendering the administration of justice as free and unembarrassed as it ought. My government has, notwithstanding, struggled to remove those difficulties, and, relying on the approval of the Cortes, it is preparing means for organizing this most important branch on the combined principles of irremova

bility and strict responsibility on the part of the magistrates and judges. The civil code is already drawn up; the penal and criminal codes will be presented at a proper opportunity to the Cortes; those of the custom-house tariffs will soon be ready for all the courts and tribunals of the kingdom.

He

"The state of public finance, after so many unfortunate and fatal events rendering it impossible for its means to correspond with its charges, will be explained to you by the secretary of state to whom this branch belongs. will also lay before you, in as short a time as possible, the estimates of the public expenses, and the plan of contributions to meet them, for which purpose his particular attention is dedicated. At the same time he will furnish you all the explanations and data necessary to satisfy your anxiety on so important a matter, and which is so especially under your care. He will, in the same manner, submit to the examination and approbation of the Cortes the decrees issued in favour of the national credit, and point out whatever may seem most opportune to restore and to extend it.

"All the interests of the Spanish debt have been paid up to this period, with only one exception, which I very much regret I allude to our not having been able to collect the means of satisfying the six months' dividend on the foreign debt, and which becomes due on the 1st of November next. I am confident that my government will be able to overcome the obstacles that have reduced it to this extremity, so that not more than a short delay shall intervene between the dividends becoming due and the payment thereof-a

delay which will be compensated by the security of a proportionate interest during the period which may clapse before the payment of the amount due.

"The difficulties to which the public treasury has been subject, aggravated at one time by the exigencies of the war, and in consequence of the Cortes not being assembled, obliged my government to adopt the painful, but indispensable, resolution of asking from the nation a supplement of 200,000,000 reals, repayable in four years from the proceeds of the ordinary taxes, and with the annual interest of five per cent. The Cortes in their patriotism will acknowledge the existence of causes rendering this measure inevitable; indeed, the only one that could be adopted for the salvation of the country at a period of so much embarrassment.

"Various reforms and retrench ments have already been effected in the administration; they will be continued with constancy and firmness-for without good order and economy in the expenditure, there can be no real foundation of prosperity or solidity for any system of finance. Measures for the general and definitive organisation of this department will also continue to be taken a department which has hitherto shown a degree of torpidity on account of various causes, some of which could not be removed by other means than by the Cortes. The object of those measures is to take advantage of all the resources of the kingdom, capable of making up the losses, of restoring the credit, and of placing the receipts of the treasury on a par with the public expenditure, and above all with the means of the people.

"The special and indispensable

necessity of giving a new impulse to the military operations for terminating the civil war has rendered imperative the resolutions adopted for the new levy of 50,000 men, and for the organisation of the National Guard, according to the articles of the decrees relating thereunto. The combination of both measures will augment very much the active forces, and will hasten the moment when peace and good order, those essential bases of all prosperity, whether public or private, will begin to be re-established in the state.

"In the meanwhile the army as well as the navy, have incessantly continued to give admirable proofs of their valour, of their patience, and of their firm determination to maintain the cause of liberty and of the throne of my august daughter. Impelled by its patriotism, the army joined in the declaration of the provinces in favour of the constitution; but it did not, nevertheless, lose sight of, even for a moment, the principal object of its destination-the pursuit and destruction of the rebels. Simultaneously with the manifestation of the will of our soldiers have been their victories: before them are flying bands of enemies, which unfortunately have succeeded in penetrating into the interior of the kingdom, without once daring to face our troops, or wait for their approach, causing, by the rapidity of their flight, more fatigue in overtaking them, than difficulty in overcoming them. Like every pestilential and fatal plague, they undoubtedly are the cause of misery and desolation wherever they come; but they also leave behind them a just horror of their atrocities, and in every quarter meet with a dreadful warning in not finding any