Book XI
.]
Led away by the generosity and elevation of his sentiments, which sometimes assumed a tinge of mysticism, to embrace a policy in which the private initiative of each nation should disappear before the decisions taken in common by a sort of directorate of the Great Powers charged to secure the universal prevalence of the interests of justice and humanity, the loyal and chivalrous Mathieu de Montmorency had been induced to demand that Russia, Austria, Prussia and France should address a final notice to Spain, after which the ambassadors were to be recalled. M. de Villèle declared himself against this collective
## action, in the council of ministers held at the Tuileries on the 25th
of January 1822. He claimed the right of France to intervene alone. Louis XVIII. sided with his opinion, and declared that "France occupied a special position towards Spain; that for her to recall her ambassador was either too much or too little;" then he added:
"Louis XIV. destroyed the Pyrenees, I will not allow them to be set up again; he placed my House on the Throne of Spain, I shall not allow it to fall from it; my Ambassador must not leave Madrid before the day when a hundred thousand Frenchmen are pushing forward to take his place."
To speak in this way was to separate the action of France from that of the other Powers; M. Duvergier de Hauranne does not hesitate to admit this[495]. It was to disown M. de Montmorency; he forthwith resigned his office. He had wished to make the Spanish question an European question; with Chateaubriand, his successor, it became a French question. At this the head of the British Cabinet, Mr. Canning[496], displayed a profound irritation. The hostility of England did not stop the Government of Louis XVIII.:
"Keep up a high tone with the English ministers," wrote Chateaubriand, on the 16th of January 1823, to M. de Marcellus, France's representative in London.
"Say and repeat to Mr. Canning," he wrote again in a dispatch dated 28th January, "that we are as anxious for peace as he, and that England can obtain it before the opening of the campaign, if she will hold the same language as ourselves and demand the liberty of the King. But be sure to add that our decision is taken, and that _nothing will make us go back._"
And on the 13th of March 1823:
"Mr. Canning is angry with me for not yielding to his threats and casting France at the knees of England. He cannot go to war, he has not so much as one half a plausible reason for doing so, he feels this, and he is piqued at having gone so far. But _war or no war, France will do what she must do, or I shall cease to be minister..._"
And, in a postscript:
"Give parties, and _answer Mr. Canning firmly._"
On the 17th of April:
"England feels that _this war is giving us back our influence and restoring us to our place in Europe_; she must needs be irritated and ill-disposed. Mr. Canning's self-esteem is compromised: hence his violence and his ill-humour.... I recommend you henceforth to show yourself cold and reserved with Mr. Canning.... Be polite, but talk little; and let him see, by your manner, _that the French Government knows its strength and defends its dignity._[497]"
The deeds were on a level with the words. Chateaubriand's policy had been able and firm: a prosperous and well-managed war crowned it. Read in what terms Benjamin Constant and General Foy, although speaking in the name of the Opposition, judged the Spanish War:
"So far from contesting what our honourable colleague has said on past events, I wish to recognise with him that the whole of that memorable expedition has been full of glory for our army, and I will add that this glory is so much the finer in that it does not consist solely of military successes. French generosity, inspiring even our private soldiers, has always worked and sometimes happily succeeded in making humanity prevail over vengeance, pity over fury, and in protecting the disarmed enemy against the auxiliary embittered by long reverses."
Thus did Benjamin Constant express himself in the tribune of the Chamber of Deputies, on the 28th of June 1824. In the same sitting, General Foy added these words:
[Sidenote: Appendix to