remained. On December 5 Villele
sent a message to Verona proposing to postpone sending the despatches
till an occasion for breaking off diplomatic relations as defined in the
_proces verbal_ should arise, and suggesting that the ambassadors at
Paris should determine when such an occasion had occurred. This proposal
was rejected. It was inconsistent with Russia's desire for war, while
Austria was anxious to please Russia in the west, so long as she
remained pacific in the east. The three eastern powers therefore
resolved that they would only delay sending their notes till the French
note was ready.

[Pageheading: _THE SPANISH QUESTION._]

While this negotiation was pending, Wellington arrived at Paris, where,
under strong pressure from Canning,[78] he renewed his offer of
mediation with Spain. It was declined. On the arrival of the reply from
Verona, Wellington was informed that even if the other powers sent their
despatches to Madrid, France would withhold hers. In the end, Villele
dismissed Montmorency for the independent line he had taken, and sent a
milder note than the three eastern powers, but withdrew his ambassador
from Madrid soon after the other ambassadors had departed. Great Britain
was in consequence the only great power which still continued diplomatic
relations with Spain at the end of January, 1823. In the course of the
negotiations two curious suspicions had occurred to Canning and Villele
respectively. Canning imagined that France would employ the threats of
her allies as a show of force to compel Spain to join her in an attack
on British commerce in the West Indies, while Villele suspected that the
British defence of the political independence of Spain was to be
recompensed by the cession of some Spanish colonies in America.

Meanwhile, the war party before which Villele had had to bow, was having
its own way in France. On January 28 Louis XVIII. in opening the
chambers announced the withdrawal of his ambassador, and declared that
100,000 Frenchmen were ready to march to preserve the throne of Spain to
a descendant of Henry IV., and to reconcile that country with Europe.
The sole object of any war that might arise would be to render Ferdinand
VII. free to give his people institutions which they could not hold
except from him, and which, by securing their tranquillity, would
dissipate the unrest in France. Canning protested against the apparent
implication that no valid constitution could rest on any