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 1920 CONGRESS OF VERONA, 1822 205 The new policy was tried. Its success was startling. The collapse of British diplomacy dates from now. On the 31st of October it was settled that the continental courts should each send a note to Madrid protesting in the most thorough fashion against the proceedings of the revolutionary party in Spain ; on the 2nd of November it was arranged that the drafts of these notes should be submitted to Wellington, who would thereupon make known the intentions of his government ; ^ and on the 4th it was decided to substitute dispatches in place of notes as affording greater facility for discussion and explanation. The drafts of these dispatches were shown to Wellington. Their severity was toned down so as to meet what were thought to be the requirements of Great Britain. He was not averse, so Wellington told the allies, to sending similar instructions to A'Court.^ He holds out to Metternich golden hopes of British co-operation and expresses the wish to be back in London at the critical time so as to bring pressure to bear upon Canning.^ So favourable indeed were his dispositions that Metternich even asked him to put them into writing. As for the paper of 30 October,* Metternich told the conference conduite differente de celle contre laquelle il avait proteste ; il repondit : " que dans la situation des Allies il eut agi comme eux et qu'il eut meme ete beaucoup plus loin " ' (Arch. Nat., France, Boislecomte 720). In the postscript to an undated dispatch of Villele's written early in November, he tells De la Garde that the gist of the Verona dispatches is that England will not oppose the allies. De la Garde acknowledged this dispatch on 14 November. But the news did not appear to surprise him, for previously on 30 October he had written that San Miguel, the Spanish minister for foreign affairs, was very much upset because of news from a Spanish agent who had had an interview with Wellington at Verona. This agent, whom De la Garde in his dispatch of 6 Decem- ber says was excellently well instructed, reported that Wellington had told him that England would not come to the rescue of Spain (Arch. Nat., Espagne 717). state of the Spanish Question ' dated 12 November. Wellington gives the date of this arrangement as 1 November. It is immaterial. ^ Arch. Nat., France, Boislecomte 720 : ' Quelquefois Lord Wellington laissait entendre que desirant se separer le moins possible de Taction des Allies, il n'etait pas eloigne d'envoyer lui-meme des instructions analogues a M. A'Court.' In the confer- ence of 19 November, ' Le Prince de Metternich annon9a que Lord Wellington lui faisait esperer qu'il amenerait son gouvemement a transmettre a M. A'Court des instructions telles que I'envoye Britannique a Madrid s'ecartat le moins possible dans sa conduite et dans son langage du langage et de la conduite des ministres des 4 cours '. ' Arch. Nat., France, 721. Caraman to Montmorency, 27 November : ' II (Welling- ton) sera 9 a 10 jours en route, quoiqu'il se dise tres presse, dans Tespoir d'arriver a tems pour concourir a la redaction des instructions qui seront donnees au Chevalier A'Court. II donne a son empressement les meiUeures intentions et dit que c'est pour engager le Ministre Britannique a faire tout ce qui lui sera possible pour ne pas se trop separer des Allies.' n'etait plus question que des instructions a envoyer, et I'on representait 1' emission de la note anglaise comme une circonstance deja ancienne qu'il fallait oublier et sur laquelle il y avait mauvaise grace a revenir.'
 * Wellington, Suppl. Desp. i. 519, ' Memorandum to Sir Charles Stuart on the
 * Arch. Nat., France, Boislecomte 720 : ' D'autrefois on mettait en avant qu'il