206 WELLINGTON AND THE April on the 17th of November that it was withdrawn. It was agreed that Wellington should be asked to inform Canning of this, so as to render its publication impossible.^ This he seems very naturally to have declined to do, and the reason is not difficult to guess. That paper had already been sent to England, and a copy was even then in the possession of Canning.^ The foreign minister of Great Britain looked upon this paper as a valuable contribution to British foreign policy, and would never, I fancy, have consented to its withdrawal. To have asked for such a thing would have been merely to have aroused his suspicion, and secrecy was of the very essence of this matter, both in its relation to Canning and in its relation to parliament. So wholesome a dread had Wellington of incurring parliamentary displeasure, that he insisted upon some alterations in the text of the French dispatch, and struck out those parts of it which might be con- strued as referring to Great Britain as well as to the rest of the allies. Moreover the resources of diplomacy are not easily exhausted. There are always ways and means, and ways and means were not wanting now. Let us hear what they were from Wellington himself. ' We then discussed the documents which should be framed ; and it was settled that there should be no protocol, that everything that had passed should be confidential, and that nothing should be allowed to transpire.' * This agree- ment of course involves the exclusion of his paper of 30 October. But Montmorency was still uneasy. For it is not in the nature of statesmen to place too much confidence in the sincerity of their confederates. Wellington, it is true, had let it be known that he was willing to withdraw his paper, but that resolution had never been put into writing. In actual fact that paper was in existence still. And it was this consideration which induced Montmorency on leaving Verona to give Wellington a copy of what he had read over to him at the conference of 2 November. In handing him this copy, Montmorency made it clear that if ever the British note were made public, he reserved to himself the right of making public his reply. This measure on the part of Montmorency was purely a precaution. It was a preventive against a contingency which no one thought likely to occur. But in politics it is the
- Arch. Nat., France, Boislecomte 720 : ' Le Prince de Mettemich fit connaitre
que Lord Wellington avait consenti k retirer sa note. . . . Le C" de la Ferronnays demanda que Lord Wellington fut invito par la conference a informer ofl&ciellement son Gouvemement que, sur les repr^ntations des Alli^ il avait retir^ sa note et que Ton en prit acte pour ^viter que par la suite cette meme note ne vint k etre reproduite. Cette proposition fut accordee.'
- Wellington's paper was received in London on 14 November.
- Wellington, Suppl. Desp. i. 564. There were certain exceptions to this arrange-
ment. These exceptions will be dealt with immediately. It appears that the idea of a protocol on Spanish affairs was only abandoned after consultation with Wellington (Arch. Nat., France, Verone 723).
