Quadruple Alliance of 1834
neutrality of Krakow; and if the government of Krakow is
unwilling to repress the actors, or does not have the means to
repress the actors, the high contracting powers reserve the right
to immediately occupy Krakow and its territory. The powers
reserve themselves the right, in case of occupation, to consult
on the duration of the temporary occupation and on the meas-
ures needed to restore tranquility.
3.1150 Quadruple Alliance of 1834
Alliance Members:Great Britain, France, Spain, and Portugal
Signed On:April 22, 1834, in the city of London. In force until August
31, 1839, with the end of the Carlist War in Spain.
Alliance Type:Defense Pact (Type I)
Source:Consolidated Treaty Series,vol. 84, p. 180.
Additional Citations:Key Treaties for the Great Powers, 1814–1914,
vol. 1, p. 232.
SUMMARY
The signing of the Convention of Berlin, which formalized what
Britain’s Palmerston called the “Holy Alliance of the East” and which
represented an aggressively internationalist absolutism, posed a threat
to the established order in the more liberal states of western Europe.
With the prospect of a resolution to the Eastern Question that side-
lined the Western powers remaining a possibility despite English and
Austrian cooperation, those states opposed to the absolutist cause
sought to achieve a new balance.
When Don Carlos threatened Isabella II’s claim to the Spanish throne
in 1834, the Quadruple Alliance formed in order to prevent Eastern
absolutism from taking root in Spain as well as in Portugal, where the
rule of Queen Maria II had come under threat. Establishing order in
Spain and Portugal—thus preventing them from falling into the abso-
lutist sphere—helped maintain a continental balance against the East-
ern Holy Alliance.
The cooperation witnessed in the alliance did not continue long past
the First Carlist War (1833–1839). The Spanish marriages of 1846,
which violated understandings among the members of the alliance
over the choice of spouses, led to a cooling of Anglo-French relations
and the effective end of their cooperation in regard to Spain.
Alliance Text
Her Majesty the Queen Regent of Spain during the minority of
her Daughter Donna Isabella the Second, Queen of Spain, and
His Imperial Majesty the Duke of Braganza, Regent of the King-
dom of Portugal and of the Algarves in the name of the Queen
Donna Maria the Second, being impressed with a deep convic-
tion that the interests of the Two Crowns, and the security of
their respective Dominions, require the immediate and vigor-
ous exertion of their joint efforts to put an end to hostilities,
which, though directed in the first instance against the Throne
of Her Most Faithful Majesty, now afford shelter and support to
disaffected and rebellious Subjects of the Crown of Spain ; and
Their Majesties being desirous, at the same time, to provide the
necessary means for restoring to the Subjects of each, the bless-
ings of internal peace, and to confirm, by mutual good offices,
the friendship which they are desirous of establishing and
cementing between their respective States,—They have come to
the determination of uniting their Forces, in order to compel
the Infant Don Carlos of Spain, and the Infant Don Miguel of
Portugal, to withdraw from the Portuguese Dominions.
In consequence of this Agreement, Their Majesties the
Regents have addressed themselves to Their Majesties the King
of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the
King of the French ; and Their said Majesties, considering the
interest they must always take in the security of the Spanish
Monarchy, and being further animated by the most anxious
desire to assist in the establishment of peace in the Peninsula, as
well as in every other part of Europe ; and His Britannic Majesty
considering, moreover, the special obligations arising out of his
ancient Alliance with Portugal ; their Majesties have consented
to become Parties to the proposed Engagement.
Their Majesties have therefore named as their Plenipoten-
tiaries, that is to say :
His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Right Honourable Henry John Viscount
Palmerston, Baron Temple, a Peer of Ireland, a Member of His
Britannic Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Council, Knight
Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, a
Member of Parliament, and His Principal Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs :
Her Majesty the Queen Regent of Spain during the minority
of her Daughter Donna Isabella the Second, Queen of Spain,
Don Manuel Pando, Fernandez de Pinedo, Alava, y Dabila, Mar-
quis of Miraflores, Count of Villapaterna, and of Floridablanca,
Lord of Villagarcia, a Grandee of Spain, Grand Cross of the
Royal and distinguished Order of Charles III., and Her Catholic
Majesty’s Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to
His Britannic Majesty :
His Majesty the King of the French, the Sieur Charles Mau-
rice de Talleyrand–Perigord, Prince-Duke de Talleyrand, Peer of
France, His said Majesty’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Min-
ister Plenipotentiary to His Britannic Majesty, Grand Cross of
the Legion of Honour, Knight of the Order of the Golden
Fleece, Grand Cross of the Order of St. Stephen of Hungary, of
the Order of St. Andrew, of the Order of the Black Eagle, &c.,
&c.
And His Imperial Majesty the Duke of Braganza, Regent of
the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves in the name of the
Queen Donna Maria the Second, the Sieur Christopher Peter de
Moraes Sarmento, a Member of the Council of Her Most Faith-
ful Majesty, Nobleman Knight of the Royal House, Commander
of the Order of our Lady of the Conception of Villa Viciosa,
Knight of the Order of Christ, and Her Most Faithful Majesty’s
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to His Bri-
tannic Majesty :
Who have agreed upon the following Articles :
ART. I. His Imperial Majesty the Duke of Braganza, Regent
of the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves in the name of the
Queen Donna Maria the Second, engages to use all the means in