SPAIN

S P A I N.

THE Article SPAIN, in the Encyclopædia, contains a full view of the history of that country from the earliest periods down to the expulsion of the armies of Buonaparte by Lord Wellington. It also contains some descriptive and statistical details, drawn chiefly from the work of M. Laborde. We shall here endeavour to supply what appears to us wanting in the article referred to, as well as to exhibit a view of the more recent history of this interesting and unfortunate country,

and of its internal condition up to the date of its invasion by the army of Louis XVIII. in April 1823.

I. Spain may be considered as composed of a series of mountain terraces, which, projecting successively External Structure of the Spanish Peninsula. their rugged edges towards the south, present a flight of gigantic steps from the Pyrenees to the Mediterranean. From the Rock of Lisbon to Cape Creus, it stretches through a line of 216½ leagues,

Spain. measuring $12^\{\backslash circ\}\; 18\text{'}\; 40\text{'}\text{'}$ of longitude. The difference of latitude between Cape Ortelgal, the most northern, and the islet adjoining Tarifa, the most southern point of Spain, is $7^\{\backslash circ\}\; 46\text{'}\; 10\text{'}\text{'}$.

The chains of mountains which terminate and divide the great plains of the peninsula, are branches of the immense ridge that, from the most elevated part of Tartary, runs across Asia and Europe, penetrates into the south of France, by Switzerland, and, entering Spain in the direction of the valleys of Roncá and Bastán, separates Navarre from Guipúscoa; Biscay from A'lava; the highlands of Burgos from the plains of Old Castile; and Asturias from the kingdom of León; it then crosses Galicia, and dips into the ocean at the Capes Ortelgal and Finisterre.*

The Pyrenees are lateral ramifications of this great trunk, which run east and west, on the eastern side of Spain, and take a south-west and north-west direction on the confines of Aragon and Navarre. The accumulated mass of these mountains presents, towards the peninsula, the convex side of a spherical segment, which, like a shield with its boss to the south, rounds its edges near the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, and rears the highest part of its curve on the Spanish territory, between the springs of the rivers Cinca and Ara. This eminence, called Mont Perdu by the French, is known, in Aragon, by the appellation of Tres Sorores, alluding to its three peaks, distinctly seen from Zaragoza, of which the highest, according to the French naturalist, Ramond, who examined it in 1802, rises 4114 Spanish yards above the level of the sea. The line of perpetual congelation is there at the height of 2924 yards. Till this measurement by Ramond, the peak of Canigú, on the French confines of Catalonia, had been deemed the highest point of the Pyrenees. It is, however, only 3364 feet above the sea.†

In the minor branches which strike off from the Pyrenees in a south direction, without forming a part of the great secondary chains, which we shall presently describe, there are some mountains too remarkable to be left unnoticed. Such are, the Monssein, on the coast of Catalonia, near the town of Arens, and the well known Monserrat, which rises,

on the same coast, to the height of 1479 yards above the sea:—such the Sierras of Ribagorza, Barbastro, Huesca, and Jaca, which take their names from the principal cities in their neighbourhood:—such, finally, those numerous spurs of the great ridge which run into Navarre, whose various appellations would only tend to confuse the reader. The most remarkable object, among these hills, is the Higa de Monreal, probably so called from the fancied resemblance of its highest rock to a fig (Higo, or Higa). It stands about three leagues to the east of Pamplona, on the high land which divides the waters of the rivers Arga and Aragon.

Of the main ridges which run across the peninsula, that which rises to the west of the source of the Ebro was called Idubeda by the Romans, and formed the limits of the ancient Celtiberia. In its course towards the Mediterranean, the natives, according to a general custom, distinguish the various portions, or great links of the chain, by the appellation of Sierras, adding the name of some town or notable height in their vicinity. Such are the Sierra de Oca, of Urbión (the Distertia of the middle ages), of Moncayo (Mons Caunus), of Molina, Albarracín, and Cuenca. Part of this chain forms the limits of Aragon and Castile; it then penetrates into Valencia, Murcia, and Granada, and ends in the Capes Oropesa (Tenebrium), Martin, Palos, ‡ and Gata. The small town of Alcoléa, in the province of Soria, stands on this chain at the height of 1486 yards above the sea. Its mean elevation, on the road between Molina and Teruel, in Aragon, is 1580 yards.

It is this chain, which Antillon calls the Iberian, that, by its direction from its origin to the heights of Moncayo, drives the Ebro to the east, and feeds the Duero towards the west. The Duero proceeds, however, to the south till it comes to Almazán, where the great ridge, forming an elbow to the south-west, forces the stream into its westerly bed. Farther south, near the sources of the small rivers Xalón and Tajuña, the Iberian ridge, bearing the name of Sierra Ministra, divides the waters between the Tagus and the Ebro.

* Elementos de la Geografía Astronómica, Natural y Política de España, por Don Isidoro de Antillon. Madrid, 1808. This is a book of great merit. Its author, whose premature death, while representing his native kingdom of Aragon in the second Cortes at Cadiz, is lamented by his numerous friends, as well as by all who, knowing his worth and talents, can appreciate the loss which his country sustained by that event, spared himself no trouble in the collection of materials for this elementary book, which he wrote for the use of his pupils at the Royal College of Nobles, at Madrid. Besides the extensive local knowledge he had acquired in his travels through Spain, these Geographical Elements contain a great deal of information derived from the unpublished works of other scientific Spaniards. Such is the Ensayo de una descripción física de España, por Don Josef Cornide, printed in 1803, but which had not come into circulation in 1808. Antillon professes himself indebted to Cornide for his description of the Spanish mountains, as we are to him for our geographical account of that country, and some valuable facts relating to its statistics.

† The divisory line, between Spain and France, formed by the Pyrenees, extends from Cape Higuér, on the Atlantic near Fuenterrabia, to Cape Cervera, north of Cape Creus, on the Mediterranean, through a space of 92 leagues.

‡ Cape Palos derives its name from the sea lagoon (Palus) called Albufera, from which one of the French Marshals derived his title. It communicates with the sea by an opening, which is easily closed. The Albufera is valuable for the great quantities of fish, especially mullets and john-dories, that abound in it. The Cape itself was called Scombrarium, from the abundance of the fish Scombrus, a kind of mackerel, on that coast.

The first point where this great ridge splits into the minor chains which lose themselves in the Mediterranean, is to the north of Albarracín, in Aragon. Of these branches the most remarkable is that which, entering the province of Valencia, is again subdivided into the smaller ridges which terminate at Peñíscola and Cape Oropesa. The waters that descend from these heights, to the north, mix finally with the Ebro, while the Túria and the Mijares are swelled by those which flow from the southern declivities. On the branch stretching towards Peñíscola, and in the limits of Aragon, rises the Muela de Ares, * a conical mountain, deprived of its apex; whose top is an extensive plain covered with luxuriant pasture, and surrounded by fearful precipices, at the elevation of 1562 Spanish yards above the sea. This is one of the highest spots in the peninsula; the Tagus, the Xucar, and the Cabriel, take their rise among these mountains, and divide the waters which flow from their sides, between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. Numerous flocks of sheep, both itinerant and stationary, find, in the valleys formed by this chain, the most abundant summer pastures.

From Albarracín, this chain strikes into the territory of Cuenca in a direction nearly north and south. It then sends off a branch to the east-south-east, on which the Collado de la Plata, or Silver Hill, rises 1598 yards above the sea. It contains a quicksilver mine, which was worked a few years ago, at the distance of four leagues west of Teruel. From the neighbourhood of this town the Sierra de Espadán runs, like an unbroken bulwark, to the sea near Murviedro, in a direction between south-east and north-west. The ruggedness of the hills, the terrific depth of the precipices, and the intricacy of the mountain passes, overhung with perpendicular rocks of black marble, are described in glowing colours by the great Spanish botanist, Cavanilles, whose account of a scientific tour in these highlands of his native province, Valencia, is quoted by Antillon. The Pico, which is considered the most elevated point in these mountains, rises 1303 yards above the sea. Its latitude has been determined by accurate observations to be $39^\{\backslash circ\}\; 31\text{'}\; 38\text{'}\text{'}$. Its longitude $3^\{\backslash circ\}\; 0\text{'}\; 36\text{'}\text{'}$ east of the meridian of Madrid.

Near the source of the Tagus, the Iberian ridge sends off another branch which, stretching in almost a southern direction, separates La Mancha from the province of Murcia, to the west of the town of Albacete, and rises into the lofty mountains of Alcaráz and Segúra (the ancient Orospea), dividing the waters between the Guadalquivir and the Segúra, the

two main streams which severally and finally convey them to the ocean and the Mediterranean. † One of the two great limbs which terminate the Iberian ridge runs into the sea at the Cape Cervera; the other, bending to the south, skirts the kingdom of Granada, and disappears at the Cape Gata. To the latter belongs the mountain called Cabezo ‡ de María, between Cartagena and Cape Gata, one league west of the town of Vera on the coast of Valencia. It rises 2287 yards above the sea, and has its summit covered with snow during one-half of the year.

Smaller branches of this chain project between the Túria and the Cabriel, which loses itself in the Xucar at Cofrentes. A ridge runs between the last mentioned river and the Alcoy, another stream, which flows into the sea near Gandía. A minor chain separates the Alcoy and the mouth of the Segúra. The province of Valencia is, in fact, divided by mountains into most fertile stripes, watered by numerous streams, and enjoying every blessing which nature grants to the most favoured climates. The mountains on the right of the Xucar, from Cofrentes to the sea, bear the two appellations of Cortes de Pallás and Millares, each applying to a different portion of the ridge. To the left of the same river, the mountains are known by the names of Torres and Dos Aguas, which they change for that of Monte Caballón when they penetrate into Valencia from the province of Cuenca. The rock on which the castle of Monserrate stands, near the sea-shore, five leagues west of the lake Albuféra, may be considered as belonging to this ridge. The castle is 313 yards above the sea. From the mountains of Millares, to the right of the Xucar, another ramification projects between the provinces of Murcia and Valencia. Before reaching Villena it bends towards the sea, on the left of the Alcoy, where it is known by the name of Sierra de Mariola. The number, purity, and copiousness of the streams, which are fed by these hills, render them the main source of wealth and comfort to the neighbouring country. The highest summit of this ridge is called Moncabrér. Another arm stretches from Villena, in which we find the Sierra de Viar, the rock of Xixóna, the mountain of Aytána, and the pyramidal mountain of Mongó, near the Capes San Antonio and Martín. The longer duration of snow on its top makes Cavanilles believe that it surpasses Moncabrér in height, especially as the latter is at a greater distance from the sea. The southernmost part of the chain, which strikes off at Villena, sends out its waters to swell the stream of the Segúra.

Before we proceed to the next main branch of the

* The insulated rocks which, rising above the ridges, terminate in a plain, are distinguished in Aragon and Valencia, where they abound, by the appellation of muelas (grinders).

† The Túria, though a considerable river during part of its course, is so drained by canals of irrigation, that it is reduced to a poor stream when it enters the sea. Cavanilles gives a very interesting description of that river, the constant theme of the Valencian poets. The Spanish naturalist represents the Túria, in its strength, as opening a way between the two ridges which decide the course of its waters, and presently "engaging into such fearful chasms, that, near the village of Chulilla, it rushes through a channel 600 feet deep, and not more than 50 in breadth, winding, in intricate curves, over a bed harder than common marble."

‡ The masculine termination in o is sometimes used in Spanish as an augmentative. Mountain heads are generally called Cabezos, instead of Cabezas. One of the beauties of the Provençal consisted in this power of varying the gender of nouns according to the colouring which the writer wished to give to his pictures. Vide Sismondi Literature du Midi, Vol. I.

Spain. Spanish mountains, it will be proper to exhibit a general view of the Iberian chain, which we have hitherto pursued in detail. This would hardly be necessary if we possessed more accurate maps of Spain than are to be found even in that country. * In the absence, however, of a graphic representation, the course of the rivers will sufficiently indicate the great valley formed by this chain, and which might be named the valley of the Ebro. Its skirts may be traced by a line passing over the sources of the smaller streams to the south of the Ebro, first, as far as Albarracín; then, in a direction nearly west and east, to the Cape Oropesa. This latter part of the chain bears the names of Sierras de Gudar and Peñagolosa. All the rivers to the north of this ridge flow into the Ebro. From Albarracín to Cape Gata the waters are sent off, by the other branch, to the Mediterranean from the east declivity; and from the western, to the Tagus, the Guadiana, and the Guadalquivir, which convey them to the ocean.

Great Ridge between the Duero and the Tagus. A map of Spain must be imperfect indeed which does not mark the great ridge whose summits divide the waters between the Duero and the Tagus. It grows out of the Iberian chain, not far from the sources of the Xalón and the Tajón,† to the south of the city of Soria, and the site of the ancient Numantia. Where it divides the province of Guadalajara from that of Soria, it is called Sierra de Parédes, and Altos de Baraona. On one of the hills, north of Sigüenza, rises the Henares, which gives its name to the ancient Complutum, now the seat of a Spanish University. Near the source of the Lozoya, a rivulet which runs into the Xaràma, these mountains are called Somosierra, till, more to the west, they bear the name of Guadarrama; an appellation which they preserve throughout the long course in which they skirt the provinces of Segovia, A'vila, Guadalajara, and Madrid. The Puerto de Navacerrada, the highest point on the road from Madrid to the summer palace of San Ildefonso, is 2204 yards above the sea. The descent to the royal residence is excessively rapid, the difference of elevation between these two points being 816 yards in the space of about three leagues.

The mountains of Guadarrama are a very striking object when seen from the neighbourhood of Madrid, on the road to Old Castile. They principally consist, according to Mr Townsend, of naked, fractured granite rocks, heaped up together, and adorned only towards their bases with single evergreen oaks, while the upper parts are bleak, dreary, and barren, presenting fantastic prominences, and in many places covered with perpetual snow.

This chain, in its course towards Portugal, where it ends in the Rock of Lisbon, rises into some re-

markable elevations. We shall notice that of Peñalá, between the sources of the Eresma and the Lozoya, 2834 yards above the sea; the Puerto del Pico, in the province of Salamanca; the Peña de Francia, and Sierra de Gata, on the northern limits of Spanish Extremadura. In Portugal, this chain takes the name of Sierra de Estelha (Mons Herminius), and terminates under the well known appellation of Cintra. The Sierra de Estelha runs between the Mondégo and Cecere for a space of twelve leagues, where its summit expands into a plain three leagues in length, and one in breadth, containing three lakes, fed by the snow which covers that elevated spot from October till June. From one of these lakes the Mondégo takes its source.

Our limits compel us to omit Antillon's accurate and interesting description of the minor branches which run nearly north and south from the main ridge, which that writer conceives to end in Cape Finisterre. They may be traced from the opposite course of the rivers which flow either into the Duero and the Miño,‡ or into the ocean, on the western coast of Galicia.

Almost parallel to the mountains of Guadarrama, Chain of the Tagus and the Guadiana. We find the ridge which divides the waters between the Tagus and the Guadiana. The rise of this branch out of the Iberian chain would hardly be perceptible, but for the separation of the waters, which begins in the vicinity of Huéte, south of Cuenca. The gradual elevation of the ground from Tarracón to Tembléque, in the province of Toledo, raises the latter town 740 yards above the sea. Bolder hills appear at Madrilajos; and the town of Consuegra has an elevation of 769 yards. Proceeding a short distance to the south-west, the Sierra de Yébenes clearly shows the direction of the ridge, which is soon after known by the name of Guadalúpe (Montes Carpetani); it then runs between Truxillo and Mérida, under the name of Sierra de Marchal, penetrates into Portugal by Castél de Vide and Portalegre, is seen to the west of Elvas and Estremoz, and descends to Cape Espichél, having Beja and Setúbal to the south, E'vora and the mouth of the Tagus to the north.

The third great branch of the Iberian ridge is the Ridge of the Sierra Moréna (Montes Mariani), which divides the Guadiana and the Guadalquivir. It begins in the vicinity of Alcaráz, near the eastern limits of the province of La Mancha, issuing from that spur of the Iberian chain which terminates in Cape Palos, and, trending in a direction north-east and south-west, with La Mancha, Spanish Extremadura, to the north, and Jaén, Córdoba, Seville, and Algarve (Portugal), to the south, ends in the ocean at Cape St Vincent. The pass named Puerto del

* The map which Antillon constructed for his work, though upon a very small scale, is the most accurate in existence; and we would strongly recommend it to the attention of those who devote their industry and talents to the important department of geography.

† The division of the waters occasioned by this ridge begins at these two rivers, the Xalón flowing into the Ebro, the Tajón, through the Xaràma, into the Tagus.

‡ We have preferred the Spanish appellations of these rivers in a description of Spain. They, in fact, differ very little from the Portuguese names. Miño and Minho express the same sound, the Portuguese re being exactly similar to the Spanish ü. Both are signs of the gn of the Italians.

Rey, where the road from Madrid to Andalusia crosses these mountains, is 821 yards above the sea. Near Cordoba, where the bold skirts of the Montes Mariani are seen, within a short distance to the north, like a skreen raised to protect the rich and extensive plains watered by the Guadalquivir, the ridge borrows the name of the neighbouring city. On the southern limits of Extremadura, and to the north of Seville, it is called Sierra de Guadalcánal. The chain now bends to the south-west, forms the northern boundary of the Portuguese province of Algarve, and, through the Sierras of Caldeira and Monchique, connects itself with Cape St Vincent.

Ridge of Granada and Ronda. The brink of the last mountain plain towards the south of Spain is skirted by the ridge of Granada and Ronda, which, striking off at the extremity of the Iberian chain, is successively called Sierra de Gadór, Sierra Nevada, Bermeja, and de Ronda, till it ends in various points of the coast, but most conspicuously in the Rock of Gibraltar.

Part of Sierra Nevada rises above the highest Pyrenees. According to the geometric levelling performed in 1804 by Don Ramon de Roxas Clemente, the Cumbre de Mulhacén is 4254 yards above the sea; the Picacho de Veléta 4153.* The line of perpetual congelation is found in these mountains at the height of 3305 yards.

Rivers. In describing the principal chains of the Spanish mountains, we have already mentioned the five great streams which water the intermediate plains, the Miño, the Ebro, the Duero, the Tagus, the Guadiana, and the Guadalquivir. We will now select a few particulars relating to each.

The Miño. The Miño, or Minho (Minius or Bœnis), rises in Galicia, in the district of Lugo, from a beautiful spring called Fuente Miña. This river is navigable only to Salvatierra, two leagues above Tuy.

The Ebro. The Ebro rises, near Reynosa, out of so copious a spring, that it works a corn-mill a few steps from its source. After a course of 110 leagues, it flows into the Mediterranean at Alfáques. From the boundaries of Navarre to the sea, the Ebro makes a progress of $1^\{\backslash circ\}\; 12\text{'}\; 42\text{'}\text{'}$ towards the south. The chief towns on this stream are Logróño and Calahorra, in the province of Rioja; Tudela, in Navarre; Zaragoza, in Aragon; and Tortosa, in Catalonia. It is a misfortune for Spain that this great river presents strong obstacles to navigation, both in its course and where it joins the sea. Of the plans which have been conceived, and partly executed, to obviate these impediments, we shall presently have an occasion to speak.

The Duero. The Duero, or Douro, has its source to the north of the city of Osma, in a deep lake, at the summit of that portion of the neighbouring chain of mountains which has been mentioned by the name of Sierras de Urbión. Its course is at first towards the south, passing by Garay and Soria, where it turns to

the west, continuing in that direction till it reaches Miranda. From this town to Moncorvo the river falls again into a south direction. It lastly takes a decided course to the ocean, where it ends near Oporto, having traversed a distance of 150 leagues. The Duero advances $10^\{\backslash circ\}$ to the south from Aranda to Tordesillas; from hence to Miranda it inclines $40^\{\backslash circ\}$ to the north. Its mouth lies $33^\{\backslash circ\}\; 45\text{'}$ south of Miranda. This river is navigable up to the tower of Moncorvo, a space of thirty leagues. The navigation, which was formerly obstructed by rapids, has been expedited through the exertions of the Portuguese Company of Alto Douro. Some of the smaller streams flowing into the Duero, rise at remarkable heights. The Adaja, which descends from the northern slope of the great chain between the Duero and the Tagus, is, at Ávila, 1271 yards above the sea; the Eresma, when it flows by the castle of Segovia, is 1107 yards above the same level.

We have mentioned that elevated part of the chain between the Tagus and the Guadiana, which takes the name of Albarracín, and the truncated mountain called Muéla de San Juan. An inconsiderable spring, denominated Pie Izquierdo, is the source of the majestic Tagus. In its course through the province of Cuenca it is considerably augmented by the contributions of several streams. Before its waters reach Aranjuez, they surmount the rocky edge of its native mountain, and, dashing upon the plain beneath, sink into a pool of great depth, called Olla de Borlague. The Tagus, now running placidly through the plains of Zorita and the royal gardens of Aranjuez, at the elevation of 621† yards above the sea, directs its course to Toledo, passes by Talavera, Alcántara, Abrantes, and Santarem, losing itself finally in the sea, near Lisbon. The latitudes of several towns on the banks of the Tagus show the gradual inclination of its stream toward the south. It amounts to $49^\{\backslash circ\}\; 6\text{'}$ from Trillo to Toledo, to $6^\{\backslash circ\}\; 24\text{'}$ from the latter city to Alcántara, and no less than $1^\{\backslash circ\}\; 1\text{'}\; 40\text{'}\text{'}$ from thence to the capital of Portugal.

The river Guadiana is, according to Antillon, very inaccurately represented in the Spanish maps of Lopez, both as to the point where it disappears, and that where, emerging from the ground, through which its waters are filtered, it resumes its sluggish course to the ocean.

The sources of the Guadiana have been rendered classical ground by the pen of Cervantes. They are found north of Alcaráz, in La Mancha, at the pools of Ruidera, well known to the admirers of Don Quixote. The course of the river is first to the north-west, for eight leagues. It is then absorbed by the soil, and disappears for seven leagues. The first gathering of its waters, after their subterranean dispersion, takes place near Daymiel. The spot is called Ojos (Eyes) de Guadiana. The stream now proceeds to Ciudad Real, the head town of the pro-

* The result of this, and several other measurements executed by Mr Clemente, was communicated to Mr Antillon, who has given them in his work, with the initials R. C. Those relating to Sierra Nevada have lately been published in the Annales de Chimie, Vol. XX. p. 99.

† This barometric measurement was taken by Humboldt in 1799.

vince of La Mancha, to Mérida, Badajóz, Mértola, in Portugal, and, re-entering the Spanish territory, terminates in the ocean at Ayamonte. In its course to this point, the Guadiana passes over a space of more than one hundred leagues.

The abundance of pasture which betrays the hidden course of Guadiana is the origin of a boast often repeated in La Mancha, that their river has so broad a bridge as to allow thousands of cattle to feed upon it. That bridge affords, however, but a dangerous pastoral station; for the country being subject to sudden inundations, both flocks and shepherds are not unfrequently in the most imminent danger of being swept away by the waters. The stream of Guadiana, near Villarta, is only at the height of 710 yards above the sea. It is not navigable higher than Mértola in Portugal.

The Guadalquivir occupies the centre of the plain which lies between the Sierra Moréna and the chain of Granada, where it takes its source to the north-east of Jaén. The chief towns on its banks are Andújar, Córdoba, Seville, and San Lúcar (Templum Luciferi). At the ferry near Mengíbar, on the road from Madrid to Granada, the Guadalquivir is 203 yards above the sea.† The Guadalquivir is navigable for large vessels up to Seville; but its bed being constantly raised and obstructed by growing shallows, the navigation is extremely tedious.‡

II. On the subject of population, the data which the Spanish government possessed before the French invasion must have been greatly deficient in accuracy. The suspicions of the inhabitants, constantly alive against every public measure, were roused into full activity by the domiciliary inquiries which took place in 1798, when a general census was made. It is, therefore, more than probable, that the number of inhabitants considerably exceeded what we find in the official reports. We subjoin the Table published by Antillon from documents in the possession of the Commissioners for the Encouragement of Trade (Balanza Mercantil, y Fomento de Comercio), in 1803.

A Table of the Population of Spain in 1803.

The Spaniards of old times delighted in this kind of startling metaphors about their country. In the same taste, they would say that the King of Spain had three noble subjects, who brought into the field six thousand knights, wearing gold spurs, meaning the Grand Masters of Santiago, Alcántara, and Calatrava; that he had a lion (León), and a bull (Toro), that fed daily on twelve beehives, in reference to the towns bearing these names; that he had three dogs (Canes), who served him with two hundred Castilian lances, such being the military service due by the three towns Can de Roa, Can de Muna, and Canes de Zurita. Can is the Castilian pronunciation of the original Spanish word Camp, which afterwards became Campo, a field, or district.

† The following barometric measurements show the rising of the ground from that point to Alcalá la Real, where the waters are divided between the Guadalquivir and the Genil. Mengíbar is 350 yards above the sea; Torre-Campo, at the distance of four leagues, 705; Alcaudete, five leagues, 835; Alcalá, three leagues, 1023.

‡ The Guadalquivir was navigable up to Cordoba in 1360, as appears by a petition of the Seville barge-men to Peter the Cruel, complaining that the openings required by law across the mill-dams had been narrowed, and, in some cases, closed against them. The king ordered the obstructions to be removed, and fixed for the breadth of the channel that of an arch in the cathedral of Cordoba, called the Arch of Blessing. Crónica del Rey Don Pedro, anno 1360, p. 309.

§ In comparing the respective population of the Spanish provinces, the inhabitants of Madrid, amounting to 168,000, should be excluded as adventitious, and mostly belonging to other parts of the kingdom.

Spain. Population of Portugal, from the Official Returns of 1798.*

Taking a general view of the population of Spain, it appears to have been distributed, in 1803, over the 15,005½ square leagues of its surface, in the following proportions:

The facilities afforded by an extensive sea coast, for the subsistence and consequent multiplication of the neighbouring inhabitants, appear in a striking light when the following facts are taken into consideration:

The extent of coast from Cape Cervera to Cape Trafalgar is 251½ leagues; from the latter to Cape Finisterre it amounts to 262 leagues; from that point to Cape Higuér there is a line of 143 leagues. The subjoined Table exhibits the proportion of coast possessed by the maritime provinces of Spain and Portugal, compared with the areas of their territories. We shall add a column containing the number of inhabitants to the square league, that the reader may have all the necessary data before him:

It appears from the preceding table, that Guipuzcoa, Asturias, and Biscay, are the most populous provinces of Spain; and that the excess of their population is nearly in the ratio of their coast to their territory, compared with the other divisions of the country. If Valencia, with less coast to its area than Biscay or Asturias, is more peopled than either, the extraordinary fertility of its soil, and the unrivalled salubrity of its climate, will easily account for the anomaly. The province of Granada, which possesses a greater proportion of coast than Galicia, is also more thickly inhabited. The same may be observed in comparing Galicia with Catalonia, Burgos with Murcia. Antillon attributes the excess of population in the province of Seville over Granada to the conflux occasioned by the two great towns of Seville and Cadiz, both enjoying peculiar advantages; the former from its sea-port, the latter from the navigation of the Guadalquivir.

The comparison of Portugal with Spain affords a further confirmation of this theory. The latter kingdom has 468 leagues of sea coast, Portugal 172. The ratios of their areas to their line of coast are 100:3.24—and 100:5. Now, in the first place, the mean population of Portugal exceeds that of Spain by 381 inhabitants to the square league; 2dly, the most populous province of Spain falls short of the most populous in Portugal by 1106 souls to the same portion of territory; 3dly, in the respective provinces where population is thinnest, the Portuguese exceed the Spaniards at the rate of 120 persons to the square league.

If we compare the population of the Portuguese provinces with the ratio of their areas to their line

* These Tables are inserted here for the convenience of the reader, who would otherwise be obliged to keep the article Portugal constantly under his eye, in order to judge of the observations we shall presently make on the comparative population of the two peninsular countries. The Portuguese returns reckon by fogos (hearths), which Mr Antillon has calculated at the rate of five persons to each.

Spain. of coast, we shall find that Alentejo, the lowest in that scale, is also the least populous. Entre Douro e Minho, which has a greater proportion of coast than Beyra and Extremadura, is more inhabited than either.* If the relative population of these two appears to be an exception, the fact may be easily explained by the consideration, that Beyra, besides the Mondego, and some other copious streams, enjoys the navigation of the Douro and the Tagus from the farthest limits of its territory, while Extremadura has only a share in the benefits of the latter river. Entre Douro e Minho, possessing the Douro, the Lima, and the Minho, which are navigable a great way up the interior, may be reckoned to exceed Algarve in the advantages arising from a sea-coast, though the sea washes a smaller portion of its territory. The difference, too, of the soils affords an additional answer to the objection, since that of Entre Douro e Minho is confessedly the richest in Portugal, while the inhabitants of Algarve have the most sterile portion of the kingdom for their lot.

Whatever may be thought of the accuracy of the preceding theory, it cannot be denied, that, besides the great quantity of food afforded by the sea, the facility of communication and conveyance, which a neighbouring coast presents, must have a direct tendency to increase the wealth of the inhabitants, and consequently to multiply their numbers. The territory of Spain has been quaintly, though accurately, compared to an embroidered waistcoat: the edges full and ornamented, the centre a blank, with a few scattered flowers. Were it all as fully inhabited as Guipuzcoa, it would contain 30,146,050 souls, nearly three times the number in 1803. Even at the moderate rate of the Catalonian population, or 856 souls to the square league, Spain would have 12,844,708 inhabitants, about two millions and a half above the last returns. That this comparative dearth of population does not, either exclusively or chiefly, arise from the national system of government, is proved by the state of population in Portugal, a country which, from time immemorial, has been no less than Spain, under the influence of political and religious despotism. Capmany,† one of the most able and well informed Spaniards of our own times, has satisfactorily shown, that the accounts of some old writers, who make the population of Spain, in the sixteenth century, ascend to twenty or twenty-one millions, are groundless and exaggerated. We are, therefore, inclined to attribute more influence on this point to the physical or geographical circum-

stances of Spain than has been hitherto allowed by writers on Spanish statistics, and shall give it the first place in the consideration of the chief obstacles which have hitherto opposed the prosperity of that country.

III. No depth of observation is required to perceive that, whatever opposes the internal trade and interchange of commodities, must, by checking the progress of wealth, check also the increase of population; while a mere glance at a good map of Spain will suffice to perceive how unfavourable the structure of that country must be to the purposes of national commerce. The enormous chains of mountains which traverse the peninsula in a direction almost parallel to the equator, and the consequent want of navigable rivers from north to south, the distance from the central provinces to the coast, the difficulty of cutting roads and canals through high ridges of mountains and extensive plains at very different levels, are obstacles which would require all the activity of a rich and well governed nation to smooth or to subdue.

Little, however, could be expected from the enfeebled and corrupt despotism into which the government of the Spanish Bourbons had settled after some fitful aims at improvement, which a court intrigue or the death of a minister was sure to defeat. Yet, it is but justice to say, that the only progress which Spain has made, since the time when the foreign influence of her monarchs, and the discovery of America, gave her a false appearance of internal vigour, has taken place under the present dynasty.‡ How much was done for the encouragement of agriculture, in the reign of Charles III., may be deduced from the fact that, whereas that monarch found Spain under the annual necessity of importing corn § to the value of one hundred millions of francs, the deficiency was found so far reduced under his successor as to be supplied, in the more favourable years, at the expence of only fifteen millions of the same money.||

How truly the necessity of importing corn arises from the want of easy communications between the provinces, appears from the average crops which, as we learn from the demi-official authority just quoted, amount to more than seventy millions of quintals by weight.¶ In the kingdom of Aragon, there is an annual surplus of 388,000 cahices (2,910,000 bushels) of corn.** The incorrectness of Spanish statistical documents is, however, so evi-

* In the comparison of the Portuguese provinces it must be remembered, that Extremadura includes the adventitious population of Lisbon.

† Capmany, Questiones Criticas.

‡ See a Memoir of the Count of Floridablanca, published by Archdeacon Coxe as an Appendix to the 1st volume of his History of the Spanish Bourbons.

§ The quantity of corn supposed to be imported yearly into Spain is sixty millions of fanegas, or one thirteenth of the whole consumption. Upon a rough calculation, two fanegas are equal to three bushels.

|| Histoire de la Guerre d'Espagne contre Napoléon Buonaparte, par une commission d'officiers de toutes armes établie à Madrid auprès de S. Ex. le Ministre de la Guerre: traduite de l'Espagnol, avec notes et éclaircissements par un témoin oculaire. Tome I. Introduction, p. 120.

¶ Ibid. p. 118.

** Antillon, upon the authority of a Memoir which obtained the prize in 1799 from the Aragonese Society. Geografía de España, p. 151, 2d edit.

dent, that it would be rash to admit any inferences from them implicitly, or to their full extent. Yet, it cannot be doubted, that, in years of abundance, the produce of the interior is often allowed to waste, while corn is imported from Africa and Russia at a cheaper rate than the native produce could be sold for on the coast.

The benefits of the exportation of wine, which are now limited to some of the provinces bordering on the sea, might be extended to more than one-half of the country if, by means of canals or navigable rivers, that article could be transported to the coast at a cheap rate. But the luxuriant vineyards of Andalusia, not in the immediate vicinity of the water, are of little advantage to the owners; and the juice, which might ferment into a variety of exquisite wines, is often thrown away, when the small quantity, which will supply the demand of a very limited district, has been collected in the cellars.

The water carriage in Spain is reduced to the inconsiderable portions of the intended canals of Aragon and Castile, which have been constructed; to the slow and laborious navigation of the Ebro from Zaragoza to Tortosa, performed, almost exclusively, for the conveyance of wheat; and to the floating of timber down that river, the Tagus, the Xúcar, the Segúra, and the Guadalquivir. This last river, on which a steam-boat, built and worked under the direction of a British engineer, affords, of late, an easy and speedy communication between Seville and San Lúcar, is the only one from which Spain derives any considerable advantage in point of trade.

It may be reckoned among the unfortunate combination of circumstances which have hitherto checked the internal prosperity of Spain, that the navigable part of its finest rivers belongs to another kingdom. The Tagus and the Douro may be said to exist for the exclusive advantage of Portugal.

During the short and ill-fated union of the two peninsular crowns, the engineer Antonelli undertook to open the navigation of the Tagus as far as Toledo, and completed that useful work in 1558. After the separation of Portugal from Spain, several plans have been presented to the Spanish government for removing the obstacles which obstruct the bed of that river from Alcántara to Toledo, and even from the latter town to Aranjuez, which, by means of canals, was to be joined with Alcalá. Surveys were made by order of the government, from which, as Antillon observes, no benefit accrued to the country except an accession of topographical knowledge, and the fruitless conviction that the communication of La Mancha with the ocean was opposed, chiefly, by moral and political obstacles.*

The Ebro, under the Roman dominion, is said to have been navigable up to Logróno, a distance of 65 leagues inland. In the twelfth century, the Emperor Don Alonso ordered gallees to be sunk near

Zaragoza, as a defence against the Moorish navy. Zurita relates, that, in the fifteenth century, King Don Juan sailed down the Ebro from Navarre into Aragon. We find, however, the Cortes of the latter kingdom, under Charles II. of Spain, towards the end of the seventeenth century, deliberating upon plans for expediting the navigation of the Ebro near the sea. A survey was made for the same purpose in 1738, but with no practical result. The grand canal of Aragon was at length begun under Charles III., the grandfather of the present king; and were it completed, it would stand a splendid monument of the spirit of the nation.† It is, however, much against the practical utility of the public works undertaken in Spain, that, by a natural disposition of the people, they are all begun upon a scale which would require the wealth and power of imperial Rome for their completion. The little that exists of the canal of Aragon might, if we believe Antillon, compete with the works of that period; but, instead of reaching the sea through the Ebro, and terminating in an artificial harbour, as was intended, it has been carried on for the space of eighteen leagues only, and contributes but little to the internal navigation of the country. Whether it is more favourable to agriculture, by the copious irrigation which it affords in its course, is, we find, a point in dispute among the Spaniards. Jovellanos, in his excellent Informe sobre la Ley Agraria, mentions the farmers' complaints against the canals for irrigation. It is hard, indeed, upon all land owners within a certain distance to be forced to pay a tax for irrigation, whether they have or not the means, the skill, or the inclination, to avail themselves of the proffered benefit.‡ The farms, for instance, near the canal of Aragon, from Zaragoza to Sástago, pay one-fifth of their corn, and one-seventh of all other produce, for irrigation. Lands newly brought into tillage pay only one-sixth of the corn, and one-eighth of the other produce.

Such complaints, it seems, were louder in the vicinity of the canal of Castile, where the Spanish practice of allowing the fields to lie fallow every other year was still adhered to, notwithstanding the abundance of water.§ This canal begins at Alár del Rey, in the province of Burgos. It is fed by the Pisuerga, whose right bank it follows till it joins that stream on the limits of the kingdom of León. It then runs to the south and south-west, crossing the river Cierza, and proceeds on its right bank till, passing through the Carrion, it turns to the west of Palencia, and terminates in the same river. The small canal of Campos, running more to the west, joins that of Castile to the north of Palencia.

According to one of these gigantic plans with which the Spanish government have often amused their vanity, providing, as it were, in the magnitude of the enterprise, a ready excuse for their inactivity,

* Antillon, Geogr. de España, p. 162.

† The canal of the Ebro was begun under the Emperor Charles V., but being soon discontinued, the present canal is, properly speaking, a modern work.

‡ Jovellanos, Ley Agraria, p. 29.

§ Ibid. p. 39.

the canal of Castile was to reach the sea at Santander, through the river Camesa, through the Ebro, near Reynosa, and finally through the Besaya and the Pas. From its present termination near Palencia, it was, on the other side, to reach Valladolid, to strike off from the Duero, in order to join the Adaja, and then to follow the Eresma as far as Segovia. From thence it was to be directed to the canal of Aragon, and thus to unite the ocean with the Mediterranean, across the kingdom. Don Ramon de Pignatelli, the engineer who superintended the works of the canal of Aragon, laid the plans of this immense work before Charles III. whose sanction they received. We must, however, remind the reader, that the only traces which exist of this mighty dream attract but faintly the notice of the traveller, near Burgos, and in the vicinity of Madrid, where the head of one of the intended branches extends for four or five miles almost undisturbed by barge or boat.

Such are the effects of a despotic government, even in its kindest moods, and when it, fairly and honestly, means to promote the good of its subjects. Unwilling to consult, and unable to ascertain the real opinion of those immediately concerned in the result of its measures, it moves with ponderous haste towards the object which dazzles its eyes, often crushing in its way those it meant to relieve. Complaints are heard at length; which, joined to the exhaustion attending all unnatural exertions, never fail to put the despot in a passion with his subjects, and make him repent that he ever was so good and gracious as to try to improve their condition.

Had the Spanish farmers of the different provinces been fairly heard before their lands were indiscriminately drenched, in virtue of a royal decree, the treasure which was thus mispent might have been employed in opening roads across the provinces, by means of which the value of their crops would have risen at once. But the purblind projectors of these schemes forgot every circumstance of the case, except that, in the provinces bordering on the Mediterranean, irrigation increased agricultural produce. This was enough to convince them that it would have the same effect in the centre of Castile. The farmers declared, however, that the abundance of water deteriorated their lands; and, though much abused for their ignorance, they probably were in the right. Yet, supposing that irrigation could double their crops, they still had good reason to complain that, under the burden of an additional tax, the abundance of corn only lowered the price in the small district which formed their market; and that living, as they do, at the distance of many miles from their fields, they could not bestow that constant labour and attention, which alone might enable them to raise a yearly crop on the same soil.

We have just adverted to another of the great obstacles which oppose the agricultural wealth of Spain. The want of rural population, and the great distance of the farmers' dwellings from their farms. Independently of the loss of time and strength arising from a walk of four or six miles before the day's work is begun, there are long periods in the year

when the fields are scarcely visited by the owners, generally gentlemen farmers, and but seldom by the rustic, who acts as steward. Field work, in fact, is not continued throughout the year, but hastily and slovenly performed, at the sowing and the reaping season, by large parties of labourers, for whose accommodation, in farms at considerable distance from any town, there is a building not unlike a large barn, which affords a promiscuous shelter to man and beast. Bands of ploughmen, with thirty or forty team of oxen, are seen at the beginning of winter, slightly turning up the sods in the fields which have lain fallow the preceding year. The sowers walk slowly behind them, scattering the seed by handfuls, of which, part is picked up by the large flocks of birds which hover over those extensive solitudes, and part prevented from taking root by being improperly lodged in the earth. The harrow is hardly known in Andalusia, and weeding is an operation seldom resorted to. The corn-fields, thus abandoned to the influences of the climate, and the rank luxuriance of the soil, present, at the approach of summer, the colours of the rainbow to the eye of the traveller, who, but for the absence of all human habitation, might easily mistake them for flower gardens. We are, it is true, describing the Andalusian method of farming, with which we are best acquainted; but, with the exception of Murcia, Valencia, and Catalonia, on the coast, and part of Aragon, in the interior, we have reason to believe that agriculture is neither better understood nor practised than in Andalusia; the mismanagement of whose extensive and fertile plains has, by far, the greatest share in the agricultural disadvantages of Spain. Indeed, Andalusia and Aragon, alone, might, under an active and enlightened system of tillage, supply the whole country with corn.

It was once proposed to the Spanish government Projects for to distribute the uncultivated land, amounting to a the Encouragement of Agriculture. large proportion of the whole country, among such of the natives as were disposed to bring their lots into tillage. This measure, it was hoped by Jovellanos, would tend to a wider and more equal distribution of the Spanish population, now crowded in towns at great distances from each other. But it is hardly less difficult to alter the original and confirmed constitution of the body politic than of the animal frame. The constant state of warfare against the Moors obliged the Spaniards, from the earliest period of that protracted struggle, to live in large towns, where they might find security against the surrounding enemy. The necessity also of arming the whole male population saved Spain, it is true, from that degraded state of vassalage, which so long oppressed the greatest portion of the people of Europe; but the want of a class of men bound to the soil, and forming part of the agricultural stock of their masters, prevented the existence of a numerous peasantry, which, being spread over the country, might, in the course of time, obtain their emancipation, and become the fathers of a free and happy agricultural population.

Under these circumstances, all schemes to alter the form and character which the growth of centuries has given to civil society in Spain, must prove,

we fear, vain and visionary. It is not in the power of man suddenly to convert the idle and degraded inhabitants of large cities into sober and industrious farmers; nor, even if that were possible, could such a nation find means to furnish the home colonist with stock and implements, as well as support, till the new broken land should yield enough for their maintenance. Men will soon find their way to every spot, where either nature or the aggregate industry of the people that inhabit the country, affords them the means of living by moderate exertion. Whenever the Spanish government shall have opened an easy communication between the central provinces and the coast, and joined every important town in the peninsula by cross roads—when the means of internal traffic shall have opened a market for the produce of the soil—when the laws which fetter the industry of the Spaniards shall have been repealed long enough to allow them to perceive their real interests, and to exert themselves with the steadiness and confidence of habitual freedom, then, and not before, will the productive power of their land be called into action. Cultivation will gradually spread from the insulated spots which it always presents in its first stages; towns will join hands across deserts, and men will start up as it were from the furrows—a truth, we believe, recorded in fable by primitive philosophy, and placed in the light of demonstration by that which is the boast of our own times.

Before we close this part of our article, we cannot omit to mention an obstacle to the prosperity of Spanish agriculture, which, limited as we are for space, we would pass over in silence, were it not a curious instance of the influence of national circumstances upon ideas and sentiments which habit often represents as natural and invariable.

The rights of property in land, wherever the feudal system has existed in full vigour, are so exclusive and peremptory, that it must surprise an Englishman to learn, that there are but very few spots in Spain which the landlord can call his own, from the moment he has housed the harvest. The right of driving cattle into the stubble-fields is claimed and maintained with great obstinacy, not only by the powerful association of owners of Merino flocks, called La Mesta, but even by the poorest individuals. The arable land of Spain becomes, in fact, a vast common, every year, to which the lord has no more right than any one else. The privilege enjoyed by the Andalusian farmers of inclosing one-ninth of their fields from Michaelmas to May-day is, according to Jovellanos, who was for some years a judge in the Supreme Court of that province, the source of perpetual law-suits—a proof of the impatience with which it is borne by the mass of the people.

If we seek the origin of a prejudice so injurious to agriculture, so incompatible with every improvement

in husbandry, we shall find it in the peculiar state of the country to which we have attributed the want of a rural population. The Spaniards, while recovering their country from the Moorish usurpers, could hardly consider any land as properly their own but what they had inclosed within the strong walls of their towns. All that the farmers could wish for was to escape an inroad of the enemy while the crops were on the ground. As they could not think of inclosing or improving any particular spot, they cared not whose cattle picked up a scanty feed upon their stubble-fields. When, by the gradual retreat of the Moors, the rights of exclusive property upon land might have been asserted by the owners, their very limited knowledge of agriculture did not allow them to see the advantages which might be derived from inclosures. Thus, in the course of centuries, the general right of pasture was established, which, from the immediate, though paltry, advantages it confers on the multitude, will, we fear, be found among the most intractable prejudices of the Spaniards.

Connected with the ignorance of the advantages arising from the exclusive rights of property in land, are the exorbitant privileges which the Spanish laws have granted to the owners of migratory or Merino flocks. From the mountains of Leon to the farthest limits of Extremadura, the members of the Mesta, an association composed of the wealthiest Grandees, gentlemen, and religious bodies, have a right to graze their sheep on a broad belt of land called Cañada, gradually and slowly changing their stations, as the mild winters of the south clothe the earth with grass, or the heat of summer thaws the snows of the Leonese mountains. The privileges of this body are defended and enforced by a court of judges created for that purpose, and in the appointment and pay of the Mesta, who, with a numerous host of dependants, are the terror of the agriculturist wherever their jurisdiction extends. Lands upon this pastoral road are scarcely the property of any but these formidable shepherds, who fix the price of pasture, obtain it by compulsion wherever it is found, and look upon farmers and their labours as the natural rivals and impediments to their gains. The total of Merino sheep was calculated in 1808 at six millions. A great part of that number were stationary in the different provinces, the fineness of the wool depending entirely upon the breed, and not on the change of soil.

Since Spain, however, seems to have no chance of becoming a manufacturing country, and must depend for wealth on her natural productions, we readily agree with Jovellanos* as to the necessity of encouraging the growth of wool, an article which, for centuries, has constituted one of the main resources of that kingdom.† To balance the contending

* Jovellanos, Ley Agraria, p. 47.

† The importation of the Merino sheep from England into Spain is a fact recorded both by Spanish and English authorities. It appears to have taken place at three different periods. The Bachelor Fernan Gomez de Ciudad Real, physician to John II. of Spain, says, that "the office of Judge of the Mesta had always been conferred on honourable Hidalgos."—"The first (he continues) was Isigo Lopez de Orosco,

Spain. claims of the pastoral and the agricultural interests in Spain, must be the work of time under a wise legislature.

IV. We have, in vain, tried to procure a satisfactory account of the state of commerce and industry in Spain. All we can find in the books which we have consulted amounts to little more than general complaints upon this topic. The only substantial fact contained in the first volume of the History of the late War, published by the government of Ferdinand VII., is that, in 1808, the annual exports of Spain were to the imports as three to seven; the value of the former amounting to seventy-five millions of francs (we leave the denomination unaltered), while the latter rose to one hundred and twenty-five millions of the same money. "In 1802 (say these official historians),* the produce of our industry was calculated at three hundred and fifty millions of francs; but it was soon reduced to much less in consequence of the maritime war (with England), and the malversations of the Prince of the Peace. The effects of these checks were the more felt, as the remittances from the American colonies were inadequate to cover the deficit. Our industry in 1808,

represented by the amount of its produce, was to that of France nearly as seven to forty."

"Our commerce in 1802, soon after the peace of Amiens, was to that of France as two to three—such, at least, is the result of the statistical documents published by the continental powers at that period. But according to the more accurate estimate presented to government by Mr Canga Arguelles, in 1803, the proportion was that of twenty-eight to one hundred and eighty-two, which, in fact, differs but little from the preceding."

"When Great Britain declared against us, in the following year, our commerce, which was just beginning to recover from the losses of the past war, may be said to have received its death wound. Our mercantile companies, then the most powerful in Europe,† were ruined by the general stagnation of trade, by the large and frequent loans made to a government, who never paid either interest or principal. The Philippine Islands Company, whose funds were immense, failed to the amount of six millions (of francs). The Deputation of the five Gremios of Madrid, well known to all Europe for its credit and wealth, was ruined, partly by the inactive state of our industry, partly by the financial operations

whom King Don Alonso (XI.) appointed to that office when the sheep were first brought from England in the Carracks." (Centon Epistolario, Letter 73d, dated 1437.) The appointment of Iñigo Lopez was made in 1329. (See a note to the Chronicle of Peter the Cruel, p. 60. Madrid, 1779.) The second importation was in the reign of Henry III. of Castile, and formed part of the marriage portion of his wife, Catharine Plantagenet, daughter of John of Gaunt. (See Historia de la Vida y Hechos del Rey Don Henrique Tercero de Castilla, por Gil Gonzalez Davila, p. 11.) This marriage was celebrated in 1388. (Ib. p. 4.) The third importation is mentioned by Holinshed (Vol. II. p. 668), who relates that, in 1466, Edward IV. of England "concluded an amitie and league with Henrie King of Castile, and John King of Aragon, at the concluding whereof he granted licence for certaine Cottesholde sheepe to be transported into the countrye of Spaine (as people report), which have there so multiplied and increased, that it hath turned the commoditie of England much to the Spanish profit." Stowe (p. 419) repeats the account of Holinshed; but adds, that "long ere this were sheep in Spaine, as may appeare by a pattent of King Henry the Second, the 31 of his raigne, granted to the weavers of London, that if any cloth were found to be made of Spanish wool mixed with English wool, the Maior of London should see it brent."

From this regulation of Henry II., it may be inferred that Spanish wool was, at that time, inferior in quality to English wool, and this conclusion is confirmed by Capmany, who remarks, that, till the middle of the fifteenth century, the Spanish wool could not be brought into competition with that of England, for the fine manufactures of Florence and Flanders (Questiones Criticas, p. 9); which again agrees with the complaints of Stowe, Harrison, Speed, and Sir Richard Baker, that Spanish wool was so much improved in their days as to rival that of England.

It cannot, however, be doubted that the travelling flocks, called Trashumantes, were known in Spain long before the importation of sheep from England; as the Concejo de la Mesa, which was created for the preservation of their privileges, possess a charter dated 2d of September 1273. (See Quaderno de la Mesa.)

The custom of changing the stations of the flocks according to the seasons, the Spaniards must have derived from the Romans, whose practice on this point of rural economy is thus described by Varro: "Illae (oves) in saltibus quae pascuntur—et a tectis abeunt longè, portant secum crates aut retia quibus cohortes in solitudine faciant, cæteraque utensilia; longe enim et late in diversis locis pasci solent, ut multa millia absint sæpe hyberne pastiones ab astivis. Ego vero scio, inquam, nam mihi greges in Appulis hybernabant qui in Reatinis montibus æstivabant." De Re Rust. Lib. II. c. 2.

* For the most valuable part of this historical information we acknowledge ourselves indebted to the friendship of John Allen, Esq. of Dulwich College.

† Introduction, p. 123, et seq.

‡ The military historians seem not to have recollected the existence of the East India Company, in England. It is certainly to be regretted that habits of inaccuracy and exaggeration still prevail too much among the Spanish writers, especially upon subjects connected with national feeling.

of our ministers. Neither the National Bank of San Carlos, which opened with a capital of seventy-five millions (of reals, about seven millions and a half Sterling), nor the Royal Maritime Company, created in 1789, could realize their objects, or even preserve their funds, which were soon drained, to fill the strong chests of the Favourite, or spent in France for the support of armies which were, at no distant period, to be employed against us."

"The failure of remittances from Spanish America, the enormous subsidies which we paid to France, and the ruinous measures by which the annual deficits were met, exhausted the treasury, and put an end to public credit. No funds were safe from the hands of the Favourite. The capital of the bank, that of the Monte de Piedad, the judiciary deposits, the pauper's fund,—all was seized by servile ambition, that it might support injustice and prodigality. The plans of internal navigation were forgotten, the public works then in progress were suspended, and those that had been concluded were left to decay for want of means to repair them."

"The government, wholly intent on guilty schemes of momentary advantage, not only neglected the country whose interests it was their duty to promote, but actually increased the obstacles which were opposed to her industry. Customhouses were found in every direction, the roads were crowded with revenue officers, and tolls were levied, at every step, upon travellers. The merchants were compelled to make declarations injurious to their interests; and, when they had gone through ten thousand vexatious forms, they could not yet feel secure, or beyond the reach of the fiscal vultures."

V. Such was the state of Spain in 1808, when the ambition of France, and the dissensions of the royal family, brought her to that dangerous crisis, of which the extraordinary events of the last fifteen years are not sufficient to point out the issue. We must, however, refer the reader for a sketch of that part of Spanish history to the Article GREAT BRITAIN in this Supplement; and attempt a more detailed view of the period beginning with the return of Ferdinand VII. from his captivity in France, and ending in the invasion of the French army in 1823.

The hopes which had induced some of the most enlightened Spaniards to join in the popular struggle against the establishment of Joseph Buonaparte on the throne of their country, had been crowned with success on the publication of the New Constitution, at Cadiz, on the 19th of March 1812.

By one of the first articles in that code, the sovereignty is declared to reside essentially in the nation, which, being free and independent, neither is, nor can be, the patrimony of any person or family. —All Spaniards, without distinction, are subject to taxation. —"The religion of the Spanish nation is, and shall be for ever, the Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman, which is the only true religion." —"The nation," it is added, "protects it by wise and just laws, and forbids the exercise of any other whatever." —The government of the Spanish nation is stated to be "a limited hereditary monarchy." —

The power of making laws is vested "in the Cortes, jointly with the King." —In describing the class of Spaniards who enjoy the privileges of citizenship, persons "reputed of African origin, either by the father or the mother's side," are excluded. A similar exclusion is given to Spaniards who obtain naturalization in another country, or who, without leave, absent themselves five years from Spain. The only basis for the number of representatives in the Cortes is Population, to be taken from the census of 1797, till one more correct can be made. For every seventy thousand souls there is to be one deputy in the Cortes. The returns of the members are made by three successive elections. Every parish appoints electors for the district to which it belongs. These repair to the chief town of the district to choose another set of electors, who, lastly, meeting in the capital of the province, make the final appointment to the Cortes. The Cortes is triennial. No member can be elected for two successive representations. No debate can be carried on in the presence of the king; his ministers may attend and speak, but are not allowed to vote. There is a permanent deputation, or committee of the Cortes, composed of seven members, appointed by the whole body, before a prorogation or dissolution, whose duty is to watch over the executive, and report any infringement of the constitution to the next Cortes. It also belongs to them to convocate an extraordinary Cortes in the cases prescribed by the constitution.

The powers of the Cortes are chiefly these: 1st, To move and pass the laws; and to interpret and alter them when necessary. 2d, To administer the constitutional oaths to the King, the Prince of Asturias, &c. 3d, To determine any doubt or fact relative to the succession. 4th, To elect a regency, and define its powers. 5th, To make the public recognition of the Prince of Asturias. 6th, To appoint guardians to the king while a minor. 7th, To approve or reject treaties previous to ratification. 8th, To allow or refuse the admission of foreign troops into the kingdom. 9th, To decree the creation or suppression of offices in the tribunals established by the constitution, as well as of places of public trust. 10th, To fix, every year, by the king's proposal, the land and sea forces. 11th, To regulate the military code in all its branches. 12th, To fix the expences of the government. 13th, To impose taxes, contract loans, and direct every thing relating to the revenue. 14th, To establish a plan of public instruction, and direct the education of the Prince of Asturias. 15th, To protect the political liberty of the press. 16th, To enforce the responsibility of the secretaries of state, and other persons in office.

Laws may be proposed, in writing, by any one of the deputies. Two days after the motion, the bill is to be read a second time. It is then determined whether the subject is to be debated, or to be referred to a committee. Four days after the bill has been voted worthy of discussion, it is read a third time, and a day is appointed for the debate. A majority of votes decides the fate of the bill: the members

Spain. present on these occasions must exceed the half of their total number by one.

The powers of the king are, 1st, To suspend the passing of a law by withholding his sanction. He can exercise this power against any decree of the Cortes, for two consecutive sessions; but is compelled to give his assent if the same law is passed by three Cortes successively. 2d, The executive power resides exclusively in the king, and extends to whatever relates to the preservation of public order in the interior, and to the external security of the state, according to the constitution and the laws. The privileges and duties of the executive are thus detailed in the constitution: the King may issue decrees, regulations, and instructions, for the more effectually enforcing of the laws;—it is his duty to watch over the administration of justice;—he declares war, and makes peace, under the control of the Cortes;—he appoints judges to all the civil and criminal courts, on the presentation of the council of state;—all civil and military employments are of the king's appointment;—he presents to all bishoprics, ecclesiastical dignities and benefices which may be in the gift of the crown; all by the advice of the council of state;—the king is the fountain of honour; the army and the navy are at his command, and he has the appointment of generals and admirals;—he has the right of coinage, and the privilege of impressing his bust on the metallic currency of the realm;—the king can propose new laws, or amendments to those in existence.—It belongs also to him to circulate or withhold the Pope's rescripts and bulls;—he can choose and dismiss his own ministers.

The following checks are laid on the king's authority by the constitution:

1st, The king cannot prevent the meeting of the Cortes at the periods fixed by the constitution; neither can he dissolve them or disturb their sittings. His advisers and abettors in such attempts are guilty of treason. 2d, If the king should quit the kingdom without the consent of the Cortes, he is understood to have abdicated the crown. 3d, The king cannot alienate any part of the Spanish territory. 4th, He cannot abdicate the crown in favour of his successor without the consent of the Cortes. 5th, He cannot enter into any political alliance, or make commercial treaties without the consent of the Cortes. 6th, He cannot grant privileges or monopolies. 7th, The king cannot disturb any individual in the enjoyment of his property, nor deprive him of his personal liberty. If the interest of the state should require the arrest of any individual by virtue of a royal order, the prisoner must be delivered over to a competent tribunal within eight and forty hours. 8th, The king cannot marry without the consent of the Cortes; he is supposed to abdicate the crown by taking a wife against their will.

The Council of State is composed of forty individuals, viz. two bishops, two priests, and four grandees; the other thirty-two must not belong to any of these classes. The members of the Council of State shall be chosen by the king out of a triple list presented to him by the Cortes. The Councillors

of State cannot be removed without a trial before the Supreme Court of Justice. Their salary is fixed by the Cortes. The functions of this Council of State are to advise the king on all important matters of government, and especially upon giving or refusing his sanction to the laws, declaring war, or making treaties. The king, besides, cannot bestow any ecclesiastical benefice, or appoint any judge, but at the proposal of the Council of State, who, upon every vacancy, are to confine his choice to one out of three individuals, whose names they are to lay before his majesty.

The laws for the security of personal liberty are these, 1st, No Spaniard can be imprisoned without a summary process, wherein he is credibly charged with the infraction of some law which subjects the offender to corporal punishment; 2d, The arrest cannot take place without the warrant of a competent judge; 3d, Prisoners are not to be examined upon oath; 4th, The gaoler shall keep a register of the prisoners, expressing the warrant, and the alleged cause of his confinement.

Such are the main articles of the Spanish Constitution; a production which, considering the circumstances of its appearance, highly deserves the attention of the politician and the philosopher. Spain had been for ages under the most effectual restraints which can be laid on the human mind, to prevent its dwelling upon subjects connected with the authority of civil and ecclesiastical rulers. Few Spaniards, out of the learned professions, devoted any part of their time to reading. The knowledge of the clergy was generally limited to scholastic divinity, as that of the lawyers to the forms of the civil courts. A small proportion of both classes had privately ventured to look beyond the bounds which church and government had set to their speculations, and, books being smuggled from France, an inconsiderable number were become initiated in the principles of the French Philosophical School. The seeds of doubt and dissent, in matters of religion and policy, had greatly spread for the last forty years; but the bulk of the nation was still without a thought on these subjects, and blindly followed the impulse which time and habit had given them. The events which dethroned Charles IV. had no farther broken these habits than merely to show the people how effectually they could oppose their own will to the constituted authorities. But their loyalty was not impaired by their successful efforts. The name of Ferdinand VII. was the great bond of union which preserved the Spaniards from anarchy. To defend the authority of the crown was the only object of their general insurrection; and, having deposited its unbounded powers in the hands of a few, the people retired to their homes, setting no limits to their obedience.

Had not the progress of the French armies dispersed the Central Junta, and concentrated the fugitive patriots at Cadiz, it is more than probable that the Cortes would have been assembled according to the ancient forms, and that the privileged classes, supported by the majority of the nation, would have defeated any attempt to alter the old

constitution. But Cadiz offered to that party, which has been since known by the name of Liberal, the most favourable opportunity of striking a deadly blow at the very root of the monarchical power, under which they had so long groaned in hopeless, yet silent, restlessness.

From its maritime position, its commercial interests, and the foreign extraction of many of its inhabitants, Cadiz has, at all times, exhibited a scene of life so different from that which strikes the observer in the interior, that, upon entering its walls, he might imagine himself suddenly transported out of the kingdom. There, instead of the national prejudices in favour of birth, he might perceive the pride of wealth, and an ill disguised impatience of all other claims to respect and influence. If the rich merchants decked themselves with the marks of distinction so eagerly coveted by Spaniards, they still wore them without ease or satisfaction. Apparently raised by these externals to the ranks of the old titled gentry, the new marquis or knight still found himself but little removed above those of his former condition. He could not meet with the hereditary deference which the Caballero of the interior found in the labouring classes. Cadiz, in its days of prosperity, had no poor; for, while a stream of wealth was poured in from the American colonies, the sea forbade its population to spread beyond the limits of comfortable subsistence. The line of distinction between the higher and the lower classes was, therefore, less marked than in other large towns of the peninsula; and, when the season of mercantile prosperity was over, as the depression was general, it left the various classes at the same proportionable distance. Cadiz, unknown to herself, cherished, in fact, a republican spirit. The line which divided her rich and her poor, her workmen and their employers, was almost imperceptible when compared with the gulf of prejudice and pride which separated the merchant from the grandee. Thus, undivided by jealousies of rank, and feeling in common that impatience of political superiority which is inherent to the human heart, the people of Cadiz were ready to greet any prospect of change in the monarchical and aristocratical system of the country.

All that was wanting to bring these dispositions into action, and give them a definite aim, was driven into Cadiz by the advance of the French armies within sight of its walls. Madrid had, for a long time, been the resort of the most enlightened Spaniards; the only spot where persons, who had embraced Liberal principles, could feel the oppressive yoke of religious tyranny somewhat eased on their necks. As they generally belonged to that numerous class of the Spanish gentry who look up to the patronage of government for the means of subsistence, the court drew them together from the provinces. On the prospect of the political changes which the captivity of Ferdinand opened to the country, these men attached themselves to the Central Junta, and finally followed its members in their flight from Seville to Cadiz. Thither, too, flocked all the stragglers of the philosophical party; and, on the dissolution of that dull, dilatory knot of ill assort-

ed men, who, under the veil of dignified gravity, had for a time concealed their unfitness to direct the nation, the Spanish speculators found themselves in the midst of a population highly disposed to listen to their doctrines, to embrace their views, and constitute them the organs of the new laws which were to remodel the kingdom.

The majority of the first Cortes being composed of the class of men whom, by anticipation, we have called Liberales, the project of a Constitution was immediately set on foot, and a committee of the ablest members appointed to draw up the fundamental code of the monarchy. Such a task, at all times arduous, was, in the present circumstances of the country, beset with peculiar difficulties. The legislators, confined within the walls of a town where innovations could not fail to be popular, went through their task under a strong delusion, mistaking their own wishes and the applause of the surrounding multitude for the sense of the nation. Encouraged by the absence of the king, placed beyond any check from the privileged classes, and the weight of the landed property of the country, it is surprising that the framers of the new constitution were not more rash than they appear in the code, of which we have laid an abstract before our readers.

We strongly suspect, however, that the authors of the Spanish constitution were less disposed to consider the real sense of the nation, than to prepare, in their code, the most effectual means of working a radical change in the public mind. Perhaps they despaired of being able, by a more truly Spanish system of laws, to make a lasting reform in the state. Perhaps they feared that, if a portion of the legislative power was deposited in the hands of an upper house, composed of the Grandees and the Clergy, it would clog the motion which they wished to impress upon the almost disorganized machinery of the Spanish state. Perhaps they conceived that the power, which, in the hands of the crown, had been so outrageously abused, could not be reduced too much; and that, since the constitution must recognize a king, he could not be too strictly watched and fettered. We are not, indeed, surprised to find these views in the authors of the Spanish constitution—they were the natural result of their position—right feelings exasperated by a long endurance of tyranny and misrule. But we cannot, on the other hand, give them credit for any degree of that sound and practical wisdom which shone in the English patriots of 1688. The authors of the Spanish constitution had, it is true, to reconstruct the state almost from the foundations. But, professing that they only intended to re-establish the ancient constitution of the kingdom, they had not the ability even to preserve its external form. They certainly neglected all the old materials. Nor have they shown deeper views in the solution of the general problems of politics, such as the basis of representation, and the form of election. The Spanish legislators have, on both these points, shrunk at the view of difficulties which they wanted either the knowledge or the courage to meet fairly.

On one subject alone the authors of the constitu-

tion yielded to national prejudice without reserve or modification. The article on religion is, unfortunately, an accurate expression of the opinions which the mass of the Spanish nation hold upon that point. Shall we, then, suppose the framers of the constitution sincere in the profession of the strong, undoubting, dictatorial faith, which blazes forth in that notable article? Must we not suspect that exuberance of belief which makes a Liberale party stand Catholic sponsors for generations unborn? For our part, we believe it equally impossible that men, whose course of reading and thinking had led them to embrace the political principles which have been enforced in the Spanish constitution, should approve the article in question, as that a nation, still bigoted to such doctrines, should be disposed to receive that constitution. It has been answered, we know, that the political part of the Spanish code was calculated to overturn the law concerning religion. But was it not to be feared that the reverse might happen? Or was it consistent with the wisdom of constitutional legislators to combine the most irreconcilable principles in the fundamental laws of the state? Had they been more temperate and yielding in their political views,—had they not alarmed every Spanish prejudice by their plan of reform, they might have found their religious adversaries less on their guard, and gained some ground on the side of toleration. But the Spanish constitution was like one of those treaties which wily politicians sign with a mutual hope that they contain the elements of destruction to the other contracting party. The Liberales, unable to cope with religious prejudice, trusted to the operation of democratic principle; the bigots, cut off from their main body within the walls of Cadiz, clung to their monstrous privilege of keeping the conscience of every Spaniard in bondage. The Liberales meant more than they dared to express—the bigots gained all they wanted. Thus, while victory was apparently on the side of the former, the latter held, in the religious intolerance of the country, now raised into a constitutional law, the strongest pledge of a future and more permanent triumph. The events which followed the return of Ferdinand must convince every impartial judge, that the great mass of the Spaniards were not disposed to second the views of the Liberales; and that, if the constitution has, at a later period, had influence enough to arm one part of the kingdom in its defence, it owes this support to the injustice and misconduct of the Court faction after the restoration, and not to an original attachment on the part of the people.

The rapid series of misfortunes which had shaken the imperial throne of France to its foundations opened the way for the return of the captive Ferdinand to Madrid. His appearance on the frontiers would, a short time before, have been hailed by his subjects with general and sincere joy. But an absence of six years, employed by the friends of constitutional liberty in disseminating the principles of political reform, and fomenting a spirit of jealousy against the crown, had now created an active party, who dreaded the appearance of a monarch, born and bred a despot, among a people whose habits were

those of implicit obedience. The arrival of the famous Palafox (who, since the taking of Zaragoza, had been a prisoner in France), bearing dispatches from the king to the regency, threw the constitutionalists into great consternation. Ferdinand announced to the regency that he had concluded a treaty with Napoleon, which, in his opinion, "contained no condition that did not accord with the honour, glory, and interests of the Spanish nation; as that country could not have obtained a more advantageous peace after a succession of victories." This implied acknowledgment of successive defeats, this readiness to conciliation with Napoleon, were strong indications of a mind habituated to feelings very different from those which had influenced the Spaniards during the eventful war against the French emperor. Such want of sympathy with those national feelings, which might have been supposed most flattering to any other man in Ferdinand's circumstances, gave little hope of his quiet submission to laws and principles which were plainly intended to reduce his power, and make him the first subject of the kingdom, instead of its absolute sovereign.

The Regency, composed of Cardinal Bourbon (a man, who, though related to the royal family, bore in the weakness of his mind the best security against ambition) and Aguir and Ciscár, two naval officers of respectable abilities in their profession, whose only recommendation for that post seems to have been the absence of every qualification which might have given the slightest probability to their election—this Regency beheld with alarm the danger which threatened the system from which they derived their power. The treaty was, of course, rejected, and the attention of the constitutional government anxiously fixed on the means of averting the blow which was already aimed at their authority.

By a decree of the Cortes, the king was suspended from the exercise of all power till he should take the oath which the new constitution prescribed; a route was made out for his journey from the frontiers to Madrid, and an escort directed to watch over him in his progress. The Cardinal, president of the Regency, was to meet his royal relative on the road, under strict injunctions not to perform the usual ceremony of kissing the king's hand. General Copons, the military commander of Catalonia, was made the bearer of copies of the constitution, and of the decree which suspended the royal authority. These he was to deliver into the hands of Ferdinand on the frontiers of the kingdom.

The king entered the Spanish territory on the 24th of March 1814, and followed the route prescribed by the Cortes, till the vicinity of Zaragoza afforded him a pretext for visiting that renowned scene of Spanish patriotism. He soon perceived a general indifference to the constitution among the lower classes; a jealousy of the new men who had risen into importance by means of the late changes; and a revival of those feelings of passive loyalty which the unbounded power of the Spanish monarchs, during so many centuries, had blended with the national character. From Zaragoza, Ferdinand repaired to Valencia, a city well affected to the crown, where

Elio, a royalist general, had the command of a considerable body of troops. Thither flocked many grandees and dignitaries of the church, anxious to inform the king of the favourable turn of public opinion in favour of an absolute monarchy. The cardinal, who, missing the king on the prescribed road, had been obliged to retrace his steps, arrived at Valencia, when a numerous train of royalists, ready to support their master, would have placed a bolder and abler representative of the Cortes in difficulties from which it would be almost impossible for any one to extricate himself with credit. The weak prelate's attempt to follow the directions he had received, added humiliation to the act of homage into which he was awed by the king's frown. His kissing hands, however, did not save him from banishment and deprivation of the two sees of Toledo and Seville, which he held together with the pope's consent.

The progress which the constitutional principles had made was so slight, and the new political system had lately lost so much among people otherwise inclined to a reform in the state, that it was easy to foresee a revulsion of feeling in which the great mass, which had hitherto been nearly passive, would give the court party an irresistible preponderance. Ferdinand's advisers were sufficiently quick-sighted to seize the favourable moment. Elio, in the name of his military division, presented a memorial to the king, in which he was entreated to govern in the manner of his ancestors. A petition, signed by sixty-nine members of the sitting Cortes, reached the king, about this time, describing that body as a mere tool in the hands of a republican party, without freedom of debate, and acting under the control of a mob regularly hired to take possession of the galleries.

A more favourable opportunity has seldom presented itself to any monarch for consolidating the privileges of his crown, while he promoted the happiness of his people, than that which the circumstances of Spain offered to Ferdinand at this moment. The feeble roots, which the new political principles had struck in the nation, were just kept alive by a recollection of the ruinous follies of the preceding reign. The slightest security against the recurrence of similar excesses, granted by the throne to the people, would have deprived the Liberal party of the remnant of their influence. With his own party, the king was still absolute; and his will would have been obeyed without the least attempt at evasion or resistance. Ferdinand might have confirmed the abolition of the Inquisition, and the existence of the Cortes. He might have established a Chamber of Peers, and raised the grandees, by that means, from a state of moral and intellectual degradation, which renders them worse than a useless burden to the state. A few reforms in the internal administration of the kingdom might, if proceeding from the crown, have enabled Spain to rise gradually, and without convulsions, from her former languor into a state of convalescence; during which, life and energy would, in due proportions, diffuse themselves through the whole body. But unfortunate Spain was doomed to suffer from the same cause, which, in our opinion, threatens Europe with a long series of bloody struggles

between the people and their rulers. The popular leaders aimed at the possession of paramount power, while nothing but uncontrolled authority would satisfy the crown.

On the 4th of May 1814, a decree was solemnly promulgated, in which the Cortes were declared illegal, and all their laws consequently rescinded. The spirit of the worst times of the Spanish monarchy seemed to have dictated this first act of the restored Ferdinand—that king for whom Spaniards of all classes, opinions, and denominations, had been lavish of their blood. Having thus announced his intention to wipe off the memory of constitutional freedom, he set off for the capital, preceded by a division of Elio's army, under the command of General Eguía. These troops found no resistance either on their way to Madrid, or upon entering that town. The people, on the contrary, seemed generally disposed to greet the approach of the absolute king. The Cortes, thus despised and neglected by the majority of the Spaniards, and internally cankered by the presence of a strong party, who had constantly aimed at the destruction of the system which they had sworn to support, were instantly dispersed by the soldiers. The arrest of the two inferior regents, Aguir and Císcar, and of the president and secretary of the Cortes, which took place on the nights of the 10th and 11th, seem to have been considered as preparatory steps to the reappearance of Ferdinand in the capital.

The news of these events had scarcely reached the chief towns in the provinces, when the mob, headed by their usual leaders, the priests, broke out into fierce demonstrations of joy, calling for the instant restoration of the Inquisition, and hastening to demolish the lapidary inscriptions, which the Cortes, from the vanity of displaying their triumph over their opponents, had caused to be erected in every town and village. It is fortunate, indeed, that no bloody scenes followed this reaction of a long suppressed popular feeling; though a desperate attempt was made at Coruña against the most active members of the Liberal party in that town, who had been previously committed to prison.

Had Ferdinand and his advisers allowed their judgment to prevail over their resentment, they would have readily perceived that their future security was not consistent with the habits of insubordination which the Spanish mob was so rapidly acquiring; and that leniency and forgiveness were the most effectual means of thinning the ranks of their enemies. The court party, however, showed a fixed determination of allowing full sway to their revengeful spirit. The arrest of between thirty and forty deputies of the late Cortes, attended with seizure of papers and sequestration of property, was decreed by the king, who appointed a commission of three judges, two of whom had been fellow-deputies of the prisoners, to collect evidence against them. By another order, the members who had subscribed the above-mentioned petition for the repeal of the constitution, were invited to criminate the Liberal deputies for their conduct and opinions during the last session.

In the course of this persecution not one was spared who had, directly or indirectly, contributed to the establishment of the constitutional system. The number of state prisoners was increased in the month of June, by the arrest of forty-five individuals, formerly members of the Cadiz Cortes, and literary men of eminent talents, who had assisted the popular government with their pen. The trial of the prisoners, if such a name can be given to judicial proceedings, which precluded all chance of acquittal, was conducted with more than Spanish dilatoriness. Three sets of judges were successively appointed and removed; till the king, impatient of further delays, ordered a list of the prisoners to be laid before him; and in a decree of the 15th of December 1815, each of the names (about seventy in number) appeared before the public, bearing the sentence which Ferdinand, in his own writing, had affixed to them. We shall give the following by way of specimens. Count Toréno, Mina, and Florez de Estrada, who had evaded pursuit, and fled the country, were condemned to death. Arguelles, who may be considered the author of the constitution, was sentenced to eight years' exile at Ceuta, on the coast of Africa. Canga Arguelles was confined to the fortress of Peñíscola, in Catalonia, for an equal period. The same length of confinement was assigned to Martínez de la Rosa, and to Calatrava, two distinguished members of the Cortes. The four ecclesiastics, Villanueva, Muñoz-Torrero, Olivéros, and Cepéro, were sentenced to six years' imprisonment in different convents, and to the loss of their benefices. Álvarez-Guerra and García-Herreros, who were ministers to the Regency on Ferdinand's return, and Generals Valdés, O'Donoghue, and Villacampa, who had evinced a firm attachment to the new system, were to be imprisoned for periods of eight, six, and four years. Quintana, one of the first ornaments of modern Spanish literature, who, probably from his great moderation, and love of studious retirement, had never been elected a member of the Cortes, was sentenced to be imprisoned six years in the fortress of Pamplona. Strict orders were issued to deprive the prisoners of all communication, and not to be allowed pen and ink. The persons contained in the list, who had not escaped, were seized in the night of the 17th December, and subsequently removed to their destinations.

It was not more safe to be admitted to Ferdinand's confidence than to side with the enemies of his arbitrary power. Macanáz, his confidant, in France, was arrested, the same night, by the king in person. Escóquiz, Ferdinand's tutor, and one of his companions in exile, was, at this period, disgraced and removed to Zaragoza. The Duke of San Carlos, another of the king's adherents in his misfortunes, was dismissed from the ministry.

The court party having gratified their spite, wished now to secure the support of the clergy, whom the Liberals had offended. By a royal order of the 20th of May 1814, all purchasers of church property were compelled to restore it, without receiving compensation. The Inquisition was regularly re-installed, and urged to exert its powers against all persons suspected of Liberal opinions. A bull

was obtained from the Pope for the restoration of the Jesuits in Spain. Monks and bigots were the sole directors of the king's conscience. Conceiving that the times when Spanish monarchs could trample down their subjects, without being disturbed by a single murmur, had returned, he publicly declared himself "not accountable to any, except God and his confessor," and thus proclaimed his will to be the law.

The convulsions, however, which had agitated the Progress of kingdom, could not but have roused the dormant energy of such spirited people as the Spaniards. The novelty, it is true, of the political doctrines which the Cortes had sanctioned; the disturbance which the new order of things had given to the national habits; the doubtful, or still unperceived advantages of the Liberal institutions; the jealousy which is always created by the sudden elevation of new men;—such were the main sources of the dissatisfaction with the Cortes, which restored despotic power to the hands of Ferdinand. But a fresh disappointment awaited the fond hopes of the people. Ferdinand could not recall the languid repose of former days. The spell of custom, which bound the nation together, with the ties of mere form, and made the strength of millions shrink before the shadow of power, had been broken for ever. The court, besides, had found the treasury doubly drained, from the effects of former extravagance, and the demands of the late war. Bribery and venality were soon seen to prevail round the throne, to a greater extent than in the time of Godoy. The army, who had been hitherto amused with promises of regular pay and promotion, began to groan under want and neglect. Officers of high rank appeared about the streets in the night imploring the charity of their fellow countrymen. The armed bands, or Guerillas, who had assisted in the defeat of the French, having now nothing to expect from Ferdinand, and being unfit to resume habits of industrious labour, became regular and organized banditti. Melchor, the leader of a numerous band, infested the whole of Extremadura, for a considerable time, setting the helpless magistrates at defiance, and committing all sorts of atrocities.

A government so unable to gratify the ambition of its adherents, and so incapable of affording protection to the people, could not employ restrictive measures without hastening its own destruction. In vain did the court party silence the press, or bribe it into their service. Facts, which crowded before the eyes of the public, and addressed themselves to their feelings, pleaded, daily, the cause of liberty, in the most powerful language.

Many of the Spanish officers, who were prisoners in France, had become Free-Masons in that country, and numerous lodges were established in Spain, during the occupation by Napoleon's armies. Masonry had at all times been held in the utmost abhorrence by the church and government, and both had employed their respective weapons to deter their subjects from its mysteries. Finding now that the evil they dreaded had found its way into the country, nothing was left untried in order to check its progress. A fresh sentence of excommunication was

Spain. obtained from the Pope against Free-Masons. The Inquisition traced out, in every province, the officers who had been initiated in France, as well as the members of the Spanish lodges. Fortunately, they were too numerous to be punished with all the rigour of the law. But the imprisonment of some, and the fears of all, were sufficient to prevent the Spanish Masons from acting collectively.

Comuneros. It was, however, about this time, we believe, that another kind of secret societies, exclusively political, were formed in Spain. The members assumed the name of Comuneros, to denote that they met in the spirit of Padilla and his followers, who, under the same appellation, rose against the encroaching despotism of Charles V.* An extensive correspondence was established between the associates in the different provinces, who, acting in concert, and according to a fixed plan, were ready to seize the first opportunity of restoring the constitution.

Public burning of the Constitution. Though we account it a signal misfortune that Spanish patriotism had not a less objectionable rallying point than the Code of the Cadiz Cortes, yet it is probable that, but for the existence of such a definite object for which to contend, the enemies of despotism would not have been able to combine their efforts. Men possessed of more talents than the purblind crew who surrounded the throne would have easily seen the necessity of setting up some rival Charter; any thing in the shape of a Fundamental Law, which might divide the public opinion, and divert it from a constitution which had been conceived in a spirit of violent hostility to the crown. But Ferdinand's counsellors took the course which was most apt to raise the new code in the estimation of the country. As many copies as could be obtained at Madrid were heaped on a cart, together with the journals of the Cortes. The guilty volumes were thus conducted, with ludicrous solemnity, to one of the public squares, and there committed to the flames by the hands of the hangman. This contemptible triumph was closed with a solemn Te Deum in the collegiate church of the capital.

The effect of prohibitions and autos de fe against books is well known; it gives them reputation in all countries; how much more among a people whose eyes were just opening to a perception of the intellectual thralldom in which they had been kept by similar means;—a country, where the notion that the merit of a work should be judged by the anathemas it lay under, was making a rapid progress?

The constitution of the Cortes, though ill suited to the institutions, habits, and feelings of the bulk of the Spanish nation, is a manual of popular principles, which might, under any circumstances, bring constant accessions of strength to the Liberal party. A train of reasoning, however powerful, upon the rights of the people, would make but a slight impression in a country where close and industrious reading is

scarcely known. But the effect of a small volume, containing the abstract principles of democracy disguised under monarchical forms, and reduced to practical laws or simple declarations, would engage the attention of thousands; for the shallowest and most undisciplined mind will readily catch the notion of sovereignty inherent in the people; and, in proportion to the want of deep views on the complicated machinery of human society, will be the self-complacency of the young politician, who imagines he has obtained a clue to every problem of government.

The effects of the new Constitution, considered as Progress of a political pamphlet, could only be checked by the Discontent. dignified and judicious conduct of a court supported by the most respectable classes. But Ferdinand was surrounded by a medley of cowed courtiers, intriguing priests, and old placemen, all poor, and all ambitious. The king himself had much to ask for, and but little to give, save empty titles. The army, who had now learnt their irresistible weight in political changes, became dissatisfied and restless under a state of things which doomed them to neglect and poverty. The inferior gentry, of which a great portion depend on court favour for places, saw, with dismay, that while the late reform had swept away many of the situations under government, such as remained were reserved for those only who had never wavered in their allegiance to monarchical despotism. The young men, lastly, of the middle classes, who, during the existence of the Cortes, had had a taste of the agreeable excitement of a popular system, could not brook the death-like apathy which followed the restoration.

The malcontents, though numerous, and constantly augmenting, would have found it difficult to communicate with each other, to calculate their strength, and direct it with skill, if the secret societies had not created among them something like the union and activity which, in free states, are the effects of a well-regulated party. In spite of the Inquisition and its emissaries, the Comuneros held meetings in most of the head towns, and kept up an active correspondence among their lodges. Cadiz, whose political temper has been described already, was, it seems, the head-quarters of the conspirators. They could not have fixed upon a more advantageous position; for, besides the opportunities which its numerous and changing garrison constantly afforded of tampering with the officers, some wealthy merchants of that place had devoted their fortunes to the restoration of liberty.

Cadiz and its neighbourhood had been made the General Morrendous of the troops which, under the command of General Morillo, were ordered by Ferdinand's government against the revolted provinces of South America.† It being now agreed among the Liberals that the intended revolution should be effected

* Vide Robertson's Charles V.

† The unyielding and illiberal spirit of the Cortes in regard to the Colonies was closely followed by the king's government on his resumption of absolute power. It is a curious circumstance that the Liberal party, who, by their obstinate refusal of the demands of the Colonies, urged them into open rebellion, should

Spain. by the army, the presence of a strong military division reluctantly engaging in a dangerous service beyond the seas, must have greatly raised their hopes and increased their activity. Morillo's loyalty was tried, and he seemed for a time to waver between the obvious duties of his station and the suspicious call of revolutionary patriotism.* It is said that the General was found, at first, ready to listen to the offers of the patriots; and if it be true that he subsequently thought it necessary to make a spontaneous confession before the Inquisition, he must have been present at some masonic meetings;—a crime from which, we believe, none but the members of that tribunal could give absolution at that period. By what precautions of the patriots, or what subterfuge of Morillo (who, though shrinking from the proposed rebellion, might yet be unwilling to break for ever with a determined and fast growing faction), the effects of such a recantation were not felt by the lodges, we are not told, and cannot conjecture. It is a fact, however, that Morillo embarked with his troops while the secret societies continued their labours unmolested.

Porlier's Attempt and Failure in Galicia. Galicia was one of the provinces to which the Cadiz patriots had extended their secret influence. Don Juan Diez Porlier, an officer who had distinguished himself against the French, was at this time confined, under suspicion of disaffection, to the Castle of San Antón, near Corunna. His health being impaired after a year's imprisonment, he obtained leave to proceed under an escort to a watering-place in the neighbourhood. The officer, to whom the prisoner was given in charge, was a member of the secret societies, in correspondence with the head lodge at Cadiz. He soon put Porlier in possession of the plans for a military insurrection which were then under discussion among the patriots, and earnestly urged him to strike the first blow in the province of Galicia. Many officers in garrison at Corunna and Ferrol offered also their services to Porlier, who, miscalculating his means, and judging of public feeling from that which prevailed among his friends, was not long in accepting the dangerous command to which he was invited. Attended by the officer, whose duty it was to prevent his escape, and the twelve soldiers commanded by that officer, Porlier entered the city of Corunna, about midnight of the 18th September 1815, and was soon joined by most of the troops in that town. Supported by his associates, he arrested the governor and the principal supporters of the Servile party. The imprisoned Liberals were set free, and such proclamations as are usual on these occasions were posted about the town. The oath to the constitution of 1812 was re-

peated, and a detachment of 800 men was ordered to march on Ferrol, where the garrison, it was said, only awaited the presence of Porlier to declare in favour of the constitutional system. But the royalist party had been actively employed in that town since the arrival of the news from Corunna. Emissaries were sent to mix with Porlier's troops on their march. They found him with his detachment at the village of O'rdenes, where the troops were to pass the night. The non-commissioned officers were soon gained over, and the men yielded to the first suggestion of making their peace with the king's government by the seizure of their leader. Porlier and some of his officers were at supper when the soldiers surrounded the house. The officers, it should seem, were able to escape; but the General, being obliged to surrender, was executed at Corunna, on the 3d of October. Porlier met his fate with the dignity and composure of a man who feels conscious of the justice of his cause and the purity of his intentions. Had that unhappy officer possessed means to keep his ground till Cadiz, Barcelona, Valencia, and Zaragoza, had declared themselves, the revolution would have been complete, as it happened at a subsequent period.

Our limits do not permit us to mention the numerous conspiracies which were discovered and quelled after the death of Porlier. But we cannot omit a brief account of the unfortunate attempt made by General Lacy in Catalonia, where, during the latter part of the war against France, he had commanded the Spanish army against the invaders. As a reward for his services, Lacy had been appointed Captain-General of Galicia; but being suspected by Ferdinand's government, he was removed to Catalonia, and confined within the limits of a certain district. In the spring of 1817, Lacy obtained leave to visit the mineral waters of Caldetes, near Barcelona. He there met with several discontented officers, with whom he planned an insurrection. It was expected that all the garrisons of Catalonia would mutiny on the 5th of April, a day on which Lacy was to raise the standard of rebellion by the assistance of the regiment of Tarragona, which was stationed at a short distance. Two companies had been gained over by the lieutenant-colonel, when the whole plan was disclosed to the colonel by two subalterns in Lacy's confidence. The colonel appealed to the loyalty of the yet undebauched part of the regiment, and he was answered by a display of zeal in the royal cause. The two revolted companies joined Lacy, who, perceiving no other movements in his favour, began a march to Mataró, proposing to raise the peasantry, or to escape into France if he failed of support. The peasants appearing everywhere either

have virtually sanctioned the separation, by stopping the reinforcements which might have given a chance of success to the Spaniards. For an account of the war of independence in Spanish America, see the Articles NEW GRANADA, MEXICO, and BUENOS AYRES.

* We relate this and similar facts on the authority of Mr Blaquiere's Historical Review of the Spanish Revolution, which we have followed in the narrative of that period. From our personal knowledge of Spain, we have considered ourselves entitled to use our own judgment in rejecting some circumstances which seem to have been admitted into that work from the author's honest but excessive confidence in some of his Spanish authorities.

hostile or indifferent, the soldiers were disheartened, and fell off to a man. Lacy took shelter in a cottage; but was soon betrayed and taken. It was not deemed safe by the government to execute the sentence of death which a court-martial pronounced against him, within the walls of Barcelona, where a strong feeling of compassion had shown itself towards the unfortunate Lacy. It was, therefore, reported that the king had commuted the sentence into that of imprisonment for life in the fortress of Majorca. Lacy's removal took place under that impression. He was cruelly undeceived, on his arrival, and desired to prepare for death within a few hours. Lacy was shot in the ditch of the castle at five o'clock in the morning of the 4th July 1817.

From the character of these attempts, and the temper manifested by the bulk of the people, a dispassionate observer will readily adopt the conclusion, that the endeavours of the patriots depended for success on some happy combination of circumstances, which, by once disconcerting the weak government of Ferdinand, and making him yield even for a moment, would give an impulse to that impassive mass who had hitherto beheld the contest unwilling to share its dangers. For it is clear, that a great majority of the nation, though determined not to make or modify a government for themselves, would readily submit to any political system which might happen to obtain the ascendancy. The chances were, therefore, in favour of the active party, who, though so often defeated, had still sufficient courage and perseverance to renew their attacks on a dull enemy, who adhered, from ignorance and weakness, to a plan of defensive warfare.

It was not long before the erroneous policy of the court of Madrid, in regard to the revolted colonies, presented to its enemies at home the means of re-establishing the constitution, and making their party paramount in the state. Instead of paying the arrears of the army, the only body of men which could effect a revolution, the blind obstinacy of Ferdinand and his advisers employed all the money they had been able to collect, in fitting up a second expedition, which was to reinforce the Royalists at Venezuela. The troops which were to embark in the autumn of 1819 had been collecting in Andalusia, then governed by Henry O'Donnell, Count of Abisbal, whose assistance in the restoration of arbitrary power had been rewarded with the military command of that province. The expeditionary army was, consequently, under his command till it should sail from Cadiz, and the various corps had been quartered at no great distance from that residence of the Captain-General.

It will be readily admitted, that a more favourable opportunity could hardly offer itself to the Patriots than the presence of a military division, whose officers were favourably inclined to their cause, and where a general dislike of the service, for which it was intended, was prevalent. The prospect appeared the more favourable as it was credibly reported, that O'Donnell, wishing to atone for the mischief he had done by an excess of loyalty, had volunteered to be the leader of the insurrection. The report was, indeed, well-founded. The Captain-General himself

had fixed a day for proclaiming the constitution, and meetings had been held at his residence for the organization of a temporary government. Some offence, it seems, had been given him at one of these conferences, by the determination of separating the civil from the military command, when the revolutionary government should be established. He had continued, nevertheless, at the head of the conspiracy, and even urged the necessity of anticipating discovery by striking the blow on the 8th, instead of the 15th of July. On the 7th, O'Donnell repaired to Port St Mary's, where all the infantry had been collected by his orders. Sarsfield, his second in command, was to join them, the next morning, in the plain of Palmár, with the cavalry which was quartered at Xerez.

Soon after sunrise, on the 8th, the infantry was drawn up in the place of their rendezvous. The officers who were in the secret could hardly refrain from breaking it to the troops under their command; yet waited with impatience the arrival of the cavalry, and the presence of their general. Both were at length seen at a distance, and approaching in opposite directions. O'Donnell, with his staff, and Sarsfield at the head of the horse, came up at the same moment. But, instead of the expected signal, the cries of Viva el Rey, which were raised by the cavalry as they galloped along the line, were instantly re-echoed by the infantry. The deluded conspirators were immediately called in front of the troops, and Abisbal himself gave the necessary orders for their removal under an escort, to some of the neighbouring fortresses.

The duplicity of Abisbal had rendered such an effectual service to the cause of despotism, and the repeated defeats of the Liberal party had so clearly shown the difficulty of giving an impulse to the lower classes in its favour, that it is quite surprising to find a complete revolution effected within a few months of the event we have related. But the court party were not stupid enough to mistake Abisbal's conduct for pure unalloyed devotion to the crown; nor yet sufficiently politic to secure his services to the king by such rewards as might satisfy his ambition, and make him seal, by his subsequent conduct, the well-merited distrust and hatred to which he was exposed among the Patriots. He was removed from the command of the expeditionary troops, and a man scarcely known by his title of Count Calderon, and much less by any talents displayed in the service, appointed to succeed him.

The reappearance of the yellow-fever at Cadiz, soon after the imprisonment of the patriot officers at Palmár, obliged the government to remove the troops to more healthy spots, at some distance. Arcos was made the head-quarters; the rest of the army was divided between Las Cabezas de San Juan, to the north of that town, and Alcalá de los Gazúles, in the opposite direction. This was considered a favourable opportunity for carrying into execution the same plan which had failed through the treachery of O'Donnell. The members of the secret societies, at Cadiz, engaged to procure the escape of the prisoners, one of whom, Quiroga, had been appointed to be the commander-in-chief of the revolt-

ed army. Riego was, in the meantime, to be placed at the head of the insurrection.

The 1st of January 1820, being fixed upon, the soldiers were gradually gained over by means of the gold with which the officers were supplied from Cadiz. On the morning of that day, Riego drew out the battalion of Asturias, of which he had a temporary command, and having proclaimed the constitution, began his march towards Arcos, where, by the assistance of part of the officers in that town, he intended to seize the general-in-chief. Quiroga, who, it was expected, would be at liberty, by that time, was to march with the forces stationed at Alcalá, to the Isla, and from thence to the gates of Cadiz, which, if he could reach before the news of the insurrection, would be thrown open by some officers of the garrison, now enrolled in the bands of the insurgents. Riego, though arriving at Arcos much later than he had expected, effected the arrest of Calderon, with scarcely any difficulty. Quiroga, being much longer detained in his march, could only take possession of La Isla. Riego advanced to Xerez, thence to Port St Mary's, and finally joined Quiroga. The strength of the patriots was about five thousand men, unsupported by either artillery or cavalry.

The period which followed this junction is one which throws considerable light on the state of the public mind in Spain, and shows the difficulty, which we have pointed out already, of giving an impulse to the great mass, who, influenced by inveterate habits, will take no side in these political struggles.

Five and twenty days had elapsed since the proclamation of the constitution at Las Cabezas, without the revolution making any visible progress. A paper warfare was carried on by the leaders at the Isla, and the authorities at Cadiz; but the patriots were left to their own resources within a very limited spot, while troops were collecting about them, and the activity of the loyalists at Cadiz precluded all hope of assistance from the revolutionists who were within the walls. To rouse the spirit of the country, and spread the flame of the insurrection, Riego proposed to lead a flying column of 1500 men, in such direction as circumstances would allow. Followed by a division of the royalists, who seemed more determined to harass him than to fight, he successively proclaimed the constitution at Chiclana, Conil, Vejer, and Algeciras. Though ordered by Quiroga to march back to the Isla, Riego found it necessary to proceed in the only direction which the royalists had left him. In this situation, however, he spent three days at Vejer, in public balls and banquets, where officers and privates mixed indiscriminately with the town's people. From thence the flying column advanced to Malaga, closely pursued by the enemy. Meeting with no support from the inhabitants, Riego proceeded to Antequera. Harassed by incessant marches, and having sometimes to fight their way through detachments of the enemy's forces, Riego took the determination to push, with the remnant of his force, now reduced, by desertion, to about 300 men, into the fastnesses of Sierra Morena, where they eluded further pursuit by dispersion.

The patriots of the Isla had seen three long months elapse without any prospect of support from their countrymen, and trusting merely on the efforts of the secret societies, which had hitherto appeared unavailing. Mina had, however, entered the valley of Bastán, in Navarre, on the 25th of February. He had been, long before, obliged to fly into France in consequence of a fruitless attempt to overturn the government of Ferdinand, and now he hastened to lend his assistance to the patriots. He found a numerous band ready to follow his standard.

The garrison of Corunna, headed by Don Carlos Espinosa, a colonel of artillery, had risen, about the same time, against the Captain-General of Galicia, and proclaimed the constitution throughout the whole province. Similar movements took place on the first days of March at Zaragoza, Carthagen, Valencia, Murcia, and Granada.

These insurrections, though partial, could not but appal the weak, ignorant, and unpopular party, which surrounded the throne. Had Ferdinand been able to depend on the loyalty of an able general, he still would have found fidelity among the soldiers, and a great part of the officers. It was, however, an expiring feeling which, in the present circumstances of the country, a mere breath could extinguish. Should the general, to whom the command of a central army, which was to be formed in La Mancha, be inclined to betray his charge, the king himself would be obliged, by the constitutionalists of the capital, to save his life by the assumption of their badge, and surrender, at once, at discretion.

Abisbal was still at Madrid; and his late important service gave hopes that he would be faithful to the king, for whose sake he had sacrificed the honour he had pledged to the patriots. It was considered improbable that he would change a fourth time in his politics; and he was, accordingly, invested with the command of the army of La Mancha. But, before he quitted Madrid, on the 3d of March, he had plotted with the colonels and superior officers of the garrison, engaging to declare for the constitution as soon as he should reach Ocaña, where one of his brothers commanded a battalion of infantry. True to this last engagement, Abisbal proclaimed the constitutional system, the day after he had quitted the court. He established a communication with the patriots of La Isla, and left the final completion of the revolution to his reconciled friends, the liberals of Madrid.

The account of the military insurrection at Ocaña did not fail to produce the effect which had been prepared by the constitutionalists of the capital. An immense crowd surrounded the royal palace, who called on Ferdinand to accept the constitution. Things had now come to a point where there was no room for deliberation. The king appeared at the balcony holding a copy of the constitution in his hand, as a pledge of his readiness to swear observance to its laws. As, according to that code, the monarch cannot exercise his portion of authority till he has taken the oath therein prescribed, a committee of government was installed, who should convocate the Cortes, in whose presence alone the king can perform those acts which put him in full possession of his constitutional rights.

Whatever may be the merits of the political system which the success of the Spanish Liberales restored,—whatever the censure which competent and dispassionate judges may pass on the means which ensured their success,—there is something so glorious in the first results of the change, that, for a moment at least, the heart must give itself up to mere feeling, and oblige reflection to shrink and be silent. The instant dispersion of that abominable tribunal, the Inquisition, and the liberation of the state prisoners, whom Ferdinand allowed to linger in confinement, were acts which might ennoble a worse cause than that of the Spanish Liberals. They were performed without delay, and, as far as circumstances permitted, by the hands of the mob—a dangerous instrument indeed, which can never be employed without mischief; but which would lose much of its destructive character if it were only used, as the last resource, in the defence of humanity.

As it has been our study so to perform this rapid sketch, as to put the reader in possession of such facts as may enable him to understand the principles and temper of the two great parties which contend for political power in Spain, we cannot omit the bloody and disgraceful scene which took place at Cadiz on the 10th of March, the day which had been appointed to proclaim the constitution.

The accounts from Madrid had dashed the hopes, with which the unfavourable circumstances of the constitutional troops of La Isla, had flattered the Andalusian royalists. Urged by a blind and ferocious spirit of revenge—perhaps encouraged by some dark hints from persons who could effectually screen them—the partizans of absolute monarchy contrived a plot, of which the absurdity is hardly exceeded by its barbarity.

The Captain-General Freyre, on the receipt of dispatches announcing the King's acceptance of the Constitution, repaired to Cadiz from Port St Mary's, in the afternoon of the 9th of March. The impatience of the triumphant party to have the Constitution proclaimed, scarcely allowed him to postpone that ceremony till the next morning. But a desire that the chiefs of the patriotic army, whom he had invited, should be present, was a sufficient reason to check the eagerness of the people. Quiroga, the patriot general, was, however, too well acquainted with the temper and dispositions of his enemies; to acquiesce in the demand that he should disband his troops, and allow the unarmed soldiers to mix with the citizens, at the ensuing solemnity. Four officers alone, preceded by a flag of truce, were sent to witness the proclamation. Being admitted to the presence of the Captain-General, the evident uneasiness under which they perceived him labouring, and some expressions indicating a degree of anxiety for their safety, had just begun to raise their fears, when the report of musquetry, mixed with the cries of the suffering, or affrighted multitude, suddenly changed suspicion into the most appalling certainty. Freyre hastened out of the house, without providing for the safety of the deputies, who yet were so fortunate as to find the means of escaping the fury of their enemies.

In the mean time, the most atrocious massacre

was taking place in the streets, and in the principal square of Cadiz, where the people had assembled to witness the proclamation. The instruments of this barbarous deed were the privates and non-commissioned officers of two battalions of infantry, called the Guides, and the Loyalists of Ferdinand the Seventh. Instigated, as it is believed, by the governor of the town, and the chiefs of the royalist party, the soldiers had engaged to disperse the multitude, and prevent the intended ceremony. Large quantities of wine and spirits had been sent to the barracks, so that the men were in a state bordering upon intoxication, when they broke out with their arms. From the moment these monsters were loosed, they continued firing, indiscriminately, upon the people, till their ammunition was exhausted. About five hundred persons, men, women, and children, were seen in the streets of Cadiz, dead, dying, or wounded, before the authorities of the place had taken any measure to stop the massacre. Some officers of the Andalusian militia, not on duty, ran, of their own accord, to their barracks, and, drawing up in great haste, part of the men sallied forth into the streets, where they exercised themselves, with the utmost zeal, in protecting the lives of the defenceless citizens, and giving help to the wounded. The author of this article feels the greater satisfaction in recording this act of courage and humanity, as he believes it passed unnoticed, probably because the Andalusian militia had, to the last, remained in the royalist army. He received, at the time, an account of the whole transaction from an eye-witness of unimpeachable veracity. In the evening of the same day, the soldiers who had been employed in the massacre, were marched out of Cadiz. The deputies from the patriotic army, coming forward from their places of concealment, surrendered themselves into the hands of the Captain-General, who, still hoping some favourable turn in the affairs of the royalists, confined them within the Castle of Saint Sebastian. Indeed, so blindly confident were the leaders of that party that the insurrection would yet be quelled, as to have ventured on giving public thanks to the assassins. But the next dispatches from Madrid put an end to their hopes. The deputies were set at liberty. Both Freyre, the Captain-General, and Campana, the governor of Cadiz, were arrested, to take their trial. That trial was, however, delayed till public indignation died away; and we have not heard of any punishment inflicted on the criminals.

The Constitutional System being now completely restored, and in action, the Cortes assembled at Madrid in June 1820, and the King took his solemn oath, before them, on the 9th of the following month.

We might here conclude this article, leaving the task of describing the events of this new era to those who, free from the mists which always envelope and distort the passing transactions of political revolutions, would be able to record them without the danger of being misled by their own prejudices, or the misrepresentations of parties. But we feel that we should not do justice to our readers, did we con-

Spain. clude without attempting a brief sketch of the character and temper of the Government of the Cortes, their chief aims in the reform of the country, and the obstacles which have hitherto opposed their system.

The Cortes Extraordinary, which were convened on the restoration of the constitution, contained most of the patriots who had suffered during the arbitrary reign of Ferdinand—the original contrivers and supporters of the constitution. This was a measure which the military reformers of the Isla could not, and, probably, were not disposed, at that time, to oppose. But the seeds of jealousy between the two parties, the contending claims of the liberators, and those they had set free, could not remain dormant and inactive. The Isla Patriots naturally aspired to the first places and influence in the state: the Old Liberals soon felt their own dependence and inferiority. The Secret Societies were now more active than ever, and a rivalry between the Free-Masons and the Comuneros grew out of the different principles adopted by each of these parties, who, in their character and views, might be compared to the Old Whigs and the Radical Reformers in England. The Free-Masons, however, soon found themselves defeated; and those who had been forced upon Ferdinand, as his Ministers, were displaced to make room for the friends of the Revolutionary army.

The Cortes, though elected under the influence of the triumphant party, and acting under the direction of the popular leaders and their emissaries, who were regularly stationed in the galleries of the House, exhibited a degree of moderation which does honour to the national character. The measures of retaliation were limited, and infinitely less severe than those in which the king's friends had indulged. Even the most violent democrats, those who had placed themselves at the head of the populace, were satisfied, for a time, with the awe into which the Revolution had thrown their opponents. But the numerous conspiracies, subsequently discovered, increasing the fears of the new patriots, a deed of horror was perpetrated at Madrid, on the person of a dignified priest, which, from the perfect indifference shown, upon the occasion, by the existing authorities, we strongly suspect to have been planned by the secret societies. It was indeed evident, since that period, that nothing was done but through their influence in Spain.

Few of these atrocities were needed in that country to paralyze into perfect passiveness a great part of the population, especially among the middle and higher classes, and to revive those habits of silent submission to "the powers that be," which a tyranny of ages had confirmed. Had it been in the power of the new government to establish themselves without encroaching upon the rights of the church, and, thereby, confirming the suspicions of infidelity, under which all denominations of Liberals have long lain among the Spaniards, the resistance to the new order of things would have been limited, at least for a time, to a very inconsiderable and powerless minority of the nation. But, unfortunately for the interests of freedom in Spain, the old political system is too intimately blended with the strongest religious prejudices of the country.

To steer clear of this rock exceeded the powers of human wisdom. The Cortes Extraordinary, as well

as the Ordinary, which succeeded them, contained a large proportion of the talent, though scarcely any of the rank and property, of the country. Most of the clergymen, and perhaps all the lawyers, who had obtained seats, belonged to that class of Spaniards, who, free from religious prejudices, but having no system of their own to support upon these points, would shrink from an open contest with the zealots, without, however, letting pass any opportunity of showing their spite, by a side-blow. The pecuniary wants of the government; the desire of gaining partizans to the constitutional system by the transfer of property, exclusively under its sanction; together with the opportunity which the existing circumstances presented, of indulging the secret, though strong, feelings of aversion to the national system of religion, which rankle in the bosom of every liberal Spaniard, betrayed the Cortes into measures which could not fail to drive the bigots into an open and desperate resistance. One of the first steps against the religious orders was the suppression of those properly called Monks,—such as lived under the Ascetic institutions which preceded the establishment of the mendicant orders in the thirteenth century. As their houses were wealthy, this measure might be suspected to proceed rather from a wish to increase the resources of the government, than from ill will to the establishments themselves, which, besides, had long ceased to be objects of veneration for the mass of the people. But when, in the pure desire of removing the most odious nuisance to which the religion of the country has given birth, the Cortes decreed the abolition of the privileges hitherto enjoyed by the heads of the mendicant orders;—when they limited the number of convents, and subjected the individuals resident in each to a local superior, under the jurisdiction of the diocesan;—when impediments were thrown in the way of taking religious vows, and the admission into the secular clergy, of such as were willing to throw off the cowl, was encouraged;—when even the helpless victims of superstition, the nuns, were protected by the civil magistrate, in case they evinced a desire to break the perpetual imprisonment of the cloister;—the alarm of the bigots was turned into downright frenzy, and even the court of Rome, conscious as it is of its weakness, thought it necessary to resent the insult.

A step, much more questionable both as to its policy and justice, was taken by the Cortes against the church interest, in the abolition of one half of the tithes. Had they appropriated this portion of the church property to the use of the State, the spoliation might have been excused upon the plea of necessity. But the Cortes well knew that the farmers, once freed from the religious feeling which enforces the payment of tithes, would find means to defraud the civil authorities of nearly all the sequestered portion. The measure was, therefore, simply directed to the acquisition of friends to the new order of things.

We mention these detached specimens of the policy of the Cortes, not so much for the sake of their intrinsic importance, as in order to show the temper of the Liberal party, and contrast it with that of their opponents. And here we cannot help lamenting that want of space compels us to omit the details

contained in the Reports of the Ministers, presented to the Spanish legislature in 1821 and 1822, as to the nature and extent of the resistance offered to the present system by one part of the nation. Cautious as they are in their language, and desirous to make light of the influence and resources of their adversaries, one great and important fact is clearly established from their evidence—a fact which has always forced itself upon our conviction, and which, from the knowledge we have of the country, appears to us in the shape of an almost insuperable obstacle to a speedy triumph of freedom in Spain—namely, that the present is a purely religious contest, in which one party engages with all the sincerity and straight-forwardness of zeal, while the other has to defend itself under the disadvantages of unavowed principles, and disguised views.

The Minister of Grace and Justice begins his Report of the 1st March 1822, by declaring that "the evils arising from the existing circumstances of the clergy are of the greatest magnitude." He then proceeds to state the questions that had been agitated between the two courts of Rome and Madrid, giving a long detail of the theological and canonical arguments with which the Pope's objections had been met. Of these points some were yielded to the Spaniards, some absolutely insisted upon. But the most resolute opposition had been made against a decree of the Cortes, prohibiting the remittance of Spanish funds for bulls and dispensations. And here we beg our readers to observe the circumstances of the whole transaction, as highly illustrative of the moral and intellectual relations in which the mass of the Spaniards stand, with the small party who have seized the reins of Government. When the Spanish Minister at Rome communicated this decree to the Papal authorities, he found that two thousand five hundred and forty-one bulls had been stopped for want of payment. Alarmed at the consequences of this spiritual embargo, the Spanish government paid the whole amount of the fees. But the sum had scarcely been laid down when the mail brought fifteen hundred petitions for bulls of the same private nature. Baffled by the irresistible power of religious prejudice, the Spanish Ministers were under the necessity of engaging for the payment of all bulls relating to Spain, until they should be able to compound with his Holiness for an annual sum. The account of this transaction concludes with the following observation of the Minister: "We shall thus be able to stop the contraband in bulls which has been set on foot already, and which is likely to increase the contributions to Rome to a much greater extent than before, as the parties concerned, finding the regular channels obstructed by government, have had recourse to others which, from their private and confidential nature, will require greater sacrifices on the part of the petitioners." We cannot dismiss this topic without observing, that one of the most certain and abundant sources of revenue arises, in Spain, from the sale of an annual bull, called the Bull of the Crusade, which the government (even the liberal government) buy of the Pope, and retail to the people. The Report of the Minister of Finance for the same year observes, that by the Cortes having placed the produce of this pious sale in the

hands of the provincial treasurers, it had diminished from 1,500,000 of reals a month, to about 538,360 of the same money. The re-establishment of the Commissary of the Crusades, a dignified ecclesiastic, into his former authority, had, however, increased the sale to 1,073,674 reals a month.

Whatever might be the caution and timidity of the middle classes of Spain, especially those that are possessed of some wealth, or exercise any lucrative branch of industry, it was impossible that the more violent and daring of the sincere Catholics should remain perfectly inactive under a state of things so discordant with the truly national sentiments and habits. The rabble of the large towns, which is numerous, and quite worthy of that name, had, since the revolution of 1820, been gained over to the constitutionalists; but the peasantry, who, to this day, have shown a general dislike of the new system, would afford a considerable number of active and determined partizans to any who should be ready and able to marshal them under the standard of the Faith,—a word by which the Spaniards denote the Catholic religion, such as it was established in their country. Few months, indeed, had elapsed, when conspiracies were detected in various parts of the country; and Guerilla parties, in support of Religion and the King, were found ranging over the provinces. The seeds of a civil war had thus been brought into activity, and in the opinion of all who are well acquainted with the dilatoriness and obstinacy of the Spaniards, the character and circumstances of the contending parties were, alone, enough to threaten the destruction of every source of power, wealth, and happiness, in that devoted kingdom.

It was not long, however, before a determination was observed, on the part of France, to encourage and support the Spaniards, who were actually in arms, or ready to take them up, against the new system of government. Emigrants were protected on the French side of the frontiers, and enabled to organize themselves into military divisions. The yellow-fever, which attacked Catalonia, in the summer of 1822, afforded a pretext for establishing a Cordon Sanitaire, which might act as an army of observation. French money was employed in raising fresh disturbances in the kingdom; and, it is more than probable, French influence fomented the conspiracy of the Guards, which, on the 7th July of the same year, would have placed the King out of the hands of the Cortes if he had had either the will or the courage to join the troops, who awaited his presence at a short distance from the palace.

A congress of the powers which compose what is known by the name of the Holy Alliance, was, at this time, about to be assembled at Verona. From the character of the governments of Austria, Prussia, and Russia, and their habitual fears of the spirit of political reform, which for the last thirty years has shaken the foundations of all absolute monarchies, it could hardly be imagined that Spain should pass unnoticed at this meeting. Nor was it long before the disclosure of their views and principles, joined to the open avowal of hostile intentions against Spain, on the part of France, evinced a settled and systematic plan for restoring absolute mo-