664 SPAIN AND HER FACTIONS. 



It need hardly be averred, that the directing spirit of the apostolical 

 party are the priesthood ; and it is a curious reflection, that the same 

 party, which had exerted their influence so strenuously and so success- 

 fully in purging the Peninsula of the legions of Napoleon, and whose 

 war-cry was then liberty, independence, and national honour, should 

 have since so far lost sight of the principles which actuated them in that 

 struggle, as to join their former enemies in a crusade for the extirpation 

 of every scintillation of political freedom, on the very scene from whence 

 they had so lately driven them, their native country. This, at first 

 sight, seems contradictory, but the fact is, that while the apostolicals in the 

 war of independence used every means of warfare againsttheFrench,which 

 the most ruthless hatred could suggest, it was no less as the foes of their 

 supremacy and dominion, than as the invaders of their country that they 

 regarded them ; and, indeed, the circumstances which induced them to 

 fraternize with the French in 1823, for the subjugation of their country- 

 men, not only shows, that whatever patriotism they may have ever pos- 

 sessed, had merged into a selfish prosecution of the interests of a cabal, 

 but likewise infers a doubt, whether any part of their former exertions 

 resulted so much from regard for their country's honour, as from 

 national antipathy and fear of the revolutionary tendencies of a compro- 

 mise with the invader. ;fcri-;mfn sd'j'io yfaod JBSTQ 



The secular ingredients of this party may not be very inaccurately 

 estimated, as comprising a considerable proportion of the lower orders 

 of the population throughout the country, a portion of the grandera, 

 and a great majority of the government empleados:* these last form a 

 very numerous body, and, as almost every emplea is obtained through 

 intrigue or partizanship, they have naturally, since the apostolical revo- 

 lution of 1823, been filled by the well-affected to its principles. One of 

 the first measures of the apostolical government, on its resuscitation, was 

 to create a militia for the defence of the re-established order of things : 

 this armed body, called the Royalist Volunteers, consists, in most parts 

 of Spain, of the veriest dregs of society ; they are universally looked 

 upon, notwithstanding their designation and the object and intention of 

 their enrolment, as the body-guard of the church, and as the sworn 

 champions of its ultraism, " per fas et ncfas." This opinion is in the 

 main correct, but there is no doubt, that there are many persons who 

 help to swell their ranks, who have no further reason for so doing, than 

 either the object of pay and equipment, or to obviate suspicion of an in- 

 clination to liberalism. 



This body, the praetorian bands of Spain, are justly considered as a 

 fit object for apprehension on the part of the king's government. Though 

 their appellation would infer them to be a defence and support to the 

 throne, they are viewed, and with apparent reason, as the physeque and 

 most dangerous instrument of the Curlists. Several conspiracies, in 

 favour of that prince,t have from time to time been divulged, in which 



* Official employes. Such situation are the day-dreams of every Spaniard; the 

 pay is generally small, but sufficient for the limited necessities of the crowds of 

 Don Fulanos, whose happiness is centrated in a cegaritto, the Cafe, the Paseo, and 

 the Siesta. The duties usually correspond with the feasibility, of their enjoyments. 



f In the month of November, 1830, several hundred circulars were found at the 

 post-office at Madrid, directed to every part of the Peninsula, calling upon the 

 Carlists to rise on a fixed day, to massacre the liberals and to overthrow the 

 government. Two days afterwards a printing press was discovered, in an obscure 



