1824.J 



to gwern Spain in qnality of regent, 

 and in llie name of Ferdinand ^'11. 

 during the alleged captivity of tbe 

 latter. 



The Congress of Verona no\r 

 assemljled, and its object was no 

 otligr than to exterminate, to its very 

 root, tiie Spanish Constitution. The 

 Count d'Espagne presented himself 

 as representative of Terdiuand VII. 

 in concert \vitU the iVIarqnis de Casa 

 Irujo, amtiassador from the constitu- 

 tional government of Spain to the 

 French court. Before his journey to 

 Verona, he was a constant attendant 

 on AI. de Casa Irujo ; imd they have 

 been seen several times in the same 

 carriage, going to tiie Pavilion 

 Marsan. 



France was commissioned by the 

 Congress of Verona to strike the blow 

 on Spain ; and its first step was to esta- 

 Ijlish on tlie frontier a formidable army, 

 wliieh assumed the name of Cordon 

 Sunitaire. This measure filled all true 

 Spanish patriots with suspicion; but the 

 ministry seemed to have inherited, if 

 not the perfidy, at least the culpable 

 iiejfligence, of those who had preceded 

 them. Tlie ministerial dcspafcbes re- 

 j)eatedly expressed, and the Count de 

 Lagarde repeatedly aliirnied, that the 

 army of the Pyrenees was only a mea- 

 sure of precaution required by the 

 sanitary laws of France; and that, as 

 Boon as the yellow fever of Barcelona 

 peased, the army would retire. The 

 ministers slumbered ; nothing was done 

 to extricate the army from the disor- 

 d(;r in which the previous ministry had 

 loll it; l!ic strong places had been dis- 

 raanlled. and no steps were taken to 

 restore them. The national army of 

 Ihc interior required arms, and none 

 were given ; in short, instead of mak- 

 ing preparations to arrest the torrent 

 that approached with an alarming rapi- 

 (Uty, the ministry were only occupied 

 witii party (jU'irrcls, ridiculous in- 

 trigues, and in distrilmting places of 

 (rust to their dependents. Thus, with 

 the exception of the army of Cata- 

 lonia, commanded by the immortal 

 RIiNy*, not one elfective body of troops 

 was opposed to the army of the Faith, 

 whieli already occupied an cxtcjnsive 

 territory in several |)rovinces of tlie 

 Poninsuli. iM.de San Miguel, in the 

 cnnlidential communications which he 

 had with his Iriends, maintained, uilh 

 the greatest conli(lenc<', that the 

 Curilon •Sttnituire was only what it 

 professed lo be, and that it ought not 



The Last Days of Spain, I3 



to excite the slightest suspicion in the 

 friends of liberty. At this epoch the 

 famous O'Donncll, Count de I'Abisbal, 

 who lived in a remote village, doomed 

 to the contempt of all parties, was 

 called to couit for the purpose of 

 exercising the important olfice of 

 Inspector General of the Infantry, 

 He happened to be at the head of a 

 cur[is which he had strictly disciplined, 

 when the invasion of the French 

 troops into the Peninsula excited tiie 

 revolution of 1808. O'Donnell made 

 his first campaign with distinction, 

 and, from the scarcity of active and in- 

 telligent chiefs then required by the 

 Spanish nation, he was created gene- 

 ral, and obtained the command of a 

 division. After the action of Abis- 

 bal, which, in itself, was of trilling im- 

 portance, he wn.s created by the Cortes 

 count of the same name, and member 

 of the Council of Kegenc^'. Shortly 

 after, Ferdinand entered Spain, and, 

 ungrateful tov.ards a nation which had. 

 made so many s:.ciifiees lo restore him 

 to liberty, annulled the contract of the 

 people, and persecuted the very men 

 to whom he owed his existence. All 

 eyes turned towards Abisbal, who, 

 being at the head of a powerful army, 

 might have compelled Ferdinand to 

 return to his duty, and hiive given the 

 signal of a salutary reaction to all the 

 military forces which covered the 

 Peninsula. Abisbal was at too great 

 a distance from the road which the 

 king was to pursue, to enable him to 

 observe his motions, and regulate his 

 conduct according to that of the 

 monarch. To obviate this inconveni- 

 ence, he sent an officer of his staff 

 with two letters to the king, who had 

 stopped for a few days at Valencia. 

 In one, on the supposition that he 

 would take the oath to agree to the 

 Constitution, Abisbal made a pompous 

 eulogy of this political code ; and in 

 the other, which was to be given in 

 case the king had abolished the Con- 

 stitutional system, he represented the 

 system itself as a scheme of anarchy 

 and confusion, congratulated him on 

 Jiis exterminating it, and oflered him- 

 self and army to op])ose the rebels, 

 demagogues, and enemies of the 

 throne and altar, 'i'he ofTicer, of 

 course, delivered this second despatch, 

 which was cordially received by the 

 monarch, who, on his arrival at 

 Madrid, sent for Abisbal to court. 



On his return to Madrid, wlioro 



every one was acquainted with the 



dttaiis 



