68] 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 18U. 



Paper, entitled The Conciso), two 

 parties exist in Spain. The one 

 consists of those who love and sup- 

 port the political reforms which 

 have taken place; the other, of 

 those who either oppose, or hypo- 

 critically pretend to cherish them." 

 The writer goes on to say, that for 

 more than twenty months, the 

 enemies of reform endeavoured, 

 under the pretext of religion, to 

 stigmatize its promoters with the 

 appellation of heretics, atheists, and 

 deists; and finding that this did 

 not answer their purpose, they 

 added the titles of jacobins and re- 

 publicans, and propagated the be- 

 lief, that those who had planned a 

 constitutional monarchy, wished to 

 leave a kinej out of the scheme. 

 He further observes, that the per- 

 sons disaffected to the new institu- 

 tion had formed a junction with 

 the Frenchified party ; and that 

 they would doubtless attempt to 

 instil into the mind of Ferdinand 

 notions, which had brought ruin 

 upon Charles IV. and Maria 

 Louisa. If the Conciso, as being 

 under the influence of the Cortes, 

 bore somewhat of the stamp of 

 a party paper, it is certain that 

 events too well verified the state- 

 ment and prediction here made. 



The long continuance of Ferdi- 

 nand at Valencia in the month of 

 April, manifestly gave uneasiness 

 to the inhabitants of Madrid, where 

 it was a general question, When 

 ^ill his Majesty swear to the Con- 

 stitution ? and rumours of the most 

 opposite kinds were propagated on 

 this point. At this time the French 

 papers were continually publishing 

 paragraphs in favour of the royal 

 party against the popular. Thus, 

 under the head of Barcelona, it is 

 •aid, •• The Cortes preserve a me- 

 nacing attitude^ and wishto impose 



upon the Sovereign conditions 

 which the dignity ©f the crown 

 cannot admit. The new Consti- 

 tution is really republican : the 

 executive power is so limited and 

 checked, that it is impossible the 

 machine can support itself." The 

 Duke del Infantadohad now joined 

 the King at Valencia, and was 

 followed by most of the grandees, 

 and many prelates also repaired to 

 his court. The Cortes, becoming 

 more and more suspicious and 

 anxious, dispatched two letters to 

 the King, expressing their earnest 

 desire that he would assume the 

 reins of Government, according to 

 the Constitution, and representing 

 the mischievous consequences that 

 would result from a longer delay, 

 to which it does not appear that 

 they received any answer. 



At length all suspeiice and doubt 

 was terminated by a declaration, of 

 considerable length, which Ferdi- 

 nand issued at Valencia on the 4th 

 of May. This paper began with 

 a summary recital of all that had 

 happened from the time of his first 

 receiving the oath of allegiance of 

 the Spanish people to his being 

 detained captive in France, with 

 the subsequent events down to 

 the installation of the General 

 and Extraordinary Cortes in the 

 Isle of Leon, on Sept. 24th, 1810. 

 To this body, " assembled in a 

 manner never used in Spain, even 

 in the most arduous cases, and the 

 most turbulent times," was ascrib- 

 ed an usurpation of all the public 

 authority, by means of which it 

 imposed upon the nation the yoke 

 of a new Constitution, in which 

 were copied the revolutionary and 

 democratic principles of the French 

 Constitution of 1791, and which 

 sanctioned, not the fundamental 

 laws of a moderate monarchy, but 



