GENERAL HISTORY. 



17- 



much disturbed, after it had been 

 freed from the public enemy. The 

 high roads were so much infested 

 by these banditti, that several 

 towns having petitioned govern- 

 ment to take effectual measures 

 for the suppression of this evil, a 

 force of infantry and cavalry was 

 sent in the month of September, 

 into the provinces of the two Cas- 

 tilles, Estremadura, Andaltisia, 

 Arragon, Valencia, and Catalonia, 

 for the extermination of the of- 

 fenders. At the same time an 

 official order was issued, empower- 

 ing the commanders of these 

 troops to act without waiting for 

 orders from the governors of the 

 provinces, and establishing in each 

 a permanent council of war, by 

 which all persons arrested were to 

 be immediately tried ; and it was 

 declared, that " the confronting of 

 witnesses was not necessary, un- 

 less the advocate of the accused 

 should represent it as indispensably 

 requisite for their vindication." 

 The sentences of this court were 

 to be communicated to the go- 

 vernor of the province, and unless 

 he disapproved, execution was to 

 take place without delay. But in 

 case of resistance by force, the 

 execution might be ordered by the 

 military commission, without any 

 other authority. It can scarcely 

 be doubted, that this arbitrary 

 rigour was chiefly directed against 

 more formidable insurgents than 

 robbers on the highway. In the 

 mean time the political discontents 

 a|)ppar to have been increasing in 

 the ca])ital, where, in the night 

 between the Kith and 17th of 

 September, ninety persons were 

 arrested and committed to custodyi 

 The prisons not being capacious 

 fcnough to contain them all, the 



Franciscan convent was converted 

 into a state prison ; and the alarm 

 excited by these measures, induced 

 many persons to take refuge in 

 France. 



The province of Navarre at 

 length became the seat of an in- 

 surrection which appeared in a 

 truly formidable aspect. The fa- 

 mous partizan, Espoz de Mina, 

 who had so much distinguished 

 himself in the war by his enter- 

 prize and courage, was at the 

 head of a body of troops in that 

 province, and had fallen under the 

 suspicion of government. It ap- 

 pears from the proclamation of the 

 viceroy of Navarre, that an order 

 had been sent from court on Sep- 

 tember Kith, signifying that Mina 

 should be regarded as a retired 

 officer, and fix his residence in 

 Pampeluna, and that the troops 

 serving under him should be 

 placed at the disposal of the 

 captain genei'al of Arragon, and 

 distributed by him in the towns 

 under his command. This order 

 was communicated to Mina on 

 the 23rd by the viceroy, who at the 

 same time sent a dispatch to the 

 governor of Arragon, stating the 

 urgent necessity of transferring 

 Mina's troops to other quarters. 

 On the 25th, he was informed by 

 the Arragon courier, that he had 

 been stopped by two horsemen, 

 who had taken away his bag of 

 letters. Mina, who had signified 

 to the viceroy his purpose of 

 obeying the order, and coming to 

 Pampeluna, approached that city 

 on the night of the 26th, at the 

 head of the first regiment of vo- 

 lunteers, provided with ladders to 

 scale the ramparts, and having 

 concerted his plan with the chiefs 

 of the 4th regiment, in garrison 



