78] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1814.. 



On October 14, being the king's 

 birth-day, he attended the theatre 

 at Madrid, to the great satisfac- 

 tion of the /jemc inhabitants of the 

 capital. The dramatic piece se- 

 lected for the, occasion is entitled 

 « Giles with the Green Breeches," 

 which certainly does not indicate 

 any thing very elevated. On the 

 same day his Majesty published an 

 amnesty in favour of all persons 

 detained in prison, or fugitives 

 from the kingdom, on account of 

 any other crimes than those recited 

 in a copious list, including high 

 treason, divine and human, resist- 

 ance to justice, peculation in the 

 finances, and other defaults, which 

 would exclude from the benefit all 

 the subjects of the late arrests. In 

 the mean time these arrests were 

 still going on, and included seve- 

 ral distinguished general officers ; 

 while frequent changes in the 

 ministry denoted the unsettled 

 state of public afiairs, and the im- 

 becility of the monarch. One of 

 these instances of despotic violence 

 was displayed on Nov. 7th, when 

 the king in person repaired to M. 

 de Macanaz, minister of justice 

 and of the interior, and putting 

 seals upon all his papers, ordered 

 him to go to prison. Nothitig 

 could more decisively exhibit the 

 weakness and petty policy of the 

 king of his ministry, than the 

 importance given to a pamphlet 

 by M. Amaros, entitled " Repre- 

 sentation to Ferdinand VII." The 

 Supreme Council being ordered to 

 take measures for seizing all the 

 copies of this work, circulars were 

 sent to all the tribunals, civil and 

 criminal, and to the prelates and 

 clergy, enjoining them to carry 

 into effect his Majesty's wishes 

 concerning it. In consequence, the 

 work was very generally read, and 



many copies of it were preserved 

 in manuscript. Conformably to 

 this exercise of the sovereign au- 

 thority, the government made i^ 

 collection of all the papers which 

 recorded the operations of the 

 Cortes, especially the liberal jour- 

 nals entitled " I'Albesa," " el Re- 

 dactor," " el Conciso." " el Uni- 

 versal," &c. and caused them tO' 

 be conveyed in two carriages to a 

 square in Madrid, where they were 

 committed to the flames with all 

 the formalities formerly practised 

 at an auto dafe. 



A more important matter, how-. 

 ever, had long been under the 

 consideration of the Spanish mini-, 

 stry, which was, the fitting out of 

 an expedition for the reduction of 

 the revolted provinces in South 

 America. Various obstacles oc- 

 curred to this undertaking, arising 

 from the exhausted state of the 

 finances, and the public disorders ; 

 but late in the year the prepara- 

 tions appear to have been nearly 

 completed, and the following ac- 

 count was given of its intended 

 conduct and destination. The ex- 

 pedition, under the command of 

 General Morillas, was to sail from 

 Cadiz in three divisions, convoyed 

 by a ship of the line, two frigates, 

 and a brig, and the island of St. 

 Catharine was appointed for the 

 general rendezvous. From thence 

 the troops were to embark for Rio 

 Grande, and having proceeded up 

 that river in small vessels as far as 

 it is navigable, they were to march 

 over land, and undertake the siege 

 of Maldonado, a place one hundred 

 miles to the east of Montevideo, in 

 which the naval force was to co- 

 operate. 



In December the sentence upon 

 the state prisoners was made pub- 

 lic at Madrid. Twenty-one per- 



