116] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1815. 
reduced, and its thronetoo weakly 
filled, to take an active part on 
the occasion; and it was not till 
the month of May that Ferdinand 
VII. ventured to declare himself 
united with the allied powers who 
published the declaration of March 
13th. This manifesto was cha- 
racterised by the feeble and cir- 
cumstantial prolixity common in 
the state papers issued by the Spa- 
nish court; and the nation was 
particularly called upon tointerest 
itself in the war, as being under- 
taken against an enemy of reli- 
gion, It is scarcely necessary to 
say that the dreaded invader was 
vanquished long before Spain was 
in any condition to assist in the 
conflict. Previously to this war- 
like manifesto, the Spanish minis- 
ter at Vienna had presented to 
Prince Metternich a requisition 
on the part of the King for the 
delivery of the States of Parma, 
Placentia, and Guastalla, then oc- 
cupied by Austrian troops, to the 
Infant Charles Louis, King of 
Etruria, as their lawful possessor. 
The reasoning on which this de- 
mand was founded turned upon the 
facts, that the powers who by the 
treaty of Fontainebleau bestowed 
these Duchies upon the Arch- 
duchess Maria Louisa, disposed 
of what did not belong to them, 
since military occupation confers 
no right ; and that the same pow- 
ers having by their declaration in 
congress on March 13th announ- 
ced that the above treaty was 
broken by the forcible entrance of 
Buonaparte into France, it can no 
longer be an obstacle to an act of 
just restitution, From a subse- 
quent protest to the Spanish mi- 
nister dated June 5th, it appears 
that the congress had paid no at- 
tention to this requisition; and 
had likewise offended his Catholic 
Majesty by recommending to him 
the cession of Olivenza to Portu- 
gal. Such was the degree of es- 
timation in which this govern- 
ment was held abroad ! 
At home, the system of rigor- 
ous and unrelenting persecution 
was still persisted in against the 
whole party of Jiberales, together 
with the re-establishment of ci- 
vil and ecclesiastical authority, in 
its most arbitrary forms. These 
measures, though long passively 
submitted to, at length produced 
an insurrection which at first put 
on a formidable appearance. Ge- 
neral Juan Diez Porlier, who ob- 
tained great distinction in the war 
for independence under the name 
of the Marquesito, had incurred 
the suspicion of the restored mo- 
narchy, and undergone confine- 
ment for a year in the castle of 
St. Antonio. Having obtained 
permission to visit a bathing- 
place on account of his health, on 
September 18th, at night, he as- 
sembled the troops quartered at 
St. Lucia, without the gates of 
Corunna, and entering the city 
early on the next morning, he 
placed the Governor, the Captain- 
general, and a few other persons 
under arrest. Tranquillity being 
restored, he issued a proclama- 
tion addressed to the soldiers of 
the Galician army, in which he 
inveighed severely against the 
conduct of Government since the 
return of Ferdinand, and propos- 
ed the removal of the ministers, 
and the re-establishment of the 
Cortes. A long manifesto to the 
same effect was also addressed to 
the Spanish nation, purporting to 
be from the Provincial Junta of 
