ANNUAL 
trance into France had no other 
object than to support the throne 
of Louis XVIII. and the integrity 
of his kingdom. At the same 
time another Spanish army under 
Gen. Castanos crossed the fron- 
tier on the side of Perpignan. So 
little, however, was such aid de- 
sired, that the Duke of Angou- 
leme, in an interview with the lat- 
ter commander, persuaded him to 
march back into Spain. Count 
Avisbal being informed of this 
transaction by Lieut.-Gen. Count 
de Viomesnil, announced that as 
soon as he should receive official 
notice of it from General Casta- 
nos, he would also repass the Bi- 
dassoa. This intention he put 
in execution on Sept. 4th, after 
having addressed a letter to Count 
Viomesnil, in which he extols the 
discipline observed by his troops 
whilst in France, who were nei- 
ther provoked by the menaces of 
the local authorities, nor by the 
recollection of the enormities 
practised by the troops of Buo- 
naparte in Spain, to acts of hosti- 
lity. His letter concludes with 
the wish that the King of France 
may not one day have to repent of 
being deprived of the assistance 
of 80,000 Spaniards. This must 
appear mere vapouring, at a time 
‘when the presence of nearly a mil- 
lion of foreign troops had quelled 
all resistance to the Bourbons ; 
and it is difficult to discover the 
motive of this invasion of the 
french territory, which must have 
excited high indignation in all 
parties, and would have been 
powerfully resisted, unless it were 
that of seeming, though late, to 
do something in the cause of the 
allies, and earning a subsidy. 
The disgrace of several persons 
118] 
REGISTER, 1815. 
who had been favourites of the 
King, and the dismissal of some 
ministers, immediately after Por- 
lier’s insurrection, were thought 
to indicate an intended change in 
the measures of government; and 
a free pardon to the confined Jibe- 
rales, and even a restoration of 
the Cortes were fondly predicted, 
especially as it was known that 
the allied powers disapproved the 
policy which had been pursued in 
Spain. Nothing of this kind, 
however, took place ; and the re- 
mainder of the year exhibited the 
same predominance of arbitrary 
principles, superstition, and re- 
sistance to improvement, which 
had re-plunged this country into 
its former state of degradation.— 
The character of the monarch was 
exhibited in a peculiarly odious 
light by the despotic rigour which 
he personally exercised upon the 
state prisoners. Having given 
orders that the trials of the libe- 
rales should be concluded within 
a fixed period, and that he should 
be consulted with regard to the 
sentences to be pronounced, he 
was greatly dissatisfied on being 
told that nothing appeared in evi- 
dence to convict the accused, and 
that it would be consonant to 
royal clemency to cast a veil over 
the past, and restore them to li- 
berty. This recommendation only 
induced him to transfer the causes 
to another tribunal, to which he 
referred the consideration whether 
they were not comprised in cer- 
tain laws relative to traitors and 
the exciters of tumults and dis- 
turbances. Receiving a reply that 
none of those who had been seized 
were guilty of offences of that na- 
ture, the king, in a rage, ordered 
the clerk of the court to bring to 
