604 



SPAIN 



led him to resign his crown in 1 724 to his son Louis, 

 or. whotie death, after a reign of a few months, 

 Philip resumed power. The entire government 

 was in the hands of his second queen, Is.-ibd 

 Farnese, and her minister Alberoni. Their whole 

 policy wan directed to (lie establishment of lier 

 sons in Italy as dnke of Parma and kin;: f 

 Naples and Sicily. In this she succeeded, hut 

 the gain was simply for the House of Uourl>on ; it 

 brought no advantage to Spain. To Philip V. 

 succeeded his son Ferdinand VI. (1746-59). His 

 choice of ministers was good, and his avoiding 

 war gave the country an opportunity of internal 

 development. This led to the greater reforms of 

 his half-brother Charles III. (1/59-88). He had 

 already been successively duke of Parma and 

 king of Naples and Sicily, and his wax the most 

 nourishing of all the Bourbon reigns. He brought 

 with him his Italian ministers, (irimaldi and 

 Esquilache, who made the policy of the early part 

 of his reign too subservient to that of France. 

 Afterward* he gathered round him the most intej- 

 ligent Spaniards of his day. Superetitiously reli- 

 gions though he was in private life, his reign was 

 yet notable for the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1757, 

 for reasons which have never been clearly explained. 

 The years 1764-66 were marked by reforms in the 

 administration of the colonies, where great abuses 

 existed. Only 840,000 dollars out of a revenue of 

 4 millions really entered the treasury. These 

 revenues rose shortly from 6 million to 20 million 

 dollars for Mexico alone. His home policy was 

 equally successful: new manufactures were estab- 

 lished, roads were improved, more beneficial com- 

 mercial treaties were made, banks were introduced, 

 and population increased with wealth. Through 

 fear of the movement spreading to her own colonies, 

 Spain wisely remained neutral during the war of 

 independence of the United States. The foreign 

 evente of the greatest importance were a fruitless 

 expedition to Algiers in 1 775, the recovery of Minorca 

 in 1782, and the fruitless siege and blockade of 

 ( Jibniltar ( 1 779-82). The great defect of this reign 

 was that nearly all Charles's ministers were afran- 

 cetados; their reforms were based rather on the 

 theories of the French encyclopedists than on the 

 real needs and the principles of liberty still existing 

 in Spain. There was a wide gulf between the edu- 

 cated classes and the body of the nation. Charles 

 IV. (1788-1808) retained for a short time bis father's 

 ministers ; but they were soon replaced by Godoy, 

 whose unbounded influence over Charles and his 

 queen, limitless greed, and shameless su)>servience 

 to the French, especially to Napoleon, brought the 

 nation to the verge of ruin. He not only accumu- 

 lated almost all offices in his own person, but in 

 secret schemes with Napoleon bargained for himself 

 half of Portugal as an independent kingdom, or a 

 hereditary viceroyalty in America. On the out- 

 break of the French Revolution, in spite of ties of 

 blood and of old treaties, Charles IV. wax the last 

 to protest against the overthrow of royalty and the 

 execution of Louis XVI. A campaign was then 

 begun on the Pyrenean frontier in 1793, with some 

 success at first, changed to defeat as soon as the 

 Republic could spare forces to turn against her 

 southern neighbour. In 1795 the pence of Basel 

 gained for (Jodoy his title of Prince of Peace; and 

 the treaty of Ildefonso (1796) hound Spain to an 

 offensive and defensive alliance with France against 

 England. The result was disastrous. In 1797 

 Jervis won the naval battle ,,f St Vincent: Trini- 

 dad was taken, anil Cadiz Iximharded. But Nelson 

 was repulsed at TenerifTe, Puerto Rico was pre- 

 served, and the expeditions of Beresford and White- 

 locke in La Plata eventually failed. The com- 

 merce and communications of Spain with her 

 colonies was almost wholly destroyed. A scan- 



dalous quarrel lietween Charles IV. and his son 

 Ferdinand (IK07) augmented the hatred of th 

 nation against (Jodoy. All three part ic- appealed 

 to Napoleon for his arbitration and intervention. 

 In view of the utter degradation of the crown 

 many of the Iwst men in Spain UOieved that a. 

 short rule by Napoleon might Mem the tide of cor- 

 ruption. The royal family and the favourite 

 attempted (light, but this 'was prevented by a 

 popular outbreak at Aranjucz. ( Jodoy wns hurled 

 from jx>wer. Charles \\ . alnlicated in favour of 

 his son, Ferdinand VII., March 17, 1808. French 

 troops entered Madrid. Charles IV., his queen, 

 and son Ferdinand, with Codoy, were summoned 

 to Bayonne. There the crown was renounced by 

 Ferdinand in favour of his father, who in turn ceded 

 it to Napoleon. But on May 2 an unsuccessful out- 

 break in Madrid had begun the war of liberation, 

 and Napoleon had to face a nation in arms. June 

 6, Joseph Bonaparte was proclaimed king of Spain. 

 Nominally he reigned till ISIS, but the Juntas, 

 the representatives of the nation, acknowledged 

 only the captive Ferdinand VII. For details of 

 the French occupation of Spain, their forcible ex- 

 pulsion by Spanish, Portuguese, and English, see 

 MOORE, WKI.LINGTON, PKMVM i \u \\"AK, AC. 

 While these operations were going on, the patriots, 

 were making great efforts to reform the govern- 

 ment, and to give more real liberty to the people. 

 The task was difficult; the al>solutist party was 

 still strong, and the liberals were divided ; but the 

 Constitution of Cadiz of 1812 is really the com- 

 mencement of modern Spain. When Ferdinand 

 returned in March 1814, he found the absolutists 

 still powerful enough to enable him to reject .the 

 constitution to which he had sworn, to re-establish 

 the Inquisition, and to remove all restrictions t<> 

 his rule. An insurrection headed by Riego and 

 Quiroga forced him to accept the Constitution from 

 1820 to 1823, but through the mistakes of the 

 liberals, with the aid of 100,000 French soldiers 

 under the Due d' Angouleme, he regained his autho- 

 rity, and remained absolute master till his death. 

 In December 1829 the childless Ferdinand married 

 his fourth wife, Christina of Naples. Up to thin 

 time his brother, Don Carlos, had been considered 

 heir. In prospect of issue, Ferdinand promulgated 

 (March 31, 1830) the pragmatic law of Charles 

 IV., 1789, restoring the old law of Spanish succes- 

 sion. In Septemlier 1832 he revoked this sanction, 

 but again recalled his revocation. Don Carlos was 

 exiled to Portugal. April 4, 1833, Cortes acknow- 

 ledged Ferdinand's daughter Isabella as heir to the 

 throne, with her mother as recent. Ferdinand 

 died 29th September 1833. During his reign the 

 w hole of Spanish continental America was lost (see 

 AMERICA, Vol. I. p. 224, PERU, &c.), and of all the 

 vast colonies there remained only ( 'ubn, Porto Rico, 

 the Philippine, Caroline, and Mariana islands, Fer- 

 nando Po, the Canaries, and a few ports and towns 

 in Africa and the Straits. The opinion of Europe, 

 which in 1823 bad been conservative, and had en- 

 abled Ferdinand to regain absolutism by French 

 help, hail in 1833-40 liecome liberal, anil this, with 

 English help far more than the skill of her own 

 armies, enabled Christina to vanquish Don Carlos; 

 but her government was far from strong, revolt* 

 and pronH>ii-iiiiiii<-iifiix, l>oth by liberals and con- 

 servatives, were continually occurring. Monks were 

 massacred in Madrid and Catalonia in 1834-35; 

 church property was confiscated. The constitution 

 of 1812, enlarged in 1836, was sworn by Isabella 

 on attaining her majority in 1843. The marriage 

 of the queen to her cousin, Francisco de .Wisi, 

 and of her sister to the Due de Montpensier, 

 only weakened her position. Successive ministries 

 rose or fell from power, all inefficient or corrupt. 

 Narvaez in 1844 showed some energy. O'Donnell 



