SPAIN. 



339 



and the clergy. On the other hand, some parts of 

 the country were disturbed by popular excesses. In 

 March, 1821, began the second session of the cortes, 

 which, in April, declared the whole country in dan- 

 ger, and in a state of siege. The command of the 

 armed force was now given to Morillo, and quiet was 

 in some measure restored. But the ultra-liberals, or 

 exaltados, as they were called, were not a little ex- 

 cited by the events in Naples and Piedmont, in 

 1821 ; and the kingdom was in so disturbed a state 

 that an extraordinary cortes was summoned in Sep- 

 tember. In the summer, Catalonia was desolated 

 by a yellow fever, which, since 1800, had prevailed 

 almost every year in the southern parts of Spain. 

 At the same time, Mexico declared itself indepen- 

 dent ; Lima was occupied by the Chileans, under 

 San Martih ; and the Spanish part of the island of 

 St Domingo was lost by its union with Hayti. Un- 

 der these circumstances the government wished to 

 temporize ; but the comuneros, or the party of the 

 adherents of the constitution, at the head of whom 

 were don Romero Alpuente and don Diaz de Mo- 

 rales, made complaints of the weakness and mistakes 

 of the ministers, and the cortes, in December, 1821, 

 requested the king to appoint an abler ministry. 

 He at last yielded, in 1822 : on the other hand, the 

 cortes passed several laws by which the descamisados, 

 who were in favour of a republic, were disarmed. 

 The absolutistas alone, though beaten every where 

 by the troops of the government, could not be en- 

 tirely suppressed; the cortes declared themselves 

 ready, at the same time (Jan., 1822), to acknow- 

 ledge America as a kingdom independent of Spain, 

 but united with her under a common sovereign, Fer- 

 .dinand VII. ; but the deputies sent to America could 

 effect nothing on these conditions. The session of 

 the extraordinary cortes was concluded February 

 14, 1822. In the third session of the cortes, from 

 March 1 to June 20, 1822 (during the first month 

 under the presidency of general Riego),the moderate 

 liberal party prevailed at the outset, and tranquillity 

 was gradually restored to the internal affairs of the 

 country, when it began to be threatened from with- 

 out. The strong sanitary cordon of French troops 

 along the Pyrenees, and the intrigues of the ex- 

 iles, led the government to suspect that the dis- 

 turbances excited among the peasants in Navarre 

 and Catalonia, by priests and monks, were insti- 

 gated by the French government. Bands of soldiers 

 of the faith, so called, who, under political pretences, 

 frequently committed robbery on the high-ways, in- 

 fested other parts of the country. The cortes there- 

 fore armed the volunteer national guards. They 

 were every where victorious; but the pecuniary re- 

 sources were chiefly in the hands of the supporters 

 of despotism. Most of the educated classes be- 

 longed to the comuneros. The freemasons formed 

 also a powerful party, and were in possession of 

 most of the offices, while the friends of absolute 

 power instigated the democrats, particularly the 

 zurriagists so called from the Gazette termed Zur- 

 riago (a whip), to excesses which they hoped would 

 disgust the moderate party with constitutional 

 liberty. The Landaburu club, in which terrorism 

 was recommended, became important. Discontent 

 was kindled against the ministry, which attached 

 itself particularly to the freemasons ; and, in July, 

 1822, the friends of absolute government dared to 

 attempt the overthrow of the constitution, with 

 the assistance of the royal guards ; but the national 

 guards frustrated their project. The royal guards, 

 in spite of the opposition of Murillo, their com- 



mander, entered Madrid July 7; but Balleste- 

 ros, at the head of the national guards, defeated 

 them, and they fled into the royal palace : but 

 the king, who favoured them originally, now 

 showed himself irresolute. They were unable to 

 resist the popular force, but would have been al- 

 lowed to retire, if they had not again fired on the 

 national guards, who then fell upon them, and 

 killed or wounded the greater part of them. On 

 the 8th, every thing appeared calm. The anilleros, 

 or moderate party, who had been in favour of a 

 chamber of peers, and the extension of the royal 

 power, now joined the popular party (the comu- 

 neros'). All the ministers resigned, as the king had 

 offended them by keeping them confined in sepa- 

 rate rooms in his palace during the insurrection of 

 the guards. The new ministers acted in conformity 

 with the views of the comuneros; and the king, 

 whose authority had sunk entirely since July 7, 

 approved of every thing which they proposed. 

 Many persons of rank, including some bishops, were 

 banished. General Elio was executed ; but the 

 guards were treated with much mildness. The 

 king again declared his adherence to the constitu- 

 tion ; but the apostolical troops in Biscay, Navarre 

 and Catalonia, continued their revolting cruelties. 

 Under the marquis Mataflonda a regency of the 

 friends of absolute government was established at 

 Seco d'Urgel, near the French frontier, in August 



1822. It issued orders, in the name of the " impri- 

 soned" king, for the restoration of every thing to 

 the state in which it had been before March 7, 

 1820. The troops of the apostolical party, after 

 much bloodshed, were beaten by Mina and Milans. 

 Generals Espinosa, Torrijos, and Jaureguy, called 

 El Pastor, distinguished themselves against Quesa- 

 da, a Trappist, and others. The regency fled to 

 France in November, 1822 ; and it was obvious that 

 its cause was not that of the nation. No troops of 

 the line nor national guards, no important cities or 

 individuals went over to them. Some companies 

 of " soldiers of the faith" still continued in Spain, 

 particularly those of Bessieres, Ullmann, &c. An 

 extraordinary cortes was again convened, which, 

 from Oct. 7, 1822, to Feb. 19, 1823, was occupied 

 with raising and equipping an army, and with the 

 care of the foreign relations. The pope refused to 

 receive the Spanish ambassador Villanueva, and the 

 papal nuncio in Madrid left the city in January, 



1823. Britain received an indemnification of 

 20,000,000 francs for damage done to British 

 vessels by Spanish privateers in the American 

 waters. France threatened war, and the royalists 

 of that country assisted the apostolical party in 

 Spain. At last, the French government aided the 

 equipment of apostolical soldiers on French terri- 

 tory ; and, in November, 1822, France acceded, at 

 the congress of Verona, to the principle of armed 

 intervention, pronounced by Austria, Russia, and 

 Prussia, ir relation to Spain. The French ambas- 

 sador at Madrid, La Garde, received orders to ad- 

 vise a change in the constitution, as the condition 

 on which a continuance of peace between France 

 and Spain must depend ; and, in order to enable 

 Ferdinand VII. to make such changes freely, he 

 must first of all be restored to the full enjoyment 

 of sovereign power. The same demand, and even 

 in bolder terms, was made by the ministers of Prus- 

 sia, Austria, and Russia, while Britain advised the 

 cortes to yield, and offered her mediation. The Spa- 

 nish government answered the notes of the foreign 

 ministers in a circular, of Jan. 29 , 1823, addressed to 



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