340 



SPAIN. 



its foreign ministers, and repelled with indignation 

 the interference of the foreign powers. The remark- 

 able sessions of the cortes (Jan. 9 and 11) showed 

 that all parties among them felt alike on this point. 

 The threatened discontinuance of diplomatic inter- 

 course on the part of the foreign powers now took 

 place. The French ambassador was recalled, after 

 the Russian, Prussian, and Austrian ministers had 

 left Madrid. 100,000 French soldiers were assem- 

 bled with the feotas (soldiers of the faith) at Per- 

 pignan and Bayonne, and the cortes summoned the 

 national guards to serve with the troops of the line ; 

 but the attempts to raise an army were unsuccessful 

 because bands of the feotas gave full employment 

 to the troops of the line and the national guards in 

 various quarters. February 19, the ministers were 

 dismissed ; but disturbances in Madrid obliged the 

 king to reinstate them. The king now remained 

 in general, passive. The seat of government was 

 transferred to Seville. April 2, the Duke of An- 

 gouleme issued a proclamation to the Spaniards, 

 declaring that the object of the French was only 

 to aid them, and that France desired nothing but 

 the deliverance of Spain from the evils of revolu- 

 tion : and, without a declaration of war, the French 

 army passed the Bidassoa, April 7, and marshal 

 Moncey entered Catalonia towards the end of 

 April ; with him entered the feotas or afrancesados, 

 under Quesada and Eroles. The duke of Angou- 

 l&me established a junta, consisting of Eguia, Calde- 

 ron, and Erro, who formed a provisional government, 

 declared the king the sole depositary of sovereign 

 power, and that no change in the government should 

 be recognized but such as the king should make 

 of his own free choice. All the decrees of the cortes 

 were declared void. The cortes had no ally. The 

 relations of Portugal to Great Britain did not 

 allow her to conclude a defensive treaty with Spain. 

 The treaty made March 8, 1823, between the two 

 countries, only provides for the exchange of deser- 

 ters, criminals and rebels ; and the fourth article 

 contains a remarkable stipulation, allowing each of 

 the governments to pass the frontiers of the other 

 in the pursuit of rebels, and to carry on such pursuit 

 either by itself or by the aid of the military power 

 of the other. Britain remained neutral, though 

 Canning, in parliament, called the attempt of the 

 French unjust, and wished the arms of the cortes 

 success. Her government, however, allowed the 

 exportation of arms and ammunition to Spain ; and, 

 in return, the ports of the new world were opened 

 to her ships. April 23, the king of Spain formally 

 declared war on France. The cortes were deceived 

 respecting the state of the nation, and hoped that 

 Britain would take part with them in the war; 

 but a memorandum, sent by the duke of Wellington 

 to Madrid, in which he earnestly recommended a 

 change of the constitution, was not heeded, and 

 Britain remained neutral. The adherents of the 

 constitution were confined to the educated class, 

 the army, and the people of the cities : the country 

 people were under the influence of the priesthood. 

 April 11, the king arrived in Seville. April 27, 

 the cortes passed a law respecting the registering 

 of all rights on personal service or real property, 

 which rendered the great landholders unfriendly 

 towards the constitution; and in vain did Ferdi- 

 nand VII. call on the nation by a proclamation, 

 May 1, 1823, to support the constitution. The 

 French army consisted of 91,800 men, includ- 

 ing the Spanish division. The French govern- 

 ment provided, at an immense expense, for the 



support of the army ; every thing was well paid 

 for in ready money; discipline was strictly main- 

 tained, and no one was persecuted by the French 

 for his political opinions or former conduct, while 

 the Spanish troops gave themselves up to the 

 greatest excesses of party hatred. The French 

 were received, by the clergy and the lower orders 

 of the people, as " good Christians." The Spanish 

 army amounted to about 120,000 men, in four divi- 

 sions, commanded by Ballesteros, Mina, L'Abisbal 

 and Morillo. San Sebastian and Pampeluna, Santona 

 and Santander, made a good defence, but wen- 

 obliged to surrender, Santona on the 1 Ith, Pampe- 

 luna on the 17th, and San Sebastian on the 27th 

 of September. The French corps not employed in 

 the siege of these places marched, without difficulty, 

 into the interior. Only at Logrono an engagement 

 took place, April 18, in which the French were de- 

 feated. Upper Catalonia, Biscay, Arragon and 

 Castile were occupied by the French, with hardly 

 any resistance. A guerilla warfare novv commenced 

 in Lower Catalonia, where Mina occupied the enemy 

 for a considerable time. The royalists every where 

 conducted themselves in the most outrageous man- 

 ner. The duke of Angouleme, commander-in-chief, 

 marched by the way of Aranda and Buitrago., the 

 duke of Reggio by the way of Burgos and Vallado- 

 lid, to Madrid. Abisbal became suspected by the 

 cortes, and fled to France. May 24, the duke of 

 Angouleme entered Madrid, with a great show of 

 rejoicings on the part of the people. He nominated 

 a regency, consisting of the duke of Infantado, the 

 duke of Montemar, the bishop of Osma, the baron 

 d'Eroles, and don Ant. Gomez Calderon (May 26). 

 The majority of the people demanded the " absolute 

 king," and the regency put every thing on the same 

 footing as before March 7, 1820, except that they 

 confided the ministry of foreign affairs to the con- 

 fessor of the king, D. Victor Saez. The regency 

 had no pecuniary resources, and no power, if they 

 had the will, to prevent the furious eruptions of 

 party hatred. The theatre of the war was now 

 transferred to Andalusia and Estremadura. The 

 cortes had in vain tried to excite a general guerilla 

 war. On account of the want of money, they de- 

 creed the seizure of all the property of persons of 

 the opposite party, a forced loan of 200,000,000 of 

 reals, and the coining of the superfluous church 

 plate, by which measures the hatred of the people 

 was still more increased. Yet the ministers did 

 not dare to propose to the cortes the mediation of- 

 fered by Britain, through Sir W. A'Court, the 

 British minister. The king refused to go to Cadiz ; 

 and a regency of three members, with royal powers, 

 was appointed, because the case of moral incapacity 

 on the part of the king, provided for by the consti- 

 tution, had occurred. On the 12th of June, the 

 cortes and the king, with the regency, departed for 

 Cadiz ; but the people showed themselves so furious 

 against the constitutionalists that the authorities 

 called in the aid of the French ; but general Bour- 

 mont could not enter until June 21. The king had 

 arrived at Cadiz, June 15, and the regency had 

 again ceased. The regency in Madrid declared all 

 the members of the cortes who had participated in 

 the session of the llth, when the king was declared 

 morally incapable, to be traitors ; but more it could 

 not do : it was so destitute of resources that it was 

 even supported by French money. The kings of 

 France, Prussia, and the emperor of Austria, sent 

 ministers to the regency in Madrid. Morillo de- 

 clared himself, on June 26, against the cortes. In 



