THE MONROE DOCTRINE 309 



Everywhere royalist mobs tore down the emblems of 

 popular government ; friends of liberalism were silenced or 

 shot ; the nation was purged of its democratic sentiments, and 

 absolutism was rampant. The Bourbons were resurrected, 

 and with great pomp and ceremony Louis XVIII was 

 crowned king. In Austria, the reaction was equally pro- 

 nounced. Metternich, the uncompromising enemy of progres- 

 sive ideas, earnestly exerted himself to stamp out every vestige 

 of liberalism, both at home and abroad. He induced Ferdi- 

 nand, king of Sicily, to withdraw his promises of granting 

 a constitution to his people, and created himself the moral 

 protector of the precious doctrines of divine right. 



In Spain this same reaction against constitutional govern- u 

 rnent was carried to a most astonishing extent. Ferdinand 

 VII reentered Spain in 1814, and was received by the people 

 with the most extravagant demonstrations of welcome. He 

 immediately proceeded to undo, with the heartiest approval 

 of his subjects, all that had ever been previously accomplished 

 in Spain in the way of progress. The constitution was burned 

 in the marTfet-place of Madrid ; the Cortes was dissolved and 

 abolished, and all of its decrees were declared void. Those 

 suspected of liberal taint were exiled, and their writings 

 destroyed. The prisons were crowded with those who 

 failed to manifest proper enthusiasm in the backward move- 

 ment. The lands of the Church were restored, the clergy 

 exempted from taxation, and the inquisition reestablished. 

 The remarkable feature of this movement in Spain lies in the 

 fact that it found its heartiest support in those, who, so few 

 years before, had eagerly clamored for constitutional govern- 

 ment. In the short space of two years Spain fell back into 

 y the lap of the dark ages, but her transatlantic colonies 

 breathed a purer atmosphere. They were already in revolt. 



In Russia and in Prussia the general conversion against con- 

 stitutional government had not been so marked, possibly 

 because the political pendulum had not swung so far in the 

 other direction, and the returning swing was correspondingly 

 short. The political systems of these two nations, however, 

 were wholly autocratic. 



