692 



BRITAIN. 



Britain. 



Bate pro. 

 reeding! 1 of 

 the public 

 bodies in 

 Spain. 



Proceed- 

 ings of the 

 junta at 

 Bayonue. 



Joseph Bo- 

 naparte 

 made King 

 of Spain. 



He makes 

 his publie 

 entry into 

 Madrid. 



were necessary to discharge) in a few disgraceful 

 events, some of the baser spirit which yet remained. 

 The Junta at Madrid disarmed all the citizens of 

 the capital, and even anticipated the edict of Bay- 

 onne, for making the Duke of Berg their president. 

 The council of Castile also sanctioned by their name, 

 and published the edicts of Bonaparte and his vice- 

 roy ; and the Inquisition, true to its old disgraceful 

 principles, addressed a circular to the people, invit- 

 ing them to submit to the paramount power. 



Bonaparte supported these addresses, by declaring 

 to the Spaniards, that he was determined to make 

 them what they had once been, a great, glorious, 

 and happy nation. " Your princes, (he said), have 

 ceded to me their rights to the crown of the Spains ; 

 your nation is old my mission is to restore its 

 youth." This address wass followed by a decree 

 for summoning a junta of Notables to represent the 

 Spanish nation at Bayonne, there to fix the forms 

 of a new government. To constitute this assembly, 

 he named about 150 individuals of different classes 

 and conditions, but only about 90 were convened. 

 The junta at Bayonne held their twelfth meeting on 

 the 17th of July, on the day appointed for the ac- 

 ceptance of the new constitution. In the chamber 

 where they sat, were erected a magnificent throne, 

 and a richly decorated altar, the service of which 

 was performed by the Archbishop of Burgos. Jo- 

 seph Bonaparte, to whom Napoleon had transferred 

 the crown of Spain, addressed the junta as their 

 king, and was answered in a speech from the presi- 

 dent, after which the oath of allegiance was admini- 

 stered to several members, and the junta attended 

 his levee. We have heard of the high spirit and in 

 dependence of the Bayonne junta, as presenting the 

 first obstacle to Bonaparte's ambition, but there is no 

 symptom of any* such spirit in these transactions. 



King Joseph set foot on the territory of Spain 

 on the 9th of July 1808, and made his public entry 

 into Madrid on the 20th, attended by the members 

 of the Bayonne junta. He had a personal guard of 

 ten thousand Italians and other troops, independent 

 of an army of eighteen thousand men, under Gene- 

 ral Bessieree, who were posted at Madrid for his de- 

 fence. To Spain it was still more humiliating than 

 the entry of an usurper into her capital, to see, in 

 the list of that usurper's officers of the household, 

 the names of some of her noblest grandees, and even 

 the names of men bearing the character of patriot- 

 ism, who had struggled against the Prince of Peace, 

 and laboured to get the Prince of Asturias on the 

 throne. Don Louis Mariano de Urquijo, was made 

 his secretary of state ; Don Pedro Cevallos, minister 

 for foreign relations ; the Duke of Park, the Duke 

 of St Germain, the Duke of Infantado, the Count 

 Santa Collona, and the Dukes of Ossuna and Soto- 

 mayor, were his captains or chamberlains. It was 

 not until the mass of the people (the populace it- 

 self) had set an example of patriotism to those men, 

 that any of them redeemed their honour, by aposta- 

 tising from the usurper. But though courtiers and 

 courtly patriots could brook the degradation of the 

 Spanish name though some of the nobility, from 

 mean despair, and others from still meaner hopes, 

 acquiesced in the change of dynasty, the people 

 were agitated by nobler passions. Though the flower 

 of their regular army was serving abroad j their north 



Briraio. 



1808. 



insurrec- 

 tion in 

 Spain. 



eastern frontier in the hands of French garrisons ; 

 their metropolis, their interior, and the neighbour- 

 ing kingdom of Portugal, possessed by 100,000 ve- 

 teran Frenchmen, commanded by the best officers in 

 Europe ; without arms, ammunition, or treasury, 

 and deserted by their own government, they rose to 

 combat with the masters of Europe with the tactics 

 of Bonaparte himself. It is true that in many in- 

 stances the conduct of the Spaniards has not been 

 consistent with this bold commencement ; but, under 

 such circumstances, to have risen even for a moment 

 with unanimity, exhibits a picture unparalleled in 

 modern history. The motto of the insurgents was, 

 " The Spanish blood shed at Madrid cries for ven- 

 geance." 



The public mind had been strongly agitated ever A general 

 since the massacre of Madrid ; but it was not till the 

 abdication of Ferdinand was announced, that a ge- 

 neral explosion burst forth. The anniversary of .the 

 tutelary saint of the prince, St Ferdinand, awoke all 

 the sensibility of an ardent, devout, and loyal people. 

 On that day, (the 27th of May), the insurrection 

 commenced in many places. In Valentia, Don Mi- 

 quel de Saavedra, captain general of the province, 

 was put to death for opposing the insurgents. At 

 Cuenga, Cartliagena, Malaga, and Granada, and in 

 the Cast-lies, and Estremadura, the same scenes were 

 exhibited. At Cadiz, when it was known that the 

 patriots had corresponded with the English at Gib- 

 raltar, Solano, the lieutenant-general of Andalusia, 

 who headed the French faction, came post haste to 

 the city, and thundered forth proclamations against 

 their designs ; but the people, conducted by Spa- 

 nish officers, rose and surrounded his palace, and 

 put him to death, in the act of proclaiming his at- 

 tachment to Napoleon. These unconnected efforts 

 were quickly brought into unity by the establish- 

 ment of provincial juntas. 



The lead in the affairs of the patriots was taken 

 by the supreme junta of Seville, which, with a 

 happy audacity, assumed, and, for a time, exercised 

 all the functions of sovereign authority. Laying hold 

 of some statutes in their constitution, which author- 

 ised their rejecting the orders of the supreme council 

 of Madrid, when the capital should be in the hands 

 of foreign troops, they proclaimed Ferdinand the 

 VII. and war against France. This pre-eminence 

 which they claimed in authority, was due to them 

 from the circumstances of Andalusia. That was the 

 province in which there were most veteran native 

 troops, the only foundery of cannon in the kingdom, 

 and the greatest store of arms and ammunition. It 

 is the province, too, in which Gibraltar is situated, 

 and which could best receive assistance from England. 

 It is the province of opulence and resources. Al- 

 though it was not among the highest ranks that the 

 patriotic ardour was strongest, many of the dignified 

 clergy and nobility joined the general enrolment of 

 the people. The bishop of St Andero appeared among 

 the patriots, and the Count de Montego was indefati- 

 gable in enlisting and drilling the volunteers. The 

 monasteries and the universities poured forth recruits. 

 The standards of the latter bore the names of saints ; 

 those of the former wore the names of Greek or Ro- 

 man heroes. By an agreement between the Spanish 

 general Castanos, and the patriots of Cadiz, on the 

 one part, and of the British officers at Gibraltar and 



The junta 

 proclaim 

 war againi 

 France. 



