SPAIN. 
415 
war was declared between Spain and the empire in 1733. 
At the end of that year the palace of Madrid was consumed 
by (ire, and all the archives relating to the Indies perished 
in the flames. 
In 1739, hostilities were renewed between Spain and 
Britain, but the only successes acquired by the latter power 
were the capture of Porto Bello by Admiral Vernon, and 
that of the Manilla Galeon by Commodore Anson. After 
a long and turbulent reign, Philip V. died in 1746. 
Ferdinand VI., a mild, prudent and beneficent prince, 
reformed abuses in the administration of justice, and manage¬ 
ment of the finances. He revived commerce, established 
manufactures, and promoted the prosperity of his kingdom. 
In April A.D. 1755, Quito, in South America was destroyed 
by an earthquake. 
Charles III. succeeded Ferdinand in 1759. The famous 
family compact was concluded at Versailles, A. D. 1761, 
among the four kings of the house of Bourbon. The Eng¬ 
lish, alarmed by the naval preparations of Spain, declared 
war in 1762, and took Havanuah, in the island of Cuba, 
and Manilla in the East Indies. Notwithstanding this suc¬ 
cess, peace was hastily concluded at Fontainbleau, in No¬ 
vember, by which the Havanuah was restored. In 1767 
the Jesuits were expelled from Spain. An unsuccessful ex¬ 
pedition was concerted against Algiers, A. D. 1775, the 
particulars of which are related in M. Swinburne’s Travels, 
Letter V. In the war between Great Britain and her American 
colonies, Spain, by the intrigues of the French court, was 
prevailed on to take up arms in support of the latter. At 
the conclusion of that calamitous war. Great Britain in a 
treaty with Spain, ceded to this power, East and West Flo¬ 
rida, and the island of Minorca. Charles died in 1788, and 
was succeeded by his second son Charles Anthony, prince 
of Asturias, the eldest having been declared incapable of 
inheriting the crown. 
Charles IV. had not long been seated on the throne before 
the portentous revolution in France involved Europe in a 
general scene of political and military contest. The king of 
Spain joined the general confederacy against the new repub¬ 
lic, and in consequence was numbered among the objects of 
its resentment, by a declaration of warden 1793: The mili¬ 
tary operations of Spain, however, were extremely languid; 
and after two campaigns, in which she might be said to 
carry on rather a defensive than offensive war, against the 
republican armies, she was compelled to conclude a treaty 
of peace, which was signed at Basil on the 22d of July, 
1795. By this treaty the French republic restored to the 
king of Spain all the conquests which she had made from 
him since the commencement of hostilities, and received in 
exchange all right and property in the Spanish part of St. 
Domingo. 
This treaty was soon followed by a rupture with Great 
Britain. On the 5th of October, 1796, the court of Spain 
published a manifesto against this country', to which the 
court of London made a spirited reply ; and about the same 
time was published a treaty of offensive and defensive alli¬ 
ance, which had been concluded about two months before, 
between the king of Spain and the French republic. In the 
war which followed between Spain and Great Britain, his 
Catholic majesty could boast of but little honour or success ; 
and the French republic gained little from its new ally, but 
the contributions of money, which she from time to time 
compelled him to advance. On the 14th of February, 1797, 
a Spanish fleet of 27 sail of the line was defeated by Sir 
John Jervis, off Cape St. Vincent; and four of the Spanish 
line-of-battle ships were left in the hands of the victors. 
From this time till the temporary termination of hostilities 
by the peace of Amiens in 1802, there is nothing remarkable 
in the transactions of Spain. 
On the renewal of the war in 1803, Spain was again com¬ 
pelled, by the overbearing power of France, to take an active 
part against Great Britain, and fitted out a formidable fleet, 
which was united to a considerable naval force of the new 
made emperor of the French. The Spanish declaration of 
war against Britain is dated at Madrid on the 12th of De¬ 
cember, 1804; and on the 21st of October, 1805, the com¬ 
bined fleets of France and Spain were nearly annihilated 
by Lord Nelson’s decisive victory off Cape Trafalgar. 
After this terrible blow to the naval power of Spain, 
nothing of importance took place till 1808, when the de¬ 
signs of Buonaparte against the independence of Spain, which 
had been long suspected, were openly avowed, in conse¬ 
quence of a domestic dispute, probably fomented by the 
emissaries of France, which took place between Charles IV. 
and the prince of Asturias. During the winter of 1807-8, 
the public mind in Spain had been greatly agitated. Some 
accused the prince of the Peace, Don Manuel Godoy (who 
had long held the helm of state, and was the richest and 
most powerful subject in the kingdom), of having concerted 
with the queen to destroy the prince of Asturias. Others 
accused the prince of Asturias of being at the head of a party 
to dethrone his father. Solemn councils and long proceed¬ 
ings, followed up by exiles and violent acts, far from calm¬ 
ing opinions, served to agitate them still more. 
In March, 1808, several disturbances happened at Aranjuez. 
These disturbances were excited by a report that the royal 
family were about to quit Spain and emigrate to America. 
In consequence of this report, the populace of the neighbour¬ 
ing villages repaired in crowds to Aranjuez, where they 
found the attendants of the court packing up the baggage of 
the royal household; and understood that relays of horses 
were stationed on the road to Seville, and that every thing 
was prepared for the departure of the royal fugitives, who 
were to take shipping at that port. It was suspected that 
Don Manuel Godoy, or, as he has commonly been called, 
the prince of the Peace, was the chief instigator of this un¬ 
popular measure; and the fury of the people was directed 
chiefly against that nobleman, whose palace they attacked 
on the 18th of March. He, however, found means to escape 
for the present, but was afterwards arrested in a garret of his 
own house. In the mean time the king issued two decrees 
with a view to allay the popular ferment; but as this still 
continued, he on the 19th took the extraordinary resolution 
of abdicating the throne in favour of the prince of Asturias. 
This resolution was made known by a royal decree, in which 
Charles declared that, as his natural infirmities no longer per¬ 
mitted him to support the weight of government, and the 
re-establishment of his health required a change of climate, 
he had after the most mature deliberation resolved to abdi¬ 
cate his crown in favour of his heir the prince of Asturias and ; 
this resolution he declared to be the result of his own free will. 
The new sovereign was accordingly proclaimed by the 
title of Ferdinand VII., and issued an edict confiscating the 
effects of Don Manuel Godoy, and announcing the ap¬ 
pointment of the duke of Infantado, a nobleman extremely 
popular, to the presidency of Castile and the command of 
the royal guards. 
These disturbances have commonly been attributed to the 
machinations of the French emperor, who had gained a com¬ 
plete ascendency over the weak Charles; and had rendered 
the prince of the Peace entirely subservient to the views 
which he had formed on the independence and the liberties 
of Spain. Murat now caused it to be intimated to Ferdi¬ 
nand, that the emperor of the French was on his journey to 
Spain, and advised him to meet his master on the road. In 
the mean time he was tampering with the self-deposed mo¬ 
narch, whom he assured of the assistance of Buonapate in 
reinstating him on the throne. Charles accordingly addressed 
a letter to Buonaparte, in which he contradicts the assertion 
of his decree on the 19th ; and declares that his abdication 
was a measure of compulsion; and throws himself on the 
protection of that great monarch, his friend and ally, from 
whom alone he and his subjects can hope to derive tranquil¬ 
lity and happiness. 
It appears to have been the design of Murat to draw out 
of Spain the whole of the royal family, and in this design 
he completely succeeded. Ferdinand set out to meet Buona¬ 
parte, accompanied by the French general Savary, and had 
advanced 
