426 
SPAIN. 
secretary of the Cortes, which took place on the nights of 
the 10th and 11th, seem to have been considered as prepa¬ 
ratory steps to the re-appearance of Ferdinand in the capital. 
The news of these events had scarcely reached the chief 
towns in the provinces, when the mob, headed by their 
usual leaders, the priests, broke out into fierce demonstra¬ 
tions of joy, calling for the instant restoration of the Inqui¬ 
sition, and hastening to demolish the lapidary inscriptions, 
which the Cortes, from the vanity of displaying their 
triumph over their opponents, had caused to be erected in 
every town and village. It is fortunate, indeed, that no 
bloody scenes followed this reaction of a long suppressed 
popular feeling; though a desperate attempt was made at 
Corunna against the most active members of the Liberal 
party in that town, who had been previously committed to 
prison. 
Had Ferdinand and his advisers allowed their judgment 
to prevail over their resentment, they would have readily 
perceived that their future security was not consistent with 
the habits of insubordination which the Spanish mob was so 
rapidly acquiring; and that leniency and forgiveness were 
the most effectual means of thinning the ranks of their ene¬ 
mies. The court party, however, showed a fixed determi¬ 
nation of allowing full sway to their revengeful spirit. The 
arrest of between thirty and forty deputies of the late Cortes, 
attended with seizure of papers and sequestration of property, 
was decreed by the king, who appointed a commission of 
three judges, two of whom had been fellow-deputies of the 
prisoners, to collect evidence against them. By another 
order, the members who had subscribed the above-mentioned 
petition for the repeal of the constitution, were invited to 
criminate the Liberal deputies for their conduct and opinions 
during the last session. 
In the course of this persecution, not one was spared who 
had, directly or indirectly, contributed to the establishment 
of the constitutional system. The number of state prisoners 
was increased in the month of June, by the arrest of forty- 
five individuals, formerly members of the Cadiz Cortes, and 
literary men of eminent talents, who had assisted the popular 
government with their pen. The trial of the prisoners, if 
such a name can be given to judicial proceedings which pre¬ 
cluded all chance of acquittal, was conducted with more 
than Spanish dilatoriness. Three sets of judges were succes¬ 
sively appointed and removed; till the king, impatient of 
further delays, ordered a list of the prisioners to be laid be¬ 
fore him; and in a decree of the 15th of December, 1815, 
each of the names (about seventy in number) appeared 
before the public, bearing the sentence which Ferdinand, in 
his own writing, had affixed them. We shall give the fol¬ 
lowing by way of specimens. Count Toreno, Mina, and 
Florez de Estrada, who had evaded pursuit, and fled the 
country, were condemned to death. Arguelles, who may be 
considered the author of the constitution, was sentenced to 
eight years’ exile at Ceuta, on the coast of Africa. Canga 
Arguelles was confined to the fortress of Peniscola, in Cata¬ 
lonia, for an equal period. The same length of confinement 
was assigned to Martinez de la Rosa, and to Calatrava, two 
distinguished members of the Cortes. The four ecclesiastics, 
Villanueva, Munoz-Torrero, Oliveros, and Cepero, were sen¬ 
tenced to six years’ imprisonment in different convents, and 
to the loss of their benefices. A'lvarez-Guerra and Garcia- 
Herreros, who were ministers to the Regency on Ferdinand’s 
return, and Generals Valdes, O’Donoghue, and Viliacampa, 
who had evinced a firm attachment to the new system, were 
to be imprisoned for periods of eight, six, and four years. 
Quintana, one of the first ornaments of modern Spanish 
literature, who, probably from his great moderation, and love 
of studious retirement, had never been elected a member of 
the Cortes, was sentenced to be imprisoned six years in the 
fortress of Pamplona. Strict orders were issued to deprive 
the prisoners of all communication, and not to allow them 
pen and ink. The persons contained in the list, who had 
not escaped, were seized in the night of the 17th .December, 
and subsequently removed to their destinations. 
The court party having gratified their spite, wished now to 
secure the support of the clergy, whom the Liberals had 
offended. By a royal order of the 20th of May, 1814, all 
purchasers of church property were compelled to restore it, 
without receiving compensation. The Inquisition was regu¬ 
larly re-installed, and urged to exert its powers against all 
persons suspected of Liberal opinions. A bull was obtained 
from the Pope for the restoration of the Jesuits in Spain. 
Monks and bigots were the sole directors of the king’s con¬ 
science. Conceiving that the times when Spanish monarchs 
could trample down their subjects, without being disturbed 
by a single murmur, had returned, Ferdinand publicly de¬ 
clared himself, “not accountable to any, except God and 
his confessor,” and thus proclaimed his will to be the 
law. 
But though this conduct was in accordance with the 
opinions of the most bigoted Spaniards, it soon created par¬ 
tial symptoms of disgust. The court had found the treasury 
doubly drained, from the effects of former extravagance, and 
the demands of the late war. Bribery and venality were 
soon seen to prevail round the throne. The army, who had 
been hitherto amused with promises of regular pay and pro¬ 
motion, began to groan under want and neglect. Officers of 
high rank appeared about the streets in the night, imploring 
the charity of their fellow countrymen. The armed bands, 
or Guerillas, who had assisted in the defeat of the French, 
having now nothing to expect from Ferdinand, and being 
unfit to resume habits of industrious labour, became regular 
and organized banditti, who set the helpless magistrates at 
defiance, and committed all sorts of atrocities. 
A government so incapable of affording protection to the 
people, could not employ restrictive measures without hasten¬ 
ing its own destruction; many of the Spanish officers who 
were prisoners in France, had become Free-masons in that 
country, and numerous lodges were established in Spain, du¬ 
ring the occupation by Napoleon’s armies. Masonry had at all 
times been held in the utmost abhorrence by the church and 
government. A sentence of excommunication was obtained 
from the Pope against Free-masons. The Inquisition traced 
out, in every province, the officers who had been initiated in 
France, as well as the members of the Spanish lodges For¬ 
tunately, they were too numerous to be punished with all 
the rigour of tha law. But the imprisonment of some, and 
the fears of all, were sufficient to prevent the Spanish masons 
from acting collectively. 
It was however, about this time, that another kind of 
secret societies, exclusively political, were formed in Spain. 
The members assumed the name of Comuneros, to denote 
that they met in the spirit of Padilla and his followers, who, 
under the same appellation, rose against the encroaching des¬ 
potism of Charles V. An extensive correspondence was 
established between the associates in the different provinces, 
who, acting in concert, and according to a fixed plan, were 
ready to seize the first opportunity of restoring the con¬ 
stitution. 
Their efforts were seconded by Ferdinand’s counsellors, 
who took the course which was most apt to raise the new 
code in the estimation of the country. As many copies as 
could be obtained at Madrid were heaped on a cart, together 
with the journals of the Cortes. The guilty volumes were 
thus conducted, with ludicrous solemnity, to one of the 
public squares, and there committed to the flames by the 
hands of the hangman. 
The effect of prohibitions against books is well known ; 
it gives them reputation in all countries; how much more in 
a country, where the notion that the merit of a work should 
be judged by the anathemas it lay under, was making a rapid 
progress. 
The effects of the new Constitution, considered as a poli¬ 
tical pamphlet, could only be checked by the dignified and 
judicious conduct of a court supported by the most respect¬ 
able classes. But Ferdinand was surrounded by a medley of 
cowled courtiers, intriguing prjests, and old placemen, all 
poor, and all ambitious. The king himself had much to ask 
for, and but little to give, save empty titles. The army, who 
had now learnt their irresistible weight in political changes, 
became 
