SPAIN. 
4*28 
to collect, in fitting up a second expedition, which was to 
reinforce the royalists at Venezuela. The troops which were 
to embark in the autumn of 1819, had been collecting in 
Andalusia, then governed by Henry O’Donnell, Count of 
Abisbal, whose assistance in the restoration of arbitrary 
power had been rewarded with the military command of that 
province. The expeditionary army was, consequently, 
under his command till it should sail from Cadiz, and the 
various corps had been quartered at no great distance from 
the residence of the Captain-General. 
It will be readily admitted, that a more favourable oppor¬ 
tunity could hardly offer itself to the patriots than the pre¬ 
sence of a military division, whose officers were favourably 
inclined to their cause, and where a general dislike of the 
service, for which it was intended, was prevalent. The pros¬ 
pect appeared the more favourable as it was credibly reported 
that O’Donnell, wishing to atone for the mischief he had done 
by an excess of loyalty, had volunteered to be the leader of 
the insurrection. The report was, indeed, well-founded. 
The Captain-General himself had fixed a day for proclaim¬ 
ing the constitution, and meetings had been held at his resi¬ 
dence for the organization of a temporary government. 
Some offence, it seems, had been given him at one of these 
conferences, by the determination of separating the civil 
from the military command, when the revolutionary govern¬ 
ment should be established. He had continued, nevertheless, 
at the head of the conspiracy, and even urged the necessity 
of anticipating discovery by striking the blow on the 8th, 
instead of the 15th of July. On the 7th, O’Donnell repaired 
to Port St. Mary’s, where all the infantry had been collected 
by his orders. Sarsfield, his second in command, was to 
join them, the next morning, in the plain of Palmar, with 
the cavalry which was quartered at Xerez. 
Soon after sunrise, on the 8th, the infantry was drawn up 
in the place of their rendezvous. The officers who were in 
the secret could hardly refrain from breaking it to the troops 
under their command ; yet waited with impatience the arri¬ 
val of the cavalry, and the presence of their general. Both 
were at length seen at a distance, and approaching in opposite 
directions. O’Donnell, with his staff, and Sarsfield at the 
head of the horse, came up at the same moment. But, in¬ 
stead of the expected signal, theories of Viva el Rey, which 
were raised by the cavalry as they galloped along the line, 
were instantly re-echoed by the infantry. The deluded con¬ 
spirators were immediately called in front of the troops, and 
Abisbal himself gave the necessary orders for their removal 
under an escort, to some of the neighbouring fortresses. 
The duplicity of Abisbal had rendered such an/ effectual 
service to the cause of despotism, and the repeated defeats of 
the Liberal party had so clearly shown the difficulty of 
giving an impulse to the lower classes in its favour, that it is 
quite surprising to find a complete revolution effected within 
a few months of the event we have related. But the court 
party were not stupid enough to mistake Abisbal’s conduct 
for pure unalloyed devotion to the crown ; nor yet suffici¬ 
ently politic to secure his services to the king by such re¬ 
wards as might satisfy his ambition, and make him seal, by 
his subsequent conduct, the well-merited distrust and hatred 
to which he was exposed among the patriots. He was re¬ 
moved from the command of the expeditionary troops, and 
a man scarcely known by his title of Count Calderon, and 
much less by any talents displayed in the service, appointed 
to suceed him. 
The reappearance of the yellow-fever at Cadiz, soon after 
the imprisonment of the patriot officers at Palmar, obliged 
hegovernment to remove the troops to more healthy spots, 
jisome distance. Arcos was made the head-quarters; the 
rest of the army was divided between Las Cabezas de San 
Juan, to the north of that town, and Alcala de los Gazfiles, 
in the opposite direction. This was considered a favourable 
opportunity for carrying into execution the same plan which 
had failed through the treachery of O’Donnell. The mem¬ 
bers of the secret societies, at Cadiz, engaged to procure the 
escape of the prisoners, one of whom, Quiroga, had been 
appointed to be the commander-in-chief of the revolted 
army. RiegO was, in the mean time, to be placed at the 
head of the insurrection. 
The 1st of January, 1820, being fixed upon, the soldiers 
were gradually gained over by means of the gold with which 
the officers were supplied from Cadiz. On the morning of 
that day, Riego drew out the battalion of Asturias, of which 
he had a temporary command, and having proclaimed the 
constitution, began his march towards Arcos, where, by the 
assistance of part of the officers in that town, he intended to 
seize the general-in-chief. Quiroga, who, it was expected, 
would be at liberty, by that time, was to march with the 
forces stationed at Alcala, to the Isla, and from thence to the 
gates of Cadiz, which, if he could reach before the news of 
the insurrection, would be thrown open by some officers of 
the garrison, now enrolled in the bands of the insurgents. 
Riego, though arriving at Arcos much later than he had ex¬ 
pected, effected the arrest of, Calderon, with scarcely any 
difficulty. Quiroga, being much longer detained in his 
march, could only take possession of La Isla. Riego ad¬ 
vanced to Xerez, thence to Port St. Mary’s, and finally- 
joined Quiroga. The strength of the patriots was about 
5000 men, unsupported by either artillery or cavalry. 
The period which followed this junction is one which 
throws considerable light on the state of the public mind in 
Spain, and shows the difficulty, which we have pointed out 
already, of giving an impulse to the great mass, who, in¬ 
fluenced by inveterate habits, will take no side in these poli¬ 
tical struggles. 
Five and twenty days had elapsed since the proclamation 
of the constitution at Las Cabezas, without the revolution 
making any visible progress. A paper warfare was carried 
on by the leaders at the Isla, and the authorities at Cadiz; 
but the patriots were left to their own resources within a very- 
limited spot, while troops were collecting about them, and 
the activity of the loyalists at Cadiz precluded all hope of 
assistance from the revolutionists who were within the walls 
To rouse the spirit of the country, and spread the flame of 
the insurrection, Riego proposed to lead a flying column of 
1500 men, in such direction as circumstances would allow. 
Followed by a division of the royalists, who seemed more 
determined to harass him than to fight, he successfully pro¬ 
claimed the constitution at Chiclana, Conil, Vejer, and 
Algeciras. Though ordered by Quiroga to march back to 
the Isla, Riego found it necessary to proceed in the only 
direction which the royalists had left him. In this situation, 
however, he spent three days at Vejer, in public balls and 
banquets, where officers and privates mixed indiscriminately 
with the town’s people. From thence, the flying column 
advanced to Malaga, closely pursued by the enemy. Meet¬ 
ing with no support from the inhabitants, Riego proceeded 
to Antequera. Harassed by incessant marches, and having 
sometimes to fight their way through detachments of the 
enemy’s forces, Riego took the determination to push, with 
the remnant of his force, now reduced, by desertion, to 
about 300 men, into the fastnesses of Sierra Morena, vdiere 
they eluded further pursuit by dispersion. 
The patriots of the Isla had seen three long months elapse 
without any prospect of support from their countrymen, and 
trusting merely on the efforts of the secret societies, which 
had hitherto appeared unavailing. Mina had, how’ever, 
entered the valley of Baslan, in Navarre, on the 25th of 
February. He had been, long before, obliged to fly into 
France, in consequence of a fruitless attempt to overturn the 
government of Ferdinand, and now he hastened to lend his 
assistance to the patriots. He found a numerous band ready 
to follow his standard. 
The garrison of Corunna, headed by Don Carlos Espinosa, 
a colonel of artillery, had risen, about the same time, against 
the Captain-General of Gallicia, and proclaimed the consti¬ 
tution throughout the whole province. Similar movements 
took place on the first days of March, at Zaragoza, Cait ha- 
gen a, Valencia, Murcia, and Granada. 
These insurrections, though partial, could not but appal 
the w'eak, ignorant, and unpopular party, which surrounded 
the throne. Had Ferdinand been able to depend on the 
loyalty 
