440 
SPAIN. 
of the king from Madrid, seemed to be the signal for the 
ultra-royalists and fanatic party to indulge in fresh violences 
against their fellow subjects, and it required all the firmness 
of the French commandant, Count Bourmont, to repress their 
outrages. Incendiary placards were affixed in the streets, 
some calling upon the Spaniards to deliver their monarch, 
who was declared to be in a state of imprisonment at Aran- 
juez ; others pointing out, in no equivocal terms, the Infant 
Don Carlos, as more worthy of the throne than his brother. 
In the meantime, the public was in anxious expectation of 
the act of amnesty for past offences, which it was known 
that the allied powers had from the beginning urged the 
king to issue, as the only mode of calming the public mind, 
and with the drawing up of which the cabinet, it was under¬ 
stood, had been for sometime engaged. At length, on the 
1st of May, this instrument made its appearance; a pardon 
was issued for past political offences, but this act of grace 
was loaded with so many and important exceptions as com¬ 
pletely to reverse its character:—It excepted 
“ 1, The principal authors of the military revolt of Las 
Cabezas, the Isle of Leon, Corunna, Saragossa, Oviedo,- 
and Barcelona, where the constitution of Cadiz was pro¬ 
claimed before the royal decree of the 7th of March. 
“ 2. The principal authors of the conspiracy at Madrid, 
at the beginning of March, 1820, for the purpose of wresting 
from the king the abovementioned decrees. 
“ 3. The military chiefs who took part in the revolt of 
Ocagua, and particularly lieutenant-general Henry O’Donnell, 
Count of Abisbal. 
“ 4. The principal authors of the measure which com¬ 
pelled his Majesty to establish the provisional junta men¬ 
tioned in the decree of the 9th of March, and the individuals 
who composed it. 
“ 5. Those who made propositions in secret societies, or 
who still adhere to these unions since the abolition of the 
revolutionary regime. 
“ 6. Those who, during the constitutional regime, signed 
or authorized the dethronement of the king, the suspension 
of his authority, or the nomination of a regency, or that his 
Majesty and the princes of his family should be brought in 
judgment before the Cortes, or any other tribunal; and 
finally, the judges who dictated decrees for that object. 
“ 7. The writers who have attacked the Catholic religion. 
“ 8. The judges who condemned general Elio and lieute¬ 
nant Giorffieu. 
“ 9. The assassins of the canon Vinuesa and the bishop of 
Vich, and of the prisoners at Granada and Corunna. 
“ 10. The chiefs of the Guerillas who have taken arms 
since the entry of the French Army. 
“ 11. The European Spaniards who signed the convention 
concluded at Mexico between the Viceroy O’Donoju and 
Augustin Iturbide. 
“ 12. The deputies of the Cortes, who on the 12th of 
June, 1823, voted the dethronement of the king.” 
At the same time further measures of security were adopted 
to prevent the importation of foreign works, and journals of 
a dangerous character. 
The ultra party seemed every day to assume a more me¬ 
nacing attitude; the French army of occupation, which in¬ 
deed was the means by which the government could oppose 
any effectual restraint to their outrages, became the object of 
their peculiar‘hatred. The apostolic junta, encouraged by 
the success which in the first instance had attended the move¬ 
ment of Don Miguel at Lisbon, redoubled its intrigues, and 
it is believed was actually contemplating to take measures for 
placing what they believed to be a more fitting instrument 
of their passions on the throne, in the person of the infant 
Don Carlos. A body of royalist volunteers, under the lead 
of one Capape Royo, formerly a blacksmith, actually took 
the field in the neighbourhood of Teruel, with the device in¬ 
scribed on his colours of “ War against the French.” He was 
however, in a short time overtaken, routed, and made pri¬ 
soner by a French detachment; and the government, appa¬ 
rently alarmed by the audacity of the enterprise, thought it 
necessary to mark, in a still stronger manner, its discounte¬ 
nance of the faction by exiling Saez, Eroles, and other of 
its supposed leaders from the capital; at the same time an 
order was issued commanding all persons who had not re¬ 
sided six years in the city to leave Madrid—an extraordinary 
measure of policy, and which it is difficult to suppose it had 
ever been intended to be put into strict execution. Soon 
alter it was found necessary to induce the French government 
to consent to a prolongation of the loan of its army of occu¬ 
pation; and on the 30th of June, a convention was con¬ 
cluded, providing for the continuance in Spain of the French 
force till the 1st of January following. 
The contradictory and inconsistent course pursued by the 
government, sufficiently indicated the divisions which pre¬ 
vailed in the councils of the king, whose measures seemed 
from day to day to alternate between the suggestions of one 
and the other party. On the 5th of July, the royal family 
left the capital for Sacedon; on which occasion, the king was 
accompanied by one only of his ministers, Senor Calomarde; 
and on the 11th following. Count Oialia resigned his office, 
which was confided to M. Zea Bermudez, who had formerly 
been minister plenipotentiary in Russia, and at preseut filled 
that post in London. M. Salazar was charged with the port¬ 
folio of foreign affairs ad interim until the arrival, of the 
new minister. It would appear that this ministerial resolution 
was the effect of the triumph of the more violent party: at 
least it was immediately followed by a series of measures 
which we think clearly showed the ascendancy of that faction 
in their origination. The liberation of the individuals under 
the act of amnesty was postponed, and the execution of some 
of the more decisive decrees issued against the royalist volun¬ 
teers was suspended. 
At the same time the rancour entertained by the fanatic 
populace and soldiery against the French, broke out into 
acts of open violence. A quarrel took place between a party 
of French chasseurs and some soldiers of the Spanish gar¬ 
rison, in a tavern at Madrid; both parties had recourse to 
arms, and each receiving reinforcement from their friends, 
the affair began to assume a most alarming character, when 
it was put an end to by the interference of the French and 
Spanish commanding officers. Five or six Frenchmen were 
killed in the scuffle, and about a dozen wounded. 
During the stay of the king at Sacedon, various decrees 
were issued. One of these had for its object the adoption 
of additional measures for the suppression of secret associa¬ 
tions, particularly of free-masons. All persons who had be¬ 
longed to such were called upon to come forward and point 
out the lodge or society to which they had belonged, and to 
deliver up all diplomas, symbols, or papers connected with 
it; and those who should continue to frequent such meet¬ 
ings were declared liable to the penalties attached to high 
treason. Moreover, all persons of whatever class or condi¬ 
tion employed under government, were summoned to declare 
under oath, that they neither did belong nor had belonged 
to any such association ; and further, that they did not ac¬ 
knowledge “the absurd principle that the people is competent 
to change the established form of government.” 
On the return of the king from Sacedon, August 19th, 
another decree was issued, subjecting all military officers, 
whether on active service or half-pay, to the test of purifica¬ 
tion before commissioners consisting of military officers who 
had already undergone the same purgation. The parties to 
be thus tried were compelled to give in written answers to 
interrogatories on the following points:—1st. What were their 
employments on the 1st of January, 1820. 2ndly. Where 
were they at that period, and to what corps they belonged ? 
3dly. The day and place where they swore fidelity to the con¬ 
stitution, and after what orders ? 4th. What ranks, commands, 
or commissions they had obtained up to Dec. 31st, 1823; 
the time they had served in each employment; the places 
they had inhabited during the three years, and how long in 
each place ? 5thly. Whether they had been members of any 
secret society ? 6thly. Whether they had been national volun¬ 
teers, journalists, or orators of any patriotic society; and 
whether 
