441 
SPAIN. 
whether they had served against the royalist troops, in what 
corps, and in what province? 7thly, if they had been mem¬ 
bers of any court martial sitting upon royalists; what had 
been the sentence of such court, and who were the other 
members Of the court martial ? finally, the period at which 
they returned to their obedience to lawful authority, and 
under what manner? The commissioners were authorized 
to take secret informations for the purpose of authenticating 
the answers which might be given to these questions, or of 
otherwise guiding their decision upon each particular case. 
The only officers excepted from the necessity of undergoing 
this purification, were those who had uniformly served in 
the royalists corps, or those who had always remained near 
the persons of the king and of the royal famdy. 
Impatient and irritated as the constitutional party must be 
supposed to have felt, under the multiplied vexations and 
oppressions to which they were subjected throughout Spain, 
there was little doubt but that they would avail themselves of 
the first opportunity of rising against the yoke. At present, 
however, such an occasion seemed far distant; the great 
mass of the population was evidently disposed to take part 
with the royalists; and imbecile and impotent as was the 
government in its own resources, it possessed, in the French 
army of occupation, the means of opposing an immediate 
and effective resistance to any thing of a counter-revoluti¬ 
onary movement on the part of the liberals. Nothing, there¬ 
fore, could be more ill-judged, and, indeed, desperate, than 
some attempts which were ventured on by the constitutional 
officers, who had sought shelter at Gibraltar, for raising the 
standard of revolt in the provinces of Andalusia and Gra¬ 
nada. These refugees had found means to equip some small 
vessels under Colombian colours, with which they determined 
to make a descent on the neighbouring coast, in the hope of 
being joined by the bands of smugglers, which swarmed in 
that part of the country, and by other malcontents, the num¬ 
ber of whom, it was inferred, was daily increasing under the 
disgusts given by the present system of government. A first 
attempt was made at Marbella, but it would seem that the citi¬ 
zens of Malaga had been warned in time, and appeared in arms 
to oppose the landing, which was therefore desisted from. 
A second enterprise, directed against Tarifa, was more suc¬ 
cessful. A body of nearly 300 men landed on the island in 
the night, and at day-break, on the 3d of August, they sur¬ 
prised the place at the moment that the garrison was open¬ 
ing the gates. The garrison was very weak; but it is not 
known whether any part of it had an understanding with 
the enemy; the commandant himself was absent at the time 
at Algesiras. Valdez immediately took measures for strength¬ 
ening the works of the place; and having re-inforced his 
little troop by a part of the garrison and a levy of the inha¬ 
bitants of the town, he hastened to publish his success in the 
“ first bulletin of the liberating army,” in which he an¬ 
nounced, that the friends of the constitution were flying to 
arms on every point; that other divisions of the army of 
liberty were disembarking on other parts of the coast; and 
that measures were every where taken for a general rising 
against the present system. 
Upon receiving intelligence of this enterprise. General 
O'Donnell, who commanded a small force at the camp of 
San Roche, ordered a detachment of infantry and cavalry to 
march on Tarifa, and blockade the place by land : on the 
evening of the 6th, a French frigate arrived from Cadiz, with 
troops of all arms; and at the same time three French ships 
of war, with a Spauish schooner, and some gun-boats from 
Algesiras, cutoff all communication with the sea. An attack 
was made on the 7th, but repulsed by the garrison. Two 
days after it was repeated, but with no better success. The 
besiegers now found it necessary to send for battering artillery 
and in the mean time Valdez, flushed with his success, pub¬ 
lished a second bulletin, in which he spoke with an absurd 
confidence of his future operations. On the 14th, a party of 
about thirty men landed near Almeria, and vthre joined by 
some bands of smugglers; the royalists in the town, how¬ 
ever, assisted by the inhabitants of the neighbouring villages, 
collected to attack them. The smugglers fled and dispersed 
Vol. XXIII. No. 1582. 
at the first fire; the rest made an obstinate resistance; but, 
in the result, were all either killed or made prisoners. These 
last were immediately shot. 
The ordnance having arrived from Cadiz on the 16th, a 
battery was opened on Tarifa; on the 19th, the breach 
being practicable, an assault was given, and the place carried 
after a stubborn resistance against very superior force, of more 
than two hours on the part of the garrison. A part of them 
escaped, during the confusion, in boats; the rest took refuge 
in the small island in front of the fort; and which was de¬ 
fended by twenty pieces of cannon. On the following morn¬ 
ing the insurgents were attacked in this position; a consider¬ 
able number of them were killed, about 160 taken prisoners, 
and the rest, with Valdez himself, contrived to escape in 
boats. Of the prisoners the greater part were, a few days 
after, tried by a military commission, and condemned to be 
shot. This sentence had already been put into execution 
when a decree was received from Madrid, declaring that 
every individual, whether Spaniard or foreigner, who should 
land on the coast of Spain, and either by force of arms, or 
the diffusion of seditious writings, should seek to re-establish 
what was called the constitutional system, should be shot im¬ 
mediately after being taken prisoner; and that all persons 
joining the rebels after their landing, should be liable to the 
same summary method of punishment. 
The expedition against Tarifa had the only effect which 
might have been expected from it, that of inflaming the rage 
and aggravating the severities exercised by the royalists. The 
minister of war, Don Josef de la Cruz, who, on account of 
his moderation, had long been an object of aversion with 
that party, was now obliged to give in his resignation,-and 
shortly after was put under arrest, and his papers seized. He 
was succeeded in his department by Don Juan Aymerich, 
who signalized his accession to office by issuing various 
orders in favour of the royalist volunteers, and recommending 
the captains-general of the several provinces to augment, by 
every means, the number, and enforce the discipline of these 
bands, which he designated as the best safe-guards of the 
throne. 
On the 15th of September, M. Zea Bermudez arrived to 
take the direction of the department of foreign affairs. Some 
hope was entertained, that his influence would contribute to 
moderate the violence of the ascendant party in the govern¬ 
ment; but such was not the immediate effect, at least, of his 
accession to the council. Some of the royal decrees issued 
at this time bore a character more violent, if possible, than 
that of any which had preceded them. An individual, of 
the name of Salvador Lloveno was tried at Almeria, for 
having called out, “ Death to the king.” Some doubts, which 
were entertained by the commision, as to the punishment 
to be awarded against this offence, occasioned the publication 
of a royal decree, which contained the following regulations: 
“All those who, since October 1, 1823, have declared or 
proved themselves, by any acts whatever, to be enemies to 
the legitimate rights of the throne, or partizans of the self- 
called constitution of Cadiz, shall be considered guilty of 
high treason, and, as such, subject to the punishment of 
death. All those who shall write pamphlets or journals, with 
the same object in view', shall be comprehended in the pre¬ 
ceding article, and subject to the same penalty. Those who, 
in public places, shall speak against the sovereignty of his 
majesty, or in favour of the abolished constitution, in cases 
where the speeches produce no overt act, shall be punished 
with from four to ten years’ confinement. Those who shall 
attempt to seduce their fellow citizens to form parties, and to 
procure for themselves the means of acting offensively, such 
as money, arms, horses, and munitions of war, shall lae con¬ 
sidered guilty of high treason, and punished with death. 
Those who shall excite insurrections, for the purpose of con¬ 
straining the king to perform any act contrary to his will, 
shall be likewise considered guilty of high treason; but 
where the object of the insurrection is not of so culpable a 
na'ure, the punishment shall be only from two to four years’ 
confinement. The cry of “ Death to the king!” is considered 
to be high treason. The freemasons, communeros, and sec- 
5 U tana ns, 
