444 
SPAIN. 
indeed in every quarter of Spain, symptoms of revolt dis¬ 
played themselves; and it was said, that it had been ascer¬ 
tained from the papers of a monk, who had acted as treasurer 
to the faction, that the chapters of all the metropolitan 
churches of Spain, and many rich convents ot the orders of 
Carthusians, and of St. Bernard, St. Jerome, St. Augustin 
and St. Basil, had taxed themselves to raise 14,000,000 of 
reals for the support of the conspiracy. Though the open 
progress of revolt was checked, it can scarcely be said, that 
order was restored. In every province disturbances either 
occurred or were apprehended ; and no man’s person or pro¬ 
perty was safe, either from the fanatical zeal of the people, 
or from the suspicions of the king. The royalist volunteers 
of Salamanca voted an address to Ferdinand, soliciting from 
him the re-establishment of the holy office, as the surest 
method of securing the public tranquillity. In September, 
various plots for placing the crown on the head of don 
Carlos, were formed and detected in Valencia, Grenada, 
and divers other places. In these plots, as well as in the 
previous commotions, the name of don Carlos was used, it 
was believed, without any approbation or concurrence on 
the part of that prince. 
To cure the miseries of Spain, Ferdinand and his advisers 
could devise no better expedient, than to create a Consulta¬ 
tive Junta of government, who were to aid the council of 
ministers. This new body was formally installed on the 
26th of September. Among other arduous duties imposed 
on them, they were to discover “ What were the means 
calculated for conciliating the colonies, and bringing them 
back to their former obedience to the mother country ? and 
what means should be adopted to facilitate the negociation 
of a loan, and to render its conditions less onerous?” The 
Junta promised to do their utmost for their suffering country; 
but in spite of their good intentions, they were unable to do 
any service; and even the advice which they presumed to 
give, was not followed. They recommended the publication 
of an amnesty, and the cessation of political prosecutions, 
as one means of restoring order; but the council of Castile 
opposed this recommendation, and the ministry joined the 
fanatical party. In this spirit, one of the ministers, having 
adopted or pretended to adopt the notion that Freemasons 
were the great cause of national anarchy and public misery, 
demanded a more severe set of enactments against masonic 
aprons and symbols. A body of persons, calling themselves 
“ defenders of the faith and of the king,” had been lately 
detected at Grenada in possession of secret symbols: for this 
offence, they were ordered to be tried and executed as Free¬ 
masons. Sufficient evidence was sent to Madrid to prove 
that the place where they met was not a lodge, that the 
badges which they were were not masonic, and that the 
objects which they had in view had nothing in common 
with the subjects generally discussed in the conclaves of the 
craft; but the order was peremptory, and the “ defenders of 
the faith” suffered as masons. Zea being himself suspected 
of liberalism, could not venture to put down the rebellion 
of fanatics, without at the same time proving that he was 
ready to support the faction, whose furious excesses had 
alarmed the tears, and endangered the throne of his mas¬ 
ter. 
But even these sacrifices to the bigotry and alarms of his 
master, and to the fanaticism of the courtiers and of the 
people, were insufficient to secure his power. In October, 
Zea and the whole cabinet, of which he was the head, sud¬ 
denly received their dismissal; and the ecclesiastical and 
fanatical faction came into full possession of power. The 
Duke de l’lnfantado, who was high in credit with that party, 
and was supposed to be on bad terms with the French 
cabinet, now became the chief of a new ministry. Not¬ 
withstanding the bigotry of his character, the general opinion 
was, that his administration would be more steady than that 
of his predecessor: for, though he might be willing, in 
general, to be the prompt instrument of the priesthood, and 
might thus longer oppose salutary reforms; yet as the church 
could place reliance on his zeal, they would more readily 
listen to his counsels, and he would possess more power to 
execute moderate measures, if so inclined, than a man like 
Zea, and if any portion of the property of the church was 
to be mortgaged for the relief of the nation, the proposition 
was more likely to be heard with favour from him than from 
any other person. 
During the year 1826, little change took place in the 
measures of the king of Spain, or in the feelings of the nation. 
Several bands of Guerillas appeared in the remote provinces, 
and the miserable people of Madrid, threatened with famine, 
created a tumult, which the French troops and Ferdinand’s 
promises quelled. But the general mass still seemed favour¬ 
able to the royal and sacerdotal party; and executions, too 
numerous to detail, took place on those who were accused, 
unjustly or not, of liberal opinions. In the early part of 
the year, the Dey of Algiers declared war against Spain, and 
added some blows to those already inflicted by the South 
American cruizers, on the commerce of this unfortunate 
country. Bands of smugglers, often too powerful for the 
militia, swarmed on the coasts. The professions of robbery 
and priesthood seemed alone to flourish amidst a general 
decay of agriculture, manufacture, and commerce. These 
evils were still further aggravated by the withdrawing a part 
of the French troops. 
A French merchant, writing from Paris, in September, 
draws the following picture of the country:— 
“ The wretchedness of this people exceeds all limits—it is 
frightful. Two-thirds of the population at Tolosa, Vittoria, 
Burgos, Aranda, and Buytrago, are literally without trowsers, 
shirts, stockings, shoes, and hats. A dirty cloak, consisting 
of a thousand filthy rags, coarsely patched together, covers 
their squalid skeletons of bodies; rendered more gaunt-look- 
ing by a long beard, a haggard countenance, and a ferocious 
eye. At Irene, the soldiers, priests, public officers, all asked 
alms. At Briviesca, a comical figure, holding in one hand 
a plate, and a little holy sacrament in copper in the other, 
asked charity for God. At Burgos, I saw a horrible sight; 
—the distribution of the dinner fragments of a convent, situ¬ 
ated on the road leading out of the city; two hundred ragged 
wretches, rushing promiscuously into the middle of the con¬ 
vent court-yard, and commenced righting with each other 
for bones, bread, and chick peas. The women were drawn 
back by the old men, and they again by the young men. 
The horrible cries, mixed with acclamations, “For God’s 
sake!” and the “ Holy Father!” rendered this scene a spec¬ 
tacle, of which the distributions of sausages during the fetes 
at Paris, can give but a slight idea. On the other hand, to 
compensate for this, I saw, in the cathedral at Burgos, six 
candlesticks of massive silver, five feet high, which must be 
worth a hundred thousand crowns; six lamps, of the same 
metal, all new like the candlesticks, were burning night and 
day, while the poor have not a rushlight in their hovels. 
At Aranda, Buytrago, and Somo Sierra, was the same fright¬ 
ful misery;—the shops are enough to make one shudder,— 
filthy, empty, deserted—nothing in them but trash, and that 
at the highest prices. At Madrid, no person is admitted into 
the city, unless he is the bearer of a passport, or a letter of 
security; and it is even necessary to furnish one’s self with 
the protection of a passport, if you intend to go any distance 
more than six leagues. If a person wishes to leave the city, 
he must present himself to the Commissary, who marks it in 
his book, called El Papalete, the gate at which you are au¬ 
thorized to pass out. There is not a peasant, a workman, a 
traveller, on foot, on horseback, or on a carriage, but must 
submit his papers to a police office outside the gate. I have 
seen farmers and gardeners of the liberties, obliged to go 
home because they had forgot their carta de segusidad, or 
passport. Foreign travellers, provided with passports from 
their government, have been forced to wait five hours be¬ 
tween two police-men at the city gate, until it should please 
the Intendant to write at the bottom of their passports, 
“ permit him to enter;” merely because, going to Spain had 
been written instead of going to Madrid, At length, having 
arrived, every one of them is obliged to make his purpose 
known 
