he

for his conduct; which, though they did not justify, explained his views, and were a kind of homage to the sentiments of men and nations. For his conduct to the Spanish nation, which was base and treacherous beyond all example, he made no apology to Europe; but afterwards, when be found he was opposed, both by the pen and the sword, with a keenness he little expected, he published a kind of justification of his conduct towards Spain, which appeared in the form of a report from the ministers of external relations and of war, presented to the conservative senate on the 5th of September, and published in the Moniteur, September 7. It was dated at Bayonne, April 24, though probably not composed till sometime afterwards. The substance of it was, "that France was under an obligation to put an end to the internal dissentions and anarchy that prevailed in Spain, in order to compel the English government to spare the effusion of human blood. This was for the interest and happiness of Spain, France, the continent of Europe, and all the world. Of all the states of Europe there was not one between whose condition and fate, and that of France, there was so close and necessary connection as that of Spain. Spain must be either a useful friend to France, or a dangerous enemy.

"The greatness of Louis XIV. did not begin till, having conquered Spain, he formed an alliance with the family then reigning there, by which means the Spanish crown came to be placed on the head of his grandson. This provident act of policy was productive of no less a benefit to the two countries than a century of peace after three centuries of war. The bond that united the two nations was broken asunder by the French revolution. After the third coalition, Spain, at the same time that she was most profuse in her protestations of friendship to France, gave secret assurances of aid to the confederates, as appeared from certain papers communicated to the parliament of England.

"It was demanded by the interests of Spain, as well as those of France, that a strong hand should re-establish order in the Spanish government that had fallen into such disgrace, and that was hastening so quickly to its final overthrow and ruin that a prince who was the friend of France by inclination and by interest, that had nothing to apprehend, and could never be an object of mistrust to France, should consecrate the whole resources of Spain to its internal prosperity, to the re-establishment of its mariné, and to the success of that cause which connected Spain with the continent. The work of Louis XIV. was to be recommenced. What policy advised, justice sanctioned."

The reporter, after setting himself to establish this point by a review of circumstances adduced

CHAP. II.

1808.

to prove the lurking hostility of Spain to France, BOOK VIII. and its predilection for England, and that it was actually in a state of war with his imperial majesty, said, "But, independently of these considerations, existing circumstances do not permit your majesty to abstain from intervention in the affairs of that kingdom. The King of Spain had been hurled from his throne; your majesty was called to judge between the father and the son. What part could your majesty take? Could your majesty sacrifice the cause of sovereigns, and suffer an outrage to the majesty of the throne? Or suffer a prince to sit on the throne of Spain who was unable to disentangle himself from the yoke of the English any longer than your majesty should maintain a powerful army in Spain? 11, on the other hand, your majesty should determine to restore Charles IV. to the throne, this could not be done without overcoming very great resistance, and without a deluge of French blood. In short, could your majesty abandon the Spanish nation to its fate in the midst of extreme agitation, and while the English were busy in fomenting trouble and anarchy? Ought your majesty to give up this new prey to be devoured by England? God forbid-I have represented the circumstances that oblige your majesty to come to a great determination. It is recommended by political wisdom, authorized by justice, and by the distractions of Spain, imperiously demanded. Your majesty ought to provide for the security of your empire, and to save Spain from the influence of England."

The minister for foreign relations, in another report made to the emperor, Paris, September 1, to be communicated to the senate, said, "If in the dispositions which your majesty has made, the security of France has been your principal object, the interests of Spain have not been neglected. In uniting the two states by the most intimate alliance, the prosperity and the glory of both have been equally consulted; your majesty interposed as a mediator for the salvation of Spain, torn to pieces by intestine broils. You pointed out to the Spaniards on the one hand the anarchy with which they were threatened, and on the other hand England ready to take advantage of their disorder in order to appropriate to herself whatever might suit her convenience.-Shall England be permitted to say, Spain is one of my provinces,' and to domineer at the ports of France? If the French fight for the liberty of the seas, they must begin with tearing Spain from the tyrant of the seas. from the tyrant of the seas. If they fight for peace, they must drive from Spain the enemies of peace. In this contest all Europe prays for success to France." Thus far Bonaparte carried on his design by intrigue and fraud; by which means he considered it as accomplished. But

in some degree, as an apology for the Duke of Infantado, and the other Spanish nobles, who accompanied Ferdinand to Bayonne, They might have thought that all attempts to oppose Bonaparte would be of no avail, and tend only to iuvolve the country in calamity and ruin.

The public mind was in a state of fermentation ever since the horrid 2d of May, and commo. tions and tumults had arisen in divers places; but it was not until the gazette of Madrid, May 20, had proclaimed throughout the land the abdication of the Spanish crown by Ferdinand VII. in favor of the Emperor of the French, that there was a great and general explosion. The publication of the gazette was quickly followed up by the anniversary of St. Ferdinand, the tutelar saint of the prince, May 27, which awakened all the sensibility of an ardent, devout, and honorable nation. It was on that day that the insurrection broke out in most places.

The history of Spain, for what remains of this year, after the close of the month of May, naturally divides itself into three periods :-First, that previous to the formation of the central juntas; secondly, that during the government of the central juntas; and, thirdly, that under the supreme central junta.

The events of the first of these periods, which was but very short, or rather merely transient, were, as usual, in similar cases, for the most part, the effects of popular passion. Don Miquel de Saavedra, captain-general of the province of Valentia, where the insurrection first started, who attempted to oppose the views of the insurgents, was put to death. The insurgents then demanded, that all the goods belonging to the French should be declared to be forfeited, and their persons secured in the citadel. A few days thereafter they dragged the crew of a French ship, which had been pursued by an English frigate, and sought refuge on the Spanish coast, to prison, and, on the 14th of June, in a fresh paroxysm of rage, massacred thein. At Cuença, the corregidor and the intendant were thrown into chains, and carried off by a party of peasants. The Governor of Carthagena was murdered. General Truxillo, Governor of Malaga, was murdered at Grenada. His body was dragged through the streets, cut in pieces, and afterwards burnt. The French consul at Malaga, Mornard, and some French merchants of that place, were secured on the 4th of June from the fury of the people, in the Moorish castle of Cibralforo. A great quantity of arms and ammunition taken from an English privateer in 1800, had been lodged in a warehouse in the suburbs, to be sold. On the 20th of June a report prevailed, that this magazine had been purchased by the French consul, for the use of the French army. The people of Malaga marched to the castle, and notwithstand

1808.

ing all the remonstrances of the deputy-governor, BOOK VIII. and resistance of the guard, burst into the castle, pierced their victim with a thousand daggers, CHAP. III. and burned his dead body on a bonfire made of the furniture and some wrecks of the consul's house. The depôt was broken open, and all that it contained destroyed. This was done in spite of every effort on the part of the municipal government of Malaga to prevent it. The tumult was at last quelled by a singular expedient. The dean and chapter fell on the contrivance of a procession, to thank God for their deliverance from the oppressor. The mul titude immediately joined the procession, and tranquillity was restored. The Governor of St. Lucas, Barameda, was massacred. At Jean, the peasants murdered the corregidor, and plundered the town.

Similar scenes were exhibited in Estramadura and the Castiles. At Badajoz, the insurrection broke out, May the 30th, and was in an instant matured. The palace of the governor was assaulted. The insurgents demanded arms, to be enrolled, and formed into a regular body. The government, with the bishop, appeared at the balcony, exhorting the multitude to retire; but in vain. They overpowered the guard of the palace, rushed in, seized the governor, and dragged him as far as the Palm-gate, where, with knives and sticks, they destroyed him.

At Cadiz, May the 29th, the people rose against the Lieutenant-general Solano, Marquis Del Socorro, captain-general of the province of Audalusia, and Governor of the city of Cadiz. The marquis, with the Spanish troops under his command, had been recalled for the purpose of covering the flight of Charles V. from Aranjuez to Seville. At Madrid, he formed an intimate and confidential connection with Murat, and General O'Farrel, an Irishman in the Spanish service, but drawn over to the side of the French. From the moment that a design was conceived to resist the progress of the French in Spain, every eye was turned to Andalusia, admirably adapted, by its situation, for co-operation with the English, and possessing the harbour of Cadiz, and the foundaries of Seville. Cadiz was divided, though unequally, by a French party and the Spanish patriots. The former consisted of French merchants and French clerks in the counting-houses, with Le Roy, the French consul, at their head; and Admiral Rosilly, with the other officers of the French fleet, which had been moored in the harhour of Cadiz ever since the battle of Trafalgar. The latter was composed of almost all the Spaniards, the English merchants, and some of other nations.

While the patriots, with their allies, entered into a correspondence and concert with Sir Hugh Dalrymple, Governor of Gibraltar, the English

CHAP. III.

1808.

BOOK VIII. Admiral Purvis, and General Castaros, commander of the Spanish camp at St. Roch, for the purpose of acting against the common enemy according to circumstances, the French party kept up a correspondence with Madrid. Solano came in post-haste to Cadiz, and thundered forth proclamations against all who should have any correspondence with the English forces, while a strong detachment from the main army of the French at Madrid was on its march to Cadiz. An immense number of people, conducted by Spanish officers and certain merchants of Cadiz, assembled around the governor's palace, at Chulana, a village in the vicinity of Cadiz, demanding, with loud cries, "arms and ammunition." Solano appeared at the balcony, and in a long speech tried to persuade the people that the power of the Emperor of the French was altogether irresistible, and that, if they should attempt resistance to his will by force, they would only precipitate their own destruction. They heard him with patience a long time; but interrupted him at last, by repeating their cry of "arms and ammunition. and ammunition. Long live Ferdinand VII." Arms were brought from the barracks, and a cannon from the bulwarks. The gates of the palace were instantly forced: the governor's guard was disarmed: Solano himself, attempting to make his escape by the tops of the houses, was seized and dragged into the street. Even in this extremity he proclaimed the power and the vengeance of Bonaparte, and declared, "that he was ready to die in the cause of the Grand Napoleon." A person who was near him, on hearing these words, dashed his brains out at one blow with a club.

Some excesses were committed in the provinces of Leon and Asturias. At Corunna, in Gallicia, General Filangieri, an Italian in the Spanish service, because he endeavoured to mitigate, by persuasion, the fury of the peasantry, though he had declared on the side of the insurgents, would have been shot, if an artillery-officer had not stept before him, and given him time to take refuge in the convent of St. Domingo.-On the 1st of June, the people demanded that all the French residing at Corunna should be arrested. About thirty or forty French, of different ranks and conditions, were taken to the common gaol, but their property was not seized. Straggling parties of the French, in many places, were cut off by the peasants, led on by monks.

But the reign of mere democracy was of short duration. The zeal and efforts of unconnected individuals were quickly brought into unity of design and action, by the establishment of provincial juntas. Even before the establishment of these, the popular resentment was in many instances calmed by the magistrates, and the authority of good and respectable men, among both the

laity and clergy. There is no instance of a popu lar insurrection so widely extended, and provoked by such outrages and insults, that was attended with so few calamities as that of Spain. The horrid excesses just enumerated are but as a drop in the bucket, when compared with the torrents of innocent blood shed in the first ebullitions of the French revolution. The excesses of Spain were as much underneath the enormities of France, as the grievances of which she had to complain were above any that the French were subjected to under the mild and beneficent reign of Louis XVI. What remained to the Spaniards of their ancient constitution of government, congenial with popular liberty, presented means of collecting the public sentiments, and forming a concert of will and power, without having recourse to innovations, for the most part dangerous, and always accompanied with confusion. The municipal government of the towns of Spain, though complicated, wore, in general, an air of popular representation. Wherever there were 2000 householders, four de puties and a syndic were named by the people, and formed part of the town-council.-On the 27th of May, there was a convention at Seville of the magistrates, the constituted authorities, and the most respectable of the inhabitants of all classes. This convention, by common consent, elected a supreme provincial junta.

The supreme council of Seville, laying hold of some statutes in their constitution which authori zed their rejecting the orders of the supreme council of Madrid, when that capital should be in the hands of foreign troops, assumed an inde pendent authority in the name of Ferdinand VII. whom they proclaimed king, and declared war against France. Supreme juntas were also formed in the same manner, in all the other provinces not under the immediate pressure of the French. But it was necessary, as much as possible, to give the separate forces of all the provinces the same direction; otherwise, instead of harmonious cooperation, they might counteract each other, and throw all things into confusion. The lead in the affairs of the nation was therefore taken by the supreme junta of Seville; which, with a happy audacity assumed, and for a time exercised, all the functions of sovereign authority. Without entangling themselves in any disputes that might arise from the anticipation of contingent events, and diversity of opinion, concerning political reforms, they declared "that their only object was, that Spain might preserve its integrity and independence for its lord and king, Ferdinand VII. on whose safe return, he, with the supreme government, would determine what might be his royal will, either by commanding a general assembly of the Cortes, or by such other means as his prudence might suggest for facilitating the