provided for by the Church property confiscated to the CHAP. State, which was estimated at eight milliards of reals, or £80,000,000 sterling.

XI. 1822.

62.

Riot in Madrid, and

death of

Landabura.

Such a state of the Spanish finances said but little either of the benefits which the nation had derived from the revolutionary regime during the three years it had endured, or of the resources either in warlike preparations June 30. or national credit to meet the difficulties with which it was on every side beset. But the march of events was so rapid as to outstrip the convulsions inevitable under such a state of the national finances, and induce a crisis much sooner than might have been expected from the comparatively slow progress of pecuniary embarrassment. On the very day on which the Cortes was prorogued a melancholy event occurred, which brought matters to a crisis. An immense crowd assembled and accompanied the king's carriage from the hall of the Cortes to the palace, part shouting " Viva el Rey Netto! Viva el Rey Assoluto!" part" Viva Riego! Viva Libertade." To such a length did the mutual exasperation proceed that it reached and infected the royal guard itself, which was nearly as much divided and inflamed; and as Landabura, an officer of the guard, of decided Liberal feelings, endea- v. 442, 445; voured to appease the tumult among his men, he was shot i. 416, 417. in the breast, and instantly expired.1

1 Ann. Hist.

Martignac,

This atrocious murder, for such it really was, though 63.

strife

Guard and

son.

disguised under the name of a homicide in rixa, excited Commencethe most violent feelings of indignation among the Libe- ment of the rals of all classes in Madrid; for however willing to tweed excuse such crimes when committed by, they were by no the garrimeans equally tolerant of them when perpetrated on, June 30, themselves. The whole city was quickly in a tumult; July 1. the militia of its own accord turned out, the troops of the line and artillery joined them; the municipality declared its sitting permanent, and everything presaged an immediate and violent collision between the Court and royal guard on the one side, and the Cortes, soldiers of the

XI.

CHAP. line, and militia on the other. The night passed in mutual suspense, both parties being afraid to strike the 1822. first blow; and next day nothing was done, except an order on the part of the king to have the murderers of Landabura punished, and a decree settling a pension on his widow. Meanwhile the royal guard, against which the public feeling in the metropolis was so violently excited, remained without orders, and knew not how to act. Being more numerous and better disciplined than the regiments in the garrison, and in possession of all the principal posts, it might with ease have made itself master of the park of artillery in the arsenal-an acquisition which would have rendered it the undisputed master of the city. Had Napoleon been at its head, he would at once have done so the seizure of the park of artillery near Paris by Murat, under his orders, on occasion of the revolt of the Sections in October 1795, determined the contest there in favour of the Directory. But there was no Napoleon in Spain; and the indecision of the GovernHist. ment, by leaving the Guard without orders, exposed them v. 444, 445; to destruction, and lost the fairest opportunity that ever 1.418, 419. occurred of reinstating, without foreign aid, the royal authority.2

1 Hist. of

Europe, chap. xix.

§ 60.

2

Ann.

Martignac,

64.

of the royal

Madrid.

July 1.

Two of the six battalions of which the Guard was comDeparture posed were on service at the king's palace; the remaining guard from four were in barracks, detached from each other, in the city. Fearful of being shut up there by the troops of the line and militia, they took the resolution, of their own accord, of leaving the capital and encamping in the neighbourhood--a resolution which was carried into effect, without tumult or opposition, at nightfall on the 1st July. Meanwhile the most energetic preparations were made by the municipality to meet the crisis which was approaching, and a fresh corps, called the " Sacred Battalion," was formed of volunteers, consisting for the most part of the most desperate and energetic revolutionary characters, who threatened to be even more formidable to their friends

XI.

1822.

than their enemies. The Government and permanent CHAP. deputation of the Cortes were in consternation, and fearing alike the success of either of the extreme parties now arrayed against each other, they sought only to temporise, and if possible effect an accommodation between them. Murillo, who, as captain-general of New Castile, had the entire command of the military and militia in the province, was the natural chief upon whom it devolved to make head against the insurrection. He was distracted by opposite feelings and duties, for, in addition to his other appointments, the king had recently named him commander of the Guard; and it was hard to say whether Ann. Hist. he should attend to his public duties, as the head of armed force in the capital, or the whisperings of secret inclinations, which led him to devote himself to the 242. personal service of the king.1

1

v. 446, 447;

the Martignac, his Ann. Reg.

i. 420, 422;

1822, 241,

the negotia

the insur

gents.

Riego was clear to attack the Guards instantly, and in 65. person urged that advice on Murillo. "Who are you?" Progress of asked the general, with an ironical expression. "I am," tions with he, replied, "the deputy Riego." "In that case," replied the general, “you may return to the congress; you have July 1-7. nothing to do here." Six days passed in fruitless negotiations, in the course of which, however, the Liberals gained a decided advantage; for the Sacred Battalion, during the night of the 3d, got possession of the park of artillery at St Gol, which proved of the utmost importance in the contest which ensued. The royal treasury, meanwhile, was empty, and so low had the credit of the Government fallen that no one in Madrid would advance it a real. Public anxiety was much increased, during this period of suspense, by the intelligence that a regiment of carabineers had revolted in Andalusia, that several corps of militia had joined it, and that their united force was advancing into La Mancha, to join the insurgent Guards in the capital, amidst cries of "Viva el Rey Assoluto." Meanwhile the opposite forces were in presence of each other in the neighbourhood of the Royalist camp, and frequent dis

1822.

CHAP. charges of musket-shots from the outposts at each other XI. kept the public in an agony of apprehension, from the belief that the impending conflict had commenced. In effect, a combined movement was soon found to be in preparation; for early on the morning of the 7th, while it was yet dark, the Guards broke up in silence and the best order, and advanced rapidly to the capital. They effected their entrance, without difficulty, by a barrier which was not guarded, and when within the city divided into three i. 427, 428; columns. The first advanced to take possession of the v. 454, 455; park of artillery posted at the gate of St Vincent, the 1822,242 second to the Puerta del Sol, the third to the Place of the Constitution.1

1 Martignac,

Ann. Hist.

Ann. Reg.

From the secresy with which this movement was executed, and the success with which in the first instance it was attended, it was evident that it was the result of a welllaid design; and if it had been carried through with as much resolution as it was planned with ability, it would in all probability have met with success, and might have altered the whole course of the revolution. But one of those panics so frequent in nocturnal enterprises seized two of the columns when they came in contact with the enemy, and caused the whole undertaking to terminate in disaster. The corps directed to attack the park of artillery never reached its destination. Assailed by a few musket-shots from the Sacred Battalion as they approached the gate of St Vincent, they turned about, fled out of the town, and disbanded in the wood of La Monda. The second column was more successful; it gained possession of the Puerta del Sol, after a vigorous resistance from a body of cavalry stationed there to Guard the entrance. But instead of moving on to the general point of rendezvous in the Place of the Constitution, it marched to the palace to rally the two battalions of the guard stationed there. The third reached the Place of the Constitution without opposition: but there they found Murillo, Ballasteros, Riego, and Alava, at the head of the militia, and

XI.

1822.

two guns. Though met by a brisk fire, both from the CHAP troops and the artillery, they replied by a vigorous and well-sustained discharge of musketry, and forced their way into the square, where they maintained themselves for some time with great resolution. But at length, hearing of the rout of the corps destined for the attack of the artillery, and discouraged by the non-arrival of the corps which had gained the Puerta del Sol, but gone on instead to the palace to obtain the aid of the battalions in guard there, who were under arms ready to succour them, they broke their ranks and retreated in disorder towards the palace, closely followed by Ballasteros, who with his guns kept up a destructive fire on their ranks. At length the whole Guard, with the exception of the corps which had disbanded, found itself united in front of the palace, but in a state of extreme discouragement, and in great confusion. There they were speedily assailed by ten thousand militia, with a large train of artillery, who with loud shouts and vehement cries crowded in on all sides, and had already pointed their guns from all the adjacent streets on the confused mass, when the white flag was 243; Marhoisted, and intelligence was received that the Guard had 429, 431. surrendered.1

1

Ann. Hist. Ann. Reg.

v. 454, 455;

1822, 242,

tignac, i.

This ill-conducted attempt to reinstate the royal 67. authority had the usual effect of all such efforts when Destruction of the Royal terminating in miscarriage: it utterly destroyed it. The Guard. 7th July 1822 was as fatal to the crown in Spain as the July 7. 10th August 1792 had been to that of Louis in France. The permanent committee of the Cortes, which had been entirely unconnected with these events, immediately took the direction, and tacitly, without opposition, usurped the entire powers of Government. Their first care was that of the Guards, who had laid down their arms without any regular capitulation. The committee compelled the king to impose upon the four battalions which had combated the hard condition of a surrender at discretion; the two at the palace, which had not fought, were to retire from