XII. 1823. of the first in rank, and the first in power, to take the CHAP. lead in that glorious emulation. But unhappily, in the Spanish character, the desire for vengeance and the thirst for blood are as inherent as the spirit of adventure and the heroism of resistance; and amidst all the declamations in favour of religion, the priests who surrounded the throne forgot that the forgiveness of injuries is the first of the Christian virtues. The consequence was, that the royalist government took example from the revolutionary in deeds of cruelty; the reaction was as violent as the action had been; and Spain was the victim of mutual injuries, and torn by intestine passions for a long course of years, until the discord ceased by the exhaustion of those who were its victims. 93. Riego was the first victim. Cries were heard, which showed how profound was the indignation and wide- Sentence of spread the thirst for vengeance in the Spanish mind. Riego. The first step taken was to bring him to trial. No advocate could be found bold enough to undertake his defence; the court was obliged to appoint one to that perilous duty. During the whole time the trial was going on, a furious crowd surrounded the hall of justice with cries of" Muera Riego! Muera el Tradidor !—Viva el Rey Assoluto!" His conviction followed as a matter of course, and he was sentenced to death amidst the same shouts from an excited audience, whom even the solemnity of that awful occasion, and the very magnitude of the vi. 481, 482; offence with which the prisoner was charged, could not 261, 262. overawe into temporary silence.1 1 Ann. Hist. Lam. vii. tion. His execution took place a few days afterwards, and 94. under circumstances peculiarly shocking, and which His execureflected the deepest disgrace on the Spanish govern- Nov. 7. ment. Stript of his uniform, clothed in a wrapper of white cloth, with a green cap, the ensign of liberty, on his head, he was placed with his hands tied behind his back, on a hurdle drawn by an ass, in which he was conveyed, surrounded by priests, and with the Miserere VOL. II. 2 Y XII. 1823. CHAP. of the dying unceasingly rung in his ears by a chorister, to the place of execution. The multitude gazed in silence on the frightful spectacle. The memorable reverse of fortune, from being the adored chief of the revolution to becoming thus reviled and rejected, for a moment subdued the angry passions. Arrived at the foot of the scaffold, which was constructed upon an eminence in the Plaza de la Cebaba, forty feet high, so as to be seen from a great distance, he received absolution for his crimes, and was lifted up, still bound, pale and attenuated, already half dead, to the top of the scaffold, where the fatal cord was passed round his neck, and he was launched into eternity. A monster in the human vi. 483; Mo- form gave a buffet to his countenance after death;* a shudder ran through the crowd, which was soon drowned in cries of "Viva el Rey! Viva el Rey Assoluto!" 1 1 Lam. vii. 263; 264; Ann. Hist. niteur, Nov. 14, 1823. 95. Nov. 13. The King and Queen of Spain made their triumphal Entry of entry into Madrid six days after that melancholy executhe King and Queen tion, amidst an immense crowd of spectators, and surinto Madrid. rounded by every demonstration of joy. Their majesties were seated on an antique and gigantic chariot, twentyfive feet high, which was drawn by a hundred young men elegantly attired, surrounded by groups of dancers of both sexes, in the most splendid theatrical costumes, whose operatic display elicited boundless applause from the spectators. The spirit of faction appeared to be dead; one only feeling seemed to animate every breast, which was joy at the termination of the revolution. But it soon appeared that, if the convulsions had ceased, the passions it had called forth were far from being appeased. The long-wished-for amnesty, so solemnly promised by the king before his liberation at Cadiz, and which would have closed in so worthy a spirit the wounds of the * The same thing was done to the beautiful head of Charlotte Corday, after she had been guillotined.-See History of Europe, former series, chap. xii. § 78. How identical is the passion of party and the spirit of vengeance in all ages and countries! CHAP. XII. 1823. revolution, had not yet been promulgated, and it was looked for with speechless anxiety by the numerous relatives and friends of the persons compromised. For several days after the king's arrival in the capital it did not make its appearance, and meanwhile arrests continued daily, and were multiplied to such a degree that the prisons were soon overflowing. At length the public anxiety became so great that the Government were compelled to publish the amnesty on the 19th. It contained, Nov. 19. however, so many exceptions, that it was rather a declaration of war against the adverse party than a healing and pacific measure. It excepted all the persons who had taken a leading part in the late disturbance, and their number was so great that it was evident it laid the foundation of interminable discords and certain reaction. On the 2d December, the list of the new Ministry ap- Dec. 2. peared, constructed, as might have been expected, from amongst the persons who had been most instrumental in promoting the return to the ancient regime.* The Duke del Infantado was dismissed from the presidency of the Privy Council, which was bestowed on Don Ignace Martinez de la Rosa; and the Council itself was composed of ten persons, all devoted Royalists. At the same time, however, on the urgent representation of Count Pozzo di Borgo, who bore a holograph letter of the Emperor of Russia on the subject, a pledge was given of an intention to revert to more moderate councils, by Dece the dismissal of Don Victor Laez, the organ of the 1823; Cap. violent apostolic party, from the important office of con- 213; Ann. fessor to the king, who was succeeded by a priest of more 485, 486. reasonable views.1 The revolution was now closed, and the royal government re-established in Spain, supported by ninety * Marquis Casa-Irugo, Premier and Foreign Affairs; Don Narcisso de Hondia, Minister of Grace and Justice; Don José de la Crux, War; Don Luis Lopez-Ballasteros, Finances; Don Luis-Maria Salazar, Marine and Colonies.-Annuaire Historique, vi. 485. 1 Moniteur, vii. 205, Hist. vi. 1823. 96. and miser Spain. CHAP. thousand French soldiers, in possession of its princiXII. pal fortresses, and so disposed as to be able at once to crush any fresh revolutionary outbreak. But it is Distracted not by the mere cessation of hostilities that the passions able state of of revolution are extinguished, or its disastrous effects obliterated. Deplorable to the last degree was the condition of Spain on the termination of the civil war, and deep and unappeasable the thirst for vengeance with which the different parties were animated against each other. The finances, as usual in such cases, gave woeful proof of the magnitude of the general disorder, and the extent to which it had sapped the foundations alike of public and private prosperity. In the greater part of the provinces the collection of taxes had entirely ceased; where it was still gathered, it came in so slowly as not to deserve the name of a national revenue. The Five per Cents were down at 16; loans attempted to be opened in every capital of Europe found no subscribers. The effects of the clergy, the revenues of the kingdom, offered in security of advances, failed to overcome the terrors of capitalists. Recognition of the loans of the Cortes was everywhere stated as the first condition of further accommodation, and this the disastrous state of the finances rendered impossible, for they were wholly inadequate to meet the interest due upon them. The only activity displayed in the kingdom was in the mutual arrest of their enemies by the different parties; the only energy, in preparing the means of wreaking vengeance on each other. But for the presence of the French army, they would have flown at each other's throats, and civil war would in many places have been renewed. Peace and protection were everywhere experienced under the vi.487,488; white flag; and so general was the sense of the absolute 264; Cap. necessity of its shelter, that no opposition was made anywhere to a convention by which it was stipulated that for a year longer thirty-five thousand French troops Dec. 18. 1 Ann. Hist. Lam. vii. viii. 210, 213. should remain in possession of the principal Spanish CHAP. fortresses. XII. 1823. 97. Portugal year. Royal PORTUGAL has in recent times so entirely followed the political changes of Spain, that in reading the account of State of the one you would imagine you are perusing that of the during this other. The parties were the same, the objects of conten- ist insurtion the same, their alternate triumphs and disasters iden-rection. tical. In the early part of the year the Cortes were still all-powerful, and a long lease of power was presaged for the constitutional government. When the French invasion of Spain appeared certain, an army of observation was formed on the frontier without opposition. But civil war soon appeared. On the 23d February, the Conde Feb. 23. d'Amarante, at Villa-Real, raised the standard of insurrection, and published a proclamation, in which he called on all loyal subjects to unite with him in "delivering the country from the yoke of the Cortes, the scourge of revolution, the religion of their enemies, and to rescue the king from captivity." The proclamation was received with enthusiasm; in a few days the whole province of Tras-osMontes was in arms, several regular regiments joined the Royalist standard, and in the beginning of March a formidable force appeared on the banks of the Douro. There, however, they were met by the Constitutional generals at the head of eight thousand men; and after a variety of conflicts with various success, in the course of which the Conde d'Amarante was often worsted, the Royalists were driven back into Tras-os-Montes with considerable loss, March 18. from whence Amarante was fain to escape into Spain, where he joined the curate Merino, who had hoisted the white flag, with four thousand men in the neighbourhood April 4. of Valladolid. The insurrection seemed subdued, and the 1 Ann. Hist. session of the Cortes concluded amidst Io Paans and vi. 498,501; Ann. Reg. congratulatory addresses on the part of the Constitu- 1823, 178. tionalists.1 |