XI. 1821. quarters in the rear of the cordon, particularly Tortosa, CHAP. Mequinenza, and Lerida. By the middle of October, when the fever was at its height, 9000 persons had been cut off by it in Barcelona alone, out of a population not at that period exceeding 80,000 persons, and 300 died every day. So terrible a mortality struck terror through every part of Spain; and the French government, under pretence of establishing a sanitary cordon, assembled an army of 30,000 men on the eastern frontier of the Pyrenees, but which was really intended chiefly to prevent communication between the revolutionary party in the Spanish towns and the secret societies in France. In the midst of these alarms, physical and moral, two classes of the people alone were insensible to the peril, and hastened, at the risk of their lives, to the scene of danger. The French physicians flocked over of their own accord to the theatre of pestilence, and brought to its alleviation the aid of their science and the devotion of their courage; and the Sisters of Charity appeared in the scenes of woe, and were to be seen, amidst the perils of the epidemic, by the bedside of the sick, and assisting at the supreme unction of the dying. Their exertions were not unavailing in alleviating individual distress; and the cool weather having set in, the epidemic gradually abated, and by December had entirely disappeared, but not before it had cut off 20,000 persons in Barcelona, out iv. 467,469; of 80,000; and in Tortosa six out of twelve thousand i. 347, 349. inhabitants.1 1 Ann. Hist. Martignac, tion. The terrors of the epidemic did not allay for any con- 44. siderable time the political agitation of Spain. The club Fresh agitaof the Fontana d'Oro resounded with declamations, of which the arrest of Riego was the principal subject; and its orators declared "that the political atmosphere would never be purified but by the blood of twelve or fifteen thousand inhabitants of Madrid." The Government felt itself unable to coerce these excesses; and the extreme democrats in the provinces, seeing the impotence XI. 1821. CHAP. of the executive, erected themselves, with the aid of selfconstituted juntas, into separate powers, nearly as independent of the central government at Madrid as they had been during the war with Napoleon. Saragossa continued the theatre of such violent agitations that Moreda, the intrepid officer who had arrested Riego, was obliged, on the summons of the municipality and clubs, to resign his post and retire. At Cadiz, the Government dismissed General Jauregui, and having appointed the Marquis de la Rennion, a nobleman of moderate principles, to the command, the Liberals refused to receive him. The Baron d'Andilla having upon this been substituted in his room, he too was rejected, and General Jauregui, a noted Liberal, who was entirely in their interest, forcibly retained in his post. The municipality and people of Seville, encouraged by this example of successful resistance, revolted also against the central authority; and Manuel de Velasco, the captain-general, and Escovedo, the political chief of the province, addressed the king in the same style as the Liberals at Cadiz, and caused their names to be inscribed in the national guard of the city, "in order to die at their post, if necessary, in defence of their country." Nor was Valencia in a more tranquil condition, for General Elio, a gallant veteran of the war, the former governor of the province, had been condemned to death by the revolutionary authorities in 1 Ann. Hist. that city, as having acted in 1814 against the Constitu471; Mar- tion of 1812, and the sentence having not as yet been executed, the clubs resounded with incessant declamations, demanding his instant execution.1 iv. 455, 470, tignac, i. 353, 355. Matters had now come to such a pass that the Government at Madrid saw they had no alternative but to take a decided line, or to abdicate in favour of the provincial authorities. They accordingly transmitted orders to Baron d'Andilla to proceed to Cadiz and take the command. But they soon found that their real power was XI. 1821. 45. Cadiz and receive the king's go revolt at confined to the walls of Madrid. The authorities at CHAP. Cadiz continued Jauregui in the command, refused to admit the baron within their gates, put the city in a posture of defence, and sent orders to all the towns in Refusal of Andalusia to stop and arrest him wherever he might Seville to appear. The same thing was done at Seville, where General Moreno Davix, sent from Madrid to assume the vernors, and command, was stopped at Ecija, on his way to that city, Corunna. and sent back. Meanwhile Meria at Corunna, who had been replaced by General Latré, sent from Madrid, revolted, and having secured the garrison in his interest, expelled Latré, and declared himself independent of the central government. But Latré was not discouraged. He raised the militia of the province of Galicia, which was thoroughly loyal, and appearing with an imposing force before the gates of Corunna, compelled Meria to surrender and depart to Seguenza, the place assigned for his exile. At the same time troubles broke out in Estremadura, Navarre, and Old Castile, where guerilla bands appeared, ravaged the country, and rendered all collection of the revenue impossible. To such straits was the 1 Memorias treasury in consequence reduced, that the Minister of de General Finance was obliged to open a fresh loan of 200,000,000 375, 389; reals (£2,000,000) in foreign states, which was only in i. 356, 357; part obtained, and that at a most exorbitant rate of iv. 470,471. interest.1 Mina, ii. Martignac, Ann. Hist. an extra Cortes. The distracted state of the country rendered an early 46. and extraordinary convocation of the Cortes necessary, Opening of in the hope of obtaining that moral support from its votes ordinary which was sought in vain in the affections of the country. Nov. 25. It met accordingly on the 25th November, and the king, in his opening speech, deeply deplored the events at Cadiz, and earnestly invoked the aid of the Cortes to support him in his endeavour to cause the royal authority to be respected.* The Cortes, in reply, appointed two * “C'est dans la plus profonde amertume de mon cœur, que j'ai appris les 1821. Dec. 9. CHAP. Commissioners, one charged with preparing an answer to XI. the royal address, the other, with considering what was to be done to support the royal authority. The reports were presented on the 9th December, and although drawn in the most cautious style, and with the anxious wish to avoid giving offence to the Liberals, they did so most effectually, for they bore that the authorities at Seville and Cadiz should be brought to trial-a resolution which was adopted by the Cortes by a majority of 130 to 48. This decision excited the most violent animosity in the clubs, the journals, and the coffee-houses: cries of "Long live Riego! Down with the Ministers! down with the Serviles!" were heard on all sides; and so completely were the majority of the Cortes intimidated by these proceedings, that a few days after an amendment was carried by Dec. 14. a majority of 104 to 59, which bore, "that as the Minis1 Ann. Hist. ters did not possess the moral force requisite to conduct ii. 476, 477; the affairs of the nation, they implored the king to adopt i. 359, 367. the measures imperatively called for by such a state of public affairs."1 Martignac, 47. tory resolu Cortes. This vote of want of confidence in Ministers coming Contradic so soon after a solemn condemnation of their adversaries, tions of the indicated in the clearest manner the prostration of the executive and disastrous state of the monarchy, reeling like a sinking ship alternately before one wind and another. Immense was the general exultation in the great cities at this direct vote of censure on Ministers. The authorities at Cadiz and Seville were so encouraged by it that they carried their audacity so far as openly to bid defiance to the Cortes and the king, and sent an address derniers événements de Cadiz, où, sous le prétexte d'amour pour la constitution, on l'a foulée aux pieds en méconnaissant les droits qu'elle m'accorde. J'ai ordonné à mes secrétaires d'état de présenter aux Cortès, la nouvelle d'un événement aussi fâcheux, dans la confiance interne qu'ils coopéreront avec énergie, d'accord avec mon gouvernement, à faire en sorte que les prérogatives de la couronne, ainsi que les libertés publiques, qui sont une de ses garanties, soient conservées intactes."-Discours du Roi, 25th November 1821. Moniteur, 2d December 1821. Ann. Hist., iv. 471, 472. XI. 1821. to the latter, stating that they would receive or execute no order or appointment from the king till the present Ministers were dismissed. On this occasion the Cortes rescinded virtually their last resolution: their amour propre was wounded by this open defiance of their authority; and after a long and stormy debate, in which the leading orators on the Liberal side took part with the Dec. 23. Government, it was determined by a majority of 112 to i. 366, 370; 36 that all those who had signed this seditious address iv. 477, 479. should be prosecuted.1 1 Martignac, Ann. Hist. conduct of ist insur the north. Being now supported by the Cortes, and sure of the 48. protection of a part, at least, of the military, the king, Irresolute had he possessed firmness adequate to the undertaking, the king," had a fair opportunity for asserting the royal authority, and royaland rousing the vast majority of the country to check the rection in urban faction which had turned the revolution into such a downward channel. But he had no consistency in his character, and was as vacillating in his acts as the Cortes in their votes. Hardly was his authority in some degree reinstated by this last vote of the Cortes, than he gave the factions a triumph by dismissing four of his Ministers, the most decided in the intrepid conduct which had lately been pursued. Two others resigned, so that one only remained and continued in the new administration, which was composed entirely of the most moderate of the patriots of 1812. This act of weakness renewed the resistance of Cadiz and Seville at the very time when the vote of the Cortes had disarmed it. Meanwhile, insurrections of an opposite character, in favour of religion and the monarchy, broke out, and were daily gaining ground in Navarre, Arragon, Galicia, and Biscay, and the year closed with Spain torn in all quarters—it was hard to say whether most by the furious democrats of the cities in the south, or the hardy royalists of the i. 367, 372. valleys in the north.2 The action of the secret societies styled Communeros and Descamisados ("communists" and "shirtless") became * Ann. Hist. iv. 480, 482; Martignac, |