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XI.

1821.

demnation. With their own hands, of their own autho- CHAP. rity, under their own leaders, the people executed what they called justice upon their enemies. Several hundred persons-many of them of high rank-were in this manner torn from their families, hurried into exile, without the hope of ever returning, chiefly from Barcelona, Valencia, Corunna, Carthagena, and the neighbourhood of these towns. With such secresy was the measure devised, with such suddenness carried into execution, that no resistance was anywhere either practicable or attempted; and the unfortunate victims of this violence had scarcely awakened from the stupor into which they had been thrown by their seizure, when they found themselves at sea, on board strange vessels, surrounded by strange faces, and sailing they knew not whither! The annals of the Roman proscriptions, of Athenian cruelty, of French atrocity, may be searched in vain for a similar instance i. 284, 290;' of general, deliberate, and deeply-devised popular ven- iv. 453, 454. geance.1

1 Martignac,

Ann. Hist.

ary laws

April 14.

Deeds of violence on the side of the populace seldom 32. fail to find apologists. The illegal seizure and deportation Revolutionof such a number of persons at the same time in various passed by parts of Spain was a public and notorious event, which the Cortes. could not be concealed; while the secresy with which it had been devised, and the suddenness with which it had been executed, indicated the work of occult and highly dangerous societies. It was accordingly made the subject of discussion in the Cortes, but the turn which the debate took was very curious, and eminently characteristic of the slavish cowardice which successful revolutionary violence so often induces. No blame whatever was thrown on the authors or executors of this atrocious proceeding; not one of them was even accused, though they were as well known as the commanders of the provinces where the violence had occurred. The whole blame was thrown on the judges and civil authorities in the provinces, whose

XI.

1821.

CHAP. supineness or dilatory conduct in bringing the enemies of the people to justice had obliged them, it was said, to take the affair into their hands. All that was done, to avert similar acts of violence by self-constituted authorities in future, was to pass two laws, worthy to be placed beside those constituting the revolutionary tribunal at Paris in point of atrocity. By the first of these the punishment of death was decreed against all persons who should be convicted of offences against either religion or the constitution; and by the second, those charged with such offences were to be arrested by the armed force, and brought before a council of war chosen out of the corps which had ordered the arrest. This judgment was to be pronounced in six days, to be final and without appeal, and carried into execution, if confirmed, by the military governor of the province within forty-eight hours. And the only reparation made to the transported victims was, that government, when they iv. 452, 453; learned the places to which they had been conveyed, i. 290, 294. secretly brought some of them back, one by one, to their own country.1

1 Ann. Hist.

Martignac,

33.

murder of

the priest

Vinuesa.

May 3.

As the military force of Spain was entirely in the Barbarous hands of the Liberals-at least so far as the officers were concerned—and it had been the great agent which brought about the Revolution, these sanguinary laws, in effect, put all at the mercy of the revolutionists, by whom, as by the Jacobin clubs at Paris, death to any extent, and under no limitation, might with impunity be inflicted on their political opponents or personal enemies. But the proceedings of the courts-martial, summary and final as they were, appeared too slow for the impatient wrath of the populace; and an instance soon occurred in which they showed that, like the Parisian mob, they coveted the agreeable junction, in their own persons, of the offices of accuser, judge, and executioner. A fanatic priest, named Vinuesa, had published at Madrid a crazy

XI.

1821.

pamphlet recommending a counter-revolution. For this CHAP. offence he was brought before the court intrusted with the trial of such cases at Madrid, and sentenced to ten years of the galleys-a dreadful punishment, and the maximum which law permitted for crimes of that description. But this sentence, which seemed sufficient to satisfy their most ardent passions, was deemed inadequate by the revolutionists. "Blood, blood!" was the universal cry. May 4. On the day following, an immense crowd assembled in the Puerto del Sol, the principal square of Madrid, where a resolution was passed that they should themselves execute the sentence of death on their victim. This was at noon; but so deliberate were the assassins, and so secure of impunity, that they postponed the execution of the sentence till four o'clock. At that hour they reassembled, after having taken their siesta, and proceeded to the prison-doors. Ten soldiers on guard there made a show of resistance, but it was a show only. They soon submitted to the mandates of the sovereign people, and withdrew. The doors of the prison were speedily broken open; the priest presented himself, with a crucifix in his hand, and in the name of the Redeemer prayed for his life. His entreaties were disregarded; one of the judges of the Puerto del Sol advanced, and beat out his brains i. 295, 296; with a sledge-hammer as he lay prostrate before them on iv. 454. the pavement of his cell.1

1 Martignac,

Ann. Hist.

of the Or

Hammer.

Barbarous and uncalled-for as this murder was, it has 34. too many parallel instances in cruelty, aristocratic and Institution democratic, in all ages and in all countries. But what der of the follows is the infamy of Spain, and of the cause of revolution, and of them alone. Having despatched their victim in prison, the mob proceeded, with loud shouts, to the house of the judge who had condemned him to ten years of the galleys, with the intention of murdering him also; but in this they were disappointed, for he had heard of his danger, and escaped. In the evening the clubs

XI.

1821.

CHAP. resounded with songs of triumph at this act of popular justice; the better class of inhabitants trembled in silence; the violent revolutionists were in ecstasies. Martinez de la Rosa had the courage in the Cortes to denounce the atrocious act, but a great majority drowned his voice and applauded it. The press was unanimous in its approbation of the glorious deed. To commemorate it for all future times, an order of chivalry was instituted by the assassins, entitled the Order of the Hammer, which was received with general applause. Decorations consisting of a little hammer, for those who were admitted into it, were prepared, and eagerly bought up by both sexes; and to the disgrace of Spain be it said, the insignia of an order intended to commemorate a deliberate and coldi. 297, 299.' blooded murder were to be seen on the breasts of the brave and the bosoms of the fair.1

1 Martignac,

35. Insurrec

tion in Na

varre, and

appointment of

Murillo at

Madrid.

This cruel act, and still more the general approbation with which it was received in the clubs, and by the press of Madrid, opened the eyes of the better and more respectable classes over the whole country to the frightful nature of the abyss into which all the nation, under its present rulers, was hurrying. A reactionary movement broke out in Navarre, at the head of which was the curate Merino, already well known and celebrated in the war with Napoleon. He was soon at the head of eight hundred men, with which, after having been successful in several encounters, he was marching on Vittoria, when he was met and defeated at Ochandiano by the captain-general of the province. Four hundred prisoners were made, and sent to Pampeluna; the chiefs-nearly all priests or pastors were immediately executed. Taking advantage of the consternation produced by these events, the king ventured on the bold step of appointing Don Pablo iv. 454,455; Murillo, the celebrated general under Wellington in the i. 300, 304. war with Napoleon-the undaunted antagonist of Bolivar in that of South America 2-to the situation of captain

2 Ann. Hist.

Martignac,

XI.

general at Madrid. Murillo was very unwilling to under- CHAP. take the perilous mission, but at length, at the earnest solicitation of the king, who represented that he was his last resource against the revolution, he agreed to accept it.

1821.

36.

of the Cor

The knowledge of Murillo's firm and resolute character had for some time a considerable effect in overawing the Proceedings factions in the capital; for though the army was the focus tes. of the revolution, such was known to be his ascendancy with the troops, that it was feared, under his orders, they would not hesitate to act in support of the royal authority. But unhappily his influence did not extend over the Cortes, and the proceedings of that body were daily more and more indicative of the growing ascendancy of an extreme faction, whose ideas were inconsistent, not merely with monarchical, but with any government whatever. The clubs in Madrid, as they had been during the first Revolution at Paris, were the great centres of this violent party, and it was through them that the whole press had been ranged on the democratic side. Fatigued with a perpetual struggle with their indefatigable adversaries in the Cortes, the galleries, the clubs, and the press, the moderate party in the legislature at length gave way, and submitted to almost everything which their adversaries chose to demand of them. So far did this yielding go, that they consented to pass a law which entirely withdrew the clubs from the cognisance both of the government and the magistrates; forbade any persons in authority to intrude upon the debates; and by declaring the responsibility of the president for what there took place, in effect declared the irresponsibility of every one else. So obvious was the danger of this law, that the king, in terms of the constitution, and relying on the support of Murillo, refused his sanction. A few days after he did the same Martignac, with a law which passed the Cortes, tending to deprive 310; Ann. the chief proprietors of a considerable part of their 469. seignorial rights.1

1

i. 304, 305,

Hist. iv.

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