GENERAL INSURRECTION. PROCEEDINGS IN ASTURIAS AND GALLICIA. JUNTAS
FORMED IN THE PROVINCES. JUNTA OF SEVILLE. MURDER OF SOLANO AT
CADIZ; CAPTURE OF THE FRENCH SQUADRON IN THAT HARBOUR. MASSACRE
OF THE FRENCH AT VALENCIA. PROCLAMATIONS OF THE PATRIOTS.
MOVEMENTS OF THE FRENCH AGAINST THEM.
♦1808. MAY.
GENERAL INSURRECTION.♦
The seizure of the fortresses, and the advance of the French troops,
had roused the spirit of the Spaniards; their hopes had been excited
to the highest pitch by the downfal of Godoy and the elevation of
Ferdinand; and in that state of public feeling, the slaughter at
Madrid, and the transactions at Bayonne, were no sooner known,
than the people, as if by an instantaneous impulse over the whole
kingdom, manifested a determination to resist the insolent usurpation.
Abandoned as they were by one part of the Royal Family, deprived of
the rest; forsaken too by those nobles and statesmen, whose names
carried authority, and on whose talents and patriotism they had
hitherto relied; ... betrayed by their government, and now exhorted
to submission by all the constituted authorities civil and religious
which they had been accustomed to revere and to obey; ... their strong
places and frontier passes in possession of the enemy; the flower
of their own troops some in Italy, others in the north of Europe;
and a numerous army of the French, accustomed to victory, and now
flushed with Spanish slaughter, in their capital and in the heart of
the country; under these complicated disadvantages and dangers, they
rose in general and simultaneous insurrection against the mightiest
military power which had ever till that time existed; a force not
more tremendous for its magnitude than for its perfect organization,
wielded always with consummate skill, and directed with consummate
wickedness. A spirit of patriotism burst forth which astonished Europe,
and equalled the warmest hopes of those who were best acquainted with
the Spanish nation: for those persons who knew the character of that
noble people, ... who were familiar with their past history, and their
present state; who had heard the peasantry talk of their old heroes,
of Hernan Cortes and of the Cid; ... who had witnessed the passionate
transfiguration which a Spaniard underwent when recurring from the
remembrance of those times to his own; ... his brave impatience,
his generous sense of humiliation, and the feeling with which his
soul seemed to shake off the yoke of these inglorious days, and take
sanctuary among the tombs of his ancestors, ... they knew that the
spirit of Spain was still alive, and had looked on to this resurrection
of the dry bones. As no foresight could have apprehended the kind
of injury with which the nation had been outraged, nor have provided
against the magnitude of the danger, so by no possible concert could
so wide and unanimous a movement have been effected. The holiest and
deepest feelings of the Spanish heart were roused, and the impulse was
felt throughout the Peninsula like some convulsion of the earth or
elements.
The firing on the 2d of May was heard at Mostoles, a little town about
ten miles south of Madrid, and the Alcalde, who knew the situation of
the capital, dispatched a bulletin to the south, in these words: “The
country is in danger; Madrid is perishing through the perfidy of the
French. All Spaniards, come to deliver it!” ♦ALVARO FLOREZ ESTRADA, P.
126.♦ No other summons was sent abroad than this, which came from an
obscure and unauthorized individual, in a state of mind that would have
made him rush upon the French bayonets; but this stirred up the people
in the southern provinces; and in truth no summons was needed, for
the same feeling manifested itself every where as soon as the details
of the massacre were known, and the whole extent of the outrage which
had been offered to the nation. Buonaparte was totally ignorant of the
Spanish character, and in that ignorance had pursued the only course
which could have provoked a national resistance. If he had declared war
against Spain, at the beginning, no enthusiasm could have been raised
in favour of the government, and he might have dictated the terms of
submission as a conqueror. The opinion of his magnanimity and greatness
would have gone before him; the Spaniards, prone to admire what is
romantic and miraculous, and taught by their own history to disregard
the injustice and the inhumanity of wars which are waged for conquest,
had been dazzled by the splendour of his portentous career; and had he
appeared to them as an open, honourable foe, the pretension that he was
appointed to fulfil the ways of Providence, might have found among them
a submissive, and perhaps a willing belief.
♦DEPUTIES FROM ASTURIAS SENT TO ENGLAND.♦
Asturias was the first province in which the insurrection assumed a
regular form. A Junta of representatives was elected, who assembled
at Oviedo, and declared that the entire sovereignty had devolved into
their hands. The commander in chief in that principality, who attempted
to suppress these movements, was in danger of losing his life; and
the Conde del Pinar, and the poet, D. Juan Melendez Valdes, who were
sent by Murat from Madrid to appease the people, were glad to escape
from the indignation which their mission provoked. The first act of
the Junta was to dispatch two noblemen to solicit aid from England:
they put off from ♦MAY 25.♦ Gijon in an open boat, and got on board an
English privateer which happened to be cruizing off that port. Agents
also were sent to Leon and to Coruña, inviting the Leonese and the
Gallicians to unite with them against the common enemy.
♦INSURRECTION AT CORUÑA.♦
The Asturian who came to Coruña upon this mission was ordered by one
of the magistrates to leave the town immediately, and not to make his
errand known to any person, on pain of being arrested and treated as
a criminal. On the way back he stopped at Mondoñedo, where he learnt
that the Leonese were in insurrection, and met as emissary from that
kingdom, one of those generous spirits who were then every where
employed in rousing the nation, and preparing it for the struggle
which must ensue. The people of Mondoñedo entered with ardour into
the common cause; and a student from the seminary there accepted the
office of deputy from that city to Coruña, notwithstanding the risk
which the Asturian had run. He went with the fair pretext of asking
from the provincial government what course ought to be taken by the
authorities at Mondoñedo, in consequence of the events in Asturias and
Leon. Coruña was in a state of great ferment when he arrived; true
and false reports were received with equal belief by the populace;
it was affirmed that the sale of church property which Ferdinand had
suspended was to be resumed; that Buonaparte would order off all the
Spanish troops to the north of Europe, and that cart-loads of chains
were on the way to manacle those soldiers who should refuse to march
willingly. The captain-general of Gallicia and governor of Coruña, D.
Antonio Filangieri, believed that the only course which it behoved him
to pursue in the strange and perilous state of Spain, was to preserve
order as far as possible; but the very precaution which he took to
prevent an insurrection became the signal for it. The festival of St.
Ferdinand, King of Spain, which is commemorated on the 30th of May,
had always been celebrated as the saint’s-day of Ferdinand since he
was acknowledged as Prince of Asturias; and in all fortified towns the
flag should have been displayed and a salute fired. Filangieri forbade
this to be done, lest it should occasion a dangerous movement among
the people. The omission excited them more forcibly than the ceremony
would have done: it was a silent but unequivocal act of assent to the
iniquitous proceedings at Bayonne; and the people understanding it
as such, collected in great numbers about the governor’s house, and
insisted that the flag should be hoisted. Filangieri was a Neapolitan,
who might have transferred his allegiance from a Bourbon King of Spain
to a Buonaparte without any sacrifice of feeling, or violation of duty.
His inclinations, however, were in favour of the country which had
adopted him, and he obeyed the popular voice. They then required that
a regiment which he had removed to Ferrol should be recalled, that
the arms in the arsenal should be distributed among the inhabitants,
that Ferdinand should be proclaimed King, and that war should be
immediately declared against France. The governor demurred at this last
demand; ... they broke into his house and seized his papers, and his
life would probably have been sacrificed if he had not escaped at a
garden door, and found shelter in a convent.
The multitude then hastened to the arsenal, and took possession of the
arms; the soldiers offered no resistance, and soon openly declared for
the cause of their country. Some officers who attempted to restrain
the people were hurt; some houses were attacked; a warehouse was broke
open because it was said the fetters in which refractory conscripts
were to be conveyed to France were deposited there, and the French
Consul would have been murdered, if some humaner persons had not
conveyed him in time to Fort St. Antonio, upon an island in the sea. A
portrait of Ferdinand was carried in procession through the streets;
and the _Vivas_ which accompanied that popular name were followed by a
fearful cry of “Down with the French and the traitors!” But order was
soon restored, and in great measure by the exertions of the clergy,
who possessed at this time a double influence over the people, because
no class of men displayed more fervour of patriotic loyalty. The
heads of the monasteries and the parochial priests assembled with the
constituted authorities of the town, the Regent of the Royal Audience,
and the Governor, to whom obedience was now restored; they formed a
permanent Junta of government, they sent officers to treat with the
English squadron which was then blockading Ferrol, and they dispatched
advices to Santiago, Tuy, Orense, Lugo, Mondoñedo, and ♦NELLERTO.
MEM. T. 3, NO. 140.♦ Betanzos, requiring each of those cities to
send a deputy to the Junta, and make the news known throughout their
respective jurisdictions. In the course of three days the whole of
Gallicia was in a state of insurrection, and a communication was
immediately opened with England.
♦EXCESSES OF THE POPULACE.♦
At Badajoz and at Seville the first popular movements were repressed
by the local authorities; but they soon broke out again with renewed
violence. The Count de la Torre del Fresno was governor at Badajoz;
the people collected before his palace, calling upon him to enrol
them, and give them arms for the defence of the country. ♦MAY 30.♦ A
second time he endeavoured to control a spirit which was no longer to
be restrained; and the furious multitude, who perceived that to remain
quiet was in fact to acknowledge the foreign King who was to be forced
upon them, considered all attempts to abate their ardour as proceeding
from a traitorous intention, forced their way into the house, dragged
him forth, and murdered him. For in the sudden dissolution of
government, by which free scope was for the first time given to the
hopes and expectations of enthusiastic patriotism, the evil passions
also were let loose, and the unreasonable people were sometimes
hurried into excesses by their own blind zeal, sometimes seduced into
them by wretches who were actuated by the desire of plunder, or of
private revenge. Men were sacrificed to the suspicions and fury of the
multitude, as accomplices and agents of the French, whose innocence in
many cases was established when too late. Such crimes were committed
at Valladolid, Cartagena, Granada, Jaen, San Lucar, Carolina, Ciudad
Rodrigo, and many other places. But this dreadful anarchy was of short
duration. The people had no desire to break loose from the laws and
the habits of subordination; the only desire which possessed them
was to take vengeance for their murdered countrymen, and to deliver
their country from the insolent usurpation which was attempted. If
any obstruction was offered to this generous feeling, they became
impatient and ungovernable: otherwise, having always been wont to look
to their rulers, never to act for themselves, their very zeal displayed
itself in the form of obedience; they were eager to obey any who would
undertake to guide them, and no person thought of stepping beyond his
rank to assume the direction. ♦JUNTAS ESTABLISHED EVERY WHERE.♦ Because
Ferdinand, when he set out upon his journey to Bayonne, had left a
Junta of government at Madrid, the people were familiar with that name,
and Juntas, in consequence, were formed every where; those persons
being every where appointed whom the inhabitants were accustomed to
respect.
♦FORMATION OF THE JUNTA OF SEVILLE.♦
Though the provisional governments thus suddenly formed were altogether
independent of each other, a certain degree of ascendancy was conceded
by general consent to the Junta of Seville; that city, for its size
and importance, being regarded by the Spaniards as their capital,
while Madrid was in the enemy’s possession. After the magistracy
had repressed the first tumultuous indications of patriotism in the
Sevillians, a movement too general for them to withstand was excited
by a man of low rank by name Nicolas Tap y Nuñez. He came there as a
missionary to preach the duty of insurrection against the French; and
at a time when every hour brought fresh excitement to the hopes and
the indignation of the people, this man by his ardour and intrepidity
obtained a great ascendancy, which he did not in the slightest
instance abuse. When the persons in authority found it impossible to
withstand the tide of popular feeling, the formation of a Junta was
proposed, and the first thought of the people was, that the parochial
clergy and the heads of the convents should assemble to choose the
members, so little did they think of exercising any right of election
themselves, and so naturally did they look up to those by whom they
were wont to be directed. Some of these persons assembled, accepting
unwillingly the power with which they were by acclamation invested,
and confounded, if not intimidated, by their apprehensions of the
French, the injunctions of the constituted authorities at Madrid,
and the presence of a multitude who had given murderous proofs that
their pleasure was not to be resisted with impunity: in this state
of mind many withdrew from the meeting, and they who remained were
glad to rid themselves of immediate responsibility by assenting to any
nominations which were proposed. Such a choice was made as might be
expected under such circumstances; some who thrust themselves forward
with the qualifications of wealth and effrontery were chosen, and they
to accredit their own election added others who held the highest place
in public opinion for rank or talents. Among them were D. Francisco
Saavedra, who had formerly been minister of finance, and P. Gil de
Sevilla; both had been sufferers under Godoy’s administration, and
they who were persecuted by him were for the most part entitled to
respect as well as commiseration. Though the populace had thus obtained
their immediate object, they still remained in a state of ferocious
excitement, and their fury was directed (by private malice, it was
believed) against the Conde del Aguila, one of the most distinguished
inhabitants of Seville, whose collection of pictures, books, and
manuscripts, was justly esteemed among the treasures of that city.
The maddened and misguided rabble attacked him first with insults,
then dragged him from his carriage, killed him, and exposed his body
upon one of the city gates. And even when order was restored, the
magistrates did not venture to institute any proceedings for bringing
to justice the perpetrators or instigators of the murder.
Tap y Nuñez, who was for that day the Lord of Seville, assisted at
the election of the Junta, and being a stranger, and ignorant of
the good or ill deserts of those who were proposed, assented to all
the nominations. Learning however that two members, more likely to
discredit the cause of the country than to serve it, had been chosen,
he went the next day to their sitting, and required that these
individuals should be expelled. All hope of establishing subordination
would have been lost, if a demagogue like this, however meritorious
his intentions, were allowed to make and unmake the members of the
government at his pleasure. The Junta therefore immediately arrested
him, and sent him prisoner to Cadiz. This was a necessary act of
vigour, without which no authority could have been maintained. But
some merciful consideration was due to this man, because he had shown
no disposition to abuse his dangerous influence, nor to aggrandize
himself, when it was in his power: he was, however, made to feel,
that the forms and realities of justice were as little to be looked
for under the provisional government, as under the old despotism; and
having been thrown into prison, there he was left to linger, hopeless
of a trial, and having nothing to trust to for his deliverance but the
chance that they might be weary of supporting ♦ESPANOL. T. 1, P. 13.♦
him there, or that his place might be wanted for another.
The vigour which they had shown in thus asserting their authority
was not belied by their subsequent conduct. Their first measure
was to establish in all towns within their jurisdiction, containing
2000 householders, corresponding Juntas, who were to enlist all the
inhabitants between the ages of sixteen and forty-five, and embody
them. Funds were to be raised by order of the Supreme Junta, by taxes
on all corporations and rich individuals; and, above all, by voluntary
subscriptions. ♦THEY DECLARE WAR AGAINST FRANCE.♦ They declared war
against the Emperor Napoleon and against France, in the name of
Ferdinand and of all the Spanish nation, protesting that they would not
lay down their arms till that Emperor restored to them the whole of
their Royal Family, and respected the rights, liberty, and independence
of the nation which he had violated. This, said they, we declare with
the understanding and accordance of the Spanish people. By the same
declaration, they made known that they had contracted an armistice with
England, and that they hoped to conclude a lasting peace.
♦SOLANO HESITATES TO CO-OPERATE WITH THEM.♦
Solano was at this time on the frontiers with his army, having been
recalled from Portugal. If any man in such times could rely for
security upon his character, his popularity, and the whole tenor of
his life, this nobleman might have felt himself secure. The arbitrary
authority which he possessed at Cadiz had always been exercised for the
good of the inhabitants and the improvement of the city: the military
and naval officers respected him, the higher orders were his personal
friends, and the populace looked with full confidence to his justice.
No one more deeply felt and regretted the decline and degradation of
Spain; yet had he partaken of its degradation, for he resigned himself
to it, and despairing of his country, would have submitted to a nominal
reform of government imposed by a foreign power, and under an intrusive
dynasty. Upon the first movements at Seville, he hastened thither; and
Saavedra, P. Gil, Count de Tilly, and others, who were willing to stand
forward against the usurpation, and encourage a spirit from which every
thing might be hoped, communicated their desires and intentions to him,
as a true Spaniard, whose genuine patriotism could not be called in
question. But Solano was one of those persons who believed the power of
the French to be irresistible; the leading men whose opinions were most
conformable to his own, and who, till this fatal time of trial, had
been thought capable and desirous of introducing those reforms which
the system of administration required, had submitted to Buonaparte’s
pleasure; and while they, in common with all the constituted
authorities in the metropolis, in the most earnest terms exhorted their
countrymen to submission, the French, he knew, were ready to march
troops wherever their presence might be required, and to repress an
insurrection as promptly and severely in Seville as they had done at
Madrid. He was not aware that the spirit which had manifested itself at
Madrid, and was ready to break out in Seville, was felt at that time
throughout every city and every village in the Peninsula. A proper
fear also lest the people should possess themselves of power which they
would certainly abuse, influenced him also; and determining hastily
to support what appeared to him the cause of order and the laws, he
received the communications which were made to him with coldness and
distrust, required time to deliberate before he could assent to their
views, and hastened with all speed to resume his command at Cadiz, and
preserve that important city for the intrusive government.
♦HE REFUSES THE ASSISTANCE OF THE BRITISH SQUADRON.♦
There he gave out that he had returned thus suddenly to provide against
a bombardment of the city which the English were about to commence.
This gave him a pretext for removing cannon from the land side, in
order to strengthen the batteries toward the sea; it is said that he
removed the military stores also, under pretence that the casemates
would be wanted as shelter for the inhabitants; and that he sent to
the French General Dupont, who had been ordered to Andalusia, urging
him to hasten thither by forced marches. The truth of these reports it
is impossible to ascertain; and some who knew and loved Solano have
asserted their belief, that if he had lived to witness the national
virtue which was so soon afterwards displayed, he would have been one
of the most ardent and able supporters of the national cause. Admiral
Purvis, who commanded the British squadron before Cadiz, sent in flags
of truce, and offered to co-operate with him against the French, who
had five sail of the line and a frigate, under Admiral Rossilly, then
lying in the bay; offers of assistance on the part of England were also
made by the governor of Gibraltar, Sir Hew Dalrymple, who was already
in communication with General Castaños, then commanding the Spanish
force in the camp of St. Roque. Solano replied, that all overtures must
be addressed to the government at Madrid, which was in fact declaring
his adherence to Joseph Buonaparte.
♦SOLANO SUMMONS A COUNCIL OF OFFICERS.♦
Yet he appears to have wavered in purpose, if not in inclination. As
soon as the popular cause had obtained the ascendancy at Seville, the
Junta of that city sent out four artillery officers with dispatches to
the commanders at Cadiz, Badajoz, Granada, and St. Roque, declaring,
that in the present dissolution of government, the duty of providing
for the public weal had been committed to them, and informing them that
war had been declared against France, and peace with England. The Conde
de Teba, Cipriano Palafox, was the person entrusted with this mission
to Cadiz: his brother, the Conde de Montijo, had taken a decided part
in promoting the insurrection; and this young officer was charged with
these dispatches, not only because it was an honourable office, but
because he was capable of explaining to Solano the state of affairs at
Seville more fully than there had been time to do in writing. Full of
zeal in a cause which he afterwards deserted, he entered Cadiz cracking
his whip like a courier, and communicated to the people who flocked
about him, the news which he brought; which was also speedily diffused
by means of private couriers, whom the merchants of Seville sent to
their correspondents, and by the zeal of propagandists who, doubting
the determination of the persons in authority, came to make the people
declare themselves. Solano was intimate with the Count de Teba, and,
according to that nobleman’s relation, would have considered himself
criminal if he had acknowledged the authority of the Junta of Seville,
derived, as he conceived it to be, merely from the people of that city
in a state of insurrection; but he saw how dangerous it would now be
openly to disclaim their authority, and therefore summoned to council
all the general officers, military and naval, eleven in number, who
were within reach, and an address to the people was drawn up in their
name. ♦THEY EXHORT THE PEOPLE NOT TO ENGAGE IN HOSTILITIES WITH THE
FRENCH.♦ It stated, that of all undertakings a war against France was
the most difficult, considering the numbers and discipline of the
French army; the want of Spanish troops, and the indiscipline of the
new levies which might be raised. The right of declaring who were the
enemies of the nation belonged, they said, exclusively to the King;
he had repeatedly assured them that the French were his friends and
intimate allies; in that character they had entered Spain, and the
King had not manifested any change in his opinions concerning them;
it was doubtful therefore whether he required from the people those
sacrifices which were now called for. If nevertheless the people
would decide upon war, they ought to know that great sacrifices must
be made; men must be enrolled, embodied, and disciplined, they must
quit their homes for a long time, perhaps for ever, and they who were
not enrolled must return to their ordinary state of tranquillity; for
it was for soldiers alone to fight, while the other inhabitants of a
country remained neutral and passive, as might be seen by the example
of the Germans, the Prussians, the Russians, and other nations. Were
the people to act otherwise, and take an active part, the enemy would
plunder their houses, and lay waste every thing with fire and sword.
Moreover the most dreadful disorganization of society would ensue;
and the English who were in the bay might take advantage of this
dissolution of government to get possession of the port and city, and
convert Cadiz into a second Gibraltar. The governor and the eleven
general officers whom he had assembled concurring in these views, laid
their opinions, they said, before the people, who were now to determine
what part should be taken, and who could accuse no person of having
deceived them, if the evils which were thus foreseen and foretold
should in the event come upon them. But if, in despite of these
representations, they persisted in the resolution of making war against
the French, the generals were ready to begin hostilities, that they
might not be accused of having given their advice from pusillanimity
or any other motives unworthy of their patriotism, their honour, and
their courage.
♦THE PEOPLE INSIST UPON TAKING ARMS.♦
The tenor of this address evinced little resentment of the wrongs of
their country in the persons by whom it was framed; and the manner in
which it was published discovered as extraordinary a want of judgement
in the governor, as he had displayed in his legislative experiments
at Setubal. Instead of waiting till the next day, he increased the
agitation and alarm of the people, ordering the address to be read
at night in the streets by the light of torches, and summoning the
restless part of the population, and alarming the peaceable, by the
sound of military music; sure means of counteracting the sedative
effect which the proclamation was intended to produce. The bolder
spirits who were engaged in the better cause did not fail to perceive
the advantage which the address afforded, by the heartlessness of
its reasoning, and its full recognition of the right of the people
to direct the conduct of the governor. There was no rest for the
inhabitants that night; an answer was prepared to the generals, which
was brought by a disorderly multitude, bearing torches, at midnight,
to the governor’s palace. Solano was summoned to the balcony; and a
young man, standing on the shoulders of one of the stoutest of his
companions, read to him a writing in the name of the people, declaring
that they had decided upon war, because they could confute all the
reasons which had been advanced against it; and accordingly he read
aloud an answer to the address, point by point. The mob applauded, and
required that the French squadron should immediately be summoned to
surrender. Solano assured them that their wishes should be fulfilled,
and that on the morrow all the general officers should be assembled
in consequence. Had he sympathized with the national feeling, and
given at first that assent which he now reluctantly yielded, he might
have directed their ardour, and maintained subordination, though not
tranquillity. But the populace had now gained head, and broken loose,
and at such times the bloodiest ruffian has always the most influence.
♦SOLANO IS ADVISED TO WITHDRAW.♦
Part of the mob went to the arsenal, and these were the better-minded
Spaniards, who wanted arms, that they might use them in the defence of
their country. They found no opposition, because the soldiers every
where partook of the general impulse of indignation against the French.
Others broke open the prisons to deliver their friends and companions
in guilt. The house of the French Consul was attacked and forced, for
the purpose of putting him to death: he had taken refuge in the Convent
of St. Augustine, and from thence got on board the French squadron.
Murmurs were heard against Solano, as one who was disposed at heart to
favour the enemy. The Count de Teba warned him that he was in danger,
and advised him to give the command to D. Thomas de Morla (one of the
generals whom he had called to council), and go with him to Seville,
for the avowed purpose of obtaining the fullest information how to
proceed in so important a crisis. Solano saw the prudence of this
advice, but a sense of honour withheld him from following it, lest he
should be suspected of cowardice; and as a second reason, he alleged
a fear which his blind attachment to the French alone could have
occasioned, that the English might take advantage of the confusion, and
endeavour to make themselves masters of Cadiz; as if England were the
enemy whom the Spaniards had then cause to dread!
♦HE IS MURDERED BY THE MOB.♦
On the morrow the general officers assembled for the second time, and
about mid-day the people having collected to know their determination,
they came forward in the balcony, and Solano and Morla assured the
multitude that every thing which they desired should be done, and
therefore they might disperse, and go each to his home in peace. One
man cried out that they did not choose to see the French colours
flying. Solano asked where they were to be seen? and upon being
answered, on the French ships, he replied, that the naval officers
and engineers were already instructed to take measures for obtaining
possession of that squadron. They appeared satisfied with this, and
Solano sate down to dinner. Before he had risen from table another
mob arrived at the palace, with a man at their head who had formerly
been a Carthusian, but had obtained leave to exchange that order for
a less rigid one, in which he was now serving his noviciate. This man
demanded to speak with the governor; an answer was returned, that the
governor stood in need of rest, and that he had promised the people
to fulfil their desires. The ex-Carthusian was not satisfied with
this, and endeavoured to push by the sentinel, who upon this fired his
piece in the air, and fastened the door. The mob then, under the same
leader, brought cannon against the house, shattered the doors, and
rushed in. They were now bent upon Solano’s death. He meantime escaped
by the roof, and took shelter in the house of an English merchant,
whose lady concealed him in a secret closet; and there, it is said,
he would have been safe, if the very workman who had constructed it
had not joined the mob, and discovered[38] his hiding-place. The
mistress of the house, Mrs. Strange, in vain endeavoured to save him,
by the most earnest intreaties, and by interposing between him and his
merciless assailants. She was wounded in the arm; and Solano, as he was
dragged away, bade her farewell till eternity! They hauled him toward
the gallows, that his death might be ignominious; ♦NELLERTO, MEM. T.
3, NOS. 134, 143. JACOB’S TRAVELS. SIR J. CARR’S TRAVELS, P. 47, 48.♦
others were too ferocious to wait for this, they cut and stabbed him,
while he resigned himself with composure and dignity to his fate; and
the mortal blow is said to have been given by one of his own soldiers,
who, to save him from farther sufferings, and from intended shame, ran
him through the heart.
♦MORLA APPOINTED GOVERNOR OF CADIZ.♦
There may be reason for supposing that the fury of the populace was
in this instance directed by some personal enemies of the Marquis,
because it fell wholly upon him; the general officers who united in
the address seem to have incurred no danger, and Morla, as second in
command, was declared the next day by acclamation governor of Cadiz
and captain-general of the province. He accepted the command, on
condition that the people would disperse peaceably; the tumultuous
election was confirmed by the Junta of Seville, who sent one of their
members to concert a plan of operations with Morla; and the new
governor issued a proclamation, ♦1808. JUNE.♦ exhorting the people
to be tranquil, telling them that a set of ruffians were plundering
and destroying under the mask of patriotism, protesting that the only
desire of the persons in authority was to die in the cause of their
beloved Ferdinand, whom a tyrant had separated from them; assuring
them that measures should instantly be taken against the French ships,
and that within four and twenty hours the happy effects would be seen.
Meantime the French squadron took up a defensive position, in a channel
leading to the Caraccas, and out of reach of the works. M. Rossilly,
the commander, knew that every effort would be made to relieve him,
and endeavoured therefore to gain time, being no doubt confident that
the force which would be ordered to occupy Cadiz would beat down any
resistance that the Spaniards could oppose. He made overtures to the
governor, proposing to quit the bay, if an arrangement to that effect
could be made with the British squadron; this, he said, was for the
purpose of tranquillizing the people, since his force, and the position
which he had taken, appeared to occasion some uneasiness. But if the
English should refuse their consent, he then offered to land his
guns, keeping his men on board, and not hoisting his colours; in that
case he required that hostages should be exchanged, and demanded the
protection of the Spaniards against the exterior enemy. Morla replied,
that though these proposals were such as it became the French admiral
to make, it was not compatible with his honour to accept them: his
orders were positive, and he could hear of nothing but an unconditional
surrender. Lord Collingwood had now arrived from before Toulon, to take
the command upon this, which had become the more important station. He
offered to co-operate with the Spaniards, with whom the fleet was now
in full communication; but being aware of their own strength, and sure
of their prey, they declined his assistance. If the French commander
had not relied too confidently upon the advance of his countrymen
and the fortune of Buonaparte, he would now have surrendered to the
English, for the certainty of obtaining better treatment, and the
chance of exciting some disagreement respecting the prizes. Batteries
were erected on the Isle of Leon, and near Fort Luiz; and from these,
and from their mortar and gun-boats, the attack was commenced, while
the British sailors remained impatient spectators of a contest carried
on at a distance, and protracted from the ninth of June till the
fourteenth, when, having in vain endeavoured to obtain more favourable
terms, ♦SURRENDER OF THE FRENCH SQUADRON.♦ Rossilly surrendered
unconditionally. In an address to the people which Morla then published
he pointed out the advantage of a mode of attack which they had
censured as dilatory and inefficient; the victory had cost only four
lives, and the ships which were now their own had been taken with the
least possible injury. The prisoners, he said, should be exchanged for
Spanish troops. He exhorted and commanded the people to return to
their accustomed habits of subordination. The convulsion which Spain
has undergone, said he, has awakened us from our lethargy, and made us
feel our rights, and the duty which we owe to our holy religion and our
King. We wanted an electric shock to rouse us from our palsied state
of inactivity; we stood in need of a hurricane to clear the heavy and
unwholesome atmosphere. But if violent remedies are continued after
the good which was proposed from them be obtained, they become fatal:
excessive efforts bring on a debility worse than direct weakness,
because the very principle of strength is exhausted. It was now
necessary to return to order, and to confide in the magistrates. Able
men must be armed and disciplined; they who were not fit for military
service would be employed in other ways, and boys and women who excited
tumults should be punished. The troops, said he, the whole city, the
sword of justice, and above all God himself, who chastises those that
abuse his mercies, authorize and support me.
♦EARLY COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN GENERAL CASTAÑOS AND SIR HEW DALRYMPLE.♦
The man who addressed this language to his countrymen had hitherto
endeavoured to frustrate the purposes of those better spirits whom the
danger had awakened; and by his means this blow against the French
had been delayed as long as possible, in the hope and expectation
that a French force might arrive in time to prevent it, and secure
Cadiz for the Intrusive King. For in this part of Spain alone, the
intention of opposing Buonaparte had been conceived as soon as his
designs were discovered, and measures had been taken for obtaining
assistance from the English. The Spanish Commander at Algeziras, and
the British Governor of Gibraltar, had always been accustomed in time
of war to maintain that sort of humane and courteous intercourse which
the laws of honour allow, and by which the evils of hostility may be
mitigated. The opportunity thus afforded had not been overlooked by
those Spaniards who were resolved to act for the deliverance of their
country; and if Ferdinand, instead of overthrowing the favourite,
had found it necessary to fly, it was intended that he should have
taken refuge at Gibraltar, and from thence have embarked for the
colonies, trusting to British honour. As early as the beginning of
April, General Castaños had communicated with Sir Hew Dalrymple upon
the state of affairs, and the measures which it might be necessary to
adopt. After the elder branches of the Royal Family had been decoyed
away, a hope of saving D. Francisco, the youngest of the Infantes, was
cherished, and of conveying him to America, to secure that portion of
the Spanish dominions: but in case the whole of the Bourbons should be
destroyed, or carried into hopeless captivity, the Archduke Charles
was regarded as the fittest person to whom the throne, thus rendered
vacant, could be offered; and a request was made to Sir Hew that a
frigate might be held in readiness to sail for Trieste, and bring him
over. Sir Hew Dalrymple saw the whole importance of the crisis; and by
the generosity with which he took upon himself the responsibility of
acting in affairs of such moment, the Spanish General was induced to
place just confidence in British frankness and good faith. Toward the
latter end of May two French officers, one of whom was an aide-de-camp
of Murat’s, came to Algeziras. Castaños supposed their errand was to
arrest him, and in that case had determined upon killing them, and
retiring by sea to Gibraltar. He found, however, that they spake to
him with apparent confidence respecting the Viceroyalty of Mexico,
which had been promised him by the old government, and was now held out
as a lure to him, as it also was to General Cuesta. The aide-de-camp
assured him that the removal of the Bourbons from Spain had for three
years been the chief object of Buonaparte’s policy; and this having
now been happily effected, the house of Austria was next to be removed
... an operation which could not require more than four months; ...
so easy at that time did any ambitious enterprise appear to the
soldiers of Buonaparte! But Castaños was neither deterred by the power
of this formidable tyrant, nor seduced by any prospect of personal
aggrandizement. He continued his communications with Gibraltar, and his
plan was to begin by seizing the French fleet; this he thought would
be the best mode of commencing hostilities, and such a stroke at the
outset would give a character of decision and vigour to the Spanish
counsels. Morla had influence enough to frustrate it then; but no evil
arose from the delay; rather it proved advantageous, by allowing time
for that simultaneous manifestation of feeling which so decidedly
proved the spirit of the people. Meantime, in full reliance upon
England, Castaños obeyed the first summons from the Junta of Seville,
and prepared to resist the French when they should enter Andalusia.
♦MASSACRE AT VALENCIA.♦
While Asturias, Galicia, and Andalusia, had thus with one impulse taken
arms against the usurpation, and opened an intercourse with England,
of whose willing and efficient assistance no doubt was entertained,
the city of Valencia, where the same spirit manifested itself at the
same time, became the scene of a most horrible and disgraceful tragedy.
There also, in the first movements of the people, the governor, D.
Miguel de Saavedra, fell a victim to popular fury; he was brought back
from Requeña, whither he had retired for safety, and murdered near the
palace of the Conde de Cervellon, who had decidedly engaged in the
national cause, and yet with all his efforts was unable to save him.
His head was carried about the streets on a pike, and then exposed
upon a pillar in the Plaza de S. Domingo. A Junta was chosen, and
order would soon have been re-established, if at this time there had
not arrived from Madrid one of those monsters whose actions, we might
wish, for the sake of human nature, to account for by the supposition
of demoniacal possession. P. Baltasar Calvo, such was his name, was a
Canon of the church of S. Isidro, in the metropolis; it was afterwards
reported that he had been deputed by Murat to secure Valencia for the
intrusive government, by secretly treating with the members of the
Junta; and that finding this impracticable, he determined to make
himself master of the city by terror. But that he should have acted
as he did with any ultimate view of delivering up the city to the
French is utterly impossible; nor indeed is it likely that he had any
other purpose than that of glutting at the head of a mob a devilish
disposition, which, if he had lived a century earlier, would have found
appropriate employment and full gratification in the service of the
Holy Office.
There were many French residents in Valencia; the abominable conduct
of their government toward Spain had made them objects of hatred as
well as suspicion; and at the beginning of the disturbances most of
them very imprudently took refuge in the citadel. Calvo denounced
them to the mob as being in correspondence with Murat and the French
troops, for the purpose of betraying the city. The Junta had no
military force at their command; and they were too much confused or
intimidated to employ that moral force which, with due exertions on
the part of the magistracy, may generally be brought into action.
The British consul, Mr. Tupper, was one of their number; he went to
the citadel, represented to the French the imminent danger to which
they were exposed while they remained there collected as it were for
slaughter, and intreated them to retire into the different convents,
and name such of the inhabitants as they supposed would be willing
and able to associate for their protection. But thinking themselves
safer where they were, they would not be persuaded. By this time the
Canon had collected instruments enough for his bloody purpose; in a
large city ruffians will never be wanting, till the police of cities,
and the moral condition of the inferior classes, be very different
from what they are throughout all Christendom; and that he might have
sure subjects at his command, he had opened the prisons and let their
inmates loose. On the 5th of June, when the evening was closing, Calvo
led his rabble to the citadel, and forced some friars to accompany
them. Little resistance was made by the guard; the Frenchmen were led
one by one into an apartment, to be confessed by the friars, like
condemned criminals, then thrust out by some of these infatuated and
infuriated wretches, felled with bludgeons, and dispatched by the
knife. When the Junta heard that this horrible massacre was going
on, they called out the monks and friars, and sent them to the scene
of slaughter, carrying the host uncovered, and with lighted tapers,
chanting as they went. At that sight the wretches ceased from their
murderous work, and, smeared as they were with blood, knelt by the
bodies of their dead and dying victims, in adoration. But Calvo, more
obdurate than the very murderers whom he directed, called on them to
complete what they had begun; he intimated to the religioners, that if
they interposed in behalf of the French, they should be considered as
accomplices with them, and partake their fate: and they, intimidated by
the threat, and appalled by the dreadful objects before them, withdrew,
... when that spirit of heroic devotion, which looks upon martyrdom
without dismay, might surely have prevented farther bloodshed, and
redeemed the Valencians from the shame of the foulest excesses by which
a cause so righteous in itself was sullied.
The massacre continued all night. A hundred and seventy-one persons
were butchered; and when the day broke, it was perceived that some
ten or twelve of these victims were still breathing. The effect which
this produced upon the murderers shows how certain it is that the
religioners would have softened them, had there been one man among them
with the spirit of a martyr. Struck with compassion, and without making
their intention known to Calvo, as if they knew him to be immitigable,
they removed these poor sufferers to the hospital, and assisted in
binding up the wounds which they had made. There still remained about
an hundred and fifty French in the citadel; the mob, satiated with
blood, and now open to feelings of humanity, determined upon sparing
them, and removing them to a place of safety. The Canon consented to
this, which it might have been dangerous to oppose; but his lust for
blood was still unsatiated. He ordered all the French to be confessed
before they left the citadel, then fastened them two by two with ropes,
and marched them out toward the place appointed. On the way he halted
the mob, and holding up a paper, declared that it had been found in the
pocket of one of the Frenchmen, and that it contained an engagement on
the part of his countrymen in that city, to deliver it up as soon as an
army should appear before it. The multitude, with whom bold assertions,
if according with their passions or prejudices, always pass for proofs,
believed this preposterous charge; and with renewed ferocity falling
upon the remnant whom they had resolved to spare, massacred them all.
Calvo then led them to the houses of the French, in search of those
who had remained at home, when the greater number took shelter in the
citadel; these also were dragged from their hiding places, and in the
same deliberate manner confessed and butchered. One circumstance alone
occurred which may relieve the horror of this dreadful narrative. M.
Pierre Bergiere had acquired a large fortune in Valencia, and was
remarkable for his singular charity. It was not enough for him to
assist the poor and the sick and the prisoner with continual alms, he
visited them, and ministered to their wants himself in the sick room
and in the dungeon. Yet his well-known virtues did not exempt him from
the general proscription of his countrymen, and he too having been
confessed and absolved, was thrust out to the murderers. The wretch
who was about to strike him was one whom he had frequently relieved
in prison, and upon recognizing him withheld his arm; calling however
to mind that Bergiere was a Frenchman, he raised it again; but his
heart again smote him, and saying, “Art thou a Devil or a Saint, that
I cannot kill thee?” he pulled him through the crowd, and made way for
his escape.
During these atrocities the Junta seem to have been panic-stricken,
making no effort to exert an authority which never was so much needed.
The Canon was not satisfied with this timid and unwilling acquiescence;
he wished to involve them in the responsibility for these wholesale
murders, or to bring them into discredit and danger by making them
act in opposition to the wishes of the multitude whom he guided. With
these views he commanded five Frenchmen to be led to the door of the
hall wherein they held their sittings, and sent in a messenger to ask
in his name for a written order to put them to death. The intention
was readily understood, but the moment was not yet come for acting
decisively against this merciless demagogue, and the Conde de Cervellon
replied, “You have killed many Frenchmen without an order, and none
can be wanted now.” Mr. Tupper went out to the assassins, and addressed
them on behalf of the prisoners; he was struck at with a knife by one
who called him a Frenchman himself; the blow was parried, voices were
heard crying that he was an Englishman, and one man declared he would
put to death the first person who should offer violence to the English
consul. But any interposition for the miserable French was in vain;
they were knocked down and stabbed, and their bodies were left upon
the steps of the hall. There were still several Frenchmen concealed
in the city, who were in danger every moment of being discovered and
massacred. Mr. Tupper, when he found that all appeals to the humanity
of the mob were unavailing, had recourse to a different method, and
proposed to an assembly of ruffians, armed with the knives which they
had already used in murder, and were eager to use again in the same
service, that the survivors should be given up to him, that he might
send them prisoners to England, promising in exchange for them a supply
of arms and ammunition from Gibraltar. By this means their lives were
preserved.
♦PUNISHMENT OF THE ASSASSINS.♦
The canon Calvo was now in that state of insanity which is sometimes
produced by the possession of unlimited authority. He declared himself
the supreme and only representative of King Ferdinand, and was about
to issue orders for dismissing the Conde de Cervellon from his rank
as Captain-general, dissolving the Junta, and putting the Archbishop
to death. A sense of their own imminent danger then roused the Junta.
They invited him to join them, and assist at their deliberations. He
came, followed by a crowd of ruffians, who filled the avenues when
he entered the hall: he demeaned himself insolently, and threatened
the assembly till P. Rico, a Franciscan, one of the most active and
intrepid in the national cause, rose and called their attention to a
matter upon which the safety of the city depended; and then denounced
the Canon as a traitor, and called upon the members immediately to
arrest him. Calvo was confounded at this attack; ... when he recovered
himself, he proposed to retire while the Junta were investigating his
conduct; they well understood his intention, and voted that he should
immediately be sent in irons to Majorca; and before the mob, who at his
bidding would have massacred the Junta, knew that he had been accused,
he was conducted secretly under a strong guard to the mole, put in
chains, and embarked for that island. The Junta then acted with vigour
and severity: they seized about two hundred of the assassins, had them
strangled in prison, and exposed their bodies upon a scaffold. The
Canon was afterwards brought back and suffered the same deserved fate.
What confession he made was not known; he would not permit ♦SIR J.
CARR’S TRAVELS, P. 255–266.♦ the priest to reveal it, farther than an
acknowledgement that God and his crimes had brought him to that end.
♦DUHESME FAILS IN ATTEMPTING TO OCCUPY LERIDA.♦
The Valencians, as soon as they were delivered from the tyranny of
this frantic demagogue, prepared vigorously for defence. They burnt
the paper money which had been stamped in Murat’s name, and stopped
several chests of specie which were on the way to Madrid. The Catalans
were not able to exert themselves with equal effect, because Barcelona,
the second city of the kingdom in population, but in commercial and
military importance the first, was in the hands of the French; but
where the people were not controlled by the immediate presence of the
enemy they declared themselves with a spirit worthy of their ancestors.
The decrees from Bayonne and the edicts of Murat were publicly burnt
at Manresa. The Governor of Tortosa, D. Santiago de Guzman y Villoria,
was murdered by the raging populace, and that city declared against
the intrusive government. Duhesme thought to secure Lerida by sending
the Spanish regiment of Estremadura to occupy the citadel; he expected
that, being Spaniards, no objection would be made to admitting them,
and an order for relieving them by French troops might afterwards
be obtained from the government at Madrid. But the people of Lerida
refused to let them enter, in wrongful, though at that time necessary
distrust; and the regiment, glad to find itself at liberty, took up
its quarters at Tarrega, waiting to see where it might be employed
with most advantage in the service of its country. ♦CABAÑES. HIST. DEL
EXERCITO DE CATALUÑA. PART I. P. 23, 24.♦ They were soon invited to
Zaragoza. It was for the purpose of keeping open a communication with
that city that Duhesme had wished to occupy Lerida; and if both places
had been secured, the French would then have had military possession of
all the Pyrenean provinces.
♦PALAFOX ESCAPES FROM BAYONNE TO ZARAGOZA.♦
Among the persons who accompanied Ferdinand to Bayonne was D. Joseph
Palafox y Melzi, the youngest of three brothers, of one of the most
distinguished families in Aragon. He was about thirty-four years of
age, and had been from boyhood in the Spanish guards without ever
having seen actual service; in Madrid, where he had mostly passed
his time, he was only remarkable for a certain foppishness in his
appearance, and in ordinary times he might have passed through life as
an ordinary man, without any pretensions to moral or intellectual rank.
After the tumults at Aranjuez he was appointed second in command there,
under the Marquis de Castellar, to whose custody the Prince of the
Peace was committed. Not being regarded at Bayonne as a person whom it
was necessary to secure, he found means to escape in the disguise of a
peasant, and in that dress arrived safely at a country house belonging
to his family, at Alfranca, about two miles from Zaragoza. That city
was in a perturbed state, ... the people restless, indignant, and eager
to act against the enemy; the magistrates, and the Captain-general
of Aragon, D. Jorge Juan Guillermi, desirous of maintaining order,
and ready in regular course of office to obey the instruction which
they received from Madrid, not scrupulous from what authority they
came, while it was through the accustomed channels. The arrival of
Palafox at such a time excited the hopes and the expectations of the
Zaragozans. That he was hostile to the intended usurpation was certain,
he would not otherwise have exposed himself to danger in escaping from
Bayonne; that he came with the intention of serving Ferdinand was to
be presumed, ... perhaps with secret instructions from him; it was
even rumoured that Ferdinand himself had miraculously made his escape,
and was now concealed in the house of the faithful companion of his
flight. This report was too romantic to obtain belief, except among
the most credulous of the ignorant. Palafox however was so popular,
and the impatience of the people discovered itself so plainly, and
their wishes so evidently looked to him as the man whom they would fain
have for their leader, that though he used no means direct or indirect
for encouraging this disposition, the Captain-general thought proper
to send him an order to quit the kingdom of Aragon. Despotic as the
system of administration had been throughout all Spain, such an order
to a man of Palafox’s rank, in his own country, would have been deemed
at any time a most unfit exertion of authority. Under the present
circumstances it evinced the determination of General Guillermi to
support the intrusive government, and hastened the insurrection which
he apprehended, but was unable to avert.
Two men of strong national feeling and great hardihood had obtained
at this time an ascendancy over the populace; Tio Jorge the one was
called, the other Tio Marin, ... _Tio_, or uncle, being the appellation
by which men in the lower classes who have passed the middle age are
familiarly addressed in that part of Spain. ♦INSURRECTION IN THAT
CITY.♦ These persons, on the morning of the 24th of May, at the head
of a multitude of peasants from the parishes of S. Madeleña and S.
Pablo, proceeded to the Governor’s palace, crying out, Down with Murat!
Ferdinand for ever! They disarmed the guard, made their way into his
apartment, and required him to accompany them to the arsenal, and
give orders for distributing arms to the people; a great quantity,
they said, had been sold to the French. It was in vain that Guillermi
defended himself against this absurd accusation, and pleaded his age
and services and honourable wounds: his conduct towards Palafox had
unequivocally shown what part he was disposed to take in this crisis of
his country. But the Zaragozans, less inhuman than the populace in many
other places, contented themselves with securing him in the old castle
of the Aljaferia, which was used for a military prison as well as for a
depot of artillery. The second in command, Lieutenant-general Mori, who
was an Italian by birth, was then regarded as his successor, rather by
right of seniority, than for any confidence on the part of the people;
for though his name was shouted with loud _Vivas_, ominous intimations
accompanied these shouts, that if he did not demean himself to their
satisfaction, the cry would be, Down with Mori, as it had been, Down
with Guillermi. A Junta was formed, but though the most respectable
persons were chosen, the people continued to act for themselves. Still
it was with greater moderation than had been evinced elsewhere; a cry
was raised against the French inhabitants; and they were conducted to
the citadel more for their own security than for that of the city.
♦PALAFOX MADE CAPTAIN-GENERAL.♦
Tio Jorge and a party of peasants, now armed from the arsenal, went to
Alfranca, and invited Palafox into Zaragoza; he showed no disposition
to accept their invitation, and they would have taken him with them
against his consent, if General Mori, feeling the instability of his
own power, had not written to solicit his assistance. The next morning,
when he appeared in the Council, he requested that some means might
be taken for delivering him from the importunities of the people,
protesting that he was ready to devote all his exertions, and his
life also, if that sacrifice should be required, to his country and
his King. The people who surrounded the door were now calling out
that Palafox should be appointed Captain-general; they burst into the
Council with this cry. Mori gladly declared himself willing to resign
the office if his services were no longer necessary, and Palafox was
thus invested with the command.
♦JOVELLANOS AND CABARRUS AT ZARAGOZA.♦
The city was in this state when Jovellanos, having been released on
the accession of Ferdinand from his long and iniquitous imprisonment
in Majorca, arrived there on the way from Barcelona to Asturias, his
native province. The insurrection in Catalonia had not broken out when
he commenced his journey, but every where the storm was gathering;
travellers of his appearance were every where regarded with curiosity
and suspicion; and when desirous, because of his infirm age and broken
health, to avoid the noise of a tumultuous city and the inconvenience
of unnecessary delay, he would have past on without entering the gates,
a jealous mob surrounded the carriage. Hearing that it came from
Barcelona, some were for searching the strangers, others for conducting
them before the new Captain-general to be examined; presently
however he was recognised, the name of Jovellanos was pronounced; He
is a good man, he must stay with us, was then the cry; and he was
conducted as in triumph to the palace. Palafox also intreated this
eminent and irreproachable man to remain in Zaragoza and assist him
with his advice; but Jovellanos pleaded infirmities brought on more
by sufferings than by years, and the necessity of retirement and
tranquillity for a broken constitution. Among the persons who were then
with the greatest zeal assisting Palafox in his preparations for war,
was the Conde de Cabarrus, a man of great reputation as a financier and
political economist, remarkable alike for talents and irregularities.
Jovellanos, himself the most excellent of men, had tolerated the
faults of Cabarrus for the sake of the noble qualities which he
possessed; and when Cabarrus, from the high favour which he enjoyed
under Charles III. became in the ensuing reign an object of hatred
and persecution, Jovellanos, as he had been the most disinterested
of all his many friends in prosperity, was the most faithful of the
few who adhered to him in his disgrace. Hitherto the love of Cabarrus
for his country, his passionate desire for the improvement of its
institutions, and his attachment to the principles of liberty, had
never been doubted; and now at thus meeting Jovellanos after ten years
of suffering, he shed tears, less in grief for the condition of Spain,
than in joy for the right old Spanish spirit which they saw reviving
among the people. He promised to follow his venerable friend to
Jadraque, and offered to be guided by his counsels. Jovellanos the next
day proceeded on his journey, and for honour as well as protection Tio
Jorge, with an escort of musqueteers, convoyed him the first stage.
♦PALAFOX DECLARES WAR AGAINST FRANCE.♦
The situation in which Palafox was placed was equally conspicuous
and perilous. To have escaped from Bayonne, and taken upon himself
the command of one of the kingdoms of Spain in opposition to the
usurpation, marked him in a peculiar manner for the vengeance of a
tyrant who was not to be offended with impunity. The capital of Aragon
was an important position, and at this time exposed to danger on all
sides. The adjoining province of Navarre was in possession of the
French, and it was not yet known that any resistance to them had been
manifested in Catalonia. The passes of the Pyrenees, leading directly
into Aragon, were open, and the main body of the French army was on the
other side in and about Madrid. Thus surrounded by the enemy, and in
a city which in military language would have been called defenceless,
(the walls and gates of Zaragoza having for many generations been
of no other use than to facilitate the collection of the customs,)
Palafox declared war against the French. The proclamation which he
issued was in a style which accorded with the temper of the people.
He declared that the Emperor of the French, the individuals of his
family, and every French general and officer, should be held personally
responsible for the safety of King Ferdinand, his brothers, and his
uncle: that should the French commit any robberies, devastations, and
murders, either in Madrid or any other place, no quarter should be
given them: that all the acts of the existing government were illegal,
and that the renunciations at Bayonne were null and void, having been
extorted by oppression: that whatever might be done hereafter by the
royal family in their state of duresse, should for the same reason be
accounted of no authority; and that all who took an active part in
these transactions should be deemed traitors to their country. And if
any violence were attempted against the lives of the Royal Family, he
declared that in that case the nation would make use of their elective
right in favour of the Archduke Charles.
Upon the first intelligence of the tumults at Zaragoza, the Junta of
Government at Madrid, knowing how popular the name of Palafox would
prove, dispatched his elder brother, the Marquis de Lazan, to inform
him of the course which they were pursuing, and persuade him to use his
influence for reducing the Aragonese to submission. But the Marquis, on
his arrival, found that no influence could have effected this, and that
Palafox had decidedly taken his part; and he also entered heartily into
the cause of his country. The Principe del Castel Franco, D. Ignacio
Martinez de Villala, one of the council of Castille, and the Alcalde
of the court, D. Luis Marcelino Pereyra, were sent from Bayonne upon
a similar errand, with a proclamation addressed to the Zaragozans,
and signed by all the Spaniards who had obeyed Buonaparte’s summons
as members of the Assembly of Notables. Had they reached Zaragoza the
mission might have cost them their lives, but finding that the people
of Aragon were every where inflamed with the same hatred against the
French, they deemed it expedient to turn back.
♦ADDRESSES TO THE PEOPLE.♦
It was believed by some of the noblest-minded Spaniards, that deeply
as their countrymen resented the treachery with which the royal
family had been entrapped, and the insult offered to the nation in
attempting to impose upon it a foreign dynasty by force, no national
opposition would have been attempted, if the slaughter at Madrid and
the executions by which it was followed had not excited in the people
a feeling of fiery indignation, and a desire of vengeance strong as
the sense of the most intolerable private injury could have provoked.
The basest creatures of the intrusive government lamented Murat’s
conduct in sacrificing so many victims by his military tribunal as
impolitic, while they served and supported a system which began in
treachery and could only be upheld by force. It was their belief that
every thing must yield to force of arms, and they were incapable of
estimating the moral force which was called forth in resistance. The
Juntas every where appealed to public opinion, and the press every
where where the French were not present, teemed with addresses to the
people, in all which the massacre of Madrid was represented as a crime
for which vengeance must be exacted. The Junta of Seville published one
to the people of the metropolis, blessing them for the noble example
they had given, and telling them that that example would be remembered
in the annals of their country for their eternal honour. “Seville,”
said they, “has seen with horror that the author of your misfortunes
and of ours has sent forth a proclamation in which all the facts are
distorted, and he pretends that you gave the provocation when it was
he who provoked you. The government had the weakness to sanction that
proclamation, and give orders for circulating it, and saw with perfect
unconcern many of you put to death for a pretended violation of laws
which had no existence. That proclamation said that the French blood
cried for vengeance. And the Spanish blood, ... does not it cry out
for vengeance? ... that Spanish blood shed by an army which was not
ashamed to attack a disarmed and defenceless people, living under their
own laws and their own King, and against whom cruelties were committed
which make human nature shudder? All Spain exclaims that the Spanish
blood in Madrid cries out for vengeance! Comfort yourselves! We are
your brethren, we will fight like you till we perish in defence of our
King and our country. Assist us with your good will, and with your
prayers to that Almighty God whom we adore, and who cannot forsake
us, because he never forsakes justice. And when the favourable hour
arrives, exert yourselves then and throw off the ignominious yoke,
which with such cruelty and such perfidiousness has been forced upon
you.”
The Junta of Oviedo, in like manner, called upon the people to revenge
their brethren who had been massacred; to remember their forefathers;
to defend their wives and sisters and daughters; and to transmit their
inheritance of independence to their children. They reminded them how
Pelayo, with the mountaineers of Asturias, laid the foundation of
the Spanish monarchy, and began that war against the Moors which his
posterity continued for 700 years, till they had rooted out the last
of the invaders. They reminded them of the Cid Campeador, Ruy Diaz
de Bivar; how, when the Emperor claimed authority over Spain, and a
council, where the King of Castille himself presided, discussed his
pretensions, that hero refused to deliberate on such a demand, saying
that the independence of Spain was established above all title; that no
true Spaniard would suffer it to be brought in question; that it was
to be upheld with their lives; and that he declared himself the enemy
of any man who should advise the King to derogate in one point from
the honour of their free country! They reminded them of the baseness,
the perfidy, and the cruelty which they had already experienced from
that proud and treacherous tyrant, who arrogates (said they) to
himself the title of Arbiter of Destinies, because he has succeeded
in oppressing the French nation, without recollecting that he himself
is mortal, and that he only holds the power delegated to him for our
chastisement. Had he not, under the faith of treaties, drawn away
their soldiers to the Baltic? had he not, in the character of a friend
and ally, marched his troops into the very capital, and made himself
master of the frontier fortresses, then robbed them of their King and
the whole of their royal family, and usurped their government? What
if they perished in resisting these barbarians? “It is better (said
they) to die in defence of your religion and independence, and upon
your own native soil, than be led bound to slaughter, and waste your
blood for the aggrandizement of his ambition. The French conscription
comprises you. If you do not serve your country, you will be forced
away to perish in the North. We lose nothing; for, even should we
fall, we shall have freed ourselves, by a glorious death, from the
intolerable burden of a foreign yoke. What worse atrocities would
the worst savages have perpetrated, than those which the ruffians of
this tyrant have committed? They have profaned our temples, they have
massacred our brethren, they have assailed our wives; more than 2000 of
the people of Madrid, of that city where they had been so hospitably
received, they have murdered in cold blood, for no other cause than for
having defended their families and themselves. To arms! to arms!...
Will you bend your necks to the yoke? Will you allow yourselves to be
insulted by injuries the most perfidious, the most wicked, the most
disgraceful, committed in the face of the whole world? Will you submit
to the humiliating slavery which is prepared for you? To arms! to arms!
... not like the monster who oppresses you, for the indulgence of an
insatiable ambition; not, like him, to violate the law of nations
and the rights of humanity, ... not to render yourselves odious to
mankind; ... but to assist your countrymen, to rescue your King from
captivity; to restore to your government liberty, energy, and vigour;
to preserve your own lives, and those of your children; to maintain the
uncontrolled right of enjoying and disposing of your property; and
to assert the independence of Spain.... The time is come; the nation
has resumed the sovereign authority, which, under such circumstances,
devolves upon it. Let us be worthy of ourselves! Let us perpetuate the
renown of our fathers! A whole people is more powerful than disciplined
armies. Spain will inevitably conquer in a cause the most just that
ever raised the deadly weapons of war; she fights, not for the concerns
of a day, but for the security and happiness of ages; ... not for
an insulated privilege, but for all the rights of human nature; ...
not for temporal blessings, but for eternal happiness; ... not for
the benefit of one nation, but for all mankind, and even for France
itself. Humanity does not always shudder at the sound of war, ... the
slow and interminable evils of slavery are a thousand times more to be
abhorred; ... there is a kind of peace more fatal than the field of
battle, drenched with blood, and strewn with the bodies of the slain.
Such is the peace in which the metropolis of Spain is held by the
enemy. The most respectable citizen there is exposed to the insolence
of the basest French ruffian; at every step he has to endure at least
the insult of being eyed with the disdain of the conqueror towards the
conquered. The inhabitants of Madrid, strangers, as it were, and by
sufferance in their own houses, cannot enjoy one moment’s tranquillity.
The public festivals, established by immemorial custom, the attendance
on religious ordinances, are considered as pretexts for insurrection,
and threatened with being interrupted by discharges of cannon. The
slightest noise makes the citizen tremble in the bosom of his family.
From time to time the enemy run to arms, in order to keep up the terror
impressed by the massacres of the 2d and 3d of May. Madrid is a prison,
where the jailors take pleasure in terrifying the prisoners for the
purpose of keeping them quiet by perpetual fear. But the Spaniards have
not yet lost their country!... Those fields which, for so many years,
have seen no steel except that of the ploughshare, are about to become
the new cradle of their freedom! Life or death in such a cause, and in
such times, are indifferent. You who return will be received by your
country as her deliverers! and you whom Heaven has destined to secure,
with your blood, the independence of our native land, ... the honour
of our women, ... the purity of our holy faith, ... you will not dread
the anguish of the last moments. Remember what tears of grateful love
will be shed over your graves, ... what fervent prayers will be sent up
for you to the Almighty Father of Mercies. Let all Spain become a camp;
let her population become an armed host; let our youths fly to the
defence of the state, for the son should fall before the father appears
in the ranks of battle. And you, tender mothers, affectionate wives,
fair maidens, do not retain within your embraces the objects of your
love, until, from victory returned, they deserve your affection. They
withdraw from you not to fight for a tyrant, but for their God; for a
monarch worthy the veneration of his people; for yourselves, and for
your companions. Instead of regretting their departure, sing ye, like
Spartan women, the song of jubilee!... The noble matrons, the delicate
maidens, even the austere religious recluse nuns, they too must take
a part in this holy cause; let them send up their prayers to Heaven
for the success of our undertaking, and minister, in their domestic
economy, to the necessities of their warlike sons and brethren.”
The popular faith as well as the patriotism of the Spaniards was
roused. They were told to implore the aid of the Immaculate Conception;
of Santiago, so often the patron and companion in victory of their
ancestors; of our Lady of Battles, whose image is worshipped in the
most ancient temple of Covadonga, and who had there so signally
assisted Pelayo in the first great overthrow of the Moorish invaders.
The fire flamed higher for this holy oil of superstition; but it was
kindled and fed by noble pride, and brave shame and indignation; by the
remembrance of what their forefathers had been, and the thought of what
their children were to be. While the leaders thus availed themselves of
popular faith, they called upon the clergy for those sacrifices which
the circumstances of the country rendered necessary: “Venerable orders
of religion,” said they, “withhold not the supplies which are required
for the common cause! If your virtue did not impel you to offer
this assistance, your interest would extort it; for your political
existence, ... the possession of your property, ... your individual
security, ... all depend upon the issue of this war. But Spain this
day receives from her favourite sons proofs of their affection and
gratitude, for the riches she has bestowed, and the splendour she has
conferred, for her pious generosity, and her ardent zeal, in sustaining
the religion and the customs of their fathers.” And to the honour of
the clergy, no men exerted themselves more strenuously in the common
cause; a conduct the more praiseworthy, after the submission of their
Primate, and the infamous part which the Inquisition had taken.
♦PROCLAMATION OF THE JUNTA OF SEVILLE.♦
While the other Juntas acted independently each in their province,
and prepared rather for local and immediate danger than for any
regular system of general defence, the Junta of Seville assumed a
higher authority, and took upon itself, as if by delegation, the duty
of providing for the country in this extreme necessity. “The King,”
they said in their proclamation to the people of Spain, “to whom we
all swore allegiance with emotions of joy unprecedented in history,
has been decoyed from us. The fundamental laws of our monarchy are
trampled under foot; our property, our customs, our wives ... all
which the nation holds most dear, are threatened. Our holy religion,
our only hope, is doomed to perdition, or will be reduced to mere
external appearances, without support and without protection. And a
foreign power has done this, ... not by dint of arms, but by deceit
and treachery, by converting the very persons who call themselves the
heads of our government, into instruments of these atrocious acts;
persons who, either from the baseness of their sentiments, from fear,
or perhaps from other motives, which time or justice will unfold,
hesitate not to sacrifice their country. It therefore became necessary
to break the shackles, which prevented the Spaniards from displaying
that generous ardour that in all ages has covered them with glory;
that noble courage, with which they have always defended their honour,
their laws, their monarchs, and their religion. The people of Seville
assembled accordingly on the 27th of May; and, through the medium of
all their magistrates, of all their constituted authorities, and of
the most respectable individuals of every rank, this Supreme Council
of Government was formed, invested with all necessary powers, and
charged to defend the country, the religion, the laws, and the King.
We accept the heroic trust; we swear to discharge it, and we reckon on
the strength and energy of the whole nation. We have again proclaimed
Ferdinand VII. ... again sworn allegiance to him, ... sworn to die in
his defence; this was the signal of happiness and union, and will prove
such to all Spain.
“A Council of Government had scarce been formed, when it violated the
most sacred laws of the realm. A president was appointed without any
authority whatever, and who, had he had any lawful title, hastened
to forfeit it. In addition to his being a foreigner, which was a
legal objection, he acted for the destruction of the very monarchy
from which he received his appointment, and of the laws, which alone
could sanction it. Under these circumstances we could not restrain
our loyalty, much less could we violate the sacred engagements, which
we had before contracted as Spaniards, as subjects, as Christians, as
freemen, independent of all foreign authority and power. Nor could
the interference of the first tribunal of the nation, the Council of
Castille, check or control our exertions. The weakness of that Council
became obvious from the wavering and contradictory proceedings which
it adopted in the most momentous situation wherein the nation ever
hath been placed, when the Council ought to have displayed that heroic
firmness, with which numberless motives and its own honour called upon
it to act. The order tamely to submit to, and circulate and obey the
act of abdication in favour of a foreign prince, was the consummation
of its weakness, perhaps of its infamy. That abdication was evidently
void and illegal from want of authority in him who made it; the
monarchy was not his, nor was Spain composed of animals subject to
the absolute control of their owners; ... his accession to the throne
was founded on his royal descent, and on the fundamental laws of the
realm. It is void on account of the state of violence in which it was
made; ... it is void, because the published act of abdication of King
Ferdinand VII. and of his uncle and brother, was made in the same
state of compulsion, as is expressly declared in the very act itself;
... it is void, because many royal personages, possessed of the right
of inheritance to the crown, have not relinquished that right, but
preserve it entire.
“The French ruler summoned the Spanish nation: he chose such deputies
as best suited his purpose, and in a despotic manner appointed them
to deliberate in a foreign country on the most sacred interests of
the nation, while he publicly declared that a private and respectful
letter, written to him by Ferdinand VII. at the time when he was Prince
of Asturias, was a criminal performance, injurious to the rights of
sovereignty. It is, indeed, a heinous offence, it is rebellion, when
an independent nation submits to the control of a foreign prince, and
discusses in his presence, and under his decision, its most sacred
rights and public welfare.
“He has resorted to many other means to deceive us. He has distributed
libels to corrupt the public opinion, in which, under the strongest
professions of respect for the laws, and for religion, he insults
both, leaving no means untried, however infamous they may be, to bend
our necks under an iron yoke, and make us his slaves. He assures the
public, that the supreme pontiff and vicar of Jesus Christ approves
and sanctions his proceedings; while it is notorious, that, in sight
of all Europe, he has despoiled him of his dominions, and forced him
to dismiss his Cardinals, in order to prevent him from directing and
governing the whole church, in the manner sanctioned by our Saviour
Jesus Christ.
“Spaniards, every consideration calls on us to unite and frustrate
views so atrocious. No revolution exists in Spain; our sole object is
to defend what we hold most sacred, against him, who, under the cloak
of alliance, intended to wrest it from us, and who would despoil us,
without fighting, of our laws, our monarchs, and our religion. Let
us, therefore, sacrifice every thing to a cause so just; and, if we
are to lose our all, let us lose it fighting, and like generous men.
Join, therefore, all: let us commit to the wisest among us in all
the provinces the important trust of preserving the public opinion,
and refuting those insolent libels which are replete with the most
atrocious falsehoods. Let every one exert himself in his way; and let
the church of Spain incessantly implore the assistance of the God of
Hosts, whose protection is secured to us by the evident justice of our
cause. Europe will applaud our efforts, and hasten to our assistance.
Italy, Germany, and the whole north, suffering under the despotism of
the French nation, will eagerly avail themselves of the opportunity
held out to them by Spain, to shake off the yoke and recover their
liberty, their laws, their monarchs, and all they have been robbed of
by that nation. France herself will hasten to erase the stain of infamy
which must cover the instruments of deeds so treacherous and heinous.
She will not shed her blood in so vile a cause. She has already
suffered too much under the idle pretext of a peace and happiness which
never came, and which can never be attained but under the empire of
reason, peace, religion, and laws, and in a state where the rights of
other nations are respected and observed.
“Spaniards, your native country, your property, your laws, your
liberty, your King, your religion, nay, your hopes in a better world,
which that religion can alone devise to you and your descendants, are
at stake, ... are in great and imminent danger!”
♦DIRECTIONS FOR CONDUCTING THE WAR.♦
Admirable as this address is, one grievous error was committed in
it, the precursor of others, and in itself of the most dangerous and
fatal tendency. It was said, “that the number of the enemy’s troops
was not so great as the French stated with a view of intimidating
the Spaniards; and that the positions which they had taken were
exactly those in which they could be conquered and defeated in the
easiest manner.” Whatever momentary advantage might be hoped for
by thus deceiving the people as to the extent of their danger, was
sure to be counterbalanced tenfold whenever they were undeceived, as
inevitably they would be. This error was the more remarkable, because
they were well aware of the enemy’s strength, and perceived also in
what manner it was to be opposed with the greatest probability of
success. For this purpose they strenuously recommended in an address
concerning the conduct of the war, that all general actions should be
avoided as perfectly hopeless, and in the highest degree dangerous.
A war of partizans was the system which suited them; their business
should be incessantly to harass the enemy; for which species of
warfare the nature of the country was particularly favourable. It was
indispensable, they said, that each province should have its general;
but, as nothing could be done without a combined plan, it was equally
indispensable that there should be three generalissimos, one commanding
in Andalusia, Murcia, and Lower Estremadura; one in Gallicia, Upper
Estremadura, the Castilles, and Leon; one in Valencia, Aragon, and
Catalonia. These generalissimos should keep up a frequent communication
with each other, and with the provincial generals, that they might
act by common accord, and assist each other. A particular general
was required for the provinces of Madrid and La Mancha, whose only
object should be to distress the enemy, to cut off their provisions,
to harass them in flank and in rear, and not leave them a moment of
repose. Another generalissimo was necessary for Navarre, the Biscayan
provinces, Asturias, Rioja, and the north of Old Castille; this being
the most important station of all. His whole business should be to
prevent the entrance of French troops into Spain, and to cut off the
retreat of those who were flying out of it. It was recommended that
frequent proclamations should be issued, showing the people that it was
better to die in defence of their liberties than to give themselves
up like sheep, as their late infamous government would have done.
“France,” said they, “has never domineered over us, nor set foot in
our territory. We have many times mastered her, not by deceit but by
force of arms. We have made her kings prisoners, and we have made the
nation tremble. We are the same Spaniards; and France, and Europe, and
the world, shall see that we have not degenerated from our ancestors.”
They were also exhorted watchfully to confute the falsehoods which the
French circulated, and particularly those which the baseness of the
late government still permitted to be published in Madrid. And care was
to be taken to convince the nation, that when they had freed themselves
from this intestine war, the Cortes would be assembled, abuses
reformed, and such laws enacted as the circumstances of the times
required and experience might dictate for the public good: “Things,”
said they, “which we Spaniards know how to do, and which we have done,
as well as other nations, without any necessity that the vile French
should come to instruct us, and, according to their custom, under the
mask of friendship, and wishes for our happiness, contrive (for this
alone they are contriving) to plunder us, to violate our women, to
assassinate us, to deprive us of our liberty, our laws, and our King;
to scoff at and destroy our holy religion, as they have hitherto done,
and will always continue to do, so long as that spirit of perfidy and
ambition, which oppresses and tyrannizes over them, shall endure.”
♦MEASURES FOR ENROLLING THE PEOPLE.♦
A general enrolment of men from the age of sixteen to that of
forty-five was ordered by this Junta in the name of Ferdinand.
They were to be divided into three classes; the first consisted of
volunteers, who were to march wherever their respective Juntas, or
_Ayuntamientos_, by the direction of the Supreme Junta, might order
them; and were then either to be embodied with the regular troops, or
formed into separate corps, and act with them, being in all things
subject to the same duties. The second class consisted of unmarried
men, and those who, whether married or widowers, had no children; these
were to hold themselves ready for service in the second instance. The
third class included fathers of families, persons in minor orders, and
others who were employed in those offices of the church which were not
indispensably necessary for public worship: this class was not to be
called upon till the last extremity, when it became the duty of all to
offer their lives in defence of the country. But this being the time
of harvest, and it having pleased the Almighty to bless the land with
an abundant one, all persons included in the second and third classes
were enjoined, whatever their rank and property might be, to lend
their personal service in collecting it, and this was required from
those who were above the age of forty-five as well as from others: so
would they deserve well of the country, and the Junta expressed their
confidence that no persons would so far derogate from the generosity of
the Spanish character, as to take advantage of the times, and demand
an exorbitant price for day labour. There were many villages where
the women reaped and performed other agricultural offices; this they
might do every where, and in so doing the Junta would consider them
as rendering the greatest service to their country; the clergy also,
secular and regular, were invited to set a generous example, by taking
their part in this important duty. Women, who from age, weakness, or
other causes, were not capable of working in the fields, were intreated
to occupy themselves in working for the hospitals, and to send their
contributions to the Commissariat Office in Seville. The names of all
persons who exerted themselves in this or any other manner in behalf of
the general weal, should at a future time be published by the Supreme
Junta, and each would then receive that praise and reward which their
patriotism had deserved.
♦APPEAL TO THE FRENCH SOLDIERS.♦
The Spaniards, confiding in the indisputable justice of their cause,
and being, according to the enthusiasm of the national character,
warm in their expectations of splendid success, reckoned upon a great
desertion from the French armies, not only of the Netherlanders,
Germans, and other foreigners, who, under various forms of compulsion,
had been brought into the tyrant’s service, but also of the French
themselves. An outrage so unprovoked and monstrous, so flagrant a
breach of faith, an act of usurpation effected with such unparalleled
perfidiousness, and then with such matchless effrontery avowed, must,
they thought, even among the French themselves, excite a sense of
honour and of indignation which would prevent them from becoming the
instruments of so infamous an injustice. In many of their proclamations
therefore they distinguished between Buonaparte and the people over
whom he ruled, calling the French an enlightened, a generous, and an
honourable nation, and declaring a belief that they as well as the
Spaniards desired the destruction of the tyrant by whom they were at
once oppressed and disgraced. They expressed a hope that the success of
the Spaniards might encourage the French people for their own sakes,
and for the sake of universal justice, to offer him up as a victim,
and by that sacrifice expiate the shame which he through his acts of
treachery and blood had brought upon France. “Let it not be supposed,”
they said, “that all Frenchmen participate in his iniquities! Even in
the armies of this barbarian we know that there are some individuals,
worthy of compassion, who, amidst all the evil wherewith they are
surrounded, still cherish in their hearts the seeds of virtue.” The
Junta of Seville published an address to the French army, inviting the
soldiers, whether French or of any other nation, to join with them, and
promising them, at the end of the war, each an allotment of land as the
reward for his services.
♦MOVEMENTS OF THE FRENCH AGAINST THE INSURGENTS.♦
As the Spaniards were too sanguine in relying upon the general
enthusiasm which was displayed throughout the nation, so the French,
on the other hand, more unreasonably regarded it with contempt. Having
defeated and humbled the greatest military powers in Europe, they
looked upon the Spanish insurgents as a rabble whom it was rather
their business to punish than to contend with. It was fortunate for
the Spaniards that they had no force at this time considerable enough
to be called an army; the enemy knew not where to strike an effective
blow, when the people were in commotion and in arms every where, but
nowhere in the field. Their object therefore was to get possession
of the provincial capitals, that the authority every where might be
in their hands as it was in the metropolis. With this intent General
Dupont with a considerable force was sent from Madrid to Andalusia,
there to occupy Seville and Cadiz, and thereby crush the insurrection
where it appeared to be gaining most strength. Marshal Moncey with his
corps marched upon Valencia. General Lefebvre Desnouettes was sent from
Pamplona against Zaragoza. Marshal Bessieres dispatched detachments
against Logroño, Santander, Segovia, and Valladolid. And Duhesme in
Catalonia sent General Schwartz against Manresa, and General Chabron
against Tarragona, while he himself prepared to march against the armed
Catalans.
♦MURAT LEAVES SPAIN.♦
Murat meantime had left Spain. Before he had well recovered from a
severe attack of the Madrid colic an intermittent fever supervened,
and when that was removed he was ordered by his physicians to the warm
baths of Bareges. The Duc de Rovigo, General Savary, who had acted so
considerable a part in decoying Ferdinand to Bayonne, succeeded in the
command. ♦SEVERAL FRENCHMEN POISONED BY THE WINE.♦ It happened at this
time that several French soldiers, after drinking wine in the public
houses at Madrid, died, some almost immediately, others after a short
illness, under unequivocal symptoms of poison. Baron Larrey, who was
at the head of the medical staff, acted with great prudence on this
occasion. He sent for wine from different _ventas_, analyzed it, and
detected narcotic ingredients in all; and he ascertained upon full
inquiry that these substances, of which laurel-water was one, were as
commonly used to flavour and strengthen the Spanish wines, as litharge
is to correct acidity in the lighter wines of France. The natives were
accustomed to it from their youth; they frequently mixed their wine
with water, and moreover the practice of smoking over their liquor
tended to counteract its narcotic effects by stimulating the stomach
and the intestines: it was therefore not surprising that they could
drink it with safety; though it proved fatal[39] to a few strangers. M.
Larrey therefore justly concluded that there had been no intention of
poisoning the French; if such a suspicion had been intimated, execrated
as they knew themselves to be, the troops would readily have believed
it; and a bloodier massacre than that of the 2d of May must have
ensued.