The decade between 1804 and 1814 had been very barren in external
benefits to Spain, with her King held in "honorable captivity" in
France, and the obscure Joseph abjectly striving to please not his
subjects, but his august brother Napoleon. But in this time of chaos,
when there was no Bourbon King, no long-established despotism to
stifle popular sentiment, the unsuspected fact developed that Spain
had caught the infection of freedom.
[Illustration: From the painting by C. Alvarez Dumont.
Heroic Combat in the Pulpit of the Church of St.
Augustine, Saragossa, 1809.]
When, as we have seen, the Cortes assumed all the functions of a
government, that body (in 1812) drew up a new Constitution for Spain.
So completely did this remodel the whole administration, that the most
despotic monarchy in Europe was transformed into the one most severely
limited.
Great was the surprise of Ferdinand VII. when, in 1814, he came to the
throne of his ejected father Carlos IV., to find himself called upon
to reign under a Constitution which made Spain almost as free as a
republic. He promulgated a decree declaring the Cortes illegal and
rescinding all its acts, the Constitution of 1812 included. Then when
he had re-established the Inquisition, which had been abolished by the
Cortes, when he had publicly burned the impertinent Constitution,
and quenched conspiracies here and there, he settled himself for a
comfortable reign after the good old arbitrary fashion.
The Napoleonic empire having been effaced by a combined Europe,
Ferdinand's Bourbon cousins were in the same way restoring the
excellent methods of their fathers in France.
But there was a spirit in the air which was not favorable to the peace
of Kings. On the American coast there stood "Liberty Enlightening the
World!" A growing, prosperous republic was a shining example of what
might be done by a brave resistance to oppression and a determined
spirit of independence.
The pestilential leaven of freedom had been at work while monarchies
slept in security. Ferdinand discovered that not only was there a
seditious sentiment in his own kingdom, but every one of his American
colonies was in open rebellion, and some were even daring to set up
free governments in imitation of the United States.
Not only was Ferdinand's sovereignty threatened, but the very
principle of monarchy itself was endangered.
Russia, Austria, and Prussia formed themselves into a league for the
preservation of what they were pleased to call "The Divine Right of
Kings." It was the attack upon this sacred principle, which was the
germ of all this mischievous talk about freedom. They called their
league "The Holy Alliance," and what they proposed to do was to _stamp
out free institutions in the germ_.
In pursuance of this purpose, in 1819 there appeared at Cadiz a large
fleet, assembled for the subjugation of Spanish America.
But there was an Anglo-Saxon America, which had a preponderating
influence in that land now; and there was also an Anglo-Saxon race in
Europe which had its own views about the "Divine Right of Kings," and
also concerning the mission of the "Holy Alliance."
The right of three European Powers to restore to Spain her revolted
colonies in America was denied by President Monroe; not upon the
ground of Spain's inhumanity, and the inherent right of the colonies
to an independence which they might achieve. Such was the nature
of England's protest, through her Minister Canning. But President
Monroe's contention rested on a much broader ground. In a message
delivered in 1823 he uttered these words: "European Powers must
not extend their political systems to any portion of the American
continent." The meaning of this was that _America has been won for
freedom_; and no European Power will be permitted to establish a
monarchy, nor to coerce in any way, nor to suppress inclinations
toward freedom, in any part of the Western Hemisphere. This is the
"Monroe Doctrine"; a doctrine which, although so startling in 1832,
had in 1896 become so firmly imbedded in the minds of the people, that
Congress decided it to be a vital principle of American policy.
But there was another and more serious obstacle in the way of the
proposed plan for subjugating the Spanish-American colonies. The army
assembled by the Holy Alliance at Cadiz was an offense to the people
who had seen their Constitution burned and their hopes of a freer
government destroyed. Officers and troops refused to embark, and
joined a concourse of disaffected people at Cadiz. A smothered popular
sentiment burst forth into a series of insurrections throughout Spain,
and the astonished Ferdinand was compelled, in 1820, to acknowledge
the Constitution of 1812. This was not upholding the principle of the
"Divine Right of Kings"! So, under the direction of the Holy Alliance,
a French army of one hundred thousand men moved into Spain, took
possession of her capital, and for two years administered her affairs
under a regency, and then reinstated Ferdinand, leaving a French army
of occupation.
In this contest two distinct political parties had developed--the
Liberal party and the party of Absolutism. As Ferdinand VII. became
the choice of the Liberals, and his brother Don Carlos of the party
of Absolutism, we must infer either that it was a Liberalism of a very
mild type, or that Ferdinand's views had been modified since the
"Holy Alliance" took his kingdom into its own keeping. But his brother
Carlos was the adored of the Absolutists, and a plot was made to
compel Ferdinand to abdicate in his favor. This was the first of the
Carlist plots, which, with little intermission, and always in the
interest of despotism and bigotry, have menaced the safety and
well-being of Spain ever since. From the year 1825 to 1898 there has
been always a Don Carlos to trouble the political waters in that land.
So the mission of the "Holy Alliance" had failed. Instead of
rehabilitating the sacred principle of the "Divine Right of Kings,"
they saw a powerful liberal party established in a kingdom which was
the very stronghold of despotism. And instead of stamping out free
institutions, six Spanish-American colonies had been recognized as
free and independent states (1826). Spain had for three centuries
ruled the richest and the fairest land on the earth. She had shown
herself utterly undeserving of the opportunity, and unfit for the
responsibilities imposed by a great colonial empire. She had sown
the wind and now she reaped the whirlwind. She did not own a foot of
territory on the continent she had discovered!