which I have quoted in the last few pages, can have no adequate
idea of the utter wretchedness of Spain, confesses that 'Jamás
monarca ni pueblo alguno se vieron en tan lastimosa situacion y
en tan mísero trance como se hallaron en este tiempo' (1699).
'Carlos II. y la España.' _Lafuente_, _Historia de España_,
vol. xvii. p. 426, Madrid, 1856.
[1341] 'Les Maures d'Afrique assiégeoient Ceuta. Le roi d'Espagne
manquait non seulement de troupes, mais de vaisseaux pour
transporter le peu de secours qu'il pouvoit y envoyer: Louis XIV
lui fit offrir les troupes et les vaisseaux dont il auroit
besoin. Il s'agissoit non seulement de conserver Ceuta, mais de
plus Oran; par conséquent d'empêcher la prise de deux places
dont la conquête facilitoit aux Maures un retour en Espagne.'
_Mémoires du Marquis de Torcy_, vol. i. p. 46, ed. Paris, 1828.
Respecting the attacks made on Ceuta, from 1696 to 1698, see
_Ortiz_, _Compendio de la Historia de España_, vol. vi. pp. 556,
567, 561.
Fortunately, in the year 1700, when affairs were at their worst, Charles
II., the idiot king, died; and Spain fell into the hands of Philip V.,
the grandson of Louis XIV. This change from the Austrian dynasty to the
Bourbon,[1342] brought with it many other changes. Philip, who reigned
from 1700 to 1746,[1343] was a Frenchman, not only by birth and
education, but also in feelings and habits.[1344] Just before he entered
Spain, Louis charged him never to forget that he was a native of France,
the throne of which he might some day ascend.[1345] After he became
king, he neglected the Spaniards, despised their advice, and threw all
the power he could command into the hands of his own countrymen.[1346]
The affairs of Spain were now administered by subjects of Louis XIV.,
whose ambassador at Madrid frequently performed the functions of prime
minister.[1347] What had once been the most powerful monarchy in the
world, became little else than a province of France; all important
matters being decided in Paris, from whence Philip himself received his
instructions.[1348]
[1342] A celebrated modern writer has made some remarks upon this, which
are too apposite to be omitted. 'Con el siglo xvii. acabó
tambien la dinastía austriaca en España, dejando á esta nacion
pobre, despoblada, sin fuerzas marítimas ni terrestres, y por
consiguiente á merced de las demas potencias que intentaron
repartir entre sí sus colonias y provincias. Así habia
desparecido en poco mas de un siglo aquella grandeza y poderío,
aquella fuerza y heroismo, aquella cultura é ilustracion con que
habia descollado entre todas las naciones.' _Biografia de
Ensenada_, in _Navarrete_, _Opúsculos_, vol. ii. p. 5, Madrid,
1848.
[1343] Except during the short interregnum of Louis, in 1724, which only
lasted a few months, and during which, the boy, though called
king, exercised no real power, and Philip remained the actual
ruler. 'Aun el nuevo rey no resolvia negocio de consideracion
sin asenso de su padre.' _Ortiz_, _Compendio_, vol. vii. p. 374.
[1344] Saint Simon, who knew Philip well, and who was in Spain in 1721
and 1722, says of him, 'L'amour de la France lui sortait de
partout.' _Mémoires du Duc de Saint Simon_, vol. xxxvii. p. 3,
Paris, 1841. And, in 1746, shortly before his death, Noailles
writes from Aranjuez, 'Ce prince a le c[oe]ur tout français.'
_Millot_, _Mémoires de Noailles_, vol. iv. p. 191, Paris, 1829.
[1345] 'N'oubliez jamais que vous êtes Français, et ce qui peut vous
arriver.' _Millot_, _Mémoires de Noailles_, vol. ii. p. 6.
Compare _Coxe's Memoirs of the Bourbon Kings of Spain_, London,
1815, vol. i. p. 103.
[1346] In 1702, Philip 'parlait moins que jamais, et seulement aux
Français, comme s'ils eussent été les seuls êtres de son
espèce.' _Mémoires de Louville_, vol. i. p. 276. 'Le dégoût que
Philippe laissait voir pour sa cour espagnole.' p. 333. A
Spanish statesman, celebrated, or, I would rather say,
notorious, at the close of the century, indignantly exclaims,
'It was on the accession of the Bourbon dynasty, that foreigners
came to govern us on our native soil.' _Godoy's Memoirs_, ed.
London, 1836, vol. ii. p. 271.
[1347] In 1701, it was the duty of the French ambassador, 'qu'il pût au
besoin être premier ministre d'Espagne.' _Millot_, _Mémoires de
Noailles_, vol. ii. p. 31; 'que l'ambassadeur de sa Majesté soit
ministre du roi Catholique; que, sans en avoir le titre, il en
exerce les fonctions; qu'il aide au roi d'Espagne à connoître
l'état de ses affaires, et à gouverner par lui-même.' p. 55. In
1702, Marsin writes to Louis XIV., 'Comme il est absolument
nécessaire que l'ambassadeur de Votre Majesté en Espagne ait un
crédit sans bornes auprès du Roy son petit-fils.' p. 183. In
1705, Amelot, the French ambassador, 'décidoit de tout en
Espagne.' _Mémoires de Louville_, vol. ii. p. 165; and in 1706,
'étant à la tête des affaires, et joignant presque les fonctions
de premier ministre à celles d'ambassadeur.' _Noailles_,
vol. ii. p. 398.
[1348] In 1703, 'Il est clair que l'embarras de Philippe venoit surtout
de la crainte que ses décisions ne fussent point approuvées en
France, où toutes les affaires importantes se décidoient.'
_Millot_, _Mémoires de Noailles_, vol. ii. p. 244. 'The King of
France had always certain persons at Madrid, which compos'd a
Council, of which that of Versailles was the soul; and whose
members were all creatures of the French Court, and sent to
Madrid from time to time to direct all affairs there, according
to the views of the Most Christian King, and to give him an
account of every thing that pass'd in the Councils of the
Escurial. Alberoni got to be initiated in the mysteries of this
cabal.' _History of Cardinal Alberoni_, London, 1719, p. 70.
The Spanish historians are not very fond of admitting this
unquestionable fact; but Bacallar, after mentioning the
influence of the French Ambassador, frankly adds: 'Desde
entonces tomaron tanta mano sobre los de España los ministros
franceses, que dieron mas zelos á los Principes, viendo
estrechar la union á un grado, que todo se ponía al arbitrio de
Luis XIV.' _Bacallar_, _Comentarios de la Guerra de España_,
vol. i. p. 33.
The truth is, that Spain, broken and prostrate, was unable to supply
ability of any kind; and if the government of the country was to be
carried on, it was absolutely necessary that foreigners should be
called in.[1349] Even in 1682, that is, eighteen years before the
accession of Philip V., there was not to be found a single native well
acquainted with the art of war; so that Charles II. was obliged to
intrust the military defence of the Spanish Netherlands to De Grana, the
Austrian ambassador at Madrid.[1350] When, therefore, the War of the
Succession broke out, in 1702, even the Spaniards themselves desired
that their troops should be commanded by a foreigner.[1351] In 1704, the
extraordinary spectacle was exhibited of the Duke of Berwick, an
Englishman, leading Spanish soldiers against the enemy, and being in
fact generalissimo of the Spanish army.[1352] The King of Spain,
dissatisfied with his proceedings, determined to remove him; but,
instead of filling his place with a native, he applied to Louis XIV. for
another general; and this important post was confided to Marshal Tessé,
a Frenchman.[1353] A little later, Berwick was again summoned to Madrid,
and ordered to put himself at the head of the Spanish troops, and defend
Estremadura and Castile.[1354] This he effected with complete success;
and, in the battle of Almansa, which he fought in 1707, he overthrew the
invaders, ruined the party of the pretender Charles,[1355] and secured
the seat of Philip on the throne.[1356] As the war, however, still
continued, Philip, in 1710, wrote to Paris for another general, and
requested that the Duke de Vendôme might be sent to him.[1357] This able
commander, on his arrival, infused new vigour into the Spanish counsels,
and utterly defeated the allies;[1358] so that the war by which the
independence of Spain was established, owed its success to the ability
of foreigners, and to the fact that the campaigns were planned and
conducted, not by natives, but by French and English generals.
[1349] Even the veteran diplomatist was so struck by the escape of Spain
from complete ruin, that he ascribes its change of masters to
the direct interference of the Deity. 'Sa seule puissance avait
placé Philippe V sur le trône d'Espagne; elle seule pouvait l'y
maintenir; les hommes n'avaient pas conduit ce grand événement.'
_Mémoires de Torcy_, vol. i. p. 333. 'Le trône où Dieu l'avait
placé.' p. 401. See also vol. ii. pp. 3, 227. 'The Spanish
people received him with unhesitating obedience to the deceased
king's will, and rejoiced at the prospect of a rule that would
at least have the merit of being different from that under which
they had so long withered.' _Memoirs of Peterborough_, London,
1853, vol. i. p. 102. 'Muchos españoles recibieron por su
soberano á Felipe V., cansados de la dominacion de la casa de
Austria. Esperaban de la mudanza de la dinastia la felicidad y
el buen gobierno.' _Castro_, _Decadencia de España_, Cadiz,
1852, p. 131. To the same effect, _Millot_, _Mémoires de
Noailles_, vol. i. pp. 420, 426, vol. ii. p. 9.
[1350] He 'committed the military defence of these provinces to the
Marquis of Grana, the Austrian ambassador at Madrid, from the
want of any Spanish commander whose courage or military
endowments qualified him to repel such an enemy as the king of
France.' _Dunlop's Memoirs_, vol. ii. p. 232. Compare, on the
want of Spanish generals, _Mémoires du Maréchal de Gramont_,
vol. ii. p. 82, edit. Paris, 1827. The opinion which Grana
himself formed of the Spanish government, may be learned from a
conversation which he held at Madrid, in 1680, with the French
ambassadress, and which is preserved in her correspondence.
_Lettres de Madame la Marquise de Villars_, Amsterdam, 1759, pp.
118, 119.
[1351] See the letter of Philip V. to Louis XIV., dated June 22, 1702,
in _Mémoires de Noailles_, vol. ii. pp. 256, 257, Paris, 1828,
edit. Petitot.
[1352] See _Bacallar_, _Comentarios de la Guerra de España_, vol. i.
pp. 137, 166, where he is called 'el Duque de Bervich.' His own
account is, 'J'arrivai à Madrid le 15 février' (1704), 'où
d'abord S. M. Catholique me fit Capitaine-Général de ses
armées.' _Mémoires de Berwick_, Paris, 1778, vol. i. p. 227; and
see p. xxv. No one would suppose this, from the observations of
M. Lafuente, in his _Historia de España_, vol. xviii. p. 80,
Madrid, 1857.
[1353] 'Philippe n'étoit pas content de Berwick, ou plutôt il témoigna
ne le pas être, et il demanda un autre général à Louis XIV. On
lui envoya le maréchal de Tessé, pour qui il avoit montré du
penchant.' _Millot_, _Mémoires de Noailles_, vol. ii. p. 331.
Berwick himself ascribes his dismissal to the influence of
Gramont and of the Queen of Spain. _Mémoires de Berwick_, vol.
i. pp. 269-273. At all events, the new general became supreme.
In December 1705, the Princess des Ursins writes from Madrid to
Madame de Maintenon, 'M. le maréchal de Tessé, quand il est à
Madrid, est consulté, et décide sur toutes les affaires,
_autant, pour le moins, que M. l'ambassadeur_; et lorsqu'il est
à l'armée, il est le maître absolu non seulement des troupes de
France, mais encore de celles d'Espagne, commandant aux
capitaines-généraux, ses anciens, contre l'usage du pays.'
_Lettres inédites de Madame de Maintenon et de Madame la
Princesse des Ursins_, vol. iii. p. 259, Paris, 1826.
[1354] In 1706, 'Le duc de Berwick, redemandé par Philippe V., arrivé à
Madrid le 11 mars, avec le titre de maréchal de France, pour
défendre l'Estramadure et la Castille, ayant rassemblé ce qu'il
peut de troupes espagnoles, empêcha les ennemis d'entreprendre
le siège de Badajoz.' _Millot_, _Mémoires de Noailles_, vol. ii.
p. 387. Philip 'pria le Roi, son grand-père, d'envoyer un
général pour commander sur les frontières de Portugal. Ce fut
donc sur moi que le choix tomba.' _Mémoires de Berwick_, vol. i.
p. 305.
[1355] In a recently published work (_Memoirs of Peterborough_, London,
1853, vol. i. pp. 148, 155, 161, 206, 210, vol. ii. pp. 34, 93),
Charles is not only called King of Spain, which he never was, as
Spain always refused to accept him, but, in the teeth of all
history, he is actually termed Charles III.; while Philip V. is
merely 'Philip of Anjou.' If this were allowed, the consequence
would be, that the king whom the Spaniards now call Charles
III., would have to change his appellation, and become Charles
IV.; and Charles IV. would be changed into Charles V. It is
really too much when mere biographers obtrude, in this way,
their own little prepossessions into the vast field of history,
and seek to efface its established nomenclature, because they
are enamoured of the hero whose life they write.
[1356] 'This victory established the throne of Philip.' _Dunham's
History of Spain_, vol. v. p. 136. 'A victory which may be
justly said to have saved Spain.' _Coxe's Bourbon Kings of
Spain_, vol. i. p. 408. Even Ortiz allows that if Berwick had
failed, Philip would have been ruined. 'Esta batalla de Almansa,
que las circunstancias hicieron ruidosa, comenzó á poner mejor
la corona de España en la cabeza de Felipe V.; y se tuvo por
indubitable que si la hubiera perdido, tambien hubiera perdido
la corona.' _Ortiz_, _Compendio_, vol. vii. p. 116. See also
_Lafuente_, _Historia de España_, vol. xviii. p. 185. 'Berwick,
á quien, sin duda, debió su salvación la España.'
[1357] 'Sa réputation étoit grande et bien établie; le roi d'Espagne
avoit été témoin de sa conduite en Lombardie; il demanda au Roi
un général si capable de commander ses armées.' _Mémoires de
Torcy_, vol. i. p. 386. See also _History of Alberoni_, London,
1719, p. 45. 'Le duc de Vendôme alloit enfin commander les
troupes d'Espagne.' _Mémoires de Noailles_, vol. iii. p. 12.
According to Berwick, the offer was first made to himself.
_Mémoires de Berwick_, vol. ii. pp. 106, 109. M. Lafuente,
without quoting any authority, says (_Historia de España_, vol.
xviii. p. 279), 'Luego que se perdió la batalla de Zaragoza
escribió Felipe al rey Cristianísimo, su abuelo, rogándole que,
ya que no pudiera socorrerle con tropas, le enviára al menos _al
duque de Berwick ó al de Vendome_.' But, as Berwick must have
had the means of knowing the real state of the case, he is
probably correct in saying that the first application was in his
own favour.
[1358] 'Vendôme arrived at this moment to call into action the spirit of
the monarch and the zeal of his subjects.' _Coxe's Bourbon Kings
of Spain_, vol. ii. p. 41. 'The arrival of the Duke de Vendôme
again changed the fate of Spain.' _Memoirs of Peterborough_,
vol. ii. p. 130.
In the same way, the finances were, by the end of the seventeenth
century, in such deplorable confusion, that Portocarrero, who at the
accession of Philip V. was the nominal minister of Spain, expressed a
desire that they should be administered by some one sent from Paris, who
could restore them.[1359] He felt that no one in Spain was equal to the
task, and he was by no means singular in this opinion. In 1701, Louville
wrote to Torcy, that if a financier did not soon arrive from France,
there would shortly be no finances to administer.[1360] The choice fell
upon Orry, who reached Madrid in the summer of 1701.[1361] He found
everything in the most miserable condition; and the incompetence of the
Spaniards was so obvious, that he was soon forced to undertake the
management, not only of the finances, but also of the war-department. To
save appearances, Canalez became the ostensible minister at war; but he,
being completely ignorant of affairs, merely performed the drudgery of
that office, the real duties of which were fulfilled by Orry
himself.[1362]
[1359] 'Portocarrero, abrumado con las dificultades de la gobernacion,
que excedian en mucho á sus escasas luces, no contento con haber
inducido al rey á que aumentára su consejo de gabinete con dos
ministros más, que fueron el marqués de Mancera, presidente del
de Aragon, y el duque de Montalto, del de Italia, pidió á Luis
XIV. le enviára una persona que pudiera establecer un plan de
hacienda en España, y corregir y reformar los abusos de la
administracion.' _Lafuente_, _Historia de España_, vol. xviii.
p. 15. On 22nd June 1701, Louis XIV. writes to the Duc
d'Harcourt, 'Qu'enfin le cardinal Porto-Carrero m'a fait
demander quelqu'un intelligent en matière de finances pour voir
et connoître l'état de celles du roi d'Espagne, pour examiner
les moyens les plus propres de soulager ses sujets, et de
pourvoir aux plus pressans besoins du public; qu'il m'assure que
_toute l'Espagne le désire en général_: toutes ces raisons m'ont
déterminé à choisir le sieur Orry, pour l'envoyer à Madrid.'
_Millot_, _Mémoires de Noailles_, vol. ii. p. 44.
[1360] 'Il faudra que l'homme que vous enverrez pour les finances (car
vous aurez la bonté d'en envoyer un, ou bien nous n'aurons plus
de finances).' _Mémoires de Louville_, vol. i. p. 149.
[1361] _Ibid._ vol. i. p. 181.
[1362] 'Canalez, qu'on a substitué à Rivas pour le département de la
guerre, n'a aucun talent pour cet emploi, selon l'instruction;
et toute l'Espagne voit clairement qu'Orry ne le lui a procuré
qu'afin d'en exercer les fonctions sous le nom d'un Espagnol.'
_Millot_, _Mémoires de Noailles_, vol. ii. p. 305; under the
year 1704. See also, on the power of Orry in the war-department,
_Mémoires de Berwick_, vol. i. pp. 226, 227, 306, 316, vol. ii.
p. 166. Berwick, who hated Orry, says of him (vol. i. p. 232),
'il se mêloit de tout et faisoit tout,' But there can be no
doubt of his being a man of very considerable ability; and M.
Lafuente (_Historia de España_, vol. xix. p. 253, Madrid, 1857)
candidly says, 'Es lo cierto que hizo abrir mucho los ojos de
los españoles en materia de administracion,' Compare vol. xviii.
p. 369; _Mémoires du Duc de Saint Simon_, vol. vii. pp. 102,
195, Paris, 1842; and _Bacallar_, _Comentarios de la Guerra de
España_, vol. i. pp. 82, 83, 99, 168, vol. ii. pp. 95, 107.
Bacallar treats him harshly.
This dominion of the French continued, without interruption, until the
second marriage of Philip V., in 1714, and the death of Louis XIV., in
1715, both of which events weakened their influence, and for a time
almost destroyed it. The authority, however, which they lost, was
transferred, not to Spaniards, but to other foreigners. Between 1714 and
1726, the two most powerful and conspicuous men in Spain were Alberoni,
an Italian, and Ripperda, a Dutchman. Ripperda was dismissed in
1726;[1363] and after his fall, the affairs of Spain were controlled by
Konigseg, who was a German, and who, indeed, was the Austrian ambassador
residing at Madrid.[1364] Even Grimaldo, who held office before and
after the dismissal of Ripperda, was a disciple of the French school,
and had been brought up under Orry.[1365] All this was not the result of
accident, nor is it to be ascribed to the caprice of the court. In
Spain, the national spirit had so died away, that none but foreigners,
or men imbued with foreign ideas, were equal to the duties of
government. To the evidence already quoted on this point, I will add two
other testimonies. Noailles, a very fair judge, and by no means
prejudiced against the Spaniards, emphatically stated, in 1710, that,
notwithstanding their loyalty, they were incapable of ruling, inasmuch
as they were ignorant both of war and of politics.[1366] In 1711, Bonnac
mentions that a resolution had been formed to place no Spaniard at the
head of affairs, because those hitherto employed had proved to be either
unfortunate or unfaithful.[1367]
[1363] _Ripperda's Memoirs_, London, 1740, second edition, pp. 117, 118.
Saint Simon (_Mémoires_, vol. xxxvi. p. 246) says, that Ripperda
was 'premier ministre aussi absolu que le fut jamais son
prédécesseur, Alberoni.' The English pamphleteers and
politicians of the last century were very unjust to Alberoni,
who, notwithstanding the dangerous boldness of his nature, was
one of the best ministers who ever governed Spain. M. Lafuente,
while admitting his faults, says (_Historia de España_, vol.
xix. pp. 437, 438), 'Negarle gran capacidad seria una gran
injusticia. Tampoco puede desconocerse que reanimó y regeneró la
España, levantándola á un grado de esplendor y de grandeza en
que nunca se habia vuelto á ver desde los mejores tiempos de
Felipe II.' See also a good summary of what he did for Spain, in
_Tapia_, _Historia de la Civilizacion Española_, Madrid, 1840,
vol. iv. pp. 50, 51.
[1364] 'The all-powerful Konigseg.' _Coxe's Bourbon Kings of Spain_,
vol. iii. p. 154; 'the prime mover of the Spanish counsels,' p.
159; in 1727-8, 'Konigseg usurped the control over every
operation of government,' p. 190; and see p. 235. His great
power is likewise noticed in _Lafuente_, _Historia de España_,
vol. xix. p. 71: 'el hombre de mas influjo y valimiento en la
córte.'
[1365] 'Originally a clerk under Orry, he gained the favour of his
employer,' &c. _Coxe's Bourbon Kings of Spain_, vol. iii. p. 39.
Coxe had access to a large mass of letters, which were written
in the eighteenth century, by persons connected with Spain, and
many of which are still unpublished. This makes his book very
valuable; and, as a recital of political events, it is superior
to anything the Spaniards have produced, though the author is, I
need hardly say, far inferior to M. Lafuente as a writer, and
also as an artistic arranger of facts.
[1366] 'Que les Espagnols depuis longtemps ignoroient la guerre et la
politique; qu'on devoit être sensible à leurs démonstrations
d'attachement et de zèle, sans les croire, suffisantes pour
soutenir un État' ... 'l'incapacité des sujets pour le
gouvernement.' _Millot_, _Mémoires de Noailles_, vol. iii. pp.
24, 25.
[1367] 'C'étoit un parti pris, comme l'observe Bonnac, de ne plus mettre
le gouvernement entre leurs mains. On avoit trouvé parmi eux peu
d'hommes capables des grands emplois: ceux à qui on les avoit
confiés, malheureux ou infidèles, avoient inspiré de
l'éloignement pour les autres.' _Millot_, _Mémoires de
Noailles_, vol. iii. p. 81.
The government of Spain being taken from the Spaniards, now began to
show some signs of vigour. The change was slight, but it was in the
right direction, though, as we shall presently see, it could not
regenerate Spain, owing to the unfavourable operation of general causes.
Still, the intention was good. For the first time, attempts were made to
vindicate the rights of laymen, and to diminish the authority of
ecclesiastics. Scarcely had the French established their dominion, when
they suggested that it might be advisable to relieve the necessities of
the state, by compelling the clergy to give up some of the wealth which
they had accumulated in their churches.[1368] Even Louis XIV. insisted
that the important office of President of Castile should not be
conferred on an ecclesiastic, because, he said, in Spain the priests and
monks had already too much power.[1369] Orry, who for several years
possessed immense influence, exerted it in the same direction. He
endeavoured to lessen the immunities possessed by the clergy, in regard
to taxation, and also in regard to their exemption from lay
jurisdiction. He opposed the privilege of sanctuary; he sought to
deprive churches of their right of asylum. He even attacked the
Inquisition, and worked so powerfully on the mind of the king, that
Philip, at one time, determined to suspend that dreadful tribunal, and
abolish the office of grand inquisitor.[1370] This intention was very
properly abandoned; for there can be no doubt that if it had been
enforced, it would have caused a revolution, in which Philip would
probably have lost his crown.[1371] In such case, a reaction would have
set in, which would have left the Church stronger than ever. Many
things, however, were done for Spain in spite of the Spaniards.[1372] In
1707, the clergy were forced to contribute to the state a small part of
their enormous wealth; the tax being disguised under the name of a
loan.[1373] Ten years later, during the administration of Alberoni, this
disguise was thrown off; and not only did government exact what was now
called 'the ecclesiastical tax,' but it imprisoned or exiled those
priests who, refusing to pay, stood up for the privileges of their
order.[1374] This was a bold step to be taken in Spain, and it was one
on which, at that time, no Spaniard would have ventured. Alberoni,
however, as a foreigner, was unversed in the traditions of the country,
which, indeed, on another memorable occasion, he set at defiance. The
government of Madrid, acting in complete unison with public opinion, had
always been unwilling to negotiate with infidels; meaning by infidels
every people whose religious notions differed from their own. Sometimes,
such negotiations were unavoidable, but they were entered into with fear
and trembling, lest the pure Spanish faith should be tainted by too
close a contact with unbelievers. Even in 1698, when it was evident that
the monarchy was at its last gasp, and that nothing could save it from
the hands of the spoiler, the prejudice was so strong, that the
Spaniards refused to receive aid from the Dutch, because the Dutch were
heretics. At that time, Holland was in the most intimate relation with
England, whose interest it was to secure the independence of Spain
against the machinations of France. Obvious, however, as this was, the
Spanish theologians, being consulted respecting the proposal, declared
that it was inadmissible, since it would enable the Dutch to propagate
their religious opinions; so that, according to this view, it was better
to be subjugated by a Catholic enemy, than to be assisted by a
Protestant friend.[1375]
[1368] In 1701, 'Les églises d'Espagne ont des richesses immenses en or
et en argenterie, qui augmentent tous les jours par le crédit
des religieux; et cela rend l'espèce très-rare dans le commerce.
On propose d'obliger le clergé à vendre une partie de cette
argenterie. Avant que de prendre ce parti, il en faudroit bien
examiner non seulement l'utilité, que l'on connoît, mais aussi
les inconvéniens qu'un pareil ordre pourroit produire.'
_Millot_, _Mémoires de Noailles_, vol. ii. p. 60.
[1369] 'Il insistoit sur la nécessité de ne pas donner à un
ecclésiastique, ni à une créature du cardinal, la présidence de
Castille, quand on rempliroit cette importante place; les
prêtres et les moines n'avoient déjà que trop de pouvoir.'
_Millot_, _Mémoires de Noailles_, vol. ii. p. 77. Compare pp.
71, 72; a letter from Louville to Torcy, dated August 5th, 1701.
[1370] _Coxe's Bourbon Kings of Spain_, vol. ii. pp. 163-165. _Mémoires
de Noailles_, vol. iii. p. 143.
[1371] In 1714, it was thought necessary, that Philip V., not having had
the benefit of a Spanish education, should be enlightened on the
subject of the Inquisition. He was, therefore, informed, 'que la
pureza de la religion Catolica en estos reynos se debia á la
vigilancia de la Inquisicion y sus ministros, todos justos,
clementes y circunspectos, no rigidos, violentos ni crueles,
como por error ó malicia los pintan comunmente los Franceses. Y
que _la conservacion de la Monarquia dependia en gran parte de
mantener ilibata la religion Catolica_.' _Ortiz_, _Compendio_,
vol. vii. p. 286. Bacallar (_Comentarios_, vol. ii. pp. 122-125)
gives an interesting account of the attacks made on the rights
of the Church, and which, he says, p. 122, were 'poco ajustados
á la doctrina de los Santos Padres, á la Inmunidad de la
Iglesia, y que sonaban á heregía.' He significantly adds, p.
125, 'Los pueblos de España, que son tan religiosos, y professan
la mayor veneracion á la Iglesia, creían que esta se
atropellaba, _y huvo alguna interna inquietud, no sin fomento de
los adversos al Rey, cuyo puro, y sincero corazon podia ser
engañado_; pero no inducido á un evidente error contra los
Sagrados Canones,' &c. Such passages, proceeding, in the
eighteenth century, from a man like the Marquis de San Phelipe,
are of no slight importance in the history of the Spanish mind.
[1372] So early as May 1702, Philip V., in a letter to Louis XIV.,
complained that the Spaniards opposed him in every thing. 'Je
crois être obligé de vous dire que je m'aperçois de plus en plus
du peu de zèle que les Espagnols out pour mon service, dans les
petites choses comme dans les grandes, et qu'ils s'opposent à
tout ce que je désire.' _Millot_, _Mémoires de Noailles_, vol.
ii. p. 136. The dislike which the Spaniards felt for the liberal
reforms advocated by the French, went on increasing, until, in
1709, 'se renovaron los antiguos odios entre las dos naciones,
con tanto ardor, que deseaban las tropas españolas el haber de
combatir con los Franceses.' _Bacallar_, _Comentarios_, vol. i.
p. 360.
[1373] 'L'opulence de l'Église devoit évidemment fournir des secours à
la patrie. Un emprunt de quatre millions, fait sur le clergé
l'année précédente, 1707, avoit cependant fort déplu au Pape ou
à ses ministres.' _Millot_, _Mémoires de Noaulès_, vol. ii. p.
412.
[1374] 'He' (Alberoni) 'continued also the exaction of the
ecclesiastical tax, in spite of the papal prohibitions,
imprisoning or banishing the refractory priests who defended the
privileges of their order.' _Coxe's Bourbon Kings of Spain_,
vol. ii. p. 288.
[1375] On January 2nd, 1698, Stanhope, the British Minister at Madrid,
writes from that capital: 'This Court is not at all inclined to
admit the offer of the Dutch troops to garrison their places in
Flanders. They have consulted their theologians, who declare
against it as a matter of conscience, since it would give great
opportunities to the spreading of heresy. They have not yet sent
their answer but it is believed it will be in the negative, and
that they will rather choose to lie at the mercy of the French,
as being Catholics.' _Mahon's Spain under Charles II._,
pp. 98, 99.
Still, much as the Spaniards hated Protestants, they hated Mohammedans
yet more.[1376] They could never forget how the followers of that creed
had once conquered nearly the whole of Spain, and had, during several
centuries, possessed the fairest portion of it. The remembrance of this
strengthened their religious animosity, and caused them to be the chief
supporters of nearly every war which was waged against the Mohammedans,
both of Turkey and of Africa.[1377] But Alberoni, being a foreigner, was
unmoved by these considerations, and, to the astonishment of all Spain,
he, on the mere ground of political expediency, set at naught the
principles of the Church, and not only concluded an alliance with the
Mohammedans, but supplied them with arms and with money.[1378] It is,
indeed, true, that, in these and similar measures, Alberoni opposed
himself to the national will, and that he lived to repent of his
boldness. It is, however, also true, that his policy was part of a great
secular and anti-theological movement, which, during the eighteenth
century, was felt all over Europe. The effects of that movement were
seen in the government of Spain, but not in the people. This was because
the government for many years was wielded by foreigners, or by natives
imbued with a foreign spirit. Hence we find that, during the greater
part of the eighteenth century, the politicians of Spain formed a class
more isolated, and, if I may so say, more living on their own
intellectual resources, than the politicians of any other country during
the same period. That this indicated a state of disease, and that no
political improvement can produce real good, unless it is desired by the
people before being conferred on them, will be admitted by whoever has
mastered the lessons which history contains. The results actually
produced in Spain, we shall presently see. But it will first be
advisable that I should give some further evidence of the extent to
which the influence of the Church had prostrated the national
intellect, and by discouraging all inquiry, and fettering all freedom of
thought, had at length reduced the country to such a plight, that the
faculties of men, rusted by disuse, were no longer equal to fulfil the
functions required from them; so that in every department, whether of
political life, or of speculative philosophy, or even of mechanical
industry, it was necessary that foreigners should be called in, to do
that work, which the natives had become unable to perform.
[1376] 'Entre el catolicismo y las diferentes sectas que brotaron en las
imaginaciones de Calvino y de Lutero podia mediar tolerancia, y
aun transaccion, si bien, como dice un escritor político, cuando
se comienza á transigir sobre un principio, ese principio
comienza á perder su imperio sobre las sociedades humanas. Pero
entre el cristianismo de los españoles y el mahometismo de los
moriscos era imposible todo avenimiento.' _Janer_, _Condicion
Social de los Moriscos_, Madrid, 1857, p. 112.
[1377] The Marquis of San Phelipe, who wrote in 1725, says, 'Es ley
fundamental de los Reyes Catholicos, nunca hacer la paz con los
Mahometanos; y esta guerra permanece desde el Rey Don Pelayo,
por mas de siete siglos, sin hacer jamás paces, ni treguas con
ellos, como cada dia las hacen el Emperador, y otros Principes
Catholicos.' _Bacallar_, _Comentarios de la Guerra de España_,
vol. ii. p. 169. And, in the most influential work on commerce
which the reign of Philip V. produced, I find the following
instructive passage: 'Aunque en los Puertos de las dilatadas
Costas, que de Europa, Asia y Africa baña el Mediterraneo, se
hace comercio muy considerable, y util por diversas naciones, no
podrá España tener gran parte en él, mientras se observare la
maxima de hacer continua guerra á todos los Moros y Turcos, en
cuyo dominio se hallan la mayor parte de aquellas Provincias;
sin embargo de ser constante, que _en esta guerra, aunque
procedida de zelo Christiano, es mayor el daño que recibimos,
que el que ocasionamos á los Infieles_' (the way the mercantile
spirit peeps out here, is extremely curious) 'á lo menos de
muchos años á esta parte, como lo he explicado en diversos
capitulos.' _Uztariz_, _Theorica y Practica de Comercio_,
Madrid, 1757, p. 399. This is the third edition of a book,
which, considering the circumstances under which it was written,
is a very remarkable production.
[1378] Compare _Coxe's Bourbon Kings of Spain_, London, 1815, vol. ii.
p. 314, with _The History of Alberoni_, London, 1719, pp. 119,
253; and _Bacallar_, _Comentarios de la Guerra de España_, vol.
ii. pp. 168, 169. The outcry which this caused, may be easily
imagined; and Alberoni, finding himself in great peril, took
advantage of the secrecy of the negotiations, to deny part, at
least, of the charges made against him. See his indignant, but
yet cautious, letter to the Pope, in _History of Alberoni_,
1719, p. 124. Ortiz, who had evidently not looked into the
evidence, is so ill-informed as to suppose that this was a
calumnious accusation brought against Alberoni after his fall.
'Caido ya por entonces Alberoni de su grandeza, expelido
ignominiosamente de España, y aun perseguido por el Rey en
Italia, preso en Roma por orden del Papa, etc., no era dificil
atribuirle culpas agenas ó no cometidas.' _Note in Ortiz_,
_Compendio_, vol. vii. p. 321.
The ignorance in which the force of adverse circumstances had sunk the
Spaniards, and their inactivity, both bodily and mental, would be
utterly incredible, if it were not attested by every variety of
evidence. Gramont, writing from personal knowledge of the state of
Spain, during the latter half of the seventeenth century, describes the
upper classes as not only unacquainted with science or literature, but
as knowing scarcely any thing even of the commonest events which
occurred out of their own country. The lower ranks, he adds, are equally
idle, and rely upon foreigners to reap their wheat, to cut their hay,
and to build their houses.[1379] Another observer of society, as it
existed in Madrid in 1679, assures us that men, even of the highest
position, never thought it necessary that their sons should study; and
that those who were destined for the army could not learn mathematics,
if they desired to do so, inasmuch as there were neither schools nor
masters to teach them.[1380] Books, unless they were books of devotion,
were deemed utterly useless; no one consulted them; no one collected
them; and, until the eighteenth century, Madrid did not possess a single
public library.[1381] In other cities professedly devoted to purposes of
education, similar ignorance prevailed. Salamanca was the seat of the
most ancient and most famous university in Spain, and there, if
anywhere, we might look for the encouragement of science.[1382] But De
Torres, who was himself a Spaniard, and was educated at Salamanca,
early in the eighteenth century, declares that he had studied at that
university for five years before he had heard that such things as the
mathematical sciences existed.[1383] So late as the year 1771, the same
university publicly refused to allow the discoveries of Newton to be
taught; and assigned as a reason, that the system of Newton was not so
consonant with revealed religion as the system of Aristotle.[1384] All
over Spain, a similar plan was adopted. Everywhere, knowledge was
spurned, and inquiry discouraged. Feijoo, who, notwithstanding his
superstition, and a certain slavishness of mind, from which no Spaniard
of that age could escape, did, on matters of science, seek to enlighten
his countrymen, has left upon record his deliberate opinion, that
whoever had acquired all that was taught in his time under the name of
philosophy, would, as the reward of his labour, be more ignorant than he
was before he began.[1385] And there can be no doubt that he was right.
There can be no doubt that, in Spain, the more a man was taught, the
less he would know. For, he was taught that inquiry was sinful, that
intellect must be repressed, and that credulity and submission were the
first of human attributes. The Duke de Saint Simon, who, in 1721 and
1722, was the French ambassador at Madrid, sums up his observations by
the remark, that, in Spain, science is a crime, and ignorance a
virtue.[1386] Fifty years later, another shrewd observer, struck with
amazement at the condition of the national mind, expresses his opinion
in a sentence equally pithy and almost equally severe. Searching for an
illustration to convey his sense of the general darkness, he
emphatically says, that the common education of an English gentleman
would, in Spain, constitute a man of learning.[1387]
[1379] 'Leur paresse, et l'ignorance non seulement des sciences et des
arts, mais quasi généralement de tout ce qui se passe hors de
l'Espagne, et on peut dire même hors du lieu où ils habitent,
vont presque de pair, et sont inconcevables. La pauvreté est
grande parmi eux, ce qui provient de leur extrême paresse; car
si nombre de nos Français n'alloient faucher leurs foins, couper
leurs blés et faire leurs briques, je crois qu'ils courroient
fortune de se laisser mourir de faim, et de se tenir sous des
tentes pour ne se pas donner la peine de bâtir des maisons.' ...
'L'éducation de leurs enfans est semblable à celle qu'ils ont eu
de leurs pères, c'est-à-dire sans qu'ils apprennent ni sciences
ni exercices; et je ne crois par que parmi tous les grands que
j'ay pratiqués, il s'en trouvât un seul qui sût décliner son
nom.' ... 'Ils n'ont nulle curiosité de voir les pays
étrangers, et encore moins de s'enquérir de ce qui s'y passe.'
_Mémoires du Maréchal de Gramont_, vol. ii. pp. 77, 78, 82, 83,
in _Collection des Mémoires par Petitot et Monmerqué_, vol.
lvii. See also _Aarsens de Sommerdyck_, _Voyage d'Espagne_,
Paris, 1665, 4to. p. 124. 'La terré mesme n'y est pas toute
cultiuée par des gens du pays: au tempe du labourage, des
semailles et de la recolte, il leur vient quantité de paysans du
Bearn et d'autres endroits de France, qui gagnent beaucoup
d'argent, pour leur mettre leurs bleds en terre et pour les
recueillir. Les architectes et charpentiers y sont aussi pour la
plûpart estrangers, qui se font payer au triple de ce qu'ils
gagneroient en leur pays. Dans Madrid on ne voit pas un porteur
d'eau qui ne soit estranger, et la plûpart des cordonniers et
tailleurs le sont aussi.'
[1380] 'Mais aussi de quelle manière les élève-t-on? Ils n'étudient
point; on néglige de leur donner d'habiles précepteurs; dès
qu'on les destine à l'épée, on ne se soucie plus qu'ils
apprennent le latin ni l'histoire. On devroit au moins leur
enseigner ce qui est de leur mestier, les mathématiques, à faire
des armes et à monter à cheval. Ils n'y pensent seulement pas.
Il n'y a point ici d'Académie ni de maîtres qui montrent ces
sortes de choses. Les jeunes hommes passent le tems qu'ils
devroient emploïer à s'instruire dans un oisiveté pitoïable.'
Letter from Madrid, dated 27th June 1679, in _D'Aulnoy_,
_Relation du Voyage d'Espagne_, Lyon, 1693, vol. ii. pp. 232,
233.
[1381] 'Madrid étant la capitale d'une monarchie aussi vaste, il n'y eut
dans cette ville jusqu'à l'époque du règne de Philippe V aucune
bibliothèque publique.' _Sempere_, _De la Monarchie Espagnole_,
Paris, 1826, vol. ii. p. 79.
[1382] The university was transferred from Palencia to Salamanca, early
in the thirteenth century. _Forner_, _Oracion Apologética por la
España_, Madrid, 1786, p. 170. By the beginning of the fifteenth
century, it had become very prosperous (_Sempere_, _De la
Monarchie Espagnole_, vol. i. p. 65); and in 1535, it is
described as 'a great Universitie, conteyning seven or eight
thowsand students.' See a letter from John Mason, dated
Valladolid, 3rd July, 1635, in _Ellis's Original Letters_, second
series, vol. ii. p. 56, London, 1827. But, like every thing else
which was valuable in Spain, it declined in the seventeenth
century; and Monconys, who carefully examined it in 1628, and
praises some of its arrangements which were still in force,
adds, 'Mais je suis aussi contraint de dire après tant de
loüanges, que les écoliers qui étudient dans cette université
sont des vrais ignorans.' _Les Voyages de Monsieur de Monconys_,
Quatrième Partie, vol. v. p. 22, Paris, 1695. However, their
ignorance, of which Monconys gives some curious instances, did
not prevent Spanish writers, then, and long afterwards, from
deeming the University of Salamanca to be the greatest
institution of its kind in the world. 'La mayor del orbe, madre
gloriosísima de todas las ciencias y de los mas vehementes
ingenios, que han ilustrado las edades.' _Vida de Calderon de la
Barca_, pp. iii. iv., reprinted in Keil's edition of _Calderon_,
Leipsique, 1827. Compare Davila (_Felipe Tercero_, p. 81),
'Salamanca, madre de ciencias y letras;' Yañez (_Memorias_, p.
228), 'Universidad insigne, y Oficina de las buenas Letras de
España;' Bacallar (_Comentarios_, vol. i. p. 238), 'El emporio
de las ciencias;' and Ximenez (_Vida de Ribera_, p. 6),
'Salamanca, cathedra universal de las artes, y emporio de todas
ciencias.'
[1383] 'Says, that, after he had been five years in one of the schools
of the university there, it was by accident he learned the
existence of the mathematical sciences.' _Ticknor's History of
Spanish Literature_, vol. iii. p. 223. A celebrated Spanish
writer of the eighteenth century, actually boasts of the
ignorance of his countrymen concerning mathematics, and
discerns, in their neglect of that foolish pursuit, a decisive
proof of their superiority over other nations. 'No se dexe
deslumbrar con los ásperos calculos é intrincadas demostraciones
geométricas, con que, astuto el entendimiento, disimula el
engaño con los disfraces de la verdad. El uso de las matemáticas
es la alquimia en la fisica, que da apariencias de oro á lo que
no lo es.' _Forner_, _Oracion Apologética por la España y su
Mérito Literario_, Madrid, 1786, p. 38. Compare his contemptuous
notice (p. 66) of those insignificant persons, who 'con título
de filósofos han dado algun aumento á las matemáticas;' and his
comparison (p. 222) of Mercado with Newton.
[1384] 'L'université de Salamanque, excitée par le Conseil, à réformer
ses études, en l'année 1771, lui répondit "qu'elle ne pouvait se
séparer du péripatétisme, parce que les systèmes de Newton,
Gassendi et Descartes, ne concordent pas autant avec les vérités
révélées que ceux d'Aristote."' _Sempere_, _Monarchie
Espagnole_, vol. ii. p. 152. This reply, says M. Sempere, p.
153, may be found 'dans la collection des ordonnances royales.'
In _Letters from Spain by an English Officer_, London, 1788,
vol. ii. p. 256, it is stated, that, in all the Spanish
universities, 'Newton, and modern philosophy, is still
prohibited. Nothing can supplant Aristotle, and the
superstitious fathers and doctors of the Church.'
[1385] Or, as he, in one place, expresses himself, would know 'very
little more than nothing.' 'El que estudió Logica, y
Metaphysica, con lo demás que, debaxo del nombre de Philosofia,
se enseña en las Escuelas, por bien que sepa todo, sabe muy poco
mas que nada; pero suena mucho. Dicese, que es un gran
Philosofo; y no es Philosofo grande, ni chico,' _Feijoo_,
_Theatro Critico Universal_, vol. ii. p. 187, quinta impression,
Madrid, 1741.
[1386] 'La science est un crime, l'ignorance et la stupidité la première
vertu.' _Mémoires du Duc de Saint Simon_, vol. xxxv. p. 209,
Paris, 1840. Elsewhere (vol. xxxvi. p. 252) he says, 'Les
jésuites savants partout et en tout genre de science, ce qu ne
leur est pas même disputé par leurs ennemis, les jésuites,
dis-je, sont ignorants en Espagne, mais d'une ignorance à
surprendre.'
[1387] 'The common education of an English gentleman would constitute a
man of learning here; and, should he understand Greek, he would
be quite a phenomenon.' _Swinburne's Travels through Spain in
1775 and 1776_, vol. ii. pp. 212, 213, 2d edit., London, 1787.
Those who know what the common education of an English gentleman was
eighty years ago, will appreciate the force of this comparison, and will
understand how benighted a country must have been, to which such a taunt
was applicable. To expect that, under such a state of things, the
Spaniards should make any of the discoveries which accelerate the march
of nations, would be idle indeed; for they would not even receive the
discoveries, which other nations had made for them, and had cast into
the common lap. So loyal and orthodox a people had nothing to do with
novelties, which, being innovations on ancient opinions, were fraught
with danger. The Spaniards desired to walk in the ways of their
ancestors, and not have their faith in the past rudely disturbed. In the
inorganic world, the magnificent discoveries of Newton were
contumeliously rejected; and, in the organic world, the circulation of
the blood was denied, more than a hundred and fifty years after Harvey
had proved it.[1388] These things were new, and it was better to pause
a little, and not receive them too hastily. On the same principle, when,
in the year 1760, some bold men in the government proposed that the
streets of Madrid should be cleansed, so daring a suggestion excited
general anger. Not only the vulgar, but even those who were called
educated, were loud in their censure. The medical profession, as the
guardians of the public health, were desired, by the government, to give
their opinion. This, they had no difficulty in doing. They had no doubt
that the dirt ought to remain. To remove it, was a new experiment; and
of new experiments, it was impossible to foresee the issue. Their
fathers having lived in the midst of it, why should not they do the
same? Their fathers were wise men, and must have had good reasons for
their conduct. Even the smell, of which some persons complained, was
most likely wholesome. For, the air being sharp and piercing, it was
extremely probable that bad smells made the atmosphere heavy, and in
that way deprived it of some of its injurious properties. The physicians
of Madrid were, therefore, of opinion that matters had better remain as
their ancestors had left them, and that no attempts should be made to
purify the capital by removing the filth which lay scattered on every
side.[1389]
[1388] So late as 1787, Townsend, a very accomplished man, who travelled
through Spain with the express object of noting the state of
knowledge, as well as the economical condition of the country,
and who, by previous study, had well qualified himself for such
an undertaking, says, 'I have observed in general, that the
physicians with whom I have had occasion to converse, are
disciples of their favourite doctor Piquer, who denied, or at
least doubted of, the circulation of the blood.' _Townsend's
Journey through Spain_, 2d ed., London, 1792, vol. iii. p. 281.
At that time, the Spanish physicians were, however, beginning to
read Hoffmann, Cullen, and other heretical speculators, in whose
works they would find, to their astonishment, that the
circulation of the blood was assumed, and was not even treated
as a debatable question. But the students were obliged to take
such matters on trust; for, adds Townsend, p. 282, 'In their
medical classes, they had no dissections.' Compare _Laborde's
Spain_, vol. i. p. 76, vol. iii. p. 315, London, 1809, and
_Godoy's Memoirs_, London, 1836, vol. ii. p. 157. Godoy,
speaking of the three colleges of surgery at Madrid, Barcelona,
and Cadiz, says that until his administration in 1793, 'In the
capital, even that of San Carlos had not a lecture-room for
practical instruction.'
[1389] This little episode is noticed by Cabarrus, in his _Elogio de
Carlos III._, Madrid, 1789, 4to. p. xiv. 'La salubridad del
ayre, la limpieza y seguridad de las calles,' ... 'Pero ¿quién
creerá que este noble empeño produxo las mas vivas quejas: que
se conmovió el vulgo de todas clases; y que tuvo varias
autoridades á su favor la extraña doctrina de que los vapores
mefiticos eran un correctivo saludable de la rigidez del clima?'
But the fullest detail will be found in the recently published
and very elaborate History of Charles III. by M. Rio, from which
I will give one or two extracts. 'Para la limpieza de las calles
poseia mayores ó menores fondos el ayuntamiento, y cuando el Rey
quiso poner la mano en este ramo de policía, le presentaron
dictámenes de médicos en que se defendia el absurdo de ser
elemento de salubridad la basura.' _Rio_, _Historia del Reinado
de Carlos III._, Madrid, 1856, vol. iv. p. 54. See also vol. i.
pp. 267, 268, where it is mentioned, that when the minister,
Esquilache, persevered in his attempts to have the streets of
Madrid cleaned, the opponents of the scheme made inquiries into
the opinions of their fathers on that subject; and the result
was, 'que le presentaron cierta originalísima consulta hecha por
los médicos bajo el reinado de uno de los Felipes de Austria, y
reducida á demostrar que, siendo sumamente sutil el aire de la
poblacion á causa de estar próxima la sierra de Guadarrama,
ocasionaria los mayores estragos si no se impregnara en los
vapores de las inmundicias desparramadas por las calles.' That
this idea had long been entertained by the physicians of Madrid,
we also know from another testimony, with which none of the
Spanish historians are acquainted. Sir Richard Wynne, who
visited that capital in 1623, describes a disgusting practice of
the inhabitants, and adds, 'Being desirous to know why so
beastly a custom is suffered, they say it's a thing prescribed
by their physicians; for they hold the air to be so piercing and
subtle, that this kind of corrupting it with these ill vapours
keeps it in good temper.' _The Autobiography and Correspondence
of Sir Simonds D'Ewes_, edited by J. O. Halliwell, London, 1845,
vol. ii. p. 446.
While such notions prevailed respecting the preservation of
health,[1390] it is hardly to be supposed that the treatment of disease
should be very successful. To bleed and to purge, were the only remedies
prescribed by the Spanish physicians.[1391] Their ignorance of the
commonest functions of the human body was altogether surprising, and can
only be explained on the supposition, that in medicine, as in other
departments, the Spaniards of the eighteenth century knew no more than
their progenitors of the sixteenth. Indeed, in some respects, they
appeared to know less. For, their treatment was so violent, that it was
almost certain death to submit to it for any length of time.[1392] Their
own king, Philip V., did not dare to trust himself in their hands, but
preferred having an Irishman for his physician.[1393] Though the Irish
had no great medical reputation, anything was better than a Spanish
doctor.[1394] The arts incidental to medicine and surgery, were equally
backward. The instruments were rudely made, and the drugs badly
prepared. Pharmacy being unknown, the apothecaries' shops, in the
largest towns, were entirely supplied from abroad; while, in the smaller
towns, and in districts remote from the capital, the medicines were of
such a quality, that the best which could be hoped of them was, that
they might be innocuous. For, in the middle of the eighteenth century,
Spain did not possess one practical chemist. Indeed, we are assured by
Campomanes himself, that, so late as the year 1776, there was not to be
found in the whole country a single man who knew how to make the
commonest drugs, such as magnesia, Glauber's salts, and the ordinary
preparations of mercury and antimony. This eminent statesman adds,
however, that a chemical laboratory was about to be established in
Madrid; and although the enterprise, being without a precedent, would
surely be regarded as a portentous novelty, he expresses a confident
expectation, that, by its aid, the universal ignorance of his countrymen
would in time be remedied.[1395]
[1390] Even thirty years later, it was said, with good reason, that 'es
menester _deshacer todo lo que se ha hecho_,' and 'confiar
exclusivamente el precioso depósito de la sanidad pública á las
manos capaces de conservarlo y mejorarlo.' _Cartas por el Conde
de Cabarrus_, Madrid, 1813, p. 280. These letters, which, though
little known, contain some interesting statements, were written
in 1792 and 1793. See p. 34, and Prologo, p. i.
[1391] Bleeding, however, had the preference. See the curious evidence
in _Townsend's Journey through Spain in 1786 and 1787_, vol. ii.
pp. 37-39. Townsend, who had some knowledge of medicine, was
amazed at the ignorance and recklessness of the Spanish
physicians. He says, 'The science and practice of medicine are
at the lowest ebb in Spain, but more especially in the
Asturias.' Compare _Sprengel_, _Histoire de la Médecine_, vol.
iii. p. 217, Paris, 1815, with _Winwood's Memorials_, London,
1725, folio, vol. ii. p. 219. The last reference shows the
terrible 'purging and letting blood,' to which the unfortunate
Spaniards were exposed in the reign of Philip III. Another
observer, much later, states that 'La saignée leur est assez
familière. Ils se la font faire hors du lit tant que leurs
forces le permettent, et _lorsqu'ils en usent par précaution,
ils se font tirer du sang deux jours de suite du bras droit et
du gauche, disant qu'il faut égaliser le sang_. On peut juger de
là, si la circulation leur est connue.' _Voyages faits en
Espagne, par Monsieur M****_, Amsterdam, 1700, p. 112. See
further _Clarke's Letters concerning the Spanish Nation_,
London, 4to. 1763, p. 55, and _Spain by an American_, London,
1831, vol. ii. p. 321.
[1392] In 1790, poor Cumberland, when in Madrid, was as nearly as
possible murdered by three of their surgeons in a very few days;
the most dangerous of his assailants being no less a man than
the 'chief surgeon of the Gardes de Corps,' who, says the
unfortunate sufferer, was 'sent to me by authority.' See
_Memoirs of Richard Cumberland, written by himself_, London,
1807, vol. ii. pp. 67, 68.
[1393] Duclos says of Philip V., 'Il étoit fort attentif sur sa santé;
son médecin, s'il eût été intriguant, auroit pu jouer un grand
rôle. Hyghens, Irlandois, qui occupoit cette première place,
fort éloigné de l'intrigue et de la cupidité, instruit dans son
art, s'en occupoit uniquement. Après sa mort, la reine fit
donner la place à Servi, son médecin particulier.' _Mémoires par
Duclos_, 2^e édit. Paris, 1791, vol. ii. pp. 200, 201. 'Hyghens,
premier médecin, était Irlandais.' _Mémoires du Duc de Saint
Simon_, vol. xxxvi. p. 215, ed. Paris, 1841.
[1394] In the eighteenth century, the Spaniards, generally, began to
admit this; since they could not shut their eyes to the fact
that their friends and relations succumbed so rapidly under
professional treatment, that sickness and death were almost
synonymous. Hence, notwithstanding their hatred of the French
nation, they availed themselves of the services of French
physicians and French surgeons, whenever they had an opportunity
of doing so. In 1707, the Princess des Ursins writes from Madrid
to Madame de Maintenon, 'Les chirurgiens espagnols sont
mésestimés même de ceux de leur nation;' and, in another letter,
'Les Espagnols conviennent que les médecins français sont
beaucoup plus savants que les leurs; ils s'en servent même
très-volontiers, mais ils sont persuadés que ceux de la faculté
de Montpellier l'emportent sur les autres.' _Lettres inédites de
Madame de Maintenon et de la Princesse des Ursins_, vol. iii. p.
412, vol. iv. p. 90.
[1395] Campomanes (_Apendice á la Educacion Popular_, Madrid, 1776,
vol. iii. pp. 74, 75), speaking of a work on distillation, says,
'La tercera (parte) describe la preparacion de los productos
químicos sólidos: esto es la preparacion de varias sustancias
terreas, como argamasa, magnesia blanca, ojos de cangrejo, etc.,
la de varios sales, como sal de glaubero, amoniaco, cristal
mineral, borax refinado, etc., y la del antimonio, mercurio,
plomo, litargirio, etc., comunicando sobre todo lo expresado
varias noticias, que demuestran lo mucho que conducen á los
progresos del arte, las observaciones del fisico reflexivo:
unidas á la práctica de un profesor experimentado. _Este arte en
toda su extension falta en España._ Solo le tenemos para
aguardientes, rosolis, y mistelas. _La salud pública es
demasiado importante, para depender de los estraños en cosas
esenciales_; quando no estimulase nuestra industria la
manutencion de muchas familias.' ... 'Gran parte de estas cosas
se introducen de fuera, por no conocerse bien las operaciones
químicas. No son dificultosas en la execucion; pero _es
necesario enseñarlas, y conocer los instrumentos que son
aproposito_. Un laboratorio químico, que _se va á establecer en
Madrid_, producirá maestros para las capitales del reyno.'
Whatever was useful in practice, or whatever subserved the purposes of
knowledge, had to come from abroad. Ensenada, the well-known minister of
Ferdinand VI., was appalled by the darkness and apathy of the nation,
which he tried, but tried in vain, to remove. When he was at the head of
affairs, in the middle of the eighteenth century, he publicly declared
that in Spain there was no professorship of public law, or of physics,
or of anatomy, or of botany. He further added, that there were no good
maps of Spain, and that there was no person who knew how to construct
them. All the maps which they had, came from France and Holland. They
were, he said, very inaccurate; but the Spaniards, being unable to make
any, had nothing else to rely on. Such a state of things he pronounced
to be shameful. For, as he bitterly complained, if it were not for the
exertions of Frenchmen and Dutchmen, it would be impossible for any
Spaniard to know either the position of his own town, or the distance
from one place to another.[1396]
[1396] 'Su ministro el célebre Ensenada, que tenia grandes miras en
todos los ramos de la administracion pública, deseaba
ardientemente mejorar la enseñanza, lamentándose del atraso en
que esta se hallaba. "Es menester, decia hablando de las
universidades, reglar sus cátedras, reformar las superfluas y
establecer las que faltan con nuevas ordenanzas para asegurar el
mejor método de estudios. No sé que haya cátedra alguna de
derecho público, de física esperimental, de anatomía y botánica.
No hay puntuales cartas geográficas del reino y de sus
provincias, _ni quien las sepa grabar, ni tenemos otras que las
imperfectas que vienen de Francia y Holanda_. De esto proviene
que ignoramos la verdadera situacion de los pueblos y sus
distancias, que es una vergüenza."' _Tapia_, _Civilizacion
Española_, Madrid, 1840, vol. iv. pp. 268, 269. See also
_Biografia de Ensenada_, in _Navarrete_, _Coleccion de
Opúsculos_, Madrid, 1848, vol. ii. pp. 21, 22. 'Le parecia
vergonzoso que para conocer la situacion y distancias
respectivas de nuestros mismos pueblos y lugares, dependiésemos
de los franceses y holandeses, quienes por sus mapas imperfectas
de la península extraían de ella sumas considerables.' Eighty
years after this complaint was made by Ensenada, we find a
traveller in Spain stating that 'a decent map of any part, even
of the country round the gates of the capital, cannot be found.'
_Cook's Spain from 1829 to 1832_, London, 1834, vol. i. p. 322.
Compare _Notices of Geological Memoirs_, p. 1, at the end of the
_Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society_, vol. vi., London,
1850; 'even a good geographical map of the Peninsula does not
exist.'
The only remedy for all this, seemed to be foreign aid; and Spain being
now ruled by a foreign dynasty, that aid was called in. Cervi
established the Medical Societies of Madrid and of Seville; Virgili
founded the College of Surgery at Cadiz; and Bowles endeavoured to
promote among the Spaniards the study of mineralogy.[1397] Professors
were sought for, far and wide; and application was made to Linnæus to
send a person from Sweden who could impart some idea of botany to
physiological students.[1398] Many other and similar steps were taken by
the government, whose indefatigable exertions would deserve our warmest
praise, if we did not know how impossible it is for any government to
enlighten a nation, and how absolutely essential it is that the desire
for improvement should, in the first place, proceed from the people
themselves. No progress is real, unless it is spontaneous. The movement,
to be effective, must emanate from within, and not from without; it must
be due to general causes acting on the whole country, and not to the
mere will of a few powerful individuals. During the eighteenth century,
all the means of improvement were lavishly supplied to the Spaniards;
but the Spaniards did not want to improve. They were satisfied with
themselves; they were sure of the accuracy of their own opinions; they
were proud of the notions which they inherited, and which they did not
wish either to increase or to diminish. Being unable to doubt, they
were, therefore, unwilling to inquire. New and beautiful truths,
conveyed in the clearest and most attractive language, could produce no
effect upon men whose minds were thus hardened and enslaved.[1399] An
unhappy combination of events, working without interruption since the
fifth century, had predetermined the national character in a particular
direction, and neither statesmen, nor kings, nor legislators, could
effect aught against it. The seventeenth century was, however, the
climax of all. In that age, the Spanish nation fell into a sleep, from
which, as a nation, it has never since awakened. It was a sleep, not of
repose, but of death. It was a sleep, in which the faculties, instead of
being rested, were paralyzed, and in which a cold and universal torpor
succeeded that glorious, though partial, activity, which, while it made
the name of Spain terrible in the world, had insured the respect even of
her bitterest enemies.
[1397] M. Rio (_Historia del Reinado de Carlos III._, vol. i. p. 185)
mentions this in a very characteristic manner. 'Varios
extranjeros distinguidos _hallaron fraternidad entre los
españoles, y correspondieron hidalgamente al hospedaje_: Cervi
dió vida á las sociedades médicas de Madrid y Sevilla; Virgili
al colegio de Cirugía de Cádiz; Quer trabajó sin descanso para
que el Jardin Botánico no fuera un simple lugar de recreo, sino
principalmente de estudio; Bowles comunicó grande impulso á la
mineralogía,' &c.
[1398] I have mislaid the evidence of this fact; but the reader may rely
on its accuracy.
[1399] Townsend (_Journey through Spain in 1786 and 1787_, vol. ii.
p. 275) says, 'Don Antonio Solano, professor of experimental
philosophy, merits attention for the clearness and precision of
his demonstrations: but, unfortunately, although his lectures
are delivered gratis, such is the want of taste for science in
Madrid, that nobody attends them.'
Even the fine arts, in which the Spaniards had formerly excelled,
partook of the general degeneracy, and, according to the confession of
their own writers, had, by the beginning of the eighteenth century,
fallen into complete decay.[1400] The arts which secure national
safety, were in the same predicament as those which minister to national
pleasure. There was no one in Spain who could build a ship; there was no
one who knew how to rig it, after it was built. The consequence was,
that, by the close of the seventeenth century, the few ships which Spain
possessed, were so rotten, that, says an historian, they could hardly
support the fire of their own guns.[1401] In 1752, the government, being
determined to restore the navy, found it necessary to send to England
for shipwrights; and they were also obliged to apply to the same quarter
for persons who could make ropes and canvass; the skill of the natives
being unequal to such arduous achievements.[1402] In this way, the
ministers of the Crown, whose ability and vigour, considering the
difficult circumstances in which the incapacity of the people placed
them, were extremely remarkable, contrived to raise a fleet superior to
any which had been seen in Spain for more than a century.[1403] They
also took many other steps towards putting the national defences into a
satisfactory condition; though in every instance, they were forced to
rely on the aid of foreigners. Both the military and the naval service
were in utter confusion, and had to be organized afresh. The discipline
of the infantry was remodelled by O'Reilly, an Irishman, to whose
superintendence the military schools of Spain were intrusted.[1404] At
Cadiz, a great naval academy was formed, but the head of it was Colonel
Godin, a French officer.[1405] The artillery, which like everything
else, had become almost useless, was improved by Maritz, the Frenchman;
while the same service was rendered to the arsenals by Gazola, the
Italian.[1406]
[1400] 'La ignorancia reinante en los últimos años del siglo xvii.
depravó en tal manera el buen gusto, que á principios del xviii.
las artes se hallaban en la mas lastimosa decadencia.' _Tapia_,
_Civilizacion Española_, Madrid, 1840, vol. iv. p. 346. See
also, on this decline, or rather destruction, of taste,
_Valasquez_, _Origines de la Poesia Castellana_, Malaga, 1754,
4to. 'Un siglo, corrompido, en que las letras estaban
abandonadas, y el buen gusto casi desterrado de toda la nacion.'
p. 70. 'Al passo que la nacion perdia el buen gusto, y las
letras iban caminando á su total decadencia.' p. 107. 'Los
caminos por donde nuestros poetas en el siglo pasado se
apartaron del buen gusto en esta parte.' p. 170.
[1401] 'Solo cuatro navíos de línea y seis de poco porte dejaron los
reyes de orígen austriaco, y todos tan podridos que apenas
podian aguantar el fuego de sus propias baterias.' _Rio_,
_Historia del Reinado de Carlos III._, Madrid, 1856, vol. i.
p. 184.
[1402] 'Se mandaron construir 12 navíos á la vez, y se contrataron
otros. Por medio de D. Jorge Juan se trajeron de Inglaterra los
mas hábiles constructores y maestros para las fábricas de
jarcia, lona y otras.' _Biografía de Ensenada_, in _Navarrete_,
_Coleccion de Opúsculos_, Madrid, 1848, vol. ii. p. 18. M. Rio,
taking all this as a matter of course, quietly says, 'D. Jorge
Juan fue á Lóndres para estudiar la construccion de navíos.'
_Historia del Reinado de Carlos III._, Madrid, 1856, vol. iv. p.
485.
[1403] M. Lafuente says that Ensenada was the restorer, and almost the
creator, of the Spanish navy; 'de la cual fué el restaurador, y
casi pudiera decirse el creador.' _Lafuente_, _Historia de
España_, vol. xix. p. 344, Madrid, 1857.
[1404] 'C'est par un Irlandais aussi, Oreilly, que la discipline de
l'infanterie est réformée.' _Bourgoing_, _Tableau de l'Espagne
Moderne_, Paris, 1808, vol. ii. p. 142. 'Las escuelas militares
del puerto de Sta. Maria para la infanteria, que dirigió con
tanto acierto el general Ofarril bajo las ordenes del conde de
O'Reilly.' _Tapia_, _Civilizacion Española_, vol. iv. p. 128.
[1405] 'Vino á dirigir la academia de guardias marinas de Cadiz.'
_Tapia_, _Civilizacion Española_, vol. iv. p. 79. 'Godin figuró
como director del colegio de Guardias marinas.' _Rio_, _Historia
de Carlos III._, vol. i. p. 186. Compare _Biographie
Universelle_, vol. xvii. p. 564, Paris, 1816.
[1406] See the interesting remarks in _Bourgoing_, _Tableau de l'Espagne
Moderne_, Paris, 1808, vol. ii. pp. 96, 142. With good reason,
therefore, was it stated, some years afterwards, that 'c'est à
des étrangers que l'Espagne doit presque tous les plans, les
réformes utiles, et les connoissances dont elle a eu besoin.'
_Voyage en Espagne par le Marquis de Langle_, 1785, vol. ii.
p. 159.
The mines, which form one of the greatest natural sources of the wealth
of Spain, had likewise suffered from that ignorance and apathy into
which the force of circumstances had plunged the country. They were
either completely neglected, or if worked, they were worked by other
nations. The celebrated cobalt-mine, situated in the valley of Gistan,
in Aragon, was entirely in the hands of the Germans, who, during the
first half of the eighteenth century, derived immense profit from
it.[1407] In the same way, the silver-mines of Guadalcanal, the richest
in Spain, were undertaken, not by natives, but by foreigners. Though
they had been discovered in the sixteenth century, they, as well as
other matters of importance, had been forgotten in the seventeenth, and
were reopened, in 1728, by English adventurers; the enterprise, the
tools, the capital, and even the miners, all coming from England.[1408]
Another, and still more famous, mine is that of Almaden in La Mancha,
which produces mercury of the finest quality, and in great profusion.
This metal, besides being indispensable for many of the commonest arts,
was of peculiar value to Spain, because without it the gold and silver
of the New World could not be extracted from their ores. From Almaden,
where every natural facility exists for collecting it, and where the
cinnibar in which it is found is unusually rich, vast supplies had
formerly been drawn; but they had for some time been diminishing,
although the demand, especially from foreign countries, was on the
increase. Under these circumstances, the Spanish government, fearing
that so important a source of wealth might altogether perish, determined
to institute an inquiry into the manner in which the mine was worked.
As, however, no Spaniard possessed the knowledge requisite for such an
investigation, the advisers of the Crown were obliged to call on
foreigners to help them. In 1752, an Irish naturalist, named Bowles, was
commissioned to visit Almaden, and ascertain the cause of the failure.
He found that the miners had acquired a habit of sinking their shafts
perpendicularly, instead of following the direction of the vein.[1409]
So absurd a process was quite sufficient to account for their want of
success; and Bowles reported to the government, that if a shaft were to
be sunk obliquely, the mine would, no doubt, again be productive. The
government approved of the suggestion, and ordered it to be carried into
effect. But the Spanish miners were too tenacious of their old customs
to give way. They sank their shafts in the same manner as their fathers
had done; and what their fathers had done must be right. The result was,
that the mine had to be taken out of their hands; but as Spain could
supply no other labourers, it was necessary to send to Germany for fresh
ones.[1410] After their arrival, matters rapidly improved. The mine,
being superintended by an Irishman, and worked by Germans, assumed quite
a different appearance; and, notwithstanding the disadvantages with
which new comers always have to contend, the immediate consequence of
the change was, that the yield of mercury was doubled, and its cost to
the consumer correspondingly lowered.[1411]
[1407] 'Como los del pais entendian poco de trabajar minas, vinieron de
Alemania algunos prácticos para enseñarlos.' ... 'Los Alemanes
sacaron de dicha mina por largo tiempo cosa de 500 á 600
quintales de cobalto al año.' _Bowles_, _Historia Natural de
España_, Madrid, 1789, 4to. pp. 418, 419. See also _Dillon's
Spain_, Dublin, 1781, pp. 227-229.
[1408] 'In 1728, a new adventurer undertook the work of opening the
mines of Guadalcanal. This was Lady Mary Herbert, daughter of
the Marquis of Powis.' ... 'Lady Mary departed from Madrid for
Guadalcanal, to which miners and engines had been sent from
England at her expense, and at that of her relation, Mr. Gage,
who accompanied her, and of her father, the marquis.' _Jacob's
Historical Inquiry into the Production and Consumption of the
Precious Metals_, London, 1831, vol. i. pp. 278, 279.
[1409] 'Los mineros de Almaden nunca hicieron los socavones siguiendo la
inclinacion de las betas, sino perpendiculares, y baxaban á
ellos puestos en una especie de cubos atados desde arriba con
cuerdas. De este mal método se originó todo al desórden de la
mina, porque al paso que los operarios penetraban dentro de
tierra, era forzoso que se apartasen de las betas y las
perdiesen.' _Bowles_, _Historía Natural de España_, Madrid,
1789, 4to. p. 14.
[1410] 'Fué mi proyecto bien recibido del Ministerio, y _habiendo hecho
venir mineros Alemanes_, le han executado en gran parte con
mucha habilidad. Los mineros Españoles de Almaden son atrevidos
y tienen robustez, maña y penetracion quanta es menester, de
suerte que _con el tiempo serán excelentes mineros, pues no les
falta otra cosa que la verdadera ciencia de las minas_.'
_Historia Natural de España_, p. 16. The latter part of this
sentence is an evident struggle between the interests of truth,
and the exigencies of a book printed at the Royal Press of
Madrid, and licensed by the Spanish authorities.
[1411] 'Encargado por el gobierno el laborioso extrangero Bowles de
proponer los medios convenientes para beneficiar con mas acierto
las famosas minas de azogue del Almaden, descubrió algunos
nuevos procedimientos por medio de los cuales casi se duplicaron
los productos de aquellas, y bajó una mitad el precio de los
azogues.' _Tapia_, _Civilizacion Española_, vol. iv. p. 117.
Such ignorance, pervading the whole nation, and extending to every
department of life, is hardly conceivable, considering the immense
advantages which the Spaniards had formerly enjoyed. It is particularly
striking, when contrasted with the ability of the government, which, for
more than eighty years, constantly laboured to improve the condition of
the country. Early in the eighteenth century, Ripperda, in the hopes of
stimulating Spanish industry, established a large woollen manufactory at
Segovia, which had once been a busy and prosperous city. But the
commonest processes had now been forgotten; and he was obliged to import
manufacturers from Holland, to teach the Spaniards how to make up the
wool, though that was an art for which in better days they had been
especially famous.[1412] In 1757, Wall, who was then minister,
constructed, upon a still larger scale, a similar manufactory at
Guadalajara in New Castile. Soon, however, something went wrong with the
machinery; and as the Spaniards neither knew nor cared anything about
these matters, it was necessary to send to England for a workman to put
it right.[1413] At length the advisers of Charles III., despairing of
rousing the people by ordinary means, devised a more comprehensive
scheme, and invited thousands of foreign artisans to settle in Spain;
trusting that their example, and the suddenness of their influx might
invigorate this jaded nation.[1414] All was in vain. The spirit of the
country was broken, and nothing could retrieve it. Among other attempts
which were made, the formation of a National Bank was a favourite idea
of politicians, who expected great things from an institution which was
to extend credit, and make advances to persons engaged in business.
But, though the design was executed, it entirely failed in effecting its
purpose. When the people are not enterprising, no effort of government
can make them so. In a country like Spain, a great bank was an exotic,
which might live with art, but could never thrive by nature. Indeed,
both in its origin and in its completion, it was altogether foreign,
having been first proposed by the Dutchman Ripperda,[1415] and owing its
final organization to the Frenchman Cabarrus.[1416]
[1412] _Memoirs of Ripperda_, 2d ed., London, 1740, pp. 23, 62, 91, 104.
'A ship arrived at Cadiz with fifty manufacturers on board, whom
the Baron de Ripperda had drawn together in Holland.' ... 'The
new manufactures at Segovia, which, though at this time wholly
managed by foreigners, he wished, in the next age, might be
carried on by the Spaniards themselves, and by them only.'
[1413] 'The minister, Wall, an Irishman, contrived to decoy over one
Thomas Bevan, from Melksham, in Wiltshire, to set the machinery
and matters to rights.' _Ford's Spain_, London, 1847, p. 525.
[1414] 'Ademas de la invitacion que se hizo á millares de operarios
extrangeros para venir á establecerse en España,' &c. _Tapia_,
_Civilizacion Española_, vol. iv. pp. 112, 113. In 1768, Harris,
who travelled from Pampeluna to Madrid, writes, 'I did not
observe a dozen men either at plough or any other kind of
labour, on the road.' _Diaries and Correspondence of James
Harris, Earl of Malmesbury_, London, 1844, vol. i. p. 38.
[1415] 'A national bank, a design originally suggested by Ripperda.'
_Coxe's Bourbon Kings of Spain_, vol. v. p. 202.
[1416] Bourgoing, not aware of Ripperda's priority, says (_Tableau de
l'Espagne Moderne_, vol. ii. p. 49), 'L'idée de la banque
nationale fut donnée au gouvernement par un banquier français,
M. Cabarrus.' Compare _Rio_, _Historia del Reinado de Carlos
III._, vol. iv. pp. 122, 123: 'Banco nacional de San Cárlos;
propúsolo Cabarrús, apoyólo Floridablanca, y sancionólo el
Soberano por Real cedula de 2 de junio de 1782.' This sounds
well; but the inevitable catastrophe soon came. 'Charles IV.,'
says the Prince of the Peace, 'had just ascended the throne; the
bank of St. Carlos was rapidly falling, and on the verge of
bankruptcy.' _Godoy's Memoirs_, London, 1836, vol. i. p. 124.
In everything, the same law prevailed. In diplomacy, the ablest men were
not Spaniards, but foreigners; and during the eighteenth century the
strange spectacle was frequently exhibited, of Spain being represented
by French, Italian, and even Irish ambassadors.[1417] Nothing was
indigenous; nothing was done by Spain herself. Philip V., who reigned
from 1700 to 1746, and possessed immense power, always clung to the
ideas of his own country, and was a Frenchman to the last. For thirty
years after his death, the three most prominent names in Spanish
politics were, Wall, who was born in France, of Irish parents;[1418]
Grimaldi, who was a native of Genoa; [1419] and Esquilache, who was a
native of Sicily.[1420] Esquilache administered the finances for several
years; and, after enjoying the confidence of Charles III. to an extent
rarely possessed by any minister, was only dismissed, in 1766, in
consequence of the discontents of the people at the innovations
introduced by this bold foreigner.[1421] Wall, a much more remarkable
man, was, in the absence of any good Spanish diplomatist, sent envoy to
London in 1747; and after exercising great influence in matters of
state, he was placed at the head of affairs in 1754, and remained
supreme till 1763.[1422] When this eminent Irishman relinquished office,
he was succeeded by the Genoese, Grimaldi, who ruled Spain from 1763 to
1777, and was entirely devoted to the French views of policy.[1423] His
principal patron was Choiseul, who had imbued him with his own notions,
and by whose advice he was chiefly guided.[1424] Indeed, Choiseul, who
was then the first minister in France, used to boast, with exaggeration,
but not without a considerable amount of truth, that his influence in
Madrid was even greater than it was in Versailles.[1425]
[1417] 'A Londres, à Stockholm, à Paris, à Vienne et à Venise, le
souverain est réprésenté par des étrangers. Le prince de
Masserano, Italien, ambassadeur en Angleterre; le comte de Lacy
Irlandais, ministre à Stockholm; le marquis de Grimaldi,
ambassadeur en France, avant de parvenir au ministère; le comte
de Mahoni, Irlandais, ambassadeur à Vienne; le marquis de
Squilaci, ambassadeur à Venise, après sa retraite du ministère.'
_Bourgoing_, _Tableau de l'Espagne_, vol. ii. pp. 142, 143. To
this, I may add that, in the reign of Philip V., an Italian, the
Marquis de Beretti Landi, was the representative of Spain in
Switzerland, and afterwards at the Hague (_Ripperda's Memoirs_,
1740, pp. 37, 38); and that in, or just before, 1779, Lacy
filled the same post at St. Petersburg. _Malmesbury's Diaries
and Correspondence_, 1844, vol. i. p. 261. So, too, M. Rio
(_Historia de Carlos III._, vol. i. pp. 288, 289) says of the
important negotiations which took place in 1761, between Spain,
England, and France, 'Y así de las negociaciones en que Luis XV.
trataba de enredar á Carlos III. quedaron absolutamente
excluidos los españoles, como que por una parte las iban á
seguir el duque de Choiseul y el marques de Ossun, franceses, y
por otra el irlandés D. Ricardo Wall, y el genovés marques de
Grimaldi.' About the same time, Clarke writes (in his _Letters
concerning the Spanish Nation_, London, 1763, 4to. p. 331),
'Spain has, for many years past, been under the direction of
foreign ministers. Whether this hath been owing to want of
capacity in the natives, or disinclination in the sovereign, I
will not take upon me to say; such as it is, the native nobility
lament it as a great calamity.'
[1418] Lord Stanhope, generally well informed on Spanish affairs, says
that Wall was 'a native of Ireland.' _Mahon's History of
England_, vol. iv. p. 182, 3d edit., London, 1853; but in
_Mémoires de Noailles_, vol. iv. p. 47, edit. Paris, 1829, he is
called 'irlandais d'origine, né en France.' See also _Biografía
de Ensenada_, in _Navarrete_, _Opúsculos_, Madrid, 1848, vol.
ii. p. 26, 'D. Ricardo Wall, irlandés de orígen, nacido en
Francia.' Swinburne, who knew him personally, and has given some
account of him, does not mention where he was born. _Swinburne's
Travels through Spain_, second edition, London, 1787, vol. i.
pp. 314-318.
[1419] 'A Genoese, and a creature of France.' _Dunham's History of
Spain_, vol. v. p. 170.
[1420] 'Era siciliano.' _Rio_, _Historia del Reinado de Carlos III._,
vol. i. p. 244.
[1421] The fullest account of his dismissal is given by M. Rio, in the
first chapter of the second volume of his _Historia del Reinado
de Carlos III._, which should, however, be compared with _Coxe's
Bourbon Kings of Spain_, vol. iv. pp. 340-346. Coxe terms him
Squilaci; but I follow the orthography of the Spanish writers,
who always call him Esquilache. Such was his influence over the
King, that, according to Coxe (vol. iv. p. 347), Charles III.
'publicly said that, "if he was reduced to a morsel of bread, he
would divide it with Squilaci."'
[1422] _Coxe's Kings of Spain_, vol. iv. pp. 15, 135. _Rio_, _Historia
de Carlos III._, vol. i. pp. 246, 247, 400, 401. _Navarrete_,
_Biografía de Ensenada_, pp. 26-28.
[1423] He resigned in 1776, but held office till the arrival of his
successor, Florida Blanca, in 1777. _Rio_, _Historia de Carlos
III._, vol. iii. pp. 171, 174. In reference to his appointment,
in 1763, M. Rio observes (vol. i. p. 402), 'De que Grimaldi
creciera en fortuna se pudo congratular no Roma, sino Francia.'
In 1770, Harris, the diplomatist, who was then in Spain, writes,
'His doctrine is absolutely French; guided in everything by the
French closet,' &c. _Malmesbury's Diaries and Correspondence_,
vol. i. p. 56, London, 1844.
[1424] 'Guided in his operations by the counsels of Choiseul.' _Coxe's
Bourbon Kings of Spain_, vol. iv. p. 339. 'The prosecution of
the schemes which he had concerted with Choiseul.' p. 373. 'His
friend and patron.' p. 391, and vol. v. p. 6.
[1425] 'Personne n'ignoroit le crédit prodigieux que M. de Choiseul
avoit sur le roi d'Espagne, dont il se vantoit lui-même, au
point que je lui ai ouï dire, qu'il étoit plus sûr de sa
prépondérance dans le cabinet de Madrid, que dans celui de
Versailles.' _Mémoires du Baron de Besenval_, _écrits par
lui-même_, vol. ii. pp. 14, 15, Paris, 1805.
However this may be, it is certain that four years after Grimaldi took
office, the ascendency of France was exhibited in a remarkable way.
Choiseul, who hated the Jesuits, and had just expelled them from France,
endeavoured also to expel them from Spain.[1426] The execution of the
plan was confided to Aranda, who, though a Spaniard by birth, derived
his intellectual culture from France, and had contracted, in the society
of Paris, an intense hatred of every form of ecclesiastical power.[1427]
The scheme, secretly prepared, was skilfully accomplished.[1428] In
1767, the Spanish government, without hearing what the Jesuits had to
say in their defence, and indeed, without giving them the least notice,
suddenly ordered their expulsion; and with such animosity were they
driven from the country, in which they sprung up, and had long been
cherished, that not only was their wealth confiscated, and they
themselves reduced to a wretched pittance, but even that was directed to
be taken from them, if they published anything in their own vindication;
while it was also declared that whoever ventured to write respecting
them, should, if we were a subject of Spain, be put to death, as one
guilty of high treason.[1429]
[1426] M. Muriel (_Gobierno del Rey Don Carlos III._, Madrid, 1839,
pp. 44, 45) terms their expulsion from Spain 'este acto de
violencia hecho meramente por complacer al duque de Choiseul,
ministro de Francia y protector del partido filosófico.' See
also _Crétineau-Joly_, _Histoire de la Compagnie de Jésus_, vol.
v. p. 291, Paris, 1845; and _Georgel_, _Mémoires pour servir à
l'Histoire des Évènemens depuis 1760_, vol. ii. p. 95, Paris,
1817.
[1427] Archdeacon Coxe, in a somewhat professional tone, says of Aranda,
'In France he had acquired the graces of polished society, and
_imbibed that freedom of sentiment_ which then began to be
fashionable, _and has since been carried to such a dangerous
excess_.' _Coxe's Bourbon Kings of Spain_, vol. iv. p. 402. His
great enemy, the Prince of the Peace, wishing to be severe,
unintentionally praises him; and observes, that he was
'connected with the most distinguished literary Frenchmen of the
middle of the last century,' and that he was 'divested of
religious prejudices, though swayed by philosophical
enthusiasm.' _Godoy's Memoirs_, London, 1836, vol. i. p. 319.
The hostility of some men is extremely valuable. The Prince
further adds, that Aranda 'could only lay claim to the inferior
merit of a sectarian attachment,' forgetting that, in a country
like Spain, every enlightened person must belong to a miserably
small sect.
[1428] Cabarrus (_Elogio de Carlos III._, Madrid, 1789, 4to. p. xxiv.)
says, rather magniloquently, 'El acierto de la execucion que
correspondió al pulso y prudencia con que se habia deliberado
esta providencia importante, pasará á la ultima posteridad.'
[1429] _Coxe's Bourbon Kings of Spain_, vol. iv. p. 362. M. Rio, in the
second volume of his _History of Charles III._, Madrid, 1856,
has given a long, but not very philosophical, nor very accurate,
account of the expulsion of the Jesuits, which he considers
solely from the Spanish point of view; overlooking the fact,
that it was part of an European movement headed by France. He
denies the influence of Choiseul, p. 125; censures the perfectly
correct statement of Coxe, p. 123; and finally ascribes this
great event to the operation of causes confined to the
Peninsula. 'De ser los jesuitas adversarios del regalismo emanó
su ruina en España, cuando triunfaban las opiniones sostenidas
con heróico teson desde mucho ántes por doctísimos
jurisconsultos.' p. 519.
Such boldness on the part of the government[1430] caused even the
Inquisition to tremble. That once omnipotent tribunal, threatened and
suspected by the civil authorities, became more wary in its proceedings,
and more tender in its treatment of heretics. Instead of extirpating
unbelievers by hundreds or by thousands, it was reduced to such pitiful
straits, that between 1746 and 1759, it was only able to burn ten
persons; and between 1759 and 1788, only four persons.[1431] The
extraordinary diminution during the latter period, was partly owing to
the great authority wielded by Aranda, the friend of the encyclopædists
and of other French sceptics. This remarkable man was President of
Castile till 1773,[1432] and he issued an order forbidding the
Inquisition to interfere with the civil courts.[1433] He also formed a
scheme for entirely abolishing it; but his plan was frustrated, owing to
its premature announcement by his friends in Paris, to whom it had been
confided.[1434] His views, however, were so far successful, that after
1781, there is no instance in Spain of a heretic being burned; the
Inquisition being too terrified by the proceedings of government
to do anything which might compromise the safety of the Holy
Institution.[1435]
[1430] One of the most recent historians of the Jesuits indignantly
observes, 'Depuis deux cent vingt ans les Jésuites vivent et
prêchent en Espagne. Ils sont comblés de bienfaits par des
monarques dont ils étendent la souveraineté. Le clergé et les
masses acceptent avec bonheur leur intervention. Tout à coup
l'Ordre se voit déclaré coupable d'un crime de lèse-majesté,
d'un attentat public que personne ne peut spécifier. La sentence
prononce la peine sans énoncer le délit.' _Crétineau-Joly_,
_Histoire de la Compagnie de Jésus_, vol. v. p. 295, Paris,
1845.
[1431] _Dunham's History of Spain_, vol. v. p. 285, where the facts are
well brought together. The valuable _History of the
Inquisition_, by Llorente, is not quite precise enough in these
matters; though it is a very accurate, and, what is still more
surprising, a very honest book.
[1432] _Rio_, _Historia de Carlos III._, vol. iii. pp. 103-107, which
must be compared with the account of Coxe, who derived some of
his information from a friend of Aranda's. _Coxe's Bourbon Kings
of Spain_, vol. iv. pp. 401-415. A good life of Aranda would be
very interesting. That contained in the _Biographie Universelle_
is extremely meagre, and carelessly written.
[1433] _Coxe's Bourbon Kings of Spain_, vol. iv. p. 407.
[1434] 'When at Paris, in 1786, I received the following anecdote from a
person connected with the encyclopædists. During his residence
in that capital, D'Aranda had frequently testified to the
literati with whom he associated, his resolution to obtain the
abolition of the Inquisition, should he ever be called to power.
His appointment was, therefore, exultingly hailed by the party,
particularly by D'Alembert; and he had scarcely begun his
reforms before an article was inserted in the Encyclopædia, then
printing, in which this event was confidently anticipated, from
the liberal principles of the minister. D'Aranda was struck on
reading this article, and said, "This imprudent disclosure will
raise such a ferment against me, that my plans will be foiled."
He was not mistaken in his conjecture.' _Coxe's Bourbon Kings of
Spain_, vol. iv. p. 408.
[1435] Even the case in 1781 appears to have been for witchcraft rather
than for heresy. 'La dernière victime qui périt dans les flammes
fut une _béate_: on la brûla à Séville, le 7 novembre 1781,
comme ayant fait un pacte, et entretenu un commerce charnel avec
le Démon, et pour avoir été impénitente négative. Elle eût pu
éviter la mort en s'avouant coupable du crime dont on
l'accusait.' _Llorente_, _Histoire de l'Inquisition d'Espagne_,
Paris, 1818, vol. iv. p. 270. About this time, torture began to
be disused in Spain. See an interesting note in _Johnston's
Institutes of the Civil Law of Spain_, London, 1825, p. 263.
In 1777, Grimaldi, one of the chief supporters of that anti-theological
policy which France introduced into Spain, ceased to be Minister; but he
was succeeded by Florida Blanca, who was his creature, and to whom he
transmitted his policy as well as his power.[1436] The progress,
therefore, of political affairs continued in the same direction. Under
the new minister, as under his immediate predecessors, a determination
was shown to abridge the authority of the Church, and to vindicate the
rights of laymen. In everything, the ecclesiastical interests were
treated as subordinate to the secular. Of this, many instances might be
given; but one is too important to be omitted. We have seen, that early
in the eighteenth century, Alberoni, when at the head of affairs, was
guilty of what in Spain was deemed the enormous offence of contracting
an alliance with Mohammedans; and there can be no doubt that this was
one of the chief causes of his fall, since it was held, that no prospect
of mere temporal advantages could justify an union, or even a peace,
between a Christian nation and a nation of unbelievers.[1437] But the
Spanish government, which, owing to the causes I have related, was far
in advance of Spain itself, was gradually becoming bolder, and growing
more and more disposed to force upon the country, views, which,
abstractedly considered, where extremely enlightened, but which the
popular mind was unable to receive. The result was, that, in 1782,
Florida Blanca concluded a treaty with Turkey, which put an end to the
war of religious opinions; to the astonishment, as we are told, of the
other European powers, who could hardly believe that the Spaniards would
thus abandon their long-continued efforts to destroy the infidels.[1438]
Before, however, Europe had time to recover from its amazement, other
and similar events occurred equally startling. In 1784, Spain signed a
peace with Tripoli; and in 1785, one with Algiers.[1439] And scarcely
had these been ratified, when, in 1786, a treaty was also concluded with
Tunis.[1440] So that the Spanish people to their no small surprise,
found themselves on terms of amity with nations, whom for more than ten
centuries they had been taught to abhor, and whom, in the opinion of the
Spanish Church, it was the first duty of a Christian government to make
war upon, and, if possible, to extirpate.
[1436] 'Menesteres decir que el marqués de Grimaldi cayó venciendo á sus
enemigos, pues, léjos de legarles el poder, á que aspiraban con
anhelo, trasmitiólo á una de sus más legítimas hechuras; que tal
era y por tal se reconocia el conde de Floridablanca.' _Rio_,
_Historia del Reinado de Carlos III._, vol. iii. pp. 151, 152.
[1437] In 1690, it was stated that 'since the expulsion of the Moors,'
there was no precedent for the King of Spain ever sending an
envoy to a Mohammedan prince. See _Mahon's Spain under Charles
II._, p. 5. In that year an envoy was sent to Morocco; but this
was merely concerning the redemption of prisoners, and certainly
without the remotest intention of concluding a peace.
[1438] 'The other European courts, with surprise and regret, witnessed
the conclusion of a treaty which terminated the political and
religious rivalry so long subsisting between Spain and the
Porte.' _Coxe's Bourbon Kings of Spain_, vol. v. pp. 152, 153.
'Une des maximes de la politique espagnole avait été celle de
maintenir une guerre perpétuelle contre les mahométans, même
après la conquête de Grenade. Ni les pertes incalculables
éprouvées par suite de ce système, ni l'exemple de la France et
d'autres puissances catholiques qui ne se faisaient point
scrupule d'être en paix avec les Turcs, n'avaient suffi pour
détromper l'Espagne sur l'inconvenance d'une telle politique. Le
génie éclairé de Charles III corrigea un préjugé aussi
dangereux; dicta la paix avec les empereurs de Turquie et
d'autres potentats mahométans; délivra ses sujets de la terrible
piraterie des corsaires, et ouvrit à leur commerce de nouvelles
voies pour spéculer avec de plus grands avantages.' _Sempere_,
_La Monarchie Espagnole_, vol. ii. p. 160.
[1439] _Rio_, _Historia del Reinado de Carlos III._, vol. iv. pp. 11-13.
[1440] _Ibid._ vol. iv. pp. 16, 17.
Putting aside, for a moment, the remote and intellectual consequences of
these transactions, there can be no doubt that the immediate and
material consequences were very salutary; though, as we shall presently
see, they produced no lasting benefit, because they were opposed by the
unfavourable operation of more powerful and more general causes. Still,
it must be confessed that the direct results were extremely
advantageous; and to those who take only a short view of human affairs,
it might well appear that the advantages would be permanent. The immense
line of coast from the kingdoms of Fez and Morocco to the furthest
extremity of the Turkish empire was no longer allowed to pour forth
those innumerable pirates who, heretofore, swept the seas, captured
Spanish ships, and made slaves of Spanish subjects. Formerly, vast sums
of money were annually consumed in ransoming these unhappy
prisoners;[1441] but now all such evils were ended. At the same time,
great impetus was given to the commerce of Spain; a new trade was thrown
open, and her ships could safely appear in the rich countries of the
Levant. This increased her wealth; which was moreover aided by another
circumstance growing out of these events. For, the most fertile parts of
Spain are those which are washed by the Mediterranean, and which had for
centuries been the prey of Mohammedan corsairs, who frequently landing
by surprise, had at length caused such constant fear, that the
inhabitants gradually retired towards the interior, and abstained from
cultivating the richest soil in their country. But, by the treaties just
concluded, such dangers were at once removed; the people returned to
their former abodes; the earth again gave forth its fruits; regular
industry reappeared; villages sprung up; even manufactures were
established; and the foundation seemed to be laid for a prosperity, the
like of which had not been known since the Mohammedans were driven out
of Granada.[1442]
[1441] 'Ha sido notable el número de cautivos, que los piratas de
Berbería han hecho sobre nuestras costas por tres centurias. En
el siglo pasado se solian calcular exístentes á la vez en Argel,
treinta mil personas españolas. Su rescate á razon de mil pesos
por cada persona á lo menos, ascendia á 30 millones de pesos.'
_Campomanes_, _Apendice á la Educacion Popular_, vol. i. p. 373,
Madrid, 1775. On the precautions which had to be used to guard
the coasts of Spain against the Mohammedan corsairs, see
_Uztariz_, _Theorica y Practica de Comercio_, Madrid, 1757,
folio, pp. 172, 173, 222-226; and _Lafuente_, _Historia de
España_, vol. xv. p. 476, Madrid, 1855. In the middle of the
eighteenth century, a regular watch had to be kept along the
Mediterranean coast of Spain, 'in order to give the alarm upon
the appearance of the enemy.' See _A Tour through Spain by Udal
ap Rhys_, 2d edit., London, 1760, p. 170. As to the state of
things in the seventeenth century, see _Janer_, _Condicion de
los Moriscos_, Madrid, 1857, p. 63.
[1442] 'De esta suerte quedaron los mares limpios de piratas desde los
reinos de Fez y Marruecos hasta los últimos dominios del
emperador Turco, por el Mediterráneo todo; vióse á menudo la
bandera española en Levante, y las mismas naciones mercantiles
que la persiguieron indirectamente, preferíanla ahora,
resultando el aumento del comercio y de la Real marina, y la
pericia de sus tripulaciones, y el mayor brillo de España y de
su augusto Soberano: termino hubo la esclavitud de tantos
millares de infelices con abandono de sus familias é indelebles
perjuicios de la religion y el Estado, cesando tambien la
continua extraccion de enormes sumas para los rescates que, al
paso que nos empobrecian, pasaban á enriquecer á nuestros
contrarios, y á facilitar sus armamentos para ofendernos; y se
empezaban á cultivar rápidamente en las costas del Mediterráneo
leguas de terrenos los más fertiles del mundo, desamparados y
eriales hasta entónces por miedo á los piratas, y donde se
formaban ya pueblos enteros para dar salida á los frutos y las
manufacturas.' _Rio_, _Historia del Reinado de Carlos III._,
vol. iv. pp. 17, 18.
I have now laid before the reader a view of the most important steps
which were taken by those able and vigorous politicians, who ruled Spain
during the greater part of the eighteenth century. In considering how
these reforms were effected, we must not forget the personal character
of Charles III., who occupied the throne from 1759 to 1788.[1443] He was
a man of great energy, and though born in Spain, had little in common
with it. When he became king, he had been long absent from his native
country, and had contracted a taste for customs, and, above all, for
opinions, totally dissimilar to those natural to the Spaniards.[1444]
Comparing him with his subjects, he was enlightened indeed. They
cherished in their hearts, the most complete, and therefore the worst,
form of spiritual power which has ever been exhibited in Europe. That
very power, he made it his business to restrain. In this, as in other
respects, he far surpassed Ferdinand VI. and Philip V., though they,
under the influence of French ideas, had proceeded to what was deemed a
dangerous length.[1445] The clergy, indignant at such proceedings,
murmured, and even threatened.[1446] They declared that Charles was
despoiling the Church, taking away her rights, insulting her ministers,
and thus ruining Spain beyond human remedy.[1447] The king, however,
whose disposition was firm, and somewhat obstinate, persevered in his
policy; and as he and his ministers were men of undoubted ability, they,
notwithstanding the opposition they encountered, succeeded in
accomplishing most of their plans. Mistaken and short-sighted though
they were, it is impossible to refrain from admiring the honesty, the
courage, and the disinterestedness, which they displayed in endeavouring
to alter the destiny of that superstitions and half barbarous country
over which they ruled. We must not, however, conceal from ourselves,
that in this, as in all similar cases, they, by attacking evils which
the people were resolved to love, increased the affection which the
evils inspired. To seek to change opinions by laws is worse than futile.
It not only fails, but it causes a reaction, which leaves the opinions
stronger than ever. First alter the opinion, and then you may alter the
law. As soon as you have convinced men that superstition is mischievous,
you may with advantage take active steps against those classes who
promote superstition and live by it. But, however pernicious any
interest or any great body may be, beware of using force against it,
unless the progress of knowledge has previously sapped it at its base,
and loosened its hold over the national mind. This has always been the
error of the most ardent reformers, who, in their eagerness to effect
their purpose, let the political movement outstrip the intellectual one,
and, thus inverting the natural order, secure misery either to
themselves or to their descendants. They touch the altar, and fire
springs forth to consume them. Then comes another period of superstition
and of despotism; another dark epoch in the annals of the human race.
And this happens merely because men will not bide their time, but will
insist on precipitating the march of affairs. Thus, for instance, in
France and Germany, it is the friends of freedom who have strengthened
tyranny; it is the enemies of superstition who have made superstition
more permanent. In those countries, it is still believed that government
can regenerate society; and therefore, directly they who hold liberal
opinions get possession of the government, they use their power too
lavishly, thinking that by doing so, they will best secure the end at
which they aim. In England, the same delusion, though less general, is
far too prevalent; but as, with us, public opinion controls politicians,
we escape from evils which have happened abroad, because we will not
allow any government to enact laws which the nation disapproves. In
Spain, however, the habits of the people were so slavish, and their
necks had so long been bowed under the yoke, that though the
government, in the eighteenth century, opposed their dearest prejudices,
they rarely ventured to resist, and they had no legal means of making
their voice heard. But not the less did they feel. The materials for
reaction were silently accumulating; and before that century had passed
away the reaction itself was manifest. As long as Charles III. lived, it
was kept under; and this was owing partly to the fear which his active
and vigorous government inspired, and partly to the fact that many of
the reforms which he introduced were so obviously beneficial as to shed
a lustre on his reign, which all classes could perceive. Besides the
exemption which his policy insured from the incessant ravages of
pirates, he also succeeded in obtaining for Spain the most honourable
peace which any Spanish government had signed for two centuries; thus
recalling to the popular mind the brightest and most glorious days of
Philip II.[1448] When Charles came to the throne, Spain was hardly a
third-rate power; when he died, she might fairly claim to be a
first-rate one, since she had for some years negotiated on equal terms
with France, England, and Austria, and had taken a leading part in the
councils of Europe. To this, the personal character of Charles greatly
contributed; he being respected for his honesty, as well as feared for
his vigour.[1449] Merely as a man, he bore high repute; while, as a
sovereign, none of his contemporaries were in any way equal to him,
except Frederick of Prussia, whose vast abilities, were, however,
tarnished by a base rapacity, and by an incessant desire to overreach
his neighbours. Charles III. had nothing of this; but he carefully
increased the defences of Spain, and, raising her establishments to a
war-footing, he made her more formidable than she had been since the
sixteenth century. Instead of being liable to insult from every petty
potentate who chose to triumph over her weakness, the country had now
the means of resisting, and if need be, of attacking. While the army was
greatly improved in the quality of the troops, in their discipline, and
in the attention paid to their comforts, the navy was nearly doubled in
number, and more than doubled in efficiency.[1450] And this was done
without imposing fresh burdens on the people. Indeed, the national
resources were becoming so developed, that, in the reign of Charles
III., a large amount of taxation could have been easier paid than a
small one under his predecessors. A regularity, hitherto unknown, was
introduced into the method both of assessing imposts, and of collecting
them.[1451] The laws of mortmain were relaxed, and steps were taken
towards diminishing the rigidity of entails.[1452] The industry of the
country was liberated from many of the trammels which had long been
imposed upon it, and the principles of free trade were so far
recognized, that, in 1765, the old laws respecting corn were repealed;
its exportation was allowed, and also its transit from one part of Spain
to another, uninterrupted by those absurd precautions, which preceding
governments had thought it advisable to invent.[1453]
[1443] M. Rio, whose voluminous History of the reign of Charles III. is,
notwithstanding its numerous omissions, a work of considerable
value, has appreciated the personal influence of the king more
justly than any previous writer; he having had access to
unpublished papers, which show the great energy and activity of
Charles. 'Entre sus mas notables figuras ninguna aventaja á la
de Cárlos III.; y no por el lugar jerárquico que ocupa, sino por
el brillante papel que representa, ora tome la iniciativa, ora
el consejo, para efectuar las innumerables reformas que le
valieron inextinguible fama. Ya sé que algunos tachan á este
Monarca de cortedad de luces y de estrechez de miras; y que
algunos otros suponen que sus ministros le engañaron ó
sorprendieron para dictar ciertas providencias. Cuarenta y ocho
tomos de cartas semanales y escritas de su puno desde octubre de
1759 hasta marzo de 1783 al marqués de Tanucci, existentes en el
archivo de Simancas, por mí leidas hoja tras hoja, sacando de
ellas largos apuntes, sirven á maravilla para pintarle tal como
era, y penetrar hasta sus más recónditos pensamientos, y
contradecir á los que le juzgan á bulto.' _Rio_, _Historia del
Reinado de Carlos III._, Madrid, 1856, vol. i. pp. xxii. xxiii.
[1444] 'Although born and educated in Spain, Charles had quitted the
country at too early an age to retain a partiality to its
customs, laws, manners, and language; while, from his residence
abroad, and his intercourse with France, he had formed a natural
predilection for the French character and institutions.' _Coxe's
Bourbon Kings of Spain_, vol. iv. p. 337.
[1445] He 'far surpassed his two predecessors in his exertions to reform
the morals, and restrain the power of the clergy.' _Ibid._
vol. v. p. 215.
[1446] His measures 'alarmaron al clero en general, que empezó á
murmurar con impaciencia, y aun algunos de sus individuos se
propasaron á violentos actos.' _Tapia_, _Civilizacion Española_,
vol. iv. p. 98.
[1447] A popular charge against the government was, 'que se despojara á
la Iglesia de sus inmunidades.' _Rio_, _Historia del Reinado de
Carlos III._, vol. ii. p. 54. See also at pp. 201, 202, a
letter, in 1766, from the Bishop of Cuenca to the King's
confessor, in which that prelate stated, 'que España corria á su
ruina que ya no corria, sino que volaba, y que ya estaba perdida
sin remedio humano;' and that the cause of this was the
persecution of the poor Church, which was 'saqueada en sus
bienes, ultrajada en sus ministros, y atropellada en su
inmunidad.'
[1448] Coxe (_Bourbon Kings of Spain_, vol. v. p. 144) calls the peace
of 1783 'the most honourable and advantageous ever concluded by
the crown of Spain since the peace of St. Quintin.' Similarly,
M. Rio (_Historia del Reinado de Carlos III._, vol. iii. p.
397), 'Siglos habian pasado para España de continuas y porfiadas
contiendas, sin llegar nunca, desde la famosa jornada de San
Quintin y al alborear el reinado de Felipe II., tan
gloriosamente al reposo.'