_State of morals and manners in Spain--The Nobility--the Middle
Classes--the Lower Ranks--the indignation of the People strongly
excited against the French--Insurrection at Madrid on the 2d
May--Murat proclaims an amnesty, notwithstanding which, many
Spanish prisoners are put to death--King Charles appoints Murat
Lieutenant-General of the Kingdom, and Ferdinand's resignation of
the throne is announced--Murat unfolds the plan of government to
the Council of Castile, and addresses of submission are sent to
Buonaparte from various quarters--Notables appointed to meet at
Bayonne on 15th June--The flame of resistance becomes universal
throughout Spain._
[Sidenote: MORALS AND MANNERS IN SPAIN.]
The government of Spain, a worn-out despotism lodged in the hands of a
family of the lowest degree of intellect, was one of the worst in
Europe; and the state of the nobility, speaking in general, (for there
were noble exceptions,) seemed scarce less degraded. The incestuous
practice of marrying within the near degrees of propinquity, had long
existed, with its usual consequences, the dwarfing of the body, and
degeneracy of the understanding. The education of the nobility was
committed to the priests, who took care to give them no lights beyond
Catholic bigotry. The custom of the country introduced them to premature
indulgences, and they ceased to be children, without arriving either at
the strength or the intellect of youth.
The middling classes, inhabitants of towns, and those who followed the
learned professions, had not been so generally subjected to the same
withering influence of superstition and luxury. In many instances, they
had acquired good education, and were superior to the bigotry which the
ecclesiastics endeavoured to inspire them with; but, mistaking the
reverse of wrong for the right, many of these classes had been hurried
into absolute scepticism, having renounced altogether the ideas of
religion, which better instruction would have taught them to separate
from superstition, and having adopted in their extravagance many of the
doctrines which were so popular in France at the commencement of the
Revolution.
The lower classes of Spain, and especially those who resided in the
country, possessed nearly the same character which their ancestors
exhibited under the reign of the Emperor Charles V. They were little
interested by the imperfections of the government, for the system,
though execrable, did not immediately affect their comforts. They lay
too low for personal oppression, and as the expenses of the state were
supplied from the produce of the American provinces, the Spanish
peasants were strangers, in a great measure, to the exactions of the
tax-gatherer. Born in a delicious climate, where the soil, on the
slightest labour, returned far more than was necessary for the support
of the labourer, extreme poverty was as rare as hard toil. The sobriety
and moderation of the Spaniard continued to be one of his striking
characteristics; he preferred his personal ease to increasing the sphere
of his enjoyments, and would rather enjoy his leisure upon dry bread and
onions, than toil more severely to gain better fare. His indolence was,
however, often exchanged for the most active excitation, and though slow
in the labours of the field, the Spaniard was inexhaustible in his
powers of travelling through his plains and sierras, and at the end of a
toilsome day's journey, seemed more often desirous of driving away his
fatigue by the dance, than of recruiting himself by repose. There were
many classes of peasantry--shepherds, muleteers, traders between distant
provinces--who led a wandering life by profession, and, from the
insecure state of the roads, were in the habit of carrying arms. But
even the general habits of the cultivators of the soil led them to part
with the advantages of civilized society upon more easy terms than the
peasantry of a less primitive country. The few and simple rights of the
Spaniard were under the protection of the alcalde, or judge of his
village, in whose nomination he had usually a vote, and whose judgment
was usually satisfactory. If, however, an individual experienced
oppression, he took his cloak, sword, and musket, and after or without
avenging the real or supposed injury, plunged into the deserts in which
the peninsula abounds, joined one of the numerous bands of contraband
traders and outlaws by which they were haunted, and did all this without
experiencing any violent change, either of sentiment or manner of life.
As the habits of the Spaniard rendered him a ready soldier, his
disposition and feelings made him a willing one. He retained, with other
traits of his ancestry, much of that Castilian pride, which mixed both
with the virtues and defects of his nation. The hours of his indolence
were often bestowed on studying the glories of his fathers. He was well
acquainted with their struggles against the Moors, their splendid
conquests in the New World, their long wars with France; and when the
modern Castilian contrasted his own times with those which had passed
away, he felt assurances in his bosom, that, if Spain had descended from
the high pre-eminence she formerly enjoyed in Europe, it was not the
fault of the Spanish people. The present crisis gave an additional
stimulus to their natural courage and their patriotism, because the yoke
with which they were threatened was that of France, a people to whom
their own national character stands in such opposition, as to excite
mutual hatred and contempt. Nothing, indeed, can be so opposite as the
stately, grave, romantic Spaniard, with his dislike of labour, and his
rigid rectitude of thinking, to the lively, bustling, sarcastic
Frenchman, indefatigable in prosecution of whatever he undertakes, and
calculating frequently his means of accomplishing his purpose, with much
more ingenuity than integrity. The bigotry of the Spaniards was no less
strikingly contrasted with the scoffing, and, at the same time,
proselytizing scepticism, which had been long a distinction of modern
France.
To conclude, the Spaniards, easily awakened to anger by national
aggression, and peculiarly sensible to such on the part of a rival
nation, were yet more irresistibly excited to resistance and to revenge,
by the insidious and fraudulent manner in which they had seen their
country stript of her defenders, deprived of her frontier fortresses,
her capital seized, and her royal family kidnapped, by an ally who had
not alleged even a shadow of pretext for such enormous violence.
Such being the character of the Spaniards, and such the provocation they
had received, it was impossible that much time should elapse ere their
indignation became manifest. The citizens of Madrid had looked on with
gloomy suspicion at the course of public events which followed
Ferdinand's imprudent journey to Bayonne. By degrees almost all the rest
of the royal family were withdrawn thither, and Godoy, upon whose head,
as a great public criminal, the people ardently desired to see vengeance
inflicted, was also transferred to the same place.[389] The interest
excited in the fate of the poor relics of the royal family remaining at
Madrid, which consisted only of the Queen of Etruria and her children,
the Infant Don Antonio, brother of the old king, and Don Francisco,
youngest brother of Ferdinand, grew deeper and deeper among the
populace.
On the last day of April, Murat produced an order to Don Antonio,[390]
who still held a nominal power of regency, demanding that the Queen of
Etruria and her children should be sent to Bayonne. This occasioned some
discussion, and the news getting abroad, the public seemed generally
determined that they would not permit the last remains of their royal
family to travel that road, on which, as on that which led to the lion's
den in the fable, they could discern the trace of no returning
footsteps. The tidings from thence had become gradually more and more
unfavourable to the partisans of Ferdinand, and the courier, who used to
arrive every night from Bayonne, was anxiously expected on the evening
of April the 30th, as likely to bring decisive news of Napoleon's
intentions towards his royal visitor. No courier arrived, and the
populace retired for the evening, in the highest degree gloomy and
discontented. On the next day (1st of May) the Gate of the Sun, and the
vicinity of the Post-office, were crowded with men, whose looks menaced
violence, and whose capas, or long cloaks, were said to conceal arms.
The French garrison got under arms, but this day also passed off without
bloodshed.
[Sidenote: INSURRECTION AT MADRID.]
On the 2d of May, the streets presented the same gloomy and menacing
appearance. The crowds which filled them were agitated by reports that
the whole remaining members of the royal family were to be removed, and
they saw the Queen of Etruria and her children put into their carriages,
together with Don Francisco, the youngest brother of Ferdinand, a youth
of fourteen, who appeared to feel his fate, for he wept bitterly. The
general fury broke out at this spectacle, and at once and on all sides,
the populace of Madrid assailed the French troops with the most bitter
animosity. The number of French who fell was very considerable, the
weapons of the assailants being chiefly their long knives, which the
Spaniards use with such fatal dexterity.[391]
Murat poured troops into the city to suppress the consequences of an
explosion, which had been long expected. The streets were cleared with
volleys of grape-shot and with charges of cavalry, but it required near
three or four hours' hard fighting to convince the citizens of Madrid,
that they were engaged in an attempt entirely hopeless. About the middle
of the day, some members of the Spanish Government, joining themselves
to the more humane part of the French generals, and particularly General
Harispe, interfered to separate the combatants, when there at length
ensued a cessation of these strange hostilities, maintained so long with
such fury by men almost totally unarmed, against the flower of the
French army.
A general amnesty was proclaimed, in defiance of which Murat caused
seize upon and execute several large bands of Spaniards, made prisoners
in the scuffle. They were shot in parties of forty or fifty at a time;
and as the inhabitants were compelled to illuminate their houses during
that dreadful night, the dead and dying might be seen lying on the
pavement as clearly as at noon-day. These military executions were
renewed on the two or three following days, probably with more attention
to the selection of victims, for the insurgents were now condemned by
French military courts. The number of citizens thus murdered is said to
have amounted to two or three hundred at least.[392] On the 5th May,
Murat published a proclamation, relaxing in his severity.
This crisis had been extremely violent, much more so, perhaps, than the
French had ever experienced in a similar situation; but it had been
encountered with such celerity, and put down with such rigour, that
Murat may well have thought that the severity was sufficient to prevent
the recurrence of similar scenes. The citizens of Madrid did not again,
indeed, undertake the task of fruitless opposition; but, like a bull
stupified by the first blow of the axe, suffered their conquerors to
follow forth their fatal purpose, without resistance, but also without
submission.
News came now with sufficient speed, and their tenor was such as to
impress obedience on those ranks, who had rank and title to lose. Don
Antonio set off for Bayonne; and on the 7th of May arrived, and was
promulgated at Madrid, a declaration by the old King Charles, nominating
Murat Lieutenant-General of the kingdom. The abdication of the son, less
expected and more mortifying, was next made public, and a proclamation
in his name and those of the Infants, Don Carlos and Don Antonio,
recommended the laying aside all spirit of resistance, and an implicit
obedience to the irresistible power of France.[393]
The destined plan of government was then unfolded by Murat to the
Council of Castile, who, first by an adulatory address,[394] and then by
a deputation of their body despatched personally to Bayonne, hailed the
expected resuscitation of the Spanish monarchy as a certain and
infallible consequence of the throne being possessed by a relation of
the great Napoleon. Other bodies of consequence were prevailed upon to
send similar addresses; and one in the name of the city of Madrid, its
streets still slippery with the blood of its citizens, was despatched
to express the congratulations of the capital.[395] The summons of
Murat, as Lieutenant-General of King Charles, and afterwards one from
Buonaparte, as possessed of the sovereign power by the cession of that
feeble monarch, convoked the proposed meeting of the Notables at Bayonne
on 15th June; and the members so summoned began to depart from such
places as were under the immediate influence of the French armies, in
order to give their attendance upon the proposed convocation.
The news of the insurrection of Madrid, on the 2d May, had in the
meantime communicated itself with the speed of electricity to the most
remote provinces of the kingdom; and every where, like an alarm-signal,
had inspired the most impassioned spirit of opposition to the invaders.
The kingdom, from all its provinces, cried out with one voice for war
and vengeance; and the movement was so universal and simultaneous, that
the general will seemed in a great measure to overcome or despise every
disadvantage, which could arise from the suddenness of the event, and
the unprepared state of the country.[396]
[Sidenote: MURDER OF SOLANO--PROVISIONAL JUNTAS.]
The occupation of Madrid might have been of more importance to check and
derange the movements of the Spanish nation at large, if that capital
had borne exactly the same relation to the kingdom which other
metropolises of Europe usually occupy to theirs, and which Paris, in
particular, bears towards France. But Spain consists of several separate
provinces, formerly distinct sovereignties, which having been united
under the same sovereign by the various modes of inheritance, treaty, or
conquest, still retain their separate laws; and though agreeing in the
general features of the national character, have shades of distinction
which distinguish them from each other. Biscay, Galicia, Catalonia,
Andalusia, Valencia, and other lesser dominions of Spain, each had their
capitals, their internal government, and the means of providing
themselves for resistance, though Madrid was lost. The patriotic spirit
broke out in all parts of Spain at once, excepting where the French
actually possessed large garrisons, and even there the spirit of the
people was sufficiently manifest. The call for resistance usually began
among the lower class of the inhabitants. But in such instances as their
natural leaders and superiors declared themselves frankly for the same
cause, the insurgents arranged themselves quietly in the ranks of
subordination natural to them, and the measures which the time rendered
necessary were adopted with vigour and unanimity. In other instances,
when the persons in possession of the authority opposed themselves to
the wishes of the people, or gave them reason, by tergiversation and
affectation of delay, to believe they were not sincere in the cause of
the country, the fury of the people broke out, and they indulged their
vindictive temper by the most bloody excesses. At Valencia, in
particular, before the insurrection could be organised, a wretched
priest, called Calvo, had headed the rabble in the massacre of upwards
of two hundred French residing within the city, who were guiltless of
any offence, except their being of that country. The governor of Cadiz,
Solano,[397] falling under popular suspicion, was, in like manner, put
to death; and similar bloody scenes signalized the breaking out of the
insurrection in different parts of the Peninsula.
Yet among these bursts of popular fury, there were mixed great signs of
calmness and national sagacity. The arrangements made for organising
their defence, were wisely adopted. The supreme power of each district
was vested in a Junta, or Select Committee, who were chosen by the
people, and in general the selection was judiciously made. These bodies
were necessarily independent in their respective governments, but a
friendly communication was actively maintained among them, and by common
consent a deference was paid to the Junta of Seville, the largest and
richest town in Spain, after Madrid, and whose temporary governors
chanced, generally speaking, to be men of integrity and talents.
These provisional Juntas proceeded to act with much vigour. The rich
were called upon for patriotic contributions. The clergy were requested
to send the church plate to the mint. The poor were enjoined to enter
the ranks of the defenders of the country, or to labour on the
fortifications which the defences rendered necessary. All these calls
were willingly obeyed. The Spanish soldiery, wherever situated, turned
invariably to the side of the country, and the insurrection had not
broken out many days, when the whole nation assumed a formidable aspect
of general and permanent resistance. Let us, in the meantime, advert to
the conduct of Napoleon.
That crisis, of which Buonaparte had expressed so much apprehension in
his prophetic letter to Murat--the commencement of that war, which was
to be so long in arriving at a close--had taken place in the streets of
Madrid on the second of May; and the slaughter of the inhabitants, with
the subsequent executions by the orders of Murat, had given the signal
for the popular fermentation throughout Spain, which soon attained the
extent we have just described.
The news[398] arrived at Bayonne on the very day on which the terrible
scene took place between the Queen and her son; and the knowledge that
blood had been spilled, became an additional reason for urging Ferdinand
to authenticate the cession which Napoleon had previously received from
the hand of the weak old king. To force forward the transaction without
a moment's delay; to acquire a right such as he could instantly make use
of as a pretext to employ his superior force and disciplined army,
became now a matter of the last importance; and Cevallos avers, that, in
order to overcome Ferdinand's repugnance, Napoleon used language of the
most violent kind, commanding his captive to choose betwixt death and
acquiescence in his pleasure. The French Emperor succeeded in this
point, as we have already shown, and he now proceeded to the execution
of his ultimate purpose, without condescending to notice that the people
of Spain were a party concerned in this change of rulers, and that they
were in arms in all her provinces for the purpose of opposing it.
To the French public, the insurrection of Madrid was described as a mere
popular explosion, although, perhaps for the purpose of striking terror,
the numbers of the Spanish who fell were exaggerated from a few hundreds
to "some thousands of the worst disposed wretches of the capital,"[399]
whose destruction was stated to be matter of joy and congratulation to
all good citizens. On the yet more formidable insurrections through
Spain in general, the _Moniteur_ observed an absolute silence. It
appeared as if the French troops had been every where received by the
Spanish people as liberators; and as if the proud nation, which
possessed so many ages of fame, was waiting her doom from the pleasure
of the French Emperor, with the same passive spirit exhibited by the
humble republics of Venice or Genoa.
[Sidenote: ARRIVAL OF JOSEPH BUONAPARTE.]
Buonaparte proceeded on the same plan of disguise, and seemed himself
not to notice those signs of general resistance which he took care to
conceal from the public. We have already mentioned the proceedings of
the Assembly of Notables, whom he affected to consider as the
representatives of the Spanish nation, though summoned by a foreign
prince, meeting within a foreign land, and possessing no powers of
delegation enabling them, under any legal form, to dispose of the rights
of the meanest hamlet in Spain. Joseph, who arrived at Bayonne on the
fifth of June, was recognised by these obsequious personages; received
their homage; agreed to guarantee their new constitution, and promised
happiness to Spain, while he only alluded to the existence of
discontents in that kingdom, by expressing his intention to remain
ignorant of the particulars of such ephemeral disturbances.[400]
At length Napoleon, who had convoked this compliant body, thought proper
to give them audience before their return to their own country. It is
said he was tired of a farce to which few were disposed to give any
weight or consequence. At least he was so much embarrassed by a
consciousness of the wide distinction between the real condition in
which he was placed, and that which he was desirous of being thought to
hold, that he lost, on this occasion, his usual presence of mind; was
embarrassed in his manner; repeated from time to time phrases which had
neither meaning nor propriety; and took a brief adieu of his astonished
audience, who were surprised to see how much the consciousness of the
evil part he was acting had confused his usual audacity of assertion,
and checked the fluency of his general style of elocution.[401]
The brothers then parted, and Joseph prepared to accomplish the
destinies shaped out for him by his brother, while Napoleon returned to
the capital of his augmented empire. The former did not travel fast or
far, although the _Moniteurs_ announced nothing save the general joy
testified by the Spaniards at his reception, and the serenades performed
by the natives on their guitars from night till morning under the
windows of their new sovereign. The sounds by which he was in reality
surrounded, were of a sterner and more warlike character. The tidings of
insurrection, imperfectly heard and reluctantly listened to, on the
northern side of the Pyrenees, were renewed with astounding and
overpowering reiteration, as the intrusive King approached the scene of
his proposed usurpation. He was in the condition of the huntsman, who,
expecting that the tiger is at his mercy, and secured in the toils, has
the unpleasing surprise of finding him free, and irritated to frenzy. It
was judged proper, as Joseph possessed no talents of a military order,
that he should remain at Vittoria until the measures adopted by his
brother's generals might secure him a free and safe road to the capital.
It is singular, that the frontier town which thus saw his early
hesitation at entering upon his undertaking, was also witness to its
disgraceful conclusion, by the final defeat which he received there in
1813.[402]
No doubts or forebodings attended the return of Napoleon to Paris. The
eyes of the French were too much dazzled by the splendid acquisition to
the Great Empire, which was supposed to have been secured by the
measures taken at Bayonne, to permit them to examine the basis of
violence and injustice on which it was to be founded. The union of
France and Spain under kindred monarchs, had been long accounted the
masterpiece of Louis XIV.'s policy; and the French now saw it, to
outward appearance, on the point of accomplishment, at the simple wish
of the wonderful man, who had erected France into the Mistress of the
World, and whose vigour in forming plans for her yet augmenting
grandeur, was only equalled by the celerity with which they were carried
into execution.
Buonaparte had indeed availed himself to the utmost of that art of
seducing and acting upon the imagination of the French people, in which
he accused the Directory of being deficient. He had strung the popular
feeling in such a manner, that it was sure to respond to almost every
note which he chose to strike upon it. The love of national glory, in
itself a praiseworthy attribute, becomes a vice when it rests on success
accomplished by means inconsistent with honour and integrity. These
unfavourable parts of the picture he kept in shade, while, as an artful
picture-dealer, he threw the full lights on those which announced the
augmented grandeur and happiness of France. The nation, always willing
listeners to their own praises, were contented to see with the eyes of
their ruler; and at no period in his life did Buonaparte appear to be in
such a genuine degree the pride and admiration of France, as when
returning from Bayonne, after having, in his attempt to seize upon the
crown of Spain, perpetrated a very great crime, and at the same time
committed an egregious folly.
The appearance of brilliant success, however, had its usual effect upon
the multitude. In his return through Pau, Thoulouse, Montauban, and the
other towns in that district, the Emperor was received with the honours
due to a demi-god. Their antique and gloomy streets were arched over
with laurels, and strewed with flowers; the external walls of their
houses were covered with tapestry, rich hangings, and splendid
paintings; the population crowded to meet the Emperor, and the mayors,
or prefects, could scarce find language enough to exaggerate what was
the actual prevailing tone of admiration towards Napoleon's person.
Bourdeaux alone exhibited a melancholy and silent appearance. But Nantes
and La Vendée, so distinguished as faithful to the Bourbon cause,
seemed to join in the general feeling of the period; and the population
of these countries rushed to congratulate him, who had with a strong
hand plucked from the throne the last reigning branch of that
illustrious house. The gods, says a heathen poet, frequently punish the
folly of mortals by granting their own ill-chosen wishes. In the present
case, they who rejoiced in the seeming acquisition of Spain to the
French empire, could not foresee that it was to cost the lives of a
million of Frenchmen; and he who received their congratulations was
totally unaware, that he had been digging under his own feet the mine by
which he was finally to be destroyed.
FOOTNOTES:
[389] "The Marquis de Cartellar, to whose custody Godoy had been
committed, was instructed to deliver him up, and he was removed by
night. Had the people been aware that this minister was thus to be
conveyed away from their vengeance, that indignation which soon
afterwards burst out would probably have manifested itself now, and
Godoy would have perished by their hands."--SOUTHEY, vol. i., p. 279.
[390] From his brother King Charles.
[391] "It is certain that, including the peasants shot, the whole number
of Spaniards slain did not amount to one hundred and twenty persons,
while more than seven hundred French fell. Of the imperial guards
seventy men were wounded, and this fact alone would suffice to prove
that there was no premeditation on the part of Murat; for if he was base
enough to sacrifice his own men with such unconcern, he would not have
exposed the select soldiers of the French empire in preference to the
conscripts who abounded in his army. The affair itself was certainly
accidental, and not very bloody for the patriots, but policy induced
both sides to attribute secret motives, and to exaggerate the
slaughter."--NAPIER, vol. i., p. 26.
[392] "In the first moment of irritation, Murat ordered all the
prisoners to be tried by a military commission, which condemned them to
death; but the municipality representing to him the extreme cruelty of
visiting this angry ebullition of the people with such severity, he
forbade any executions on the sentence; but forty were shot in the
Prado, by direction of General Grouchy, before Murat could cause his
orders to be effectually obeyed."--NAPIER, vol. i., p. 25.
[393] Southey, vol. i., p. 324.
[394] "Your Imperial Majesty," said they, "who foresees all things, and
executes them still more swiftly, has chosen for the provisional
government of Spain, a prince educated for the art of government in your
own great school. He has succeeded in stilling the boldest storms, by
the moderation and wisdom of his measures."
[395] A letter was also transmitted to Napoleon from the Cardinal
Archbishop of Toledo, the last of the Bourbons who remained in Spain:
"May your Imperial and Royal Majesty," he said, "be graciously pleased
to look upon me as one of your most dutiful subjects, and instruct me
concerning your high purposes."
[396] "The firing on the end of May was heard at Mostoles, a little town
about ten miles south of Madrid; and the alcalde, who knew the situation
of the capital, despatched a bulletin to the south, in these words: 'The
country is in danger; Madrid is perishing through the perfidy of the
French; all Spaniards, come to deliver it!' No other summons was sent
abroad than this!"--SOUTHEY, vol. i., p. 336.
[397] The mob brought cannon against his house, shattered the doors, and
rushed in. Seeing that they were bent upon his death, Solano escaped by
the roof, and took shelter in the house of an English merchant, whose
lady concealed him in a secret closet. The mistress of the house, Mrs.
Strange, in vain endeavoured to save him, by the most earnest
entreaties, and by interposing between him and his merciless assailants.
She was wounded in the arm; and Solano, as he was dragged away, bade her
farewell till eternity! They hauled him towards the gallows, that his
death might be ignominious; others were too ferocious to wait for
this--they cut and stabbed him, while he resigned himself with composure
and dignity to his fate.--See NELLERTO, _Mem._, tom. iii., and CARR'S
_Travels_, p. 47.
[398] "The Emperor could not restrain his passion on reading these
details. Instead of returning home, he went straight to Charles IV. I
accompanied him. On entering, he said to the King, 'See what I have
received from Madrid. I cannot understand this.' The King read the Grand
Duke of Berg's despatch; and no sooner finished it, than with a firm
voice, he said to the Prince of the Peace, 'Emanuel, send for Carlos and
Ferdinand.' They were in no haste to obey the call; and, in the
meantime, Charles IV. observed to the Emperor--'I am much deceived if
these youths have not had something to do with this business. I am very
vexed, but not surprised at it.'"--SAVARY, tom. ii., p. 227.
[399] "Plusieurs milliers des plus mauvais sujects du
pays."--_Moniteur._
[400] Southey, vol. i., p. 403.
[401] Southey, vol. i., p. 438.
[402] "From Vittoria, Joseph sent abroad a proclamation. 'I come among
you,' he said, 'with the utmost confidence, surrounded by estimable men,
who have not concealed from you any thing which they believed to be
useful for your interests. Blind passions, deceitful vices, and the
intrigues of the common enemy of the continent, whose only view is to
separate the Indies from Spain, have precipitated some among you into
the most dreadful anarchy. My heart is rent at the thought. Yet this
great evil may in a moment cease. Spaniards, unite yourselves! come
around my throne! and do not suffer intestine divisions to rob me of the
time, and consume the means which I would fain employ solely for your
happiness.'"