MADRID, _April 15, 1853_.
Ensconced in the bedina, or front compartment of a huge lumbering
diligence, at two o’clock in the morning, I left Murcia, behind eight
mules, a postillion, and two drivers, with the prospect of a hard ride,
over a very uninteresting country, of sixty Spanish leagues--which are
unlike any other for length--the “Camino Real,” or royal road, being
neglected, and in consequence of the winter rains, in horrible order.
The wheel mules are attached to the pole, and guided without bits; the
others draw by long straggling ropes; the coachman sits in the box with
his long whip, and his assistant, who jumps down from time to time and
pelts the animals with sticks, stones, and mud. The postillion rides
a horse beside the first led mule; he is required where the roads are
the worst, and he keeps the track. The mules all have their titles, and
seem to understand the incessant cries, from the India-rubber lungs of
the driver, of Carpintero, Zapetero, Carbonero, and the whole catalogue
of names. The long ears of the animal named, are pricked up, and his
best efforts are made under the cut of the lash, or the whizzing of a
stone past his head.
We pushed through a dreary and uninteresting country some twenty
leagues, with occasional fertile valleys and indifferent villages,
to the Sheffield of Spain, the town of Albacete, where we passed the
night. It is noted in Spain for the manufacture of arms. Population
ten thousand. We were soon surrounded by venders of poniards,
stilettos, and small punalicos, or knives, which the women are said to
conceal in their garters. The Spaniard is very expert in the use of the
knife, and with it concealed under his capa, or cloak, is a dangerous
enemy. The inns are generally great, barn-like stone buildings, with
open patios, or courts, for the entrance of animals and vehicles. The
rooms are generally dirty, with no furniture except cot-beds; and after
an oily garlicky supper, the fleas, and kicking and thrashing of the
mules all night, one is prepared for a comfortable nap in the diligence
over a rough road. The bread is generally excellent throughout Spain,
and chocolate can always be procured.
We made long, tiresome distances, over barren treeless plains, with no
water for irrigation, and no signs of birds or animal life, when we
would suddenly strike a fertile valley, tolerably cultivated by the
scratching process of rude ploughs, but without hedges or landmarks, to
denote proprietorship.
At break of day, and late sunset, the peasants may be seen mounted on
donkeys, or carrying their implements of husbandry, after the hard
toils of the day, returning to their mud or stone hovels, comfortless
and cheerless, not unlike the country people in the interior of Sicily,
who congregate in villages in like manner, and for a motive similar to
the one which actuates them here--safety from the hordes of bandits
which the wars of the Peninsula have produced. The guardias civiles,
whom we met from time to time, have made sad havoc with the Ladrons,
shooting several, and taking many prisoners, so we came through in
safety.
Some of the villages of La Mancha through which we passed, were very
poor, with many beggars; others appeared comfortable, and the people
gay and cheerful, notwithstanding the heavy exactions and badly
administered government. The country, however, was full of historical
interest, as at the left, not far distant, lay Argamasilla del Alba,
in the prison of which Cervantes wrote Don Quixote. Near the villages
many flat, square, open threshing floors, were found, for bruising the
grain with the feet of mules and oxen, after the custom of oriental
countries. I was forcibly reminded of the exploits of Don Quixote
as we approached the village El Toboso, the reputed residence of
the crack-brained knight of the windmills; for here the mills were
numerous, and used for grinding the grain of the country. They look
not unlike giants in the distance, and hence it was perhaps that the
Don assured Sancho that they might get elbow-deep in adventures. It
was a festival day with the peasants, and the dulcineas, with their
half Swiss, half German appearance, in blue and green petticoats,
with handkerchiefs tied under their chins during the Cachucha, the
national dance, and castanets in their hands, and their Cabeleros, in
low crowned, high rimmed, velvet-bound hats, with fancy colored, round
clothes, jackets and leggings, had a happy effect.
On the morning of the third day we breakfasted at Ocana, memorable for
a battle in 1808, in which Marshal Soult, with twenty-five thousand
men, put to flight sixty thousand Spaniards, through good generalship;
the French killed five thousand and took twenty-six thousand prisoners,
with the loss of only one thousand six hundred men, a stroke of luck
reminding one of the famous Texian fight at San Jacinto. The town was
pillaged and almost destroyed--the people left poor and miserable. The
diligences and other vehicles concentrate here from the south and east,
and give it some importance.
From Ocana we passed through a hilly, dreary, and treeless country,
until suddenly, as if by enchantment, burst upon the view the fertile
valley and banks of the Tayos, upon which is situated Aranjuez, the
early summer residence of the royal family, the spires and cupolas of
the palace and outbuildings, looming up like signals for the benighted
traveller in the desert waste. Here is found the only railroad, which
enters the capital, a distance of nine leagues. As I design visiting
the palaces and the gardens when the trees are in full bloom, I shall
defer my remarks until that time.
Upon a small eminence, approaching Madrid, is seen a monument denoting
its geographical position, in the centre of Spain. Madrid is,
comparatively speaking, a modern city; for Spain having risen under
Charles V., who, gouty and phlegmatic, found the cool bracing air
from the mountains adapted to his complaint, he deserted the ancient
capitals of Valladolid, Sevilla, Granada, and Toledo, and fixed his
residence upon several hills upon the banks of a small river, almost
dry in summer, at an elevation of two thousand four hundred feet above
the level of the sea. It was declared the capital by Philip II.,
in 1560. The country about is flat, and without trees; it produces
but little, the climate being changeable; but being the residence
of the royal family, and seat of the government, with its three
hundred thousand population, from all parts of the empire, as well as
strangers, it became the grand focus of attraction and extravagance,
exhausting the revenue and the resources of Spain, both foreign and
provincial. Every article of use is brought from abroad, or from the
provinces, over the caminos reales, or royal roads, which branch off,
but meet north and south. Notwithstanding the aridity of the soil, the
lavish expenditures of former governments have, by means of irrigation,
produced magnificent shaded drives and promenades in the suburbs; among
the number figures the Prado, the resort of all fashionable Madrid in
the evening. It is ten thousand feet in length, and two hundred feet
wide, with fountains and statuary. The salon, or part most frequented,
is about one thousand five hundred feet long, and is occupied by
promenaders of both sexes, in full dress, while thousands of ladies in
mantillas, seated in chairs, are being passed in review by Cabeleros
smoking their cigaritos. The side carriage road is occupied by a long
procession of brilliant equipages and liveried attendants. It is
necessary to sprinkle the grounds, as the fine grey dust is prejudicial
to dress, and destructive to the eyes and lungs.
The Spaniards think there is only one Corte, one Madrid in the
world, and it is not surprising, for the resources of the country
concentrate here. The palace is beautifully situated, and one of
the finest in Europe. The Royal Museum contains the famous national
paintings of Murillo and Velasquez, as well as some of the best gems
of Raphael, Titian, and Michael Angelo; and the immense galleries
of all the different schools of European art, demand several days’
close examination. The chief public amusements are the theatres and
bull-fights; in the former, you see the national dances in all their
perfection; in the latter, which are attended by all classes, to the
extent of some thirty thousand persons, eight or ten bulls, and seven
or ten horses pay the forfeit of their lives. One of their famous
matadors, or swordsmen, died recently, and was interred with great
pomp and ceremony, his coffin being exposed, covered with a black
pall, for twenty-four hours before the high altar, surrounded by tall
burning wax candles. The stately, silver-mounted hearse, with waving
black plumes, was drawn by four horses, in black drapery, followed by a
large number of bearers with torches, and one hundred and ten vehicles,
several of which were of the nobility; then followed a multitude of the
middling classes, while the balconies were filled with ladies.
Near the Palace, on the opposite side of a beautiful circular
promenade, surrounded by trees and the statues of the former kings
of Spain, is situated the opera-house, a fine edifice, erected by
Ferdinand VII. for his convenience. The night piece to the close for
the season is Fra Diavolo. We had a full house, the queen, as well as
the ex-queen Christina and daughters, being present.
Things are in a bad state in Spain; the treasury is bankrupt; the
abuses of the general government are great; constitutional privileges
are only in name; the taxes and imposts upon the farmers are heavy; the
people in the interior are poor; the liberty of the press is abridged;
and all this in a country possessing every variety of soil and climate,
and rich in its productions, both agricultural and metallic.
The all but universal want of honor and good faith of the royal family
and upper classes of society is notorious. The queen mother, one of
the wealthiest capitalists of Europe, is grasping and avaricious;
undertaking enterprises with great benefit to herself, but disastrous
to the tax-payer. The people detest her, but are currying and subdued
when she presents herself.
I was in the Cortes when Bravo Murillo was defending himself from the
charges alleged against him for his acts in granting railway privileges
while minister. The House of Deputies is magnificently fitted up; but
the members, in handsome attire, with white kid and colored gloves,
and gold-headed canes, differ from our working members, surrounded
with their budgets and documents, and up to their eyes in paper, ink,
and public journals. The opposition were exposing the acts of the
government in influencing the public elections, thereby securing their
own instruments of power. This could not be endured, and a royal order
closed the Cortes. The excitement soon passed over; for what can the
reformer do when the whole force of the army is ready to put down any
attempt, and when that arm of strength is the only official department
sure of pay, even when other branches of the public service are
neglected? My opinion is that the day is not far distant when a change
must take place in the affairs of this ill-governed country.