been trained up, that by right of birth, and by the laws and customs of
his country, he was an absolute King; and in this the great majority
of the nation entirely agreed with him. But he had been accustomed
to yield to circumstances which he could not control, feeling in
himself neither the wish nor the strength to struggle against them;
and had the general opinion been in favour of the new constitution, he
would have submitted to it, as he had to his detention at Valençay,
if with no better will, with the same apparent contentment, and the
same convenient insensibility. Certain it is that he had no intention
of overthrowing it when he arrived at Zaragoza:... “there are many
parts of it,” said he, “which I do not approve; but if any opposition
on my part were likely to cause the shedding of one drop of Spanish
blood, I would swear to it immediately.” He soon found that this was
not the national wish; that the people cared for the constitution as
little as they understood it, that they execrated the _Liberales_,
and hated the Cortes for their ♦IMPOLITIC MEASURES OF THE CORTES.♦
sake. That assembly, indeed, had acted toward all classes with such
strange impolicy as to offend or injure all. The nobles, though the
constitution gave them not that weight in the political scale, without
which there can be no well-balanced monarchy, might nevertheless have
submitted to it without repugnance, because they possessed no authority
as an order under the old government: but their property had been
attacked; and a sweeping decree had abolished those feudal rights and
customs from which a large portion of their hereditary revenues was
derived. The clergy might have acquiesced in the suppression of the
Inquisition, if they had not been required to proclaim the triumph
of the _Liberales_, ... a triumph whereby nothing was gained for
toleration, death being still the punishment for any one who should
dare dissent from the Roman Catholic faith. The monasteries might have
been quietly reduced, as Pombal had begun to reduce them, without wrong
to the existing communities, and without offence to the feelings or
prejudices of the nation, simply by forbidding the admittance of new
members: by suppressing them the Cortes not only made the monks and
friars their enemies, but the people also, among whom the revenues
of the former were expended, and over whom the latter exercised far
greater influence than either the gospel or the laws. This measure,
indeed, would have been impolitic, even if the whole expected profit
to the treasury had accrued from it; but as a measure of finance it
was worse than a failure. Purchasers could not be found for church
property thus confiscated, in a country where the people revolted at
this species of sacrilege; the estates, therefore, were administered
for the government; and what with the excuses and opportunities which
were afforded for mal-administration and peculation, it was generally
found that the costs of management consumed the whole proceeds;
whereas a regular impost might always have been levied upon the former
possessors. The necessity of raising money to support the war was the
plea for this suppression; yet the pay of the armies was always greatly
in arrear; and it has been seen how much they suffered for want of
proper clothing and of sufficient food: such evils are always imputed
to the government under which they exist; and as the Cortes had, in
fact, assumed the government, the Cortes were as unpopular with the
soldiers as with the great body of the people. Nothing but the army
could support them if the King should refuse to take upon himself the
yoke which they had prepared for him; yet such was the infatuation of
the _Liberales_, that one of their most influential members said the
liberties of the country could never be safe if there were even four
paid soldiers and a corporal in it; and another described the army as
composed of privileged mercenaries and hired assassins.
Yet this party courted popularity; and while they declaimed in the
hall of the Cortes fancied that they enjoyed it. The galleries were
filled with their admirers; and they had active partizans who could at
any time raise tumult enough out of doors to carry violent measures
by intimidation. The _Serviles_, as they contemptuously called those
who disapproved the new constitution, either wholly or in any of its
parts, were kept silent, some by prudence, others by this system of
terror. ♦FEB. 3.♦ One deputy ventured to say that Ferdinand, as soon as
he arrived, ought to be acknowledged as being born to all the rights
and privileges of an absolute King, and that the constitution ought
therefore to be annulled. The indignation of the _Liberales_ burst
forth at this, and of the galleries also, for the persons who attended
there had always a potential voice; the president thought it prudent
to close the doors, lest the liberal mob should be brought in to take
summary vengeance upon the indiscreet member: a vote for expelling him
was passed, and orders given for commencing a process against him,
upon a law passed in the preceding ♦AUG. 18, 1813.♦ summer, by which
any person who should affirm, either by word of mouth or by writing,
that the constitution ought not to be observed, was to be punished
with perpetual banishment, and the deprivation of all offices, pay,
and honours. Another law had been passed, on the same day, declaring,
that whoever should conspire to establish any other religion in Spain
than the Catholic-Apostolic-Roman religion, or to make the Spanish
nation cease to profess it, should be prosecuted as a traitor, and
suffer death, the established law concerning offences against the
faith remaining in full force. It was only by thus consenting to the
persecution of religious opinions that the _Liberales_ could make the
_Serviles_ concur in a law which gave them authority to persecute for
political ones!
“Happy,” said a journalist who spoke the sentiments of the ruling
party, “happy will be the day when Ferdinand, having been restored to
his faithful subjects, may be thus addressed: Here is your throne,
preserved by the loyalty of your subjects; here is your crown,
repurchased for you by the blood of Spaniards; here is your sceptre,
which Spanish constancy replaces in your hands; here is your royal
robe, purpled with the blood of thousands who have fallen that you
might wear it! Peruse our history; inform yourself of all that the
Spaniards have done for you, and never forget that to the Spanish
people you owe everything. Never forget that you are come to be the
chief of a nation, the monarch of subjects who have abolished the
vestiges of despotism! It is the law which orders; ... the King is the
executive magistrate.... But, that such a day of jubilee may arrive,
King Ferdinand must return absolutely free, neither influenced by the
tyrant of France, nor by Spaniards who are ignorant of the state of
Spain, or who regard our institutions with dislike.” This was written
before the overthrow of Buonaparte, and before Ferdinand’s enlargement,
and perhaps before the _Liberales_ themselves apprehended the
consequence in which their own rashness must inevitably involve them.
Indifferent spectators saw clearly that either the constitution must
be modified, or that the King would make himself absolute again: and
even now, if the _Liberales_ had not been possessed with an overweening
opinion of their own strength, such a modification might have been
effected as would have given the Spaniards all the liberty which they
were willing to receive, and, indeed, all the political freedom which
those who had the sincerest wish for their improvement and their
prosperity could have desired for them. But when the last communication
from Valençay was read in the Cortes, conciliatory as it was intended
to be, and satisfactory as it ought to have been deemed, one member
took a sudden exception to the word _subjects_: “We are not subjects!”
he exclaimed. And another member, expressing his assent to the absurd
exception, said, that the Spanish people were subjects of the law
alone; but that the use of a word which he erroneously represented
as being peculiar to the ancient despotism was accounted for by
Ferdinand’s long imprisonment, and his consequent ignorance of the new
political phraseology of Spain! Meantime the most preposterous projects
were started by those who saw that such language and such opinions were
likely to occasion a struggle, and who saw no farther. Some were for
assembling an army to defend the Cortes against the King; others were
for setting him aside, and appointing his brother, the Infante Don
Carlos, to reign in his stead: and it is said that there was a party in
the Cortes who dreamed of offering the crown to Lord Wellington!
Some of the Guerrilla chiefs are said at this time to have tendered
their services to the Cortes; and this is rendered probable by their
subsequent conduct. The Cortes is supposed to have reckoned, also,
upon Lacy’s attachment to the constitution; but the enthusiasm with
which Ferdinand was received by the troops might have shown them how
little they could expect from any declarations of the military in their
favour. When it was expected that he would proceed from Barcelona to
Valencia, Elio, with the double purpose of rendering most honour to the
King and affording most gratification to the soldiers, proposed a truce
to General Robert, in order that the troops employed in the blockade
of Tortosa might join ♦APRIL.♦ their comrades, who were assembled at
Amposta, to receive him on his way. When Ferdinand apprized them that
he had changed his route, he assigned as a reason his desire of viewing
the ruins of Zaragoza, and showing a mark of respect to that faithful
city. But the season of festivity at Valencia was rather prolonged
than retarded by this deviation; for the Infante Don Antonio proceeded
immediately thither, and his arrival kept the inhabitants in a jubilant
state till the King himself arrived. Ferdinand may have intended to
gain time by this delay for making himself acquainted with the real
state of public opinion; but the visit was probably suggested by
Palafox, without any such view: he knew that it would be creditable to
the King’s feelings, and honourable to the Zaragozans; and what could
be so gratifying to himself as to return under such circumstances to
Zaragoza, where, with a devoted heroism which had never been surpassed,
he had performed his duty to the uttermost, and won for himself a
glorious name not to be stained by calumny, and not to be obscured by
lapse of ages, while any remembrance of these times shall endure.
♦CARDINAL BOURBON’S RECEPTION BY FERDINAND.♦
After tarrying some twelve days at Zaragoza, Ferdinand set out for
Valencia. On the way he was met by his uncle, Cardinal Bourbon, whom,
as President of the Regency, the Cortes had sent to meet the King,
but with a strict injunction that he was not to kiss the King’s hand,
because they deemed any such mark of homage inconsistent with their
dignity. Ferdinand had been apprized of this; and, as a first and easy
trial of his strength, when the Cardinal accosted him, he presented his
hand, and commanded him to kiss it. The old prelate, who had weakly
promised to obey the orders of the Cortes, which in his heart he
disapproved, obeyed the King with better will than grace, after he had
shown a wish to avoid the ceremony; but Ferdinand, having thus humbled
him, turned his back upon him in displeasure, and presently deprived
him of his archbishopric.
The objection to the word subjects might have been imputed to the
folly of the individuals who started and supported it; ... but this
refusal of a ceremony which was as old as the monarchy itself, was
the act of the Cortes as a body, and might well be considered as one
more proof that they, who had so preposterously assumed the title of
Majesty for themselves, were resolved to leave the sovereign little
but his bare title. But Ferdinand had seen the disposition of the
people at Zaragoza; he had seen that all classes heartily united in
reprobating the measures of the Cortes, and that the re-establishment
of the Inquisition was one of the blessings which they expected from
his return The disposition of the ♦ELIO MEETS THE KING. APRIL 15.♦
army was distinctly declared by Elio, who met him at Jaquesa, on the
frontiers of Aragon and Valencia, and addressed him in the name of
the second army, that army, he said, which had shed most blood, and
made most sacrifices for the deliverance of their country and their
King. “Your Majesty,” said he, “arrived in a happy hour to occupy the
throne of your fathers; and the God of Hosts, who by such strange and
wonderful ways has brought your Majesty hither to restore the monarchy
of the Spains, which Nature has given you, may He give you all the
strength of mind and body that are required for governing it worthily:
then, Sire, you will not forget the armies which have deserved so well,
those armies who, having moistened with their blood the land which they
have delivered, find themselves at this day in want, neglected, and
what is worse, outraged; but they trust that you, Sire, will do them
justice!” Elio then offered to resign his General’s staff; and upon
Ferdinand’s declining to receive it, and saying it was well placed in
his hand, the General, with ready adulation, said, “Take it, Sire, ...
let your Majesty grasp it but for a moment, and in that moment it will
acquire new worth, new strength!” The King took the staff accordingly,
and instantly returned it. Elio then requested permission to kiss his
royal hand, and in a short but studied speech, which concluded this
ominous scene, he pledged himself that 40,000 strong right arms should
be as they had been in the worst of times, the support of his throne.
♦FERDINAND ENTERS VALENCIA.♦
Ferdinand entered Valencia on the following evening, drawn into the
city as he had been into every place upon the road by the joyous people
who yoked themselves to his carriage, and who testified by every
possible expression of word and deed their desire of taking the old
yoke upon themselves and upon their children. An English traveller, who
had the good fortune to be present on this memorable day, describes
their enthusiasm as bordering upon madness; he had seen before the
King’s deliverance the extreme unpopularity of the Cortes throughout
Spain, but the feeling which was now manifested surprised him by its
intensity and its eagerness, and by the sudden conversion of those who
but a few days before professed fidelity to the new constitution; those
very persons were now ready to shed their blood in Ferdinand’s cause,
that he might be restored, they said, to the full enjoyment of all the
rights which his fathers had possessed. “Long live the Absolute King!”
was the cry, “and down with the Constitution!”
♦APRIL 17.♦
On the morrow the King went on foot to the cathedral, to be present at
a thanksgiving service for his restoration. The streets were lined with
soldiers; the colours of the crown regiment were lowered as he passed,
so as to be spread before him, that he might see they were stained with
blood; and Elio, who had prepared this scene, said, “I have detained
you for a sight worthy of you! The stains which you see upon this
flag are of the blood of the officer who now holds it, and who, when
covered with wounds, saved it from the enemy at Castalla. The crown
which this blood has dyed seems to say that the blood which the loyal
Spanish army has shed is that which has recovered for you your crown;
and the blood which remains in all the Spanish armies they are ready to
shed for securing you upon the throne in the plenitude of those rights
which Nature has made your portion!” Ferdinand could not have performed
his part better at that moment if he had studied it; he stooped and
kissed the flag, and announced to the standard-bearer, who had before
received no promotion for his services, that he was now promoted. In
the afternoon, after the officers had been presented and had kissed
hands, Elio, in their name and presence, renewed for the army under his
command the oath which the whole loyal Spanish nation had taken in the
year 1808, when Ferdinand was acknowledged King: the constitution was
not mentioned in his address, nor the Cortes; “this oath,” said he,
“they renew by me as their organ upon your royal hand (and he knelt
and kissed the hand at this part of his speech), and they promise your
Majesty that at the price of their blood they will preserve the throne
for you with all those rights to which the heroic Spanish ♦THE OFFICERS
SWEAR FIDELITY TO HIM.♦ nation at that time swore.” Turning then to the
officers, he asked whether these were the sentiments which animated
them? He was answered by a general acclamation of assent: many of them
burst into tears in the strength of their emotion, and some cries were
heard of death to those who did not hold such sentiments, and would not
maintain them! The time came when General Elio paid with his own life’s
blood for this and other services to the absolute cause.
He was indeed an evil counsellor now, acting honestly and bravely,
but upon an erring judgment. Unhappily there never was a time in
which wise counsel was more needed; for if the blind, unreflecting,
generous loyalty of the nation had been rightly estimated, so as to
call forth a generous but thoughtful feeling in return, it would be
rash and presumptuous to say that things might have been settled upon
a sure foundation, but certainly much evil might have been averted,
much wickedness might have been prevented, and blood, and tears, and
misery, might have been spared. General Whittingham, who commanded the
cavalry and artillery in Aragon when the King arrived at Zaragoza, and
who accompanied him by his express orders to Valencia, was ♦GENERAL
WHITTINGHAM’S ADVICE.♦ asked in that city his opinion whether the
King should swear to the constitution or not? He replied, that the
constitution was too democratic to be in accord either with the habits
and opinions of the Spanish people, or with the laws and customs of
the Spanish monarchy; it must be modified therefore in many parts, or
there could be no hope of its duration. Yet one of its articles forbade
the slightest alteration during the space of eight years; and thus the
King, if he swore to it, must either deprive himself of all possibility
of amending it during that time, or be guilty of predetermined perjury.
He delivered it therefore as his opinion, that the King under these
circumstances could not swear to the constitution as it then existed;
but, he added, that the Cortes had deserved well both of the King and
of the country; that the King, unaccompanied by a single soldier,
should in person dissolve the Cortes, should thank them for the service
they had rendered the state, and say that it would gratify him to see
them re-elected by their constituents as members of the Cortes which he
was about to summon.
The British ambassador, Sir Henry Wellesley, had gone to Valencia to
meet the King, and the advice which he gave was to the same effect,
that he should modify the constitution, but not annul it. This indeed
was the opinion which any Englishman who regarded the situation of
Spain with a sincere wish for the peace and prosperity and improvement
of a great and noble nation would then have formed; for this was the
straightforward course which at that golden opportunity it behoved
the King to take. But there were few Spaniards who saw this, few
who were in a state of sufficient equanimity to see it: inflamed by
strong passions, or settled in strong prepossessions which no force
of reason, no lessons of experience could shake, a small minority
were bent upon violent change, a much more powerful and now more
active party were resolved to resist all alteration, even such as was
most needed; while the great majority of the people, looking back
upon the tranquillity they had enjoyed before the war as to a golden
age, desired nothing but to return to their old habits and their old
pursuits, and relapse into their former state of happy indifference to
all political affairs. The care of the nation they were for leaving to
the government, the care of religion to the Holy Office, and the care
of their individual consciences to the priest, as implicitly as they
relied on Providence for the due return of the seasons; and it was with
these, who were the great body of his subjects, that Ferdinand, who
would have been just such a subject himself, was in perfect sympathy.
It is often seen that circumstances awaken dormant genius, and bring
latent qualities into strong action: but no circumstances can raise an
ordinary man to the level of extraordinary times, no circumstances can
give strength to a weak mind; nor can anything but the special grace of
God call forth in the heart a virtue which is not innate in it.
The Cortes at this time repeated their solicitations that the King
would proceed to Madrid, and establish the happiness of Spain; but they
made a show of military preparations to support their own authority;
and they took upon themselves, with singular indiscretion, to regulate
the establishment of his household. But every day ♦MEMORIAL OF THE
SERVILES.♦ now diminished their numbers as well as their strength;
and more than seventy of the members sent a deputation to Valencia to
present a memorial, in which they protested against the measures of the
Cortes as having been carried by force and intimidation, and professed
for themselves, and for the provinces which they represented, fidelity
to their ancient laws and institutions. Beyond all doubt they spoke
the sense of ♦STONE OF THE CONSTITUTION REMOVED.♦ the provinces. In
most of the large towns, the _Plaza Mayor_, or Great Square, had been
new named _Plaza de la Constitucion_, and a stone with these words
engraven on it erected there; at Valencia this was removed one night,
and in the morning what is absurdly called a provisional stone of wood,
was set up in its place, with the words _Real Plaza de Fernando VII._:
this was publicly done; and the provisional stone was first borne under
Ferdinand’s window with military honours, in a long procession formed
by the populace, with officers intermixed, carrying drawn swords, and
bearing the royal flag. A stanza, composed[10] and printed for the
occasion, was soon affixed to it, denouncing, in a ferocious spirit,
vengeance upon any one who should profane it, and upon the liberal
party.
The news of Buonaparte’s deposition, and the consequent termination
of hostilities, reached Ferdinand during his tarriance at Valencia.
Any perplexity which he might have felt (if he could be supposed to
have felt any) concerning the treaty of Valençay was thus removed,
and there was nothing to withdraw his attention from the immediate
object of resuming his absolute authority, and suppressing what he now
regarded as a mere revolutionary faction. He was delayed a week by
indisposition, which confined him to his apartment. The first thing
he did, when he was sufficiently recovered to leave the house, was
to visit all the nunneries, that the nuns might not be disappointed
in their ardent desire of seeing him; and in these visits part of
two days was employed much to the increase of his popularity, this
being at the same time an evidence, it was thought, of good-nature,
and of devout respect to the superstition of the country. When ♦BREVE
RELACION DE LOS SUCESOS EN VALENCIA.♦ these visits were concluded, he
attended an evening _Te Deum_ in the cathedral, performed by the light
of 20,000 tapers; after which he and the Infantes adored a chalice of
legendary reputation which is venerated there. Hitherto there had been
no avowal of the course which he intended to pursue; but on this day a
declaration appeared, signed ♦FERDINAND’S DECLARATION. MAY 4.♦ by the
King and by Macanaz, as Secretary of State, with special powers for
this peculiar occasion. In this memorable paper, Ferdinand, speaking
in his own person, began by briefly touching upon his accession to
the throne, and his imprisonment, at the commencement of which he had
issued, he said, as well as he could, while surrounded by force, a
decree addressed to the Council of Castille, or, in defect of it, to
any other chancellery or audience that might be at liberty, requiring
them to convoke a Cortes which should employ itself solely on the
immediate business of taking measures and raising supplies for the
defence of the kingdom, and remain permanent for other emergencies.
This decree had arrived too late; and when the Cortes of 1810 was
assembled, the states of the nobility and clergy were not summoned
to it, although the Central Junta had so directed; and the members,
after taking the oaths, “whereby,” said he, “they bound themselves
to preserve to me, as their sovereign, all my dominions, on the
very day of their installation, and for a commencement of their
proceedings, despoiled me of the sovereignty which they had just before
acknowledged, attributing it nominally to the nation, for the purpose
of appropriating it to themselves, and then dictating what laws they
pleased. Thus, without authority from province, place, or junta, and
without the knowledge of those which were said to be represented by
substitute members, they imposed upon the nation the yoke of a new
constitution, wherein almost the whole form of the old constitution
of the monarchy was changed; and, copying the revolutionary and
democratical principles of the French constitution of 1791, they
sanctioned ... not the fundamental laws of a moderate monarchy, ... but
those of a popular government, with a chief or magistrate, their mere
delegated executor, and not a King, although they gave him that name to
deceive and seduce the unwary. They carried these laws by means of the
threats and violence of those persons with whom the galleries of the
Cortes were filled; giving thus the colour of the general will to what
was in fact only the work of a faction. With the same want of liberty,
the constitution was signed and sworn to; and it was notorious to all
what had been the treatment of the respectable Bishop of Orense, and
the punishment with which others had been threatened who refused to
sign and swear to it.”
He proceeded then to say in what manner revolutionary principles had
been diffused in journals, some of which were edited by members of the
Cortes; that king, and tyrant, and despot had been used as synonymous
terms; that the army and navy and other establishments which used
to be called royal, had been re-named national, in order to flatter
the people, who, nevertheless, in spite of these arts, retained by
their native loyalty the good feelings which always formed their
character. “Of all this,” he continued, “since I happily re-entered the
kingdom, I have been acquiring faithful information, partly by my own
observation, and partly from the public papers, in which, up to this
day, representations of my coming and of my character are circulated,
so false and infamous in themselves, that even with regard to any other
individual they would be heavy offences, worthy of severe exposure and
punishment. Such unexpected circumstances have filled my heart with
bitterness, which has only been tempered by demonstrations of affection
from all those who hoped for my arrival, that my presence might put an
end to these evils, and to the oppression in which those were held who
preserved the remembrance of my person, and desired the true happiness
of their country. True and loyal Spaniards, I promise and vow to you
that you shall not be deceived in your noble hopes! Your sovereign
wishes to be so for your sake; and in this he places his glory, ... in
being the sovereign of an heroic nation, who by immortal deeds have
gained the admiration of all, and preserved their liberty and their
honour. I abhor and detest despotism: the intelligence and cultivation
of the nations of Europe do not suffer it now; neither in Spain have
its Kings ever been despots, nor have its good laws and constitution
authorized it, though by misfortune there may have been from time to
time there, as every where, and in every thing human, abuses which no
possible constitution can entirely preclude; and these were not the
faults of the constitution, but of individuals, and the effects of
melancholy but very rare circumstances which gave occasion to them.
Yet to prevent them as far as may be by human foresight, preserving
the honour of the royal dignity and its rights (for rights it has) and
those which belong to the people, which are equally inviolable, I will
consult with the _procuradores_ of Spain and of the Indies, and in a
Cortes, legitimately assembled, composed of both, as soon as they can
be brought together, (order having been restored, and the good usages
in which the nation has lived, and which with its accord the Kings, my
august predecessors, have established,) every thing that can conduce to
the good of my kingdom shall be firmly and legitimately established,
that my subjects may live prosperously and happily under a religion and
a government closely united in an indissoluble tie, wherein and wherein
alone consists the temporal happiness of a King and a kingdom bearing
for excellence the title of Catholic. Immediate preparations shall be
made for assembling these Cortes. Liberty and security, individual and
royal, shall be firmly secured by means of laws, which, guaranteeing
public tranquillity and order, shall leave to all that wholesome
liberty, the undisturbed enjoyment of which distinguishes a moderate
government from an arbitrary and despotic one. This just liberty
all, likewise, shall enjoy to communicate their ideas and thoughts
through the press, that is, within those limits which sound reason
prescribes to all, that it degenerate not into licentiousness; for the
respect which is due to religion and to government, and that which men
ought mutually to observe towards each other, can under no civilized
government be reasonably permitted to be violated with impunity. All
suspicion, also, of any waste of the public revenues shall cease; those
which shall be assigned for the expenses required for the honour of my
royal person and family, and that of the nation which I have the glory
to govern being separated from the revenues, which, with consent of
the kingdom, may be assigned for the maintenance of the state in all
the branches of its administration. And the laws which shall hereafter
serve as a rule of action for my subjects shall be established in
concert with the Cortes; so that these bases may serve as an authentic
declaration of my royal intentions in the government with which I
am about to be charged, and will represent to all, not a despot or a
tyrant, but a King and a father of his subjects.”
He went on to say, that having heard complaints from all parts
against the constitution, and against the measures of the Cortes, ...
considering also the mischiefs which had sprung therefrom, and would
increase if he should sanction that constitution with his consent,
... acting, moreover, in conformity to the decided and general
demonstration of the wishes of his people, wishes which were just in
themselves and well founded, he declared that he would not swear to
the Cortes, but that he annulled it, and abrogated all such of its
acts as derogated from the rights and prerogatives of his sovereignty
established by that constitution and those laws under which the nation
had so long lived. And he declared all persons guilty of high treason
who should attempt to support them, and to excite discontent and
disturbance in his dominions, whether by writing, word, or deed. The
administration was to go on under the present system till the old one
could be restored; and the political and administrative branches till
the future Cortes should have determined upon the permanent order of
this part of the government. But from the day on which this his decree
should be published and communicated to the President of the Cortes,
the sittings of that Cortes should cease; all their papers should be
delivered to the officers charged with the execution of this decree,
and deposited in the house of the _Ayuntamiento_ of Madrid, and the
room in which they were deposited be locked and sealed up; and whoever
should obstruct the execution of the decree, should be deemed guilty
of high treason, and punished with death. All proceedings pending for
any infraction of the constitution were to cease; and all persons
imprisoned for such infraction to be set at liberty forthwith. “Such,”
the King concluded, “is my will, because the welfare and happiness of
the nation require it.”
By another decree of the same date, Ferdinand conferred upon the
capital, in testimony of his esteem and gratitude, and in earnest of
some more signal favour, the privilege of adding to its appellation of
the “right noble, loyal, and imperial town of Madrid,” that of “heroic”
also; and upon its _Ayuntamiento_ the title of “excellency.” In this
decree, also, he ordered a hundred doubloons to be distributed in each
of the parishes of Madrid, on the day when he should make his entrance;
and he regretted that circumstances did not allow him to give greater
proofs of his natural bounty. ♦FERDINAND SETS OUT FOR MADRID. MAY 5.♦
On the following day he departed for Madrid. Such were the multitudes
who came from far and near to obtain a sight of their King, that one
continued concourse of people lined the whole way from Valencia. Every
village devised some means of displaying its loyalty; some by erecting
triumphal arches, such as their abilities could afford; others by
strewing the road with branches and flowers for miles together. The
Cortes, as he approached, could no longer dream of resistance; the
decree which abrogated their constitution and put an end to their
authority was posted in the streets of Madrid, countersigned by General
Eguia, as Captain-General of New Castille, and Political and Military
Governor of the Province, now by the King appointed; and deputations
from its Audience and its _Ayuntamiento_ went to meet him at Aranjuez,
where he halted two days, and where the rejoicing of the inhabitants,
and the illuminations which they exhibited, and the confluence of
visitors, contrasted strangely with the devastation that the French
had committed there; for they had stripped the gardens of every thing
which could be carried away, and had destroyed or mutilated the statues
and the fountains.
♦HE ENTERS MADRID.
MAY 12.♦
Such members of the Cortes as were marked for the King’s displeasure
were arrested on the night before his arrival by General Eguia. On the
13th Eguia went out with the grandees in procession, habited in the
ancient costume, to meet him. The Majorcan division lined the Prado,
from the Puerta de Atocha, at which he entered, and the Calle de Alcala
to the Puerta del Sol, ... not to overawe the people (for a corporal
and four soldiers might have repressed any discontent that appeared
that day), but to increase the pomp and splendour of the festival. In
the highest part of the Calle de Alcala, ... and no scene could be
better suited to such a pageant, ... a triumphal arch had been erected,
as imposing in appearance as if it had been of durable materials.
The balconies were hung with silk of various colours, fringed with
gold and silver; and Ferdinand made his entrance amid the salute of
cannon, and the sound of bells from all the churches, and the shouts
and acclamations of an innumerable multitude rising above all. Their
invaders had been totally defeated and expelled; their strong places
were recovered; their national independence had been gloriously
vindicated and established; the tyrant who had deceived, and outraged,
and insulted them, had been beaten from his throne; the Intruder whom
he had set over them had been hunted out of their land; their King,
... their legitimate, their popular, their beloved King was restored!
Greater joy could not have been expressed, greater happiness could not
have been felt, if that King had been in all respects deserving of the
generous enthusiasm which was that day manifested for his sake.
♦SUBSEQUENT CONDUCT OF THE PEOPLE AND OF THE GOVERNMENT.♦
If Ferdinand had now performed the promises which were distinctly
made in his declaration, he might have averted much, if not all, of
the subsequent danger which he incurred, and the just reproaches
which will be attached to his name in history. It ought not to be
said that in making those promises he had no intention of fulfilling
them; for though he scrupled at no dissimulation when under duresse,
they were voluntary in this case, and the temper of the nation, then
unequivocally declared, was such, that no purpose was to be gained by
it. Ferdinand was a person of narrow mind, and his heart seems to have
been incapable of generous feeling; but he was not a wicked man, nor
would he have been a bad King if he had met with wise ministers, and
had ruled over an enlightened people. On the two important subjects of
civil and religious freedom he and the great body of the nation were
in perfect sympathy, ... both, upon both subjects, imbued with error
to the core; and the popular feeling in both cases outran his. The
word Liberty (_Libertad_) appeared in large bronze letters over the
entrance of the Hall of the Cortes in Madrid. The people of their own
impulse hurried thither to remove it; they set up ladders, forced out
letter by letter from the stone, and as each was thrown into the street
the spectators renewed their shouts of exultation. They collected as
many of the journals of the Cortes, and of the papers and pamphlets
of the _Liberales_, as could be got together; formed a procession in
which the religious fraternities, and the clergy regular and secular,
took the lead; piled up these papers in one of the public squares,
and sacrificed them there as a political _auto-da-fé_, after which
high mass was performed and _Te Deum_ sung, as a thanksgiving for
their triumph. The Stone of the Constitution, as it was called, was
everywhere removed, and replaced as it had been at Valencia. The people
at Seville deposed all the existing authorities, elected others in
their stead to all the offices which had existed under the old system,
and then required those authorities to re-establish the Inquisition. In
re-establishing that accursed tribunal by a formal act of government,
in suppressing the freedom of the press, which had been abused to its
own destruction, and in continuing to govern not merely as an absolute
monarch, but as a despotic one, Ferdinand undoubtedly complied with
the wishes of the Spanish nation. He did these things conformably to
his own misguided conscience and weak judgment, as well as to his
inclinations; and for so doing he was, by the voice of the people, a
patriotic and popular King. In all this he cannot justly be charged
with anything worse than error of judgment; fearfully injurious indeed
in its consequences, but in the individual to be pitied as well as
pardoned. But, in his treatment of the more conspicuous persons among
the _Liberales_, whom he condemned to strict and long imprisonment,
many of them for life, he brought upon himself an indelible reproach,
and incurred the guilt of individual sin. Quintana, who, more than
any other person, contributed by his eloquent writings to excite and
sustain the national spirit, and awaken the sympathy of other nations,
was one of the victims thus sentenced, and his life is said to have
been not the only one which was shortened by severe confinement.
♦LORD WELLINGTON RETURNS TO ENGLAND.♦
But the peninsular war concludes with the return of Ferdinand to
Madrid; and its history may best be concluded with the return to his
own country of the General by whom it was brought to this triumphant
termination. A dukedom was conferred upon Lord Wellington, £300,000
were voted by Parliament for the purchase of an estate suitable to
the dignity, and such an additional grant of income as made up the
annual amount of his parliamentary allowances to £17,000. ♦HE TAKES
HIS SEAT IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS. JUNE 28.♦ He had not been in England
since he was raised to the peerage; and thus it happened, that when he
was introduced into the House of Lords to take his seat, his patents
of creation as Baron, Earl, Marquis, and Duke were all to be read on
the same day. No ceremony of honour was omitted on this occasion: the
Duchess his wife, and his mother, the Countess of Mornington, were
present to behold it, being seated below the throne. After the oaths
had been administered, and he had taken his seat, the Lord Chancellor
♦THE LORD CHANCELLOR’S SPEECH.♦ Eldon addressed him for the purpose
of conveying the thanks of the House, which had been voted to him on
the preceding evening, for the twelfth time. In performing this duty,
Lord Eldon said, he could not refrain from calling the attention of
his Grace, and of the noble Lords present, to a circumstance singular
in the history of that House, ... that upon his introduction he had
gone through every dignity of the peerage in this country which it
was in the power of the crown to bestow. These dignities had been
conferred upon him for eminent and distinguished services; and he
would not have the presumption to attempt to state the nature of
those services, nor to recapitulate those brilliant acts which had
given immortality to the name of Wellington, and placed this empire
on a height of military renown of which there was no example in its
history. He could not better discharge the duty which had devolved upon
him than by recurring to the terms in which that House had so often
expressed their sense of the energy, the unremitting exertions, the
ardour, and the ability with which the noble Duke had conducted the
arduous campaigns of the Peninsula, ... exertions and ability which
finally enabled him to place the allied armies in the heart of France,
fighting their way there through the blaze of victory. The glorious
result of his victories had been to achieve the peace and security of
his country; while, by his example, he had animated the rest of Europe,
and enabled her governments to restore their ancient order. The Lord
Chancellor then expressed his own satisfaction in being the instrument
of informing the Duke that the House unanimously voted their thanks for
his eminent and unremitted services, and their congratulations upon his
return to his country.
♦THE HOUSE OF COMMONS CONGRATULATE HIM ON HIS RETURN.♦
The House of Commons in voting their thanks had voted also that a
committee of the House should wait upon his Grace to communicate the
same, and to offer him their congratulations on his return. The Duke
in reply signified that he was desirous of expressing to the House his
answer in person. He was admitted in consequence the following day; a
chair was set for him toward the middle of the House: he came in making
his obeisances, ♦JULY 1. HE RETURNS THANKS TO THE HOUSE.♦ the whole
House rising upon his entrance. The Speaker having informed him that
there was a chair in which he might repose himself, the Duke sat down,
covered for some time, the serjeant standing on his right hand with the
mace grounded, and the House resumed their seats. The Duke then rose
and uncovered, and addressed the Speaker thus: “I was anxious to be
permitted to attend this House in order to return my thanks in person
for the honour they have done me in deputing a committee of members to
congratulate me on my return to this country; and this after the House
had animated my exertions by their applause upon every occasion which
appeared to merit their approbation; and after they had filled up the
measure of their favours by conferring upon me, at the recommendation
of the Prince Regent, the noblest gift that any subject had ever
received.
“I hope it will not be deemed presumptuous in me to take this
opportunity of expressing my admiration of the great efforts made by
this House and by the country, at a moment of unexampled pressure and
difficulty, in order to support the great scale of operation by which
the contest was brought to so fortunate a termination.
“By the wise policy of Parliament the government was enabled to give
the necessary support to the operations which were carried on under
my direction; and I was encouraged by the confidence reposed in me by
his Majesty’s ministers and by the Commander-in-chief, by the gracious
favour of his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, and by the reliance
which I had on the support of my gallant friends the general officers
of the army, and on the bravery of the officers and troops, to carry
on the operations in such a manner as to acquire for me those marks of
the approbation of this House, for which I have now the honour to make
my humble acknowledgments. Sir, it is impossible for me to express the
gratitude which I feel; I can only assure the House that I shall always
be ready to serve his Majesty in any capacity in which my services can
be deemed useful, with the same zeal for my country which has already
acquired for me the approbation of this House.”
♦THE SPEAKER’S SPEECH.♦
Mr. Abbot, the Speaker, who had sat covered during this speech, then
stood up uncovered, and replied to his Grace in these words: “My Lord,
since last I had the honour of addressing you from this place, a series
of eventful years has elapsed, but none without some mark and note of
your rising glory.
“The military triumphs which your valour has achieved upon the banks
of the Douro and the Tagus, of the Ebro and the Garonne, have called
forth the spontaneous shouts of admiring nations. Those triumphs it is
needless at this day to recount. Their names have been written by your
conquering sword in the annals of Europe, and we shall hand them down
with exultation to our children’s children.
“It is not, however, the grandeur of military success which has alone
fixed our admiration, or commanded our applause; it has been that
generous and lofty spirit which inspired your troops with unbounded
confidence, and taught them to know that the day of battle was always
a day of victory; that moral courage and enduring fortitude which, in
perilous times, when gloom and doubt had beset ordinary minds, stood
nevertheless unshaken; and that ascendency of character which, uniting
the energies of jealous and rival nations, enabled you to wield at will
the fates and fortunes of mighty empires.
“For the repeated thanks and grants bestowed upon you by this House, in
gratitude for your many and eminent services, you have thought fit this
day to offer us your acknowledgments: but this nation well knows that
it is still largely your debtor; it owes to you the proud satisfaction,
that amidst the constellation of great and illustrious warriors who
have recently visited our country, we could present to them a leader of
our own, to whom all, by common acclamation, conceded the pre-eminence.
And when the will of Heaven, and the common destinies of our nature,
shall have swept away the present generation, you will have left your
great name and example as an imperishable monument, exciting others
to like deeds of glory, and serving at once to adorn, defend, and
perpetuate the existence of this country amongst the ruling nations of
the earth.”
With these honours was the Duke of Wellington received, and such
honours were never more fully deserved. Since the peace of Utrecht,
in which the interests of Europe were sacrificed by that party-spirit
which is the reproach of England, our military reputation had declined.
The American war contributed to lower us in the estimation of our
neighbours; for though the courage of our men was never found wanting
in the day of trial, the circumstances of that contest were such that,
after the first season for vigorous measures was gone by, success
became morally impossible. This was not taken into the account. The
war ended to our loss; and the disgrace which should exclusively have
attached to our councils affected our arms also. When the Duke of
York was made commander-in-chief, our military establishments were in
a wretched state; boys held commissions literally before they were
out of leading-strings; there was not a single institution in Great
Britain wherein tactics were taught; and it was in France that young
Arthur Wellesley learned the elements of war! The Duke of York soon
began a silent and efficient reform; abuse after abuse was removed,
defect after defect supplied; but these improvements were known only to
persons connected with the army; and its military character suffered
materially in the revolutionary war from causes which are neither
imputable to the commander, nor to the soldiers under him: for then
also, as in the American war, they were placed in circumstances which
rendered success impossible. The evil, however, was done. The enemy
insulted us; the continental nations were persuaded that we were not
a military people; and we, contenting ourselves with our acknowledged
maritime supremacy, were but too ready to assent to an opinion which in
its consequences must have operated as a death-sentence upon national
honour, national power, and national independence. It is not too much
to say that our army would have sunk into contempt, if the expedition
to Egypt had not thrown some splendour over the close of a most
ill-fated and ill-conducted war. But the effect which that expedition
produced upon public feeling soon passed away; and the French convinced
themselves that our success had been owing to the incapacity of their
commander, the disputes among their generals, and the universal desire
of their troops to escape from Egypt, ... any cause rather than the
true one. A second war broke out; and while the enemy obtained the most
signal victories, we had only the solitary battle of Maida to boast,
which was upon so small a scale, and so nugatory in its consequences,
that the continent never heard of it, though our disgrace at Buenos
Ayres was known everywhere.
Meantime the French had persuaded Europe as well as themselves that
Buonaparte was the greatest military genius of ancient or of modern
times; that his generals were all consummate masters in the art of war;
and that his troops were, in every respect, the best in the world.
This opinion was more than ever prevalent when Sir Arthur Wellesley
took the command in Portugal in 1809, and began a career which, when
all circumstances are considered, may truly be said to be unparalleled
in military history. He entered upon that career at a time when the
military reputation and the military power of France were at their
greatest height; when a belief that it was impossible to resist the
commanding genius and inexhaustible resources of Buonaparte had been
inculcated in this country with pestilent activity, and had deeply
tainted the public mind. Daily and weekly, monthly and quarterly, this
poison was administered with the most mischievous perseverance in
newspapers, magazines, and reviews. Never was there an opinion more
injurious, more fatal to the honour, interest, safety, independence,
and existence of the country; yet was it propagated by writers who
were then held in the highest estimation, and they enforced it with a
zeal which arrayed their passions, and seemed to array their wishes,
as well as their intellect, on the enemy’s side; and with a confidence
which boldly affirmed that nothing but folly or madness could presume
to doubt their predictions. Suicidal as the belief was, it was the
creed of that party in the state to which these writers had attached
themselves; and no effort was omitted on their part for deadening the
hopes, thwarting the exertions, disgusting the allies, and encouraging
the enemies of their country. Our government was not influenced by such
advisers; but it was long before its exertions were commensurate with
the occasion; and during four years Lord Wellington was crippled by the
inadequacy of his means. Yet, even when thus crippled, he contended
successfully against the undivided power of France. Every operation
of the British army under his command tended to give the troops and
the nation fresh confidence in their general, and to impress upon the
enemy a proper sense of the British character. Wherever he met the
French he defeated them; whenever he found it necessary to retire for
want of numbers, or of food, or of co-operation in the Spaniards, it
was in such order, and so leisurely, as neither to raise the hopes of
the enemy, nor abate those of his army, or of his allies. After the
battle of Talavera, and the series of provoking misconduct by which
the effects of that victory were frustrated, he distinctly perceived
the course which the enemy would pursue, and, anticipating all their
temporary advantages (which yet he omitted no occasion of opposing
and impeding), he saw and determined how and where the vital struggle
must be made. The foresight of a general was never more admirably
displayed; and if there be one place in the Peninsula more appropriate
than another for a monument to that leader whose trophies are found
throughout the whole, it is in the lines of Torres Vedras that a
monument to Lord Wellington should be erected. When he took his stand
there, Lisbon was not the only stake of that awful contest: the fate
of Europe was in suspense; and they who, like Homer, could see the
balance in the hand of Jupiter, might then have perceived that the
fortunes of France were found wanting in the scale. There the spell
which bound the nations was broken; the plans of the tyrant were
baffled, his utmost exertions when he had no other foe and no other
object were defied; his armies were beaten; and Europe, taking heart
when she beheld the deliverance of Portugal, began to make a movement
for her own, ... for that spirit by which alone her deliverance could
be effected was excited. Foresight and enterprise, meantime, with
our commander went hand in hand; he never advanced, but so as to be
sure of his retreat; and never retreated, but in such an attitude as
to impose upon a superior enemy. He never gave an opportunity, and
never lost one. His movements were so rapid as to deceive and astonish
the French, who prided themselves upon their own celerity. He foiled
general after general, defeated army after army, captured fortress
after fortress; and, raising the military character of Great Britain to
its old standard in the days of Marlborough, made the superiority of
the British soldier over the Frenchman as incontestable as that of the
British seaman.
The spirit of the country rose with its successes. England once more
felt her strength, and remembered the part which she had borne, and
the rank which she had asserted in the days of her Edwards and her
Henrys. Buonaparte had bestowed upon France the name of the Sacred
Territory, boasting, as one of the benefits conferred upon her by his
government, that France alone remained inviolable when every other
part of the continent was visited by the calamities of war. That boast
was no longer to hold good! Our victories in the Peninsula prepared the
deliverance of Europe, and Lord Wellington led the way into France. A
large portion of his army consisted of Portugueze and Spaniards, who
had every imaginable reason to hate the people among whom they went
as conquerors; they had seen the most infernal cruelties perpetrated
in their own country by the French soldiers; and it might have been
supposed, prone as their national character was to revenge, that they
would eagerly seize the opportunity for vengeance. But such was Lord
Wellington’s influence over the men whom he conducted to victory, that
not an outrage, not an excess, not an insult was committed; and the
French, who had made war like savages in every country which they had
invaded, experienced all the courtesies and humanities of generous
warfare when they were invaded themselves. In Gascony, as well as in
Portugal and Spain, the Duke of Wellington’s name was blessed by the
people. Seldom indeed has it fallen to any conqueror to look back upon
his career with such feelings! The marshal’s staff, the dukedom, the
honours and rewards which his Prince and his country so munificently
and properly bestowed, were neither the only nor the most valuable
recompense of his labours. There was something more precious than
these, more to be desired than the high and enduring fame which he had
secured by his military achievements, ... the satisfaction of thinking
to what end those achievements had been directed; ... that they were
for the deliverance of two most injured and grievously oppressed
nations; ... for the safety, honour, and welfare of his own country;
... and for the general interests of Europe and of the civilized world.
His campaigns were sanctified by the cause; ... they were sullied by
no cruelties, no crimes; the chariot-wheels of his triumphs have been
followed by no curses; ... his laurels are entwined with the amaranths
of righteousness, and upon his death-bed he might remember his
victories among his good works.
This is the great and inappreciable glory of England in this portion
of its history, that its war in the Peninsula was in as strict
conformity with the highest principles of justice as with sound state
policy. No views of aggrandizement were entertained either at its
commencement or during its course, or at its termination; conquests
were not looked for, commercial privileges were not required. It was
a defensive, a necessary, a retributive war; engaged in as the best
means of obtaining security for ourselves, but having also for its
immediate object “to loose the bands of wickedness,” and to break the
yoke of oppression, and “to let the oppressed go free.” And this great
deliverance was brought about by England, with God’s blessing on a
righteous cause. If France has not since that happy event continued
to rest under a mild and constitutional monarchy, ... if Spain has
relapsed into the abuses of an absolute one, ... if the Portugueze
have not supported that character which they recovered during the
contest, ... it has been because in all these instances there were
national errors which retained their old possession, and national sins
which were not repented of. But the fruits of this war will not be
lost upon posterity: for in its course it has been seen that the most
formidable military power which ever existed in the civilized world
was overthrown by resolute perseverance in a just cause; it has been
seen also that national independence depends upon national spirit, but
that even that spirit in its highest and heroic degree may fail ...
if wisdom to direct it be wanting. It has been seen what guilt and
infamy men, who might otherwise have left an honourable name, entailed
upon themselves, because, hoping to effect a just end by iniquitous
means, they consented to a wicked usurpation, and upheld it by a system
of merciless tyranny, sinning against their country and their own
souls: this was seen in the Spanish ministers of the Intruder; and the
Spanish reformers, more lamentably for Spain, but more excusably for
themselves, have shown the danger of attempting to carry crude theories
of government into practice; and hurrying on precipitate changes,
from the consequences of which men too surely look to despotism for
protection or for deliverance. These lessons have never been more
memorably exemplified than in the Peninsular War; and for her own
peculiar lesson, England, it may be hoped, has learnt to have ever
from thenceforth a just reliance, under Providence, upon her resources
and her strength; ... under Providence, I say, for if that support be
disregarded, all other will be found to fail.
* * * * *
My task is ended here: and if in the course of this long and faithful
history, it should seem that I have any where ceased to bear the
ways of Providence in mind, or to have admitted a feeling, or given
utterance to a thought inconsistent with glory to God in the highest,
and good-will towards men, let the benevolent reader impute it to that
inadvertence or inaccuracy of expression from which no diligence,
however watchful, can always be secure; and as such let him forgive
what, if I were conscious of it, I should not easily forgive in myself.
_Keswick, 26th March, 1832._
Laus Deo.
LIST OF PUBLICATIONS
CONCERNING THE
PENINSULAR WAR.
Introduction to the History of the Revolution in Spain. By Alvaro
Florez Estrada, Attorney-General of the Province of Asturias.
Translated from the author’s manuscript by William Burdon. 8vo.
Memoir written by General Sir Hew Dalrymple, Bart., of his Proceedings
as connected with the Affairs of Spain and the Commencement of the
Peninsular War. 8vo.
Proceedings upon the Inquiry relative to the Armistice and Convention,
&c., made and concluded in Portugal, in August, 1808, between the
Commanders of the British and French Armies. Ordered by the House of
Commons to be printed.
A Narrative of the Campaign of the British Army in Spain commanded by
Sir John Moore, K. B., authenticated by official papers and original
letters. By his brother, James Moore, Esq. 4to.
Narrative of the Campaigns in Portugal and Spain under Generals Sir
Arthur Wellesley and Sir John Moore, from the landing of the troops in
Mondego Bay to the Battle of Corunna; accompanied by all the official
documents, and numerous engravings from drawings made on the spot. By
Adam Neale, M.D., Physician to the Forces. 4to.
Letters from Portugal and Spain, written during the march of the
British troops under Sir John Moore. 8vo.
Operations of the British Army in Spain, with broad Hints to the
Commissariat and Transport Board, and Anecdotes illustrative of the
real Spanish Character.
A Narrative of the Circumstances attending the Retreat of the British
Army under the Command of the late Lieutenant-General Sir John Moore.
By Henry Milburne, surgeon.
An Account of the Operations of the British Army, and of the State
and Sentiments of the People of Portugal and Spain. By the Rev. James
Wilmot Ormsby. 2 vols. 8vo.
Observations on the Movements of the British Army in Spain. By a
British Officer.
Narrative of the Siege of Zaragoza. By Charles Richard Vaughan, M.B.,
Fellow of All-Soul’s, Oxford, and one of Dr. Radcliffe’s Travelling
Fellows from that University.
A Narrative of the interesting Particulars attending the second Siege
of Zaragoza. Translated from the Spanish by William Buy, Esq.
The Journal of a Regimental Officer during the recent Campaign in
Portugal and Spain under Lord Viscount Wellington. 8vo.
A Narrative of the Campaigns of the Loyal Lusitanian Legion, under
Brigadier-General Sir Robert Wilson, Aide-de-camp to his Majesty and
Knight of the Orders of Maria Theresa and of the Tower and Sword, with
some Account of the Military Operations in Spain and Portugal during
the years 1809–1811. 8vo.
Memoir of the Early Campaigns of the Duke of Wellington in Portugal and
Spain. By an Officer employed in his army. 8vo.
A Narrative of the principal Events of the Campaigns of 1809–10–11 in
Spain and Portugal. By Captain Stothert. 1812.
A Journal of the Campaign in Portugal and Spain, containing Remarks on
the Inhabitants, Customs, Trade, and Cultivation of those Countries,
from the year 1809–1812. By the late Major-General Henry Mackinnon. 8vo.
A Narrative of the Retreat of the British Army from Burgos, in a series
of Letters, with an Introductory Sketch of the Campaign of 1812, and
Military Character of the Duke of Wellington. By George Frederick
Burroughs, Surgeon, Bristol, late Assistant Surgeon of the Royal
Dragoons. 8vo.
Memoirs of the late Lieutenant-General Sir James Leith, G. C. B., with
a Précis of some of the most remarkable Events of the Peninsular War.
By a British Officer. 8vo.
Relation of the Siege of Tarragona, and the storming and capture of
that city by the French, in June, 1811. By Field-Marshal Don Juan Senen
de Contrenas, Governor of that fortress at the time of the siege.
London.
A Treatise on the Defence of Portugal, with a military map of the
country; to which is added, A Sketch of the Manners and Customs of
the Inhabitants, and principal Events of the Campaigns under Lord
Wellington. By William Granville Eliot, Captain in the Royal Regiment
of Artillery. 8vo.
Observations on the Present State of the Portugueze Army, as organized
by Lieutenant-General Sir William Carew Beresford, K.B., Field-Marshal
and Commander-in-Chief of that Army, with an Account of the different
Military Establishments and Laws of Portugal, and a Sketch of the
Campaigns of the last and present year, during which the Portugueze
Army was brought into the field against the enemy, for the first time
as a regular force. By Andrew Halliday, M.D. 4to.
Memoranda relative to the Lines thrown up to save Lisbon, in 1810. By
Colonel John T. Jones, R.E. 8vo. Printed for private circulation.
Memoir of the Queen of Etruria, written by herself; an authentic
Narrative of the seizure and removal of Pope Pius VII. on the 6th of
July, 1809; with genuine Memoirs of his Journey from Rome to France,
and thence to Savona. Written by one of his attendants. Translated from
the Italian. 8vo.
Memoirs of the Baron de Kolli, relative to his secret mission in
1810 for liberating Ferdinand VII., King of Spain, from captivity at
Valençay. Written by himself. To which are added, Memoirs of the Queen
of Etruria. Written by herself. 8vo.
Memoirs of Ferdinand VII., King of Spain. By Don ----, Advocate of the
Spanish Tribunals. Translated from the original Spanish manuscript. By
Michael J. Quin, author of “A Visit to Spain in 1812 and 1823.” 8vo.
The Two Minas and the Spanish Guerillas, extracted and translated
from a work “On Spain,” written by Captain H. Von Brandt, a Prussian
officer, who served in one of the Polish regiments attached to the
French army during the Peninsular War. By a British officer. 8vo.
A Short Extract from the Life of General Mina. Published by himself.
8vo.
Anecdotes of British and Spanish Heroism, displayed at Tarafa during
the late memorable siege of that place, &c. 1812.
The Military Exploits, &c. &c., of Don Juan Martin Diez, the
Empecinado, who first commenced and then organized the system of
Guerilla warfare in Spain; to which is added, that Chieftain’s
celebrated Representation to the King of Spain. Translated by a general
officer. 8vo.
The Principles of War, exhibited in the Practice of the Camp, and as
developed in a Series of General Orders of Field-Marshal the Duke of
Wellington, K.G., &c. &c. &c., in the late Campaigns on the Peninsula,
with parallel Orders of George the Second, the Duke of Cumberland, the
Duke of Marlborough, Earl of Albemarle, Lord Stair, General Wolfe, &c.
&c. &c. 8vo.
Account of the War in Spain and Portugal, and the South of France,
from 1808 to 1814, inclusive. In two volumes. By John T. Jones,
Lieutenant-Colonel, corps of Royal Engineers. 8vo.
Journals of the Sieges undertaken by the Allies in Spain, in the years
1811–12, with Notes. By Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel John T. Jones, &c.
8vo.
Annals of the Peninsular Campaigns, from 1808 to 1814. By the author of
Cyril Thornton. In three vols. 12mo.
Narrative of a forced Journey through Spain and France as a Prisoner of
War, in the years 1810 to 1814. By Major-General Lord Blayney. In two
vols. 8vo.
An Authentic Narrative of the Invasion of France in 1814. By M. De
Beauchamp, author of the History of the War of La Vendée, &c. &c. In
two vols. 8vo.
Campaign of the Left Wing of the Allied Army in the Western Pyrenees
and South of France, in the years 1813–14, under Field-Marshal
the Marquess of Wellington, illustrated by a detailed plan of the
operations, and numerous plates of mountain and river scenery, drawn
and etched by Captain Batty, of the first or Grenadier Guards, F.R.S.,
Member of the Imperial Russian Order of St. Anne. London, 1823. 4to.
* * * * *
Exposicion de los Hechos y Maquinaciones que han preparado, la
Usurpacion de la Corona de España, y los medios que el Emperador
de los Franceses ha puesto en obra para realizarla. Por Don Pedro
Cevallos. Reimpreso en Malaga. 1808.
Idea Sencilla de las Razones que motivaron el Viage del Rey Don
Fernando VII. a Bayona, en el mes de Abril de 1808, dada al publico
de España y de Europa. Por el Excmo. Señor Don Juan Escoiquiz, &c.
&c., para su justificacion y la de las demas personas que componian
entonces el Consejo Privado de S. M. contra las imputaciones vagas de
imprudencia ó ligereza divulgadas contra ellos por algunos sugetos poco
instruidos de las expresadas razones; acompañada de una noticia breve
de los sucesos y negociaciones de Valençay, hasta la vuelta de S. M. á
España. Madrid, 1814.
Manifiesto de los Procedimientos del Consejo Real, en los gravisimos
sucesos ocurridos desde Octubre del año proximo pasado. Impreso de
orden del mismo Supremo Tribunal. En la Imprenta Real. 1808.
Semanario Patriotico. Segundo Trimestre. La parte historica por Don
Isidoro de Antillon; la Politica por Don Josef Maria Blanco. Sevilla,
1809.
El Español. Por Don J. M. Blanco White. 8 tom. London, 1810–14.
Manifiesto de las Operaciones del Exercito del Centro, desde el dia 3
de Diciembre de 1808, hasta el 17 de Febrero de 1809. Por el Duque del
Infantado. 1809.
Prontuario de las Leyes y Decretos del Rey nuestro Señor Don José
Napoleon I. Desde el año de 1808. 3 tom. Madrid, 1810–12.
Historia de las Operaciones del Exercito de Catalaña en la Guerra de
la Usurpacion, O sea de la Independencia de España. Campaña primera.
Por el Teniente Coronel Don Francisco Xavier Cabanes, Ayudenta Mayor
de Reales Guardias Walonas y Oficial de Estado Mayor en el Exercito de
Cataluña. Tarragona, 1809.
Segundo Periodo de la Historia de las Operaciones del Exercito de
Cataluña en la Primera Campaña de la Guerra de la Usurpacion, O sea
de la Independencia de España. Por el Teniente Coronel Don Francisco
Xavier Cabanes, &c. Tarragona, 1809.
Resúmen Historico del primer sitio de la Ilustre Ciudad de Zaragoza por
los Franceses, desde el 14 de Junio al 16 de Agosto de 1808. Valencia,
1809.
Idea Historica de los Principales Sucesos ocurridos en Zaragoza durante
el ultimo sitio, recopilados, por el P. Capellan de Exercito Dr. Don
Sebastian Hernandez de Morejon, Testigo y casi victima de aquella
gloriosa catástrofe. Valencia, 1809.
Relacion del segundo sitio de Zaragoza, por los Franceses en la ultima
guerra de España, por el Señor Baron Rogniat, Teniente General de
Ingenieros. Traducida del Frances por Pedro Ferrery Casaus. Valladolid,
1815.
Elogio a los Ilustres defensores de Zaragoza en sus dos sitios del año
de 1808. Por un individuo de las Escuelas Pias. Madrid, 1815.
Memorial Historico de los sucesos mas notables de armas y estado
de la salud Publica durante el ultimo sitio de la Plaza de Gerona.
Comprehende hasta 18 dias despues de entregada la Plaza al Sitiador
y Reales Ordines á favor de sus defensores. Por Don Juan Andres Nieto
Samaniego, Doctor en Medecina y en Cirurgia, &c. Tarragona, 1810.
Cataluña Atribulada suplica al Augusto Congreso de las Cortes, en 1811,
Palma.
Manifiesto del Duque de Alburquerque, acerca de su conducta con la
Junta de Cadiz, y arribo del exercito de su cargo a aquella Plaza.
Londres, 1810.
Memoria de lo mas interesante que ha ocurrido en la Ciudad de Zaragoza
con motivo de haberla atacado, el Exercito Frances. Madrid, 1808.
Traslado a toda la Nacion Española, y à los fidelisimos constantes
aliados Portugueses é Ingleses, de la correspondencia oficial y
confidencial del Teniente General Marques del Palacio, Capitan-General
de los reynos de Aragon y Valencia, y general-en-gefe del segundo
exército, &c., con el Capitan-General de los reales exércitos, y
regente del reyno Don Joaquin Blake, &c. Cadiz, 1812.
Brebe y Sencillo Manifiesto de la gloriosa defensa del Castillo de
san Fernando de Sagunto. En contraposicion à la variedad con que se
habla de este asunto y causas porque se perdiè aquel monumento de la
antiguedad. Orihuela, 1814.
Memorias sobre la reconquista de Zaragoza, conservacion de la Plaza,
y rendicion de su Castillo por las Tropas Españolas en Julio de 1813.
Donde se evidencia lo mucho que se equivico el autor de la comedia
titulada Zaragoza Reconquistada, por Don Francisco Espoz y Mina, como
tambien otros autores que han dado toda la gloria á este General. Las
Publica un Monge Benito del Monasterio de Arlanza, Capellan, con real
despacho que ha sido del regimiento infanteria ligera de Rioxa, que
desea que la verdad sea el mas hello adorno de la historia de nuestra
santa venganza. Madrid, 1815.
Restauracion de las Plazas de Lérida, Mequinenza y Castillo de Monzon,
por medio de una estratagema: ocupacion de estas por una de las
divisiones del primer exército Español en los dias 13, 14 y 16 de
Febrero del año de 1814. Madrid, 1814.
Memoria de Don Miguel Jose de Azanza y Don Gonzalo O’Farrill, sobre los
trechos que justifican su conducta politica, desde Marzo de 1808 hasta
Abril de 1814. Paris.
Constitucion Politica de la Monarquia Española, promulgada en Cadiz a
19 de Marzo de 1812. Cadiz.
Observaciones sobre la Historia de la Guerra de España, que escribieron
los Señores Clarke, Southey, Londonderry y Napier. Por Don José Canga
Argüelles. 2 tom. Londres, 1829.
Documentos relativos al llamamiento, del excellentisimo Señor Don
Francisco Xavier de Castaños a servir su Plaza en consego de Estado, y
a su exoneracion del mando del Quarto exercito. Cadiz, 1813.
Breve y sucinta Relacion en forma de Diario de los principales sucesos
acaceidos en la recepcion, permanencia y partida de su Magestad, de
la siempre leal Ciudad de Valencia, con lo que tiene relacion al 2^o.
exército en la actualidad acantonado en su regno. Valencia, 1814.
Don Gaspar de Jovellanos, a sus Compatriotas. Memoria en que se rebaten
las calumnias divulgadas contra los individuos de la Junta Central, y
se da razon de la conducta y opiniones del Autor desde que recobro su
libertad. Con Notas y Apendices. 2 tom. Coruña, 1811.
Impugnacion que hacen los Individuos que compusieron là Suprema Junta
Central al Manifiesto del Capitan-General Don Gregorio de la Cuesta.
Cadiz, 1812.
Exposicion que hacen a las Cortes Generales y Extraordinarias de la
Nacion Española, los Individuos que compusieron la Junta Central
Suprema Gubernativa de la Misma, de su conducta en el tiempo de su
administration. Seccion Primera. Cadiz, 1811.
Ramo Diplomatico ó de Relaciones Extrangeras. Seccion Segunda.
Hacienda. Seccion Tercera. Palma, 1813.
* * * * *
Collecçam de Decretos, Editaes, &c. &c. &c. Lisboa, 1808.
Observador Portuguez, Historico e Politico de Lisboa, desde o dia
27 de Novembro do anno de 1807, em que embarcou para o Brazil o
Principe Regente Nosso Senhor e toda a Real Familia, por motivo da
Invasam dos Francezes neste Reino. Contem todos os Editaes, Ordens
publicas e particulares Decretos; successos fataes e desconhecidos nas
historias do mundo; todas as Batalhas, Roubos e Usurpaçoens ate o dia
15 de Setembro de 1808, em que foram expulsos, depois de batidos, os
Francezes. Lisboa, 1809.
Historia Geral da Invasam dos Francezes em Portugal eda Restauraçam
deste Reino, escrita por José Accursio des Neves. 5 tom. Lisboa,
1810–11.
Compilaçam des Ordens do Dia, do Quartel-General do Exercito Portuguez,
concernantes a Organizaçam, Disciplina e Economia Militares, nas
Campanhas de 1809–15. Lisboa, 1811–15.
Correio Braziliense, ou Armazem Literario. 1808–14. London.
O Investigador Portuguez em Inglaterra, ou Jornal Literario Politico,
&c. 1811–14. London.
Memorias da Villa de Chaves, na sua gloriosa revoluçàm contra à
perfidia do Tyranno da Europa; por Hum amante da Verdade, da Religiâo,
do Principe, e dos vassallos mais dignos do reconhecimento publico.
Lisboa, 1809.
* * * * *
Histoire de la Guerre d’Espagne contre Napoleon Buonaparte, par une
commission d’Officiers de toutes armes, établie à Madrid, auprès de
S. Ex. le Ministre de la Guerre. Traduite de l’Español, avec notes et
éclaircissemens. Par un témoin oculaire. Tome 1^{er}. Paris, 1818.
Relation de l’Expédition du Portugal, faite en 1807–8, par le 1^{er}
Corps d’Observation de la Gironde, devenu armée de Portugal. Par le
Baron Thiébault, Lieutenant-Général. Paris, 1817.
Mémoires sur les Opérations Militaires des Français en Galice, en
Portugal, et dans la Vallée du Tage, en 1809, sous le commandement du
Maréchal Soult, Duc de Dalmatie. Avec un Atlas Militaire. Paris, 1821.
Relation Historique et Militaire de la Campagne de Portugal sous le
Maréchal Massena, Prince d’Essling, &c., par M. Guingret, Chef de
Bataillon, en demi-activité, et officier de l’Ordre Royal de la Legion
d’Honneur. Limoges, 1817.
Campagne de l’Armée Française en Portugal, dans les années 1810–11,
&c., par M^r. A. D. L. G., Officier Superieur employé dans l’Etat-Major
de cette Armée. Paris, 1815.
Précis Historique de la Guerre d’Espagne et de Portugal, de 1808–14,
contenant la réfutation des ouvrages de MM. Sarrazin et Alphonse de
Beauchamps, &c., par Auguste Carel, Chef de Bataillon, Chevalier de la
Legion d’Honneur. Paris, 1815.
Relation du Séjour des Prisonniers de Guerre Français et Suisses, sur
le Ponton la Castille, dans la baie de Cadix, et de leur evasion le 15
Mai, 1810. Par L. Chapuis de Lausanne, Chirurgien-Major. Lausanne, 1817.
Mémoires d’un Officier Français Prisonnier en Espagne, ou Relation
circonstanciée de la Captivité du Corps de l’Armée Française sous les
ordres du Lieutenant-Général Dupont, &c. Par un Officier de la Garde
Royale. Paris, 1823.
Mémoires sur la Guerre d’Espagne, pendant les années 1809–10–11. Par M.
De Naylies, Officier Superieur des Gardes-du-Corps, de Monsieur de St.
Louis, et de la Legion d’Honneur. Paris, 1807.
Précis Historique de la Bataille livrée 10 Avril, 1814, sous les murs
de Toulouse, &c. Par C. D. Toulouse.
Journal des Opérations de l’Armée de Catalogne en 1808 et 1809, sous le
Commandement du Général Gouvion Saint Cyr. Ou Matériaux pour servir à
l’Histoire de la Guerre d’Espagne. Par le Maréchal Gouvion Saint Cyr.
Paris, 1821.
Mémoires du Maréchal Suchet, Duc d’Albufera, sur ses Campagnes en
Espagne, depuis 1808 jusqu’en 1824. Ecrits par lui-même. 2 tom. Paris,
1828.
Mémoires Historiques sur la Revolution d’Espagne. Par M. de Pradt,
Archivêque de Malines. Paris, 1816.
Mémoires pour servir à l’Histoire de la Revolution d’Espagne, avec des
Pièces Justificatives. Par M. Nellerto (Llorente). 3 tom. Paris, 1814.
Der Feldzug von Portugall, in den Jahren 1811 und 1812, in historischer
und medizinischer-hinsicht beschrieben, von einem Arzte der
Franzosischen Armee von Portugall. Stuttgart und Tubingen, 1816.
* * * * *
Der Befreiungs-Krieg der Katalonier, in den Jahren 1808 bis 1814. Von
H. von Staff, Major von Koniglich Preussischen Generalstaabe. Breslau,
1821.
Der Siebenjahrige Kampf auf der Pyrenaischen Halbinsel vom Jahre
1807 bis 1814; besonders miene eigenen Erfahrungen in diesem Kriege;
nebst Bemerkungen über das Spanische Volk und Land. Von Fr. Xav.
Regel, Grossherzogl.-Badischem Hauptmann des Carl-Friederich,
Militar-Verdienst, und des Kaiserlich-Russischen St. Wladimir-Ordens
Ritter. 3 Th. Darmstadt, 1819.
* * * * *
Histoire de la Guerre de la Péninsule, sous Napoleon. Par le Général
Foy. 4 tom. Paris, 1827.
Narrative of the Peninsular War from 1808 to 1813. By
Lieutenant-General Charles William Vane, Marquis of Londonderry,
G.C.B., G.C.H., Colonel of the 10th Royal Hussars. 4to. 1828.
History of the War in the Peninsula and in the South of France,
from the year 1807 to the year 1814. By W. F. P. Napier, C.B.
Lieutenant-Colonel, H.P. forty-third regiment. Vols. I. and II., 1828,
1829.
* * * * *
All that part of the present history relating to the events of which
General Foy has treated, or to which the histories of Lord Londonderry
and Colonel Napier have as yet extended, was printed before either of
those works appeared.
THE END.
LONDON:
Printed by WILLIAM CLOWES and SONS,
Stamford Street.
FOOTNOTES
[1] These affecting circumstances are stated in a letter written from
Zaragoza, 22d of January, 1812, to D. Mariano de Lope, a priest who
distinguished himself by his heroic conduct during both sieges. A copy
of this letter I had the honour of receiving from the Countess de
Bureta, who transmitted it to me at the time, that I might see what
were the feelings and the conduct of her fellow-citizens during their
captivity.
[2] The weekly average of desertions I find thus curiously stated: 25
Spaniards, 15 Irish, 12 English, 6 Scotch, and half a Portugueze.
[3] The particulars of this negotiation are stated by Escoiquiz upon
Ferdinand’s authority, and from that king’s own papers.
[4] The father of Baron de Lahoutan, in whose _Voyages dans l’Amerique
Septentrionale_ (Amsterdam, 1709, t. i. 149.) these facts are stated:
the consequences were related by M. Dufort, of the Gironde, in the
Legislative Assembly, 31 Aug. 1814.
[5] As an instance of English character, it is worth stating in a
note, that an honest butcher of Slough, near Windsor, Edward Shirley
by name, sent Lord Wellington, as a Christmas present, the rump and
sirloin of a famous ox. Government forwarded the present, and with the
next dispatches Lord Wellington’s letter of thanks arrived, and was
forwarded to Slough from the secretary of state’s office by a king’s
messenger. The letter was as follows:--
“St. Jean de Luz, Jan. 19.
“SIR,
“I received the day before yesterday the sirloin and rump of beef which
you were so kind as to send me; which although it did not arrive in
time for the new year’s day, was a most welcome present for the queen’s
birthday.
“I beg you to accept my best thanks for it; and to be assured that
I duly appreciate the patriotic motives which induced you to avail
yourself of an opportunity at the present moment of conveying to me
your sense of the manner in which I have carried into execution his
Majesty’s commands, and those of His Royal Highness the Prince Regent.
“I have the honour to be, sir,
Your most obedient, humble servant,
WELLINGTON.
“To Mr. Edward Shirley, butcher,
Slough, near Windsor.”
[6] After Buonaparte’s return from Elba, the Marquis put himself at the
head of the Vendeans, repeated these words of his heroic brother, and
died, like him, in the same cause.
[7] This statement is drawn up from the printed narrative by Van Halen,
and from a manuscript one by Eroles. Marshal Suchet’s brief account
is erroneous in stating that Tortosa was the last place at which the
stratagem was tried instead of the first. He says that Van Halen
deserted, _monté sur un cheval dérobé, et laissant à Barcelone des
dettes criardes_. (T. 2. 366.) Concerning the horse, it is not likely
that in such circumstances the adventurer would be scrupulous; but as
to his debts, he left a letter at Barcelona, saying, that there were
the arrears of his pay to liquidate them, being more by one-half than
all that he owed amounted to.
Van Halen afterwards got into the Inquisition as a freemason and a
liberal, got out of it, published his adventures in English, went to
Brussels, headed the inhabitants in that insurrection the success
of which they have had so much reason to repent, was suspected of
treachery by the party whom he had served, thrown into prison, and
after awhile released. And there the drama of his unquiet life breaks
off.
[8] _Bien suponiamos que lo habria, por las relaciones con las
Potencias aliadas; pero no sabiéndolo de cierto, teniamos derecho,
tratando con hombre tan perfido, para ponerlo en duda y conseguir con
este justo dissimulo el fin de nuestros deseos que era la libertad del
Rey. Engañar mañosamente con la verdad á un hombre tan falso, era una
obra no mala sino excelente: tal era nuestro maxîma._ Idea Sencilla,
114.
[9] French exaggeration has seldom been carried farther than in
the accounts of this action. One account makes the loss of the
allies 21,000 in killed, and nearly 15,000 wounded! and the author
of the _Précis Historique de la Bataille_ takes credit to himself
for moderation and candour in reducing the number of the slain to
17,000.--P. 3. pp. 32–37.
[10]
Piedra immortal, que en gloria de Fernando
Hoy el brazo del justo aqui coloca,
En ti se estrelle el enemigo bando,
se estrella la nave en dura roca:
Y si algun vil ideas abrigando
Contra el Rey, te profana ó te provoca,
Que muera; y que á cenizas reducido
Sirva de exemplo al liberal partido.
Transcriber’s Notes
Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant
preference was found in this book. Simple typographical errors were
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Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained; occurrences
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predominant preference throughout the book.
The spelling and accent marks of non-English words were not checked or
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The source book used many Sidenotes, printed in italics. Most match
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