H́nh ảnh trang
PDF
ePub

former minister, was sent as ambassador to Vienna.

Soon after the defection of count Abisbal, general Freyre arrived in Cadiz. The news of the transactions in Gallicia and La Mancha, had excited the enthusiasm of the populace, and Freyre saw, that it was in vain to struggle against the stream. Perhaps he thought, that he would be able to do his master more effectual service by seeming to yield to what he could not resist, than by vainly sacrificing the handful of troops on whose fidelity he could depend. Accordingly, on the afternoon of the 9th of March, the very day of his arrival, he made his appearance in the square of St. Antonio, and in person gave notice to the public, that on the following morning, at 10 o'clock, he would put up the stone of the constitution, and that it should be sworn to immediately afterwards. The people, not satisfied with this, eagerly calling aloud, "Now! now!" general Freyre drew from his pocket the book of the constitution, and kissed it, exclaiming, "Now, then, the oath is taken; to-morrow the remaining requisite solemnities shall be performed." Immediately after, a flag was displayed, with the emblem, "The Constitution for ever, and Freyre our Regenerator." The general then required from the people an assurance that no animosity or vengeance should be shown against any body: upon which the people called out, that" in free hearts no malice existed, and that all would be forgiven." Immediately after, the gaol and the castle were opened, and all the persons who had been arrested

A

for political offences, were li-
berated. This bustle continued
the whole night; the city was
illuminated, but no disorder of
any kind took place. On the
following morning, an order,
signed by the general, was
was issued,
that all the houses should be de-
corated; that the municipal au-
thorities should form themselves
into a procession, in order to
assist at the regular proclamation
of the constitution, and that the
city should be illuminated for
three nights in succession. The
stone of the constitution was
carried into the middle of the
square of St. Antonio, in pre-
paration for the ceremony.
message had been sent to the
isle of Leon, to invite general
Quiroga and his staff to be pre-
sent on the occasion. He did not
come himself, but sent four of
his staff. The whole city, on the
morning of the 10th, exhibited a
scene of pleasure and hilarity
which nothing could equal. The
hour of ten approached; and as
the clock struck, the troops rushed
out, and began firing upon the peo-
ple, crying aloud, "Ferdinand for
ever, and down with the constitu-
tion!" The greatest terror and
consternation ensued among the
crowd, who, in their confusion, ran
against and fell over each other,
not knowing in what way escape
could with safety be attempted,
As soon as the assembled people
had nearly all dispersed, the off-
cers disappeared from among the
soldiery, who, deprived of the
little control

exercised over them, soon lost all subordination, and the whole city resembled a place delivered over to the horrors of military assault. This scene of drunken violence and savage brutality lasted from ten

in the morning till eight in the evening; when the officers again interfered, and by degrees succeeded in conveying the intoxicated troops to their quarters. The dead bodies in the streets exceeded 400, and the wounded were proportionally numerous. A day or two elapsed before quiet was completely restored, and, by that time, intelligence arrived of the acceptance of the constitution by the king. The troops had no longer any pretence for resistance, and submitted in sullen silence. No open disturbance took place, but suspicion was seated deep in every mind; nor did either citizens or soldiers think themselves safe, till they were removed to a distance from each other. The governor Valdes, and Campana, the military commander, were moved, and within a week from the massacre, the troops were marched away.

re

It seems to have been admitted on all hands, that Freyre had no participation in this atrocity; but Valdes and Campana, have not stood equally clear of suspicion. In all probability, however, it was the spontaneous ebullition of the fury of the troops, enraged at the idea of their submitting to a party whom they had so successfully opposed in arms. Their superior officers may have been blamable for not taking due precautions, or for not exerting themselves sufficiently to check the insane cruelty of their troops, but we have seen no shadow of proof, that they either planned, or consented to, or approved the melancholy transactions of the 10th of March.

Freyre's army took the oath of fidelity to the constitution, on the

Several of the

21st of March. corps exhibited so much discontent with the late revolution, that it was thought prudent to disband them. On the other hand, it was ordered, at the suggestion of Quiroga and Riego, that the army of the isle of Leon, which was now trebled in its numbers, should not separate till the meeting of the Cortes. These chiefs, with two of their comrades, were raised, in spite of their own real or affected reluctance, to the rank of field-marshal. Quiroga was soou afterwards elected a member of the Cortes; and then the sole command of this army devolved upon Riego.

The new ministry was composed wholly of men who had been strongly opposed to the late measures of the court: Perez de Castro, the secretary for foreign affairs, was at the head of it. The marquis of Las Amarellas was minister at war; and the two brothers Arguelles, presided, the one over the finances, the other over the home department. With their approbation, or by their advice, a multitude of decrees were issued, all furthering, or confirming, the progress of the revolution. No political power was left in the hands of any, except keen constitutionalists. Some slight resistance was made to them in Arragon and Gallicia, at the instigation principally of the clergy; but that was soon suppressed and, at the meeting of the Cortes, on the 9th of July, when the functions of the supreme junta expired, the revolution may be regarded as having been completed throughout the kingdom.

The Cortes was opened by a

speech from the king, and proceeded immediately to deliberate and determine on almost every point connected with the internal economy of a great kingdom, New commercial regulations were adopted, not more remarkable for wisdom than the old; the press was declared free; entails were abolished; and all the convents and monasteries, except eight, were dissolved, and their revenues ordered to be applied to the payment of the national debt. That debt amounted to about a hundred and sixty millions sterling. Great endeavours were made to reduce every branch of the expenditure; and, in some branches of the public service, it was reduced to a third, in others, to a half of its former amount yet, after every saving, the revenue fell short of the charge for the outgoings of the year, by nearly two millions sterfing. This deficiency was provided for by loan.

The Cortes did not, in their attention to the public interest, forget the stability of their own system. To plot against the constitution was made a capital crime: to dissuade the people by words or writing from the observance of it, was punished with banishment for eight years. The deputies, who had joined with the king in 1814, in overthrowing the constitution, were incapacitated to hold any office; those who had been banished for their adherence to the French during the usurpation, were restored to all their rights, and perpetual annuities were granted to the military chiefs, who had been most active in effecting the revolution.

During the sitting of the Cortes, disturbances took place in Anda

lusia, Valencia, Catalonia, Gallicia, and Estremadura. In the latter, the movement was excited by a person of the name of Morales, who prevailed on some of the Bourbon cavalry to join him, and, by spreading reports of the great accession of strength which he was soon to receive, acquired more importance than he deserved. These events gave rise to some keen debates in the Cortes, where the ardent revolutionists urged ministers to adopt a more decided system.

The ambition of some of their own partisans was another source of embarrassment to the consti

tutionalists. It had been resolved advisable to disband the army of the Isle of Leon; and Riego had, as a compensation for the loss of his military command, been appointed captain-general of Gallicia. Little disposed to acquiesce in a change which annihilated his power, he came to Madrid to resist the measure; and finding that he could not succeed with the ministers, he endeavoured, by means of his popularity with the mob, and his influence in the political clubs of Madrid, to overawe the Cortes. The government, however, acted with firmness. Laws were passed to prevent the abuses of factious clubs; several of those who had been active in promoting disturbances in the capital, were punished; Riego himself was deprived of his office of captaingeneral, and exiled to his native town of Oviedo.

On the 9th of November the session of the Cortes was closed. The king remained at the Escurial, pretending that he was prevented by sickness from being present at the termination of their labours; but a speech (which, as well as

that addressed to the Cortes on its assembling, will be found in the Appendix to the Chronicle, page 795) was read to them in his name. The Cortes, before they separated, resolved, that threefourths of their number should always remain at their posts. The garrison of Madrid, at the same time, renewed its oath of fidelity. Such measures prove, that the constitutionalists did not think their authority firmly established. They believed, that the king, while he acquiesced in every thing that was demanded of him, was watch ing for an opportunity of subyerting all that they had laboured to effect.

The absence of the king from Madrid had given umbrage to the populace and the revolutionists, because his motions could be less easily watched at the Escurial than in the capital. While still at the Escurial, he, on the 16th of November, nominated general Carvajal to the government of New Castile, without causing the appointment to be duly countersigned by the ministers. The permanent deputation of the Cortes, and the municipal body of the capital, immediately met, and, while the city was in a state of the greatest fermentation, drew up and presented the following extraordinary remonstrance to the king:

"Sire,-The provisional deputation, and the municipal body of Madrid, united in the council chamber, in extraordinary permanent sitting, inform your majesty, with all the respect due to you, that notwithstanding the continual effort for the preservaLign of public tranquillity, the mind of our noble inhabitants is extremely agitated, and in such a

state of effervescence, that without some prompt and energetic remedy, it may produce the most dreadful consequences. Their desires, and the manner of expressing them, are conformable to the wisdom, prudence, and moderation of a great people. At this moment, five o'clock in the evening, a considerable number are united in the great square; and in abstaining from all violence, and even from guilty insubordination, have manifested, with the firmness and energy worthy of freemen, the certain, and perhaps the only, means of saving the state from the crisis into which it has fallen, namely, the extraor◄ dinary convocation of the Cortes.

The deputation and the municipality would be wanting in their duty, and would ill deserve the confidence reposed in them by this numerous population and the whole province, if they were not to assure your majesty that this demand of the people of Madrid is as wise as it is just; and that in refusing to follow it, they could not be answerable for the sad consequences which should result from their refusal.

"Your majesty's absence has occasioned apprehensions that are aggravated by nominations to important employments of persons notoriously opposed to the constitutional system, which your majesty has sworn to preserve, and which we are all ready to defend to the last drop of our blood. We are compelled, sire, to say, that without some public manifestation to the new institutions, of a nature to destroy every hope in their most determined enemies, confidence cannot be re-established. Every other measure would be illusory, and the vessel

of the state would threaten shipwreck.

"This manifestation, in our opinion, can be none other than your majesty's returu to the midst of your children, and the immediate extraordinary convocation of the Cortes. This is what the people demand, and what in such circumstances they ought to demand, as the only means of saving us from the imminent dangers that surround us. The deputation and the municipality consequently hope and pray that your majesty will accede to their just desires, showing yourself, as hitherto, the worthy father of your people, and causing, by this wise and provident measure, all our present anxiety to cease.

"Nov. 17, 1820."

On the same evening an answer was received from the king, in which he stated, that, in appointing Don Jose Maria Carvajal to be captain-general of Madrid, his majesty never imagined that this nomination would give rise to the events that have taken place in the capital; and that, having entire confidence in his ministers, he charged them to propose persons who might fill, to the satisfaction of his people, the vacant posts of captain-general and political chief of Madrid, and of inspector-general of militia. He added, that he would have flown to his children in the capital, if the state of his health had permitted him; that he would do as soon as the permanent deputation of the Cortes assured him that the uneasiness and effervescence had subsided, since the acclamations of joy, which his return to the capital would occasion might perhaps be confounded with the cries of sedition; that

so,

he did not resolve, without grief, to remove from him his confessor and chief major-domo, the latter of whom had never interfered in political affairs, and the other had never given him any counsels not conformable to the principles of piety and virtue, on which the felicity of states depends; but that, if the removal of those two individuals was thought necessary to ensure the tranquillity of his people, his majesty consented to this sacrifice, to which the two persons interested would readily submit. As for the extraordinary convocation of the Cortes, the king stated, that the permanent deputation might point out to him the object for which their convocation was necessary, and that doing it in this manner, conformably to the provisions of the constitutional law, his majesty would take it into consideration, his sole desire being, the prosperity and the tranquillity of his people.

On the 21st his majesty returned to the capital, and, shortly afterwards, the commands in the different provinces were entrusted to the most violent partisans of the new order of things. Riego was appointed captain-general of Arragou. The archbishop of Valencia, who had opposed himself openly to the confiscation of ecclesiastical property, was banished from the kingdom. Morales, the leader of the disturbauces in Estremadura, was forced to fly into Portugal, followed by twelve or fourteen adherents; and, being taken by the Portuguese, was delivered over to the Spanish authorities.

Immediately before the return of the king from the Escurial, the organization of the army was definitively settled by receiving the

« TrướcTiếp tục »