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VII.

1814.

Assoluto," was the universal cry. The king was literally CHAP. besieged with petitions, addresses, and memorials, in which he was supplicated, in the most earnest terms, to annul all that had been done during his captivity, and to reign as his ancestors had done before him. The constitution was represented and with truth-as the work of a mere revolutionary junta in Cadiz, in a great measure self-elected, and never convoked either from the whole country or according to the ancient constitution of the kingdom. There was not a municipality which did not hold this language as he passed through their walls; not a village which did not present to him a petition, signed by the most respectable inhabitants, to the same effect. The generals, the army, the garrisons, besieged him with addresses of the same description. The minority of the Cortes, consisting of sixty-nine members, presented a supplication beseeching the king to annul the whole pro- 1 Martignac, ceedings of their body, and to reign as his fathers had 108, 109; done. From one end of the kingdom to the other but 1814, 68; one voice was heard, that of reprobation of the Cortes Congrès de and the constitution, and prayers to the king to resume 26, 27. the unfettered functions of royalty.1

Ann. Reg.

Chateaub.

Verone, i.

Impelled in this manner by the unanimous voice of 30.

Valencia,

1814.

the nation, not less than his own secret inclination, to Decree of annul the constitution, and grasp anew the sceptre May 4, of his ancestors, Ferdinand ventured on the decisive act. On the 4th May 1814 appeared the famous decree of Valencia, which at once annulled the whole acts of the Cortes, and restored absolute government over the whole of Spain. In it the king, after recapitulating briefly the principal events which had occurred in the Peninsula since his treacherous seizure and captivity by Napoleon in 1808, declared that he had, by a decree of 5th May in that year, convoked the Cortes; but the French invasion prevented it from being assembled, and compelled the several provinces to elect juntas, and severally provide for their own defence. "An extraordinary Cortes," said the

1814.

CHAP. monarch, "was subsequently convoked in the island of VII. Leon, when nearly the whole country was in the hands of the French, consisting of 57 proprietors, 104 deputies, and 47 supplementary members, without either the nobles or the clergy being summoned to their deliberations, and convoked in a manner wholly illegal and without a precedent, even in the most critical and stormy days of the monarchy. The first step of this illegal assembly was to usurp the whole powers of sovereignty on the very first day of their installation, and to strip me of nearly my whole prerogatives; and their next, to impose on Spain the most arbitrary laws, and compel it to receive a new constitution, unsanctioned either by the provinces, the provincial juntas, or the Indies. By this constitution was established, not anything resembling the ancient constitution, but a republican form of government, presided over by a chief magistrate, deprived alike of consideration and power, and framed entirely on the principle and form of the democratic French constitution of 1791. Force alone compelled the members to swear to the constitution: the Bishop of Orense refused to take the oath, and Spain knows what was the fate of that respectable prelate.

31.

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Nothing has consoled me amidst so many calamities, King's de- but the innumerable proofs of the loyalty of my faithful favour of subjects, who longed for my arrival, in the hope that it and promise might terminate the oppression under which they groaned, to convoke and restore the true happiness of the country. I promiseI swear to you, true and loyal Spaniards-that your hopes shall not be deceived. Your sovereign places his chief glory in being the chief of a heroic nation, which, by its immortal exploits, has won the admiration of the whole world, and at the same time preserved its own liberty and honour. I detest, I abhor despotism: it can never be reconciled neither with civilisation, or the lights of

* Members chosen in the Isle of Leon, to represent the provinces in the hands of the French.

VII.

1814.

the other nations in Europe. The kings never have been CHAP. despots in Spain; neither the sovereign nor the constitution of the country have ever authorised despotism, although unhappily it has sometimes been practised, as it has been in all ages by fallible mortals. Abuses have existed in Spain, not because it had no constitution, but from the fault of persons or circumstances. To guard against such abuses in future, so far as human prudence can go, while preserving the honour and rights of royalty (for it has its own as well as the people have theirs, which are equally inviolable), I will treat with the deputies of Spain and the Indies in a Cortes legally assembled, composed of the one and the other, as soon as I can convoke them, after having re-established the wise customs of the nation, established with the consent of the kings our august predecessors. Thus shall be established, in a solid and legitimate manner, all that can tend to the good of my kingdoms, in order that my subjects may live happy and tranquil under the protection of our religion and our sovereign, the only foundation for the happiness of a king and a kingdom which are rightly styled Catholic. No time shall be lost in taking the proper measures for the assembly of the Cortes, which I trust will insure the happiness of my subjects in both hemispheres." The decree concluded with declaring the resolution of the king not to accept the constitution; to annul all the acts of the Cortes; and declaring all persons guilty of Decree, high treason, and punishable with death, who should 1814; Arch. attempt, by word, deed, or incitement, to establish the 64, 69. constitution, or resist the execution of the present decree.1

May 4,

Diplom. iii.

32.

No words can describe the universal transport with which this decree was received, or the loyal enthusiasm Universal which the prospect of the re-establishment of the ancient transports constitution and customs of the monarchy excited in the this decree, nation. The joy was universal: it resembled that of the king's reEnglish when they awoke from the tyranny of the long Madrid. Parliament and Cromwell to the bright morning of the

VOL. II.

c

and the

turn to

May 13.

VII.

1814.

CHAP. Restoration. The journey of Ferdinand from Valencia to Madrid was the exact counterpart of that of Charles II. from Dover to London, a hundred and fifty-three years before. It was a continual triumph. In vain the Cortes assumed a menacing aspect, and, in a tumultuous and stormy meeting, adopted the most violent resolutions to resist the royal authority, and to declare traitors, and punish as such, all who should aid the king in his criminal designs. Physical force was awanting to support their resistance. The troops which they sent out to withstand the royal cortège were the first to array themselves in its ranks, amidst loud cheers and cries of "Viva el Rey Assoluto!" Everywhere the pillar of the constitution was overthrown and broken: enthusiastic crowds, wherever he passed on the journey to Madrid, saluted the returning monarch; and the Cortes, deserted by all, even their own ushers, in utter dismay fled across New Castile towards Cadiz. Some remained, and were thrown into prison. It was on the 13th May that the king, surrounded by a loyal and enthusiastic crowd, which, as he approached the capital, was swelled to above a hundred thousand

Martignac, 119, 121;

Ann. Reg.

1814, 70,

71; Cha

teaubriand, Congrès de Vérone, i. 27, 28.

on this

event, and

the obvious

courses

which a

open to the king.

persons, and amidst the universal and heartfelt acclamations of his subjects, entered Madrid, and reascended the throne of his fathers. 1

Thus fell the work of the Cortes - the Constitution

33. Reflections of 1812, the victim of its own violence, folly, and injustice. Happy if it had never been revived, and become, in consequence of that very violence and injustice, the watchword of the revolutionary party all over the world! Hitherto the proceedings of the king had been entirely justifiable, and such as must command the assent of all the friends, not only of order, but of freedom, throughout the world. The constitution which had been overthrown was not only an object of horror to the vast majority of the nation, but had been imposed upon it by a small minority, whose ideas and designs were not less threatening to the interests than repugnant to the habits of the

VII.

1814.

eople. It was the work of a self-elected knot of revo- CHAP. utionists at Cadiz, whose object was to secure to themselves the real government of the country, strip the Crown of all its prerogatives, and divide the whole offices and patronage of the country among themselves. The king had pledged his royal word that he would without delay assemble the Cortes, convoked according to the ancient laws and customs of the country, and with their aid commence the formation of laws and the reformation of abuses, which might secure the happiness of his subjects in both hemispheres. It was a matter of little difficulty in Spain, whatever it might be elsewhere, to effect such a reformation; for its ancient constitutions contained all the elements of real freedom, and its inhabitants could tread the path of improvement in the securest of all 18, 19. ways, without deviating into that of innovation.1 *

1 Chateaub.

Congrès de

Vérone, i.

despotic

Re-estab

tion.

But Ferdinand did not do this, and thence has arisen 34. boundless calamities to his country, lasting opprobrium to Ferdinand's himself. He resumed the sceptre of his ancestors and measures. reigned as an absolute monarch; but he forgot all the pro- lishment of mises, so solemnly made, to reign with the aid of a Cortes the Inquisiassembled according to the ancient laws and customs of the realm. He fell immediately under the direction of a camarilla composed of priests and nobles, who incessantly represented to him that there could in Spain be no constitutional government, and that the only way to secure either the stability of the throne or the welfare of the

* It is a curious and instructive circumstance how it was that the ancient elements of freedom were lost in Spain; Chateaubriand thus explains it: "Les premières auxquelles les députés du Tiers assistèrent, furent celles de Léon en 1188 cette date prouve que les Espagnols marchaient à la tête des peuples libres. Peu à peu les bourgeois fatigués laissaient le souverain payer leurs mandataires, et désigner les villes aptes à la députation. Douze cités seulement en obtinrent le droit. Charles V. tyran, naturellement ligué avec son collègue cet autre tyran, le peuple, éleva les villes représentées à vingt; mais en même temps, dans la réunion de Tolède, en 1535, il retrancha pour toujours des Cortès le Clergé et la Noblesse. Les rois, débarrassés du joug des Cortès, furent contraints de s'en imposer d'autres. Des conseils ou des conseillers dirigeaient la monarchie."-CHATEAUBRIAND, Congrès de Vérone, tom. 19. See also Historia d'España, viii. 471. Madrid, 1851.

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