sacred person, and concluded, by advising Ferdinand to govern in the manner of his ancestors! When every thing was ripe for commencing more active operations, two Royal decrees dated from Valencia, on the 4th of May, at once discovered the views of the servile party, proving that both the liberales who had preserved the throne and reformed the government, as well as the followers of King Joseph, which had hitherto divided the nation, were now to be sacrificed to a third, till then regarded with the greatest contempt, and composed of persons, only remarkable for their ignorance and imbecility.

By the first of these decrees, Ferdinand was made to declare that the convocation of Cortes at Cadiz was illegal, and the Constitution promulgated by it prejudicial to the interests of Spain. He confessed that the existing state of knowledge did not admit of a despotic government; and promised to convoke the legitimate Cortes both of Spain and South America, in which a new charter favourable to liberty should be framed; that it should also guarantee the liberty of the press, save and except those precautions necessary to prevent its abuses; that he would govern according to law by respecting individual liberty, because he hated despotism. After all these princely promises, the decree concludes by dissolving the Cortes, and threatening with death all those who should either act or speak in favour of that Constitution which

SECOND DECREE.

47

had been sworn to by nearly the whole monarchy, and acknowledged by all the great powers of Europe, opposed to Napoleon.*

The second decree, related to the liberty of the press as established by the Cortes, and directed that until a new law was promulgated on the subject, all periodical and other works should be submitted to a censorship composed of persons who had neither served under the provisional governments, nor followed the fortunes of the intrusive King, as Joseph Bonaparte was now styled.t

Previous to the publication of the decrees which preceded a return to despotism, the Cortes addressed two letters to the King, expressing 'the state of doubt and agitation, in which his long delay at Valencia had thrown the nation, also praying that no time should be lost in assuming the reins of government. To these, evasive answers were given; Ferdinand promised to comply with

* The Cortes and Constitution of 1812, had been recognized by all the colonies, except Venezuela and Buenos Ayres; a copy of Ferdinand's decree will be found in the Appendix.

This being the first time the King had been known to call his predecessor an intruder, it excited considerable surprise on the part of those who had observed his former conduct. It was certainly no proof of consistency in Ferdinand, thus to designate a Prince, whose legitimacy he had himself repeatedly acknowledged in the formal cessions made at Bayonne; various proclamations, private letters, the celebration of anniversaries, soliciting the first order in the monarchy from Joseph while at Valençay, and above all, by demanding one of the Imperial Family in marriage!

their wishes, but entered into no farther explanations. Conscious of the rectitude of their past conduct, and relying on the purity of their future intentions, no steps were taken by the Cortes or Regency to avert the coming storm. It is however an undoubted fact, that several of the chiefs, who had been most popular during the war of independence, offered to act against the traitors who surrounded the monarch at Valencia, and that nothing but the fear of plunging the nation into the horrors of civil war, prevented those offers from being accepted. While the praise of their contemporaries, and the applause of posterity are due to these real fathers of their country, they should have reflected, that those who erect an edifice of freedom, do but half their office, in not taking the precautions necessary for its maintenance: and above all, in not being prepared to make every sacrifice for its preservation.

The reign of terror which continued to desolate Spain during the following six years, may be dated from the publication of the decrees promulgated on the 4th of May; as a natural consequence of these, a part of Elio's corps under General Eguia, were directed to surround the Capital, an order was at the same time forwarded to the agents of Police at Madrid, to arrest and imprison the Regents Agar and Ciscar, together with all the Ministers, President and Secretaries of Cortes ; many of its most distinguished members, and those who had written in favour of the Consti

ENTRY INTO MADRID.

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tution. The arrest took place on the night of the 10th and 11th of May. Two days after, the king entered his capital, preceded by a large body of cavalry, and attended by all the ambassadors of foreign courts accredited to the Regency, also the whole of those who had gone to welcome his arrival at Valencia: the event was celebrated by a succession of splendid fêtes, in which many of the foreign envoys vied with each other in demonstrations of respect to the restored monarch.*

Having thus brought you to the re-establishment of despotism, it next remains for me to notice those measures which led to the late explosion, and reduced Spain to the deplorable state in which it was found by the constitutional govern

ment.

* I have been told by an eye witness that the celebration of Ferdinand VII.'s return by the English ambassador, lasted ten days, and that the expences thus incurred, could not have been much less than £20,000. It is also a remarkable fact, that the Spanish cavalry which escorted the king into Madrid, was commanded by an English General, now a governor in one of our West India Islands.

E

50

FIRST MEASURES OF MINISTERS.

LETTER IV.

Violation of the Royal Promises.-Decrees and Circular Letters.- General Measures after the King's Arrival at Madrid.- Principal Actors in the Persecution of the Patriots.-Anecdote of a ci-devant Monk.-Projects imputed to the Liberales.-Story of a Seal and Medal.-New efforts to Criminate the Patriots.-Proceedings in the Provinces.- Informers.-Police Judges. -Legal Procedure.-Treatment of Arguelles.- Ruiz de Padron, Cessero, &c.

Madrid, July, 1821.

THERE can be no better criterion for estimating the claims of Ferdinand VII. to the loyalty and confidence of a people who greeted his return with enthusiastic demonstrations of joy, than by comparing the plan of government adopted immediately after his arrival here, with the flattering promises held out in his proclamation of the 4th, of which, the most important were openly violated within a few days of their being made; while, in fact, the foreign ambassadors and servile faction were celebrating the King's entry in the capital.* The very first measures of his ministers proved that, the above state paper was merely the prelude

* Lord Wellington arrived at Madrid from Paris on the 24th May, and is said to have experienced a most flattering reception from the King, as Duke of Cuidad-Rodrigo.