"'»;

Given in memory of
NATHANIEL TERRY BACON, '79 S.
by his children
LEONARD BACON, '09
SUSAN BACON KEITH
1926

3d earl 0-?,

PORTUGAL AND
GALLICIA,
WITH A REVIEW OF
THE SOCIAL AND POLITICAL STATE
OF THE
BASQUE PROVINCES:
AND A FEW REMARKS ON
RECENT EVENTS IN SPAIN.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. II.
LONDON :
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE-STREET.
5IDCCCXXXVI.

LONDON:
Printed by W. Clowes ahd Sows,
Stamford Street.

CONTENTS
OF THE SECOND VOLUME.

CHAPTER IX.

Page

Assassination of the Professors of Coimhra — Costa— Mid
night Adventure — Visconde Sa da Bandeira — Depar
ture of the EngUsh Army— Sir William Clinton— Don
Miguel ......... 1

CHAPTER X.
Leave Lisbon — Moita — Luxuriant Vegetation — Setuval —
Revolutionary Proceedings — Artabida Convent — Melides
— Simplicity of the People — Santiago — The Capitan Mor
— Want of Communication — Villa Nova — Sierra di Mon-
chique — Beauty of a Portuguese Heath — Senhor Joa-
quim (Corregidor of Lagos): his kindness and hospi-
taUty  22
CH.4PTER XI.
Visit to Sagres — Don Henry — Castle of Sagres — Cape St.
Vincent — Portuguese Ceremonial — Portuguese courtesy
— St. Vincent's Chair — Villa Obisho — Ludicrous Mistake
— Return to Lagos — Juan, the Borderer — Women of
Silves — Marquis of _Pombal — The Prazo — Faro — Ta-
vira — Villa Real — Barbarity to Animals — Alcoutin —
Revolt at Mertola — The Lobishomens — Beja — The Alen-
tejo — Priestly Enthusiasm . . . . .61

IV CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XIL Page
Revolt in the Provinces — Evora — Author arrested — Mon-
tero — Fury of the Populace — The Prison — Audalusian
Bandit — The Corregidor — Confinement — Tumult and
Defeat of the Troops — Author released — The " Bor
derer's" Charaeter — Evora Cathedral — Leave for Lisbon
— Montemor — Superstition of the Beggars — Pegoines —
Arrive at Lisbon — Don Miguel declared King — Quit
Lisbon — Reflections on Past Events — Return to Eng
land  114

Review of the Social and Political State of the Basque
Provinces ; with a few Remarks on Recent Events in
Spain  182
Sketch ofthe Constitution of 1820 . . . .365
Remarks on the Present State of Catalonia . . .421
Notes  427

ERRATA TO VOL. II.

Page. Line.
19 21, dele their.
72 23, fur di, substitute de.
217 12, for Basque, read Biscayan.
238 15, dele asterisk after " summons" ; the note refers
to the " Agent of Castille" in the next sen
tence.
351 19, for they, read our Ministers.
393 22, for incur, read incurring,

PORTUGAL AND GALLICIA.

CHAPTER IX.

Assassination of the Professors of Coimhra — Costa — Midnight
Adventure — Visconde Sa da Bandeira — Departure of the
English Army — Sir William Clinton — Don Miguel.

About this time there occurred a dreadful event
which exhibits in striking colours the fury of the
conflicting parties, and the distempered feeling
which prevailed. A deputation, consisting of
three professors of the University of Coimbra,
and two dignitaries of the See attached to that
city, were proceeding to Lisbon, for the purpose
of congratulating the Infant, when they were
stopped by a party of students, who compelled
them to leave their carriages, and conducting two
of the professors into an adjoining field, shot
them. A military detachment was passing by
at the critical moment, and hearing the report
VOL. II. B -

2 PORTUGAL. LCH. IX.
of musketry, fortunately arrived in time to save
the remaining members of the deputation. It
was rumoured that many of the students had
assembled on the evening preceding these events,
had calmly discussed the offences imputed to the
members of the deputation, and had passed sen
tence of death upon the offenders. Nine of these
young assassins, some of whom were the children
of very respectable parents, expiated their crime
on the scaffold. At Lisbon attempts were made
to assassinate a brother of Count Ficalho, and
a brother of General Saldanha, and both these
nobles were severely wounded.
General Saldanha himself arrived in the Taffus
on the 21st of March ; his departure from Eng
land took place only a few days after the Infant
had quitted it, apparently intending to respect
the Charter ; finding, to his utter astonishment,
the Regent engaged in a very hazardous enter
prise, and the country involved in all the turmoil
of a revolution, he felt at once, that with his ac
knowledged principles he could not land, -without
incurring great personal danger, and therefore
took the earliest opportunity of secreting himself
in a neutral vessel. At this time my friend Major
Sa, one of the most talented men in Portugal,

CH. IX.] GENERAL SALDANHA. 3'
and, by universal admission, one of her most gal
lant soldiers, was extremely anxious to see the
General, under whom he had formerly served in
the capacity of Aide-de-camp, and to whom he
was much attached. He discovered the ship in
¦which Saldanha was concealed, and asked me
whether I would accompany him in his attempt tc
reach it, a project attended with some hazard, and
considerable difficulty, for Saldanha's arrival had
alarmed the Government to such a degree, that
the most rigorous search had been made for hinx
in various houses, under the belief that he had
landed ; and bodies of the police patrolled the
quays all night to intercept his retreat. Bernardo
Sa felt that Saldanha was involved in difficulty
and danger, and the knowledge of his critical
situation made him anxiously desire to obtain an
interview -with his old Commander ; an interview
which more cautious, or less generous spirits,
would have as carefully avoided ; and which was
not sought for the purpose of plotting against the
Government in anyway. As a stranger, I would
not have involved myself in any political intrigues,
or have become accessary to any proceedings hos
tile to the Government; but although there may
possibly have been some personal imprudence'
b2

4 PORTUGAL. L^H- IX.
on my part, still, in facilitating the object of my
generous friend, and in agreeing to accompany
him on a visit solely intended, on his part, as a
tribute of respect to his former chief, I cannot
surely be reproached with having compromised
that character of neutrality, which it is the duty of
every foreigner to observe in every country, and
under every Government which afibrds him a
temporary protection.
General Saldanha had played a very distin
guished part in the recent history of Portugal,
and, though I was by no means an approver of
his general policy, I will not deny that a strong
desire to see such a man, under such extraor
dinary circumstances, in some degree influenced
my decision. Situations of intense interest excite
intense feelings : the habitual reserve of ordinary
life is then involuntarily thrown aside, the usual
barriers are broken down by an urgency which
overcomes all minor considerations, and the man
appears in all his native strength, or weakness.
As steel calls forth fire from flint, so the excite
ment produced by a revolutionary crisis is an
unfailing touchstone to extract the essential qua
lities of the mind, and drag them from their
most hidden recesses. An hour spent in observ-

CH. IX.] SALDANHA IN CONCEAL.WENT, 5
ing, at such a period, the development and play
of character, will often afford a deeper insight
into the real energies of an individual, or of a
people, than years devoted to the investigation of
their habits and modes of thought in tranquil
times. Perhaps, also, my natural love of enter
prise inclined me to second my friend's wishes.
Our resolution taken, it was by no means easy
to determine the safest and most practicable mode
of carrying our intentions into effect, as we could
only proceed to the vessel by night, and were sure
to find the guard ranged on the quays at our
return, and both passengers and boatmen who
landed after dark were subject to a severe exa
mination. At length our plan of operations was
arranged. It happened, that on a certain even
ing I was engaged to meet a large party at dinner
on board a British frigate : it was settled that my
friend, Bernardo Sa, should engage a couple of
boatmen, upon whose good intentions he could
in some degree rely, without, however, commu
nicating to them any part of our scheme. He
then agreed to call for me at the frigate, whence
we proposed to row without loss of time to the
vessel which contained Saldanha, and after a
brief interview with the General, return to the

Q PORTUGAL. [cH. IX.
quay. When required to state, on landing, whence
we came, it was settled that I should reply, as
indeed I might with truth, that I had been dining
on board the British frigate ; and as the English
were continually passing and repassing between
the ships and the shore, my answer could hardly
excite suspicion : moreover, I had been residing
On the quay for some months, and was generally
known as an Englishman, so that no doubt could
exist on that head, and if I led the way with ap
parent confidence, my friend, enveloped in his
mantle, might in all probability pass unnoticed.
Even' if the worst mischance befell us, and we were
suspected and stopped by the guard, the truth of
my statement would be corroborated by reference
to the party on board the frigate ; and as we felt
the boatmen would not willingly compromise us;
we might rationally hope that our little digression
to Saldanha's ship would remain undiscovered.
The appointed evening came, but our measures
were disconcerted by one of those untoward cir
cumstances whieh sometimes derange the best
considered schemes. There was a party, a concert
I believe, given that night at Lisboii, which began
at an hour unusually early, and which my host of
the frigate and many of his guests meant to

CH. IX.} COSTA. 7;
attend. The party at the frigate, in consequence,
broke up immediately after dinner, and as I could
not remain on board after the general disperr
sion without attracting observation, I thought it
prudent to retire with the rest of my friends.
Bernardo Sa arrived at the appointed hour and
found me gone : by this unlucky contretems our
arrangements failed for that evening, and our
plan was postponed, but not abandoned.
Early on the following morning I set off for
Costa, with my intelligent friend Colonel Lam
bert. We crossed the water, hired mules, and
rode for some miles through an uninteresting,
country. From the summit of a hiU we looked
do-wn upon the village of Costa, bearing a strong
resemblance to those Arab tents which I have
seen studding the African plains, and appearing,
in the distance, like mounds of earth raised in,
a pyramidical form. The Arab tents are made
of camels'-hair, but these hovels are apparently.
composed of broom, and both are conspicuous
from the darkness of their colour. Costa is built
on the edge of the water ; before it is a fine
expanse of sand and a bold open sea^ and the
mountains of Cintra rise nobly in the distance. ,
By a strange inconsistency, perceptible in many

8 PORTUGAL. [cH. IX.
parts of the Peninsula, the women of Costa were
handsomely attired, although their wretched huts
were destitute of the common necessaries of Ufe ;
the men were on shore hauling in the nets ; some
wore bonnets, others hoods resembling cowls,
while the rope, girded aroimd their loose and pic
turesque garments, gave them a monkish appear
ance, which ill-accorded with the sternness of
their countenances and the freedom of their atti
tudes. The children were laden with muscles,
and vociferous for money, and a few pence
thrown amongst them produced a terrific decline
and fall of their aquatic goods. We lingered on
the spot, enjoying the scene, and saw the fisher
men haul in a draught of sparkling sardines.
At our departure we were somewhat molested by
an ancient dame, a worthy soul no doubt, but
a little sentimental, and very much intoxicated ;
she spoke with energy about Don Miguel, and
seemed so much inclined to associate us in her
political harangues, that we had some difficulty
in avoiding the dangerous theme. We reached
Lisbon before dark.
In the evening Bernardo called at my lodgings,
and told me that he had made the necessary pre
parations for carrying our scheme into execution.

CH. IX.] ATTEMPT TO VISIT SALDANHA. 9
Avithout further delay. As I had no longer any
particular engagement at the frigate, we had not
the same facilities as before, but we, however,
determined to proceed upon the same plan. We
left the house at nine o'clock, and stepping into
the boat then lying under the quay, rowed to the
frigate, where we remained a few minutes, and
then re-embarking, ordered the watermen to steer
us to the shore. When, however, mid- way between
the ship and the shore, we suddenly pretended to
recollect an engagement, and desired them to
change their course and row us to the vessel
which we well knew contained the General; that
vessel was at a greater distance from the Lisbon
quay than we had at first supposed, lying far
down the river, which is here almost an arm of
the sea, indeed nearly as far as Belem. It was a
night of extreme beauty ; there was not a cloud
in the sky, not a breath on the face of the deep ;
the moon alone was to be seen in heaven, and
was beautifully imaged in the water below ; the
banks, studded with towers and palaces inter-"
mingled with gardens and ancient walls,, were re
posing in the silver light; and the deep black
shade they cast upon the water immediately
beneath was separated by a defined line from the
b3

IJO ~ PORTUGAL. [cH. IXi
radiant surface beyond; Protected in some de^
gree from observation by the bank, we glided
down the stream among the vessels of various
mations, and admired their tall masts resting
against the deep-blue sky, and their beauteous
tracery of spars, so light and delicate, yet so
distinctly visible by the light of the moon ; oc
casionally we passed a mighty frigate, at once the
guardian and emblem of British greatness, stand
ing apart from the naval host in solitary gran-"
deur. and casting its gigantic shadows across the
water. At length we reached the vessel which con
tained Saldanha, and saw that great precautions
had been taken to prevent the possibility of a
successful attack. Some minutes elapsed before
any reply was made to our reiterated calls, but
at last a man appearied on the deck. Bernardo
then rose, and said that he had formerly served
under the General as Aide-de-camp, and now
desired to see him. The sailor replied, that Sal
danha had recently left the ship. We disbelieved
this statement, and my friend persevered in his
efforts, entreating him at all events to inention-
his name to the General; but though the man-
hesitated for a moment, he afterwards repeated

CH. IX.j FRUSTRATED IN OUR OBJECT. II
his former statement with increased decision.
He had probably received instructions not to.
admit, upon any account, that the General was
actually concealed in the ship.
Baffled in our main object, we became anxious,
to effect a safe retreat, as the most difficult part
of our enterprise was yet to be surmounted.
Desiring, therefore, our men to hasten back to
the quay, we rowed up the stream for some time
without experiencing any interruption, but heard
at length the unwelcome sound of a distant chair
lenge; we looked anxiously around and saw a
small black speck upon the illumined water, Uke a
mote on the brilliant disk of the sun. For a
moment we hoped that an acute sense of danger
had rendered us peculiarly alive to every soand>
and we trusted that the suspicious object which
lay before us, too clear to admit a doubt of its
existence, was only a buoy. It lay so motionless;
it seemed so little instinct with Ufe, that our hopes
became confirmed. While we were yet gazing
upon it the call was repeated, and the black speck
evidently changed its place ; we immediately sup^
posed it to be one of the many Government boats
appointed to intercept communications- between

12 PORTUGAL. [CH. IX.
the refugees in the ships and their friends on
shore, and especially between Saldanha and his
partisans, and as our proceedings could not have
borne the test of official inquiry, we felt that every
chance of safety depended on instant flight. We
urged our men to apply their utmost strength to
the oar; they needed no exhortation, for they knew
the danger of becoming involved in any question
able enterprise ; their broad chests and vigorous
arms were not exerted in vain, and we rather flew
than glided up the stream. But this precipitate
movement was hailed by our crafty observers as a
signal to commence the chase, upon which they
entered -with equal determination and greater
power; but our boatmen plied their oars with
unabated spirit, and for a few minutes the result
seemed doubtful. We looked with intense anxiety
upon the object moving towards us; it was no
longer a speck, distinguishable only by its dark
ness from the surrounding waters, but evidently a
boat bearing down upon us; we saw her every
moment increasing in bulk; we saw the crew that
manned her, like shadows first, then bodily and
distinct; the quick repeated dashing of the oars
came full upon our ears ; our pursuers were now

CH. IX.] HAZARD IN LANDING. 13
gaining rapidly upon us ; the next moment they
overtook our boat, commanded us to stop, and we
reluctantly obeyed the summons.
To our unspeakable relief, they only proved to
be custom-house officers ; who, having ascer
tained that we carried no smuggled goods, de
parted somewhat incensed at the unnecessary
speed to which we had put such good men and
true. We rowed on to the quay; as we ap
proached the landing place, we distinguished the
military patrol ranged along the shore, and saw
their arms gUttering in the moonlight ; and now
the last and most hazardous part of our enter
prise was to be atchieved. Our plan of opera
tions had been previously arranged, so that our
movements had no appearance of hesitation or
embarrassment. I led the way up the landing-
place ; my friend, enveloped in a cloak which
concealed his face, followed as an attendant. We
were instantly and fiercely challenged by the
officer on duty, and I as quickly replied that I
was an Englishman, and had been that evening
on board the frigate. The frequent occurrence
of visits from Englishmen to the British line-of-
battle ships, our unembarrassed manner, the con
fident and almost careless tone in which I an-

14 PORTUGAL. [CH.IX*
swered, my English accent, and probably the
recognition of my person, prevented me from
experiencing any interruption. I regarded the
officer steadfastly, to divert his attention frOm
Bernardo. Attracted by my gaze he returned
it with equal earnestness, and kept his eyes so
riveted upon me that I doubt whether he even
observed my friend. If I mistook not, I perceived
a shade of doubt and suspicion on his counter
nance, as if he wished to detain us, yet felt that
such a step would hardly be justified by actual
appearances. But we allowed him no time for
reflection. As his first impulse did not prompt
him to stop us, we passed on with quick but liot
with hurried steps, and in a few minutes were
beyond his reach. So terminated our nocturnal
enterprise: "hwc olim meminisse juvabit," I ob^
served to my friend as we separated. Had \pe
been arrested by the guard, and the object of
our expedition discovered, I, as an Englishmans
should only have been subjected to great incon-.
venience. Bernardo would, however, have been
exposed to real danger, but danger, in whate-ver
shape it came, never affected his intrepid mind.
He is one of the most humane and honourable
men I have ever known. At a later period pf

OH. IX."] BERNARDO SA. 15
the Revolution he encountered far greater perils,
and was placed in more difiicult situations, yet
throughout those trying scenes he well sustained
his pre-vious reputation. When Don Pedro's
standard was raised at Oporto, in 1828, he escaped
from Lisbon and joined Count ViUa Flor's army
in the north of Portugal ; he marched with the
troops to Coimbra, and never deserted them
during their disastrous retreat into Spain; and
when the failure of the insurrection became com
plete, he embarked for Terceira the last strong
hold of the Imperial cause. The vessel in which
he sailed was, however, captured by a Miguelist
sloop-of-war, and the most rigorous search was
made for the scattered adherents of the Charter.
During this examination he remained under a
heap of cinders, which seemed incapable of af
fording effectual shelter to any Uving creature.
The Miguelists, however, pierced the heap iii
various places with long sticks to remove all
doubt, but missed him every time, and departed
without any suspicic.;i of the truth. Had he been
taken prisoner at that time, he would probably
have suffered, as his extreme activity in Don
Pedro's cause had rendered him peculiarly ob
noxious tp the government of that day. Since

16 PORTUGAL. [CH. IX,
that period he has given proof of great military
talent; he has risen to high distinction, has been
made a Peer, and is now a member of the Por
tuguese Cabinet.
The British army had received final instruc
tions to return, and the 1st of April was the last
day on which they continued to occupy any part
ofthe Portuguese territory. My friends Colonel
Lambert and Captain St. Clair spent their last
evening with me. The first I met a few months
afterwards in England, the last I never saw
again. Captain St. Clair had virtues which en
deared him to his friends, he had all the spirit of
his own gallant profession, and abilities which
might have reflected credit " on the lordly line of
high St. Clair." But fate had otherwise decreed,
and he died soon after his return, lamented by
his brother-officers. On the following morning
I went to head-quarters, and found the General
preparing to quit the Palace. Sir William
Clinton had entirely won the affections of the
Portuguese. His sway had been so firmly yet so
gently administered, authority had been so tem
pered with kindness, the foreign Chief had so
completely merged in the common Protector ; in
short, the elements were so mixed in him, that

CH. IX.] DEPARTURE OF THE BRITISH ARMY. 17
those, who had hailed the arrival of the British
army, lamented his departure as a general mis
fortune, and those, who hated British interposition,
spoke of him with a forbearance and even with
a warmth of feeling rarely felt by men towards
their political opponents. The separation be
tween the British and their Portuguese allies was
truly affecting. Our officers had awaited their
recall with extreme impatience, but, when the
hour of departure actually arrived, their joy was
damped by the doubtful prospects which over
hung their foreign friends ; men with whom they
had long co-operated on equal terms and lived as
brothers. They felt that all hope of preferment
for their late associates was at an end, and that
even their prospects of preserving their rank in
the army were hourly diminishing. The Portu
guese accompanied our officers to the water's
edge, as if they wished to postpone the final fare
well to the latest moment, and cling, while it was
yet possible, to their only remaining friends ; and
our officers embarked, not like men returning in
high spirits to their native land, but with tears
in their eyes, as if retiring from a disastrous cam
paign. Bernardo dined with me, and in the evening

18 PORTUGAL. fcH. IX.
we rowed to the Windsor Castle, a line-of-battle
ship commanded by Captain King, and under
orders to sail for England early on the following
morning. I was unacquainted with the Captain,
but he received us with civility, and I had the^
pleasure of again seeing many of my military
friends. I went into the General's cabin, and
found him still suffering from the effects of his
accident and almost worn out with business, for
in feeble, as in robust health, he paid the same
unremitted attention tO his official duties. Hav
ing quitted him with regret, I walked the deck
with my friends. The air was warm, the sea
calm, and as the evening deepened, the firmament
became spangled with stars, and the lattices of
Lisbon were illuminated by a more earthly but
not less beauteous light. As we rowed to the
shore, the- delicious scent of the orange-flower
was wafted over the water, and actually loaded
the air with its rich perfume. On the following
morning I heard that the vessels appointed to
convey the British forces to their several destina-'
tions had quitted the harbour with the earliest
glimpse of light. A few days afterwards I called
at the quarters recently occupied by the Com
mander-in-Chief, to see a young Portuguese

CH. IX.] PRESENTED TO DON MIGUEL. 19
officer, who had been officially connected with the
British army and was still remaining there. All
his brother officers had been dismissed from the
regiment, and he was only detained in conse^
quence of the General's kind recommendation ;
but this apparent deference to Sir William's
wishes only survived his departure a short time,
and before two months had elapsed, this young
man was involved in the general expatriation.
The shutters were closed when I entered the
great saloon, but he opened them and admitted
light. His conversation flagged and his spirits
seemed depressed, and I could hardly myself re
sist the melancholy influence of the moment, as I
paced the deserted apartments so lately occu
pied by a brilUant staff and so often cheered by
the voice of social mirth.
The departure of the British army created at
first among our merchants considerable alarm,
which, however, subsided on the following morn
ing, when they found that their throats were in a
satisfactory state. The rain fell plenteously about
this time, and contributed to cool the apprehenT
sive imaginations of my English brethren. Be
fore I left Lisbon I was presented to the Infant,
at the Palace of Ajuda, by Sir Frederick Lamb.

20 PORTUGAL. [p^- IX.
The folding-doors of the audience room were
suddenly thrown back, and Don Miguel was seen
standing between his sisters under the royal
canopy at the extremity of the apartment. He
said little, but his manner was gentle, and the
srloom which darkened his countenance on that
inauspicious morning when he vowed — a fruitless
vow ! — to defend the Charter, was replaced by a
placid and good-humoured expression. In the
evening I called with my friend Bernardo on the
Marchesa D'Alorna, grandmother of the Marquis
of Fronteira. She had been driven from Portugal
by the French invasion, and had fondly hoped, on
her return after the general peace, to close her
eyes in her native land, amid those who were
nearest and dearest to her. But those ties, she
said, were rent asunder, her kindred were again
scattered over the face of the earth, and the
evening of her life was desolate.
I had long intended to explore the southern
provinces of Portugal, and most particularly those
parts where a British foot "had ne'er, or rarely,
been." My English friends were on the ocean;
my Portuguese, in exile. Bernardo alone re
mained ; but the increasing dangers of the time
compelled him at length to take refuge on board

CH. IX.] DEPARTURE FROM OPORTO. 21
an English frigate, and I became a solitary being
amid the populous city of Lisbon. Lisbon had,
therefore, no longer any attractions for me; her
deserted palaces only revived mournful recollec
tions, and I determined to commence my journey
without delay.

( 22 )

CHAPTER X.
Leave Lisbon — Moita — Luxuriant Vegetation — Setuval— Revolu
tionary Proceedings — Arrabida Convent — Melides^Simplieity
of the People — Santiago — The Capitan Mor — Want of Com
munication — Villa Nova — Sierra di Monchique — Beauty of a
Portuguese Heath — Senhor Joaquim, (Corregidor of Lagos):
his kindness and hospitality.
Contrary to the advice of my friend, Mr. Forbes,
who was well-acquainted with the character of the
people and of the country, and read the signs of
the times, I crossed the Tagus" early in the morn
ing, and reached Moita in about two hours. The
only object of interest in our passage was a sand
bank washed by a current at times extremely
strong, and called the Cabeza de los Espanoles,
because a boat full of Spaniards was lost there a
few years before. The banks, in the immediate
-vicinity of Moita, are low and sedgy, but a little
farther on the mountain range of Palmella rose
boldly before us. At Moita we mounted our
horses, but experienced a most vexatious inter
ruption before we had advanced half a mile into
the interior of the country.
It appeared that my servant Antonio, greatly

CH. X."] RETURN TO LISBON. 23
moved for the maintenance of his dignity, having
heard at Lisbon that I had hired a horse for
my own use, rejected the offer of a safe but
humble mule, and insisted upon the loan of a
prancing animal ; and in this wish he was so hap
pily indulged, that having, with considerable dif
ficulty, effected a lodgment in the saddle, he was
ejected from the premises at a moment's notice.
In this dilemma I proposed returning to Lisbon,
to negotiate matters with the horse-dealer ; for I
knew that Antonio, under the influence of his
recent alarm, would probably return accompanied
by some dilapidated creature, unable to totter
along the first day's road. I therefore preferred
saliling back to Lisbon, inconvenient as it cer
tainly was, to the chance of any protracted delay;
so, re-entering the vessel, which I had just con
gratulated myself on quitting, I lay down in a
most implacable mood, my head resting on a hard
sack, and my feet refreshed by the wind and rain
which were driving fast against us.
In spite of various discomforts, I contrived to
sleep, and the weather cleared up before we
reached Lisbon, where we arrived rather crest-
faUen, after all the pomp and circumstance of our
matutine exit. I spent the night at Bento's, and

24 PORTUGAL. [CH. X.
having provided my dejected 'squire with an ap
propriate nag, I embarked early on the following
morning, and arriving at Moita, continued my
journey through a sandy and pine-covered coun
try. Many flowers wore in full bloom ; I saw some
fine specimens of the tall malmaquiers, growing
in beautiful abundance ; the stuva, with its elon
gated and gummy leaf ; the pink saragassa, and
the arresminino, which covers whole districts and
fills the air with such delicious fragrance. The
hedges were overrun with luxuriant fern, and
with innumerable shrubs then in their loveliest
state of vegetation, for the tender light-green tint,
which seldom survives the first fortnight of spring
in that burning dim ate, was still resting upon
them. Palmella is a fortified town, finely situated
on the summit of a hill : here man or horse be
coming somnolent, Antonio was quietly trans
ferred from the saddle to the sand, whilst I, un
conscious of the deposit then in process, was ad
miring the first view of Setuval, and its noble
bay, bounded on one side by the Arrabida moun
tains. The plain is covered with magnificent
orange trees, laden with fruit, actually touching
the ground. The air, deliciously scented with

CH. X.J SETUVAL. 25
the lemon bloom, showed at once the fertility of
the soil, and the indolence of the people, who, in
other countries, would have collected the flower
for the sake of its perfume. The ash, differing
in some respects from our British species, was
in full leaf; so was the fig; poppies of various
colours abounded, and looked bright and gay
amid the corn, but proved the defective state of
the agriculture.
The chief trade of Setuval consists in the ex
portation of salt: the inhabitants are said to
prepare annually 200,000 tons, of which 90,000
are exported in foreign shipping. The greater
part of these 90,000 tons is sent to Ireland,
Russia, Sweden, and Finland, and a small quan
tity is reserved for the use of the English fisheries.
The remaining 110,000 tons of salt are partly con
sumed at Setuval, and partly exported to Oporto,
Viana, and other Portuguese towns. The pro
fits arising from the exportation of oranges at
Setuval are small: the salt is the staple article.
By mutual regulations, British and Portuguese
ships are, or at least were, entitled to the same
indulgences in their respective ports; but as
the trade was principally carried on in English
VOL. II. c

26 PORTUGAL. [CH. X.
bottoms, the advantages preponderated greatly
on our side.
On my arrival at Setuval I stopped at a house
kept by an English Catholic, an enlightened
man possessing an extent of information far be
yond his station in life. In the evening he ac
companied me to a plot of ground just out of
the town, where a large concourse of people was
expected to assemble that very night. The agi
tation which then prevailed among the inhabit
ants was extreme. Enthusiastically attached to
Don Miguel, and implicitly guided by the priest
hood, they regarded the Charter with utter ab
horrence ; and recent events at Lisbon had in
flamed their minds to such a degree, that only a
few days before my arrival the citizens had col
lected in large bodies and attacked the troops
stationed in the town. The Caqadores, devoted
to the Imperial cause, immediately fired upon
their assailants, and a considerable loss of life
ensued ; but the popular feeling was so strong,
and the Authorities were so unanimous in sup
porting the MigueUst party, that the troops were
obliged to leave the town, and were replaced by
a regiment principally composed of the inhabit-

CH. X.J SETUVAL. 27
ants, and fully participating in their political
sentiments. The only check on the zeal of the
Miguelists was thus for the first time removed,
and the Imperialists looked forward with alarm
to the result of a meeting convened by their
avowed enemies and held during the hours of
darkness. The numerous confessions made dur
ing that particular season, for we were then in
Lent, tended greatly to augment their appre
hensions, as the priests thus obtained increased
opportunities of secretly but deeply instilling into
the popular mind their rooted, and not altogether
unjustifiable, hatred of the Constitutionalists.
As I walked Avith my host towards the scene
of action, he endeavoured to dissuade me from
prosecuting my journey into Alentejo, a district
never very safe for travellers, but at that time
peculiarly dangerous from the great political ex
citement which prevailed. He told me of an
alarming incident that had once befallen him in
traveUing through a wild and uncultivated part
of that province. He put up one evening at a
lonely inn, where he found the kitchen table sur
rounded by a party of ill-looking men, whom he
soon recognised as confederated robbers, by their
c2

28 PORTUGAL. [CH. X.
appearance and manner, by the general style of
their conversation, and still more by the pecuhar
connexion which seemed to exist between them
and the master of the house. Shortly afterwards
a gentleman stopped at the inn, accompanied by
his servant and mounted on a fine horse, whose
handsome accoutrements bespoke the rank of his
owner. In the course of the evening, my in
formant observed his host take up a pair of
pistols belonging to the stranger and extract the
bullets. Confirmed in his worst suspicions, he
cautiously left the room and lost no time in
effecting his escape, and he assured me, that he
had afterwards reason to beUeve, that both the
gentleman and his servant perished in that den
of villains.
Engrossed in conversation we unconsciously
approached the chapel at the extremity of the
green, before which an enormous concourse of
people were assembled. Night had long set in,
but we saw by the glare of the lanlps the crowd
collected most densely around a regimental band,
which was playing with amazing spirit the Ultra-
Royalist hymn ; but even this favourite tune was
often drowned by the deafening shouts of

CH. X.J REVOLUTION OF SETUVAL. 29
" Miguel the First, the Absolute, the most Ab
solute King ! and death to the Malleardos*, death
to the infamous Constitutionalists ! " It was evi
dent that the designs of the Miguelists in pro
moting this meeting had been crowned with suc
cess. The popular enthusiasm was at its height,
and characterized by such extreme ferocity that
I could not behold it without awe, or hear the
deadly imprecations heaped upon the Constitu
tionalists without feeling that a terrible hour of
vengeance was at hand. I have mingled much
in revolutionary scenes, but never before or since,
not even at Evora during the heat of civil con
flict, have I seen the human face distorted by
such a variety of horrible passions : passions
cradled in fanaticism, nursed in silence and in
gloom, but now roused to madness, and ready to
break down every barrier opposed to their gra-
* The Constitutionalists were about this time contemptuously
called the Malleardos, or Spotted Ones, in consequence of an acci
dent that befel Don Miguel, and is illustrative of the quick
fancy and readiness of the people by whom it was applied. He
was driving an open carriage drawn by two spotted horses, which
ran away with him with so much vehemence as to endanger his
safety. The people, who were generally attached to Don Miguel,
immediately applied the term Malleardos to the Constitutionalists,
thereby intending to express their belief that, iu one respect at
least, they resembled the spotted horses, being equally disposed
to run away with the car of the state, and to compromise the
safety of their Prince.

30 PORTUGAL. [CH. X.
tification. Every passing occurrence ministered
to their hate, and furnished matter for hateful
illustration : if a rocket went up ill, the people
called it a Constitutionalist, a declaration re
ceived with yells expressive of the -utmost de
testation and contempt ; if it rose well, they cried
out that even thus should their knives be sent
into the hearts of the accursed Freemasons, and
then they expressed fervent wishes that their
traitorous heads were burning in the wheel of the
rocket. In short, among that assembled multi
tude all seemed alike transported by one common
love for the Infant, by one common hatred to his
opponents, and by one pervading sentiment of
unlimited and almost phrenzied devotion to the
Church. They were inflamed by music and the
spirit-stirring hymn ; by wine, which gave an
appalling character of desperation to their ges
tures; and by religious zealots, who whispered,
in each pause of the storm, that every blow they
struck was struck for God. It is difficult to de
scribe the effect produced at intervals by the
sudden glare of the fireworks dispersing the
gloom and Ughting up, though but for an instant,
their stern and excited countenances. Those mo
mentary gleams showed each man his neighbour's

CH. X.J REVOLUTIONARY PROCEEDINGS. 31
passion, and strengthened his own from a sense
of the general sympathy ; so that every moment
their expressions of vengeance became fiercer, and
their shouts more vehement and unintermitted.
At length they raised the cry of "Death to
the English ! " My host had long before urged
me to quit the scene, but the deep interest wth
which I viewed these tumultuary proceedings
fixed me spell-bound to the spot. Had my Bri
tish origin been discovered, my situation might
have been very unpleasant, but the same dark
face, which in Spain con-vinced the authorities
that I was a native outlaw, effectually shielded
me at Setuval from the suspicion of' being an
Englishman ; still my foreign accent might have
betrayed me had I been compelled to speak, and
I felt on many grounds the necessitj- of retiring,
for the people were ripe for violence ; and their
leaders, seeing that the time for action had ar
rived, bade the music cease. The crowd, that had
been long pent up, chafing like a mighty stream
within a narrow channel, now overflowed on all
sides, bearing down on Setuval to carry their re
volutionary intentions into effect. In trying to
disengage myself from the turmoil, I observed that
I was often recognised as a stranger, though not

32 PORTUGAL. [CH. X.
as an Englishman. Many fierce inquiring glances
were bent upon me, many persons seemed in
clined to stop me, and were only prevented by
the hurried movements of the multitude, which
pressed on, rank after rank, like the waves of the
sea ; once, indeed, a savage looking fellow, ren
dered still more fierce by intoxication, seized me
by the coat, and, declaring ftiat I was a Free
mason, desired me to shout for the Absolute King.
My actual position was not agreeable, for my
host had warned me that although I might pass
through the crowd unmolested, still if a mere
urchin raised the cry of Freemason against me,
the people, in their irritated state, might fall
upon me, as a pack obeys a single hound; no
well-known Constitutionalist would that night,
he assured me, trust himself on that plot of
ground for all the treasures of the British ex
chequer ; but the danger, if real, was but mo
mentary, for, disordered by wine and forced on
wards by the irresistible pressure of the crowd,
my assailant lost his hold before I had time to
reply. Extricating myself from the crowd I took
refuge in a knoll of trees behind the chapel,
where I saw groups of men careering around
with shouts and gesticulations absolutely de-

CH. X.] DON MIGUEL PROCLAIMED KING. 33
moniac, and rather resembling enraged wild
beasts than rational beings ; and still as I made
the best of my way to the inn by a circuitous
path, I heard the loud beat of the drum and the
infuriated cries of the people, as they rushed to
attack the dwellings of the Constitutionalists,
who were, however, generally speaking, prepared
for the tempest, and had fled from their houses
some hours before the rising of the'gale.
On the following morning I heard that great
outrages had been committed during the preced
ing night ; that the people were undisputed.
masters of the town, and Don Miguel had been
proclaimed King by universal acclamation. I
had observed that a large proportion of the
rioters consisted of fishermen, whose picturesque
dress, dark-tangled locks, and weather-beaten
visages heightened the wildness of the scene.
It is a singular fact, that although these men
had derived greater and more immediate ad
vantages from the operation of the Charter than
any other class, they were perhaps the most op
posed to its continuance. The fishermen of Se
tuval were required to pay 30 per cent, to the
religious establishments before the revolution of
1820, but in 1828 only contributed 10 per cent.
c3

34 PORTUGAL. [CH. X.
to their support, and yet they were anxious to
revive the abolished rights of the Church, and
were almost to a man prepared to die in its
defence; a fact honourable to them, showing
in strong colours the immense power of that
¦church, and the folly of attempting to overthrow,
by direct hostiUty, a system built on prejudices
which defy calculation, and which, in Portugal,
are too strongly impressed on the public mind
to be eradicated by those arguments of mere
self-interest which generally influence the con
duct of men.
During the extraordinary scene of which I had
¦ been a silent but deeply interested spectator, it
was evident that the strong attachment mani
fested by the people on that night to the Church
and to the ruling Prince was combined with feel
ings of bitter resentment towards the supporters
of the Charter. That resentment was not, how
ever, justified by the conduct of the Constitutional
party of that day, but the oppressive poUcy pur
sued by the Cortes of 1620 was still fresh in the
memory of the people, and was not unnaturally,
though it was at that time unfairly, visited upon
the adherents of Don Pedro's Charter ; but since
that Monarch's final triumph, since my journey

CH. X.] SUPPRESSION OF THE CONVENTS. 35
through Portugal, it must be admitted, that in
-violence and ill-treatment of the Church his Mi
nisters have fully equalled, if not exceeded, their
democratic predecessors. While they alienated
the peasantry by their hasty suppression of the
convents, by the same act they extensively indis
posed the landed gentry of the kingdom, for
almost every family of note in Portugal had some
members attached to the monasteries and inte
rested in their preservation ; all these have griev
ously suffered, and many of them have been
reduced to actual penury, by the harshness and
injustice with which those ancient establishments
were suppressed.
If there be yet in store for the Miguelists a
day of power and retribution, I shall not envy any
inhabitant of Setuval the distinction of Consti
tutionalist when the counter-revolutionary storm
breaks out.
I have often observed with interest the rapid
transition by which the popular mind, in southern
countries, passes from violent action to profound
repose. On the morning after the revolution the
people had resumed their ordinary avocations;
the town exhibited a tranquil aspect, and I had
some difficulty in conceiving that it could have

36 PORTUGAL. [CH. X.
been so recently the theatre of such a fearful
disturbance. However, for a long time after
wards, the Constitutionalists did not venture to
pass the night in their own houses, for they were
acquainted with the volcanic nature of their coun
trymen, and during the late eventful times had
not been wholly unaccustomed to those sudden
storms. I set off at an early hour on a fine morning to
see the Arrabida convent, accompanied by the
Consul's son, a young Portuguese of lively and
agreeable manners : we chose the Aceitao track,
and rode among hills fragrant with lavender and
rosemary, and finely clothed with olive, pine, and
cork, through plains glittering with flowers of
various hues, and between hedges composed of
aloes. The aloe-flower is white as snow, and
highly ornamental, but like the silver locks of
age it is the blossom of the grave : for the plant
lives many years, but only blooms once, and dies
immediately afterwards.
We ascended a steep hill, and from the summit
enjoyed a fine though distant view of Lisbon,
and the broad Tagus ; riding on we looked down
upon the blue bay of Setuval, and the long Une
of the Alentejo coast stretching to Sines. Pass-

CH. X.] ARRABIDA CONVENT. 37
ing some chapels, rising above each other em
bosomed in wood, we reached the convent, and,
entering a grotto, descended into the fanious
cavern, which is spacious, supported by two great
natural pillars and washed by the ocean. The
water was that morning of a deep green colour,
and so clear that we could count the pebbles
lying many feet below the surface ; but though
so calm, the echo of the wave resovxnding through
the hollow vault was very impressive. The con
vent is inhabited by indigent monks of the Fran
ciscan order possessing no great extent of land,
and receiving alms from strangers. Their in
ternal regulations were very strict; they were
forbidden to eat meat at any time, and enjoined
to sleep in the heart of winter with the most
scanty covering : before we left the convent they
showed us the scourges with which they lashed
themselves, and heavy stones which they hung
round their necks as a penance. The garden
terrace commands a fine view of mountains,
sometimes terminating abruptly in precipitous
crags, sometimes covered to the water's-edge with
wood; amongst which are found the quercus
Australis, the maple, the strawberry tree, and the
carob, or St. John's bread-tree.

38 PORTUGAL. [CH. X.
The Serra da Arrabida principally consists of
grey limestone, and there is much of a kind of
coarse flint breccia in the neighbourhood. The
Fathers asked us to spend the night at the
convent, but we were anxious to return, so taking
a guide we entered upon a track little used by
horsemen. For the first few miles it was narrow
and not very safe, for a false step would have
precipitated us, from a stupendous height, into
the sea below. As we approached Setuval the
road improved, but my horse fell with me and
bruised me slightly. During this expedition I
had observed many curious plants. The cistus
ladaniferus grew high, and covered the fields
with its white blossoms, intermixed with the dark
yellow-streaked cistus, which I beUeve to be the
Libanotis. That lovely weed the anagallis cse-
rulea, which rivals the blue heaven itself in the
depth and beauty of its colouring, grew side by
side with the cardon, and under the shade of
the fragrant lavandula multifida, known to the
peasantry by the harmonious appeUation of ros-
menino. I rode with the Consul's son to inspect the
salt-ponds, which are situated in the immediate
neighbourhood of the sea. They become filled

CH. X.J SALT-PONDS. 39
when the tide flows in, and when it goes out, the
sluices prevent the water from retiring ; as the
water evaporates, a thick crust of salt is formed,
but this process is only carried on during the
hottest months of the year. The day was falling,
and we rode back in haste, as the rioters were
generally abroad towards dusk.
Having spent some days at Setuval I took
leave of the Consul, and received the kind adieus
of my landlady and her pretty children, whose
Ught blue eyes and flaxen hair announced their
northern extraction, and formed a pleasing con
trast to the dark visages and sinister expression
of that fiery race among whom their lot was cast.
Her husband, mine host, whom I have already
mentioned, asserted equality by a vigorous shake
of the hand ; honest and right-minded, fond of
books, and capable of appreciating them, his life
seemed to have fluctuated, under the influence of
changing circumstances, between a higher and
an inferior grade of society.
Embarking at Setuval I landed, after a passage
of three hours, at a point on the coast about a
league distant from Comporta. Continuing my
journey through a desolate country, I wound
along the base of a high sand-hill, which formed
a most glittering object in the distance, being

40 PORTUGAL. [CH. X.
entirely destitute of vegetation, except in a few
places where it was dotted with occasional tufts
of lavender. It was "often difficult tp maintain
our footing, as the hill rose almost perpendicu
larly frora the plain, which was, in many parts,
completely under water. A large species of the
aquatic lily covered large stagnant pools, and the
yellow iris grew luxuriantly on the sedgy banks,
but as we advanced the soil became firmer, and
was overrun with laurestinus, arbutus, juniper,
arbor vitse, and cedar. I saw the passion flower,
and the trevisco, and occasionally a beautiful
plant, sometimes mistaken by travellers for yellow
heath, and indeed I only discovered on inspection
that, in spite of its general resemblance to the
ericas, it could not be classed among any varie
ties of that tribe.
I arrived late in the day at Fontigna, a vil
lage consisting of a few houses only, but adorned
with smiling gardens, and beautiful from its
contrast with the adjacent waste. Fontigna is
remarkable for a very primitive state of manners
prevalent among its inhabitants, which invested
them with a peculiar interest in my eyes; se
cluded from the world by the surrounding wilder
ness, and ardently attached to their native place,
they rarely stray beyond its precincts; their joys.

CH. X.] SIMPLICITY OF THE PEOPLE. 41
their sorrows, the recollections of their childhood,
the hopes of their manhood, all centre in that
cherished spot. Living in a state of mutual
amity and kindness worthy of the golden age,
selecting their partners from the narrow circle of
their little village, they pass on untroubled from
the cradle to the tomb, in happy ignorance of the
external world.
I rode on to Melides, where I found the
Mayor, conspicuous by his new coat and oil-
skinned hat, haranguing his inferior friends.
Having bowed to authority in the shape of his
Worship I adjourned to the inn, where I was
overwhelmed with questions touching ray journey
by the simple inhabitants, who seemed lost in as
tonishment at the sight of a well-clad gentleman,
as the privilege of wearing decent attire had
hitherto been supposed tO vest exclusively in the
Mayor. An old woman, who was both deaf and
dumb, happening to see my silver canteen testi
fied the utmost admiration by raising her hands
and upUfting her eyes. I was surprised at the
readiness with which by-standers conveyed com
plex ideas to her mind, and admired the em
phatic gestures by which she made her own
meaning understood. A young man intimated

42 PORTUGAL. [CH. X.
to her that I came from England, not from
Spain ; wishing to ascertain the fact, she ap
proached me, raised one hand in the direction of
the east, then, quickly withdrawing it, stretched
both forth in the wildest manner towards the sea,
wringing them and holding them extended for
a minute, as if to say, you come not from Spain
but from a land far far beyond the Western
Ocean. Soon afterwards a Neapolitan drew near
the fire ; he had all the liveliness of his country
men, and talked fluently enough, though I did
not altogether like the general tenor of his ob
servations, which ran too much on robbers and
their exploits. Such themes were certainly not
inappropriate in Alentejo, but I have remarked
that viUains, in his rank of life, often lead the
conversation to subjects connected with their
own vocation, partly to remove suspicion from
themselves, partly to extract information, and,
perhaps, in some degree from that vague and
restless feeling which sometimes prompts men
" to unload the breast,
Even when discovery 's pain."
His father's house was situated on the borders
of Calabria, and his provincial hatred of the Ca-

CH. X.J CHILDREN OF THE POOR. 43
labrians showed itself in the energy of his abuse.
Happening to admire a flower worn by a young
girl, she brought a basketful into my room ; I
gave her a trifle, which produced a second supply
with a promise of a third. I then assured her
that the flowers only retained their beauty whilst
carried in her bosom. The observation pleased
her, but had not the effect of preventing a general
invasion of my apartment by her young com
panions, who arrived with garlands in profusion,
and proceeded to investigate my goods and chat
tels with the utmost delight and amazement.
The offspring of the poor are pretty throughout
the south of Portugal, and are generally distin
guished — a melancholy distinction ! — by a look
of premature care, peculiar in that country to the
children of poverty.
As I retired to rest the old woman entered my
room and pointed towards the window with an
energy of manner, that in any female of minor
gesticulation I should have supposed intended
to warn me of approaching danger. If such was
the motive of her visit, her hint was certainly not
lost upon me, for, recollecting the admiration
excited by my canteen, and not wholly oblivious
of my NeapoUtan friend, I fortified my apart-

44 PORTUGAL. [cH. X.
ment with especial care. However inviting my
goods might be to others, my room had certainly
no attractions for me : there was neither floor nor
pavement, consequently my bed rested on the
damp earth; the roof was rotten and full of
apertures, through which the sky was visible and
the rain fell in a lively stream. This utter want
of accommodation, combined with a host of ver
min, ravenous in the consumption of a well-fed
Englishman, effectually disturbed my repose with
out the assistance of any human assailants.
On the following morning, as we approached
the village of Santiago, we passed by a large
mansion, from which issued a wild kind of being
who proved to be the Capitan Mor ; addressing
me with a courtesy remarkable in a man of such
uncouth exterior, he entreated me to alight and
partake of all the hospitality his house could
afford. Having "declined his offer I stopped at
Santiago, where I drank in, with stunned and
afflicted ears, the lugubrious wailing of infants
issuing from every quarter of the compass. There
I devoured in a barn some eggs, and bread soaked
in water, the only breakfast I could obtain; for
breakfasts in this part of the world are deficient
in quantity, and in quality not very conducive

CH. X.] VILLAGE OF SANTIAGO. 45
to the maintenance of man : dinners were often
a total blank in the record of daily events. Men
shook their heads when I said that I was travel
ling through that wretched country solely for my
personal amusement, for I did not venture to
confess that the poUtical excitement then prevail
ing was my chief inducement.
After sundry expostulations with man and
beast, with man that was rapacious in the shape
of an innkeeper, and beast that was obstreperous
in the form of a mule, I quitted Santiago, having
first explored the remains of a tine Moorish
castle. We then entered a defile that led
through mountains entirely covered with gum
cistus many feet in height. It was cut down
in several places and lay in heaps, which the
farmers intended to burn during the ensuing
August, esteeming the ashes good manure. The
cistus populifolius was occasionally to be seen,
but the ladaniferus is the prevailing growth.
The foxglove was abundant, and a beautiful but
lowly flower of a pink colour, called rosella by
the natives, often attracted my notice. The wild
olive and the quercus coccifera were intermingled
with cork trees, almost as huge as forest oaks, and
covered by those young shoots which give them

46 PORTUGAL. [cH. X.
during the spring the beauty and freshness of
deciduous trees. I observed some plots of ground
well tiUed, upon which the corn appeared to thrive,
and as there seemed little difference in the na
ture of the adjacent soil, I have no doubt that
here the absence of a more extended cultivation
is less attributable to the poverty of the soil than
to other causes. The want of water and want of
hands in Alentejo depress the agricultural in
terest, and prevent the farmer from raising com
at a price which bears any competition with that
which is imported. The first Cortes increased
the duty on the admission of foreign corn into
the kingdom, a measure highly popular in Alen
tejo, and, perhaps, the chief cause of the constitu
tional feeling that was displayed so strongly in
parts of that province. The importation of
Spanish corn, smuggled across the frontier into
Portugal, is, however, so considerable that no re
gulations established for the purpose of improv
ing the state of agriculture in Portugal could
have any great or permanent result, unless com
bined -with measures tending to promote an ex
tension of the home market ; an object which
Government might very much effect by opening
roads and canals, and thus faciUtating the m-

CH. X.J WANT OF PROPER COMMUNICATIONS. 47
tercourse between parts of the kingdom now
absolutely unconnected. The material difference
which frequently exists in the price of commo
dities, at places but a few miles distant from
each other, and sometimes only divided by a
hiU or a stream, is a striking proof of the ex
treme inconvenience arising from the want of
proper communications.
In passing through a thicket near Calcar my
horse made a dead halt, exhibiting unequivocal
signs of alarm; this pause was followed by a
loixd rustling among the leaves, and immediately
afterwards my muleteer cried out that a wild
boar had passed by him into the most tangled
part of the covert. As we approached Villa
Nova, over a dreary waste of sand and heath, I
saw some coveys of red-legged partridges, several
bustards and curlews, and a cloud of guUs. The
sea was always in my childhood an inexpressible
source of pleasure to me, and now — when that
creative fancy has very much subsided,
"Which out of all the lovely things we see
Extracts emotions beautiful and new,"
and clads them in a briiUant but delusive co
louring; even now, the sea revisited after any

48 PORTUGAL. [CH. X.
absence, however brief, conveys to my mind a
sensation of delight which no other object of in
animate nature can awaken ; it brings back those
fresh and joyous feelings which are constant in
mates of the breast during the springtide of life,
but which afterwards only return at intervals,
''like angel visits, few and far between." This
delight in the ocean has never weakened with
other impressions, probably because it was im
bibed in my earliest years, because it was asso
ciated with some of my purest and happiest re
collections, and, more than all, because it was
instilled into my mind ,by one early lost, but
fondly cherished and deeply lamented; one who
loved that element in all its moods, who appre
ciated natural beauty in all its forms, and whose
appreciation was ever just as it was exquisite.
These sensations I experienced in their full force
when I arrived on the heights above Villa Nova,
worn out with fatigue and in but indifferent spirits.
The dash of the waves sounded in my ears like
the voice of a welcome and a well-known friend,
and I rejoiced to see the great Atlantic — a splen
did sight ! — breaking over low rocks, and crested
with foam almost to the horizon, come dashing

CH. X.J VILLA NOVA. 49
against a succession of headlands, strusrsrlinsr
and buffeting with the Villa Nova stream, which
seemed to pour into its bosom no tributary tide.
On arriving at Villa Nova the Consul accom
panied me to the southern side of the harbour.
Immediately opposite lay the Terror, bomb fri
gate, wrecked on this coast during the terrific
storm of the 19th of February, and only saved
from utter destruction by the skill and coolness
of the Captain, and the undaunted spirit of his
crew; had they struck a little lower down, no
efforts, however strenuous, could have availed
them, as the coast is lofty and ironbound. We
hired a boat and rowed to the frigate, where
Captain Hope led me round the vessel, which was
undergoing repairs, and was still in a shattered
state. He then showed me the way across a
barren sand-hill to the spot where the accident
had occurred, and pointed out the marks of
recent fires, and of the tents, under which his
crew had encamped for nearly two months. I
returned to the inn, as the day was closing, and
was regaled with an apartment that admitted
dioramic views of heaven and earth, through
sundry picturesque openings in the roof and
wooden walls.
VOL. II. D

50 PORTUGAL. [CH. X.
The sun shone brightly as I left Villa Nova
early on the following morning, but was overcast
before I had gained the heights above the town.
The clouds seemed pregnant with mischief, as
they rolled heavily fi-ora the west, and gave the
altered scene a sad but just resemblance to the
darkened prospects of the kingdom ; the national
landscape, as bright two months before, was then,
as suddenly, enveloped in doubt and gloom.
There was no inn at Port St. Antoine, but we
stopped at a wretched hut, inhabited by an old
woman and her daughters, who could only give
us bread and water, — a poor repast for famished
travellers. The youngest girl, Maria di Carmo,
was extremely pretty : observing me gather a
white flower from the hedge, she eagerly snatched
it from my hand, and supplied its place by a rose,
for, according to the superstition of the district,
that white flower only grows above the dead, and
borrows its rank luxuriance from the grave. As
I was sitting in the hut, the peasants, unaccus
tomed to the visits of inquisitive Englishmen,
crowded in to see the wild beast.
There was little variation in the character of
the scenery till we reached the famous Sierra
di Monchique, a mountain-range constituting the

CH. X.] SIERRA Dl MONCHIQUE. 51
northern barrier of Algarve. For many miles
before we approached it the country was ex
tremely desolate : for hours together we neither
saw any villages, nor even passed a single hut:
the few peasants whom we met seemed both
astonished and terrified by the appearance of a
traveller. Boys and women fled as we drew near,
and, when they had not sufficient time to escape,
testified the utmost alarm; even the men re
treated, when they descried us at a distance.
These retrograde movements were highly in
convenient, as we depended upon casual informa
tion for the right du'ection of our course across
those wild, and often trackless wastes. More than
once I rode towards some of the peasantry, to
make the necessary inquiries, but each in turn in
variably fled as I advanced ; and when I pressed
the pursuit, till I had arrived within a few feet of
my fugitive, he suddenly vanished, sinking into
the gum-cistus, where he lay effectually concealed
from my view. In vain I perambulated the place,
and shouted; I could not discover the foolish
fellow among those high bushes, and neither
prayers nor menaces could draw him from his
hiding place. Disappearing in this ridiculous
manner, one after another, they reminded me of
d2

.52 PORTUGAL. [cH. X.
birds, occasionally lost in a furze brake, and nof
recovered after a most diligent search, though
the sportsman has seen theni fall.
We now commenced the long an^ arduous
ascent of the Monchique range, and following fqf
many hours a path that wound up the steep in a
zigzag direction, arrived, as the sun was setting,
at a village prettily situated among groups of
chestnuts ; the air was, however, keen even at
that tirae of year, from the immense elevation of
, the place. The people were simple, honest, a,nd
good-humoured, but could not give me any dinner,
and had some difficulty in supplying me with a
bed. From a neighbouring convent tower I
gazed on the magnificent mountains which sur
rounded me ; turning towards the north, my eye
ran over the dark wastes of Alentejo stretching
into endless distance, while far beneath nje lay
the rich and flourishing Algarve, bounded by tlie
^ea. The kingdom of Algarve is long and. nar
row, and its breadth appeared inconsiderable in-,
deed in that extensive view.
On the following morning wc continued our
journey, and wound along the edge of a precipice.
We were now in spring, the most delightful sea
son of the Portuguese year. To the lover of

CH. X.] A PORTUGUESE HEATH. 53
natural beauty, a Portuguese heath is, at that
time, a scene of indescribable interest; at least,
in those happy spots, where the peculiarly favour
able nature of the soil permits the development
of its varied treasures. Through such a scene
we passed: the earth was then clad in its richest
apparel; besides the rosemary, the juniper, the
myrtle, the lavender, and a thousand bulbous
plants disclosing their thousand beauties, the
ericas-umbellata and australis, with their bril
liant and deep-red blossoms, and the various
cisti, some yellow, some of a rosy tint, some white
as snow, and others streaked with purple, em
broidered the plain with their variegated and
delightful hues. The very insects, disporting
over those beautiful wastes, were marked by
the same rich and decided colouring : the deep-
blue of the butterfly was not surpassed by its own
azure heaven ; and the emerald green of some
species of the scarabseus tribe seemed fresh from
the colouring of their own Almighty artist. In
short, a common character of grace and beauty
in detail distinguished almost every object of
animate and inanimate nature.
In gazing on that scene, how strongly did I

54 PORTUGAL. [cH. X.
feel that the great Author of those natural trea
sures is not more to be marvelled at in the
awful assemblage of worlds which he has placed
around us, than in those mimite and sometimes
almost microscopic glories which he has spread
in such harmonious profusion at our feet. But
these varied beauties that occasionally charm the
eye on a Portuguese heath, and keep alive every
faculty of perception, are not, it must be con
fessed, the distinguishing characteristics of the
great wastes of Alentejo.
The granite region, and the limestone strata, so
often productive of a beauteous vegetation, are
limited in extent; the sandstone and the slate
more frequently prevail, and then the traveller
may pass, for hours together, through mountain
defiles, and over plains, covered, as far as the eye
can reach, with the tall and unvarying cistus-
ladaniferus; and yet the graceful form of this
plant, its green glistening leaves, its large white
sleepy-looking flowers heavily spotted -with pur
ple, meeting the sight in every direction, are not
without their influence on the mind. There is a
fascination in the gorgeous monotony and uni'
versal stillness of the scene, in the solemn, splen-

CH. X.] VALLEY OF MONCHIQUR. 55
dour of the never-clouded sun and sky, and in
the heavy and almost enervating fragrance with
which that all-prevailing cistus loads the air.
Insensibly affected by these circumstances, the
mind, having no scope for active observation, and
perhaps pleased to retire for a moment into a
world of its own, involuntarily falls into that
dreamy state, half pleasing and half melancholy,
in which fairy visions arise unbidden, in which
the fancy sports while the judgment sleeps, and
thoughts chace each other through the half-un
conscious brain, without effort, and almost with
out connexion.
I confess I had fallen into this kind of unpro
fitable reverie under the lulling influence of the
great cistus wastes through which I had been
travelling, but a glorious scene of Uving though
inanimate beauty was at hand, springing up like
an oasis in the d esert, lovely itself, but still more
lovely from the force of contrast, affording ample
matter for observation and interest, renewing my
energies, and, like the sun, at once dispelling
every mist from the mind ; for now, leaving the
slate soil and the cistus mountain, we entered
that glorious valley of Monchique, which, in point
of picturesque scenery, is preferred by many of

56 PORTUGAL, [cH. X,
the Portuguese to Cintra itself It is indeed emi
nently beautiful; the vegetation in the valley is
most luxuriant, and refreshed by streams of tli^
clearest water : upon their banks the rhododen
dron grows profusely amid the lotus, the jonquil,
and many varieties of the scilla, while the hills
above are covered with chesnuts of an immense
growth, and orange trees bowed down by tjie
weight of their golden fruit. Upon the whol€^
Monchique is perhaps inferior to Cintra in the
beauty of particular situations, but is free from
all the striking defects of that far-famed spot.
However, I did not see this lovely valley to its
utmost advantage, as the scenery was then de
prived of its brightest ornaments, the chesniit
woods being only partially in leaf.
On leaving the beautiful valley of Monchique
we entered a country, wild and desolate as that
through which I had ridden during the few days
preceding. The monotony of the cistus plains
was indeed occasionally varied by tracts covered
with the palmetto, so frequent in parts of tlie
south of Spain. Like a dwarf apeing a giant,
it is in some respects a caricature of the great
Eastern palm, yet, with its elongated leaves and
short wild-looking stem, its appearance was pic-

CH. X.] SENHOR JOAQUIM. 57
turesque enough. My destination was Ca-pe St.-
Vincent, but, my horse knocking up three miles-
from Lagos, I was obUged to deviate from my
route, and halt at a miserable little inn close to
that town. Vexed at an accident which threatened
to impede myjourney, and exhausted by the heat
of the sun, I threw myself on my mattress, and
was quickly asleep. Roused by admonitory taps
on the extreme tips of my toes, I found a lively
little animal gesticulating largely and exhorting-
me to rise ; announcing in a loud voice the ap
proach of the Senhor Corregidor, an officer whose
duties, in many respects, resemble those attached'
to the French prefecture, and whose official con
sideration is fully equal to that enjoyed by the
French Prefect. That such an advent should not
be duly honoured, that any individual should be
found by an inspecting Corregidor in the disre
spectful attitude of profound repose, was an out
rage on the dignity of office sure to fill the mind
of a genuine Portuguese with horror. Believing
that this would prove a visit of inquiry into the
motives of my journey, terminating in annoyance
and perhaps in arrest, I rose, ungraciously enough,
but was reassured on finding that he only called
to congratulate me on my arrival, and make me
d3

58 PORTUGAL. [CH. X.
a free tender of his services. I thanked him for
his considerate attentions, and he departed ac
companied by three servants. I afterwards wan
dered through the town, which is situated on the
southern coast of Algarve, fronting the sea ; the
population is considerable, though the harbour
is indifferent, and the greater part of the houses
consist of one story only. Lagos only affords
good anchorage for a fleet when the wind blows
from the north or west.
Returning to the inn I met the Corregidor,
Senhor Joaquim : he urged me to enter his house,
and made me partake of tea and refreshment,
brought in by a handsome middle-aged woman,
who appeared sincerely attached to her master,
and occasionally joined in the conversation with
the easy freedom of a favourite and indulged
servant. The extreme familiarity often existing
in Portugal between master and servant is, at
first, a matter of surprise to an Englishman. A
servant standing behind his master's chair cor
rects his statements if he consider them erro
neous, and not unfrequently makes observations
on any question under discussion. A Grandee of
the kingdom attempted to combine the dignity of
his elevated station with the national habits of

CH. X.] KINDNESS OF THE CORREGIDOR. .59
familiarity towards his domestics, by a whimsical
mode of proceeding, for he invited them to join
the family circle at cards, but required them to re
main on one knee during the whole of the game.
On my return to the inn I found Antonio in a
very feverish state, which gave me great un
easiness, as the natives of this district are subject
to agues of a dangerous character. I immediately
sent for a surgeon, who declared him labouring
under a slight attack of that nature, and said that
a few days' rest was necessary to restore him. I
was, therefore, obliged to postpone for some days
my journey to Cape St. Vincent. During this
time the kindness and hospitality of the worthy
Corregidor knew no bounds; he usually spent
the greater part of the day with me, showing me
every object of interest, and pressing me to take
all my meals at his house, with an earnestness
that brooked no refusal. Breakfast was on the
table punctually at seven, and consisted of tea
and fruit in abundance, a deUcious sweetmeat
made of milk and eggs, with wine and meat.
Dinner was served at twelve o'clock, an hour
unusually late in the Algarve, but fixed on, out of
complaisance to my English habits. Our fare
was always good, but varied Uttle from day to

60 PORTUGAL. [CH. X.
day, consisting chiefiy of soup, beef, garavanzos,
chickens under every possible modification of
cookery, rice in profusion, fruit, sweetmeats, and
excellent wine.
In the south of Portugal, it is considered the
duty of a liberal host to press his guest in the
Warmest manner to continue the repast, even
when it is evident that his appetite is completely
satisfied. The guest declines, and the host upon
that occasion only makes an obeisance, but im
mediately before the party breaks up, renews his
entreaty ; the guest again declines, upon which the
master rises from table, shrugs up his shoulders,
and assumes a look of great regret, as if to say,
I have willingly laid before you my best fare ; it
is indeed indifferent, but you must excuse it, for
it is all I have to offer.
Dinner was invariably followed by the sicstaj
and afterwards tea and coffee were successively
handed round; the last and most delightful
hours of the day were spent in the open air, and
a supper, in all respects resembUng dinner^
closed the evening.

( 61 )

CHAPTER XI.
Visit to Sagres — Don Henry — Castle of Sagres — Cape St. Vincent
—Portuguese Ceremonial — Courtesies to Ladies — St. Vincent's
Chair— Villa Dbisbo — Ludicrous Mistake — Return to Lagos —
Juan, the Borderer — -Women of Silves — Marquis of Ponibal —
the " Prazo " — Faro — Tavira — Villa Real — Barbarity to Ani
mals — Alcoutin — Revolt at Mertola — The Lobishomens— Beja
' — The Alentejo — Ecclesiastical Enthusiasm.
I HAD been prevented from reaching Cape St.
Vincent by the disaster which befell my horse;
but I now availed myself of the delay occasioned
by Antonio's illness, to visit it before I took my
final leave of Lagos. The Corregidor kindly
determined to accompany me ; so, starting at an
early hour, we rode through a wild countiy, co
vered with rosemary, heath, and cistus, and over
a track full of stones, and in many places scarcely
perceptible. The scenery became bold as we
approached Sagres, a name dear to every Por
tuguese who loves his country; for it is closely
interwoven with the best and brightest period of
the national history. In this retirement Don
Henry, that princely benefactor of Portugal, ma
tured his high designs, and from this bay sent

62 PORTUGAL. [CH. XI.
forth well-appointed naval armaments to explore
an unknown ocean, fraught with real, and in
vested with fabulous terrors ; committing his
fleets to the guidance of leaders whose stedfast
courage triumphed over obstacles deemed insur
mountable, and whose great discoveries still con
stitute the most imperishable monument of Por
tuguese fame.
There is considerable depth of water in the
Bay of Sagres, which still affords shelter to vessels,
and traces remain of a harbour which might easily
be restored by an enterprising government.
The day was closing as we arrived at the Castle
of Sagres, boldly placed upon a projecting head
land : the sun had just set, enveloped in crimson
clouds ; the wind was moaning around the mossy
towers, and the sea raged at an awful depth be
low. Under these circumstances, well suited to
the scene, I, saw, for the first time, the heights of
St. Vincent, and looked upon that famous Cape
which occupies so large a space in the imagina
tion of childhood. We halted beneath the old
pile, and obtaining entrance we proceeded along
a narrow passage, cut through the massive walls,
into a kitchen of huge dimensions, such as our
ancestors used. This apartment opened into an

CH. XlJ CASTLE OF SAGRES. 63
inner court of the fortress, where Don Joaquim
sent a message to the Commandant, requesting
the favour of a night's lodging for himself and a
friend. Don Alvaro received us graciously, and
assured us, according to the hospitable and rather
magniloquent style of invitation, common among
the Portuguese, that his castle, his houses, his
gardens (not a tree, not a bush, not even a plant
was to be seen on that bleak spot) — and all that
he possessed, were at our complete disposal.
My sleep was that night disturbed by -vivid
dreams ; and I awoke with a violent headache,
and evidently, in some degree, aS'ected by the
prevaiUng ague. Restless and in pain, I rose at
that early hour when the first faint streaks of
Ught were stealing over the sky, and for a long
time paced the battlements that frowned above a
roaring ocean. The cliffs are dark and precipi
tous on all sides, and the isthmus on which the
fortress stands has great peculiarities ; its surface
is covered with masses of rock, and the ground is
in many places completely hollow. There is a
fearful chasm, exceedingly dark and deep, di
rectly communicating with the sea, which rushes
through this subterranean channel with so loud
a roar, that I almost thought the isthmus was

64 PORTUGAL. [cH. XI,
in the act of being rent asunder. On placing
a piece of heath over the orifice, I observed that
it was blown away by the gust of wind produced
by the rush of water below. From this, and from
other circumstances, I suspect that the ground is
in this part wholly undermined; the currents
probably force their way from both sides of the
isthmus into the narrow chasm, and that astound
ing roar must arise from the furious conflict pro
duced by the meeting of these two opposing
tides. The promontory of St. Vincent is com
posed of grey limestone, the rocks on all sides
appear to have undergone violent convulsions,
and the country, as far as the eye can reach, has
an aspect of the wildest desolation.
At breakfast Don Alvaro's daughter, a lively
young person, appeared, and made her mother's
excuses. Soon afterwards we took leave: the
forms, prescribed at parting by the old Portu
guese ceremonial, were gone through, according
to the strictest rules of the national etiquette;
high and plenteous thanks were tendered oh our
part, and, in return, the Commandant made great
professions of esteem, and reiterated many solemn
excuses for the scanty and unsuitable reception
which, he was bound to say, we had experienced

CH. XI.] PORTUGUESE CEREMONIAL. 65
in his poor Castle of Sagres. I remember .a strik
ing instance of the great extent to which mere
ceremonial is carried by Portuguese of the old
school, and i\, may not be amiss to relate it, while
I am touching on the subject. I called one
morning on a high Dignitary of the Church, and
ascending a magnificent staircase, passed through
a long suite of rooms to the apartment in which
the reverend Ecclesiastic was seated. Having
concluded my visit I bowed and departed, but
turned, according to the invariable custom of
the country, when I reached the door, and made
another salutation ; my host was slowly following
me, and returned my inclination by one equally
profound; when I arrived at the door of the
second apartment, he was standing on the
threshold of the first, and the same ceremony
again passed between us; when I had gained
the third apartment, he was occupj'ing the place
I had just left on the second; the same civilities
were then renewed, and these polite reciproca
tions were continued till I had traversed the
whole suite of apartments. At the banisters I
made a low and, as I supposed, a final salutation:
but no ; when I had reached the first landing-
place, he was at the top of the stairs ; when I

66 POETUG.^L. [cH. XI.
stood on the second landing-place, he had de
scended to the first; and upon each and all of
these occasions our heads wagged with increasing
humility. -Our journey to the foot of the stairs
was at length completed. I had now to pass
through a long hall divided by columns, to the
front door, at which my carriage was standing.
Whenever I reached one of these pillars, I turned
and found his Eminence waiting for the expected
bow, which he immediately returned, continually
progressing, and managing his paces so as to go
through his share of the ceremony on the precise
spot which had witnessed my last inclination.
As I approached the hall door, our mutual salu
tations were no longer occasional but absolutely
perpetual ; and ever and anon they still con
tinued, after I had entered my carriage, as the
Bishop stood with uncovered head till it was
driven away.
As I am here alluding to the manners of the
country, I will just state that in Portugal a gen
tleman never quits an apartment in which there
are ladies, without turning round on arriving at
the door, although he has already taken leave, to
renew his parting salutation to his fair friends,
who gracefully return it ; and so invariably is this

CH. XI.] COURTESIES TO THE LADIES. 67
the practice, that a man disregarding it would be
considered as positively deficient in the cour
tesies of good society, and a lady would feel
somewhat disconcerted by the omission of such a
customary mark of attention. Habit is so com
pletely second nature, that on returning to Eng
land after a considerable residence in Portugal, I
could hardly refrain from this practice ; and till
British customs had again in some degree effaced
my foreign impressions, I felt, on seeing our
Englishmen quit the drawing-room without this
salutation, that kind of uncomfortable sensation
which is involuntarily excited in the mind by
witnessing a rather coarse neglect of any of the
recognised convenances of society ; so truly con
ventional are many of those habits which appear
interwoven with our very nature, and to be
"rather part of us, than ours."
When upon any occasion a Portuguese tenders
his arm to a lady he is bound to proffer his left
arm, on the chivalrous principle that the heart,
the seat of the affections, should be placed as
nearly as possible in juxta-position with the fair
being to whom, for the moment at least, the ho
mage of its possessor is due.
But I am sadly digressing. Leaving the

68 PORTUGAL. [cH. XI,
Castle of Sagres, and passing by a ruined fort,
we rode across a wild and uninhabited country
to the monastery which is situated at the ex
tremity of Cape St. Vincent and on the verge of
a stupendous precipice; a bleak exposure, for
around the summit of that cliff a never-ceasing
wind is heard to howl, and a stormy sea is for
ever raging at its base. The convent is in a
very dilapidated state, and only tenanted by a
few monks, who happened to be aU absent save
one ; and certainly in that monastic visage ap
peared as much of the animal and as little of the
intellectual being, as was ever depicted on the
human face divine. Yet their fare is very indif
ferent, for they are far removed from any market,
they seldom if ever eat meat, very rarely fish,
and can only obtain a moderate supply of vege
tables. "Non minuit prsesentia famam" can
be said of few places, but is strictly applicable to
Cape St. Vincent ; that Cape will not disappoint
the most ardent imagination, for the view ex
tends on either side over a coast uniformly bold,
and rendered still more picturesque by great
masses of rock standing out in the water, and co
vered with clouds of shrieking sea-birds. A few
steps below the monastery is Cape St. Vincent's

CH. XI.J VILLA OBISBO. 69
Chair, a seat of stone not hewn by the handiof
man, and supposed to have been occupied by the-
Saint himself; and still the Portuguese mariner,
Sailing along this iron coast, sees through the
rolling mists the Saint upon his stormy throne,
and fervently beseeches him to guide the ship in
safety over his own troubled sea.
From thence we rode on to Villa Obisbo, a
village some leagues distant from the convent :
here a ludicrous mistake occurred. Having ac
companied the Corregidor to a house where we
dined, I wished to ascertain whether we were
then in a private dwelling or in apartments hired
for the occasion, as in one case I was anxious to
contribute my share of the expense, an offer
which in the other would have been considered
tantamount to an insult. Feeling some delicacy
in putting the question to my travelling friend, I
inquired of a servant, and desired him to ac
quaint me with the price of the dinner, but he, it
seems, misunderstanding me, approached the
Corregidor and, by some strange confusion of
ideas, asked him the price of his coat. That
worthy officer was much astounded by such an
unusual inquiry, and waxed wrathful at this
seeming ebullition of plebeian insolence ; the

70 PORTUGAL. [CH. XI.
man, alarmed at his displeasure, referred Mm to
me, and an awkward explanation ensued. My
worthy friend was appeased not satisfied, his
good-humoured countenance assumed a graver
aspect during the next hour of our ride, and
more than once his eye glanced jealously from
his substantial coat to mine, as if he were weigh
ing their respective merits, and pondering upon
the occult motive of such an extraordinary ques
tion. As- we were mounting our horses to quit
Villa Obisbo, the Abbot of St. Vincent ap
proached us, and was immediately presented to
me by the Corregidor. He folded me in a most
paternal embrace, and expressed great regret at
his absence during my visit at the convent ; I ex-'
tricated myself with all imaginable politeness
from the conventual grasp, and making recipro
cal protestations took a sorrowful leave of this
old and highly-valued friend. Our progress to
Lagos was seriously impeded by numerous per
sons crowding around the Corregidor to pay him
their tribute of respect, and by the village mag
nates anxious for the honour of a visit. We
were joined by a party on horseback as we ap
proached the town. During the last few miles
the Con-egidor kept up a sprightly conversation

CH. XI.] RETURN TO LAGOS. 71
with a beautiful little girl, who was only nine
years old, but had the formed manners and
finished wit of a complete woman of the world.
On my return to Lagos I found Antonio
slowly recovering, but as yet unable to resume
the journey. Besides the physical debility re
sulting from his late attack, it soon became e-vi-
dent that he was under the influence of extreme
fear. The appalUng scenes which had taken
place during our stay at Setuval had completely
extinguished the little valour he naturally pos
sessed, and the dread which was then generally
entertained of an impending insurrection in
creased his reluctance to leave the Algarve and
venture at such a time among the more ferocious
population, and into the more unsettled district
of Alentejo. He was, however, at length in
duced to proceed, and I quitted my kind friend
the Corregidor with real regret. I respected
the generous hospitality which had prompted
him to make a perfect stranger the constant
inmate of his house, and was not insensible to
the high consideration which he, an eminent
ofiicer under the Crown, had shown me in per
forming a journey of sixty miles over a hard and
jolting road for the sole purpose of accompany-

72 PORTUGAL. [cH. XL
ing me in my expedition to the Cape ; but such
is the spirit and character of Portuguese hospi
tality. My greatest inconvenience had arisen
from Antonio's illness during my stay at Lagos.
The landlord of our miserable inn could only
place at my disposal a small apartment, which
contained my servant's bed and mine ; but find
ing it impossible to sleep in the heated and un
wholesome atmosphere of a sick man's room, I
generally passed the night on my mattress in the
passage, which was rather an uncomfortable and
chilling process. Had the Corregidor been ap
prized of this circumstance he would have forced
me to accept a bed at his house, but I knew that
it was completely full, and I was unwilling to en
croach further on his kindness.
I should inform my readers that, in conse
quence of Antonio's protracted indisposition, I
engaged a young fellow to accompany me to
Faro in the capacity of an attendant. His name
was Juan, but as he came from that part of the
Pyrenees which adjoins the Spanish frontier, he
was generally called the Borderer (hombre di
raya), an appellation well suited to his appear
ance and manners, which were wild and uncouth
as his native mountains. Hearing of Antonio's

CH. XI.] WOMEN OF SILVES. 73
situation he came to me and bluntly offered his
services ; I complied with his request, as he
seemed insensible to difficulty and danger, and
was likely to facilitate my progress through the
disturbed districts. Accordingly, having sent
Antonio by the shortest road and easiest con
veyance to Faro, I rode with Juan to Villa Nova,
which is, perhaps, the best harbour on the Al
garve coast ; and then, directing my course into
the interior, I travelled through a mountainous
country to Silves, one of the most ancient towns
in Portugal. Placed on the summit of a steep
hill, it resembles, at a distance, a city of other '
days ; an impression confirmed on nearer inspec
tion by its massive waUs, its overhanging houses,
and old-fashioned windows. The women of
Silves, and indeed of all the Algarve, are in face
and often in figure extremely beautiful : their
complexions are pale but clear, their eyes, shaded
by long dark lashes, are always fine, and gene
rally distinguished by a soft and pensive expres
sion, which pervades the countenance and even
characterizes the smile. Spanish charms dazzle
and rivet the beholder ; the beauty of the Al-
garvian, less full of fire but fraught with raore
VOL. TI. E

74 PORTUGAL. [CH. XI.
of tenderness, sinks not, however, less deeply in
the heart.
Arrived at Silves, I sent my letter of intro
duction to the Mayor, who received me courteously,
and invited me to partake of a repast which was
eminently provincial, during which my aversion to
particular dishes, and my disinclination to annoy
him by refusing the proffered delicacies, were
feelings most disagreeably at variance. At length,
to my unspeakable relief, I discovered some sau
sages made of honey, a dish pecuUar to Algarve,
and these I invaded with great courage, and
lauded with perfect sincerity, and devoured with
amazing spirit.
His anxiety to hear the most recent news from
Lisbon, and the eagerness of his questions, be
trayed the intense interest he felt in the momen
tous changes then in progress. He was evidently
an Absolutist in the fullest acceptation of the
word, hating moderate men and moderate mea
sures, holding every modification of the repre
sentative system in equal aversion, and abhorring
liberty, which he designated as only devil's play.
He read aloud with sparkling eyes, and in an
enthusiastic tone, a copy of verses addressed to

CH. XI.] StLVES. 75
the adherents of the Silveiras, attacking the
Chambers, impugning Don Pedro's claims, and
speaking of their loved and lawful Sovereign,
Don Miguel, in the language of unbounded
eulogy. The Royal Members of the Holy AlUance
and King George IV. of England were warmly
praised, but as our late gracious Sovereign's name
was the concluding word of the song, I cannot
say whether his Majesty was commended on his
own account, or merely for the sake of the
rhyme. Putting his arm into mine with all the
cordiality of an old acquaintance, he asked rae,
as we paced the apartraent, whether many of my
countrymen were favourable to the establishment
of a purely despotic Government. I answered,
laughingly, that there were few Englishmen
solicitous for the establishment of a system ab
solutely uncontrolled in their own country.
"Well, but you will admit that some of your
nation entertain these opinions, and wisdom is
only the portion of the few." Saying this gaily
he invited me to explore the town.
The walls of Silves have been little injured,
the old Saracenic towers are very imposing, and a
noble cistern, built by the Moors, is still in good
e2

76 PORTUGAL. [CH. XI.
preservation. The view extends over a finely
wooded country. The oUve is not pollarded in
these districts, as in many parts of Spain, where
that practice is adopted to strengthen the oil,
and render it more highly flavoured. Some are,
however, of opinion that such a mode of treatment
only makes it more rancid ; but whatever may be
the practical effects resulting from that system of
managing the olive, it is unquestionably most
injurious to the general appearance of the coun
try, which it completely mars, by disfiguring each
tree in detail.
From the cathedral, where the Mayor knelt
down and prayed devoutly, we adjourned to the
town-hall, where the Municipality had been in
vited to meet me; after mutual presentations
and the exchange of mutual civiUties, I again
mounted my horse, and rode on to Argus where I
arrived as the night set in. The inn was ^vretched
enough, cats abounded, and women, of little per
sonal attraction, were scattered about the prin
cipal apartment, engaged in the construction of
mats made of the palma; an indigenous plant,
very green in its natural state, and very white
when dried. I here experienced a slight return
of fever, accompanied with frequent shivering,

CH. XI.J THE MARQUIS OF POMBAL. 77
aii affection increased by the severity of the
night, and the hardness of my couch, which was
only a plank of wood.
From Argus I rode to Louie, and stopped at
the house of a Fidalgo, Senhor Sebastiao Alex
andre di Gama Lobo, a young man of pleasing
manners, and well-informed on subjects connected
with his native province. His house was spacious,
and the walls were evidently of great antiquity.
His gardens were pretty, and extremely produc
tive, for he was said to export annually 500,000
oranges to England. He told me that he had
never crossed the boundary of the Algarve ; and
although his grandfather had performed services
which fairly entitled him to remuneration, he had
never solicited any favour frora the Court. He
had, however, just obtained permission from the
government to found an entail, for land in Por
tugal does not descend by right of birth to the
eldest son, unless so restricted by a special act.
The Marquis of Pombal perceived the theore
tical and perhaps sometimes real inconveniences
produced by the perpetual exclusion of large
tracts of land from the market, but instead of
limiting the duration of entails, which might not
have been an injudicious course to pursue, if

78 PORTUGAL. [CH. XI.
indeed any legislation on the subject were expe
dient in the actual state of Portugal, he unwisely
deprived individuals of the power of creating
them under any circumstances, without the express
permission of the Court ; a foolish restraint which
ill some cases prevents the Portuguese from ex
ercising a just discretion in the disposal of their
property, and is, in all, extremely unfavourable
to the just maintenance of an aristocratic in
fluence. But it was the policy of that jealous
and over-lauded minister not to confine within
due Umits, but to degrade that order of nobility
which, under the guidance of a more sagacious
mind, might have become at once the firm sup
porters of the monarchy, and the temperate guar
dians of the national freedom.
Porabal certainly possessed abilities, and un
questionably carried into effect some useful
reforms, but though more enlightened than the
mass of his countrymen, he imagined, a common
error of superficial minds, that a liberal poUcy
consists in excess of change. He forgot, that
moderation is a proof of strength, and supposed,
because preceding ministers had adhered some
what too blindly to the beaten path, he could not
deviate too widely from their track. His public

CH. XI.J THE PRAZO. 79
conduct was not based on any public principle,
and he entered into a most unrighteous war
against the nobility of his country, not because
he thought their privileges incompatible with
the well-being of other classes, but from a mean
and rancorous jealousy of an order to which he
did not naturally belong. I will not here dilate
upon the dark and doubtful history of the Aveiro
conspiracy, but the sanguinary policy by which,
upon that occasion, he triumphed over a portion
of his fellow subjects, has left an indelible stigma
on his memory.
In alluding to the tenures on which land is
held in Portugal, I should add that the Prazo,
a species of leasehold property which I have
described in a former work, is exempt from the
operation of the common law, and descends entire
to the eldest son. Land is generally much sub
divided in Algarve, and little entailed, Senhor
Sebastiao had, however, carried his point, and was
in consequence on the eve of uniting himself
to a: young lady of noble birth. While his
servants were preparing dinner, we visited a
neighbouring manufactory, where many hands
are employed in the process of extracting a kind
of weak brandy from the fig, and from the algar-

80 PORTUGAL. [cH. XI.
roba ; a fruit much relished in this part of the
country by man and beast. We called on the
Director of the establishment, and Senhor Sebas
tiao politely requested permission to show it to a
friend. " Your Excellency should command, not
request," answered the Director, and iraraediately
conducted us over every part of the manufactory.
In Portugal the presence of a Fidalgo generally
smooths down all difficulties: indeed the very
word has a magical influence over the minds of
men. I have observed, that the provincial nobles
are generally kind and considerate to the people,
and are often repaid by their affection ; they are
perhaps too exclusive towards persons a degree
beneath them in rank, but even this jealousy of
the middling classes is slowly melting away before
the spirit of the age. A sumptuous dinner awaited
our return, succeeded by a dessert consisting of
every fruit in season, an infinite variety of sweet
meats, and an abundance of excellent wines and
liqueurs. Frora Louie I rode on to Faro, where I
found letters from my dear Father and Sister, and
was hospitably received by the British Consul.
On the following day I dined at his house, where
I met a large Portuguese society. We spent the
evening in a delightful garden near the town.

CH. XI.J FARO. 81
where the cavaliers of our party paid compliments
to the dark-eyed dames of Faro, who in return
presented us with bouquets culled by their own
fair hands.
The trade of Faro principally consists of bark
and oranges; the greater portion of the fruit,
exported from Lagos, is sent to Holland ; but an
enormous proportion of the cargoes exported from
Faro are shipped for England. Antonio had by
this time in a great measure recovered from his
illness, but with reviving health his fears of mobs
and massacres revived, and he now declared that
he would not prosecute any further a godless=:
expedition into the interior of the country; in
conformity with this declaration, he announced
his intention of remaining at Faro until the public
tranquillity should be restored.
He was certainly unfit to cope with the dif
ficulties and dangers of the time, and I afterwards
regretted that any entreaties on his part should
have tempted me to engage hira as an attendant
on such a doubtful expedition. He reraained in
the south of Portugal, and reaped the bitter
fruits which are generally the portion of timid
and indecisive men whose lot is cast in tiraes of
peril and alarm. He remained unmolested till
e3

82 PORTUGAL. [CH. XI.
the breaking out of the revolution in favour of
Don Miguel, but at that critical period, when the
English name was held in execration, he was re
cognised by the populace as the servant of an
English gentleman. He, indeed, escaped their
violence, but Uved in a state of perpetual terror,
subjected to raany hardships, concealing himself
by day, and never sleeping two successive nights
under the sarae roof Body and raind sank under
the united pressure of physical suffering and
mental anxiety; naturally weak, he fell into a
deplorable state of health, and though he at
length returned to England he never rallied
again, but died in a few months. Had he ad
hered to his Master's fortunes, he would cer
tainly have encountered some rough weather,
but would probably have stemmed the gale, and
gained the port in safety.
I now engaged the Borderer for the remainder
of my expedition, much against the advice of my
friends at Faro, who represented to rae the inex
pediency of trusting to the precarious fidelity of
such a raan in the lawless state of the districts
which I intended to traverse. In consequence of
these representations I made inquiries respecting
other servants, but found no one disposed to ac-

CH. XI.J THE BORDERER. 83
company me through a country so proverbial for
the fierceness of its inhabitants as Alentejo,* at a
tirae when it was evidently on the eve of breaking
out into open insurrection. During ray stay at
Faro, very serious apprehensions were entertained
for the tranquilUty of the town ; the people had
already given very obvious indications of angry
feeling, and great disturbances were expected on
the morning previous to my departure ; but the
storm blew over for that day, and the explosion
did not immediately take place. Feeling the full
force of the objections urged against Juan, I
adopted a plan which may seem foolish enough
to persons unused to travel in disturbed countries,
and perforce associate with desperate characters;
but my intercourse with both had been pretty
considerable during my various rambles, and I
felt that it was the only mode by which I could
combine my desire of retaining so useful an ad
venturer with a due regard to my personal safety.
I therefore summoned hira to my apartment,
counted over my money before him, and confided
it to his care. I knew from experience that many
* I have heard it stated that the crimes committed in Alentejo
exceed in number those which are perpetrated over all the rest of
the kingdom.

84 PORTUGAL. [cH. XI.
of these rough adventurers, who neither respect
the lives or properties of others, are yet often
scrupulously faithful to a Master who reposes
unbounded trust in their honour; on the other
hand, I knew the stamp of man too well to sup
pose, that if he were determined to obtain ray
money, he would abstain from plunder because he
must wade through blood to his object; and I felt
that on the dreary wastes over which we intended
to travel, and at the lonely places where I must
often pass the night, he, assisted by others, would
find numerous opportunities of carrying into exe
cution any plan however deadly. But few men
comrait unnecessary criraes; and should Juan
prove a villain, he would probably decamp with
my money, if he were suffered to retain possession
of it, without attempting my life. I had after
wards some cause to think that ray reasoning on
this point was not altogether fallacious. So much
for the Borderer. Having thus endeavoured to
guard against domestic treason, I now took mea
sures of precaution against ray foreign foes, the
knight errants of the highway, who at that period
of civil commotion abounded in Alentejo. I de
sired Juan to secrete the greatest portion of the
gold in a jar of marmalade ; we deposited the

CH. XI.J TAVIRA. 85
remainder in the saddle by means of an incision
ingeniously made, and scarcely perceptible on the
minutest inspection ; keeping in our pockets only
a few gold pieces and many silver crowns, as
those champions of the public road are always
incommoded, and sometimes disagreeably un
courteous, if the bank entirely stops payment.
At Tavira I sent my letter of introduction to
Senor Xa\'ier Palmerin, Governor of the Al
garve, and was received by him with unbounded
kindness and hospitality. He introduced me to
his son Augustus, a fine young man scarcely
twenty, well informed, and of distinguished but
simple and unpretending manners. Immediately
afterwards, as dinner was announced, his wife,
Madame Palmerin, . a graceful woman, who had
evidently mixed much in the world, and pos
sessed great conversational powers, entered the
room. The English custom of asking individuals
at table to drink wine is unknown among the
Portuguese, but we pledged each other's healths
abundantly, and filled our cups to the prosperity
of our rautual friends. In the evening Augustus
mounted me on a milk white charger, whose
proudly arched neck bespoke its Andalusian
breed. We rode to the coast, where I saw a

86 PORTUGAL. [CH. XI.
village, Uke Costa, resembling an African crail ;
the sea was roaring among the rocks, and the
shore appeared wild and striking, but the sun
had set, and I could hardly distinguish remote
objects through " the twilight glow that momently
grew less." Yet though the hour was late, we
lingered long on banks overgrown with aloes,
amid olive trees of immense size, and clumps of
the carob by some esteemed the most beautifid
of European trees ; and here indeed it attains a
majestic height, and overhung our path with its
finely feathering foliage. We returned to Tavira
through groves of cork and olive, among orchards
indescribably beautiful from their mass of bloom,
and over plains enamelled with flowers; the air.
was balmy, and scented mth a thousand odorife
rous shrubs, and the evening had all the " dou^
ceur enivrante d'une soiree d'ltalie," a happy ex-:
pression, which well describes the almost intox
icating sensation produced by the delicious nights
of southern climes. Soon afterwards the moon
arose, and lit up the scene with a splendour un-
Icnown to our northern latitudes. On our return
we found many persons assembled at the Go
vernor's house ; recent events were the subject of
conversation, and although each individual was

CH. XI.J ATTACHMENT TO MIGUEL. 87
guarded in the expression of his opinion, it was
evident that the general feeling inclined strongly
to the Infant. They maintained his heart was
excellent, excused his early folUes, and declared
that the enthusiastic attachment felt for him in
Algarve knew no bounds. Madame said, that
ladies wept when they spoke of their Prince, and
carried his portrait in their bosoms, a fact un
doubtedly true, as I was assured by one lady that
she wore his miniature next to her heart by day
and night. The Governor informed me that he
experienced the utmost difficulty in preventing
the people of Tavira from committing acts of
violence against persons supposed to be adverse
to Don Miguel's claims, and indeed Senhor and
Senhora Palmerin, though ardent Miguelists
themselves, were eminently calculated to allay the
bitter animosities that had grown out of the civil
dissensions, as far as general kindness and conci
liation could have that blessed effect. In the
course ofthe evening I conversed with a gentle
man who impugned the conduct of the Constitu
tionalists, and though he did not directly object
to the constitution itself, gave it a side hit by a
very novel argument ; he contended, that if the
Sovereign, who was a single individual, could err.

88 PORTUGAL. [CH. XL
and his error produce mischief, the mischief occa
sioned by an error of the whole Chamber, which
consisted of two hundred persons, would be ex
actly two hundred times more detrimental to the
state, although the act committed raight be pre
cisely the sarae in both cases. The corapany dis
persed before supper, after which I retired to
rest. The luxury of repose was that night in
some degree alloyed by a little circumstance
which Madame related during supper, as having
occurred in the sleeping room allotted to rae only
a few days before ray arrival. A young girl sud
denly entering the apartraent perceived a large
snake coiled up behind the door; disturbed by
her entrance it glided away, and could not after
wards be found. On examining the apartment, I
had no difficulty in accounting either for its en
trance or for its disappearance, as both the ceiling
and floor were old and full of crevices, many of
which I could not stop by any contrivance.
Knowing that these reptiles are attracted by
warmth, I lay down to rest with some uneasy
sensations, as such an addition to my solitary
couch was not the most desirable partner man
could covet, and twice, I confess to my shame, as
I felt the smooth cold' sheet, I started up beUeving

CH. XI.] UNCOMFORTABLE APARTMENT. 89
that the creature was even then in the act of en
twining itself around rae. These noxious intru
sions are by no means uncomraon in the Algarve;
there is also a sraall ant that infests the houses,
and is cursed with an outrageous appetite, which
brings down upon its tiny but devoted head the
vengeance of hard-hearted housekeepers ; and a
jet black earwig, of a species resembling our own,
but of a larger size, is often seen crawling with
incredible rapidity, and unceremoniously intruding
upon society to the unspeakable dismay of nervous
dames. The Governor kindly urged me to protract my
stay at Tavira, and I should have spent with
pleasure sorae days araong that amiable family,
but was deterred from accepting his invitation by
my increasing conviction of an approaching revo
lution, which would probably render ray journey
into Alentejo, if deferred, not only difficult, but
absolutely impracticable. He gave me a letter
to the Juiz de Fora of Villa Real, and, as a
mark of high consideration, commanded a naval
officer to convey me in a government sloop to
Mertola. Society was very languid at Tavira,
partly from local causes, and partly frora the
gloomy aspect of pubUc affairs ; the regiment of

90 PORTUGAL. [CH. XI.
Tavira had declared in favour of the Infant on
the first announcement ofthe Charter, and had
taken refuge in Spain after the suppression of the
revolt ; the wives of the exiled officers remained
at home, and spent their solitary hours in praying
for their injured Prince, and in mourning over
their absent lords ; a degree of fidelity unusual
in the present day among any wives, but most es
pecially in the Peninsula ; isolated from the rest
of their countrywomen, the spirit of the age has
scarcely yet approached the ladies of Tavira;
many of them still wear the long Moorish veil,
and rarely appear in places of public resort, even
in the day, and are content to see the world from
their grated windows.
Leaving Tavira I rode through a pretty and
populous country to Villa Real. Sorae Uzards of
an enormous size, probably exceeding a foot in
length, crossed my path ; centipedes of huge di
mensions did ample credit to their hundred feet,
and the far-famed cameleons were occasionally
basking on the sunny walls. The American po
tato and the plantain is to be found in the gar
dens of the villas by which we passed. In the
Spanish Consul, who signed my passport at Villa
Real, I recognised an individual attached to the

CH. XI.J VILLA REAL. 91
British Consulate during my residence at Cadiz
some years before. Embarking in a vessel manned
by a frolicsome set of fishermen, and crossing the
Guadiana, a fine broad stream which falls into
the sea immediately below the passage, I landed
at Ayaraonte, which I visited solely because it
was a Spanish town, as I like to trace the na
tional differences that often appear strongly
marked when placed in juxta-position. The
houses are neat, have flat roofs, and are deco
rated with arcades, according to the fashion of
the country. The men are handsome, and gaily
di'essed, wearing short jackets and ornamented
hats; but the children are badly clothed. I
perambulated the town with great expedition,
as certain doleful reminiscences of Spanish in
terference recurred to my mind; feeling no in
clination to resume hostilities with the hydra, I
asked no questions and entered no house, but
returned to Villa Real the sarae evening, after a
very moderate investigation of the place. On
the following raorning I saw an instance of
cruelty to aniraals, a fault from which the Por
tuguese are by no means free, notwithstanding
the general mildness of their manners, and a
very great fault it is.- A little boy was holding

92 - PORTUGAL. [cH. XI.
a wounded bird, twirling it round and round,
making its broken wing the pivot of his opera
tions. I rose to kill the poor victim whose
screams were dreadful, and to give the young
rascal a little salutary correction, but the people
interposed, and both men and women declared
that it was a pity to destroy the bird, as it would
survive raany hours and afford their child a long
continuance of arauseraent.
This vice, it must be admitted, is not uncom
mon in Portugal. The streets of Lisbon are in
fested with dogs which are generally protected
by the lower orders, but I remeraber hearing
that a party of young Portuguese armed with
pikes amused themselves by sallying forth to
destroy these animals. I was told, but am un
willing to believe the fact, that sorae Englishmen
joined this disgusting expedition. I have no
morbid feeling on the subject, but I must con
fess that I could place no confidence in any man
Avho had been guilty of positive cruelty to a dog.
The raind of such a man must be almost irre-
clairaably reckless, or his heart essentially wrong.
A dog is united by so many sympathies to the
human race, his habits are so much identified
with ours, the love of his own species is so com-

CH. XI.J BARBARITY TO ANIMALS. 93
pletely superseded by his love of man, he is so
often the companion of our sports and the mi
nister of our pleasures, he is so frequently " the
first to welcorae, foremost to defend," — that the
individual whp can inflict causeless suffering on
a dog has, in ray hurable opinion, little of man
hood but the name. It may be observed that,
generally speaking, cruelty to animals is more or
less prevalent among nations as the national mo
rality is high or low.
At Naples the most revolting instances of bar
barity are not infrequent, and do not incur the
public reprobation. Men who have kept mules
for years will sell them, when old and unfit for
further work, to be baited and torn to pieces by
dogs, and thus repay a life of faithful service by
a death of agonizing pain.
Much cruelty is practised at the bull-fights in
Spain ; but in South America, where the public
mind is in a still less healthy state, the barba
rities inflicted at those public festivals are too
revolting to be endured in the mother country.
In Germany, where manners are simple and
morals generally pure and unadulterated, hu
manity towards animals is a virtue sedulously
inculcated and widely practised. Npr is this

94 PORTUGAL. [CH. XI.
quality by any means rare among the virtuous
Swiss. In England societies have been formed for the
protection of the brute creation, and the im
proved feelings of a more religious age have
compelled the legislature to pass enactments re
straining some of the monstrous cruelties which
formerly prevailed. Much, indeed, has been
done, but much remains to do. The pulpit
should impress on the public, and parents on the
youthful mind, a just abhorrence of this most un
manly vice. Many of the Dissenters have warmly
co-operated mth the better portion of the public
press in this sacred cause, but have the ministers
of the Established Church performed their part
with equal zeal ? Have that excellent body of
men promoted, in this respect, with sufficient dili
gence the will of Him, who in his merciful regard
for every creature which his goodness has en
dowed with life, commanded that the ox should
not be muzzled when it trod the corn, that the
dam should not be taken with the young, that
the ass should not be yoked together with the
ox, that the kid should not be seethed in its
mother's milk, and that the knife should be
sharpened before the sacrifice was slain ?

CH. XI.] DR. MAGENDlE. 95
Exhibitions have indeed, within the last few
years, taken place in England, which, except at
Paris, have hardly a parallel in iniquity. These
exhibitions have, indeed, upon more than one oc
casion, drawn down the execration of the British
public; but yet it is a fact, replete with shame
and sorrow to a religious people, that the " hell
ish Magendie," * as he is termed by an eloquent
writer, should have been permitted to soil this
country by his bloody sacrifices, to pander to
the worst passions of human nature, and first to
vitiate and then attract the minds of our British
youth by the excessive horrors he deliberately
submitted to their view; atrocities which he
weekly perpetrates at Paris, not for the advance
ment of general science, but to illustrate positions
indisputably established, or perhaps to augment
the amount of his own receipts at the expense
of every virtuous feeling. Who can peruse the
published statement of experiments made re
cently at Edinburgh, by one of his disciples, f
without feeling disgust and grief that such acts
* As an operator the man is not I believe unskilful ; but
medical men abroad observe, that "comme m^decin il est tres
faible" — the truly wise are rarely cruel.
¦}¦ A man of the name of Boillaud. Vide Note at the end of
the book.

96 PORTUGAL. [CH. XL
could have been perpetrated in a Protestant
country, and that such a statement could have
been addressed to a Protestant public? I will
not harrow up the feelings of my readers by
dwelling upon the enormities recorded in that
publication ; I will not dilate upon dogs kept in
a state of torture for sixteen consecutive days,
with burning irons forced into their heads, and
all that long tissue of detestable villanies, as
those experiments are justly terraedby the Editor
of the "Literary Gazette," who, under the in
fluence of an honest indignation, exclaims that
the authors and abettors of such crimes should
be excluded from the pale of society.
What portion of the British public can such
a publication have been intended to corrupt ? *
Where, indeed, can it have touched a kindred
string ? I do not believe that such practices find
favour generally with medical men in England.
I have known many individuals belonging to that
profession, and have found them honourable as
men ofthe world, full of sympathy in the hour of
aflUction, and often imbued with high Christian
principle ; but these protracted butcheries, which
degi'ade the operator far lower than the poor
* Phrenological Journal and Miscellany, vol. vii.

CU. XI.J VIVISECTION. 97
brute on which he exercises his fiendish skill,
this soiling of the hands for hours, aye, for days
together, in blood, this grovelling in torture, is
inconsistent with any spirit of Christian charity,
or with the proper feeUngs of a human being.
Vivisection may perhaps be justifiable in sorae
rare cases of acknowledged utility, but carried
to this horrible extent, it is a plague-spot on an
honourable part of the body social, and should
be extirpated, or at least restrained by legal
enactments, within the narrowest limits possible ;
otherwise it will involve, in no comraon obloquy,
the profession that has produced a Baillie, that is
illustrated by a Halford, and that, existing for
the noble purpose of mitigating the sufferings of
huraanity, tends naturally to soften and to elevate
the heart. But this stain upon the profession
will be soon effaced, the improved feelings and
increased religion of the day cannot and will not
slumber over practices so utterly abhorrent to
the mild spirit of our faith.
I embarked at seven in the morning in the
sloop-of-war prepared for me by the Governor's
order; we were assisted by the tide, and the
wind though faint was favourable. Tho hills
were sandy, and rather bold than high, and
VOL. IL F

98 PORTUGAL. [CH. XI.
villages were occasionally scattered along the
banks of the river, which there divides the king
doms of Spain and Portugal. Completely ex
hausted by the sun, which was that day intolera
bly oppressive, for the violent heats had already
set in, I slept till we reached Alcoutin, a village
prettily situated on the edge of the water. I had
just engaged a room at a private house, as there
was no inn, when the Comraander of the sloop
arrived and brought a civil message from the
Mayor, who expressed regret that I should have
thought of occupying any house but his during
my stay at Alcoutin. I adjourned to his house:
he Avas an intelligent young man, a native of the
Traz OS Montes, and told me that for many years
he had spent his little income in collecting a
library which was burnt by the insurgents after
the capture of Braganza. On that occasion he
was compelled to fly, and endured great hard
ships, rambUng among the mountains, and sleep
ing in the open air when the ground was covered
with snow. In the cool of the evening we ex
plored the environs of Alcoutin, and strayed into
a garden belonging to a lady of some distinction,
whom we met in one of the walks ; joining parties,
we sat down beneath a fine orange tree, and

CH. XI.J MAYOR OF ALCOUTIN. 99
feasted on the fruit, which her servants were p-a-
thering from the branches. The evening was
delicious, the birds sang sweetly, the sky was
cloudless, and a few brilliant stars were gradually
eclipsed by the moon which was rising and be
coming brighter every moment. At length we
returned to Alcoutin, and sitting near the win
dow of the Mayor's house enjoyed a view which
can hardly be surpassed in rural beauty. Above
and around us were bold and picturesque hills ;
the raoon-bearas quivered on the peaceful Gua
diana as it rolled along, showed the clear outline
ofthe Spanish mountains, and lit up the village
of San Lucar on the opposite bank.
As we were gazing upon that tranquil scene,
the Captain, a fine old, weather-beaten sailor,
appeared and summoned me to embark. He
steered, and, as the wind had completely fallen,
our crew, consisting of several stout fellows, were
compelled to row. The voyage was delightful;
the air was warm, not a sound was heard but the
dash of the oars, and araong the thickets on the
bank " the wakeful nightingale,
¦Who all night long her amorous descant sung."
As we proceeded, the river ceased to divide the
f2

100 PORTUGAL. [CH. XI.
two kingdoras, and I bade a final farewell to
Spain. Occasionally, we passed sorae boats,
which appeared to shun our observation, and al
though only a few yards distant frora us, were
almost concealed by the deep shade of the rocks
under which they glided. But the Captain's
keen and practised eye detected the slightest
movement on the face of the water. He regu
larly challenged the crews of the passing boats,
and on their reply some mysterious signs were
exchanged, which I afterwards learnt had refer
ence to the revolt at that time breaking out in
these districts. On parting frora thera, the Cap
tain, according to the fashion of the country, in
variably saluted them in the following words
pronounced in a very peculiar cadence — "May
you pass in safety to your home ! may you pre
serve your health! I esteem you greatly." In
making use of these expressions he paused dis
tinctly between each separate sentence, but was
never interrupted by the person whom he ad
dressed. His hearer stood always in an attitude
of profound and solemn attention till the Cap
tain had ceased to speak, and then made his
salutation in the very same form of words, the
Captain in his turn listening with an air of equal

CH. XI.J REVOLT AT MERTOLA. 101
attention. After this interchange of civilities the
respective parties pursued their different ways.
These formal greetings are not in this part of
Portugal restricted to any class, scarcely indeed
to any age. I have seen lads eleven or twelve
years old addressing each other with the same
gravity of raanner and in the same ceremonious
style, introducing also the regular pauses be
tween sentences that are rather sung than said.
At length we reached Mertola, and moored
beneath a high and picturesque rock.
The Captain, who evidently entertained sus
picions which he did not think right to commu
nicate, sent a raan to the town, whose return
I awaited with impatience, as I felt extremely
fatigued, and the night was far advanced and
had become very cold. He brought the unwel
come tidings of a general revolt at Mertola,
which he said would render any attempt on our
part to enter the town that night extremely pe
rilous. I therefore wrapped myself up in ray
plaid and, lying down on one of the benches,
took ray rest alfresco. The blazing torches, re
flected in the water, brought out in strong relief
the tall figures of our crew, dressed in their white
trowsers and wearing the scarlet sash and the

102 PORTUGAL. [CH. XI.
Algarve bonnet; lit up the eager countenances
of sorae, who were actively engaged in the divi
sion of their rude fare, and showed the death-like
repose of others, who exhausted by their labours
were sunk in a heavy sleep. I awoke early, and
lay for some hours shivering on the bench in a
most uncomfortable state, for the raorning air
was intensely cold, and brought back a consider
able return of my late feverish attack.
On entering the town I found it in a state of
extreme agitation. The people had risen against
the Authorities some hours before my arrival,
and had proclaimed Don Miguel Absolute King;
and large bodies of men were still parading the
streets, wearing the Miguelist colours, and
threatening to renew the tumults of the preced
ing day. An immense proportion of the no
bility, the clergy, and the magistracy had placed
themselves at the head of the moveraent, and, at
a public meeting just held, had drawn up a peti
tion entreating the Infant to abolish the demo
cratic institutions recently established. This
meeting was attended by one hundred and se
venty-four persons, among whora there were only
four dissentients, who drew up a counter-petition,
in which they defended their opposition to the

CH. XI.J PETITIONING DON MIGUEL. 103
prayer of the petitioners on curious grounds.
They declared that the original petition had a
tendency to fetter the will of the Infant, by dic
tating to hira the line of conduct he ought to
pursue, and was consequently of a seditious and
disloyal character. Under this pious dread of
infringing upon the prerogative they sought to
disguise their real anxiety to preserve the Con
stitution, and endeavoured to save it by an ap
peal to principles still raore despotic than those
which were advocated by their opponents : they
were, in fact, unwilling to resign their liberties
without a struggle, but were equally desirous to
avert the anger of the Government, and their
mode of reconciling these conflicting objects was
whimsical enough. The town was in such a dis
turbed state that I could not visit some fine re
mains of antiquity.
From Mertola I rode over a large tract of
country abounding in cork and covered with la
vender and cistus to a ruined house, then used
as an inn, and situated in the heart of the wil
derness, many miles distant from any other
habitation. Here I stopped, for I was ill and too
exhausted to proceed farther. Two noble storks
were perched on a low tree near the house, and

104 PORTUGAL. [cH. XL
guarded a huge nest which they had built in its
branches, while the lesser birds, availing them
selves of window-frames that never yet inclosed
a pane of glass, had made their habitation in the
ceiling of my room, and flew to and fro in utter
disregard of mortal man. I was drinking tea
when the Borderer entered and informed me
that some peasants had intimated their intention
of invading my apartment. They said that in
their youth they had often heard their fathers
speak of the English, but had never themselves
seen an individual of that nation, and were
anxious to avail themselves of the present oppor
tunity. I desired Juan to give my compliments,
and say I should have great pleasure in being
exhibited. On the strength of this invitation
some wild looking fellows appeared, and stand
ing in a row fixed their stupid eyes upon me, as
if determined to enjoy a perfect view of the wild
beast; thus they gazed continuously upon me
for some minutes, but never uttered a word, and
at length departed as they came without the
slightest salutation.
I was ill and shivering, though the evening
was really warm ; I therefore gladly established
myself in the kitchen, for the sake of its roaring

CH. XI.] THE LOBISHOMENS. 105
fire. The room was spacious and imperfectly
lighted, the chimney huge and the roof high and
pointed. Here I observed a man of singular
appearance, sitting apart, and neither speaking
himself nor spoken to by others. His face was
pale and haggard, his eyes deep sunk, and his
hairs were prematurely grey.
The Borderer whispered in my ear that he was
one of the dreadful Lobishomens, a devoted race
held in mingled horror and commiseration, and
never mentioned without emotion by the Portu
guese peasantry. They believe that if a woman-
be delivered of seven male infants successively,
the seventh, by an inexplicable fatality, becomes
subject to the powers of darkness, and is com
pelled on every Saturday evening to assume the
likeness of an ass. So changed, and followed by
a horrid train of dogs, he is forced to run an im
pious race over the moors, and through the vil
lages, nor is allowed an interval of rest till the
dawning sabbath terminates his sufferings, and
restores him to his human shape.
If therefore a peasant chance to meet a pale
and weary traveller, at an early hour on a Sunday
morning, he shudders, and in fancy sees the traces
left by the infernal chase upon the stranger's
f3

106 PORTUGAL. [CH. XI.
haggard countenance. A wound inflicted upon
the poor victim of this unhallowed agency, during
the very act of transformation, can alone release
him from such an accursed bondage ; a liberation
supposed to be most rarely effected, because few
raen have courage to behold the appalling change
in progress, and still fewer have sufficient cool
ness to strike the critical blow at the exact
moment. Such is the superstition of the Lobis
homens, diffused more or less over the whole of
Portugal, but subject to different versions in dif
ferent districts, and only credited implicitly in the
wild and lonely wastes of Alentejo.
On the following morning I continued my
journey to Beja, over an immense plain for the
most part uncultivated, but occasionally varied
by patches of corn and groups of trees, and
bounded by the Spanish hills. A creature crossed
my path resembling a lizard in form and colour,
but of such an enormous size that I can hardly
believe it to have been an animal of that species,
and should have certainly thought it a guana if
it were not extremely doubtful whether any rep
tiles of that tribe are ever found in Portugal.
Beja stands on an eminence, and with its an
cient gate and fine girdle of Moorish towers is

CH. XI.J PROGRESS TO SAGRES. 107
conspicuous from afar. The Mayor received me
with great civility, but expressed the most un
feigned surprise at the arrival of an English
Lor, as he emphatically called me, observing that
the motives which could have induced me to visit
Beja were quite unfathomable, and far exceeded
his powers of divination. The greatest impedi
ment to my researches invariably arose from the
total inability of the natives to comprehend the
feeUng which prompts an Englishman to forsake
the comforts of his native land, and prosecute
a fatiguing and hazardous journey through a
disturbed country.
In the neighbourhood of the great Peninsular
towns, the people, accustomed to the visits of
Englishmen, acknowledge the harmless nature
of their investigations, and only wonder at the
national infatuation. But my arrival created the
utmost astonishment in those remote and secluded
parts of southern Portugal which had been rarely
visited by a stranger ; being engaged in no
mercantile transactions, and having no ostensible
business, I could not assign any of those reasons
which influence other travellers, and render their
motives explicable to the mind of a foreigner.
My journey to the fortress of Sagres, and after-

108 PORTUGAL. [cH. XI.
wards to Cape St. Vincent, had not only excited
surprise, but actual consternation. The most
absurd reports of an approaching descent upon
the coast by a British force were circulated among
the people, and credited by persons whose more
extended means of information should have pre
served them frora the popular error. The people
of Beja were so suspicious of my motives, that
sorae gentlemen to whom I sent letters of intro
duction were rather disposed to treat them as
forgeries, than to admit that an Englishman of
rank could actually be travelling through the
country, at such a time, for the mere gratification
of his curiosity.
The soil near Beja is good, but near Evora it
is of a lighter and less productive kind. The
absence of cultivation over so great a part of
Alentejo is not, I think, entirely attributable, as
sorae persons have supposed, to any particular
circumstance, but to a combination of causes. The
joint tenancies that exist, and the peculiar tenures
on which property is generally held, are certainly
not favourable to an extended cultivation; but
unquestionably the arid nature of the soil over
large tracts ; their absolute unfitness, in many
places, for the growth of corn; the scarcity of

CH. XI.J ALENTEJO. 109
villages ; the frequent absence of water, and the
general deficiency of hands for agricultural pur
poses, are the principal causes of the neglected
state of the rural interest in Alentejo. This
province is, with reference to its size, the least
populous in Portugal: the towns and cities are
indeed immensely peopled, but whole districts
are almost without inhabitants.
The population of Alentejo is supposed to have
diminished during the last century, while the
Entre Minho has become unable to support its
increasing numbers, many of whom annually emi
grate from their happy valleys, and offer their
services to the inhabitants of other provinces :
influenced, however, by sirailar habits, and by
the recollection of a comraon home, these poor
people keep together, ranging from place to
place, in tents, under the command of a chosen
chief. Large flocks of swine are seen upon the
desolate wastes of Alentejo, collected in nurabers,
under the shade of the evergreen oak, and feed
ing upon the raast; on this kind of diet they
thrive wonderfully, and attain a prodigious size.
The hams of Alentejo are proverbially excellent,
and indeed are not surpassed, in flavour and
quaUty, by any in the world.

110 PORTUGAL. [CH. XI.
Julius Caesar signed a treaty of peace at Beja,
which from that circumstance derived its ancient
name of JuUa Pax. I saw here some Roman
masonry, apparently the remains of a cloaca,
said, by my informant, to form large and lofty
communications beneath the city, though now
choked up. Whilst I was examining a fine tower,
built by King John, 1 heard a cry as of many
voices, shrill, piercing, infinitely prolonged, and
eminently absurd, apparently the dying vocife
rations of pigs, or women in a state of massacre.
My attendants were greatly moved by these
piteous outcries, and I discovered, upon inquiry,
that they proceeded from womankind, in the
shape of tender nuns, proclaiming vigorously,
" Don Miguel, Absolute King of Portugal."
In the evening I beheld a most impressive
scene, strongly characteristic of the country and
of the time. Happening to stray into a great
church as the day was faUing, I found it thronged
vrith persons, listening with deep attention to the
discourse of an eminent preacher. The first part
of his sermon consisted of the usual moral pre
cepts, but then advancing slowly, and almost
imperceptibly, to the main object of his address,
he warned his hearers against the impious men

CH. XI.J ECCLESIASTICAL ENTHUSIASM. Ill
who wished to undermine their holy religion, and
deprive those who sat in lofty places of thefr
rights. In this general and guarded language
he addressed thera for sorae time, assuring him
self of their sympathy before he fully developed
his -views. At length he spoke of the Infant in
explicit terms ; he pourtrayed in vi-vid colours the
high-wrought devotion which he had shown to
the cause of God, even in his boyish days; he
described him as the youthful Saviour of his coun
try, the Trincely Saint. He then represented him
as fallen from his high estate, the victim of his
holy zeal, given over to the oppressor, and sent
across the sea to spend the best years of life in
cheerless and unmerited exile.
During this period of his discourse the men
were greatly moved, the woraen bathed in tears.
By a sudden and artful transition, thrilUng in its
effects on the raind, he passed from this affecting
description of his Avoes and wrongs to the glorious
circumstances attendant on his return, an event,
he said, indisputably wrought by the hand of
God, which had marked him out to the nation as
her chosen ruler ; and as Noah and his company
were permitted to ride in safety over the dreadful
deep, when none others saw and lived, so was the

112 PORTUGAL. [CH. XL
Infant, returning to the throne of his ancestors,
miraculously preserved amid the storms that
strewed his native coast with wrecks. As he
gave vent to his own excited feelings, the anima
tion of his manner and the fervour of his language
increased. He denounced the guilty freemasons,
haters of the Church, and enemies of God's dele
gate upon earth : he pronounced the heaviest
maledictions, — dishonour and mischance in this
world, and doom eternal in the next, on all those
erring men who listened to the dark suggestions
of the conspirators against their lawful Prince,
the well-beloved of God, the specially guarded
by his Patron Saint the Archangel Miguel.
Finally, he enjoined his hearers, as they valued
their immortal souls, to obey a call which came
from Heaven itself.
If it was curious to observe the knowledge of
human passions which he displayed, and the in
imitable skill with which he moulded them to his
purposes, it was still more interesting to trace the
alternations, frora melting pity to fervid indig
nation, produced upon his hearers by the varying
tenor of his discourse. The effect was quite
electrical when first abandoning a veiled though
pointed style of expression, he burst forth into a

CH. XI.J REVENGE FOR DON MIGUEL. 113
sweeping denunciation against the Constitution
alists, and, as a prophet commissioned from on
high, preached a crusade in favour of their heaven
sent Prince ; a murmur of applause and sympathy
pervaded the assembly, and would have grown into
a loud unanimous shout, had not respect for the
sacred pile restrained such an irreverent expres
sion of their feelings. But though the expression
faltered on the tongue, neither time nor place could
quell the thought then burning in the heart, and
the sparkling eye, the arm involuntarily raised
as in defiance, and the low but fiercely uttered
vow which ran round the holy place, bespoke the
general and determined will.
I beheld the scene with the deepest interest,
and thought of the famous meeting at Clermont,
when, summoned to avenge the Christian griefs
by Peter the Hermit, the mighty multitude,
moved by an eloquence as stormy, and inspired
by as unanimous a mind, cried out, " It is the will
of God, it is the wiU of God ! "

( 114 )

CHAPTER XII.
Revolt in the Provinces — Evora — Author arrested — Montero 
Fury of the Populace— The Prison— Audalusian Bandit— The
Corregidor — Confinement — Tumult and Defeat of the Troops-
Author released — The " Borderer's " Character— Evora Ca-
thedral — Leave for Lisbon — Montemor — Superstition of the
Beggars — Pegoines— Arrive at Lisbon— Don Miguel declared
King— Quit Lisbon — Reflections on Past Events— Return to
England.
On the following morning I rose before the break
of day. In quitting Beja I saw a fine red stag,
which recalled to my memory the wild heaths of
distant Devonshire,
" -yVhere the hunter of deer and the chieftain trod
To the hills that encircle the sea,"
and for the moment Portugal and Portuguese
politics vanished from my mind. I rode over
some beautiful forest ground, and afterwards
entered on an immense and apparently boundless
waste ; here I felt a touch of that pecuUar feeling,
so often called a foreboding of approaching ill,
but which in this, and in almost every similar
case, is only the result of observations, that leave
a general and indistinct, but not ill-founded im
pression, although the train of reasoning which
leads to that impression is at the time too subtle

CH. XII.] REVOLT IN THE PROVINCES. 115
and too rapid to be detected even by the mind
through which it passes. But as I made further
progress over those wild plains, there were symp
toms of the moral storm, distinct and obvious to
the most careless eye. I observed couriers oc
casionally riding in breathless haste ; peasants
coming from different quarters, all bearing the
red cockade ; beggars, who no longer paused to
supplicate, but Avore a look of fierce excitement,
and pushed on in one direction, as if they scented
a richer prey ; and once I passed a strange, Avild-
looking man, apparently half pilgrim and half
prophet, declaiming, in the emphatic language of
the day, in favour of the Prince. These circum
stances convinced me that society was ruffled by
no passing breeze, but was upheaving from its
loAvest depths.
It Avas noAv clear, from the statements of all
with whora Ave paused for a moment to converse,
that the long-apprehended revolt had actually
taken place, and that the people were on all sides
rising en masse against the Constitutionalists.
Our situation had noAv become extremely preca
rious : Beja, Avhich Ave had just left, was mani
festly on the eve of an explosion ; Evora, which
lay before us, was actually the scene of fearful

116 PORTUGAL. [CH. XII.
comraotions, and the sarae spirit Avas rapidly dif
fusing itself through all the neighbouring toAvns
and villages; in short, it Avas evident, from
many concurring accounts, that both in front and
in rear, towards the Avestern Avilds, and along the
Spanish frontier, revolution, from Avhich there
seemed no escape, inevitable revolution had
drawn around us its fiery circle.
" Tu ne cede malis sed contra audentior ito,''
Avas, however, in this emergency my safest and
indeed ray only principle of action. While yet in
the open plain, sorae miles from Evora, Ave saAv
in the distance a cloud of dust, upon which Juan
with some trepidation announced the approach
of a Black Corapany, — bands thus denominated
by the peasantry from the dark nature of their
deeds. These corapanies Avere confined to the
Avild parts of Alentejo, and Avere the offspring of
the civil distractions, during which they origi
nated, and Avith Avhich they ceased to exist. They
generally consisted of mounted ruffians, Avho
combined together under political pretexts for
purposes of plunder, and proceeded from vil
lage to village perpetrating great outrages.
Such would indeed have been unAvelcorae visitors,
but Juan's alarm proved groundless.

CH. XII.J EXCITEMENT AT EVORA. H7
Evora is built on an eminence like Beja, and
is striking from its elevation, and venerable from
its ancient toAvers. Passing under a high arch
and entering the toAvn, Ave Avere challenged by
the sentinel on duty, Avho at first supposed rae
to be a Spaniard, and, under that impression,
behaved Avith the utmost civility; but my pass
port soon revealed my English origin, and this
discovery produced an immediate change of
manner. The city Avas apparently in a very
excited state, for the people had collected to
gether in groups in the public square, and Avere
engaged in earnest conversation, but seeing me
stopped by the guard they flocked around us to
inquire the cause, and heard that I Avas an En
glishman Avith marked displeasure. They as
sailed me Avith a thousand questions respecting
the motives of my journey, and my arrival at that
critical moment; and became confirmed in their
Avorst suspicions Avhen I could make no reply
Avhich Avas in their opinion satisfactory. Some
demagogues, availing themselves of these pre
possessions against me, cried out, that I Avas an
accursed Englishman, a son of that heretical
nation Avhich Avas now preparing to Avage Avar

118 PORTUGAL. [CH. Xll.
against the holy faith, and murder their lawful
King Don Miguel.
My position Avas aAvkAvard enough : the mob
had already fallen upon Juan, and Avere plunder
ing my baggage, and several fierce enthusiasts
threatened, and indeed seemed preparing, to pull
rae from my horse. In this annoying conjuncture
the sentinel gave a fortunate direction to the
groAving ferment by declaring me a state pri
soner, whose machinations ought to be fully in
vestigated, and for this purpose he would take
me to the toAvn-hall and submit my case to the
Mayor; the people acquiesced in his proposal,
and shouted, " To the Mayor ! to the Mayor !"
I was then placed between two soldiers, and sur
rounded and followed by a menacing crowd was
led to the town-hall, where I found the Mayor in
an upper apartment, greatly disconcerted by this
appeal to his authority. His utmost ingenuity
could not devise any legal ground upon which
the adoption of coercive measures against me
could be justified; but the fierce threats and law
less conduct of the mob beloAV showed him the
imminent danger of refusing to comply Avith their
declared Avishes. He paced the room to and fro

CH. XII.J ARREST OF THE AUTHOR. 119
in a state of extreme indecision, and, at length,
unwilUng to condemn yet afraid to acquit me, sent
me for final judgment to the Corregidor. I was
then led to the house of that officer escorted by
a crowd, which like a snowball gathered strength
as it rolled along ; but the Corregidor, placed in
the same disagreeable alternative of encountering
the popular anger, or pronouncing an illegal and
discreditable judgment, declaimed against the
Mayor's indecision ; and, trembling himself, said
that he hated timid men, and sent me back to
the town-hall. This game of battledoor and
shuttlecock Avas not less annoying to me than to
the people, who, anxious for an immediate de
cision, expressed their impatience by an angry
yell and threatened to take the affair into their
OAvn hands.
On my return to the toAvn-hall his Worslup's
irresolution was at once removed by a soldier,
who informed him that the people would no
longer brook delay, and were forcing their way
up stairs. At this intelligence a hurried con
sultation took place between the Mayor and the
Secretaries of Police, and I Avas again placed
under the custody of the guard, Avhich conducted
me to a large hall filled with militia men. There

120 PORTUGAL. [cH. XII.
I met the Borderer, my companion in misfortune,
who informed me that he had been despoiled of
his knife, his pistol, and all that he carried about
him. I Avas here required to give up my papers,
and all that I had in my pocket, and Avhen this
operation Avas completed the Secretary desired
the soldiers to do their duty. "Senhor, follow
me," said the Serjeant. — "To Avhat place?" "To
prison," he replied. I repeated his words in
unfeigned astonishment, for although I Avas fully
aware of the perilous predicament in Avhich I
stood, the idea of a prison had never suggested
itself to my mind. The sudden and varying
emergencies of the eventful hour, Avhich had
elapsed since my arrival at Evora, had employed
all my faculties in counteracting immediate
dangers, and had left me no time to speculate
on my eventual destination; but this unexpected
announcement excited my surprise and indig
nation to such a degree, that I burst forth into a
strain of unusual vehemence, denied their right
to imprison me, and reminded them of the old
Portuguese laAV by Avhich no Fidalgo could be
legally confined in a common jail.
I felt, even then, that such a plea might be con-

CH. Xn.J POLICE ^DECISION. 121
sidered invidious, and Avas moreover ill-founded,
as any enactment of that nature could of course
apply to native rank only; but I knew that it was
in accordance Avith the opinions studiously pro
fessed by the party into Avhose hands I had fallen,
and Avas therefore calculated to embarrass their
operations. I concluded by saying that the pri
vileges of an Englishman, violated in my person,
Avould be surely and promptly redressed by the
British Ambassador.
The agents ofthe PoUce Avere OAadently startled
by a Vehemence so unusual in a prisoner; and
in the pause that foUoAved, a railitia-raan of the
narae of Montero came forward, and suggested
that during the night I should be confined in the
guard-room instead of the prison, saying that
he Avould be responsible for my appearance on
the following raorning. The Police acceded Avil-
lingly to a proposition Avhich in some degree
extricated them from their perplexing situation,
and as Montero was distinguished for his attach
ment to the Infant, and Avas extremely popular
both Avith the people and the militia, the mob
consented though not without reluctance.
Deterrained, hoAvever, to have one victim, they
seized upon the Borderer, and declared that he
VOL. II. • G

122 PORTUGAL. [CH. XII.
should expiate his own aiid his Master's crimes
in prison. I remonstrated with them on the
extrerae injustice of persecuting an individual
against whora no accusation Avas levelled, and
whose sole offence consisted in his teraporary
connexion Avith an Englishraan; but carried aAvay
by their senseless fury, they twice endeavoured
to drag him to prison, and twice assisted
by Montero's earnest exhortations I prevented
them. At length the point Avas adjusted in our favour,
and, for that night at least, he was permitted to
share his Master's fortunes. The scene must
have appeared striking indeed to an indifferent
spectator, for though so much occupied by the
embarrassments of my actual position I was not,
even then, insensible to the picturesque appear
ance of surrounding objects. The militia-men
were standing in groups, some anxiously expect
ing their final orders, others holding aloft blazing
torches that dispelled Avith their red glare the
darkness of the night Avhich had just set in, and
showed the people still pressing into the hall
through the lofty archAvay, and lit up the vaulted
roof and the Avails literally black Avith smoke;
and there, looking upon the threatening crowd

CH. Xn.J KINDNESS OF MONTERO. 123
Avith a calra but sullen eye, the Borderer stood
conspicuous by his red scarf and CastilUan hat.
We were now removed to the guard-room, and
placed under the strictest surveillance, for neither
Juan nor myself Avere allowed to exchange a word.
In the evening the Serjeant Montero appeared,
and with a delicacy unlooked for, but not in the
Peninsula infrequent in his rank of life, entreated
me to consider inyself rather as a guest than a
prisoner, and assured me that, Avhile he had au
thority, the guard-room should be reserved for
my use.
This man's conduct Avas highly creditable : he
had opposed Avith manly firmness the indiscrimi-
nating passion of the multitude, he had obtained
for me better terms from their leaders than I
could have expected under actual circumstances,
and had tempered by the courtesy of his manner
the real harshness of their measures. Soon after
wards some' agents of the Police arrived, ex
amined ray baggage, and took possession of the
greater part of my papers. My journal I had
secreted in my mattress, to which I therefore
clung Avith an apparent tenacity of regard for my
creature comforts, which somewhat amazed the
worthy inspectors.
g2

124 PORTUGAL. [CH. XII.
I had noAv cause to congratulate myself on
the precaution Avhich I had taken in thus conceal
ing my notes ; but not you, my gentle reader, for
had they been seized, you Avould most assuredly
have never been troubled Avitli the perusal of
these little volumes. A foAV loose papers of some
consequence Avere in my pocket at the moraent of
my arrest, but these I contrived to slip up my
sleeve during the subsequent ^confusion. They,
hoAvever, occasioned me great uneasiness, as I
momentarily expected to see them fall to the
ground, for ever and anon I felt them travelling
down my arm, and as so many eyes Avere fixed
upon me I could only replace them by sundry
jerks intended to pass for the vehement gesticu
lations of outraged honour.
In the course of the evening I gradually dis
covered that a great popular movement had taken
place at Evora, and that the revolutionary fer
ment Avas at its height. It appeared that just
before my arrival, the people impatient to pro
claim Don Miguel, had summoned the Juiz de
Povo, an officer appointed for the express purpose
of submitting their Avishes to the Camera or mu
nicipality, and had enjoined hira to convene that
body Avithout delay. When the Camera had

CH. XII.] FURY OF TIIE POPULACE. 125
assembled, the people forced their ivay into the
apartraent Avhere they Avere sitting in conclave,
and compelled each member successivelj^, on
pain of instant death, to affix his signature to a
document declaratory of the Infant's right to
the throne. They then unfurled the national
standard, paraded the city, and proclaimed him
under the title of Miguel I. The Military Go-
A"ernor of Evora, warraly attached to the Imperial
cause, endeavoured to suppress the insurrection,
but upon his interference the population rose en
masse, and, joined by the militia, attacked with
desperate courage and completely defeated the
regular forces, Avho escaped from the city Avith
difficulty and loss.
Their Commanding officer Avas only saved by
the extraordinary exertions of his troops ; and
the Colonel of the militia, deserted by his men
who almost unanimously espoused Don Miguel's
cause, fell desperately Avounded. It Avas at that
ill-fated tirae, in the very first moment of the
popular triumph, that I reached Evora; the
popular laurels were fresh, the popular success
was complete, but the victors had not yet dis
persed, their dead Avere still unburied, and their
vengeance unappeased. During the Avhole of

126 PORTUGAL. [CH. XII.
the day on which I arrived, the greatest disorders
prevailed; the links that hold society together
were dissolved, and the persons of the Consti
tutionalists were everywhere attacked, and their
houses plundered. On that dreadful day alone,
tAVO hundred persons are said to have been ar
rested by the furious rabble, and dragged to
prison, without the warrant of any legal forms, or
the sanction of any legal authority.
The arrival of an EngUshman at such a con
juncture Avas calculated to excite deep suspicion,
for the Miguelists then considered the British
as the great stay and hope of the Constitutional
party, and regarded us with a hatred propor
tioned to the unbounded love they bore the
Infant. He had not yet indeed assumed the
Crown, but Avas invariably styled King by the
civil officers, the militia, and most of the inhabit
ants, Avhp wore the red and blue cockade in
token of their devoted attachment to his cause.
The guard-room Avas small, and contained no
furniture, except indeed a clumsy table attached
to the Avail ; there I passed the night, devoured
by insects, and oppressed by the heat, for the
door was closed, and the Avindow fastened. Mon
tero called in the morning, and expressed his

CH. XII.J MISERIES OF A GUARD-ROOM. 127
readiness to oblige me in any point consistent
Anth his duty, but he Avas superseded iraraedi
ately afterwards, and I was consigned to the
charge of a most hot-headed MigueUst who had
obtained SOme share of public favour from the
exaggeration of his political principles ; this man
quickly asserted his power with a degree of in
solence which I could ill endure. He threw
open the door of the apartment, insisting that
it should not be closed till night had set in, and
actually encouraged the rabble to gather round
the windoAV which looked into the square, and
was only a feiv feet from the ground. Groups
collected and dispersed several times in the
course of the morning, but later in the day they
assembled in greater numbers, and gave very
decided indications of hostile feeUng.
My mattress had been placed on the table, but
they noAV insisted on its removal, and desired that
it should be put on the floor, while, in compUance
with another mandate, the bed on which the
guard slept was promoted in its stead. My ser
vant, attended by a militia-man, had been allowed
on the preceding evening to fetch provisions from
the town; but my noAV Governor Avould neither
permit Juan to leave the guard-room in the early

128 PORTUGAL. [CH. XH.
part of the day, nor Avould he send out any of
his OAvn men on such a necessary errand; and
Avlien he at length consented to let Juan go he
Avas driven back Avith threats by the people, so
that we Avere kept for about twenty hours Avithout
any, food.
That day slowly Avore away, one of the most
unpleasing I have ever experienced, for it Avas
attended by humiliating circumstances, though
not by a sense of humiliation, and I can hardly
now revert to it without sickening sensations.
During my previous expeditions into revolu
tionized countries I had been exposed to dan
ger as imminent, but danger had been then un
accompanied by insult, and ray spirits had risen
under the excitement ; but noAV, confined Avithin
narroAV bounds, exhibited f o the croAvd, an object
of mingled curiosity and abhorrence, taunted, and
still Avorse, occasionally pitied, I concealed my
indignation under the mask of incUfference. A
foAV bright traits, however, reUeved the general
gloom of the picture. A Frenchman, approach
ing the Avindow, addressed rae in llis native lan
guage, and expressed regret at ray situation and
intimated his Avillingness to serA'e me; and a
young officer of rank, to whom I Avas subse-

CH. XII.J INDIGNATION OF THE MOB. 129
quently indebted for acts of real kindness, en
tered the guard-room, and had the courage to
pledge me in a glass of Avine. The guard, sus
picious of a conversation Avhich they did not
understand, obliged the Frenchman to retire,
but only looked sullenly on the young officer,
Avhose rank and station in some degree aAved
thera into good behaviour.
The day began to fall, and niy situation Avas-
indeed raost uncomfortable. Large bodies of
raen paraded the streets singing revolutionary
songs, interraingled Avith appalling shouts, and
stopping under the Avails of the prison, which
almost adjoined the guard-house, uttered furious
denunciations of vengeance against its unpopular
inmates. From thence they proceeded to the
guard-room, and, gathering round the open
windoAV, gave -loud hurrahs for Don Miguel, and,
looking at rae with glaring eyes and clenched
fists, testified their rooted detestation by every
angry gesture and expression, and by every
varied intonation of voice, frora the passionate
yell to the hateful hiss, and then departed, after
some ferocious shouts of " Death to the Free
masons " and " Death to the English," promising
to return at a later hour and destroy the ac-
g3

130 PORTUGAL. [CH. XH.
cursed and heretical conspirator. My charitable
Governor, who had hitherto lost no opportunity
of increasing the odium under Avhich I laboured,
became alarmed at these vindictive menaces,
Tittered as they manifestly were with the di-eadfid
energy of real determination. He knoAv that his
countrymen of Evora, Avhen fairly roused, had
much of the tiger in their Avrath ; he Avas Avell
aware that the hours of darkness were generally
selected for acts of outrage against individuals,
and he felt himself unable to protect me from
the coming storm. He, therefore, sent a message
to the Authorities requesting them to make out
an order for my immediate comraittal to prison,
as he fully expected the guard-roora to be forced
that night by the mob, and would no longer hold
himself responsible for my life. His report Avas
confirmed by the representations of the French
man and ofthe young Officer, who had kindly in
terested theraselves in my behalf, and Avho now
urged Avith equal vehemence the necessity of my
removal to some place of real protection. The
Authorities had uuAvilUngly sanctioned my arrest
in the first instance, and had subsequently taken
no notice of the affair, hoping that in a time so
pregnant with events the whole transaction would

CH. XII.J THE AUTHOR IMPRISONED. 131
be forgotten in a few hours, in Avhich case they
intended to sign my passport for Lisbon, and
desire me to leave the city Avithout delay ; but on
receiving this intelligence they made out the
order for my committal, and sent a party of mi
litia-men, accompanied by tAvo Secretaries of Po
lice, to see it carried into immediate execution.
The huge prison doors were opened by the
jailor, a tall man, apparently still athletic, though
he had numbered more than seventy years, and
every hair on his head Avas white. Entering, I
found myself in a low vaulted passage, the ter
mination of which Avas lost in obscurity; it led
to a dungeon, and was so dark that it might well
appear to the eye of fancy a communication be
tween the upper world and the infernal regions.
Passing this gloomy corridor we reached a flight
of stairs guarded by an iron door, Avhose grated
bars of immense thickness precluded all hope of
escape. This door the jailor unlocked, and as
cending the staircase conducted me to my des
tined apartraent, which was lofty, spacious, and
unequally divided by an iron gi-ating; the roof
was of Avood, high, and pointed ; the floor of
stone, while two windows, or rather apertures, for
they contained no glass, looked into the street.

132 PORTUGAL. [CH. XU.
and Avere strongly guarded by iron bars placed
in transverse directions. Such was the general
aspect of a room that had neither fire-place, nor
chair, nor table, nor furniture of any kind.
It is a trite observation that our ideas of hap
piness and misery are entirely relative ; in the
even course of ordinary life Ave are hardly aware
hoAv rapidly and of the extent to Avhich our feel
ings vary with A'arying emergencies. The mere
suggestion of a prison had on the preceding
evening filled rae Avith irrepressible anger ; so
gross an indignity seemed scarcely tolerable,
even in imagination, but yet, in fact, I hai^e sel
dom known a more grateful moment than that in
AAliich I first crossed the threshold of my prison-
room and heard the retiring steps of the jailor as
he turned upon me the key of the iron door. I
then felt that I Avould rather submit to any hard
ship and encounter any danger than again pass
through the bitter ordeal Avliich I had that day
undergone in the guard-room. The massive
Avails and strong bars of my grated apartment
deprived me indeed of personal freedom, but de
livered me from contumely and menace, and from
great and imminent peril ; they spoke the lan
guage of protection, and the solitude to Avhich

CH. XII.] DEPOSITIONS TAKEN. 133
they consigned me Avas unspeakably delightful
after the OA'erbearing clamours of the populace.
In the course of the evening the Secretaries of
the Police arrived to take my depositions, which
I signed at their requisition, having first atten
tively perused them ; I had thus some practical
experience of the mode of administering justice
in Portugal. A prisoner charged Avith the com
mission of an offence is subjected to a strict exa
mination, his ansAvers are recorded by an officer
of the laAV, acknowledged by his OAvn signature,
and then submitted to the Judge, who is guided
in his opinion of the case by this record and by
an accompanying staterfient of facts ; but should
the record and the statement be perverted, it is
evident that subsequent proceedings floiving from
a tainted source raust be equally vitiated, and
the more upright the intentions of the Judge the
more unjust Avill the final judgment be. And
thus it happens that a skilful notary can often
in the first stage of the process determine the
eventual fate of the accused, Avho, if dull and un
educated, Avill sometimes, through sheer stupidity
and a total ignorance of the nature of the act he
is performing, put his name to a record of ques
tions and answers, imperfect, garbled, and unfairly

134 PORTUGAL. [CH. XII.
prejudicial to his own cause ; but he Avill, perhaps,
more frequently, by a dishonest connivance with
his legal examiner, obtain a version of the affair
eminently favourable to his OAvn case and equally
disadvantageous to the interests of justice. On
the present occasion I had no reason to complain
of the notaries, for they Avere unprejudiced and
well-intentioned, and represented the transaction
in its real colours.
Some years before the events to Avhich I am
now alluding, I passed through Lucena, a town
situated in the kingdom of Granada, and in the
heart of a Avild and secluded district, at that time
abandoned, almost without a struggle, to a nu
merous banditti, who had encamped in a neigh
bouring forest, and Avere carrying on their depre
dations with impunity. Every raan carried a
musket, every detached house Avas rudely fortified
as in the feudal times, and the boldest feared to
traverse the wood except in caravans or large
bodies, associated and armed for mutual protec
tion. I remember hearing at this place that a
noted robber had recently appeared in the town
and had murdered an inhabitant in the open day ;
he was arrested, but, in consequence of the na
ture of the depositions stating the case, was

CH. XII.J ANDALUSIAN BANDIT. 135
speedily liberated. I asked hoiv this had oc
curred. "It Avas quite natural," my informant
answered, " for he supplied the Escribanos and
sorae of our principal magistrates with clothes."
"Was he then a tailor?" I asked with some sur
prise ; knowing well that the Andalusian bandit
generally follows his vocation pretty exclusively,
and regards Avith haughty contempt the peaceful
habits of industrious life. " A tailor, Seiior," said
my friend, smiling at my simplicity, "he Avas a
caballero (a cavalier), and Avhen any travellers feU
into his hands he appropriated their gold and
their goods generally, but reserved the Avaist-
coats and troAvsers of the denuded individuals for
the Escribanos and magistrates, Avho were conse
quently the best dressed men in the town, and
were thus enabled to keep up the dignity of their
profession. In his prosperous days he supported
them, and they Avere bound by every tie of interest
and honour to uphold him in the hour of adver
sity." This good understanding betAveen the
robber and the functionary is rather severe upon
the traveUer, not only because aU hope of redress
or restitution of goods is thereby rendered hope
less, but because a real orthodox bandit of An
dalusia generally disdains the appropriation of

136 PORTUGAL. [CH. XII.
Avearing apparel, and, therefore, this spoliation of
coats and Avaistcoats may be considered as an
extra loss incurred for the benefit of the guar
dians of the law.
The state of Lucena Avas singular enough
about that time. To English eyes it Avas curious
to behold a party dressed for an evening as
sembly proceeding to a house a feAv hundred
yards from the toAVii Avitli muskets in their hands.
It Avas a strange mixture of modern civilization
Avitli an almost feudal state of society.
But to return to my narratiA'e. — The Inten
dant left rae ; the city remained that night in a
state of the greatest excitement, and the yells
Avere sometimes tremendous.
The life of a prisoner is monotonous enough,
as it is rather a history of feelings than events.
The grateful sensation at first inspired by my
prison Avails soon ceased to operate ou my mind,
Avhile the strict confinement became every day
more severely felt, and Avas to me peculiarly irk
some, as it involved a total change of habits.
For some time past I had generally been on
horseback from sun-rise to sun-set, and the nar-
roAv limits Avithin Avhich my movements were now
restricted formed a most unpleasing contrast to

CH. XII.J REFLECTIONS IN PRISON. 137
the free range of the mountainous Algarve and
the interminable Avastes of the Alentejo ; aiid as
I saAV through my grated AvindoAvs the bright sun
and the blue unclouded sky Avhich I could now
no more enjoy, I longed for " the life so late I
led," and pined for the open heath and the rush
ing steed. Many hours of the day I spent in
pacing my apartment, soraetiraes I amused my
self by observing a dark-eyed lady Avho fre
quented a balcony on the opposite side of the
street, but still raore often I lay on my mattress
reading over and over again my only book, Gil
Bias, a raost appropriate study, for his imprison
ment by villanous Corregidors made my oivn
A\-oes appear quite classical. I Avas fortunately
on good terras ivith the jailor, who when he
brought rae ray raeals would soraetiraes linger to
inform me of the events occurring in the town,
and I Avas always prepared for his arrival by the
heavy sound made by the grated door at the foot
of the stairs, as he unlocked it and SAVung it back
on its iron hinges ; a sound Avhich, however dis
cordant it might have appeared under happier
circumstances, Avas in my state of solitude rarely
unwelcome. I remember being amused by a little incident.

138 - PORTUGAL. [cH. XII.
which was curious enough as a striking instance
of the greater importance men often attach to
words than to things. One night Avhen the jailor
was bringing me supper he observed, speaking
of his parents, that his father Avas a native of
Gallicia. I afterwards inadvertently called him
a Gallician: "No Senhor," said the old man, draw
ing himself up Arith dignity, " I did not say my
Father was a Gallician, I only said that he and
his parents before him were born in Gallicia," a
distinction too subtle for my unrefined intellect,
but which really originated in a keen sense of
the contempt which in Portugal unjustly attaches
to the AVord Gallician.
One day I was surprised by a visit from the
young officer whom I have already mentioned.
He was accompanied by the Frenchman, and had
been permitted to see me by the Authorities.
Having previously called upon the Corregidor,
he had represented to him the injustice of hu
mouring a misguided people by detaining any
longer in prison an individual charged with no
definite offence; he had urged him to issue an
immediate but secret order for my liberation, say
ing, that he Avould take me to his Father's house,
without attracting the public attention, and would

CH. XII.J REGRET OF THE CORREGtf)OR. 139
consider himself responsible for my appearance
on the day required.
The Corregidor in ansAver regretted the treat
ment I had experienced, and admitted that my
arrest could not be defended on legal grounds,
adding that if he had been present in the first
instance he Avould have ordered the sentinel to
let rae pass unquestioned, but that such a course
was subsequently rendered impracticable by the
violent prepossessions of the people. He had
been, hoAvever, anxious to show me every pos
sible indulgence, and had awarded to me the
best apartraent in the prison; but he could not
comply Avith his young friend's request, as an
order for my release would be construed by the
suspicious citizens into a connivance with persons
arrested on political charges, and Avould very
possibly be followed by an attack on the prisons,
and a massacre of the prisoners.
His declaration was sincere, and I felt it to be
so. The Corregidor could not act other Avise, for
he was no longer a free agent, but the slave of
a faction that would only acknowledge his au
thority while he complied implicitly with their
wishes. Yet although my young friend's appli
cation was ineffectual, I Avas gratified by the

140 a PORTUGAL. |_CH. XII.
generous zeal Avhich had prompted liun to take so
deep an interest in the fate of a perfect stranger ;
but he Avas only tAventy-oiie, and at that age the
heart is Avarm, and the mind has scarcely begun
to calculate.
That day, enlivened by the visit of my friends,
brief as that visit was, made the next appear
more cheerless ; cheerless it seemed indeed to me,
though full of beauty and brightness to the eman
cipated portion of mankind ; towards evening the
aspect of the heavens changed, clouds gathered,
and

-"with the night

Came storm and darkness in their mingling might."
I had never entirely recovered from the feverish
attack under Avhicli I had suffered in the Algan^
and the Avant of fresh air and exercise now pro
duced a return of indisposition, and the appalUng
cries of "Death to the prisoners," AA'hich rose
that evening from groups collected beneath my
windows, jarred peculiarly on a mind then restless
and irritable from disease. The disturbance Avas,
however, of short duration ; it seeraed as if yield
ing " to poAver unseen, and mightier far than
they ;" the furies of the human breast were si
lenced by the more angry strife of the elements.

CH. XII.] UNPLEASANT REFLECTIONS. 141
for as the Aveather groAv tempestuous the popular
uproar died away. And as I lay on ray mattress
exhausted, yet unable to sleep, gazing on the
melancholy light of a solitary lamp and the
strong reflection cast upon the Avail by the iron-
gi-ating, I could only hear the fitful gusts of the
passing Avind as it shook the building, and the
mournful and unvarying splash of the rain as it
fell drop after drop frora the over-hanging roof
on the pavement beloAV.
Tirae and circurastance alike contributed to
dispirit me, and vexatious thoughts chased each
other rapidly through my mind. I felt that the
issue of my adventure Avas extremely doubtful : a
favourable statement of my case had indeed been
foTAvarded to the Minister of Police at Lisbon,
and I entertained no doubt of his Avillingness to
release me. I had Avritten to the British Ambas
sador, and Avas ivell assured of his interference
in iny behalf, but I knoAV that serious differences
must have arisen betAveen the Governments of
Great Britain and Portugal, in consequence of
Don Miguel's recent conduct, and it was then
generally believed at Evora that Sir Frederick
Lamb had actually left the kingdom.
My letter might therefore never reach its des-

142 PORTUGAL. [CH. XII.
tination; should it, however, find Sir Frederick
in Portugal, still it Avas extremely probable that
under the actual exciteraent the local authorities
would not venture to enforce an order issued by
the central governraent if opposed to the public
feeling at Evora; and the violence of the mob,
which occasionally collected around the prison,
convinced me that even its thick Avails and pon
derous bars Avould not afford its inmates any
certain protection against a sudden burst of
popular fury.
I was also hardly satisfied with my own con
duct. A dislike to bend to circumstances, and
alter the route I had originaUy fixed on, when the
expediency of such an alteration had become
apparent, assisted in some degree by a desire to
see the great political change in progress, had
carried me into scenes Avhich cooler heads would
have avoided ; and if the loss of life should even
tually prove the penalty of my indiscretion, such
a termination of my exploit Avould not be cheered
by any consolatory reflections, for I should have
perished in an expedition that could hardly
under any circumstances have been useful to
others, or to myself.
From the contemplation of actual evUs my

CH. XII.] CATALAN GUERILLA. 143
mind "flew unconscious o'er each backward
year," and past as well as present scenes were
tinged with the same sombre hue. I had never
perhaps before had leisure to devote so many
hours uninterruptedly to calm and dispassionate
reflection. In active life the mind is hurried on
by the pursuit of some real or imagined good, by
the eagerness of speculation, and the overmaster
ing force of passion, and turns away from all that
is painful in the impressions of former years, —
impressions which the mind can never wholly
erase, but refuses to dwell upon as injurious to
its energies.
When captured by a Catalan Guerilla in the
great Spanish revolt of 1822, and threatened
Avith instant death, there was a grandeur in the
events passing around me, and a corresponding
elevation of sentiment in those among whom my
lot was for the moment cast, which made me com
paratively insensible to the fate which might
possibly aAvait me. Their chivalrous and un
conquerable attachment to their lawful king, their
gallant bearing against outnumbering enemies,
and under an overAvhelming reverse of fortune,
and their stedfast resistance to the most un
righteous persecution Avhich ever brought down

144 PORTUGAL. [cH. XII.
infamy on the prostituted name of freedom;
these were qualities that put to shame the self-
arrogated virtue of the Spanish legislator, these
are traits Avhicli shed a glorious and redeeming
light upon the gloomy history of those days; these
are circumstances Avhich time can never efface
from my mind, and whicli impressed me strongly
even in that hour of personal danger. And the
sight of Vilia, rich in youthful heroism Avhen the
morning sun arose, rich in her boAvers and halls,
but a heap of blood and ashes Avhen that sun
went doAvn ; the sight, I say, of beautiful but
perishing Vilia,* and the heayy sound of the
destroying cannon^ reverberating among the
rocks, as it moAved doAvn the never-yielding popu
lation of that devoted place, excluded from my
mind every other emotion save that of ardent
sympathy Avith the martyred Royalists.
But in my lonely prison-room at Evora, with
nothing to interest, and little to excite, debarred
from every Avonted occupation, deprived of books
and "left in utter solitude, to pine the prey of
every changing mood," exposed to the chanfces of
a dreadful and inglorious death, and unsupported
* A town in the north of Spain, destroyed by the Constitutional
troops in the spring of 1822.

CH. XII.J SOLITUDE OF THE PRISON. 145
by a single circumstance that could give dignity
to danger, my spirits became depressed, not
broken. My mind, throAvn entirely on its own
resources, found a painful pleasure in recalling
past scenes, and retracing the stormy course of
my OAvn varied and eventful life ; for in my con
tinual rambles I had mixed with every class, and
experienced every vicissitude of fortune.
That hour of physical and mental depression
exercised a softening influence on all my feelings.
Those Avhom I loved appeared in lovelier colours,
those whom I had been accustomed to view under
a less kindly aspect Avere noAV seen by the sobered
spirit in a more charitable light, and many of my
own actions, deemed in their day of little mo
ment, became to stern reflection each a crime. I
thought of the various occurrences I had Avit
nessed in various countries, from the Italian re
volutions doAvn to the actual moraent; I heard
again the lofty aspirations breathed by an ardent
people in the delusive hour of an imagined libera
tion, and their patriotic cry that the last day of
slavery was the brightest of existence, rung
again in my ears.* I remembered the misjudg-
* I remember seeing, on a great public occasion at the break
ing out of the Piedmontese revolution, two hundred educated per-
VOL. IJ. H

146 PORTUGAL. [cH. XH.
ing zeal with Avhich I then concurred in their
hopes, and I turned from the excesses Avhich had
belied the noble promise of that day and had dis
appointed my boyish enthusiasm. And blended
with the stirring recollection of public events
came the memory of pleasures past and friend-
•ships contracted in the midst of war and con
fusion. Those companionships had been marred
and broken, — that country had been visited by
the heavy hand of civil war. One undistiriguish-
.ing night had buried all.
He Avho has ever spent a restless night, A^'hen
the frame is fevered and the heart heavy, no
doubt remembers the unreasonable impatience
sons lay their hands on their hearts, and cry out "Le dernier jour
de I'esclavage est le plus beau de la vie." 'When the Constitution
was proclaimed, I was given a tricolor cockade by one of tbe
revolutionists, and preserved it as a curious memorial ofthe tirae.
During the great Catalan revolution, when my desk was searched
by the exasjierated Royalists, I expected every moment to see
these ill-starred badges of democracy brought up in judgment
against me ; but to my surprise the investigation passed over
without eliciting this apparently conclusive proof of my revolu
tionary tendencies. I was not aware, till many -months after
wards, that my life had been preserved by the kind foresight of
a sister, who, with her constant affection, had taken precautions
for her brother which he had not taken for himself. Under th*
influence of some general apprehension, she had removed, without
my knowledge, those dangerous emblems from my desk imme
diately before my dejiarture for Spain.

CH. XII.J A SLEEPLESS NIGHT. 147
with which he pined for the first glimpse of day
as he turned from side to side on his lonely couch,
vainly soliciting
" That sleep which would not weigh his eyelids down
And steep his senses in forgetfulness."
Such Avas my fretful and unhappy state on the
evening to which I allude. Sleep, "nature's
Icind nurse," refused to visit me till the Availing
lamp showed that the night was far spent ; then,
indeed, sleep came, but not repose, — the busy
mind renewed its painful train of thought. My
recollections assumed distinct form and colouring;
I was transported to the cherished scenes of
former years — I saAV once more the friends of my
early days — I mingled Arith the absent ; and the
dead, restored to all the freshness of existence,
greeted me again —
" With hand as warm and brow as gay
As if we parted yesterday."
I Avas suddenly and terribly awakened. I
started up and drank in Avith eager ears the most
dreadful yeU that I ever yet heard sent forth by
an infuriated people ; that shout I felt at once
was no longer a general expression of political
animosity, but the voice of popular passion freshly
and violently excited. The croAvd, hoAvever, Avhich
h2

148 PORTUGAL. [cH. XII.
had so fearfuUy revealed its near approach, rushed
on, and in a moment more I could scarcely hear
the distant sound of their heavy tread ; but the
volcano Avas labouring, and the eruption Avas at
hand. After a brief interval I heard a confused
sound of voices, and climbing up to the iron
grating looked through it with intense anxiety.
The sun had risen, but my view Avas limited to
the street in Avhich the prison was situated; I
listened attentively, yet heard no repetition of
- those startling cries ; but as the Ioav moaning
Avind precedes the tempest, so a general though
indistinct murmur, uncommon at that early hour
in the morning, and apparently rising from all
quarters of the city, seemed to portend some un
usual agitation. Soon afterwards small parties
rushed doAvn the streets calling out for arms,
knocking at the houses, and exhorting their
friends to rise ; the signal Avas obeyed, the gi'oups
were reinforced, and the tumult increased. At
length the drum beat to arras, and the tocsin
sent forth its formidable peal. At this tremen
dous summons the insurrection becarae universal,
and a furious croAvd pressed down the street, as
through the main artery of the city. As the re
fuse ofthe ocean is brought from its loAvest depths

CH. XII.J DRUMS BEAT TO ARMS. 149
to the surface by a disturbance of the waters, so
the Avorst portion of the population, roused by
the storm, Avas now seen conspicuous. Every
foul alley, every subterranean cellar sent forth
its birds of prey to darken Avith their ill-omened
presence a scene which needed no additional
hoiTors ; an ill-favoured race, which shunned the
light in quiet times, and never left their loath
some precincts but for deeds of ill, — men upon
whom it Avere enough to look but once to see
that murder Avas their trade, and to feel that
mercy could be no inmate of their hearts. Mixed
Avith them were the more respectable inhabitants
of the place, militiamen, artisans, and peasants,
variously attired and variously armed, sorae clad
in long dark cloaks, others half naked frora the
haste Arith which they obeyed the summons; some
bearing muskets and bayonets, others long
knives, while many brandished the huge club
and held aloft the dreadful pike. They Avere
evidently pressing on to the horrible Avork of
blood, their countenances Avere inflamed with
rage, and their expressions stern and short, for
they had then no time for idle shouts. I vainly
endeavoured to discoA'er from their hasty ex
clamations the object of the rising; I wearied

150 PORTUGAL. [cH. Xll.
my mind in conjecturing the cause. The insur
gents had already expelled the regular troops
and had proclaimed the Infant King; the Im
perialists had everyAvhere submitted to their dic
tation, and the Miguelists reraained undisputed
masters of the city. Against whora then was
this furious ebullition directed ? My blood froze
as the only probable answer suggested itself to
my mind. An attack on the prisons had long
been threatened by the mob and dreaded by the
authorities ; for they were then overflowing Avith
those real and supposed partisans of Don Pedro's
cause, who had been arrested during that dis
tracted time ; and night after night the awful cry
of "Death to the Prisoners" had been raised
under the prison windoAVS. The people were
then probably directing their course to the great
prison in the square, and Avhen they had satiated
their rage in the blood of its ill-fated inmates,
would, I supposed, undoubtedly retrace their
steps to the prison in Avhich I Avas confined, and
there rencAV the slaughterous work.
About this time the jailor entered my apart
ment to fetch a loose bar that was lying in a
corner ofthe room. The old man was evidently
possessed Avith the same beUef ; he was labouring

CH. XII.] EXASPERATION-OF THE PEOPLE. 151
under extreme agitation, but said resolutely that;
he would fortify the prison doors, and defend
them against the mob to the last extremity. I
desired to know the immediate cause of the tu
mult, and he told me that the regular troops, ex
pelled a f&Av days before by the citizens, had re
entered Evora during the night, and had just ,
been found by the astonished inhabitants drawn
up in battle array in the heart of the city.
Against these invaders the energies of the people ;
were now directed, and if, as he anticipated, the'
issue of the struggle should prove disastrous to '.
the Imperial troops, the prisons, so often menaced, ,
would, he feared, become the scene of sangui-;
nary excesses. He could not then delay, but
said he Avould return in a short time and give me '
farther tidings ; he left me, but not as before to '
irksome soUtude, for every faculty Avas engrossed
hy these momentous events.
A heavy discharge of musketry was followed .
by a complete cessation of every hostile sound, ;
and then the tumult Avas renewed, and the cries ¦
of the people rose high above the roar of the
cpmbat. Had I been able even as a prisoner to
behold the thrilling scene, a sense of personal
danger would probably have been lost in the .

152 PORTUGAL. [CH. XII.
deep interest inspired by such a struggle, but
the iron bars of my grated Avindow prevented me
from looking doAvn the street, — those bars Avhich
I never before vieAved Avith feelings of such un
bounded aversion. At this time the doors and
windoAvs on the opposite side of the street ivere
closed, and the inhabitants Avere ranged on the
balconies armed Avith missiles to pour down on
the devoted troops. Even Avomen shared the
exasperation of the moment, and bearing jugs of
hot water and scalding oil, prepared to assist
their sons and husbands in the extermination of
men whom they considered hostile to the altar
arid the throne.
I reraained in a state of anxious suspense till
my jailor returned, for, circumstanced as 1 ivas,
life or death Avas apparently dependent on the
issue of the struggle. At length re-entering the
room he told me that victory was decidedly in
clining to the popular party ; they had taken the
arsenal, and had plentifully supplied themselves
Avith arms from its ample magazines, and were
thus enabled to reneiv the contest on more equal
terras. Again he left me, and another anxious
pause ensued ; but at his third and last visit he
announced the total defeat of the regular troops.

CH. XII.J CORREGIDOR ASSAILED. 153
Avho were only saved from utter destruction by
the admirable conduct of their commanding
officer. Hemmed in by a resolved and overwhelming
populace, attacked in front and rear, and from
the houses above, unable to maintain their ground
they yet succeeded in making good their retreat,
after some gallant but ineffectual efforts to retrieve
the day. After their expulsion from the city the
disorders which had convulsed Evora, at the
breaking out of the revolution, ivere renewed;
the Imperialists were again assaulted in their
houses, and the Corregidor, or civil Governor,
whose comparative moderation had excited the
hatred of the fanatics, was barbarously assailed,
although himself sincerely attached to the Infant's
cause. His coat ivas stabbed through in several
places, and his life Avas only saved by the ex
ertions of some faithful adherents; but he Avas
degraded and deposed by general acclamation,
and as they hurried him to a place of confine
ment, to preserve him from a ivorse fate, the mob
repeatedly enjoined them to tear him limb from
limb. Such ivas the fall of the Corregidor, Avho
a short time before had signed the order by
virtue of which I was then a prisoner. So rapid
h3

154 PORTUGAL. [ch. XII.
is the raarch of revolution, so quickly does the
condemner become the condemned.
A calm now prevailed, perhaps more awful
than the dreadful din Avhich had preceded it ; the
streets were deserted, the ordinary business of
life was suspended, the uproar of conflicting
parties Avas unheard, for the assailants Avere
engaged at the extremity of the city in pursuit
of the retiring troops. It Avas an aivful pause
indeed, for I kneiv that the unnatural silence
would soon be terminated by the murderous
bands returning from the mortal struggle flushed
with success and ripe for further outrage.
During that interval of fearful repose, I could
not but feel that Avithin the last few hours my
prospects had become greatly overcast, my
chances of safety sensibly diminished. I felt as
a mariner wrecked on the Goodwin Sands, who,
safe for the moment, aAvaits the gradual flow of
that returning tide which must prove to liim a
watery grave ; for I found myself in that hope
less situation in which no efforts could profit me,
no prudence lead to extrication, no courage be of
any avail.
There, in my prison cell, if the sovereign peo
ple willed it, I must be cooUy and deUberately

CH. XII.J CALM OF THE POPULACE. 155
butchered without a weapon to save or to avenge, r
Arithout a chance of preserving life by flight, or ;
of prolonging it by manly resistance. In the
nervous impatience of my feelings I almost
irished to shorten my suspense, and to exchange
the deadly calm which reigned around me for the '
furious assault Avhich Avould soon, I Avas per
suaded, be directed against the prison doors-
But that Power " ivhich can guide the whirUvind
and direct the storm," and which in its wisdom so
often baffles the calculations of men, be they for
good or be they for evil, had otherwise decreed.
That calm, so strangely at A'ariance Avith f he ¦
general character of the time, was of sorae du
ration. The return of the conquering people ¦
was, at first, indicated by cries faintly heard in '
the distance, but deepening as they dreiv nearer,
and at length sounding absolutely terrific ; these
were, hoAvever, only the expiring cries of ex
hausted passion, for rich in the spoils of the
fallen arsenal, they passed beneath ray Avindoivs,
apparently Avorn out by their exertions, and
showed no disposition to attack the prison, but
passed sullenly by without a single menace.
Their exhaustion was so complete that during
the rest of the day a death-Uke stillness pervaded

156 PORTUGAL. [CH. XU.
the populous city of Evora ; not a shout, not an
exclamation, not even the common sounds of
social life Avere heard ; but the ceaseless dash of
the fountain playing in the adjacent street alone
interrupted a silence Avhich contrasted singularly
Avith the stormy excitement of the morning.
Night came on, and an anxious night it ivas
to every prisoner. The fall of the Corregidor
had been chiefly OAving to the efforts he had
made to shield unoffending citizens from the
laivless arrests of the mob, and to preserve those
Avho Avere arrested from further Adolence. Our
protector had iioav fallen, and, although Ave might
indulge in hope, we had no longer any assurance
of protection. Who, with the ivarning fate of the
Corregidor before his eyes, Avould say to the un
bridled multitude, " So far, no farther, shalt thou
stray." The dragon was unchained ; might had
vanquished right; there was a poAver above the
laiv, and, though fatigued and slumbering for the
moment, ive had every reason to apprehend that
the spirit of popular vengeance would revive with
the reviving energies of the people. But, contrary
to the general expectation, the desire of shedding
the blood of the prisoners decreased when every
barrier to the perpetration of such an act ivas

CH. XII.J RELEASED FROM PRISON. 157
removed; for, elated by their signal triumph over
the troops, and gratified by the deposition of the
obnoxious Corregidor, the leaders of the insur
rection heard irith less impatience the calm re
monstrances of their superiors in station, and
alloAved the public feeling to take a better direc
tion. Large bodies of men remained in the square
for many hours after the conflict, and in the even
ing the peasantry formed companies selected
from their oivn class, and afterwards regularly
guarded the ramparts by day and night.
I have little more to record during the remain
ing days I spent in prison. One evening, ivhen
the room Avas darkened by the shades of ap
proaching night, as I sat by the ivindoAv listening
to the perpetual chant in favour of Don Miguel,
sung by the men, and echoed by the children, the
door Avas opened, and letters Avere brought me
frora the British Erabassy informing me of the
decided interference of the British Ambassador
in my behalf, accompanied by a message from
the Mayor announcing the ivelcome intelligence
of my actual liberation..
I instantly repaired to the town-hall, and re
quested him to issue an order for the release of
Juan, who Avas confined in the great prison in

158 PORTUGAL. [CH. XH.
the square ; but the Mayor decUned complying
with my ivishes, assigning no reason for his re
fusal, but only stating that he was detained by
the will of the Intendant of PoUce and the supe
rior authorities, by royal orders, by orders from
the King, (for so Don Miguel was then styled
at Evora). In short, it might have been inferred
from his answer that all the royalty of Europe
had conspired against the unfortunate Borderer.
After sorae fruitless endeavours to persuade his
inexorable Worship, I had a last and hurried
interview with Juan in the prison, and then
departed, resolved to renew my exertions in his
behalf at Lisbon, where, after a long altercation
with the Authorities, my remonstrances ivere
croAvned with success.
If I were asked what was the real character of
the Borderer, I should ansiver, that during my
long and frequent rambles I have rarely met the
man with whora I have spent so ranch tirae, yet
of Avhose real nature and designs I had finally so
much doubt. He Avas vain-glorious, and boast
ful to a ridiculous extent, but Avas not, I think,.
deficient in real courage. His honesty Avas very
questionable, for Avhen I arrived at Lisbon, and
examined the money concealed in the saddle, I

CH. XII.] CHARACTER OF JUAN. 159
found a considerable deficit. It is true that my
portmanteau had been pillaged at Evora, and
that the saddle had remained without protection
for a long time ; still I have difficulty in believing
that, if the secret place had been discovered, any
common plunderer would have been so moderate
as to have taken only a portion of the spoil,
during a period of such universal license, and
when the chances of detection were so slight.
A little circumstance also during our journey
excited some suspicion in my raind, though even
now I hardly know in what Ught to consider it.
As we were one raorning riding through a defile,
in one of the Anldest and most uninhabited parts
of Alentejo, he suddenly approached me, drawing
nearer till our horses ivere abreast, and then
asked me whether I had lost my eye-glass, say
ing he thought I had left it at the place where we
had slept the preceding night.
There is occasionally among the inhabitants of
the Peninsula, but especially among the Spani
ards,* a sudden and apparently unaccountable
transition from extreme blandness and courtesy
of manner, to a startling ferocity of expression
and abruptness of tone; but I have observed
* Chiefly among the V'^alencians.

160 PORTUGAL. [CH. XII.
that this peculiar change of countenance and
voice generally characterizes the accomplished
villain, and is visible at the moment ivhen he
thinks he can safely throAV off the mask, and give
way to his native brutality.
Such a fierceness of expression and abruptness
of voice I then remarked in the Borderer, symp
toms Avhicli I had learnt to disti-ust, and ivhich
struck me as ominous ; at that hasty and unex
pected question I felt in my bosom for my glass,
but kept my eye steadily fixed on Juan's right
hand, ivhich Avas in the pocket Avhere I knoAV he
carried fire arms, so that the least suspicious
motion of his arm would have met ivith a corres
ponding movement on my part, and I should
instantly have sprung forivard and drawn forth
my OAvn pistol. If he really entertained any vil
lainous project he saiv me prepared, and there
fore abandoned his intention. But the peculiarity
of his manner, and the position of his hand, may
have been purely accidental : still ray suspicions
Avere excited, and during the reraainder of my
journey I made him alivays ride before me, and
never remain even for a moment in the rear; a
precaution ivhich 1 had adopted generally, though
not invariably, in the earlier part of our expedition.

CH. XII.J INDICATIONS OF CHARACTER. 161
There was also something highly unsatisfactory
in his mode of aUuding to the past events of his
Ufe: he admitted that his former master had
been murdered in his presence; and though he
deprecated the act, I could not discover, even by
his OAvn version of the affair, that he had made
the slightest effort to prevent it.
I have generally found these rough adven
turers faithful and devoted, and, ivhen our ac
quaintance has been of some duration, they have
often become much attached to me, and have
sometiraes offered to leave their country, and
foUoAv ray fortunes all over the world. I have,
in consequence, frequently parted from them
with regret, but I entertained no feeling of this
kind for the Borderer. I may have done him
wrong, but, in spite of my disinclination to dis
trust his fidelity, dark suspicions ivould at times
irresistibly force theraselves upon my mind. I
had, however, no certain knoivledge of any cri
minal intention on his part, and, as he had suf
fered in my service, I felt bound to exert myself
to the utmost to procure his release.
Any man who has travelled much in wild coun
tries, particularly in Spain, where the extremes of
vice and virtue exist, ivill have found his observa-

162 PORTUGAL. [cH- XIi;-
tion of character rendered pecuUai-ly acute by the
emergencies arising from the insecure state ofthe
country, and the consequent necessity of obtain
ing some inaght into the intentions of the guides
and adventurers upon whose fidelity his safety
for the time essentially depends. A series of
constant observations at length produces in the
observer a rapid and almost intuitive recognition
of character. In forming a general and hasty ~
opinion of an individual, I have been sometimes
guided by indications so trivial that I should
have been almost ashamed of admitting that they
could influence my conduct, although most un
questionably they had that effect; yet, practi
cally, I Avas rarely deceived. During my early-
wanderings those indications would have passed,
probably without notice, certainly Arithout com
ment ; but the necessity of scrutinizing the indi
viduals to Avhose care I entrusted my safety, led
me to connect particular symptoms with parti
cular intentions and a particular state of mind ;
a peculiar mode of introducing sulgects, a. parti
cular mode of questioning, a certain reserve, and
sometimes even a certain frankness, an earnest
look or even a preoccupation of mind, have oc
casionally excited my suspicion ; and latterly, I

QH. XII.J' INDICATIONS OP CHARACTER. 163
seldom found that suspicioii AvhoUy destitute of
foundation. It is true that men have great con
stitutional differences ; some are frank, some re
served, all occasionally absent — and till we are
acquainted with the temperament of the indi
vidual, it may be said that no fair conclusion can
be drawn from such trivial eircumstances. So I
reasoned for a long time, but practically there
Avas a certain frankness, there ivas a certain re
serve, there ivas a certain absence, and even a
certain earnestness, which I learned to distinguish
as emanating frora a, person in some degree to be
distrusted. I can hardly explain the difference
of manner that was often perceptible between
the honest man and the accomplished traitor, the
shades in that state of society are often so indis
tinctly marked, the lines so finely drawn, but yet
I was generally sensible ofthe difference, though,
Juan's case was certainly an exception. The
truth of these observations ivill I am sure be ad
mitted by every person who has travelled much
in times and in a country requiring perpetual
caution and habitual observation of character.
I have known persons who have endeavoured.
to ascertain the character of their guides, in very
dangerous districts, by entering into conversation-

164 PORTUGAL. [CH. XH.
with them upon points connected with their.
doubts, and thus endeavouring to infer from their
manner the truth or the mistaken nature of their
suspicions ; but men will frequently come to a
false conclusion by this mode of proceeding. A
man conscious of his integrity ivill either betray
embarrassment or testify displeasure, or show
something like ridicule at the anxiety of his in
quirer, if he have any clue to his motives, or per
ceive the drift of his questions ; in short, he will
manifest emotion of sorae kind which the super
ficial observer attributes to a source from which
it does not proceed. Your cool, insinuating,
pleasant guide, who deprecates treachery in fluent
language, and ivith a cool, unembarrassed manner,
is often the man to be really dreaded and sus
pected ; and his intentions can only be inferred
by indications of a very different character.
On the folloAving raorning I Avent to the inn,
and, desiring the muleteer to load the mules,
employed the interval in taking a hasty view of
the ¦ cathedral, ivhich is Gothic, but has little
claims to beauty; the altar is, however, built in
the Italian style, extremely rich, and decorated
Avith various marbles. I also visited the ruins of
a temple, supposed to have been dedicated to

CH. XII.J PREPARE TO LEAVE EVORA. 165
the goddess Diana, and ivhich still boasts some
noble columns, evidently raised during the best
period of Roman architecture ; at one moment
I intended to inspect the Bishop's library
and the museum, said to be the finest in Por
tugal, but feeling the imprudence of exposing
myself too much to the public observation at
such a time, I returned to the inn. The events
that Avere there occurring proved the justice of
my apprehension, and showed the precarious
tenure on which I enjoyed my neivly-recovered
liberty. The inn-keeper, vexed at the removal
of the mules, ivhose maintenance had been very
profitable to him, declared he Avould not allow
them to depart unless positive instructions to
that effect Avere forwarded to hira from the
Mayor. Several persons, Avho happened to be in
the court at the time, took his part ivhen they
learnt my name, and as a crowd, attracted by the
noise, began to collect, I ivas strongly advised to
prevent a recurrence of any unpleasant scenes by
again taking refuge in the prison. Thither I re
paired most reluctantly, and from thence I ad
dressed a strong remonstrance to the Mayor,
calling upon him to give effect to the instructions
of his Government by issuing the necessary

166 PORTUGAL. [CH. XII.
orders ; but that officer was either unwilUng or
unable to enforce his authority, and chose ratho;
to attain his object by the gradual process of en
treaty than by direct command. I was, in con
sequence, compelled to pass the remainder of
that day and the ensuing night in ray old apart
ment at the prison, from ivhich, in the distem
pered state of the public raind, I did not again
venture to sally till I quitted Evora entirely.
ToAvards dusk on the following evening I left
the prison for the last time. As I crossed the
threshold I saw my fair friend, ivhora I had so
often beheld from my grated windows, standing
on the balcony; I bowed, and she returned the
salutation gracefully, but every other counte
nance was scowling and distrustful, as 1 mounted
my horse and left this inhospitable city; none
there "the parting hand extended gave," — none
wished the stranger a safe journey and a glad
return, — and no kindly voice exclaimed " God
bless him !"
The high towers of Evora faded in the dis'-
tance. I had intended to have visited Elvas, a
fortress of great national importance, but could
not deviate from the route prescribed by the au
thorities, my passport being made out for Lisbon

CH. XII.J LEAVE EVORA FOR LISBON. 167
in the name of the King, Don Miguel the First,
although he had not yet assumed the croivn. It
was, 1 believe, the first passport drawn up in that
form, and Avas, as such, aUuded to in the debates
ihat took place on the affairs of Portugal in the
British House of Comraons.
I slept that evening at a soUtary inn. At
Montemor I met a Juiz de Fora, recently ap
pointed to the magistracy of Elvas, to which
toivn, he was travelling escorted by seven soldiers,
as the road ivas said to be infested by robbers,
and accompanied by a young and blooming
bride, scarcely seventeen years of age, whose
raven locks contrasted well Arith the alabaster
Avhiteness of her skin, and whose dark eyes ivere
fuU of fire. I spent the night at Selveira, where
I Avas amused by the energetic feeling displayed
in the Infant's cause by a handsome young wo
man, as she was chopping a block of wood irith
considerable force near the kitchen fire : " Even
thus," she said, "I should like to cut off the
heads of all who deny the divine mission of
Miguel." " The divine mission ! " I answered,
laughingly ; " would it not be enough to admit
his divine risht ? If I denied his divine mission
would you cut off my head?" "Willingly," she

168 PORTUG.AL. [CH. XII.
replied Avitli animation, " if you ivere such an un
believer ; but you are not, surely ? " " Surely you
do not deny the divine mission of our blessed
Miguel ?" re-echoed the lady mother, approach
ing me with a most sinister expression of counte
nance. I was hungry, and therefore mean-spi-
I'ited ; accordingly I acquiesced in the established
creed, for I knew that any manifestation of he
terodox opinions on the subject of Miguel's di
vinity ivould be followed by a supperless retreat
to bed. Entering the kitchen on the folloiring
morning, I saw two convivial friars demolishing a
coarse but substantial breakfast, and the old wo
man waiting upon them, and eiddently rejoicing
in their inordinate appetite. She required me to
pay three times as much for my breakfast as she
charged the reverend Fathers, although the qua
lity of the provisions was the same, and the
quantity they consumed far greater ; and yet her
charge to me was not high, but ivas rather ex
travagantly Ioav to them ; a liberality on her part
the result of strong religious feeling, for she
must haA-e been a loser by their visit to. her inn.
One of the priests conversed Avith me very cor
dially till he discovered me to be an Englishman,
but then became extremely shy and reserved.

CH. XII.J SUPERSTITION OF THE BEGGARS. 169
On the following morning I continued my
journey, and passed several ivild-looking men,
who appeared to be compounded of the beggar
and marauder, and were probably roused into
unusual activity by the circumstances of the
times. A curious superstition attaches to this
rambling race in those parts of Alentejo ivhere
the little landholders dwell in isolated houses
upon their estates. When a child is born, crowds
of wild-looking beggars assemble from different,
and even remote parts of the great Alentejo
wastes, and collect around the house ; barefooted,
and occasionally bareheaded, they frequently
carry devotional pictures in their hands, and
sometimes a charm or talisman in the bosom.
If invited to partake of the good man's cheer,
they heap innumerable blessings on his infant
heir ; but if the door is sternly closed against
their intrusion, they successively approach the
inhospitable threshold, denounce the guiltless
object of the day's rejoicing, and consign their
victim to an early grave, or to a lengthened
life of sorrow. In some parts of the district, a
christening concluded without their presence
and approval is considered by the superstitious
inhabitants as fearfully incomplete, and even by
lOL. II. I

170 PORTUGAL. [CH. XII.
strong minded men as wanting in a kind of moral
sanction. The mother dreads the scoivl of a re
jected Avanderer of the Avild; his curses, some
times defied though never disregarded, return in
seasons of domestic grief with all the terror of
their original impression. Years afterwards, the
conscience stricken parent, seated by her droop
ing child, hears on the midnight blast the voice
that Avarned her of her present Avoe, and sees
again the evil eye that froze the current of his
blood, and numbered his young days ; and as
the terrible remembrance wakes, her hopes de
cline; her care abates under the certainty of a
predestined doom, and thus the prophecy works
out its own fulfilment.
At Pegoines we heard formidable accounts of
the banditti that infested a forest through which
we were obliged to pass. On the preceding
day they had attacked a gentleman's carriage
and fired upon the escort, who, alarmed by this
uncourteous reception, disappeared with all the
pomp of war, abandoning the gentleman and his
treasures to the foe ; of these the first, and pro
bably the least valuable, they spared, the latter
they secured.
The road from Pegoines traversed for many

CH. XII.J ROAD FROM PEGOINES. 171
miles plains covered Avitli heath and cistus. At
length Ave reached the fearful forest, Avhich Avas
chiefly composed of pine trees ; it was sad
and dark, and appeared a scene well calculated
for robber exploits. Behind the crurabling walls
of a ruined house the banditti had lain in am
bush on the preceding day, and, safe themselves
from any danger of reprisal, had fired upon the
travellers. The muleteer pointed out the
dreaded spot, which was only a few steps frora
the road, but uttered not a word, and only waved
his hand as a signal to press forward, so much
he feared to hear some startling summons from
the brake, or to see it suddenly become alive
with armed raen. The forest can generally be
passed in safety, and the actual danger was
owing to the distracted state of the tiraes, the
gang being chiefly composed of political outlaws.
Indeed, highway robberies, so frequent in Spain,
are in Portugal of rare occurrence, except in
parts of Alentejo ; but the man from whom I
hired my mules was understood to have a secret
understanding with raost of the bands dispersed
over that province, in virtue of which they ab
stained from plundering his muleteers and the
persons who travelled with them.
i2

172 PORTUGAL. [CH. XII."
At length we emerged from the wood, and
continued our journey between hedges of alders,
Avhich formed a dense canopy over head with
their rich foliage and intermingling branches,
and cast a deep shade on the road. We after-
Avards rode through an open country to Aldea
Gallega, Avhere I met a militia-man, who, accord
ing to his own account, was on duty at Evora on
the day of my arrest, and was now proceeding to
Lisbon with the deputation appointed by the in
surgents to wait on the Infant and explain the
cause and nature of the late revolution. He
said that he belonged to the Montero party, and
had spared no exertions on my behalf, but I had
no recollection of the man, and could, therefore,
neither confirm nor deny his statement. A
couple of crusados by no means tended to dimi
nish his zeal in my cause, and he left the apart
ment abusing the Authorities ivho had committed
me, and the people who had urged my committal,
and vehemently lauding — gentle reader — your
humble servant, the Absolute King, and all the
other good things of this wicked world.
On the following day we embarked for Lisbon,
but were encountered by a hurricane, which drove
us to Alcantara. We, however, subsequently

t:H. XH.J ARRIVAL AT LISBON. 173
effected a landing at the Black Horse Square,
where I raet my friend Mr. Forbes, who informed
me that the Corps Diplomatique had suspended
their functions. I went to my former lodgings in
the Caes do Sodre, and ivas received with plea
sure, by my ivorthy landlord Bento, Avho rein
stated rae in my old apartments.
So terminated an expedition fraught Avith
interest, full of varying incident, attended Avith
difficulty and danger, and singularly disastrous
towards its close. The most sumptuous and the
scantiest fare had been alternately ray lot ; the
Republican and the Ultra-Eoyalist, the peasant,
the priest, and the noble, successively my hosts ;
my race had been run through sunshine and
through storm, amid the greatest warmth of ap
parent friendship, and the utmost violence of
real hate ; the heated room and the luxurious
couch, the hard plank and the cold night air of
heaven, the palace and tho prison, I had alter
nately experienced in rapid revolution. In the
morning I frequently kneiv not Avhere I could
rest my head at eve in safety, and I often lay
down to rest ivithout any certainty of passing the
night uninterrupted by alarm.
I remained in Portugal only a few days after

171 PORTUGAL. [cH. XII.
my return to the capital. During my tour
through the southern provinces many important
events had occurred : the revolution in Don
Miguel's favour had made considerable progress,
and he had been actually proclaimed King in
Lisbon, Oporto, Evora, Faro, and all the great
towns of the kingdora. Supported by these ma
nifestations of the popular feeling he had issued
a decree convoking the Three Estates, for the
purpose of determining the succession to the
throne, and had by that act virtually abolished
the Constitution.
The consequent suspension of the diplomatic
functions infused a momentary hope into the
bosoms of the dispirited Imperialists ; the ex
tensive changes recently effected in the regi
ments that occupied Lisbon, the dismissal of the
Constitutionalists, and promotion of Miguelist
officers, had destroyed their hopes of organizing
any plan of successful resistance to the Govern
ment ; but the regular troops, stationed in the
northern districts, were still comraanded by their
former Colonels, retained their attachment to
Don Pedro, and were quite disposed to turn
their arras against his opponents. Many indi
viduals at Lisbon knew that the clouds were

CH. XII.J JUAN's RELEASE. 175
gathering, and that the storm Avould burst at
Oporto. I had accidentally heard of the intention. Day
after day I expected to hear that the strife had
begun, and although personally unconcerned in
the eient, and taking no part whatever in the
plots of that distracted period, it was not ivithout
a fearful interest that I listened for the distant
hoAvlings of the gale which Avould, I kneAv, at
length break in upon the hoUoAV tranquillity of
the time. It Avas I believe at one moment in
tended to place the late Infanta Regent at the
head of the insurrection, or at least to commence
operations under the sanction of her name, and
the Government appears to haye had some vague
suspicions of the scheme, as two curious mani
festos appeared in the gazette. In the first, Don
Miguel declared his sister's abhorrence "of the
machinations, plotted in the dark caverns, for the
subversion of all that is good and established on
the face of the earth;" and in the second, the
Princess confirmed his statement.
After an interview with the Minister of foreign
affairs, and many discussions ivith the Police, as
sisted by Sir Frederick Lamb, Avho maintained
our British privileges with British firmness, I

176 PORTUGAL. [CH. XII.
succeeded in obtaining an order for Juan's re
lease. My last visit was paid to the Cpnde de
Linhares, one of the most talented members of
the extinguished House of Peers ; after which I
took leave of my excellent landlady Mrs. Bento,
and her pretty daughter, and about midnight
entered a boat accompanied by my landlord, ivho
had consented to act as my servant pro tempore,
and accompany me to England.
We had scarcely seated ourselves, before a lad,
about eighteen or nineteen years of age, rushed
from the house, and threiv himself into Bento's
arms, exclaiming, as the tears rolled rapidly down
his checks, "My master, my dear master, why
.are you going to leave us?" Bento, who was
himself much affected, endeavoured to console
his servant, with many expressions of kindness.
Feelings of this kind ivould hardly in Eng
land have existed between persons standing in
the relative position of master and apprentice, or
if indeed they had existed, those nicely regulated
notions of what is required by the gradual sub
ordination of ranks, which pervade every class of
English society, from the highest to the lowest,
Avould not have permitted their unrestrained ex
pression on the one hand, or their free aud

<!H. XII.J FAREWELL VISIT TO SARTORIOS. 177
cordial reception on the other. Still this little
incident prepossessed rae highly in favour of the
lad, whose fidelity to his master appeared so
devoted, and of the master whose kindly disposi
tion had excited such grateful feelings in the
bosom of his dependant.
I Avas unwilling to quit the country without
bidding farewell to my gallant friend Sartorius,
so I rowed to the Pyramus, and found Lord
Frederick Beauclerk on deck, keeping the mid
night Avatch. The Captain, roused from his
slumbers, received me with a countenance ex
pressive of the deepest sympathy, for he was
fully prepared to find in his nocturnal visitor
some unfortunate emigrant arrived at that un
seasonable hour to claim his protection.
I passed the night in a comfortable hammock
on board the Pyramus, and on the foUoiving
morning at break of day embarked on board the
Stanmer packet, commanded by Captain Sutton.
My only fellow-passenger, Senhor Jose Candido
Xavier (since dead), was a person of great at
tainments, and much distinguished by the pro-
riiinent part he had taken in Portuguese affairs.
He had discharged, at the same time, the separate
i3

178 PORTUGAL. [cH. XII.
duties of Minister for the war and for the foreign
departments, and Avas high in office Avhen the
Infant arrived.
Since the period to ivhich I am noAv alluding,
the important question ivhich then agitated men's
minds in Portugal has been brought to an issue.
Great changes have taken place in the dramatis
personse, tirae has removed the hostile brothers
the victor and the vanquished, frora the stage ;
Don Miguel is an exile, Don Pedro dead. In
touching upon some of the circumstances ivhich
led to the present state of things, I have endea
voured to speak of parties and events Avith per
fect impartiality. Our interposition had at that
period very much alienated the Miguelists from
the English; but although I lived much more
with the Imperialists at Lisbon than with their
opponents, my opinions were not warped by this
circumstance; I deprecate the severe and inju
dicious policy pursued by Don Miguel on his
return to Portugal, but I must not, in justice,
withhold from his party the praise ivhich is un
questionably their due. As a party, they were
brave, sincere, high-principled, attached to their
reUgion, and to the old institutions ofthe country.

CH. XII.J REFLECTIONS UPON PAST EVENTS. 179
The honourable fidelity with which they adhered
to the fortunes of their Prince during the ex
tremity of his reverses, and the unhesitating
devotion with ivhich men in the enjoyment of
aU the luxuries of life sacrificed every earthly
possession in his cause, are circumstances that
reflect upon them imperishable credit ; but their
virtues could not redeem his errors, or repair
the calamities entailed upon their families and
their country by his misjudging policy. In the
provinces I found men of both parties anxious
to faciUtate my journey and to show me personal
attention. Even at Evora, the Authorities of
the city, fairly borne down by the popular feeling,
and trembling for their own existence, were, I
think, really unwilUng to impede my journey,
and, AA'ith the exception of one individual, showed
no disposition to aggravate the rigour of my con
finement. The rain fell heavily as we sailed doivn the
Tagus. I looked for the last time at Lisbon,
beautiful even through her tears. 1 gazed ear
nestly on her convents, her palaces, and her
orange gardens, and sighed as I remerabered the
pleasant hours which I had spent araong their
light-hearted inmates, and thought upon " the

180 PORTUGAL. [cH. Xll.
thousand heavy tiraes which might befall them
now." At length we ivere fairly on the main ocean ;
the Avind Avas bloiving furiously from the south,
the gallant ship running before the gale at the
rate of twelve knots an hour, and the sea was so
stormy that a single wave breaking over the gib-
boom, divided it as if it were a thread. During
that day, and the following night, I ivas confined
to my berth by continual sickness; but, becom
ing accustomed to the rocking of the ship, went
on deck the second evening as the shades of night
stole over the tempestuous bay ; and that bay
in its wrathful mood is as proud a sight as the
eye of man can seek to gaze upon !
There I stood till a late hour, watching the
towering waves as they came driving against our
stern, and listening with pleasure to their inces
sant dash, and to the creaking of the rigging,
and to the wind moaning among the high
shrouds. The hurricane blew steadily in one
direction, and without intermission for three days,
and only slackened a few hours before the termi
nation of our voyage, ivhich ivas prosperous, and
almost the shortest upon record.
Early on the morning of the fourth day we

CH. XII.J ARRIVAL IN ENGLAND. 181
hailed the Lizard Point : my long ivanderings,
the fatigues of my solitary expeditions, and the
perils of revolution, were all forgotten as I trod
once more upon the sofl. of native, peaceful, and
then unreforraed England !

( 182 )

CHAPTER XIII.

SPAIN.
REVIE-W OF THE SOCIAL AND POLITICAL STATE
OF THE BASQUE PROVINCES: -WITH A FEW
REMARKS ON RECENT EVENTS IN SPAIN.
Till the commencement of the present year,
the real state of the Carlist power in the
northern provinces of Spain, was matter of very
general uncertainty. The military strength
actually arrayed under the standard of Don
Carlos, the discipline maintained in his army, the
degree of attachment felt by the people of the
country for his cause, and the fate of his arms in
the various encounters with the Queen's troops,
were most imperfectly known in this country.
The insurgents were long represented by our
Ministers, and by the ministerial journals, as
Uttle better than banditti ; and the public, under
the natural impression that our Governraent had
at least some vague and general knowledge of
the forces against ivhich they were directing the

CH. XIII. J BASQUE PROVINCES. 183
energies of this country, acquiesced, at first, in
their version of Spanish affairs. But, as time
elapsed, and the civil war continued, the warm
est supporters of the ministerial policy becarae
unable to reconcile the statements of our Go
vernment with the events that were houriy oc
curring in Spain. Men, indeed, who had lived
in Biscay, solved the apparent contradiction, by
coraing to the just conclusion, that the Govern
ment Avere wholly unacquainted with the subject
on which they uttered prophecies, so quickly,
and so completely to be disproved; but it was
not tUl Captain Henningsen's work appeared,
that the cloud of misrepresentation was cleared
away from the eyes of the British public. The
detailed information which he communicated, at
once accounted for the continuance of the
struggle; he traced the insurrection from its
comraenceraent; he showed the progressive in
crease of the Carlist power, and first made
generally known the startling fact, that every
army which the Queen had sent into the Basque
provinces had been successively defeated by the
determination of an almost unanimous people.
Mr. Honan's work has still raore recently ap
peared, and indisputably proves, that since the

184 PROGRESS OF THE CIVIL WAR. [CH. XIIL
gallant Officer's return from the seat of war, the
resources of the Carlists have augmented, the
range of the insurrection has become materially
extended, and that, at present, their operations
are conducted on a greater scale, and their ad
herents are more numerous and more sanguine
of success. His statements are completely
borne out, not only by the general progress of
the revolt in Aragon, Valentia, and other pro
vinces, and by the continued reverses of the
Queen's troops, but by the useless and inglo
rious triumph of the British legion at St. Sebas
tian, their utter failure at Fontarabia, and their
long subsequent inaction.
These writers have shown, ably and effectively,
the actual condition of the belligerent parties.
I am anxious to call the attention of my readers
to another part of the same picture, and briefly
to examine the causes of that extraordinary fer
ment of the popular mind, which has enabled
the Biscayans to resist, successfully, the whole
weight of the Spanish Government, to render
useless the active though indirect co-operation
of France, and to make the British arms, almost
for the first time in the history of this country,
acquainted with dishonour and defeat. I must

CH. XllI.J PREVIOUS STATE OF SPAIN. 185
first, however, touch hastily on events that
occurred some years ago in Spain, but which,
in their consequences, have affected considerably
the politics of the day.
I have already aUuded to the two great insur
rections which agitated Spain in the years 1822
and 1827. The great northern insurrection of
1822 originated, as I hai'e previously stated, in
the chivalrous indignation excited by the op
pressive treatment of the Sovereign, the perse
cution of the priesthood, and the unwise at
tempt, on the part of the Governraent, to abo
lish the old names and the ancient limits of the
provinces — names and limits justly dear to the
people, and inseparably blended with all their
traditional recollections of Spanish honour and
glory. Servile imitators of the French Revolution,
- the legislators of that period had not the saga
city to adapt their institutions to the condition
of the people, but deterrained that public opinion
should bend to their unpopular schemes ; and,
as if the outrages inflicted on a beloved and re
spected clergy, as if the spoliation of the Church
property, till then deemed sacred, would not
sufficiently exasperate a people fanatically at-

186 CORTES OF 1820. [CH. XIU.
tached to their religious teachers, the Cortes of
1821 proceeded to degrade the Saints in every
town and village of the kingdom, to efface their
names frora the streets and squares, and substi
tute new and revolutionary designations; thus
filling up, in the opinion of the Spanish pea
santry, the measure of their iniquities — not only
persecuting the Ministers of God on earth, but
insulting the hierarchy of heaven.
These were measures based on a deplorable
ignorance of human nature, and originating in
an arrogant contempt for the popular prejudices
and the national religion. It was not difficult,
indeed, to grieve the spirit of a moral and reli
gious peasantry, but far less easy to root out the
memory of past observances, or erase the faith
of centuries from the bosom of the people. The
bloody wave of Constitutional persecution broke,
in vain, upon the rock of the national faith.
The Catalan revolt of 1827 was very much
produced by the unavenged atrocities per
petrated in Catalonia by the Constitutional
leaders, and sanctioned by the Constitutional
governraent of 1822. The authors of the second
• Catalan insurrection had the acuteness to per
ceive that the Constitutional party, though at

CH. XIXI.] SPAIN IN 1827. 187
that period comparatively quiescent, might
resume a dangerous ascendancy under the in
fluence of more propitious circurastances ; but
they had not the judgment to feel that the time
was singularly unfavourable to the extension of
the despotic principle. In 1827 the secret views
and intentions of the Constitutionalists w'ere un
questionably hostile to the system then in force,
and a very suspicious intercourse Avas carrying
on in the frontier provinces Avith the Spanish
refugees in Portugal. Still the general conduct
of that party, scarcely justified, at that mo
ment, any extraordinary measures of severity,
and certainly not an attempt to strengthen the
arm of the laAV at the expense of a revolution.
Besides, the atterapt to elevate Don Carlos to
the throne in the life-tirae of the reigning So
vereign was manifestly illegal, ivas abhorrent
to the principles of the party through whose
co-operation only it could have been effected,
and Avas solely maintained for a short tirae by
a system of deception which never could have
become general, and ivhich failed completely,
even in the heart of the insurgent country,
Avhen unmasked.
The attempt Avas sure to stimulate the secret

188 STA.TE OF PARTIES [CII. XMI.
jealousy so often felt by the reigning Sovereign
towards the heir presumptive to the CroAvn.
The comparison implied by the proposed sub
stitution of his Brother, ivas certain to disgust
him Avith the High Church party, and pave the
Avay for measures likely to conciliate their op
ponents, and depress a power Avhich had mor
tified his A'anity, and been armed against his
real authority. Nor did this attempt fail of
producing its natural effect.
The King was deeply offended ivith the
Carlist party of that day, and secretly alienated
from his Brother, Avhose noble conduct, in a de
licate and painful situation, Avould have excited
in a more generous mind emotions of gratitude
and affection.
Don Carlos disavowed all connexion with the
insurgents : he reprobated their schemes, and,
scorning the selfish policy, so frequently pur
sued by statesmen in difficult situations, of tem
porizing Avitli both parties, and extracting the
utmost araount of personal advantage frora the
circumstances they profess to deprecate, he
chose the straight and narrow ivay of manly
honour, and asserted his Royal Brother's rights
Avithout equivocation or reserA'e.

CH. XIIl.J BEFORE FERDINAND's DEATH. 189
In 1833 the King died. The powerful influ
ence of the Queen, unceasingly exerted in fa
vour of the young Princess, co-operating with
a jealousy of his Brother, heightened, if not
created, by the ill-judged insurrection of 1827,
and not altogether eradicated by that Brother's
noble conduct, induced the King, after much
hesitation, and frequent change of purpose, to
nominate, on his death-bed, a female to the
throne, and thus bequeath a civil war to the
country. I shall not here investigate the deUcate
question of the succession, — that point has
been discussed by ivriters on both sides of the
question, and, as far as Don Carlos's claims
are concerned, most amply, and in a pamphlet
of great power, by Mr. Walton. My object is
rather to describe the state of parties that has
prevailed for some years past in Spain, the vary
ing feelings that have groivn up with the varying
circurastances of the country, and the degree
to which those feelings and that state of things
are affecting the present contest.
When King Ferdinand died, the nation
was rauch divided in opinion upon the suc
cession. The Constitutionalists ivarraly pro-

190 STATE OF PARTIES [cH. Xlll.
fessed their allegiance to the Queen, from a
well-grounded conviction that the questionable
nature of her daughter's title ivould eventually
compel her to look to them for assistance, and
consequently embrace their views, although her
natural disposition and original intentions in
disposed her to such an alliance.
On the other hand, many persons of mode
rate opinions were disgusted by the mode in
which the nomination of the infant Princess
had been effected, and by the circumstances
with which it ivas attended ; while the greater
portion of that considerable party, which ad
hered to the ancient institutions of the country,
beheld Avith indignation the sudden change
effected in the succession — denied, with Spa
nish pride, that the allegiance of the nation
could be transferred at the beck of any indi
vidual, — raaintained that the antient kingdom
of Spain could not be disposed of as a private
estate, — declared the. Princess's appointment
an infraction of the Treaty of Utrecht, and
looked upon the royal testament as the result
of a conspiracy to defraud the rightful heir, and
of an unworthy influence exercised upon the
almost unconscious mind of the dying King.

CH. .Xtll.J AT THE KING's DEATH. 191
But, in spite of the irritation generated in
the minds of a large party by the transaction
in question, unless the Carlists or Royalists
had been enabled to muster a majority in sup
port of their cause, so effective, not only from
numbers, but also from union and organization,
as to have crushed at once the claims of the
infant Princess, the Queen's party were sure,
under the circumstances of the moment, to re
tain the ascendancy.
They were not only in possession of supreme
power at the critical period of the royal demise,
but had administered the government for a
considerable tirae previous to that event ; they
were therefore fully prepared for the coming
emergency, and all the resources of the state had
been long directed to the attainment of a single
object. During the King's last illness large gifts
were bestowed on the wavering, and larger pro
mises made. Devoted adherents of the Queen
were promoted to every department, both civil
and military, and the co-operation of the army
was secured.
But in spite of these precautions the standard
of insurrection was erected in the northern pro
vinces of Spain ivhen the King died. It was

192 STATE OF PARTIES [ctl. XIII.
argued for a long time in this country that the
Queen's government was generally beloved, be
cause, during the early period of the struggle,
the insurrection did not materially exceed the
limits of the Basque provinces and Navarre.
Unquestionably, particular causes connected
with their political and social system peculiarly
indisposed the Basques to the Christino govern
ment; but it was rather illogical to suppose
that her Majesty had any real hold upon the
affections of the people generally, because in
other parts of the country they were not in open
arras against her authority. The amount of
popularity enjoyed by a government in dis
turbed times cannot be precisely determined by
the extent of insurrection, ivhich usually de
pends, and, I may say, always in Spain, on
causes by no means obvious in the first moment
of inquiry.
The Royalists, restrained by the honourable
scruples of Don Carlos from asserting his
claims, at a time when the army was officered
by men devoted to his cause, ivere unable to
resist a Government which had been permitted
to adapt their measures to the coming struggle,
and which was consequently, ivhen the late King

CH. XlII.J AFTER THE KINg's DEATH. 193
died, provided with the means essential to the
maintenance of their position, and backed by all
the resources of the State. Disorganized, and to
a great extent paralyzed by the circurastances
in AA'hich they were placed, the Carlists felt the
danger of their position, and therefore the expe
diency of concealing their sentiments, a caution
peculiarly advisable in Spain ; for, strange as it
may seem to the more moral politicians of the
north, it has been the policy of the Spanish Con
stitutional Governments of 1822 and of the pre
sent day, to tolerate the worst excesses of the
populace against men suspected of no active in
terference in public matters, far less of any posi
tive offence against the State, but convicted, in
their opinion, of entertaining a secret and un
pardonable attachment to the old institutions of
the country. The local authorities, complying
with the wishes rather than with the instruc
tions of their superiors, refuse to investigate the
disorders, and the Government either passes
over in silence or coldly deplores in some official
document the excesses it has really encouraged.
To suppose that the poiver of the Royalists was
extinguished, or the Queen's Governraent popu
lar, because the Carlist strength was not actively
VOL. II. K

194 INFERENCES TO BE DRAWN [CH. XIU.
developed in every prorince of the kingdora,
was an inference wholly unsupported by the
historical experience of the country.
In 1822 and 1823 the eastern provinces of
Spain were in arras against the Government of
the Cortes ; other parts of the kingdom were
occasionally disturbed by popular tumults, and
even by partial revolutions, both in the demo
cratic and in the Royalist sense, but no other
insurrection of any magnitude at that time
divided the attention of the Government. The
general inference draivn in England from this
state of things appeared in the conversa
tion of the day. The war announced by the
French Government ivas stigmatized both in
and out of the British Parliament, not only as
an act of unjust interference, but of positive
suicide. Sagacious men, weU-wishers to the
French Government, deplored their policy as
fraught, in the apparent temper of the Spanish
people, with imrainent danger to the French
Monarchy ; and many ofthe liberal party scarcely
disguised their exultation, because they read, or
rather thought they read, in the proclamation of
war, the death-warrant of the Bourbon dynasty.
A war of years was expected, and forebodings

CH. XIU. J FROM THE FRENCH WAR. 195
that the French army was destined a second
tirae to defeat on the fields of Spain were
eagerly entertained. At length the French
Court itself became so much alarmed by the
growth of this belief among men of all parties,
that if the Spanish Cortes ivould have afforded
them, in the eleventh hour, an honourable pre
text for retreat, hostilities would not have oc
curred. Never were expectations so falsified
by the result. The constitutional troops forgot
their intended acts of heroism ; the universal
defection of the clergy was followed by an almost
unanimous declaration of the nobles against the
Government ; the peasantry were nearly united
to a man, and a few deserted orators alone dis
played in Cortes a courage which would have
been more serviceable in the field. Such was the
issue of that war, and such the far-famed strength
and popularity of the Government of that day,
a strength and popularity erroneously inferred
from the apparent submission of the great body
of the people to their constitutional rulers.
The events which have marked the progress
of the actual struggle are not more favourable
to the Queen's cause. During three years of
profound external peace, the arras and resources
k2

J 96 WEAKNESS OF THE GOVERNMENT. [CH. Xltl.
of the Spanish Monarchy have made no sen
sible impression on the revolted provinces ; its
best-appointed arraies have been baffled, and
its ministers, in the extremity of their fears,
have repeatedly soUcited assistance from the
French and EngUsh Governments. These are
not the usual symptoms of internal strength,
this is not " the honour, love, obedience— troops
of friends " that wait upon a really popular Go
vernment. If an insurrection were at this mo
ment agitating the Highlands of Scotland ; if
his Majesty's Ministers had ineffectually endea
voured to repress it, directing the undivided
resources of the State to the attainment of that
single object during two consecutive years, and
at length applied to France, frankly admitting
that in their own Sovereign's dominions they
could not restore the public peace without the
co-operation of foreign bayonets, I think he
would be gifted with a lively faith indeed, who
could suppose that the British Government en
joyed, in any great degree, the confidence and
esteem of its oivn subjects.
But the case does not rest here. France,
England, and Portugal have answered the ap
peal, and have combined, more or less directly.

CH. XIIl.J GROWTH OF CONSTITUTIONALISTS. 197
to assist the Queen, yet, in spite of their united
efforts, the Carlist insurrection has increased; and
as the resistance to her authority becomes more
widely diffused, and assumes a more decided
character, our Ministers evince an increasing
resolution to interfere with the internal arrange
ments, and to control the free decision of a people
proverbially tenacious of foreign interposition.
Under what influence and by what means was
the constitutional party in Spain raised to their
present power from the deep depression under
which they laboured in 1827 ? This change was
effected by events which a few years before
could not have been anticipated, and ivhen fore
seen could not be counteracted by the Royalists
in a country circumstanced as Spain. When
the expiring King reversed the actual order of
succession, and bequeathed the kingdom to his
daughter, he sacrificed to parental love the per
manent interests of the throne. The Crown
was armed against itself; the Crown alone could
have inflicted such an incurable wound upon the
royal interests, for by that act the very loyalty
of the Spaniards became subservient to the
views of the democracy, and was, to a great
degree, enlisted with the King against the

198 DIVIDED STATE OF THE ROYALISTS. [cH. XIII.
throne ; that loyalty induced many sincere
friends of the Monarchy to respect the King's
testament, and to acquiesce in an arrangement
evidently fraught with eventual danger, if not
ruin, to the royal prerogatii'e.
Had not a question of disputed succession in
troduced a powerful element of discord among
men previously united in general opinion, the
Constitutionalists, still oppressed by the unpo
pularity resulting from their mingled tyranny
and failure, when in power, could not have en
dangered, by any civil disturbances, either the
prerogatives of the Crown or the old institutions
of the country; but when the loyalty of the
nation was divided, that party which adhered to
the ancient system and was irresistible when
united, gave ivay under the pressure of a faction
less numerous, less rooted in opinion, and less
generally influential, but now linked with the
Govemment, assisting the Government for the
adi'anceraent of their own particular views, and
in return supported by the Governraent, not
from principle, not from incUnation, but from
the conscious weakness of the Queen's title, and
from the absolute necessity of obtaining, upon
any terras, their zealous co-operation.

CH. XIII. J EMBARRASSMENTS OF THE COURT. 199
The result of such an alliance in the peculiar
state of parties and circurastances could not be
doubtful ; as the court, erabarrassed by the pro
gress and increasing determination of the civil
war, became each day more helpless, each day
the Constitutionalists regained a portion of their
former power; as the Regent relied more ex
clusively on their assistance, the revolutionary
schemes became more unfolded and more certain
of accomplishment; as her authority became
more firmly established upon the ruins of the
Carlists, so in exact proportion the prospects of
the Croivn declined, and not only of the Crown,
but of the Church, and all the old interests of
the country. If revenge could compensate for
loss of poAver, Don Carlos is already Avell
avenged; for even if the constitutional arms pre
vail, the Regent, at the expiration of her term
of power, will probably resign to her daughter
a throne divested of every prop that renders it
secure, andof every jewel that can give it lustre.
The revolution that has restored the Con
stitutionalists to office, and is practically de
stroying the royal authority, by transferring
the real poiver of the state frora the Croivn
to a party, by feeling and by principle, hostile

200 EFFECT OF THE QUEEN's ACCESSIOTf. [CH. XIII.
to royalty, could not have been produced, at
the period of the late king's death, by any po
pular raovement, scarcely by any act not ema
nating from the throne. The popular excesses,
recently committed in so many parts of Spain,
do not belie this assertion. A majority, in many
places deprived of their arms, almost everywhere
without union and fearful of exciting suspi
cion by any appearance of combination, is
naturally unable to resist an organised minority
panting for plunder and revenge, secretly en
couraged by the authorities, and therefore secure
of impunity. Unassisted by the Government,
there was no power in the popular party to
overturn the ancient system when King Fer
dinand died ; because, in spite of the previous
calamities of his reign, there was, at that time,
a slow but growing improvement visible in the
general transactions of the country, and, in con
sequence, there existed no desire for material
change in the great body of the people. A
military insurrection might, indeed, as in 1820,
have overpowered the executive, and restored
the Constitutionalists to a precarious authority.
The revolution of 1820 was not occasioned by
any popular sympathies between the troops and

CH. XUI.] MILITARY INSUBORDINATION. 201
the people, but grew out of an irritation, partly
arising from the irregularity of their pay, and
still more from their extreme disinclination to
encounter the hardships of a South American
expedition. That revolution was not the child
of freedom, but the licentious offspring of mili
tary insubordination. Such an event, produced
by similar circumstances, might have again oc
curred; but the presence of some hundred
thousand Royalist volunteers, dispersed over
the country, and devoted to the Croivn, ivould
have rendered such an event hardly probable ;
nor is it likely that, after the warning lesson of
1820, the Government would have again pro
voked the troops ; or that the troops, after the
inglorious failure of their first experiment, ivould
have been easily disposed to renew the attempt.
But an event not very likely to have taken ,/
place a second time, under the old Government,
may possibly occur under the altered circum
stances of the country. If, then, during the
continuance of the actual struggle, any consi
derable portion of the military should become
alienated from the existing Government, either
by real or imagined neglect, or by measures
of ill-timed retrenchment; if, in short, the /

202 NATURE OF [CH. XUI;
Constitutional Government repeat that happy
policy of converting friends into enemies, which
turned, in 1822, the arras of the royal guards
against the Cortes, in the heart of the capital,
and nearly subverted their authority ; if disgust
at their repeated disasters, strengthened by that
feeling which so often inclines men to espouse
the winning side, should shake the fidelity ofthe
Constitutional officers, and increase the existing
spirit of desertion among the men ; if any con
tingencies of this kind should occur, Don Carlos
might be unexpectedly strengthened by the
accession of the greater part of the military force
of the kingdom ; and I believe that we should
then see renewed, as in 1823, the triumphant
march of the Royalist troops to the capital, and
the Royalist poiver -established, Avithout any
very serious and protracted effort in the country
to resist his claims.
Don Carlos has, I believe, in his favour a
passive majority of the Spanish population : he
has a portion of that people enthusiastically
attached to his cause; but, at the same time,
there is a powerful party in the towns, and
a considerable share of their wealth, arrayed
against him ; and, in Spain, the want of roads,

CH. XIIl.J THE PRESENT INSURRECTION. 203
the length of time occupied in travelling from
one part of the country to another ., the compara
tively Umited intercourse which takes place be
tween the inhabitants of the different provinces,
however favourable, in sorae respects, to the tem
porary success of a local revolt, yet render it
extremely difficult for a rural party to establish
any uniform and extended plan of action, or any
system of organization so effective as to compete
with the machinery of a regular government.
The zeal of the peasantry, their quick
ness in giving information to one party, their
ivilful ignorance when questioned by the other,
and their general readiness to encounter any
hazard in support of a cause to which they are
sincerely attached, in some degree smooth these
difficulties all over the kingdom, and to a very
great extent indeed in those provinces which
have become the seat of the civil war ; but yet
it is not easy to convey intelUgence of passing
events to distant parts of the kingdom with the
speed requisite; and simultaneous risings, the
soul and essence of successful insurrection, can,
in consequence, be rarely carried into effect.
Many partial revolts in different parts of the
kingdom, the effects of a iride-spread disaffec-

204 NATURE OF [CH. XIII.
tion, have marked the progress of the struggle
against the Queen's authority. Had these irre
gular efforts taken ]Aa.ce at a given moment,
they would probably have been decisive of the
contest; but occurring independently of each
other, they were put down in detail, were
scarcely known beyond the limits of the par
ticular district, and exercised no real influence
on the fortunes of the ivar.
Unquestionably this is a state of things in
some degree militating against the eventual
success of an insurrectionary war in Spain ; but
there is a circumstance in the struggle now
carrying on which stamps it with a peculiar cha
racter, separates it from the many revolts ivhich
have hitherto disturbed that ill-fated country,
and may produce results ivhich a mere com
parison of the means and resources possessed by
the conflicting parties might not lead us to ex
pect. I raean the presence and the character
of that individual whom, right or wrong, a large
part of the Spanish population ackiioivledge as
their laivful King. Whilst Don Carlos remains
at the head of the insurrection, the insurgents
Avill not abandon him, and the loyalty of the
Spaniard, not as in England a calm and rea-

CH. XIIl.J THE PRESENT INSURRECTION. 205
soning though decided habit of the mind, but
an overwhelming and absorbing passion, may
baffle all previous calculation, and confound all
superiority of adverse force. Such may be the re
sult of the present conflict : that such will be the
issue is the opinion of that able officer and intel
ligent writer Captain Henningsen, who, lately ,
returned fi'om Spain, is decidedly of opinion
that, however arduous the struggle may be, Don
Carlos will eventually obtain the ascendency.
I will noAV enter somewhat more directly into
the imraediate causes of the civil war. Unques
tionably, in the revolted provinces a conviction
of the validity of the Infant's claim is widely
prevalent. However diffused that opinion may
be over other parts of Spain, the dread of the
Government, the want of system and arrange
ment, and a consciousness of that deficiency,
have paralyzed the Royalists, and they have
remained, as the Constitutionalists in 1827,
comparatively quiet, waiting events. In Na
varre and the Basque provinces the defensible
nature of the country, and the almost undivided
feeUng of the population, suggested a more
warlike policy. It is no easy matter for the
general reader to connect their chivalrous affec-

206 LIBERTIES OF THE BASQUES [CH. XUI.
ticn for Don Carlos with the strong attachment
felt for their provincial rights ; but their Sove
reign and their privileges are inseparably
united in their opinion, for those privileges were
formerly rescued from aggression by his deter
mined interference * ; and recently, when their
Prince became an exile, their rights were not
endangered but destroyed.
A cautious Government would have acted
with equity and kindness towards a people so
affected, but the Queen's ministers seeraed de
terrained to goad thera into rebellion by the cri
minal violation of those ancient and undoubted
rights, which her Princely and more politic op
ponent had the ivisdom and justice to protect.
I know it is soraetiraes said that the Basques
are not contending for their prii'ileges ; and, in
confirmation of this statement, it is asserted that
they had taken up arms before any overt act
against their liberties was committed by the
Queen's Government. A slight investigation ot
facts will show the value of this position. No
direct infringement of their laws may have been
actually perpetrated, upon King Ferdinand's
death ; but men were restored to favour through-
* I shall hereafter explain the circumstances in C[uestiou.

CH. XlII.J VIOL.ATED BY THE CHRISTINOS. 207
out the country who had been notoriously hos
tile to their rights, and who had assisted in the
scheme for their subversion during the Revolu
tion of 1820. The language, too, of the Court
and of the Ministers, with reference to the
Basque privileges, was not ambiguous, even in
the first days of the Queen's accession. Yet,
Avith such strong incentives to revolt, the in
surrection in Biscay was so inconsiderable, that
it was completely kept in check by a force of
a thousand raen, till Castaiaon formally put
down the fueros*, and followed up this out
rageous measure by trampling upon their rights
in practice as well as on paper, by invading
their properties, and inflicting death contrary to
the laws of the land, and ivithout the interven
tion of the ordinary tribunals. From that mo
ment the people rose en masse ; the insurrection,
till then partial, became general and irrepres
sible ; and to such an extent is the love of their
ancient Uberties interwoven with their allegi
ance to Don Carlos, that an accurate observer of
events f, just returned from the scene of action,
declares that if this Prince, worshipped as he is
=" A term designating collertively their peculiar laws aud
and liberties. t ^'i-- Honan.

208 GUIPUZCOA [CH. XIU.
in Biscay, were to retire from the field, tho
Basques would continue the struggle for their
own independence.
A statesman can form no satisfactory opinion
as to the conduct of the Spanish Government,
or the justice of tho war in ivhich we are un
happily engaged, unless he thoroughly com
prehend the nature of the rights in question.
He will then determine whether rights of that
description were ever yet in the history of the
world enjoyed for centuries by a manly people,
and then resigned ivithout a struggle.
The three provinces of Guipuzcoa, Alava, and
Biscay form an integral part of the Spanish Mo
narchy, but have for ages possessed the rights,
and been governed by the laws of free men.
The province of Guipuzcoa enjoys in many
respects the same privileges as Biscay. We
are told by the Marquis de Mondexar, in
his historical memoirs of the life and actions of
Alonzo the Noble, eighth Prince of that name,
that the province of Guipuzcoa, possessed at
the commencement of his reign by the King of
Navarre, although governed in fealty by dif
ferent rich men of the land, " became, in the
year 1200, united with Castille through the

CH. XIIl.J UNITED TO CASTILLE. 209
will of its inhabitants." He afterwards states
" that the people sent envoys to King Alonzo to
treat of their intentions, signifying that, if he
would come araong them to concert and agree
respecting their union, they would separate
from Navarre *." The King of Castille gladly
responded to their ivishes, and repaired to Gui
puzcoa, where, in the terse language of the
historian, " they settled their matters and co
venants." He subsequently adds, " The condi
tions of this contract, eventually signed and
concluded on the 8th of October, 1238, corre
sponding to 1200 of the Christian sera, are pre
served in the original instrument afterwards
published by Father Luiz de Vega, ,a Jeroraite
monk, and quoted by Estevan di Garibay, in his
" Chronicle f." " It would be superfluous," con
cludes the Marquis, " to repeat the conditions,
when it will suffice to say that the same exemp
tions and privileges which they still enjoy were
granted to the natives."
In virtue of this compact the Guipuzcoans
still hold their privileges, and the Charter
granted by King Alphonso details the circum
stances which led to the Union, and is or was
* Mondexar, chap. Ixxvii. t ll^i<l.

210 GUIPUZCOAN CHARTER. [cH. XIII.
preserved, till lately, in the general archives of
the province. This singular and interesting
document* sets forth that the Guipuzcoans were
induced to withdraw their allegiance from the
King of Navarre, and transfer it to the Sove
reign of Castille, because the Navarrese Mo
narch, in direct contravention of their laws, and
disregarding their antient right of free election,
had illegally endeavoured to nominate, by his
sole authority, a chief magistrate for their state,
to the exclusion of the individual chosen by
their general assembly, held annually at Tolosa
and Durango, according to the ancient custom
of the landf . Upon this account they withdrew
their fealty from him, and transferred it to the
King of Castille, who, in return, guaranteed to
them their ancient rights, and confirmed them
by a Charter J.
The province of Alava has its own constitu-

-" Copied by Don Rafael Floranes, of Valladolid.
-f Mei;doza obsi-rves, that although the Guipuzcoans at
different times entrusted their province to the protection of dif
ferent princes, first to those of Navarre, and afterwards to those
of Castille, they never lost their independent rights, although
they may have recognized in the Union (en la (.'onfederacion)
some kind of superiority.— Lib. ii. cap. 13, of the Mouarquia
Espanola por Salazar de Mendoza.
l From Mondexar, Note to chap. Ixxvii.

CH. XIIl.J UNION OF ALAVA. 211
tion, not, however, differing substantially frora
those of Biscay and Guipuzcoa. In 1332
this province acknoivledged Alphonso XI. as
their Lord. The deputies empowered to treat
with this Sovereign, as their Lord, found him
at Burgos, where they made him a formal
tender of the county *. He immediately hast
ened to Arriaga, ivhere the general assemblies
of the country were convened on great occasions,
and there, in the presence of the Hidalgos
and the Prelate of Calahorraf, and the assem
bled people, he entered into a solemn compact,
that neither he nor his successors would ever
aUenate any part of the land of Alava ; that
neither he nor they would ever give laws to the
Alavese ;]:, but would engage to maintain, for the
benefit of all, the fueros and freedom of the
country, as then estabUshed. That the Alavese
should be exempt frora every sort of contribu
tion and personal service frora which they had
been free before § ; and that the Hidalgos should
retain undisturbed possession of their lands,
woods, and forests. That although the King
* Chap. c. of " Cronica de Don Alfonzo XI. de CastilU," by
Cerda y Rico. ed. Madrid, 1787.
¦|- Vide Note at the end of the work.
X Maiiana, lib. ii. cap. 20. § Iliiil.

212 COMPACT WITH THE ALAVESE. [CH. XIU.
reserved to himself the Lordship and the
justice*, and the Ox of March f, the Governors
of their toAvns should be spontaneously chosen
by the freemen of the soil J. That the Me
rino, or judicial officer, appointed by the
Croivn, should be a Noble of Alava ; and that,
except in certain specified cases, he should not
proceed against any of his countrymen, unless
they had been previously committed by their
own Alcaldes. That the King, having no do
minion over the province, as property of his
OAvn, should not be at liberty to give posses
sion of it to any individual, nor even to issue
orders for the erection of any town or village §.
Finally, they declared that, in case these
rights, or any portion of these rights, should be
infringed, the Nobles or Infanzones should be
forthwith absolved from their sivorn allegiance,
and each and every Alavese be authorized to take
up arms, pursue, and kill the offender ||. To these
* The appointment of the judicial officer.
f This has reference to some old feudal reservation, though I
have not been able to iliscover tlie exact nature of the custom.
I With the exception of Vitoria and Treviuo.
§ This restriction was imposed on the King to prevent the
erection of any fortress which might be turned against the liber
ties of his subjects.
II Garibay, vol. ii. book xiv. cap. vii. Zamacola, Historia de
las Naciones Bascas, tom. ii. cap. 2.

CH. XIIl.J LIBERTIES OF BISCAY. 213
articles the King subscribed, and upon these
terms it is slated, in the lofty style of CastiUe,
that " the Hidalgos consented that we should
have the lordship of the county of Alava, and
that it should be royal, and they put it in the
croAvn of our kingdoms for us, and for those Avho
shall reign after us, in Castille and Leon *."
Biscay retains its ancient laws, customs, and
tribunals, and is governed by its own national
assemblies ; it yields contributions to the So
vereign as a free gift ; it arranges its own tax
ation ; it has no militia laws ; it is exempt from
the odious system of impressment for the navy ;
it furnishes its own contingent of soldiers and
sailors ; it appoints its own police in peace ; it
provides for its own defence in ivar ; no mono
poly, royal or private, can be established in
Biscay ; no Biscayan can be required to con
tribute to the Crown of Castille a greater
amount of taxation than that paid forraerly
to their Lords, a sum noAV reduced to a stipu
lated duty on the iron founderies and to certain
tithes and rents.
* Contract betvveen Alonzo XL and the Hijosdalgos of Alava,
made at Vitoria, on the 22nd of April, 1332. — Zumacola. Ma
riana confirms the principal articlts of the compact, and states
that the compact itself was existing in his time, lib. ii. ca[>. 2, de
la impress, de Madrid, del aEo de 1617.

214 LIBERTIES OF BISCAY. [CH. XIII.
The King, as Lord, can only nominate Bis
cayans by birth to ecclesiastical appointments
in Biscay ; their Alcaldes are freely chosen by
the people. No Biscayan, resident in any pro
vince of Spain, can be tried, either cirilly or cri
minally, by the laws of Castille, but the case
must be referred to Valladolid, to be there deter
rained by a tribunal of Biscayan judges, and
according to the laws of Biscay.
The house of the Biscayan is his castle, in
the most emphatic sense of the word. No
magistrate can violate that sanctuary ; no exe
cution can be put into it, nor can his arms or
his horse be seized ; he cannot be arrested for
-^'debt, or subjected to imprisonraent upon any
pretext whatever, without a previous summons
to appear under the old tree of Guernica, where
he is acquainted with the offence imputed to
'hira, and called upon for his defence ; he is
then discharged on the spot, or bailed, or com
mitted, according to the nature of the crime,
and the evidence adduced against him. This,
the most glorious privilege that freemen can
possess, — this, the most effectual safe guard
against the wanton abuse of power, — this, a
custom more determinately in favour of the
subject than even our own cherished Habeas

CH. XIIl.J LIBERTIES OF BISCAY. 215
Corpus, — Avas enjoyed by the Basques for cen
turies before that far-famed guarantee of Bri
tish Uberty had an existence in our islands ;
and yet a right which ive esteem so inappre
ciable at home we are labouring to subvert in a
foreign and, till noiv, a friendly land.
I Avill at present shortly allude to the character
and duties of the legislative body. The Ge
neral Junta, or Biscayan Parliament, regularly
assembles every second year, although, upon
critical occasions, an extraordinary session is
frequently held. It is called together by the
Corregidor, who acts in concert with the depu
tation, ivhich during the recess sits permanently
at Bilboa.
Notice must be given at least fifteen days
before the appointed tirae of raeeting, and the
measures intended to be proposed and dis
cussed must then be publicly announced, that
the Deputies raay consult their constituents on
each specific point, and receive their instructions.
The Biscayan towns, with a few exceptions
only, are represented*. There is no electoral
qualification, every inhabitant has a vote, —
universal suffrage prevails. These rights have
* This exception applies only to the towns in the district of
Durango, which formerly separated of their own accord, and
declined sending deputies.

21G LEGISLATIVE POWERS. [cH. XIII.
been annulled by the Queen's Government, prac
tically by Castahon, virtually, but completely,
by the Estatuto Real, — and yet we are gravely
told that the Basques are struggling only for the
estabUshraent of despotic poiver; and, strange
to say, our Governraent, professing to act on
liberal principles, sends out an officer of similar
opinions, to substitute a constituency, perhaps
the most restricted in Europe, for that system
of universal suffrage which was the ancient law
ofthe land ; and to replace a Constitution which
protects the liberty of the subject in the highest
degree, by a species of anomalous charter which
defines no privilege, and secures no right. So
much for the consistency of party politics, and
for the real liberality of our foreign policy. —
But to return to Biscay.
The Parliament meets on the appointed day ;
the Corregidor, the Tribunes, and the Deputies
assemble under the tree of Guernica, deliver
their credentials, and pass on in solemn proces
sion to the adjoining church, where the session
is opened. The debates are public, and the
measures submitted to their consideration are
proposed in Spanish, but discussed in the Basque
language. The Biscayan Parliament possesses
exclusively the right to legislate for Biscay ; to

CH. XUI.J OF THE BISCAYAN PARLIAMENT. 217
make new laws when requisite, and repeal those
which time or circumstances have rendered
inexpedient ; to propose the budget, to adjust
the taxation for the two following years, and
to make every necessary arrangement connected
with the internal economy, and the external
defence of the provinces. It also grants letters
of naturalization to foreigners, and assigns pen
sions to natives, who, by acts of signal patri
otism, have deserved ivell of their country. No
order of the Spanish Government is directly re
ceived by the Basque Parliament * ; any order
emanating from the Crown of Castille is ad
dressed to the executive authorities of the pro
vince, by ivhich it is referred to the Tribunes,
Avho take it into their deliberate consideration,
determine whether it be or be not in unison Avith
the laAV of the land, and, accordingly, either ap
prove or reject it. Their veto upon any resolu
tion ofthe Spanish Government is absolute, and
the seemingly inconsistent, but not uncourteous
formula of " Obedecida, pero no cumpUda -j- " is
their peculiar but decisive mode of rejection.
If an order from the Spanish Government be
* Vide Note at the end of the Volume.
-f- " Obeyed, but not carried into execution."
VOL. II. L

218 GENERAL POWERS [CH. XIU.
of great importance, and supposed to affect
any essential privilege, directly or indirectly,
the Parliament is convened, the Tribunes de
Uver their opinions on the legal and constitu
tional bearings ofthe question, and the Deputies,
after mature deliberation, confirm or condemn
the order.
During the interval ivhich elapses between
the close of the session and the re-assemblins:
of the Parliament, the administration of public
affairs is vested in a coramission residing at
Bilboa, composed of the two tribunes and a
certain number of deputies elected by ballot
out of the legislative body. To these is
added the Corregidor, who sits as President;
and although a native of Biscay is alone eligible
to this office, the Basques have ever guarded
their privileges irith such a jealous spirit of
precaution, not only against the likelihood, but
almost against the possibility of encroachment
from the Croivn, that this oflScer is not per
mitted to vote in common with the other mem
bers of the deputation, solely because he is
appointed by the Court.
It may then be justly said that before the
Queen's accession, the Basque Provinces were

CH. XIIl.J OF THE BASQUE PROVINCES. 219
freer than the freest canton in Switzerland.
Like the Swiss in character, their political posi
tion in some respects resembled that of the
Swiss Cantons, at the time when the unjust
ambition of Austria compelled them to assert
their lawful rights ; like the Cantons, the
Basque Provinces were bound to each other
by strong ties of interest and affection ; no
change could take place in any of the pro
vinces ivithout the previous consent of its
own inhabitants ; no contribution leried upon
them without the sanction of their own re
presentatives was legal : these were privileges
secured to thera by their respective and nearly
similar constitutions ; — constitutions ivhich re
quired, by precise and positive enactments, every
Basque subject, from the highest to the loAvest,
to resist, even unto the death, any encroach
ments upon their liberties, whether proceeding
from the Spanish Government or from any
other power. To which were those brave Bis
cayans, Avhom His Majesty's Ministers designate
as rebels, bound to adhere, in the crisis ivhich
has arisen, — to the common, and also to the
written law, — to the immemorial law of their
country, — or to the arbitrary edicts of a Govern-
l2

220 NOBLE CHARACTER [cH. XIII.
ment of yesterday, based, as I hope to prove,
neither in reason nor in legal right ? A deter
mination to resist external aggression, and to
preserve their national rights, are the great per
vading principles ivhich influence the present
conduct of the Basques, and have animated them
from the earliest period of their history.
Theirs are privileges, and theirs, indeed,
a country, worthy of defence, alike against the
despotic, and the deraocratic tyrant ; and when
I call to raind the high spirit of that people, and
contrast the once flourishing condition of those
provinces with their present desolation, my heart
swells with sorrow and indignation. When,
formerly, I crossed the frontier of the Basque
Provinces, I felt myself at once on a free land,
amid a race of men possessing and deserring
freedom. The erect, not haughty carriage, the
buoyant step, the frank and manly yet respectful
greeting, and the whole bearing, spoke of liberty
long enjoyed, well understood, and not abused.
Such were the Basques, trained to habits of
self reliance by centuries of self government,
freemen in spirit, not in name alone, drinking in
with their mother's milk a love of justice and
a reverence for the law ; in thought sober yet

CH. XIIl.J OF THE BASQUES. 221
independent, and wholly without fear, except
the honest fear of doing wrong ; models of an
tient manners, and not unfrequently of manly
beauty, faithful friends, generous hosts, simple
yet inflexible observers of their word, following
irith fervour, but without intolerance, their
Father's faith, — they were the Tyrolese of Spain,
and, I might add, the flower of Europe. Lambs
in the hour of peace, yet lions in the field, with
them the household charities and patriotism
went hand in hand ; in them the bravest yet the
kindest spirit, the mildest yet the proudest vir
tues, were combined. Never, perhaps, existed
a more perfect union of the qualities ivhich
should adorn a people ; the idolatry of freedom
so distinctive of the SavIss, and the uncon
querable affection of the Tyrolese to his here
ditary Princes, Avere, by a happy and most
unusual combination, united in the Basques.
How Avell I recollect that beautiful and joyous
country, before it groaned beneath the scourge
of civil war I Those lowlands, rich, luxuriant,
and proving, by their high cultivation, the pros
perous state and unfettered industry of the
people ; those highlands, rich in wood and
water, and a loyal population; those antique

222 . SOCIAL STATE [CH. XIII.
mansions, retaining the character of an earlier
age, where the gentlemen of the country lived,
not crowding into towns, as in other parts of
Spain and of the continent, but residing on their
estates, benefiting the neighbourhood, and ob
taining the rich return of local love and respect,
a habit arising from the security of the country,
and the long prevalence of free institutions.
Their estates, handed down fi-ora generation to
generation from a remote antiquity, are not re
garded Avith a jealous eye by a people enjoying
the largest measure of freedom compatible with
the public good, and who are at once too happy
to envy their superiors in station, and too ra
tional to suppose that an aristocratic influence
is naturally hostile to their interests. On the
contrary, the public feeling floAvs in a very dif
ferent channel, and the man Avho sells his feudal
and turreted mansion incurs the certain dis
approbation of his neighbours, is supposed to
have compromised the just dignity of his position,
and to have entailed upon his relatives a family
disgrace. The proprietors of these casteUated abodes
Avere forraerly reverenced as the Chiefs and
Elders of the district ; great respect was paid

CH. XIII.] OF THE BASQUE PROVINCES. 223.
to their opinion, which, indeed, was considered
decisive on many points of private difference
and local interest, and even now they are treated
ivith high distinction, and enjoy a solid in
fluence. Under a social system so constituted, and
when such was the habitual feeUng of the in
habitants in relation to each other, it is scarcely
necessary to say, that before the breaking out
of the actual revolution, the Basques were
happy; attached to their proprietors, free from
those jealous animosities which, in many coun
tries, array class against class ; elevated, for the
most part, above the pressure and temptations
of poverty ; possessing a healthy and temperate
climate, a country and a dynasty to which they
were passionately attached, and institutions
which left them nothing to reform and little to
desire, they were exempt from all the ills that
"Kings can cause or cure," and were, and had
been for ages, blessed beyond the ordinary lot
of mortals. The Eastern sage, who vainly
sought a virtue unattainable by man, and the
Abyssinian Prince, who roamed the world in
quest of perfect happiness, might have met re
joicing in the valleys of the Basque, and have

224 AFFECTION OF THE BASQUES [cH. XIIL
indulged, at least for a season, in the fond be
lief, that they had found, at length, the objects
of their search.
What, then, could men whose political sym
pathies were based on the most honourable
affections of our nature, have in common with
such a government as that which is afflicting
Spain ? How could their generous and exalted
sentiments of liberty accord with that bastard
freedom which respects not the means so that
the end be obtained, which in spirit is based
upon a principle of absolute equaUty, ivhich has
no toleration for any class of opinion or line of
conduct but its own, and ivhich rejects liberty
itself in its purest form, if clad in a garb of
antiquity, and divested of that uniformity ivhich
is an essential ingredient of that narrow system ?
To their rights and privileges, erected on the
broadest basis, the Basques adhered with an
affection which no words can express ; those
were not rights of yesterday, but rights asso
ciated with every deeply-cherished recollection,
interwoven with their traditions, connected with
every stirring incident in the public annals of
their little state, and hallowed by the proud
remembrance that they had been maintained for

CH. XIIl.J FOR THEIR TRADITIONS. 225
ages by their Fathers against outnumbering
enemies: at a tirae, too, when the night of
despotism weighed heavily on the surrounding
Avorld, and Avhen their star Avas the only light of
Uberty Avhich shone in the European heaven.
The memory of those glorious times is not
extinct in Biscay ; and still I am assured the
enthusiastic Carlists sing the heroic song of the
" Field of the Blood-red Stones," when they
attack the squadrons of the Queen; and, al
though so many centuries have rolled away
since that conflict, so disastrous to Castille, they
still recal the trophies of that fight, and boast
that the Castillians of to-day shall crouch beneath
the hereditary vigour of their arms.
It is, then, against a people indomitable in
war, and, therefore, invaluable in periods of
invasion, as the props of the Monarchy, and in
peace adorned by every social and useful virtue,
that the Spanish Government have thought
right to direct their hostility. Such conduct ivill
not stand the test of inquiry. The Government
have attempted to abolish privileges, not feudal
or obsolete, not enjoyed by a few for the
advantage of the few, but affecting the loAvest,
as Avell as the highest individual, and securing
l3

226 AN INQUIRY INTO THE RIGHTS [CH. XIII.
to all alike personal freedom and undisturbed
enjoyment of property.
On the part of the Spanish Government, it
was neither a matter of policy nor expediency,
but of positive obligation, to maintain those pri
vileges, as the result of mutual concession and
solemn compact, at the time of the respective
unions with the Spanish crown, and afterwards
Successively confirmed by the Sovereigns of
Spain, at their accession to the throne — con
firmed by the Austrian — confirmed by the Bour
bon dynasty, and respected even by the gloomy
spirit of the second Philip.
The conduct of the Spanish Government in
violating those rights, under such circumstances,
is indefensible, upon any principle of law or
equity. It is raore than questionable, whether
one party can recede frora a compact of such
a nature, Arithout the concurrence of the other,
but the wildest partisan never maintained, till
now, that during the existence of the connexion,
one party is at liberty to absolve itself from
the obligations it has incurred, and yet require
the other to fulfil its part of the contract. The
Constitutionalists are determined to preserve
the Union, yet would destroy the privileges

CH. XIII.] ACQUIRED BY THE UNION. 227
guaranteed by that Union to the Basques.
They would retain for themselves the advan
tages arising frora an important accession of
territory to the State, while they refuse to fulfil
the conditions by which alone those advantages
were obtained.
The Croivn lawyers in Spain have evaded, dis
creetly enough, a fair and direct consideration of
the terms of the Union with Biscay, alluding to
the compact, iu general language, as vague and
doubtful, undefined at all times, and certainly
not at present binding on either the Sovereign
or the legislature of the kingdom. To esta
bUsh a more correct view of the case, and to
show that these rights were made, from the ear
Uest times, a matter of solemn compact between
the governor and the governed, it will be neces
sary for me to enter, briefly indeed, but rather
critically, into some passages of .the history of
these provinces.
It is asserted — for I speak with much doubt,
when referring to such remote transactions — that
as early as the year 870, the free Biscayans as
sembled under the memorable oak of Guernica,
and elected, as their Lord and Protector, Don

228 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY [CH. XUI.
Lope Zuria, a son of an opulent noble of Biscay*,
" stipulating" (I quote the very words) — " sti
pulating Avith him, at the same time, a compact,
having certain conditions, for the perpetual ob
servance of those laws and customs previously
established among them, in the following words :
' That it was the law and liberty of the people
that any order or decree issued by the said Lord
of Biscay, if contrary to the laws and fueros]^of
Biscay, directly or indirectly, should not be put
into execution.' t "
From this time till 1105, the Biscayan lords
appear to have been elected by the people ;
from 1105 till 1370, they succeeded each other
in strict hereditary descent; but, during that
period, the national assemblies met regularly
under the ancient oak of Guernica.
In the fourteenth century Don Pedro of Cas
tille made an ineffectual effort to obtain pos
session of Biscay; but his brother, Don Telle,
married the heiress of the Lordship of Biscay,
and was acknowledged as Lord of that country,
-'- Argote ascribes this election to the year 870. Henao
alludes to the event as occurring nearly forty years later.
¦j- Argote de Molina, cap. Ixxxiii. Garibay, lib. ix. cap. 22.
Navarro, cap. 7.

CH. XIIl.J OF THE BISCAYAN LIBERTIES. 229
on condition that he ivould swear to preserve
inviolate, to all the inhabitants of Biscay, their
fueros, usages, customs, and privileges, as all
the Lords of Biscay had done before *.
Upon the death of Tello, and of his wife, Donna
Juana de Haro, the heiress of the Lordship of
Biscay, ivithout issue, Don Juan of Castille,
heir to that kingdora, and at the sarae time
descended from one of the Haro ladies, Avas
acknowledged by the Biscayans as their laivful
lord, in the year 1371. Soon afterwards, on
his Father's death, this Prince succeeded to the
throne of Castille, and at that period the union
of Biscay with Castille took place | ; we have
now to consider the circumstances under ivhich
it was effected. Frora the general nature of
the transaction, even without any direct testi-
raony to that effect, it is highly probable that
the laws and privileges of Biscay would have
been retained; but it is manifest, from the
accounts handed down to us, that, in point of
fact, they were solemnly and specially reserved.

* Gutierres, lib. iii.
f For a more detailed account of the mode in which the
Crowns of Castille and Biscay merged in the same individual,
see " Padre Gabriel Henao, Averiguaciones Cantabras," 1,
folio. Mariana. Navarro, cap. i. cap. 28.

230 CONSTITUTIONAL ACCOUNT [OH. XIII.
In the first place the Union was "quoad
caput et regimen" in virtue of which, upon every
principle of national law, any kingdom, pro
vince, town or church, united to another, retains,
after the Union, the same privileges, usages,
and customs it previously possessed, expe
riencing no change, except that involved by a
mutual adherence to a common head. The
union of Biscay was with the Crown, and not
with the kingdom of Castille — and as Don Juan
held the Lordship of Biscay by a different title
from that by which he succeeded to the throne of
Castille, the laws and privileges of Biscay could
hardly be affected by a junction of the crowns.
The theory of the case would then induce us
to suppose that the national rights and customs
of the Biscayans would not have been impaired
by the Union. This probable view of the case is
borne out by testimony to that effect, of the
most decisive kind, and from various sources.
To such a jealous extent was the affection for
their provincial privileges carried at the time
of the Union, and so completely were those
rights made matter of deliberate compact, that
the free Biscayans stipulated that Don Juan
and his successors to the Crown of Castille,

CH. XIII.] OF THE BISCAYAN LIBERTIES. 231
should style themselves, not Kings, but Lords
of Biscay, to mark and keep in perpetual re
membrance the tenure and conditions upon
which alone they held possession of that coun
try ; and ever since the Union the Spanish
Sovereigns have invariably styled themselves
Kings of Spain and Lords of Biscay ; a desig
nation fooUsh and unmeaning, if that province
had merged in the kingdom generally. " No
mine qui differunt censentur differre effectu et
essentia,," is a recognised maxira of law. The
admitted fact too, that the subsequent Sove
reigns of Castille confirmed the Biscayan fueros
and privileges, not as Sovereigns graciously
conferring a favour, but as Lords exercising the
office of first magistrate, is strongly confirma
tory of the compact.
It is, however, of great importance to my
argument to investigate minutely the arrange
ments entered into between the Biscayans and
their new Lord, the Sovereign of Castille, at the
period of the union of the Crowns. When Don
Juan was received by the Biscayans as their
Lord in his father's lifetime, he repaired in
person to Guernica, and swore to respect their
rights ; again, at the junction of the Crowns, he

232 CONsriTUTIONAL ACCOUNT [cH. XIII.
entered into a compact ivith the Biscayans that
Biscay should be annexed for ever to Castille,
and in return for this concession on their part
bound himself, and his successors, to maintain
their fueros, customs, franchises, and liberties,
now and for all time to come. In virtue of
this engagement Biscay became united to Cas^
tiUe *.
Frora this statement of facts it appears that
the allegiance of the Biscayans was conditional
from very remote times, and dependent on the
fullest recognition of their rights. It is equally
clear, that at the union of Biscay with Castille,
the agreement entered into by the Biscayans,
first with their elective, and afterwards with
their hereditary Lords, was solemnly renewed by
the Spanish Sovereigns, who pledged themselves
and their successors to preserve inviolate the
laws and privileges of the people entrusted to
their charge. And here I might almost rest my
case; for it is clear that the Queen's Govern
ment, in abolishing the privileges of Biscay
without the consent of the Biscayans, have
violated the compact formed at the time of the
* Lope Garcia de Salazar, libro xx. SeSores de Vizcaya. —
Zamacola.

CH. XIIl.J OF THE BISCAYAN LIBERTIES. 233
union, in virtue of which alone, Biscay became
an integral part ofthe monarchy.
But as the Crown Lawyers in Spain have
shrouded the question of the Basque privileges
under a mist of their own creation, skilfully
enough, — for, well understood, it is fatal to the
justice of their cause ; as they have insinuated
that those rights were rirtually annulled by the
union of the Crowns, 1 will incur the danger
of fatiguing my readers, by showing the light
in which those privileges were viewed by the first
Sovereign who wore the united Crowns of Bis
cay and Castille, and by the Spanish Monarchs
who succeeded hira.
Don Juan, first prince who was both Lord
of Biscay and King of Castille, permitted some
of his subjects to erect on certain lands in
Biscay a town subsequently called Miravalles ;
upon which Bilboa and other toivns protested,
declaring that the Lord of Biscay could not
grant those lands without an infraction of their
privileges, as the territory in question belonged
not to the Crown, but to the Hidalgos and people
of Biscay. Some meetings and consultations
took place on the subject, and finally Don Juan
issued a manifesto which was deposited in the

234 BISCAYAN LIBERTIES [CH. XIII.
archives of the new town of Miravalles; from
this declaration I extract the tivo following para
graphs : —
" I have found by the said consultation, that
in authorizing the erection of the town in ques
tion, I Avas acting in conformity ivith the AriU
of God, and with a due regard to my own inte
rest, and that by so acting, I did not infringe upon
either the privileges, usages, customs, or fueros
of Biscay, nor against the privileges of the toAvn
of Bilboa, nor was I acting against my own
oath, which I should have maintained inviolate
before every other consideration." And, in
another part of the manifesto are these striking
expressions : — " I have moreover ascertained by
the council, that the oath I took, Avhen I was
received by the Biscayans as their lord, does not
extend to this, and that in authorizing the erec
tion of the said town, I do not infringe upon
the said oath ; on the contrary, I keep my oath,
and should have been guilty of a crime if I had
not given the order, or had forbidden the erec
tion ofthe city*."
This, the recorded language of the first King
of Castille who became Lord of Biscay, is a
* Covarrubias, Questiones Practicae, Vol. I. No. 5.

CH. XIII.] ACKNOWLEDGED AT THE UNION. 235
conclusive proof that, however lightly the supple
genius of the Crown Lawyers of Spain may affect
to treat the question, still the Sovereign who
Uved at the time of the Union, and whose incli
nations would have naturally led him to disre
gard an oath of a merely formal nature, when
militating against his own authority, had no
hesitation in openly declaring that he was so
lemnly bound by the engagement, into which he
had entered, to respect the antient rights of the
Biscayans, although acting in accordance with
the unanimous judgment of his council, he was
distinctly of opinion that the order in question
was not an infraction of their privileges.
Such was the conduct of the first King of
Castille ivho became Lord of Biscay. In what
light was the union of the free states considered
by his successors ? Did they conceive that, as
Sovereigns of Castille, where their government
was comparatively despotic, they had any right
-to dispute the free privileges of any of their
Basque subjects ? Let us for a moment inves
tigate the matter, always remembering that the
three provinces of Alava, Guipuzcoa, and Bis
cay, united under different circumstances and
at different times to the Crown of CastiUe, had

236 LIBERTIES OF BISCAY [CH. XIII.
still been united conditionaUy, and with a strict
reservation of their peculiar laws and rights.
At the death of Don Juan the First, his son
and heir, Henry the Third, was eleven years
old, and consequently could not be required
by the Biscayans to confirm their fueros ; but
when he attained his fifteenth year, the legal
age, he repaired in person to Biscay at the
requisition of the States, and, under the oak
tree at Guernica, swore to observe their rights
in the year of our Lord, 1393 *-
We are told, in the curious chronicle that
records the life of Henry III., that upon this
occasion, when the King reached Bilboa he
sent letters to the chief Biscayans, requesting
them to meet him at the spot where they had
been accustomed to assemble; and then the
King, leaving the city, travelled onwards until
he reached a spot called, in the Basque lan
guage, Arechabalaga, which means " the hill of
the broad-spreading oak ;" and there he would
fain have conferred with the assembled nobles
of the land in good and hearty intercourse, but
they were divided by jealous feuds, and each
chief kept haughtily aloof on the brow of the
* Garibay, lib. xv. cap. 40,

CH. XIII.] ACKNOWLEDGED BY CASTILLE. 237
hill, with his train-band gathered round him ;
and then the Brotherhood came forward, and
one and all required the King to swear to
the good laws and usages of Biscay, as they
had been administered by all its former Lords,
— and to this the King replied, that he was
willing so to do ; and then the Brotherhood
again came forward, and desired him to con
firm their association, united by a common
bond for the right and good administration of
justice, — and to this the King replied, that he
was ivilUng so to do; and then the Brother
hood came forward a third time, and said that,
as King Henry was not Lord of the land until
he came in person to swear to their charters
and receive them as his own, that, consequently,
they were not bound to yield hira the contribu
tions ivhich had accrued since the death of good
King John, his father, and, therefore, desired
he ivould direct his treasurer not to require the
same, — and to this, their third request. King
Henry stated that he was willing to accede *.
King Henry's reign was generally marked
by a cautious observance of their privileges, but
* Cronica de D. Enrique III., written by Don Pedro Lopez de
Alaya, and corrected by Secretary Geronimo Zurita, ch, xiv.

238 PATRIOTIC RESOLUTIONS OF [CH. XIU.
labouring at one period under great pecuniary
embarrassraeiits, he unwisely addressed apedido,
or kind of summary request for money, to his
Guipuzcoan subjects ; upon which their Parlia
ment assembled at Tolosa, repressed, ivith un
compromising vigour, these early symptoms of
Spanish encroachment, and came at once to a
resolution singularly divested of the courtesies
of modern expression, and exhibiting that stern
spirit of freedom which so strongly animated those
plain-spoken asserters ofthe popular rights.
The Deputies unanimously resolved on the
10th of August, 1391, that no Guipuzcoan cited
before the courts of Castille should obey the
summons *. That if any agent of Castille should
attempt to exact the pedido, on the plea of tri
bute, from any Guipuzcoan, the injured man
should alarm the province, and all the inhabit
ants, old and young, should come in arms to seize
the collector, and bring him before the General
Assembly of Uzarraga, there and by them to
be judged f . That in case the collector escaped
* Garibay. — If found guilty, death was the penalty.
t Garibay. — I adhere not only to the general meaning, but,
as nearly as possible, to the words of the resolutions quoted by
Garibay. The style is antiquated, but may not ou that ac
count be unwelcome to the curious reader.

CH. XIIl.J THE GUIPUZCOAN PARLIAMENT. 239
with what he had seized, an equal amount should
be taken from the duties payable to the King,
and transferred to the injured party* ; that an
account of the seizure should be promulgated
throughout Guipuzcoa, and that every Guipuz
coan, from the age of sixteen to sixty, should
hold himself prepared to maintain the decision
ofthe States.
The King felt the justice of their reproof,
attempted no remonstrance, and at once irith-
drew his request.
When Henry died his son and heir Avas a
child, and the circumstances to which his mi
nority gave birth carry on our chain of proof,
distinctly mark the sense in which the Treaty of
Union was interpreted at that time both by the
people of Biscay and by the Court of Castille,
prove clearly the extreme tenacity with which
the Biscayans clung to their rights, and show
that they were acknowledged in the amplest
manner by the Spanish Court.
During the minority of the young Prince,
afterwards Juan II., his mother Catalina, and
his uncle Don Fernando, governed Castille,
and, as Regents, caUed on the Biscayans to
* Garibay.]

240 PATRIOTIC RESOLUTIONS [CH. XIIL
pay the contributions due to the Lord of Bis
cay ; but they answered, with the conscious pride
of freemen, that they would not accede to that
request until their fueros and privileges had
been confirmed by oath, and iidth all the usual
forms. Upon a second and more urgent application
from the Regency, the Biscayan Parliament
assembled under the tree of Guernica, and
came to the following resolution : —
" That although there was no precedent for
payment of contribution to their Lord, until he
had confirmed their fueros, and sworn to main
tain the same; however, in consideration of his
tender age, and that the Regent, his uncle, was
in the ivar against the Moors, they Avould pay,
on condition that the Queen mother ivould
engage that when the Regent, Don Fernando,
should return from the war, he should go to
Biscay and swear to maintain then- privileges,
as Tutor and Governor; and that when the
King, Don Juan, their Lord, should become of
age, he ivould do the same ; if this arrangement
Avere not agreed to, they would still suspend the
usual contributions *."
* Garibay, lib, xvi. cap. 46.

CH. XUI.J OF THE BISCAYAN PARLIAMENT. 241
It is not easy to adduce a stronger proof of
the jealous affection entertained by the Bis
cayans for their provincial rights. They ad
mitted no postponement in the legal confirma
tion of their liberties ; they refused allegiance
upon any other terms, and required from the
locum ienens the same guarantees for the entire
preservation of their privileges which they were
accustomed to exact from the more permanent
possessor of the throne.
Such was the course pursued by the Biscayans
at this conjuncture ; and it is worth observing
that the Queen Regent, in her reply, neither
stated npr insinuated that their demand was an
encroachment on the authority of the Croivn,
or unsupported by the comraon law of the land.
On the contrary, she took the following oath on
the 14th of July, 1407:—
" I, the Queen Mother, as Guardian and Re
gent of these kingdoms, belonging to my son,
sAvear, upon the Cross and upon the Holy
Gospels, which I hold in my hands, to main
tain to Biscay, to the towns, and to the low
lands, to the nobles, to the citizens, and to the
inhabitants therein, their fueros, usages, cus
toms, privileges, rules and ordinances, franchises,
VOL. II. M

242 BASQUES MAINTAIN THEIR RIGHTS. [cH. XIU.
liberties, gifts, immunities and lands, according
to the best and amplest manner in ivhich they
were confirmed to them in the time of Donna
Constanza, and the other Kings and Lords of
Biscay, from that time to the present day ; and,
in the name of the King and Lord, my son, as
his Guardian I confirm the same."
It has been, I think, sufficiently proved that
the Biscayans did not regard the compact en
tered into with the Croivn of Castille at the
time of the union as a vain formality, but
rigidly insisted upon the exact observance of
their rights, as the only condition of their alle
giance. They warned the third Henry in no
courtly language, when he endeavoured to
strain the prerogative; and the fate of the
fourth monarch of that name displays in striking
colours the just but inexorable sternness with
which they avenged the first positive infraction
of the corapact between Lord and people.
King Juan died in 1454; and in consequence,
on the 4th of March, in the ensuing year, a depu
tation went from Biscay to Segovia, and urged
the neiv King to proceed, without delay, to Guer
nica, and take the usual oath under the tree.
The King replied that the ivar then Avaging

CH. XIU.] INFRACTION OF THEIR RIGHTS. 243
against the Andalusian Moors would prevent
an immediate compliance with their request;
he would, however, take the earliest opportunity
.of confirming their privileges at the appointed
spot ; and, to leave no doubt of his intentions,
he immediately pledged his faith and royal
word to maintain to Biscay all its fueros and
privileges. And actually, in 1457, King Henry
went to Biscay, and took the usual oaths *.
, Not only did King Henry confirm the rights
of the Biscayans, on two separate occasions,
within the limited space of tivo years, but when
they were alarmed in 1470, by a rumour that
the King had granted certain lands in Biscay to
some minions of his Court, conscious of the ille
gality of such an act, and before any direct re
monstrance had been addressed to him, he issued
a manifesto, in which he assured the Biscayans
that he had neither granted the lands in ques
tion to any Castillians, nor had ever entertained
the slightest intention of so doing f.
The royal declaration appeased his irritated
subjects ; but, prone to exceed his just prero
gative, and forgetting the severe rebuke which
his ancestor had received on a similar occa-
• Henao, lib. i. cap. 61. t Ibid., Ub. ii. cap 18.
m2

244 CASTILIAN MINISTER SLAIN. [CH. XIII.
sion, he addressed a pedido for money to his
Guipuzcoan subjects, through his minister of
finance, a Jew : a deputy, transported with rage
at this apparent disposition to violate the privi
leges he had sworn to observe, gave way to the
fierce passions so common at that time, and,
drawing his sword, sleiv the encroaching minis
ter on the spot *. When King Henry heard of
the event, he sent envoys to Tolosa, demanding
the immediate surrender of the offending indi^
vidual. To this demand the Guipuzcoans re
turned a positive refusal ; stating that the act
was committed in a lawful attempt to resist an
illegal and treasonable proposition. Collecting
their troops on the hills comraanding the town,
the citizens prepared to maintain, by force of
arms, the spirited reply which they sent back to
the King, and ivhich I here insert, as charac
teristic of the determined spirit of the people : —
" The Basques are the representatives of the
Iberian nation. For Spanish freedom they la
vished their blood against Carthage, against
* Mariana alludes briefly to the death of the Jew Gaon, and
the attempt to exact the pedido which produced it. — Tom. ii.
lib. xxiii. ch. 6. The circumstances of the murder are given at
greater length by Garibay, lib. xvii. ch. 9. ; and an old Bis
cayan manuscript enters still more fully into the details of the
transaction, and the events which followed it.

CH. XUI.J PROUD MESSAGE TO KING HENRY. 245
the Romans, and against the Goths. They re
stored Spain, by expelUng the Moors, who had
conquered it from the barbarians. The struggles
of the Basques against the Caliphs of the West
lasted for more than six centuries. The little
country of Castille scarcely existed when our
nation, dwelling in the Pyrenean mountains,
counted many centuries of glory and enterprise !
" In acknowledgment of the services ivhich
we have rendered to Castille, we claim to be
allowed, peaceably to enjoy our laws and liber
ties, the inheritance ivhich our ancestors pre
served to us, at the expense of so much blood,
and so many glorious labours. If, however, the
Castillians behave ungratefully and unjustly
towards us, they shall learn, at their own cost,
who were, and still are, their masters in the art
of war, and their mountain liberators.
" As regards the pedido, unjustly demanded
of us, and as touching the death of the Jew,
know that the intrepid Guipuzcoan who killed the
pubUcan deserved well of his country. Tell this
to King Henry ! Return, and bid him remember
that one of the fundamental laws of our people
runs thus : — We ordain, that if any one, ivhether
native or foreigner, should coerce any man.

246 KING HENRY IV. DEPOSED [oH. XIU.
woman, people, village, or toAvn of Guipuzcoa,
by virtue of a mandate from our Lord the King
of Castille, ivhich has not been previously agreed'
to and sanctioned by the general assembly, or
whosoever violates our rights, laws, charters, and
privileges, shall be disobeyed ; and, if he per
sists, killed."
Such was the proud and patriotic spirit ivhich
animated the Basques. The King followed the
example of his ancestor in withdrawing, as he-
had foolishly imitated his conduct in proposing,
the pedido. He bowed before the storm ; but,
too dishonest to abstain fi'om encroachments
which he had not the power to complete, he
renewed the attempt, which he had soleranly
disclaimed, to grant certain lands in Biscay to
some. CastilUan favourites*. When this resolu
tion of the King was known in Biscay, a na
tional assembly was held at Guernica, and there,
under their cherished tree, they came to the
memorable resolution that their Lord had for
feited his right to the throne by a deliberate
infraction of their fueros, and, in consequence,
determined to transfer their allegiance from
King Henry to his sister, the Princess Dona
* Zurita, Annales de Aragon, lib. xviii. cap; 61.

CH. XIU.] BY THE BISCAYAN PARLIAMENT. 247
Isabella, afterwards so famous in the annals of
Spain, and at that time the presumptive heiress
to the throne ; provided she ivould swear to
maintain their privileges, and on this condition
only. In conformity with this resolution, they
sent to Castille Don Lope de Quincozes, a Bis
cayan of high consideration, with full power to
acquaint the Princess with their decision, and
offer her the vacant throne upon the terras
already stated. To those terras she subscribed
at Segovia, on the 14th of July, 1473 ; and the
faithless Lord of Biscay was dispossessed of his
lordship *.
A revolution was thus effected in the succes
sion, not, after the fashion of those days, by
bloodshed and force of arms, but with a calm
ness, a moderation, and an attention to legal
and constitutional forms, unparalleled among-
the warriors and statesmen of that rough-dealing
time, and, ivhich appeared almost incomprehen^
sible to the age in which it occurred. When
the feeble despot heard the astounding intelli
gence of his own deposition, so peaceably, yet-
so completely, effected, he was seized with an
unavailing repentance: he implored the Bis-
* Garibay, xvii. cap. 28. Lopez de Azala.

248 BISCAY TRANSFERRED [CH. XUI.
cayan Parliament to rescind their resolution,
and restore him to his lost authority ; offering
to grant them more extensive privileges than
they had ever yet possessed under his ances
tors * ; but the wise Biscayans refused to nego-
ciate with a Prince who had been false to his
oath, and had violated a solemn compact with
his people. The King of France interposed,
but his mediation was firmly refused f ; and a
CastilUan array, sent into Biscay, to enforce obe
dience to King Henry's will, experienced the
sarae success ivhich has characterized the mili
tary operations of the present Queen of Spain
exerted at an interval of three centuries and
a half, on the same theatre of action, and for
nearly similar objects J.
I will now insert the oath taken by the Prin
cess Isabella in the presence of Don Lope de
Quincozes, the Biscayan envoy ; and to this
I must peculiarly direct the attention of my
readers, principally, from its great constitu
tional importance, as renewing a solemn com
pact between the Croivn of Castille and its
Biscayan subjects ; and in some degree from
* Zurita, cap. 61. f Zurita, cap. 61. Annales de Aragon.
I Garibay, lib. xvii. Mariana, Ub. xxiii. Navarro, cap. 29.
Henao, lib. ii. cap. 18.

CH. XIII.] TO THE NEXT IN SUCCESSION. 249
the wild and chivalrous and almost mystical
character which breathes in every line ; — a cha
racter pervading the early annals of Spain, and
which still tinges the manners and lingers in
the hearts of her people, in some secluded dis
tricts of the kingdom.
" I, as Princess and Lady of the said towns,
lowlands and lordship of Biscay, ivith all places
adjoining and adhering to the same, I bind
myself once, twice, and thrice ; — once, tAvice,.
and thrice ; — once, twice, and thrice, accord
ing to the fuero and custom of Spain, on the
hands of Gomez Manriquez, Knight, Man,
and Noble, who receives this my homage ; and
I sAvear to our Lord God, to the holy Vir
gin Mary, and on the sign of the Cross 4-,.
which, corporally, I touch Avith ray right hand,.
and on the words of the Holy Gospels, in-
Avhatsoever place they may be, to maintain
firm, good, valid, and binding, now, and for all
time to come, the said privileges, general and
special, fueros, usages, and customs, franchises,
and liberties, of the said towns and lowlands, of
the said county and lordship of Biscay, and of all
places adjoining and adhering to the same*."
* Cuerpo del Fuero de Biscaya, folio 282.
M 3

250 OATHS OF FERDINAND & ISABELLA. [CH. XIII.
When, upon the death of Henry IV., Bang
Ferdinand of Aragon and his consort, the fa
mous Isabella, succeeded to the throne of Cas
tille, King Ferdinand, although engrossed by
his Spanish and Italian wars, proceeded imme
diately to Biscay, attended the Biscayan Par
liament, and swore, not only to maintain their
fueros and privileges generally, but granted
thera new liberties, and specially engaged that
he would never alienate, upon any pretext, the
smallest portion of the land of the lordship of
Biscay. And we are told by the old Chroni
clers, whose description of the events of the
tirae is so full of striking and picturesque detail,
that, " iraraediately after the King our Lord
had taken the oath, on the said day, the 30th
of July, 1476, the King our Lord went out of
the church; and under the tree of Guernica,
which is near the said church, his Majesty sat
on a chair of stone, ivhich is under the said tree,
covered with royal pomp of gold brocade ; and
the said Corregidor, and the Alcaldes del Fuero,
and the Prelate of the church, and the Procu-
radores, and the deputies Emanes, and the
Knights, and the Esquires, and the Hidalgos
before raentioned, spoke out, and said for them-

CH. XUI.J BISCAYAN CODE REFORMED. 251
selves who were present, and for those who were
absent, that they received him as the King of
Castille and Leon, and the Lord of Biscay*."
Unlike her present Majesty of Spain, Queen
IsabeUa regarded the privileges of her Basque
subjects with such profound respect, that al
though she had sworn at Segovia to maintain
their rights, in the presence of the Biscayan
envoy ; although her consort Ferdinand had
subsequently confirmed, and even extended their
privileges, still that just and politic Princess
proceeded to the Basque States in 1483, and
again confirmed their rights, not once but re
peatedly, in the church of Guernica, under the
tree of Guernica, and in every large town of
Biscay, Guipuzcoa, and Alava f.
Some years afterwards, the Biscayan Parlia
ment determined that many laws and ordinances
were still remaining on the book of the Fueros
which, in consequence of the lapse of time and
change of manners, had become inapplicable to
the state of society as it then existed. Under
that impression, they introduced considerable
changes into the legislation of the day, and
* Eecopilacion de los Fueros de Biscaya, folio 298.
-j- Henao, lib. i. cap. 61.

252 THE BASQUE PARLIAMENTS [cH. XIII.
at the accession of Charles V. presented the re
formed code for his approbation. He confirmed
the book of Fueros, thus amended, without
scruple or hesitation, as well as the privileges,
and franchises, and liberties of the said lordship,
and lowlands, and towns, and cities, (so the
act of confirmation runs,) in the same way and
manner as they were confirmed and approved
by the Catholic Kings, our Lord's father and
grandfather. Dated June 7th, 1527 *.
Even Charles V., the greatest Monarch of his
age, only assumed, in the height of his pride
and power, the modest title of Lord of Biscay.
From the time of Charles V., to the present
time, the Spanish Sovereigns have successively,
and ivithout a single exception, confirmed the
privileges of the Basques, whose lofty and inde
pendent spirit did not decline with the age of
chivalry, but continued to burn with as pure
and bright a flame in later times, and amid
surrounding despotism.
When Philip V., in 1718, opposed the pre
tensions of the Duke of Orleans, then Regent
of France, and unnecessarily provoked hostilities
with that kingdom, the Biscayans came forward
* Libro del Fueio, folio 301.

'CH. XIU. J REPEAL THE UNION. 253
to assist the Crowii with their characteristic
loyalty and spirit. The Spanish army expe
rienced some reverses ; an unworthy influence
prevailed at Madrid ; and the timid monarch
who had urged his subjects into a war with
France, recoiled from the tempest he had
raised, and left the Guipuzcoans exposed to
the undivided hostility of their powerful enemy.
When they found themselves absolutely aban
doned by the Court, at whose instigation,
and in whose behalf they had taken up arms;
Avhen they saw their territory wasted, and
their cities given up to a licentious soldiery,
a deep and universal indignation pervaded the
province, and deputies were returned from
every part of Guipuzcoa to the general Junta,
soleranly pledged to bring forward and sup
port a measure for the immediate repeal of
the union between Guipuzcoa and Castille;
and, actually, it was proposed and carried in
the Guipuzcoan Parliament, that, in conse
quence of the unjustifiable conduct of the Spa
nish Court, the Union should be repealed, and
the allegiance of the province transferred to
France; but on this condition only, that the

2.54 CONSTITUTION OF THE PROVINCES. [CH. XIU.
French Monarch should swear to maintain their
rights and privileges in all their integrity. The
offer was actually made to France, but not
accepted, and the matter dropped in conse
quence. After the conclusion of the war, the popular
exasperation subsided, and the mild and cau
tious policy which the Spanish Governraent
pursued at that critical conjuncture succeeded
in restoring to the Crown the lost affections of
the provinces.
Such were the proceedings of the Basques in
the last century : and yet, in the face of these
facts, we are called upon to believe, that
men who so recently exercised the rights of a
free people and an independent state, are now
entitled to no privileges, but such as a bankrupt
Government at Madrid may please to confer
upon them !
And now I have led ray reader down the
stream of time, and have described the gradual
formation of a constitutional system of govern
ment, little known, indeed, but, in point of in
terest, ivithout a parallel in the history of the
Avorld, if Ave consider the noble and engaging

CH. XUI.J THEIR LOVE OF FREEDOM. 255
character of the people among whom it was
established, the length of time it has existed,
the extent of freedom it has secured, and
the excellence which it attained in an im
mature and half-civilized age. The soundest
principles of government were thoroughly ap
preciated and successfully carried into effect by
the isolated Biscayans, at a time when the ele
ments of civil liberty were scarcely understood
in other parts of Europe.
Thne and experience have unquestionably
improved the science of government; its ma
chinery rolls on lighter wheels, but the great
political maxims to ivhich the old Biscayans
adhered have been confirmed and diffused by
the ripening irisdom of mankind; and I may
safely say that there is no great principle of law
and liberty engrafted upon our own constitution
in later tiraes ivhich may not be found embodied
in their early code.
The cant of liberty and the jargon of political
economy was not for ever on their Ups, but a.
heartfelt love of freedom was the mainspring of
every thought and action; and all that is of
practical value to the happiness of individuals,
aud to the welfare of the state, ivas compre-

256 INQUISITION NEVER TOLERATED. [CH. XIII.
hended by the Basques, and steadily enforced.
At a time when religious toleration in Great
Britain was rather the Utopia of a few benevo
lent minds than an admitted principle of go
vernraent, and when every human energy was de
pressed by the iron yoke of the Inquisition in
other parts of Spain, this institution wa.s. un
known to the Basque provinces, and indeed was
never suffered to pollute that land of freedom.
A tradition still exists, that when the agents of
that dreadful tribunal went from Castille on a
message to the Biscayans to recommend that
institution to their adoption, they were raet by
the deputies on the very frontier of the state
and sternly told, " So far, no farther shalt thou
go." In short, the more carefully we examine
the old Biscayan records, the raore we shall be
inclined to feel that, if our countrymen have had
no superiors, they have, at least, had prede
cessors in the race of civil and religious liberty.
And now let us pause for a moment, and see
the conclusion to which we are irresistibly led
by a calm consideration of the events already
enumerated. A corapact appears to have been
concluded in very remote times between the
Biscayans and their elected Lords, in which

CH. XIU.] RECAPITULATION. 257
the provincial privileges were insisted on, as
the sole condition of their allegiance. Doubts
have, I know, been cast upon the events of that
distant period, — doubts ivhich, I think, are not
borne out by the notices of the time, but we
can easily afford the CroAvn laAvyers of Spain
the benefit arising from the darkness and ge
neral uncertainty of that epoch. Sufficient light
is shed upon the transactions of a later period
to answer every practical purpose.
When the Croivns of Castille and Biscay
were united, we find the Biscayans insisting
upon the full recognition of their privileges, as
the price of their consent to that measure,
granting to their new master the Sovereign of
Castille, the title of Lord, but refusing him
that of King, as far as Biscay was concerned, — ¦
that he might keep in mind the terras upon
ivhich he was received, and the engageraent by
which he was bound.
We find the first CastilUan Lord of Biscay
journeying to that country at the requisition of
his Biscayan subjects, as soon as he had at
tained the legal age, and solemnly swearing to
preserve their rights. We find him, at a sub
sequent period of his reign, pubUcly adverting

258 CONCLUSIONS TO BE DEDUCED. [CH. XUI..
to his oath as that which should regulate his
conduct as their ruler, and during a reign of
twenty years adhering strictly to the letter of his,
engagements ; we find his son and heir taking
the same oath at the legal age ; we find the,
Biscayans, in the reign of his infant grandson,,
refusing to pay their usual contributions to the:
Regency, stating, that there was no precedenti
for payment of contribution to their Lord until
he had confirmed their fueros, and sAvorn to;
maintain the same; and only yielding to the
repeated applications of the Regency, on the
solemn promise that the young Prince shouldi
take the oath at the earliest period practicable,
and that the Regent should proceed to Biscay,
and swear to observe their rights during the in
tervening time.
We afterwards see a King of Castille swear
ing to respect, but violating those privileges;
we find the crime and the punishment following,
in close succession ; we see hira legally dispos
sessed of Biscay by the Biscayan Parliament,
and the territory transferred by a vote of that
assembly to his sister, the next in succession;
and we see the offer accepted by that Princess,
upon the express condition of maintaining in

QH. XlII.J CONCLUSIONS TO BE DEDUCED. 259'
perpetuity, and in their ftiUest sense, the ex
isting rights of Biscay.
The progressive history of the time shows us,
her husband. King Ferdinand, soon afterwards,
not only confirming but extending these rights ; ,
and the Biscayan Parliament, in the reign of
his successor, exercising their legislative func
tions on the most delicate and important
matters, and coming to a solemn decision that
the ancient laws of Biscay were defective, and
required reform. We discover that, in pur
suance of this resolution, their code of laws was-
re-arranged and, to a great extent, re-modelled
by a Biscayan commission, acting under the im
mediate control of a Biscayan Parliament ; that,
so amended, it ivas printed, and presented to
Charles V. for his approbation ; that it received
the assent of that Monarch ; that, ever since that
time, it has formed a regular and written Con
stitution, Avhich has been invariably confirmed
by the succeeding Kings of Spain.
Did huraan laws ever rest upon a more legi
timate basis? Were the liberties of freemen
ever " bequeathed from sire to son" in such
unbroken succession, or maintained with such
determination for so great a length of time ?

260 CONCLUSIONS TO BE DEDUCED. [cH. XIII.
Every incident in the origin and progress
of the Biscayan Constitution, that could make
engagement sacred, or give confidence and sta
bility to transactions between public bodies, has
combined to give a character of legal and es
tablished right to the liberties of that nation.
Here is prescription in its most venerable
shape for the loi'ers of antiquity; here is a re
volutionary title for the friends of the sove
reignty of the people* ; here are privileges con
firmed over and over again by the Monarch,
and asserted by the people with unvarying
energy and success in every age and under
every variety of circumstance. In whatever
light, according to Avhatever political bias, men
may please to consider the question, to this
conclusion fair judging persons must arrive,
that, if solemn and repeated confirmation, if
the most remote prescription can avail to make
any title indisputably good, the privileges of
the Biscayans are unassailable in principle, and
cannot, therefore, with the faintest semblance of
justice, be abolished, or even modified, Avithout
their own consent, expressed by their own as
sembUes. * The transference of the crown from Henry IV. to his sister
Isabella.

CH. XIII.] POLITICAL ENCROACHMENTS. 261
The occasional attempts at encroachment are
but additional proofs of the reality and extent
of those privileges ; for every encroachment,
frora the thirteenth century down to the pre
sent period, has been repelled by the Biscayans,
and every repulse has ultiraately been acqui
esced in by the encroaching party.
To believe that a free people, paying fealty
to a Sovereign despotic in the rest of his domi
nions, should not, during the lapse of centuries,
have been exposed to some aggression upon
their liberties, is to suppose that Avhich never
yet existed in the annals of limited monarchy,
— it is to suppose that Avhere tAvo conflicting
interests are confi'onted, no collision Avill ever
arise; that Sovereigns in Spain are exempt
from the passions incident to the huraan mind
in other countries, — in short, that it is not in
the nature of power to oppress, or of prero
gative to encroach. But Ave have seen the in
effectual efforts of every Prince Avho trod that
crooked path in the early days of the Basque
connexion with Spain, and similar attempts in
recent times have been equally conspicuous for
their failure.
Philip III. endeavoured to introduce into

262 REFUSAL OF STAMPS. '[CH. XIII.
Biscay some changes at variance with their
privileges, but he soon became sensible of his
indiscretion, he retracted his orders, confessed
his error, and stated, in a public manifesto,
that he had been wrongfully advised*.
In 1804, Godoy (the nick-named Prince of
Peace) sent a quantity of stamps into Biscay,
insisting on their use in aid of the general
revenue. The Deputies met, denounced the
act as an infringement of their liberties, and
declared that the innovation was contrary to
the laws of Biscay, and could not be allowed.
The Government threatened; but the Deputies,
supported by the sympathy of an unanimous
people, persevered in their refusal, and, in con
sequence, the obnoxious stamps were delivered
to the common hangman, and burnt under the
tree of Guernica.
This contemptuous defiance of the Spanish
Government by the patriots in the defence of
their lawful privileges produced much irritation
at Madrid, but the Biscayans carried their
point, and the right they claimed was tacitly
but fully admitted by the baffled Ministry.
* Eecopilacion de Fueros, folio 301. This manifesto is
dated Valladolid, May 24th, 1601.

CH. XUI.J CARLOS MAINTAINS THEIR RIGHTS. 263
The attempt was not renewed. Stamps were
stiU, as before, effectually excluded from Biscay,
and when any warrant issues from a superior
court, the order for execution in Biscay is always
made out on plain, unstamped paper.
The last tirae before the Queen's accession,
that the Spanish Government contemplated any
infringement of the liberties of the Basques,
¦was in King Ferdinand's reign ; and the cir
cumstances connected with this intention are
extremely curious, as solving an apparent con
tradiction in the relative feelings of the parties
engaged in the present struggle, and showing
the principal cause of the popularity enjoyed by
Don Carlos in the north of Spain. It is some
times said in England, that if the Basques were
really struggling for their Uberties, they would
.scarcely rally ivith such passionate zeal round
the standard of a Prince known to entertain
opinions of a strongly monarchical character.
The fact may appear singular to men unac
quainted with the recent history of the court of
Madrid. At one period of Ferdinand's reign, a
profligate minister, anxious to ingratiate himself
Avith the Court by excess of servility, concocted
a scheme to abridge materially, if not entirely

264 BASQUE LIBERTIES PRESERVED. [CH. XUI.
to suppress, the Uberties of the Basques ; and
submitted the plan to the Council of State, over
ivhich Don Carlos then presided. The minister
dwelt upon the possibility of extracting a larger
revenue from the Basques ; upon the expedi
ency of extinguishing a spirit of independence,
so dangerous from the example it held out, and
strongly urged the policy of reducing all the
provinces of Spain to the level of a comraon ser
vitude, and of thus at once extending and se
curing the absolute prerogative of the crown.
In consequence of this proposal, the question of
the Basque privileges underwent a protracted
investigation ; the case was argued before the
Council in detail, and considered in all its legal
and constitutional bearings. During the pro
gress of this inquiry, Don Carlos, acting less as
the Prince than as the friend of the people,
took ample care that the Biscayan advocates
should not be deprived of any fair advantage;
and when the inquiry was brought to an issue,
he rose and stated, that the ministerial scheme
involved a manifest breach of the compact so
lemnly entered into between the Croivn of Spain
and the people of the free provinces — that good,
if, indeed, any good could eventually result

CH. XIII.] BASQUE LIBERTIES PRESERVED. 265
from such a measure, was not to be obtained
by a positive violation of faith ; that the Crown
was bound to respect the established rights of
the meanest subject of the realm ; that such
a conspiracy against their privileges was not to
be endured ; and that the proposition itself was
an insult to CastilUan honour.
Don Carlos may have prejudices connected
with the royal authority, in common with his
countrymen ; but that refusal to enter into an
unprincipled scheme, though possibly advanta
geous to the prerogative, showed a raan upon
whose word, once given, a nation can rely.
There spoke the same resolute and honest spirit
ivhich, Avhen in France and captive, declined to
treat Avith his Imperial oppressor on any but
on equal terms ; Avho, Avhile his brother meanly
consented to abandon the crown of his ancestors,
and the people nobly struggling for that crown,
refused to give up his birth-right, or to forfeit
his eventual title, by any voluntary act, saying
that he was born a Prince of Spain, and would
maintain his just rights to the last hour of his life.
But, with respect to the ministerial scheme
for the suppression of the privileges, the vigo
rous condemnation pronounced by Don Carlos
VOL. u. N

266 ATTACHMENT TO DON CARLOS. [CH. XUI.
had an electrical effect on the council ; and the
worthless project expired in its birth.
The project, indeed, expired, but gave rise to
results unexpected by the projector : the honor
able part which Don Carlos had taken in the
council, on a question of such vital interest to
the Biscayans, was quickly known in Biscay;
and, from that moraent, he becarae the undivided
object of their enthusiasm — the centre of their
hopes — the idol of their affections ; and, in his
person, they now revere the representative of
their ancient sovereigns, and the guardian of
their actual liberties ; and when they raise
the war-cry for that Prince, the loyalty and the
liberties of Biscay seem identified in their eyes,
and are indissolubly bound up in the magic
of his name.
Such was the conduct pursued by Don Carlos
in his more prosperous days ; and this is to a
great extent the real secret of the unbounded
affection felt for him by the Biscayans, in these
the days of his adversity : past Governments
had endeavoured, as we have seen, to suppress
their free privileges, by gradual and crafty en
croachments; but it was left to the almost
incredible madness of the liberal legislation of

CH. XUI.J RESOURCES OF BISCAY. 267
Madrid to sweep away their long-established
Constitution, and their whole system of laws,
by a stupid exercise of power resting on no
conceivable right; it was reserved for the liberal
Ministers of Great Britain, who once professed
themselves the friends of constitutional liberty
all over the world, to assist in the raost oppres
sive crusade against a free people that has dis
graced the annals of Europe since the partition
of Poland.
The infraction of the Biscayan privileges by
the Queen's Ministers was not only an act of
gross injustice, but, I repeat it, of incredible
folly : by that act they have become involved in
an almost interminable war ; they have lost
army after army; they have enormously in
creased the burdens of the State, and have ex
hausted their already irapoverished country for
an object they may, probably, never attain, and
of no practical value if obtained ; for, although
the Biscayan privileges were considerable, no
district of the kingdom, possessing an equal
population, contributed more largely than Bis
cay to the support of the Croivn. This pro
vince maintained and oflftcered, at its own
expense, aUke in peace or in war, an army of
n2

268 RESOURCES OF BISCAY. [cH. XIII.
fourteen thousand men — kept in complete re
pair no less than three-and-twenty forts, pro
viding artillery, ammunition, and men ; and, in
periods of invasion, sent forth a host of indepen
dent Guerrillas. In times of unusual peril,
they voluntarily made unusual exertions : in
1793 they sent eight thousand raen to divert
the attack from the royal army ; and when the
lines were forced by the invading French, they
raised, ivithout a sordid scruple, or a dissentient
voice, an additional body of sixteen thousand
men, and defended the frontiers, and, for a time,
repulsed the enemy, with all the characteristic
courage and constancy of their country.
The abolition of the Basque privileges is
sometimes defended on grounds of general ex
pediency. Spain, it is said, should be governed
by equal laws and equal institutions. For the
reasons I have just stated, the argument of ex
pediency is not applicable to the case in point ;
but even if the abolition of the rights in ques
tion be likely to promote the common weal,
no expectation of remote or even of immediate
advantage can redeem the turpitude of such an
act : considerations of expediency may autho
rise a compromise of interests and of feelings.

CH. XIIl.J FUEROS INVADED. 269
but no prospective good can justify a positive
breach of faith ; no argument of expediency can
paUiate positive injustice; no reasoning can
maintain a principle of action which, if carried
generally into practice, ivould be alike fatal to
public and to private honour.
I will here record a feiv, and a few only, of the
measures pursued by the Spanish Government,
in suppressing the privileges of the Basques ;
for, indeed, since the Queen's accession, the civil
history of the transactions between that people
and the Spanish Crown has been little more than
a melancholy repetition of illegal and violent en
croachments on the one hand, and determined
opposition on the other. Within a few months of
Ferdinand's death, contributions were levied on
the people under Butron, in utter defiance of the
restrictive laws of the land. In January, 1834,
the Spanish authorities deprived the people of
the iraportant and almost immemorial right of
electing their own Alcaldes ; and in the follow
ing March contravened the decision of their di
recting and legislative juntas, and assumed the
appointment ofthe civil police. Castanos'sfamous
proclamation, suspending the Basque privileges,
and reserving to himself the " entire power.

270 FUEROS INVADED {cU. XIII.
control, and jurisdiction" of the country, was
followed by the Estatuto Real, ivhich appeared
in April, avoided all direct allusion to the Free;
States, yet, by a general enactment, introduced
into that country the electoral law, in rirtue of
ivhich all the prorinces of Spain sent deputies:
to a common Chamber at Madrid, and thus im
posed upon the Basques a right of election un
known to their law, a right which few or none
but the partisans of the new system would
acknowledge, and completely superseded their
native parliaments. Since that period, every
act passed by the Spanish Government, affect
ing the kingdom generally, has, in point of
wording, applied equally to the Basque pro
vinces, in favour of which no reservation has
been made, although not only the act of legis
lating at all for Biscay was, on their part, a
positive usurpation, but raany of their decrees
were in direct opposition to the fundamental
laws of the Basque states, and none had re
ceived the assent of the Basque assembUes.
Had no compact of a conditional nature been
concluded between the Governments of Castille
and of the free states at the time of their union,
the Spanish Government might at present say,

CH. XUI.J CONTRARY TO LAW. 271
Avith some shadow of justice, to the inhabitants
of the revolted provinces, " We will, indeed,
divest you of your actual rights, but will confer
upon you others more consonant to our views,
or more conducive to the general interests ;" but
under the circumstances of the case, the Spanish
Government has not a shadow of right to ad
dress this language to the Basque ; it is not
legaUy or morally justified in sending a single
soldier into the Basque states, or in claiming
a single farthing from the people, except by
virtue of the arrangements made between the
Government of Castille and the Legislatures
of the prorinces at the time of the Union ; the
Basques promising, at that conjuncture, a per
petual fealty to the Crown, and the Crown
engaging, for itself and its successors, to main
tain the particular institutions which then ex
isted in Biscay, — not other rights and liberties,
which the Spanish Government might, at any
future period, desire to substitute in their place.
The Basques may say with justice to the
Government, " We do not desiderate the new
Constitution you ivish to impose upon us ; let
us possess in peace the antient laws and customs
under which we have become prosperous and

272 COMPARATIVE PROSPERITY [CH. XIIL
happy beyond precedent ; Ave cannot gain ; we
may materially lose by the exchange. What
results has Spain derived from her constitutional
system of 1820 and 1834, but foreign war and
internal revolutions, which have divided families,
drenched the country with blood, and much
retarded the general prosperity?"
And, indeed, their view of the case does not
originate in any narrow or exclusive feeling, but
is founded on a knowledge of facts, and a judi
cious calculation of the consequences likely to
result from the change.
A traveller, entering the Basque Prorinces
by the CastilUan frontier, is impressed by the
great and sudden improvement visible in the
appearance of the population, in their dress, in
their agriculture, in their very beasts of burden;
their cottages are neat, and sometimes beauti-,
fuUy ornamented, and a general air of comfort
pervades the country.
Entering Navarre, on the side of Aragon, he
is equally struck by indications of increased
prosperity; and is agreeably surprised by the
astonishing improveraent in the roads which
are scarcely passable till he reaches the frontier
of Navarre, but are afterwards broad, smooth,
and kept in the highest order.

CH. XUI.J OF THE FREE STATES. 273
These are but the external syraptoras of the
real difference ivhich prevails between the in
ternal arrangeraents of the privileged provinces
and those ivhich have no especial rights. Tax
ation for local purposes is really applied, in the
privileged states, to the objects for which it is
nominally raised ; no individual, or body of men,
can there embezzle any portion of the public
money, which is guarded with a jealous eye, and
dispensed with a judicious hand.
Representative government is intended to
secure liberty of person, freedom of speech,
undisturbed enjoyment of property, and a wise
application of the public funds. These advan
tages the Basques have long enjoyed under
their old charters, but under that constitutional
system which the Queen's Government is anx
ious to introduce into their country, it is noto
rious that the pubUc money has been adminis
tered most lavishly, and that life and property
have not been always secure. By acceding to
the Queen's authority, the Biscayans ivould not
only exchange solid political advantages for
showy and unsubstantial good, but, in all pro
bability, for a system entailing the most profuse
expenditure, and the most corrupt administra-
n3

274 BRITISH POLICY, [CH. XUI.
tion. How then can we expect that they
should submit to such a demand, when justice,
law, self-interest, and patriotism, are equally
opposed to their acquiescence ?
If, then, the Spanish Government have vio
lated privileges^ which they were bound by so
lemn compact to support, the war ivhich they
have undertaken against the Biscayans is mani^
festly oppressive ; and as the British Govern
ment has adopted their acts, by openly espous
ing their cause, it has, of course, become in
volved in their injustice. The accessory is not
less guilty than the principal; and this part
of the subject I approach with pain. I have
no prepossessions which can warp my feelings
on the subject: — for although I differ irith his
Majesty's Ministers on some great questions
of internal change, I ara no heated or indiscri-
minating opponent*, — I trust I am not quick
to caril, or slow to praise ; I have not sought
for matter of objection, but censure, in this
instance, would force itself upon the most re-
* It is diiBcult to speak with any confidence of a measure
not yet in general operation ; but, judging locally from its
actual effects, I think the recent Poor-Law Bill is Ukely to
prove one of the greatest benefits ever conferred upon this
oountry.

OH. XIII.] UNION WITH IRELAND. 275
luctant, if a candid mind ; and I cannot con
template our recent policy towards the Basques
without feelings of unmingled humiliation at
the sulUed honour of my country, nor without
a strong emotion of resentment at our treat
ment of a people, whom to know was to admire-
and love.
I would bring the question home to British
bosoms, by supposing a case precisely parallel.
If, at the period of the union with Ireland, the
English Government had endeavoured to carry
that measure into effect without obtaining the
consent of the Irish Parliament; if Ministers
had decreed that the Irish Parliament should
be considered as absolutely extinguished after a
given day, but that Ireland might hereafter
send to the English Legislature as raany depur
ties as the English Government, in its wisdom,
might choose to permit, offering, at the same
time, the stern alternative of instant obedience
or the sword ; — if such a crime against freedom.
and justice had been committed, I do not think
" there breathes a man with soul so dead," or
with so low an estimate of Irish spirit, as to
suppose that peer, priest, and peasant, would
not have rallied round the standard of insurrec-

276 SCOTCH UNION COMPARED [CH. XIII.
tion against an usurping Government. The
very name of the Union which linked together.
the kingdoras of England and of Scotland by one
indissoluble tie was hateful to our northern
brethren for many years after that event; yet.
their Union was effected by constitutional means,
and received the sanction of the Scotch people.
solemnly and deliberately expressed in the Scot
tish parliament. Had this wise attention to
legal form and substantial justice been disre
garded by the Crown, its subjects north of the
Tweed would, I suspect, have forthwith buckled
on their clajinores, and the tale of Bannockburn
might have been repeated in a later age ; yet
this policy, ivhich ivould have been execrated
by every good man in England, the Spanish
Ministers have adopted towards the revolted
provinces, and have abolished their national
customs, their imraeraorial laws, and even their
representative assemblies : unsupported in this
proceeding by any legal or moral right, scorn
ing to consult the wishes of the inhabitants, and-
without the consent, and even ivithout asking'
for the consent of those assemblies, ivhich every
King of Spain had acknowledged from the time
of the Union; ivhich the wiser Sovereigns of

CH. XUI.J WITH THE BASQUE UNION. 277
the land had treated with ostentatious respect,
and which were avowedly the only legitimate
organs of the popular will.
How, then, if Spain has acted with gross in
justice towards her subjects, can we exempt from
censure the British Government, which has
strangely deviated from the established usages
of war, to support her in this criminal policy?
Justice, unaffected by time or place, moves
always on the same eternal springs, and that
Government ivhich declared, that one principle
of justice should not subsist for the wliite man,
and another for the black, should have felt that
a measure most unjust to Ireland, could not,
under parallel circumstances, be just to Biscay.
But why, if these facts be true and this reason
ing be correct, does British indignation sleep,
and is British honour silent ? Because the real
circurastances of the Biscayan struggle are little
known or understood in England; because the
specious title of a liberal Government in Spain
conceals from English eyes the real tyranny
of then' acts ; and, lastly, because the poor vic
tims of our foreign policy are far removed frora
the pitying observation ofthe public, and are,
therefore, wronged with impunity.

278 INCONSISTENT POLICY [cH. XIII.
The policy now pursued by our Ministers is
strangely at variance with the principles by
which they seemed to be actuated when the
French marched into Spain in 1823 : they then
denounced, from the Opposition benches, the
policy, or rather crime, as it was styled, of inter
vention in the internal affairs of other States;
and yet the interference of France at that
period was not so indefensible as the interven
tion of Great Britain in the actual contest. It
is well known to men who were in France and
Spain about that time, that the French invasion
was rather founded on a principle of self-pre
servation than of aggression; it was produced
by a dread of Spanish democracy extending
into France ; by plots on all sides, and rumours
of plots ; by a great, though undefined, appre
hension of danger ; by an almost hourly uneasi
ness ; by a state of things difficult to describe
but intolerable to endure : but in this instance
we have drawn the sword without any cause of
alarm, and in unassailed security against a
people who have never injured or offended us.
When last a British expedition sailed for
Spain, it sailed under circumstances more con
genial to a generous mind ; it then went forth

CH. XIII.] OF THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. 279
to resist the universal Oppressor, not to trample
on the oppressed; not influenced by an un
healthy thirst for distinction, but animated by
those loyal and patriotic sentiments which
can alone justify, and even ennoble, the un
christian trade of war : but now a British force
has returned to Spain; under the guidance of an
Ofiicer of great talent, but to promote a cause
in ivhich they have no natural interest, and, Uke
mercenary bands, to fight for a Sovereign to
whom they owe no natural allegiance.
To an Englishman acquainted with the real
merits of the war, it is a new, a bitter, a humili"
ating sensation to feel that in the fortunes of
his British countrymen he cannot sympathize —
he cannot wish for their defeat ; in such a cause,
how can he hope for their success ? The proud
distinction between French and English -victo
ries in later times, between the fields of Aus-
terlitz and Waterloo, lies even less in the com
parative splendour of those great achievements,
than in the different motives by which the im-
peUing powers were actuated. Great Britain
fought to rescue, France to enslave the world.
Little as we have been as yet accustomed to the
sight, I can but ill endure to see oppression

280 BRITISH LEGION. [CH. XIII.
and the British name go hand in hand. I can
not desire for England the brightest laurels, if
they be not pure. If our expedition fail, failure
wUl be attended with national disgrace. If,
after months of humiliation, it succeed, the
triumph of three powerful nations, leagued
against a land of mountain patriots, will afford
little scope for exultation ; and I shall not envy
the feelings of any Englishman returning from
the subjugation of a free and gallant people.
If, then, the cause for ivhich we have unsheathed
the sword does not deserve our support, the mode
of administering our assistance has been equally
unworthy of a great nation. Had the interests of
England and of justice — for I will never admit
that, in the eye of a comprehensive statesman,
those interests can be disunited ivithout incurring
danger as well as infamy — had those interests
required, on our part, an active intervention in
the affairs of Spain, the policy of our Govern
ment was obvious, and the country ivould, un
doubtedly, have responded to their appeal. If,
on the contrary, those interests were unaffected
by the existing struggle in Spain, neutrality
was the safest, as it was unquestionably the
easiest, line to adopt. But the Government

CH. XUI.J BRITISH LEGION. 281
steered a middle, and most unhappy, course :
they set in motion a machine which they did
not even profess to regulate in its after progress ;
they commenced operations over ivhich they
could exercise no subsequent control; they
committed the country to an important line of.
policy ; they took the first and easiest, but the
most critical, because the involving step. Then,
when foresight, skill, and system were most re
quisite for the prosperous execution of their
schemes, they shifted the responsibility fi-om
their own to other hands, and became unac
countable for the consequences of their own
acts ; for how can a governraent be considered
answerable for the conduct of an army, or the
success of an expedition, neither controlled by;
the eye of the executive, nor supported by the
resources of the state ? They urged upon others
the prosecution of an enterprise, from the re
sponsibility of ivhich they shrank themselves;
they resolved upon war, yet abandoned the
direction of that war ; by sending out, or at
least stimulating a British force to invade a
foreign country, they staked the national honour
and influence ; they should have felt those
sacred interests might be comproraised by the

282 BRITISH POLICY. [CH. XIII.
misconduct of the men, or the incapacity of the
officers employed, yet the Government and the
country ivould be left ivithout remedy. The
Crown had abdicated all authority over that
portion of its subjects ; but still the nation
might suffer by their acts.
Under such an improvident system the na
tional honour, the national arras must be ex
posed to defeat; an English Officer is placed
under the immediate control of a foreign Ge
neral ; and his most strenuous exertions and
best considered schemes may be, as they have
been, thwarted by the jealousy, or defeated
by the folly, of his superior. Are these the
influences by which a British legion should be
surrounded ? Is this the state to which a Bri
tish Officer should be reduced ? Is this a posi
tion in which the King and the Country should
be placed? Should the honour and influence
of Great Britain be consigned to any guardian
ship but the responsible adrisers of the Crown ?
The national honour is our dearest possession ;
and shall that alone be placed out of the pale of
constitutional law ?
The influence of this country should only be
exerted when absolutely required for the pro-

CH. Xni.J BRITISH LEGION. 283
teetion and advancement of some real interest,
and great precaution should be taken, that it
be not endangered by the manner in which it
is exercised. The influence of nations, as of
indiriduals, is the growth of years, but may be
lost in a day.
And, practicaUy, have the national interests
received no injury since the sailing of the ex^
pedition? Is it no diminution of the national
credit in a foreign land, that the military labours
of our men and officers, during many con
secutive months in Spain, were measured, not
by high and honorable achievements, for which,
indeed, they had few real opportunities, but by
excess of insubordination on the one hand, and
extent of punishment on the other ? Is it no
legitimate matter of national complaint, that so
great a portion of that force should have perished
under the united influence of disease and the
sword, ivithout fulfilling the object for which it
was sent out, or even striking one effective blow?
Is it no reflection on the foresight of the Go
vernment which relied so blindly on promises that
could not be performed, that among the unhappy
remnant of our almost dissipated legion, mutiny
and desertion, produced, in a great measure, by

284 DECREE OF DURANGO. [CH. XUI.
Avant of pay, should have succeeded each other
in such disgraceful alternation ? It is a lower
ing thought to national pride, that EngUshmen
should have been encouraged by the Crown to
take part in the expedition, and yet, when
made prisoners in the exercise of what they
were led to believe a lawful vocation, should
have been shot as pirates and malefactors. But
our Government were, it seems, astonished at
the news of their execution, though I do not
think that circumstances altogether justified
this amazement. I do not know whether our
Englishmen might have been admitted to the
protection of the cartel under the strict letter
of the Convention, but they were, I ara of
opinion, excluded from its beneficial operation
by the spirit of the agreement.
At the time when the Convention was signed,
it could not have entered into the raind of
either of the contracting parties that the British
Government ivould have adopted a measure
almost unprecedented in the annals of civilized
nations ; would have sent forth a band of Eng
lish adventurers to serve under Spanish colours,
and, availing themselves of this strange de
parture fi'om the usages of legalized war, have

CH. XI'H.J ELIOT CONVENTION. 285
said to one of the belligerent parties, "You
shall extend to troops supplied with arras, am
munition, and equipments from the stores and
arsenals of a foreign country, in short to a force
in all respects essentially foreign, as to a part
of the Spanish array, that protection which, in
their natural character of British subjects, they
could have no right to expect under the peculiar
circumstances of a war in which slaughter
is the rule, and mercy the exception." Be
sides, it must not be forgotten that ivhen the
treaty was agreed upon, Zumalacarregui pro
posed that, in case of the extension of the civil
Avar beyond the limits of Navarre and the three
provinces, the convention should have equal
force in other parts of Spain ; but to this the
Christino General refused to accede, confining
the operation of the Treaty to the armies carry
ing on the Avar in Biscay and NavaiTC at that
particular tirae. ' Los mismos egercitos actual-
mente belligerantes en las prorincias Vascon-
gadas y en el Reino de Navarra.' After such a
restriction, I hardly think that an English le
gion, which had no existence at the time of the
negociation, could fairly claim protection under
a treaty which, by general admission, excludes

286 DECREE OF DURANGO. [cH. XIIL
from its operation the Gallician, Valentian, Ca-
talonian, and even the Asturian Carlists and
Christines. But to whichever opinion the law of
nations, or the strict interpretation of the Eliot
Treaty, may incline, the interests of our poor
countrymen ivould have been better consulted,
if the British Governraent had ascertained,
before the sailing of the expedition, Avhether
they would or ivould not be admitted to the
benefits ofthe cartel.
The expedition chimed in with the general
riews of the Government. Protection was,
therefore, presupposed, with that inconsiderate
haste ivhich has characterized the whole course
of their Spanish policy, and on this gratuitous
supposition Don Carlos's decree was denounced
by Ministers as a forgery. Our countrymen
were, in consequence, reassured, and some were,
perhaps, led into the snare by a declaration
apparently official in its character, but wholly
founded in error.
I am not supporting the Decree of Durango ;
I sincerely wish it had never been issued. It is
severe in principle, and has been severe in its
operation. But, before we load Don Carlos
with abuse, it may be well to inquire whether

CH. XIIl.J DECREE OF DURANGO. 287
he possessed the power, even if he had the ivish
to exercise in our favour the blessed prerogative
of mercy, surrounded as he was by partizans
galled by our interference, and smarting under
the recent butchery of their friends.
It must not be forgotten that the Christines
originally confined the benefits of the Eliot
Treaty within the narrowest range, and have
subsequently acted upon it according to the
strictest and harshest interpretation of which
it is susceptible. It must be remembered that
our present Government had sent an officer
to the head-quarters of General Rodil during
the period of his greatest atrocities, thereby
affording an indirect but powerful sanction to
the slaughter of every Carlist who fell into his
hands, and, above all, it must be recollected
that the old Biscayan law proclaimed death,
which even the Sovereign could not legally
remit, against every invader of the soil. Un
doubtedly that law, " raore honoured in the
breach than in the observance," was, in a great
measure, suspended by the Eliot Treaty; but
public opinion was sensibly alive in Biscay to the
very intelUgible difference drawn by Don Carlos,
when he communicated the benefit of the Con-

288 DECREE OF DURANGO. [CH. XUI ,
A'ention to the Christino forces, and refused it
to the British Legion. The Basques, at the
period of the signing of the Convention, sub
mitted to a departure fi-om their old enactment,
because the treaty was in their opinion fair and
impartial, and secured the same advantages to
both of the contending parties; but equally
convinced that a foreign force was excluded from
the protection of the cartel by the whole tenor
and animus of the transaction, they were un
willing to sacrifice an iota of their ancient laiv
to benefit a host of foreign invaders, without
some reciprocal advantage in return for that
concession. It is easy for men who have never known the
miseries of civil war to censure the exasperated
feelings of the Basques ; but a people struggling
pro aris et focis cannot afford to be generous;
and a British population, opposing a foreign
enemy on their native soil, and in defence of their
native rights, ivould, I suspect, under similar
circumstances, pursue a similar course. Our
Officers ofthe Legion went out to carry desola
tion into the heart of a friendly land, for pur
poses of amusement — to acquire a little distinc
tion ; and, as we were told by our Government,

CH. XUI.J FEELINGS OF THE BASQUES. 289
to become practically acquainted with the art of
war; while they were actuated by motives so
light and so little in accordance with a Christian
policy, the Basques were struggling for all that
is most dear to the heart of man ; and, in the
deep and stirring emotions produced by such
a contest, ivere indifferent, when vanquished, to
the boon of life, and when victorious had little
inclination to stretch a point of law or grace
in favour of men who, themselves possessing
an ancient and an honoured Constitution, left
their own country to deprive others of that in
estimable benefit.
But if the censure lavished by our Ministers
upon the Durango Decree were only dictated by
honest indignation for wrong, why did acts com
mitted by the Constitutional leaders, and sanc
tioned by the Constitutional Government, and
precisely parallel in their nature, excite no corre
sponding sympathies ? When a Frenchman,
enlisted in the service of Don Carlos, ivas put
to death by the Queen's Generals, on the
ground that France being at peace with Spain
he was justly doomed to die by that law of na
tions which he had infringed, not a doubt was
cast on the propriety of the act, not an expres-
VOL. II. o

290 DURANGO DECREE. [CH. XUI.
sion of censure escaped the lips of our Govern
ment. When the same act was repeated on a
greater scale by Lopez Bancs, long after the
signing of the Cartel, the same indifference was
shown by our Ministers. In the summer of 1835,
a Pole and some Frenchmen, persons of birth
and education, who had landed in Spain, to join
the standard of Don Carlos, were taken by the
Constitutional authorities; and, notwithstand
ing the humane remonstrances ineffectually
made by some officers of the British Legion,
were deliberately shot by order of the Com
mandant of Santander, who pleaded, in his justi
fication, the general but positive instructions of
his Government. His Majesty's Ministers can
not deny these facts, and yet they impute blame,
and in no measured language, to an unfortunate
Prince for doing that which the allies whom
they support have done, and which they raust,
therefore, be supposed to have tacitly sanc
tioned. I ara, I own, unwilling to enter much at
length into the policy of the expedition, because
I feel the objection to our share in the transac
tion is of a higher nature, and that our conduct
should be condemned not so much because it is

CH. XIU.] BRITISH POLICY. 291
inexpedient as because it is unjust. But if the
principle is bad, the policy is equally defec
tive. To send out British subjects to mix
with men in the habitual perpetration of cruel
ties which no Christian leaders but those of
Spain would enjoin, and no Christian Govern
ment but Christina's tolerate, is not a happy
mode of improving the national character. To
send out British subjects to assist an enter
prise nominally undertaken for the Queen's
support, but really to beat doivn ancient insti
tutions and old attachments, and, perhaps, to
see them eventually return impregnated with
the democratic principles of their new asso
ciates : in short, in 1835, to renew, at least in
this last respect, the game which France
played with reference to America in 1789, is
not, I think, in the unquiet feeling and under
the unsettled circumstances of our own country,
the soundest policy which a British statesman
could adopt.
Besides, the great military powers may here
after imitate, for other purposes, with more
success, and on a larger scale, the precedent
which we have just established. We deprecate
the principle, but set the example of interven-
o2

292 BRITISH POLICY. [cH. XUI.
tion in the internal affairs of other states, and
we adopt this dubious policy without the dignity
that becomes the interposition of a great state.
While the real independence of the country
should be unflinchingly maintained, it ought
not to be forgotten that the peace of Europe
essentially depends upon a system of mutual
forbearance. Consequently it is not wise to
alienate the great northern powers for an ob
ject conducive to no British interest ivhatever,
and by an extraordinary deviation from the
established usages of war. Must not our influ
ence, even in the cause of humanity, be weak
ened by our Spanish policy? How can we
hereafter, should circurastances appear to re
quire it at our hands, remonstrate with Austria
in behalf of her Italian subjects without a lu
dicrous appearance of insincerity? How can
Ave plead Avith Russia against Polish persecu
tion, after our treatment of the Basques?
I cannot, moreover, believe that his Majesty's
Ministers were advancing the real interests of
this country in building up the revolutionary
edifice in Spain upon the absolute ruin of the
old state of things. For we have only been
supporting the Queen nominally ; we have been

CH. XUI.] ROYALISTS AND LIBERALS. 293
supporting a party that disclaimed her autho
rity, because the policy pursued by her Minis
ters was not sufficiently violent. We have been
supporting the Juntas of the Provinces, in which
all the Jacobinism of Spain was concentrated;
Juntas Avhich, by a display of physical force, com
peUed her Majesty to dismiss an administration
in Avhich she had confidence, and to replace
them by men more congenial to their views *.
The Royalist party in Spain Avere sincerely
attached to England ; their hatred of the French
Revolution had bound them to this country by
a common principle; the generous and effec
tive aid administered by Great Britain riveted
that attachment, and although during the great
Peninsular contest the full force and expression
of that feeling may have been, in some de
gree, repressed by the petty jealousies of the
hour, and the obrious and soraewhat humbling
inferiority of the Spaniards in discipline and
organization, still the meraory of our services
sank deep in the hearts of the Royalists, and
inclined them most favourably to Great Britain.
God grant that our recent policy may not have
* M. Mendizabal was forced upon the Queen by the insur
rection of the Juntas.

294 VIEWS OF THE [CH. Xlll.
converted that gratitude into lasting resent
ment! But the prevaiUng party in Spain, although,
in the humiliating state of their external rela
tions, they gladly avail themselves of the pro
tection ivhich Great Britain has been so eager to
grant, is, and has been, for many years, opposed
to English interests. The successful result of
our exertions in the Peninsular Avar, which se
cured to us the attachment of the Royalist, in
some degree alienated from us the affections of
the Liberal party. Strangers to that high
sense of national independence, so characteristic
of the uncorrupted Spaniard, they frequently
asserted that England had perpetuated their
domestic servitude, and said they would have
readily exchanged their old laws, and their an
cient dynasty, for the more uniform code of
France, and for a foreign Master — himself the
slave of a foreign despot.
Times are changed : they have now a Consti
tution, and are in close alUance with England ;
for the moment, the necessities of their situa
tion allow them no alternative, but their desire
for English connexion has not increased, be
cause their real views and principles are hostile

CH. XIII.] LIBERAL PARTY. 295
to the system upon ivhich the Government is
conducted and society is based in England.
They hate us for our Established Church ;
they hate us for our laws of primogeniture;
they hate us for our House of Lords. Desirous
of rooting out the last vestiges of aristocratic
institutions in their own country, they abhor a
system of liberty, preserved and tempered, as it
is in England, by a graduated subordination of
ranks, and by aristocratic checks. They detest
a system which has long proved that a civil
and ecclesiastical aristocracy can co-exist with a
large measure of practical freedom; in short, they
secretly dislike a country whose example refutes
their reasoning, and whose influence, if wisely
exerted, would, in sorae degree, oblige thera to
respect those interests at horae.
Those interests they will not respect when
they can safely unmask their views; for their
notions of civil government are essentially re
publican*: French centralization, French insti-
* The proposed division of the Spanish territory into districts
is one among many proofs of this tendency in the liberal party,
and is a servile imitation of the departmental system of France.
The old names should be sedulously retained : with respect to
the old provincial privileges, their abolition is favourable to a
system of republican equality, but it is equally favourable to the
views of despotism. The proud attachment of the Spaniards
to the provincial distinctions is akin to the spirit of liberty ; it

296 VIEWS OF THE [cH. XIU.
tutions divested, however, of the upper Chamber
and perhaps the Croivn, and a system of pro
perty modelled on that of France, are the great
objects of their desire. A dispassionate con
viction, upon general principles, of the superior
advantages attending British connexion, will be
more than counterbalanced in the eyes of the
ruling party, by that gradual approximation to
the French system ivhich a closer connexion
with France Avould raore certainly and easily
induce. To this system they will steadfastly
incline, partly from opinion, partly from the
desire of aggrandizing their own faction upon
the ruin of the old interests of the country, and,
in some degree, for the gratification of party
resentments. It may be said that I have exaggerated the
political bias of the prevailing party in Spain ;
serves as a strong though somewhat irregular rampart against
the foreign invader and the domestic tyrant: as long as
these distinctions are preserved, the germs of freedom can never
be wholly destroyed ; but when the country is placed under
a completely uniform system ; when prefectures are established
iu every district, patronage, with its wide-spreading corruption,
takes the place of aucient privilege, and despotism can be more
easily established. In a common hatred of the old provincial
privileges, the French democrat and his imperial master were
agreed. From their destruction the democrat expects the
establishment of uniform rights — the tyrant, with more reason,
of uniform despotism.

CH. XIIl.J LIBERAL PARTY. 297
but let us refer to the recorded language of
men who may be said to represent the opinions,
as they constitute an influential portion, of the
liberal party in Spain. When the amnesty by
ivhich the emigrant Spaniards were restored to
Spain was promulgated, it might have been
supposed that some gratitude would have
mingled with the prospect of a return to their
native country; that a more extended inter
course with the world would have made the
banished patriots doubt the soundness of their
old subversive schemes; that affliction ivould
have taught them charity, and the residt of
former errors ivould have induced a moderation
unknown to their earlier years : on the contrary,
even in the first moment of mutual congratulation,
many of them, unmoved by this act of sponta
neous kindness on the part of the Croivn, drew
up an address to the Queen, in which they de
nounced prescriptive rights, and called upon the
Government to reject half measures as unsuited
to the time ; to cut the Gordian knot, and to con
fiscate the property of the Church, as the legiti
mate possession of the people, and an usurpation
of the soil, thereby annihilating their enemies
o3

298 BRITISH POLICY [CH. XIIL
by a single stroke *. Could any temperate or
conciliating policy be expected from men who
received an act of grace with such a determination
to attack the most sacred principles upon which
property can be based, and with such a vindic
tive expression of hostUity to the most revered
and influential order of the State? I cannot
think that British interests, already oppressed
by the democracy of the time, are likely to be
* " The reverse will be the result of your Majesty's laudable
intentions, unless, with an energetic resolution, you cut the
Gordian knot, &c. &c. &c. Cut, then, this knot, and, by that
single stroke, your Majesty will annihilate all your enemies.
The means of effecting this, are to issue a decree, by which the
people shall be invested with the territorial possessions of the
clergy. Those enormous riches have been acquired only by
divine right, and are robberies committed against the commu
nity ; first, by the donations of kings, who snatched from the
grasp ofthe Moors what the Moors had previously taken from the
Spaniards ; and as it is self-evident that the Spanish soil is not
an article of merchandise imported from Africa, hence the injus
tice of confiscating the land, and bestowing it on the clergy,
instead of restoring it to the people to whom that land belonged
before the invasion of the Moors. In the second place, the sur
plus riches of the clergy were acquired by testamentary clauses
wrung on their death-bed from the wealthy, atFrighted by
menaces and suggestions. Your Majesty perceives, then, that
the possessions of the clergy legitimately belong to the people,
from whom iu various ways they have been stolen ; for which
reason those possessions, &c. &c. &c. Timid counsellors may lead
your Majesty to apprehend the defection of the clergy ; but fear
it not ; for the people, gained by the reform, will not join them,
or take arms in behalf of those who have usurped their lawful
patrimony." This document is to be found at length in the
work of the Baron de Los Vallos.

CH. XUI.J TOWARDS SPAIN. 299
advanced by an intimate and still increasing
alUance with such a party.
We are told by the Government, that in fa
vouring the progress of the revolution in Spain,
they have promoted the best interests of Great
Britain. Our Ministers have acknowledged the
Queen's authority ; they have entered into a
treaty to support her claims by a naval arma
ment; they have furnished her with an enor
mous supply of arras, at a large cost, to pro
secute a war against her own subjects ; they
have permitted her to enlist troops in this
country, and have stimulated our countrymen to
enUst imder her banners. Finally, they have
exceeded the provisions of the treaty by which
they pretend to be guided, and making an unin-
teUigible distinction between co-operation and
intervention, have sent our Marines to take an
active part in the struggle. The pitiable exhi
bitions of the British Legion, for months inac
tive, and now apparently dissolving under the
combined effects of desertion and defeat; and
the distant and discreet co-operation of the
Marines at St. Sebastian, with their unfortu
nately rapid retreat before an inferior force at
Fontarabia, are circumstances that have drawn>

300 BRITISH INFLUENCE [CH. XIII.
largely on the ridicule of Europe, and reflect no
lustre on the policy which placed those brave
men in such an unseemly predicament. M.
Mendizabal's government was therefore bound,
by a thousand obligations, to an Administration
which so good-naturedly incurred this heavy
sacrifice of credit in his behalf.
How was that debt acknowledged at a time
Avhen benefits were recent, and gratitude for past
favours was stimulated by the hope of further
assistance ? Surely, if not by a return of solid
and substantial benefits, at least by a prepon
derating increase of British influence over the
councils of Spain, by a disposition to take our
advice, and accede to our ivishes. Lord Mel
bourne, however, whose government has con
ferred so many obligations on the Spanish Ad
ministration, frankly admits that he has vainly
endeavoured to check the atrocities of the war.
Yet our late Government, ivhich showed no pecu
Uar sympathy with the Queen's cause, succeeded,
during its brief term of power, in humanizing the
contest, as far as it then extended.
Had not this country stooped from the high
position ivhich she occupied as a neutral power,
our Ministers might have retained an equal and

CH. XIII.] IN SPAIN, 301
steady influence over the councils of the two
conflicting parties ; they might have success
fully assumed the blessed office of mediation,
and moderated the excesses of both ; but their
unwise interference has naturally deprived them
pf all weight with Don Carlos, with the Basques,
and that large portion of the Spanish people
against whom they have acted ; while, by their
OAvn admission, they are utterly unable to direc
the councils of their allies to any beneficial pur
poses. We have therefore abandoned a digni
fied and advantageous position ivithout obtain
ing any compensation for that loss.
The marked decline of British influence is
strongly proved by the circumstances ivhich fol
lowed the murder of Cabrera's mother : an act
damning to the Generals ivho committed it, to
the party that approved it, and to the Govern
ment that did not avenge it. When questioned
on this point, our Ministers stated, exultingly,
that as soon as the intelligence of the crime
arrived in England, they wrote to Madrid, they
demanded satisfaction, Mr. Villiers ivaited on
the Prime Minister, and Nogueras Avas, in conse
quence, deprived of his command. To punish
the subordinate ruffian, by whose hesitating

302 DECLINE OF OUR INFLUENCE. [CH. XIIF.
hand the offence was comraitted, and yet to
s.pare — no, not to spare, but to retain in a post
of the highest confidence — and even to honour
with still raore important duties the master
spirit, by whom the monstrous order was deli
berately given, would not, in other times, have
been considered a triumphant vindication of
British honour, or quite consistent with our
good old notions of equal justice and equal law.
This juggUng attempt to defeat the ends of
justice, under a semblance of fervour in its cause,
and thus impose upon the common sense of
mankind, raay be a species of atonement com
patible with the principles of a Spanish Govern
ment ; but British honour, comproraised by the
acts of her sworn allies, is ill appeased by a
hollow satisfaction, which it was, at once, an
insult to offer, and a degradation to accept *.
* It seems that Mina, shrinking from the abhorrence created
by this act, has endeavoured to justify himself by stating that
Cabrera's mother was not executed by way of reprisal, but on
account of her participation in a conspiracy detected by the
Government itself, and in virtue of a sentence regularly passed
upon her, If this be true, it is somewhat singular, that when
our Government demanded satisfaction for that outrage from
the Court of Madrid, the Spanish Ministers not only suppressed
this plain and satisfactory solution of the matter, but, on the
contrary, in deference to our remonstrance, proceeded to punish,
not indeed the author of the crime, but the subordinate agent
who carried it into execution. Why was Nogueras dismissed

CH. XUI.J OUTRAGE ON BRITISH RIGHTS. 303
But still more recently, the utter failure of
British influence at Madrid was manifested on
a point immediately connected with British
interests. It is weU known, that a gentleman
connected with one of our leading journals * re
sided at Madrid, and supplied the press with
inforraation of peculiar accuracy, and of great
importance to individuals in this country, who
were disposed to embark in Spanish specula
tions. Yet, because he ventured to warn his
deluded countrymen against ruin in the shape
of false representations, and held up to them
the naked truth, he was arrested and forcibly
conveyed to the frontier, in spite of the regret
expressed by the British Minister, who openly
deplored the outrage he had not the influence
to prevent |.
from his command, and of what otfence was he guilty, if Ca
brera's mother was executed in virtue of a sentence of law ?
* The Morning Herald.
1 1 am far from attributing to Mr. Villiers the decline of Bri-
tish influence in Spain. On the contrary, it has declined, not in
consequence of any remissness on his part, but in spite of his
abilities and exertions to sustain it. With an acute under
standing and a perfect knowledge of the world, he combines in
a singular degree that suaviter in modo etfortiter in re which
is invaluable in all diplomatic intercourse with the people and
statesmen of the South ; but the unfortunate policy we have
latterly pursued towards Spain would have neutralized the efforts
of- any minister.

304 BRITISH POLICY. [CH. XIIL
There was a tirae when Englishmen were
considered safe in every part of the cirilized
world ; there was a time when an outrage com
mitted on the person of a British subject by
Spaniards, and not redressed by the Spanish
Government, drew down upon that people the
Avhole weight of British indignation ; — but
that time is past, and the violation of British
rights, which was considered, in better days, a
sufficient cause for war, is not, at present, deemed
worthy of a remonstrance.
Why has our influence so utterly declined
at Madrid ? Because our Government has mis
conceived the character of the parties with which
it has to deal ; because it has stimulated that
revolution which it should have endeavoured,
not, perhaps, to thwart, but to moderate; because
it has courted familiarity when it should have
ensured respect; because, by an improvident
treaty, it has hampered the fi-ee agency of their
own, and of every succeeding administration;
because, continually halting between indirect
and positive intervention, — now sending troops
to Spain, not commissioned, — now directing
the paid forces of the kingdom against a party
unknown to the state and with ivhich Ave are

CH. XIII.] BRITISH POLICY. 305
not at war, they have led us into a maze of in
congruities, have compromised us hopelessly'
with the mass of the Spanish nation, and have
at length pledged theraselves so deeply to the
revolution, that they have scarcely the pOAver,
even if they had the Avish, to recede. Of this,
our Spanish aUies are fully aware, and of this
they take ample advantage.
From the principles avowed by the leaders
of the liberal party, and from their increasing
asdendency over the councils of Madrid, I can
hardly think it probable that what yet survives
of the aristocratic institutions in Spain is very
likely to be long preserved under the existing
influences. There was a tirae, and not remote —
God grant that period may not have passed
away entirely ! — when a constitutional system
might have been successfully introduced into
Spain ; there were elements which ivould have
facilitated the formation of a balanced system
of government; but the utter dereliction of
justice, the disregard of life and property, the
desecration of the religious houses, and the con
tempt for every national prejudice, that both
now and in 1820 have accompanied the progress
of the constitutional regime, have so completely

306 BRITISH POLICY. [cH. XIII.
connected, in the minds of a large majority of
the nation, free institutions with all that freemen
should most abhor, that any experiment of that
nature, never easy of execution, will have in
creased difficulties to contend with in the life
time ofthe actual generation.
Be this as it may, it is clear to every raan ac
quainted irith the present state of Spain, that,
excepting in the privileged provinces, ivhere the
contest is most effectively maintained, and
maintained on mixed and peculiar grounds, the
struggle in other parts of the kingdom is al
most exclusively between those who wish to
preserve, perhaps too' unreservedly, but still
in accordance with the general feeUng of the
people, and those who wish not to reform, but
absolutely to destroy.
Taking this view of the question only, and
excluding, for a moment, from our considera
tion our revolting treatment of the Basques, I
cannot think that it was prudent in a British
Administration to depart frora that neutrality
which substantially ivas power, and to adopt one
of tAVO extreme parties, Avith neither of which
a British statesman could wholly sympathize ;
but least of all was it conducive to British in-

CH. XIIl.J BRITISH POLICY. 307
terests, to push forivard revolution in Spain by
active intervention, and thereby strengthen the
revolutionary impulse at home and all over
Europe. The discussions ivhich have lately engrossed
the attention of our legislature, on points of
great domestic interest, have generally turned
rather upon the extent than upon the expe
diency of reform. These points, and others
more of degree than of principle, will soon be
disposed of, and we shall then stand upon the
threshold of those more important questions,
whose serious consideration cannot be very
long warded off. It will then remain to be
seen whether we can still preserve the principle
of those institutions, upon which hang not only
the mixed character of our peculiar system of
Government, but the whole structure of society
as it exists in England.
Whatever may be the relative strength of
parties when that day of trial comes, of this I
feel sure, that, under the present rapid system
of general communication, no political changes
occurring in one part of Europe can be without
their influence on another; and the disappear
ance of the old institutions, and perhaps of even

308 POLITICAL SYMPATHY. [CH. XIII.
the privileged orders, from a country so impor
tant, and that has been for ages so eminently
aristocratic as Spain, by habituating the British
mind to changes of that description as the al
most inevitable result of the tendency of the
times, when it is, to a great extent, the effect of
our own policy, will render it infinitely more
difficult for any British Government to battle
successfully in favour of institutions which we
pretend to respect at horae, but ivhich we have
conderaned abroad.
Great internal changes have taken place in
continental states, with a rapidity of imitation
that would be almost ridiculous if their results
upon the happiness of mankind ivere not too
serious to admit of any but the gravest reflec
tion. Spain Avas revolutionized in the spring
of 1820, Portugal followed her example in the
same year, and Naples in the autumn. Pied
mont took precedence in the spring of 1821,
and was immediately followed by the famous
Greek Revolution.
We are not liable, it is true, to such extreme
and sudden revulsions, but it is a great mistake
to suppose that we are not sensibly affected by
the internal policy of other states. The Revo-

CH. XUI.] QUADRUPLE TREATY. 309
lution of Paris in 1830, ivhich overturned the
King of Holland's Government in the Nether
lands, and led to the Polish Insurrection, had a
powerful effect in England, and gave an im
pulse to the popular mind which, being com
municated at the crisis of a general election,
unquestionably accelerated, if it did not pro
duce, the changes we have witnessed at home.
I cannot, then, be of opinion that it was pru
dent in the Ministers of the Crown to stimulate
by undeserved praise and active assistance the
revolutionary Government of Spain, either with
reference to the political prepossessions and
general state of the parties now dividing that
country, or, indeed, ivith reference to Spain
itself as a part of the European community.
Strict neutrality Avould have been our Avisest
policy. It is an object of great importance that
England should be upon friendly terms with
Spain, and I do not think that object likely to
be advanced by sending * a British force to in-
* It may be said that the Government permitted the legion
to embark for Spain, but did not send them out. A British
public looks to things, and is not misled by words ; a govern
ment that repeals the existing law to enable a particular force
to go out for a particular purpose, and supplies them with arms
to carry their intentions into effect, virtually sends out that
fprce, and no sophistry can prejudice this plain view of the
question.

310 CONDUCT OF THE GOVERNMENT. [CH. XIII,
terfere in a dispute of a purely domestic cha
racter, and in opposition to a numerous and
influential party in the country. But we were
bound by treaty, I have heard it said. Bound !
— and to what? Not to declare war, for war
we have not declared, but to take a step almost
unprecedented in the military practice and con
trary to the established usages of Europe. This
reasoning cannot hold as an exculpation of our
policy. Besides, the treaty in question was
framed, or at least signed, by Lord Palmerston,
and if the acts, committed under the sanction
and in pursuance of the spirit of that agreement,
be impolitic and unjust, the treaty itself was
wholly indefensible.
We have considered the justice and policy of
the war ; let us, for a moment, reriew the con
duct of that Spanish Governraent for ivhich we
have made large sacrifices of honour and good
faith. On what principles has the civil war
been conducted ? On the part of the Queen's
Government by a system of raassacre abhorrent
to every virtuous and manly feeling, and never
exceeded by the worst men in the worst state of
society. When Lord Palmerston so severely censures

CH. XIII.] mina's cruelties. 311
Don Carlos for his Durango Decree, does he
forget that General Rodil, whom his Lordship
honoured with a special envoy at his camp in
Biscay, when in Estremadura, and long before
the conflicting parties had become exasperated
by mutual acts of cruelty, overtook, seized,
and put to death fourteen domestics of the
Prince; men said to have been helpless and
unarmed, and not accused of any crime but that
of following into exile the master ivhora they
had served for years, and would not abandon
inh is falling fortunes ? This was an act in
tended by its ferocious author to wound the
Prince through the raediura of his kindest af
fections, and was calculated to banish every
feeling of charity from his bosom towards those
who perpetrated the deed, and towards the
foreigners who afterwards supported them.
I do not think the moral people of this country
can admire a system under which the General
of the Spanish forces*, at once the tool and,
before his defeat, the idol of his Government,
commanded every fifth inhabitant of a certain
place to be put to death, and carried that sen
tence into execution, because they had neglected
* General Mina.

312 ferocious acts of mina. [ch. Xlll.
to afford him the requisite amount of informa
tion as to the movements of a Carlist battalion.
The sterling sense of England repudiates that
species of liberty under ivhich the peasants of
the Bastan were murdered, because, blindfolded,
and without the power of disobejdng their em
ployers, they had been compelled to bury some
Carlist pieces ; it abhors the conduct of that
Chief who never gave quarter during his com
mand, and after a battle butchered every prisoner
in cold blood ; at a time, too, when the sick and
Avounded Constitutionalists Avere taken into the
Carlist hospitals, and tended Avith that generous
solicitude Avhich a brother in adversity receives
from gallant men ; and Avhen, in the commence
ment of the Avar, Zumalacarregui took the fort of
Echari Arenas, and, in return for the unsparing
slaughter of his countrymen, bestowed upon his
Constitutional prisoners the free gift of liberty
and life, and actually sent an escort to protect
the liberated soldiers from the vengeance of the
people as far as Pampeluna, what, under such
circurastances, will English faith and honour say
of him who, basely violating every law of civi
lized warfare, and every obligation of gratitude,
seized that escort, and imprisoned them in the

ch. XIIl.J IMPOLICY OF THE government. 313
dungeons of the city, where they might have
been languishing at the present hour if Lord
Eliot had not honourably insisted on their de
Uverance? — and, finally, can even Christian
charity find an excuse for one ivho punished
the unfortunate surgeon with death, because, in
contravention of his ferocious edict *, and yield
ing to the better feelings of our nature, that
humane Christino ventured to assuage the last
earthly sufferings of a dying Carlist ?
These are not laws against the Carlists only,
these are laws against every generous sentiment,
injunctions against every Christian duty. Can
words express our horror at the conduct of this
man and the Administration ivhich supported
him ? Yes, there is one emotion stronger in the
bosom of an Englishman, for indignation at this
wickedness is lost in sorrow that our Ministers
should have appeared to countenance their acts
by lauding at home that barbarous Govern
ment and assisting it by our arms abroad.
We have considered the principles upon
which the Crown of Spain has acted with refer
ence to the Basques. I see no indications of
* An edict issued by Mina, in which any medical assistance
to a wounded or even dying Carlist was punishable by death.
VOL. II. P

314 nature OF THE [cH. XIII.
a wiser policy towards the rest of its subjects ;
few, if any, real abuses have been corrected,
while a systera of unsparing hostility has been
carried on against every institution endeared
to the people, either by their prejudices, their
faith, or the experience of ages. It is scarcely
necessary to observe, that the monastic esta
blishments were deeply rooted in the national
affection, though always marked out as objects
of hatred and plunder by the democratic party
in the towns. I have stated, in an earlier part
of my work, that I differ widely frora the view
generally taken of the inutility of these insti
tutions — at least, of the wealthier institutions
of the kind.
Not only are the conventual territories gene
rally kept in a state of the highest cultivation,
and sometimes land of a sterile character ren
dered productive by a wise appUcation of capital;
not only are the neighbouring poor largely
employed, and their condition, in consequence,
greatly improved, but the convents in Spain
frequently supplied the place of local banks, and
in a country singularly destitute of such insti
tutions, were often productive of extensive be
nefit, by advancing money for agricultural and

CH. XIIl.J MONASTIC INSTITUTIONS. 315
local improvements, upon the most reasonable
terms, and receiving rent charges and mort
gages as security. As active and intelligent
proprietors, stimulating industry, and facili
tating transactions, the monks were often use
ful; as spiritual and temporal advisers of the
people, benefiting them by their advice, arbi
trating between their differences, softening
their manners, and exercising an almost un
bounded influence over their minds, they syp-
plied the place of a gentry, ivhich had long
ceased to reside in the provinces, and whose
desertion of their native districts ivould have
been otherwise more deeply and extensively
felt ; to the Government, while it treated them
with kindness and consideration, their services
were invaluable in the rural districts of Spain,
where influence and habit have always super
seded the more direct operation of law, and where
law will be comparatively ineffective for many
years to come. Taxes ivhich might have been
evaded with facility, were often paid through
their agency ; local disturbances, through their
assistance, were quickly appeased, and a ge
neral spirit of loyalty preserved ; in periods of
national difficulty and distress, the wealthier
p2

316 PERSECUTION [cH. XIIL
convents have not unfrequently conferred still
more substantial benefits upon the state ; and
in a spirit of disinterested attachment not often
found in great public bodies, have sometimes
relieved, by large and spontaneous contribu
tions, the necessities of the Crowii. The hasty
and ill-timed abolition of the Convents has in
creased the difficulty of governing the country,
by increasing the general distress. The poor,
deprived of their accustomed relief at the con
vent gates, have, in many places, been rendered
disaffected by this measure; and a question
of Poor Laws may possibly be forced on the
Government at a time when the Constitution is
unsettled, and when the country is not suffi
ciently tranquil, or the legislature sufficiently
free from great and pressing embarrassments, to
give that important subject a full and dispas
sionate consideration.
To alienate the monks and abolish the con
vents Avas, I think, most unwise ; — the conduct
pursued in effecting this object was positively
wicked. I will now allude briefly to some of the per
secutions inflicted upon the regular clergy since
the accession of the Queen's Government. Upon

CH. XUI.J OF THE MONKS. 317
one occasion, a mob collected before the convent
ofthe Jesuits, at Madrid, in the street of Toledo ;
— the doors of the edifice were forced open, and
a massacre of the monks ensued. On the same
evening, the head convent of the Franciscans
was attacked ; they defended themselves for a
long time ivith the most heroic courage : but
the convent Avas at length taken, and no less
than forty of its inmates were deliberately
butchered. Yet, several battalions of the
Queen's army Avere present, and saAV the carnage
Avithout emotion; not a man stepped forward
in their defence, and not an officer of that de
graded force exerted himself to save those vic
tims of the popular rage ; — yet, to these monks
no crime had been imputed, and against them
no accusation had been even raised.
On the same evening, the head convent of
the Dominicans, the convent of the Carmelites,
and many other monasteries, were destroyed,
although the armed force in Madrid raight
have easily suppressed the tumult.
These striking displays of liberal energy were
imitated in the provinces, and repeated with
still greater success. The indignation felt by
the Ministers of foreign powers had compeUed

318 DECREES LEVELLED [CH. XIII.
the Spanish Government to take some notice
of crimes which had dyed the streets of the
capital with the blood of innocent men ; but in
the provinces, these acts were renewed by the
Liberals, under the approving eye of the con
stituted authorities.
The result of these proceedings was obvious :
Forbidden to keep arms for their own defence,
and unprotected by the natural guardians of
the law, the monks were compelled, under the
hourly dread of assassination, to desert their
once peaceful halls and well-cultivated fields ;
too fortunate if, in that hour of persecution, they
could obtain from a compassionate and still
revering peasantry, sorae portion of that sus
tenance which they, in more prosperous times,
had never denied to the poor and to the sup
pliant; and happy, too happy, if, under the
wretched roof of some lowly but sincere ad
herent of the faith, they could at once conceal
their miseries and their proscribed persons from
ihe dangerous observation of their enemies.
The convents, in consequence, became in
many places reluctantly deserted by their lawful
tenants, who did not venture to remain; upon
which the Governraent quietly seized upon their

CH. XIIl.J AGAINST THE MONKS. 319
lands and upon all their effects, in virtue of a
decree which, in a spirit prophetic of coming
events, they had lately promulgated, — "that if
any ecclesiastics should quit the kingdom with
out licence, possession should be taken of their
temporalities," — with this monstrous addition,
" that no other proof of the flight of the eccle
siastic from the kingdom was requisite than
public report."
As the endangered monks necessarily sought
concealment, public report was a creature wholly
at the coraraand of the liberal inquisitor, and
that monk was often declared a voluntary exile
from his native land, who was perhaps at the
very moment pining in the last state of indi
gence within the limits of his former territory.
The Government first decreed, " that any eccle
siastics who had left the kingdom," for which no
proof but flight was requisite, " should by that
act have forfeited their property ;" and then, by
excluding them from the protection of the law
the Government rendered flight almost inevi
table, and thus brought them within the range
of the confiscating edict. By this subtle and
iniquitous policy they succeeded, at least to a
great extent, in gratifying the animosity of the

320 INTREPIDITY OF THE MONKS. [CH. XUI.
Liberals by the destruction of the monastic
establishments ivithout alarming the great
European powers by an act of manifest spolia
tion. But among the Spanish monks there were
men, not only intrepid in the faith but staunch
in the defence of their legal rights; men who
ivould not be induced by the murder of their
companions, and by their own imminent peril,
to desert their ancient halls. Against these ob
stinate proprietors another process was adopted.
The Government had decreed, " that any eccle
siastic who should be guilty of providing the
rebels with arms, money, &c., — of receiving
them, inducing persons to join them, or exciting
movements, or sedition, should have their tem
poralities confiscated," &c., &c.
To the letter of that decree no objection
could be fairly raised if it had been carried into
effect with fairness ; but when men were sum
moned to rebut charges so easily raade, so
difficult to be disproved, of so vague a de
scription, and before individuals pre-determined
to effect their ruin — the deposition of a dis
carded menial was proof sufficient to decide
their fate — the vaguest hearsay allegation frora

CH. XIII.] REGULAR CLERGY PERSECUTED. 321
a liberal opponent was an excess of testimony ;
and although property was at stake, — property
dear to freemen as their lives, not only the
spirit of justice but the very form of a trial was
declared by a Constitutional Government to be
unnecessary in their case, and the confiscation
of all their effects was only preceded by a short
investigation before a local functionary, whose
decision might be pronounced with certainty
before the examination commenced. Justice
was then declared in pompous terms to be
satisfied, and no further measures to be requi
site. By such iniquitous means the Spanish monks,
Avho had sacrificed all other and better prospects
to their profession, became in many instances
deprived not only of a comfortable provision for
life, but of the means of subsistence, frequently
by an unjust sentence, upon an ill-supported
accusation, and sometimes in the evening of life ;
yet these were men to whom the people had
long looked up with reverence, and now regard
as martyrs.
Since that period the open inarch of revolu
tion has dispensed with the assistance of collu
sive measures; the convents have, with few
p3

322 VIOLATIONS OF THE LAW [cH. XIII,
exceptions, been suppressed by a general edict;
and although the exiled monks have been
promised a paltry pension, as some compensa
tion for the easy competence which they pre
viously enjoyed, even that inadequate allowance
is ill-secured, is practically so limited by condi
tions, and so irregularly paid, that many of
these poor pensioners are reduced to a condition
of the lowest misery.
It is well known in Spain that, even in the
revolted prorinces, a portion of the secular
clergy espoused the Queen's cause irith con
siderable warmth at the commencement of the
contest, but the contributions unjustly levied
upon them by the Christino generals, and the
insults with which they were frequently treated
by the Christino soldiery, alienated their affec
tions, and produced a revulsion of feeling which
materially strengthened the CarUsts, and gave
a fresh impulse to the civil war.
Such has been the course pursued by the
Liberal party towards the Church, in the earlier
part of the present revolution ; but the raassacre
of monks, and the destruction of convents by
fire have again taken place and have signaUsed
the progress of misrule under the Queen's Go-

CH. XIIl.J REMAIN UNPUNISHED. 323
vernment. Have the guilty agents suffered for
these raore recent acts of outrage, comraitted
not secretly, but in the presence of numbers ?
that question requires no reply, — the sufferers,
guiltless of any crime against the state, were yet
attached, or supposed to be attached, to the old
order of things, "and were consequently excluded
from the protection of the law.
The famous massacre at Barcelona is not
exceeded in horror by the worst excess of Revo
lutionary France, — yet, has it been avenged with
that stern promptitude which might have been
expected from a vigorous Government, and a
party impatient of enduring the reproach of
such a stain? The Chamber of Proceres re-
fiised to institute an inquiry ; the Government
declined to take cognizance of such an insig
nificant transaction as the butchery of many
unarmed and helpless Carlists, committed in
the broad light of day, and perpetrated by
weapons supplied to the Christines by our Go
vernment; and, even now, the murderers boast
openly of their exploit, and bask in the favour
ofthe local authorities.
Let my readers pause for a moraent, to reflect
upon the nature of these dreadful and still un-

324 DELIBERATE MASSACRES. [cH. XIU.
punished excesses ; let thera remember that still
more recently at Saragossa, after the regular
trial of some individuals suspected of CarUst
opinions, and even after the announcement of
their sentence, the Liberal party compelled the
judges to re-try the prisoners, — to reverse the
solemnly recorded opinion of the preceding day,
and to substitute the penalty of death for the
mitigated punishment of a few years' transpor
tation, ivhich those very judges had declared
sufficient for the alleged offence. Let them call
to mind the massacres of Murcia, Valentia,
Figueras, and other atrocities, ivhich I have
neither space, nor wish to recapitulate; but
above all, let them remember the deliberate
murder of a ivoraan by the Queen's representa
tive at Barcelona, — a woman convicted of no
crime, but of too great love for her son, and too
great devotion to her God ! — a woman wliose
every hair on her head was white with age, and
who, if her friends speak truly, ivas no less ve
nerable for her virtues than her years ! — yet she,
because her son escaped from his pursuers, was
sentenced to receive, upon her bended and tot
tering knees, the punishment due to his reputed
offences. Let my readers call to mind this still

CH. XIII.] EXCESS OF CRIME IN SPAIN. 325
unavenged and most inexpiable outrage upon
every huraan feeling, and they will not suspect
me of exaggerating the weakness and wickedness
of the ruling party in Spain ; or of overstating
the fact when I say, what is indisputably the
truth, that almost every town and district in
ivhich the Queen's authority predorainates, is
fearfully marked by the prevalence of popular
and official crime.
To what strange cause is this extensive and
utter perversion of law and justice to be attri
buted ? Does it arise on the part of the execu
tive from want of power to restrain, or from
want of will to punish wrong ? If it originate
in want of power, ivretched, indeed, is that un
happy country ivhich is entrusted to such in
efficient hands ! If it result from want of will,
our language furnishes no term too strong to
designate the character of such a Government.
Yet Avith M. Mendizabal's government, the go
vernment Avhich sanctioned these acts, were his
Majesty's Ministers in close alliance, and that
Government, Avhich sympathized not with the
popular interests, but with the popular excesses,
they described in the King's speech as prudent
and vigorous. Did they allude to the prudence

326 EFFECT OF THE KINg's SPEECH [cH. XIII.
that paralyses, or to the vigour that sets at
nought the law ?
An injudicious expression in the King's speech
is seldom attended irith serious consequences,
but the unlucky words, to which I refer, were
not merely inaccurate, but pregnant with mis
chief I foresaw and deprecated the effect
which that expression of opinion was certain to
produce upon the Spanish Government and
their liberal friends. Difficult to reclaim from
their savage and half civilized habits, they were
sure to be confirmed in their career of guilt
by such an iU-timed and inappropriate praise
of their domestic policy; for, at the very tirae
when those expressions were inserted in the
King's speech, and, consequently, circulated
through every city of Spain, the war was car
rying on upon a system abhorrent to every
Christian principle, at least, in the districts to
which the Eliot Convention was not applicable;
massacres were comraitted in the towns by the
Queen's party, and innocent blood was crying
in vain, frora all parts of the kingdom, for the
impartial vengeance of the law ; that vengeance
was withheld : and yet, at such a crisis of the
Spanish revolution, Ave heard the prudence and

CH. XUI.] IN SPAIN. 327
rigour of their government extolled. Those
iU-advised expressions were positively a pre
mium upon Spanish crime.
During the debates upon the address. Lord
Palmerston unquestionably expressed his disap
probation of the cruelties in question ; but the
Spanish Governraent were sure to turn from
any raere speech to the approring language
of the throne, unmixed, as it was, with a particle
of censure. They regarded it as the spontane
ous effusion of the British cabinet, and naturally,
though, I am sure, erroneously beUeved, that
any after-expressions of disgust were only a
reluctant homage to that general burst of Eng
lish indignation which pervaded every portion
of the House at the recital of those acts, and
not the real expression of the ministerial senti
ments. And what was the result? Immedi
ately after the King's speech, Spanish atrocities
increased to a great extent ; the Eliot Conven
tion was more decidedly violated, and the
Queen's Generals, at length, committed that
crowning act of butchery which introduced a
new element of horror into the war; I mean,
that system of female murder, compared with

328 MISTAKEN POLICY. [cH. XIH.
Avhich, their previous crimes seem venial, and at
ivhich every instinct of the mind recoils.
Even if our Ministers, according to their
views of British interests, were justified in send
ing an expedition against the Royalists, they
were still bound, by every high and manly
feeling, not to have dissented coldly from such
a system of horrors, but, at once, to have relieved
themselves and their country from the withering
suspicion of having given the faintest, or most
indirect encouragement to such a criminal policy.
The indignant language of our Ministers should
have marked their generous abhorrence of the
proceedings of the Spanish Governraent. We
will not disgrace ourselves by becoming accom
plices in your acts of massacre, they should have
said, nor will we assist you to disgrace your
selves ; we will not brutalize our troops by
familiarity, not with war, but with murder. The
treaty binds us to furnish you with arras for the
prosecution of legitimate war, not for the exe
crable purposes to which you have applied them ;
you shall have no stores from our arsenals,
you shall have no men from our islands until
you have adopted the usages of civilized nations.

CH. XIU. J MUTUAL CRUELTIES. 329
and have abandoned practices shameful to the
country which acknoivledges you, and to the
age in ivhich we live. This ivould have been
language ivorthy of a British Government.
I confess I am one of those old fashioned in
dividuals who believe that, in almost every con
tingency, that policy will, upon the whole, be
most advantageous to a nation which is most
subservient to the great interests of justice
and morality. I believe that, under the bless
ing of God, British influence at the close of
the revolutionary war attained its powerful
ascendency abroad, not only from the vigour,
but quite as much from the acknowledged
justice and humanity of our general policy *.
Divest us of those truly British quaUties, and
I believe that our national influence ivould
decline. Most unquestionably, in the course of the
Avar, the Carlists have committed cruelties which
* I remember being forcibly impressed in the year 1821 with
the respect, and almost veneration, felt for the Briti^h character
not only by the Spanish Royalists, but even by the remote and
uncivilized Moors. " Are you a Frenchman ?'' I was often
asked in Barbary, with a lowering countenance. " No." " Are
you a Spaniard ?" with a still more sinister aspect. " No."
" Are you, then, an Englishman ?" with a smoothed brow, and
in a more cheerful voice. " Yes." " Eight and good, they are
an honest people."

330 CARLISTS STRIVE TO MITIGATE [CH. XUI.
cannot be defended, and indeed can only be
palliated by the great provocation received.
That dreadful instance of severe retahation in
which the son triumphed over the man, and filial
vengeance sacrificed so many innocent women at
the shrine of a murdered mother, is fresh in our
recollection. Still if the writer endeavour to
strike the balance impartially, and attribute to
each faction, as honestly and as nearly as pos
sible, the real portion of guilt incurred in these
odious transactions, he will be compelled to
admit that the great cruelties so characteristic
of this war, appear to have originated with the
Christines, and to have been mainly kept up by
the Queen's Generals. The formation of the
first powerful Guerrilla, in the Carlist interest,
seems to have been principally produced by
the execution of Santos Ladron, in direct breach
of a promise given to the inhabitants of Pam
peluna, that his life would be respected. The
practice of visiting the sins of men upon their
female relations, originated with the Queen's
Officers. During the early days of the revolt,
Zumalacarregui endeavoured to divest the .war of
its unnatural horrors ; and though prepared to
meet the severities of his opponents, by as stern

CH. XUI.J THE HORRORS OF THE WAR. 331
a policy, he yet attempted, at first by example,
and afterwards by positive negociation, to sub
stitute a milder system ; and at the time of the
Eliot negociation, he proved the sincerity of his
previous professions, by striving, though ineffec
tually, to extend the operation of the cartel, and
thus give greater eflBcacy to that labour of love
and mercy.
It raust also be remembered that orders for
the execution of the captured Carlists were
issued by an established Government, and car
ried into execution by leaders regularly ap
pointed, having under their command disciplined
forces, and holding possession of the towns
where they had ample accomraodation for their
prisoners. However much we may deprecate some pas
sages in the Ufe of that extraordinary man, ivho
appears to have combined with great military
talents some of the most chivalrous and Arinning
qualities of our nature, Ave cannot, without ma
nifest partiality, refrain from acknowledging the
merit of Zumalacarregui, in seeking to abolish
the practice of putting the prisoners to death,
because such an arrangement would not have
been conducive to his interest, and could there-

332 THE LATE EXPEDITION. [CH. XHI.
fore only have originated in motives of humanity.
At that early period of the war it was extremely
difficult for any self-appointed leader to keep
together a large organized force, and, conse
quently, that chief was likely to be the most
popular Avho most humoured the exasperated
feelings of his partizans; besides, not having
j)ossession of the towns, it was no easy matter
to keep the prisoners at all, and a choice was
frequently to be made between the execution or
liberation of men, upon whose honour they could
not rely; in short, when that humane proposal
was made by the Royalists, and foolishly re
jected by their opponents, the Christines ivould
have reaped all the advantages of that arrange
ment, if it had been agreed upon, because, from
the greater facilities ivhich, in that peculiar
country, the invaded enjoys over the invader,
the Carlists actually had, at that time, and were
in the daily habit of taking, by far the largest
number of prisoners.
But an extreme discrepancy between profes
sion and practice has been for years distinctive
of the Spanish Liberals ; in the great Rebel
lion of 1822, a Government professing to be
based on the most enlightened principles, and

CH. XIII.] POLICY OF DON CARLOS. 333
to be actuated by feelings of universal phUan-
thropy, introduced, and carried into practice
the. dreadful system of utter extermination.
Fearfully, indeed, has their example been fol
lowed by their Constitutional successors !
During the last few months the progress of
the Carlists, chequered, it is true, by occasional
reverses, has been very considerable. Contrary
to oflScial predictions, they have emerged from
the " modest retirement of the caves of Biscay,"
have overrun extensive districts, have taken,
though they have not permanently occupied,
large toivns, have encountered little or no re
sistance from the people, and have received a
great accession of force.
It may be fairly observed that the country
through ivhich the chieftain Gomez marched has
not generally risen in favour of the royal cause,
but Avhile Ave attribute to this circumstance its
due Aveight, it must be remembered that the
difficulty of supplying with arms the peasantry
who, in many places, crowded to the Royalist
camp, prevented the more cautious leaders from
wishing to create a rural insurrection in parts of
the country lying beyond the general sphere and
protection of the Carlist forces. They felt, that

334 PROGRESS AND EXTENT [CH. XIII.
destitute of arms, the native population raight
not be enabled to support their first demonstra
tions without great and expensive assistance
frora head-quarters ; that the notorious failure
of their adherents in any part of the kingdom
would be morally prejudicial to their cause, and
that the energies of their Carlist partizans should
not be prematurely exhausted in parts of the
kingdom where, under actual circumstances, they
could not be effectually developed : they main
tained that it was rather the policy of Don
Carlos to distract the attention of the Christino
armies by various military expeditions, in ivhich
the Carlists might be successful, and from
which they could not materially suffer ; that,
levying contributions on the towns through
which they passed, they might remit consider
able funds to the government of Onate, which
might thus be enabled to extend its influence,
to augment and improve the central forces *, and
pave the way for their march to Madrid. How
far this reasoning be correct I do not presume
* The organized Carlist force has been progressively increas
ing, and is, I am told, estimated at about 100,000 men, exclusive
of many flying parties. The guard of hunour to Don Carlos is
principally composed of gentlemen who are selected from the
best families of the provinces, and have assumed the lofty title of
the " Legitimad.-'

CH. XIU.] OF THE CARLIST INSURRECTION. 335
to decide, but I understand that the advisers of
the late expedition have not been disappointed
in the results which they anticipated, and that
the booty collected has been enormous. Fa
voured, too, by the general good-will of the
inhabitants, the CarUst armies have approached
Madrid, defeated the Christino forces in their
own country, and carried terror into the heart
ofthe capital.
In casting a hasty glance over the troubled
surface of the peninsula, we shall perceive that
the Carlist insurrection prevails to a great ex
tent in Aragon and Valencia, and partially in
Leon, Gallicia, and the Asturias. The Royalist
feeUng is strong in many parts of Catalonia, but
has not been fully developed on the present
occasion, in consequence of the premature ex
haustion occasioned by a severe check which the
Catalonian CarUsts experienced in 1827, and
from other causes, to which I shall allude in a
note at the end of the work. The whole power
of the popular feeling, in the rural districts of
Old CastiUe, inclines to Don Carlos, but their
zeal is restrained by the want of arms to main
tain their opinions, and by the level character
of the country, which leaves them pecuUarly

336 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN [CH. XIII.
exposed to the armies of the capital. The
fertile and extensive provinces of the south of
Spain have, generally speaking, acquiesced in
the Christino government, and are perhaps fa
vourably inclined to their cause, but the character
and energy of the kingdom are almost wholly to
be found in the districts north of Madrid.
Not only unsubdued, but, on the contrary,
stimulated into greater exertions by the aug
mented efforts of the Queen's government, the
insurrection of the Basques and Navarrese has
steadily increased. That insurrection, perhaps .
the most extraordinary in the annals of civil
war, has been carried on under circumstances
which prove that it originated in no slight
grievance or passing disaffection, but in a deep
sense of religious duty to their King, their
country, and their God. Their insurrection was
not produced by a sudden burst of outraged
feeling, but gained ground as the injui'ies
inflicted upon them were more generally felt,
and the cause for which they took up arms
became better understood. Their strength,
slowly roused into action, is noiv exerted with
a perseverance ivorthy of a people that never
yet, in any period of their history, succumbed

CH. XUI.J THE BASQUES AND NAVARRPSE. 337
to the oppressor. Their fidelity has been re
paid, in too many instances, by the destruction
of their dwellings ; but their fields, laid waste
by the Christines, are to be seen Avaving Avith
corn, at the return of the season, up to the
highest point of the mountains on Avhich culti
vation is practicable, so that after years of de
solating war, the revolted provinces possess the
means of supporting a large military force as
abundantly as in the early days of the struggle.
The insurgents fall in considerable numbers,
but their loss is scarcely felt, for the popular
enthusiasm has experienced no abatement, and
instantly replenishes the royal ranks.
The Basques and the Navarrese, separated
fi-ora each other, it is true, by a striking diversity
of tastes and habits, are yet united by an equal
attachment to their privileges and to their
Prince. The Biscayan, delighting in varied
enterprise, fond of agricultural, but no less at
tached to commercial pursuits, as much at home
on the ocean as on his native hills, will frequently
leave his country in the morning of life to ad
vance his fortunes in other states, and sometimes
in another hemisphere ; but, unlike the adven
turous spirits of France and England, his ori-
VOL. 11. Q

338 DEVOTION OF THE NAVARRESE [CH. XIII.
ginal impressions are little weakened by a
greater intercourse Arith the world ; and the
laws, the liberties, and the traditions of his
country cling to him in Avhatever part of the
globe he may be found : in short, his affec
tions seldom take root in the scene of his active
speculations, but are centered in that distant
horae which he only leaves to revisit after years
of successful enterprise, there to spend the re
mainder of his Ufe in competence and comfort.
The Navarrese, on the contrary, animated,
not perhaps by a greater, but by a different
kind of affection for his country, adheres with
tenacity to the soil of his birth ; he is usually
addicted almost exclusively to agricultural pur
suits, and no prospect of advantage or promo
tion can, generally speaking, induce him to
abandon, even for a time, the home of his
fathers. I have heard, even from their wild
Guerrilla chieftains when in arms, the most
touching expressions of affection to then altars
and their hearths. The Navarrese is ready to
make any sacrifices and incur any danger, if
those sacrifices are to be made and that dan
ger incurred upon his native soil, but if com
peUed to pass the limits of his beloved province,

CH. XIIl.J TO THEIR COUNTRY. 339
f
his energies too often desert him, and he some
tiraes seeras deprived of half his strength. To
such an extent is this overpowering attachment
to their country carried in Navarre, that when
Guerge marched into Catalonia, at the head of
a Navarrese force, to assist the Carlist insur
gents, although his troops were quartered in a
country far more abundant than their own, were
well received by the inhabitants, and were more
over crowned with success in the field, he was
prevailed upon by their prayers and entreaties
to lead them back to Navarre ; and there, under
the inspiration of their native sky, they were
-surpassed by none in courage and devotion to
the cause.
The ties of kindred are peculiarly strong in
Navarre and Biscay, as indeed in every moral
and virtuous state of society. Yet in Navarre
the mother of a cherished family was known to
replace, in the ranks of the Royal army, without
a raurraur or a doubt, her fallen husband by her
son, and that son by his younger and last sur-
riring brother ; and when he, too, had shared
the fate of his relations, she was heard, even in
that hour of utter desolation, to express both
pride and gratitude that her children, the last
q2

340 CAUSES OP THE [CH. XIII.
and the only gifts she could offer to her country,
had died successfully contending with the King's
enemies. This is not a solitary instance of NavaiTCse
enthusiasm : a similar spirit pervades the pro
vince. With such a feeling arrayed against them,
the present Governraent of Spain irill find it no
easy matter to achieve the conquest of the free
states. Blockade cannot easily reduce that
people, favoured as they are by the fertility of a
soil, ivhich yields a crop immensely exceeding the
annual consumption of the country, and who are
still determined to maintain the arraies of their
choice by every public and private sacrifice. In
vasion, except on a most extensive scale, can
not exhaust the resisting population of a country
where enlistment is not avoided as an unwel
come summons to fatigue and danger, but is
courted as the only road to honour and inde
pendence ; where the stripUng burns to join his
father in the ranks of war, and ivhere, even in
the maternal bosom, the love of the child is lost
in the love ofthe cause.
Why did the French army in 1823 march
from Irun to Cadiz ivith such rapidity, and al
most unmolested ? Because the system ivhich

CH. XIIL] defeat OF THE LEGION. .341
they entered the country to subvert was odious
to the people, and, in consequence, the clergy
paved the way for their reception, and the pea
santry and the invaders fought side by side,
and were united by a common bond. Why,
in 1809, was every inch of ground contested,
and every fastness made a scene of deadly re
sistance? Because the French of that day
went into Spain to put down the principles
which in 1823 they marched to support. The
sarae causes, the sarae opposition to the feelings
of the people, have, in a great measure, occa
sioned the disasters ivhich have recently afflicted
the British Legion. A cautious statesman
would have scarcely sent a regular army into
such a country as Spain to enforce opinions
hostile to the general feeling, although prepared
and able to support it with all the energies and
resources of the state, but ivould have spurned
the notion of shipping off a handful of adven
turers to decide a question of succession, and
in one part of the country to put down an an
cient Constitution. But the opinions of prac
tical men were unheeded, and the expedition
was launched forth amid prophecies of success,
which reflected little credit on the actual in-

342 IMPOLICY OF THE COURSE [CH. XIII.
formation and historical deductions of our
Foreign Secretary.
Even if the British Legion had attained its
object, the poUcy which dictated the expedition
would not have been the less unsound. The
strong conviction which prevailed in France that
the Bourbon dynasty had been replaced on the
throne of that country by a foreign force, pro
duced great disaffection during the years which
followed the Restoration, and more contributed
to the final overthrow of that unfortunate house,
than even the misjudging policy which, in their
last doubtful and difficult crisis, the Sovereign
was induced to pursue.
Had the Queen's authority been established
by British exertions, the same inherent taint
would have affected the royal tenure in Spain,
and have been equally resented by a people
still more jealous of foreign interference, unless
indeed that interference is exercised in favour
of their religious prejudices ; animated, too, by
haughtier feelings, and regarding British troops
not only with political aversion, but as the
natural enemies of their faith.
If, then, the civil war had been suppressed
for the time by our immediate agency, the

CH. XIII.] PURSUED BY GREAT BRITAIN. 343
Queen's Government ivould stUl have rested on
a most unstable basis ; yet this precarious con
dition of affairs ivould have been the happiest
result that could have been attained by the
Ministerial policy. If, on the other hand, Don
Carlos should become eventually possessed of
the throne of Spain by one of those ricissitudes
which so frequently takes place in human affairs,
and ivhich, however improbable in the opinion
of our Foreign Secretary, no statesman should
ever exclude from his consideration, our foreign
policy will have then involved our interests in
difficulties the least excusable because the most
unnecessary. A large part of the Spanish po
pulation are already alienated frora this country
by our recent interference, and, in the contin
gency just supposed, a deep-rooted hostility
towards Great Britain would animate not only
the people but the councils of Spain.
With respect to Don Carlos our Government
have not only opposed his claims as a Prince,
but have acted with little temper towards him
as an indiridual. He did not, I think, expe
rience at their hands, when in this country, the
com-tesy due to his high station, and, I might
add, to his great calamities ; and, after his re-

344 CHARACTER OF DON CARLOS. [cH. XIIL
turn to Spain, he was, in the anticipated extre
mity of his distress, positively excluded, by the
instructions of our Government, from the benefit
of that general protection ivhich is seldom re
fused to the basest felon.
It is hardly in human nature that a Prince so
treated can forget, in the day of his power,
if that day ever arrive, the insults heaped upon
him in the period of his adversity. The lan
guage soraetiraes applied to him by Ministers
and their supporters is equally undignified and
impolitic. The hard terras of rebel and mur
derer are unsuited to a Prince who, perhaps
arbitrary, and possibly mistaken in his general
notions of government, has been invariably dis
tinguished in his public conduct by honour and
integrity ; whose disinterested policy with re
spect to the Basque privileges I have already
shown; whose present difficulties arise, almost
entirely, frora his refusal to infringe upon his
brother's authority, and tamper with the army
during the lifetime of that King, and who per
severed in that course against the remonstrances
of his less honest advisers. During the present
struggle, he has frequently, from a chivah-ous
feeling of honour, declined the services of men

CH. XIII.] REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT. 345
of great weight but of exceptionable character ;
and within the sphere of his authority, has re
spected the property of persons actually in
arms against him, and has not permitted the
confiscation of their estates. Tn private life, as
a father, a husband, and a raan strict in the
performance of every promise and in the pay
ment of every debt, he is absolutely without re
proach. I am no friend to the opinions usually
attributed to this Prince on general poUtics, but
I cannot ivithstand the force of facts, or be in
sensible to the impolicy and injustice of the lan
guage appUed to him.

Since the last paragraph was written an im
portant crisis has occurred in Spain ; the views
which the author has ascribed to the leaders of
the prevailing party have been fully though
somewhat prematurely developed. The failure
of our Spanish policy is complete, the fallacy of
the reasoning on ivhich it was based is amply
demonstrated, and that system of governraent,
in support of which we have larished British
treasure and sacrificed British honour, has va
nished before the first blast of the revolutionary
storm. I am far from treating with ridicule an
q3

346 CHARACTER AND POSITION OF [cH. XIII.
attempt to establish a balanced Government in
Spain ; the conception in itself is good, and the.
advancement of such a project by prudent and
by honest means would have been worthy of a.
British Minister; but every step which our
Cabinet has adopted in the prosecution of this.
object, if such, indeed, were really their aim,
has been open to serious objections, and, to a
great extent, calculated to defeat their own in
tentions. Their Quadruple treaty has hampered the.
country, will probably lead to future embar
rassment, and has not been productive of any
useful result : the partial policy of repeaUng the
law in favour of one belligerent party, to the
disadvantage of the other, with both of whom we
were ostensibly at peace, was contrary to the
straightforward feelings of the British people ;
and the expedition against the Basques, without
an attempt to mediate in behalf of their ancient
rights, was at once unjust and unchristian. It
is, howeyer, raost difficult to reconcile irith any
notion of good policy the obstinate attachment
with which our Ministers continued, by acts of
increasing favour, to support the deraocratic
party in Spain, in spite of their increasing

CH. XIII.] THE MODERATE PARTY IN SPAIN. 347
atrocities; at a time, too, when it was evident
that, by such a course, they were not promoting
the interests of good government, or even of
the Queen, but were feeding the fire so quickly
destined to involve in a common destruction
the Estatuto Real, the child of their adoption,
and the more ancient institutions of Spain.
There were three parties in Spain. The
Carlists, powerful frora their deterraination,
their unbending principles, and the support of
the peasantry ; — the Queen's friends, a body of
men actuated by very discordant motives ; some
of whom would have adhered to any administra
tion, from mere attachment to place and power;
while others hoped to steer between the con
flicting extremes of anarchy on the one hand,
and despotism on the other, and ivere sincerely
anxious to see the country governed by a mode
rate system ; but these Avere few, for moderate
men do not abound in any country, and least of
aU in Spain. Detesting either party, though
ostensibly favourable to the Queen, the par
tisans of the Constitution of 1812 formed the
third faction; a faction formidable from its
energy and union, and, in the divided state of
the old Royalist party, and in the peculiar cir-

348 MODERATE PARTY IN SPAIN. [cH. XHI.
curastances of the country, almost equal in
power to both.
If no question of disputed succession had
arisen to create dissension among the Royalists,
and if the Crown, at a period of internal tran-
quiUity, and in a spirit of wise precaution, had
conferred representative institutions upon Spain,
the moderate party to ivhich I have just alluded
would have played, in all human probability,
a conspicuous part on the theatre of Spanish
affairs. Their superior aptitude for business,
their greater discretion — their comparative
freedom from pledges — the very absence per
haps of decided and uncoraproraising principle
— might, in the peculiar state of Spain, have
enabled them to steer a prudent course ; to con
ciliate by gradual and safe reform the rational
portion of the liberal public, and yet by cau
tious management retain within the limits of
allegiance that honest and influential though
rather impracticable party, ivhich looked with
suspicion and dislike on everj' change.
Those moderate men, the only real supporters
of the Estatuto Real, however fitted to shine in
quiet times, were sure to be overwhelmed at a
period when questions of Government were to

CH. Xlll.] COMPROMISE OF INTERESTS. 349
be decided, not in the senate but in the field,
nor could they exercise any influence at such
a time over parties inflamed to the highest
degree of resentment by mutual injuries. Few
in number, with little weight in the country,
appealing to the prejudices and to the passions
of no party, and placed between two conflicting
fires, it was evident they could only maintain
the Estatuto Real by entering into terms with
one of the great factions ivhich really though
not ostensibly divided Spain.
With the liberals, whose principal object was
an extension of the popular power, an adjust
ment on such a basis was obviously impracti
cable, but a compromise of the rival claims by
marriage, effected through the friendly media
tion of a neutral state, might have secured to
Spain the enjoyment of that modified freedom
which in its present condition it is alone suscep
tible of receiving, might have reunited sound
hearts under one banner, and have deprived the
democracy of that overwhelming power which it
has attained, less from its own inherent strength,
than from the dissensions of the Royal party.
In the obscurity ivhich still hangs over the
Spanish part of our foreign relations, and in the

350 BRITISH POLICY. [cH. XIII.
absence of information which tirae will disclose,
an impartial writer will be slow to censure his
Government for having omitted to pursue a
particular course with reference to a particular
point; the broad line of their policy he may
indeed approve of or condemn, because the
principles on which it is based, and probably its
general tendencies, are open to the common
judgment of mankind; but he will refrain from
expressing a decided opinion upon the conduct
of his Government, irith reference to any spe
cific point, without knoAring all that may by
possibility have passed upon the subject.
It is not, therefore, easy at present to deter
mine whether a British statesman might have
successfully urged an union of this kind upon
the rival houses, and have thus accomplished
the blessed object of pacifying Spain; but it is
not difficult to perceive that, from the commence
ment of the struggle, the comparative weakness
of that system of the juste milieu Avhich our
ministers intended to uphold in Spain, impera
tively required them to adopt a steady system
of conciliation, that, availing themselves of the
influence which would inevitably have grown
out of such a course of poUcy, they might have

CH. XIIl.J BRITISH POLICY. 351
profited by any events favourable to a pacific
adjustment, and have interposed whenever they
saw a prospect of mediating with effect.
But they, while professing to support the
Estatuto Real, practically took part with the
extreme faction in Spain; they embittered by
their language, and by their acts, the contest
they could not extinguish; and, finaUy, pre
cluded every chance of beneficial interposition,
by sending our marines to indulge, at an in
glorious distance frora the field of conflict, in
open but safe hostilities, against a people whom
it was most unwise, on our part, to offend so
irremediably. The character of our policy is proved by the
result. That extreme faction in Spain, in which
our ministry so implicitly trusted, has over
thrown the system they strenuously laboured to
maintain. They unfortunately misunderstood
the position of parties, and the real nature of
their own influence in that country. They were
weak in adherents, when they supposed them
selves strong : they were led, whilst they fondly.
believed they were leading a powerful party to
adopt their views, — for the greater portion of
their Liberal friends acquiesced in the Estatuto

352 LOUIS PHILIPPE. [cH. XIII,
Real, as a necessary though disagreeable proba
tion, to be endured till they could safely assert
their poiver, and establish the more congenial
system of 1812.
It is possible that our Government may have
reposed an equally well-grounded confidence in
the promises of M. Thiers, and in the stabiUty
of his administration. If this supposition be
correct, his Majesty's Ministers have equally
misconceived the real feeUngs of the Spanish
Democrats, and the intentions of the French
Court. M. Thiers has been dismissed by a
Sovereign who, endowed with no common at
tainments, and bred in the school of adversity,
learned, at an early period of life, to trust to his
OAvn resources, and to form his own opinions ; in
his actual elevation he reaps the advantages
ivhich have accrued to hira from the severe dis
cipline of his youth ; and, with the decision of a
matured and well-instructed mind, refuses to
concur in a policy that would- endanger his
throne, and, probably, be fatal to the peace of
Europe. I have already observed, that while facts are
so recent and information so scanty, it is diffi
cult to speak, impartially, upon any part of our

CH. XIII.] FRENCH AND BRITISH POLICY. 353
foreign policy, which has not completely trans
pired; still I may be justified in obserring that,
although the Courts of Great Britain and
France have ostensibly co-operated on Spanish
affairs, it is not easy to believe that the two
powers have been uniforraly actuated by entirely
kiiidred raotives. While we consented to supply
the Queen of Spain irith arras and ammunition
to an unlimited extent, France, less generous
or more discreet, engaged only to prevent the
transmission of supplies across the frontier to
the CarUst forces ; while Great Britain stipu
lated to support the Spanish government Avith
a naval armament, and pledged herself to posi
tive intervention, and all the possible hazards
resulting from such a course ; the French cabinet
reserved to itself the right of choice, and only
agreed to pursue that line of policy, ivith re
ference to Spanish affairs, ivhich should here
after receive the sanction ofthe French monarch
and his allies ! ! Yet this was said to be a treaty
imposing equal duties and reciprocal obligations
on both contracting parties.
While we supported ivithout caution, and with
unnecessary fervour, M. Mendizabal's Govern
ment, although established by rebellion, and

354 FRENCH AND BRITISH [cH. XIII.
SO completely imbued with a revolutionary
spirit, that it was met by an adverse majority
in that Chamber of Proceres, which was wholly
devoted to the Queen's cause, the French, it
appears, were endeavouring, ineffectually it
must be admitted, but still were endeavouring
to bring back the Spanish nation to a calmer
state of feeling, by the establishment of a
Government influenced by less exaggerated
views. While we, if report speaks truly, have been
recommending intervention to the French
Court, that proposition, from whatever quarter
it may have proceeded, has been steadily de
clined. The feverish and unhealthy state of the pubhc
mind in France renders it incumbent on the
monarch of that country to affect a sympathy
irith the Spanish revolutionists, while our
foreign policy is completely unfettered by any
domestic considerations of that nature; I do
not intend to say that events in Spain do not
exercise a powerful influence on the pubhc mind
of Great Britain ; I only mean to observe that
our recent policy towards Spain was not pro
duced, or even influenced, by an anxiety in any

CH. XUI.J POLICY COMPARED. 355
portion of the British people to become em
broiled in the domestic quarrels of that nation.
On the contrary, I am conrinced that no part of
the ministerial poUcy has been less generaUy
popular. The Radicals, and all the advocates
of a rigid economy, were by no means desirous
that British revenue should be lavished to the
extent of half a million of money on Spanish
objects, while many of the Whigs were rather
surprised than pleased at such an irregular and
inefficient mode of interfering in the affairs of a
great country. When this very material differ
ence in the position of the two Governments,
with reference to public opinion in their respec
tive states, is taken in conjunction with the
circumstances to which I have previously al
luded, we shall perhaps be induced to believe
that the opinions entertained upon Spanish
affairs by His Majesty of France, and by the
British Cabinet, are more dissimilar than we
might at first be incUned to suppose.
It is not unlikely that the King of France
originally became a party to the Quadruple
Treaty rather from the policy of keeping up a
French interest in the councils of Spain, and
checking any possible preponderance of British.

356 EXTREME PARTY IN FRANCE. [CH. XIU.
influence, than from any earnest desire to pro
mote the success of the Christinos. That acute
Sovereign probably foresaw the late movements
in Spain, — at all events, he thoroughly under
stands their real tendency ; he sees the Queen
is but a puppet in the hands of the deraocratic
party, and is quite aware that the nominal
triumph of her cause 'over the Carlists would
only be the victory of republican over regal
institutions. Whatever course the difficulties
of his position raay eventually compel him
to adopt, he knows that the Constitution of
1812 is incompatible, if not with the existence,
at least with the safety of his throne. He has
little to fear frora the estabUshraent of the most
unlimited power in Spain, but no Sovereign in
Europe has more to dread from the revolu
tionary mania which distracts that kingdom.
The fever of an excessive attachment to
Church and Crown cannot be communicated, in
an alarming degree, to his sensitive subjects by
any conceivable process; but a throne sur
rounded by Republican institutions was the
rallying cry of the popular party during the
late Revolution in France, and it requires little
external stimulus and example to bring Re-

CH. XIIl.J EXTREME PARTY IN FRANCE. 357
publican institutions ivithout the throne into
still greater fashion and favour.
If, then, France is menaced by the ascen
dency of the democratic party in Spain, the
danger accruing to this country from the same
cause, though less direct, is nearly as great, and
should be equally deprecated by a British
Minister. Any popular Revolution in France subvert
ing the present dynasty will unquestionably
alter the foreign policy of that kingdom. Their
Republicans express, if not in public, yet at
least in private conversation, their ardent wishes
to resume the limits of imperial France. " The
Rhine, at least, is our natural frontier," I have
heard them often exclaim ; and it may be said
with justice that their aversion to the present
King proceeds as much from his disinclination
to embark in measures of foreign encroachment,
as from any supposed disposition on his part to
infringe upon the liberties of his subjects. The
life of Louis Philippe is at this moment the
most valuable in Europe, and if the general
peace be preserved, that fortunate condition of
things will be attributable not to the policy
pursued by our Government, but to the mingled

358 EXTREME PARTY IN SPAIN. [cH. XIU.
judgment, moderation, and firmness of his cha
racter. The Spanish horizon is singularly clouded.
The open country is given up to civil war, the
cities are convulsed by a blood-thirsty faction.
The Queen Regent, deprived of all substantial
power, trembles before the Praetorian Guards of
Spain. The high-minded Alava, a man equally
honoured by all parties, and at all tiraes, refuses
to acknowledge the compulsory acts of his cap
tive mistress. The confiscating decrees of 1820 *
are already revived, property is shaken, and the
rank of the country deserts the kingdom. Many
of the best officers of the Spanish army have
resigned their commissions, and others have
been dismissed from the service, not by the
crown but by the soldiery. Even if Don Carlos
be ultiraately successful, brought into power
by the enthusiasm of his supporters, and the
growing inclination of a people anxious to sub-
* I perceive that many of the acts of the Cortes have been
revived by a Royal decree, and, amongst others, the abolition of
entails : I raust refer my readers to a Note at the end of the
work, in which I have entered into some of the details cf an
act utterly subversive of the interests of the Aristocracy. So
much for the impatience of a Government which, in its zeal to
enter upon measures of spoliation, cannot await the decision of
their own favourite Cortes !

CH. XIII.] DON CARLOS. 359
stitute a tranquil systera for the anarchy and
bloodshed of the last few years, that Prince will
still have a difficult and delicate position to
maintain, although he adopt the wisest course,
and estabUsh a systera of administration con
genial to the spirit of the time. A vast field of
laborious and necessary, rather than of splendid
and easy reform, must be encountered at a
period of returning tranquillity; yet, in the
extrerae opinions of the two most powerful par
ties, and complete want of harmony between the
constituent parts of the social and political
machine, there wdl be much to discourage the
boldest spirit. It is, however, said, by persons
acquainted irith the feelings of Don Carlos, that
he is aUve to the expediency of conferring upon
Spain institutions adapted to her real necessi
ties. If such an impression be accurate, and this
Prince be ever enabled to carry his intentions
into effect, I am inclined to think that at least
one frequent source of failure in new-born Con
stitutions will not in his case be found to exist;
I mean that deep distrust which generally pre-
vaUs between the people and a Sovereign who
does not hold the throne by a revolutionary

-360 BRITISH POLICY. [CH. XIII.
tenure; for although the general capabilities
of Don Carlos are admitted in very different
degrees by different parties in the country, it is
almost universally conceded that he would ho
nestly and resolutely maintain what he had once
spontaneously gi-anted.
But whatever raay be the prospects of Spain,
it is devoutly to be hoped, that, at length,
instructed by the disastrous issue of their
policy, the British Governraent will revert to
that systera of neutrality frora ivhich it should
never have departed; and will leave the ques
tion of the succession to be decided by native
swords. If a raajority ofthe nation are friendly
to the Christinos, they must succeed ; the towns
are in their possession, the Government is in
their hands.
The alleged necessity of intervention in their
favour is an indirect but complete admission of
their inferiority to their opponents in strength,
and in public opinion ; and can only be main
tained by the denial of that principle ivhich
our ministers maintained in opposition, but in
power have abandoned, — that a free people
have an exclusive right to elect their own
Sovereign, and choose their own form of Go-

CH. XIII.] MURDER OF QllESADA. 361
vernment, uncontrolled in their choice by exter
nal force. Great Britain can derive no honour
or advantage from the continuance of a blind
attachment to that Mendizabel faction ivhich
has again become predominant, not only by the
massacre of their enemies, but by the sacrifice of
the bravest and most honourable men of their
own party; and by the overthrow of that au
thority in their oivn country, ivhich they re
cognised as strictly legitimate, as long as it
brought their adherents into place, and favoured
the development of their views.
The EngUsh reader sickens over the renewed
horrors of Malaga and Madrid, and asks
whether a system cemented by the slaughter
of the liberal Count Donadio, and proclaimed
amid the savage orgies held over the mutilated
Quesada, deserves the approbation of a Protest
ant country? Those acts were committed by
M. Mendizabel's adherents, who have regained
power, and repaid our previous support by car
rying into effect a revolution notoriously hostile
to British interests, and ivhich, in the present
disposition of parties, has practicaUy converted
Spain into a republic.
The calm observer of events sees ivith disgust
VOL. II. R

362 CHARACTER AND CRIMES OF [CH. XIII.
that at the instigation of a party so much praised
by our Government and so long assisted by
our resources the late ministers of Spain were
unconstitutionally driven from office, and only
sailed by a virtuous fraud from the ferocity of
the raob ; that within a very short space of
time six Captain-Generals, with many officers of
inferior dignity, have been cruelly butchered;
all men of liberal opinions, all acting under a
liberal government, all equally guiltless of any
offence against the state ; he perceives, in short,
that under an infinitely worse than Turkish
tyranny, the possession of office, in other coun
tries the post of honour, has become in Spain,
at least to honourable and independent men,
the prelude to assassination ; and feels that such
a melancholy condition of affairs has been pro
duced, in a great degree, by an interference on
our part, false in principle and ineffective in its
operation. The Quadruple Treaty, made under other
circurastances, and for other objects, may, I
think, be looked upon as virtually extinguished
by the thraldom of the Queen and the proclama
tion of the new Constitution against her wiU.
But if, without cavilling about the Quadruple

•CH. Xni.j THE SPANISH REVOLUTIONISTS. 363-
Treaty, his Majesty's Ministers would adopt a
broader and nobler policy, and endeavour, even
in this eleventh hour of the struggle, to reconcile
by marriage the two conflicting parties, if, in
deed, our mediation has not been rendered
absolutely impracticable by our measures, they
might in some degree atone for past misma
nagement ; such a compromise is consonant with
justice, would be approved of by every moderate
man, and is, I am inclined to think, the best,
perhaps the only mode of giidng lasting peace
to Spain, — for whether Carlos or Christina even
tually prevail, the defeated party will still re
main in sufficient strength to endanger the
existing government, if no plan of mutual ac
commodation be resolved on.
But at all events the time has arrived when
every dispassionate man raust, I think, be con
vinced that British subjects should cease to
participate in a contest sullied by such atroci
ties ; and that Great Britain should renounce
her homage to that blood-stained giant of de
mocracy, whose growth we have inconsiderately
fostered in Spain, ivhose tremendous develop
ment ive are witnessing, and whose still increas
ing ascendency may, in its indirect results, be
k2

364 TARNISHED GLORY OF ENGLAND. [CH. XIII.
most injurious to our interests. But, more than
all, it is time to close a page of British history,
which, at once recording the injustice of our
conduct, and the reverses of our arras, may gi-a-
tify the lover of poetical retribution, but is
fraught with humiliation to every Englishman,
who remembers with pride the fields we won,
and the cause for ivhich we fought, in the same
country that has recently witnessed the pro
gressive decline if not extinction of our in
fluence, and the tarnished lustre of our name.

SKETCH
OF THE CONSTITUTION OF 1820,
JUST RESTORED IN SPAIN.

The principal portion of my review of the Basque
Provinces ,ivas written, and indeed printed, before
the astounding intelligence of the re-establish
ment of the Constitution of 1812 had reached
this country. My readers are undoubtedly aware
that this Constitution was first established in
Spain during that year, and was afterwards sup
pressed by Ferdinand, apparently with the gene
ral concurrence of the nation ; it was restored by
a' military revolution in 1820, and, after a troubled
existence of three years, fell under the victorious
arms of France and of the Faith. When first
the revolution of 1820 attracted the attention of
Europe, being a very young man, and stimulated
by the events of the day, I went into Spain,
remained for some time in that kingdom, and
observed, with great interest, the workings of
tliis pecuUar Constitution. Although I entered
that country, inclined to participate, at least to

366 SKETCH OF THE
some extent, in the enthusiasm then felt in Eng
land for what was termed erroneously the cause
of a regenerated nation, I left the country pro
foundly disgusted with the injustice that had
characterized the brief career of the Spanish re
formers, and had justly led to their falh After
the entrance of the French armies, in 1823, under
the Due d'Angouleme, and the subsequent ex
tinction of the Constitution, I published a short
account of the composition and character of the
legislative body, as it existed during - my resi
dence in the country, and I touched upon some of
the most important acts passed by the Cortes,
and endeavoured to show their effects in alien-:
ating from that assembly almost every leading
interest in the kingdom. As the same political
system has just been re-established, as the same^
electoral law is again in force, and likely to re
turn a similar class of deputies,: as, consequently,
a revival of the measures then enacted may, to
a great extent, be anticipated, for the Spanish
liberal reaps no instruction from the harvest of
misfortune, I have thought it not improbable that
persons interested in the affairs of Spain may be
disposed to retrace the policy of a former Cortes
and observe the workings of the present Consti
tution at a former period. I have, therefore,.
determined to reprint the observations which L
published at that time.

CONSTITUTION OF. 1820. 36T
. Nearly twelve years have rolled away since the
publication of ray remarks on that Constitution,
and still more have elapsed since I formed, froran
actual observation, the opinions erabodied in that:
sketch : perhaps few men retain their political
notions absolutely unchanged during so many
years at any period of life, and fewer still would,
willingly be pledged to every sentiment expressed
in very early manhood ; personal experience is apt
to modify the impressions of youth ; and in these
days of rapid and perpetual experiment, the-
general knowledge of the world receives some ad
dition to its store, even during the limited period
of twelve or fourteen years. But in reverting to
this record of transactions now some tirae elapsed,
I find that my opinions have undergone no ma- ,
terial change. My strongest attachments in
Spain were certainly formed with persons of that
party which, in the last revolution as in that of
1820, have suffered under the iron yoke- of a
liberal government ; but the British friends with
whom I held most frequent communication at
that time, entertained opinions, soraewhat differ
ing from mine, on Spanish poUtics. It is possible.
that deference to some of those individuals, and
also the strong feeling that the Constitutionalists
were, at the moment when I wrote, a humbled,
^ fallen, and almost a persecuted party, may
have led rae to condemn their errors in terras of

368 SKETCH OF THE
calmer reprehension than I could bring myself to
make use of at the present moment, when they
are again pursuing, not indeed in uninterrupted
success, but in undiminished activity, their career
of oppression. But the reader will perceive that
if there be a greater moderation of language in
my old sketch of the Spanish Cortes, than in my
present rei'dew of the Basque Prorinces, there
is no real difference of principle or opinion.
The rare but occasional substitution of one
word for another, is the whole extent of difference
between the original and the present edition ;
the amount of change might easily be comprised
in one short sentence ; and these slight variations
have been only intended to correct some obviously
inaccurate expression, or to qualify some fact or
opinion perhaps too broadly stated.
There is, however, a point to which I must call
the attention of my readers. I have stated in
the following sketch that the establishment of a
House of Peers, at the commencement of the
revolution of 1820, would have obviated rauch of
that inconsiderate legislation ivhich then afflicted
the country, and have thus materially tempered
the march of the revolution. It may now, per
haps, be said that the experiment has been tried,
and that failure has been the result. Without
entering into the peculiar composition of the late
Chamber of Proceres, it may be fairly observed.

CONSTITUTION OF 1820. 369
that many circumstances of a most unfavourable
nature contributed to neutralize its legitimate
influence from the hour of its establishment to
the moment of its fall. The beneficial action of
an Upper House was necessarily restricted to
the narrowest limits under a government that
carried measures of great national iraportance
into effect without the intervention of the Chara-
bers. For instance, the aboUtion of the con
vents, and the confiscation of their estates, a
policy the raost questionable in its character, and
likely to prove the most serious in its results, was
adopted by M. Mendizabel, with a complete in
dependence of the legislative authority, and was
only justified by that Minister on the ground of
some general vote of confidence passed in his
favour by the Chamber of Prociiradores.
The Proceres were originally called into exist
ence as a separate estate, for the purpose of cor
recting, by their greater steadiness and sagacity,
the hasty resolutions which might be expected to
emanate from the Procuradores, an assembly
liable to be unduly influenced by particular feel
ings, and to be sometimes hurried into acts of great
indiscretion by the mistaken enthusiasm of the
moraent; but this strange and unconstitutional
mode of superseding the authority, or, as it was
politely termed, of anticipating the wishes ofthe le
gislature, rendered the Chamber of Procuradores
r3

'370 SKETCH OF THE
contemptible in the eyes of the country, and abso
lutely destroyed the only object for which an
Upper House could be desirable.
Under such circumstances the failure of the
Proceres in acquiring the confidence of any in
fluential party cannot excite surprise. But even
if it had not been rendered almost useless by the
system which I have just described, and conse
quently of little interest to the country, other
causes were working to produce its fall. Although
many of the Royalists ivould have at first disliked
the institution of an Upper House, under any cir
cumstances ivhatever, from a general indisposition.
to every part of the constitutional system, still if
a house of Peers had been estabUshed by an
undisputed Sovereign, a majority of the Royalists
ivould have eventually supported, not only from
principle but from a strong sense of expediency,
the Royalist deraonstrations of an Upper Cham
ber, either against the Deputies, or against any
democratic pressure from without the walls ofthe
legislature. But in the present case a regular
drain was established, ab initio, ivhich diverted
into other channels all that strength and energy
which ought to have nourished and could alone
support the aristocratic institution of an Upper
House against the systematic distaste of the
liberals to any establishment of that nature ; for
nearly alt who had been enterprising in the Roy-

CONSTITUTION OF 1820. 371
aUst ranks, all who were most attached to the
Croivn abstractedly, all who ivere peculiarly dis
tinguished by high religious zeal, a fertile source
of great acts in Spain, had openly or secretly
seceded to Don Carlos. This party, the largest
portion of which noiv constitutes the strength of
that Prince, and which, under other circumstances,
would have probably supported an Upper Cham
ber, or at least a House of Peers, in the heated
feeUngs engendered by a struggle for the suc
cession, regarded the Proceres not in their natu
ral point of vieiv as a rampart interposed between
them and a republic, but as a class avowedly
hostile to the lawful heir. And thus, that Cham
ber, not only deprived of all external support,
but positively disliked, for very different reasons,
by both the leading factions, and at the sarae
time destitute of all prescriptive claim to the
affection and veneration of the Spaniards, was
swept away vrithout a symptom of national hesi
tation or regret.
This particular impediment to the consolida
tion of an Upper House, arising rather from the
actual state of parties than from causes of a more
permanent and irremediable character, did not
exist in 1820, and could not have prejudiced the
system of the Estatuto Real, if a corapromise
had been effected between the rival claimants to
the crown ; but as long as the great body of the

372 SKETCH OF THE
Royalists profess an open or retain a secret alle
giance to any individual not the de facto occupier
of the throne, and are thus induced to withhold^
their support from the existing institutions, an
Upper Chamber, shorn of its natural allies, will
be left in its inherent weakness to acquiesce in
the will of the Deputies, or to struggle ineffec^,
tually, and probably for a short time only, against
the popular tide. No balanced Constitution,
under such circumstances, ijS likely to take deep
root in Spain.
It is true the unconstitutional stretches of mi-.
nisterial authority to which I have referred, were
not displeasing to the liberals, because, however
incompatible in practice and in principle with
the establishment of any real system of liberty,
they were almost invariably exerted to promote,
in the most rapid manner, the progress of revo
lutionary change. Besides, according to the.
system latterly in vogue, the liberals were en-.
abled to operate upon their government by a
more effectual and summary process than through
the medium of their representatives. Although
M. Mendizabel, in many instances, treated the.
established powers of the state with little respect,
he was compelled to recognize the juntas ivhich
had usurped functions not conceded to thera
by law, which had displaced the magistrates ap
pointed by the Croivn, had taxed their fellow

CONSTITUTION OF 1820. 373
subjects for the support of their illegal power,
and had even prescribed measures to their Sove
reign in a spirit of utter disregard to the fun
damental principles of the charter. In the first
days of September, 1835, and the last of the
Queen's authority, the Croivn declared those self-
constituted juntas illegal, and in a state of rebel
lion ; but a fortnight afterwards, when M. Men
dizabel accepted office, the Regent was induced,
probably obliged, to recall the obnoxious expres
sions, rescind the decree, and acknowledge their
dictation. The history of the late Constitution presents a
curious and, apparently, an inconsistent mass of
facts. The Estatuto Real, as far as it extended,
may be considered a charter of moderate prin
ciples; the practice ofthe government during its
existence was often despotic in principle, yet the
utmost excess of popular domination ivas the
galUng slavery under which men actually lived,
and the Jacobinism of Spain controlled and com
pletely guided the machine. The whole poUtical
action of the country was irregular and un
healthy; measures of the highest consequence
were sometimes passed, not because the acts in
qijestion were insisted upon by the Procuradores,
or had received the grave and deliberate sanction
of the Proceres, but ivithout their intervention,
and because an aspiring apothecary, in one place,.

374 SKETCH OF THE
and a discontented militiaman, in another, had
formed a junta, and resolved upon the adoption
of some great measure, or the recognition of some
great principle, as essential to the liberties of
Spain. In conformity with this species of dicta
tion, and moved by the same springs, one party
was ejected from the government, and another
set of men brought into power, without reference
to the Queen's wishes or their own capabilities
for office, but solely because they had attained
a transient popularity by the advocacy of opinions
still more exaggerated than those maintained by
their predecessors.
In the following sketch I may seem, in one or
tivo instances, to have dwelt too much on subjects,
to which I have previously adverted, and thus,
appear to have involved myself in unnecessary
repetitions ; I can only plead in excuse that the
greater portion of my review on the Basque
states was printed before the occurrence of the
late revolution in Spain had suggested to my
mind the propriety of republishing my sketch of
the Constitution just restored; and, for obrious
reasons, I was unwilling to make any material
change or omission in this part of my work.
As this sketch was written some years ago,, I
must beg my readers to remember that the Con
stitution so frequently aUuded to in the following
pages was re-established in Spain in the early

CONSTITUTION OF 1820. 375
days of 1820, and existed till the autumn of 1823;.
it was. then suppressed by the French forces,
which invaded Spain, and co-operated with the
Spanish armies ofthe Faith.

SKETCH OF THE CONSTITUTION OF 1820.
The faUure of the Revolution of 1820 has
impressed many persons with a beUef that so
ciety is too abject in Spain, and the national
character too degraded to permit the successful
establishment of liberal institutions : this opi
nion, founded on recent events, and most unfa
vourable to the advancement of freedom and
civilization, as it excludes the possibility of future
improvement, or defers it to a very distant period,
can only be removed by a knowledge of the cir
cumstances of the country, the prejudices of the.
people, and the policy pursued by the Cortes
with reference to national feeling. The hostility
manifested by a large party towards the new
institutions, and the failure of every attempt to
excite public enthusiasm in their favour, arose
more from the disgust occasioned by particular
measures, than from any inherent want of patriot
ism in the Spanish people. The principles of
election under which the Cortes were convened,

376 SKETCH OP THE
brought together an assembly, in which the opi
nions of a numerous class of the great toivns pre
dominated, but in which the landed proprietors,
the clergy, a party in the cities, and an immense
numerical majority in the provinces, were rather
nominally than practically represented. This
discrepancy between a representation founded on
principles of democracj'^ and a state of property
held under tenures of the most aristocratic cha
racter, produced a fatal conflict of interests. Had
a second chamber existed, it ivould have checked
that headlong attack on old interests, which, to
persons acquainted with the Spanish nation, will
satisfactorily explain the failure of the revolution ;
but, on the other hand, it would have concurred
with the Cortes in modifying the overgrown esta
blishments that were supposed to depress the agri
culture ofthe kingdom, and perhaps in reducing
those territorial accumulations which had become
too extensive for single superintendence, and
rendered an opulent class of subjects discon
tented and dangerous, by preventing them from
vesting their capital in land and acquiring a
substantial interest in the welfare of the state.
That a spirit of this kind prevailed among the
aristocracy is shown by the petitions which they
presented to the Cortes, praying for the repeal of
the laws touching entails: the enthe repeal of
those acts must have eventually proved fatal to the

CONSTITUTION OF 1820. 377
influence of the nobility, but in many instances
private and personal feelings foolishly prevailed
over their interests as a body ; the power of
making larger settlements for younger children,
the unlimited disposal of their properties during
Ufe, and, with a feiv, the desire of exonerating
their remaining estates from heavy charges, in
duced many individuals to advocate the repeal of
those laws, Avhose interests, as forming part of a
privileged class, were raost opposed to the measure
in its unqualified state. Had a second chamber
existed, the necessary modifications ivould have
been made in the laws that regulated the dispo
sition of property, but political feeling Avould have
operated more forcibly araong the nobles, nor
would those alterations have been carried to an
extent incompatible Avith the permanent existence
of an influential aristocracy. The establishment
of a second chamber at the commencement of
the revolution might have conferred the greatest
blessings upon Spain ; such an assembly would
have mediated between the spirit of reform that
existed in the popular branch of the legislature,
and the great interests affected by its resolutions ;
that spirit of reformation ivould have led to be
neficial results, had it been controlled by the
operation of another power, and rendered, in
some degree, subservient to particular circura
stances and national feeling. Many principles

378 SKETCH OF THE
were established by the Cortes, just in the ab
stract, but most unjust when indiscriminately
applied to the correction of abuses which had
grown out of ages of political misconception, and
had become interwoven with the interests of large
classes of the community. A second chamber,
while it felt the necessity of concurring in those
changes which the increasing knoivledge and
altered circumstances of the country required,
would have looked with a jealous eye upon acts
that unsettled property, and ivould not have sanc
tioned the principle of confiscation without in
demnity. With respect to the difficulties of establishing
an Upper House, it is often urged that it must
naturally be composed of a selection from the
higher orders, who are said to be incapable in
this country of taking any part in the legislation,
from their previous habits and general want of
information. In the second place, that it would
become the passive instrument of the Court, im
pede the march of necessary reform, and possibly
conspire against the infant liberties of the state.
If, as Mr. Quin justly observes, in his able work
upon Spain, the Cortes ivere bound by the words
of the law, which theraselves had enacted, to pre
sent to the King three lists, nominating tAvelve
grandees, twelve ecclesiastics, and ninety-six in
dividuals, " men of knoAvn virtue, inteUigence,

CONSTITUTION OF 1820. 379
and information," who were generally selected
from the higher classes, how can it be raaintained
l^at the eleraents requisite for the forraation of
an Upper House do not exist in Spain ? With
respect to the second objection, it raay be satis-
f^ctorUy answered by referring to the debates
that took place in the Cortes at a time when they
Avere certainly not disposed to give any undue
popularity to an order of men whose influence
and wealth they had begun to undermine : in
those debates it was distinctly stated, by the
President and the principal Deputies, that no
agitators existed among the nobility who Avere
publicly praised for the zeal and patriotism with
which they had supported the new institutions *.
If such was the feeling shown by the leaders of
the aristocracy towards a Constitution which
threatened their possessions, deprived them of
political importance, annihilated their privileges
as a body, and virtually excluded them from:
sharing in the legislature f ; is it too theoretical
to infer, that they would have preserved the same
independent spirit under a system that protected
their possessions, and secured to them a just
ascendency in the state ? There was no evil more
* Debates, on the Seignorial Rights, June, 1821.
t Persons belonging to the King's househohl could not sit in
the Cortes, — a regulation that virtually excluded the leading
noblea, who were generally attached to the palace..

380 SKETCH OF THE
galling to the indiriduals upon whom it pi'essed
than the perpetual tutelage in which men of high
rank were held by the Spanish Court ; and there
existed no class that ivould have beheld the esta
blishment of rational liberty with more satisfac
tion than a large portion of the Spanish nobility.
I am far from thinking that many persons would
not have regretted a change from servitude to a
state of freedom : under the wisest provisions
some interests would be unavoidably compromised,
many prejudices ivould interfere, and there exists,
at all times, a tendency in human nature to regret
past institutions, however defective they may
have been ; but such a party ivould have scarcely
existed in the Cortes, nor would it have been
numerous or efficient in the Chamber of Peers.
In the course of a few years juster principles of
governraent ivould have prevailed, the rising ge
neration ivould have been trained to public affairs,
and education and liberal habits ivould have im
proved the character of the nobility ; while the
naraes of the great leading famiUes, with the
proud historical recollections attached to them,
would have lent weight and dignity to the mea
sures of Government.
The Spanish Constitution attempted to com
bine the form of monarchy with institutions es
sentially repubhcan ; — an anomalous mixture by
no means easy to maintain. The Croivn, ivithout

CONSTITUTION OF 1820. 381
the poiver of nominating its advisers, was scarcely
able to exercise the few prerogatives it retained ;
the suspensive veto did not diminish the embar
rassments resulting from this situation, as it only
served to exasperate, by an appearance of delay,
ivithout operating as an effective restraint; nor
would the interposition of the Crown, with the
most unqualified privilege, have supplied the
want of a second chamber, which seems the only
effectual barrier between the conflicting opinions
of the King and the people. An absolute veto
is rather a nominal than real prerogative of the
British Croivn, as the mediation of a third power
happily averts such collisions; and most unfor
tunate indeed is any constitution of government
that compels the King, from the want of efficient
institutions, to recur frequently to a positive, or
even a modified exercise of this power ; the Croivn
should be known to its subjects by concessions
and acts of grace, and no policy can be more
injurious than to place it in manifest opposition
to the declared will of the national representa
tives. From such, and other causes, which ivould
occupy too much space to enumerate at present,
the general harmony which should result from the
provident distribution of constitutional powers
did not exist, and the only recognised authorities
were placed in a state of mutual hostility, which
generated personal hatred and political insin-

382 SKETCH OF THE
cerity. The Crown saw itself stripped of every
valuable prerogative, and exerted itself in secret
to obtain an unconstitutional influence, irith the
design of overturning the existing system ; while
the legislature, for the purpose of counteracting
those designs, was induced to interfere with the
exercise of prerogatives that were solely vested
in the executive, and could not be appropriated
by any other power in the state, without a mani
fest infraction of the Constitution *.
The weakness that had characterized the
measures of Government during the six years
that preceded the revolution, and the energy
communicated by a sudden transition from ser
vitude to freedom, had given the legislature a
decided ascendency over the Croivn ; but had
the Crown, thus limited, been enabled to main
tain itself against the democracy of such an as
sembly, it might ultimately have acquired as
* A striking instance of an undue but indirect assumption of
power by the Cortes occurred in the last year of the Constitutional
Government. The King dismissed the existing ministry on the
19th of February, 1823 : in consequence of the popular tumult
that ensued they were restored to office on the same night, but
again retired on the Ist of March. It was provided by the 82nd
article of the Constitution, that Ministers should read an account
Df the actual state of public affairs, each communicating the details
that belonged to his particular deparbnent. The Cortes, who
distrusted the intentions of the Court, were opposed to the dis
missal of that administration ; in consequence, they postponed
the reading of these memorials, and by such a step indirectly com
pelled the King to retain Ministers with whom he was at va
riance.

CONSTITUTION OF 1820. 383
great facilities of attributing to itself poivers not
conceded by law. This state of things resulted
partly from the absence of an intermediate body ;
and, in a great degree, from the constitution of
the Cortes. Though many of the individuals
who composed that asserably were taken frora
the most enlightened class in Spain, they were,
generally speaking, men of little or no property ;
the greatest number subsisted entirely on their
salaries as deputies: whenever the enthusiasm
excited by the establishment of free institutions
had in sorae degree subsided, it cannot be doubted
that a body of raen, whose private comforts de
pended on their public appointments, would have
been pecuUarly exposed to the temptations wliich
would have assailed them in every shape from the
Court. Those temptations would have had more
weight from the existence of a clause that pre
cluded the actual deputies from being re-elected
to the ensuing parliament, and consequently de
prived them of their salaries after a given period,
—an enactment prejudicial to good legislation in
any country, as it compels men who have attained
a practical knowledge of public affairs to resign
"the reins of government into the hands of less ex
perienced persons ; but most injurious in Spain,
where little political irisdom exists, and that little
!is confined to few individuals. The dangers
arising from the ascendency of the popular party

384 SKETCH OF THE
at one moment, and from the encroachments of
the Crown at another, and fluctuating according
to the temper and circumstances of the time,
could only be obviated by the establishment of a
chamber of nobility, ivhose hereditary Avealth
might prove some guarantee against the facility
of corruption, or at least of an assembly to which
a greater character of permanency was given, and
in ivhich property was the basis of election *.
Although the events that occurred early in
the revolution, by disuniting the interests of the
different orders of the state, and carrying con
flicting opinions to an extreme point, destroyed
that union frora ivhich alone a raodified govern
ment can arise, I still beUeve that the elements
of a mixed monarchy exist to a considerable
extent in Spain. There may be found a richly
* Unquestionably the Crown might obtain an influence hostile
to the general liberties of the country over a Chamber so consfi- _
tuted, and at a time favourable to royal encroachments ; but at
present (1830), when the democratic fever is at its height in Spain,
and the patriot of last year is sacrificed as an unworthy apostle
by the patriot of to-day, the conduct ofthe Deputies will, I think,
be too severely scrutinized by their excited constituents to render
any corrupt, perhaps even any honest, understanding with the
Court either safe or practicable. In that case, having no inde
pendent property, and unwilling to revert to their former coa-
dition of life, yet unable to promote their fortunes hy attaching
themselves to the Crown, it is much to be feared that many of
thera will endeavour to rise upon its ruins and obtain public
favour, and perhaps permanent situation, by advocating extreme
opinions, and still greater and more alarming changes in the
constitution of their country.

CONSTITUTION OF 1820. 385
endowed clergy, an opulent nobility, and a to
lerably enlightened comraons ; under such a
system the nobility might lose some invidious
privileges, and a modification of the law of entail
ivould reduce their overgrown territorial pos
sessions ; but, in return, they would obtain their
due share of political importance, and by taking
a part in the legislation of their country, would
acquire that respect and influence which they do
not at present enjoy. The power of the clergy,
if excessive, would decline with the facilities
afforded to every species of improvement, and
under the operation of an unfettered press.
The church establishment might be modified,
and such a measure would not create serious dis
affection, if a fair compensation were given to
individuals for the surrender of their existing
rights. I believe I do not mistake when I say, that,
at the dawn of the revolution in 1820, the leading
nobles, the enlightened members of the clergy,
and the middling classes of the great towns, were,
for the most part, favourably disposed towards
the new order of things. The enthusiasm ivhich
in 1814 enabled the king to overthrow the Cortes
and re-establish himself on the throne of his an
cestors, without granting any concessions to po
pular feeling, had been effectually damped by
the incapacity of each successive administration.
VOL. 11. s

386 SKETCH OF THE
How then, it may ivell be asked, could an attempt
to establish a governraent upon free principles
fail of success, when the rank, the influence, and
the talent of the country were disposed in its
favour ? It failed, because the personal views and
passions of the Cortes unfitted them for the
delicate task of reforming abuses Avhich had be
come too poAverful to be at once overthrown, but
ivhich might have been gradually removed; be
cause, in the pursuit of abstract truths, they in
fringed upon existing rights ; because they sepa
rated themselves from the feelings of the country,
and by acts of inconsiderate legislation, offended
the most confirraed prejudices of the people. The
Constitution existed without popular preposses
sion, and fell ivithout a struggle, because they
took no effective measures to render the interests
of any class of the community dependent on the
success or failure of the revolution, while they
converted into implacable enemies a powerful
party ivhom careful management would have
Avarmly disposed in their favour ; and lastly, they
paralyzed the exertions of their most decided
supporters, by adopting a policy inconsistent
Avith their interests.
The nobles, as a body, were extremely
Avealthy ; a large portion of the land of Spain
was in their possession ; whole districts belonged
to a few noble individuals, and descended in strict

CONSTITUTION OF 1820. ¦ 387
perpetuity of entail. The favourite practice of
creating mayorazgos or perpetual entails, become
common not only among the nobility but among
all classes of landed proprietors, was supposed to
be one cause of the extreme depression under
which the agricultural interest laboured: these
overgrown estates, seldom or never seen by their
possessors, were committed to the charge of care
less agents ; little attention was devoted to the
improvement of the soil that in a few years, under
better management, would have repaid them ten
fold, but remittances hastily collected were sent to
the capital to maintain an useless systera of little
real raagnificence but immense profusion. Among
a large class of the nobility the greater portion of
then- incomes arose from the possession of feudal
or seignorial rights, that varied according to dif
ferent tenures. In some viUages the people were
obliged to compound with the Seiior for the
permission to erect a mill to grind their corn ; a
similar tax was levied on the oUve mill ; and the
local sale of merchandize was not unfrequently
submitted to an imposition more or less heavy.
The Croivn, when it ennobled an individual,
sometimes granted to him and his descendants
the poiver of levying specific duties on a particular
town or village for the purpose of creating funds
to maintain his rank. It may easily be conceived
that rights of this nature weighed heavily on the
s2

388 SKETCH OF THE
industry of the country ; their existence Avas a
grievance, their abolition without inderanity was
an act of extrerae injustice. The Cortes decreed
that such rights should be considered null and
void, except in cases where the claimant Avas
enabled to bring indisputable proof that they
Avere of the highest antiquity, were granted with
out collusion, and given on good consideration ;
as it was scarcely possible to produce sufficient
proofs, especially when submitted for judgment,
not to the common tribunals, but to the Cortes,
the seignorial rights were virtually abohshed.
In consequence of this act, the fortunes of the
more opulent nobles suffered considerably, AvhUe
the less wealthy class of proprietors were reduced
to absolute poverty. The law was also carried to
an extreme length, and rights of a very different
and less offensive character, such as exclusive
fisheries, and other monopolies of that nature,
Avere included in the sweeping proscription. The
Marquis de Los Velez Avas said to have lost an
annual income of 500,000 francs by the loss of
his rights of fishery at Motril. Rights of judica
ture possessed by the proprietors of the soil, such
as the appointment of local judges, arbitrators,
&c., were of course annulled at the sarae time.
Soon afterwards the Cortes imposed upon
the country a general land tax, that pressed most
heavilv on the nobles as the principal land-

CONSTITUTION OF 1820. ,389
holders. This tax was raised by Governraent
commissioners, who rated the estates at their no
minal value, without making any deduction for the
debts, family charges, &c., with which they were
encumbered : this imposition was severely felt by
the nobility, who were already impoverished by
the loss of their seignorial rights, and by the
extraordinary contributions they were at times
required to make. I have heard of a noble who
was at this period in the annual receipt of 1200/.
sterling money : the family charges on his estate
amounted annually to more than half that sum ;
yet with this dirainished income he was assessed
by the commission according to his rent-roll, and,
scarcely possessing a clear 500/., was compelled
to pay the tax in the proportion of 1200/. per
annum. These acts were followed by another that
confirmed the discontent of the nobles. Many
of the nobility held their estates in virtue of
grants from the Crown, sorae of which dated
frora very remote periods. In those days, when
a powerful aristocracy controlled the King, sorae
of the Barons had extended their jurisdiction
and properties beyond the limits assigned to
them by the royal grants. The weakness of the
regal prerogative, the poiver of the feudal lords,
the absence of an intermediate class sufficiently
powerful to oppose a barrier to their encroach-

390 SKETCH OF THE
raents, and the turbulence of the tiraes, protected
them in these manifest usurpations. Time sanc
tioned what were originaUy acts of spoliation,
and gave the force of prescriptive right. To call
into question estates so long enjoyed, on the
ground that their tenures were imperfect, had a
tendency to shake the security of all property ;
but had the Cortes restricted the operation of the
act ivhich they passed, to estates which could be
proved to have been extended beyond the limits
originally assigned to them, a resumption so
modified would have been plausible in theory,
though it would have been harsh in practice;
but they shifted the onus probandi from them
selves, required the grantees of the Croivn to
show the charters upon which their rights of pos
session were founded, and decreed that those
estates should be confiscated whose titles could
not be produced, or were pronounced invalid.
This resolution was taken, although it was gene
rally known that many, I believe most, of the
documents were lost from which the title to pro
perties was derived, the legality of ivhose tenures
had never been doubted. That such charters
should have disappeared, cannot excite our sur
prise, when we consider the number of years that
had elapsed since they were bestowed, the nu
merous conflagrations, and the foreign and do
mestic wars Avith which Spain has been afflicted.

CONSTITUTION OF 1820. .391
The Council of Castille was justly alarraed, and
remonstrated warmly against a measure that
confiscated the revenues and annihilated the in
fluence of the nobility. Unable to resist the
torrent, they suggested as an amendment, that
only those grantees should be required to pro
duce their title-deeds, ivhose domains had grown
into importance during the particular period
when such usurpations were common. The
Cortes were, however, determined to preserve
the original project entire, and in defiance of the
remonstrances of the Council and the opposition
of the King, who three times refused his sanction
to this act of plunder, it passed into a law ; a
harsh and ungenerous return for the zeal with
which the nobles had erabraced the cause of their
countryraen. I believe this measure ivas never
carried into complete effect, as the counter-revo
lution intervened, and saved the aristocracy from
total ruin.
But if the policy pursued towards the nobles
prevented the consolidation of the system, that
which Avas directed against the clergy threatened
its actual existence. The importance of concilia
ting this body of men was more urgent, and the
advantages more direct. The cordial union of
the nobility Avith the Constitutionalists, Avould
have given a weight to Government in their ex
ternal relations, which could not be attained

392 SKETCH OF THE
while the leading families of rank and property
were notoriously disaffected ; still, in Spain, their
influence was, in a great measure, Umited to the
fashionable circles of Madrid ; the management
of their estates devolved on their agents ; they
were known only by name to their peasantry, and
possessed little or no territorial influence. That
influence had passed almost exclusively into the
hands of the clergy ; idolized as the ministers of
God, scattered over a country where properties
are in few hands, and the proprietors for the
most part absent, they performed many of the
duties, and acquired all the weight, of a resident
gentry. They obtained not only the spiritual
direction of the people, but the management of
their temporal concerns; they became the con
fidants of their family secrets, and the arbitrators
of their domestic differences : the peasantry,
forming a large and by no means an ineffective
majority, as among this class raust be included
all the warlike GueriUas in possession of the
mountain passes, looked to the priesthood for
consolation in their adversities and resolution in
their doubts; from them they received their
opinions on passing events ; by them they were
stimulated to good or evil : in a word, in their
hands was lodged the direction of the whole phy
sical force of the country. In a state where
society is so constituted, it is evident that their

CONSTITUTION OF 1820. 393
approval or hostility must materially influence
the success or failure of any system that may
be introduced. Their co-operation, or at least
acquiescence, in the new order of things would
have been obtained, had the substantial princi
ples of justice been observed, had raore deUcacy
been shown towards the rights of existing indi
viduals, and had the legislature avoided that
unwise precipitation in carrying into effect, in
the space of a few months, those limitations of
the church estabUshraent, which could hardly
have been adopted with safety in the course of
many years.
The regulation that rendered the receipt of a
fixed income, arising from private property, in
dispensable to the ofiSce of parish priest, excluded
candidates for the secular clergy from the lower
ranks of society, and preserved it in the hands of
the better classes. The members of religious
houses, on the contrary, for ivhose ordination the
consent of the bishop and a certain routine of
education Avere alone necessary, except in a few
celebrated monasteries, were seldom men of
high, frequently of low origin. Ordination was,
however, a sovereign remedy for any inherent
defect of this nature ; and the raonk frequently
received the highest honours at the Captain ge
neral's table, while his father was scarcely tole
rated in the kitchen — a striking instance of the
s3

394 SKETCH OF THE
extent to which reUgious prejudice had taken root
araong a people proverbially tenacious of ancient
descent. There existed in Spain tivo species of
monastic establishments, of a very different na
ture, ivhich experienced a very different fate at
the revolution. First, and by far the most im
portant class, was that Avhich was supported by
revenues arising from land, their own property,
and held in mortmain. The second, and least
influential, Avas that of the Mendicant Monks,
who possessed no regular funds, but subsisted
entirely on the daily charity of the pious. The
first ivas generally suppressed at the revolution ;
some, it is true, were suffered to exist, but shorn
of all their splendour, the land attached to them
being universally confiscated for national pur
poses. In the discussion that arose in the Cortes
on the 23rd of July, 1 820, on the propriety of
confiscating the property of the convents, it was
urged, that the large tracts of land which they
had acquired at different periods, and had kept
out of cultivation, had materially contributed to
the decline of the agricultural prosperity of the
kingdom, and that the nation, represented in
Cortes, had a right to appropriate them. That
such a power resides in the legislature, if it
effectively represent the different interests of
the country, may or may not be true; but, in the
present case, I am rauch inclined to doubt the

CONSTITUTION OF 1820. 395
truth of the first part of their allegation. It is
possible that, upon general principles, great ter
ritorial accumulations in the hands of corpora
tions, lay or religious, raay be prejudicial to the
country in ivhich land is so vested ; but from the
tenures under which estates were held in Spain,
from the systera of agency, and from the habits
which have groivn out of that disposition of pro
perty, 1 do not believe that the absorption of
land by the convents has been generally injurious.
In many instances, perpetuity of entail would
have restricted land, that before the revolution
was attached to religious establishments, had it
always remained in the possession of individuals.
In such ca,ses, it would have been equally ex
cluded from the market ; and every man who has
passed through Spain must have observed the
difference that exists between the practical ad
ministration of estates held by religious corpora
tions or by individuals under the system of per
petual entail. The traveller cannot fail to ob
serve that the roads are kept in better order on
the estates of the clergy, the bridges repaired
with more care, and greater attention paid to
the improvement of their properties than to other
parts of the country : he will perceive that many
of the monasteries are situated in the neighbour
hood of badly managed, and frequently unculti
vated estates; from ivhich it raay justly be in-

396 SKETCH OF THE
ferred, that in the absence of such establishraents,
the land now attached to thera ivould have
shared the fate of the surrounding properties,
have been equally ill managed, or remained alto
gether without cultivation.
Notwithstanding the little actual evil that
had resulted from the imraense appropriation of
land by the convents, it is possible that these
properties covering large tracts, and held in
mortmain, if not in sorae degree reduced in ex
tent, might ultimately be prejudicial to the im
proveraent of agriculture, whenever the system
of entail should be raodified, a fresh impulse
given to capital, a better system of husbandry
introduced, and good communications established.
The Cortes had already rescinded entails; they
had, in many respects, altered the laws affecting
property, and, perhaps, a revision of the eccle
siastical estates had become advisable ; but when
we reflect on the delicacy of interfering with
rights that have been for ages considered sacred,
when we remember the jealous feeUng with
which such rights have been always regarded
in Spain, we cannot but feel deeply that no
interests upon ivhich the Cortes were called to
legislate, required such calm and dispassionate
consideration, and unfortunately there were none
upon which so much passion and party prevailed.
When the estates of the monasteries were con-

CONSTITUTION OF 1620. 39?
fiscated, a stipend was assigned to the monks,
inadequate, when compared to their former re
venues, and most irregularly paid. This mea
sure was unjust and impolitic : unjust, because
ample compensation was not made to indi
viduals for the loss of those vested rights, which
public opinion held sacred, and which were gua
ranteed to them by the existing law, when they
becarae members of such comraunities ; and, as
such, partakers of all their benefits and privi
leges. Their best years had been spent in that
routine of education, and those habits, ivhich
were essential to their vocation, but ivhich to-
taUy disqualified them from resorting to occupa
tions of a more active nature. They had suffered
directly and indirectly by the change of system.
Their expectations of preferment were blighted,
their respectabiUty ivas loAvered, their influence
was lessened, and must have continued to de
crease : surely they were entitled to a full com
pensation in a pecuniary point of view.
The measure was impolitic — because it could
not fail to exasperate a class, whose opposition
was highly formidable, from the facility with
which they could identify the cause of God with
the interests of the church. The Cortes were
aware that they were regarded with a jealous eye
by the despotic Governments ; they should have
seen the importance of betraying no weak point

398 SKETCH OF THE
round ivhich their enemies raight intrigue and
rally the disaffected of all classes ; they should
have felt the necessity of avoiding any pretext
for foreign interference, by the serablance of una
nimity, and by clothing all their proceedings in
the garb of the strictest justice.
Had these communities been required to con
tribute each in proportion to its ability, and the
admission of novices into those institutions which
were eventually to be suppressed, been forbidden
by law, the number of members ivould have been
very limited in the course of a few years, and the
remaining individuals might then have been pro
vided for by competent salaries, and the estates
of the estabUshment sold for the benefit of the
nation*. I have heard it urged, that while such
* I am not intending to recommend such a measure, but as I
know that many persons are of opinion that' the suppression of
religious houses in Spain is essential to the progress of improve
ment in that country, I am only pointing out a path which the
Cortes might have followed, without abandoning their own views
on the one hand, or incur on the other the just imputation of
having acted with the greatest injustice towards the life-tenants
of those establishments. I retain the opinion which I expressed
some years ago, that those ecclesiastic corporations might be pre
served, at least to a considerable extent, not only without injury,
but with the greatest benefit to the state, if certain changes were
introduced in their constitution, and some new duties and new
conditions annexed to the occupation of the conventual estates.
The monks, who even now are often extremely valuable to the
community, from their practical knowledge of agriculture, frora
their readiness in communicating that information, aud from their
liberality in accommodating the less wealthy cultivators of the
soil, might, under an improved system, become equally serviceable

CONSTITUTION OF 1820. 399
communities were suffered to exist, the intriguing
spirit of the monks would have continually la
boured to alienate the people from the Con
stitutional system. Some local disorders raight
have occurred, but a little reflection will show
the iraprobability that serious disturbances should
have grown out of this policy ; persons ivho have
observed the progress of the Revolution will
remember that a long period had elapsed after
the enactmept of those laAvs Avhich ruined their
fortunes, destroyed their influence, and humbled
their pride, before the opposition of the clergy
assumed an alarming character : in Spain, al-
in diffusing over the country, and actively maintaining a system
of popular education, combining useful knowledge with that
wholesome spirit of religion, deprived of which the success or
failure of any institutions for the instruction of youth is of little
consequence. The abolition of some of the ohl convents, rtionu-
ments of national pride and grandeur, reflects as much discredit on
the taste of the Spanish liberals as their persecution of the monks
proves them to be destitute of generous feeling and sound political
instruction. Besides the deep affection with which the convents
were regarded in many of the rural districts, might, I think, have
exercised some influence on a party which professes to be guided
by public feeling ; might have induced them to mitigate their
hostility against those much-cherished establishments, and
have led them to feel that speculative advantages may be pur
chased at too high a cost, if acquired by the sacrifice of a people's
love. But the Spanish democrat is rather more liberal on paper
than in practice : while the world generally, since the French Re
volution, has become not merely older but wiser, the Spanish libe
rals are still, with respect to their convents, with respect to their
notions of dividing the country into departmental divisions — in
short, with reference to every internal arrangement, the theorists,
the hopeless theorists of 1 789.

400 SKETCH OF THE
though the nature of the country offers great
facilities for a harassing species of war, the ex
tent of surface and the absence of communica
tions render the spontaneous movements neces
sary to successful insurrection difficult to be pro
duced, and seldora effective when they take place.
Of these dangers and difficulties the priest
hood were aware ; they knew that however the
cause raight ultimately succeed, the fii-st insur
gents are generally the first victims; and had
they been left as individuals in the possession of
solid advantages, they would not have entered
into a dangerous and unequal contest with the
legislature for the purpose of perpetuating a par
ticular system.
Had the Cortes effected sorae such corapromise
with the Church, the number of the convents
would have been safely diminished ; in the mean
time. Government would have derived a regular
income from their estates, which would have
lapsed to the nation at a period when the Repre
sentative system had become firmly estabUshed,
when Spanish capitalists had begun to vest their
capital in land, and an increasing confidence in
the new order of things had raised its price in
finitely beyond what it could attain under the
most favourable circumstances at the present
time. Besides these distant prospects, they ivould
have secured imraediate advantages equally cer-

CONSTITUTION OF 1820. 401
tain, though raore indirect in their nature. In
Spain, ivhere ancient usages have always go
verned the mass of the population, while law has
been feeble and inoperative, even in the best
days of the Monarchy, the revenue ivas raised
rather by influence than by positive exertion of
authority; the magic of the King's name, se
conded by an active and devoted priesthood,
filled the treasury to a degree that no fiscal se
verity, unassisted by such powerful auxiliaries,
could have effected. If the legislature had
adopted a more conciliatory policy towards the
clergy, they would have received their continued
support ; but when the priesthood were passive,
or secretly exerting their influence against the
Government — when the reverential attachment to
the Crown was no longer operative, from its
known aversion to the actual system, it becomes
easy to account for the difficulty, nay impossibi
lity, that prevailed in many districts, of raising
any fair proportion of the existing taxes. The
clergy no longer possessed the inclination to
grant or the means of levying those sums, by
which they had formerly relieved the embarrass
ments of the Monarchical government ; while the
abolition of the seignorial rights, the confiscation
of Church property, and other acts of this nature
had so far shaken public confidence by the ex
treme discontent they had produced, that Go-

402 SKETCH OF THE
vernment was unable to procure, upon any terms,
an adequate loan from their own capitalists,
although that class was universally favourable to
the Constitution; a striking instance that in an
age Avhen credit is strength no permanent advan
tages can be secured by acts of spoliation and
injustice. On what resources did the Cortes rely for
the extinction of the national debt, and for the
restoration of an exhausted treasury, without
which no governraent, however popular, can long
continue to exist? In the first place, they de
pended on the profits arising from the sale of
ecclesiastical property ; secondly, they calculated
that the remission of one-half of the tithes would
enable the peasant to pay the remainder, and his
other taxes with greater cheerfulness. With
respect to the sale of the Church lands, did the
Cortes forget, in their high estimation of the pro
bable receipts, that the fear of those reverses
which have since taken place, the consequent in
security of tenure, the resentment of a peasantry
who imagined the sale and purchase of such pro
perty as little less than sacrilege, would greatly
diminish its value ? — that the policy of throwing
at once upon the market such an extent of pro
perty as the confiscated estates of the convents,
ivould tend to depreciate them ? Did they forget
that the laws ivhich they had recently repealed.

CONSTITUTION OF 1820. 403
touching entails, ivould increase the surfeit and
depress, the price of land infinitely below its in
trinsic value ? Was it probable that capitalists
ivould vest large sums in the acquisition of pro
perty liable to be reclaimed, and ivhich the stormy
and unsettled character of the times rendered
every day more precarious in its tenure ? These
causes developed themselves gradually : those
estates hung heavy on their hands ; in some
parts the land fell out of cultivation from the
want of sufficient superintendence ; the purchase
proceeded slowly, and the scanty profits derived
were, in great part, consumed by the surveyors sent
to estimate their value, and the commissioners ap
pointed to conduct the sale. It is only necessary
to compare these melancholy facts with the suc
cess that attended the sale of Church lands in
the reign of Charles the Fourth to feel with what
impolicy the Cortes must have acted to produce
such different results : at that period, when it
was known that such a measure had been freely
adopted by the King in CouncU, and sanctioned
by the head of the Church ; that a full compen
sation ivould be given to the existing clergy, and
that no individual of that order would suffer by
the change ; a very different spirit prevaUed, and
the estates of the convents were sold at the same
rate as patrimonial property. In the opinion of
a numerous portion of the Spanish people, the

404 SKETCH OF THE
authority of the Pope could alone give credit and
vaUdity to such a measure : his permission had
been granted to the sale of Church lands at the
period to which I have alluded; and there is
little doubt that it would have been accorded a
second tirae to a reasonable extent, had the pro
ceedings of the Cortes been tempered with the
sarae justice and moderation. With respect to
the tithes, one-half had been abolished ; and,
as they weighed principally upon the labourer,
it was naturally supposed that such a remission
could not fail of proving a direct and sensible
relief to the raost numerous class of the nation.
It was not so much from the actual amount of
produce received by the tithe officers as from
the mode in ivhich it was disposed of, that the
enormous revenues of the Spanish clergy were
derived.-^^ The tithe of corn, oil, and agricul
tural produce of a permanent nature, was con
veyed to the principal town of each district, de
posited in magazines, and afterwards sold by
auction or contract, as particular circumstances
or the actual state of the market might render
most advantageous. The possession of capital
to a large amount gave thera every facility ih
choosing the particular moraent that appeared
raost favourable for the disposal of their goods ;
enabled them to speculate deeply, and to retain
their corn in store, sometimes for years, till an

CONSTITUTION OF 1820. 405
unfortunate season, the failure of crops in any
particular district, or general or local circum
stances, had raised the price: the warehouses
were then opened, and their goods disposed of —
always with profit, and sometimes to considerable
advantage. In other countries, tithes are con
sidered a heavy and vexatious tax upon industry,
seldora collected without raurmurs, and always
with reluctance ; but in Spain the peasant reli
giously laid aside the best of his produce, marked
what he considered to be of superior quality, re
ceived the tithe-collector with pleasure, and
pressed raore than his due proportion of payraent
on that officer of the church : but when the la
bouring classes were assured that the tithes were
not of Divine right, that in consequence the law
had undergone extensive modifications, and that
one-half had been conceded in their favour, in
some parts of the country they began to enter
tain doubts as to the necessity of paying the re
maining portion, although, generally speaking,
they were shocked at a measure which they con
ceived to be impious. Had the systera continued,
the expectations of the Cortes ivould probably
have been disappointed ; the remission of tithes
must have finally produced a corresponding in
crease of rent, and chiefly benefited the great
landholders, whom the Cortes wished to depress,
but ivould not have improved the condition of

406 SKETCH OF THE
the peasant. The priests had suffered severely
from the diminution of tithes, which occasioned
a proportionate reduction in the incomes of the
bishoprics, canonries, and benefices. In addition,
the Cortes iraposed an annual tax of twenty
miUions of reals a-year on the secular clergy,
which completed their distress.
By these, and acts of a similar nature, the
Cortes had completely alienated the clergy and
the nobles ; they now relied for support upon
two bodies, very differently constituted, and pos
sessing very different pretensions — the merchants
and the military, who had unequivocally pro
nounced themselves in their favour frora the
earliest days of the revolution. The same ill-
judged attempt to carry into effect, without any
regard for the feelings of individuals or bodies
affected, reforms which might have been adris-
able-under judicious limitations, disgusted these
most strenuous allies. The pay of the troops
was curtailed, the pensions of officers diminished,
and regiments remodelled ivithout any attention
to the wishes or prejudices of the persons who
composed them. The famous insurrection that
¦took place at Madrid on the 7th of July, 1822,
was chiefly owing to an ill-timed attempt, on the
part of the Cortes, to rectify the imperfect orga
nization of the Royal Guards. With delicate
management, this measure raight have been ren-

CONSTITUTION OF 1820. 407
dered less offensive to the feeUngs of those
haughty troops, who esteemed theraselves, ivith
reason, the flower of the Spanish army ; but this
rude attack on pririleges, perhaps objectionable,
but long established, wounded their sense of
military honour, and for some days actually en
dangered the safety of the state. The Cortes
should have proceeded with more caution in any
atterapt to reraodel the army : it is true, the
Spanish soldiery had, in the first instance, pro
claimed, and afterwards supported the Constitu
tion; but it should have been remembered, that
under a despotic government all distinctions
centre in the military; in a representative state,
the army is little influential and becomes subor
dinate to the civU power; and although in a
country like our own, ivhere the blessings of
constitutional government have been long en
joyed, the rights and feelings of the soldier and
the citizen are in a great measure blended, very
different sentiments might be expected to prevaU
among a body of men, that tiU then had formed
a distinct class, in a state Avhere such blessings
had not yet been felt, and ivhere political rights
were still in their infancy.
With the intention of promoting the establish
ment of home manufactures, and improving such
as were already estabUshed, the Cortes imposed
heavy duties on many articles of foreign mer-

408 SKETCH OF THE
chandise upon which the nation had depended
for its principal supply *. But even if capital
could have been turned at once into these chan
nels, it ivould scarcely have been possible, in a
country where great difficulty exists in the con
veyance of articles used in the manufactories
from the want of canals and good roads, ivhere
population is scanty, provisions dear, and the
rate of wages high, to compete with goods manu
factured in countries ivhere the population is
overflowing and the price of labour cheap. In
America, where speculation is as bold as it is
languid in Spain, the same cause — the great ex
pense of manual labour — has prevented the esta
bUshment of manufactories to any extent. Manu
factures cannot be forced into existence — they
must be fostered by circumstances favourable to
their growth; and Spain was not so circum
stanced, nor could she have been for many years
to come. The Cortes had observed the spirit of
those laws that have long fettered the trade of
Great Britain, and supposed that her commercial
wealth had grown into its present importance,
not in spite of their operation, but in consequence
of that system of restriction ; and, while they
quoted and followed her example, they did not
perceive that she had already recognised the
* I speak of the commercial regulations as they existed when
I was in Spain. I believe their rigour was abated in 18-23.

CONSTITUTION OF 1820. 409
mistaken poUcy of forraer times, that she was
-slowly reverting to the principles of free trade,
and was gradually disencumbering herself of that
artificial and complicated system which they were
labouring, de novo, to create. But ivhatever might
have been the remote effects of the restrictive
system on the manufactures of Spain, its im
mediate consequences were ruinous indeed : it
transferred, as might be expected, a great part of
the foreign trade from the merchant to the smug
gler ; the mercantile interest was disgusted ; the
revenue suffered materially frora the loss of the
customs, at a moment when such loss was irrepa
rable; while a host of freebooters, carrying on
their illegal traffic with impunity, oppressed the
people, added another scourge to the miseries of
civil war, and completed the distractions of that
unfortunate time.
At the commencement of the revolution, a
portion of the middling class was attached rather
to the ancient mode of administration than to the
existing Government, whose capricious policy had
fatigued the most decided supporters of arbitrary
power : but principally among this class was also
to be found the virtue, intelligence, and effective
force, that were enlisted on the side of the revo
lution. The agricultural class, by far the most
numerous, and constituting the physical force of
the country, in the first instance rather passive
VOL. II. T

410 SKETCH OF THE
than averse, beheld in silence the change that
was operated in the government : it was evident
that their future dispositions would be determined
by the measures pursued by the Constitutional
ists; had a character of compromise and con
ciliation actuated their councils a very different
spirit ivould have pervaded the peasantry when
the frontiers were menaced with invasion and
they were again invited to rally round the na
tional standard. The abolition of the convents,
and the treatment of the priesthood, changed
their early indifference into active hostility: be
sides the religious indignation that was excited
by the unceremonious suppression of establish
ments long considered sacred, that measure was
productive of extensive misery. A considerable
number of the poorer classes (I have heard it
estimated at upwards of 90,000) depended almost
exclusively on the charity of the monks for their
daily subsistence, and besieged the gates of the
monasteries at stated hours : their suppression,
by suddenly depriving these persons of their
accustomed means of subsistence, let loose upon
society a host of discontented and dangerous
characters ; reduced to absolute want, they took
up arms against the Governraent, and resorted to
the raountains, where they found ready partisans
in the peasantry, and able counsellors and de
voted leaders in an exasperated clergy.

CONSTITUTION OF 1820. 411
These acts ivere followed by a measure offen
sive in the last degree to the entire peasantry ;
a measure uncalled for by any political expe
diency, that has been little known out of Spain,
and whose practical ill effects have been still less
understood. The abolition of the provincial pri
rileges, and more especiaUy the geographical
subdivision of Spain, may at first sight appear of
tririal interest ; but whoever has resided in the
provinces, and observed the public mind, will
form very different conclusions, and be surprised
that a Spanish legislature should betray such
ignorance of Spanish feeling.
It was determined by the Cortes that Spain
should be divided into smaller provinces or de
partments better calculated for the purposes of
local administration. The ancient provinces were
superseded and their very names erased from the
map of Spain. A complete uniformity of political
institutions may be desirable, but is by no means
necessary to the establishment of civil freedom.
In England and in Scotland different systems of
law prevail, but the two people have not co
operated less warmly ; the unity of action has not
been impeded, nor has the cause of liberty suf
fered, although some local inconveniences may
have arisen from their different jurisprudence :
but when the Constitution was estabUshed in
1820 few substantial rights were stUl existing in
t2

412 SKETCH OF THE
the Spanish provinces ; and, with some excep
tions *, the shadow of their privileges, rather than
the actual privileges, reraained : but a large por
tion of the nation clung to these reraains, which
might have been safely conceded by the Cortes ;
such a mark of respect ivould have flattered pro
vincial pride, would have disarmed their anta
gonists of one of their keenest weapons, and have
gone far in attaching the people to their cause.
At all events, the ancient naraes of the provinces
should have been carefully, even ostentatiously
preserved; names, and usages, and limits, dear
to the peasant, associated with the traditions of
his fathers, connected with the memorials qf his
childhood, and inseparably blended with the
haughtiest recollections of Spanish glory and in
dependence. In Madrid, and sorae of the great
toivns, this measure was regarded with compara-
tiA'e indifference ; but throughout the country
the intelUgence was received with sorrow and
indignation. The reasons aUeged for the sub
division of the provinces were grounded on the
inconvenience arising from their unequal distri
bution; but probably the secret motive of that
determination arose from a belief that by con-
'' These exceptions referred to the Basque provinces and Na
varre. I did not euter into the question of their privileges in this
hasty sketch, because at the time when it was first published the
Constitution was overthrown, and their liberties had been re
stored by Ferdinand's government.

CONSTITUTION OF 1820. 413
founding ancient limits, and breaking down
former attachments, they would more rapidly
obUterate the memory of the old regime, and
create new interests more iraraediately connected
with the representative system. The names of
the principal squares or streets of every town or
village throughout Spain underwent alterations,
and Constitutional titles were affixed in the place
of their patron saints. These proceedings, ap
parently iraraaterial, acting upon a bigotted
peasantry, produced serious irritation : in these
changes they beheld the Constitution not only
opposed but preferred to their religion ; the
clergy availed themselves of this error, and the
feelings of the peasantry became more embittered,
and their hatred to the new institutions more
intense, from causes so trivial and absurd. Un
fortunately, in the prosecution of these, as of
other measures, the Cortes followed the example
of republican France, without perceiving that the
different state of society in that country, and the
dissimilarity of national character, required a
different policy : among the French, there existed
little attachment to old institutions ; in Spain it
is the ruling passion of the people. Paris was
the main-spring that regulated the moveraents of
the French revolution, and gave the impulse
to the remotest corners of the kingdom. The
strength of the Spanish revolution resided in

414 SKETCH OF THE
Madrid; but its population was more divided in
opinion, and the moral influence of the capital
scarcely extended beyond its gates. Among the
peasantry in France, except in a few provinces,
little resistance was offered to the republicans ;
in Spain, the rustic population was for the most
part animated with the same passions and attach
ments as the people of La Vendee; and the
meraory of that eventful struggle should have
shown the Cortes the danger of offending local
feeling, or of interfering with naraes and limits
endeared to the people by past recoUections.
They proceeded on a mistaken principle : they
should have firmly but cautiously directed the
progress of free institutions; they should not
have continually rerainded the peasant of a revo
lution ivhose raerits he could not appreciate, atid
which his previous habits and raode of thinking
would naturally induce hira to regard with dis
like: he should have discovered that he was a
freeman in the midst of a free population, by the
improvement of his own condition, and of all who
were connected mth him. They should have
written the Constitution, not on the squares of
the city, but in the hearts of the citizens : they
should have cherished these local attachments as
the guardian spirit of Spain; attachments that
were pure in their origin, and noble in their re
sults. During the late Spanish war, the French

CONSTITUTION OF 1820. 415
had no greater difficulty to contend with than
this prorincial spirit. The panic that attends
upon victory frequently stupefies a whole country,
and subjects it to the conqueror ; but, in Spain,
the ideal limits that separated their prorinces
presented a real and efficient barrier: the sub
mission of one province formed no precedent for
its neighbour, but stiraulated it to acts of greater
heroism, to prove its decided superiority; in a
country where this jealous and independent spirit
in some degree compensates for the deficiency of
good discipline, great victories became compa
ratively useless, and the enemy were compelled
to vanquish town after town, and district after
district, before they could gain the mastery of
public opinion, or triumph over the obstinate
emulation of the rival provinces.
The elevation of the old Spanish character is
stiU to be found in the peasant ; without the en
joyment of civil freedom, he has retained an
upright independence that fits him for its recep
tion. It was not easy or desirable to eradicate
feeUngs which had been the growth of centuries :
the Cortes could not remodel the Spanish cha
racter by an ideal standard of French perfection ;
they had the richest materials to work upon, and
a just view of mankind would have led thera to
adapt their measures to the temper of the people ;
they might lead, they could not force, society to

416 SKETCH OF THE
the level of their institutions : they should have
combined the principles of liberty with the ancient
forms of the monarchy, and they would have
wound themselves into the hearts of the people,
and have given character and permanency to the
new institutions.
I have attempted to sketch the causes that
alienated the leading interests of Spain from the
governraent of the Cortes : in many instances the
failure of their reforms resulted from defective
principle ; in others frora the injudicious rao-
ment selected for carrying them into effect, the
unjust and clumsy means by ivhich they were
effected, and the contempt of circumstances that
should regulate the application of all general
rules. Although many of the evils that had
afflicted Spain before the changes in 1820 were
aggravated during the three years that the Con
stitution existed, and others had grown out of
actual circumstances, it is but fair to add, that
the policy of the Cortes appears to its greatest
disadvantage, if we only judge of it by the suffer
ing state of the people, while they were passing
through the fiery ordeal of revolution: all the
mischiefs that had resulted frora a headlong at
tack on old interests had manifested themselves
on every point, and sometimes indirectly affected
the country in a manner that had been little
expected, while the benefits that might have

CONSTITUTION OF 182C. 417
arisen from the removal of some restrictions inju
rious to the happiness and freedom of the people,
had not yet begun to operate. WhUe I was in
Spain the Cortes were engaged in the formation
of a new code of laws, distinguished by the same
spirit of over-legislation that characterized all
their proceedings, but which might eventually
have led to an improved system of jurisprudence :
the corrupt administration of justice, and the
inefficiency of the police, were evils daily felt;
the correction of these abuses, if it had been
effected, would have been a great benefit to the
country. The decrees that quaUfied reprisals in
war, that placed the persons and properties of
strangers under the special protection of Govern
ment, and the recognition of the old debt of
Spain, for ivhich the former administrations had
ceased to pay interest, are among the few acts
thaft reflect credit on the Cortes; but the policy
which they pursued towards their South American
states had a very different character.
The resistance ivhich they manifested abroad
to the groAvth of principles Avhich they Avere ad
vocating at home, threw a deep shade over the
sincerity of their opinions. The revolution
brought Avith it that fortunate crisis, Avhen, justi
fied by principles Avhich themselves had esta
bUshed, Spanish pride might have stooped Avith-
t3

418 SKETCH OF THE
out humiUation, and yielded irith dignity Avhat it
could no longer retain ; but, with a strange ob-
stinapy of purpose and inefficiency of means, the
Spaniards threAV away the opportunity of securing
those political interests and commercial advan
tages, Avhich respect and gratitude and old con
nexions would still have maintained in their
favour, under the vain belief that they might yet
recover the dominion of prorinces, Avhose interests
had become too opposed to theirs, and whose po
pulation had grown too powerful and independent
to acknowledge any longer the claims of a dis
tant legislature. Unable to render their power
respected thirty miles from Madrid, the Cortes
protracted an unavailing contest with the liber
ties of a country, ivhere freedom was appreciated,
not as in Spain, by a few zealous supporters of
abstract principles, but by every individual who
had tasted the solid advantages which it secured
to him, by the establishment of a freer trade, the
growth of comraercial enterprize, and by increased
comforts and diminished prices. Where the
foundations of liberty rest on the daily comforts
of the people, the superstructure will be of ada
mant, and all calculations of the success to be
expected from superior numbers and better dis
cipline arrayed against it, are illusive : such were
its foundations in Spanish America ; but in the

CONSTITUTION OF 1820. 419
mother-country few feelings were enlisted in fa
vour of the Constitution, and few comforts se
cured by its estabUshment.
During the time that I was in Spain, a sen
sible change took place in public opinion : feel
ings became more exasperated, the RoyaUsts and
the ultra-ConstitutionaUsts became mutuaUy raore
powerful, while the party that held the balance,
and controlled the excesses of both, decUned in
numbers and influence. Many, who had been
friendly to moderate measures, began to suspect
that the Constitution was no longer tenable, and
enlisted with either of the prevailing parties, as
they were influenced by their interests, their con
nexions, their passions, or their prejudices. Sorae,
for the first time, looked forward to a repubUc
as the only guarantee against the return of a
system ivhich they detested ; while others, whose
persons were endangered, and whose properties
suffered by the partial acts of the Cortes, in a
grievous sense of present eril, remembered with
regret the tranquil despotism of the preceding
Government. In the heat of civil war, the con
vulsed districts presented a picture, such as per
haps has never been paralleled. The Constitu
tional forces consisted of the local militias and
regular corps — sorae compromised by their poli
tical conduct, others sincerely attached to the
Constitution, — all intoxicated with the restless

420 SKETCH OF THE CONSTITUTION OF 1820.
spirit of the time. On the other hand, the array
of the Faith presented all the fanaticism and
credulous belief of the middle ages, combined
with high but irregular notions of honour, and
an exaggerated but chivalrous devotion to the
Croivn. When I left Spain, it laboured under
the united evils of a ruined treasury, of a power
less executive, wasting its last resources in a
ciidl contest from ivhose success no advantages
could be reaped, and where victory, though a di
minished, was still a positive eril, of increasing
disunion with other Governments, and a foreign
army gathering on the frontiers : such was the
gloomy picture which Spain presented in 1822.
Since that tirae every trace of the Constitutional
system has vanished, and the despotic rule has
returned in all its ancient force. — Such was the
close of a revolution that, under happier auspices,
might have secured to Spain the enjoyment of
free institutions, have set an example of mode
ration to the states that adopted her policy, and
advanced the liberties of mankind.

( 421 )

REMARKS ON THE PRESENT STATE OF
CATALONIA.
It must appear soraewhat singular that the
Catalans, who drained their dearest veins in sup
port of Don Carlos, a few years ago, have not
shown as great a zeal on the present occasion,
and indeed, in sorae places, have reraained alraost
passionless spectators of the struggle, although
that Prince had actually taken the field, in per
son, and his cause was intimately connected with
those provincial distinctions of the kingdom to
which they were so strongly attached. This
apparent inconsistency of conduct must have
forced itself on the observation of every raan
previously acquainted with the internal state of
Spain. The solution of this difiSculty is to be found in
the utter raismanagement of the Carlist resources
by the CarUst chiefs of Catalonia, in 1827; it is
to be found in the ill-judged insurrection of
1827, and in the consequent exhaustion of a party
which, united to the forces of Biscay and Navarre,
might, in its pristine and unbroken strength,
have unseated the Queen's Government. The
long and desolating ciril war of 1822 and 1823
had weakened the Royalist party in Catalonia.
Another severe struggle, within four years, was

422 REMARKS ON THE PRESENT STATE
no slight tax even on the warlike genius of that
province. That second struggle was also san
guinary, and the destruction of their chiefs, who
perished in the field and on the scaffold, was a cir
cumstance more ruinous to the interests of the
party than even their numerical loss, which might
have been more easily repaired. The Catalonian
Carlist had lost the chiefs who had been trained
to Guerilla habits in that admirable school, the
long and trying struggle with imperial France,
who had become perfected in that pecuUar species
of warfare by the protracted contest of 1822 and
1823; and who reUed not solely on the native
courage of their followers for success, but pos
sessed foresight, tact, and discretion, availed
themselves of every local advantage, averted
every avoidable danger, and baffled the opera
tions of the Constitutional leaders, by means less
systematic perhaps, but on their theatre of action
not less effective than those which obtained
•araong the regular forces.
The raode, too, in which the struggle of 1827
terminated, was another circumstance highly pre
judicial to the eventual interests of the party
in Catalonia. The CarUsts were neither con
querors, nor yet conquered. Had they been vic
torious, the consciousness and elation of success
ivould have atoned for many losses, and the re
membrance of former triumphs, and the bond of

OF CATALONIA. 423
a coramon principle, would now have induced
them to raake coraraon cause with the Basques.
Had they been suppressed by force of arras, a
burning sense of dishonour might have survived
defeat, and have prompted them to take the
earliest opportunity of avenging the indignity.
But when they discovered, in 1827, that the King
was a free agent, and Don Carlos determinately
opposed to their proceedings, their devoted at
tachment to their chiefs was replaced by irritation
and distrust ; and they dispersed, not broken by
defeat, but humbled by the conviction that for
months their exertions had been directed against
an imaginary evil, and in support of a King
who did not stand in need of their assistance.
Under these circurastances, and with such hu-
mUiating recollections connected, not with the cha
racter of Don Carlos, but with the unwarrantable
abuse of his name ; deprived, too, of their chiefs,
it was not likely the Catalan should raise the
war-cry for that Prince within six years of those
events. The inactivity of Catalonia, during the
prevailing contest, must not, however, induce us
to form an erroneous estimate of the strength of
the Royalist or Carlist party in that important
province; their actual tranquUlity is the result,
not of inherent weakness, still less of attachment
to the Queen's Government; it is the natural
effect of causes temporary in their operation;

424 REMARKS ON THE PRESENT STATE
they have been tasked beyond their powers; they
have been rendered unserviceable for present
purposes by past mismanagement ; they have
been fairly borne down by a series of unnatural
exertions : in a time of comparative quiet they
should have husbanded their resources for a time
of emergency ; but, contrary to the counsel of the
shreivdest men of their party, they unsheathed
the SAvord when their shattered state imperatively
required the balsam of peace : they anticipated
their powers in a useless struggle ; they spent
their oil when the sun was high, and night
found them unprepared; like a weary giant the
Royalist strength in Catalonia is exhausted for
the moment, but its vital principle is not ex
tinct ; and if the present contest in the north
of Spain endure, another set of chieftains, not less
able and not less adventurous, may grow out of
the continuance, and be formed by the circum
stances of the war : their old and unabated at
tachment to Don Carlos may again kindle into
action, and the reviving spirit of the Catalans
may yet strew with many thorns the couch of the
Queen of Spain.
It must also be remerabered that, although sub
dued for the moment, the Carlist principle in
Catalonia is infinitely stronger now, in numbers,
in respectability, and in opinion, than when, in
1827, it was maintained at the point of the sword.

OF CATALONIA. 425
The calm, the cautious, the considerate, shrank
at that period from abetting an enterprise, then
manifestly illegal under every point of view ; but
of these an imraense proportion are equally con
rinced that, since that period, Don Carlos has
becorae, by the natural course of events, the
undoubted heir of the Spanish monarchy.

NOTES
TO THE SECOND VOLUME.

[In these Notes I have inserted some of the old proclamations and
public papers to which I have alluded in the historical chapter'
of my work (vol. ii., p. 18i^), and on which I have in some
degree founded my argument. I have also annexed a literal
translation of those documents which appeared to be most in
teresting or most essential to the points under discussion,]
The Basques, Vasques, or Guasques, have been at all
times a most remarkable people, and to this day speak a
language of their own, entirely different from that made
use of in other parts of Spain, with which indeed it
bears no kind of analogy. It appears, from various
sources, that the Highland districts of Biscay, Alava,
and Guipuzcoa were never subdaed by the Romans, in
vincible on every other soil. For this reason we cannot
discover, in those parts of the Basque provinces, any
traces of the language and the laws, the customs or the
religion, of those masters of the world. Towards the
close of the Neustrian empire the Basques were cele
brated for their military achievements, and overran aud
subjected, though they did not long retain, a large por
tion of France.* Gascony tells its own tale, and is
evidently a legacy bequeathed by the Basques or Guas
ques, as they were then indiscriminately called. The
Mahometan invaders were not more successful in their
efforts against these Highlanders of the north of Spain;
•' IMichelet.

428 NOTES.
among their rocks, for centuries, the persecuted faith of
Christ found a secure asylum, when, except in the As
turias, the Crescent had almost everywhere in Spain re
placed the Cross. From these wild fastnesses the tide of
Christianity, that had ebbed so low, was destined to
flow back over its lost domain, in a course of gradual
and progressive triumph, till it had again no limits but
the sea.
Don Rodrigo Toledano observes, — " Saraceni totam
Hispaniam occupaverunt gentes Gothicee fortitudine jam
contrita nee alicubi resistente, ecceptis paucis reliquijs,
quae in montanis Asturiarum, Viscagiae et Alavee, Gui-
puzcose, Ruconiee, et Aragonise remanserant, quas ideo
Dominus reservavit ne lucerna Sanctorum in Hispanis
coram Domino extingueretur." — Rodrigo Toledano,
lib. iv. cap. 1.
"En las partes de los Pirineos, que estan mas a la
mar mayor y los contornos de estos lugares, que desci-
enden en Guipuzcoa, y costeando el mar se estiendeu
por Alaba y Bizcaya, quedaron los Christianos tan ex-
emptos de los Moros como primero lo fneron de los
Romanos." — Bueter, lib. i. cap. 30.
" Otra parte se encerrcS en los montes Pirineos en
sus cumbres y aspereza d6 moran los Vizcaynos y los
Navarros. Estos confiados en la fortaleza y fragura de
aquellos lugares, no solo defendieron su libertad sino
trataron y acometieron tambien de ayudar a los demas
en Espana." — Mariana, lib. viii. c. 1.
" Guipuzcoan union with Castille." p. 210.
Guipuzcoa is defended by the Crown, Biscay by the
people themselves. The King's Governor in Guipuzcoa
cannot, however, interfere in civil matters. A Corre
gidor appointed by the Crown presides over the Guipuz
coan parliament, as in Alava and Biscay. The Guipuz-

NOTES. 429
coan junta is composed of the Corregidor, four Deputies
from San Sebastian, Tolosa, Aspeitia, and Azcoitia,
each of whom must be an inhabitant of the town he
represents, and Deputies from every village of the pro
vince. Speaking of the Guipuzcoan towns, Garibay observes
that " King Alonso confirmed to them their fueros,
ivhich were afterwards confirmed to them by other
Kings."— Lib. xii. c. 29. _
" The King unwisely addressed a pedido to his Gui
puzcoan subjects." p. 238.
The pedido was considered a direct infringement of
their rights. Garibay states that " there is an original
document in the archives of Mondragon stating that the
King Don Pedro imposed a hundred thousand maravedis
of tribute, under the name of pedido, on all the towns
from the northern bank of the Ebro to the sea coast,
including Guipuzcoa, but the nobles of that province
ordered the King to search for a precedent ; and as none
could be found the King commanded his secretaries to
register and note down that the demand should never
more be repeated." — Lib. xv. cap. 34.
" The Deputies of Guipuzcoa resolved on the 10th
of August, 1391." p. 238.
The following resolution, passed by the Deputies of
Guipuzcoa assembled at Tolosa on the day specified, is
a striking proof of the consideration ivhich the popular
representatives had attained even at that early period,
and of the weight and influence they possessed. They
enacted that " If any inhabitant of Guipuzcoa be sum
moned by the King, or his Governor of Castille, on ac
count of his refusal to pay the tribute, or on any similar
ground, he shall not obey the summons, but the Depu-

430 NOTES.
ties of the towns shall go forth and inquire into the
cause of the summons, and answer for him." The
Guipuzcoan representatives had higher notions of their
o-wn importance in the fourteenth century than the
Commons of England after the lapse of more than one
hundred and fifty years from the period in question.
Those Deputies were accustomed to give laws to their
country, and arrange their internal affairs with modera
tion and firmness, at a time when the popular branch
of the English legislature were told by their Sovereign
that they were only brute folk and inexpert. Yet
against the descendants of such men, and against their
hereditary liberties, have we, their younger brothers in
the art of government, waged a most indefensible war.
" A Deputy, transported with rage, slew the encroach
ing Minister on the spot." p. 244.
The murder of the Jew Gaon is differently related by
different writers, though all concur in stating that it
was occasioned by an attempt on his part to levy the
pedido upon the Guipuzcoans in the King's name.
Mariana says that he was killed by the people ; Garibay
attributes his death to the Hidalgos ; others impute it
to a Deputy. We find this brief account of the trans
action in Mariana : —
" En Tolosa, pueblo de At Tolosa, a town of Gui-
Guipuzcoa, el comun del puzcoa, the common people
pueblo mato en seis de Mayo killed, on the 6th of May, a
a un Judio Uamado Gaon ; icvi of the narae of Gaon ;
fue la ocasion que por estar the event occurred in this
el Rey cerca, enti-etanto que manner:— While the King
se entretenia en Fuentera- was at Fuenterrabia, the
bia, empezd el Judio a cobrar said Jew began to exact a
cierta imposicion que se sort of contribution called
Uamaba el Pedido sobre que the " Pedido," which bad
antiguamente huvo grandes formerly excited much dis-
alteraciones entre los de turhance among the in-
aquella nacion, y al presente habitants of that country ;

NOTES. 431
llevaban mal que se les que- and on the present occasion
brantasen en sus privilegios they were displeased at this
y libertades. No castig6 violation of their privileges
este delito y esta muerte." — and liberties. This crime
Tom. ii., lib. 23, cap. 6. and murder was not pu
nished." — Tom. ii., lib. 13,
cap. 6.
Garibay enters into the transaction at greater length,
and observes, with respect to the authors of Gaon's death,
that " the Hidalgos of Guipuzcoa, indignant at an outrage
which their privileges and lordly nature (hidalguia)
could not brook, killed the Jew in the town of Tolosa,
on the 6th of May, while the King was at Fuenterabia,
being induced to act thus in defence of their privileges,
and in order that no man should hereafter dare to
commit a similar outrage." — Lib. xvii. cap. 9.

" Tell this to King Henry.' Return, and bid him re
member that one of the fundamental laws of our
people runs thus : — We ordain that if any one,
whether native or foreigner, should coerce any man,
woman, people, 8fc. he shall be disobeyed, and if he
persists, killed." p. 246.
The old Guipuzcoan law runs thus : — " We ordain
and command, that if any native lord or foreigner, under
the pretext of royal letters or provisions from the king
our lord, which have not been previously submitted to
the junta, and approved of by them, if such a person
shall commit aught against the privileges of the pro
vince, and shall endeavour to do aught against the right
of any inhabitant or inhabitants of the towns and vil
lages, they shall not obey him or permit him to carry
his intentions into effect; on the contrary, they shall
resist him, and if they cannot make him desist by fair
means they shaU kill him, and the towns and villages

432

NOTES.

shall defend the killers or wounders." — Book of the
Guipuzcoan Fueros, cap. ii. tit. 39.
An Alcalde of Fontarabia attempted, in 1742, to
violate the Guipuzcoan privileges, by trying to carry
into effect a royal order transmitted to him through Don
Josef del Campillo, the Minister of that day, -without
having previously submitted it to the Provincial Depu
tation. Guipuzcoa was thrown into the greatest ferment
by this departure from the law and usage of the land,
but was as quickly appeased by a royal order rebuking
the Alcalde, and commanding that ofiicer to give ample
satisfaction to the deputation for the outrage he had so
wantonly committed.

" He hecho presente al
Rey la carta de vm. de 8 del
corriente,en quedacuentade
loha que executado en cum-
plimiento de la orden que se
le dio en 21 del pasado para
la soltura de Mr Blanchet, y
lo que de ello ha resultado,
y ha sido del desagrado de
S.M. que vm. no exhibiese
su real orden para que con-
stase de ella k la provincia
y contribuyese a su obse]"-
vancia, como S.M. no duda
lo haria por la experiencia
que tiene de su obediencia, y
no se hubiera dilatado la
execucion de la 6rden, ni
vm. hubiera pasado a la pri-
sion del Alcalde de Sacas,
que ha dado lugar k que la
provincia hay a despachado
contra vm. judicialmente
mandandole comparecer Ii
su jurisdiccion ; por lo qual,
no queriendo S. M. que este
modo de proceder de vm. d^
motive en adelante k que se

" I have laid before the
King your letter of the 8th
instant, giving an account of
what you have done in the
execution of the order sent
to you on the 21st of last
month, respecting the dis
charge of M. Blanchet,
and its results. It has dis
pleased H. M. that you
should not have exhibited
his royal order, in order that
the province, on being in
formed of it, should have
concurred in its execution,
as H. M. does not doubt it
would have done, having
so many proofs of its obe
dience ; and by that means
the execution of the order
would not have been de
layed; neither should you
have gone to the prison of
the Alcalde de Sacas, which
has induced the province to
make a judicial representa
tion against you, requiring
your appearance before its

NOTKS. 433
sienta, como lo ha hecho en jurisdiction. H. M. there-
esta opasioii, una provincia fore, being unwilling that
que le es muy fiel ; manda your conduct in this respect
S. M. que vm. comparezca should give offence to a pro-
ante ella, como le lia inti- vince so faithful, commands
mado, dexando S. M. a la you to appear before it, ac-
ddigencia de la diputacion cording to the notification,
la libertad de Blanchet, H. M. leaving the question
como ya le eslk prevenido of Blanchefs discharge at
en fecha de 15 del corriente the discretion of the depu-
y se le repite hoy." tation, as determined upon
on the 1 ,5th instant, and com
municated again this day."
" The union of Alava vith Castile." p. 211.
[ " The deputies found the King at Burgos, and made
him a formal tender of the courdy, 8;c. And there, in
the presence of the Hidalgos and the Prelate of Cala-
horra, 8fc."1
" From the time that Alava was conquered and taken
from the Navarrese, it has always been an independent
lordship, disposable at the will of the Hidalgos and na
tive proprietors of the land of Alava. Sometimes they
gave the lordship to one of the sons of the Kings (of
Castile, I imagine), sometimes to the Lord of Biscay ;
sometimes to the House of Lara, and sometimes to the
Lord of the Cameros. And during all that time, no
king held lordship in the land, nor appointed officers to
administer justice, except in the towns of Vitoria and
Trevifio, which were his own ; aud all that land, these
towns excepted, was called the Fraternity of Alava.
And when the King was at Burgos, the deputies from the
Fraternity of Alava, and the nobles and the proprietors
of the soil, with a deputation from the rest, came to the
King and told him that they were willing to give him the
lordship of all the land of Alava, and they requested
him to receive the lordship of the land, and to give them
their fueros reduced to writing, by which they might be
VOL. II. * U

434 NOTES.
governed, and that he should appoint officers to admi
nister justice. And upon this the King Ifeft Burgos, and
went to Vitoria. And when he was there, the Bishop of
Calahorra came to him and said, ' Seiior, whoever is
Bishop of Calahorra, is one of the Fraternity of Alava ;
aud, as a Brother of the Fraternity, I come to tell you
that all the Hidalgos and proprietors of Alava are as
sembled in the field of Arriaga, which is the spot where
they have been accustomed to assemble time out of
mind ; and they have begged me to come and tell you
this, and request you to proceed to the Junta, and they
will give you the Lordship of Alava, as they have already
informed you by their deputies.' And the King went
to the Junta in the field of Arriaga." — Cronica de Don
Alonzo XI. de Castilla. Cerda y Rico, cap. 100.
Don Lorenzo Padilla, a most careful author, observes
that ." La provincia 6 cofradia de Alaba siempre fue
libre y toniaba por Seiior d quien le parecia y asi fueron
Senores de ella muchos de la casa de Guebara y de la de
Mendoza, y por la mayor parte se encomendaban d los
Senores de Bizcaya, 6 i los de los Cameros, y asi estu-
vieron encomendados d Don Lope de Haro."
It appears that in Alava, as well as in Guipuzcoa, an
attempt was made, during the last century, to enforce
the Royal orders without previously submitting them, as
the law required, to the popular authorities of the pro
vince. This intended encroachment upon the Alavese
liberties appears to have originated with one of the
Ministers of the Crown, but was speedily arrested by a
Royal order, bearing date the 6th of August, 1703.
" Pero por fortuna seme- " These disputes fortu-
jantes disputas terminaron nately terminated on the 6th
en 6 de Agosto del ano de of August, 1 703, when a
1703, en que se ooncedio k royal pn'OT7e^jocountersign-
aquella provincia real privi- ed by Don Joseph Nicholas,
legio refrendado de D. Josef of Castro, was granted to the

NOTES. 435
Nicholas de Castro, man- province, ordering • that all
dando, ' que todos los despa- warrants addressed to the
chos, que se dirigieren a judges of the commission.'or
jueces de comision y a otros to other persons in the pro-
en la provincia de Alaba, vince of Alaba, should be
hayan de ser presentados flrstpresentedto their junta,
primero en su junta, 6 ante or submitted to the Depu-
eldiputado general, para que tado-General, to ascertain
se reconozcan si tienen cosa ivhether it contain anything
que contravenga a los fueros, contrary to the fueros, laws,
leyes y preeminencias de la and privileges, and if those
provincia, y en caso que se privileges should be in any
vulneren en todo 6 en parte, degree affected by its con-
se ohedezcan y no se cum- tents such warrants shall be
plan dichos despachos.' " obeyed but not carried into
effect.' "
It is curious to perceive with what perseverance and
complete success the Basques have defeated every
attack upon their freedom. Will her Majesty of Spain
and the British Cabinet succeed in effecting the over
throw of that independence which neither the Romans,
nor the Mahometans, nor the early monarchs of Spain,
nor their foreign allies, nor the later sovereigns of the
country were able to subvert ?
" To these articles the King subscribed." p. 213.
Alavese union with Castile. — It was also agreed in the
Alavese contract, that no iron foundries should be esta
blished in Alava that the forests might not be wasted ;
that the Alcaldes should be natives of Alava ; that the
Hidalgos residing in the hamlets next to Vitoria should
be considered as nobles of Alava, although Vitoria and
Trevifio were specifically exempted from the operation
of that article which precluded the King of Castile from
the right of appointing governors to the Alavese towns.
It was also stipulated that the monasteries and property
ofthe Alavese should be their own; a clause intelhgible
enough, though oddly worded, and apparently involving
u2

436

NOTES.

a truism, but which only impHed that the King their
lord had no right to interfere with the conventual pro
perty, although, as patron, he possessed the privilege of
appointing the abbots. If I were inclined to swell the
catalogue of outrages perpetrated by the Queen's Go
vernment upon the Basques, I might dwell upon the
decrees which have suppressed the monastic institutions
in Alava, as in the rest of Spain ; a direct contravention
of an ancient fuero, and most essential article of the
Union.

" Estando el Rey en Bur
gos, le vinieron embaxadores
de aquella parte de Canta-
bria 6 Bizcaya Uamada Ala
ba, que le ofrecian el seiiorio
de aquella tierra, que hasta
entonces era libre, acostura-
brada a vivir por si misma
con propios fueros y leyes
excepto Vitoi-ia y Treviiio,
que mucho tiempo antes
eran de la Corona de Cas
tilla. En los llanos de Ar
riaga en que por costum-
bre antigua hacian sus con-
cejos y juntas dieron la
obediencia al Rey en per
sona : alii la libertad en que
por tantos siglos se mantu-
vieron inviolablemente, de
su propia y espontinea vo-
luntad, la pusieron debaxo
de la confianza y seiiorio del
Rey ; concedioseles k su in-
stancia que viviesen confor-
rne al fuero de Calahorra ;
y confirmoles sus privi
legios antiguos, con que
se conservaii hasta hoy en
un estado seraejante al de
la libertad, ca no se les
puede imponer ni hechar

Mariana states, in lib. 16,
that " The King being at
Burgos some ambassadors
from that part of Cantabria,
or Biscay, called Alaba,
came unto hirn, offering him
the lordship of that country,
which had been free till
then, accustomed to govern
itself with its own fueros and
laws, except Vitoria and
Treviiio, which long be
fore belonged to the Crown
of Castile. On the plains
of Arriaga, where, in con
formity with "ancient usage,
they held their councils and
juntas, and gave obedience
to the King in person, they,
of their own accord, and by
their own spontaneous will,
placed under the protec
tion and seignory of the
King, the liberty which for
so many centuries they had
inviolably maintained. At
their own requisition he
agreed that they should be
governed by the fuero of
Calahorra, and he con
firmed their ancient privi
leges so that they remain at

NOTES. 437
nuevos pechos ni alcabalas. the present moraent in a
De todos estos conciertos hay state as that of liberty, be-
cartas del Rey D. Alonso, cause no sort of tribute nor
data en Vitoria ados dias de excise can be imposed upon
Abril de 1332." them. Of all these cove
nants there are letters-pa
tent of King Don .Alonso,
dated at Vitoria, on the 2nd
of April, 1332."
Every Biscayan is noble, and is recognised as such by
the law in every province of Spain. A perfect equality
of civil rights prevails in Biscay. The Biscayans are
all equal in the eye of the law, from the tenant of the
Casa Solar to the humblest peasant of the soil. They
participate equally in the benefit of their fueros, are
equaUy bound by the law, and receive the same measure
of justice. No direct taxes, or indirect contributions, were levied
upon the Biscayans by the Spanish Govemment. The
King, as lord, had the following rents, as expressed in
the frieros of Biscay : — " The Lords of Biscay had
always on certain houses and lands, in all the towns of
Biscay, a fixed annual rent and cess ; and so likewise
they have in the iron works a duty of sixteen dineros
viejos on every hundred weight of forged iron, and on
the monasteries and prevostships. But they have never
had any alcavala, or duties on goods passed across the
mountains, or contributions ; ou the contrary, the Bis
cayans and the Hidalgos of Biscay, and the inhabitants
of Durango, are now and have always been free and
exempt from every contribution, from all service, from
any alcavala, and from every imposition of whatever
nature it may be." — Fueros of Biscay Law, 4 Tit. i.
There were no custom-houses established along the
Biscayan frontier of France, and the Spanish Government
Were unable to impose such a restriction upon their

438 NOTES.
trade as long as it respected the fueros of Biscay. This
exemption is one of the greatest privileges enjoyed by
the Basques; but it has been assailed by the Queen's
Government in that spirit of wanton aggression whioh
has characterised her policy towards the Basques.
The King's troops cannot enter the province upon
any pretext whatever, either in time of peace or war.
A special permission from the General Junta may,
uuder peculiar circumstances; justify such a proceeding.
The Parliament, or General Junta of Biscay, is
composed of the Corregidors and three Lieutenant-Cor-
regidors, appointed by the Crown, but not empowered to
vote ; six Regidores, officers elected by the Junta, and in
some degree resembling our aldermen ; the two popular
tribunes, chosen also by the Junta, and the deputies
sent from the towns, villages, hamlets, and scattered
houses of the lordship.
The deputies assemble, on the day of convocation, be
neath the celebrated tree of Guernica, and take their
seats on benches of stone. The arms of Castile glitter
above the seat occupied by the Lord of Biscay, or by
the deputy Corregidor, who, for many generations past,
has always presided in his place, and the arms of Biscay
are displayed above the opposite seat of the popular tri
bunes. After the customary forms and oaths, the De
puties enter the church ; but before they commence the
labours of the Session, they institute an inquiry into tbe
list of Deputies returned. With a simplicity worthy of
the patriarchal times, they pass under a brief review the
name of every deputy, to ascertain that he is pure and
unspotted in his general character, as no vicious man, in
their opinion, should legislate for a free and virtuous state.
And indeed they have well deserved the love of their
country. They do not bear the name of deputies, as in
other states, but are called, and have been known im-

NOTES. 439
memorially, in Biscay, as the Guizon-onac, or good men
of the land; a touching proof of the integrity with
which they have exercised their functions from genera
tion to generation, and of the perfect confidence reposed
in them by their contented fellow-countrymen. What
a tale of virtuous government and real sympathy be
tween the people and their representatives is disclosed
in this single and simple expression of popular good
will! " No order of the Spanish Government is directly
received by the Basque Parliament." p. 217.
Any Royal order sent from Castile to Biscay is ad
dressed to the Corregidor, and is presented by this officer
to the members of the permanent deputation, by whom
it is referred to the popular tribunes. If the order is
confirmed by their sanction, it is carried into effect ; if
disapproved by them, it remains a dead letter.
" Deputies confirm or condemn the order."
p. 218.
On questions of very doubtful or difficult decision the
Deputies sometimes request the presence of the Fathers
of their country, Patricios de Biscaya, men so called from
the great consideration in which they are held. They
are, generally speaking, individuals of high personal cha
racter, who, now perhaps retired from public life, have
yet taken an active part in the Junta, have belonged to
the permanent deputation, are profoundly versed in the
laws of their country, and are considered, from their
known opinions, and from the past habits of their lives,
as strongly disposed to maintain, in all their integrity,
the ancient fueros of the land.

440 NOTES.
" During the interval which elapses betiveen the close
of the Session and the re-assembling of Parliament,
the administration of public affairs is vested in a
Commission residing at Bilboa." p. 218.
The permanent commission superintend the collection
of the contributions, manage the expenditure both in the
civil and military departments, and administer justice.
Their proceedings have, however, no legal effect, unless
sanctioned by one at least of the popular tribunes, who
are bound to scrutinize their measures with great severity,
that no act may be committed, either purposely or unin
tentionally, directly or indirectly, against the liberties
of the land. The deputation are compelled to publish,
a fortnight before the re-assenibling of the Junta, a
detailed statement of the course pursued during theit
administration, and are bound to send copies of the
document to every member of parliament. When the
Junta meets, a discussion generally arises with refer
ence to some part of their conduct, upon which the
tribunes appear, and freely take part in the debates.
The tribuheship, it may be observed, is in Biscay a post
of great trust and distinction, because the liberties of
the subject may be materially affected by a skilful or
incompetent discharge of the duties annexed to the office.
The General Junta of Biscay assembles every two
years ; that of Guipuzcoa every year, in the month of
July, and that of Alava three times in the course of
every year. The provincial fueros were for ages the
common law of the land, and were only reduced to
writing in 1452, in the reign of Juan the Second, by a
commission appointed for that purpose. In the follow
ing century the Biscayan code, as I have already ob
served, was reformed, printed, and recognised, in its
amended state, by the Emperor Charles the Fifth, as the
established law of the land.

NOTES. 44 [
As far as it is possible to ascertain the truth at so
remote a period, it appears that Zenon, Lord of Biscay,
had two daughters, one of whom was married to Arista,
King of Navarre, and the other Dona liiiga, the heiress
of Biscay, to Don Lope Zuria, son of one of the most
powerful nobles of Biscay. We are told, that on ac
count of the " noble qualities and great valour which
he displayed in the battle and victory of Arrigoriaga, he
was chosen as their Lord by the Biscayans assembled
under the tree of Guernica, on condition that he would
swear to maintain their rights and privileges. Garibay,
speaking of this transaction, observes, " Refieren mas,
que assentado con el sus fueros y orden que adelante
havran de tener, commenz<5 el dicho ano A ser Seiior
de Bizcaya," ix. cap. 22. Navarro also states, " Y los
Biscaynos assentaron con el sus fueros leyes y usos y le
tomaron por su Senor, ni absoluto ni soberano sino con
sus leyes y condiciones y con pacto de elias le juraron
por tal el mismo ano," cap. 7. {The. Biscayans cove
nanted with him with respect to their fueros, their laws,
and their customs, and chose him as their Lord, not
as their absolute or sovereign master, but with laivs to
bind him, and with stipulations, and with an agreement
to observe them, they swore to him as to their lord that
very year.} Carmona states, " Viscayni dominum et
principem sibi assumpserunt Zuriam non tamen abso-
lutt; sed certis adhibitis pactionibus quibus eximia sibi
privilegia Biscayiii reserbabant quse retulit Gutierres."
Aut. 24. Gutierres confirms this statement, and spe
cifies the privileges, lib. iii.
From these statements, and from the accounts of
other early writers, who concur in the assertion, that
when Lope de Zuria was chosen by the Biscayans as
their lord, he swore to observe their privileges, as then
established, it may be inferred, that when those old
u3

442 NOTES.
chroniclers wrote, the rights in question were ancient,
and lost, perhaps even then, in the night of time. The
Biscayan fueros were therefore, at a very remote period,
the common law of the land ; their constitution is pro
bably the oldest in the world, and has been the least
subject to those vicissitudes which attend all human
institutions. As the Highland districts of Biscay were
never overrun by a foreign enemy, it is impossible to
assign any date to the commencement of their liberties.
The Biscayans were so jealous of their privileges,
and surrounded them with so much form and circum
stance, that they compelled their lords, at their accession
to the lordship, to take the oath to maintain the rights
of Biscay, in four different places, specifically named by
the Book of the Fueros. He was first required to take
the oath, '' A las puertas de la Villa de Bilbao," and
then, in the words of the fuero, " Dende ha de venir d
San Emetrio Celadon de Larraverna ; y ende en manos
del Clerigo Sacerdote que tenga el cuerpo de Dios nues-
tro Seiior consagrado en las manos, ha de jurar lo
mismo . . . . y assi venido A la dicha Guernica so el
Arbol de ella, donde se acostumbran hacer las juntas
de Bizcaya, hade jurar e confirmar todas las libertades e
privilegios e franquezas e fueros e costumbres que los
dichos Bizcaynos ban, y tierras y mercedes que ban del
Rey y de los Seiiores passados de los guardar y tener e
mandar tener y guardar . . . . y dende ha de ir a la
villa de Bermeo donde en Santa Eufemia de la dicha
villa y ante el Altar de la dicha Iglesia, estando
ende el Clerigo Sacerdote revestido, teniendo en las
manos el Cuerpo de Dios consagrado, ha de pouer
la mano en el dicho Altar, e jurar lo mismo." — La Ley,
2 del Titulo, 1. — ^The oath was, therefore, to be taken
by the new lord before the gates of Bilbao ; secondly,
under circumstances of great solemnity, in the parochial

NOTES. 443
church and juradera of San Emetrio ; thirdly, beneath
the tree of Guernica; and, lastly, in the juradera of
Santa Eufemia.
I have observed, that from the time pf Lope de Zuria
till 1105, the Lords of Biscay were chosen by the people;
so it is stated by some authors; at the same time it
appears, as far as I can discover, that the Biscayans
almost invariably elected the son of the late lord. — Ga
ribay, lib. xii. ; Navar, cap. 13 ; Henao, lib. iii.
The author of the Escudo, speaking of Don Juan
the First, observes, " That he proceeded in person to
Biscay, and took the oaths in the church of Santa Maria,
of Guernica, and promised, for himself and his descend
ants, that he would maintain their fueros, usages, cus
toms, franchises, and liberties. In the same form, and
with the same stipulation as to their liberties, he united,
at a subsequent time, the lordship to the royal crown of
Castile, to be separated no more."
Lope Garcia states, " He (Don Juan) annexed or
appropriated (apropio) Biscay to the royal crown,
binding himself in the church of Santa Maria and in
Santa Eufemia to maintain their usages, customs, fran
chises, and liberties," and afterwards states that it was
made a matter of solemn compact that Biscay should
never more be separated from his crown. — lib. xxi.
Garibay observes, that from the time of the Union,
the Lordship of Biscay remained for ever incorporated
with the crown. (Dende este aiio en adelante quedd
perpeluamente incorporado en la Corona, lib. six.)
" Upon which Bilbao and othei- towns protested."
p. 233.
The people of Bilbao seem to have protested against
Don Juan's order for the erection of the town of ?Jira-
valles, in virtue of their fuero, Ley viii. tit. 1. " Que

444

NOTES.

havian fuero, uso y costumbre, que por quanto todos los
montes, usos y Exidos son de los Hijos-Dalgo y Pueblos
de Bizcaya y villa ninguna non se puede hacer." The
order does not, however, under the circumstances of the
case, appear to have been considered any infraction of
the Biscayan privileges.
" And then, leaving the city, the King {Henry the
Third) travelled onwards till he reached a spot
called, in the. Basque language, Arechabalaga.'''' p.
236.
Mariana, Henao, and other writers allude to this
journey, and communicate different points of detail.
Garibay gives the longest account : —

Garibay, diet. lib. xv. cap.
40, ibi. " Fuesse al Campo
de Arechabalaga. Enaquel
sitio juntandose toda Viz
caya en quadrillas, Vandos,
y Hermandades, pidieron al
Rey, que les Jurasse sus
fueros, y privilegios, y re-
spondiendo quele placia . . .
fue el Rey D. Enrique reci-
bido por Senor de Vizcaya,
y le besaron las manos ; y
passando con el a la Iglesia
de la Villa de Larravezua,
segun la costumbre antigua
de los Seiiores de Vizcaya,
juro en el altar los fueros.
Despues de comer fue el
Rey a la villa de Guernica
... en el dia siii;uiente ido
a la villa de Bermeo, juro
en la Iglesia de Santa Eu
femia los privilegios de
aquella Villa, y su Tierra.
Prosigue diciendo, que buel-
to a Guernica huvo alii
grandes diferencias, los unos
pidiendo el riepto, y los otros

" He went to the field of
Arechabalaga. There the
whole of Biscay assembled
in quadrillas, in bands, and
in hermandades, and asked
the King to swear to observe
their fueros and privileges,
and on his answering that
it was his will so to do. King
Henry was received as Lord
of Biscay, and they kissed
his hands ; and proceeding
together to the church of the
town of Larravezua, as the
ancient Lords of Biscay had
done, he swore on the altar
to maintain their fueros.
After dinner, the King went
to the town of Guernica . . .
On thefollowingday he went
to the town of Bermeo, and
there he swore, in the Church
of SantaEuphemia,to main
tain the privileges of that
town and its hamlets 
Having returned to Guer
nica, great feuds arose, some
asking the riepto and others

NOTES. 443
contradiHendo, y k lo ulti- opposing it; hut as the
mo, porque la mayor parte greatest number were for it
pedia, se mtroducio en Viz- the riepto* was finally intro-
(iSya el riepto en este ano, duced in Biscay in this year
en el qual les ooncedio el with the sanction ofthe Kins?
Rey Don Enrique, estando Don Henrique, while sittina-
assentado s6 el Arbol, y under the tree, and in the
Lugar acostumbrado de usual place, at Guernica."
Guernica."— El Padre Ma
riana, lib. xix., cap. I.; El
Padre Henao, lib. i., cap 61,
con Pedro Barrantes, en la
Chronica de este Rey.
The calamities of the time, the lawless acts of the
feudal chiefs, and the excesses of the numerous bands
that overran the country, induced the inhabitants of the
towns and cities to unite and form associations for the
protection of life and property. These institutions,
known as the Hermandades, or Brotherhoods, ivere ce
lebrated for the efficiency of their organization. The
captains were gentlemen of high character ; the lieute
nants were the richest inhabitants, and the soldiers the
most approved citizens of the towns. They had power
to punish robbers by the most summary process, and to
pursue offenders beyond the limits of the province. Any
citizen, who refused to become a member of the frater
nity, when invited, was placed beyorid the pale of their
protection. These Hermandades were confirmed by the
* The word riepto puzzled me extremely, and for some time I
eoUld not discover its exact import fiom any Spaniard; it was,
however, explained to me by benor Jos6 de Alcala, of King's
College, London ; a gentleman who combines the most profound
attainments with the highest honour and integvity, to whose in
formation I am indebted on many historical points, and whose
acquaintaiice I have experienced much gratiiication in making.
Riepto, and sometimes repto, was the old orthography for the word
now written reto, from tlie word refar, whicli means to accuse a
noble of an infamous ac'ion in the presence of the King, calling
upon him to make a full confession before the Sovereign, or to
meet his challenger in mortal combat, when, how, and where ths
King might please to directi

446 NOTJis.
King, and were at one period much renowned for their
courage and activity.
Extract from a clause of a royal Cedula, issued by
Henry the Third : — " Bien sabedes como el dicho mi
Seiiorio de Biscaya es apartado sobre si en sus fueros e
libertades," &c.
" The Queen-Regent took the following oath on the
Uth of July, 1407." p. 241.
" Juramento de la Seiiora Reyna Madre : Primeramente
la dicha Seiiora Reyna Madre del dicho Seiior Rey,
assi como su Tutora, e Regidora de sus Reynos Jur6 en
la Cruz & Santos Evangelios, tafiendo corporalmente con
sus manos, de guardar a Vizcaya, Villas, & Tierra-llana, e
k los Fijos-Dalgo, ^ -a todos los Vecinos € Moradores de
ella sus Fueros, e buenos usos, i buenas costumbres, e
privilegios, i Quadernos, Ordenanzas, Franquezas, Liber
tades, Gracias, 6 Mercedes, e Tierras, segun que mejor, e
mas cumplidamente les fue guardado en tiempo de Doiia
Constanza, e de los otros Reyes, & Seiiiores, que despues fasta
aqui han sido de Vizcaya. E ella en nombre del dicho Senor
Rey, assi como su Tutora, assi se lo confirmaha, & con-
firmo. Y prosigue, Jurando todo lo demas, que los Vizcay
nos havian pedido por su carta, exceptuando solamente,
que en todo acontecimiento se pagassen los dereohos de las
Ferrerias ; y da la razon, ibi. Ca estos se pagaron siempre,
y se deben pagar, assi en un tiempo como en otro."
" King Henry pledged his faith to maintain to Biscay
all its fueros and privileges." p. 243.
" El P. Henao en el, " Father Henao, in chap.
cap. Ixi.del lib. l,num,6 : — 61 of tbe 1st book, num. 6:—
Pero porque ellos viessen, But in order to show to them
que su intencion, 6 voluntad, that his intention and will
era, e es de les guardar los has been, and still is, to
dichos sus Privilegios, Fue- preserve to them their said
ros, usos, e costumbres .... privileges, fueros, usages,
que juraba.e juro, prometia, and customs, he swore and
6 prometio por su fee Real, did swear, and promised and
como Rey, 6 Seiior de guar- did promise by his royal
par, e mandar guardar k lafe word, as King and as Lord,

NOTES.

447

dichas Villas, e Lugares, e
Tierra-llana de el dicho Con-
dado, 6 Seiiorio de Vizcaya,
€ k todos los Cavalleros, e
Esouderos, e Fijos-Dalgo de
ella todos sus Privilegios, e
Fueros, i usos buenos, e
buenas costumbres, e el
Fuero, e Quaderno, por
donde se rigen, e goviernan,
^ deben ser regidos, e gover-
nados, e sus Libertades, €
Mercedes e Tierras, e la
libranza de elias. Item, que
su Seiiovia, cessante otras
arduas necessidades, lo mas
presto que podra, ira perso-
nalmente a la dicha Tierra,
e Condado de Vizcaya, e les
fara su Jura acostumbrada
en aquellos Lugares, que se
debe facer."

to keep and to order to be
maintained to the said towns,
villages, and low-lands ofthe
county and lordship of Bis
cay, and to all the Knights,
Shieldbearers, and Fijos-
Dalgos ofthe same, all their
privileges and fueros, and
good customs, and the writ
ten ordinances by which they
are governed and ought to
be governed, and their liber
ties, grants, lands, aud the
free use of the same. Also,
that his Lordship, as soon as
other pressing affairs permit,
will repair in person to the
said land and county of Bis
cay, and will take the usual
oath in those places where
it ought to be taken."

And actually, in 1457, King Henry went to Biscay,
and took the usual oaths." p. 243.

" Cedula del Juramento
del Seiior D. Enrique Quarto,
en Santa Maria la Antigua,
cerca de la Villa de Guer
nica a 10 de Marzo aiio
1-157: — Estando ende pre
sente el muy alto, e muy
poderoso Seiior el Rey D.
Enrique, Rey de Castilla, 6
de Leon . . Dixeron al dicho
Seiior Rey, que por quanto
es de Fuero, e uso, e cos
tumbre, quando viene Senor
nuevameute en Vizcaya re-
cibii- el Seiiorio de ella, el
tal Senor les ha de facer .lu-
ramento ... el dicho Serior
Rey dixo, que 6\ era alii
venido k facer el dicho Ju
ramento, 6 que le placia de

" Formula of the oath
taken by Don Henrique IV.
in the church of Santa Ma
ria la Antigua, near the
town of Guernica, on the
10th of March, 14-57 .-—'The
high and powerful Lord Don
Henrique, King of Castile
and Leon, there present . . .
They said to his highness,
that according to the fueros,
usages, and customs, when
a new Lord comes to Biscay
to receive the Lordship
thereof, such a Lord has an
oath to take .... The said
Lord the King said, that he
was come there to take tbe
said oath, and that it was
bis pleasm-e so to do; and

448

n6teS.

-then he said, that he gwdrS
and did swear before God,
and before the Holy St.
Mary, and by the words of
the Holy Gospels, wherever
they might be, and by the
sign of the Cross, which he
touched bodily with his own
right hand, (that Cross which
was brought from the high
altar ofthe said church, with a
crucifix on it,) to maintain to
all the said Knights, Shield-
bearers, Fijos-Dalgos, far
mers, and labourers, and all
other persons of whatsoever
state, quality, or condition
they might be in the Lord
ship of Biscay, their fueros
and privileo;es, good usages
and customs, franchises and
liberties, grants, lands, and
ofiioial appointments, as well
and as fully as the same was
presei-ved to them in the
time of the King Don Juan
of blessed memory, his fa
ther, and of the other Kings
and Loi^ds of Biscay, till the
present time,' " &c.
TVhen the Biscayans were alarmed by a rumour that
he had granted certain lands in Biscay to some Cas
tilians, he issued a manifesto, in which he assured
the Biscayans he had not granted the lands in ques-^
tion." p. 243.

lo facer : e luego dixo, que
juraba e jur6 k Dios, e k
Santa Maria, e k las pala-
bras de los Santos Evange
lios, do quier que estaban e
a la senal de la Cruz que con
su mano derecha corporal
mente tafiio, la qual fue to-
mada del altar Mayor de la
dicha Iglesia, con un Cruci-
fixo en ella, de guardar k
todos los dichos Cavalleros,
Escuderos, Fijos Dalgo, 6
Labradores, ^ otras Personas
de qualquier estado, calidad,.
6 condioion que sean del
Senorio de Vizcaya sus Fue
ros, e Privilejos, buenos usos,
6 buenas costumbres, e Fran
quezas, e Libertades, ^ Mer
cedes, e Tierras, e officios,
assi, e segun que mejor, e
mas cumplidamente les fue
ron guardados, en tiempo del
Seiior D. Juan de Gloriosa
memoria, su Padre, y de los
otros Reyes, y Seiiores que
fasta aqui fueron, 6 ovieron
en Vizcaya," &o.

" Fue despaehada esta
Real Cedula en Segovia a
19, de Julio aiio 1470: —
Sepades, que yo estoy in-
formado que algunas per
sonas han dicho, c divul-
eado, que yo he dado, 6 fecho
Merced de esse dicho mi

" This royal order was
signed at Segovia on the
19th of July, 1470:— Knowj
&c., that I am informed
some persons have said and
announced thati have given
as gifts to some gentlemen)
and persons, some townsj

NOTES.

449

dondado, e Tierra-llana, y
Encartaciones, y de algunas
Villas, y Lugares, y Tierras
de &. k algunos Cavalleros,
y personas ; y que lo he
apartado, 6 dividido, 6 quiero
apartar, 6 dividir de mi Co
rona Real : de que vosotros
podiades recibir alguna alte-
racion ; y porque yo non di,
ni he hecho merced de esse
dicho mi Condado . . . ni tal
por pensamiento me passo ;
antes porque esse dicho mi
Condado es una de las mas
nobles Provincias de mis
Reynos ; e uno de los mis
Titulos, y por ser por si tan
noble, e Frontera con los
Reynos Comarcanos ... si
empre ha sido, y es mi vo
luntad, que esse dicho mi
Condado, sea, e permanezca
todavia en la dicha mi Co
ronal Real, 6 que no se pueda
dividir, ni apartar de ella.
Por ende, porque vosotros
mas ciertos, y seguros de
ello, 6 hayais entendido ser
assi cumplidero -a mi Servicio,
y ci honor de la dicha mi
Corona Real mi, merced es
de mandar e ordenar, y
por la presente ordeno e

villages, and lands of this my
country, my low-lands and
privileged places, and that
I have separated and divided,
or intend to separate and
divide the same, from my
royal crown, by which you
may receive detriment ;
and as I have not given or
made any grant of this my
county, nor even thought of
so doing; as on the contrary,
considering that my county
is one of the noblest pro
vinces of my kingdoms, and
one of my titles of honour,
and as it is so noble in itself
and borders upon foreign
kingdoms .... it has always
been, and it is my will, that
, my said county be, and con
tinue to belong to my said
Royal Crown, and that it
be not divided nor separated
from it. In order, therefore,
that you may be sure and
convinced of it, and that you
may know it is essential to
my service, and to the ho
nour of my said Royal
Crown, it is my pleasure
to order and command, as
hereby I command and
order," &c.

mando,'' &c.
" Oath taken by the Princess Isabella." p. 249.
" Yo, como Princesa y Seiiora de las dichas Villas y Tierra
liana del dicho Condado e Senorio de Biscaya, con las En
cartaciones y sus adherencias hago pleyto omenage lina,
dos, e tres veces, una, dos, e tres veces, una, dos, e tres
veces, segun Fuero e costumbre de Espaiia en manos de
Gomez Manrique, Cavallero e Home e Hijo Dalgo, que de
mi lo recibe ; e juro k nuestro Serior Dios y 4 la Virgen
Santa Maria, su Madre y a esta serial de la Cruz -}-, que
corporalmente tango con mi mano derecha, e por las pala-
bras de los Santos Evangelios, donde quiera que estan, de

450

NOTES.

haver por rates, gratos, flrmes y valederos, para agora y en
todo tiempo los dichos Privilegios generales, y especiales,
Fueros, usos, y costumbres, franquezas, e libertades de las
dichas Villas y Tierra liana del dicho Condado y Seriorio de
Bizcaya, con las Encartaciones. Clausula del pleyto omenage
y Juramento." The translation of this remarkable oath is given in
the text, p. 249.
" King Ferdinand swore to maintain their privileges."
p. 250.
" La forma del Juramento " The formula of the oath
fol.294. Yluegodixo.queju- was as follows (fol. 294):

raba, y juro a Dios, y a Santa
Maria, y a las palabras de los
Santos Evangebos (donde
quiera que estan) y a la
seiial de la Cruz 4* que con
su mano derecha taia6 en
una Cruz que fue tomada
del Altar Mayor de la dicha
Iglesia con un crucifixo en
ella, que S. A. jurava, y con-
flrmava, yjuro, y oonfirmo
sus Fueros, y Quadernos, y
buenos usos, y buenas cos
tumbres, y Privilegios, y
Franquezas, y Libertades, y
Mercedes, y Lanzas, y Tier
ras, y Oficios, y Monasteries,
que los Cavalleros, Escu
deros, Hijos-Dalgo, Labra
dores, y otras personas, de
qualquier estado y condicion
que sean, de las Villas, y
Tierra-llana, y Ciudad de
Orduiia de este Condado de
Vizcaya, y Encartaciones,
y Durangueses, segun que
mejor les fue guardado en
tiempo de los otros Reyes, y
Seiiores, que han sido en el
dicho Condado.

And then he said, that he
did swear, and swore before
God and the Holy St. Mary,
and by the words ofthe Holy
Gospels, wherever they may
be, and hy the sign of the
Cross -f-, (here he touched
with his right hand a Cross
with a Crucifix, which had
been brought from the high
altar of the said church,)
that he did swear and did
confirm, and swore to pre
serve and confirmed their
fueros, their written laws,
good usages and customs,
their privileges, franchises,
and liberties, their grants
and lanzas, and lands, their
oflBcial appointments, and
monasteries, to the Knights,
the Shieldbearers, Fijos-
Dalgo, husbandmen, and
other persons, of whatsoever
condition they may he, of
the towns, of the low lands,
and city of Orduiia, of this
county of Biscay, and of
Durango, and of the privi
leged places, as well and as
fully as they had been pre
served to them in the time
of the other Kings and Lords
of the said county.

NOTES.

451

" Clansula de nuevo Ju
ramento preservative de la
Immunidad, y Libertad del
Fuero, fol. 204:— Y otrosi
dixo, que juraba yjuro, que
por quanto despues que S. A.
Reyna, veyendo sus neces
sidades, y la Guerra injusta
que los Reyes de Francia y
Portugal, contra su Real
Persona, y sus Reynos han
movido ; los Cavalleros, Es
cuderos, y Hijos-Dalgo, y
Dueiias, y Doncellas, y La
bradores, y cada uno en su
estado de los Vecinos, y
Moradores de este condado,
y Encartaciones, y Duran
gueses, con gran amor, y
lealtad le havian, y han ser-
vido y seguido, e sirven, e
siguen, e poniendo sus per
sonas, y caudales, e hacien
das a todo riesgo, y peligro,
como buenos, y leales, y
serialados Vassallos, y con
aquella obediencia, e fideli-
dad, & lealtad, que le son
tenidos, e obligados, y aun
de mas, ^ allende de lo que
sus Fueros, e Privilegios les
obbgaban, y apremiaban;
y por tanto, que juraba, y
juro, e declavo que. por los
tales tan grandes, e tan altos,
e seiialados servicios, que
ansi si le han hecho, y hacen
de cada un dia, 6 le querran
hacer de aqui adelante, ansi
por mar, como por Tierra . .
no sean vistos ni se entien-
dan, ni se puedan entender,
ni interpretar, que han que-
brantado, ni ido, ni venido
contra los dichos Fueros, 6
Privilegios, e usos, e cos-

" Formula of a new oath
for the preservation of the
immunity and liberty of the
fuero, fol. 294:— Moreover
she said and swore that inas
much as her Highness the
Queen, seeing that during
the time of her difficulties and
the unjust war carried on by
the Kings of France and of
Portugal against her royal
person andher kingdoms, the
Knights, Shieldbearers, Fi
jos-Dalgos, Dames and Dam
sels, and husbandmen, and
all in their several stations, of
the families and inhabitants
of this county, of the privi
leged towns and of Durango,
have served and followed
her with great love and
loyalty, and do still serve
and follow her, exposing
their persons and possessions
to great risk and peril, like
good, loyal, and distinguished
vassals, not only with that
obedience, fidelity, and loy
alty to which they are bound,
but with a zeal beyond what
their fueros and privileges
prescribe and call upon them
to show ; she, therefore,
swore and declared, that
with respect to those great,
and high, and distinguished
services which they have
performed, and are still per
forming every day, and those
which they may yet achieve
by sea and by land ... it
shall not be looked upon,
nor understood, nor consi
dered, or in any way inter
preted, that they have in
fringed upon their rights,

452 NOtEs.
tumbres, 6 Franquezas, 6 nor exceeded or acted against
Libertades . . . . S. A. no se the said fueros and privi-
llamara a possession, ni les leges, usages and customs,
mandara, ni apremiara en franchises and liberties . . .
ningun tiempo, ni por alguna Her Highness will not eon-
manera, que le hagan los sider such services as due to
dichos servicios . . . . y por her at any time, nor will
tanto, que todos los dichos compel them at any period
sus Fueros, y buenos usos, in any way to perform them.
e costumbres, e Libertades, . . . And, therefore, that all
que S. A. les havia, 6 ha those fueros, and good usages
Jurado, y confirmado, les and customs, and liberties,
flnquen, y queden firraes, y which her Highness has
en su fuerza, e vigor para en sworn to preserve and has
adelante." confirmed, shall continue
and remain firm, and in
full force and vigour for the
time to come."
Zurita states, that " In the month of September,
1473, the Corregidor and the Alcaldes, and the Presta-
mero, and the Lords of the Justice, and the Cavalleros,
and the Hidalgos of the county and lordship of Biscay,
and the places adhering to the same, assembled in the
town of Bilbao ; and the King of Sicily sent a cavalier
of his house, bearing the name of Alonzo de Mesa, to
stimulate and inspirit them to remain true to the cause
of him, their lord, and the Princess, and to offer them
every kind of favour and assistance, because the Con
stable was waging against them a cruel war, and they
were sorely persecuted, because they had transferred
their allegiance to the Princes (Ferdinand and Isabella)
against the mandate and will of the King, Don Henry."
— Cap. 61, lib. xviii. It appears, however, that, con
fiding in their own resources, and determined to achieve
their own liberation, they declined even the assistance
of their own chosen Lord. The result of the struggle
showed that these brave Biscayans had formed no erro
neous estimate of their strength ; and one of their wri
ters, alluding to this contest, and to other circumstances

NOTES. 453
connected with their history, observes, with becoming
pride, that the lordship of Biscay has been always so
valiantly defended by its own inhabitants, and at their
own expense, that no enemy of the Spanish crown ever
obtained, by force, a footing on that soil.
Zurita observes, with respect to this war, " Y con
cinco quentos, que el Rey mand6 dar al Conde de Haro,
para que les hiciese guerra, junt6 mucha gente suya, y
los otros Grandes, y entrd por el Condado haciendo
mucho daiio ; aunque se le resisti6 por los Biscaynos muy
animosamente." — Cap. 61.
Garibay also states, " Sabido por el Conde de Haro,
la buelta de Pedro de Avendaiio, y Juan Alonzo de
Muxica A sus casas  juntando apriesa sus gentes
y las del Conde de Salinas, y Don Luis, y Don Sancho
de Velasco sus hermanos, y de otros valedores, entrd
con mucha Cavalleria en Biscaya. Lo mismo hicieron
el Conde de Treviiio y el Adelantado  dieron ba-
talla en Abril 27, dia Sabado al Conde de Haro,
cerca de la villa de Munguia en un passo; donde el
Conde fue vencido por la Infanteria Biscayana habiendo
peleado ambas partes varonilmente. Fueron presos el
Conde de Sahnas y Don Luis de Velasco," &c. Ma
riana, Henao, and Navarro, confirm this statement.
" The King, our Lord, went into the Church."
p. 250.
We are told that the Lord Don Ferdinand presided
over the General Junta, held on that day, under the
celebrated tree. There, according to the Cedula Real,
" The oath was taken by the most lofty, the most re
splendent, and the most powerful Don Ferdinand, King
of Castile, Leon, Sicily, and Portugal, and First Born
of Aragon."

454 NOTES.
" Isabella confirmed their rights not once but
repeatedly." p. 251.
Queen Isabella swore to maintain the liberties of
Biscay, at Bilbao, on the 5th of September, 1483 ; on
the 8th of the same month at Portugalette ; on the 16th,
at the church of San Emetrio ; on the 17th, beneath the
famous tree of Guernica; on the 19th, at Durango.
The wisdom ofthe policy pursued towards the Basques
by the Kings of Castile, became very conspicuous in
the time of the Emperor Charles the Fifth. When, in
the commencement of his reign, Valladolid, Segovia,
Toledo, and almost all the large towns of the kingdom,
had openly joined the popular league, and the armies of
the Commons were making head against his authority,
the Basques, guaranteed in the undisturbed possession
of their ancient laws and liberties, were publicly thanked
by that sovereign, not only for the peace and order pre
served in their country, but for the faith and loyalty of
their conduct during that trying conjuncture. If Charles
the Fifth, at his accession to the throne of Spain, had
encroached upon the liberties of the Basques, they
would most unquestionably have joined the popular
league, and the issue of that great struggle might ha» '
been wholly different; so true it is that in public as
in private life, the most upright is generally the safest
policy. Strictly speaking, every King of Spain is bound to
repair, in person, to Guernica, on his accession to the
throne, and swear, under the tree, to preserve their pri
vileges. The Basques, contented with the substance,
bave, in late years, dispensed with the form : the form,
however, has not been annulled, or even disputed, but
has been only evaded ; and when the Biscayan privi
leges are confirmed by the Spanish sovereigns at Madrid,

"NOTES.

455

the royal journey to the Basque States is announced,
but invariably postponed, on the plea of pressing busi
ness, to a day that never arrives.
Having often alluded to the celebrated tree of Guer
nica, I must observe that it partakes of the immortality
of the crown : a younger scion of the parent stock is
always growing near the parent tree, and ultimately re
places its predecessor in the national affection.

" Ley i. tit. 1 : — Haya de
venir en persona a Vizcaya,
y hacerles sus juramentos,
y prometimientos, y confir-
marles sus privilegios, y
usos y costumbres, franque
zas, y libertades, y fueros."
" De tal suerte cohartaron
la potestad legislatiba, que
dixeron, que havian de
fuero, y ley, y franqueza, y
libertad, que qualquier carta,
6 provission Real, que el
dicho Seiior de Vizcaya
diere, 6 mandare dar, 6
proveer, que sea, 6 ser pueda
contra las leyes, y fueros de
Vizcaya, directe, 6 indirecte,
que sea obedecida, y no cum-
plida."— Ley ii. Titulo Pri
mero del Fuero.
" Y si despues que a.ssi
fuere requerido en un aiio
cumplido, no viniere a hacer
la dicha conflrmacion, y ju
ramentos, que los dichos
Vizcaynos, assi de la tierra-
llana de Vizcaya, como de
las villas, y encartaciones, y
Durangueses, no le respon-
dan, ni acudan al dicho
Seiioi-, ni a su thesorero, ni
recaudador con los derechos.

" Law i. tit. 1 :— He shall
come in person to Biscay,
to take the oaths, to promise,
and to confirm to them their
privileges and usages, and
customs, franchises, liber
ties, and fueros.''
" They enjoyed it by fuero,
and by law, and by franchise
and liberty, as a right esta
blished, that any decree or
Royal order, given hy the
said Lord of Biscay, or in
his name, which would be
or might be contrary to the
laws and fueros of Biscay,
directly or indirectly, should
be obeyed but not put in
execution."

" If, being required by
the Biscayans to do so, the
Lord will not come within
one year to take the oath
and confirm their privileges
as above stated, the said Bis
cayans, both those ofthe low
lands of Biscay, and those
of Durango, and the privi
leged towns, shall not give
nor send to him, nor to his
treasurer, nor to the collector,

456

NOTES.

y censos, que tiene sobre las
villas, y otras caserias cen-
suales de Vizcaya ; y que si
su Seiioria ambiare manda-
mientos, 6 provissiones en el
entretanto, sean obedecidas,
y no eumplidas." — La ley i.
del Titulo.
" La Ley xix. tit. 1, del
fuero : — Otrosidixeron, que
havian de franqueza, y
libertad por merced de sus
Altezas, y sus progenito-
res, que por quanto los
dichos Vizcaynos tenian
su Juez Mayor de Vizcaya,
que reside en su corte, y
Chanoilleria de Valladolid,
que conoce de todas sus
causas, en civil, y Crimen,
que ningun Vizcayno de
Vizcayna, tierra-llana, vil
las, y Ciudad de ella, y de
encartaciones, ni Durangue
ses por delito alguno, vel
quasi, ni por deuda alguna,
no peuda ser convenido hal-
landose fuera de Vizcaya,
por los Alcaldes del Crimen,
ni por Otro Juez alguno de
sus Altezas, ni de estos
Reynos, y Seiiorias, ni Juz-
gado por ellos, salvo por el
dicho su Juez Mayor de
Vizcaya, aunque los tales
delitos, y deudas sean he-
chos, y contraidos fuera de
Vizcaya en Castilla, en qual
quier parte de ella ; y que
en caso que sean conve-
nidos, 6 detenidos, luego
sean reiiiitidos para ante el
dicho su Juez Mayor, siendo
pedida la dicha remission y
declinada la jurisdiccion."

the rents and contributions
payable to him by the towns
and those houses in Biscay
subject to pay the sarae.
And if the said Lord send,
during that time, any order
or decree, it shall be obeyed,
but not carried into execu
tion." " In the law xix., tit. 1, of
the fuero, it is written thus :
— Moreover, they said they
had a franchise and liberty
granted to them by his
Highness, and his ancestors,
to this effect, — That inas
much as the said Biscayans
have their Chief-Justice re
siding in the court and chan
cery of Valladolid, to try all
their causes, both civil and
criminal, no inhabitant of
Biscay, or of the low-lands,
or of any city of that county,
or of any of the privileged
places, or of Durango, shall
even, while out of Biscay, be
tried for any crime or debt
by the civil or criminal, or hy
any other Judge, in the king
dom and lordships of their
Highnesses, nor shall be sen
tenced by them, except only
by the (Shief-Justice of Bis
cay, although those crimes
and debts may be committed
or contracted out of Biscay
and in any part of Castile.
And should any Biscayan be
sued or arrested, he shall be
sent before the said Chief-
Justice, as soon as he has
required his dismissal and
declined any other jurisdic
tion."

NOTES. 457
Navarre is not a Basque province, and has had no
connexion with those states since the ninth century ;
at which time, the Guipuzcoans are said to have
entered into an act of federation with Don Garcia Xi-
menes, the first king of Navarre, stipulating, however,
that they should be free at all times to enter into an
alliance with any other power, or place themselves
under the protection of any other state. Navarre was
united to Spain under Ferdinand and Isabella ; and I
will give a short account of the system by which they
were governed after the Union. Their laws and liber
ties were not affected by that event, and were fully re
cognized by the monarch who governed Spain at that
time, and by his successors.
The Cortes of Navarre are composed of three states —
the Church, the Nobles, and the Commons, known in
the province by the name of the Universities. In con
formity with the law of their fuero, the Cortes met every
two years, in virtue of a summons issued by the Viceroy
of Navarre. Their powers were very extensive. When
assembled in Congress, they agreed upon the exact sum
to be granted to the King of Spain, during the two fol
lowing years. With respect to their legislative func
tions, they possessed the initiative, a most important
privilege of which the crown was deprived, and were
able to suspend, indefinitely, the promulgation of acts
passed by their own assembly, and sanctioned by the
King or his Viceroy. The Cortes availed themselves of
this power, upon extraordinary occasions only, but it
was enforced in the year 1817. Any measure resolved
on by the states, and sanctioned by the Viceroy, acquires
the force of law, without any further or more direct con
firmation on the part of the crown.
The Viceroy presides over the Cortes, and at the open
ing of the session takes the oath prescribed by law ; the
VOL. IT. ¦'^

458 NOTES.
same oath was taken, in the year 1500, by the Duque
d' Albuquerque, then Viceroy of Navarre, and has been
adopted by his successors without the slightest change
of expression.
" I, Viceroy of the Kingdom  in the name of
his Majesty, swear by the sign of the Cross, and upon
the Holy Gospels, to you the Prelates, Marquesses,
Knights, to you the Men of the cities and towns, and
to all the Inhabitants of Navarre, to those who are pre
sent, and those who are absent, to maintain all your
fueros, laws, usages, statutes, customs, franchises, ex
emptions, liberties, and immunities which each man
possesses, without need of a new confirmation from his
Majesty, either special or general; and that all the laws
shall be interpreted iu your favour, and to your honour,
and to that of the kingdom of Navarre." — Amendariz,
Leyes del Reyno de Navarra.
The Viceroy of Navarre is the military and civil chief
of the province. There is a supreme tribunal for civil
and criminal causes, and another court of a financial
character, composed of a judge, as president, three mi
nisters, a treasurer, and an officer appointed exclusively
for the purpose of maintaining the boundaries of Na
varre, and taking care that the contributions be levied
within, but not extended beyond, the limits of the
province. This court regulates the contributions, super
intends their collection, and takes into consideration the
orders of the Viceroy, with reference to the distribution
of the money.
The administration of justice in the towns is vested in
the Alcaldes, who are freely chosen by the people. Their
jurisdiction is, however, as might be supposed, somewhat
limited, except in those towns where the Alcaldes are
lawyers, or have assessors. An appeal lies to the su
preme court of Navarre, not to any court in Spain;

NOTES. 459
every cause must be decided in Navarre. In short,
this province has been so admirably governed by its
own peculiar laws and permanent tribunals, and the
people have been so completely satisfied with their ov,-n
internal administration, that the Cortes have gradually
ceased to assemble regularly, and, of late years, have
only met on great occasions. The Queen Regent ascends
the throne ; the prospect is overshadowed ; the rights
of Navarre are invaded ; the loyalty of a contented
people is exchanged for a determined spirit of resist
ance ; and the province is convulsed with civil war from
one extremity to the other.
Catalonia possesses, in some respects, her own pecu
liar jurisprudence, and some favourite privileges with
respect to the selection of the men sent by the province
to serve in the royal army;— but I must not enter at
greater length upon this or any other subject ; for while
the Printer prints, the Author writes ; and these volumes,
continually augmenting in size, will become too lengthy
for any reader to wade through, and too unwieldy to
issue from any press.
" / must refer my readers to a note." p. 358.
This decree abolishes absolutely all descriptions of
entails ; nor is it only limited to landed property, but
embraces every kind of life interest in any thing herit
able. Tenants for hfe for real property, are permitted,
under its provisions, to dispose of half their land, and
their successors will, on their demise, be entitled to exer
cise a similar power over the remainder. No property,
in any shape, neither land, nor money in foreign banks,
or shares in commercial undertakings, can be settled in
any way, for the benefit of any establishment, religious
or secular, and no inalienable rights of property of any
kind can hereafter be created. By this decree the aris-
x2

460 NOTES.
tocraoy of Spain is virtually destroyed. The reader will
not forget the decrees which have just appeared, seques
trating the property of individuals who, trembling for
their existence, have been compelled to emigrate from
the kingdom. This decree consigns to poverty not only
tbe adherents of Don Carlos, but almost every man who
has taken an active part in public life during the last
three years ; and, by a monstrous provision, annuls all
sales and purchases made since a certain day in 1833,
if the seller has, since that period, taken part with the
insurgents. The same penalties are denounced against
all who have, in any way, " directly or indirectly, or by
any seeret mission," promoted the cause of Don Carlos.
Here is an admirable specimen of the efficacious mode
by which a revolutionary Government attains its end in
Spain, puts money into the vacant exchequer, gratifies
party resentments, and punishes, without going through
the doubtful and inconvenient process of adducing evi
dence, and establishing accusation by proof ! Yet these
decrees have been issued under the influence of M. Men
dizabel — the adopted child of Great Britain. Are we
prepared to follow the Spanish revolution through all its
phases, and to support it in all its excesses ? In what
a difficult position is this country placed ! To what a
wretched state have we assisted in reducing Spain ! But
we have sown abundantly, and we shall reap, no doubt,
an ample harvest.
Since the last lines were printed some days have
elapsed ; Gomez has pursued his resistless march into
the heart of Andalusia ; CordoVa has fallen beneath his
conquering arms, and the Government is deprived of
all the financial resources accruing from that opulent
part of the kingdom. It is perfectly clear, that even if a
numerical majority of persons in some of the cities of

NOTES. 461
Andalusia are favourably disposed towards the Queen,
they are not prepared to support their opinions by the
sword. The energy of the kingdom, as I have pre
viously said, is to be found in the northern districts.
Lord Palmerston is a man of unblemished honour, and
unquestionable abilities ; and it is much to be regretted
that he should, in any degree, have allied this country to
a party that has neither the inclination to act with
honesty, nor even the courage to support its acts of
injustice.

Note to p. 96.
Extracts from the " Literary Gazette," Satur
day, September 10, 1831.
" We will not argue the question, or animadvert upon
the absurd lengths to which the apostles of phrenology,
as a science, carry their dogmata ; but we will at once
go to the fourth paper, that which has provoked our
indignation, and ask if the detail of such abominable
cruelties, under the name of experiments, instead of
procuring allies to the cause of phrenology, is not suf
ficient to revolt human nature against it and its atro
cious professors? The paper is entitled 'Bouillaud's
Experiments to discover the Functions of the Brain,
concluded ; ' and so cold-blooded a narrative of barba
rities, perpetrated on a worthless plea, it never has been
Our painful duty to peruse.
" We declare before Heaven that we think the bar
barian who could, during a whole week, thus inflict un
endurable torments upon an animal, and calmly count
its writhings and agonies, deserves to be put out of the
pale of society as a monster. Hamlet says, 'Hang up

462 NOTES.
philosophy ; ' we say, ' Hang up philosophers who dare
commit such outrages as these.' The next trial was
equally horrid, and prolonged during sixteen days. We
quote on, marking in italics some of the most obnoxious
points of heartless cruelty it was ever our misfortune to
read : —
" ' On the morning of the 28ih of June, / transfixed
the anterior part of the brain of a young dog, which
possessed the reputation of being lively, docile, and
intelligent : the instrument, in making its way from the
right to the left side, inclined slightly in an oblique di
rection upwards and backwards.
" ' When menaced, it crouches as if to implore
mercy, but does not in cou.sequence obey. It, on the
contrary, utters cries, which nothing can repress, similar
to those of a young uneducated dog, whose intellect is
undeveloped. It eats with great voracity, and is in
good health. I watched it attentively for the remainder
of this and for the first fifteen days of the succeeding
month. It enjoyed the perfect use of its external
senses. By a kind of instinct of imitation, it walked
when it saw any one else walk, following the individual
wherever he went. Its want of docility was remark
able : when called it did not come, but lay down and
wagged its tail with an air of stupidity. When we tried
to lead it, it resisted, rolled upon the ground, and cried,
but at last walked, again stopped, drew back, and cried
anew. When confined, it cried continually, in spite of
all correction. It appeared astonished at every thing;
and its air of stupidity was remarked by all those who
were not aware of the operation which had been per
formed, and strangers to physiological observations. It
was easily alarmed ; and when menaces were succeeded
by blows, in place of flying or acting so as to avoid
them, it merely lay down in a supplicating posture and

NOTES. 463
cned. It did not caress us on our return, although
absent for many days *.
" ' All its docility consisted in coming when after
caressing it we called upon it m a tone of kindness ;
or, if we had menaced, beat, or called upon it in vain,
in going away, holding down its head and tail, and in
crouching down as if in the act of supplication. Its
eyes became animated, its ears were erected on the
slightest noise, but it still preserved a look of imbecility.
It was sacrificed, August Ibth, in the performance of
a new experiment.' "
I will add nothing in addition to these admirable com
ments ; but will only appeal to the public of Great
Britain, and especially to that valuable portion of it,
the clergy of the country, whether it can be right to
slumber any longer over practices so corrupting to the
young mind, so destructive of every virtuous feeling, so
utterly abhorrent to a God of mercy. Are not they, and
all who humbly strive to hold the " bond of peace,"
bound by every tie of duty to their Maker, and their
fellow men, to spare no exertions in rooting out these
demoralizing offences from the land ? I appeal to the
members of the medical profession, for whom no man
has a higher respect, whether, as Christians, and even
as Gentlemen, it has not become incumbent upon them
to deny all participation in these and similar atrocities ;
to banish such offenders from the pale of their society;
and to rescue an honourable profession from the stigma
which such iniquities, if disavowed, must fix upon it ?
* So that the unfortunate animal ou which these sixteen days
of torture were inflicted appears to have been previously attached
to the authors of these atrocious experiments, and in ihe habit of
lavishing caresses upon them ! !
THE END.

LONDON
Pkixted BY W, Clowes and Soks,
Stamford Street.

YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

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