much disturbed, after it had been freed from the public enemy. The high roads were so much infested by these banditti, that several towns having petitioned government to take effectual measures for the suppression of this evil, a force of infantry and cavalry was sent in the month of September, into the provinces of the two Castilles, Estremadura, Andalusia, Arragon, Valencia, and Catalonia, for the extermination of the of fenders. At the same time an official order was issued, empowering the commanders of these troops to act without waiting for orders from the governors of the provinces, and establishing in each a permanent council of war, by which all persons arrested were to be immediately tried; and it was declared, that the confronting of witnesses was not necessary, unless the advocate of the accused should represent it as indispensably requisite for their vindication." The sentences of this court were to be communicated to the governor of the province, and unless he disapproved, execution was to take place without delay. But in ease of resistance by force, the execution might be ordered by the military commission, without any other authority. It can scarcely be doubted, that this arbitrary rigour was chiefly directed against more formidable insurgents than robbers on the highway. In the meantime the political discontents appear to have been increasing in the capital, where, in the night between the 16th and 17th of September, ninety persons were arrested and committed to custody. The prisons not being capacious enough to contain them all, the

Franciscan convent was converted into a state prison; and the alarm excited by these measures, induced many persons to take refuge in France.

The province of Navarre at length became the seat of an insurrection which appeared in a truly formidable aspect. The famous partizan, Espoz de Mina, who had so much distinguished himself in the war by his enterprize and courage, was at the head of a body of troops in that province, and had fallen under the suspicion of government. It appears from the proclamation of the viceroy of Navarre, that an order had been sent from court on September 16th, signifying that Mina should be regarded as a retired officer, and fix his residence in Pampeluna, and that the troops serving under him should be placed at the disposal of the captain-general of Arragon, and distributed by him in the towns under his command. This order was communicated to Mina on the 23d by the viceroy, who at the same time sent a dispatch to the governor of Arragon, stating the urgent necessity of transferring Mina's troops to other quarters. On the 25th, he was informed by the Arragon courier, that he had been stopped by two horsemen, who had taken away his bag of letters. Mina, who had signified to the viceroy his purpose of obeying the order, and coming to Pampeluna, approached that city on the night of the 26th, at the head of the first regiment of volunteers, provided with ladders to scale the ramparts, and having concerted his plan with the chiefs of the 4th regiment, in garrison

in the place: Accompanied by his nephew, he spent a part of the night upon the ramparts, conferring with his partizans, and expecting movements in his favour; but it appears that he had not sufficiently prepared his own officers for the attempt, for they sent one of their number to inform the viceroy of the transaction, and to assure him of their fidelity to the government. In conclusion, Mina found it necessary to retire, followed by those who were most attached to him, and take the road of Puente la Reyna, where, it is said, there was a great ferment among his soldiers, a part of whom quitted his standard. The viceroy published a proclamation addressed to the deputies of the province, informing them of these events; and another proclamation, to the people of Navarre, was issued by the bishop and two other persons in authority, in order to excite their loyalty.

A royal ordinance issued by Ferdinand on Sept. 15th, exhibited a further progress in that system of bringing every thing back to its former state, which seems to be leading, or rather the sole, policy of his government. It recites, that by a decree of the General and Extraordinary Cortes, on August 6th, 1811, all jurisdictional seignories of whatever class were incorporated with the nation, and all payments both real and personal, which owed their origin to a jurisdictional title, were abolished, with the exception of such as proceeded from free contract, in the exercise of the right of property; abolishing also the privileges called exclusive, priva

:

tive, or prohibitive, such as those of the chase, fishing, ovens, and mills that in this state of things, representations had been made to him by various grandees of Spain, and titulars of Castille, jurisdictional lords of townships in Arragon, Valencia, and other provinces, complaining of the robberies suffered by them under pretence of the said decree, in the enjoyment of the rights and payments reserved to them; demanding restitution, and some of them praying the nullity of the decree : that the said memorials had been referred to the council of state, and the law-officers of the crown, in consequence of whose recommendation and advice, his Majesty orders, that the said jurisdictional lords be immediately replaced in the enjoyment of all the rights, emoluments, &c. belonging to their territorial and manorial seignory, and of all the other rights which they enjoyed prior to Aug. 6th, 1811, and which do not derive their origin from jurisdiction and exclusive privileges: without prejudice to what he may hereafter resolve, as to the nullity, continuance, or revocation of the said decree of the Cortes, abolishing seignories.

If the immediate operation of this ordinance was in many respects to render strict justice according to existing laws, the hope manifestly held out of a future revocation of the popular decree of the Cortes, was a bait offered to the nobility of the kingdom, to secure their attachment to the renewed order of things. On the other hand, the king, whose patural disposition appears to be frank and conciliating, studied-to

ingratiate

ingratiate himself with the public by acts of condescension and kindness. Particularly, it is related that, on the morning of October 4th, he visited the royal prison of Madrid, and examined its different departments, inquiring into the cases of some who were detained for slight offences, and giving them their discharge, and ordering the demolition of a horrible part called the Grillera, destined to solitary confinement.

The high character formerly sustained by General Mina cannot fail to interest readers in his fate, notwithstanding his failure in an enterprize perhaps rashly undertaken, and the precise object of which is only matter of conjecture. We therefore subjoin the following particulars respecting him, taken from a French account. His nephew, a gallant young man, after the miscarriage at Pampelana, took refuge at Pau with several officers attached to him and his uncle, and having presented himself at the police-office, addressed a memorial to Louis XVIII. In this he represented that he had constantly supported the Bourbon cause in Spain, and that his great object had been to effect their restoration to the Spanish throne on the basis of a free constitution; that such a constitution had been acknowledged by the whole nation, but that Ferdinand, unmindful of the blood which had been shed in his cause, had persecuted with the greatest rigour those patriots who had most exerted themselves in his behalf, and had plunged the nation in the greatest calamities. On this account, he (Mina) with many of his companions in arms

had made an exertion in support of the constitution, but having failed, they now applied to his Majesty to grant them hospitality in France, or to furnish them with passports to any other country than Spain. About this period, Espoz de Mina arrived in Paris with four or five of his officers, and applied under fictitious names for passports to Count de Casa Flores, the Spanish Chargé d'Affaires. Being recognized by one of the legation, notice was given to the Count, who amused Mina till he had obtained from the French commissary of police an order for his arrest. The French minister for foreign affairs, apprized of the fact, caused the commissary to be arrested in turn for having violated the laws of France, by obey-* ing the order of a foreigner, who had no authority whatever in the kingdom. The king was then informed of the whole affair, and directly ordered Mina to be liberated, and dismissed the commissary from his office; and int consequence of what subsequently passed, the Spanish Chargé d'Affaires was ordered to quit the French territory. Nothing could be more honourable to Louis and his ministers than the proceedings on this occasion.

Another instance of the prevalent policy in the Spanish government of reverting to old institutions, was given by re-investing the council of the Mesta in its former function, by which the flocks of Merino sheep will be permitted, as formerly, to traverse all Spain, notwithstanding the injury thence accruing to agriculture, which has been demonstrated by various enlightened writers.

On

On October 14, being the king's birth day, he attended the theatre at Madrid, to the great satisfaction of the heroic inhabitants of the capital. The dramatic piece selected for the occasion is entitled "Giles with the Green Breeches," which certainly does not indicate any thing very elevated. On the same day his Majesty published an amnesty in favour of all persons detained in prison, or fugitives from the kingdom, on account of any other crimes than those recited in a copious list, including high treason, divine and human, resistance to justice, peculation in the finances, and other defaults, which would exclude from the benefit all the subjects of the late arrests. In the mean time these arrests were still going on, and included several distinguished general officers; while frequent changes in the ministry denoted the unsettled state of public affairs, and the imbecility of the monarch. One of these instances of despotic violence was displayed on Nov. 7th, when the king in person repaired to M. de Macanaz, minister of justice and of the interior, and putting seals upon all his papers, ordered him to go to prison. Nothing could more decisively exhibit the weakness and petty policy of the king or his ministry, than the importance given to a pamphlet by M. Amoros, entitled "Representation to Ferdinand VII." The Supreme Council being ordered to take measures for seizing all the copies of this work, circulars were sent to all the tribunals, civil and criminal, and to the prelates and clergy, enjoining them to carry into effect his Majesty's wishes concerning it. In consquence, the work was very generally read, and

many copies of it were preserved in manuscript. Conformably to this exercise of the sovereign authority, the government made a collection of all the papers which recorded the operations of the Cortes, especially the liberal journals entitled " l'Albesa," "el Redactor," "el Conciso," "el Universal," &c. and caused them to be conveyed in two carriages to a square in Madrid, where they were committed to the flames with all the formalities formerly practised at an auto da fé.

A more important matter, however, had long been under the consideration of the Spanish ministry, which was, the fitting out of an expedition for the reduction of the revolted provinces in South America. Various obstacles occurred to this undertaking, arising from the exhausted state of the finances, and the public disorders'; but late in the year the preparations appear to have been nearly completed, and the following account was given of its intended conduct and destination. The expedition, under the command of General Morillas, was to sail from Cadiz in three divisions, convoyed by a ship of the line, two frigates, and a brig, and the island of St. Catharine was appointed for the general rendezvous. From thence the troops were to embark for Rio Grande, and having proceeded up that river in small vessels as far as it is navigable, they were to march over land, and undertake the siege of Maldonado, a place one hundred miles to the east of Montevideo, in which the naval force was to cooperate.

In December the sentence upon the state prisoners was made public at Madrid. Twenty-one per

sons

sons were condemned to the gallies for two, six, or eight years, or to strong castles for longer or shorter periods: among these were comprized priests, military men, civil officers, literary persons, and especially the journalists under the Cortes, who supported their system. Two journalists, the editors of the "Redactor General," and two professors, were sentenced to the gallies at Carthagena for ten years, under pain of death on leaving the precincts. Fines and confiscations were added in some cases. The king, about the same

time, issued a decree granting an honorary decoration to those whose attachment to his person during his arrest at the Escurial exposed them to imprisonment and exile under the influence of Godoy. A subsequent decree recognized the distinguished merit of Don Pedro Gravina, the Pope's nuncio, and archbishop of Nicea, who signalized himself by his opposition to the Cortes in their abolition of the Inquisition, and underwent banishment in consequence. A canonry of Seville was conferred on him as a reward.

CHAP.