The great instrument, which was employed to keep the popular fermentation in activity, was the diffusion of rumours announcing danger to the constitution. All men in power were supposed to be either secret foes, or at best only lukewarm friends to the new system, and the whole of the political atmosphere was loaded with suspicions and jealousies. These feelings pervaded the populace, and extended their influence in no small degree to the Cortes. In the month of November, 1820, shortly after the termination of the session of the Cortes, the permanent deputation of that body presented an address to the king, in which they stated, that an accredited individual at the court of St. Petersburg had made such an improper use of the royal name, as compromised the dignity of the Spanish nation. They further painted in strong language the alarm in which the nation was kept by certain individuals, and prayed his majesty to terminate these anxieties. The following was the king's answer :

"His majesty, who always hears with pleasure the representations of the permanent deputation, and who knew how to appreciate the frankness and loyalty with which it expressed itself in its last, considering to what point foreign relations may be relied on, and convinced, that he can find only in the love of his subjects his true support and real happiness, has ordered his secretary of state to develope to the deputation all the means which an impostor has employed to deceive the emperor of Russia.

"His majesty, who even in the affairs that relate to his private

person, has willingly yielded to the suggestions of the permanent deputation (alluding to the dismissal of his confessor), will cause to be prosecuted by due course of justice, all individuals, who, by their declared enmity to the actual system, shall have subjected themselves thereto.

"His majesty will also deprive of their employments all who shall have lost the public confidence.

"His majesty demands of the deputation its aid for the restoration of confidence, which malice or men's passions have endeavoured to destroy-his majesty's proofs of adhesion to the new system, and his sincere desire for the good of the nation, not appearing sufficient to re-establish it."

The king found it necessary to accommodate his actions as well as his words, to the general feeling. Don Toledo, a Spaniard, who had gone to Troppau, and representing himself as a secret agent of Ferdinand, had stated that the latter was a prisoner in his own dominions, and disapproved of every act done since the revolution, was deprived of his pension, and forbidden to return to Spain.

The cities were in a very unquiet state. A conspiracy, real or pretended, was discovered at Saragossa. Several persons were in consequence arrested; and among them was the marchioness of Luzan. At the end of December, the people of Cadiz, parading the streets in bodies, called out for vengeance on the authors of the massacre of the preceding March. Few of the better classes of inhabitants joined the rioters, who consisted chiefly of smugglers, and of the dregs of the rabble. The magistrates were

alarmed, and took measures to preserve the public peace. They of course became culprits in the eyes of the patriot mob; and a formal address was prepared and forwarded to the king, in which they were accused of having betrayed the public welfare by discharging from prison the authors of the melancholy events of March, without having brought them to trial. At Madrid, the marquis of Ceralbo, on the 27th of December, repaired to a club which had assembled at the Cross of Malta, to break it up, conformably to the law of the 8th of November. The members made open resistance, and the authority of the magistrates and the laws was defied. The address of the common council of the city of London to George IV., requiring him to dismiss his ministers, was read with loud applause; and a petition of similar tenor to Ferdinand IV. was instantly drawn up, and received numerous signatures. On the following day, very severe measures were taken to prevent the renewal of similar scenes; but the opposition of the people was so keen, that the authorities had no small difficulty in accomplishing their purpose. Among the individuals arrested for their refractory conduct on this occasion, were M. Mora, the editor of the Constitucional, a daily journal of extensive circulation in the capital; M. Luna, formerly a Guerilla chief; and the duke del Parque. The popular clamour afterwards made these arrests the matter of loud and grave complaint against the

ministers.

If the general spirit of a nation can be judged of from that of the capital, the situation of Spain did

not improve in the early part of the present year. In the month of January, an obscure individual, named Abuelo, who had formerly been the leader of a troop of banditti, wandered for some days in the villages near Madrid, endeavouring to raise partisans in favour of the old system, and publishing proclamations, in which the people were assured, that a foreign army was on its march, who would compel them to return to their duty, to God, and their king. His agents stated, in all places, that he had a force of 4,500 men under his command, and seduced a few poor wretches by promises of commissions and promotion. In a short time he was arrested and thrown into prison. The proclamations were ascertained to have been prepared by the king's honorary chaplain, Don Mathias Vinuesa, who was accordingly arrested on the 28th of January. They bore the title of "The Cry of a true Spaniard;" and their spirit may be judged of from the following passage: "We desire neither despotism nor anarchy. Let us have no Camarilla, but let us also have no factious Cortes. Let us have a free national government, founded upon our ancient institutions and our holy religion."

As soon as this clergyman's arrest was made public at the Fontana d'Oro, some persons mounted the tables, and began to harangue the company. "This culprit," said they, "will be suffered to escape; let us proceed to the magistrates in a body, and demand justice upon him." By these means the people were excited, and a disorderly multitude repaired to the magistrates, who immediately obeyed the voice of

the mob, by doubling the guard of Vinuesa's prison, and by transmitting a letter to the king, which contained the following passages: "That which we predicted to your majesty on the 22nd of November has been too soon confirmed. It is in your own palace, in your own house, that disorder originates in a great measure, as the people believe. How long are peaceable citizens to live in this agitation? We have doubled the guards of the prisons, but this is rather a palliative than a remedy. The people believe that all these plots originate from one focus, which remains secure; that this focus is composed of a handful of men, without virtue, religion, or patriotism, who continue to raise the cry of tyranny and arbitrary power. What opinion will the nation entertain of the power of the government, if such crimes remain unpunished? The magistracy supplicates your majesty to enforce the law with promptitude and dispatch."

The ministers testified their reverence for the populace by giving orders to hasten the proceedings against Vinuesa.

This event gave new life to all the rumours and alarms with respect to conspiracies: the popular agitation rose in violence, and showed itself in acts of outrage against those who were entitled to peculiar respect. Menaces and threats were freely uttered against the French ambassador, because he was suspected of intriguing against the constitutional system. The king himself, when he appeared in public, did not escape without insult.

On the 6th of February, the municipality of Madrid received a despatch from him, complaining

that on the 5th, during his promenade, he had heard cries disrespectful to him, and commanding the municipal authority to prevent the renewal of such disorders. In consequence, the municipality ordered nine corregidors, with their respective escorts, to proceed to the palace, to maintain good order, and execute the wishes of his majesty. On the same day, when the king came out to make his promenade, the people overwhelmed him with cries of" Long live the Constitutional King!" But the carriage had hardly passed the arcades of the palace, when some of the body-guards, seeing what they conceived to be symptoms of disrespectful behaviour towards the monarch, issued forth, and with their sabres struck two citizens. The people dispersed, but soon returned in great force, and obliged the body-guards to take refuge in their barracks, before which, for greater security, three pieces of cannon placed. The efforts and promises of the magistrates, aided by the presence of the national guard, calmed the effervescence of the people, who nevertheless, kept the barracks of the body-guards in a state of blockade for three days and two nights. The municipality presented an address to his majesty relative to these events.

were

The council of ministers, having met under the presidency of the king, determined on provisionally disbanding the four companies of body-guards, and referred how they were finally to be disposed of to the Cortes. The individuals composing the corps were to retire, till that decision, to their homes, after having left in their

barracks their arms and uniforms. Many of them quitted the country, and took refuge in France.

The state of Spain at this time became afterwards the subject of investigation in the Cortes, and a special committee made a report upon it. The report stated, that a systematic series of plots had existed for the overthrow of the constitution; that these plots were directed by a supreme junta, under which were secondary juntas; that central points for similar plots had been established by Spanish refugees, particularly at Bayonne and at Paris in the rue de Richelieu; and that many rich members of the clergy took part in this conspiracy, which showed itself openly on three occasions1. In the month of June 1820, when it was attempted to disturb the session of the Cortes; 2. In the month of November, during the residence of the king at the Escurial; 3. At the commencement of the session of 1821. The object of these plots, it was said, was, the re-establishment of absolute power; and for that purpose to take possession of his majesty's person, or even to set up another king in his place.

Among the documents in support of this report was a plan of a counter revolution, said to be in the hand-writingofVinuesa, and one of his cousins. This plan was to be communicated only to the king, the infant don Carlos, the duke del Infantado, and the marquis of Castellar. The king was to be prevailed upon to convoke suddenly the ministers, the captain-general, and the counsellors of state; and when they were assembled, don Carlos was to enter with a part of the body guards and arrest them all. The

duke del Infantado was to place himself at the head of a battalion of the guards cantoned at Leganes, which, with the prince's regiment, the colonel of which was favourably disposed, was to Occupy the city gates and the public places. These troops were then to instigate the people to call "Religion and the King!" and "Death to the Constitution!" A new municipal guard was to be immediately formed to march in procession to the square of the Constitution, and pull down the lapida (a stone erected in commemoration of the establishment of the Constitution). No person was to be allowed to leave Madrid, except couriers and detachments, who were to be sent to the provinces with the necessary orders.

With regard to the Liberals, they were, according to Vinuesa's plan, to be all arrested and divided into three classes. Those of the first class were to be capitally punished as guilty of high treason; those of the second to be banished or imprisoned; those of the third were to be pardoned. With regard to the afrancesados, corresponding measures were to be adopted. The bishop of Ceuta was mentioned as a fit person to draw up a kind of justificatory manifesto. Every thing was to be established on the footing of 1820, except that the king was to convoke a Cortes formed of states general (Estamentos). Vinuesa in his plan observed, "There are inconveniences as well as advantages in this scheme. The lives of his majesty and don Carlos may be put to hazard; but they must trust in Divine Providence, and show that they are capable of braving danger and

worthy of wielding the sceptre." The Cortes was to assemble on the 1st of March; and as doubts were entertained, whether Ferdinand would be inclined to attend in person, a deputation, at the head of which was the bishop of Majorca, was sent to him on the 25th of February to intimate to him the wish of the legislature, that he might be present at the opening of the session. The king's answer was as follows:

"I am informed that the Cortes are constituted. I shall attend with great pleasure at the opening of the session on the 1st of March, at 10 in the morning. I hope from the wisdom and prudence of the deputies that they will adopt energetic measures, capable of arresting the evils with which the nation is threatened, and the precursors of which I perceive in the insults and disrespect shown to my dignity and to my person, in despite of the constitution."

The president replied, that the Cortes would duly appreciate the king's gracious promise to be present at the opening of the session; that, as to the object particularly referred to by his majesty, the Cortes were not charged with the maintenance of public order; but that, in fulfilling the duties which properly belonged to them, they would contribute, by all the means in their power, and with the greatest zeal, towards the complete satisfaction of his majesty's just desires.

Ferdinand was afterwards waited upon by the minister of the interior, to arrange with his majesty the speech to be delivered from the throne.

On the 1st of March the king repaired to the hall of the Cortes,

attended by a strong escort, and delivered his speech. In alluding to foreign affairs, the king stated that "his good understanding with foreign powers had undergone no alteration;" that, "he had ratified the cession of the Floridas;" that "he had felt it due to the dignity of his throne and people to declare to the allied sovereigns that he would recognize nothing (in their conduct towards Naples) which should be at variance with the principles of the positive law of nations, on which repose their liberty, their independence, and prosperity." At the conclusion he inveighed in terms of much bitterness against the public insults and outrages to which he had been exposed, and against the evil projects of those who would persuade his people, that he entertained designs unfriendly to the constitution. "I have now stated," said he towards the end of his speech, "all that it is necessary to inform the Cortes relatively to the political situation of the nation, in all its relations, internal and external, with all the precision which so solemn an act imposes on me, and according to the information I possess on the different points which my discourse embraces.

"I have purposely deferred to the conclusion of my discourse to speak to you of my person, in order that it might not be thought I preferred it to the well-being and to the happiness of the people, that Divine Providence has confided to my care.

“However, it is necessary that I inform, though with much chagrin, this wise congress, that the ideas of some ill-disposed persons, who strive to seduce