culars of which we refer to the Gazette. One observable circumstance was, that after one of the actions, two German regiments came over to the allies. The general result was, that the enemy having failed in all their attacks, and incurred great loss, withdrew to their intrenchments. The loss of the British and Portuguese was also considerable, amounting, in all the days, to between 4 and 5,000 in killed, wounded, and missing. Of the Spanish were returned only 5 killed and 21 wounded. From the military transactions on the Peninsula we now turn to the proceedings of the Spanish Cortes, the body on whose wisdom and firmness it must eventually depend whether all that Spain has done and suffered, shall be repaid by any solid constitutional improvements. Among the difficulties it has had to encounter, one of the most serious has arisen from that bigotry which has for so many ages been characteristic of the Spanish nation, and has enslaved its clergy to the most obnoxious maxims of the church of Rome. Although religious toleration could obtain no admission into the new constitution, yet the more liberal members of the Cortes had been able to carry a decree for the abolition of the odious tribunal of the Inquisition, and had passed an injunction for reading the decree in the churches at the celebration of high mass. This was very galling to the clerical body; and at a sitting of the Cortes on March 8th, a letter was read, transmitted by order of the Regency, which conveyed three memorials relative to this subject, from the vicar-general of the diocese of Cadiz, the parochial clergy of the city and suburbs, and the chapter of the diocese. That of the vicargeneral set forth his reasons for not obeying the order of the Cortes, the substance of which was, that it would be matter of scandal to read resolutions purely civil in a sacred place, and in the middle of the sacrifice of the mass, and that it had not been usual to publish laws in that manner. The clergy went so far as to impugn the spirit of the decree for abolishing the Inquisition, saying that it contained doctrine contrary to what they had always preached to their parishioners. The Regency, in the letter accompanying these memorials, informed the Cortes that they had not chosen to take severe measures on the occasion, for fear of disturbing the public tranquillity; and recommended the business to the consideration of the Cortes. The first speakers who arose in the assembly warmly condemned the Regency for declining to exercise their authority in executing the orders of the Cortes; and Senor Arguelles, after observing that the remarks of the clergy did not merit their attention, and that their sole business was, to discuss the conduct of the government in the observance of the laws, said, that the Regency ought to be deposed the moment it does not cause the laws to be executed, which duty it had sworn to perform; and concluded with moving, that the sitting be declared permanent till this business was terminated. This motion was carried by a great majority. He then, after declaring that the circumstances were highly critical, and that a contest between quisition. By so acting, the nuncio says, They would do an important service to religion, to the church, and to our most holy fa- the two depositaries of the authority of government might involve the nation in the greatest calami ties, moved, that a Regency should be nominated ad interim. This mother, whose authority and rights tion occasioned a considerable debate, after which, being put to the vote, it was carried by 87 against 48. The three counsellors of state, upon whom, on account of seniority, according to an article of the constitution, the provisional regency fell, were the Cardinal Bourbon (Archbishop of Toledo) Don P. Agar, and Don Gabriel Ciscar. One deputation was then appointed to dismiss the old Regency, and another to wait on the new. The latter then appeared before the Cortes, and was installed in office with a suitable discourse from the president. It was soon discovered that the resistance of the Spanish clergy to the decree of the Cortes was supported and fomented by the powerful influence of the Pope's nuncio, Peter Gravina, archbishop of Nicea, then resident at Cadiz. This was made public by a manifesto of the Regency, addressed to the prelates and chapters of Spain, and dated April 23rd. In this important paper, the President of the Regency, Cardinal Bourbon, after alluding to the energetic measures which he had been obliged to adopt in order to extinguish a flame which might have consumed the kingdom, says, that among the documents which he had called for on the occasion from different chapters, there had appeared a letter from the Pope's nuncio to the dean and chapter of Malaga, exhorting them to delay, and even to oppose, the execution of the decrees concerning the In 1 he conceives to be wounded, without thereby favouring the episcopal power." Letters to the same purpose had been forwarded to the Regency, from the nuncio to the bishop of Jaen and the chapter of Grenada; "from which it appears (says the manifesto) that the said nuncio, trampling on the first principles of international law, overlooking the limits of his public mission, and abusing the veneration in which this pious people hold the legates of the apostolic see, has endeavoured to promote, and actually has promoted, under the cloak of religion, the disobedience of some very respectable prelates and ecclesiastical bodies, to the decrees and orders of the sovereign power." After a number of observations on the conduct of the nuncio, and the necessity of controlling it, the Cardinal President declares, that although he conceives himself fully authorized to exert his power by sending the nuncio out of the kingdom, and seizing his temporalities, yet he has confined himself to ordering that the following royal decree should be transmitted to him. The decree referred to expresses in strong terms the sense of the Regency of the nuncio's improper conduct; and informs him, that it expects, that he shall for the future keep within the limits of his mission, and that all his remonstrances to government should be made through the medium of the secretary of state; assuring him, that should he henceforward forget the duties of his charge, the Regency will be under the necessity of exercising its power in fulfilling the duties intrusted to it. This spirited and decisive proceeding, however, was ineffectual to restrain the actions of a representative of that authority which during so many ages had maintained a successful contest with civil governments; and we learn from a subsequent manifesto of the Regency, that the nuncio affirmed in a note "that he could not but believe that he was under an indispensable obligation to act as he had done, in quality of legate of the Pope, and in fulfilment of the duties of his ministry; that though he wished nothing more than the peace and tranquillity of the kingdom, and it was contrary to his character to intermeddle in other subjects than those belonging to the duties of his legation, yet in ecclesiastical matters he was obliged to engage in that correspondence and communication which was required of him by his office." He added, "That if his conduct in corresponding with the reverend bishops, and acting as he had before done, gave offence to the Cortes, they might act as they thought proper relatively to himself, as he believed his behaviour would merit the approbation of his holiness." In a letter of the 9th of May, the nuncio persisted in the same sentiments, and said, that the greater part of the bishops, even those who were resident at Cadiz, had made known their opinion on this subject, in the hope, that as legate of the Pope, he would take the part which he should judge proper; that he had therefore been induced to give his advice and instructions as he had done to the prelates and chapters, and that he should pursue the same conduct whenever similar subjects should come in question. Thus, perhaps very conscientiously, did Senor Gravina follow the same track with the Beckets of old in supporting the authority of the Roman see against that of the supreme civil government in a country; demonstrating the uniformity of principle by which that vast machine of ecclesiastical power is actuated. The Regency appears to have been reluctant to come to extremities and declare open hostilities with such a power, but its reputation and authority were compromised; and at length, on July 7th, after having heard the opinion of the Council of State, a note was sent in its name to the nuncio, acquainting him that a passport was sent to him for leaving the kingdom, and that his temporalities in it would be occupied. He was further informed, that in consideration of his dignity, and in order that he might perform his voyage commodiously, a national frigate should be prepared to carry him whithersoever he might choose to go. The nuncio however preferred going to Portugal in a vessel provided by himself; and thus was terminated this delicate affair, in a manner honourable to the firmness of the Spanish government. What was the impression made by the transaction upon the nation at large, it would be interesting to know, but we do not possess the means of acquiring such information.. Although the splendid services of the marquis of Wellington, and the necessity of bringing the Spanish armies into a state of effectual operation, had caused the appointment of his lordship to the high post of captain-general and commanderin-chief of the troops of Spain, yet symptoms had on different occasions appeared of that national jealousy which naturally attends upon a foreigner placed rather by circumstances than by good will in an office of great authority and trust; and his lordship's patience and moderation had more than once been exercised by the contradictions he had experienced. At length, the recall, by the Regency, of general Castanos from the army, under the pretext of employing him as a counsellor of state, obliged lord Wellington to break silence, and address a public letter to the Spanish secretary at war, Don Juan O'Donoju, dated from Huarte, July 2nd. It begins with referring to the alleged reason of the removal of general Castanos, namely, because he was not at the head of the 4th army which the Regency had intrusted to him; and it enters into a particular explanation of the causes which occasioned his employment elsewhere, not at his own suggestion, but that of lord Wellington himself, who expressed a high esteem for this officer, as one who had served his country in close union with him during the last three years, without a single difference of opinion between them in any matter of moment. The removal of gen. Giron from his command without any motive assigned, is another subject of complaint. His lordship pro ceeds, "Your Excellency also knows, that this is not the first instance in which that contract, formed with so much solemnity, and after such mature deliberation, has been violated; and no one can be more fully aware than yourself, of the inconveniencies which thence result to the good of the service. Your Excellency is equally well acquainted with my natural disposition, and my wishes to continue to serve the Spanish nation, as far as my abilities extend: but forbearance and submission to injuries so great, have their limits; and I avow that I have been treated by the Spanish government in those matters, in a manner the most improper, even simply as an individual.". We are not informed of the direct result of this letter; but the name of Giron is afterwards found in active service with lord Wellington. For a considerable time past the General and Extraordinary Cortes had been the body, by whom the great business of the renovation of Spain, and the formation of its constitution, was conducted; but the time was now arrived in which it was to resign its authority to the Ordinary Cortes. On the 14th of September the decree of the General and Extraordinary Cortes for the close of its sittings being read, the president Don Jose Miguel Gordoa delivered an animated and eloquent oration, in which he gave a retrospect of the wretched condition of the country at the time of the assembling of the Cortes, and a summary of what had been effected by that body towards its recovery. The following passage sketches the speak er's idea of the most essential be nefits conferred upon the nation by the labours of the Cortes. "To raise the nation from slavery to sovereignty; to distinguish and divide the powers hitherto mixed and confounded; to acknowledge solemnly and cordially, the Apostolic and Catholic religion as the only true one, and that of the state; to preserve to the kings all their dignity, giving to them unlimited powers to do good; to give to the press all the natural liberty which the celestial gifts of thought and speech should have; to abolish the ancient Gothic remains of the feudal system; to equalise the rights and duties of Spaniards of both worlds-these were the first steps of the Cortes in their arduous and glorious career, and these were the solid bases upon which were afterwards raised the edifice of the constitution, the fortress of liberty. O Constitution! O sweet name of Liberty! O grandeur of the Spanish nation! "After the Cortes had bestowed upon us so many benefits, their insatiable thirst of doing good was not satisfied. They gave a new and more convenient form to the tribunals of justice; they settled the economical government of the provinces; they succeeded in forming a military constitution, and a plan of education and instruction truly national for youth; they organised the labyrinth of the finances; they simplified the system of contributions; and what cannot, nor ever will be heard without admiration, is, that in a period of the greatest poverty and distress they maintained, or rather created, public credit." It is gratifying to read the following passage in this patriotic effusion:-"Great and generous England sees her sons crowned with Spanish laurels that shall never fade; and, besides the assistance which she has lent to the common cause, has the fortune and glory of having sent the unconquered Wellington, the immortal captain of the allied armies ever triumphant." Such, doubtless, must be the general feeling of true Spaniards, whatever be the temporary jealousies and bickerings between different branches of authority. In the interval between the dis solution of the old Cortes and the assembling of the new for public business, a deputation of the former continued permanent for the purpose of watching over the constitution, and being at hand for particular events. It happened that this interference was called for by the following circumstance. The removal of the seat of government to Madrid was a question which had been several times agitated, and was made an affair of party. In this month, the report of a contagious fever prevailing at Gibraltar occasioned an alarm of the same distemper at Cadiz, and the council of state recommended to the Regency the immediate removal of all the departments of government to Madrid. The populace of Cadiz, filled with consternation, assembled in the streets, and vented their indignation against the advisers of a measure which they regarded as prejudicial to their interests, though without any violent proceedings. The permanent depu |