lation; who could reasou more coolly, or on some occasions, giving loose to all his sails, rush on his object with greater ardour. But in his conduct towards Spain he betrayed the common weakness of being unhinged by a long continued flow of success. To the emperor of the French, king of Italy, protector of the confederation of the Rhine, and mediator of the republic of Switzerland, it was plainly a matter of indifference what individual collected the revenues of Spain for the benefit of France; except that a prince of the house of Bourbon might have been expected to collect those of America for some years longer: whereas a change of dynasty could not fail to endanger that great source of supply, by inciting those provinces to pursue their own interest and greatness, in obedience to the very dictates of nature, by asserting their independence.

It is true, as above observed, tha the guilty mind of Buonaparte could never be at peace, while such a crown as that of the Spains and the Indies, rested on the head of a Bourbon. But the impetuous haste with which, after a long scene of successful treachery, he threw off the mask of friendship, and in violation of all that is most sacred among men, seized the persons of the royal family, was indefensible on any ground of policy.

He might have gained his end by means, though more leisurely, more secure. He had gained a complete

ascendancy over the mind and conduct of Ferdinand; as is fully proved by every act of this prince when raised to the throne, and particularly by his journey to Bayonne. The power and influence of Buonaparte, in his character of ally and mediator, with so many French troops in Spain, which might be reinforced on various pretences, was unlimited. It was in his power to occupy Cadiz, Carthagena, Ferrol, St. Andero, and other ports, and thus to cut off all regular and sure communication with England. By bestowing as a gift, on Ferdinand, the throne of his ancestors, he might have degraded him in the eyes of his subjects, compelled him to become, like his father, the miserable instrument of French rapacity, and ultimately like him to abdicate the throne for the safety of his person. In a word, he might have pursued any conduct but that which mortally wounded the pride of every Spaniard, and which every Spaniard considered as a personal insult. It must, however, be admitted, that the explosion of indignant patriotism, which burst forth at the same moment in all the provinces of Spain, was more than Buonaparte, or any one could have expected. It seems to have astonished even the Spaniards themselves.

The junta of Seville looked upon it to be, "as it were, the inspiration of heaven, and little short of miraculous †.” And this, by the bye, may serve, in some degree, as an apology for the duke of Infantado, and the other Spanish nobles, who accompanied Ferdi

nand

band to Bayonne. They might have thought that all attempts to oppose Buonaparte would be of no avail, and tend only to involve the country in calamity and ruin. The public mind was in a state of fermentation ever since the horrid 2d of May, and commotions and tumults had arisen in divers places; but it was not until the gazette of Madrid, May 20th, had proclaimed throughout the land the abdication of the Spanish crown by Ferdinand VII. in favour of the emperor of the French, that there was a great and general explosion. The publication of the gazette was quickly followed up by the anniversary of St. Ferdinand, the tutelar saint of the prince, May 27th, which awakened all the sensibility of an ardent, devout, and honourable nation, It was on that day that the insurrection broke out in most places.

The history of Spain for what remains of 1808, after the close of the month of May, naturally divides itself into three periods: First, that previous to the formation of the central juntas; secondly, that during the government of the central juntas; and, thirdly, that under the supreme and central junta.

The events of the first of these periods, which was but very short, or rather merely transient, were, as isual, in similar cases, for the most part, the effects of popular passion. Don Miquel de Saavedra, captain general of the province of Valentia, where the insurrection first started, who attempted to oppose the views of the insurgents, was put to death. The insurgents then demanded, that all the goods belonging to the French should be declared to be

forfeited, and their persons secured. in the citadel. A few days thereafter they dragged the crew of a French ship, which had been pursued by an English frigate, and sought refuge on the Spanish coast, to prison; and on the 14th of June, in a fresh paroxysm, of rage, massacred them. At Cuenca, the corregidor and the intendant were thrown into chains, and carried off by a party of peasants. The governor of Carthagena was murdered. General Truxillo, governor of Malaga, was murdered at Grenada. His body was dragged through the streets, cut in pieces, and afterwards burnt. The French consul at Malaga, Mornard, and some French merchants of that place, were secured on the 4th of June from the fury of the people, in the Moorish castle of Gibralforo, A great quantity of arms and ammunition taken from an English privateer in 1800, had been lodged in a warehouse in the suburbs, to be sold. On the 20th of June a report prevailed, that this magazine had been purchased by the French consul, for the use of the French army. The people of Malaga marched to the castle, and notwithstanding all the remonstrances of the deputy-governor, and resistance of the guard, burst into the castle, pierced their victim with a thousand daggers, and burued his dead body in a bonfire made of the. furniture and some wrecks of the consul's house.

The depôt was broken open, and all that it contained destroyed. All this was done in spite of every effort on the part of the municipal government of Malaga to prevent it.

The tumult was at last quelled '. by a singular expedient. The dean

and.

and chapter fell on the contrivance of a procession, to thank God for their deliverance from the oppressor. The multitude immediately joined the procession, and tranquillity was restored. The go. vernor of St. Lucas Barameda, was massacred. At Jaen, the peasants murdered the corregidor, and plundered the town.

Similar scenes were exhibited in Estraniadura and the Castilles. At Badajoz, the insurrection broke out May 30th, and was in an instant matured. The palace of the governor was assaulted. The insurgents demanded arms, to be enrolled, and formed into a regular body. The government, with the bishop, appeared at the balcony, exhorting the multitude to retire; but in vain. They overpowered the guard of the palace, rushed in, seized the governor, and dragged him as far as the Palm-gate, where with knives, and sticks, they destroyed him.

At Cadiz, May 29th, the people rose against the lieutenant general Solano, Marquis Del Socorro, captain general of the province of Andalusia, and governor of the city of Cadiz. The marquis, with the Spanish troops under his command, had been recalled for the purpose of covering the flight of Charles V. from Aranjuez to Seville.

At Madrid, he formed an intimate and confidental connection with Murat, and general O'Farrel, an Irishman in the Spanish service, but drawn over to the side of the French. From the moment that a design was conceived to resist the progress of the French in Spain, every eye was turned to Andalusia, admirably situated, by its situaation, for co-operation with the English, and possessing the harbor

of Cadiz, and the founderies of Seville. Cadiz was divided, though unequally, by a French party and the Spanish patriots. The former consisted of French merchants and French clerks in the counting-houses, with Le Roy, the French consul at their head; and admiral Rosilly, with the other officers of the French fleet, which had been moored in the harbour of Cadiz ever since the battle of Trafalgar. The latter was composed of almost all the Spaniards, the English merchants, and those also, for there some of other nations.

were

While the patriots with their allies entered into a correspondence and concert with sir Hugh Dalrymple, governor of Gibraltar, the English admiral Purvis, and general Castaros, commander of the Spanish camp at St. Roch, for the purpose of acting against the common enemy according to circumstances, the French party kept up a correspondence with Madrid. Solano came in post haste to Cadiz, and thundered forth proclamations against all who should have any correspondence with the English forces, while a strong detachment from the main army of the French at Madrid was on its march to Cadiz. An immense number of people, May 29th, conducted by Spanish officers and certain merchants of Cadiz, assembled around the governor's palace, at Chulana, a village in the vicinity of Cadiz, demanding, with loud cries, "arms and ammunition." Solano appeared at the balcony, and in a long speech tried to persuade the people that the power of the emperor of the French was altogether irresistable, and that, if they should attempt resistance to his will by force, they would only precipitate

precipitate their own destruction. They heard him with patience a long time; but interrupted him at last, by repeating their cry of "arms and ammunition. Long live Ferdinand VII." Arms were brought from the barracks, and a cannon from the bulwarks. The gates of the palace were instantly forced: the governor's guard was disarmed: Solano himself, attempting to make his escape by the tops of the houses, was seized and dragged into the street. Even in this extremity, he proclaimed the power and the vengeance of Buonaparte, and declared, "that he was ready to die in the cause of the grand Napoleon." A person who was near him, on hearing these words, dashed his brains out at one blow with a club.

Some excesses were committed in the provinces of Leon and Asturias. At Corrunna, in Gallicia, general Filangieri, an Italian in the Spanish service, because he endeavoured to mitigate by persuasion the fury of the peasantry, though he had declared on the side of the insurgents, would have been shot, if an artillery officer had not stept before him, and given him time to take refuge in the convent of St. Domingo.On the 1st of June, the people demanded that all the French residing at Corrunna should be arrested. About thirty or forty French of different. ranks and conditions, were taken to the common goal, but their property was not seized. Straggling parties of the French, in many places were cut off by the peasants, led on by monks.

But, as already observed, the Feigu of mere democracy was of

extremely short duration. The zeal and efforts of unconnected individuals, were quickly brought into unity of design and action, by the establishment of provincial juntas. Even before the establishment of these, the popular resentment was in many instances calmed by the magistrates and the authority of good and respectable men among both the laity and clergy. There is no instance of a popular insurrection so widely extended, and provoked by such outrages and insults, that was attended with so few calamities as that of Spain. The horid excesses just enumerated, are but as a drop in the bucket, when compared with the torrents of innocent blood shed in the first ebullitions of the French revolution. The excesses of Spain were as much underneath the enormities of France, as the grievances of which she had to complain, were above any that the French were subjected to under the mild and beneficent reign of Lewis XVI.

What remained to the Spaniards of their ancient constitution of government, congenial with popular liberty, presented means of collecting the public sentiments, and forming a

concert of will and

power, without having recourse to innovations, for the most part dangerous, and always accompanied with confusion. The municipal government of the towns of Spain, though complicated, wore in general an air of popular representation. Wherever there were 2000 householders, four deputies and a syndic were named by the people, and formed part of the town council.-On the 27th of May, there was a convention at

Seville