Thomas Hamilton - Annals Of The Peninsular Campaigns, From 1808 To 1814—Vol. III

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Text originally published in 1831 under the same title.

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ANNALS

OF THE

PENINSULAR CAMPAIGNS

FROM

MDCCCVIII TO MDCCCXIV

BY THE AUTHOR OF CYRIL THORNTON

IN THREE VOLUMES

VOL. III

Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Those disposed to attribute to the imbecility of the government, the successive disasters which had befallen the Spanish armies, naturally looked forward with anxiety to the Convention of the Cortes. By decree of the Supreme Junta, before quitting Seville, that representative body was directed to assemble in the Isla de Leon, and a code of instructions was promulgated, directing the mode and principles of election. All cities which had sent representatives to the last assembly were to retain their privilege. The provincial Juntas were each empowered to elect a member, and the population of the provinces was to be represented by delegates, in the proportion of one to every fifty thousand inhabitants. Besides these, sixty-eight supplementary deputies were to be chosen in the different provinces as a representative corps de reserve, from which all vacancies by death or otherwise were to be filled up. Nobles, plebeians, and secular priests, were declared equally within the pale of election; and the only qualifications demanded were, that the person chosen should have attained the age of twenty-five years, and should hold no pension or office of emolument under government.

A temporary arrangement was made with regard to the representation of the American Colonies. It was agreed that twenty-six members should be added for that portion of the monarchy, including the Columbian and Philippine islands; and, in order to obviate delay, it was arranged that these should, in the first instance, be chosen from the natives of those dependencies then resident in Spain. It was the intention of the Supreme Junta to have balanced the influence of this popular assembly, by another composed of the grandees, and dignitaries of the church, but this part of the project was not carried into effect.

Many difficulties occurred in the election of members; nor was it till the twenty-fourth September that the meeting, so anxiously expected, took place. At nine in the morning of that day the deputies assembled at the Constitutional Hall in Cadiz, and walked in solemn procession to the Cathedral, where high mass was performed by the Cardinal Archbishop de Bourbon. The oath was then administered; and, after a discourse from the Bishop of Orense, the assembly at once entered on its high functions.

One of the first acts of the Cortes was a decree declaratory of their own character and privileges, and of the indefeasible rights of Ferdinand to the throne of Spain. They pronounced the invalidity of any cession of the crown in favour of the French Emperor, and ordained that no member of the Cortes should accept of pension, honour, or reward from the Executive.

In the proceedings of this assembly, a disposition was speedily evinced to engage in matters of abstract and speculative legislation, little applicable to the circumstances of the crisis. On, the motion of the eloquent and patriotic Arguelles, the state of the press in Spain became the subject of discussion, and a decree emanated from the assembly, removing many of the restrictions under which it had laboured. A committee was appointed to inquire into the best means of accelerating the despatch of causes before the tribunals. It was ordained, that all prisoners accused of crimes should be brought to trial, without the intervention of any unnecessary delay. The judicial authorities were directed frequently to visit the prisons within their jurisdiction, and every two months to transmit, through the Regency to the Cortes, an accurate account of the causes pending in the courts of law, and of prisoners charged with criminal offences.

Such matters of legislative enactment are unquestionably, in every civil community, of the first importance; but the moment when the armies of the enemy extended from Cadiz to the Pyrenees, was scarcely the most proper for their calm and deliberate consideration. At such a crisis, to animate the courage of the people, to organize the irregular levies of the provinces, to consolidate their strength and direct their efforts, should have been the paramount, if not the exclusive objects of the Spanish Government.

In the preceding year, the Duke of Orlans then resident at Palermo, made offer of his services to the Central Junta. This had been declined; but the Regency soon after their installation invited him to assume the command in the provinces on the northern frontier, imagining that the presence of a Bourbon Prince, of acknowledged talent, courage, and activity, would contribute to animate the population, and occasion considerable embarrassment to the French government.

The Duke of Orlans immediately prepared to take advantage of the opportunity thus afforded. He sailed for Malta, and from thence to Taragona, where he issued a proclamation {1} , inviting all true Frenchmen as well as Spaniards, to rally round the standard raised by a Bourbon for the subversion of that tyrannical usurpation by which both nations were oppressed. The Duke then proceeded to Cadiz, and was received with all the honours due to his rank, but the Cortes refused to sanction the appointment of the Regency, and he shortly afterwards returned to Palermo {2} .

Towards the end of October a change took place in the council of Regency. The Cortes displaced them, alleging as a cause, the repeated solicitations they had made to be relieved from office. Their successors were Blake, at that time commanding in Murcia; Don Pedro Agar, a naval officer; and Don Gabriel Cisgar, governor of Carthagena. Neither Blake nor Cisgar were then present; and the Marques del Palacio and Don Joseph Maria Puig were selected, ad interim, for the vicarious exercise of their functions. At the ceremony of installation, Palacio ventured to express some scruples with regard to the inaugural oath, which he deemed inconsistent with the perfect allegiance due to Ferdinand the Seventh. The Cortes then declared him to have forfeited the confidence of the nation, and appointed the Marques de Castellar to fill his place in the Regency.