"In a great proportion of the provinces, separate juntas were formed, while some disregarded alike, the authority of government and that of the supreme assembly. Each of these assemblies deliberated, interpreted, acted according to the disposition of the majority of its members, and no central authority felt itself sufficiently strong to venture to subject to any common yoke the local parliaments, each of which, in its own little sphere, had more influence than the central alone possessed."I. 211.

Amidst the general transports of the revolutionary party at this unexpected change, the usual and invariable attendant or revolutionary convulsions, embarrassments of finance, were soon experienced. The way in which this undying load precipitated the usual consequences of revolutionary triumph, national bankruptcy, and a confiscation of the property of the church, is thus detailed:

"No sooner was the new Cortes installed, than numerous and important cares occupied their attention. Of these, the most pressing was the state of the finances. Disinterestedness is not in general the distinctive character of the leaders of party, and the countries delivered by revolutions usually are not long of discovering what it has cost them. In vain the ministry, in vain the Cortes, terrified at the daily increasing deficit in the public treasury, and the absence of all resources to supply it, sought to reduce, by economical reductions, those charges which the state could evidently no longer support. While reductions were effected in one quarter, additional charges multiplied in another. All those who could make out the shadow of a claim of loss arising from the arbitrary government; all those whose hands had touched, to raise it up, the pillar of the constitution, had restitutions or indemnities to claim, without prejudice to arrears, and new places to demand. Refusal was out of the question; for it would have been considered as a denial of justice, an act of ingratitude, a proof of servility. Amidst the public transports the revenue was incessantly going down.”

It became absolutely indispensable, therefore, to provide new resources; but where was a government to find them, destitute of credit, in a country without industry and without commerce? The expedient of a patriotic loan was tried, but that immediately and totally failed. The patriots all expected to receive, not to be called upon to give money to government. Recourse was then, from sheer necessity, had to

"Having thus got quit of the debt, the next object was to bring up the income to the expenditure of the year. For this purpose, they re-established the direct and burdensome land-tax, which had been abandoned on the restoration of royalty, in 1814, and created various new taxes, most of which, from their extreme unpopularity, they were soon compelled to abandon.

"They next established on the frontier a line of custom-houses, with a rigour of prohibition which could hardly be conceived in an industrious country, which was unintelligible in Spain, and was speedily followed by the esta blishment, on the frontier, of a system of smuggling, the most vast and organized that ever existed.

'Finally, they abolished the tithes and feudal tenths, but established the half of them for the service of the state. This was immediately at tended with the worst effects. The ecclesias tical tithe was the burden, of all others, which was most regularly and cheerfully paid in Spain, because the people were accustomed to it, and they conceived that, in paying it, they discharged at once a legal obligation and a debt of conscience; but when it was converted into a burden merely available to the ordinary wants of the state, it was no longer regarded in that light, but as an odious charge, and its collection was instantly exposed to the increasing embarrassments of the other imposts.

"At the time that they voted these different financial expedients, their total inadequacy was obvious to the most inconsiderate; and it soon became evident that additional resources were unavoidable."-I. 230, 231.

Thus the first effect of the triumph of revolution in Spain, was the imposition of a heavy income-tax, the destruction of the public debt, and the confiscation of tithes, and a large portion of the land rights of the kingdom, to the service of the treasury. One simple and irresistible cause produced these effects,-the failure of the revenue,-invariably consequent on the suspension of industry, the failure of credit, and contraction of expenditure, which result from popular triumph.

The rapid progress of innovation in every other department, in consequence of the re-establishment of the democratic constitution, speedily unhinged all the institutions of society. Its effect is thus detailed by our author:

"Independent of the financial measures of which I have given an account, and which were attended with so little good effect, the Cortes were occupied with innumerable projects of reform in legislation, administration, and police, so numerous, that it is impossible to give any account of them. Devoured with the passion for destruction, and but little so licitous about restoring with prudence, the

spoke of the public peace, order, and the life of the king, for which they declared they could not answer, if the public demands were refused• and finally drew from him a reluctant consent to the measure of spoliation.

All these projects of reform, however, and all this vast confiscation of property, both ecclesiastical and civil, could not supply the continually increasing deficit of the treasury. Another, and still greater revolutionary confiscation awaited the state, and to this, invincible necessity speedily led.

"From the commencement of the next session of the Cortes, measures had been taken to facilitate the secularization of the religious orders of both sexes; and many of them had already left their retreats, and rejoined their friends in the world.

"At length matters came to a crisis. On the proposition of Colonel Sancho, a law was passed, which confiscated the whole property of the regular clergy to the service of the state. This law, adopted by the Cortes, was submitted to the royal sanction. The king evinced the utmost repugnance to a measure so directly subversive of all the religious opinions in which he had been educated. Terrified at this resistance, with which they had not laid their account, the revolutionary party had recourse to one of those methods which nothing can either authorize or justify, and for which success can offer no excuse.

"Convinced that they could obtain only by terror what was refused to solicitation, they took the resolution to excite a popular sedition, organize a revolt, and excite a tumult to overcome the firmness of the king. For this purpose, they entered into communication with the runners of the revolutionary party, took into their confidence the leading orators of the clubs, and concerted measures in particular with the banker, Bertrand du Lys, who had always at his command a band of adventurers, ready to go wherever disorder was to be committed.

"The signal was given. The mobs assembled: Bands of vociferating wretches traversed the public streets, uttering frightful cries, and directing their steps to the arsenal. A slight demonstration of resistance was made; but the report was speedily spread that the troops were unable to make head against the contintally increasing mass of the insurgents, and that the life of the king was seriously menaced. The ministers presented themselves in that cri

"This success, so dearly bought, was by no means attended with the good effects which had been anticipated from it. The people would have seen, without dissatisfaction, a share of the public burdens borne by the ecclesiastical body; but a total abolition, an entire extinction of their property, appeared to them a cruel persecution, a work of heresy and impiety, the horror of which reacted on all the measures which had the same origin.

"The revolutionary party might have borne all the unpopularity which that exorbitant measure occasioned, if it had been attended with the immense consequences which had been anticipated in relieving the finances; but in that particular also, all their hopes proved fallacious. The property of the clergy, when exposed to sale, found few purchasers. The known opposition of the Holy See, the exasperation of the people, the dread of a revolution: all these circumstances rendered the measure perfectly abortive, and caused it to add nothing to the resources of the treasury."I. 247-249.

This is the usual progress of revolutionary movements. Terror! terror! terror! That is the engine which they unceasingly put in force: Insurrections, mobs, tumults, the means of obtaining their demands, which they never fail to adopt. Demonstrations of physical strength, public meetings, processions, and all the other methods of displaying their numbers, are nothing but the means of showing the opponents of their measures the fate which awaits them, if they protract their resistance beyond a certain point. Force is their continual argument; the logic of brickbats and stones; the perspective of scaffolds and guillotines, their neverfailing resource. Confiscation of the property of others, the expedients to which they always have recourse to supply the chasms which the disorganization of society and the dread of spoliation have occasioned in the public revenue.

The usual leprosy of revolutionary convul sions, Jacobin societies, and democratic clubs, were not long of manifesting themselves in this unhappy country.

"On all sides, secret societies were formed, whose statutes and oaths evinced but too clearly the objects which they had in view. Besides the freemasons, who had long been established, a club was formed which took the title of Confederation of Common Chevaliers, and declared themselves the champions of the perfect equality of the human race, and emancipated themselves in the very outset from all the restraints of philanthropy and moderation. To judge, to condemn, and to execute every individual whatsoever, without excepting the king and his successors, if they abused their authority, was one of the engagements, a part of the oath which they took on entering into the society."

"On the side of these secret societies clubs

"At four o'clock the mob reassembled, and proceeded straight to the prison doors. No one opposed their tumultuous array; they presented themselves at the gate, and announced their mission. Ten soldiers, who formed the ordinary guard of the prison, made, for a few minutes, a shadow of resistance, which gave no sort of trouble to the assailants. The barriers were speedily broken; the conquerors inundated the prison; with hurried steps they sought the cell where the condemned priest was confined, and instantly broke open the door. The priest appeared with a crucifix in his hand; he fell at their feet, and in the name of the God of mercy, whose image he presented, besought them to spare his life. Vain attempt!-to breasts which acknowledged no religion, felt no pity, what availed the image of God who died to save us. One of the judges of the gate of the Sun advanced. He was armed with a large hammer, and struck a severe blow at the head bowed at his feet. The victim fell, and a thousand strokes soon completed the work of death. Blood has flowed, the victim is no more.

But the head which that hammer had slain, could not suffice for the murderers. Besides the criminal there remained the judge. He also was condemned to die, for having only applied the existing law, and not foreseen the judgment which the tribunal of the Sun was to pass on the criminal. The assassins made straight to his house, amidst cries of 'Death to the traitors, Long live the constitution!' They traversed the town, and arrived at the house of the judge; five men with drawn swords entered the house, after placing sentinels around it, to prevent the possibility of escape. But Heaven did not permit that new murder to be committed. The judge, informed of what was going forward, had fled, in the interval between the first judgment and execution, and the murderers, after covering him with execrations, dispersed themselves through the town to recount their exploits, and dwell with exultation on the commencement of the reign of terror.

"In the evening, the clubs resounded with acclamations, and the expressions of the most intoxicating joy; and popular songs were composed and published, celebrating the first triumph of popular justice. No one ventured to hint at punishing the criminals. A few insulated individuals ventured to condemn them; a thousand voices rose to applaud and defend them. The press joined its powerful efforts to celebrate that memorable day; and, in fine, to commemorate the public exultation, a sort of monument was erected to perpetuate its recollection. Vinuesa had fallen under the blows of a hammer; his murderers, and their protectors, created a decoration, and instituted a sort of order, called the order of the hammer. The ensigns of this new honour were speedily fabricated; they consisted in a little hammer of iron, made in imitation of that which had struck the fatal blow. The new chevaliers proudly decorated their bosoms with the insignia. It bore an inscription, which, when

this: On the 4th May, 1821, four or five hundred men murdered in prison an old priest, who implored their pity. Behold and honour one of the assassins. ”—I. 297—299.

The gradual decline of the moderate party under the increasing fervour of the times, and their final extinction in the Cortes, under the incessant attacks, and irresistible majorities of the revolutionists, is thus narrated:

"In the second session, it was no longer possible to recognize the Cortes of the first. They were the same individuals, but not the same legislators, or the same citizens. Worn out by a continual struggle with men whom nothing could either arrest or discourage; disgusted with discussions, in which they were always interrupted by the hisses or groans of the galleries; irritated by the attempts at civil war which were daily renewed in the provinces; heated by the burning political atmosphere in which they found themselves immovably enclosed; the moderate deputies, who, in the preceding year, had formed the majority of the Cortes to combat the forces of anarchy, gave up the contest, and yielded without opposition to whatever was demanded of them.

"The most dangerous enemies of the public peace, beyond all question, were the Patriotic Societies. There it was that all heads were exalted-that all principles were lost amidst the extravagancies of a furious democracythat all sinister projects were formed, and all criminal designs entertained. A wise law, the work of the first Cortes, had armed government with the power to close these turbulent assemblies, when they threatened the public tranquillity. But this feeble barrier could not long resist the increasing vehemence of the revolutionists. A law was proposed, and speedily passed, which divested government of all control over these popular societies. It placed these agglomerations of fire beyond the reach of the police-forbid the magistrates to be present at their debates-substituted internal regulations for external control-and, instead of any real check, recognised only the 'elusory responsibility of the presidents.'

Never, perhaps, did human folly to such a degree favour the spirit of disorder, or so weakly deliver over society to the passions which devoured it. Hardly was the law passed, when numbers who had been carried away by the public outcry, were terrified at the work of their own hands, and looked back with horror on the path on which they had advanced, and the vantage ground which they had for ever abandoned."-I. 302, 303.

"The clubs were not slow in taking advantage of the uncontrolled power thus conceded to them. The most violent of their organs, which was at once the most dangerous and the most influential, because he incessantly espoused the cause of spoliation, Romero Alfuente, published a pamphlet full of the most furious ebullitions of revolutionary zeal, in which he divulged a pretended conspiracy against the constitutional system, whose ramifications, diverging from Madrid, extended into the remotest provinces and foreign states. The plans, the resources, the names, of the

conspirators, were given with affected accuracy; nothing was omitted which could give to the discovery the air of truth. The electric spark is not more rapid in communicating its shock, than was that infamous libel. Never had the tribune of the Club of the Golden Fountain resounded with such menacing and sanguinary acclamations. They went even so far as to say that the political atmosphere could not be purified but by the blood of fourteen or fifteen thousand inhabitants of Madrid.”—I. 351, 352.

"In the midst of these ebullitions of revolutionary fury, the provinces were subjected to the most cruel excesses of anarchy. At Cadiz, Seville, and Murcia, the people broke out into open revolt; the authorities imposed by the Cortes were all overthrown, and the leaders of the insurrection installed in their stead. All the vigour and reputation of Mina could not prevent the same catastrophe at Corunna. He resigned his command, and Latré, the insurrectionary leader, stepped into his place. Every where the authority of government, and of the Central Cortes, was disregarded; the most violent revolutionists got the ascendant, and society was fast descending towards a state of utter dissolution.

"All these disorders, all these excesses, found in the capital numerous and ardent defenders. The press, in particular, everywhere applauded and encouraged the anarchists; it incessantly exalted the demagogues, for whom it proudly accepted the title of Descamisados, (shirtless,) and for whose excesses it found ample precedents among our Sans Culottes. It condemned to contempt, or marked out for proscription, all the wise men who yet strove to uphold the remnants of the Spanish monarchy. Occupied without intermission in detracting from all the attributes of the monarchical power; in dragging in the gutter the robe of royalty, in order to hold it up to the people covered with mire; it invented for all the monarchs of Europe the most calumnious epithets and ridiculous comparisons, and offered to the factious of every state in Europe, whatever their designs were, the succours of their devouring influence."-I. 357, 358.

"Three evils, in an especial manner, spread the seeds of dissolution over this agitated country, and spread their ramifications with the most frightful rapidity. These were the press, with its inexpressible violence, and its complete impunity; the petitions which rendered the tribune of the Cortes the centre of denunciations, the focus of calumny, and the arena where all the furious passions contended with each other; in fine, the licentiousness of the patriotic societies, where the public peace was every day, or rather every night, delivered up to the fury of an unbridled democracy. The Cortes were perfectly aware of these causes of anarchy; they had openly denounced them, and declared their intention of applying a prompt remedy. Still nothing was done, and the Assembly was dissolved without having done any thing to close so many fountains of anarchy."-I. 377.

One would imagine that the accumulation of so many evils would have produced a reaction n the public mind; that the universal anxiety, austress, and suffering, would have opened the

eyes of the people to their real interests, and the pernicious tendency of the course into which they had been precipitated by their demagogues; and that the new elections would have produced a majority in favour of the prodent and restraining measures, from which alone public safety could be expected. The case, however, was just the reverse: the revo lutionary party, by violence and intimidation, almost everywhere gained the ascendency; and the fatal truth soon became apparent, that democratic ambition is insatiable; that it is blind to all the lessons of experience, and deaf to all the cries of suffering; that like a maddened horse, it rushes headlong down the precipice, and never halts in its furious career till it has involved itself and public freedom in one common ruin.

"The new Cortes commenced its labours under the most sinister auspices; the circumstances under which the elections had taken place were sufficient to justify the most serious apprehensions.

"The elections in the south had taken place under the immediate influence and actual presence of open rebellion. At Grenada, the people by force intruded into the electoral college, and openly overwhelmed the election; in all the provinces of the north, the proprietors had absented themselves from the elections, from hatred at the Revolution, and a sense of inability to restrain its excesses. At Madrid, even, all the partisans of the old regime had been constrained to abstain from taking any part in the vote, notwithstanding the undoubted right which the amnesty gave them. places, actual violence; in all, menaces were employed, with too powerful effect, to keep from the poll all persons suspected of moderation in their principles.

In many

"In the whole new Cortes not one great proprietor nor one bishop was to be found. The whole body of the noblesse was represented only by two or three titled but unknown men; the clergy by a few curates and canons, well known for the lightness with which the restraints of faith sat upon them. Only one grandee of Spain was to be found there, the Duke del Parque, who had abandoned the palace of the Escurial for the Club of the Fountain of Gold; and had left the halls of his king to become the flatterer of the people.

Among the new deputies great numbers were to be found who had signalized themselves by the violence of their opinions, and the spirit of vengeance against all moderate men, by which they were animated. The first measure of the Cortes was to elect Riego for president, a nomination which confirmed the hopes of the anarchist party, and excited everywhere the most extravagant joy among the partisans of the Revolution."-I. 383, 384.

As the other insanities and atrocities of the French Revolution had found their admirers and imitators in Spain, so the overthrow of the constitutional throne of Louis XVI., on the 10th August, 1792, was followed by too close a parallel in the Spanish monarchy.

The public distress, and the violence of the revolutionary faction in every part of the king dom, at length produced a reaction. Civi