the public debt, the interest up to Jan. 1, 1816, to be paid out of the civil list, and after that date to be provided for in the budget. This law being discussed in the Chamber on December 15, an amendment proposed by the Central Committee, was taken into consideration, namely, that it would not be proper to accept his Majesty's generous offer of paying the interest of the debt for 1815 out of the civil list; and the law thus amended passed with only a single negative. The law for the restoration of the unsold estates of emigrants passed the Chamber of Peers on December 3, by the majority of

100 votes out of 103. At the same time the Duke of Tarentum (Marshal Macdonald) in a much applauded speech, announced his intention of proposing a law for granting life-annuities to those emigrants, the sale of whose estates had left them without provision. The Duke made his proposal relative to this measure on December 10, in a speech full of calculation, which it is not necessary here to specify, and to verify which, would obviously require much investigation. Nothing more appears to have been done on this subject during the remainder of the year.

Paper, entitled The Conciso), two parties exist in Spain. The one consists of those who love and support the political reforms which have taken place; the other, of those who either oppose, or hypocritically pretend to cherish them." The writer goes on to say, that for more than twenty months, the enemies of reform endeavoured, under the pretext of religion, to stigmatize its promoters with the appellation of heretics, atheists, and deists; and finding that this did not answer their purpose, they added the titles of jacobins and republicans, and propagated the belief, that those who had planned a constitutional monarchy, wished to leave a king out of the scheme. He further observes, that the persons disaffected to the new institution had formed a junction with the Frenchified party; and that they would doubtless attempt to instil into the mind of Ferdinand notions, which had brought ruin upon Charles IV. and Maria Louisa. If the Conciso, as being under the influence of the Cortes. bore somewhat of the stamp of a party paper, it is certain that events too well verified the statement and prediction here made.

The long continuance of Ferdinand at Valencia in the month of April, manifestly gave uneasiness to the inhabitants of Madrid, where it was a general question, When will his Majesty swear to the Constitution? and rumours of the most opposite kinds were propagated on this point. At this time the French papers were continually publishing paragraphs in favour of the royal party against the popular. Thus, under the head of Barcelona, it is said, "The Cortes preserve a menacing attitude, and wish to impose

upon the Sovereign conditions which the dignity of the crown cannot admit. The new Constitution is really republican: the executive power is so limited and checked, that it is impossible the machine can support itself." The Duke del Infantado had now joined the King at Valencia, and was followed by most of the grandees, and many prelates also repaired to his court. The Cortes, becoming more and more suspicious and anxious, dispatched two letters to the King, expressing their earnest desire that he would assume the reins of Government, according to the Constitution, and representing the mischievous consequences that would result from a longer delay, to which it does not appear that they received any answer.

At length all suspence and doubt was terminated by a declaration, of considerable length, which Ferdinand issued at Valencia on the 4th of May. This paper began with a summary recital of all that had happened from the time of his first receiving the oath of allegiance of the Spanish people to his being detained captive in France, with the subsequent events down to the installation of the General and Extraordinary Cortes in the Isle of Leon, on Sept. 24th, 1810. To this body, "assembled in a manner never used in Spain, even in the most arduous cases, and the most turbulent times," was ascribed an usurpation of all the public authority, by means of which it imposed upon the nation the yoke of a new Constitution, in which were copied the revolutionary and democratic principles of the French Constitution of 1791, and which sanctioned, not the fundamental laws of a moderate monarchy, but

those of a popular Government with a delegated Chief at the head. After charging this body with the purpose of rendering all regal power odious, by making King and Despot synonymous terms, and with the cruel persecution of every one who had the firmness to contradict them; his Majesty proceeded to declare his abhorrence and detestation of despotism; his intention to treat with the procurators of Spain and the Indies, and after the re-establishment of order, to assemble a legitimate Cortes, in which laws might be enacted, serving as a rule of action to his subjects; and a declaration of his royal views in the government with which he was about to be vested. He spoke of the liberty and security of persons and property, and even touched upon the freedom of the press, within due limits; and he concluded much indefinite matter of this kind with saying, "I declare that my royal intention is, not only not to swear or accede to the said Constitution, nor to any decree of the General and Extraordinary Cortes, and of the Ordinary at present sitting, those, to wit, which derogate from the rights and prerogatives of my sovereignty, established by the Constitution and the laws under which the nation has lived in times past, but to pronounce that Constitution and such Decrees null and of no effect, now, or at any other time, and that they are entirely abrogated, and without any obligation on my people and subjects to observe them. And as he who should attempt to support them will attack the prerogatives of my sovereignty and the happiness of the nation, and cause dis

content and disturbance in my kingdom, I declare, that whoever shall dare to attempt the same will be guilty of high treason, and as such, subject to capital punishment, whether he perform the same by deed, by writing, or by words."

The paper further commanded, that until the restoration of public order, and the former system of things, the present magistracies of towns, courts of law, tribunals of justice, &c. should be continued ; and that from the day of communicating this decree to the President of the Cortes, that body should cease its sittings; that all the acts and documents in its possession should be delivered up and deposited under lock and seal in the town-hall of Madrid; and declared, any one endeavouring in any manner to obstruct the execution of this part of the decree, guilty of high treason, and liable to the punishment of death. It also pronounced the cassation of any pending proceedings in every tribunal of the kingdom, on account of infraction of the Constitution; aud the liberation of all who might have been arrested or imprisoned on that ground.

It was manifest, that when a Court, so little distinguished for vigorous resolutions as that of Spain, ventured to issue a declaration of open hostility against the existing government, it must have been well assured of the feeble hold possessed by that government on the mind of the nation. In fact, notwithstanding the high encomiums upon the noble and elevated spirit of the Spanish people, which have been so frequent since they began to contend against French tyranny, it must be ac

knowledged that there are few instances of so momentous a contest supported with less courage and constancy; and as nothing could be more abject than the first submission of the Royal Family and Nobles to foreign usurpation, so a listlessness and indifference was too apparent in the subsequent ef⚫forts of the nation, powerfully aided as it was, to free itself from the yoke. With respect to liberal and enlarged ideas of Government, there is no European nation in which they could be less expected to prevail, than in one so many ages under the sway of arbitrary power and bigotted superstition. The Constitution framed by the Cortes was a merely exotic production, generated in the heads of a few reading and speculative men, whose notions had little or no correspondence with the general feelings of the community. Hence, when assailed by the power of force and opinion always inherent in a monarchy, having no effectual support on the other side from popular attachment, it sunk without a struggle. It is affirmed in one account, that as soon as the Governor of Madrid officially published Ferdinand's Decree, the people joined him with enthusiasm, and the dissolution of the Cortes did not experience the slightest obstacle. No resistance was made, and in consequence, no blood was shed; but on the night of the 10th, a great number of persons were arrested, whose names comprize almost all those who have rendered themselves conspicuous for writings, or speeches favourable to civil liberty, or adverse to ecclesiastical authority, during the reign of the Cortes. The fidelity to the Royal cause dis

played by the capital was rewarded by allowing it, in addition to its former titles of loyal and imperial, to take that of heroic, and its municipal body, that of Excellency.— The King nominated a ministry, among whom the first was the Duke de San Carlos, the person who signed this treaty with Buonaparte. A provisional regulation was issued with regard to the liberty of the press, and the publication of periodical papers, the nature of which may easily be conceived..

Ferdinand entered Madrid on May 14th; and from the public accounts it would appear that never was a sovereign received into his capital with greater demonstrations of attachment. The populace are said to have drawn his carriage all the way from Aranjuez to Madrid, seven leagues. He afterwards traversed the whole city on foot, by way of showing his confidence in the people. Arrests meantime continued, but, as was then fondly hoped, rather as a measure of safety than of rigour.

It could not be doubted that the church would be the first to profit of this change; and a royal decree was issued, declaring that the king, being informed of the great scandal occasioned by the poverty and wretchednes of the regular clergy, and considering the advantages which result to the state and the church from their being assembled in their respective communities, orders all the convents, and property belonging to them, to be restored, through the intervention of the archbishops and bishops. Thus was again established that predominancy of the religious orders by which Spain