Journal of Military and Political Events in Spain During the Last Twelve Months

149 Pages·1824·5.631 MB·English

by  Giuseppe Pecchio, Edward Blaquiere (ed.)

MILITARY AND POLIiical EVENTS
IN
SPA-IN
I - . . - U — ■ ■ - "^1 •
during THE LAST TWELVE MONTHS.
By COUNT PECCHIO.
WITH
SOME INTRODUCTOK.Y REMARKS ON THE PRESENT CRISIS.
By EDWARD BLAQUIERE, Esq.
AUTHOR OF
AN niSTORICAI. REVIEW OF THE SPANISH REVOLUTION, &C.

“ Ripeness is all!”—
.'rK ino Lbar*, Act V. So. IT.
.K » O -
LONDON:
G. AND W. B. WHITTAKER, AVE-MARIA-LANE.
1824.
LONDON:
SHACKELL AND AHROWSMITH, JOHNSON’S-COURT.
IN1’R<^DUCTORY REMARKS
BY
THE EDITOR.
Circumstances having prevented me from
paying a second visit to the Peninsula as I
so fully intended, for the purpose of follow^
ing up my account of the Spanish Revolu­
tion by a detail of occurrences subsequent
to 1820, 1 feel happy in being enabled to
lay the remarks of a much abler pen before
the public, as a sequel to the Letters I pub­
lished in March last; more especially at a

moment, when the interest, at all times at­

tached to the affairs of Spain in this country,

is heightened in proportion to the impor­
tance of recent events, connected as these
are with our own power and prosperity.
a
iv
Previously to offering a few obseiryations,
M^ich are forced from me, on .ayie\y of the
present crisis, •! have to express my regret^al
my inability to do justice to the vivid style and
original manner of an author, whom, how­
ever lie Inay be disfigured, in the, foUoYii/g
pages, I^regard as one of the be0. living
writers of his country. Ridependentlyj how­
ever of the above cause, I should add that
the translation, has b^en , prepared,, in, great
haste, owing to my anxiety to redeem the
pledge which I have given with respect to
the Greek Revolution. But the paramount
interest, .excited by the catastrophe^ of Spain;,
will, I trust, be a sufficient excuse for <my
turning aside for a few days from the consi­
deration of Grecian affairs.
Those, who took the trouble of .looking
over niy Introduction to the last work ,of
■ Count Peccliio, will have perceived that,,!

considered the stability of our power as

■being mainly dependant on the part yve
should take in the then approaching aggres-
jsion of the ruling faction of France against
Spain. In .common with the best friends of
their country, I thought it impossible for
v-
En'^Tanii to avoid espousing the cause of tjje
Peninsula; without betraying her dearest in­
terests. She, ho we vet, remained heater at
hohie, while hev diplomatic agents abroad
are said to have indirectly co-oper^tM With
the invaders. What hhs been ‘the fesuFt
Wliy, that in little more' than si» months
after I ventured to record'hiy humble opi­
nion, the whole of Spain,' with all her fofj
tresses, was in undisturbed possession of a
1
French army!
‘As every day, nay every hour, will’tend
to convince Englishmen, that the occupation
of Spain by France, under any pretence, is
fcaWully* opposed to the power and pros­
perity of Great Britain, it is needless for me
to dwell on that galling subject. I cannot,
hbKvef er; Omit this opportunity of expressing
’my deep regret, that two statesmen who ext
pressed themselves in such dignified terms at

'the commencement of the unequal struggle,

and lipon whom the nation seemed to rely
for support, should have so cruelly disap­
pointed the hopes of their country. But-1
will abstain from the language of reproach;
for what sting can be greater—what condition
VI
niore' humiliating than that Of a 'miriistefl'Wiho
has lived to witness the degradafi.o'n ‘ of his
country 1
Amidst that'deplorable apathy; * which
seemsto* have ■'overtalien the- leaders bf two
patties, ‘ 4vho' have‘ divided political:power,
and irifluencd amongst U!^- since the accession
of the reigning family; it is consoling to-re­
flect that ’all are,not equally blind nor indif­
ferent to the dangers, which threaten’ an
edifice cemented by the blood of millions,
■and such irtcalculable sacrifices of another
kind. *
The class to which I allude, has never for
one instant lost sight of thelcombinatioh to
diminish British influence and power by those
very sovereigns, who owe their present exis­
tence to British blood and British gold sove­
reigns however, who never objected to join pti

a league against us, when it could bc'ertecthd

with any hopes of success. Whilst this class
was endeavouring to persuade the country,
that it was not to put down the Spanish
Constitution that a French army invaded
Spain, but to aggrandize France at the ex-
vii
ilp^eiw^fOfnEpglatifl) the»
i < tak eni prove, tha,t ^pthing j^pre
was intended, than checking theijrey.olu-
tionary spirit. The importance of, removing
;>afdeIusiQn. (at once- spf pfeposteiiQiisifgnd so
/fatal re^uir^ssno acgnment o ihl fall^J?y>^B^
tfangferare amply, illnstrgted byl •
mentsji making dn theo'parti, ;of rHFran’cjsp.to
occupy the .Spanish, fortresseg/f funUl atii least
heii nlteiior plans, ofii aggrai^idi^eiii^ntj^re
maturedu
As connected with the future^ yjeyys
Holy Alliance, we need only cast ouji^n^yes
on the projects so unequivocally avowed re-
ilative to,South Aioerica .Unhappily |hose
iwho! are' acquainted witli the material^,of
.which! society is composed there, and ;the
• corruptions transfused from the mother coun­
try to her colonies, feel but too just an, ap­
prehension, lest the same weapons whiph

have been employed to conquer Spain, niay

•also rC-conquer the new world
In contemplating the efforts which (Epg~
land must soon be called upon to, make, jor
quietly sink into a power, not of the second.
viii
,b»t di the third ex fourth order, it pis also
I gratifying to reflect, that the great majority
the people* is not insensible to an ap­
proaching crisis. It is, I trust, still pre­
pared to make every sacrifice, ratlier than
suffer the* glory of England to perish; and
if ,once fr^ed fronj religions and political dis-
.abilities, it vould, [I aift sure,, gladly .igo
forth to punish a factionyvhich, after having
,heen first fed by British hospitality, and then
restored to power, by its. best blood and trea”
sure, sought the earliest occasion to. turn on
henefactor^. But who is there that does
not perceive,the retribution of a just and
omnipotent providence in the return thus
made fo us, for having aflbfded protection
to a. set of men, whom a whole nation .had
driven from power, as the enemies of freedom
above thirty year^ ago ?
Here, I would willingly trace the insidious

arts and vile machinations by which Ifrench

intrigue first paved .the way, and then, co­
vered the Peninsula with those mercenary
hordes, who have almost for ever destroyed
the hopes lately cherLshed by the friends of
order and humanity, in favor of a return to
ix
principle in the French army. The millions
vupoh'Imillions* employed to purchase and
corrupt the most abandoned ^in church and
“State in a nation reduced to the last stage
of poverty^ together with an explanation
.of those causes which rendered ■ it* impossi-4
-ble for the Constitutionalists successfully to.
^resist the most base and unprincipled attack*
ever made on the independence of ^a nation,
are also subjects, upon which I would* fain
dilate. The accumulated perjuries oFlP^r^i-
nand, of the infamous Abisbal, and ho^ less
an infamous Morillo, to all of whom I was, in
an evil hour, tempted to give credit for some
:yirtues> would form a fertile souree of com­
mentary ; but these must be reserved for a
-future day.
Notwithstanding those treasons against
freedom which have marked our policy during
late years, and which have led to the deteriora­

tion of our national character to an alarming

degree, what can be more flattering to us as
a nation, than to see the exiles, whom tyranny
and foreign bayonets have driven from the
land of their fathers, still seeking an asylum
on our shores, as if something whispered to
X
Hth^mjfithatjthe genius of freedom still-dingers
■amongstr ius. When public sympathy.'/has
bhegon to be^ strongly manifested in favor
;,bf jthe Italian and (Spanish patriots now in
nEhgland, one/ question may with great piro-
■ •
.priety put,to ministers, as an argument
•dn rfavoui of their patronising, (if they .doijhpt
ncome.tbnyard in a more direct way,)- the ,sub-
H^cfiption so laudably set ,on foot, without any
^regard.to-party distinctions, to succour men
. whose;Qttly crime is a wish to assimilate the
I institutions of their own cou-htries-tto .those
of England. ’ Did we not maintain aboye
twenty thousand French emigrants driven
from France as the supporters and sattelites'
of superstition and tyranny, but who now
form the life anti soul of that faction, which
. I
is sedulously occupied in undermining our
power and destroying our commercial pr9.g-
perityl——If we did, and. the proofs a^e
irrefragable, with what show of reason or of

justice, I would ask, can we deny relief to

the constitutional exiles of Europe, the real
and natural friends of England ?
Willi respect to the Spanish Patriots them­
selves, though I will not pretend to assert,