網頁圖片
PDF
ePub 版

The contest soon ended in their capturing my mule, with which they marched off, while I kept the field. When they had retired I walked into the city, and, calling on the owner of the mule, acquainted him with the facts. We mounted fleet horses, and set off in pursuit. On reaching the gate a noisy and furious wrangle took place between my companion and the toll-men, both parties yelling with rage and cursing each other in the genuine Spanish style. The toll-men evidently owed me no good-will, but brandished their knives and loudly threatened, but were careful to keep at a respectful distance. Having no taste for their eloquence, and no time to spare, I repaired to the house of a magistrate in the neighbourhood, who, after hearing my story and seeing my passport, sallied forth with me to put things to rights. But the toll-men, fearing they might get into trouble, had meantime delivered the mule to the owner, who paid them a few pesetas, and we forthwith returned to the city.

The origin of my trouble was this: As I had passed the day previous without being questioned, I was not aware that any toll was exacted, or that any cognizance was taken of persons who passed there after dark, as I afterwards learned to be the fact. On reporting the case in Madrid, I found that I could have the fellow turned out of his place if I wished it, but I did not press the matter. There was nothing in the case to warrant this brutal attempt to take my life just for an innocent mistake, and could I have seen him lashed up at the gangway of a ship of war, to take what sailor's call back rations or hemp-tea, there would have been some satisfaction in it. I have told this story to show the rash and passionate violence of Spaniards, and the little regard they have for human life. I might have been killed, and the murderers would have given their own account of the matter, and escaped punishment. Such, alas! is Spain, poor, ill-fated Spain,

"A land where peril hangs o'er human life,
From reckless anger and the robber's knife."

On relating my adventure to Mr. M., our Secretary of Legation at Madrid, he said that he had come very near losing his life the same evening. Returning to his lodgings, in an upper story of a high building, he mistook another door for his own, and having knocked, the small grated door in the centre of the large one was opened. As he placed his face

so that the light might shine upon it, that thus he might be recognised and admitted, a sword was thrust quickly out, which passed through the hair near his temples, and all but grazed him. At length, however, the door was opened, and there stood a friend of his, a Spanish Count, with a servant ; one armed with a gun, and the other with a sword, and both of them trembling like aspen leaves, supposing that robbers were at the door.

One of my amusements in Madrid was to attend the daily sittings of the Cortes. The procuradores, or members of the lower house, are chosen for three years by the people, and the new electoral law, proposed by the present ministry, gives one representative for every 50,000 inhabitants, and allows all to vote who pay taxes, though a larger amount of property is required for one to be eligible to office than to be merely an elector. The number of members at present is less than 200, and they meet in what was formerly the church "del Espiritu Santo," or "the Holy Spirit." It was set on fire in 1823, while the Duke of Angoulême and his staff were attending mass there, and they narrowly escaped perishing in the flames. It has since been rebuilt and handsomely furnished with curtains and canopies of crimson silk, and fine chandeliers. The members occupy long settees, with rich velvet cushions. They sit in rows behind each other, forming a semicircle, in the centre of which is the chair of the presiding officer. Those who wish to write sit at a row of desks in front of the chair, while members who address the house commonly stand in their places, though tribunes or pulpits, two or three feet high, are fixed in convenient situations, and can be used by such as may prefer them. The different galleries of the house appropriated to the various classes of spectators, were uniformly crowded, and they showed their anxiety to catch every word that was spoken, by frequent hissing, as they thus request silence when any noise is made which prevents their distinctly hearing what is said. There is no clapping or noisy applause, though strong excitement is at times evinced by a spiteful angry hiss, or a full and pregnant murmur of lively approbation. Both the members and the spectators lay aside their hats; there is little moving about, whispering, or inattention, and the decency, dignity, and self-respect of the honorable body, present a striking.contrast to the noisy and clownish conduct so often witnessed in the House of Representatives at Washington. 26

VOL. I.

Much interest is given to the public discussions by the fact, that the Queen's ministers attend and take part in them, and thus the collision between them and their champions on one side, and the leaders of the opposition on the other, is often extremely exciting. Mendizabal, though an able man, does not rank high as a public debater, and his speeches, being explanatory of his own plans and purposes as prime minister, labor under the necessary disadvantage of egotism. Count Toreno, who was the last prime minister but one, is a man of much learning, and has just completed a history of the war between France and Spain, which is published in five octavo volumes. Though wanting in eloquence and power of voice, he is still listened to with much attention, on account of his talents and political wisdom. Martinez de la Rosa, who, like most of the other prominent Liberals in the Cortes, has been an emigrant or exile from his country, is a man of much genius, and a popular author of poetry and plays. He is a spirited and eloquent debater, with much of the fire and brilliancy of warm poetic feeling, both in his language and manner of speaking. He has twice been prime minister; once in 1822, and again immediately preceding Mendizabal. Galiano, who is one of the leading writers for the "Revista Espaniola," (Spanish Review,) an able and independent paper, is styled "the Spanish Cicero." I heard him but once, and then he spoke with fluency, ardor, and elegance, and his action was appropriate and easy, without much that was either imposing or peculiarly dignified. But the most popular man in Spain is the Count de las Navas. His family name is Pizarro, and, if I mistake not, he represents the city of Cordova. He is a man of fortune, and when an emigrant was extremely liberal in supplying the wants of his fellow-exiles. He made himself peculiarly obnoxious to government during the last summer, by exciting and heading the rebellion of the southern provinces, which had for its object the removal of the ministry then in power, and the suppression of the convents. An attempt was made to apprehend him, but, more fortunate than his colleague Galiano, he escaped imprisonment. In company with a mutual friend I met him two or three times, and was much interested and amused with his appearance and character. He is not far from forty years of age, a little less than six feet high, has stiff black hair, which stands erect upon his head, a slender but compact and hardy form, features promi

nent and striking, and, though somewhat rough-hewn in his appearance, yet his whole air and manner are those of a truly original, fearless, and independent man. Though a strong Liberal, yet he identifies himself with no party or faction, and, regardless alike of fear or favor, says, in a direet and pointed manner, whatever he wishes. In addition to good strong common sense he has a vein of native wit and humor, which, set off by his peculiar manner, often calls forth a peal of laughter when he speaks in the Cortes. There are those who accuse him of being a demagogue, but, be this as it may, he is in every respect admirably fitted for a popular leader. I see by the late papers that he has recently made a speech against the monks at the Escurial, and another urging the government to dissolve finally and entirely all connexion between Spain and the Pope, on the ground that His Holiness is constantly issuing his bulls against them, and also refuses to sanction and confirm the bishops elected by the queen. To this the Minister of Grace and Justice, who is at the head of ecclesiastical matters, replied, that a distinction was made between the spiritual and temporal power of the Pope, meaning, by this, that they now acknowledged his authority in religious matters only. The Court of Rome being itself both a civil and religious despotism, uniformly sides with Catholic kings and despots, in opposition to those of the same religion, who are disposed to consult the rights and liberties of the people. As recent instances of this policy we might refer to the manner in which the Pope has favored the interests of those precious champions of priestcraft and despotism, Don Miguel and Don Carlos. Thus, in the year 1833, the Pope undertook to pronounce null and void the laws of the present Portuguese government, and absolved the inhabitants of that country from all obligation to obey them. In the case of Spain, too, not only has he refused to confirm the bishops nominated by the queen, but has sanctioned as Archbishop of Toledo, and Primate of Spain, the Bishop of Leon, who was appointed by Don Carlos, and who has just been taken prisoner in France, having in his possession a large amount of funds, which he had been engaged in collecting for the use of the Carlist army. The Pope also went in person to his Secretary of State, a short time since, and requested him to resign, because he was opposed to offending France and England, by taking an active part in favor of Don Carlos. A Cardinal of different politics has been ap

[ocr errors]

pointed in his place. These, and numerous other acts of the same class, have alienated the present Spanish government from the interests of His Holiness, and an intelligent priest of that nation remarked to me a few days since, that the reason why he and most of his brethren were in favor of Don Carlos was, that if the Queen's party succeeded, they now regarded it as certain that Spain would throw off all allegiance to the Pope, and the bishops elected by her Majesty would continue in office, in opposition to the papal power. Indeed, in point of fact, both Spain and Portugal, if not already Protestant countries, seem on the very eve of becoming so, in a greater degree than even France herself. By this I do not mean that there will not be numerous Catholic priests, but they will not be Papists and, let temporal allegiance to the Court of Rome come to an end, and the connexion between church and state be so far dissolved as to make the support of religion wholly a voluntary matter, and remove all religious tests as qualifications for civil rights and offices, and let full religious toleration be enjoyed, and Spain will present one of the noblest fields for Christian effort that the world has ever known. The people are disposed to read and reflect, have ever had strong religious tendencies, are accustomed to deep and powerful excitement of feeling, and to risking their all, in persevering attachment to whatever cause of party, or of national interest, they have espoused. True, the great mass of the intelligent and reflecting have either lost their respect for the rites and ceremonies of the Catholic church, or have been forced into open or secret infidelity, by the manifest absurdities of the prevalent system of faith, as well as by the gross and notorious profligacy and vice, not only of the monks and friars, but also of a large proportion of the canons, and of the lower orders of the parish clergy. The very mention of a priest, or his entrance into a social circle, is almost uniformly a prelude to a sneer, and, from what I have learned from the most direct and authentic sources, of their frequent and gross profligacy of conduct, I wonder not that they are despised and scoffed at. The parish clergy have had more free intercourse with the people than the friars, and there are many who think them the more corrupt and vicious of the two, but this can hardly be possible. The emptying of the convents, and the bonds of fear removed from the people, which formerly served to conceal beneath the cloak of silence the vices

« 上一頁繼續 »