The Colombians had, however, learned era for Spain. His will conferred the sucto stand in action, and their cavalry even cession upon his daughter, and the regency to return to the charge after being routed. upon her mother. As the only hope of Their obstinacy in this respect, here dis- preserving the crown to Isabella, and influplayed for the first time, routed the old ence to herself, Christina summoned to Spanish cavalry, hitherto thought so supe- her counsels the liberals. They were of rior; and won the battle of Ayacucho, many shades; she chose the most mowhich dismissed to Spain all upholders of narchical; but was gradually obliged to Spanish supremacy. The officers and gen- accept the counsels and aid of those who erals sent home under this capitulation, frankly meditated a liberal constitution. have been since known under the epithet The ousted prince, Carlos, appealed to the of Ayacuchos. Among them were Cante- farmers and the priesthood of the northern rac, Valdez, Rodil, Seoane, Maroto, Nar- provinces; the absolutist powers of the vaez, Carrabate, Alaix, Araoz, Villalobos. east supplied him with funds; and the war Espartero had been previously sent home began. with colors and the account of success in Peru; successso soon reversed.

a war of partisans with peasants, who were | another Biscay in the mountainous south. far better partisans than his troops. Cor- The indifference of the population caused dova, who succeeded, kept his army together; and handled the Carlists so roughly in one action, that they shrunk from attacking him. But he conceived the same fears; declared that the war could only be carried on by blockading the insurgent provinces; and finally resigned.

this to fail, and Don Carlos returned to the north. The aim of his general was then turned to the possession of Bilboa and Santander, strong places, which if mastered, the Carlist insurrection might repose there and act on the defensive. To secure these points, more formidable intrenchments Espartero had, till then, distinguished were raised on the heights leading to these himself more as a brilliant cavalry officer, towns. Don Carlos hoped to form a Torres and a spirited general of division, than as Vedras on the hills of Ramales and Guara military leader of first-rate merit: but danimi. The great exploit of Espartero his honest, frank character, his abstinence was his series of successful attacks upon from the heat of political party, and the these intrenchments in May, 1839. He opinion that he wanted political genius and drove the Carlists from all of them with ambition, led to his appointment by the more very great loss; and from that moment liberal government which then took the the war drew to and end. The spirit of inhelm. The first care of the new com-surrection was broken, and justice allotted mander was to restore discipline, by a se- to Espartero the title of DUKE OF VICTORY. verity till then unknown in the constitu- The military struggle over, and the open tional army. His execution of the Chapel-rebellion put down, the parliamentary but gorris for plundering a church, is well re-scarcely more peaceful struggle between membered. His efforts to keep the army the two parties calling themselves constipaid, often compromised his own private tutional, became prominent. When the fortune; and placed him in many quarrels emigration of the Spanish patriots took with Mendizabal and the finance ministers place in 1815 and 1823, in consequence of of the time. He certainly gained no pitched battles but from Bilboa round to Pampeluna he kept the Carlists closely confined to their mountain region, punished them severely when they ventured forth, and never allowed himself to be beaten.

If Ar

the absolutist reaction of Ferdinand, some of the emigrants betook themselves to England, some to France. Though paid little attention to by the governments of either country, the Spanish emigrants were cordially received by the liberal opposition in Nothing could be more advantageous both countries; and each came to admire than Zumalacarreguy's position; intrench- and adopt the ideas and principles with ed like a spider in an inaccessible and cen- which he was placed in contact. tral spot, from whence he could run forth guelles admired the frank school of English with all his force upon the enemy. Then, liberty, which allows popular opinion its by threatening Bilboa, the Carlist general full expression; Toreno and Martinez de could, at any time, force the Christino gen-la Rosa adopted the more cautious tenets eral to take a most perilous march to its of the French doctrinaires, or moderate relief. Twice, indeed three times, were liberals, who were for giving freedom but the Christinos forced to make this perilous march-the second time the most critical, for then Bilboa certainly could not have been saved but for the energy and aid of the British officers. To Lapidge, Wylde, and others, was due the deliverance of Bilboa. Espartero was then suffering under a cruel illness. No sooner, however, was the Luchana river crossed by British boats, than he sprang on horseback, forgot bodily pain in martial excitement, and led his troops through the Carlist cantonments and intrenchments, once more to the gates of Bilboa.

In despair, the Carlists then tried another mode of warfare. They left the northern provinces, and undertook expeditions through all the rest of Spain, to gain recruits and provisions if possible, and to find

by handfuls, and who maintained that domination and influence should be confined to the enlightened few, and sparingly communicated to the ignorant many. One can conceive the existence of such a conservative party as this in England, where such influence exists, and where the aristocratic and well-informed classes do possess this influence. But the necessity of creating and raising these classes, as was the case in Spain, and the impossibility of getting churchmen and old aristocrats to act moderate toryism when they had been steeped and bred in absolutism, rendered the policy of the moderados a vain dream. They had no upper classes, no clergy, no throne behind them: for that of Isabella required, rather than gave support.

Conscious of this weakness, and seeing

nothing Spanish around them on which municipal institutions of the country, and they could lean, the moderados placed to introduce a new and centralizing system their reliance on France, and trusted to in imitation of the French, and in lieu of that alliance to keep peace in Spain, and the old Spanish system of ayuntamientos. win recognition from Europe. Louis Phi- Their elected municipal body and magislippe had been enabled to do in France, trates were certainly the key of the parliasomething like what they labored to effect mentary elections, of the formation of the in Spain: although he had been obliged to national guard, of local taxation, and in fact abandon an hereditary peerage, and to base of all power. But to attack them was the his conservatism on the fears and prejudi- more dangerous; and the first mention of ces of the upper class of citizens and com- the plan raised a flame from one end of the mercial men. Spain wanted this class, yet peninsula to the other. The French court Count Toreno and his friends endeavored, pressed the queen regent to persevere, saywith less materials, to effect in Spain more ing that no sovereign power could exist in than had been done in France. unison with the present state of local and municipal independence: the queen regent did persevere, and obtained a vote of the cortes.

In the conflict between moderado and exaltado, Espartero had remained completely neutral. His sole anxiety during the war was to have his army well supplied. The Duke of Victory had, at that time, He saw that the exaltado minister did not peculiar opportunities for judging of the do this with due effect, and as his army ap- sentiments of the great towns of Aragon proached the capital in pursuit of the pre- and Catalonia and Valencia: his army was tender, he allowed it to remonstrate. This quartered amongst them, and his supplies very unwarrantable act overthrew the ex- were drawn in a great measure from them. altados, and brought back the moderados All these towns had made great sacrifices to power. It was generally believed, how- during the war, and their indignation was ever, to have been the result of an intrigue great at finding that the first result of that of the staff, who imposed upon the easy war should be a deprivation of their libernature of the general. Espartero was ties. The Duke of Victory, how much soknown, notwithstanding his anxiety to im- ever he had hitherto kept aloof from poliprove the supply of his army, to have re- tics, now wrote to the queen regent, and gretted the unconstitutionality of the step remonstrated with the ministry on the danwhich produced this ministerial revolution. ger of persisting in the contemplated meaThe circumstance shows, at least, how lit-sures. His counsels were received with tle inclined was Espartero to pay court to secret derision; but as the towns could not the ultra-liberals, or to aim at assumptions be repressed without the aid of the army, of power through their influence.

After the convention of Bergara, which pacified the north, the war still continued in Aragon, and the army was kept actively employed under Espartero in that province and in Catalonia. There was no doubt, however, as to the issue. The moderados, in power, and delivered from the fear of Carlos and absolutism, entered at once on the fufilment of their principles, and the establishment of more conservative bases of administration, than those which existed. For this purpose they took the most imprudent step that could have been devised. Had they attacked the press, and restrained its license; had they checked the turbulence of the lower classes, even by laws against association; had they passed the most severe penalties against conspiracythe Spaniards would have borne all: but the moderados thought fit to attack the institution which is most truly Spanish, and that in which all classes of citizens, upper and lower, are most deeply interested. The moderados attempted to change the

the general was told that no important resolution should be taken without his concurrence. He, in consequence, quieted the apprehensions and agitation of the townsmen.

The ministry persisted not the less in carrying out the law: but fearing the resistance or neutrality of Espartero, they begged the queen regent to go in person to Catalonia, under pretence of sea-bathing, in order to exercise her influence over what was considered the weak mind of the Duke of Victory. The French envoy, indeed, opposed this journey; and predicted, with much truth, that if once the queen regent trusted herself to the army, and to the population of the great and liberal towns of Saragossa, Barcelona, or Valencia, she would be forced to withdraw the obnoxious law.

Christina and her ministers both persisted. Both knew Espartero's devotion to the queen, and they reckoned on his chival rous nature to fly in the face of danger, rather than shrink in prudence from it.

that for himself, he was determined to make no part of it. It would, he said, be a divided, a squabbling, and a powerless triumvirate. The true patriots then saw the danger of setting aside the general and the army, the instant after both had saved the municipal liberties of the country; they saw the probable result of setting up three not very eminent persons to perform together the all-important office; and waving their objections to Espartero, they agreed to vote him sole regent.

She set forth, and the Duke of Victory has- | that the Duke of Victory declared, that the tened to meet her at Igualada. Christina triple regency might be the best mode of recapitulated all the theoretic and doctrin- rule during the minority of the queen, but aire reasons of her ministers for humbling the pride and independence of the great Spanish towns; the Duke of Victory replied that perhaps she was right, though it seemed ungrateful thus to repay the towns for their late sacrifices and devotion to the constitutional cause. But right or wrong, another consideration dominated: and this was the impossibility of enforcing the law without producing an insurrection of the towns. They could be easily reduced by a few common shot and cavalry-charges." The Duke of Victory replied, "That they might be so reduced, but that he refused to be the instrument or the orderer of such measures. But he was ready to resign."

66

ties. In this the Duke of Victory was wrong: he should have opened his palace, lived in the throng, listened to the plaints, the desires, the feelings of all parties, and made himself adherents amongst all. The Spaniards tender eminence only on the condition of its being affable, and look upon kings, as we said before, with a kind of Arabic sentiment, as summary righters. of wrongs, and controllers of all that is iniquitously done by their servants administering power. Espartero thought he acted the sovereign most fully by shutting himself in a small palace, by doing business regularly, and by eschewing all the pleasurable and representative part of his functions. He understood little of the minutiæ of politics, and cared not to talk of them. He gave no dinners, no balls, no tertullias, no card tables. In short, his salary was clean lost to the courtiers and placemen, and would-be placemen. The women declared him to be a very dull Regent, and their condemnation was fatal.

Thus was the Duke of Victory appointed, and he ever after showed his gratitude to the thorough liberal and patriotic party, who trusted him on this occasion. To The queen and ministers knew, however, them he delivered up the ministry: to them that the resignation of Espartero then, he promised never to interfere with the would have led to a military insurrection; government, but to live as a constitutional for the soldiers and officers had already ruler, above the strife and struggles of parsuspected that they were about to be dismissed, and without compensation. The end of the interview was, that the Duke of Victory must keep the command, at all events; and that Christina would consult her ministry, and, at least, not promulgate the law with the royal sanction, till after further consultation and agreement with the commander-in-chief. Christina hastened to Barcelona, met two of her ministers, and forgot, in their exhortation, the advice of the general, and her promises to him. The consequence was the double insurrection, first of Barcelona, and then of Valencia, which compelled her to abdicate. Such were the events that produced the interregnum, and left the regency to be filled by the cortes. It was evident from the first, that no one could fill that post to the exclusion of the Duke of Victory; and yet it must be owned there was great repugnance to elect him, on the part of a great number of deputies. The honest patriots dreaded to see a soldier at the head of a constitutional government, and de- The most inveterate enemies of the Remanded that one or two civilians should be gent were, however, the new and bastard associated with him in a triple regency; portion of the Liberals-those whom the but the greater number were of course the French ministerial papers called Young interested, the place and power-hunters; Spain; men jealous of the old Liberals of these saw in a triple regency many more 1809 and 1821, who looked upon Arguelles chances of rising by favor, and obtaining and Calatrava as out of date, and who considoffice, than under a single regent, a military ered themselves representatives of a new man, accustomed to order his aide-de-camp practical school of liberalism, superior to about, and utterly unskilled in appreciating any yet discovered. Caballero and Oloaddress in intrigue and skill in courtiership; zaga were the chiefs of the party: but they, therefore, also demanded the triple these gentlemen, however able as orators regency, and at first there was a decided and writers, had never succeeded in atmajority for this decision. It was then taching to them more than an insignificant VOL. III. No. IV. 33

are successful, the military abettors rise a step. Then there are court ways of rising in the army; a handsome fellow attracting the attention of the queen or of a lady in whom king or minister is interested; and all these chances were precluded by the dull, moral regency of Espartero, to whose self and family and ministers, such ways and intrigues were utterly unknown. The young officers longed for the reign of the queens, young or old, and down with Espartero' was first their wish, and then their cry.

number of followers. Timid, tortuous and are at present cut off; promotion is now to time-serving, they were of that class of be had only by revolutions, since, if these politicians which can harass a ministry, but are incapable themselves of forming an administration. The Regent was sorely puzzled how to deal with them. Their speeches in the Cortes were backed at times by a large number of votes; but when he summoned them to his presence, and bade them form a ministry, they always declined. They had a majority for opposition, they said, but not for power. This might have puzzled a more experienced constitutional sovereign than Espartero. Soldier-like, he bade them go about their business. He was wrong. He ought, on Indeed, from the first the Spanish officers the contrary, like Louis Philippe in similar were disinclined to Espartero as general, circumstances, to have facilitated their for- and much preferred Cordova, a diplomatist mation of a ministry; he ought to have and a courtier; but the soldiers on the smiled upon them; he ought to have lent other hand preferred the Regent. With them a helping hand; and then, after they this class, then, especially with the nonhad been fully discredited by a six months' commissioned officers, the efforts of the hold of power, he might easily have turn- conspirators were chiefly made. Calumed them adrift, as the king of the French nies were circulated, promises lavished, did M. Thiers. the soldiers attached to the service were Secure in the affection and support of promised grades, the rest were promised the old stanch liberal party, the Regent dismissal to their homes: in fine, the army never dreamed that these could be over- was debauched, and when the Regent wantcome by men affecting to be more liberal ed to make use of it as a weapon of dethan they. But Spain was not left to itself. fence, it broke in his hands, and pierced The French court became exceedingly jeal- him. ous, at this time, of the Regent's intentions The condemnation on which Espartero's respecting the marriage of the young queen. enemies, the French, lay most stress, is his They sent an envoy, who was called a fam- want of skill in maintaining himself in pow. ily ambassador, and who as such pretended er. Success with them covers every virto immediate and uncontrolled access to tue. The want of it, exaggerates every dethe young queen. The Regent resisted, fect. There was a discussion at Prince the envoy left, France was more irritated, Talleyrand's one evening, as to who was and then determined on the Regent's down- the greatest French statesman in modern fall. Thirty journals were almost simulta- times. Each named his political hero. neously established in Madrid and different Talleyrand decided that Villele was the parts of the peninsula, all of which set up the greatest man, on the ground that in a consame cry of the Regent's being sold to Eng-stitutional country he kept the longest hold land, and of Spain being about to be sa- of power: adding, that the best rope dancrificed in a treaty of commerce. Barce- cer was he who kept longest on the cord. lona, most likely to be affected by this bug- The great proof of political genius, acbear treaty, was of course the centre of cording to Talleyrand, was to stick longest opposition; and there, under the instiga- in place. The rule is a wretched one, and tion, and with the pay of French agents, yet Espartero would not lose by being even open resistance was organized, and insur- in that way judged: for no Spaniard has rection broke forth. The subsequent events kept such prolonged command and influare known; the bombardment, the reduc-ence, none have attained more brilliant tion, the lenity of the Regent, the impunity ends. The Treaty of Begara, and the Reof the Barcelonese, and their perseverance even after defeat in braving authority.

The army was then tampered with; at least some regiments. The Spanish officer though brave is unfortunately a gambler and an idler, with little prospect of making way in his profession by talent or by promotion in war; all chances of the latter

gency, are two successes that might well
content a life. And after all Espartero was
long enough Regent to allow Spain to en-
joy tranquillity under his rule, and to afford
every one a taste and a prospect of what
Spain might yet become, under a free, a
peaceable, and a regular government.
A greater and more rare example offered