required, exclaims M. Bourgoing, to recount the motives of the just animosity of the Spaniards against the favourite Godoi; the circumstances that decided Charles IV. to abdicate in favour of Ferdinand VII.; the revocation of that abdication; the snares spread to catch the young king; the arrival of the old one at Bayonne; the deplorable scenes that disunited the royal family; and, notwithstanding the most pains-taking researches, we might fail at last in arriving at the precise truth, as it was so closely surrounded by a thick veil, that it is still unknown to many Spaniards, who have never abandoned the party of Ferdinand. M. Bourgoing's picture of Catalonia is not so highly coloured as that of other parts of Spain. He found indeed the convents abandoned and pillaged; the images of the saints, the protectors of the country, overturned and mutilated. The monks had been the victims of the hatred of the constitutionalists. A chasseur raising the stone from a wall in the court of a convent, saw something which floated in a putrid state on the water; he reached it with his lance, and brought out the head of a monk, from which the body had dropped in a state of putrefaction. At length the deliverance of Ferdinand was effected, and thus was terminated the campaign of Catalonia. Ten years intervened between M. Bourgoing's visits to Spain. In the year 1833, curious to know what changes ten years of peace had brought about in that beautiful country, he visited it again as a private individual, but with increased experience of life and society. Peace had already produced immense results. Tranquillity reigned in all the provinces. The public treasure was collected without difficulty; even the revenues of the state, though small, were in his eyes sufficient for its expenses; at any rate the people were not weighed down with imposts. We are however able to correct our tourist here. Documents prove that the ordinary revenues of Spain, for five or six years previously to 1834, have rarely exceeded five millions sterling, upwards of one million being absorbed in the charges of collection alone; leaving, on an average, an excess of expenditure over income of from two millions to two millions and a half a year, including the interest paid on the acknowledged domestic and foreign debt, the whole of which has for several years past been raised by the issue of fresh certificates, either in Madrid or Paris; so that Spain has, in fact, never been able to pay any interest on her debt out of her own resources. The Spanish system of taxation, we are told by other authorities, is not only defective but ruinous to the country, besides being grossly unequal and arbitrary. No one can at any time ascertain what sum he may be called upon to pay. The whole system is, moreover, so complicated and expensive, that it is the general opinion that nearly one-fourth of the revenues are lost in the collection. Yet "under a proper reform," adds a pamphlet now lying before us, "in the system and administration of the taxes and imposts, there can be little doubt but they might be made to yield nearly double their present returns; and that, rather diminishing than increasing the burdens of the people." We return to M. Bourgoing. The army of Spain, though small, was to him, who still saw all couleur de rose, though years might have sobered his view of things, "fort belle,” and had been found quite sufficient to occupy all the strong places and maintain peace. The regular Spanish army, compared with what it had been in 1823, was doubtless much improved; and indeed, even only six years afterwards, presented itself to the French officers under an aspect equal to their own. Many of the cities were wonderfully embellished. Vittoria had many elegant houses built around a public square. Florida was still more enlarged; Burgos had added promenades that bordered the stream of Arlançon. Twice a week public carriages went from Madrid for Valencia and Barcelona, Saragossa, Seville, Cadiz, Valladolid, Burgos, Bayonne, Badajos, Guadalajara, Aranjuez, Toledo, " et les habitations royales." Our readers will be interested by some anecdotes of MariaChristina. "Naturally diffident, Ferdinand VII. feared that his queen would not intermeddle in the affairs of the state. That young princess did not care to show her desire of occupying herself with politics. A Neapolitan, (she was the daughter of Francis I. king of the Two Sicilies, and sister to the Duchess of Berri,) and adroit, she accustomed the king by her tender cares and constant caresses never to be away from her. At the precise moment when he received his ministers she withdrew, affecting great reserve and a perfect indifference for public affairs. The apartment of the queen was close to the council chamber. At first she left the king alone, but soon, complaining of ennui, declared that she could not be so long separated from him. She then entered into the chamber, pretending to say some tender things to him, as if he were fatigued with grave and wearisome discussion; but she left the door of his room open; thus apart retired, without being absent, she shared in all their deliberations. At length she came and assumed her seat in the council, saying she would not quit the king. After this she partook actively in their deliberations, and finished by directing them altogether, or at least her voice was always influential and decisive.” The daughter of this ambitious queen was, by a sort of Salic law, excluded from the throne, and the brother of Ferdinand would become, on his death, the true legitimate heir. This law of exclusion had not operated without interruption, or perpetually. Up to the year 1713, when Philip V. changed the order of succession, the Castilian law, whose origin is lost in the obscurity of ages, had prevailed. By this law of kindred, females ascended the throne of Spain when called to it by proximity of blood. The opposite agnatic law was enacted in full assembly of all the Cortes of the kingdom, who had not been ́for a long time called together before. The new order of succession, thus established by Philip V.-a powerful monarch, having conquered his kingdom after a dozen years of severe warfare-called to the throne the heirs male only, admitting no females except in case of the total failure of heirs male in the royal house. For one hundred and twenty years, the succession has been preserved, passing from male to male, without the accession of a new monarch operating in the least to the disturbance of the state. "Ferdinand, (exclaims M. Bourgoing,) by his own will alone, without the sanction of the nation, overturned the hereditary law which governed Spain for more thau a century. Thrones may be menaced by democratic eruptions, uprooted by political tempests, but that they should be shaken to their foundation by those very persons who have received the commission to watch over their preservation, can only be accounted for from Ferdinand's having been carried away by a certain obliquity of intellect, which caused him, by his last testament, to bequeath to Spain nothing but endless discord and trouble." It has been said, that the king of Spain, in council, has power to make a law, and, in this way, the right of Isabella is sufficiently established. But it is objected that, " instead of the true representatives of the Spanish nation, some few prelates and nobles received an order from Ferdinand to come and take an oath to Donna Isabella. Nearly all these were public functionaries. Ferdinand placed these personages between two fires-their interests and their consciences-the former gained the ascendancy." It is between these different statements that the gist of the question lies. The advocates of either have contested their opinions with the sword. Don Carlos has now attained some advantages. Will Louis Philip grant that intervention which is claimed by the Christinos? The French government appears to pause. France remembers that she has allies, and she must consult them. In the mean time, things may attain to a crisis in Spain which will render interference too late. We write while these matters are in progress. By the day of publication, some event may have occurred which will put the reader in an advanced state of information. One thing is certain, that the French have not confided with that faith in Spanish securities, which so many among ourselves have indulged to their disquiet. The Bourse has not partaken the panic of our Stock Exchange. Whatever may be the result of Spanish contentions, the honour of the nation is nevertheless concerned in coming to an honest arrangement with its creditors. The settlement, as stated in the pamphlet at the head of our article, ought, doubtless, to comprise the whole of its engagements, admitting upon the same footing all debts legally contracted upon the good faith of the nation, no matter under what administration. It seems, however, almost impossible that so large an amount as two millions or two millions and a half sterling, required to pay the interest and sinking fund on her foreign debt, could be annually collected and remitted abroad. The balance of her trade, ever since the loss of her colonies, has been in the ratio of two to one against Spain, whilst the whole value of her exportable produce, even in the most prosperous periods, has not exceeded three millions and a half sterling, now probably reduced very much more than half, since the exports from Spain to England, (almost the only consumer of her fruits, wines, and wools,) have barely averaged, for the last four or five years, one million sterling. These are facts-we have stated them simply; and brief as this paper is, it will be of great public benefit, if it restrains the working of that spirit of speculation which has been so fatal to many; and above all, if it induces our countrymen to think more soberly on the affairs of Spain than they have been accustomed, but not than they ought, to think. Another parting word of admonition. We would wish our readers to believe, that it is at any rate just possible that the Carlists may be successful, and that there is considerable doubt whether the people are with the Christinos. Upon this point M. Bourgoing has delivered himself in good set terms, and has closed his work with some remarks, which are, in all points, very spirited, and to a certain extent, indisputably true. They will, not without some grace, serve for an appropriate conclusion to this paper. "In the midst of the great European movement, which for the last forty years has been stirring under our eyes, in that struggle between order and anarchy, of democracy against aristocracy, of the privileges of kings opposed to those of the people;-when, agitated by certain ideas, that seek to find the day, the age will finish by an important birth, a bringing forth for the nations of a WISE LIBERTY, which will not be obscured by license-and for kings, an uncontested authority, that will not be despotism,-Spain cannot be a long time without following the impulse given from one end of the world to the other. Undoubtedly some abuses will call for a reform, but still the cause will slowly and surely proceed-and reform itself should proceed slowly. "Let Charles V. assemble the Cortes-let the nation speak to the king-let the hands of a legitimacy firm and confident in its re-esta blished forces, in the assembly of all the Cortes of the kingdom, set flowing for the Spanish nation those liberties which she possessed in the most brilliant days of her glory-let Charles V. break off entirely with the bastard system, that political fearfulness which would cry out for mercy from all the kings of Europe-let Spain give the lie to her enemies who are obstinate in representing her as subjected to a shameful yoke! There are more elements of liberty in one single province of Spain, than in all England!!!* The national spirit of the Spaniard is not brutified by cupidity-it is not a commercial or nomadic spirit. It is for those who govern it, to direct that energy which rests concentrated in itself. With the Spaniard, we can dare all things, in speaking to him of religion and liberty. "Royalty, in the present age, has been beheld by the people naked, stripped of all its deceits and trappings, with all its miseries and weaknesses. At a time when the people present their open breasts to the ball and the sword, to conquer, kings alone fear to die, to preserve. They veil their heads, they conceal their persons, to avoid seeing and partaking dangers. The age calls aloud, away with weak and timid kings!' The monarchical age commands that kings should be the bravest and the best informed amongst men-that they should march in the van, and not in the rear-that they should rule, and not be ruled-that they should lead the present generation, and not be driven by it. This generation, eager for true and wise liberty, thus makes a proclamation from the citizens of Arragon. "NOS QUE VALEMOS TANTO COMO VOS, OS HACEMOS NUESTRO REY Y SEÑOR, CON TAL QUE GUARDeis nuestros FUEROS Y LIBERTADES: SINO' NO!"* ART. VI.-1. Histoire Critique de la Littérature Anglaise, depuis Bacon, jusqu'au commencement du dix-neuvième siècle. Par M. L. Mézières. 3 tom. Svo. Paris, 1834. 2. Die Schöne Litteratur Europa's in der neuesten Zeit, dargestellt nach ihren bedeutendsten Erscheinungen. Vorlesungen gehalten vor einer gebildeten Versammlung, von Dr. O. L. B. Wolff, Professor an der Universität zu Jena. (European Belles-Lettres of the latest times, sketched from the most remarkable Productions; in Lectures delivered to a polished Audience, by Dr. O. L. B. Wolff, Professor in the University of Jena.) Svo. Leipzig, 1832. THERE are few kinds of works more entertaining and informing, alike to the philosophic inquirer, to the man of letters, and to the general reader, than sketches or critical histories of the literature of * An Englishman can well afford to smile at this sentiment. + "We, who are your equals, will support our Lord and King, as long as he defends our rights and liberties: if not,-not.” |