LXXXVI.
Madrid, April 15, 1853.
Ensconced in the bedina, or front compartment of a huge lumbering diligence, at two o’clock in the morning, I left Murcia, behind eight mules, a postillion, and two drivers, with the prospect of a hard ride, over a very uninteresting country, of sixty Spanish leagues—which are unlike any other for length—the “Camino Real,” or royal road, being neglected, and in consequence of the winter rains, in horrible order. The wheel mules are attached to the pole, and guided without bits; the others draw by long straggling ropes; the coachman sits in the box with his long whip, and his assistant, who jumps down from time to time and pelts the animals with sticks, stones, and mud. The postillion rides a horse beside the first led mule; he is required where the roads are the worst, and he keeps the track. The mules all have their titles, and seem to understand the incessant cries, from the India-rubber lungs of the driver, of Carpintero, Zapetero, Carbonero, and the whole catalogue of names. The long ears of the animal named, are pricked up, and his best efforts are made under the cut of the lash, or the whizzing of a stone past his head.
We pushed through a dreary and uninteresting country some twenty leagues, with occasional fertile valleys and indifferent villages, to the Sheffield of Spain, the town of Albacete, where we passed the night. It is noted in Spain for the manufacture of arms. Population ten thousand. We were soon surrounded by venders of poniards, stilettos, and small punalicos, or knives, which the women are said to conceal in their garters. The Spaniard is very expert in the use of the knife, and with it concealed under his capa, or cloak, is a dangerous enemy. The inns are generally great, barn-like stone buildings, with open patios, or courts, for the entrance of animals and vehicles. The rooms are generally dirty, with no furniture except cot-beds; and after an oily garlicky supper, the fleas, and kicking and thrashing of the mules all night, one is prepared for a comfortable nap in the diligence over a rough road. The bread is generally excellent throughout Spain, and chocolate can always be procured.
We made long, tiresome distances, over barren treeless plains, with no water for irrigation, and no signs of birds or animal life, when we would suddenly strike a fertile valley, tolerably cultivated by the scratching process of rude ploughs, but without hedges or landmarks, to denote proprietorship.
At break of day, and late sunset, the peasants may be seen mounted on donkeys, or carrying their implements of husbandry, after the hard toils of the day, returning to their mud or stone hovels, comfortless and cheerless, not unlike the country people in the interior of Sicily, who congregate in villages in like manner, and for a motive similar to the one which actuates them here—safety from the hordes of bandits which the wars of the Peninsula have produced. The guardias civiles, whom we met from time to time, have made sad havoc with the Ladrons, shooting several, and taking many prisoners, so we came through in safety.
Some of the villages of La Mancha through which we passed, were very poor, with many beggars; others appeared comfortable, and the people gay and cheerful, notwithstanding the heavy exactions and badly administered government. The country, however, was full of historical interest, as at the left, not far distant, lay Argamasilla del Alba, in the prison of which Cervantes wrote Don Quixote. Near the villages many flat, square, open threshing floors, were found, for bruising the grain with the feet of mules and oxen, after the custom of oriental countries. I was forcibly reminded of the exploits of Don Quixote as we approached the village El Toboso, the reputed residence of the crack-brained knight of the windmills; for here the mills were numerous, and used for grinding the grain of the country. They look not unlike giants in the distance, and hence it was perhaps that the Don assured Sancho that they might get elbow-deep in adventures. It was a festival day with the peasants, and the dulcineas, with their half Swiss, half German appearance, in blue and green petticoats, with handkerchiefs tied under their chins during the Cachucha, the national dance, and castanets in their hands, and their Cabeleros, in low crowned, high rimmed, velvet-bound hats, with fancy colored, round clothes, jackets and leggings, had a happy effect.
On the morning of the third day we breakfasted at Ocana, memorable for a battle in 1808, in which Marshal Soult, with twenty-five thousand men, put to flight sixty thousand Spaniards, through good generalship; the French killed five thousand and took twenty-six thousand prisoners, with the loss of only one thousand six hundred men, a stroke of luck reminding one of the famous Texian fight at San Jacinto. The town was pillaged and almost destroyed—the people left poor and miserable. The diligences and other vehicles concentrate here from the south and east, and give it some importance.
From Ocana we passed through a hilly, dreary, and treeless country, until suddenly, as if by enchantment, burst upon the view the fertile valley and banks of the Tayos, upon which is situated Aranjuez, the early summer residence of the royal family, the spires and cupolas of the palace and outbuildings, looming up like signals for the benighted traveller in the desert waste. Here is found the only railroad, which enters the capital, a distance of nine leagues. As I design visiting the palaces and the gardens when the trees are in full bloom, I shall defer my remarks until that time.
Upon a small eminence, approaching Madrid, is seen a monument denoting its geographical position, in the centre of Spain. Madrid is, comparatively speaking, a modern city; for Spain having risen under Charles V., who, gouty and phlegmatic, found the cool bracing air from the mountains adapted to his complaint, he deserted the ancient capitals of Valladolid, Sevilla, Granada, and Toledo, and fixed his residence upon several hills upon the banks of a small river, almost dry in summer, at an elevation of two thousand four hundred feet above the level of the sea. It was declared the capital by Philip II., in 1560. The country about is flat, and without trees; it produces but little, the climate being changeable; but being the residence of the royal family, and seat of the government, with its three hundred thousand population, from all parts of the empire, as well as strangers, it became the grand focus of attraction and extravagance, exhausting the revenue and the resources of Spain, both foreign and provincial. Every article of use is brought from abroad, or from the provinces, over the caminos reales, or royal roads, which branch off, but meet north and south. Notwithstanding the aridity of the soil, the lavish expenditures of former governments have, by means of irrigation, produced magnificent shaded drives and promenades in the suburbs; among the number figures the Prado, the resort of all fashionable Madrid in the evening. It is ten thousand feet in length, and two hundred feet wide, with fountains and statuary. The salon, or part most frequented, is about one thousand five hundred feet long, and is occupied by promenaders of both sexes, in full dress, while thousands of ladies in mantillas, seated in chairs, are being passed in review by Cabeleros smoking their cigaritos. The side carriage road is occupied by a long procession of brilliant equipages and liveried attendants. It is necessary to sprinkle the grounds, as the fine grey dust is prejudicial to dress, and destructive to the eyes and lungs.
The Spaniards think there is only one Corte, one Madrid in the world, and it is not surprising, for the resources of the country concentrate here. The palace is beautifully situated, and one of the finest in Europe. The Royal Museum contains the famous national paintings of Murillo and Velasquez, as well as some of the best gems of Raphael, Titian, and Michael Angelo; and the immense galleries of all the different schools of European art, demand several days’ close examination. The chief public amusements are the theatres and bull-fights; in the former, you see the national dances in all their perfection; in the latter, which are attended by all classes, to the extent of some thirty thousand persons, eight or ten bulls, and seven or ten horses pay the forfeit of their lives. One of their famous matadors, or swordsmen, died recently, and was interred with great pomp and ceremony, his coffin being exposed, covered with a black pall, for twenty-four hours before the high altar, surrounded by tall burning wax candles. The stately, silver-mounted hearse, with waving black plumes, was drawn by four horses, in black drapery, followed by a large number of bearers with torches, and one hundred and ten vehicles, several of which were of the nobility; then followed a multitude of the middling classes, while the balconies were filled with ladies.
Near the Palace, on the opposite side of a beautiful circular promenade, surrounded by trees and the statues of the former kings of Spain, is situated the opera-house, a fine edifice, erected by Ferdinand VII. for his convenience. The night piece to the close for the season is Fra Diavolo. We had a full house, the queen, as well as the ex-queen Christina and daughters, being present.
Things are in a bad state in Spain; the treasury is bankrupt; the abuses of the general government are great; constitutional privileges are only in name; the taxes and imposts upon the farmers are heavy; the people in the interior are poor; the liberty of the press is abridged; and all this in a country possessing every variety of soil and climate, and rich in its productions, both agricultural and metallic.
The all but universal want of honor and good faith of the royal family and upper classes of society is notorious. The queen mother, one of the wealthiest capitalists of Europe, is grasping and avaricious; undertaking enterprises with great benefit to herself, but disastrous to the tax-payer. The people detest her, but are currying and subdued when she presents herself.
I was in the Cortes when Bravo Murillo was defending himself from the charges alleged against him for his acts in granting railway privileges while minister. The House of Deputies is magnificently fitted up; but the members, in handsome attire, with white kid and colored gloves, and gold-headed canes, differ from our working members, surrounded with their budgets and documents, and up to their eyes in paper, ink, and public journals. The opposition were exposing the acts of the government in influencing the public elections, thereby securing their own instruments of power. This could not be endured, and a royal order closed the Cortes. The excitement soon passed over; for what can the reformer do when the whole force of the army is ready to put down any attempt, and when that arm of strength is the only official department sure of pay, even when other branches of the public service are neglected? My opinion is that the day is not far distant when a change must take place in the affairs of this ill-governed country.