Eight days after the arrival of King Joseph at Bayonne, the new constitution was adopted by the improvised Junta. "It is all that we can offer you, sire," said imprudently the Duke de l'Infantado, formerly the most eager accomplice of the Prince of Asturias in his intrigues against his father; "we are waiting till the nation speaks, and authorizes us to give freer course to our sentiments." They stopped the duke from saying any more; the Spanish nation had not been consulted.
The Spanish constitution was prepared generally on the model of the French constitution. The first article paid homage to the strong religious feeling of Spain: "The religion of the State is the Catholic religion; no other is permitted." Several of the ministers chosen by the King Joseph had been members of the government of Charles IV. After taking the oath to their new monarch, the Junta first of all went to the Emperor Napoleon at Marac, to offer their thanks and congratulations.
At the same moment, and whilst summoning to Bayonne the reinforcement of troops which he intended to accompany and support King Joseph on his entry into his new kingdom, Napoleon wrote to the Emperor Alexander:—
"My brother, I send your Majesty the constitution which the Spanish Junta have just decided upon. The disorders of that country had reached such a degree as can scarcely be conceived. Obliged to take part in its affairs, I have by the irresistible tendency of events been brought to a system which, while securing the happiness of Spain, secures the tranquillity of my states. I have cause to be satisfied with all the persons of rank, fortune, and education. The monks alone, who occupy half the territory, anticipating in the new order of things the destruction of abuses, and the numerous agents of the Inquisition, who now see the end of their existence, are now agitating the country. I am very sensible that this event opens a very large field for discussion. People are not likely to appreciate the circumstance and events, but will maintain that all had been provoked and premeditated. Nevertheless, if I had only considered the interest of France, I should have adopted a simpler means, viz., extending my frontiers on this side, and diminishing Spain. A province like Catalonia or Navarre, would have affected her power more than the change which has just taken place, which is really of use only to Spain."
Whilst the Emperor Napoleon thus announced in Europe the interpretation which it suited him to put upon the events of Spain, and whilst the new king, leaving Bayonne on the 9th July, was planting his foot upon his new territory, the whole of Spain, from north to south, from east to west, was in a blaze.
After the departure of the Bourbon princes for Bayonne, the popular agitation and uneasiness in Madrid became extreme, and gradually extended to the more remote provinces, and into the depths of the old Spanish race, honorable and proud, still preserving in their fields their ancestral qualities. "Trust neither your honor nor your person to a Spanish Don," was said to M. Guizot by a man who learned to form severe judgment upon them during several revolutions; "trust all that is dearest to you to a Spanish peasant." In spite of the emperor's assertions, all the great lords were not favorable to the King Joseph. In the country, the peasants had risen in a body, and the burgesses did the same in the towns.
Carthagena was the first town to give the example of revolt. On the 22nd May, at the news of the abdication of the two kings, published in the journals of Madrid on the 20th, the people shouted in the streets, "Long live Ferdinand VII.!" and Admiral Salcedo, who was preparing to convey the Spanish fleet to Toulon, was arrested. The arms shut up in the arsenals were distributed among the populace. A Junta was immediately formed. Murcia and Valencia followed the example of Carthagena. The people, roused by the preaching of a monk, Canon Calvo, killed the Baron Albulat, a "lord of the province," who was in vain defended by another monk, called Rico. The French who lived in Valencia had taken refuge in the citadel, but being persuaded to come out, they were quickly massacred to the last man. This first ebullition of popular fury was followed by the horror of all respectable people. In spite of himself, Count Cerbellon was put at the head of the insurrection. Everybody took arms, and waited for the arrival and vengeance of the French soldiers.
All the provinces rose in insurrection one after another. The most apathetic waited for St. Ferdinand's Day; and on the 30th May, at daybreak, before the saint's flag was displayed in the streets, in Estremadura, at Granada, and Malaga, the shouts of the populace proclaimed King Ferdinand VII. Blood was shed everywhere, with an atrocious display of cruelty. The magistrates, or gentlemen, who attempted to stop a dangerous rising were massacred. The Asturias had shuddered at the first report of the abdication; the Junta of Oviedo proclaimed a renewal of peace with England, and sent delegates to London. The clergy succeeded in protecting the lives of two Spanish colonels who had opposed the insurrection of their troops. In Galicia the honorable efforts of Captain- General Filangieri cost him his life; after accepting, with regret, the presidency of the Junta, when he attempted to maintain order amongst the insurgents he was killed in the street. Valladolid obliged the Captain- General, Don Gregorio de la Cuesta, to take a part in the rising of the populace. At the first sign of resistance shown by the old soldier, they erected a gibbet under his windows. Burgos, occupied by Marshal Bessières, remained quiet, but Barcelona attempted an insurrection. The Catalans were armed to the teeth, and, on General Duhesme threatening to set fire to the town, the more violent of them escaped to places which were less threatened. Saragossa had placed at the head of its heroic population Don Joseph Palafox de Melzi, an amiable young man, well known in his own country. He summoned the Cortes of the province, and ordered a general rising of the population of Aragon. On the confines of Navarre, almost under the eyes of the French army, Santander and Logrono formed an insurrection. The Castilles, with their vast open plains, and their proximity to the French Government, showed only a silent agitation, without yet attempting an insurrection. Murat was ill—frequently delirious; but General Savary watched over Madrid: the capital awaited its new master.
Nowhere was the insurrection more spontaneous or more general than in Andalusia. Seville had conceived the hope of becoming the centre of the national movement, and grouping round it the patriotic efforts of the whole of Spain. The provisional government assumed a pompous name— "Supreme Junta of Spain and the Indies"—and sent messengers to stir up the towns of Badajoz, Cordova, and Jaen. At Cadiz they surrounded the hotel of the Captain-General Solano, Marquis of Socorro. All the troops throughout the south of Spain were under his orders. With difficulty he was persuaded to give a forced assent to the disorderly wishes of the populace, but persisted in opposing the bombardment of the French fleet, commanded by Admiral Rosily, which had been in the harbor for three months. He in vain pleaded the danger to the Spanish vessels mixed with the French. The crowd became mad, dragged the Marquis on to the ramparts, and massacred him.
Without any preliminary understanding, in a country everywhere intersected by rivers and mountains, and even under the fire of the French cannon, Spain thus rose spontaneously against an arrogant usurpation, preceded by base perfidy. In this first burst of her patriotic anger, she bore the courage, ardor, and passion which were to make certain her triumph; she at the same time displayed a savage cruelty and violence, of which our unhappy soldiers were too often the victims. The emperor was still at Bayonne, occupied in arranging the affairs of Spain from without Spain: he was informed slowly and imperfectly of the insurrection convulsing the whole country. Accustomed to give orders to his lieutenants from a distance and arbitrarily, he ordered all the movements of his troops from Bayonne, affecting to attach but small importance to the revolt, sending to Paris and Valençay false news of the success of his arms, and doing his best to conceal from King Joseph the extent and importance of the resistance which was being prepared against him. In many places the couriers were arrested or killed. The emperor ordered General Savary to set out again for Madrid.