The Life of George Borrow

by Herbert George Jenkins

It is by no means certain that Borrow was anxious to leave the Carcel de la Corte, even with the apologies of Spain in his pocket. The prison afforded him unique opportunities for the study of criminal vagabonds. An entirely new phase of life presented itself to him, and, but for this arrest and his subsequent decision to involve the authorities in difficulties, The Bible in Spain would have lacked some of its most picturesque pages. It would have been strange if he had not encountered some old friend or acquaintance in the prison of the Spanish capital. At the Carcel de la Corte he found the notorious and immense Gitana, Aurora, who had fallen into the hands of the Busné for defrauding a rather foolish widow.

“A great many people came to see me,” Borrow wrote to his mother, “amongst others, General Quiroga, the Military Governor, who assured me that all he possessed was at my service. The Gypsies likewise came, but were refused admittance.” His dinner was taken to him from an inn, and Sir George Villiers sent his butler each day to make enquiries. There was, however, one very unpleasant feature of his prison life, the verminous condition of the whole building. In spite of having fresh linen taken to him each day, he suffered very much from what the polished Spaniard prefers to call miseria.

Sir George Villiers took active and immediate steps, not only to secure Borrow’s release, but to obtain an unqualified apology. Referring to the letter he had received from the Civil Governor (30th April), he expressed himself as convinced that “a gentleman of Borrow’s character and education was incapable of the conduct alleged,” and had accordingly requested Mr Sothern to enquire into the matter and then to call upon the Civil Governor to explain in what manner he had been misinformed. As the Civil Governor refused to receive Mr Sothern, Sir George adds that he need trouble him no further, as the affair had been placed before Her Catholic Majesty’s Government; but during his five years of office at the Court of Madrid, he proceeded, “no circumstance has occurred likely to be more prejudicial to the relations between the two Countries than the insult and imprisonment to which a respectable Englishman has now been subjected upon the unsupported evidence of a Police Officer,” acting under the orders of the Civil Governor.

On 3rd May Sir George Villiers wrote again to Count Ofalia, reminding him that he had not received the letter from him that he had expected. In the course of a lengthy recapitulation of the occurrences of the past ten days, Sir George reminded Count Ofalia that, as a result of their interview on 30th April about the ill-usage of Borrow, the Count had written on 1st May to him a private letter stating that measures had been taken to release Borrow on parole, he to appear when necessary, and that if Sir George would abstain from making a written remonstrance, Count Ofalia would see that both he and Borrow received the ample satisfaction to which they were entitled. Borrow had been taken by two Guards “like a Malefactor, to the Common Prison, where he would have been confined with Criminals of every description if he had not had money to pay for a Cell to Himself.” The British Minister complained that every step that he had taken for Borrow’s protection was followed by fresh insult, and he further intimated that Borrow refused to leave the prison until his character had been publicly cleared.

The Spanish Government now found itself in a quandary. The British Minister was pressing for satisfaction, and he was too powerful and too important to the needs of Spain to be offended. The prisoner himself refused to be liberated, because he had been illegally arrested, inasmuch as he, a foreigner, had been committed to prison without first being conducted before the Captain-General of Madrid, as the law provided. Furthermore, Borrow advised the authorities that if they chose to eject him from the prison he would resist with all his bodily strength. In this determination he was confirmed by the British Minister.

A Cabinet Council was held, at which Señor Entrena was present. The Premier explained the serious situation in which the ministry found itself, owing to the attitude assumed by the British Minister, and he remarked that the Civil Governor must respect the privileges of foreigners. Señor Entrena suggested that he should be relieved of his duties; but the majority of the Cabinet seems to have been favourable to him. The Affaire Borrow is said to have come up for debate even during a secret session of the Chamber.

When Count Ofalia had called at the British Embassy (4th May) he was informed by Sir George Villiers that the affair had passed beyond the radius of a subordinate authority of the Government, and that he “considered that great want of respect had been shown to me, as Her Majesty’s Minister, and that an unjustifiable outrage had been committed upon a British Subject,” [238a] and that the least reparation that he was disposed to accept was a written declaration that an injustice had been done, and the dismissal of the Police Officer. [238b]

The value of a British subject’s freedom was brought home to the Spanish Government with astonishing swiftness and decision. The Civil Governor wrote to Sir George Villiers (3rd May), apparently at the instance of the distraught premier, discoursing sagely upon the Civil and Canon Laws of Spain, and adding that the 25 copies of the Gitano St Luke were seized, “not as being confiscated, but as a deposit to be restored in due time.” He concluded by hoping that he had convinced the British Minister of his good faith.

In his reply, Sir George considered that the Civil Governor had been led to view the matter in a light that would not “bear the test of impartial examination.” The result of this interchange of letters was twofold. Sir George dropped the correspondence with “that Functionary [who] displays so complete a disregard for fact,” [239a] and as Count Ofalia evaded the real question at issue, holding out “slender hopes of the matter ending in the reparation which I considered to be peremptorily called for,” [239b] he advised Borrow to claim protection from the Captain-General, the only authority competent to exercise any jurisdiction over him. The Captain-General Quiroga, jealous of his authority, entered warmly into the dispute and ordered the Civil Governor to hand over the case to him. There was now a danger of the Affaire Borrow being made a party question, in which case it would have been extremely difficult to settle.

The intervention of the Captain-General rendered all the more obvious the illegality of the Civil Governor’s action, and increased the embarrassment of Count Ofalia, who called on Sir George to ask him to have Borrow’s memorial to the Captain-General withdrawn. He refused, and said the only way now to finish the affair was that “His Excellency should in an official Note declare to me that Mr Borrow left the prison, where he had been improperly placed, with unstained honour,—that the Police Agent, upon whose testimony he had been arrested, should be dismissed,—that all expenses imposed upon Mr Borrow by his detention should be repaid him by the Government,—that Mr Borrow’s not having availed himself of the ‘Fuero Militar’ should not be converted into a precedent, or in any way be considered to prejudice that important right, and that Count Ofalia should add with reference to maintaining the friendly relations between Great Britain and Spain, that he hoped I would accept this satisfaction as sufficient.” [240a]