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.