History of the Peninsular War, Volume 1 (of 6)

by Robert Southey

At Badajoz and at Seville the first popular movements were repressed by the local authorities; but they soon broke out again with renewed violence. The Count de la Torre del Fresno was governor at Badajoz; the people collected before his palace, calling upon him to enrol them, and give them arms for the defence of the country. ♦May 30.♦ A second time he endeavoured to control a spirit which was no longer to be restrained; and the furious multitude, who perceived that to remain quiet was in fact to acknowledge the foreign King who was to be forced upon them, considered all attempts to abate their ardour as proceeding from a traitorous intention, forced their way into the house, dragged him forth, and murdered him. For in the sudden dissolution of government, by which free scope was for the first time given to the hopes and expectations of enthusiastic patriotism, the evil passions also were let loose, and the unreasonable people were sometimes hurried into excesses by their own blind zeal, sometimes seduced into them by wretches who were actuated by the desire of plunder, or of private revenge. Men were sacrificed to the suspicions and fury of the multitude, as accomplices and agents of the French, whose innocence in many cases was established when too late. Such crimes were committed at Valladolid, Cartagena, Granada, Jaen, San Lucar, Carolina, Ciudad Rodrigo, and many other places. But this dreadful anarchy was of short duration. The people had no desire to break loose from the laws and the habits of subordination; the only desire which possessed them was to take vengeance for their murdered countrymen, and to deliver their country from the insolent usurpation which was attempted. If any obstruction was offered to this generous feeling, they became impatient and ungovernable: otherwise, having always been wont to look to their rulers, never to act for themselves, their very zeal displayed itself in the form of obedience; they were eager to obey any who would undertake to guide them, and no person thought of stepping beyond his rank to assume the direction. ♦Juntas established every where.♦ Because Ferdinand, when he set out upon his journey to Bayonne, had left a Junta of government at Madrid, the people were familiar with that name, and Juntas, in consequence, were formed every where; those persons being every where appointed whom the inhabitants were accustomed to respect.

♦Formation of the Junta of Seville.♦

Though the provisional governments thus suddenly formed were altogether independent of each other, a certain degree of ascendancy was conceded by general consent to the Junta of Seville; that city, for its size and importance, being regarded by the Spaniards as their capital, while Madrid was in the enemy’s possession. After the magistracy had repressed the first tumultuous indications of patriotism in the Sevillians, a movement too general for them to withstand was excited by a man of low rank by name Nicolas Tap y Nuñez. He came there as a missionary to preach the duty of insurrection against the French; and at a time when every hour brought fresh excitement to the hopes and the indignation of the people, this man by his ardour and intrepidity obtained a great ascendancy, which he did not in the slightest instance abuse. When the persons in authority found it impossible to withstand the tide of popular feeling, the formation of a Junta was proposed, and the first thought of the people was, that the parochial clergy and the heads of the convents should assemble to choose the members, so little did they think of exercising any right of election themselves, and so naturally did they look up to those by whom they were wont to be directed. Some of these persons assembled, accepting unwillingly the power with which they were by acclamation invested, and confounded, if not intimidated, by their apprehensions of the French, the injunctions of the constituted authorities at Madrid, and the presence of a multitude who had given murderous proofs that their pleasure was not to be resisted with impunity: in this state of mind many withdrew from the meeting, and they who remained were glad to rid themselves of immediate responsibility by assenting to any nominations which were proposed. Such a choice was made as might be expected under such circumstances; some who thrust themselves forward with the qualifications of wealth and effrontery were chosen, and they to accredit their own election added others who held the highest place in public opinion for rank or talents. Among them were D. Francisco Saavedra, who had formerly been minister of finance, and P. Gil de Sevilla; both had been sufferers under Godoy’s administration, and they who were persecuted by him were for the most part entitled to respect as well as commiseration. Though the populace had thus obtained their immediate object, they still remained in a state of ferocious excitement, and their fury was directed (by private malice, it was believed) against the Conde del Aguila, one of the most distinguished inhabitants of Seville, whose collection of pictures, books, and manuscripts, was justly esteemed among the treasures of that city. The maddened and misguided rabble attacked him first with insults, then dragged him from his carriage, killed him, and exposed his body upon one of the city gates. And even when order was restored, the magistrates did not venture to institute any proceedings for bringing to justice the perpetrators or instigators of the murder.

Tap y Nuñez, who was for that day the Lord of Seville, assisted at the election of the Junta, and being a stranger, and ignorant of the good or ill deserts of those who were proposed, assented to all the nominations. Learning however that two members, more likely to discredit the cause of the country than to serve it, had been chosen, he went the next day to their sitting, and required that these individuals should be expelled. All hope of establishing subordination would have been lost, if a demagogue like this, however meritorious his intentions, were allowed to make and unmake the members of the government at his pleasure. The Junta therefore immediately arrested him, and sent him prisoner to Cadiz. This was a necessary act of vigour, without which no authority could have been maintained. But some merciful consideration was due to this man, because he had shown no disposition to abuse his dangerous influence, nor to aggrandize himself, when it was in his power: he was, however, made to feel, that the forms and realities of justice were as little to be looked for under the provisional government, as under the old despotism; and having been thrown into prison, there he was left to linger, hopeless of a trial, and having nothing to trust to for his deliverance but the chance that they might be weary of supporting ♦Espanol. t. 1, p. 13.♦ him there, or that his place might be wanted for another.

The vigour which they had shown in thus asserting their authority was not belied by their subsequent conduct. Their first measure was to establish in all towns within their jurisdiction, containing 2000 householders, corresponding Juntas, who were to enlist all the inhabitants between the ages of sixteen and forty-five, and embody them. Funds were to be raised by order of the Supreme Junta, by taxes on all corporations and rich individuals; and, above all, by voluntary subscriptions. ♦They declare war against France.♦ They declared war against the Emperor Napoleon and against France, in the name of Ferdinand and of all the Spanish nation, protesting that they would not lay down their arms till that Emperor restored to them the whole of their Royal Family, and respected the rights, liberty, and independence of the nation which he had violated. This, said they, we declare with the understanding and accordance of the Spanish people. By the same declaration, they made known that they had contracted an armistice with England, and that they hoped to conclude a lasting peace.

♦Solano hesitates to co-operate with them.♦

Solano was at this time on the frontiers with his army, having been recalled from Portugal. If any man in such times could rely for security upon his character, his popularity, and the whole tenor of his life, this nobleman might have felt himself secure. The arbitrary authority which he possessed at Cadiz had always been exercised for the good of the inhabitants and the improvement of the city: the military and naval officers respected him, the higher orders were his personal friends, and the populace looked with full confidence to his justice. No one more deeply felt and regretted the decline and degradation of Spain; yet had he partaken of its degradation, for he resigned himself to it, and despairing of his country, would have submitted to a nominal reform of government imposed by a foreign power, and under an intrusive dynasty. Upon the first movements at Seville, he hastened thither; and Saavedra, P. Gil, Count de Tilly, and others, who were willing to stand forward against the usurpation, and encourage a spirit from which every thing might be hoped, communicated their desires and intentions to him, as a true Spaniard, whose genuine patriotism could not be called in question. But Solano was one of those persons who believed the power of the French to be irresistible; the leading men whose opinions were most conformable to his own, and who, till this fatal time of trial, had been thought capable and desirous of introducing those reforms which the system of administration required, had submitted to Buonaparte’s pleasure; and while they, in common with all the constituted authorities in the metropolis, in the most earnest terms exhorted their countrymen to submission, the French, he knew, were ready to march troops wherever their presence might be required, and to repress an insurrection as promptly and severely in Seville as they had done at Madrid. He was not aware that the spirit which had manifested itself at Madrid, and was ready to break out in Seville, was felt at that time throughout every city and every village in the Peninsula. A proper fear also lest the people should possess themselves of power which they would certainly abuse, influenced him also; and determining hastily to support what appeared to him the cause of order and the laws, he received the communications which were made to him with coldness and distrust, required time to deliberate before he could assent to their views, and hastened with all speed to resume his command at Cadiz, and preserve that important city for the intrusive government.

♦He refuses the assistance of the British squadron.♦

There he gave out that he had returned thus suddenly to provide against a bombardment of the city which the English were about to commence. This gave him a pretext for removing cannon from the land side, in order to strengthen the batteries toward the sea; it is said that he removed the military stores also, under pretence that the casemates would be wanted as shelter for the inhabitants; and that he sent to the French General Dupont, who had been ordered to Andalusia, urging him to hasten thither by forced marches. The truth of these reports it is impossible to ascertain; and some who knew and loved Solano have asserted their belief, that if he had lived to witness the national virtue which was so soon afterwards displayed, he would have been one of the most ardent and able supporters of the national cause. Admiral Purvis, who commanded the British squadron before Cadiz, sent in flags of truce, and offered to co-operate with him against the French, who had five sail of the line and a frigate, under Admiral Rossilly, then lying in the bay; offers of assistance on the part of England were also made by the governor of Gibraltar, Sir Hew Dalrymple, who was already in communication with General Castaños, then commanding the Spanish force in the camp of St. Roque. Solano replied, that all overtures must be addressed to the government at Madrid, which was in fact declaring his adherence to Joseph Buonaparte.

♦Solano summons a council of officers.♦