♦1808.
When Castaños was informed of Sir Hew Dalrymple’s appointment to the command of the British army, he declared that he regarded this nomination as the most fortunate event of his own life; so much advantage to the common cause did he anticipate from their confidence in each other, and the cordial co-operation which would ensue. In reality that influence which the confidence of a British commander would have given him, might have been of the most essential benefit to Spain at this momentous crisis.
Such was the national character, that when the struggle commenced every man was ready to follow in the cause of his country; but so pitiable had been the state of education, and so successfully had the double despotism of the government and the inquisition shut out knowledge from their empire, that no man was fit to lead. There were now as many governments as there were Juntas, each acting with little regard to the others; and as these were every where filled by persons chosen because of their station, the government throughout Spain was delivered, or rather fell into the hands of the provincial nobility and gentry, with a few clergy; a set of men whom their general want of information, their prejudices, and their previous way of life, in great measure disqualified for the task to which they were called. Among them were some persons who had formerly been in office at Madrid; but whatever advantage they might have derived from habits of business, was more than counterbalanced by the dilatory formalities acquired at the same time, and their attachment to the old routine with all its defects and evils. Wherever therefore such statesmen of the old school were found, the Juntas were less efficient than they might have been without them. The powers with which these bodies found themselves invested were neither limited in extent or duration: the people in their confidence (which at such times is as blind as their suspicion) never thought of proposing restrictions: and the Juntas, when once in possession of authority, thought only of making it as extensive, and retaining it as long as they could. Some of them passed decrees bestowing upon themselves the titles of Excellencies and Highnesses, and adopted uniforms of the gaudiest fashion. This was mere vanity; but serious injury was done, when, with as little decency as had been observed under the old system, they conferred commissions and commands, not upon those persons who had the fairest claim, but upon their own friends and relations and dependents; and thus, as the enrolment was general, the armies were filled with officers who had no other pretensions to rank and promotion than what they derived from favour.
♦Castaños prevents a contest between Granada and Seville.♦
After the great success in Andalusia, the provincial Juntas, instead of exerting themselves to the utmost for completing the deliverance of the country, became jealous of each other. Where the rival authorities were far distant, this feeling impeded the public service; greater evils were threatened when they bordered upon each other. Granada at this time refused to acknowledge the supreme authority which the Junta of Seville assumed, and had hitherto exercised with ability and good fortune. A warm contention ensued; and Tilly, either from irritation, or worse motives, proposed that a division of the Andalusian army should be sent to enforce submission. Fortunately Castaños was present at the meeting in which this proposition was made; he rose from his seat, and, striking the table, said, he should like to see the man who dared order a division of the troops under his command to march without his authority! He knew no distinction of provinces; he had the honour to command part of the army of Spain, and never would he suffer it to be made the instrument of civil war.
♦Plans for a government.♦
The occasion required, and therefore justified, this prompt assumption of a power, dangerous in its kind, and in nowise congenial to the unambitious temper of Castaños, a man whose only desire was to do his duty like a true Spaniard under any circumstances. It proved, however, the necessity of establishing a more legitimate authority than as yet existed. Lord Collingwood, in his first communications with Seville, had advised that a general Council, Cortes, or Congress, should be appointed, and invested with power from the several provincial Juntas to preside over and act in the name of the whole. The necessity of some such arrangement became every day more apparent. Some persons proposed to establish a military form of government, in which that vigour which the emergency required might be found; some were for assembling a Cortes; others recommended that a viceroy or lieutenant of the kingdom should be appointed, and to this Castaños was at one time inclined. His first thought before the struggle began had been to invite the Archduke Charles; but upon considering that the invitation could not be accepted while Austria continued at peace with France, and that if a war between those powers took place, the Archduke’s services would be required at home, he then thought the Prince Royal of the house of Naples would be the fittest person to hold the regency till the fate of Ferdinand should be known; and this he proposed to the ♦Arrival of a Sicilian Prince at Gibraltar.♦ Junta. The Sicilian court from the commencement of the insurrection had directed their views to the same object: their minister in London had sounded the disposition of the British Government, and found it decidedly unfavourable to their schemes; and they sent a plenipotentiary to reside at Gibraltar, for the purpose of furthering the interests of the family. But Sir Hew Dalrymple happened to be informed of what had passed in London, and finding that the object of this mission was altogether disapproved by the British Government, and that the agent had papers which he intended to circulate without previously communicating their contents to him, felt it necessary to let him know that his residence in the garrison, under these circumstances, might be attended with inconvenience, and therefore he must return to Palermo for new instructions. This was about the middle of July; in the ensuing month, a few days before Sir Hew left Gibraltar to take the command of the army, Prince Leopold, second son of the King of the Two Sicilies, with the Duke of Orleans and a large retinue, arrived there in a British man of war. A more ill-judged step could hardly have been taken. Great Britain had scrupulously avoided any thing which could have the appearance of dictating to the Spaniards, or interfering with them in any other way than that of giving the most prompt and liberal support; but what a pretext would it afford those who were ever ready to malign the measures of England, if at a time when the Spaniards were deliberating concerning the settlement of their government, a Prince who claimed the regency should be received with royal honours at Gibraltar, and at the very juncture when a British army arrived upon the coast! Under these embarrassing circumstances Sir Hew acted with great firmness and discretion. Persisting in that upright and steady course of conduct which had in so great a degree contributed to win the confidence of the Spanish nation, he refused in any manner to support pretensions which he had reason to believe were not approved by his government; to that government he referred the Duke of Orleans, who accordingly resolved to go to England, and make his representations in person; the Prince was received into Gibraltar, and left there, when Sir Hew went to the army; if he were chosen Regent, any deputation duly appointed to announce that nomination was of course to be admitted, and considered as attached to his retinue; but no such deputation from any local or provisional government was to be received on such terms.
♦Ambition of the Junta of Seville.♦
There was at this time a report that the Junta of Seville had declared for a regency, and were hesitating between the Archbishop of Toledo, as the only remaining member of the Bourbon family in Spain, a Prince of the Neapolitan house, and the Conde de Montijo, the most intriguing, and then one of the most popular persons in Spain. As this individual had no pretensions to such a charge, except what his undeserved popularity might give him, the report was probably raised by himself as one means to bring about his elevation. Some members of that Junta were intoxicated with success; a few others cared for nothing but their own interest: the latter wished for a Regent of their own appointment, under whose name they might possess the real power; the former were for retaining the authority which hitherto they had administered well, but which ceased to be legitimate when it became apparent that it was retained for ambitious motives. A paper from the Junta of Murcia, which expressed the opinion of Florida-Blanca, had forcibly pointed out the necessity of a central government, and the inevitable ruin which a polyarchy of independent Juntas would bring on. It advised that the cities which had a seat in the Cortes should elect a council to govern in the name of Ferdinand, and that the military affairs should be entrusted to a council of generals. The Junta of Seville suppressed this paper wherever their influence extended; but a like measure was now recommended by an authority with which the Junta could not cope.