This was not their only disappointment. The possession of the country, and all the open towns, was of little importance when compared with that of Cadiz. If it were possible that the fate of Spain could depend upon any single event, that event would have been the capture of Cadiz at this time; and the French therefore pushed on for it with even more than their accustomed rapidity. The city was utterly unprepared for an attack: there were not a thousand troops in the Isle of Leon, and not volunteers enough to man the works; the battery of St. Fernando, one of its main bulwarks of defence, was unfinished. While the scene of action was at a distance, the people of Cadiz thought the danger was remote also; and but for the genius and decision of a single man, Buonaparte might have executed his threat of taking vengeance there for the loss of his squadron.
♦Alburquerque’s movements.♦
At four on the morning of the 24th Alburquerque received that dispatch from the Central Junta, which, countermanding his march to Seville, ordered him to make for Cordoba. A counter-order of some kind he seems to have expected; for, in acknowledging this dispatch, he expressed his satisfaction that he had not commenced his movements according to the instructions received the preceding night, in which case he must have had the inconvenience of a counter-march; at the same time he said, that the troops which he had directed to garrison Badajoz, and which he was now ordered to recall, could not join him without great danger, and without leaving that place defenceless, ... a point of such importance, that though these orders were positive, he would not obey them unless they were repeated. At this time he was at Pedroso de la Sierra, whither he had advanced from Guadalcanal, pursuant to the first instructions, requiring him to move upon Cordoba. There was the Guadalquivir to cross, and Alburquerque, not being certain that his artillery could pass the bridge of Triana, determined to have it ferried over at Cantillana. He was near that ferry when the last dispatches reached him, written on the 23d, and repeating the order to march towards Cordoba: but Alburquerque at this time knew that the Junta were flying from Seville, though they had given him no intimation of their design, and knew also that Cordoba must then be in the enemy’s possession. He did not therefore hesitate for a moment to disobey orders, which must have led to the destruction of his army, ... an army, in the fate of which, inconsiderable as it was, the fate of Spain was more essentially involved, than in that of any which she had yet sent into the field. Having crossed at Cantillana, he made the main body proceed to Carmona, while he himself, with part of his little cavalry, advanced towards Ecija, where the French had already arrived, to ascertain their movements, and if possible alarm them by his own, and make them suppose that his army covered Seville: but the French general, as well as Alburquerque, was aware that Seville was a point of far inferior importance to that upon which the invaders had fixed their attention; and the enemy were now pushing on the chief part of their force by El Arahal and Moron to Utrera, in order to cut off the Duke from Cadiz. The least delay or indecision, from the moment he began his march, would have proved fatal. Instantly perceiving their object, he ordered his troops to make for Utrera, where his artillery and cavalry arrived almost at the same time with the French; from thence he marched with the infantry by Las Cabezas to Lebrija, across the marsh, at a season when it was deemed impracticable; thus enabling it to reach Xerez in time, while the cavalry accompanied the artillery along the high road, skirmishing as it retreated, delaying the pursuers, and sacrificing itself for the preservation of the rest of the army and of Cadiz. On the night of the 30th he performed this march from Utrera to Lebrija; and on the same night the people of Cadiz were relieved by an express from him, saying, that he was between them and the French, and should reach ♦Cadiz saved by Alburquerque.♦ the city in time to save it. The following morning he arrived at Xerez, having gained a day’s march upon the enemy: they found themselves outstript in rapidity, and outmanœuvred; and on the morning of the 2d of February, Alburquerque, with his 8000 men, entered the Isle of Leon, having accomplished a march of sixty-five leagues, 260 English miles. Thus Cadiz was saved.
♦He is appointed governor of Cadiz by the people.♦
Yet the means of defence had been so scandalously neglected, that the Isle of Leon must have been lost if the French had ventured to make a spirited attack upon it; and Cadiz would then speedily have shared the same fate. In general, the French calculate with sufficient confidence upon the errors of their enemies, ... a confidence which has rarely deceived them in the field, and has almost invariably succeeded in negotiation. Here, however, they did not think it possible that works so essential to the salvation of the government should have been left unfinished; and, knowing that the troops were under a man whom they trusted and loved, they knew that, naked, and exhausted, and half-starved as those troops were, behind walls and ramparts, they would prove desperate opponents. Having saved this all-important place by his presence, the Duke lost no time in securing it; he exerted himself night and day: the people, he says, when they are guided by their first feelings, usually see things as they are; they blessed him as their preserver, and he was appointed governor by acclamation.
♦A Junta, elected at Cadiz.♦
While Alburquerque was on his march, a change in the government had been effected. Venegas had been appointed governor of Cadiz by the Central Junta, apparently in reward for that blind obedience to their instructions, which, more than any other circumstance, frustrated Sir Arthur Wellesley’s victory. Both Mr. Frere and the British general distrusted his military talents. The people of Cadiz, with less justice, suspected his fidelity, and he was not without fear that he might become the victim of suspicion in some fit of popular fury. His danger became greater as soon as it was known that the Central Junta had been deposed at Seville, and were flying in various directions; but Venegas, with prudent foresight, went to the Cabildo, and, saying that the government from which he had received his appointment existed no longer, resigned his command into their hands, and offered to perform any duty to which they should appoint him. This well-timed submission had all the effect which he could wish; the Cabildo were flattered by it, the more, because such deference of the military to the civil authority was altogether unprecedented in that country; and they requested him to continue in his post, and act as their president, till a Junta could be elected for the government of the town. Measures were immediately taken for choosing this Junta, and the election was made in the fairest manner. A balloting-box was carried from house to house; the head of every family voted for an electoral body; and this body, consisting of about threescore persons, then elected the Junta, who were eighteen in number. A mode of election so perfectly free and unobjectionable gave to the Junta of Cadiz a proportionate influence over the people; but they themselves, proud of being, as they imagined, the only legally-constituted body in Spain, became immediately jealous of their power, and hostile to the establishment of any other.
♦Resignation of the Central Junta.♦
It was, however, essential to the salvation of the country that some government should be established, which would be recognized by the whole of Spain. The members of the Central Junta, who had arrived in the Isle of Leon, would fain have continued their functions; they found it vain to attempt this, and then, yielding to necessity, they suffered themselves to be guided by Jovellanos, who represented to them the necessity of appointing a regency, not including any individual of their own body. Mr. Frere, acting as British minister till Marquis Wellesley’s successor should arrive, exerted that influence which he so deservedly possessed, first to enforce the advice of Jovellanos upon his colleagues, and afterwards to make the Junta of Cadiz assent to the only measure which could preserve their country from anarchy; but so little were they disposed to acknowledge any authority except their own, that, unless the whole influence of the British minister had been zealously exerted, their acquiescence would not have been obtained. The Archbishop of Laodicea, who was president of the Central Junta, the Conde de Altamira, Valdes, and Ovalle, had been seized at Xerez, and were in imminent danger from the blind fury of the populace, if some resolute men had not come forward and saved them, by persuading the mob to put them under custody in the Carthusian convent, as prisoners of state. They were indebted for their liberation to Castaños, who in this time of danger had hastened to the Isle of Leon, and took measures for having them safely conducted thither. Their arrival made the number of members three-and-twenty; and on the 29th of January this government issued its last decree. Voluntarily they cannot be said to have laid down their power, but the same presiding mind which pervaded their former writings made them resign it with dignity. “Having,” they said, “reassembled in the Isle of Leon, pursuant to their decree of the 13th, the dangers of the state were greatly augmented, although less by the progress of the enemy than by internal convulsions. The change of government which they themselves had announced, but had reserved for the Cortes to effect, could no longer be deferred without mortal danger to the country. But that change must not be the act of a single body, a single place, or a single individual; for in such case, that which ought to be the work of prudence and of the law, would be the work of agitation and tumult; and a faction would do that, which ought only to be done by the whole nation, or by a body lawfully representing it. The fatal consequences which must result from such disorder were apparent; there was no wise citizen who did not perceive, no Frenchman who did not wish for them. If the urgency of present calamities, and the public opinion which was governed by them, required the immediate establishment of a Council of Regency, the appointment of that council belonged to none but the supreme authority, established by the national will, obeyed by it, and acknowledged by the provinces, the armies, the allies, and the colonies of Spain; ... the sole legitimate authority, which represented the unity of the power of the monarchy.”
♦A regency appointed.♦