The new administration began by banishing from the capital all those who were suspected of having counselled this last attempt of the court, and by appointing new officers; Quiroga received the command in Galicia and Mina in Catalonia. At Valencia General Elio was condemned for an imaginary crime by a council of war in obedience to the cries of the populace, and was strangled on September 11th. But while the conquerors of July 7th were pursuing their triumph, civil war was spreading its ravages, and events of a new order gave it a more political character. At Urgel a government was established with the title “supreme regency of Spain during the captivity of the king.” This was recognised by a majority of the officers in the so-called royal army, by General Eguia, O’Donnell, the general inquisitor, the bishop of Pamplona and various juntas of the provinces. The troops obtained some successes and were aided by the French government. Its agents were favourably received by the congress at Verona. Nevertheless it was compelled to evacuate Urgel, and install itself at Puycerda, whence it was forced to retreat to France and terminate its existence at Toulouse on December 7th. Mina pursued the royalist bands relentlessly.
The next extra session of the cortes opened the 7th of October at a moment when war was raging on the northern frontier. The famous brigand Jayme Alfonso had raised the standard of the faith in Murcia; the priest Merino had also re-entered the field. Civil war raged in Castile, Andalusia, and in the province of Toledo.[d]
INTERVENTION OF THE HOLY ALLIANCE (1823 A.D.)
But Spain was not allowed to work out its own salvation. Europe was dominated at this time by the Holy Alliance, which disguised a resolution to repress popular liberties and to maintain despotism under a pretended zeal for piety, justice, and brotherly love. At the Congress of Verona (October, 1822), France, Austria, Russia, and Prussia agreed upon armed intervention in Spain, in spite of the protest of Canning on the part of England. Spain was to be called upon to alter her constitution and to grant greater liberty to the king, and if an unsatisfactory answer was received France was authorised to take active measures.[a]
In the first days of January, 1823, France, Austria, Russia, and Prussia presented notes at Madrid demanding a change in the political constitution and the liberty of the king. On the 11th of the month the cortes declared that it would make no concessions to the threatening powers. The ambassadors of Russia, Austria, and Prussia demanded their passports at once and left Madrid; the French minister followed soon after.
A cruel blow to the strength of the constitutionals followed in the success of various royalist armies. On February 19th, 1823, after the closing of the extraordinary sessions of the cortes, the news of the deposition of the ministry caused violent disorder. The palace was besieged and the king forced to revoke the decree. The popular societies of the free masons and the comuneros fought strenuously with each other: at the same time they agreed in rejecting all proposals to modify the constitution, in spite of the vice of the duke of Wellington and the ambassador of England. The new cortes which had opened the 1st of March was engaged in transferring the government to Seville. The king was notified that he must prepare himself for such a move, and in spite of vague and uncertain plots the departure took place on the 20th.[d]
THE FRENCH INVASION
[1823 A.D.]
It does not lie within our province to give in detail all the various incidents which signalled the union of the French army on the borders of the Pyrenees, and finally the decision to brave events and to pass the Bidassoa on the 7th of April before the liberals could develop their plans to seduce the troops.
The French army was divided into five large corps and presented an effective of ninety-five thousand light infantry and twenty-one thousand horse. In addition to this very respectable number of troops, the intervention counted equally on apostolic insurgents in the various provinces. The baron d’Eroles could bring nearly nine thousand Catalans in the pay of the Urgel regency. Eguia, at Bayonne, who for two years had spent a sum of nearly two millions in fomenting civil wars in Navarre and the Basque provinces, put at the duke of Angoulême’s disposition all divisions and bands which, under the orders of Carlos, O’Donnell, Quesada, Guergué, and Longa, had carried on a guerilla warfare against governmental generals. Finally in the interior of the country relations were established with all such leaders as Bessières, Sampère, Merino. One might estimate at least thirty-five thousand men against the constitutional system.