Part 44

Some of the royal troops having joined the revolutionists, and the remainder been driven out of the city after three days’ hard fighting (27th――29th of July), Charles X abdicated at Rambouillet on the 2d of August, in favor of his grandson, the Duc de Bordeaux. Several unsuccessful attempts had already been made to proclaim a republic: and on the 30th of July the peers and deputies who happened to be resident at Paris, had met and nominated as regent the Duke of Orleans (descendant of a brother of Louis XIV), by whose representations Charles was induced to quit the kingdom, and seek an asylum in Scotland. On the 7th of August, the Duke of Orleans was proclaimed hereditary “_King of the French_,” by the chambers, and on the 9th swore fidelity to the charter of 1830, in which the sovereignty of the people was fully recognized. The national guard was reëstablished and placed under the command of Lafayette.

The first care of Louis Philippe was to obtain the recognition of his title by foreign powers; an object which was effected without much difficulty, as he founded his claim on his _legitimate_ right to the throne (the elder branch of the Bourbons having abdicated) rather than the choice of the people. But this disavowal of the principle on which he had been chosen king of the French, however satisfactory to foreign cabinets, was exceedingly distasteful to the people, and the cause of serious disturbances. His ministers, who were repeatedly changed, were engaged in a perpetual contest with the Republicans on the one side, and the adherents of the ancient dynasty (Legitimists or Carlists) on the other.

The _Carlists_ or Legitimists, who considered Henry V the Duke of Bordeaux the rightful sovereign of France, had many adherents, especially in la Vendée, where the Duchesse de Berri, who personally exerted herself on behalf of her son, was arrested and banished the country. On the other hand, the _Republicans_, endeavored to effect the overthrow of the ministry, if not of the throne itself, by means of societies, trades-unions, conspiracies, and émeutes in Paris, Lyons, and other cities. Several attempts were also made to assassinate the king (Fieschi’s infernal machine, Alibaud, Meunier, Hubert, Darmès, Henry). The appearance of Louis Napoleon, a son of the ex-king of Holland, at Strasburg, in 1837, and at Boulogne in 1840, produced no important results. In order to preserve _peace with foreign powers_, Louis Philippe adopted a system of non-intervention, which he was compelled to violate on several occasions by the clamors of the opposition party.

The manner in which the mediation of France was employed in a dispute between the Pacha of Egypt and the Porte afforded Thiers an opportunity of attacking the foreign policy of the government so fiercely, that the king was obliged to dismiss his advisers, and form a liberal administration (1840), which well nigh involved France in a war with the four great powers, on account of the Eastern question. Louis Philippe then formed a new administration (Soult-Guizot), which directed all its efforts towards the maintenance of peace, and persuaded the chambers to sanction the fortification of Paris.

The attempts of Louis Philippe to render himself independent of the nation, his selfishness with regard to the Spanish marriage, and the closeness of his political connection with the absolute European powers, had rendered it impossible for him to obtain a majority in the chambers, except by bribery; and as this could only be effected as long as the number of electors was limited, he resisted with his usual obstinacy every proposal for the extension of the franchise. This policy disgusted all who looked to a reformed system of election as the only means of improving the administration, and greatly increased the number of the moderate Republican party.

Even the eyes of those who had been slow to credit the corruption of the government, were at last opened by the trial of two ex-ministers, Cubières and Teste, for bribery, and the desire for reform became universal. An order of the government for the suppression of reform dinners, founded, as they pretended, on a law passed at the beginning of the first revolution (1790), and especially an attempt on the part of the police to prevent by force the holding of a reform banquet at Paris, provoked the opposition party, headed by Odillon Barrot, to propose the impeachment of ministers, a motion which was carried in the chamber of deputies after a stormy debate. The national guard and some of the troops of the line having refused to act against the people who had taken up arms on the 22d of February, Louis Philippe dismissed the Guizot ministry on the 23d, and tranquillity seemed to be completely restored; but on the evening of the same day fresh disturbances broke out, in consequence of some troops stationed in front of the foreign office having fired on the unarmed populace. Throughout the whole of that night the inhabitants of Paris were occupied in constructing barricades, and making preparations for active resistance on the morrow. Meanwhile, however, the king, alarmed at the increasing disaffection of his troops, and fearing an attack on the Tuileries, had abdicated in favor of the Comte de Paris, and quitted his palace, which was immediately plundered by the populace.

The Duchess of Orleans, accompanied by her two sons, having proceeded to the chamber of deputies for the purpose of obtaining their recognition of the Comte de Paris as king, and herself as regent, an armed multitude burst into the hall, and compelled the deputies to sanction the establishment of a provisional government, which proclaimed a republic at the Hôtel de Ville, and again on the Place de la Bastille, subject to the approbation of the great body of the people.

The provisional government commenced its proceedings by calling together the electoral colleges and constituent assembly. The elective franchise was extended to all Frenchmen who had attained their twenty-first year, and all above twenty-five years of age were declared eligible as deputies, of whom about 900 were returned to the chamber. The constituent assembly having met on the 4th of May, and the republic having been again proclaimed, the provisional government dissolved itself, and was succeeded by an executive commission composed of five of its members, Arago, Garnier, Pagès, Marie, Lamartine, and Ledru Rollin. The most formidable opponents of these commissioners were the workmen and the leaders of the communists Barbes, Blanqui, Louis Blanc. The revolutionists of February had pronounced it to be the duty of the state to provide employment for the citizens, and had followed up this declaration by the establishment of national workshops, with a view to the ‘organization of labor.’ The failure of this impracticable scheme produced great discontent among the workmen; and after a fruitless attempt on their part to overthrow the government and extort contributions from the wealthier classes, the workshops were closed, and the men sent into the provinces. A sanguinary struggle ensued, in the course of which the Archbishop of Paris was shot, whilst addressing words of peace to the insurgents from one of the barricades. After four days’ hard fighting the malcontents were utterly defeated by General Cavaignac, formerly governor of Algiers. The city of Paris was then declared in a state of siege, and the powers of the executive commission transferred to Cavaignac, who immediately formed an administration, of which he declared himself president. More than 4000 of the insurgents were banished to the French settlements beyond seas, the national workshops suppressed, and the public clubs placed under the surveillance of the police.

By the new Constitution, France was declared to be a democratic republic, one and indivisible. The legislative authority was committed to a single assembly of 750 members, elected by all Frenchmen who had attained their twenty-first year. All citizens above twenty-five years of age were eligible as representatives, with the exception of paid government functionaries. The executive authority was vested in a ‘President of the Republic,’ who was required by the constitution to be thirty years old, and a native of France. Louis Napoleon was chosen for four years, by the direct suffrages of all the electors, on the 10th of December 1848.

Arrived at this hazardous position, he sought to strengthen his hold on the French by reviving, whenever opportunity offered, the most agreeable souvenirs of his uncle’s rule; while, at the same time he incessantly disavowed all ambitious sentiments, and complained of the suspicion of them as an injury. He made a pilgrimage to Ham, and in the neighborhood of his former prison expressed his repentance of the attempts of Strasbourg and Boulogne. Having thus combatted the preparations which a few constitutionalists were inclined to make against a possible _coup d’etat_, he played with the parliament until December 2d, 1851, in the morning of which day, before sunrise, he swept into prison every statesman of Paris known for public spirit and ability, dissolved the assembly, seized the most distinguished generals, and proclaimed himself dictator. A number of officers who had served in Africa, were sent into the streets with picked regiments, to shoot down remorselessly all who should raise an arm for the constitution; and so, having by the aid of 100,000 soldiers completely subdued the capital, and possessed himself of all power, he offered himself to France for ten years’ election to the office of president. As no other candidate was allowed to come forward he of course was returned, and subsequently proclaimed a constitution, which gave him more power than any European monarch, except the Czar of Russia, pretends to exercise.

A decree was issued October 19th, summoning the Senate to meet on the 4th of November 1852, to consider the question of changing the form of government and reëstablishing the empire.

Prince Jerome Bonaparte presided and opened the session by briefly stating its object. A committee of ten was appointed which subsequently made a report, closing with the draft of a _senatus consultum_, declaring; ‘The Empire is reëstablished, and Louis Napoleon Bonaparte is Emperor, under the title of Napoleon III.’ Two decrees were immediately issued; the one convoking the French people, in its primary assemblies, to accept or reject the empire; and the second convoking the legislature for the purpose of verifying the regularity of the votes, and of counting them out and declaring the result. On the 1st of December, the vote was reported to be 7,864,189 for the empire, and 253,145 against it; 63,000 votes were canceled as illegal. There was no hesitation on the part of foreign powers to acknowledge the empire.

In March 1854, England and France announced to the world their intention of aiding Turkey in her struggle with Russia. The Queen’s declaration of war appeared in the Gazette on the 28th, and on the preceding day, at Paris, the Minister of State read to the legislative corps a Message from the Emperor, announcing ‘that the last resolution of the cabinet of St Petersburg had placed Russia in a state of war with respect to France――a war, the responsibility of which belonged entirely to the Russian government.’ The military operations of the commencement of this war have been described in the preceding pages. [See History of England――Reign of Victoria.]

HISTORY OF SPAIN.

About the opening of the fifth century, when Alaric, the terrible king of the Visigoths, had sacked and burned the City of the Seven Hills, his brother, Adolph, crossing the Pyrenees, penetrated into Spain, and founded, in that secluded province of the Roman Empire, a kingdom, of which the capital was Toledo――situated on a steep rock, which was washed on three sides by the waters of the Tagus.

The Gothic monarchy, thus established, lasted for three centuries, when Roderick, who wore the crown of Spain, ravished the daughter of a Count named Julian, and thus created an implacable foe. Boiling with resentment, and panting for vengeance, Count Julian crossed to Barbary, and invoked the aid of the adventurous Moors; and forthwith the sound of Moorish horns, and the neighing of war-steeds, and the waving of the Crescent, announced that a Saracenic host had invaded the sunny fields of Spain.

King Roderick encountered the Moors in several battles; and at length, in the summer of 711, a decisive conflict took place at Xeres. There the king and the flower of his chivalry perished; and the cities quietly yielding to the turbaned victors, a splendid Moorish monarchy was instituted under princes of the line of Omeyades. They exercised a temporal as well as spiritual authority, selected Cordova as their seat of empire, and adorned that city with magnificent palaces, colleges, libraries, hospitals, mosques, bridges, and fountains.

The vanquished Spaniards, so far from being harshly treated, enjoyed so much civil and religious liberty, that many remained in their native regions; and the Spanish women freely availed themselves of the invitation to intermarry with the conquerors. Such of the proud barons, indeed, as disdained to submit, escaped to neighboring countries; while others, departing from Andalusia, with its sunny skies and fair landscapes, moved northward, and formed themselves into petty states, at such mortal enmity with each other, and so exposed to the predatory incursions of the Arab cavalry, that the chieftains were under the necessity of keeping their followers in harness night and day.

Notwithstanding their internal feuds, the eyes of the Spaniards were perpetually turned, with the longing of exiles, toward the land of corn and wine of which they had been dispossessed; and they contemplated, with fierce indignation, the Crescent glittering on mosques under which their sires had worshiped the Christian’s God. Invoking as their patron St. James, on his white steed, bearing the banner of the Cross, they deemed themselves the champions at once of their country and Christendom; and the Spanish nobles, thus trained from infancy to serve against the Moors, were continually advancing southward, and in the stern school of adversity regained among the mountains of Gallicia so much of their ancestral valor as to render them formidable foes.

In the thirteenth century the Cordovan empire had been reduced to the little province of Granada, in the midst of which stood the beautiful city of that name, on one of whose hills rose the far-famed Alhambra; while the kingdom of Castile was not only receiving the homage of other states, but even the homage of the Moorish king, who pledged himself to pay an annual rent, to serve in war with a certain number of knights, and to attend the Cortes, or legislative assembly, when summoned.

A hundred years later, Castile was the scene of fierce civil war. Pedro, surnamed the Cruel, had rendered himself unpopular by the severity with which he treated his enemies; and his illegitimate brother, Henry of Trastamare, conceived the idea of seizing the throne. With this view, he applied to Charles V of France, who sent to his aid several companies of Free Lances, commanded by Bertrand Du Guesclin, one of the most valiant warriors of the age. These terrible adventurers, after passing Avignon, and compelling the Pope to bestow upon them gold and his blessing, entered Spain. Pedro disbanded his troops and sought shelter in Gascony, at the court of Edward the Black Prince, by whom he was honorably received; while his rival was proclaimed king in his stead.

Henry of Trastamare transmitted the crown of Castile to his descendants, whose disputed title was decidedly favorable to public liberty, and rendered them deferential to public opinion, till the reign of Henry IV, who ascended the Castilian throne with the promise of a crusade against the Moors of Granada. The preparations made by him for that purpose were attended by results so inadequate, that he fell into contempt with friends and foes.

In the year 1465, on a plain outside the walls of Avila, a platform was erected; and thereon was placed, in royal robes, an effigy of Henry, with the crown on his head, the sceptre in his hand, and the sword of justice by his side. A sentence of deposition was pronounced: the archbishop of Toledo tore off the crown; one Count snatched away the sword; another removed the sceptre; a third tumbled the figure headlong to the ground; and proclamation was made that Don Alphonso was king of Castile and Leon. But Alphonso died in 1468; and Henry, though reduced to the depths of despair, continued to reign till his decease in 1474.

His daughter Joanna not being considered worthy of occupying the throne, his sister Isabella was recognized as heir to the deceased sovereign. The young queen, one of the most interesting characters in history, was highly endowed both in mind and person. Intelligence beamed in her mild blue eye, and was displayed in a manner which, though modest, was particularly gracious and dignified. In her nineteenth year she had been united to Ferdinand, the hereditary sovereign of Arragon, in conjunction with whom she now began to reign over the united kingdoms. They were not, however, undisturbed; for Alphonso, king of Portugal, whose victories over the Barbary Moors had gained for him the cognomen of ‘the African,’ having been affianced to the princess Joanna, invaded Castile to vindicate her claim to the crown. Ferdinand, by a herald, challenged the invader to fight with his whole army or by single combat, and the hostile ranks encountered. Castilian valor prevailed; the standard of Portugal was torn to shreds; the king escaped to a fortified castle, and soon after he withdrew with his youthful bride into Portugal; but the Pope having forbidden their marriage, the hapless princess sought consolation in a convent.

Ferdinand and Isabella, being now secure, introduced several important reforms for the observance of law, the administration of justice, and the regulation of trade. The Moorish kingdom of Granada was so tempting a prize, that they determined on annexing it to their dominions. Hitherto the two nations, in spite of their natural enmity, had enjoyed much, and not unimportant, friendly intercourse. The Spaniards had acquired something of Arabian gravity of demeanor, magnificence of air, and reserve in conversation, from communicating with their Saracenic neighbors. As late as 1463, Henry had held a personal interview with the king of Granada, under a splendid pavilion erected in the _vega_, at the foot of the Alhambra, and after an exchange of presents, the Spanish sovereign had been escorted to the frontiers by Moorish cavaliers; but in 1476, when the annual tribute was demanded, the Moorish king proudly replied, that the mints of Granada coined gold no longer, but steel; and he soon after attacked and carried off the population of the town of Zahara. At this crisis the high-spirited Moor died, and was succeeded by his nephew, the weak and unfortunate Boabdil. Thereupon Ferdinand, entering Granada with the whole force of Arragon and Castile, besieged the city for eight months. The Moorish king then came to the gates, and presenting the keys on a cushion to Ferdinand and Isabella, implored their protection. The valley of Piorchena was assigned him as a residence; but being discontented with his lot, he after a little delay went over to Barbary. On Friday, the 6th of January, 1492, Ferdinand and his queen made their entrance into Granada; the Moslem crescents were plucked from the minarets of the Alhambra, and the arms of Castile and Arragon were displayed in their stead.

The conquest of Granada made Ferdinand master of the fairest province in the Peninsula; and, assuming the title of King of Spain, he recovered from France the districts of which Louis the Crafty had taken possession. He then established the Court of Inquisition, which consigned thousands of his subjects to the flames for heresy, and was put in force against the Jews, who fled by thousands, with their industry and intelligence, to the other states of Europe. For these services, Ferdinand and Isabella were rewarded by the Pope with the title of Catholic Majesties.

About this time Christopher Columbus received from the court of Spain the encouragement which led to discoveries so important. A native of Genoa, he had unsuccessfully applied to the Government of that state for aid in his daring project of sailing to the East Indies by the west, and then made proposals to the Kings of England and Portugal, which were rejected. In 1486 he came to urge his schemes upon the sovereigns of Spain; but after six years of fruitless entreaty, was on the point of leaving the country, when Isabella, at the instance of her confessor, summoned the suitor to her presence. At this interview, the solemn aspect, grave air, and dignified appearance of Columbus, made so favorable an impression on the Queen that she ordered a fleet of three vessels to be fitted out at Palos. At that port, with a hundred and twenty companions, Columbus embarked on the 3d of August, 1492; and on the 12th of October, after thirty days’ sail from Canary, came in sight of land, which proved to be one of the Bahama Islands. When the sun rose, the adventurers, manning their boats, rowed ashore, playing martial music, and displaying the royal standard. Columbus, in a scarlet dress, and bearing a naked sword, set his foot on the soil of the new world, and after taking possession of the island on behalf of the Castilian sovereigns, gave it the name of San Salvador. The natives gazed on in silent surprise, and in the simplicity of their hearts believed the Spaniards to be preternatural beings.

Pursuing his career of discovery, Columbus took possession of Cuba and St. Domingo, and then returned in triumph to Spain. At Barcelona he was received by Ferdinand and Isabella with the utmost favor, and desired to sit covered, like a grandee of the realm. A fleet of seventeen ships was fitted out, and he undertook a second voyage, which ended in disappointment; but during a third, on the 1st of August, 1498, he discovered the continent of America, and carried six of the natives to St. Domingo, as evidence of his success. But the great navigator was doomed to humiliating reverses: his enemies prevailed at Madrid; he was displaced from his offices, and sent home in chains. Being set at liberty on arrival, he undertook a fourth expedition, from which, after being shipwrecked on the island of Jamaica, he arrived in Spain in 1505; but Isabella having meantime died, he was allowed by Ferdinand to drag out his career in obscurity at Valladolid.

Ferdinand, after taking an important part in the Italian wars, where his general, Gonsalvo de Cordova, the Great Captain, signalized his military skill against the French, died in 1516, and an Austrian prince ascended the Spanish throne.