disturbances took place, one party shouting "Long live the absolute," and the other, "the constitutional King.”—The violence of Ferdinand's guards manifested itself in the most outrageous acts, and one of their own officers fell a victim to the intemperance which he sought in vain to repress. To this tumult a gloomy calm of two days succeeded-a calm, however, but too plainly not in the course of nature, but rather the precursor of a storm. Rumours were industriously circulated by the Court party that the King considered his life in danger, and had determined to take refuge in the Prado, which is a royal palace, situated about two leagues from Madrid; on the other hand, the liberal papers indulged in the severest invectives against the Court, and the temper and spirit of the household troops. Thus things remained till the evening of the 2d of July, when four battalions, amounting to between 1500 and 2000 men, evinced symptoms of insubordination, and, after displaying much disorder and tumult, raised the standard of revolt. As if by previous concert, they deserted the posts where they were stationed on guard; and two battalions from the quarter of St. Isabel met two battalions from other quarters; and having first taken up a hostile position on the parade ground of the guards, they proceeded to the Prado. Here the mutineers, after having massacred several of their own officers whom they suspected of being too constitutional, not only refused the general amnesty which was offered them, but actually proceeded to dictate terms. In the mean time, their cause was joined by two other battalions, who were on guard in the palace, and may be said to have had the whole Royal Family in a state of, if not bondage, at least surveillance. As it was thought that the King's presence in the palace rather encouraged the mutineers, it was resolved in a Council of State to invite his Majesty to separate himself from his mutinous guards, and repair with his family to the hall of the Municipality. To the surprise of every one, however, Ferdinand answered, "My guards are not mutinous; let me put myself at their head, and you will see whether they do not obey me." The council, upon this, made the strongest repre

sentations as to the state of the capital, upon which his Majesty announced that he would attend in person a new council to be held on the evening of the 5th. The result of this sitting was not known until the evening of the 6th, during the entire of which day the guards continued their mutinous negociations. At three o'clock, however, on the morning of the 7th, the four battalions who had encamped on the Prado threw down one of the city gates, and penetrated into the capital. Their plan, as it appears, was to form themselves into three divisions, one of which was to attack the park of artillery; another to disarm the national militia which had encamped in the Square of the Constitution; and the third to take possession of the Puerta del Sol, and to guard the streets which led to it. The government, it seems, were apprized of the determination of the mutineers; and the militia and armed inhabitants under General Morillo, assisted by Generals Ballasteros and Riego, assembled to oppose them. The part which General Morillo acted upon this occasion is particularly remarkable, and fully proves the opinion which, at least, he entertains as to the permanency of the old system. Our readers cannot forget that this was the distinguished officer who had fought for Ferdinand during all the Peninsular campaigns, and who had subsequently, with a comparatively small force, supported the royalist cause of Old Spain against the revolt of Bolivar. The King had, on the 2d, appointed him Colonel of the two regiments of foot guards (the mutineers), under the idea, no doubt, of the leaning which he might naturally be supposed to have against the constitutional system. Morillo accordingly presented himself to the troops of the Prado and of the palace in order to take their command; they, however, obstinately refused to receive him unless he entered into their views, upon which, after courageously remonstrating with them on their rebellion, he repaired to the capital. Riego, who had returned to Madrid on the 2d, wished for an immediate attack on the mutineers, which was, however, suspended at the request of Morillo, in order to give him an opportunity of making this fruitless personal appeal. All negociations

were at last abruptly concluded by the movement of the household troops, who relied, no doubt, upon their superior discipline against the hastily organised militia and citizens opposed to them. They, in their first irruption, having dislodged the guard at the post-office, charged into the great square, where there were two thousand of the national militia posted, with two pieces of artillery. They were immediately fired on with dreadful effect, and obliged, after the loss of one hundred men, to retreat upon the palace, where, it will be remembered, the two other mutinous battalions had taken up their position. In the mean time, all the avenues to this position were possessed and carefully guarded by the patriotic levies. In this critical situation of affairs, the permanent deputation of the Cortes, who were separated from the King's ministers, that had been shut up in the palace from the preceding day, convoked a junta, composed of some councillors of state and others, in order to deliberate upon a message to the King, to terminate in some way the horrors which surrounded them. The object of this message was a request to the King, to order the mutineers to lay down their arms, but this was considered inconsistent with the Royal dignity. In the end, however, the King agreed, that the four battalions who had committed the hostile aggression should immediately surrender their arms, and that the other two might be permitted to leave the capital with their arms, but divided from each other, and forced to give up to punishment such of their body as were participators in the murder of their officer, on the day of the prorogation of the Cortes. Orders having been accordingly given to this effect, the battalions who were condemned to the surrender of their arms took to flight. A detachment of artillery, militia, and cavalry, were sent in pursuit of them; they were soon overtaken; many were left dead on the field, and more than a third part were taken prisoners. On the morning of the 8th, the small party of the guards which had escaped on the preceding night presented themselves, and sued for pardon. At ten o'clock the auxiliary Bishop of Madrid said mass, in the

balcony of the great square, in the presence of the national militia and the garrison, to whom he afterwards gave the benediction. A Te Deum for this grand constitutional victory was then chaunted, at which the whole population of Madrid may be said to have been present. Ferdinand showed himself at one of the balconies of the palace, and made a profound obeisance to the national troops. Thus ended this extraordinary aggression, which is supposed to have had a much deeper source than the mere discontentment of a few battalions. Private letters say, that it was the result of a wellplanned conspiracy, at the head of which was no less a personage than the Duke del Infantado, one of the principal grandees of Spain. This nobleman, and 128 of his accomplices, are said to have been arrested. The liberal party, indeed, hesitate not to state, that the Duke was countenanced by still higher authority;-that it was the last struggle of expiring despotism;-the dying grasp of the monster ABSOLUTE LEGITIMACY. If this be true, the partizans of this exploded system must now clearly see that they have no longer any room for hope;-the last fires of the inquisition have been quenched in the blood of the mutineers. Nothing, indeed, appears more remarkable throughout this convulsion, than the concert exhibited between the national militia and the municipal authorities, except, perhaps, the coolness of the latter in-this trying emergency;-this, and the decided adhesion of Morillo to the cause of the constitution, must convince Ferdinand, that his only chance of retaining the name of King is the relinquishment of any future attempt to erase the name of the people. The municipality of Madrid have, indeed, spoken out in a language which even the Embroiderer cannot misunderstand, as our readers will see from the following extract from an address presented by that body to the King on the 9th of July. "It is still time, Sire, but perhaps it is the last time, to remedy the evil. The means are simple, and being once adopted, the social edifice will stand on such solid foundations, that neither the present generation, nor that which will replace our grandchildren, shall ever

see it shaken. But the first and the chief means consists in your Majesty's becoming, at last, convinced, that the real friends to your life and your glory are the defenders of the fundamental laws which guarantee them both; and in your placing yourself with sincerity at the head of the cause of the country, and giving public and particular pledges, that you consider yourself identified with it. In order to give the first proof that your Majesty has sincerely embraced that cause, nothing is so necessary as to appoint, in replacing the retired ministers, men known to be illustrious, and to be devoted to the system, and endowed with an energy and an activity capable of re-animating the public body, now languid and weak, through the bad faith of a great number, and through the indolence and intemperance of others. Your court, Sire, or rather your domestic circle, is composed (such is the public conviction) of permanent conspirators against liberty!"-Such was the language which Ferdinand was compelled to hear after these events, which it has been seen were followed by the immediate resignation of his cabinet. It behoves him well to attend to it-when a people, after such acts, speak such language, it is plain enough, that they are determined not to be trifled with. The priests and ultras seem, however, determined not to surrender their mammoth Moloch without a struggle. Every effort was made by them, through their corrupt press, to show that these disturbances took place through the machinations of the liberal party, and by the manœuvres of secret societies connected with them. In order to give a colour to such misrepresentations, a meeting is stated to have taken place, at the hotel of the British Ambassador, of all the foreign representatives at the Court of Madrid, and a note to the effect alluded to was proposed for their signature. The American Minister, however, with that dig nified determination worthy the representative of a free people, not only refused his concurrence, but openly declared that if any such document were issued, he would instantly meet it with his official contradiction. Indeed the unnecessary continuance of the Cordon Sanitaire,

and the unequivocal declarations of the French ultras, give but too much reason to suppose that the holy alliance fraternity have ramifications in their various neighbourhoods, active enough in the promotion of their anti-philanthropic objects. Accordingly, we find M. Gilbert des Voisons in the sitting of the French Chamber of Deputies, of the 15th, openly charging the administration with supplying means for the Spanish counter-revolution. Indeed, the sittings of the French Chamber present, in the conduct of the triumphant ultras, a striking contrast to the moderation displayed in Spain by the liberal party during their recent successes. Every debate teems with the vilest personal invective, and evinces but too plainly that in the minds of Louis's legitimate advisers might and right are convertible terms. If we are to credit the authority of private letters from Paris, it would seem as if the French Ul tras were infatuated enough to think of declaring actual war upon Spain; a contract, they say, has been just concluded by the Government for 10,000 artillery horses, all the absent officers have been ordered to their posts, and the conscripts for the year 1821 commanded to join the army. Notwithstanding all this, Spain has but little to fear, in our opinion, from these efforts, to dictate a submission to despotism to her people.

The conspiracy to which we alluded in our last as having taken place in Portugal, has received no fresh elucidation.

The Cortes ap

pear to have been chiefly occupied on the important question of giving independance to the Brazils, and very warm debates have taken place upon the subject. The committee appointed to draw up the Brazilian constitution have given it as their opinion, that an union between the two kingdoms was an utter impossibility; that the legislature must, for certain affairs, be necessarily different in each of the kingdoms; that the executive power cannot act in Brazil without a permanent and ample delegation, and that all its ramifications must be free from every dependance on Portugal. Such is the opinion of the committee, but no decision appears as yet to have been come to by the legislature itself.