Six Years in Biscay: comprising a personal narrative of the sieges of Bilbao in June 1835, and Oct. to Dec. 1836. and of the principal events which occurred in that city and the Basque provinces, during the years 1830 to 1837

Front matter

SIX YEARS IN BISCAY 1831 LON DON ; PRIMTBP BY STEWART ANU UIRIIAV, Ot, LI BAlLkY- /./, ir, /,,-,! ,',, .„„/>, H,r, ,-//■' C, ■„/,,// . /.„,„C„ri. SIX YEARS IN BISCAY: COMPRISING A PERSONAL NARRATIVE OF THE SIEGES OF BILBAO, IN JUNE 1835, AND OCT. TO DEC., 1836. AND OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS WHICH OCCURRED IN THAT CITY AND THE BASQUE PROVINCES, DURING THE YEARS 1830 to 1837. BY JOHN FRANCIS BACON. " Quæqvjai Pars ipsa miserrima vidi. " LONDON: .SMITH, ELDER AND CO., CORNIIILL MDCCCXXXVIII, CONTENTS. Introduction 1

Chapter I

Death of Ferdinand VII. — Rising of the Basque Provinces. — Proclamation of the Infante Don Carlos Isidro de Bourbon, as King of Spain, by the Style and Title of Charles V. — Supplies forwarded to Vitoria and Navarre from Bilbao. — Arms and Emissaries sent into Castille, followed by some Troops. — The Carlist Junta of Castille — occupy the Merindades, and push their Advance to the Gates of Burgos. — Expedition to Tolosa — Evacuation of that City by the Christinos. — March of Sarsfield and his Army from Burgos — defeats the Carlists at Penacerrada — enters Vitoria. — The Count Armildez de Toledo defeats the Carlists at Castille, near Medina de Pomar. — March of Sarsfield upon Bilbao. — Flight of the Carlists. — Sarsfield enters Bilbao 129 October 3 — November 26.

Chapter II

Sarsfield leaves Bilbao, after naming the Count Armildez de Toledo as Commandant-general of Biscay. — Arrival of General Valdez to take the Command of the Northern CONTENTS. VI Army. — Affair at Guernica. — Brigadier Yriarte enters Bilbao.— The Count Armildez named to the Viceroyalty o Navarre : General Espartero his Successor in Biscay. — Activity of Valdez — is succeeded by Quesada. — Zumala carreguy takes the Command of the Basque Forces. — Attempt upon Vitoria, and Failure. — Massacre at Heredia. — Corps of Cazadores de Isabel raised in Bilbao. — Activity of the Carlist Partizans. — Reverses of the Christinos in Alva and Navarre. — Imbecile Conduct of the Queen's Generals. — D. Carlos arrives in Spain 156

Chapter III

General Rodil succeeds to the supreme command of Navarre, and the Basque provinces ; he presses vigorously the Pretender — tactics of the Carlist chieftains. — Capture of the Carlist Commandant of Biscay, and several Officers, by the Spanish Frigate Perla. — Espartero continues his operations in Biscay. — Reverses of the Queen's forces. — Rodil resigns ; is succeeded by Mina. — Decree of the government, deciding the right of presentation to various livings to belong to the diputacion. — Mina defeats the Navarrese. — Winter campaign. — Carlists appear before Bilbao, and burn the Mills. — Brigadier Iriarte replaces Espartero in the command of the province. — Mina, from ill health, resigns the command of the Northern Army, and is succeeded by Valdez, now minister of war. — The Carlists reduce several of the small garrisons in Navarre. — The Eliot treaty. — Iriarte totally defeated at Guernica. — Valdez beaten in the Amescuas. — Espartero attempts to relieve Villafranca, and is routed. — Abandonment and fall of the small garrisons in the provinces 175

Chapter IV

First Siege of Bilbao, June 10th to July 2nd, 1837 CONTENTS. VII

Chapter V

General Cordova arrives and takes the command of the Army. — Carlists testify their Vexation at the Interference of the English. — Attack on the Ringdove's Boat. — H. M.S. Royalist comes into the River. — The armed Schooner, Isabel, sent from Santander to join the Squadron in the River. — Carlists under General Maroto blockade the Town. — Cordova, with the Army, having gone towards Alava. — Battle of Mendigorria. — Boat of the Isabel fired upon, and Lieutenant Pike made Prisoner. — Boats of the Royalist attacked. — Remon strances of Captain Lapidge unattended to. — Part of the British Legion arrive at Portagalete. ■ — Lord John Hay de tained by the Carlists when passing up the River in the Ringdove's Cutter. — Blockade raised by the advance of Es partero and Ezpeleta. — General Evans, with the entire Le gion, comes to Bilbao. — Fortifications on the River. — Battle of Arrigorriaga (11 Sept.) — Ezpeleta and Espartero leave Bilbao. — General Evans, with the Legion, march round by Castro and Limpias, through the Merindades, to Vitoria. — The Battalion of Royal Marine? arrive in Bilbao. — Hostility of the Cordova Party to the Biscay Provinces, and to Bilbao in particular. — Famous Decree of the Blockade. — Its pro bable Causes. — Effect thereof upon the Trade of the Garrison Town. — Actions at Arlaban. — Siege of Guetaria. — Balma seda taken by Eguia. — Plencia taken by Eguia. — Lequeitio surrenders to the Carlists. — Cordova completely outgene ralled. — San Sebastian blockaded. — British Legion; with General Evans, returns to the Coast, — land at San Sebastian, and defeat the Carlists. — Cordova attacks the Carlists and claims a Victory — goes to Madrid. — Isturiz Ministry. — Return of Cordova to the Army. — Excursion of San Miguel to Somorrostro. — Gomez marches westward, defeats Tello, and plunges into the Asturias. — Espartero follows, keeping always one day behind. — Carlists attack Evans and are repulsed 26- CONTENTS.

VIII

Chapter VI

Second Siege of Bilbao, first Investment, Oct. 23 to Nov. 8 . .331

Chapter VIII

Occurrences in the town after the siege. — Severe sickness among the soldiery and the inhabitants. — Decree of the Cortes respecting the town. — Arrival of the division of Narvaez, and their transfer to San Sebastian, — Projected combination of the armies of Espartero, Sarsfield, and Evans. — Espartero marches, defeats the enemy, and enters Durango. — Sarsfield obliged, by the weather, to return to Pampluna. — Evans repulsed on the 16th March. — Espartero returns to Bilbao. — Renewal of the winter. — More troops sent to San Sebastian, and four battalions to Santander. — The Guards, and the Commander-in-Chief leave Bilbao for San Sebastian. — Concentration of the Army round San Sebastian. — Combats of the 3d and 6th May. — March of the main Army of the Carlists to the South-East. — Capture of Hernani, Irun, and Fuenterabia. — Progress of the Carlist Expeditionary Army. — Departure of General Evans, and breaking up of the Legion. — March of General Espartero across Navarre to Pampluna. — Sketch of the other Events of the Campaign. — Conclusion 438 Appendix LIST OF THE EMBELLISHMENTS.

Plan of the town and vicinity of Bilbao . . Frontispiece. PACE View in the town of Bilbao, with the Morro hill in the distance ...... 207 The Puente Nueva, with the mountains of Ollargan and Pena, from the Paseo de Miraflores . . . 280 View of the ruins of San Augustine, and of the principal defences of the town ; taken after the siege . . 428 The pass of Luchana, with the convent of El Desierto in the distance ; taken from under Montecabras . PERSONAL NARRATIVE OF THE SIEGES OF BILBAO.

Introduction

. Previously to entering upon the narrative to which this volume is more particularly devoted, it may not be uninteresting to offer a few obser vations on that mighty contest of principles and dynasty now desolating Spain ; of which the Basque provinces are, and have been the principal theatre, and the sieges of Bilbao the most animating episodes. The author having resided in the Peninsula from the beginning of 1830 to May 1837, five years of which interval were passed in Bilbao, his narrative has been compiled entirely from personal observations ; and, although these introductory remarks have not the same authority, it is hoped that they will be found to

INTRODUCTION.

. be tolerably accurate. In a question of principles and dynasty, it is as absurd to expect impartiality in a writer, as to suppose each of the contending parties to be in the right; which is impossible. It is the province of the writer to collect all the facts bearing upon the case which his observations or researches may elicit, and then to deduce his conclusions, which the reader may adopt or repu diate, as his judgment may incline. That the elements of a furious conflict of prin ciples have long been gathering in the Peninsula does not admit of a doubt. Placed at the tail of France, — often the theme of her jest, always her dupe, — her Bourbon cabinet obeying obse quiously the mandates from the Tuilleries, — with an absolute monarch, and an equally absolute priesthood controlling all activity, whether of the mind or body, — the progress of the age was never theless not without its effects upon Spain.

The pride and luxury of the king were interested in the cultivation of the exact and physical sciences ; for these concerned the safety of his dominions, those his personal enjoyments ; and such is the beautiful bond which connects the entire circle of the sciences, that advancement in one branch, in variably leads to improvement in the others. The Spanish mathematicians and naturalists of the eighteenth century* will bear honourable com- * D. Jorge Juan, Ulloa, Mendoza Rios, Malespina, Tofino Churruca, Cavanillas, Azara, Mutis, and many others.

INTRODUCTION.

. 3 parison with those of France and England : by their side flourished, as statesmen and legislators, Ward, Campomanes, the Count Aranda, Jovella nos, Sempere and others, who, although ministers of the crown, were not the less inclined to introduce gradual reforms into the administration, and to improve the education of the people ; and in this arduous but invaluable public duty, which continually involved them in dangerous disputes with the formidable hierarchy, they met with constant support from that excellent and en lightened prince, the third Charles. With the dynasty of Bourbon, a taste for French literature began to be slowly diffused in Spain : some of the best, and many of the worst French authors were translated; and, although those of the ancient school bestowed upon these writers and their imitators, the title of " Gallicists," their influence continually increased, and, in the latter half of the eighteenth century, the philosophy of the Encyclopedists was as powerfully felt in Spain as in any other part of Europe.

Slowly emerging from its long repose, beholding those dogmas, which had been so long implicitly believed with out examination, crumble away before the touch of true philosophy, based upon experiment and facts alone, the human mind in Spain became in volved in that state of doubt which usually marks every great revolution in matters of belief. To be sceptical, is easy ; but, to disentangle truth, when r

INTRODUCTION.

. interwoven with error and falsehood, is laborious and difficult. As in most countries, few chose the latter ; many embraced the former alternative : in both instances fanaticism and despotic rule re ceived severe and deadly wounds ; but while the few sought and found, in the pure doctrines of Christianity, undefiled by human inventions, that serene confidence of mind which it alone can in spire, others wandered in the cold shadow of in fidelity, or blind Pyrronism ; or else, in the hour of death or danger, paralyzed by fear, their souls relapsed into deeper superstition, and they strove with gifts and largesses to buy forgiveness from their Creator. Of the numerous orders of the regular clergy in Spain, the Benedictines, Augus tines, and Jesuits are the most celebrated for their learning ; while the mendicant orders are the most ignorant, indeed they are almost wholly recruited from the peasantry,* to whom a life of lazy indo lence, and implicit obedience to their superiors, seems to be as attractive as to the Egyptians of old. * St. Athanasius, in his biography of St. Anthony (the Egyptian monk), declares that thousands of able-bodied peasants were buried in the monastic solitudes of Upper Egypt; that Alex andria contained a countless multitude of these holy men ; but even this, though a tolerable allowance, was nothing com pared to the city of Oxyrinchus, where the number of monks surpassed that of the other inhabitants. Biifinus in Vita Patrum, c 7. page 461., as quoted by Gibbon, vol. iv. p. 394. edit. 1828.

INTRODUCTION.

. The impudence, knavery, and low debauchery of these battalions of the standing army of Rome had long excited the disgust of the better-in formed classes in Spain ; but these feelings were indulged in secret, for the open expression of them would have been unsafe, since the doctrine of forgiveness of injuries formed no part of the creed of the followers of St. Francis or St. Do minic. A Benedictine monk, the celebrated Father Feijoo, safe beneath the cowl, ventured to attack these useful but disgraceful allies of papal power. His success was immense, and his writings, whose satire consisted in their truth, gave a deep wound to the mendicant orders, and, through them, to fanaticism and superstition in every shape. Thus the increase of education among the more affluent classes was continually sapping the influence of the hierarchy, and even inducing people to canvass, with a freedom hitherto unknown, the measures of the sovereign.

Next came the mighty revolution in France, and the wars arising out of it, by impoverishing the coun try, compelled both monarch and minister to listen to the just complaints of an oppressed people ; and so popular had the idea of a representative government become, in the latter part of the eighteenth century, that the convocation of Cortes was openly discussed. The disasters of the war with Great Britain only increased the growing discontents of the

INTRODUCTION.

. country, and the belief that the then existing form of government could not continue ; which soon received ample verification when the French emperor, tired of cheating and degrading unfor tunate Spain, kidnapped her monarch and all his family, poured his armies into the country, and placed his brother, as his lieutenant, upon the throne. This arbitrary and precipitate step much embarrassed the partisans of reform and the representative system ; for having imbibed their ideas on these subjects chiefly from French sources, and usually counting upon the assistance of France in regenerating their country, they found them selves in direct hostility to those whom they re garded as their masters. To league with the invader was to submit to insult, and to disclaim their nationality ; to join the nation in its struggle against Napoleon was probably to perpetuate the very abuses they strove to amend : never theless the liberals, (for such that party was now termed) did not hesitate ; but, with few exceptions, flung themselves into the foremost ranks of opposition to France, and were rewarded, perhaps, beyond their hopes, by the summoning of the Cortes, the direction of public affairs, the reform of abuses, and the new-modelling of the govern ment, which, in their hands, was so effectually altered, that from being the most absolute monarchy in Europe, as far as ink and paper could go, it became the most strictly limited of all

INTRODUCTION.

. limited monarchies. But here the zeal of the liberals outran their judgment : experience and practice gave way to theory ; the result was, that the first shock showed their edifice to be con structed on the sands : Ferdinand returned, and, at his nod, the fabric of the Cortes disappeared. However, the long war, the intercourse with Eng land, the decline of the church, and the increase of the middle classes of society, rendered a com pletely retrograde movement impossible; nay, a few years manifested to the king and the serviles, that their sweeping abolition of the Cortes and their reformations were as distasteful to the nation as the organic changes introduced by that body had been. The loss of the Spanish colonies may also be considered as one of the causes of the present war ; retaining, as it did in the Peninsula, a crowd of aspirants for place and power, who were previously disposed of in the vast American dominions of Spain ; and this has increased the elements of discord and dissatisfaction.

Men who would obey without scruple a government that gave them fat benefices and good commands, begin to talk about reform when nothing is to be had. With out despoiling the church, I do not see how the thousands of unemployed Pretendientes* who * Pretendientes "a Spanish word signifying all those who seek situations under government, and, in fact, all persons who pretend to favours or places of any sort."

INTRODUCTION.

. formerly were provided for in the Americas, are to be distributed. To a nation, the loss of her colonies is like that of a limb to the human body; the circulation is increased in the other members. When Great Britain lost the thirteen American colonies, she still retained a great many, which became yearly more valuable ; at the same time she gained in the East Indies more than she lost in America, and thus the patronage and field for emigration was increased instead of diminished ; but Spain lost all hers, except three, which offer comparatively little patronage, and no field for emigration : thus the home country must find room for all her children, and society must be roughly shaken ere that can be done. Perhaps the day when Great Britain loses her colonies will be the signal for a civil war; for the continually growing artificial state of society, engendering dis content, will hardly bear such a rude shock with out breaking up into a state of anarchy.

Then came the insurrection of the Isla de Leon, and the re-establishment of the Constitution, the civil war originating in the Pyrennees, supported by France, afterwards spreading over the remainder of the kingdom. The new Cortes of 1820 — 3 did not seem to have profited much by past experience ; their legislation was crude and theoretical as before ; still, however, they reformed numerous abuses. The sale of the property of the regulars was absolutely necessary, and not

INTRODUCTION.

. 9 less so, the closing of the convents ; for the hostility of the regular clergy could neither be ap peased nor disarmed. It was but prudence. therefore, to incapacitate them from doing mis chief. Notwithstanding the errors of the Cortes, considering that the king was with them, and that his brother Charles, although approving of the conduct of the absolutists, had not ventured to join them, it is probable that the struggles, after enduring for years, might have ended in a compromise, had not the whole power of France been thrown into the scale of the serviles, when that of the liberals " directly quick up flew and kicked the beam."* The king was restored to his full absolute power ; all the acts of the Cortes were annulled ; the * A curious instance of the lukewarmness in the cause of free dom and the representative system, among the officers of the army, is presented by the following anecdote of General Piqucro.

When King Ferdinand returned from France, this man commanded the regiment of Malaga. On his receiving a copy of the decree of the 4th May, by which the Cortes were dissolved, and the sovereign declared absolute, it appeared to him an opportunity not to be lost of making his way at court. Under his direction and influence, an address was sent to the king, purporting to be from the regiment and himself, wherein was solicited the singular honour of carrying chains embroidered upon their colours, as a proof of their entire and implicit obedience to the will of the ab solute monarch ! All this was most graciously conceded by the king, and the address, with the privilege granted, published in the Madrid Gazette. The " chains" were borne on the colours

INTRODUCTION.

. church property sold was taken from the pur chasers and restored to the original owners, the ceremony of returning the purchase money being dispensed with. The Carlists reigned all powerful at Madrid and over the provinces ; their op ponents sought safety in flight or concealment. The ten years following was one continual reign of terror for the liberals, who were plundered and imprisoned on the slightest pretexts: the army was purged of all officers suspected of liberalism, and their places were filled by a motley gang of adventurers, friars, smugglers, mechanics, pub licans, and muleteers, who had been officers in the guerilla bands of Cataluiia and Navarre. The fatal effects of this proceeding on the Spanish army will be shewn hereafter ; even the military forces thus reorganised and officered were still regarded with suspicion by the Carlists ; and an enormous force,* consisting solely of their ados the regiment, until the second epoch of the Constitution, when they were disused.

Yet this man, Piquero, who in this instance had carried servility and adulation to the utmost, became, in 1821, a furious exaltado, for whom no reform was sufficiently sweeping, no government sufficiently democratic. * In 1832 this force consisted of 500 battalions of infantry, 51 squadrons of cavalry, and 24 companies of artillery, with 3 companies of sappers and miners, amounting in all to above 300,000 men ! exclusive of the " free companies of Cataluna," and the "Tercios" of the Basque provinces, and Navarre, equal to 50,000 more; Biscay alone raising 14,658. See Guia de Foresteros, published 1833.

INTRODUCTION.

. herents, which in a few years numbered above three hundred thousand men, was organised in the provinces. Notwithstanding the arbitrary rule of the Car lists, the country, after a few years of peace, began to improve, and even assume an air of prosperity. The short-lived insurrection of Bessieres, and the more serious troubles of Cataluiia in 1827, the work of the ultra-royalists, were soon appeased ; new roads were opened, others commenced, the internal communications were continually improv ing, and, on the king's marriage with the Princess Christina, the rigorous proceedings of the govern ment against the Constitutionalists were much alleviated, and several permitted to return to Spain. This lenity to the fallen liberals greatly exasperated the ultra Carlists, in whom time had abated nothing of their animosity.

They were favoured by the outbreak of the revolution of July 1830, and the ill-judged invasion of the Basque provinces by Mina : next came the sad expedition of Torrijos and his companions — their betrayal and massacre ; and it was feared that the liberal party would suffer a severer pro scription than ever ; but Ferdinand had the good sense to reject the sanguinary councils of Tra sierra and Calomarde; the liberals, though closely watched, were not persecuted.

INTRODUCTION.

. The birth of a daughter,* while it gratified the king, naturally increased the queen's influence ; the Carlists by this event were in a manner para lysed : the question of the succession was fiercely disputed at their meetings, and the prophecy of the Spanish historians was on the eve of fulfil ment, whenever the king's death should take place. A schism arose among the Carlists, and, as the pretended Salic law never had any weight in Spain, thousands of the Carlists declared their belief in the right of succession being vested in the king's daughter, in default of a son. Mean time, the open and unconcealed hostility of the ultra Carlists to the queen compelled her, unless she chose to sacrifice the rights of her daughter, to look for friends and support in another quarter; hence, she exercised her influence with the king The Count O'Neil had stopped in his carriage, in the Calle Montera, to speak to a friend of the author, on the day of the birth of the Princess Isabel.

On hearing the first cannon fired, both ceased speaking, and listened attentively to count the number of guns. At nineteen there was a dead pause ; then, after a long silence, O'Neil covered his face with his hands, and throwing himself back in the carriage, exclaimed, "Alas! unhappy Spain, grief and mourning will cover the land." ("Ay! infeliz Espana, estaras cubierta de luto y duelo.") He spoke prophetically; two of his sons have already fallen fighting on different sides, with num bers of his friends. t The Prebend Solan y Blanco — Comm. on Mariana, Hist. de Espana, vol. xviii. edit. Madrid, 1820-3.

INTRODUCTION.

. 13 to remove some of the disabilities under which the Constitutionalists laboured ; Murillo the fa mous Count of Carthagena, the Prince of An glona, Arguelles the statesman, and many others were suffered to return to Spain, and were even graciously received by the king at his court. It is time to say a few words on the famous question of the succession. I shall not insult my readers by supposiug it necessary to inform them, that there have been queens of Spain in the olden time, before the accession of the house of Bourbon. The names of Dona Urraca, and Dona Berenguela,* of the famous Doha Isabel, the patron of Columbus, of her daughter Doha Juana, the wife of the Arch duke Philip, and mother of the great Emperor Charles V., of Germany, and I. of Spain, are familiar to all acquainted with Spanish history.

Nor is the crown of Aragon without similar ex amples : witness Doha Petronila, daughter of Ramiro, el Monge, [the monk] so called, because he was taken, by the states of Aragon, out of the * Speaking of this princess, the Franciscan friar Negrete says, " Dona Berenguela aunque virtuosa por otro lado, sue tambien otra usurpadora. Sus Virtudes no pudieron hacer que dejase de ser muger." " Dona Berenguela, although virtuous, was still only an usurpress. Even her virtues could not prevent her being a very woman." Be it remarked, that this lady was about as much an usurpress, as the English Queen Elizabeth. The last sentence is just what might be expected from a filthy-minded monk, always uncharitable to the sex.

INTRODUCTION.

. monastery to be their king, to whom, at his decease, succeeded his daughter Petronila. In Biscay it is well known that the sisters of D. Nuno, the nineteenth lord of Biscay (who died childless), were married to D. Tello, brother to Peter the Cruel, and to D. Juan, of Aragon, his cousin. D. Tello, in right of his wife, was pro claimed Senor de Biscaya ; but, quarrelling with his brother, he was driven from the country, and his wife, Dona Juana, put to death by Peter. D. Juan of Aragon then asked the lordship of the king, in right of his wife, Doha Isabel, which so enraged the tyrant, that he slew him, by throwing him out of the window of a house in Bilbao; he also killed his wife. On the death of Peter the Cruel, Henry of Trastamare recon firmed D. Tello in the lordship, at whose death without issue, it reverted to the crown of Castille, from which it has not since been separated.

Again, it is notorious, that as the house of Austria derived their rights to the throne of Spain through a woman, so the house of Bourbon can only sub stantiate their title to the crown by the female side ; nor is their claim any of the best, for Philip V., the first of the Spanish Bourbons, was the grandson of the younger daughter of Philip IV. ; whereas his rival, the Archduke Charles, was the grandson of the elder daughter of that monarch ; consequently, when the Infante Don Carlos at tempts to deprive his niece of the throne, he

INTRODUCTION.

. 15 infringes the very law from which his own title is derived. But it may be alleged, that Philip V. established the Salic law, thus cutting off, for the future, all right to the female succession. Now, it is per fectly clear that this decree was totally arbitrary on the part of Philip,— that he made the law " motu proprio," without the Cortes in full con vocation having given their assent : for the king ordered away all such as were unfavourable to his views, and even against the remonstrance of the Council of Castilla.* Nevertheless, waving that objection, it is clear that whatever right Philip V. possessed to alter and change the old laws of the realm at his pleasure, his descendants had an equal right to restore things to their ancient footing; which was done, first by Charles IV., * It has been asserted in a newspaper (Times, 24th August, 1837), that the English minister, Livingstone, and the French ambassador were present, and offered no opposition.

It would have been, indeed, extraordinary, had the envoy of France op posed a measure of which he, in all probability, was the principal instigator. That Livingstone made no remonstrance, is certainly more to be wondered at, but it is by no means clear that he did not. Beyond a simple remonstrance or representation he would not go, because, the king of Spain having a male heir, there was no apparent probability of a female possessing the throne. The peace of Utrecht had stipulated that the crowns of Spain and France should never be united, and the ministers of George I. would scarcely think of involving the nation in a war for an abstract question.

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. secondly by the Cortes of 1812, who solemnly revoked the decree of Philip V., re-established the old law of the Partidas (si fijo varon nin oviese, sigue la hembraj, and the right of female succes sion. Nor can the impartial judgment of the Cortes ever be disputed ; for when they decided this question, there was not the most remote chance of a female .successor to the Spanish throne. Howbeit, to make assurance doubly sure, King Ferdinand called a general Cortes, before whom the edict of Philip V. was again repealed, and his daughter, the Infante Isabel, sworn to, as Princess of the Asturias. Among the works circulated by the Carlists in favour of their leader's right to the crown, was a small pamphlet, written by Friar Negrete, the prior of the Franciscans of Bilbao.* This personage prefaces his book with two extracts from the Partidas (L. 2, title 13, par. 2 ; and L. 10, title 13, par. 2,) the first of which intimates " that a loyal people will do all they can to please the king;" and the second informs us, " that a loyal people ought to know and prefer those things which are * This father Negrete was a chief leader of the Carlist faction in the Basque provinces, an adept at intrigues of all sorts.