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but be a momentous concern; and the king sanctioned the measures proposed by the war-department for completing the fortifications commenced on several points of the frontiers, in which labour from 10 to 12,000 workmen were to be employed during the winter season. At the same time a perfect coalescence between the northern and southern provinces of the kingdom was effected by the abolition of the whole line of customhouses between them.

The failure of the harvest, and consequent scarcity of the necessaries of life, prevalent in the Netherlands as in so many other parts of Europe, occasioned a clashing of interests in different portions of the kingdom, which was the cause of warm debate in the assembly of the states. Holland, which had been accustomed to derive its chief subsistence from foreign commerce, and had thereby become a great mart of corn as an article of free importation and exportation, was unwilling to acquiesce in those restrictions on the corn trade which some of the Belgic provinces, reduced to great necessity, represented as essential to preserve them from famine. After much consideration, his Majesty, on December 20th, proposed to the legislative body a law on the subject in the following terms:

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dom as a measure liable to very great inconveniences, as it might have the effect of interrupting the ordinary course of the trade in corn, and suspend or lessen the importation:

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That, however, a partial prohibition may be attended with salutary consequences for the inhabitants of some provinces, and particularly of those which, by their situation, and by the prohibitory laws of the neighbouring states, have not to expect any direct supply of foreign corn: For these reasons, by the advice of our Council of State, and in conjunction with the States-General, we have ordained, as we ordain by these presents:

"Art. 1. It is forbidden to export wheat, rye, barley, oats, or meal of any kind whatsoever, by the land frontier of the kingdom, to countries whence it is not permitted to export those articles to the Netherlands.

"Art. 2. We reserve it to ourself to extend the said prohibition to other articles of food, and to revoke it entirely, or in part, as circumstances shall require.

"Art. 3. The corn, and other articles of food, included in the above prohibition, or in that of the 20th of Nov. 1816, the exportation of which shall notwithstanding be attempted directly or indirectly, shall be confiscated, and the trespassers condemned, besides, to pay a fine of one thousand florins.

CHAPTER

CHAPTER XII.

Spain.-Weakness and Fluctuations of the Government.—Character of the King-Change of Ministry.-Matrimonial Connections between the Courts of Spain and Portugal.-Conspiracy ut Madrid.- Decree respecting Religious Orders.-Property of Jesuits restored.-Prisoners at Ceuta removed.-Royal Nuptials.-General Pardon, with great Exceptions.-Portugal: its Commerce flourishing -Brazil declared a Kingdom.-Naples.-Treaty with the Piratical States.-Sicilian Papers excluded from Naples.-Transactions with the United States of America. Decree respecting the Political Relations between the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily.-Rome insulted by Pirates and Banditti.-Torture forbidden in the Inquisition.-Security declared to Purchasers of National Property.-Confiscation no longer permitted to the Profit of the Inquisition. Negociations of the Church of Rome with France.-Venice.

THE beginning of the year HE beginning of the year afforded a melancholy view of the state of the kingdom of Spain, which seems to have been freed from internal war and the shackles of foreign dominion, only to be re-delivered to that system of weak and arbitrary government, under which it has s long been declining in the scale of Europe. In the capital and the principal cities, the spirit of freedom was at this time so far subjugated, that the discontents which subsisted, were buried in secrecy: but in the northern and frontier provinces, parties of guerillas were roaming uncontrolled, many of them composed of the dispersed insurgents under Porlier, and of soldiers become deserters for want of pay. The public finances were in a wretched situation; and the measures of administration were perpetually changing. This fluctuation may in great part be ascribed VOL. LVIII.

to the personal character of the monarch, distinguished by restless activity, and impatience of all opposition to his will. It is said of him, that "He sees every thing, decides every thing, and watches over all the parts of the administration. Supreme master, his dispositions experience no delay; his wishes are instantly executed. This explains the rapidity of events at court." One of these, which excited much surprize at Madrid on the 21st of January, was a total change in the ministry The principal minister, Cevallos, was, however, announced in a Gazette extraordinary of the 26th, as restored to all his functions, his Majesty signing with his own hand the following declaration: "Considering as unfounded, the motives which induced me to order your discharge from the office of my first secretary of state, and of the [K] cabinet ;

cabinet; and being highly satisfied with the zeal, exactitude, and affection, with which in the cruelest times you have served myself and the state, I re-instate you in the use and exercise of your offices, of which you will immediately take charge." From the same royal decree, it may be learned, that the King had been alarmed by reports of public discontents; for the extraordinary commissions for the trial of state offenders are abolished, and they are remitted to the ordinary tribunals; and the use of the party appellations of liberales and serviles is forbidden. The other dismissed ministers were not restored, but other emoluments and honours were conferred upon them. Such, however, was the mutability of the royal counsels, that the abolition of the commissions was soon after revoked.

In February a royal decree was made public, informing the royal council, that the King, in order to strengthen the bonds of relationship between the families of Spain and Portugal, had treated with the Prince of Brazil, for an union between himself and the second daughter of the Prince, his own niece, the Infanta Maria Isabel Francisca; and another union between the Infant of Spain Don Carlos, and the third daughter of the same Prince, the Infanta Maria Francisca de Asis; and that full powers had been given for concluding these matrimonial contracts. The Duke of Infantado, president of the council of Castile, was nominated to go in state to Cadiz, for the purpose of receiving these Princesses on their landing from Bra

zil. Meanwhile, there being a great deficiency of money, expedients were resorted to for replenishing the treasury, one of which was, that it should be open for receipt, but shut for pay

ment.

About this time a conspiracy was detected at Madrid, the object of which is reported to have been the destruction of the king and his brothers. It had for some time been remarked, that an unusual number of discharged guerilla officers without pay had resorted to the capital, and suspicions were thence excited, which at length produced the discovery of a plot. Many persons were in consequence arrested, among whom were names well known in the history of the late war; and they were examined by torture. General O'Donoghue, who was one of the apprehended, was afterwards discharged. The conspiracy, of which nothing was made known by authority, appears to have been suppressed without any public commotion.

In July the King issued a long decree, in which, after lamenting the corruption of morals and doctrine effected in Spain by the late war, he announced his intention of employing in future the religious orders in the education of youth, and mentioned, that he had obtained permission from the Pope, that some of the nuns should be abstracted from their devotional exercises in convents, and engaged in the education of females. That the reestablishment of the company of Jesus might be effected as speedily as possible, he declared his sovereign will, that all the houses, colleges,

colleges, funds and rents, of which it had been deprived at the suppression, and which still exist, should be restored to it.

The rigors of despotic police were in the meantime exercising throughout the kingdom, seizures being made, it is said, in every town, and even every village, of all persons meeting in the street at a certain hour. A measure put in practice with respect to the patriots of the late Cortes confined at Ceuta, struck terror among all the friends of freedom. On the 19th of July, they were taken out of their beds at the dead of night, carried on board a xebec under a strong escort of soldiers, loaded with irons, and conveyed no one knew whither.

On Sept. 28th, the new Queen arrived in Madrid, when the royal nuptials were consummated, with those of the King's brother and the Queen's sister. On this occasion his Majesty "wishing to signalize the happy day by a mark of his royal mercy," published a "general pardon to all delinquents capable of receiving it," which description excluded the following crimes lese-majesty; divine and human treason; homicide of priests; blasphemy; fabricating false money; exporting prohibited articles; resistance to justice, and malversation of the royal powers; with some others. Hence it appears, that a large scope was still left for the indulgence of royal vengeance against the class of patriots and reformers. It must, however, be admitted, that an established government cannot be blamed for taking preeautionary measures for protecting itself, and preserving the general tranquillity

The important and still wholly unsettled affairs of Spanish America, will be brought under consideration when the events of that quarter of the world claim our attention.

Portugal, governed by a regency during the residence of its sovereign in Brazil, is reported to be flourishing in commerce, partly at the expense of the rest of the peninsula. Several rich mercantile houses from Malaga and Cadiz have established themselves in this kingdom, the more liberal spirit of which has favoured the settlement of foreigners. It is even affirmed, that religious toleration has extended so far as to have allowed the German merchants to open a Protestant place of worship in Lisbon, notwithstanding the opposition of the clergy. The trade with both Indies was so much extended, that in the year 1815, 490 vessels laden with European produce, sailed for South America alone, bringing back a very valuable importation.

The additional importance attached to the Transatlantic colonies since they were personally known to the sovereign was manifested by a decree published at Rio-de-Janeiro, in December 1815. The Prince Regent of Portugal (as was then his title) after alluding to the vast extent of his dominions in America, and the abundance and variety of the elements of riches which they contain, remarks the advantages which would result to his subjects from a perfect union of interests between his territories in Europe and in Brazil. He therefore declares from the present time, the State of Brazil raised to [K 2]

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the dignity and denomination of a kingdom; and orders, that in future the kingdoms of Portugal, the two Algarves, and Brazil, shall form one sole kingdom, under the title of United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil, and the Two Algarves. The transactions in that part of the world will hereafter be mentioned.

The kingdom of Naples was visited at the beginning of the year with a pestilential disease, (apparently the true plague) which broke out at Noia, on its eastern coast, said to have been brought by infection from a Turkish ship. As soon as it was discovered, a strict cordon was drawn round the place by the Austrian troops, which appear to have this weak monarchy still under guard, whereby it was prevented from spreading; and after committing considerable ravages, it was finally extinguished.

The situation and the weakness of this kingdom, having exposed it to the depredations of the piratical states of Barbary, Lord Exmouth, as the British naval commander in the Mediterranean, undertook in the spring to mediate a peace for the King with the Dey of Algiers, which at that time could not be effected without an agreement for paying a large sum for the liberation of the Neapolitan slaves, the discharge of which the Admiral was obliged to urge with some importunity. When, however, the noble commander had reduced the barbarian to his own terms, he made the restoration of all the ransom paid by Naples one of the conditions of peace. Although the kingdoms of Na

ples and Sicily were now reunited under the same crown, their constitutions remained different, and the limited government of the latter, in which a degree of freedom of the press was established, could not but be regarded with jealousy by a Neapolitan court. The King therefore prohibited the introduction of the Sicilian journals into his continental territories.

A signal proof of the little respect inspired by the government of Naples was exhibited by the arrival, in the beginning of August, of an American squadron under Commodore Chauncey, off the city of Naples, having on board Mr. Pinckney, whose purpose was to demand a large sum of money, being the amount of American property confiscated in the reign of Murat. This measure, which had the appearance of intimidation, excited great alarm in Naples, almost all the ships of the Royal Navy having been disarmed: the other means for the defence of the port, however, were not neglected; and the Austrian general Nugent accepted the command of the Neapolitan army. The marquis Circello, minister for foreign affairs, delivered a note to each of the foreign ministers relative to the American claims, and couriers were sent to engage the protection of different courts. The negociation of Mr. Pinckney was protracted, and took a more moderate tone; and part of the American squadron left the bay of Naples for Messina.

In the month of October, it is announced from Naples, that Mr. Pinckney had taken his leave of

the

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