Ferdinand VII: 1808-1833

Ferdinand was the oldest son of Charles IV and Maria Louisa of Parma; born October 14, 1784; died September 29, 1833. Upon the abdication of his father he acceded to the throne March 19th. This was no part in Napoleon's plan, and within a few days Madrid was occupied by the French troops under Murat. Napoleon compelled Charles and Ferdinand to renounce their rights to the throne, and proclaimed Joseph Bonaparte king of Spain.

A general cry of indignation arose in Spain. The people everywhere flew to arms, except where prevented by the presence of the French troops. They proposed not to meet the enemy in pitched battles in the open field, but, to harass, wear out, and overcome him by guerilla or discursive and incessant attacks of separate small bands.

General Dupont advanced as far as Cordova, but was defeated at Baylen July 20th and compelled to surrender. On this occasion, the commencement of the French reverses in Spain, 18,000 French soldiers laid down their arms. Such was the exasperation of the people against their invaders that numbers of the French were massacred on their road to Cadiz for embarkation, and the remainder were treated with barbarous inhumanity. These cruelties had, however, been provoked by the atrocities of the French at the capture and sack of Cordova." (Dyer's "History of Modern Europe")

England proclaimed a peace with the Spanish government about as soon as the insurrection broke out, and the latter part of July Wellington, with about 10,000 troops, landed on the peninsula. Sir John Moore, at the head of another division of about 11,000, also arrived and was directed to unite with the Spanish army and expel the French. He was unable to find the army. Napoleon had appeared in person, taken command of the French and scattered the Spanish forces. Moore conducted a most masterly retreat to Corunna and fell mortally wounded while his troops were re-embarking.

Spain was now the scene of a terrible struggle until Napoleon's abdication in 1814, though by this time the French had practically been driven out by the English under Wellington, who had not lost a battle.

Ferdinand, who had been in retirement on a pension from Napoleon, now appeared, was acknowledged king and began to quarrel with his people. Spain could not readily lay aside the habits that the long guerrilla war had induced, and the people were broken up into numerous little parties, mostly represented by leaders who were intent only upon their own personal advancement. The French intervened in 1820. Some sort of order, by the help of the French army, was preserved until they left in 1827, but then another insurrection broke out. Spain was experiencing troublesome times and nearly all her American provinces seized the opportunity to declare their independence.

"The conduct of Ferdinand was in every way humiliating and caused the Spaniards in general to consider that their best blood had been spilled in vain and that, however humiliating the rule of Bonaparte, they might under him, enjoy their constitutional freedom which their restored sovereign denied them; for it was evident enough that the king had determined to be content with nothing short of despotic authority.

Ferdinand, backed by the French troops, was unpopular with the church or conservative party, who favored his brother Don Carlos. His third wife died in May, 1829, leaving him without an heir, and Don Carlos was expected to succeed to the throne. When, in December of the same year, Ferdinand married Maria Christina of Naples, the Carlists were sorely disappointed and, when, in March, 1830, he issued a decree abrogating the Salic law, which had been in force in Spain since 1713, their anger knew no bounds.

By the Salic law of Spain the succession to the throne was restricted to the nearest male heir. By its repeal females were eligible. The Carlists warmly protested. In October, 1830, a daughter (Isabella II) was born to him, and in June, 1833, he solemnly declared her his successor, nominated Christina as regent, and ordered Don Carlos and his numerous sympathizers to leave the kingdom. Ferdinand did not long survive this act, but he had lived long enough to see the loss of his American colonies, whose aggregate area was greater than that of all Europe.

Florida

The Spanish claim to Florida dates from its discovery by Ponce de Leon in 1512.

The first settlement, however, was made by French Huguenots. In 1568 three ships were fitted out by the famous French Protestant leader Coligny and placed under the command of Laudonniere, who was instructed to found a colony in Florida for the Huguenots. They reached the shore of Florida near the St. John's river, and built a fort called Carolina. They were not desirable colonists and mutinies were frequent. A party of them manned a vessel and began a career of piracy against the Spaniards. The vessel was taken and most of the men captured and sold as prisoners or slaves. A few escaped and returned to the colony.

Supplies from France reached them in 1565 and it seemed as though the followers of John Calvin were about to found a permanent colony in the New World. Spain had never relinquished her claim to this territory and the same year sent a party under Melendez to colonize Florida. It is claimed that through the treachery of Coligny's enemies at the French court the Spaniards were informed of the struggling Huguenot colony and instructions given Melendez to destroy it. He fell upon them in an unguarded moment and captured the fort. Another party having surrendered under promise of safety were treacherously stabbed to death in cold blood. All but the women and children under fifteen years of age were killed and in the first attack even some of these were not spared.

"The long dispatch in which Melendez (Menendez) reported his fiendish work to the Spanish king has been brought to light in the archives at Seville, and there is this endorsement on it in the handwriting of Philip II, 'Say to him that as to those he has killed he has done well; and as to those he has saved they shall be sent to the galley.'" Parkman's "Pioneers of France in the New World"

They were avenged.

A young Frenchman, de Gourgues, sold all his property and bought three small ships, which he manned with 80 sailors and 100 soldiers. He took out a commission to engage in the slave trade on the coast of Guinea and in 1567 set sail. When he reached the West Indies he disclosed his plan to his followers, who enthusiastically supported him. On arriving at the Florida coast he found that the natives, having received characteristic treatment at the hands of the Spaniards, were hostile and ready to ally themselves with him in an attack upon the colony.

The Spaniards were entrenched in three forts and greatly outnumbered their opponents. The first fort was captured by surprise and a panic fell upon the colonists. The French lost hardly a man and according to the custom of the times, de Gourgues imitated the performance of Melendez.

Melendez founded a new settlement the next year and a few others were made but when according to the Treaty of Paris, 1763, East Florida passed into the possession of the English, the whole number of inhabitants did not exceed 3,000.

During the American Revolution the Spanish governor in New Orleans made an attack upon the English forts in Florida and succeeded in capturing them.

By the treaty of 1783 between Great Britain on one side, the allies, France, Spain and the United States, on the other, England restored Florida to Spain, but the boundary was not exactly defined, and a dispute between Spain and the United States at once arose. Spain claimed from the mouth of the Yazoo river running east to the Chattahoochee and everything south of it. This would give to her about half of Mississippi and Alabama and nearly all of Georgia. The United States disputed this, but Spain had possession of the territory and strengthened it by forts at Baton Rouge, Natchez, Vicksburg, and even built one at New Madrid in Missouri, just south of the mouth of the Ohio. This she made a port of entry and compelled boats from the Ohio to land there and declare their cargoes.

She also disputed the validity of the title to the territory between Mississippi and the Allegheny mountains, which the United States had received from England. When, in addition to this, she came to deny the right of free navigation of the mouth of the Mississippi, it is easy to see that excellent grounds for a quarrel existed.

Before the days of railroads the navigation of the Mississippi was indispensable to the settlers of the Ohio valley. Spanish possession of this territory was a constant source of irritation and numerous conflicts took place between the Indians and escaped negroes from the Georgia plantations on the one hand and the settlers on the other. Probably the Americans were seeking a quarrel, and a ready excuse was found in the numerous conflicts between the whites and the Indians along the frontiers.

In December of 1817 General Jackson was ordered to take command of the military forces in Georgia. He wrote President Monroe, "Let it be signified to me through any channel that the possession of the Floridas would be desirable to the United States and in sixty days it will be accomplished."

Monroe was ill and did not see the letter for a year. Calhoun, as secretary of war, issued the orders to Jackson, who probably supposed he had the tacit permission of his government to capture Florida. With characteristic energy he marched through Georgia and reached the fort at St. Mark in March, ISIS, which he reduced and hanged two alleged English agents on the charge of having incited the Indians to hostility. He turned aside and captured Pensacola May 24th, 1818, deposed the Spanish government and set up a new one and left a garrison there. He then came home. The affair created great excitement.

The United States gave up Pensacola and St. Mark, but defended Jackson on the plea that he pursued his enemies (the Indians) to their refuge in Spanish territory, and that Spain was incompetent or unwilling to perform the duties that devolved upon her.

Jackson's campaign seems to have had some effect upon the Spanish government, for while the matter was being discussed in Congress the Spanish minister received instructions from home to sign a treaty by which Florida was ceded to the United States in consideration of the United States assuming and satisfying various claims against the Spanish government to the amount of $5,000,000. In addition the United States further ceded and relinquished to Spain all claim to the western portion of Louisiana lying south of the Red River and west of the Sabine, and now forming a part of Texas.

Isabella II 1833-1868

Isabella II is the daughter of Ferdinand VII by his fourth wife, Maria Christina, and was born October 30, 1830.

On the death of Ferdinand, September 29, 1833, Maria Christina was declared queen regent, and at once allied herself with the liberal party in opposition to the church, or conservative party, who supported the pretensions of the late king's brother, Don Carlos. Civil war at once broke out and raged with great violence for seven years. War in Spain has never been divested to any great extent of its horrors, and when there is added to the natural temperament of the people, the bitterness of a civil strife, The picture can scarcely be overdrawn. The Basques recognized Don Carlos as Charles V, and for a time they made some headway, but France and England allowed recruiting within their own lines for the loyalist army, and under the leadership of Espartero, the rebellion was crushed and Don Carlos and his followers exiled by a decree of the Cortes.

Neither her private life nor her political conduct had endeared Maria Christina to the people, and a premierpresident was appointed, 1840, who administered the government as regent until Isabella II was declared of age, 1843. Her reign was no happier than that of the queen regent.

In 1860 a short-lived Carlist rebellion occurred, but it was unsuccessful, and the leader and his brother were compelled to formally renounce all claim to the throne of Spain. In 1866 republican insurrections broke out, which were temporarily suppressed, but in 1868 another burst forth at Cadiz, which rapidly spread over the whole country, and Isabella was forced to fly across the border to France.

After Isabella's flight there was a provisional government for two years, and then in 1870, Amadeus, the second son of the King of Italy, was invited to become King. He accepted and reigned for two years, but never received the support of the Carlists nor of the monarchists, who were adherents of Alphonso, son of Isabella. The republicans, under Castelar, objected to any king on general principles. Seeing that he could never hope to reconcile such strong and diverse opposition, he resigned February, 1873. A republic was then declared by the Cortes and Castelar made president, but even his famous eloquence was of no avail, and he at last consented to receive the son of Isabella, Alphonso XII, who was proclaimed King in 1874. Alphonso made Canovas (recently assassinated) his chief adviser, and under his wise administration the domestic affairs of Spain made considerable improvement.

Basque Provinces

These provinces had formerly been allowed certain "privileges," among which were exemption from contributing directly to the war expenses of all Spain and from furnishing recruits for the Spanish army. These privileges were vestiges of the right enjoyed when they were governed by their own laws as Kingdom of Navarre. Under cover of their privileges they had raised money and recruits for the Carlists. By the abrogation of these local customs national unity was established in Spain, but the provinces resented their loss and are today restless, uneasy, and liable at any time to declare for Don Carlos if opportunity offers.

Carlists

Don Carlos, Count of Molina, second son of Charles IV; born 1788; died 1855. He had expected to succeed his brother Ferdinand II., whose only heir was an infant daughter, Isabella II, as under the Salic law in force in Spain since 1713, a female could not succeed to the throne. Ferdinand abrogated the law, 1830, and Don Carlos at once signified his intention to contest the matter. At once, on the death of Ferdinand, he began a rebellion which lasted seven years.

In 1845 he renounced his claims in favor of his son of the same name, and withdrew to Trieste, where he died.

Don Carlos, Count de Monlemolin, son of the preceding born 1818; died 1861. Raised a revolt against Isabella in 1860, but without success. On his death the claim passed to his brother, Don Juan, who, in October 1868, resigned in favor of his own son, Don Carlos, the third of the name.

Don Carlos, Duke of Madrid, born March 30, 1848, son of Don Juan and grandson of Don Carlos first. His followers rose in revolt in 1868, 1870, 1872, and in 1873 Don Carlos himself entered Spain to inspirit his men and oppose Alphonso XII. He soon mastered Navarre, Biscay and Asturias, and the revolt assumed serious proportions, but when the rebels killed a German citizen Bismarck sent forces to aid in restoring order.

The Duke is too indolent and has led too gay a life to render him a dangerous personage to the present government, and he will probably leave his affairs in the hands of his son Don Jayme, or Jainie, Prince of Asturias, who is about twenty-eight years of age.

During Alfonso XII's administration a new constitution was adopted (1876), the same under which they are now governed, and some progress toward muchneeded reforms made, when he suddenly died, November, 1885, leaving his wife, Maria Christina, Archduchess of Austria, queen regent for their posthumous son, Alphonso XIII.

Birth of Alphonso XIII

The death of Alphonso had been awaited as a signal for a civil struggle, and the Carlists saw their hopes dashed to the ground when the new heir to the Bourbon throne was born at Madrid, May 17, 1886, in the presence of the Ministers of State, his cabinet officers and members of the Regency and Privy Council. This rather extraordinary proceeding was the result of a report which had circulated that a bogus heir to the throne was to be palmed off on the Spanish people, so that when the unhappy child first opened his eyes he found himself in the midst of a cabinet council.

Each Spanish queen had theoretically been subjected to this ordeal, but never, at least in modern times, had this been strictly enforced. The Spaniards rallied around the queen regent and the baby king, doing everything in their power for the continuance of the Bourbon regime.

The boy king knows that his situation is a pathetic and precarious one. He has had no happiness in his short life, and he knows there is no one in the peninsula whom he can count upon except his mother, a helpless woman and a stranger to Spain. From the time he left his cradle the little fellow has been surrounded by the stiff ceremonials of the Spanish. He can have no playmates, because in the kingdom he has no peer. He knows that politics is a game that is more cruel than war, and that Spaniards are past masters in the arts of diplomacy and duplicity.

According to the law in Spain the king attains his majority at the age of fifteen years; so, but for the Cuban trouble, he might have ascended the throne with some prospect of a fairly peaceable reign. As it is the country is bankrupt, the war in Cuba and the insurrection in the Philippine Islands are rapidly draining its vital forces, and the present outlook is gloomy in the extreme.

The Carlists hope that Alphonso may never live to wear his father's crown. Should the king die, no woman with Bourbon blood in her veins will be allowed to ascend the throne, as the disastrous reigns of Queen Christina and Queen Isabella II are fresh in the memories of all.

If Alphonso should die his eldest sister would probably marry Don Jamie, the son of Don Carlos, the Carlist Pretender. This would satisfy both monarchical parties and free Spain from the possibility of civil war. The outcome of the present struggle is difficult to foresee, and Spain may emerge a republic.

By the exercise of great courage, shrewdness and diplomacy Spain acquired princely possessions in the new world, but in the administration of these colonies she has ever displayed stupidity, bigotry and oppression. As a mother country she has shown her utter incapacity to hold the love and respect of her children, and it now seems as though she will not long be able to maintain even the nominal supremacy she claims over the few that are left to her.

Once all Europe stood in awe of her, and the Spanish infantry was the terror of the military world. Able soldiers and sailors of other nations flocked to her standard and their achievements alone would have immortalized any nation. What reward had they who gave a continent to her?

Ximenes, whose statesmanship saved Spain for Charles I, was treated with great ingratitude and died in his old age without being even granted an audience with the king whose crown he had saved.

Balboa's discoveries brought him the enmity of his jealous governor and cost him his life on a manufactured charge of treason.

Cortez, who conquered Mexico, was recalled and died in poverty and disgrace.

Pizarro, who secured with Peru the enormous treasures of the Inca, was assassinated by his own soldiers.

Ponce de Leon was not successful in his search for the fountain of youth and died in his old age, shattered in mind and body by the exposures of the expedition.

Magellan was probably killed by his sailors and Columbus died a broken-hearted old man.

The achievements of these men constitute the brightest period in Spain's history. Is their fate prophetic of her sovereignty?

Synopsis of Events Contemporary with this Period

1809 Wellington takes command of the English forces in the Peninsula.

1810. Napoleon divorces Josephine and marries Maria Louisa of Austria. George III of England has his final attack of insanity.

1812. Napoleon quarrels with the Czar and invades Russia. Moscow burned and the French begin their disastrous retreat. War between United States and Great Britain.

1813. Holland regains her independence from France. Perry's victory on Lake Erie. Buffalo burned by the British.

1814. Napoleon abdicates and is sent to Elba. Louis XVIII becomes King of France. McDonough wins his victory on Lake Champlain. Stephenson builds the "Rocket," the first locomotive. British burn public buildings in Washington.

1815. Napoleon escapes from Elba and reigns "One Hundred Days." Louis XVIII flees. Battle of Waterloo; Napoleon surrenders; the British send him to St. Helena. Marshal Ney executed. Jackson wins his victory at New Orleans.

1818. Chili becomes independent. Jackson invades Florida and hangs two British agents.

1819. Voyage of the " Savannah," the first steamship to cross the Atlantic. Venezuela becomes independent.

1820. George III dies and his son George IV accedes to the throne. The "Missouri Compromise" adopted, excluding slavery in the territories north Of 36 degrees 30'. The Holy Alliance meets at Laybach.

1821. Mexico becomes independent. Peru becomes independent by aid of the Chileans. Spain cedes Florida to the United States.

1822. Brazil declared independent of Portugal and Dom Pedro made Emperor.

1823. Monroe doctrine set forth in the President's annual message.

1824. Louis XVIII of France dies, succeeded by his brother Charles X.

1825. Formal opening of the Erie canal. England carries first passengers by steam over the Stockton and Darlington Railway.

1828. Construction of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad begun.

1829. Slavery abolished in Mexico.

1830. George IV dies; his brother William IV accedes. Revolution of Paris. Charles X flees. Louis Philippe made king. Joseph Smith issues his " Book of Mormon."

1832. Nullification movement in South Carolina.

1833. England begins the emancipation of slaves in the West Indies.

1836. Texans defeat Mexicans at San Jacinto and establish their independence.

1837. William IV of England dies. Queen Victoria accedes. Financial panic in the United States. "Patriot" rebellion in Canada.

1839. Daguerre makes his discoveries in photography.

1840. Queen Victoria married to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg. Mormons settle in Nauvoo, Ill.

1841. Afghanistan revolts against British rule, and the disastrous retreat of the English begins. The "Brook Farm" association formed.

1842. Ashburton treaty settles the northeastern boundary question. Dorr rebels in Rhode Island.

1844. Morse completes telegraph line between Washington and Baltimore. A Nauvoo mob murders Joe Smith, founder of Mormonism, and expels the Mormons.

1845. Texas annexed to the United States, after nine years of independence.

1846. Famine in Ireland. Repeal of the British " Corn, Laws." War between United States and Mexico. Mormons go from Nauvoo to Great Salt Lake. Oregon boundary dispute settled by adoption of the 49th parallel instead of '54 - 40' or fight."

1848. The revolution in France deposes Louis Phillippe. The second republic organized with Louis Napoleon Bonaparte as President. Gold discovered in California.

1849. Kossuth declares Hungary independent. Austria crushes rebellion by aid of Russia.

1850. The "Fugitive Slave Law" passed. Clayton-Bulwer treaty ratified.

1851. Louis Napoleon becomes Dictator. Gold discovered in Australia.

1853. Commodore Perry opens Japanese ports.

1854. Repeal of the "Missouri Compromise." Birth of Republican party. Crimean war; England, France, Sardinia and Turkey against Russia. Siege of Sebastopol begins. Battle of Balaclava and charge of the "Six Hundred."

1856. Crimean war ended. Declaration of Paris" agreed upon.

1858. Atlantic cable first laid; not a success.

1859. John Brown seizes Harper's Ferry; is captured, tried and executed.

1860. Abraham Lincoln elected President. South Carolina secedes.

1861. American Civil War begins. Unionists defeated at Bull Run. Captain Wilkes stops the English steamer "Trent," and takes off Mason and Slidell, which threatened to involve war with England.

1862. Stonewall Jackson's campaign in the Shenandoah Valley. Grant captures Fort Donaldson and wins the battle of Shiloh. Battle between the Merrimac and Monitor. Battles of Fair Oaks and Malvern Hill and McClellan's advance and retreat by way of the peninsula. The cruiser Alabama begins her career. Napoleon makes Maximilian of Austria Emperor of Mexico; protest of the United States.

1863. Lincoln issues the "Emancipation Proclamation." Vicksburg captured. Hooker defeated at Chancellorsville and death of Jackson. Battle of Gettysburg. Chinese Gordon appointed to command in China.

1864. The Kearsarge sinks the Alabama. Sherman's march to the sea. Sheridan's campaign in the Shenandoah Valley. Farragut passes the forts at Mobile. Gordon suppresses Taiping rebellion in China.

1865. Lee surrenders at Appomattox Court House. Lincoln assassinated. Johnson surrenders.

1866. Atlantic cable successfully laid. Fenians in the United States invade Canada.

1867. France withdraws from Mexico. Maximilian executed.

1868. Burlingame treaty made between China and the United States.

1869. Suez canal opened. "Black Friday" in New York.

1870. War between France and Germany; France utterly defeated in less than six months.

1871.France cedes Alsace and part of Lorraine to Germany and pays $1,000,000,000 indemnity. The German states unite to form an empire and King William of Prussia becomes the German Emperor. Chicago fire. Stanley finds Dr. Livingston in Africa.

1872. Geneva tribunal decides "Alabama Claims " in favor of the United States and England pays $15,500,000 for her failure "to use due diligence in performance of neutral obligations."

1876. Centennial exhibition in Philadelphia. Telephone exhibited.

1877. Election of Pope Leo XIII.

1879. War between Chile and Peru, in which Peru is defeated and loses territory.

1881. The French occupy Tunis. The Mahdi begins his disturbance in the Soudan. Czar Alexander II assassinated; his son, Alexander III, accedes. Garfield assassinated. War between Great Britain and the Boers. The English defeated at Majuba Hill.

1882. De Lesseps begins work on the Panama canal. The British bombard Alexandria.

1883. The Mahdi wipes out an English army in the Soudan.

1884. French war in Tonquin, China.

1888. William I, Emperor of Germany, dies; succeeded by Frederick III, who dies in a short time and is succeeded by William II, the present Emperor.

1889.Dom Pedro deposed and Brazil becomes a republic.

1890. William II dismisses Bismarck. Russia expels the Jews.

1891. The Chilean Congress deposes President Balmaceda. Free schools established in England.

1893. World's Fair at Chicago.

1894. War between China and Japan. Czar Alexander III dies; Nicholas II accedes.

1897. Celebration of the Queen's jubilee, the sixtieth anniversary of her accession to the throne. War between Greece and Turkey.

Next: Chapter 5: Growth and Loss of Spain's American Colonies