People

Wellington himself now retreated Post Date: Sat, 2 Aug 2008 15:57:55 +0000
It was in the summer of 1812, when Napoleon was now upon the point ofopening the Russian campaign, that Wellington advanced against Marmont'spositions in the north of Spain and the French lines of communication withthe capital. Marmont fell back and allowed Wellington to pass Salamanca;but on reaching the Douro he turned upon his adversary, and by a successionof swift and skilful marches brought the English into some danger of losingtheir communications with Portugal. Wellington himself now retreated as faras Salamanca, and there gave battle (July 22).

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Wellington marched upon Madrid Post Date: Sat, 2 Aug 2008 16:08:14 +0000
A decisive victory freed theEnglish army from its peril, and annihilated all the advantages gained byMarmont's strategy and speed. The French were so heavily defeated that theyhad to fall back on Burgos. Wellington marched upon Madrid.

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But the hour Post Date: Sat, 2 Aug 2008 16:24:12 +0000
At his approachKing Joseph fled from the capital, and ordered Soult to evacuate Andalusia,and to meet him at Valencia, on the eastern coast. Wellington enteredMadrid amidst the wild rejoicing of the Spaniards, and then turnednorthwards to complete the destruction of the army which he had beaten atSalamanca. But the hour of his final success was not yet come.

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In Spain itself the struggle Post Date: Sat, 2 Aug 2008 16:36:16 +0000
His advanceupon Madrid, though wise as a political measure, had given the Frenchnorthern army time to rally. He was checked by the obstinate defence ofBurgos; and finding the French strengthened by the very abandonment ofterritory which his victory had forced upon them, he retired to Portugal,giving to King Joseph a few months' more precarious enjoyment of hisvassal-sovereignty before his final and irrevocable overthrow.In Spain itself the struggle of the nation for its independence hadproduced a political revolution as little foreseen by the Spaniards as byNapoleon himself when the conflict began.

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Jovellanos, an upright andlarge-minded statesman Post Date: Sat, 2 Aug 2008 16:50:45 +0000
When, in 1808, the people hadtaken up arms for its native dynasty, the voices of those who demanded areform in the abuses of the Bourbon government had scarcely been heard amidthe tumult of loyal enthusiasm for Ferdinand. There existed, however, agroup of liberally-minded men in Spain; and as soon as the invasion of theFrench and the subsequent successes of the Spaniards had overthrown boththe old repressive system of the Bourbons and that which Napoleon attemptedto put in its place, the opinions of these men, hitherto scarcely knownoutside the circle of their own acquaintances, suddenly became a power inthe country through the liberation of the press. Jovellanos, an upright andlarge-minded statesman, who had suffered a long imprisonment in the lastreign in consequence of his labours in the cause of progress, nowrepresented in the Central Junta the party of constitutional reform.

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Thevictories of Napoleon Post Date: Sat, 2 Aug 2008 17:10:26 +0000
TheJunta itself acted with but little insight or sincerity. A majority of itsmembers neither desired nor understood the great changes in governmentwhich Jovellanos advocated; yet the Junta itself was an irregular andrevolutionary body, and was forced to appeal to the nation in order to holdits ground against the old legal Councils of the monarchy, which possessednot only a better formal right, but all the habits of authority. Thevictories of Napoleon at the end of 1808, and the threatening attitude bothof the old official bodies and of the new provincial governments which hadsprung up in every part of the kingdom, extorted from the Junta in thespring of 1809 a declaration in favour of the assembling of the Cortes, orNational Parliament, in the following year.

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The current of politicalagitation swept Post Date: Sat, 2 Aug 2008 17:27:39 +0000
Once made, the declarationcould not be nullified or withdrawn. It was in vain that the Junta, alarmedat the progress of popular opinions, restored the censorship of the press,and attempted to suppress the liberal journals. The current of politicalagitation swept steadily on; and before the end of the year 1809 theconflict of parties, which Spain was henceforward to experience in commonwith the other Mediterranean States, had fairly begun.

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In the outset, however Post Date: Sat, 2 Aug 2008 17:42:58 +0000
[168]The Spanish Liberals of 1809 made the same attack upon despotic power, andupheld the same theories of popular right, as the leaders of the Frenchnation twenty years before. Against them was ranged the whole force ofSpanish officialism, soon to be supported by the overwhelming power of theclergy. In the outset, however, the Liberals carefully avoided infringingon the prerogatives of the Church.

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According to the ancient usage Post Date: Sat, 2 Aug 2008 17:59:45 +0000
Thus accommodating its policy to theCatholic spirit of the nation, the party of reform gathered strengththroughout the year 1809, as disaster after disaster excited the wrath ofthe people against both the past and the present holders of power. It wasdetermined by the Junta that the Cortes should assemble on the 1st ofMarch, 1810. According to the ancient usage of Spain, each of the ThreeEstates, the Clergy, the Nobles, and the Commons, would have beenrepresented in the Cortes by a separate assembly.

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Had the Regencyimmediately taken steps Post Date: Sat, 2 Aug 2008 18:11:28 +0000
The opponents of reformpressed for the maintenance of this medi涡l order, the Liberals declaredfor a single Chamber; the Junta, guided by Jovellanos, adopted a middlecourse, and decided that the higher clergy and nobles should be jointlyrepresented by one Chamber, the Commons by a second. Writs of election hadalready been issued, when the Junta, driven to Cadiz by the advance of theFrench armies, and assailed alike by Liberals, by reactionists, and by citymobs, ended its ineffective career, and resigned its powers into the handsof a Regency composed of five persons (Jan 30, 1810). Had the Regencyimmediately taken steps to assemble the Cortes, Spain would probably havebeen content with the moderate reforms which two Chambers, formed accordingto the plans of Jovellanos, would have been likely to sanction.

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