The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-05-22 00:00:00

THE SECOND OF MAY IN SPAIN.

The following very interestinz and historical letter is from
the Special Correspondent of The Times, writing from
Madrid, May 2
The day after May-day is Spain's own anniversary.
It brings round the date of the outbreak of the War
of Independence, a war in which the Spanish nation
achieved so much glory that it need not, one would
think, claim more than its fair share of it. The
Spaniards did not as they fondly believe, singlehanded,
at that juncture break the power of the First Napoleon
and accomplish the deliverance of Europe. Neither
could they perhaps, without extraneous aid have
driven the invader from their own territory. Indeed
it is doubtful whether, without the help of a Russian
winter, either Spain or the world would have been able
to shake off the incubus of French ambition. Beyond
all question, however, Spain fought well—as a nation,
better than any of her neighbours ; and, although it is
clear that by her own unaided effort she would never
would have rid herself of the invader, it is equally
evident that he could nowhere have held one inch of her
territory outside the walls the large cities or away
from the main thoroughfares.
Since that strife and that victory Spain has hardly
ever been at peace. Year after year the annals of the
country have had brave deeds and heroic sufferings to
record. The Spaniards have at all times proved them-
selves the same valiant, long-enduring, semi-savage
race which they were in and before 1808. Somehow,
however, there are not many of Spain's subsequent
exploits that are not better forgotten than recalled; for
the sword which the country, on the 2nd of May, 1808,
drew in a noble struggle for existence, was ever after-
wards turned against its own bosom, and became in its
hands only too active an instrument of self-destruction.
The proud consciousness of the valour displayed in the
thousand encounters of the civil wars must needs be
damped by the recollection of the motives in which
those discords had their rise and of the results they
led to. A Spaniard's triumph over Spaniards can be
no subject of unalloyed exultation. But the war of
which the Dos de Mayo was the signal was fought in a
cause sacred to every Spanish heart. This day is, or
ought to he, to the Spaniard an occasion not only for
the gratification of patriotic pride, but also for
national humiliation and contrition, for an acknow-
ledgment of past errors and a promise of future amend-
ment.
- -

The incidents of the memorable day are soon told.
The French, under the leadership of Murat, had crossed
the Pyrenees in March, 1808, and had been received
as allies bound by the Treaty of Fontainebleu to co-
operate with Spain for the subjugation of Portugal.
The head-quarters of the French Army had established
themselves in Madrid, where a large force of its native
garrison was still lodged. Between the soldiers of the
two nations, and between the people and their foreign
guests, no good blood could arise, especially as the
French officers made themselves at home as in a con-
quered territory, and Murat made no mystery of his
master's intention to annex the Peninsula to his
Imperial domains. The imbecile Charles IV. had
abdicated, and together with his sonjerdinand VII.,
now the titular King, was away in France in Napoleon's
power; but some of the Royal Princes, among them
Don Carlos and Don Francis, both still of tender age,
had been left behind, and it was now understood that
these also were to be taken from the Alcazar and sent
to share their father's and brother's captivity. The sight
of the travelling carriage driven up to the Palace doors
ready for the journey, and of the children weeping and
struggling as they were hurried into it, aroused
the long pent-up passions of the Madrid populace.
A fearful riot ensued, a kind of Sicilian Vespers, begin-
ning with the slaughter of defenceless Frenchmen, but
ending with the dispersion of the mob, who could only
be saved from the French soldiers' fury by the inter-
vention of the city magistrates announcing that they had
accepted and signed a truce on Murat's own terms.
By these terms it was agreed that the Spanish troops
should march out of the town and their posts and bar-
racks should be delivered to their French allies. At
the Monteleon Barracks, where a park of artillery was
lying, two artillery officers, Daoiz and Velarde, refused
to obey orders, and seconded by an infantry officer, by
name Ruiz, and by some of the populace, drew out
three field-pieces and attempted to hold the barracks
against the French. Their resistance was, of course,
soon overpowered; Ruiz fell mortally wounded; Daoiz
and Velarde were found dead on the cannon by which
they had stood alone to the last. On the following
day, Murat led out several scores of prisoners taken in
the popular affray, and shot them on a spot in the
Prado facing the entrance of the Carrera Geronimo.
The immediate result Of the unequal contest was
precisely what might have been anticipated. It was
a struggle between a well-organized and disciplined
force and a town in which both the civil and military
authorities were for peace at any price, and the people,
abandoned to themselves, fought for their' own hand,
disavowed and discountenanced by those who should
Have been their leaders. It was a reproduction of the
'phenomenon exhibited by Genoa in 1746, when the
people, shaming the cowardice of their Senate, rose
with no other weapons than stones, sticks, and knives
against 40,000 Austrians to whom the Government had
opened their gates; with this difference, however, that
the Genoese drove the enemy from their walls and were
rid of them in good earnest, while at Madrid the people
were overpowered, and the French both quelled and
punished the insurrectionary attempt. Fortunately
for the honour and independence of Spain, the affair
did not end in the capital. A stubborn spirit of resist-
ance, with war to the knife, was kindled throughout
the provinces. The, whole country was up in arm; s
patriotic Junta raised the national standard at Sevile,
and guerilla bands, acting in concert with the popula-
tion of Gerona, Saragossa, and other places, held out
with rare bravery, yet with doubtful success, till
Wellington and the English came up from Portugal
and restored a balance in the struggle, ending, as the
world knows, in the final explusion of the French and
the return to the beloved Bourbon dynasty.
Upon the reinstalment of the Bourbons, in 1815, the
nation, then awakening to generous and liberal aspira-
tions, determined that honours should be paid to the
heroes of the Dos de Mago. The spot in the Prado
where Murat had shot and buried his prisoners be-