The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1854-10-12

natural that the King should eagerly desire
to visit city immortalized by its heroic de-
fence He then proceeded to Valencia, where
he was met by the Cardinal President, and
suspicious were soon awakened of his design
ing a counter-revolution. The SERVICES OF
all ranks there paid him their homage, ana
inhsmed the prejudiccs Napoleon had already
excited in his mind. There he received an ad-
dress, called by the Spanish writers the ad-
dress of the Persians," signed by sixty nine
members of the Cortes, and drawn up by ber-
nerdo Rosales, afterwards created Marquis q
Matahorida.
On the 18th February, the Cortes addressed
manifesto to the Spanish people, in which
they made use of the following Language:
dean the father of his people, on seeing
himself redeemed by their inimitable oonstan-
CIV, wish to return home surrounded by the
butchers of his nation, the perjurers who sold
him, those who shed the blood OF their own
brothers, and covering them under bis roysi
mantle in order TO shield them from national
iustice-can be wish that they should thence IN
suit with impunity, and as it were in triumph,
so many thousands of patriots, so many OF
phans and widows as will surround the THRONE
and cry out for Just and tremendous vengeance
against the cruel PARTICLES! Or do they seek,
as a reward for their Infamous treason, that
the victims Of their rspacity should restore 70
them their ill-gotten pelf, In order that they
may go and TRANQUILITY enjoy it in foreign re,
gions at the same time that IN our oesoiateo
fields, our deserted towns and burns clues, the
accents of misery and the cries OF despair are
alone heard"
Ferdinand paid no attention to the remon-
strances of tho Cortes He had made up his
mind to be an absolute King, and on the 4th
of May his policy was made manifest in royal
proclamation, in which, after giving an ac-
count of his accession, the mode in which the
royal family were entrapped OF Bayonne, and
the sacrifices made for bis liberation, he allu-
ded to tho decree of the 9Th May, 1908, which
ordered the convocstion of the Cortes only Tor
the purpose of providing Subsidies and other
means of defence after which, the document
took rapid review of the manner IN which
the Central Junta and Regency were formed,
and passed on to the meeting OF the general
and extraordinary Costes which, it says, OPEN
ed with ffty-seven elected deputies and forty
seven substitutes. II then proceeds thus:
"But to these Cortee, convened In manner
never practiced in Spain, even in the most ar
duous cases end in the turbulent times OF mi
norities, when the meeting of deputies has
been more numerous than in usual and ordi-
nary Cortee, the estates of the nobility and
clergy were not called, notwithstanding the
Central Junta ordered this to be done by a de-
cree, artfully concealed from the Council of
Regency, who were equally unaware that to
them the Junta had assigned the Presidency
of the Cortes-s prerogstive which, otherwise,
would never hsye been left 1T the will of the
Congress. Everything was thus placed at the
disposal of the Cortes, who on the very day of
their installation, and as commencement of
their acts, stripped me of the sovereignty which
the deputies themselves had just before ac-
knowlodged, nominally sttributine it TO the
nation, in order to appropriate it to themselves;
and by this usurpation enact such laws as they
deemed fit imposing on the people the obligs-
ton of forcibly receiving them in tho form of
new Constitution which the deputies estab-
lished, and afterwards sanctioned and pub
lished in 1912, without powers from the prov
incee, towns, or juntas, and without even the
knowledge of those said to be represented by
the substitutes of Spain and the Indies. This
fret outrage against the royal prerogative was,
as it were, basis for the many others which
followed and, notwithstanding the repug-
nance of many deputies, laws were enacted
adopted, and called fundamental ones amidst
the cries, threats, and violence of those who
frequented the Cortes galleries, whereby to
that which was only tho work of faction the
and for such made to pass among Q few sedi-
tious persons Of Cadiz, and afterwards ut Mad.
rid. These are notorious facts, and thus were
those good laws altered which once constituted
the felicity Of cur nation. The ancient form Of
the monarchy was changed; and, by copying
the revolutionary and democratic principles of
the French of 1871, were sanctioned not the
fundamental laws of moderate monarchy,
but rather those Of a popular Government,
with chief magistrate at its bead-a mere
delegated executive, and not king, notwith-
standing the introduction of the name, as q
deception to the incautious"
This manifesto signed by Ferdinand reads
thus: g swear and promise to you, true and
loyal Spanisrds that, OF the same time | pity
your misfortunes, your noble hopes shall not
be disappointed. glory in being King over
an heroic nation, which, by immortal deeds,
has obtained universal admiration, and pre-
served its liberties and honors ] athor and
detest despotism. The enlightened nations of
Europe no longer endure it; nor were Kings
ever despots in Spain. This our good laws
and Constitution do not allow, although un-
fortunately, as everywhere else, abuses of pow
er have from time to time occurred, such as no
Constitution could entirely prevent; but to
guard against their recurrence, and yet pre-
serve the royal dignity and its rights as well
as those Of the people, which are equally invi-
olstc, | will treat with the deputies of Spain
and the Indies, in Cortes legally assembled, o.
early as they can be convened after the resto-
ration of order and the good usagss of the ma
ton; when, in o solid and legal manner, ell
shall be done that may be expedent for the
welfare of my Kingdoms, in order that my sub.
jects may live happy and prosperous in our re.
hgion, and under our Government, bound TO-
gether by an indiesoluble bond, in which con
sisss the temporal felicity Of King and king
dom prominently Catholic and preparations
shall at once be made for their meeting"
Eguia, who had been appointed Captain
General of CASTLE, took the Kings edict Il
Madrid, where he arrived on the 18th May
With his army, and Immediately announced the
of the Cortes. Ferdinand entered the capita
on the 14th, amidst the real or purchased ac
plantations of the people. The cause of des
potism triumphed. The penalty of death wa,
denounced against those convicted of praisins
the Cortes, or regretting its downfall. The
liberty of the press was annihilated. This lib
erticidal conspiracy had been prepared In
darkness. The members of the Regency, al
who had held high Offices in the Peninsula, anC
all the deputies Of the first and second Cortes
conspicuous for their patriotism or their tai
ents, were arrested. Such was the commence
ment of what the Spanish writers call tn,
REIGN of TERROR. Here we must pause, ant
in our next review the position of parties ant
the conduct of the King, relating to the charge
brought by him against the Cortes. I'D.
London, Sept. IS, 1854.
MURDER OF EMrGRANTs IN KANSAS By TIL
PAwNEE INDIANs.-The editor of the Demo
cratic Platform in his issue of the 7th ult says
"While in Kansas, last week, we learned that
party of ten emigrants visited the neighbor
hood of Big Blue for the purpose of maxim,