improved condition of affairs in the peninsula, marked by the return of Fernando VII., under whom promised to blossom anew the prosperity so hopefully connected with a brilliant court. The victory of Vitoria in June 1813 signalized the end of French sway in Spain, and in the following September the new regular córtes elected under the constitution of 1812 met untrammelled by foreign intimidation.[1] But its reign was not to last. Under the pressure of accumulating reverses Napoleon sought in Fernando VII. a means for relief, and readily prevailed upon the imprisoned king to sign a treaty which restored him to the throne on condition that the English should leave Spain.[2] Once beyond the French frontier, which he crossed March 22d, the unreliable monarch cast to the wind his promises, made for that matter without consent from the popular representatives and against his own former declaration.
By this time the servile party, or absolutists, had acquired sufficient strength to adopt a decided attitude against the constitution; and joined by interested nobles and ecclesiastics three score deputies petitioned the king to set aside the córtes, and summon another on the plan prescribed by the ancient monarchical regulations.[3] Nothing could please Fernando better; and
- ↑ The extraordinary sessions of the preceding body closed on the 14th of Sept., the speech on the occasion being delivered by Gordoa, president and deputy from Zacatecas. Text in Gaz. de Mex., 1814, v. 205-12. The yellow fever appearing at Cádiz, the regent hastened on the following day to Santa María. This step caused the córtes to be summoned anew to determine the residence for the government and the meeting place for the new assembly. Fever ravages hastened the end of the session before the question was settled. A number of the extraordinary deputies served as suplentes in the new body till those elected in America should arrive. The formal opening took place Oct. 1st, at Cádiz, but the fear of fever assisted those who longed for the capital, and on Jan. 15, 1814, the sessions were resumed at Madrid.
- ↑ The French leaving simultaneously. An annual allowance of a million and a half was assigned to Fernando's parents. The regency pointed out that his own act of Jan. 1811 declared null any convention signed by him as captive, and the córtes issued a rather humiliating order defining the route and manner of entry so as to oblige him to take the oath to the constitution before assuming sovereign power. Text of treaty in Hernandez y Dávalos, Col. Doc., v. 595-604.
- ↑ This representation, known as the Persian from the opening phrase, was dated April 12th and headed by Bernardo Mozo Rosales, some of the following 69 signatures being added later with a view to court favor. Text with
