than he gave himself up to the direction of monks, re-established the inquisition, refused his assent to the constitution of the cortes, and governed the people who had sacrificed every thing for his restoration, with the despotism of a bigoted tyrant. This course involved the nation in a ruinous civil war, which continued with various success, and with some intervals, until March, 1820, when it ended in the complete success of the cortes. A constitution of civil government which had been formed in 1812, by the provisions of which the representatives of the people enjoyed a share in the government, was reluctantly assented to by Ferdinand, and by his proclamation of March, 1820, declared to be the basis of civil government in his kingdom. Peace was now restored, and Spain, under a limited monarchy, might have enjoyed a degree of liberty, and recovered her strength, but for the interposition of the holy alliNo sooner had the news of the events of the fifth of March, 1820, reached Petersburgh, than the emperor Alexander, in a communication to the Spanish minister at his court, denounced it as a wicked conspiracy of the people against their lawful sovereign, and in a circular to the other courts in Europe, called upon his associates to unite in its suppression.

ance.

The result of the deliberations at Verona on the subject of Spain was, that the revolutionary spirit must be put down; that the king must be restored to his absolute authority; that the cortes must be abolished, or rendered harmless by the annihilation of its powers; and that the Spanish hierarchy must be re-established. To these demands of the allied monarchs, the existing authorities in Spain interposed their indisputable right of establishing whatever forms of government they chose, subject to no interference of foreign powers. The cortes declared that they had never made any attempts to enforce their political system upon other nations, had made use of no fraud or force to seduce or intimidate the subjects of other powers, and would suffer no nation to impose a form of government upon them.

The manifestoes of the allied sovereigns all spoke one sentiment, the dictate of the Russian autocrat. They affected to consider the revolution in Spain, which limited the powers of the king, and established a national legislature, under the denomination of a cortes, as a wicked conspiracy against their legitimate sovereign. They claimed. that the general tranquillity of Europe, as well as the pre

servation of peace in their own dominions, required them to arrest the further progress of anti-monarchal principles; and in the end, required of the cortes to restore the king to his former authority, and to give up their usurped powers, as the condition upon which they would continue their friendly relations with Spain. When this was done, they intimated that the king might grant his subjects some privileges and immunities from his royal bounty. These propositions were indignantly rejected; the ministers of the allied powers withdrew from Spain, and the task of subjugating the nation was assigned to France, to be assisted, if occasion should require, by the other powers. This measure, the Russian cabinet afterwards exultingly claimed, was all their own; and was a master stroke of policy, as it answered the double purpose of subduing the revolutionary spirit in Spain, and preventing its progress in France.

Proceedings of Great Britain. The British ministry took a different course; they had never became parties to the holy alliance, they had attended its meetings, rather as a corps of observation, than a component part of the body; they had opposed most of its prominent measures. They denied the right of the allied powers to interfere in the internal affairs of Spain, and determined to maintain a strict neutrality in the expected war.

Invasion of Spain by a French army. To be in readiness to execute the decrees of the congress of Verona, the king of France collected a large force on the frontier of the Pyrenees, denominated a cordon sanatarie, under pretense of preventingthe introduction of a contagious disease, which prevailed in some towns on the Spanish frontier. At the solicitation of the cortes, England attempted a mediation between them and France. The basis of her propositions were, that Spain should new model her constitution, by establishing two chambers in her legislature, and investing the king with greater prerogatives than were contained in the constitution of 1812; and that on these conditions, there should be no hostile interference on the part of France. The mediation proved ineffectual, the French government, requiring as a preliminary, that the king should be restored to his ancient authority, conceding that he might then grant to his subjects such privileges as he should think proper. Negotiation being ended, the cordon sanatarie was suddenly transformed into an army of invasion, augmented to the number of 100,000, and the Duc d'Angoulême appointed to its chief command. Previous to entering the Spanish

territory, he established his head quarters at Bayonne, the nearest town of any note to the Spanish lines, where he assembled a number of royalist Spaniards, and appointed them to the regency of Spain, during what he had termed, the captivity of the king. He entered Spain in the month of April by their invitation, and invested the fortresses of St. Sebastian, Pampeluna, and Figureos, but without stopping to reduce them, he hastened with the main body, to Madrid. General Asbidal, to whom the defence of that city was intrusted, gave it up without an effort, and joined the royalists. The cortes retired to Seville, and from thence to Cadiz: on the king's refusing voluntarily to accompany them, they suspended his authority, appointed a regency, and took him with them by force. At Cadiz, they restored him to his constitutional authority, and prepared for the defense of the city. The Duc d'Angoulême proceeded with his main army from Madrid to Cadiz, entered it on the 29th of September, and reduced the constitutionalists to unconditional submission, The cortes were dispersed, Ferdinand reinvested with his absolute power, and the former regime restored with increased severity. An unrelenting proscription of the civil and military authorities under the constitution followed.

Conduct of Ferdinand. While Ferdinand was with the cortes, his addresses declared in the most unequivocal terms, his determination to support the constitution of 1812, to resist the invasion to the utmost, and never to submit to the dictation of foreign powers; he had at the same time, secretly encouraged the French, and when reinstated by them, he eagerly seized the reins of absolute government, and declared all his acts since the 9th of March, 1820, void. In attempting to maintain the liberties of Spain, the cortes had to encounter insurmountable obstacles; a treacherous king, an unfaithful general, a divided people, and an invading army of an hundred thousand men, supported by all the weight of the holy alliance. Their feeble and unsuccessful efforts served only to strengthen the chains of despotism.

Principles relating to privateering. At the commencement of this contest, the French government adopted a new principle favorable to commerce, and tending to mitigate, in some measure, the calamities of war. They declared that they would grant no commissions to privateers, and that neither the commerce of Spain itself, nor of neutral nations should be molested by the naval force of France, except in the breach of a lawful blockade. This principle, so con

genial with the views of the American government, the president attempted to establish by treaty with the European powers as a permanent rule in all future maritime wars, and gave instructions to this effect to the ministers of the United States, in France, Great Britain, and Russia; but the attempt proved unsuccessful.

During the session of the congress at Verona, representatives from Greece appeared before them soliciting their friendly interference in the contest with the Turks; but the views of that people, so ill-accorded with the principles of the holy alliance, that they were not even allowed to present their case before that body. To the application of Spain for their influence and assistance in regaining possession of her colonies in South America, the allied sovereigns gave a ready attention. The emperor of Russia of fered his mediation, proposing that the authority of Spain should be re-established, and the colonies compensated by a grant of some commercial privileges. But these republics, assured of the friendship of Great Britain and the United States, rejected these propositions with disdain; and declared that any terms which did not contain an acknowledgment of their independence were inadmissable. The complete success of the holy alliance, in subduing the revolutionary spirit in the south of Europe, seems to have riveted the chains of despotism in that hemisphere, in a manner not soon to be broken. The recent death of the emperor Alexander, the head of this combination, will probably operate as a check upon their exertions; and may dissolve the confederacy. The views of his successor on this subject, have not yet been developcd. The American policy, adopted by Washington, recommended by him to his successors, and followed by every administration since, forbids their interfering in the political systems of other nations.

CHAPTER VII.

First meeting of the 15th congress-Message-Revolutionary pension law passed-An attempt to bribe the committee of claims-Proceedings against. Colonel Anderson for contempt-Beaumarchais claim-Bank of the United States mismanaged-Speculations in its stock-Its embarrassments-A change of directors-Langdon Cheves president-Its credit restored-Judicial decisions on constitutional questions-Hunter's case-Question on the immunities of consuls-On the enlistment of minors without the consent of their parents-On the liability of the United States bank to be taxed by state authorities-On the constitutionality of state insolvent laws-Organization of the district of Columbia-Cohens against the state of Virginia on the sale of lottery tickets-Steamboat case decided.

Congress. The 15th congress convened on the 1st of December. 1817. The house of representatives organized itself by the re-election of Mr. Clay to the chair, by one hundred and forty-four votes, out of one hundred and fifty. The message,delivered on the 2d, contained a representation of the state of the nation, both in relation to its foreign and domestic concerns, highly gratifying to its citizens. The receipts at the treasury, owing to the extrordinary importations immediately succeeding the war, much exceeded the estimates, and enabled the president to recommend the repeal of all the internal duties, and taxes, without any hazard to the public credit. The president,in his late northern and western tour, had fallen in with many of the officers and soldiers of the revolution, his companions in arms, verging towards the close of life in poverty and distress. Such a scene, in the midst of a country enjoying wealth and independence, attained by their exertions, was calculated to excite the tenderest emotions. Under the influence of these feelings, in his first address to the representatives of the nation, he recommended the case of this portion of the American family to the liberality of their government. Towards the close of his message, he remarks, that, "in contemplating the happy situation of the United States, our attention is drawn, with peculiar interest, to the surviving officers and soldiers of our revolutionary army, who so eminently contributed, by their services, to lay its foundation. Most of these meritorious citizens have paid the debt of nature, and