LIII. 1808. CHAP. conquest had degraded the character, and Moorish blood contaminated the descent of the people; and where, amidst orange groves, evening serenades, and bewitching forms, the whole manly virtues were thought to be fast wearing out under the enervating influence of an African 11. these cir ing the means of separate defence. sun. But while these circumstances were destructive to the Effect of external vigour and consideration of the Spanish moncumstances archy, they were, of all others, those best calculated to in promot enable its inhabitants, when deprived of their central government and left to their own guidance, to oppose a formidable resistance to the invader. When deprived of the direction of their sovereign, the provinces of Spain did not feel themselves powerless, nor did they lose hope because abandoned by those who were their natural protectors. Society, when resolved into its pristine elements, still found wherewithal to combat; the provinces, when loosened or severed from each other, separately maintained the contest. Electing juntas of government, and enrolling forces on their own account, they looked as little beyond their own limits as the Swiss peasants in former times did beyond the mountain ridges which formed the barriers of their happy valleys. If this singular oblivion of external events, and concentration of all their energies on local concerns, was subversive in the end of any combined plan of operations, and effectually prevented the national strength from being hurled, in organised and concentrated masses, against the enemy, it was eminently favourable, in the first instance, to the efforts of tumultuary resistance, and led to the assumption of arms, and the continuance of the conflict, under circumstances when a well-informed central government would probably have resigned it in despair. Defeats in one quarter did not lead to submission in another. Their general ignorance, haughty pride, and unconquerable prejudices, led them to prolong the contest under circumstances when well-informed reason would probably have abandoned it. LIII. 1808. The occupation CHAP. of the capital, the fortresses, the military lines of communication, was not decisive of the fate of the country; as many victories required to be gained as there were cities to be captured or provinces subdued; and, like the Anglo-Saxons in the days of the English heptarchy, they fought resolutely in their separate districts, and rose up again in arms when the invader had passed on to fresh theatres of conquest. In every age they have verified the character given of them by the ancient historian, that alone of all the provinces of the empire, Spain became sensible of its strength after it had been conquered.* 12. of the no which en carried. The nobility in Spain, as in all countries where civilisation and wealth have long existed, and the salutary Corruption check of popular control has not developed their energy bility, and and restrained their corruption, were, when the French to war broke out, sunk in the lowest state of selfish degra-tails were dation. Assembled for the most part in the capital, devoted to the frivolities of fashion, or the vices of a court; taught to look for the means of elevation, not in the energy of a virtuous, but the intrigues of a corrupted life, they were alike unfit for civil or military exertion. The nobility of Spain, alone of the European states, must, with a few brilliant exceptions, be considered as strangers to the glories of the Revolutionary war. Not more than three or four of the higher grandees were in the army when the war broke out in 1808; and the inferior noblesse, almost all destitute alike of education, vigour, or active habits, took hardly any share in its prosecution. The original evil of entails had spread to a greater extent, 1 Foy, iii. and produced more pernicious consequences in Spain than 151, 152. in any other country of Europe; a few great families 164. Laengrossed more than half the landed property of the 197, 212. kingdom, which was effectually tied up from alienation, * "Sola omnium provinciarum, Hispania postquam victa est vires suas intellexit."-FLORUS, p. 62. Jovellanos, borde, i. LIII. 1808. CHAP. and of course remained in a very indifferent state of cultivation; while the domains of the cities or corporate bodies, held in mortmain, and for the most part uncultivated, were so extensive, that a large proportion of the arable land in the kingdom still remained in a state of 13. peasantry. nature. Notwithstanding these unfavourable circumstances, the State of the elements of great political activity and energetic national conduct existed in the Peninsula. The peasantry were everywhere an athletic, sober, enduring race; hardy from exercise, abstemious from habit, capable of undergoing incredible fatigue, and of subsisting on fare which to an Englishman would appear absolute starvation. The officers in the Spanish armies during the war, drawn from the ill-educated urban classes, were for the most part a most conceited, ignorant, and inefficient body; but the men were almost always excellent, and possessed not only the moral spirit, but the physical qualities, calculated to become the basis of an admirable army. Colonel Napier has recorded his opinion that the Catalonian Miquelets or smugglers formed the finest materials for light troops in the world, and the Valencian and Andalusian levies presented a physical appearance greatly exceeding that of both the French and English regular armies.* The cause of this remarkable peculiarity is to be found in the independent spirit and general well-being of the peasantry. Notwithstanding all the internal defects of their government and institutions, the shepherds and cultivators of the soil enjoyed a most remarkable degree of prosperity. Their dress, their houses, their habits of life, demonstrated 1 Lord Caer- the long-established comfort which had for ages prevailed among them; vast tracts, particularly in the mountainous Burgoyne's regions of the north, were the property of the cultivators Espagne, i. 267; 1.384. a state of things of all others the most favourable to social happiness, when accompanied with a tolerable narvon's Spain, ii. 234, 360. I heard Lord Lynedoch, then Sir Thomas Graham, express this opinion in 1809, immediately after the retreat of Sir John Moore, in which he bore a part. LIII. degree of mildness in the practical administration of CHAP. government; and even in those districts where they were merely tenants of the nobility, the cities, or the church, 1808. their condition demonstrated that they were permitted to retain an ample share of the fruits of their toil. this subject. The general comfort of the Spanish peasantry, especi- 14. ally in the northern and mountainous provinces, is easily Statistical explained by the number of them who were owners of the details on soil, coupled with the vigour and efficacy of the provincial immunities and privileges which, in Catalonia, Navarre, the Basque Provinces, Asturias, Aragon, and Galicia, effectually restrained the power of the executive, and gave to the inhabitants of those districts the practical enjoyment of almost complete personal freedom. So extensive were their privileges, so little did government venture to disregard them, that in many cases those enjoying them were to be considered rather as democratic commonwealths, inserted into that extraordinary assemblage of separate states which formed the Spanish monarchy, than as subjects of a despotic government. The classification of the population was as in the note below, which speaks, Hard. x. volumes as to the condition of the people, and the causes 173, 174. of their prolonged resistance to the French invasion.1* its influence But the peasantry, hardy and undaunted as they were, 15. would have been unable to have combined in any effective The church: league for their common defence, destitute as they for the and chamost part were of any support from their natural leaders, racter. The population is now (1837) 14,660,000.—Malte Brun, vii. 664. 10,409,879 872,000 360,000 502,000 6,216 22,480 47,710 25,463 12,071 9,466 3,926 LIII. 1808. 1 Laborde, iv. 194. CHAP. the owners of the soil, if it had not been for the weight and influence of a body which, in every age, has borne a leading part in the contests of the Peninsula. This was THE CHURCH, the lasting and inveterate enemy in every country of revolutionary innovation. The ecclesiastics in Spain were very numerous, amounting, according to the census taken in 1787, to twenty-two thousand four hundred and eighty parish priests, and forty-seven thousand seven hundred and ten regular clergy belonging to monasteries or other public religious establishments. The influence of this great body was immense. Independent of their spiritual ascendancy in a country more strongly attached than any in Europe to the Romish church, they possessed, as temporal proprietors, an unbounded sway over their flocks. As in all other countries, it had long been felt that the church was the best and most indulgent landlord; the ecclesiastical estates, which were very numerous and extensive, were much better cultivated in general than any in the hands of lay proprietors; and the tenantry held their possessions under them for such moderate rents, and by so secure a tenure, that they had long 667, 672. enjoyed almost the advantages and consideration of actual landholders.2 2 Malte Brun, vii. 16. usefulness to Nor was this all: the charity and beneficence of the Its immense monks had set on foot, in every part of the country, the people. extensive institutions, through which, more than any others by which they could be effected, the distresses of the poor had been relieved. They partook in a great degree of the character of the hospice, particularly in the northern provinces. To the peasant they often served as banking establishments, where none other existed in the province, and as such essentially contributed to agricultural improvement. The friars acted as schoolmasters, advocates, physicians, and apothecaries. Besides feeding and clothing the poor, and visiting the sick, they afforded spiritual consolation. They were considerate landlords and indulgent masters; peace-makers in domestic broils, |