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safe from the balls. It was then four in the morning. To describe the terror they had undergone is impossible. Amidst their cries they said,When mamma comes to know all this, she will write to Espartero to punish the wicked men. On the 8th the garrison and National Militia were reviewed in front of the Palace, and when they filed off before the Queen, who was in the balcony, shouting *Viva el Reyna!' she turned to one of her attendants and said, 'Without the halberdiers I should not now be alive!""

Several of the conspirators were pursued and arrested almost immediately in the neighbourhood of Madrid, and amongst them Don Diego Leon. This brave and enthusiastic young officer, when he was taken wore the full uniform of a General of Hussars, with nu merous crosses and honours. He had distinguished himself in the war against Don Carlos, and by his chivalrous bearing gained him self a high reputation. He was tried before a Council of War, and condemned to death. His execution took place, on the 15th of October, outside of the Gate of Toledo, and his last moments are thus described by an eye-witness. "A flash of his natural courage illuminated the last moments of the ill-fated chief. On arriving on the fatal ground, he descended with perfect composure from his carriage, and walked with the utmost firmness of tread, dressed in full uniform, to the spot marked out for him to meet his sorrowful end. He there, embracing General Roncali and the clergyman in attendance, addressed a few words to the persons present, with a full and unshaken voice. He denied being a traitor or a coward, of

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his brother-soldiers farewell; and giving himself the word of command, the picquet fired and he was no more."

Espartero was not wanting to the emergency; and by means of his energetic measures this outburst of rebellion was quickly suppressed. He left Madrid on the 19th of October for the North, and before his departure issued a proclamation denouncing the rebellion, in which he reminded the people that he derived all his power from them, and appealed to them whether he had in any respect violated the promises which he had made to observe the Constitution. He committed, he said, the care of the Queen until his return, to the National Guard of Madrid. The insurgent troops began rapidly to fall off from their leaders. A party of soldiers who were acting as escort to the Marquess de Alameda (an active leader in the rebellion) an officer named Leira, and Montes de Oca, permitted the two former to escape, but seized upon Montes de Oca, and brought him back by force to Vittoria and delivered him up to Zurbano, one of Espartero's generals. He was afterwards tried and shot. At Tolosa, Alava, and Guipuscoa, the officers and soldiers who had declared themselves against the Regent returned to their duty, and on the 20th O'Donnell ordered the remnant of troops which

he had left in Pampeluna to evacuate the citadel, and two or three days afterwards he crossed the frontier into France with about 2,500 men, and arrived at Bayonne.

The next question is, whether the Queen Mother, then resident at the Court of Louis Philippe, had any, and what part, in the abortive insurrection of which we have thus briefly detailed the history. The Spanish Ambassador at this period in Paris was S. Olozaga, and when intelligence of the attempt on the palace of Madrid reached Paris, he immediately waited on Queen Christina, and (as he asserted) obtained from her a distinct disavowal of any participation in the conspiracy. Not long afterwards he addressed to her Majesty a letter, in which he stated that he had transmitted her disavowal to the Spanish Government, but as the insurgents still continued to use her name, he suggested that she should publish a declaration to the Spanish nation, to show that this was done without her authority and against her wish, or that her silence could only bear one interpretation. Queen Christina to this returned the following reply through the medium of her private Secretary, "The Queen Donna Maria Christina de Bourbon commands me to tell your Lordship that she does not think proper to reply to your strange communication of the 12th of this month, in which the facts were mis-stated and her Majesty's words falsified."

S. Olozaga rejoined that if he had misquoted the words of the Queen Mother, he was ready to transmit to his Government any more correct version furnished by her of what she had said, and re

fused any longer to hold correspondence with those who did not acknowledge his character as Envoy from the lawful Regent of Spain. The answer was in the name "Don Josè de Castillo," the Queen's Secretary, and stated that "considerations of a superior mind" alone induced her Majesty to break silence, with a view to proclaim her real sentiments, and give vent to her profound indignation. It then proceeded as follows:

"The Queen neither advised nor created the sad events which have again afflicted our unhappy country, while the tears and blood which during seven consecutive years were shed in the Peninsula were still flowing. A stranger to all the passions engendered by political discords, her Majesty supported with courage and resignation the anguish which she has had to endure from the day when she lost sight of the two august orphans so dear to her heart. Deploring, as she does, the error and infatuation of men who requited by insult and by the basest ingratitude those benefits which they had received from her generous hand, and reconciled to lead a sad but tranquil existence in a foreign land, her Majesty has invariably followed the pacific, noble, and safe course which she has laid out for herself under those painful circumstances. No, her Majesty has neither advised nor excited civil war; and it was not possible for her to do so, after declaring in a recent public document the consolation which she felt at having been the constant promoter of peace. It is elsewhere we must seek the causes of the new collision which has broken out in Spain. Those causes are to be found in the attempts of Barcelona and Va.

lencia; in the vicious origin of the Government constituted in Madrid, the work of the revolution of September; in the usurpation of royal authority; in the illegality and unruly injustice of the measures of that Government in numerous and flagrant infractions of the Constitution and the laws; in its imprudent and scandalous obstinacy in violating the faith pledged at Bergara, and trampling under foot the ancient and venerable fueros of the generous Basques and Navarrese; in the violent and iniquitous usurpation of the Queen's right to the guardianship of her illustrious daughters,-an usurpation which loyal Spaniards viewed with stupor equalled only by their profound grief, because they witnessed on this and several other occasions the contempt entertained for divine and human laws; and because they saw the honour and dignity of the mother of their Sovereign seriously offended."

"In their implacable fury," not satiated with the persecution of Christina, "the Revolutionists" "perfidiously seek to cover her with opprobrium❞—

"After having plunged her in misfortune, the Revolutionists are striving to extort from her lips an iniquitous condemnation of those who, in resisting the most odious tyranny, have confidently invoked her august name. In their blind delirium they aspire to nothing less than to obtain from her Majesty the sanction of all the acts and all the scandals of the Government of Madrid, which rekindled in Spain extinct discords; and they wish, moreover, that her Majesty should lay the responsibility of this new conflagration to the noble d fenders of the laws indignantly outraged. Their frenzy prompts

them to call on her Majesty to avow herself indirectly the accomplice of those who have the shameful impudence of calumniating, by charging them with regicidal projects, the men who have courageously taken arms to deliver august and helpless orphans from the hardest bondage. Her Majesty would cover herself with shame if she were to accept so ignominious a position. She will never sully her name by so black a stain."

This declaration was made to S. Olozaga, in order that he might communicate it "to the Government which accredited him to the Court of France," as containing the "exact and faithful meaning and true representation of what her Majesty said.' The truth seems to be that Queen Christina was from the first in the secret of the conspiracy, and had it been successful, would have gloried in the enterprise, but as it proved abortive, she was afraid of embarrassing herself if she appeared privy to the attempt, and yet felt all the shame of ingratitude in disavowing the actions of gallant men who had shed their blood in her cause. Hence her vacillation, and the inconsistency of her language. It was very generally believed that there was another illustrious actor behind the scenes, and that Louis Philippe was privy to and countenanced the insurrection, with the ultimate view of marrying his son, the Count d'Aumale, to the young Queen Isabel 2nd.

But although the Queen Mother was beyond the territory of Spain, she was not allowed to escape altogether the consequences of the late attempt; for on the 26th of October Espartero published a decree, dated Vittoria, in which, on account of "just political reasons,

causes, and considerations of public propriety," he suspended the payment of the pension assigned to her, until some new legal provisions should be adopted in that respect. The Regent also, about the same time, issued a decree, reorganizing the Government of the Basque Provinces, suppressing the fueros, and removing the custom-houses to the frontier.

PORTUGAL.We have already given an account of the settlement of the dispute between Portugal and Spain, with reference to the question of the Navigation of the Douro, which was adjusted through the medium of the good offices of the British Government, in conformity with the demands of Spain, although, at the opening of the

Portuguese Cortes, on the 2d of January, this year, the Queen's Speech declared that the terms insisted on by Spain could not be complied with.

In the month of June a change of Ministry took place, and the following was appointed:-President of the Council and Minister of the Home Department, Senhor Aguiar; Foreign Affairs, Senhor R. F. Magalhaes; Justice, Senhor C. Cabral; Finance, Senhor Avila; War, Conde de Villa Real; Marine and Colonies, Senhor Pestana. The Duke of Terceira was appointed Military Governor of Lisbon, and Don Carlos de Mascaranhas Commander of the Municipal Guard.

CHAPTER XII.

INDIA AND THE LEVANT.

AFFGHANISTAN.-Final overthrow of Dost Mahomed by General Sir Robert Sale, at Purwan-Dost Mahomed takes refuge in the British camp, and surrenders to Sir William M'Naghten-He is sent to Calcutta, and ultimately permitted to reside at Loodianah.Capture of a Ghilzie fort by Major Lynch, and destruction of its garrison.-Rout of the Ghilzies by Colonel Wymer.-SCINDE.-Our troops re-occupy Khelat-Defeat of Nasseer Khan by Major BosMelancholy fate of Lieutenant Loveday-The Brahoes under Nasseer Khan are again defeated at Peer Chutta-Nasseer Khan surrenders himself to the British-PUNJAB-Death of Maharajah Kurruck Sing-His son and successor Non Nehal Sing accidentally killed-Shere Sing seizes the throne-Abdicates suddenlybut afterwards gains possession of Lahore, and re-ascends the throneDisorganised state of the Punjab.-CHINA-Mortality amongst the British troops at Chusan-Letter from Lord Palmerston forwarded to Ningpo-Admiral Elliot sails northwards to the Pe-che-lee gulf -Negotiations in the Peho river-Admiral Elliot returns to Chusan-Keshen appointed by the Emperor Chief Commissioner at Canton, in the place of Lin-Captain Elliot opens negotiations with Keshen at Canton-Tedious delays-Commodore Sir G. Bremer reduces the Bogue forts-Terms agreed upon between Captain Elliot and the Chinese authorities-Despatch of Keshen-The British Government disapprove of the terms of the ConventionCaptain Elliot is recalled, and Sir H. Pottinger appointed in his stead-Bad faith of the Chinese-The British squadron attacks the forts-Sir G. Bremer and Major-General Gough prepare to assault Canton-Keshen degraded-British flag of truce fired upon by the Chinese-The factory at Canton taken possession of by the British-Imperial Edicts-Canton at the mercy of the BritishConvention entered into by Captain Elliot-Death of Sir Le Fleming Senhouse-Arrival of Sir H. Pottinger in the Canton waters-Proclamation issued by him-Expedition sails to the Northward-Captain Elliot leaves China.-TURKEY, SYRIA, AND EGYPT-Conditions offered by Admiral Stopford to the Pacha of Egypt-They are accepted by the latter-His communication to the Grand VizierThe Pasha delivers up the Turkish fleet-Further negotiations with the Porte-Final settlement of the dispute-Changes in the Ministry at Constantinople-Letter on the state of Syria.

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