Full text of "The Spanish journal of Elizabeth, lady Holland"
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sequence or even independence, and, like the other Spaniards, looks forward to her absorption in the Gt. Empire. It was the policy of Aranda during his last Administration 3 to maintain peace with France, and to place the army and navy in the most respectable state in order to make the neutrality of his country respected by the belligerent powers. He had also proposed to take 1 The Jesuits had been abolished in 1773 by the Bull of Clement XIV. They were restored in 1804 in Naples, but not in Spain until the return of Ferdinand VII in 1814. The Society was then reinstated, and by a further edict of the following year all their rights and property, of which they had been deprived in 1767, were handed back. 2 Louisiana was handed over to France by Spain in 1800. Napoleon had now arranged to sell it to the United States, for fear it should fall into the hands of the English. 3 In 1792. l8o4 ] ARANDA'S POLICY 155 advantage of the troubles in France and discontents of the Lyonese, in order to attract into Spain all the silk manufacturers of Lyons with their machinery and workmen. Vargas told us he was himself the agent employed in the negotiation, in which he had made considerable progress when Aranda was disgraced and the policy of the Court totally changed. Most of the effects^ of the late Dss. of Alba were seized by the Q., P., and even King, on the day after her death, engaging to pay for them the price at which they should be valued. 1 One of her estates, bought by ye P. of the Peace, taken posses- sion of, but not paid for on acct. of the law-suits about her will ; sold to the K. afterwards, and the purchase money received, without having to this day satisfied the original proprietors. 18th. — Pinkney to dinner. In appearance, manner, and style of conversation very Yankee, but evidently skilful in making a bargain. Talks of the dispute between Spain and U. States as he would of a difference between two of his neighbours. Talks with contempt of Spain, and reports conversations with Cevallos that must have been very galling. Told us that he had charged 16 dollars for stationery in his accts. of extraordinary expenditure, whereupon, tho' the acct. was passed and paid, he received a private letter from Madison 2 cautioning him agt. making such charges in future. Maxim of Jefferson that no citizen of the U. States ought to remain longer than 4 years in Europe. igth. — Bourke, Rist, Mouravieff to dinner. Several vessels with silver on board arrived from America, said A 1 Among other effects of the Duchess of Alba at the time of her death which passed into the hands of the Prince of the Peace, was the Rokeby ' Venus,' by Velasquez, now in our National Gallery; 2 Appointed Secretary of State in the United States in 1801 under Jefferson, whom he succeeded as President in 1809, 156 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [Ju i y to amount to 4 millions of pesos, and 9 millions expected still. Reports of discontents at Paris. Bonaparte's sisters hissed at theatre ; called ' Princesses du Sang,' allusion to the murder of Enghien. Brunet, the actor, at Montausier imprisoned for a joke. When asked by his master if he has ' remise'd the coach,' replies, ' Non, l'imperiale est trop elevee ; il faut l'abattre.' Beurnonville gone to Bareges. 25th. — To dinner Conde Fernan Nunez, 1 his brother del Rios, Marques Pefianel, Perico Giron, Marques de Santa Cruz, B. Frere. Much conversation about ye etiquette and ceremonial of the Sp. Court. King and Q., and even the little Infantes, served with drink by the gentlemen- in-waiting on their knees. Old custom retained of tasting what the King is to drink and eat. When the\ cup is carried through the apartments or corridors of the palace, every one by whom it passes must take off his hat. At the Escorial once lately an obstinate- fellow refused, upon which the bearer of the cup threw it down, with the exclamation of * Copa profanada ' ; the man was imprisoned for the insult. Duty of the gentlemen-in- waiting excessively hard. There are 12, Fernan Nunez and brother are of the number. Scratch King's back at night when he is in bed. Gives water, &c, par extra- ordinaire, but not since English improvements have been introduced. Sumiller de cuerpo 2 (Marques de Ariza) puts on K.'s shirt. Forms observed when K. is sick, even continued after his death. ' No quiere comer el Rey ? ' 3 till he is interred, when the Sumiller breaks his wand or staff of office, and exclaims with surprise, ' Esta muerto el Rey ? ' F. Nunez, son of the Ambassador 1 D/Carlos Jose Gutierrez de los Rios, VI Conde de Fernan-Nunez, eldest of five brothers. He married Da. Maria de la Esclavitud, V Marquesa de Castel-Moncayo. - Lord Chamberlain. :i ' Does not the King wish to eat ? ' l8 o 4 ] COURT ETIQUETTE 157 in France. His wife is a very foolish little woman, so great a sotte that he thought it would not be worth any person's while to make love to her, but unluckily he overheard persons in the Prado who did not know him talking of her amour with Toledo as an established old affair. This made him observe, and the fruits of his vigilance was an abrupt discovery of the truth in conse- quence of returning home unexpectedly. Remonstrances humbly made in a Memorial from Badajoz, imploring his Majesty not to pass the winter in that city, unless every article of subsistence, both for the attendants of the Court and mules be brought into the province. Crops in Estremadura so bad. 26th. — Dined at the Dss. of Infantado's, her fete, Ste. Anne. Present her sons and 2 granddaughters ; M. Santiago, Penafiel, Creagh (whom we knew at Valencia), and Abbe" Melon. The Duke is at present engaged in a lawsuit with the Crown for his senorial rights in ye kingdom of Valencia, worth to him about £8000 pr. ann. These rights are derived from a grant of D. Jaime el Conquistador to one of the nobles who assisted him in the conquest of that kingdom. They passed by sale into the possession of the D. of I.'s ancestors, were repeatedly confirmed by the Kings of Aragon, and more recently by Felipe III after the expulsion of the Moriscos, on condition that the Senor should find settlers for the waste lands left by that measure. This was complied with, and the family have enjoyed this possession ever since, undisturbed by the Crown, till Soler * raised this process on the pretext that by the Constitution of Aragon 1 D. Miguel Cayetano Soler (i 746-1 809). For some years Inten- dant of Majorca, he succeeded Saavedra as Minister of Finance in 1798. He was able to introduce reforms, both salutary and useful to the finances of the country, during his term of office, notwithstanding the difficulties of his position. He resigned the post in 1808. 158 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [j„i y the original grant was illegal, and that the conditions in the Act of Poblacion 1 in Felipe Ill's charter were not fulfilled by the family of Infantado. The cause is to be decided on the 28th. Abbe Melon is the author of an agricultural work which has reputation ; it is a periodical journal. Abbe has been in England. Went apres diner to Mde. Castelflorido, or as she is always called, Mde. d'Aranda, the widow of the Minister. She is devout and sickly ; she has a very mild and innocent look ! ! Since French subsidy Marine more than usually neglected, instances of officers dying from poverty, and others compelled to menial services to obtain subsistence. The expenses of the Court are in the meantime going on without abatement : lately the K. granted to the P. of the P. 5000 dollars a week for repairing and enlarging his palace in Madrid, to be continued till the whole is finished. The works proceed of course very slowly. The K.'s journey, even to the sitios, is regularly preceded by an embargo on mules, and the same method is taken to procure mules whenever they are wanted for any other purpose, and the hire instead of being regulated by the current price is fixed by a tasa. 2 A similar tasa is fixed on houses, either at Madrid or the sitios, and it is sufficient that a house is empty to force the proprietor to let it to the person who gets an order for that purpose from the Govt. 2jth. — To dinner Andreoli, Balbi, M. Raghet. Andreoli disclosed some of his diplomatic rogueries that might vie with many of Scapin's fourberies : charges to his Court and the Hanseatic towns for journies to the sitios that never took place, for gala suits never made, for illuminations where there was not a candle burned. General belief that the Spanish Govt, have sent instruc- Population. . 2 Rate. i8o 4 ] O'FARRIL 159 tions to Casa Irujo (their Minister in the U. States) to yield all demanded by them rather than go to war. Frere recalled, and Bartholomew named charge d'affaires. 28th. — Urrutia, now dead, who commanded the Spanish army with reputation after the death of the Conde de Union, 1 had under him 2 general officers of considerable talents, both versed in the genie, and rivals, O'Farril and Morla. 2 O'F. has the advantage of undaunted courage, and is thought by some the best officer in the Spanish service. He is supposed by those discontented with the present Govt, to be friendly to their views. His wife has hurt him by her indiscretion and violent speeches in favor of Jacobinism (his house and society is mentioned by Azara in his famous letter to the P. of the P. in 1800). He is out of favor at present, and employed at Berlin. Morla, his rival, has ye confidence of the P. of the P. Morla's courage has been questioned. The Q. dislikes him, and prevented his filling a high office which his patron had destined for him. He is in Andalusia. Solano, good officer. 3 Pardo (brother-in-law of Galvez) is good. Mazarredo 4 is the best of the Spanish admirals ; inferior officers very good seamen. D. of Infantado lost this day his suit. The cause was tried by the Tribunal de Hacienda, where old Godoy 1 In the Catalonian campaign against France in 1793-1794. 2 Don Gonzalo O'Farril (1754-1831), Spanish general, who served with distinction in the army until appointed Ambassador at Berlin in 1798. He sided with Joseph after the abdication at Bayonne, and at Ferdinand's restoration was condemned to death in his absence as a traitor to his country. He spent the remainder of his life in France. 3 Solano (1 768-1 808), Captain-General of Andalusia and Governor of Cadiz. He was murdered by the populace of that town in 1808 for his supposed sympathy with the French. 4 Don Jose Maria Mazarredo (1744-1812), who saw much service in the Spanish navy and was Ambassador in Paris for a short time in 1804. He became Minister of Marine under Joseph in 1808, and retained the post until his death. 160 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [July presides. This is supposed to be the commencement of a series of lawsuits by which the Minister Soler boasts that he will add 5 millions to the revenues of the Crown. At this moment, when under pretence of the restrictions imposed on the Crown by the ancient constitution of Aragon the D. of I. has been stripped of a property held for more than 5 centuries by his family, has the King, in direct violation of an express article in that very Con- stitution, made over to the P. of the P. the Albufera of Valencia * — a possession, by the bye, taken from another family upon the ground that it could not be held by a subject. The stratagems which the P. of the P. puts in practice in order to prevent these examples from being at some future period turned agst. his own acquisitions, are equally shallow and ridiculous. At one time the King charges his heirs as they revere his memory not to recall his donations to this favorite : at other times he purchases Royal domains or exchanges them with estates of his own, as if he could have the means to purchase a single estate, or even loaf, without pillaging the royal Treasury. 29^. — To dinner Serra, Sapia, Quintana, Perico Giron, and Falck. The expense of a day's shooting to the K. is said to be 75,000 piasters. A cortege of 6000 persons conveyed and fed at the expense of the Govt, to Barcelona. When the Court was at Barcelona 25 judges were at once removed from the tribunals at Madrid con honores y sueldos, 2 on pretence of age, sickness, &c, and their places filled up by other persons. Many of them were young men under 40 yrs. of age and in perfect health, nor is it supposed that a single one was 1 The lagoon and domain was valued in 1813 at £300,000. It was granted by Napoleon to Suchet in reward for his capture of Valencia, and the title of Duke of Albufera was at the same time given to him. 2 With honours and stipends. i8o 4 ] THE LATE MINISTERS 161 induced either from age or infirmity to retire from office ; and in a fortnight they were banished from Madrid on pretence of want of houses, and sent to Malaga, Aragon, &c. It is said that before the decision of the D. of Infantado's process, old Godoy and Soler did not scruple to threaten the judges of the Hacienda if they permitted themselves to be swayed agst. the K., reminding them of this expulsion. The judges gave their opinions and vote in secret, no one at least being present except the Fiscal or K.'s advocate. D. of Infantado came in the eve., evidently more hurt at the manner of the pleadings agt. him than at the loss of property. In the memorial of his adversary he is held out as the oppressor of the people by holding unlawful rights over them. ist August, Madrid, 1804. — To dinner D. of Infantado, Toledo, Bauza, Abbe Melon, Falck. The former intends appealing agt. the decision of his lawsuit. Abbe Melon prefers agriculture as a national object to manufactures. Peter the Cruel and Ximenes are his Spanish heroes. Of the late Ministers he seems to have conceived a good opinion of Saavedra's talents. To Jovellanos he objects that he was a man of haughty manners, obstinate and muy aristocratico. Urquijo was loco, 1 but well with the Queen. Soler, when Intendant at Iviza established there a manufactory of muslins, and sent to Court some English muslins, which he represented as made in his own manufactory. This imposture succeeded, and gained him the character of an attentive, active man, and was the foundation of his present fortune. nth. — Ld. Hd. very ill for some hours from nausea. Serra and Sapia to dinner. Former highly good-humoured and amusing ; told many stories. Pinkney is detained, not only because he cannot find a purchaser for his 1 Mad. 162 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [Aug. wine, but also by a suit which his tailor has instituted agt. him in a court of law. Pinkney admits the legality of the debt, but refers the tailor to Soler, saying, ' The King of Spain owes the U. States a considerable sum of money. I do the business of my Govt, here ; it is therefore but fair Soler, as the K.'s cashier, should pay this bill, and I will account with Madison when I get across the Atlantic.' Infantado, with his usual friendliness, came again and spent eve. Numbers of other persons also. Moreau has arrived at Cadiz with his wife ; she is to lie-in, and they proceed immediately afterwards to America. Solano, the Captain-General, served as a volunteer under Moreau in the famous cam- paign of '96, thus upon the score of fellow soldiers he will meet with a cordial reception ; altho' it is reported that the Court have enjoined that he should confine himself to distant civilities. 12th. — In the morning went to the Royal Library, collected by Felipe V. One of the librarians, M. Conde, 1 who is an oriental linguist and has the charge of the manuscripts, very civilly arranged my admittance, it not being the custom to admit ladies, and without his intervention and the day being a festival I could not have seen it at all. We saw some MSS., valuable both from their antiquity and rich illumination. Missals, Dante, Petrarch, and the first books of Genesis orna- mented in the 12th century. A prose translation into Spanish of ye Mneid by Don Enrique de Villena. A sort of cabalistical work containing receipts to make the philosopher's stone ; the characters are quite unin- telligible, 1 Jos6 Antonio Conde (1765-1820), the author of various works on Spain. He was librarian to the Minister of the Interior, and after- wards at the Escorial under Joseph, but was exiled at the restoration of Ferdinand VII. l8 o 4 ] FRERE AND GODOY 163 Tuesday, 14th. — Freres only. Ld. Hd. better. English letters to the 26th July. Ld. G. Leveson 1 appointed to the Embassy of Petersburg ; he takes with him, tho' in no official capacity, Wm. Howard and Willy Ponsonby. The report of Count Panin's 2 recall, combined with Leveson's nomination, gives colour to the rumours of a Northern confederacy forming against France. Leveson knew Panin intimately when he went to carry the com- pliment of congratulation to the present King of Prussia in 1798-9 on his accession to the throne. The day Serra dined here, after dinner he came with me into Ld. Hd.'s bedchamber ; we sat round his bed, and he told many curious facts and entertaining anecdotes. The old story of Frere's correspondence and dispute has been revived, in consequence of some garbled copies of the letters being inserted in the French papers. This subject led to a discussion upon the business. He argued that Frere would not have taken it up had he not had officious advisers ; that being surrounded by persons of immoral and suspicious character, it was not fair to assert that the Prince had betrayed the conversation, Frere himself being incautious, and disposed to talk openly at table before his servants and dependants, each of whom were likely to betray him to the F. Ambassador. That it was not the intention of the Prince to make the correspondence public, but how was that to be avoided, when copies were distributed among ye subordinate diplomatic agents, Andreolis and Ardelbergs ? Upon asking whom the persons were who were accused of this immorality, Mouravieff and Bourke were named. 1 Lord Granville Leveson-Gower, created first Earl Granville in 1815. Directory: textos diversos textos diversos -> Ignacio Darnaude Rojas-Marcos ufólogos, contactados y espiritualistas Download 4.2 Mb. Share with your friends:
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