Mr. Hale to Mr.
Seward.
No. 148.]
Legation of the United States,
Madrid,
October 9, 1868.
Sir: On the 30th ultimo I had the honor to
inform you by telegraph of two very important events in the progress of
the revolution in this country, which formed the subject of my dispatch
No. 147, from San Sebastian. That dispatch bore date of the 27th
September, and on that day, though important positions were in the hands
of the insurgents, and the greater part of the naval force in the
Spanish forts had joined them, still the important naval station of
Carthagena had refused to join them, and a royalist army, supposed to be
equal if not superior in force to the insurgent army, confronted the
latter on the confines of Andalusia and barred its passage towards the
capital.
The Queen’s government was sustained apparently by a force of about
80,000 armed men, well appointed and obedient to their government, and
distributed over by far the greater portion of the Spanish territory.
The people, notwithstanding their knowledge of the serious insurrection
among the troops and in the navy, did not appear to have taken any part
in the matter. On the 28th of September, however, the army, under
Marshal Novalichez, advanced apparently with the intention of dislodging
the insurgents from the positions their vanguard had taken at the bridge
of Alcolen, over the Guadalquiver, at about seven miles [Page 20] from Cordova, where Marshal Serrano,
commanding the insurgent army, had established his headquarters. The
accounts of this action are still too confused to form any correct
narrative of the details of the engagement. The attack seems to have
been vigorous, and to have been firmly and successfully resisted.
Undoubtedly the advantage of position was with the insurgents. The
battalions under fire seem to have been heavily reinforced from both
sides, but the defense was constantly made good till, at about
nightfall, in an assault upon the bridge itself, which I have heard
qualified as foolhardy, Marshal Novalichez himself received a very
dangerous wound from a shell and was borne from the field, his troops
withdrawing from the attack, and those of Marshal Serrano forbearing
pursuit. But this action, in its political effects, was decisive.
On the 29th instant the population of Madrid pronounced enthusiastically
for the insurgents, and the troops of the garrison fraternized with the
people without a struggle. The details of this event will have reached
you by telegraph and newspaper. The news swept over Spain like wildfire;
and at every point the knowledge of those two events, the defeat of
Novalichez and the popular rising of Madrid, seems to have been followed
immediately by the rising or adherence of the whole country, marked in
every instance and in all places with the same general characteristics
of popular enthusiasm, peaceful execution, and thorough
completeness.
I am informed that during the night of the 29th, in the palace at San
Sebastian, the question of further resistance was debated till 4 o’clock
in the morning. It was the wish of a few who immediately surrounded the
Queen, that the Basque provinces should arm in her defense. But the
representatives of that people, whilst they respectfully assured the
Queen that she was personally safe under the protection of their
hospitality, firmly resisted her solicitations to levy war in defense
of, her legal rights. Then preparations for departure were hastily made.
The royal train was prepared, and at 10 o’clock on the morning of the
30th the royal carriages, moved towards the station bearing the whole
royal family. The bearing of the people was remarkably dignified; not a
shout, not an insult, no crowding nor rushing after the carriages, which
moved slowly. The guards were turned out, the Bourbon march was played,
and royal honors shown, to the party as usual; the authorities of the
province accompanying the royal train till the French frontier was
passed at Hendaye. There they respectfully took leave of the Queen and
her family. Her royal guard of halberdiers took leave and turned back to
Spain. The Queen and her family entered for the first time, in France, a
public railway car, and the dynasty of the Bourbons had fallen.
Events have since happened so rapidly as to almost preclude a detailed
reference.
On the 3d instant I sent you a second telegram informing you of the
entrance of Marshal Serrano into Madrid, where he was immediately
invested with the authority of general-in-chief of the army and of the
navy and president of the provisional government of Spain.
On the 1st instant the people of Madrid made their first essay in the
exercise of sovereignty, electing, by universal suffrage, a superior
revolutionary board or junta of 30 members, which on the 5th instant
organized by the election of its officers and replaced the provisional
junta, which had been hastily and spontaneously assembled on the 20th
ultimo.
Marshal Serrano, Duke of La Torre, had been charged by the first junta to
form a cabinet of ministers.
On the night of the 8th instant this was done, and the decree appointing
them, signed by the duke as president of the provisional government of
Spain, appeared in the Gazette on the morning of the 9th, yesterday.
[Page 21]
This government having been thus peacefully constituted, and there being
no other contending government within the limits of this kingdom, I
considered that the case foreseen by your telegraphic instruction of the
6th instant had arrived, and immediately addressed to the duke an
official request for an interview.
This was set for 4 o’clock in the afternoon of yesterday, at which hour I
went to the official residence of the duke, accompanied by the secretary
of this legation, and was immediately received by the duke, accompanied
by the newly appointed minister of state, Señor D. Juan de
Lorenzana.
I then addressed the president of the provisional government in English,
as appears in the inclosed copy, marked A. The president replied in
Spanish, speaking without notes, and his remarks, written immediately
after in Spanish, by Mr. Perry, and translated into English, were
substantially as appears in the inclosed paper, marked B.
You will also find inclosed the official Gazette of this morning
containing a Spanish translation of my speech, and what purports to have
been the duke’s reply. The latter, however, was prepared afterwards, as
I understand, by a gentleman not present at the interview.
Both the president and the minister of state were evidently much pleased
with this prompt recognition on the part of the American government.
After some informal conversation, in which these sentiments were freely
exchanged, I took my leave.
In the same Gazette of to-day, which contains these speeches, you will
find on the first page a declaration of rights by the superior
revolutionary junta of Madrid, with the names of its members at the
foot. On the fourth page is an important circular letter addressed to
the governors and local juntas of the provinces, by the new minister of
interior government; a document from the Madrid junta, accepting the
ministers appointed by the president, Duke of La Torre; and an address
by the junta of Madrid to the local juntas of the capital towns and
principal cities of the provinces, in which the central junta, on motion
of Señor Rivero, leader of the democratic party, resolves to support and
maintain the government just constituted, notwithstanding the absence of
the democratic element in the new cabinet. This last document is
important. Sent by telegram to the provinces, you will notice that it
has been immediately responded to; and on the fifth and sixth pages of
this Gazette you will find already the telegraphic response of the
juntas of the provinces accepting and maintaining the new cabinet and
adhering to the declaration of rights published by the Madrid junta.
This is, therefore, a government accepted by the whole nation, and in the
peaceful and undisputed exercise of its functions.
Madrid remains constantly tranquil, though about 60,000 stand of arms
were indiscriminately distributed to the people on the 30th instant, and
the bands of the armed people are seen constantly in the streets since
that date.
They are rapidly organizing in battalions, according to their wards, and
elect their own officers. They stand guard over the royal palace; over
the Bank of Spain; over the ministerial departments, archives and public
edifices, performing this voluntary service with rare constancy and
perfect courtesy.
In short, sir, the deportment of this people, so long the victim of a
corrupt oppression, in the first moments of liberty, with arms in their
hands, and in the enthusiasm of victory, has astonished me and will
challenge the admiration of the world.
[Page 22]
I inclose translations of the declaration of rights before alluded to,
and the decree published in the Gazette of yesterday, by which the new
cabinet has been constituted.
Respectfully, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.
A.
Speech of Mr. Hale.
Mr. President: By command of my government,
recognizing the fact that the people of Spain, in the exercise of
that high prerogative which rightfully pertains to every people,
have fundamentally changed their system of government, in the name
and on behalf of the government and people of the United States of
America, I come to offer their congratulations on the quiet,
efficient, and thorough manner in which this great change has been
effected.
A government claiming to be founded on divine right has been
overthrown, and a government founded on a right still more divine,
the right of the people, has been established in its place.
As Spain was among, the first of the nations of the earth to hail the
advent of the United States of America in the family of nations, so
now, in grateful return, they make haste to congratulate the Spanish
people on their political regeneration.
In thus establishing diplomatic relations with the government over
which your excellency presides, I recall with pleasure the fact that
the United States and Spain have never had any difference which
diplomacy has not been able to reconcile;
I hardly need add that in the present circumstances no effort of mine
will be spared for strengthening and rendering more cordial the
sentiments of sincere friendship and good will now so happily
subsisting between the two nations.
[Translation.]
Marshal Serrano, Duke de la Torre, president of the provincial
government, made this response to the American minister:
Mr. Minister: Nothing could be more
grateful to my heart than to receive on this solemn occasion, in the
name of the Spanish people, the congratulations you offer on the use
they have made of the prerogative that emanates from their
sovereignty.
Now that the first portion of the task is finished, and all the
obstacles to the establishment of national institutions removed, the
new order of things that must soon arise from what has ceased to
exist, in the first exercise of that sovereignty, will also deserve
in due time, I assure you, the felicitations of your government and
the sympathy of the United States.
The memories which you now so pertinently recall are pleasant to my
recollection, and Spain, which under present circumstances needs,
and no doubt will deserve, the encouragement of all nations that
love liberty and know how to preserve it, gratefully accepts the
sympathy of those magnanimous nations, like the United States, that
spare no sacrifice to maintain their free institutions in their
perfect integrity.
The diplomatic relations continued by this act between your
government and that over which I have the honor to preside will,
from this day forward, be more intimate and cordial, as they ought
to be between nations that have had no difficulties but what have
been amicably settled, and that, in homage to the same principle of
sovereignty, exercise it in the establishment of their institutions
in a definite and permanent manner, each with due regard to its
national peculiarity.
Declaration of rights.
The superior revolutionary junta, faithful to its high origin, makes
the following declaration of rights:
Universal suffrage.
Liberty of worship.
Liberty of teaching.
Liberty of assembling and of pacific associations.
[Page 23]
Liberty of printing without special legislation.
Decentralization of the administration, returning to the provinces
and the municipalities their autonomy.
Trial by jury in all criminal cases.
Unity of legal rights in all branches of the administration of
justice.
Immobility of the judges.
Individual security, inviolability of domicile, and of private
correspondence.
Abolition of the death penalty.
JOAQUIN AQUIRRE, President
NICOLAS RIVERA, Vice President. (And
24 other signatures.)
Madrid,
October 8, 1868.
Officials of the provisional government of Spain:
Decree issued from the war department:
In compliance with the duty intrusted to me by the nation, and by
the power with which it has clothed me, as the president, I now
form the following provisional government:
Department of War.—Lieutenant General Don
Juan Prim, Marquis de los Castellejos.
Department of State.—Don Juan Alvarez de
Lorenzana.
Department of Grace and Justice.—Don
Antonio Romero Ortez.
Department of the Navy.—Don Juan Topete,
Commander of the Fleet.
Department of Finance.—Don Lameano
Figuerola.
Department of Government.—Don Praxedes
Mateo Sagasta.
Department of Industry.—Don Manuel Ruiz
Zorilla.
Department of the Colonies.—Don Adelardo
Lopez de Ayala.
EL DUQUE DE LA TORRE, President of the
Provisional Government.
Madrid,
October 8,
1868.
Circular from the department of government to
the civil governors and government councils of
Spain.
The provisional government having been organized, and the first part
of our glorious revolution being finished, the minister undersigned
feels it his most pressing duty to address the councils and all
constituted authorities in the country and explain to them the
patriotic intentions of the government, and tell them what to do to
preserve the glory of our revolution, to assure confidence at home
and retain the sympathy, admiration, and applause so readily awarded
to us by Europe and America at the dawn of our regeneration.
Our easy victory and the moderation in which we enjoy it seem
singular to those who look upon us from a distance, without knowing
the vices and corruption of the oppressive system under which we
were living or the proverbial virtues of the Spanish character.
The glorious revolution, begun in Cadiz, has emboldened those timid
souls that bowed their necks to the yoke of a corrupt government in
dread of the horrors of anarchy or the fury of angry passions.
To their everlasting glory, the Spanish people have demonstrated to
the world that they not only could rise up against the tyranny that
oppressed and degraded them, but, after the victory, could preserve
that moderation that shows an education sufficient to enter boldly
into paths trodden by a free people.
Honorable in every way as this revolution has so far been—and we may
be proud of it, as history records no other such—we would sin as
prodigals, and fail in our patriotic duty, if we halted a moment on
the way, before completing the work we so auspiciously began with so
much enthusiasm.
If we would preserve the great advantages obtained in so brief a
time, we should exercise unremitting vigilance, encouraged by
patriotism, honor, and confidence in a free future. We must remember
that the enemies of our honor and liberties have secreted themselves
among the people, and have assumed the mask of patriotism to mislead
them and induce them to commit outrages that would disgrace our
nation and sully the purity of our revolution. If it was formerly a
painful necessity to resort to arms to overthrow a government that
humbled and degraded us, now that we are peaceful victors we must
preserve order; and the provisional government is determined to do
this in fulfillment of the great duty it owes to the country.
Fortunately we have no sanguinary deeds to lament so far; but the few
that have occurred will prove a warning and may prevent the
perpetration of others. If some are guilty, there are courts to try
them and punish them. Mobs must not undertake to administer justice,
lest innocent victims be sacrificed and the fury of personal
resentment turn to vengeance. Such acts are unworthy of a civilized
nation, and the provisional [Page 24]
government would not tolerate them, for it has assumed the reins of
state to conduct the nation to the enjoyment of liberty, and not to
let it perish in anarchy.
Having explained the intentions of the government in this particular,
it remains for me to advise you to deserve the country’s thanks by
maintaining order at all risks, delivering over to the courts of
justice all those that disturb it under any pretext, for they are
the true enemies to liberty, and might cause us many sacrifices and
tears if left to pursue their wild career.
May God give you many years.
PRAXEDES MATEO SAGASTA, Minister of
Government.
Madrid,
October 9, 1868.
Dispatch of Señor Aquirre, president of the
superior revolutionary council, to Señor Serrano, president of
the provisional government.
Most Excellent Sir: This superior
revolutionary council is much pleased to receive your communication,
giving the form of government you have chosen, in concert with the
Marquis of Castellejos, (General Prim.)
The worthy officers you have selected is a proof to this council that
we may expect the sacred principles inscribed on our revolutionary
banner to be enforced by the supreme power, and we do not hesitate
one moment to offer you our most frank and decided support.
This council hopes that all the provinces will hasten to approve of
the constituted government, thus fulfilling a duty of
patriotism.
On acknowledging the reception of your communication, the council
hopes that you will act as interpreter of these sentiments to your
worthy colleagues.
God give you many years.
His Excellency Don Francisco Serrano y
Dominguez,
Duque de la Torre.
Circular telegram from the revolutionary council
of Madrid to the provincial councils.
At a large meeting of the democratic party, it was resolved, on
motion of Mr. Rivera, to support the recently constituted
government, in hopes that the programme of Cadiz may be faithfully
carried out. At this meeting, and afterwards from the balcony of
government house, Mr. Rivera, introduced by Mr. Aquirre, spoke in
the name of the democracy, and counselled all citizens to extreme
vigilance in the preservation of order. His speech was warmly
applauded by the people. On quietly retiring, they shouted for
Rivera and for General Prim, who was seated by his side, and who
also made a speech.
MARQUIS VEGA de ARMIJO, Vice-President.
Telesforo Montejo, Inocente Artiz y
Casado,
Secretaries.
The above telegram was answered by many of the provincial
councils, approving the constituted provisional government.
[Telegram per cable.]
Mr. Seward to Mr. Hale.
Department of State,
Washington,
October 13, 1868.
Reciprocate in President’s name the salutations of the provisional
government, communicated by Spanish minister here, and tender best
wishes of United States for peace, prosperity, and happiness of
Spain, under present and definitive government.
John P. Hale Esq., &c., &c., &c.
