Transcription
Madrid Monday aft: May 22 ‘43
My dear Papa
We have not one of the longest gaps in our / accounts from home since I left _ The winds must have been / adverse and the steamers must have failed in their appointed / days since it is now nearly two months (my last date is 29th / March) [^ from the day] when I last heard from you : This long interval is ra: / ther unpleasant, and I rejoice that two or three days more must / bring, barring accidents, the Cunard of May 1st.
We have had here great trouble in the political world; / almost a revolution, and tho at a present little more quiet, the / future is even for Spanish affairs uncommonly dark and threat: / ening _ I believe in my last letter I told you of the difficulties / which had arisen upon the fall of the old Ministry and the / appointment of their successors _ The new Cabinet seemed a very / heterogeneous combination and not likely to command a majority : / Whispers of difficulties soon arose, the Minister for Foreign affairs / in the new Ministry (the Spanish Ambassador in Portugal) at once / refused the Post : The President of the new Council Mr. Lopez in / a brilliant speech promised mich and among other things a / general amnesty to unite all Spaniards _ When this measure was / put into shape, and the bill drawn up for the Regents sig: /
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:nature it was found that it was only to extend back about two years / as as to include all Espartero’s bitterest enemies; the men who had been / engaged in plots to overturn his government, curry off the little Queen, / or even attempt his life to accomplish this object _ he made up his / mind however to assent to this measure : the next day at the Cabinet / Council their demands rose; they required him to dismiss about 60 / officers and when the last was produced, it was found to include every / friend very one in Military station about him; his confidential aids / +c +c men who had fought thro’ the Civil ware at his side and / against whom nothing specific could be alleged _ At this point Espartero / in military phrase halted : he took up the paper and going over the / names one by one called upon the ministers to state their objections; / there he is said by one party to have answered completely and then to / have declared that he would not consent to their removal without / cause _ The minister answered in turn by offering their resignations / which he declined accepting and there the matter ended for the day : / rumour flew like wild thro’ the City and the Cortes were in great / excitement _ The next morning however the President of th Council / was sent for to Buena Vista, and informed that his resignation and that / of his colleagues was accepted, and that the President of the Senate, / an old gentleman turned of 70, was charged to form a new Minis: - / try _ the announcement of this in the Chanler of Reputies gave rise / to a most stormy debate : some proposed that the Chamber should / declare itself permanent and talked int he most revolutionary style : / The new President of the Council when he entered the Chamber to read / the decree of his appointement was rec’d with shouts and yells not only / from the Galleries but the members of the floor, who among themselves / proceeded from violent words to blows and outrages of a personal / character _ When the session ended the new Minister was with /
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Difficulty save from the mob, which collected in front of the building who / pressing round his carriage, saluted him with a shower of stones _ as / the city continued in an excited state the troops were under arms in / their quarters, and strong bodies posted at night in commanding / positions : _ The Chamber having been adjourned for a week noting / new has occurred for the last two days, save the filling up of the new / Cabinet : You shall now hear what is said by the two parties : The / friends of the Regent declare that the great object of the late Ministry was to / drive him from power, either by inducing him to resign rather than yield / to their grasping demands, or by gradually removing all his supports / + undermining his strength, prepare the way for a coup de main : / IN proof of this they orde [ ^ the course] of this short lived ministry of nine days, and the / fact that the names of a new Regency of three! To consist of the Infante / Francisco de Paula, an ex minister, friend of Queen Christina, and M. / Olozaga one the leaders of the popular party! Were circulated among / the parties in the plot : I have since heard that the young French / Chargé d’affaires imprudently exclaimed that “little was wanting to the / resignation of the Regent”; this is I believe very near the fact, as I have / understood that on the night of the day in which he was so severely tried / he had thoughts of leaving Madrid with his escort, and abandoning the / reins of a government which his enemies would not allow him to / carry on either advantageously to the Country of [^ with] credit to himself _ / Espartero’s enemies say he was dissuaded from this step by the advice / of the English minister, who induced hom also to accept the resignation of / this hostile Cabinet _ Thus you see the Country passes from one / crisis to another, while affairs drag on in a most irregular manner. / The Contributions and direct taxes since the beginning of this year (nearly / six months) are levied without the sanction of law, and should the / Cortes now be dissolved, must be raised in the same way for some time /
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Longer: amid this jumble of parties and passions the Constitution / is only appealed to as a means of attack against an adversary and is / I am convinced unfitted in its present shape for the actual condition / of the Country :
I have not seen these events as closely as I could / have wished having been quite ill for the last three weeks and during / the last fortnight confined to my bed _ a bad cold, with a fever and I / think a slight chill accompanied of course with great derangement of my / “digestive organs”, reduced me so much that our man Benjamin told / me one morning consolingly, that I “looked wonderful bad”. _ In fact / I starved myself to a pretty low point, but finding that did not answer / after a learned consultation with my Doctor, I varied the treatment a little / and find myself much better in consequence _ I rode out this morning / with Mr. Irving and the air is bringing back my strength and appetite. / In a few days I hope to be as good as new _ I suppose its a sort of / annual settlement and I shall [^ now] be free of the guild for some time to / come :
By this steamer you will receive a letter from Miller / enclosing a note or draft for about $200 : _ Don’t mention it to the Girls / unless they discover it accidentally or they will trouble themselves about / my privations here and this diminish the enjoyment I wish to afford / them : It will reach you about the 22nd June, and enable you to take / them for 8 or 10 days to the Springs, or indulge them in some other / way more agreable to yourself + to them :
I can say nothing of my own plans for the summer / as they depend on Mr. Irving who is variable : his disorder return at inter - / vals and his spirits are very bad : I have to exert myself for both _ Good / night : I hope to write again for the steamer tomorrow or the next day / but I am too tired to say more to night : A kiss to my dear Mama / and the buttons : Your affec Son / Alex H.
Tuesday morn’g - Mary 23d: Thanks to the good ship Britannia which / has made a very quick trip, we have this morning our letters to the /
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28th April _ We are all afloat again with the pleasure of receiving them _ I am especially / happy to find from George’s letter that your steamboat affairs promise so well : my confidence / in George’s still + address induce me to hope against my general opinion of such / affairs :
The extracts in the English and French Papers shew / that stocks are rising with a jump, as all things / move with is _ The English hope that we will / begin to take their manufactured articles in / payment of the balance due the Cotton / forwarded, and for which the Specie began / to move : _ some talk of commercial / arrangements and Mr. Webster /
I am going on improving and /
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And hope to be in three or four days about / again as usual _ I shall write a note to / one of the Girls to accompany this tomorrow :
Your affec A. H.Transcriber
Kathryn AlexanderLanguage
English
