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FIRST DUKE BUCKINGHAM
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FIRST See also:DUKE See also:BUCKINGHAM
OF) led to See also:war, for the See also:English See also:court
was offended by the See also:Spanish refusal to aid in the restoration of the
See also:count See also:palatine, son-in-See also:law of See also:
But he soon fell back under the See also:control of
less capable favourites than Olivares. in 1643 the See also:prestige
of the Spanish See also:infantry was ruined by the See also:battle of Rocroy
.
At the See also:peace of See also:Munster, which ended the See also:Thirty Years' War in
1648, See also:Spain was cynically thrown over by the See also:German Habsburgs
for whom she had sacrificed so much
.
Aided by the disorders
of the minority of See also:
1665/
with his niece See also:Mariana of See also:Austria, the Spanish monarchy was an inert See also:mass, which Louis XIV. treated as raw material to be cut into at his discretion, and was saved from dismemberment only by the intervention of See also:England and See also: The part taken by Spain in the actual1700-/3. struggle was mainly a passive one, and it ended for her.with the loss of See also:Gibraltar and the See also:island of See also:Minorca, which remained in the hands of England, and of all her dominions in See also:Italy and Flanders . Another and a very serious consequence was that England secured the See also:Asiento (q.v.), or See also:contract, which gave her the See also:monopoly of the slave See also:trade with the Spanish colonies, as well as the right to establish " factories "—that is to say commercial agencies—in several Central and See also:South See also:American ports, and to send one See also:cargo of manufactured goods yearly in a See also:ship of 500 tons to New Carthagena . In See also:internal affairs the years of the war were of See also:capital importance in Spanish See also:history . The See also:general See also:political and administrative 1700Phili-p/746 . v., nullity of the Spaniards of this See also:generation led to the See also:assumption of all real power by the French or See also:Italian servants and advisers of the king . Under their direction important See also:financial and administrative reforms were begun . The opposition which these innovations produced encouraged the separatist tendencies of the eastern portion of the See also:Peninsula . Philip V. was forced to reduce See also:Aragon, Catalonia and See also:Valencia by arms . See also:Barcelona was only taken in 1714, the year after the See also:signing of the treaty of Utrecht . The See also:local privileges of these once See also:independent kingdoms, which had with rare exceptions been respected by the Austrian See also:kings, were swept away . Their disappearance greatly promoted the See also:work of See also:national unification, and was a gain, since they had See also:long ceased to serve any really useful purpose . The removal of internal See also:custom-houses, and the opening of the trade with See also:America, hitherto confined to See also:Seville and to the dominions of the See also:crown of See also:Castile, to all Spaniards, were considerable boons .
The See also:main agents in introducing and promoting these changes were the French ambassadors, a very able French See also:treasury See also:official—See also:Jean Orry, seigneur de Vignory (1652–1719)—and the See also:lady known as the princess See also:des See also:Ursins (q.v.), the See also:chief lady-in-waiting
.
Her See also:maiden name was See also:Anne Marie de la Tremoille, and she was the widow of Flavio See also:Orsini, duke of See also:Bracciano
.
Until 1714 she was the power behind the See also:throne in Spain
.
On the death of Philip V.'s first wife Maria Louisa Gabriella of See also:Savoy, in 1714, the king was married at once to See also: His ministers, of 1759. whom the most notable were Zenon de Somadevila, See also:marquis of See also:Ensenada, and See also:Richard See also:Wall, an Irish Jacobite, carried on the work of financial and administrative reform . The advance of the See also:country in material prosperity was consider-able . Foreign influences in thought and literature began to modify the opinions of Spaniards profoundly . The party known as the Regalistas, the lawyers who wished to vindicate the regalities, or rights of the Crown, against the encroachments of the See also:pope and the See also:Inquisition, gained the upper See also:hand . The new See also:sovereign was one of the most sincere, and the most successful, of the " enlightened despots " of the 18th See also:century . Charles !IL, He had had a long See also:apprenticeship in Naples, and was 1759-1788. a man of See also:forty-three when he came to Spain in 1759 . Until his death on the 14th of See also:December 1788 he was engaged in internal politics, in endeavouring to advance the material prosperity of Spain . His foreign policy was less See also:wise . He had a deep dislike of England, and a strong See also:desire to recover Minorca and Gibraltar, which she held . He had also a strong See also:family feeling, which induced him to enter into the "Family Compact " with his French See also:cousins . He made war on England in 1761, with disastrous results to Spain, which for the time lost both See also:Havana and See also:Manila . In 1770 he came to the See also:verge of war with England over the See also:Falkland Islands . In 1778 he joined France In supporting the insurgent English colonists in America . The most statesmanlike of his foreign enterprises, the attempt to take the piratical See also:city of See also:Algiers in 1775 (see See also:BARBARY PIRATES), was made with insufficient forces, was See also:ill executed, and ended in defeat . Yet he was able to recover Minorca and See also:Florida in the War of American See also:Independence, and he finally extorted a treaty with Algiers which put a stop to piratical raids on the Spanish See also:coast . The worst result for Spain of his foreign policy was that the example set by the See also:United States excited a desire for independence in the Spanish colonies, and was the See also:direct incitement to the rebellions at the beginning of the 19th century . The king's domestic policy, on the contrary, was almost wholly fruitful of See also:good . Under his direction many useful public See also:works were carried out—roads, See also:bridges and large schemes of drainage . The first reforms undertaken had provoked a disturbance in See also:Madrid directed against the king's favourite See also:minister, the Sicilian marquis of Squillacci . Charles, who believed that the See also:Jesuits had promoted the outbreak, and also that they had organized a See also:murder See also:plot against him, allowed his minister See also:Aranda (q.v.), the correspondent of See also:Voltaire, to expel the order in 1766, and he exerted his whole influence to secure its entire suppression . The new spirit was otherwise shown by the restrictions imposed on the See also:numbers of the religious orders and on the Inquisition, which was reduced to See also:practical subjection to the See also:lay courts of law . Many of the king's See also:industrial enter-prises, such as the Bavarian See also:colony, established by him on the See also:southern slope of the Sierra Morena, passed away without leaving much trace . On the other hand the See also:shipping and the See also:industry of Spain increased greatly . The See also:population made a considerable advance, and the dense See also:cloud of See also:sloth and See also:ignorance which had settled on the country in the 17th century was lifted . In this work Charles III. was assisted, in addition to Squillacci and Aranda, by See also:Campomanes (q.v.), who succeeded Aranda as minister of See also:finance in 1787, and by See also:Floridablanca (q.v.), who ruled the country in the spirit of enlightened bureaucracy . Charles III. was succeeded in 1788 by his son Charles IV . The See also:father, though " enlightened," had been a thorough See also:despot; the son was sluggish and stupid to the verge of imbecility, but the despotism remained . The new king was much under theinfluence of his wife, Maria Louisa of Parma, a coarse, passionate and narrow-minded woman; but he continued to repose confidence in his father's ministers . Floridablanca was, however, unable to continue his earlier policy, 1788- Charles1808 1.V.. in view of the contemporaneous outbreak of the Revolution in France . The revival of Spain depended on the restoration of her colonial and See also:naval ascendancy at the expense of Great See also:Britain, and for this the support of France was needed . But the " Family Compact," on which the French See also:alliance depended, ceased to exist when Louis XVI. was deprived of power by his subjects . Of this conclusive See also:evidence was given in 1791 . Some English merchants had violated the shadowy claim of Spain to the whole See also:west coast of America by See also:founding a See also:settlement at See also:Nootka See also:Sound . The Spanish government lodged a vigorous protest, but the French National See also:Assembly refused to lend any assistance, and Floridablanca was forced to conclude a humiliating treaty and give up all See also:hope of opposing the progress of Great Britain . This failure was attributed by the minister to the Revolution, See also:spa's, and of which he became the uncompromising opponent. the French The reforms of Charles III.'s reign were abandoned Revolution. and all liberal tendencies in Spain were suppressed . But Floridablanca was not content with suppressing liberalism in Spain; he was eager to avenge his disappointment by crushing the Revolution in France . He opened negotiations with the emigres, urged the See also:European powers to a crusade on behalf of See also:legitimacy, and paraded the devctien of Charles IV. to the See also:head of his family . This bellicose policy, however, brought him into collision with the queen, who feared that the outbreak of war would diminish the revenues which she squandered in self-See also:indulgence . She had already removed from the See also:ministry Campo-See also:manes and other supporters of Floridabianca, and had compelled the latter to restrict himself to the single See also:department of foreign affairs . See also:Early in 1792 she completed her task by inducing Charles IV. to banish Floridablanca to See also:Murcia, and his puce was entrusted to the See also:veteran Aranda, who speedily found that he held See also:office only by favour of the queen, and that this had to be See also:purchased by a disgraceful servility to her paramour, Emanuel See also:Godoy . Spain withdrew from the projected See also:coalition against France, and sought to maintain an attitude of See also:neutrality, which alienated the other powers, while it failed to conciliate the Re-public . The repressive See also:measures of Floridablanca were with-See also:drawn; society and the See also:press regained their freedom; and no opposition was offered to the propaganda of French ideas . Aranda's policy might have been successful if it had been adopted earlier, but the time for temporizing was now past, and it was necessary to choose one See also:side or the other . In November 1792 the queen See also:felt herself strong enough to carry out the See also:scheme which she had been long maturing . Aranda was dismissed, (}odor: and the office of first minister was entrusted to Godoy, who had recently received the See also:title of duke of Alcudia . Godoy, who was at once the queen's See also:lover and the See also:personal favourite of the king, had no experience of the routine of office, and no settled policy . Fortunately for him, the course now to be pursued was decided for him . The See also:execution of Louis XVI .
(See also:Jan
.
21, 1793) made a profound impression in a country where See also:loyalty was a superstition
.
Charles IV. was roused to demand vengeance for the insult to his family, and Spain became an enthusiastic member of the first coalition against France
.
The number of See also:volunteers who offered their services rendered See also:conscription unnecessary; and the southern provinces of France welcomed the Spaniards as deliverers
.
These advantages, however, were nullified by the shameful incompetence and carelessness of the government
.
The troops were left without supplies; no See also:plan of combined See also:action was imposed upon the commanders; and the two See also:campaigns of 1793 and 1794 were one long See also:catalogue of failures
.
Instead of reducing the southern provinces of France, the Spaniards were driven from the strong fortresses that guarded the Pyrenees, and the French advanced almost to the See also:Ebro; and at the same time the See also:British were utilizing the war to extend their colonial power and were establishing more firmly that maritime
See also:prince ventured to conclude a peace on his own authority by which Portugal promised to observe a strict neutrality on See also:condition that its territories were left undiminished
.
But See also:Bonaparte resented this show of independence, and compelled Charles IV. to refuse his ratification of the treaty
.
Portugal had to submit to far harsher terms, and could only See also:purchase peace by the cession of territory in See also:Guiana, by a disadvantageous treaty of See also:commerce, and by See also:payment of twenty-five million francs
.
In the preliminary treaty with Great Britain he ceded the Spanish colony of See also:Trinidad without even consulting the court of Madrid, while he sold See also:Louisiana to the United States in spite of his promise not to alienate it except to Spain
.
Godoy, since his return, had abandoned all connexion with the reforming party
.
The Spanish See also: As soon as Bonaparte saw himself involved in a new war with England, he turned to Spain for assistance and extorted a new treaty (Oct . 9, 1803), which was still more burdensome than that of 1796 . Spain had to pay a monthly See also:subsidy of six million francs, and to enforce strict neutrality upon Portugal, this involving war with England . The last remnants of its maritime power were shattered in the battles of Cape Finisterre and See also:Trafalgar, and the English seized Buenos Aires . The popular hatred of Godoy was roused to See also:passion by these disasters, and'Spain seemed to stand on the brink of revolution . At the head of the opposition was Ferdinand, the See also:heir to the throne, as insignificant as his See also:rival, but endowed with all good qualities by the credulous favour of the See also:people . See also:Napoleon was at this time eager to humble Great Britain by excluding it from all trade with Europe . The only country which had not accepted his " See also:continental See also:system " was Portugal, and he determined to reduce that kingdom by force . It was not difficult to bribe Godoy, who was conscious that his position could not be maintained after the death of Charles IV . In See also:October 1807 Spain accepted the treaty of See also:Fontainebleau . (See PORTUGAL: History.) The treaty was hardly concluded when a French See also:army under See also:Junot marched through Spain to Portugal, and the royal family of that country fled to Brazil . Ferdinand, whose wife had died in 1806, determined to imitate his rival by bidding for French support .
He entered into See also:secret relations with See also:Eugene See also:Beauharnais, Napoleon's See also:envoy at Madrid, and went so far as to demand the hand of a Bonaparte princess
.
Godoy, who discovered the intrigue, induced Charles IV. to order his son's See also:arrest (Oct
.
27, 1807), on the See also:charge of plotting to dethrone his father and to murder his mother and Godoy
.
The prince indeed was soon released and solemnly pardoned; but, meanwhile, Napoleon had seized the opportunity afforded by the effect of this public See also:scandal in lowering the prestige of the royal family to pour his troops into Spain, under pretext of reinforcing Junot's See also:corps in Portugal
.
Even this excuse was soon dropped, and by See also:January and See also:February 1808 the French invasion had become clearly revealed as one of See also:conquest
.
Charles IV. and his minister determined on See also:flight
.
The news of this intention, how-ever, excited a popular rising at See also:Aranjuez, whither the king and queen had gone from Madrid
.
A raging See also:mob surrounded the See also:palace, clamouring for Godoy's head; and the favourite's life was only saved by Charles IV.'s announcement of his See also:abdication in favour of Ferdinand (See also: |