History of Civilization in England, Vol. 2 of 3

1314

‘Sur la carte d'Espagne, en mille endroits est inscrit ce funeste mot, despoblado; en mille endroits la nature sauvage a repris la place des cultures. Étudiez la direction des despoblados, et consultez les registres des commissaires de l'expulsion, vous verrez presque toujours que les familles morisques couvraient ces solitudes. Leur patrimoine abandonné forma le domaine des voleurs, qui établirent avec une sorte de sécurité leurs correspondances effrontées à travers toute l'Espagne. Le brigandage s'organisa comme une profession ordinaire; et la contrebande, sa compagne, leva le front avec autant d'audace, autant de succès.’ Circourt, Histoire des Arabes d'Espagne, vol. iii. pp. 227, 228.

1315

‘Declinó pues muy sensiblemente la vasta monarquía, y callaron atonitos los historiadores, como huyendo la necesidad de traer á la memoria lo que veian y apenas creian. Enmudeció pues la historia de España en los dos reynados de Felipe IV. y Carlos II. viendo continuaba nuestra decadencia, hasta quedar España al nivel de los menos poderosos Estados de Europa. Este silencio nos ha privado de saber no solo las causas de nuestra decadencia, sino tambien de los acontecimientos civiles y militares del siglo xvii.’ Ortiz, Compendio de la Historia de España, vol. vi., Prologo, p. i. No attempt was made to supply the deficiency complained of by Ortiz, until 1856, when M. Lafuente published, in Madrid, the sixteenth and seventeenth volumes of his History of Spain, which contain the reigns of Philip IV. and Charles II. Of this work, I have no desire to speak disrespectfully; on the contrary, it is impossible to read it without interest, on account of the admirable clearness with which the different topics are arranged, and also on account of its beautiful style, which reminds us of the best days of Castilian prose. But I feel constrained to say, that, as a history, and especially as a history which undertakes to investigate the causes of the decline of Spain, it is a complete failure. In the first place, M. Lafuente has not emancipated himself from those very prejudices to which the decline of his country is owing. And, in the second place, he has, particularly in the reigns of Philip IV. and Charles II., not used sufficient diligence in searching for materials for studying the economical changes through which Spain has passed. Looking too intently at the surface, he mistakes symptoms for causes; so that the real history of the Spanish people every where escapes his grasp. As the object to which my studies are directed, compels me to contemplate affairs from a larger and more general point of view than he has done, it naturally happens that the conclusions at which we arrive are very different; but I wish to bear my testimony, whatever it may be worth, to the great merit of his book as a work of art, though, as a work of science, it appears to me that he has effected nothing, and has thrown no new light on the real history of that unfortunate, albeit once splendid, nation, of which his eloquence, his learning, and his taste, make him one of the chiefest ornaments.

1316

See Dunlop's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 320; and the interesting calculations in Uztariz, Theorica y Practica de Comercio, Madrid, 1757, folio, pp. 35, 36. Owing to the ignorance which formerly prevailed respecting statistics, such estimates are necessarily imperfect; but, after the desolation of Spain in the seventeenth century, an extraordinary diminution in the population of the capital was inevitable. Indeed, a contemporary of Charles II. states that in 1699, Madrid had only 150,000 inhabitants. Mémoires de Louville, Paris, 1818, vol. i. p. 72. This account is taken from ‘un mémoire manuscrit, en langue espagnole, trouvé dans les papiers du marquis de Louville.’ p. 67.

1317

Capmany (Qüestiones Criticas, p. 30), who seems to have written his able, but not very accurate, work for the express purpose of concealing the decline of his country, has given these figures erroneously. My information is derived from an official report made in 1701, by the trade-corporations (‘gremios’) of Seville. ‘Fijan la época de la ruina de nuestras fábricas desde el reynado de Felipe II. y añaden “haber llegado á tener solo en esta ciudad al arte mayor, y menor de la sede, el número de mas de diez y seis mil telares, y se ocupaban en los exercicios adherentes á él, mas de ciento treinta mil personas de ambos sexos.”’ Campomanes, Apendice á la Educacion Popular, vol. i. p. 473, Madrid, 1775. See also Uztariz, Theorica y Practica de Comercio, p. 14, ‘diez y seis mil telares;’ where, however, no authority is quoted.

1318

‘El principal origen y causa de que los 16,000 telares de seda, lana, oro y plata, que se contaban en Sevilla, se hallen oy reducidos á menos de 300.’ Uztariz, Theorica de Comercio, p. 243.

1319

Sempere, Monarchie Espagnole, vol. ii. p. 52, who refers to the report of the Cortes published by Alonso Nuñez de Castro.

1320

Laborde's Spain, vol. iv. p. 338, where it is also said, that Tunis became, in consequence of the expulsion of the Moriscoes, famous for the manufacture of caps, which ‘were subsequently imitated at Orleans.’ Compare, on the cap-manufactories of Tunis, a note in Campomanes, Apendice, á la Educacion Popular, vol. iv. p. 249.

1321

‘Tolède, où se mettaient en œuvre 435,000 livres de soie, avait déjà perdu ce travail, qui suffisait autrefois à l'existence de 38,484 personnes. La population de cette ville avait éprouvé un tiers de diminution, et vingt-cinq maisons de ses familles les plus illustres étaient passées dans le domaine de divers couvens.’ Sempere, Monarchie Espagnole, vol. ii. p. 50.

1322

See his interesting essay, reprinted in the appendix to Campomanes, vol. iv. p. 251. He says, ‘La fábrica de los guantes, que tenian pocos años ha todas las ciudades de estos reynos para el consumo de España y las Indias, era muy considerable; y se ha destruido, despues que se dió entrada al consumo de guantes estrangeros.’ Such a statement, made by a contemporary, is unimpeachable; but the reason he assigns is inadequate.

1323

Segovia, as it appeared in 1659, is thus described in Boisel, Journal du Voyage d'Espagne, Paris, 1669, 4to. p. 186: ‘Autresfois, cette ville qui paroist assez grande, estoit fort riche, tant à cause que les rois de Castille y demeuroient, qu'à cause du grand commerce des laines et des beaux draps qui s'y faisoient; mais à présent le trafic n'y est plus, et on n'y fait plus que fort peu de draps, de sorte que la ville est presque désert et fort pauvre. Une marque de sa pauvreté, du mauvais ordre d'Espagne, et du peu de prévoyance des Espagnols (quoy qu'on dise de leur flegme), c'est que le jour que j'y arrivay jusques à deux heures après midy il n'y avoit point eu de pain en toute la ville, et ils ne s'en étonnoient point.’ The decline of the silk and wool manufactures of Segovia is also noticed by Martinez de la Mata, who wrote in 1650. See his Dos Discursos, edited by Canga, Madrid, 1794, p. 8. Saint Simon, who was there in 1722, says, ‘A l'égard de leurs laines, j'en vis les manufactures à Ségovie qui me parurent peu de chose et fort tombées de leur ancienne réputation.’ Mémoires du Duc de Saint Simon, vol. xxxvii. p. 230, Paris, 1841. Segovia used to be famous for the beautiful colour of its cloth, the dye of which was taken from a shell-fish found in the West Indies, and is supposed to be the same as the purpura of the ancients. See a note in Dillon's Spain, Dublin, 1781, pp. 19, 20.

1324

Such is the language of a Spaniard in the middle of the seventeenth century. ‘Porque á la ciudad de Burgos, cabeza de Castilla, no le ha quedado sino el nombre, ni aun vestigios de sus ruinas; reducida la grandeza de sus tratos, Prior, y Cónsules, y ordenanzas para la conservacion de ellos, á 600 vecinos, que conservanel nombre y lustre de aquella antigua y noble cuidad, que encerró en si mas de seis mil, sin la gente suelta, natural, y forastera.’ Campomanes, Apendice á la Educacion, vol. i. p. 453, Madrid, 1765. An intelligent Dutchman, who visited Spain in 1665, says of Burgos, ‘elle a esté autrefois fort marchande, mais depuis peu, elle a presque perdu tout son commerce.’ Aarsens de Sommerdyck, Voyage d'Espagne, Paris, 1665, 4to. p. 16. To me, it certainly appears that facts of this sort have more to do with the real history of Spain than the details of kings, and treaties, and battles, which the Spanish historians love to accumulate.

1325

‘Could contribute little to the exigencies of the state.’ Dunlop's Memoirs, vol. i. p. 285. Compare Lamentos Apologéticos, in Dos Discursos, edit. Canga, Madrid, 1794, p. 82, on the state of things in ‘lo mas fértil de Andalucia.’ The government first became alive to all this when it found that no more money could be wrung from the people. In May 1667, a council of state, convoked by the queen, reported that ‘quant aux ressources qu'on voudrait tirer de l'Espagne, sous forme de dons volontaires ou autrement, le conseil estime qu'il est bien difficile d'imposer aux peuples des charges nouvelles;’ and in November of that same year, at another meeting of the council, a memoir was drawn up, stating that ‘depuis le règne de Don Ferdinand le Catholique jusqu'à ce jour, la monarchie d'Espagne ne s'est pas encore vue si près de sa ruine, si épuisée, si dénuée des ressources nécessaires pour faire face à un grand péril.’ See extracts from the proceedings of the Councils, published, for, I believe, the first time, by M. Mignet, in his Négociations relatives à la Succession d'Espagne, vol. ii. pp. 124, 601, Paris, 1835, 4to. See also, in the same valuable work, vol. ii. p. 127, a letter to Louis XIV., from his ambassador at Madrid, dated 2nd June, 1667, and stating that ‘l'extrémité est ici si grande qu'il se fait une contribution volontaire de tous les particuliers que l'on appelle donativo, pour fournir quelque argent présent pour les nécessitée publiques.’

1326

In 1664, Sir Richard Fanshawe writes from Madrid to Secretary Bennet, ‘Since my last to you, of yesterday, the President of Castile, having, by the king's special and angry command, gone forth to the neighbouring villages, attended with the hangman, and whatsoever else of terror incident to his place and derogatory to his person, the markets in this town begin to be furnished again plentifully enough.’ Memoirs of Lady Fanshawe, written by herself, edit. London, 1830, p. 291.

1327

Nothing but the precise and uncontradicted evidence of a contemporary witness could make such things credible. In 1686, Alvarez Osorio y Redin wrote his Discursos. They were published in 1687 and 1688; they were reprinted at Madrid in 1775; and from the reprint, pp. 345–348, I extract the following particulars: ‘Es preciso decir con la mayor brevedad, que pide el asunto, en la forma que los comisionantes continuamente están saqueando todos los lugares, con capa de servir á V.M. Entran en ellos, intíman sus comisiones á las justicias, y ellas les suplican, tengan misericordia de los moradores, que estan con mucha necesidad. Y luego que toman el uso, dicen: que á ellos no les toca dispensar en hacer gracias: que traen orden de cobrar con todo rigor las cantidades, que deben los lugares; y tambien dicen han de cobrar sus salarios. Y se van entrando por las casas de los pobres labradores, y demás vecinos; y con mucha cuenta y razon, les quitan el poco dinero, que tienen: y á los que no tienen, les sacan prendas: y donde no las hallan, les quitan las pobres camas, en que duermen: y se detienen en vender las prendas, todo el tiempo que pueden.’ … ‘Los saquéos referidos van continuando, obligando á los mas vecinos de los lugares, á que se vayan huyendo de sus casas, dexando baldías sus haciendas de campo; y los cobradores no tienen lástima de todas estas miserias, y asolaciones, como si entráran en lugares de enemigos. Las casas, que hallan vacías, si hay quien se las compre, las venden: y quando no pueden venderlas, las quitan los texados; y venden la texa, y madera por qualquier dinero. Con esta destruicion general, no han quedado en pie en los lugares la tercera parte de casas, y han muerto de necesidad gran multitud de personas. Con lo qual los lugares no tienen la mitad de familias, que antiguamente habia en España. Y si no se pone remedio á todo referido, será preciso, que la vengan á poblar de otros Reynos.’

1328

‘Allí acabó aquella antigua milicia española que desde el tiempo de los reyes católicos habia ganado tan gloriosos triunfos, siendo el terror de sus enemigos.’ Tapia, Civilizacion Española, vol. iii. p. 150, Madrid, 1840. ‘La batalla de Rocroy, en que el jóven Condé recogió los laureles con que engalanó la dorado cuna del niño Luis XIV., acabó con la reputacion que aun habian podido ir conservando los viejos tercios españoles de Flandres.’ Lafuente, Historia de España, vol. xvii. p. 368, Madrid, 1856.

1329

In the Clarendon State Papers, vol. i. p. 275, Oxford, 1767, folio, I find a letter written by Hopton to Secretary Windebank, dated Madrid, 31st May, 1635. The author of this official communication gives an account of the Spanish troops just raised, and says, ‘I have observed these levies, and I find the horses are so weak, as the most of them will never be able to go to the rendezvous, and those very hardly gotten, the infantry so unwilling to serve, as they are carried like galley-slaves, in chains, which serves not the turn, and so far short of the number that was proposed, as they come not to one of three.’ This was eight years before the battle of Rocroy; after it, matters became rapidly worse. A letter from Sir Edward Hyde to Secretary Nicholas, dated Madrid, 18th March, 1649–50, states, that Spanish ‘affairs are really in huge disorder, and capable of being rendered almost desperate;’ and another letter, on 14th April, 1650, ‘if some miracle do not preserve them, this crown must be speedily destroyed,’ Clarendon State Papers, vol. iii. pp. 13, 17, Oxford, 1786. An official Report on the Netherlands, presented to Louis XIV. in 1665, declares that the Dutch ‘considered Spain so weakened, as to be out of condition to renew the war within the next one hundred years.’ Raumer's History of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, illustrated by Original Documents, London, 1835, vol. i. p. 237. See also Mignet, Négociations relatives à la Succession d'Espagne, Paris, 1835–1842, 4to. vol. i. pp. 37, 38, 314, 315, vol. iii. p. 684, vol. iv. p. 218; and L'Estat de l'Espagne, Genève, 1681, pp. 83, 271. ‘L'Espagne faisant en nos jours plus de pitié que de peur à ceux qu'elle a tenus long-tems dans une crainte perpétuelle, et dans une respectueuse vénération.’ … ‘Aussi peut-on dire que les Espagnols qui étoient autrefois des lions, ou des véritables hommes et incomparables en valeur, sont maintenant des cerfs, ou des femmes, et enfin des personnes peu propres à la guerre.’ And finally, the Spanish explanation of all this in Yañez, Memorias, Prologo, pp. 148, 149, Madrid, 1723. ‘La Monarquia de España, cuya decadencia la avia yá Dios decretado desde el año de 1621,’ &c.; blasphemously ascribing to the Almighty, what was the result of their own folly, and obstinately shutting their eyes to the real cause of their ruin.

1330

‘A century ago, Spain had been as supreme at sea as on land; her ordinary naval force was 140 galleys, which were the terror both of the Mediterranean and Atlantic. But now’ (1656), ‘in consequence of the decline of commerce and fisheries on the coast, instead of the numerous squadrons of the Dorias and Mendozas, which were wont to attend the movements of the first great John of Austria and the Emperor Charles, the present High-Admiral of Spain, and favourite son of its monarch, put to sea with three wretched gallies, which, with difficulty, escaped from some Algerine corsairs, and were afterwards nearly shipwrecked on the coast of Africa.’ Dunlop's Memoirs, vol. i. p. 549. In 1663, ‘Il n'y avait à Cadix ni vaisseaux ni galères en état d'aller en mer. Les Maures insultaient audacieusement les côtes de l'Andalousie, et prenaient impunément les barques qui se hasardaient à une lieue de la rade. Le duc d'Albuquerque, qui commandait les forces navales, se plaignait hautement de la position humiliante dans laquelle on le laissait. Il avait demandé avec instance qu'on lui donnât des matelots et des soldats pour mettre sur les vaisseaux; mais le Comte de Castrillo, président du Conseil de Finances (de la hacienda) avait déclaré qu'il n'avait ni argent, ni la possibilité d'en trouver, et conseillait de renoncer à l'armée navale.’ Mignet, Négociations relatives à la Succession d'Espagne, vol. i. pp. 315, 316, Paris, 1835, 4to. from contemporary manuscripts. Even in 1648, Spain had ‘become so feeble in point of naval affairs as to be obliged to hire Dutch vessels for carrying on her American commerce.’ Macpherson's Annals of Commerce, vol. ii. p. 435, London, 1805, 4to. And, to complete the chain of evidence, there is a letter in the Clarendon State Papers, vol. ii. p. 86, Oxford, 1773, folio, written from Madrid in June 1640, stating that, ‘For ships they have few, mariners fewer, landsmen not so many as they need, and, by all signs, money not at all that can be spared.’ The history of Spain during this period never having been written, I am compelled, in my own justification, to give these and similar passages with a fulness which I fear will weary some readers.

1331

And when they did, it was to their own cost, as Stanhope found, at the beginning of his career as British minister to the court of Madrid, in 1690. See his letter to Lord Shrewsbury, in Mahon's Spain under Charles II., London, 1840, p. 3. ‘We were forced into a small port, called Ferrol, three leagues short of the Groyne, and, by the ignorance of a Spanish pilot, our ships fell foul one with another, and the admiral's ship was on ground for some hours, but got off clear without any damage.’ Indeed, the Spanish seamen, once the boldest and most skilful navigators in the world, so degenerated, that, early in the eighteenth century, we find it stated as a matter of course, that ‘to form the Spaniard to marine affairs, is transporting them into unknown countries.’ The History of Cardinal Alberoni, London, 1719, p. 257.

1332

‘Le peu de soldats qui résistaient à la désertion, étaient vêtus de haillons, sans solde, sans pain,’ Mémoires de Louville, edit. Paris, 1818, vol. i. p. 72. ‘Dans l'état le plus misérable.’ p. 43. Compare Lefuente, in the reign of Philip IV. (Historia, vol. xvi. p. 519), ‘los soldados peleaban andrajosos y medio desnudos;’ and D'Aulnoy, in 1679 (Relation du Voyage d'Espagne, vol. i. p. 168), ‘Il est rare que dans tout un régiment, il se trouve deux soldats qui ayent plus d'une chemise.’

1333

‘Ruinosos los muros de sus fortalezas, aun tenía Barcelona abiertas las brechas, que hizo el duque de Vendoma; y desde Rosas hasta Cadiz, no habia Alcazar, ni Castillo, no solo presidiado, pero ni montada su artillería. La misma negligencia se admiraba en los puertos de Vizcaya, y Galicia; no tenian los almazenes sus provisiones, faltaban fundidores de armas, y las que habia, eran de ningun uso. Vacios los arsenales y artilleros, se habia olvidado el arte de construir naves, y no tenia el Rey mas que las destinadas al comercio de Indias, y algunos galeones; seis galeras, consumidas del tiempo, y del ocio, se ancoraban en Cartagena.’ Bacallar, Comentarios de la Guerra de España, vol. i. p. 43. Another eye-witness describes ‘the best fortresses consisting of ruined walls, mounted with here and there a rusty cannon, and the man thought an able engineer who knew how to fire them.’ Ripperda's Memoirs, second edition, London, 1740, p. 227.

1334

Dunlop's Memoirs, vol. ii. pp. 224, 225. In 1680, Madame de Villars, the wife of the French Ambassador, writes from Madrid, that such was the state of affairs there, that her husband thought it advisable that she should return home. Lettres de Madame de Villars, Amsterdam, 1769, p. 169. A letter written by the Danish ambassador in 1677, describes every house in Madrid as regularly armed from top to bottom; ‘de haut en bas.’ Mignet, Négociations relatives à la Succession, vol. iv. p. 638, Paris, 1842, 4to. The deaths from starvation are said to have been particularly numerous in Andalusia. See Tapia, Civilizacion Española, vol. iii. p. 167. ‘En Andalucia especialmente moria mucha gente de hambre, y el consulado de Sevilla envió una diputacion para representar que aquella ciudad habia quedado reducida á la cuarta parte de la poblacion que habia tenido cincuenta años antes.’ On the state of the people generally, in 1680, compare Lettres de Villars, pp. 145, 152, 161.

1335

‘Point de libertés et point de frein.’ Mém. de Louville, vol. i. p. 68.

1336

In 1681, the French ambassadress writes from Madrid, ‘Je ne vous parle point de la misère de ce royaume. La faim est jusques dans le palais. J'étois hier avec huit ou dix camaristes, et La Moline, qui disoient qu'il y avoit fort long-tems qu'on ne leur donnoit plus ni pain ni viande. Aux écuries du roi et de la reine, de même.’ Lettres de Madame la Marquise de Villars, Amsterdam, 1759, pp. 216, 217. The year after Charles II. died: ‘II n'y avoit pas de fonds pour les choses les plus nécessaires, pour la cuisine, l'écurie, les valets de pied,’ &c. Millot, Mémoires du Duc de Noailles, vol. ii. p. 26, ed. Petitot, Paris, 1828. Among other reckless expedients, the currency was so depreciated, that, in a letter from Martin to Dr. Frazer, dated Madrid, March 6th, 1680, we hear of ‘the fall of money to one fourth part of its former value.’ Miscellany of the Spalding Club, vol. v. p. 187, Aberdeen, 4to. 1852.

1337

‘The king has taken away, by a late decree, a third part of all wages and salaries of all officers and ministers without exception, and suspended for the ensuing year, 1694, all pensions for life granted either by himself or his father.’ Letter from the English Ambassador, dated Madrid, November 18th, 1693, in Mahon's Spain under Charles II., London, 1840, p. 40. This is also stated in Millot, Mémoires de Noailles, vol. i. p. 359, Paris, 1828; ‘retranchant le tiers des dépenses de sa maison, et des appointemens de ses officiers tant militaires que civils.’ In the preceding reign, the pension had been stopped, at all events for a time. In 1650, Sir Edward Hyde, writes from Madrid, ‘there is an universal stop of all pensions which have been granted formerly.’ Clarendon State Papers, vol. ii. p. 538, Oxford, 1773. The next step which was taken was a proposal, in 1667, to tax the salaries of the members of the Council of Castile, Arragon, &c.; but this idea was abandoned, until at length, they, like all other public servants, came under the comprehensive edict of 1693. See the letter from the French Ambassador to Louis XIV., dated Madrid, June 2nd, 1667, in Mignet, Négociations, vol. ii. p. 128, Paris, 1835, 4to. The only chance of recovering the history of Spain in the seventeenth century, is by collating these and similar documents with the meagre notices to be found in Spanish writers.

1338

In 1695, ‘the miserable poverty in this country.’ Travels through Spain, performed by a Gentleman, London, 1702, p. 62. And, in the same year, ‘L'Espagne, manquant de tout d'hommes, et d'argent.’ Mémoires de Noailles, vol. i. p. 402. ‘L'Espagne, presque anéantie.’ p. 424.

1339

See the letters in Mahon's Spain under Charles II., pp. 138–140. On the 21st of May, ‘We have an addition of above 20,000 beggars, flocked from the country round, to share in that little here is, who were starving at home, and look like ghosts.’ On the 27th of May, ‘The scarcity of bread is growing on apace towards a famine, which increases, by vast multitudes of poor that swarm in upon us from the countries round about. I shifted the best I could till this day, but the difficulty of getting any without authority, has made me recur to the Corregidor, as most of the foreign Ministers had done before; he, very courteously, after inquiring what my family was, gave me an order for twenty loaves every day: but I must send two leagues, to Vallejas, to fetch it, as I have done this night, and my servants with long guns to secure it when they have it, otherwise it would be taken from them, for several people are killed every day in the streets, in scuffles for bread, all being lawful prize that any body can catch.’ … ‘My secretary, Don Francisco, saw yesterday five poor women stifled to death by the crowd before a bakehouse.’