The liberal movement in Spain: from the Constitution of Cádiz to the broadsword of Pavía. Part I Monthly Strategy Report March 2017 Alejandro Vidal Crespo Director of Market Strategies Monthly Strategy Report. March 2017 The liberal movement in Spain: from the Constitution of Cádiz to the broadsword of Pavía. Part I. On 19 March 1812, the Cortes (Spain’s legislative body) enacted the first Spanish constitution, the Constitution of Cadiz. This revolutionary document included major changes in the organisation of the State and in the very concept of the distribution of powers— sovereignty was to reside in the Nation and not in the figure of the King (who was subject to the Constitution)—and it established several of the concepts we take for granted today, such as the separation of powers, the right to own property, the citizenship of those born in American territories (which were considered provinces, or part of the State), and a series of individual liberties, such as free enterprise, freedom of the press, and the abolition of lordships. In other words, it ushered in the beginning of a transition from the old absolutist regime to a modern State of Law. An exciting historic period began—19th century Spain—in which liberal ideas penetrated the political, social, and economic landscape of our country. Initially, this period of modernisation would not last long. In 1814, King Ferdinand VII, an opponent of liberalisation, returned to the throne. He opposed the idea of a constitutional monarchy and reinstated the absolute monarchy after General Eguía took Madrid. The Cortes were dissolved, the Constitution repealed, and the liberal deputies detained. Among the detainees was Vicente Beltrán de Lis, a liberal leader from Valencia who had business in Andalusia with a prosperous young man from Cadiz, Juan Álvarez de Mendizábal, a figure who will reappear in our story. But at the moment, we have an absolutist government in the hands of King Ferdinand VII, which will last six years. During this period, the liberals congregate in hiding and continue to insist on the application of the Constitution of 1812, particularly in Andalusia, and it is precisely in that region where the sparks of revolution would fly, in 1820. On the first day of that year, Lieutenant Colonel Rafael de Riego, in command of an army of troops headed to the American colonies to help supress a growing rebellion, declared his support for the Constitution of Cadiz, demanding that the King swear allegiance to it and comply with it. Despite a relatively weak genesis, the revolutionary movement began to spread throughout Spain, ultimately reaching Madrid. On 7 March 1820, soldiers surrounded the royal palace in Madrid and days later, on 11 March, the King agreed to restore the Constitution, believing that a decree to mobilize troops risked an even greater insurrection. This begins the period, from 1820 to 1823, known as the Liberal Triennium (Trienio Liberal). It was an unsettling period: on one side, the various liberal factions (the moderados and exaltados), and on the other, a King who had reluctantly accepted the Constitution but who clandestinely conspired to restore his absolute power. The first governments were formed by the moderados, who advocated a balance of powers between the Cortes and the King, consistent with the Constitution of 1812. But in 1822, the exaltados won the elections. This faction, known as the veinteañistas, aimed to go further with the distribution of powers and draft a new Constitution that expanded the submission of executive power to the Cortes, of the King to national sovereignty, and to the establishment of individual liberties. For the first time, openly republican elements emerge in this faction. The King and the absolutists capitalised on the internal disputes between liberals, which were particularly intense in northern Spain. With tension on the rise, only a single spark was needed to ignite a conflagration. It happened on 30 June 1822. As Ferdinand VII returned from closing the Cortes, a crowd began to insult and throw stones at the Royal Guard, who responded to the offense by loading their bayonets. This response sparked debate among the higher ranks, culminating in the death of an officer, named Landáburu, who opposed an uprising in favour of the King. The government ordered the Monthly Strategy Report. March 2017 battalions of the Royal Guard to be quartered for fear of an absolutist insurrection and it was rumoured that this military corps planned to disband. In response, the Royal Guard left the barracks and positioned four battalions in El Pardo and another two at the palace. The government reacted by mobilising troops and militia, as the possibility of a civil conflict intensified by the minute. In response, the King arranged a meeting at the palace between the government and the insurgents, but the ministers, who did not trust Ferdinand VII, were suspicious of the invitation, fearing they would be taken prisoner, which is effectively what happened. The King rescinded the government’s mobilisation of troops and closed the palace doors, imprisoning the ministers and the Council of State. The four battalions of the Royal Guard advanced toward Madrid’s Plaza Mayor, but were defeated by militias loyal to the government. The liberal exaltados emerged victorious and the government fell into the hands of Evaristo Fernández de San Miguel. On the side of the absolutists, with the King at the head, the situation was also thorny. They had the support of the Royalist parties (a seed of what would later become Carlism), who promoted insurrections among those most adversely affected by liberal reforms, especially in the north of the country, in Catalonia, Navarra, Maestrazgo and northern Castile. Meanwhile, under the pretext of the Holy Alliance, the King was negotiating military intervention with his French relatives to re-establish his absolute power. France had restored the Bourbon monarchy in the figure of Louis XVIII and was not at all content with the liberal revolutionary movements in Spain. In agreement with Ferdinand VII, France sent a military contingent to Spain known as the Hundred Thousand Sons of Saint Louis, a corps under the command of the Duke of Angouleme, the son of the future Charles X of France and leader of the French Ultra- royalists, an adamant anti-revolutionary who lived in exile after the success of the French Revolution. The Duke of Angouleme crossed the border with his men and, with Royalist support, soon advanced through the Peninsula. The Court and the government fled to Seville, then to Cádiz, where they were besieged. The King travelled with the government, more as a hostage than anything else, and soon committed the acts that would earn him the epithet, the Felon King. The government and the French agreed that the King would leave the Cádiz stronghold and promise to defend the Constitution and its corresponding liberties, and in return, the liberals would surrender the fort. Instead, the King left Cádiz, joined the invading forces, and decreed the abolition of the entire liberal body of laws on 1 October 1823. Thus, the Liberal Triennium ended and the Ominous Decade began, a new era of an absolutist monarchy that would last until the King’s death. Many liberals would be exiled. Those who remained would be oppressed. The re-emergence of the Salic Law that prevented women from reigning in Spain sparked a Carlist uprising and a civil war. But we’ll talk about that in the next instalment of our story. See you next month. .