The distracted condition of Spain at this period engaged the atten tion of Europe. Ferdinand had been compelled to grant his subjects a free and almost a republican constitution, but the ministers forced upon him by the cortes, showed little wisdom or moderation, and the proceedings of the cortes themselves were unworthy the dignity of a deliberative assembly. In consequence of these errors, a large party was formed in the Peninsula to restore absolute monarchy; several bodies of insurgents were raised by the monks and friars, who feared that the estates of the monasteries and the church would be confiscated; they called themselves the "Army of the Faith," and were zealously supported by the lower ranks of the populace. Under these circumstances, a congress of the European powers was held at Verona, and a resolution was adopted for subverting the Spanish constitution, and restoring the absolute power of the king. The duke of Wellington, on the part of England, refused to sanction this design, and the execution of it was intrusted to the king of France, who was naturally anxious to check the progress of revolutionary principles, before his own throne was endangered by the contagion.

Early in the year 1823, the duc d'Angouleme entered Spain at the head of a powerful army; the constitutionalists made but a feeble resistance, and the king was restored to absolute authority with little trouble. Ferdinand made a bad use of his power; he persecuted all whom he suspected of liberal principles with the utmost severity, and revived all the ancient abuses which had so long disgraced the government of Spain. Though the English ministers maintained a strict neutrality during this contest, they severely censured the conduct of the French government, and as a counterpoise, they recognised the independence of the South American republics, which had withdrawn themselves from their allegiance to Spain.

During the Spanish war, which excited little interest, the sympathies of civilized Europe were engaged in the Greek revolution, which, however, was a barbarous and sanguinary struggle, that for many years seemed to promise no decisive result. The principal members of the Holy Alliance viewed the Greek insurrection with secret dislike, for they regarded it as a rebellion against legitimate authority; but the young and enthusiastic spirits throughout Europe viewed it as a just revolt against Turkish tyranny, and hoped that its success would restore the classical ages of Greece. Among the many volunteers who went to aid the insurgents was the celebrated poet, Lord Byron; before, however, they could profit by his services, he was attacked by fever, and died prematurely at Missolonghi.

Commercial embarrassments and political disputes diverted the attention of England from foreign affairs; a sudden rage for speculation seized the people; projects and joint-stock companies were multiplied without number, but suddenly the bubbles burst, and a terrible reaction ensued. The panic in the money-market was equal to the overweening confidence which had led to these extravagant speculations. But the evil was transitory, and it had perhaps some beneficial influence in limiting attention to those branches of trade best suited to the condition of the country. Political agitation was not so easily cured; the leaders of the Irish catholics formed an association to procure the repeal of

the restrictive laws by which members of their church were excluded from parliament and offices of state. This body assumed all the forms and some of the functions of a legislative assembly, and though an act of parliament was passed for its suppression, the statute was eluded by he legal skill of the popular leaders in the association.

Soon after Mr. Canning's accession to power, the attention of all Europe was excited by an event which seemed to prove that England had not only deserted the principles of the Holy Alliance, but was about to take her position at the head of a more liberal political system. On the death of John VI., king of Portugal (March 10, 1826), the crown devolved to his eldest son, Don Pedro, who reigned, with the title of emperor, over the old Portuguese colonies in Brazil. Compelled to choose between his empire and his kingdom, Pedro selected the former; but he sent to Portugal a constitutional charter, and a formal resignation of the crown in favor of his daughter Donna Maria. Pedro's brother, Don Miguel, the queen dowager, and the most bigoted portion of the clergy, labored hard to frustrate this arrangement, and their machinations were encouraged by the French and Spanish cabinets. Several Portuguese regiments were induced to desert across the frontier and proclaim Don Miguel absolute king. As the Spanish government notoriously supplied the rebels with military stores and arms, the Portuguese minister applied to the British government for aid, and a message was sent to both houses of parliament, calling on them to aid in maintaining the independence of Portugal. Mr. Canning introduced the subject in the house of commons, describing the situation and policy of Great Britain, placed as a mediator between the conflicting opinions that convulsed Europe; and such was the effect of his eloquence, that only four persons in a full house could be got to oppose the address. A British armament was sent to the Tagus: its effect was instantaneous and decisive. The French diplomatic agent was recalled, the Spanish cabinet forced to desist from its intrigues, and Portugal restored to temporary tranquillity

Death and disease among the great and noble of the land produced some important changes in the councils of Great Britain. In the beginning of the year 1827, the duke of York, who had solemnly pledged himself to oppose the claims of the catholics to the utmost, sank under disease. He was sincerely lamented even by his political opponents; for his conduct in the management of the army, ever since he had been restored to the office of commander-in-chief, had deservedly won for him the honorable appellation of "the soldier's friend." Soon afterward the earl of Liverpool, who by his conciliating conduct as premier, had held together the friends and the opponents of catholic emancipation in the cabinet, was seized with a fit of apoplexy, which terminated his political existence, though his natural life was protracted for several months. Mr. Canning, who had long been a distinguished advocate of the catholic claims, was appointed his successor, upon which all the members of the cabinet, opposed to concession, resigned in a body. The fatigues and anxieties imposed upon him proved too much for the new premier; he sank under them, and was succeeded by Mr. F. Robinson, who was at the same time raised to the peerage, with the title of Lord Goderich. Before relating the overthrow of this feeble minis

try, we must turn our attention to the events in another part of the globe, which accelerated its downfall.

Notwithstanding the horrid atrocities committed on both sides during the Greek war, the sympathies of Christendom in favor of the insurgents continually increased; it was expected that Alexander, emperor of Russia, would have taken some measures in their favor, but he died rather suddenly while engaged in a survey of his southern provinces. At this crisis, the sultan, unable to crush the revolt by his own strength, sought the aid of his powerful vassal, Mohammed Ali, the pacha of Egypt. This provincial governor, who had acted for some time more like an independent monarch than a tributary, readily sent his adopted son, Ibrahim Pacha, with a powerful army, into the Morea. The excesses of the Turks and Egyptians were so shocking to humanity, that the European powers felt bound to interfere, especially as the protracted contest was very pernicious to the commerce of the Levant. A treaty for the pacification of Greece was concluded in London between Russia France, and England, by which it was stipulated that Greece should enjoy a qualified independence under the sovereignty of Turkey, and that measures should be taken to coerce the sultan if he refused his consent to these arrangements.

The Austrian cabinet refused to share in this treaty. Dread of a similar insurrection in Italy, which was scarcely less oppressed, and which could equally appeal to classical sympathies and reminiscences, induced the court of Vienna to oppose anything that seemed like sanctioning a revolt. But not content with refusing to join the allies, the Austrians secretly urged the sultan to reject the proffered compromise, and the court of Constantinople, already bent on the extermination of the Greeks, made more vigorous exertions than ever. 'The fleets of England, Russia, and France, which had been sent to support the negotiations, when it was known that the sultan's answer was unfavorable, blockaded the Turco-Egyptian fleet in the harbor of Navarino, and Sir Edward Codrington, who commanded the allied squadrons, concluded an armistice with Ibrahim Pacha, in order to alleviate the horrors of war. This armistice was flagrantly violated by the Turks and Egyptians in every particular, and the allied squadrons entered the harl or of Navarino, in order to enforce compliance with its stipulations. A shot fired from a Turkish ship at an English boat, was the signal or the pretext for a general engagement, which ended in the utter annihilation of the Turco-Egyptian armament. The independence of Greece wis thus vir ually secured, and its completion was secured soon after by the arrival of a small military force from France, which compelled the Turks to evacuate the Morea.

In Russia and in France the victory of Navarino was regarded as a national triumph; in England it only increased the embarrassments of Lord Goderich's distracted cabinet, the members of which were at variance on almost every point of policy, foreign and domestic. Finding themselves unable to determine in what manner the event should be noticed in the king's speech, the ministers resigned their situations before the meeting of parliament, and the task of formning a new administration was intrusted to the duke of Wellington.

The sultan was not daunted by the intelligence of the destruction of

his fleet; it seemed, indeed, rather to confirm him in his obstinacy After many ineffectual efforts to change his resolution, the ambassadors of France, England, and Russia, demanded their passports, and quitted Constantinople, a proceeding which was of course equivalent to a dec laration of war. But the allies were no longer united in their policy : France and England were not unreasonably jealous of Russian ambition; France limited her exertions to protecting the Morea, the new ministers of England declared the victory of Navarino "an untoward event”—a phrase which led to the belief that they were disposed to look favorably on the pretensions of Turkey. This error precipitated what all wished to avoid, a war between Russia and Turkey. Still more unfortunate. the events of the first European campaign led many European statesmen to believe that Turkey could defend herself from her own resources; though the Russians had taken Varna by the treachery of its governor, they were forced to raise the siege of Shumlah, and retire with some precipitation. It was unnoticed or forgotten that this failure was more than compensated by the decisive success of the Russians in the Asiatic provinces, where the real strength of the Turkish empire lies; they conquered the greater part of ancient Armenia, occupied the fortresses which command the principal lines of march, and thus laid the foundation of decisive success in the next campaign.

In consequence of the general misapprehension respecting the position and resources of the belligerant parties, Turkey narrowly escaped being blotted from the map of Europe. The Russians opened the campaign by surprising Sizopoli, and laying siege to Silistria. The grand vizier advanced to the relief of the fortress, but he was surprised on his march by Marshal Diebitsch, and defeated. In this battle the Turks behaved so courageously that the Russians almost despaired of success, and made an attempt to open negotiations. Their offers were rejected; the vizier, trusting to his impregnable position at Shumlah, remained quietly in his intrenchments, while the Russians pressed forward the siege of Silistria. That city surrendered on the last day of June, but it was the middle of July before Diebitsch could concentrate his forces for the bold enterprise which decided the fortune of the war. Having masked Shumlah with one division of his forces, he forced a passage through the defiles of the Balkan, and took Aidos by storm. The vizier, alarmed by this unexpected movement, determined to remove his quarters to Salamno. He was encountered by Diebitsch on his march, and irretrievably defeated. The very soldiers who had so recently fought the Russians for seventeen hours, now scarcely withstood them for as many minutes; they fled at the first onset, abandoning arms, armmunition, artillery, and baggage. Adrianople, the second city in the Turkish empire, was captured without firing a shot; Stamboul itself must have fallen, had not the sultan consented to the terms of peace dictated by the conquerors. He signed a treaty on the 14th of September, by which he recognised the independence of Greece, and granted to Russia very considerable advantages, and a guarantee for the payment of the expenses of the war. Greece indeed was already virtually free; the French expedition had recovered the fortresses of the Morea from the Turks and Egyptians, while the Greeks themselves had gained considerable advantages in the north. It was resolved that the final

destinies of the country should be arranged by a congress of the great powers in London. The crown of Greece was first offered to Prince Leopold, the relict of the late princess Charlotte, but after a long negotiation he rejected it, and it was finally bestowed on Prince Otho, the son of the king of Bavaria.

A revolution of a very different character took place in Portugal. When Don Pedro resigned the throne of that kingdom in favor of his daughter, Donna Maria de Gloria, he appointed his brother, Don Miguel regent, reasonably hoping that he might thus secure his daughter's rights, and the constitutional privileges which he had given to the Portuguese. Before quitting Vienna to assume the reins of power, Don Miguel took an oath of fidelity to the charter; when he visited England, on his way to Portugal, he repeated his protestations of attachment to the constitution and the rights of his niece so warmly, that the British statesmen, assured of his fidelity, consented to withdraw their troops from Lisbon. Unfortunately, after his return, he resigned himself to the guidance of the queen-mother, an unprincipled woman, who seemed to think that a bigoted zeal for what she believed to be the cause of religion would atone for every other crime. At her instigation, he induced the fanatic rabble, by means of an artful priesthood, to proclaim him absolute king, and to denounce the charter as inconsistent with the purity of the Roman faith. The friends of the constitution organized a resistance at Oporto and in the island of Madeira; but their efforts were badly directed, and worse supported. They were finally defeated and driven into exile, while Don Miguel commenced a bitter persecution against all who had been conspicuous for their advocacy of liberal opinions. The principal powers of Europe manifested their detestation of such treachery, by withdrawing their ambassadors from the court of Lisbon.

France during this period was greatly agitated by political strife. Charies X. was more bitterly opposed to revolutionary principles than his brother, and he yielded to the counsels of the bigoted priests, who persuaded him that it was his duty to restore to the church all the power which it had possessed in the dark ages. On the other hand, the French people became persuaded that a plot was formed to deprive them of the constitutional privileges which they had gained after so long a struggle; thus the nation became gradually alienated from the court, and the court from the nation; while some turbulent spirits endeavored to aggravate this hostility, in the hope of profiting by a future convulsion. A new ministry was forced upon the king by the popular party; the members of it professed moderate principles, but they wanted the abilities and the influence necessary for steering a safe course between the extremes of royal prerogative on one side, and popular encroachment on the other. They were driven, by the majority of the chambers, to make larger concessions to the demands of the people than they had originally intended, and the reluctance with which they yielded, deprived them of popular gratitude. Even their sending an armament to aid the Greeks in the Morea, their recalling the French army of occupation from Spain, and their acknowledging the independence of the South American republics, failed to conciliate the support of the democratic party, while these measures rendered them perfectly odious to