nearly three years, until having given offence to the favourite and prime minister, Godoy, he was compelled to resign on the 19th of October, 1796, and accept the post of viceroy of New Spain.

Azanza was exceedingly well qualified for this post, which, however, was only a species of brilliant exile. During a brief administration of three years, he governed that colony with equity, and made various salutary regulations. Former viceroys had distinguished themselves by their lawlessness and rapacity; but Humboldt bears testimony to the grateful recollection cherished by the Mexicans, of the disinterestedness and generosity of Revillagigedo and Azanza.

In 1799, Azanza was recalled from Mexico without any assigned reason. On his return to Spain, he appeared for a short time at court, and was appointed a councillor of state. This appointment, however, was merely honorary; and Azanza, despairing of receiving any further substantial employment during the ascendancy of Godoy, retired to a country residence at Santa Fé, not far from Granada.

Azanza remained in obscurity until the memorable events at Aranjuez, which terminated in the disgrace and fall of Godoy, and the abdication of Carlos IV., king of Spain, in favour of his son Fernando VII., on the 20th of March, 1808. The young king, on his accession, recalled most of the nobility and ministers, who, through the jealousy or hatred of Godoy had been banished from court. Azanza, in compliance with the royal summons, repaired to Madrid, and on the 28th instant, was appointed minister of finance. On the departure of Fernando to meet Napoleon at Bayonne, Azanza was appointed a member of the Supreme Junta, which, with the Infante Don Antonio for its president, was intrusted with the government of Spain, during the king's absence. In this capacity, Azanza acted for a short time with skill and resolution. A French army, however, under the command of Murat, whose head quarters were in Madrid, held the whole country in subjection, and controlled the operations of the Junta. Murat was in reality the supreme governor, and the Junta which professed to act in the name of Fernando gradually ceased to possess even the semblance of authority. News soon reached Madrid of the equivocal reception of Fernando by Napoleon, at Bayonne, and the French grew daily more insolent. The exking and queen were shortly afterwards enticed by Napoleon to Bayonne, and Murat insisted on the departure of the young princes, to join them. During the insurrection of the 2nd of May, which occurred in consequence, the ministers, Azanza and O'Farrill, were conspicuous for their exertions in quelling the tumult. On the following day, Murat took a bloody revenge by the military execu

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tion of hundreds of the citizens. On the evening of the same day, the Infante Don Antonio resigned his office of president, and prepared to join his nephew, Fernando, at Bayonne. This defection of the last member of the royal family who remained in Spain, appears to have been the signal for the Junta to resign itself to the domination of Murat. On the 4th instant, Murat intruded himself personally on the Junta, and intimated his intention of presiding for the future at its deliberations. Some of the members obsequiously complied with his demands. Azanza and O'Farrill resigned their offices, and at the same time ceased to attend the meetings of the Junta: but on being solicited by Murat, they consented to resume their functions, waiting anxiously for events by which they might direct their future conduct.

On the 7th or 8th instant, news reached Madrid of the re-assumption of the crown by Don Carlos, and the Junta was completely paralysed. That assembly had previously dispatched a courier to Fernando, at Bayonne, to receive his instructions as to what measures they should take with respect to the government, and the French army in Spain. On the 5th of May, Fernando replied by the issue of two decrees, signed by his own hand, and intrusted to a faithful courier, to be delivered to Azanza. The former of these, addressed to the Supreme Junta, authorized that assembly to transfer itself to any part of the kingdom which might seem best adapted for its security, or if more convenient, to delegate its authority to one or more of its members; to carry on the government in his name; to oppose the introduction of fresh troops from France into the Spanish territory; and as soon as news should arrive that he was conveyed into the interior of France (which he assured the Junta could not happen without violence to his royal person) to declare hostilities against Napoleon. The second decree was addressed to the Royal Council, and if that body should not be in a situation to act when it arrived, to any chancery or audience of the kingdom, authorizing it to assemble a Cortes in any part of Spain which might seem most convenient; that the Cortes should at first attend solely to the levies and subsidies necessary for the defence of the kingdom; and that it should afterwards declare its sittings permanent to provide against any events that might happen. The courier who had to carry these decrees was compelled to take a circuitous route to prevent their falling into the hands of Murat, and the consequence was, that before he reached Madrid, Murat had already announced to the Junta the re-assumption of Don Carlos. In this dilemma, Azanza contented himself with showing the decrees to one or two of his colleagues as irresolute as himself, and with their consent determined for the present to suppress them.

2 c 2

sovereign, the family to its father; which determines the duties and respective rights of him who commands, and of those who have the happiness to obey!"

After this address, King Joseph, assisted by the Archbishop of Burgos and two canons, laying his hand upon a copy of the Four Gospels which had been taken from the altar, swore to observe the constitution which had been just read. The Archbishop of Burgos and the other clerical members of the assembly then took the oath of fidelity to Joseph. They were followed by Azanza and the members of the royal household, and after the rest of the deputies had paid homage, the whole assembly attended Joseph to his carriage. On returning to the hall, the Notables, on the motion of Azanza, voted that two medals should be struck to perpetuate the event which had just occurred. After this, they waited in a body upon Napoleon at his palace of Marrac, to express their gratitude for all he had done for Spain. Azanza addressed the Emperor in the name of the Notables. The deputies stood in a circle round Napoleon while Azanza delivered his fulsome address, and the French Emperor, says Southey, "for the first and perhaps the only time in his public life, was at a loss for a reply."

After the dissolution of the Junta, Azanza, who on the 4th inst. had been appointed minister of the Indies, accompanied King Joseph to Madrid. On the 19th of July the Spaniards defeated Dupont at Baylen; and on the following day the French army were compelled to capitulate. This was the very day on which Joseph entered the capital. On the news of the capitulation reaching Madrid, Joseph and his court were compelled to retire to Burgos, to avoid falling into the hands of Castaños, who was marching with his victorious army to drive the French from the capital. Azanza and O'Farrill accompanied Joseph in his flight. At Buytrago, on the 2nd of August, these two ministers drew up a memoir on the best means of consolidating the alliance between France and Spain, and on the propriety of relieving the pressure on the finances of the latter country. Azanza and Urquijo were sent to Paris to submit it to Napoleon; but the Emperor declined to take it into consideration.

On the 22nd of January, 1809, Joseph Bonaparte re-entered Madrid. About the same time Azanza resigned the department of the Indies, and was appointed Minister of Justice. In October he received the ribbon of the Royal Order of Spain, and was appointed commissary-royal of the kingdom of Granada. In the month of April, 1810, he received the title of Duke of Santa-Fe, and was sent ambassador extraordinary from King Joseph to congratulate Napoleon on his marriage with the Archduchess Maria Louisa.

The real object of his mission was to remonstrate with Napoleon on his continued military occupation of Spain, and the little kingly authority which Joseph was permitted to exercise. After remaining for some months in Paris, without obtaining an audience, he succeeded at length in laying his statement of grievances before the Emperor. Napoleon was displeased. He treated the ambassador personally in a manner totally different from what he had expected, considering their former intimacy at Bayonne; he reproached his brother Joseph with ingratitude, and said that he was surrounded by French renegades, who laboured to render Spain completely independent of French influence. Azanza, failing in his negotiation, returned to Joseph at Madrid, probably about the commencement of the year 1811.

From this time until the retreat of the French armies from the Peninsula, Azanza shared the various fortunes of King Joseph, and showed himself always his faithful friend and councillor. In August, 1812, he accompanied Joseph in his second retreat from Madrid. After the battle of Vittoria, in which Joseph narrowly escaped with his life, on the 21st of June, 1813, the ministers Azanza, O'Farrill, and others, accompanied him into France. Azanza at first took up his residence at Montauban. In December he was sent for by Joseph to Paris, and during the brief stay of the ex-king at Paris he was in constant attendance upon him. During the hundred days in 1815, Azanza and his colleagues were solicited by Joseph to mount the tricolor, with the promise, if they did so, of becoming senators. They replied in a sort of mock-heroic, "Sire, we wish to continue what we are Spaniards." said Joseph, "you will continue to be unfor

tunates."

"Then,"

After the battle of Waterloo and the departure of Joseph to the United States of North America, Azanza continued to reside at Paris until the year 1820. In that year the decree of the Central Junta at Cadiz (November 25, 1808), declaring the ministers of Joseph Bonaparte traitors to their king, their country, and their religion, having been annulled, he returned to Spain, and offered his services to King Fernando. Azanza was coldly received. He offered to proceed to Mexico, and use his exertions to reconcile that colony to the mother country. The king declined his services, and in the spring of 1822 Azanza went back to France. Fernando allowed him a pension of 6250 francs per annum. He took up his residence at Bordeaux, and on the 20th of June, 1826, he died in that city, in the eightieth year of his age. The prefect of Bordeaux, M. d'Haussez, and some of the most influential citizens, to whom Azanza had endeared himself, attended his funeral.

In estimating the character of Azanza, if

it were possible to draw a veil over his con- | duct from the year 1808 to 1813, the epithets of "virtuous and enlightened" applied to him by Napoleon in the " Moniteur," after the proscription of Azanza by the Central Junta at Cadiz, might perhaps be considered as not inordinately extravagant. Sprung from a comparatively low station, without family influence or personal intrigue, he owed his advancement solely to the respectability of his character and his capacity for business. From an employé at Mexico in 1768, he rose to occupy the highest offices in the state. In all these, but more particularly in his government of Mexico, he discharged his functions in a manner honourable to himself and advantageous to his country. In a corrupt and venal court, he refused to ally himself to any of the various factions which agitated Spain; and on being summoned to meet Napoleon at Bayonne, he was perhaps the only Spanish minister who had served his country for nearly forty years without amassing a considerable fortune. But after swearing allegiance to Fernando, he stooped to become the instrument of Napoleon. His main error appears to have been that he so soon despaired of the fortunes of Spain after the abduction of the royal family. Terrified by the French arms, he placed no faith in the resistance that could be offered to them by a united people. His conduct with respect to the edicts transmitted to him from Fernando is indefensible. At Bayonne he became an unblushing traitor, and his speeches as president of the Notables have never been surpassed in base adulation. While he was delivering these disgraceful speeches, and seeking to rivet the chains of his native country, the peasants of Spain, disdaining the yoke of French bondage, had risen against their oppressors.

Azanza knew this; he must have felt his degradation when contrasting his own conduct with that of Palafox, Blake, Castaños, and other Spanish patriots.

Azanza, during his government of Mexico, collected all the reports of the expeditions to the north of California under his predecessors Bucarelli, Florez, and Revillagigedo. They were in four MSS., and were consulted by Humboldt on his visit to Mexico.

While at Paris, towards the latter end of the year 1815, Azanza and O'Farrill drew up a justificatory memoir of their conduct from 1808 to 1814, entitled "Memoria de Don Miguel Jose de Azanza y Don Gonzalo O'Farrill sobre los Hechos que justifican su conducta politica desde Marzo 1808 hasta Abril de 1814," Paris, 1815, 8vo. A French translation by M. Alexandre Foudras appeared the same year. This work is important only as containing some highly interesting official documents, some of which do not appear elsewhere. Of the justificatory portion, which it is surprising that two such

sensible men as Azanza and O'Farrill could have ever written, the following may serve as a specimen :-"When the transactions at Bayonne had deprived us of our king; when our only choice was between anarchy and constitutional rule-between the inevitable disasters of conquest and the advantages of an independent government; when called upon to decide whether we would undertake a war, heroic indeed, but of long duration and uncertain in its results; the large party which resolved on submission may surely be forgiven: such a resolution in such circumstances can never be imputed to them as criminal. . . . . In spite of the obstacles by which their good intentions were often frustrated during the war, Azanza and O'Farrill have the consolation to know that they were never the instruments of evil. On the contrary, they shielded a vast number of their countrymen from the misfortunes which are always the accompaniment of war. . . . They protest that they have served their country from pure and disinterested motives, and with all the integrity and uprightness of which they are capable... In a word, they believe they have done nothing which should render them unworthy of the favour of their sovereign, or call a blush to their cheeks when in the presence of their fellow-citizens." (Annales Biographiques, vol. i. 297-328; Biographie Universelle, Supplement; Humboldt, Essai politique sur le Royaume de la Nouvelle Espagne, vol. i. Introduction p. 32, Work p. 311, vol. ii. 803; Southey, History of the Peninsular War, and more particularly vol. i. chap. v.—vii.; Alison, History of Europe from the commencement of the French Revolution, and more particularly vol. vi.; Walton, The Revolutions of Spain, vol. i.)

G. B.

AZA'RA, DON FELIX DE, was born at Barbunales, near Balbastro in Aragon, on the 18th of May, 1746. He was the son of parents who had retired from active life in order to educate their children in private. His elder and only brother was Don Josef Nicolas Azara, who was fifteen years old when Felix was born. Immediately after the birth of his brother, Nicolas was sent to Salamanca to pursue his studies, and this separation of the brothers, with only a momentary exception, was maintained till the close of their lives. Felix commenced his studies at the university of Huesca in Aragon, and afterwards proceeded to the military school of Barcelona. In 1764 he was named cadet in the regiment of infantry of Galicia; in 1767 he was made ensign, and in 1773 lieutenant in the same regiment. He was present at the battle of Algiers in 1775, where he received a wound from a musket-ball, and was left for dead, and would have lost his life had it not been for the dexterity and courage of a sailor, who abstracted the ball from his wound with a common clasp-knife.