Note 30 — Chapter V

It was reported that a decree was passed for seizing the church plate, and raising a heavy contribution, as had been done in Portugal. A poor ignorant Spaniard, believing this, bought a razor, and sallying out with it, attacked every Frenchman he met. The man was soon secured. Upon his examination he was asked if the razor was his; yes, he replied, by this token, that he had bought it at such a place for five and thirty quartos. Had the French whom he had assaulted and cut, offered him any injury?... No.... For what reason then had he attacked them?... That he might kill them, and as many more Frenchmen as he could; these villains were come to plunder the temples of the living God, and to rob the people of the fruit of their labours, and he had supposed that every honest man would do the same as himself, but he found himself alone when he began. The author of the “Manifiesto Imparcial y Exacto” relates this anecdote, and adds, En Roma y en Grecia este hombre hubiera parecido bien en la lista de los Horacios y de los trescientios. ¡En Madrid estaba destinado a un suplicio! In any country such a man would either have been put to death like a wild beast, or confined as a madman: but the fact, and still more the manner in which it is related, shows the feeling of the Spaniards towards their treacherous invaders.