Note 38 — Chapter VI

Sir John Carr adds, that immediately afterwards this man was seized with frenzy, threw himself from a window, and was killed on the spot. In an account of these transactions, given in a letter from Cadiz, and published by Llorente (under his anagram of Nellerto), in the third volume of his Memoirs for the History of the Revolution of Spain, Solano is said to have taken the Carthusian by the leg and thrown him out of the window, ... as if he had waited till the mob were actually in his apartment before he attempted to escape! The general accuracy of that letter is confirmed by another (in the same collection) by the Count de Teba, in explanation of his own conduct. Llorente (the ex-secretary of the Inquisition) has a notable note upon the subject: he says, the insurrection in Andalusia was brought about by the intrigues of the cabinet of London, carried on by the commander of the blockading squadron, and the governor at Gibraltar; that had it not been for these machinations the province would have been tranquil, there would have been no battle of Baylen, King Joseph would have remained at Madrid, Solano and the Count del Aguila would not have been murdered ... the Spanish colonies would not have been lost ... and at the fall of Napoleon, Joseph would have ceased to be King of Spain, as Jerome ceased to be King of Westphalia. Did Llorente himself believe, or could he think to make others believe, that Napoleon would have been overthrown, if he had made himself master of Spain without opposition? And was it in the expectation and hope that his fall would be brought about without human means, that he swore allegiance to King Joseph?