TEXTO 2: Manifiesto de los Persas (12-04-1814)

Text commentary:

INTRODUCTION

This text is the Manifest of the Persians. It is an historical document and a political text. Written by 69 conservative deputies of the Cadiz Cortes. It was addressed to Fernando VII, when he was returning from his exile in France and drafted in Madrid the 12th April 1814, after the Independence war.

ANALYSIS

The main idea of this text is that 69 conservative deputies of the Cadiz Cortes wanted to abolish all the liberal legislation taken by the Cadiz Cortes, including the Cadiz Constitution, and restore the absolutism. There are many secondary ideas in this text:
– The firs is that that conservative deputies are making a comparison between …ver más…

They said they wanted to abolish it because explaining that it was illegal because there where deputies who could not arrive to draft and approve it because of the war situation, and they had been substituted by others, more liberals.

Consequences:

The 4th May 1814, the decree of the restoration of absolutism in Spain was signed in Valencia. With this decree, Fernando VII repealed all decrees approved by the Cortes of Cadiz and so the 1812 Constitution of Cadiz. The Monarch declared them «nulos y de ningún valor ni efecto, ahora ni en tiempo alguno, como si no hubiesen pasado jamás tales actos y se quitasen de en medio del tiempo...». On May 5, 1814, Fernando VII left to Valencia and began a triumphant march towards Madrid. People enthusiasm was immense because of the return of “The Desired” king. A few days later the Cortes were dissolved. With the beginning of the reign of Fernando VII, Spain returned to the Old Regime and the absolutist monarchy and the liberals suffered a harsh repression. The political situation in Europe was favorable to the return of the Old Regime. The powers that defeated Napoleon organized during the Congress of Vienna, from October 1814 to June 1815, a new map of Europe, restoring absolutism and creating the Holy Alliance to its defense. The result was chaotic