ied on February 14, 1820, had occasioned a new royalist
reaction in France, and had increased the general fear of the
revolutionary party. The Bourbon succession had seemed to depend on his
life, for his son, the Count of Chambord, was posthumous. On receiving
the news of the Spanish revolution the tsar, already tiring of his
liberal enthusiasm, fell back on his scheme for exercising paternal
discipline over Europe. He proposed in April that the ambassadors at
Paris should issue a joint remonstrance requiring the Spanish cortes to
disavow the revolution, and to enact severe laws against sedition.
Failing this, he proposed joint intervention, and offered for his own
part to send an army of 15,000 men through North Italy and southern
France to co-operate in the suppression of the revolution. To this
Castlereagh replied that England would never consent to a joint
intervention in Spain. Metternich was too much displeased with the
Russian encouragement of secret societies in Italy to wish to see
Russian troops in that country, and both Castlereagh and Metternich
wished to keep Spain free from French influence. In the face of this
opposition Russia could not, and France would not, do anything, and all
thought of intervention was postponed. It was the last time that
Castlereagh was able to assert the principle of non-intervention
without breaking up the European concert.

[Pageheading: _REVOLUTIONS IN SOUTHERN EUROPE._]

July and August saw three new revolutions. A rebellion at Nola on July 2
ended in King Ferdinand of the Two Sicilies taking the oath on the 13th
to the Spanish constitution, then regarded as a model by the liberals of
Southern Europe. But the grant of a constitution to Naples suggested a
demand for independence at Palermo. On July 17-18 that city rose in
revolt and was only subdued by the Neapolitans in the beginning of
October. Portugal, too, was in a disturbed state. The royal family had
been absent for nearly thirteen years, and the country had for five
years been governed by Lord, afterwards Viscount, Beresford as marshal
and commander of the Portuguese army. In April, 1820, he sailed for
Brazil, intending to induce the king, John VI., to return. During his
absence a revolution took place at Oporto on August 24, a provisional
government was established, and all British officers were dismissed.
This was followed by a similar revolution at Lisbon on September 15.
Beresford on his return was forbidden to lan