A VICTIM OF SPANISH TREACHERY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2318, 4 August 1898, Page 50

A VICTIM OF SPANISH TREACHERY.

On leaving the Consulate to commence ouv v» alk, I observed a collection of people near the. door, which kept increasing, all staring at me in a manner to which, as a'humblo servant of Queen Victoria, I had been :m-

I accustomed ; yet there vas a benignity of a | expression in every countenance that • m.ido the microscopic view of which I I found iiusett' the object the leverso ;' lof disagreeable. " Ah, I sec that, to become j v gianJ iam\, all we have to do is to be a traI vcller." My facetious friend, the Consul — a,a j ] <l'scoY<Hvd— said I m'.ghL as well occasion- " > ally ri'ise my hat to the mijc^ty of the people ° j — on ir-junction X carefully 'followed out. j Up to this point I was chiefly a source of 1 • attraction to the hoi polloi, when I obsencd (s ( s j little knots of well-dressed people, as we 1 j passed through the JUameda, viewing me • j with an expression of respect and deep intej rest extremely puzzling. My move numerous J i and more humMo beholders, on one or two 1 i pecasions, seemed anxious to cheer me. This 1 ; probably the pretence of some police officers t alone prevented, but with the others there 3 was a disposition to melancholy printed <m 3 I their countenances, and an evident, desire to I j avoid everything like cbtrusiveness towards , [ one whose thoughts they concluded at that ! moment to be steeped in painful reflection. I 3 , said: "Consul, what does all this mean? > | The kingdom or province of Granada seems? £ j to Live very few tourists, for I have novsr i ( met, in eilher Austria or Russia, wheie tra- ' , velleis are minutely scanned, any curiosity, - I ov whatever you choose to designate it, in ■ the least compared with what has occurred i i during the List two hours." This elicited a ! | smile from the consul, who said he would ex- ; j plain all to me when we got round the next ■ ! corner. I was naturally impatient for 'he ; I elucidation. It appeared that my passport ■ j the previous evening had been keenly ; inspected by the Spanish authorities, and an j immediate conclusion arrived at that I was ; j a brother of poor Robert Boyd, who in 1831 threw himself into the political scale with I General Toriigos, in opposition to Ferdii nfinil, a; id whose party were betrayed, 49 in ! number, and shot on Sunday morning, De- ; cemboi 11. 1831. . . . j To those who have entered life since that j bloody morning in 1831, some particulars in ' connection with the murder of Robert ftoyd ■ may be interesting. I may prelude them J by stating that the victim of Moreno's treachery was a member of an ancient family in \ the noj th of Ireland. lie, it is said, made ; lar^e peisional sacriflces (as much as I £5000) in the fitting out and ' equipment of the ill-fated expedi- ! tion which fixed its rendezvous for a j short time on neutral ground at Gibraltar. i General Marcno was the confidential agent o£ j King Ferdinand, and was looked upon as the i perpetrator of most of his barbarous crnp.ltbs. j It is beyond all doubt that he decoyed Tor- ' rigos and Boyd with their companions to i the Spanish bhore by forwarding to them j letters at Gibraltar, stating that the district ' of country around Malaga was ready to rise. j A letter of Moreno's was known to be in I popsecsion of a respected gentleman in Lonj don, in which letter he went so far as to point out the spot for landing, and the pre- ■ cisc ground which his future victims should I occupy on reaching the shore. The party ] comte'l of 49 perons, General Torrigos, Mr | Boyd, and several ex-Ministers and members !of Coit os and officers of rank. Moreno I lost, not a moment after their capture in I despatching to Madrid, in the most private manner (in order to prevent the interference of the British consul) an express bribed 1o extraordinary alacrity by the promise of a. I great rewaid. Moieno. who resolved en j the destruction of Boyd, said nothing of any | foreigner being among the prisoners, though I he had in his hand the list v. ith the namo j and 02-.ignat.ioll of Mr Boyd. The despaU-h I had not been a moment sent off from ffae ! faimhouse where the party were .surrounded 1 and taken, when Moreno had the individuals j «i -which it consisted huddled together in- { the refectory of an ol'l convent, loaded with j chain? and tortured TS'o trial of any des1 cription tosiU pl.ice. Chi the Saturday evening aftei the capture, which took place on a, I Tuesday in December 1831. Moreno received a warrant from Feidinand for the execution of 1 he whole of the individuals so inhumanly kidnapped ; and next morning he had them all shot under his ov. n eye. Food was ie-fu'-.cd them for the 18 houis afcer the variant was leceived, which pieceded the execution. They wctc brought out in a fainting condition. The first poity, consisting of 25 ]jersons, including General Torrigos and Mr Boyd and the ino«t eminent persons, were 45 minutes' under the hands of the soldici^ after the first volley was fired ; the .second party, consisting of 24 persons, were under their hands 59 minutes. The bodies had been previously stripped by convicts, and after the execution, with the exception of Mr Boyd's (which was claimed by the spirited British consul, who placed with lis own hands the flag of England over it), they were cast into the scavenger's cart and carried to the Campo Santo and thrown into a ditch, within two hours of this terrible buchery. Moreno gave a splendid public breakfast to the hellhounds by whom he had been assisted. For this savage exploit Ferdinand promoted Moreno to the rank of lieutenant-general and made him captaingeneral. He continued a favourite at court until the Queen became regent, during Ferdinand's life, when she, greatly . to her honour, immediately after assuming the reigns of government, forbade him her presence, and also prohibited his appearance at Madrid. He was placed for months under the surveillance of the police at Seville ; - but, after the death of the King, he made his escape on horseback and joined Don Carlos in Portugal. He afterwards came to a merited end, having been shot by his own men. Robert Boyd met his fate like a bray*

man. The last words that passed his lips were, "Life's fitful fever will soon be oer." "" Reminiscencec of Fit'ty Years," by Maivk Boyd.