Ferdinand VII congratulated Napoleon, then abolished the constitution on his return
The admirers of Ferdinand VII could, of course, have known that while they fought for his freedom under the slogans «God. Fatherland. King», their dearly beloved ruler was heartily congratulating Napoleon on his victories on the Spanish front.
The Otechestvennye zapiski of 1868 offered a rather pithy characterisation of Ferdinand:
«Alien to every higher human interest, distrustful of anyone possessed of any strength, cowardly to the point of servility before persons on whom he in any way depended, cruel to the point of insensibility wherever he met with no resistance, this king belonged to the very worst sort of Bourbons».
Immediately upon his return to Spain, Ferdinand abolished the constitution that the Spaniards had so painfully won, introduced the death penalty for insulting the royal majesty by supporting the constitution and the decrees adopted by the Cortes, in writing or by word of mouth, insisted on the gallows for all liberals without trial, investigation or interrogation, dissolved the Cortes, re-established the Jesuit order, introduced censorship and revived the Inquisition.
