War of the Aggrieved

The uprising reached its peak in summer,[4] "following the evolution of the harvesting work, at the end of which many day laborers joined parties that paid a good salary, which shows that the organizers had abundant resources", said Josep Fontana.

[9] A French commander informed his government that the rebels "have lithographic presses and distribute proclamations; the officers carry appointments and printed instructions, and receive a salary that does not come exclusively from the contributions they collect".

[11] On July 31 Josep Busoms ('Jep dels Estanys') one of the leaders of those who were beginning to be known as "aggrieved" royalists, launched a proclamation from Berga ―Busoms attributed to himself the title of Count of Berga―:[1][10][12] No, Spaniards, no; these are not our complaints and clamors against our King; neither are we trying to make the Government resign in any way.

Our clamors are directed against that infernal rabble that after having been unfaithful sons to the Motherland... have managed to seize the jobs and destinies, to suck with abundance the blood of those that before they could not immolate.As Josep Fontana has warned, "the slogans in favor of the infant Don Carlos were now abandoned, and the uprising was justified with the argument that the king was imprisoned in the court, in the power of the Masons and the revolutionaries, who were the ones who really governed".

[9] "The purpose of our glorious alarm is that our beloved monarch Ferdinand VII be freed from several Masonic individuals who with cunning and shrewdness have managed to keep or seize the government", proclaimed Josep Clarà, one of the leaders of the rebellion, in Vic.

[5] In a French report of August 1827 it was said:[14]Since last March Catalonia has been in the throes of disturbances which, having begun partial and isolated, have later taken on a certain increase and are developing in such a threatening manner that it is to be feared that very soon they will cover the entire province.

On August 28 they established in Manresa, taken days before and turned from then on into the capital of the rebellion, a "Provisional Superior Board of government of the Principality", integrated by four members (two clerics and two seculars) and presided by Colonel Agustín Saperes, called "Caragol",[15] who in a proclamation of September 9 insisted on the fidelity to King Ferdinand.

[9][17] Then they took the towns of Vic, Cervera, Solsona, Berga, Olot, Valls and Reus ―the latter by Joan Rafí Vidal, accompanied by a group of bandits led by "Padre Puñal"―[9] and laid siege to Gerona, where they would maintain for a month.

The exchanges between the coast and the interior are at a standstill: everything is stagnation, and only the large towns enjoy tranquility.Faced with the magnitude of the rebellion and its extension outside Catalonia, the government decided to send an army to the Principality, with the notorious absolutist Count of Spain at the head as the new captain general, replacing the Marquis of Campo Sagrado, and endowed with broad powers ―such as the power to judge the rebels in court martial without taking into account the jurisdiction of the military and clergy―, and, at the same time, to organize a visit of the king to Catalonia (where he arrived, via Valencia, at the end of September accompanied by only one minister, the "ultra" Francisco Tadeo Calomarde) to dispel any doubt about his supposed lack of freedom and to exhort the rebels to lay down their arms (the official reason was: "to examine for myself the causes that have produced the disturbances in Catalonia").

Neither am I oppressed, nor are the people who deserve my confidence conspiring against our Holy Religion, nor is the Motherland in danger, nor has the honor of my Crown been compromised, nor is my Sovereign authority being undermined by anyone.The effect of the Manifesto was immediate and provoked the surrender or the disbandment of many of the insurgents.

[25][26][27] During this time, as Juan Francisco Fuentes has pointed out, "the repression acted relentlessly against the rebels, with summary executions and arrests of suspects both in Catalonia and in the rest of Spain, where the uprising had many supporters".

[32] Josep Fontana underlines "the close relationship that exists between peasant unrest and ultra revolt"[33] and quotes a report of the General Superintendence of Police that said the following:[34]The population of the mountains is solely agricultural; the plain and the ports are manufacturers and merchants.

The rebellion had counted on the support of the Catalan clergy, who had encouraged, legitimized and financed it,[5] but as soon as the king arrived in Tarragona they went over to the opposite side and almost all the bishops condemned the "aggrieved" and made appeals for them to lay down their arms.

This was the case of the professors of the University of Cervera who published the following poem:[35][36]The crafty Freemason made believe that the Solio was in danger, and the angry royalists prepare the rifle; but seeing that he was wrong, and the sovereign is free,

[43] This long trip of more than ten months has been interpreted by Angel Bahamonde and Jesus A. Martinez "as an act of affirmation of his person", in view of the growing support that his brother Don Carlos was having among the "ultras".

[45] In the official report of the trip, which included the stay in Catalonia and which was written under Calomarde's supervision, the result obtained by Ferdinand VII was summarized as follows:[46] He extinguished civil discord, ensured peace, revived industry, garrisoned the squares of his kingdom with [Spanish] troops, punished treason, concealed misdirection and gave reasons for the loyalty and affection of his vassals.Since January 1827 a Manifesto of the Federation of the Pure Royalists to the Spaniards circulated clandestinely throughout Spain and was used by the "aggrieved".

Ramón César de Conti ―an exalted liberal military man who was in the pay of Ferdinand VII's police― was in charge of taking them to Gibraltar and then distributing them along the coast, as far as Barcelona, from a steamboat (on his return he would boast of having influenced the start of the War of the Aggrieved)".

"Calomarde himself [Secretary of the Office of Grace and Justice] denounced in the Gazette this liberal pamphlet, "printed in eighth on four sheets of paper and in foreign handwriting", and described as absurd the supposition that there was a "faction composed of all the classes that have made the most sacrifices for the defense of the legitimate throne and the sovereignty of S. M." ready to dethrone Ferdinand and, even more, that anyone would think that Carlos, "faithful brother and inseparable companion of S.M.