The Press. — London, England, 1856-10-18 00:00:00

986 Basque provinces, the civil war began. I'? 1837, when the army of DON CARLOS ap proached within musket-shot of the gate of Atoca, the culminating point of the battle for the succession was reached. He refused to r ?cognise the Cortes bonds, and the Paris and Lyndon stockjobbers then made their arranae ments to enable ESPARTERO to achieve r. by treachery what he could not accomplish with the sword—namely, beat the Carlists. On the 31st of August, 1839, the Maroto convention was signed at Bergora. Since that epoch Spain has been, and is, in a state of transition. The quadruple alliance gave the throne to a female instead of a man. The magical name in Spain of " El Rey " ceased to exist, and confusion has reigned paramount ever since DON CARLOS was feeble in mind, and a bigot; but he was, at least, a man who, in the rela tions of private life, preserved the strictest proprieties. What ISABELLA is, let any traveller walk in the streets of Madrid, in Bayonne, and in Paris to learn. At twenty seven years of age, she has the appearance of a middle-aged woman. Her days are passed in bed, and her nights in orgies. The end of this dissipation will come. The alteration in the law of succession, achieved by CHRISTINA, was for the purpose of securing Spain "Liberal" institutions, and to save the country, as it was alleged by the Pahnerstonians of the day, from absolutism. As the Government of the Barricades in Paris ceased to exist because it departed from its legitimate source, so will tie Isabella dynasty pass away because it has no sympathy with its origin. For eighteen years Loots PHILIPPE ruled, and after he had destroyed the name and fame of every public man whom ho called to power he fell himself. A similar retribution is going on in Spain. Every public man is becoming used up, and eventually will arrive the real revolution—that of the masses. The corruption of the Orleans dynasty is exceeded immeasurably by the Isabella func tionaries. The struggle for place in Spain is chronic. When the office-holders have been long enough in power to be entitled to their pensions, they yield, sometimes quietly, some times with a little resistance, to the office seekers. The whole country is covered with a set of locusts, and the resources are eaten up. NARVAEZ has a certain amount of energy, but lie has also the mano which is the curse of 'Spain. When he pursue(' the Carlist General LOPEZ through Spain there were several occa sions when he could have overtaken and anni hilated the enemy ; tut it was not the policy of NARVAEZ to put an end to his daily pursuits 'and to write flaming bulletins of an attack on the fag-end of a rear guard. With NARVAEZ Will return Queen CHRISTINA, despite of the intense animosity with which the Queen Mother and the Queen Daughter regard each other. What next? Perhaps a Regency, after the abdication, forced or voluntary, of ISABELLA. Perhaps a Republic, with a Dictator, if a great man should spring up. Perhaps—and this is the most probable—a French intervention, under the pretext of " settling " the affairs of Spain. It is alleged that the Emperor of the FRENCH sees with displeasure the O'Donnell downfall, and the return to power of NARVAEZ. This is a mistake. O'DONNELL, who knew well that the coming of the latter was certain if he passed the frontier, opposed strenuously the granting of the passport. It was French in• fluence which obtained it, and NARVAEZ, on his wsy to Madrid, in passing Bayonne, paid a v;sit to Biarritz. The Emperor and Empri as of the FRENCH kept open house to the Spanish notabilities who were taking their baths at Biarritz, and many of these per. sonafes, as well as others in Madrid, have not slrupled to give out openly their opinion that NAPOLEON 111. is the man for Spain. La Son Condesa del MONTIJO is equally hos pita' de to the French visitors in Madrid. The French superior officers on the frontiers are as gay as possible with the confirmed notion that the next occupation of the French army will be in Spain. The Carlists on their aide are not altogether idle. Weak as they always have been in the large towns, the landed and mountainous populations remain zi Mailed to the Absolutist cause, but the Car .- Vita lam) no leaders. Th o c i v il war produced s.v• THE PRESS. but two men, ZUMALACARREOUY, a first-rate general, wounded at the siege of Bilboa, but poisoned, as there is too much reason to be lieve, by his own party ; and CARRERA. The latter has had too much experience of the ignorance and ingratitude of his colleagues in the cause, to risk the good position he has ac quired in the country by marriage. It is, how ever, not a little strange that his name should be so popular through Spain. Some of the Madrid democrats pretend that he is the only veritable child of the revolution, and there fore they allege ho must sooner or later be the President of a Republic. Here is another retributive lesson in Spain. Tho successful Christina generals, one after the other, sink into obscurity or infamy. If there could be found a name which is held in greater con tempt than that of ESPARTERO, it would be in deed singular. Here is the Liberal idol for years in Spain, about whom the greatest amount of absurd adulation has been ex hausted in London, completely extinguished ; and he merits his fate. Never was there a man who deserved his zeputation less. Sur rounded by a faction of flatterers, he aimed at one time at the Imperial purple in Spain, and when convinced that this was the acme of folly, he was content to conspire for a dicta torship. In the final conflict, although O'DoN NELL aimed at the Premiership, ESPARTERO had the baseness to allow his partisans to be butchered in the streets, without endeavour ing to head an insurrection which he had fo mented and encouraged. But what could be anticipated of the man who shot his dearest friend, and one to whom he was mainly in debted for his military reputation ! When the unfortunate DIEGO LEON was sentenced to death, men of all parties joined in a petition to the Queen to spare his life ISABELLA was disposed to be merciful, but ESPARTERO was relentless ; and DIEGO LEON, the most chival rous officer in the Spanish army, in raising his hand for the death signal at the Toledo gate in Madrid. had on his finger the ring given to him by ESPARTERO, as a mark of eternal friend ship ! _ _ _ On the whole, the rapid decline of such a political chameleon as O'Doris ELI., who in his own Ministry was but a nonentity, and the return to office of NAAVAEZ, can only be re garded as preparing the way for further and more important changes, not immediately, but certainly within a brief period in a nation's history. To discuss the particular tendencies of each Minister in his Cabinet is so much waste time. It matters not whether the Moderado, the Progresista, the Camarilla, the Christina, or the Carlist elements predomi nate. It is sufficient that they are all Spaniards, and that principles have nothing to do with place. The real revolution in Spain will he one of ideas, and will emanate from the people—whether in the Absolutist or Democratic sense is a mere question of time. What the Spaniards cannot do for themselves foreigners are achieving and will achieve for them ; but French capitalists aro taking a decided lead in the material changes now going on. The great railroad projects are in active progress, and French engineers are scouring the country in all directions, making their surveys and preparing their reports, which are as political as they are scientific, if Madrid gossip can be believed. It is not of the slightest significance to France whether an O'Donnell or a Narvaez be in power. The Emperor is vigilant—and the advent of finan cial disorder, and the privations of the people, will afford opportunities enough for the de velopment of his policy ultimately. COLONIAL SELF-GOVERNMENT. To epitomise the difference between Eng land and the rest of the civilised world, the Englishman we should say is apt to be too practical, the Frenchman, German, or American too theoretical. If an Englishman has a grievance, he is wont to look out for the quickest remedy, rather than the best ; while many other nations miss the opportunity of much rational happiness by hankering after an ideal perfection which can never be attained on earth. It might at first sight seem strange to SATURDAY, rank America in the same category with Ger many and France. But what race and insti• tutions have effected in the one instance, has been effected in the other by the unfortunate circumstances unaer which the national exist. ence commenced. • The American War of Independence was commenced and carried out in support of an abstract idea ; and all the energy of the Anglo-Saxon race has been unable to counteract the consequences of this false start. A large party in our Australian colonies appear to plume themselves on having passed all the older nations in the race of political progress. Universal suffrage, vote by ballot, and withdrawal of State assistance to religion, are, it seems, in Victoria the prevalent elec tioneering cries. Our colonists should, how ever, remember, before indulging in such ex cessive self-complacency, that between an old European State and a young colony like their own no sort of comparison is possible in mat ters of political detail. As well might we ex pect the mature and sagacious man of forty to display the post-prandial elasticity of a schoolboy, as that a middle aged common wealth like our own should be capable of the same reckless activity as our more juvenile progeny in Australia. But, at all events, we must remember that they have only just adopted some, and not yet adopted others, of those extreme reforms on which they allege the prosperity of the country to be founded. Respiciaut finem—if they will take our advice. And certainly just now it requires no Solon to predict a disastrous termination to the delu sions of ultra democracy. In only two coun tries has the doctrine of the sovereignty of the people been allowed its full development, and in those two alone do we behold the unchecked career of anarchy and despotism. The theory of universal equality is a very fascinating one, and our Australian colonists seem fully to appreciate its charms. But there is a strong element of English practi cality and unadulterated English sentiment in their proceedings which will act as ballast against the too great preponderance of merely theoretical politics. In the debates, if debates they can be called, of their Legislative Assemblies we observe an almost laughable parody of our own Parliamentary procedure — a thorough, even wearisome, investigation of details, and a devotion to subjects of more utility than dignity, not by any means charac teristic of people likely to be led astray by shadows. Destitution Bills, Road Bills, Cattle Registration Bills, and the like, are eminently characteristic of a race which has attained supremacy by simply minding its own busi ness. The descendants of our American colo nists ought fairly to stand rebuked before the spectacle of Australian self-government. There is one remarkable expression of opinion on the resolutions promulgated by a great Liberal meeting in Australia which is more than usually suggestive at the present moment : We will (they say) withhold our support from any Government which is not prepared to render the adminis tration of justice less dilatory and expensive, and to make it more accessible to the people by the localisation of the means of redress, and the increase of the unpaid magistracy. An eminent French writer has well observed, that a body of unpaid officials is de facto an aristocracy—that is, a body with superior pro perty, education, and leisure, who govern the country in virtue of those possessions, and not by reason of their cleverness. The Amen cans, he tells us, are very jealous of such a body, and, if so, it is impossible to imagine a more instructive point of contrast between the conduct of these two branches of the Anglo Saxon family. The one, in spite of its theoretical love of equality, seeing clearly that a certain sacrifice of this is necessary to secure freedom, and manfully going straightforward to the accomplishment of its object. The other, obstinately bent on clinging to a par ticular idea, and willing to sacrifice the sta bility of institutions and the liberty of opinion to the prejudices of social jealousy. If we allude to the opinions expressed in these resolutions on the subject of State aid to religion, it is merely for the sake of protesting against the arguments of those who endeavour ~ ~