The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1868-10-24 00:00:00

THE SPANISH REVOLUTION AND ITS

TEACHINGS.

-
In the Reeve Coodemporaine M. de Calunne, M an
article headed " The Spanish Revolution and its
Teachings," moralizes Ss follows upon the interview
between the reiming, Wilily of France and the en.
reigning family 4 Spain on the day when Isabella 11.
fled fmin her kingdom :

The Emperor, th,ongh doubtless imps,. -scol with the Mt
grandeur of the spectacle, maintained a codin and dognified
attitude, befitting a prince who thinks an I reflects. Not so,
if we nroy believe report, the Empress. tt the sight of this
Queen, who had been her sovereign, co mine with her son,
fallen like her-elf toask an asylum in Fran e, the Empress burst
into tears and sobbed violently. The Pri, :e Imperial had been
brought to the meeting, mid it is a ~owable to suppose
that his soother, when she now the young Prince of
Asturias flyhog from his country, could it avol.l the thou ht
that a like &Ahoy may possibly awa t her own 5051. How
moony princes are there not now in Eto ye, who. born on the
steps of a throne, are expiating in o Ade the minfortune of
their origin I it is easily conceivable that this new example
of the incomtaney of fortune should have saddened the
mother's heart. hut on other aro ounda the Empress mast
have du ply felt the calamity which has befallen Isabella.
The Empress Is a Spaniard ; she has breathed the snore air,
lived in the same circle, and been imbued with the same
Ideas as the exiled Spanish Queen. The fall of this throne
In a check for Clime idea: to which it in impossible that tirose
who share them should be insensible. It hi a country where
they were thought to Ire firmly established these principles
have broken down, it in impossible to deny the inference
that they cannot be very solid in France. These are warningn
Which ISO ear, however distracted by flattery, can be dead IA o. It
wan. we may respectfully suppose, in (order that he might profit
by the lesson, that the Prince Imperial wee brought by his

father to the painful interview. No tutor, no books, sossld
impress on a youthful mind such valuable teaching as this
acted page of .ntemporary history which paternal solicitude
haa placed under the eyes of the heir apparent to the French
throne. We can readily imagine the comments with which
the Emperor's discerning mind illustrated the example set
beforehis son, lie must have told him how important it is for
princes not to suppose themselves masters of opinion, and $o
be acting in accordance with it, merely because their policy la
warmly supported by the 1e... al representation of the country;
how factitious majorities obtained by administrative
pressure are perilous, and to what catastrophe they may
lead how dangerous it is both for the liberty of the nation
and the independence of the crown to allow the military
element to become predominent ; how distrustful a prince
should be of courtiers and flatterers ; what care he should
take not to make essences er alienate friends; and how parti-
cular he should be in the choice of instruments of his power,
selecting them always from among loyal and honest men,
more prone to tell the truth than to sing the praises of their
master, more apt to resister repressive laws useless than to
snake them necessary, and more abounding in good counsel
than fine words. The august teacher cannot have failed to
observe that certain consequences invariably follow a certain
policy. That when the edifice bes Pus to crack slid ruin is at
hand, the ministers whose errors; prepared the disaster
abandon the house, and not unfrequently help to pull IS
downs ; that generals fall away, favourites disappear, courtiers;
change their master, senators vote a deposition, and the
people applaud. This is ass old yet ever new tragedy, the
form of which varies while the substance is always the sans..
Let us hope that this lesson, seen so near, and the history ar
Wilieh is so well knowo, will not be lost.