The Sun.
London, England, 1870-06-28 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY, JUNE 28, 1870.

QUEEN ISABELLA'S abdication, coupled with the
refusal of the Spanish Crown, by every one of the
candidates to whom it has yet been offered, down to,
or we ought rather to say, up to Marshal ESPARTERO,
reduces the still problematic question as to who
shall be the future Sovereign at Madrid, to the
simple choice of an alternative. Either the re-
presentative of the elder or of the younger branch
of the Bourbon dynasty. Either Dori CARLOS or the
Prince of the ASTURIAS. Better either of those
than the Duc de MONTPENSIER. Against the selec-
tion of the latter, there are two glaring arguments,
each of which appears to us, in view of the mere fit-
ness of things, in view of what is figuratively called
poetical justice, insuperable. Firstly, it would be
simply underlining or endorsing, in the case cf
the Infanta, who is Duchess of MONTP ENSIER, the
blunder made seven and thirty years ago in the
instance of the elder sister, since then (1835)
known as QUEEN ISABELLA 11., namely, the carrying
out of the arbitrary abrogation of the Salic law, just
previously by her father and predecessor on the
throne of Spain, King FERDINAND VII. Secondly,
it would be crowning with a tardy success what
has hitherto resulted and ought, to the end
of the chapter, to result only in disgrace
and disaster, the sly, and treacherous, and
despicable intrigue branded upon the annals
alike of France and Spain, under the title of the
Spanish Marriages. Either of those incongruous
strokes of good fortune would be an outrage to the
conscience of Enrope. Both of them together—and
they would only, of course, come to pass simulta-
neously—would, one might even say, bean insult to the
common sense of Christendom. Preferable to any-
thing of the kind would be the selection of either
DON CARLos or of the Prince of the ASTURIAS. The
Cortes, headed by the Regent SERRANO, and by the
Prime Minister PRIM, being, in point of fact, masters
of the situation, not only might, but inevitably
would, alone assent to the assumption of any per-
sonage as King of Spain, on certain fixed and moat
stringent conditions, provisos, or stipulations. The
constitutional and parliamentary liberties of the
country would require, in the first instance, to be
inalienably assured. The oath of allegiance to the
Sovereign would have tobe guarded, in due course, by
that Sovereign's oath of allegiance to the Constitution,
by right of which he would reign, and through the
medium of which he would alone carry on the labours
of his government. The Don CARLOS of modern
history, meaning the grandfather of the present Don
CARLOS, or in other words the younger brother of
FERDINAND VII., and therefore uncle of ISABELLA
11., the Don CARLOS of modern history, we say,
would no doubt have haughtily disdained to enter
into any such engagement with the subjects he
claimed to rule simply by what is called the right
divine. Not so either of his sons. Net so the
younger Don CARLOS, known for years as the Conde
de MONTEMOLIN. Not so the latter's younger
brother Don JUAN, the father of the present youth-
ful Don CARLOS. Both the one and the other, both
Don JUAN and the Conde de MONTEMOLIN were
prepared to enter into a compact with the nation
before assuming the prerogatives and responsibilities
of sovereignty. A compact nowadays must be
entered into with the Spanish Cortes by anyone
aspiring to become the Spanish Monarch—a compact
through which Spain shall be guarded against a
despot, and guaranteed,the preservation of her political
liberties through the medium of a well-balanced
constitution.

The death of Lord CLARENDON is a serious loss to
the GLADSTONE Ministry. If he was not a great
statesman, he could claim to rank as an administrator
of a very high order. His career is distinguished by
none of the great feats which make men remembered
in history, but few politicians have spent a long life in
active service with such freedom from error.
Reared, as it were, in a diplomatic career, Lord
CLARENDON was too much under the influence of
tradition ever to attempt anything very striking.
The Foreign Office and all connected with it
is the most Conservative institution connected with
the Government. It is the neutral ground of poli-
tics. When, after much experince as a diplomatist
and in some departments of the Executive,
the deceased peer settled himself at the
Foreign Office, he was as acceptable to the Tory
as to the Liberal Ministries. The conduct of
our foreign relations is not, indeed, much affected by
differences of political creed. Between the administra-
tion of Lord STANLEY and that of the Earl of
CLARENDON, there was little or nothing to choose.
Hence the latter was twice asked by a Conservative
Minister to keep his post at the Foreign Office. And
hence, too, his general abstention from the fierce
battles of home politics will deprive him of any great
popular renown. Yet he was a most respected
and useful member of the Government
which now mourns his loss. This is a
time when Englishmen care little for events
abroad ; they have enough to occupy them at home.
The great domestic questions which press for solution
shut out the intimate consideration of those outside
problems which formerly received so much atten-
tion. It was, therefore, a most happy
circumstance that whilst the Ministry and the
country were engaged in these absorbing home
affairs, they could leave their foreign policy to the
care of an administrator who would be certain to
guide it with credit. This Lord CLARENDON did.
The p raise accorded to his management ought to be