The Sun.
London, England, 1856-07-26 00:00:00

THE INSURRECTION IN SPAIN.

The Constitutionnel of yesterday contains the
following article on Spain :
"The present crisis is due to the savage attempts at
Valladolid and other point. They were fullowed by the
Ministerial crisis in Madrid. Called by the confidence
of the Queen to form a new Cabinet, it was necessary for
Marshal O'Donnell to act, and he did act. It is certain
that in the state of matters prompt and decisive mea-
sures were indispensable ; these measures he adopted.
The extreme factions replied by revolt to the manifesto
which preceded the state of siege. For a long
time previous they had prepared for the struggle.
The national militia had, above all, been the object of an
indefatigable propaganda. A. misunderstanding could
throw it into the ranks of the rioters ; under the pretext
of defending the principles of the revolution of July, and
of maintaining the Ministry of Marshal Espartero, it was
drawn into the struggle. The militia of Madrid, after
having fought for Espartero, would have anchored under
the republic in the same manner that the national guard
in Paris was drawn by reform in February into the re-
volution. The overthrow of the throne of Queen Isabella
and of monarchial institutions was meditated by the ex-
treme factions, and the excesses of Valladolid were to
have given the sinister signal. By anticipating the peril,
the Government of the Queen has in a great measure
conjured it. The troop', commanded with resolution,
displayed great constancy and firmness. Every resist-
ance fell before them. If, however, we are to believe
the telegraph, the attitude of the troops at Saragossa
has been very different. It is said . that there they
have made common cause with the revolt. Tills fact,
if true, is not conclusive, and we trust that in Spain
as in France, the army will prove the instrument of
the salvation of civilisation and of society. Public
tranquillity appears to be restored at Madrid. The
revolt of Aragon is doubtless an event of import-
ance, but it would seem to result from the general Intel-
. .

lizence received that the insurrectional movement is be-
coming weaker, and is, so to say, dying a ns ural death;
Up to the present day Government has the upper hand
in C italonia. Toe revolution has succumbed in Bar-
celona, the second capital of Spain, from whence revola-
bions bays so often gone forth to dominate the Penin-
sula. If all c tuie of alarm has not disappeared, the
chances are in favour of the cause of order. It is for
the Queen's Government to complete the work by the
vigour and skill of its conduct. It has had the courage
to meet the evil and to face it ; and let us hope that it
will possess the wisdom necessary for the accomplish-
meat of its task."

HOW ARE THE MIGHTY FALLEN I

(Front a Correspondent of the Morning Advert ser.)
SPAIN AS SHE WAS AND AS SHE IS.

There is no other instance of a nation which, in so
short a time, has fallen from the position of a first-
rate Power to that of almost international non-
existence, as Spain. Under Philip the Second, her
empire was one of the most splendid and powerful
the world ever saw. Dreaded by sea as well as by
land, even after the destruction of the Armada, that
monarch reckoned amongst his possessions Spain, Por-
tugal, the Netherlands on both sides of the Rhine,
Fcanche Com. 6, Roussillon, the Milanese, and the Two
Sicilies. In Asia he possessed the Philippines, and the
P ,rtugueiti settlements on the coast of Malabar and
Coromandel, in the peninsula of Malacca, and in the
Spice Islands of the Eastern Archipelago. In America,
his dominions extended on each side of the equator into
the temperate zwie. His revenues were twelve times
greater than those of Queen Elizabeth. He had a stand-
ing army of fifty thousand men, and a naval fercs of a
hundred and forty galleys.
No nation could boast a more splendid array of men
of genius, almost all of whom were also either dist il.
guished in arms or diplomacy. In the latter art the
Spaniards were the masters of their time ; and Mr.
Macaulay, in proof of the dread in which their powers
in this respect were held in E, gland, quotes from an
address to Mary the following lines :—" They be •erye
wyse and paliticke, and can thorowe ther wysdome re-
form and brydell theyr owne natures for a tyme, and
applyo ther conditions to the maners of those men with
whom they meddell gladlye by friendshippe ; whose mis-
chievous maners a man shall never knowe untyll he
come under ther subjection : but then shall he parfectyle
psrceyve and fele them : which thynge 1 praye God
En4land never do : for in dissimulations untyll they
have their purposes, and afterwards in oppression and
tyrannye, when they can obtayne them, they do exceed
all other nations upon the earthe."
But before a hundred years bad passed Spain ha 3 lost
Holland, Portugal, Artois, Roussillon, and French°
Comf6. In the East her power and possessions were
eclipsed by those of the Dutch ; and in the West, Eng•
land bad seized her settlements in the Mexican Sea. An
incurable decay was eating into the very heart of the
empire. By sea and by land its forces dwindled away
in numbers and degenerated in, character. Philip bad
destroyed the bulwarks of public liberty, and prosperity
ceased with them.

BREWERS, &c.—ln England and Wales there are now
2,290 common brewers, 62,128 victuallers, 40,179 per-
sons licensed to sell beer to be drunk on the premises,
and 2,837 licensed to sell beer without the privilege of
drinking it on the premises. 25,317 victuallers brew
their own beer, and of these 12,751 bell beer to be drunk
on the premises. In Scotland there are 120 common brew-
ers, 9.648 victuallers or publicans, and 8,329 grocers who
sell beer and spirits not to be drunk on the premises.
In Ireland there are 104 brewers, 15,781 victuallers,
and 270 spirit dealing grocers.