The Sun.
London, England, 1869-02-08 00:00:00

SPAIN.

The Spaniards are suffering from the embarrassment of
too rapid progress. In the early days of the revolution a
mob assembled in Madrid and burnt the garotte apparatus
with great enthusiasm. Now the instrument of capital
punishment is required for the benefit of the Burgos mur-
derers, all Spain cries aloud for justice. As the perpe-
trators of the atrocity might have foreseen, the deed has
served only to strengthen the hands of the Provisional
_ Government, which is now receiving hourly telegrams
expressing the confidence of the people in all parts of the
country. These manifestations daily fill several columns
of the official paper. Nor are they confined to expres-
sions of adhesion ; with one accord they demand full
punishment of the murderers, direct and indirect, of the
Governor. Capital punishment has not yet been repealed,
and there is much reason to believe that this great
revival will give it a new tenure of existence. The
murdered man was exceedingly liberal to the poor, and
some time before his death had announced his intention
to divide his salary amongst the starving inhabitants of
Burgos.
Don Henri de Bourbon seems to have a delight in
advertising himself in the gazette of political bankrupts.
He is now getting up a wretched correspondence, in which
be alternately bewails the adversity of fortune, and vilifies
the Orleanist family. Of these latter the Duke of Mont-
pensier, according to Don Henri's account, is the
general utility villain—guilty of clap-trap, sleight-of-hand
politics, machinations, mercenary ambition, and all the
other offences wilich can be hit off by Don Henri's bound.
less vocabulary of hard names. A quarter of a century
ago this Spanish prince was the Progressists' candidate
for the hand of Isabella. He did not obtain that
choice• prize, and he attributes his failure to the
Orleanist family. The eldest living representative of the
Orleans family writes from Teddington to deny this,
asserting that the error of his family consisted in treating
Don Henri too well. _ _ _

The Times correspondent says that the Progressists are
gradually lending their support to the Duke of Montpensier.
Every day some Progressist organ which was vehe-
mently opposed to the Orleanist candidate on the
day before comes out as his uncompromising advo-
cate. This change does not arise from choice so
much as from necessity. If Progressists do not have Mont-
pensier, they must almost perforce join the Repub-
licans. Serrano has been in favour of the ex-Queen's
detested relatiie from the first, and if Prim's party join
him, three-fourths of the Cortes will then be secured. On
the other hand, a large party of Democrats, Republicans,
and ultra-Progressists hope to defeat this scheme by bring.
ing forward Espartero as dictator.
The correspondent of the Star telegraphs that a clause
in the draft of the new Constitution prohibits slavery in
the Spanish .posiessions._

tip
GERMANY.

Certain old relics of the German feudal system have
been abolished by the Prussian Chamber of Deputies.
Thesevenerable fragments of legislation not only enjoyed a
lingering existence, but were often put in force by the
magistrates and clergy, and were productive of much
trouble. The Siles'an Gazette gives some curious examples.
An individual of noble descent, who occupied
the aristocratic position of a hawker, wished to
marry the daughter of a wealthy peasant, but
the old law would not sanction this eligible match
unless the hawker gave up the " von," the distinctive
prefix of Prussian nobility. He esteemed the syllable
above his intended and her dower; the marriage was not
permitted, and the noble hawker ended his clays through
hard drinking. Another aristocrat, a shoemaker, thought
the " von " not indispensable to the prosperity of the last,
and accordingly gave it up to become the husband
of a rich butcher's daughter. In the neighbourhood
of Berlin, the scion of an aristocratic family was
desirous of marrying the daughter of a plebeian
landowner. The Royal consent was refused him
until he proved that the great-grandfather of his betrothed
had been a gardener at Potsdam in the King's service.
These functions were considered equivalent to letters
of - nobility, and so the union took place. On
this principle it is difficult to see why the
feudal relics should have caused any trouble. A plebeian
maiden who wished to marry into the nobility need only
clear-starch two or three dozen of the Kine, linen in order
to gain full privileges.