The Sun.
London, England, 1866-01-13 00:00:00

The Military Revolt in Spain.

(From the Correspondent of the Times.)
MADRID, Jan. 9.
The following has been handed to me as General
Frim's Proclamation. It circulates secretly about
Madrid, but I have no means of ascertaining its
authenticity
Spaniards !—We have arrived at the terrible
moment in which revolution is the only resource of
the nation and the main duty of honourable men.
I am at the head of considerable military forces, and
a great number of armed countrymen hasten on all
sides to fight under my orders for the cause of free-
dom and our fatherland.
"My banner is the last manifesto of the Pro-
gressists Central Committee ; with it in my hand I
will fight with my, wonted valour against the Go-
vernment which dishonours us abroad and ruins us
at home, to the point of making us a laughing-stock
among foreign nations, and bringing us to the verge
of a shameful bankruptcy.
" Soldiers,—who have already fought under my
orders,—you are aware that I have never forsaken
you; and that if you stand by me in this enterprise
I shall know how to lead you, first showing you the
path of victory, and next remunerating your en-
deavours. . _ _

-74e110w citizens, men of honour ! aid me, you
too, to bring to a happy end a political revolution,
which may do away with the necessity of that social
revolution with which we are threatened.
,1 Spaniards! Hurrah for liberty, for the pro-
gramme of the Central Progressists Committee, for
the constituent Cortes ! " JUAN PRIM."
For his part, Field-Marshal Concha, Marques del
Duero, has addressed the following " energetic pro-
clamation" to the "handful of men" at whose head
he has set out in pursuit of the " rebel general" :
" Soldiers ! Two cavalry regiments, forsaking
their chiefs, and seduced by a general who is as
great a traitor as he is a coward, have gone in quest
of no less mad than criminal adventures, giving the
example of insubordination, and raising a confla-
gration in the country, which, however, only looks
upon this act as a mere outbreak of wanton ambi-
tion. We are only few in number, but our loyalty
is sufficient to crush and humble the enemies where-
ever we may meet them, for we march under the in-
fluence of the magic cry Hurrah for Isabella ll.' "
So far as it is possible to follow the movements
of the hostile parties, out of garbled and conflicting
accounts, it seems that General Prim, after follow-
ing the course of the Guadiana from Daimiel down
to the immediate neighbourhood of Ciudad Real,
the capital of La Mancha, turned up again towards
the Sierra de Toledo, and was on Sunday night at
Malagon, to the south, and yesterday, Monday, at
Urda, to the north of those mountains. He is evi-
dently " dodging" his enemies, and is likely enough
to give them a good long run. When in the neigh-
bourhood of Ciudad Real Prim was said to have
3,000 men, divided in two columns, one of which
marched under his immediate orders ; the other was
led by his lieutenant, Brigadier Milans del Bosch.
The volunteers, or guerrilleros, are not easily num-
bered, as they spread far and wide over the country,
but Prim can evidently be at no loss for partisans
in a part of the country so devotedly ad-
dicted to his cause. A "foreign engineer" is said to
be with him, and it was he, it appears, who se
skill sunk the suspension bridge at Fuenti duenas
on the 4th. One of General Prim's volunteers,
named Leon Merino, a guerrillero of well-known
determination, is said to be in possession of the
narrow gorge of Despenaparos, the important
pass across the Sierra Morena, that long and
dreary ridge which separates the arid desert of
,La Mancha from the paradise of Andalusia. If
this be so, the communication between those
southern kingdoms and the capital is at the mercy
of these bold adventurers.

The Government organs are very eloquent in their
--description of the distress and exhaustion under
which the rebel bands are labouring. They say that
-Prim's horses are unshod, that their waggons are
-/eftv on the road, that the soldiers have no
rifle' ea -; &c. They add that, wherever they ap-
pear, they help themselves to such money, horses,
provisions, &c., as they can lay hands on.
On the other hand, travellers who are daily com-
ing in from the districts which have become the
theatre of this singularly uneventful and bloodless
war, assure us that it is the loyal, and not the rebel,
army that exhibits symptoms of weakness and fa-
tigue. Soma of the few men whom Concha had
hastily gathered together at Manzanares are said to
have deserted him and gone over to Prim. The
progress of Zabala, the first who left Madrid at the
head of a large column on Wednesday last in pur-
suit of the insurgents, has been throughout deplo-
rably slow. Baffled by Prim at Fuenti Duenas,
where the sunken bridge prevented his crossing the
Tagus, Zabala had to toil a whole day from that
place to Aranjeuz, where he lost 21 hours in the
conveyance of his forces by rail to TeMblecine--lost
21 hours, that is to say, in getting over a distance
of six leagues. Had Prim had the least suspicion
of this unsoldierlike movement he could either
have taken prisoners or cut to pieces the loyal
detachments as they came up this line, at two
hours interval one after another, 800 or 900 men at
a time, packet up in a van like herrings, unable
even to alight without the help of somebody that
would open the doors to let them out. Prim had
been at Tembleque only a few hours before the first
detachment came in, in high spirits, as I am told,
taking possession of the station, allowing a goods
train to go past unmolested, bidding the telegraph
clerk to cut the wires, and, upon the latter showing
some hesitation, snatching up a hatchet, and hack-
ing away at the telegraph box and table, as well as
the wires, always as merrily as if he were about
some good piece of fun, and telling the clerk how
desirous he was of exontwating him from any re-
sponsibility of the deed. From Tembleque Zabala,
after getting all his troops, horse and artillery, from
the trains, advanced upon Madridejos, where he was
still on the 7th, in the morning. At the same hour
of the same day Concha had reached Daimiel, pre-
cisely as Prim was marching out of it. Since then
-we have been left in the dark as to the movements
of the loyal forces, though, as I told you, the Go-
vernment papers take the trouble to inform us that
the rebels were at Magalon on Sunday, and at Urda
yesterday. There were rumours afloat yesterday
that " Concha had been taken and shot by Prim,"
and, again, that " the brave Catalan guerrilla chief
Noy de las Barraquetas (or Noy of the Barricades)
had been mortally wounded ; but I could up to late
in the evening trace such reports to no plausible
source, and there seemed really as yet to have been
no encounter whatever between the contending
parties ; not a drop of blo3d shed as yet in this
mock civil war.

Last night, finally, Zabala telegraphed that he
had fallen back to Puerto Lapiche, and that Ser-
rano was in command of Concha's column. What
had become of Concha does not appear. Zabala,
to expedite his movements, had parted with his ar-
tillery. His intention was to pursue the insurgents
along the chain of the Toledo mountains, while
Serrano, who, besides Concha's column, bad cannon
and engineers with him, was to operate on the plain
following the course of the Guadiana.
There is no doubt in the meanwhile that the pro-
mise held out by O'Donnell in the Senate that " all
would be quiet -within 48 hours, and he would be in
a position to raise the state of' siege," has not yet
been, and is not likely soon to be fulfilled. The poor
clubmen of the Cassino del Principe, in the Carrera
de San Geronimo, have sent up a deputation to the
Prime Minister, pleading the inoffensiveness of their
institution, and praying for the repeal of the decree
that shut it up, but their entreaties have been un-
availing.
There they were to be seen yet on Sun-
day afternoon crowding the hall of the establish..
ment that was a home to them, and the narrow
street before it, downcast and disconsolate, like so
many Peris at the gate of Paradise, wondering
What is to become of them, what is to open those
gates, and where they are to run in for shelter
should rain or frost render the open air unbearable.

-----
The prolongation
of the present state of suspense
and uncertainty can hardly fail to be prejudicial to
the Goyernment, and Prim is likely enough to carry
his point if he can only gain time. His wife here in
Madrid talks of his chances with great
glee, and
says that " her Juanito can go he pleases wherever
and achieve whatever he undertakes."
All day yesterday we had reports of ferment in
Saragossa and, Barcelona. From the former place
Zapatero, the general in Command, is soliciting re-
inforements at every hour. 'From Barcelona we
have this morning official tidings to the effect that

in consequence of an aggressive demonstration
which took place in the night the authorities had
ordered the troops to fire on the peop!e. Several
of these were killed or wounded, awl complete
tranquillity has been restored."
Last evening, at 11 o'clock, at the Teatro Real,
where I happened to be, a great commotion was
seen in some of the stalls, whence several officers
hurried away, As if summoned in greet haste. The
ladies in the boxes soon followed, evidently terrified
by some alarming report. On leaving the house I
was told that one of the regiments quartered near
the Montana del Principe Pio had mutinied. This
morning I learn that they have been overpowered,
and order reigns in the barracks.

The Government, however, does not easily allow
the secrets of those huge buildings to transpire among
the public. Forty of the fugitives belonging to the
columns of three companies of the Almanza Regi-
ment, which had mutinied at Avila, under the orders
of Majors Campos and Gonzalez have surrendered at
Alganicea, near the Portuguese frontier of Braganza.
The others are said to have crossed the line and to
have been disarmed by the Portuguese authorities.

Parliimentary Reform in Lambeth..

.-.--

A meeting of the electors and non-electors of the
borough of Lambeth, convened under the auspices
of the National Reform League, was held last
night to consider the subject of Parliamentary
Reform. The meeting was held in the Lam-
beth Baths,Westminster-bridge-road. At 8 o'clock,
when the chairman, Mr. T. Hughes, M.P., took the
chair, the large area used as the plunging bath dur-
ing the summer months was about one-third filled.
A little later the audience had increased, and occu-
pied one half the place of meeting. Mr. Hughes,
who was warmly received, was accompanied by Mr.
E. Beale, Mr. E. D. Rogers, Mr. Bubb, Mr. Hart-
well, and other members of the Council of the League.
The CHAIRMAN said that, as their representative,
he was glad to assist at a Reform meeting. -It was
highly desirable that such meetings should be held,
not only in the metropolis, but also in every other
part of the country, because he believed that the
people never had a better opportunity of carrying a
really good Reform Bill. (Cheers.) A new Parlia-
ment had just been elected. The country had sent
up a larger majority of really Liberal men than in
any previous Parliament, and they had ' a more
Liberal Government than they ever:possessed at any
previous time. It was only requisite that the people
of this country should show themselves thoroughly
in earnest upon this question of Parliamentary Re-
form in order to make it certain that a good Reform
Bill would be carried. It was said in some quarters
that the unenfranchised members of the community
cared nothing about political and suffrage questions,
that they only wanted more beef and beer, and
thought of nothing but physical comforts. He be-
lieved that this was a libel upon the great body of
his fellow-countrymen. (Cheers.) No doubt when
the working classes witnessed the extraordinary
progress of wealth and luxury it was natural their
desires should turn towards the physical comforts
and the wealth so much respected and hungered
after by those who were called their betters. He did
not believe, however, that the great masses of the
people undervalued their rights of citizenship, and
he trusted that they would, by distinct manifesta-
tions in all parts of the country, convince Parlia-
ment and the Government that they were seri-
ously in earnest in demanding a good Reform
Bill from the coming Parliament. (Loud cheers.)
It was high time for England to make a move
in this direction, if she was to keep her place poli-
tically among the nations of the earth. She had for
centuries taken the lead, and for a long period stood
almost alone in Europe, in insisting that the people
should make their own laws. But how stood the
case at present ? It was positively more difficult to
obtain the full rights of citizenship in England than
in any other country where representative institu-
tions had been set up. Even in Italy, the last couri-
' try that we had welcomed among the free nations of
the earth, the payment of a sum of 10f., or about
Bs. a year, in direct taxes, qualified a man for the
franchise. He should be glad to see such a quali-
fication as that in England. (Cheers.) In Sweden,
Switzerland, and Belgium, not to mention the United
States and our own colonies, the franchise was easier
of attainment than in England. If, however, the
people would heartily back up the Government
during the coming Session of Parliament they would
soon have their representative Government a reality,
and not a sham as it was at present. No doubt,
there were a good many different opinions in the
bosom of the Liberal party, and it was even
difficult to define what was meant by the great
Liberal party of the country. For himself, he held
this to be a true test of a Liberal, whether he had
or had not a thorough sympathy with the people.
(Hear.) If he had—if he wished from the bottom
of his heart to see every man well educated, in com-
fortable circumstances, independent, and able not
only to support his family satisfactorily, but to have
proper time for recreation and the cultivation of his
mind—if, in short, he wished to see his fellow-coun-
trymen well educated, independent, and happy, then
(
such a man was a member of the Liberal party, and
would wish to see his fellow-countrymgn enjoy the
full rights of citizenship. It might be said that if his
definition were correct every member of the Liberal
party must be in favour of universal suffrage. He
believed that every true member of that party was
favourable to universal suffrage, not at once, but
that he would be desirous to see all his fellow-sub-
jects fit for the suffrage. As soon as they were thus
fitted every real and thorough Liberal would be ready
to give them the suffrage. There were, however, many
true Liberals who were far from wishing to do this at
present. There were not only false Liberals, but also
honest Liberals, who believed that at present a great
majority of the unenfranchised classes were not fit to
enjoy the rights of full citizenship. He knew many
men holding this opinion to be real honest Liberals,
and to possess the sympathy of which he had spoken.
He believed the more such men got to know their
unenfranchised countrymen, the more they would
trust and the less they would fear them. He believed
that all these Liberals would in time recognise the
extraordinary advance in intelligence and civilisa-
tion that was taking place in this country, and
would come to the conclusion that it was not so
dangerous to admit the great bulk of the working-
classes to the rights of citizenship as they at present
supposed. (Cheers.) They had next to deal with
the great illiberal party. When he was much younger
he used to doubt whether the most bigoted Tory
wished to exclude men who had become educated and
fit for the rights of citizenship. He was sorry to say
he had come to see he was wrong in this opinion, for
he knew by sad experience that there was a strong
party not only of the upper, but also of the middle
and working classes, who selfishly wished to keep
what they had got to themselves, and who did not
want any one to share it with them. That was the
illiberal party which the real Liberals had to fight,
and with -which they could have no political truce.
His opinions on Parliamentary Reform were now
pretty well known to them. He held that what was
wanted was not a mere extension of the suffrage,
but that every man should vote for the member he
preferred, in whatever part of the country he might
be a candidate. At the next election, for example,
it might happen that they might not have a candi-
date they cared to vote for, while, across the water
in Westminster, there might be a Mill, or some
one they would equally wish to see returned. If
they had manhood suffrage to-morrow, he did not
believe the great mass of the people now unre-
presented would be able to carry a single man
into the House of Commons by that means.
(Mr. Beales—" Yes.") Perhaps they might
in one or two northern boroughs. The plan pro-
posed by Mr. Hare had been accepted by the best
political thinkers, and he believed it would do more
for the working man than a system of manhood
suffrage. Sooner or later a more scientific scheme
of representation such as that to which he had al-
luded must be adopted. He advised them to ask for
a Parliamentary Reform Bill that was large
enough. Depend upon it they would not get any-
thing that would not be perfectly safe in the opi-
nion of the most timid fundholder. If they liked
to ask for manhood suffrage, they would be doing
a very wise thing. They might just as well ask for
the whole loaf, and they would be more likely to get
half of it than if they went for only two-thirds. Ile