New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1854-08-19
ESPARTERO.

Ii IL one oil the pecullartes oil revolutions tnat
Just as the people about to take great start
ard TO open new era, they suffer themselves to be
ruled by the deusOns of the past and surrender all the
power and influence they have so dearly won into the
hands of men who represent, or are supposed TO
repre,ent the popular movement Of by-gOne epoch.
E,parerO ia one Of those tradition al men whom the
people are wont TO take upon their back. at me-
ments Of social crises and whom, like the i'll natured
old fellow that ObstiHatey clasped his legs about the
neck Of Sindbad the sailor, they afterward find
/ il difficult to get rid Of. Ask Spaniard OF
the so called Progres.ist School what is the
political value Of Espartero, and he will
promptly reply that "Espartero represents the unity
of the great liberal party EsparterO is popular be-
| cause be came from the people; his popularity
works exclusively for the cause Of the Progress
! ".tas." II is true that he is the of artisan,
who has climbed up TO be the Regent Of Spain;
ard that having entered the army as a common SOL
der be left itas a eldMarshal. But if be be the
symbol Of the unity of the great liberal party it can
only be that Indifferent point of unity in which all
tremcs are neuirslizeG And to the popularity the
Propc,sistas we do not exaggerate in ssying that
it was lost from the moment it became transferred
from the bulk Of that party TO this single individual
ceptional character of Espsrteros greatness beyond
the simple fact that far, nobody has been able to
account for it, While his friends take refuge in allie
goric geperates his enemies, abiding to strange
feature OF his private life, declare him but lucky
gambler Both, then friends and enemies, are at su
equ, loss to discover any logical connection between
The man himself and the fame and the name of the
man.
EsparterO's military merits are IS much contested
bis political shortcomings incontestabe. In q
voluminous biography published by Senior de Florez
much fuss made about bis military proves and gener
alsbpss shown in the provinces of Charcas Paz Areql
pa Potos and Cochabemba, where he fought under the
orders of Gen. Nurlo, then charged with the reduc
ton OF the South American States under the authority
of the Spanish Crown But the general impression
produced by his South American feats of arms upon
the excitabe mind Of his native country is sufficiently
Characterized by his being designated the chief of
the hpGeaehsmO, and his partisans as AyaeSehos in
allu,on 10 the unfortunate battle at Ayacucho in
which Peru and South America were defntiyely lost
for Spain. He is, at all events very extraordinary
| hero whose historical baptism dates from defeat
instead of In the years war against
! the CsIsts, he never sgnaized himself By one of
those daring strokes by which Narvaez, his rival
| became early known as an ronnerved sol ler
/ He had certainly the gift of mikisg the best of
small successes, while it was mere luck that Moretos
/ betraye to him the las. forces of the Pretender
Cabrerss rising in 1oiO being only pO.thumous at
tempt to galvsnize the dry bones of Carlisn Senior
de Marliani himself, Of Esparteros admirers, and
the historian of modern Spain, cannot but own
that that seven years war is to be compared with
nothing but the feuds wsged in the tenth century be-
tween the petty lords of Gaul, when success was no
the result of victory. 1t appears, by another mis-
chance that of all the pennsular deeds of Esputero
that which made the liveliest impression upon the
public memory was, if not exactly defeat at least
,iDgularly strange performance in hero of liberty
lie became renowned as the bombarder of cities
Of Barcelons and Seville. If the Spaliard,, says
writer, should ever paint him Mars we should see
the god figuring asa q" wall-batterer.'
When Christina was forced, in lao, to resign her
Regency and to fly from Spain, Espartero assumed,
against the wishes of very large section of the Pro-
gesistas the supreme authority within the limits of
Parliamentary Government. He surrounded himself
with . sort of camarilla and affected the airs OF
military dictator, without really eeying himself
above the mediOcrity Of constitutional king. Iii.
favor extended 10 Modersdos rather than 10 old
Proeressi,tas, who, with few exceptions were
excluded from Office. Without cOncilisting his
enemies, he gradually estranged his friends With.
out the courage to break through the shackles
of the parliamentary regime, be did not
know how to accept it, how to manage it, or
how to transform it into an instrument of action.
During bis three years dictatorship the revolutionary
spirit broken step by step through endless com
promises, and the discussions within the prcgresss,
part. were allowed to reach such pitch as to enable