New-York daily tribune., 1854-09-09


son. the entrance of the French srIny into sPsin'
and the following war Of independence. Thus the
Spanish war of independence com neneed with
popular insurrection against the csmarilla- then
personised in Don Manuel Godoy, just IS the eiEll
war Of the fifteenth century commenced with tue
ri,ng against the csmarils, then person6ed in the
Marquis de viIlsrs So, too, the revolution OF
1854 comxeneed with the rising against the cam
arilla, personifed in the Count San Luis.
Notwithstanding these ever-recurring insurrec-
tons, there has been in Spain, up to the present
century, no serious revolution, except the war OF
the Holy League in the times Of Carlos l., or
Charles V, as the Germans call him. The imme
date prete1t, as usual was then furnished by the
clique who, under the suspices of Cardinal Adrian
the yiceroy, himself Fleming exaspersted the
Castilians by their rapacious insOlence, BY selling
the public Offices TO the highest bidder, and BY
open traffic in law suits. The opposition against
the Flemish camsrills was only at the surface OF
the movement. At ts bottom was the defense Of
the liberties of medieval Spain against the en-
croschments of modern absOlutism.
The material basis Of the Spanish monarchy
having been laid by the union Of Arragon CASTLE
and Grenada. under Ferdinand the Catholic, aud
Isabella l., Charles /. attempted to transform
that still feuda monarchy into an absolute one.
simultaneously he attacked the two pillars Of
Spanish liberty the COrtes and the Ayuntamlenies
the former modification Of the ancient Gothic
coneilia and the latter transmitted almost without
interruption from the Roman times, the Ayunta-
mientos exhibiting the mixture of the heredl-
tsry and elective character proper to the Roman
municipalities As to municipal selfgovernmen.,
the towns Of Italy, of Provence, Northern Gaul,
Great Britain, and part of Germany, offer fair
similitude to the then state Of the Spanish towns;
but neither the French States General nor the
British Parliaments of the middle ar"s, are
TO be compared with the Spanish q C'rtes.
There were circumstances in the fprma'
ton Of the Spanish kingdom peculiarly
favorable to the limitation Of royal power.
On the one side small parts Of the peninsula were
recovered at a time, and formed into separate
Kingdoms, during the long struggles with the
Arabs. Popular laws and customs were engen-
dered in these struggles. The successive con-
quests, being principally effected by the mobiles,
rendered their power excessive, while they di-
minished the royal power. On the other hand, the
inland towns and cities rose to great consequence,
from the necessity people found themselves under
of residing together in places of strength, as
security against the continual irruptons of the
Moors; while the peninsular formation OF the
country, and constant intercourse with Provence
and Itaiy, created frs-rate commercial aud mari
tine cities on the coast. As early as the four
teenth century, the cities formed the most power
ful part in the Cortes, which were composed Of
their representatives. with those Of the clergy and
the nobility. 1t is also worthy of remark that
the slow recovery from Moorish dominion through
al obstinate struggle of almost eght hundred
years, gave the peninsula, when wholly emancl-
pated, character altogether different from that
of cotemporaneous Europe Spain finding itself
at the epoch of European resurrection, With the
manners of the GOths and the Vandals 10 the
North, and with those Of the Arabs in the South.
Charles l. having returned from Germany
where the imperial dignity had been bestowed
upon him, the Cortes assembled at yallsdolid, in
oTCtI W ItCtlft bdlh W thc ohtiCut in"o odu
TO invest him with the crown. Charles, declin-
ing to appt IT, sent commissioners who, he pre-
tended, were TO receive the oath Of allegiance on
the part of the COrtes. The Cor,es refused to
admit these commissioners TO their presence, no.
tfying the monarch that if be did not appear
and swear to the laws of the country, he should
never be acknowledged as King of Spain
Charles thereupon yielded; be appeared before
the Cortes aud took the oath-as historians say
with very bad grace. The Cortes on This occa-
sion told him: You must know, SenOr, that
"the King is but the paid servant Of the nation"
Such was the beginning of the hostilities between
Charles J. and the towns. In consequence Of his
intrigues, numerous Instructions broke out in
CASTLE, the Holy League of Avia was formed and
the uoited towns convoked the assembly of the
Cortes at Tortesillas, whence, on Oct. 20. 1920,
protest against the abuses was addressed
to the King, in return for which be deprived all
the deputies assembled at TOrtesillss of their
personal rights. Thus civil war had become in
evitable; the commOners appealed to arms; their
soldiers under the command Of Padilli seized the
fortress of Tore Lobaton, but were ultimstely
defeated by superior forces at the battle Of Viii
l,lsr on April %, 1921. The heads of the prin-
cipal "eonspirators rolled on the scaffoId. and
the ancient liberties of Spain disappeared.
Several circumstances eonspired in favor of
the rising power of absolutism. The want of
union between the different provinces deprived
their efforts of the necessary strength but it
wai, above al. the bitter antagonism between the
classes Of the mobiles and the citizens Of the
towns which Charles employed for the degrada-
tion Of both. We have already mentioned that