The Portland daily press., 1866-01-26
FOREIGN Affairs.

by the arrival OF Ine HtOtIfttu, VIC Ha'0 o"-
foreign files to the 18th inst. The chief sub
iects discussed in the English papers are the
cattle plaque, the Fenian trials, and the Span
ish insurrection. No new developments have
appeared in regard to the nature OF the terrible
ri,,defDest. which however was still spreading
The trial of Daniel Byrne, night Waterman in
the Richmond prison, arraigned on the double
charge of being Fenian, and of aiding the
escape of "Head Centre" Stephens, was pro
ceeding at Dublin, and excited peculiar inter
est because it was expected to throw some
light on the hitherto impenetrable mystery OF
Stephens escape.
The Spanish instruction appears to be
somewhat more formidable than was inferred
from the first accounts. A Madrid dispatch to
the Times dated the 10th, gives a report that
the insurgents under General Prim had defeat
ed the column commanded by General Con-
cha, and that Marshal Serrano had been COM
PEELED to go to the assistance of the latter
The Madrid correspondent of the same jour
nal, writing under date of the 7th inst, has
the following information on the condition OF
affairs up to that period which, it Will be per-
ceived, was previous to the successes of the in
surgents:
.sThe Government, as you are aware. had
from the very beginning of the disturbance
closed all the clubs, casinos, and other places
of rendezvous in Madrid. They yesterday
published decree dissolving and forbidding
all political associations. They broke up the
Progressista and Democratic committees all
over the kingdom, and arrested several OF
their members both at Saragossa and Darcelo-
ma. The first Of those cities and the whole of
Arragon were declared in state of siege, not
withstanding the perfect tranquility those
provinces are officially described as enjoying.
Arrests have also been made in Madrid
That Prim is a monster of ingratitude; that
he has forgotten how the Queen raised him
to the highest ranks In the army, lavished all
orders and decorations upon him, made him a
grandee of Spain of the first Glass; created him
Condo de Reas, and Marquis de los Castillo
Jos, and finally did him the honor, hardly ever
vouchsaied to subject, Of holding his infant
daughter at the baptismal FONT, thereby con-
tracing spiritual kinshir, with him; that o.
Donnell showed himself clement and magnan-
imous with hipi by cancelling the decree
which had FINISHED him to Ovtrdo; and that
he has raIuited both his Sovereign and his mil
itary superior by treason of the blacklist die,
al that we learn from the official papers,
which find no words adequate to convey their
detestation of the war, and think no gallows
could be sufficiently high to hang him. s-i
There is no doubt that, independent of any
justice or injustice of his cause, Prim will have
to answer for the rashness with which he
committed himself to an enterprise which, as
it would now appear, held out so little hope of
success, and the result of which will be to force
back his country for year or two in that ca
reer of financial and social improvement on
which she was SO slowly and painfully strug-
Cling to put herself The CONSERVATION and
confusion of all men here is beyond all belief,
and hardly seems commensurate with the ac-
tual Importance of the escapade which has
given rise to it. The effect of the mutiny of
those few squadrons on Change, on railway
and canal enterprise on public confidence in
any kind ofundertaking, is incalculable. New
er have ! seen the commercial men, who are
numerous at my hotel, so downcast as they
have been for the last three days.
On the other hand, the Government itself,
evenin the midst of its triumph, seems hardly
able to recover any of that calmness and SER
entity in which, in other communities, resides
the main prestige of the ruling powers. The
O'Donnell Ministry are, Or affect to be, in a
most uncomfortable funk" l use the vulgar
word purposely, because nothing canbetter con-
vey the craven countenance the Government
has put upon this matter OF the Prim rebellion,
both before and after its outbreak. The terror
betrayed by the authorities is altogether SO
abject that it might almost seem to be coun-
terleit, and one finds it difficult to reject the
suggestions of those who think that sO'Don-
nell has some reason for pretending to be SO
much afraid that he is looking for pretext fo1
backing out of the liberal policy with which
he had inaugurated his accession to power
that he aims at the assumption ofabsolute ir-
responsible authority, or, finally, that he wish
es to throw dismay and bewildernent into
the mind of the Queen, and to terrify her in
to that abdcation to which she has hitherto
shown herself so little inclined. Why, other.
wise should he talk almost with complacency
of the vast conspiracy of which the traces are
hardly anywhere TO be Scent"
This letter, it will be perceived is writer
prior to the successes gained by the insurgents
The fears of the O'Donnell ministry do not
therefore, when viewed in the light of more
recent events seem so uncalled for. Moreover,
General Prim though cordially detested by the
Government, and its friends is one of the mos
powerful and influential of the party of Pro
gressists, and he is a man of too much shrewd
ness and ability to make it probable that h,
would embark his fortunes in an attempt 81
utterly hopeless as the Times correspondent
would have US believe. He could hardly have
been without assurances ofsupport from some
quarter. A writer in the Paris Monde thus
hints at the possible source of such assuran-
ces:
"The reigning House of Portugal is in the
best possible condition to serve the projects O.
the revolution. 1t has shown at home of What
it is capable; it is allied with the House of Sa
voy; its political sympathies are known, and
Portugal has made herself a reputation hostile
to Catholic ideas, while remaining nominally
a Catholic power. The success of the presen
instruction is not probable, but as symp
tom the revolt is grave; it proves the perma
nent existence of an agitation, of which thost
pronuaciamentos are the visible sign. A gov
eminent could only resist such an undermin
ing of its existence by the clear and energeti,
affirmation of Conservative principles; but i
is lost if it fatigue itself in the pursuit of sub
yersive ideas, under the pretext of giving sat
isfaction to public opinion"
Adelaide Anne Proctor.
In the spring Of the year 1858, observed
as conductor OF the weekly journal Household