The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1867-01-28
DAILY PRESS.
PORTLAND.
Monday Morning, January 2S, 1867.
A Constitutional Soyereiuu.

OO"sutuuOnal SOVEREIGN.
WINE the question of deposing the ChieI
Magistrate OF this country by constitutional
methods is agitating the American peopIe and
has been actually moved in Congress. we .re
invited to witness in Spain the spectacle of a
constitutional sovereign first suspending and
then dissolving the Congress, and finally ar
resting and sending into exile the recalcitranr
deputies. The extraordinary powers which
have been exercised by the Spanish Ministry
of late were conferred by the Cortes, during
the disturbances Of last summer, by the acts
Of June 80 and July s. 1t is an instructive
fact that these powers are now used to dis
solve the very body which granted them, just
as President johnson used the military pow
ers with which the executive office had been
clothed during the rebellion in this country,
to inaugurate policy directly opposed to the
wishes of the American people and disputed
the authority of their representatives in Con-
gress. af 4.r ID
The Spanish Congress expected to hold the
Ministry responsible for its acts When the
day for its meeting arrived, however, the
Congress found itself suspended until the 31st
December. The Opposition members never
theless persisted in assembling daily at the
Palace Of Congress, to read the papers, lunch,
and discuss the state of the country in gen.
eral committee. Meanwhile the country was
in ferment. The life of the Queen has not
been blameless, and her past errors and pres
ent superstitious devotion were spread abroad
on anonymous broadsides- day a new
crop. 1t was in vain that luckless bill-stickers
were sent to prison, and political BARRIERS, in
whose shops seditious pamphlets were found.
were arrested. The storm of censure con-
tinued, in spite of the utmost activity of the
police. Under these propitious circumstances.
the Liberal deputies saw fit to address a re-
monstrance to her Majesty, signed by 121
names, more or less; the number is variously
stated. -tl i. lil1
Madrid, it must be remembered, was in
state OF siege at the time, and public meet
ing OF deputies or others is, in the eyes of mil
itary law, a grave matter. The President of
the Congress, Don Antonio Rios Rosas, was
appointed 10 present the document. Marshal
Serrano, who though Liberal was supposed
to retain some influence with the Queen, was
requested to procure for Senor Rios Rosas
private audience, and consented. But to
Marshal Serrano, though twenty-three years
ago she had known him by the tender title of
''the handsome Minister" Queen Isabella
would have nothing to say. Rios Rosas
thereupon called upon Marshal Narvaez, Duke
of Valentia and President of the Council of
Ministers. The Duke was confined to his bed
by the gout, and less amiable than usual. Al.
ter an angry alteration Rios Rosas left
formal demand for royal audience, signed by
himself, Pedro Salaverria, formerly Finance
Minister, Maurcio Lopez Roberts, who be-
longs to the Irish clique headed by Marshal
ODonnell, and one or two Others
Sr. Pezzuea, truculent military rersop-
age, Captain-General of Madrid, on due in
formation of this insolence of the IDENTITIES.
proceeded to the Palace of Congress; gave the
keeper of the archives a thrashins with his
own hands for not taking off his hat, and then
sent him to prison for complaining in fine, Or
dered the Palace to be closed to all except the
minor functionaries. Matters having gone SO
far. Narvaez thought best to make a clean lob
of it, and ordered the arrest OF nineteen dep
uties. Rios Rosas was found in bed. His
domestcs were ordered not to open the doors,
which were accordingly broken in. The
President of the Cortes complained of being
unwell, but recovered when a litter was
brought from the nearest hospital to remove
him. Marshal Serranos house was surround
ed by two companies of infantry, and Pezzue-
la in person, with corporal and four privates.
marched into the old soldiers bedroom and
ordered him to surrender. The Marshal
merely laughed at Pezzuela's military dispo-
sitions, and accompanied him. He was sent
to the Balearic Isles, in company with Sala-
verria. Roberts was dispatched to some
point on the African coast. Rios Rosas was
sent to Porto Rico. Seven deputies were ex-
lied and twelve were assigned forced domi-
cile. On the 30th December her Christian
Majesty issued decree dissolving the Con-
gress, ordering a new election on the 10th
March, and fixing upon March 80 for the new
Congress to meet lo 6eId l3
The new Congress will probably consist of
clergy nominees, needy Office clerks and hang
ers-on at the court-bread and butter men,
who will be sufficiently subservient. There
are Liberal leaders enough in Spain to furnish
at least six revolutions. Unfortunately there
is no great middle class to constitute solid
Liberal party. Yet even Spaniards cannot
forever endure such tyranny as this.