The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1868-10-06
The Last Of the Bourbons.

Lone live the Republic of Spain!-if there
is to be one. Long enough has degraded and
priest-ridden country been ruled bya devout
prostitute, and shut out from all possibility of
progress by Institutions the least creditable to
modern civilization of any in Europe. Isabel
la has reigned ever since 1889, a fact even more
astounding than that the English have been
content thirty. years under the nominal rule of
an amiable but weak minded and parsimoni-
GUS lady, aud that the impetuous French have
suffered treacherous Buonaparte to keep to
for seventee n years his seat upon throne
which he established on the ruins of the Re-
public and on the bodies of its slain defenders.
Isabella is the last of the reigniug Bourbons,
and it matter for sincere thanksgiving to
all the world that she can as well as her sweet
cousin Bomba, late of the Kingdom of Naples,
is now out of employment. The revolt against
her proceeded to a successful termination so
rapidly, so unexpectedly, and, happily, with
so little bloodshed, that hitherto there has been
hardly time to consider the important conse-
quences that may possibly follow her deposit
ton. 1t is yettoo early to arrive at any def
mite conclusion as to the form of government
that win be established. 1t is hardly known
which of the various factions that make up the
revolutionary party is the strongest There is
a rumor of the proclamation of a Republic at
Madrid, but more reliable dispatches speak
Of the election by the people of a
"defnitive Junta" which will no doubt decide
who shall succeed to the vacant throne. We
might well anticipate in any event great
change for the better were it not for the fact
that Louis Buonaparte, here as elsewhere, an
intermeddler in the interest of absolutism
claims to control the situation. His candidate
for the throne is said to be the young Duke of
iAosta, second son Of Victor Emanuel King of
Italy, whose pretensions arise from remote
relationship Of the ancient house of Savoy to
Spanish royalty. .rrr r-.-rvT,...
But whatever may be the future government
of Spain. there are some happy consequences
sure to follow the revolution, SPAN is now
the only Christian nation that has made no
provision for the abolition of slavery. Her
West India posses sions are the islands of Gu
ba, Porto Rico and the group known as the
Virgin Islands, having a population of over IL
$4,000. Cuba has population of 79348
whites and 603,046 blacks, 225 S43 of the latter
b ing free. Porto Rico. has total population
o. 5S3, 1903, aud al 1856 slaves The revolution
at an early day, this half a million of slaves
their freedom. The disaffecton of the people
iof Cuba toward the mother country leads
many observers to believe that they will avail
lemselves of this opportunity to cast off their
"a legiance to a European throne and take their
pace in the American Union. +B 4al.5 .F
The Pope, too. another obsolete affair that
belongs to the past as much as slavery, will be
iuufavorably affected by the revolution. The
government of Isabella has given him moral
support in retaining the temporal
and has held power, itself in read
iless to assist France in giving
him physical support if it were needed. Isa-
bella and Eugenie, both supersttious devotees,
have made common cause with the Holy Fa3
ther. A more liberal and enlightened govern
m mt will hardly show so much zeal in this
dlrecton.JGE 10 n9l Jaaib .uf lsfri hs.t4}
There are other results that are to be hoped
for but hardly expected How excellent
hing it would be if the triumphant success of
his revolution should put new courage into
the hearts of the Liberals of France and italy.
H-f : 80 o. 81 iinPioSoioic iaoe7Mni tHe
he Pyrenees avail to keep the revolutionary
fires from spreading among them? There are
iumors of turbulence and popular discomfort
Italy against the government of Napoleon's
orotege, Victor Emanuel, but it is only when
We hear.of barricades going up in Paris, the
singing of the Marseillaise, and the flight of
the last of the Buona parties, that we can hope
or any permanent triumphS OF EurOpe an T,ih-
5rallsm. ua1f ga.I4y9t hio- g. st.3,i.5. b fit.g