The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-09-23
The Troubles IN Spain.

exile Of some half-dozen Spanish generals,
was merely an episode of Bourbon tyranny.
Yet it was the feather which broke the patient
back Of Spain. General Prim, who appears to
have succeeded Espartero as the leading spirit
of the progressive party, has been in very
unquiet state for the past few years, and at
last found the Spanish capital too warm
place for his residence. He took the field at
the head Of a small band Of unorganized insur-
gents, who were soon put to rout by the loyal
troops, and their leader forced to retire into
France. Then, doubtless, commenced the
plotting which precipitated the recent action
Of the Queens Government in exiling the
noble house of Montpensier and the suspected
generals. Nothing was proved against the
former. A mere breath of suspicion of COM
plioity in the disquietude which has long
affe ted the thinking portion Of the Spanish
people was sufficient justification for such
hazardous movement. The Duke of Mont
pensier began to be talked of by the revolu-
tionary leaders as fitting successor to Queen
Isabella. Disclaimers on his part were of no
avail, and, without a hearing, he was hurried
out of the kingdom. 1t was like casting
torch into powder magazine, and now the
explosion is upon us, and before the smoke
and ruin which follow are cleared away, Spain
will again raise her dropping head among the
nationalities of Europe.
Queen Isabella, jealous Of her power, II not
Of her good name, desirous of propping her tot
tering throne by the most available means at
hand, cast an anxious glance towards Rome,
and was conscious of a possible avenue of es-
cape from dethronement. 1t was rumored
that the Italian Government had at last for
mally demanded that Louis Napoleon should
fulfil his treaty obligations by withdrawing his
troops from the Eternal City. Here was pre-
sented the Bourbon's opportunity. If the
active, inquiring minds Of the kingdom
could be diverted into channel in
which they would find full scope for their ex-
pansion; if the discontented soldiery could be
given serious work, to wean them from pas
sion for spasmodic outbreaks; if the overbur-
dened people could be amused as well as
amazed by valorous deeds abroad, and thus
made insensible of their cause for complaint
at home; if the revolutionary spirits could be
shamed into loyalty, by the imperilling Of the
national honor in foreign war, might not the
tide Of disafeotion be stayed for the time, and
the Bourbon dynasty be given new lease OF
life So Queen Isabella seriously proposed
TO relieve Napoleon of the custody of Rome,
by placing an army of 30, 900 men at the dis
posal Of the Holy Father, for the protection of
the temporalities of the Church against the
enoroaobments Of the Italian party of action.
If the proposition had been made in time for
consideration and acceptance before the pre-
sent outbreak, the destiny of the Peninsula
might have been changed. Italy would have
regarded the advent of the Spanish troops as
a casus bel,i, and long and desultory warfare
would have ensued, in which Spain might have
won fair measure of martial glory, or been
utterly undone, with the chances in favor of
the former result. France and Prussia and
Austria might have been drawn into the con-
fiiot, and amid the ensuing chaos the Spanish
Bourbons might have availed themselves Of
some unforeseen contingency to cement their
power, and perchance to regain the confidence
and esteem of the Spanish people.
The object of Queen Isabella in so persist
Of the French at Biarritz, and her final success
at San Sebastian in that understanding last
week, may have been for the purpose of
urging upon the latter the expsdienoy of
accepting her proposition for the gsrrisoning
of Rome; or it may have been with view OF
soliciting the moral, If not the material sup
port of Napoleon in her tribulations at home.
Doubtless both affairs were talked over, for
each is 80 interviewer with the other that they
cannot readily be considered apart. Rumor
has 1t that the profound ruler of the French
attempted to avert the impending transition
by psrsuading Queen Isabella to moderate her
policy; to rid herself and Spain of the OBJ
noxious rule of Gonzales Bravo and to entrust
the serious task of quelling all revolutionary
movements and tendencies, by halfway
policy Of Cancellation, to General Concha,
otherwise known as the Marquis
of Havana, one of the leaders
of the so-called moderate liberals, of whom
Marshall O'Donnell was formerly the head
and front. Such policy, If it could have been
peacefully inaugurated, would doubtless have
had a temporarily tranquillizing effect,
and was, therefore, extremely distasteful to
the revolutionary party, who believed that
the more despotic and uncomfortable is the
Bourbon rule, the sooner will Spain be rid OF
it forever. But here again the Queen was
too late. General Prim and Admiral Topets,
alive to the necessity for immediate action,
embraced the opportunity presented by her
absence from the capital To avert its possible