The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-12-16

Distress I'm sSpsin-Fears OF Famine
Probable Causes OF the Revolt ir,
| Cadiz.
The London Tines has the following from
Madrid:
Just at this moment the Spanish culti-
vator is laboring under the greatest CO.
lamity with which it is possible for hug
bandry to be afflicted-the consequence Of
bad past harvest bighting the prospects
of what would otherwise promise to be a
good future harvest-the want of seed to
be thrown on fields which all the elements
have favorably combined to prepare for its
reception.
The accounts of the condition of the rural
population are truly heart-rending. have
before me correspondence printed in the
Cronica Mercantil, of Valladolid, and COM
ing from what is called TERRA de Campos,
the very granary of CASTLE. "What will
become" it saye, "of the unfortunate
laborers of CASTLE if for second time they
are to suffer the total loss of their crops /"
And the writer goes on to state that the
alternative will be emigration or starvation
that the landowners are mortgaging their
best farms that money is not to be had at
q lower interest than fourteen per cent.
and upon q stipulated condition of the for
fixture of the land on the expiration of the
term of the loan (; that capitalists who have
been enriched by usury are now quitting
the land with their dishonest earnings, and
leaving the people to despair, etc. Promi-
distributed for sowing purposes at the ex-
pense of the State; but days pass, no seeds
are forthcoming, the sowing season will
soon be over, and of the very moment that
the owner can find no money even by
mortgaging his land-that the laborer mi
CRATES or starves for want Of work-Govern-
ment comes upon them for the taxes as if
the country were in the enjoyment of its
ordinary well-being.
"What does the Government think
Does it fancy that the hymn of Riego can
allay our hunger, quench our thirst, and
fill our pockets ~ The writer further OBJ
serves that the Government of Queen Isa-
bella neither offered nor afforded relief, but
that it never at least applied for taxes I'M
der such distress as the present; and the
contrast between the past and the present
| rulers Is dwelt upon, not to the advantage
of the latter. The picture is enhanced by
the detail of rural outrages of every de-
scription-robbing gardens, stealing cattle,
tearingup vineyards, etc.; outrages prompt
ed by sheer famine, by the decentralization
consequent upon the dreadful and ap-
pallipg distress"
should ascribe this melancholy tale to
exaggeration, prompted by hostility to the
present political state of things, had | not
the evidence of my own eyes to confirm it.
The sufferings of the peasantry in the pro-
vince of Guadalajara, another fertile dis
trict of CASTLE, might be the theme of no
less eloquent lamentations. The Govern
ment's help is tardy and inefficacious, and
as winter closes in Tin December and Janu-
ary) the distress cannot fail to reach ter
rible climax. ..
In the towns thousands of laborers out of
employment are provided with what is
called work" No less than $4,000 men
are now doing in Madrid what might be
expected from one-fourth of their number.
Paid at the rate of seven reals lis. 515d.)
a day, under little or no inspection, unpro-
yided with proper implements, these poor
wretches are mere beggars under the himsy
disguise of laborers. They work as little
as they can manage, and they even "strike !"
to be free from that little. They insist
upon being paid on rainy days, when
no work is practicable, on the good
ground that bad weather does not inter
fere with their good appetite. They will
hear of no different rates of remuneration !;
they contend that the wages should be the
same for good or bad workmen, and admit
no difference in behalf of assiduous indus
try or skilled labor. What is done in Ma
drid becomes the rule for other large CEN
tres of population. Starvation in the coun-
try breeds communism in the towns. Dire
necessity overrules all economical conside-
rations. 1t is impossible to reason with q
starving people-impossible to leave it
to perish, so long as the community can
minister to its wants. The thing might be
contrived with greater wisdom, it might
be obtained on more reasonable terms 1;
but the Government has neither leisure
nor perhaps capacity for any better
course. Inc calamity comes down
upon it OF the outset; it finds it involved in
endless other difficulties, graphing with
other hostile agencies. The Government
simply " does what it can" Whether its
means will ultimately be adequate to the
want whether any treasury operation
will carry it through the severe season ;
whether, in short, the rural population
must live or die, are problems which time
alone will solve, and no one can say to 1ohat
ertent the SuferingS of the people and The
uiolent acts achich famine is apt to suggest
may complicate political difficulties or ag.
grayate financial embarrassments. Should
the Government come off successful from
the struggle, its claims upon the gratitude
of the country will be unbounded.
AN EARTHQUAKE VICTIM = SINGULAR
ESCAPES AND DEATH.-On the 10th OF No.