The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1868-12-15
rresress of the Spanish Revolution.

fr0sress of the Spanish Revolution.
Our news from Spain points unerringy
towards desperate civil struggle between the
monarchical and the republican elements,
which have, since the dethronement of Isabella,
been facing each other in diplomatic contest
for power. This short period, during which
the two parties have been measuring each
other, is. in many respects strange phase in
European political history. Heretofore great
revolutions have been accomplished by quick,
bold measures, where blood has flowed by
wholesale from the very start. 1t is good
sign, however, upon the European horizon
when the most backward of all the Old World
Powers pauses for time on the brink of civil
war before the factions come to blows. 1t can
only be accounted for through the effects of
modern civilization through not only the in
fuence Of nations beyond the Spanish frontier,
but internally the silent and effective govern
ment of principles which grow stronger in
proportion to the extent they are written over
the country by railroad, telegraph, the press
and general education.
The contest in Spain to-day is taking its natu-
raj flow. Up to the present moment the people,
unaccustomed to modern impulses, have been
waiting and studying to ascertain why they
upset the old order of things. They plunged
into their struggle without knowing exactly
why they did it. They only knew that it was
necessary to make change, that they could
not exist longer without it, and that the first
thing to do was to topple over the throne.
They were surprised to see how rotten the old
fabric was when they struck at it. The silent
influences of this century had taken all vigor
from it, and it fell at the moment that it felt the
first exhalation of modern liberalism. The
overthrow of the old calls for something new,
and the Spanish people up to this moment have
been trying to solve the problem. There is
naturally in Spain an immense element of
retrogradism; but the downfall of Isabella
proves also that there is q wonderful vitality in
the liberalism, which is, in reality, the cause of
all the late changes.
Now at length the two antagonistic elements
have taken solid form and face each other.
The struggle will, however, be shorter and
more decisive than those which have preceded
it in other countries for similar purposes, for
the reason that it is now 1868. England
fought out her civil strife by an immense
period Of desultory contests. Germany did
the same. France, more modern, was proper
tionately shorter. The United States, within
q recent period, decided the most gigantic re-
volutionary contest of history-frst by four
years Of war, and then by four years of argu-
ment to see which side whipped. Spain will
follow in the same track so far as her institu-
tions will permit. She will settle this question
between modern and ancient principles in a
quick and decisive struggle. This struggle is
already showing itself in the different provinces
and although according to our latest tele-
graphic dispatches from Cadiz, with its five
hundred and thiry-seven barbados and the
killing and wounding of five hundred persons
on both sides during the fighting of last week,
the insurrection ended in that city on Sunday
with the insurgents surrender of their arms
and their tri- colored flag to the American
Consul, who has turned them over to the mill
tary authorities. Yet the arrest of thirty
individuals in Madrid on the charge of incit-
ing the workingmen Of the capital to rebel
against the government, as well as the jubilee
of the Spanish residents in Fernando Pc, on
the west coast of Africa, over the downfall of
the Spanish Bourbons, sufficiently indicate on
the part of the Spanish people revolutionary
spirit which, if suppressed at one point, is
liable at any moment to burst forth at more
than one other point of the Spanish territory.
How the revolution may result 1t is as yet
hard to Judge for the retrograde party still
hold the power, while the true liberalism
of the country is on the lowest step Of the
ladder. Several aspirants for the throne stand
ready to offer their royal services in the
interests Of obsolete ideas. Montpensier
proffers his to the provisional government
Spain Is thus for the moment given over to
contention between old and new IDEAS The
latter are very strong and are propped up by
every modern appliance existing in the PENN
sula. The former are, perhaps, Of equal, If
not greater, strength, for they control the
power and wealth of the clergy, as yet un-
broken in Spain. Whatever the result, libe-
ralism will gain an immense stride forward,
and if this blow is not fully effective it will,
at least, open the doors to the final regenera-
ton of the country in the interests Of freedom
and civilization.
The Proposed Underground City Railroad.
Some months since there was considerable
furry over the proposed construction Of an
underground city railroad, extending from the