Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-04-14
THE SPANISH oORTEs.
A Mob of Angry women BesiegIng the
Palace of the rig ton
Excitement in Madr.d-A Terrinc
Scene In and Outside the Legislative
Hali-Republican Members Address

the crowd
Correspondence of the London Herald.
MADRID, March "a. = Accus
toned as / am to witness ode
monstrations" of angry men, m,
ability entirely fails me to deserib
the "novelty" of an Infatuated mol
of angry women, which it has falleI
to my lot to witness here. Las
week advertisements appeared an
nouncing an open air meeting O.
senoras to be held round the foo
of the great national monument ir
Prado, called the Dos de Mayo, to
adopt petition to the Cortes ask.
ing the immediate abolition of the
quintas (conscription). 1t was ac-
cordingly held, and the ladies( n
then put themselves into procession
to walk through the Gale Alcala.
Puerto del Sol, and Carrera de San
Geronimo to the Congress, there to
deliver their petition into the hands
CT the President, Don Nicolas Maria
Rivero. A more unique procession
could scarcely be imagined. In
front came few of the sterner sex,
who had evidently lent their aid to
the affair. Then came few ladies,
who would have done no discredit
to Regent street, and who looked as
if they belonged to what is vulgarly
known as the "strong minded !"
class. These were followed by ''the
meeting" itself, consisting mainly of
the cigar making women and others
of the poorer classes. There was a
tidiness about their heads and feet
which it would be we'll if women of
the lower orders in England would
initiate. None were shoeless all
were bonnetless. Their hair was
neatly combed, and they wore either
a veil, q shawl, or q handkerchief
on their heads, as is the custom of
the country. Except the beggars,
who make capital out of their rags,
you will rarely see Spanish woman
of the poorest class with a torn
garment. AS the Amazonian pro-
scession moved along the streets, the
first signs of disorder were evinced
by some of them endeavoring to en-
force quiet-looking females who
were gazing on it from the side
walks, to join it. A few banners
were borne with such inscriptions
as "No mas qnintas" (no more con-
scription) on them. Arrived in
front of the Congress they sent
word to Rivero of their presence,
and desired admittance. Rivero is
the pink of politeness, but at the
same time, too, most punctillious
champion of the sovereign rights
and honOrs of he Cortes. His
answer was that the would, out of
courtesy, receive a deputation of
two or three, but not larger num-
Der. This, communicated to the
crowd, caused the first symptoms
of excitement. Some of the bOldest
Of the "senoras" began to declaim.
They argued that as the large doors
under the portico were the
doors by which the Sovereign
usually entered, and as to-day
the people sg Eere Co Be s9EtaEF sjNb
open to them. They'commenced to
knock at them. The porters refused
to open them, but told the "com-
mittee" that the ladies who were to
have an audience Of the President
must enters by one of the side
streets. Though we of the press
and the deputies themselves always
enter by the side streets, the order
was evidently unsatisfactory to the
committee, but at length, after try.
ing to "argue" the thing with the
porters, three or four of them passed
round. Inside the building they
expected to be shown into the Hall
of Congress itself, and in solemn
form, in the presence of their repre-
sentatives of the nation, deliver
their petition into the Presidents
own hands. Rivero, however, very
properly refused this, but received
them in a separate room. He told
them that simply out of courtesy to
their sex and position he would con
sent to receive their petition, but re-
minded them that there were better
ways Of presenting memorials to the
Cortes than by the menacing &C
compartment of a formal process
sion to the very gates of the Goa
gress, and further that their "demon-
stration" was ill-timed and unneces-
sary, inasmuch as the Cortes were at
that very sitting discussing the
business of CONSUMPTION and the
levy of the 1st of April, and fur
thermore, as they well knew, by pub
lie announcement, that the corpora
ton of Madrid had signified their
intention to ransom every one of
| their male relations who might have
the ill-luck to be drawn in the
| lottery. The three or four "strong-
| minded" retired, evidently not
pleased with their reception, and,
doubtless, voting Rivero ga horrid
man." When they communicated
their report to their sisters out
side, it soon spread, as secrets gen
orally do when told to ladies. BY
this time the crowd had increased
to a dense mass, more than women.
They filled the open space in front
of the Congress, and well down into
the Carrera de San Geronimo. Some
of the men mounted the pediment
of the portico, and began to speak.
Excitement increased, during which
some forty or fifty of the women
again began kicking at the large
doors. Agents of the reaction, as
has been subsequently proved, were
not slow in availing themselves OF
the chance of creating a riot, but
mixed in amongst the crowd, and
stirred them up to great anger
Billingsgate and Convent Garden
combined were as nothing to the
noise and uproar. Forty or fifty
| police, with no other weapons but
sticks, endeavored to disposses:
them of the steps and portico, but
only added to the riot Meantime
word had been brought into the
Cortes of what was passing outside
Rivero, who is Chief of the VOlun
tarios de la Libertad, sent order:
for a battalion TO come to the scene