New-York tribune., 1869-01-21
THE CRISIS IN SPAIN
cure.

!
The "dry light of which Bacon speaks-the
light that is pure of all foreign cOloring matter
and that shines through no distorting medium
has been sadly wanted hitherto in regard to
the political situation of Spain. Our CORE
| spondent in Madrid has done more, we think,
than any otker writer addressing an English
speaking public to bring the real state of af-
| fairs home to every intelligent mind One
| thing is now clear: there is a Republican party
! in SPAN. Prim's epgram has lost its force.
We do not say that the Republicans arc at all
strong, numerically; but they have at least
! hoisted a flag. When the PiedmOntese were
crushed for time by the heavy catastrophe OF
! Novara, Cavour, then only rising politician,
! declared his conviction that Piedmont had got
| full value for all her losses in having won the
| right TO carry thenceforward the flag Of Italy.
| The Spanish Republicans may boast similar
gain to compensate for the events of CadH,
and their meager showing at the polls
They have won the right to carry the flag of
the Republic. But our correspondent points
out, very properly and forcibly, that the difil-
cultes which Spain has now to struggle against
cannot be resolved into the simple and naked
issue between Monarchy and Republic. The
Church and the Army arc the grand obstacles
to freedom. What party Republican or Mo-
narchical, can yet venture to grapple with
either of these difficulties
OF tho two the obstacle caused by the Army
is the more perplexing. The difficulty is in
creased by the fact that while Spanish liberty
owes no gratitude to the Church, it does, after
| all owe much TO the Army. Hitherto there has
been no living with the army or without it..
| The history Of Spanish revolutions up to this
point has been only q history Of barrack revo-
| lutions. The violent changes which in France
were made by street mob and barricades,
which in Russia were the work of palace
| conspiracy and few assassins, were got up in
! Spain by this or that regiment, and proclaimed
! by military bugle-call There is q positive
barronness Of monotony about the chronicle of
recent revolutions in Spain. a bold general
| grows .discOntented. He sends round the word
among the regiments which are devoted TO
! him; he calls together few other generals and
makes his proposals to them; they are won
over; a garrison declares for them and in
daytor two they are exiles, or they are shot, or
| they are forming n government and issuing
| orders for the execution of their predecessors.
| The right Of initiation, as regards reyolu-
tions, has been, for generations back, tacltly
| invested in the Spanish army. 1t cannot be
denied that TO that Army, with all its defects,
| Spain owes, in great measure, the integrity of
! her national independence. Her masters thus
were still at least her cOuntrymen-as Byron's
| Greek minstrel says Of the people of Milhades.
| In this latest and greatest revolution the Army
| and Navy once more proclaimed that the hour
| had come for new condition of things. But
until the nation can emerge out OF this
| subordinate situation, until the Army
becomes the servant of Spain instead
| Of Spain being the servant of tho Army, the
country never can have even basis of free
| dom. BE it understood, too, that in speaking
| thus Of the Army we are speaking mainly Of
the officers. The soldiers are but the sword
the officers arc the hand that wields it. A Re-
publican party in power must attempt to re-
duce the army to its proper place in the po-
litcal system, or there can be no true republic.
| Upon this difficulty the Republicans few
yet in numbers but stronger than
their numbers would indicate, will break
down, if they break down at all. The late
revolution, however, wider in its scope and
lofter In its objects, was like all its predeces-
sors, tho work of the military and naval Off
GERS. The soul and spirit, the eye and hand, Of
tho Revolution were in Gen, Prim, who, al
| though endowed with certain tastes for politics.
and even for journalism, which most of his
| cOmpeers wanted, is still above all things q
soldier, and counted especially on his popularity
with the army for his chances of success
Now, whether tho Republicans were capable of
| outweghng at once the influence of the Mon
archists and tho Army, and of Prim, who leans
TO monarchy and is devoted to the Army is q
question which we fancy the most sanguine of
Republicans would hardly have yentured, even
before the late decisive election, to answer in
the affirmative.
Our correspondent has summed up the situa-
ton in the fewest possible words when he de-
scrbes it as O struggle of the civil power to
assert its proper supremacy over the military
power. The officers of the army are the politi-
cal ayistocracy, the equestrian order, the privi-
legged and dominant class. We must not ex-
pect any voluntary abdication, any self-deny-
! Ing ordinance, at their hands They will hold
all they can, Gnd as long as they cam and
their cause Is the cause of Serrano and OF Prim.
The latter was always accustomed, in private
conversation with foreign friends, to describe
the political power Of tho Church as the one
supreme obstacle to Liberty in Spain; and the
Army naturally seemed in his eyes to be the
only efficient counterpoise. But the truth 10,
that these influences, even when they DO cOun-
teract each other, are but as tho rlyal lnflu'