The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-01-06
GROWN LEVELS.

FFon, the N y. TTibUnG
King Victor of Italy is q prudent man. lie
has forbidden the Duke of Genoa to accept
that dangerous piece of jewelry, the Spanish
crown. Though forestalled in this action by
the STRIPPING Dukes mother and her hus
band, the Marquis Rapallo, the gentleman
King claims the supreme right to dispose of
Italian princes. All of them are now agreed,
if the cable reports unerringly, not to touch
tho fatal crown. Consequently there is
another crisis in the desperate fortunes of
Spain, and Marshal Prim, with his Ministry,
is said to have resigned from the Government,
which is to say, in other words, that the Gov
eminent has resigned from itself This hap
pens when the Treasury of Spain is in an ex-
hausted condition, and while Democratic
papers in Madrid can afford to complain of
the horrors of the Cuban war, and ask for the
cessation of vain crusade. Meanwhile, tn o
inevitable Montpensier is announced on hand
as always, like that sempiternal backing of
which we have more than once read. The
crown of Spain, of which Isabella is charged
with having stolen the jewels, is once more
rejected in the market, and is about
to be set aside by the auctioneer. Who
bids? Can Montpensier buy it, or will Mar
shal Prim accept the Republic in its stead ?
It is a grievous and disreputable crown.
Most of its jewels are gone, so that it would
be a real saving to Spain not to have king,
and so avoid the expense of getting new
oEe. Minister Figuerola, who takes care of O
treasury which a democratio newspaper of
Madrid declares is almost bankrupt, has been
provoked to charge upon the ex-Queens
Christina AID Isabella the robbery of about
$i,000,000 worth of Jewels belonging to the
Crown. Ex-Queen Christina implores the
Minister of Finance to consent to become q
private citizen, in order that she may prose-
inf him Ev Onaan Tcoha1lo alcn paia
and we presume Indignantly, the application
to her of what her ex-Minister Canovas calls
the ignominous epithet of thief; and her
daughters recent distresses, which have been
brought to the notice of the French public
through court, show that the want of these
jewels is more apparent than the possession
of them. Minister Figuerola promises, how
ever, convincing proof of the high crime of
Crown robbery and as the jewel reputation
has been lost by one or both of the ex-Queens,
many Spaniards will venture to believe that
they have stolen others.
This theft, a royal one in every respect.
suggests curious reflections upon the state of
public virtue in Spain. Queen Isabella may
have stolen jewels, but that was not circum-
stance to her habit of squandering Spanish
money. Her ministers were not guilty of vio-
lent theft, but it is notorious that they robbed
their country of revenues. Her generals were
not bandits, but somehow Spain has suffered
from them. Then, too, if the Queen could
pilfer in Madrid, what might not her favorites
have done in Cuba2 These inquiries have
very wide ramifcationS, and would tend in
evitably to raise up doubts not only of the
modesty with which Spanish officials steal in
Cuba, but of the honesty with which they
bleed their country in Spain.
There is a kind of possession which is as
bad as robbery. This was the case when
Isabella wore the crown, with all its jewels,
and gambled away one by one those fine
gems of public credit and integrity, and that
public honor whose price is above rubies.
This was the case, too, when the Spani-
ards insisted on retaining the island which
they POLITICALLY call the gem of the Antilles,
and ''one of the brightest jewels in the
Grown of Spain" The Cuban gem is fatal
one to Spain, and more safely belongs to its
natural owners. But the gypsy of nations,
who cries out for her missing baubles, and
clutches at this one, will not, cannot see that
greater theft than Isabella's is the steal
ing of liberty from millions of whites and
blacks.