The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-07-01
THE KING AND HIS ADVISERS.
The Rise and Fall of the Ser
rano Cabinet.
A MINISTRY OF TEN DAYS.
Oerrano's Interview with the Monarch-Ama-
deus Assumes tho Sceptre-The Pest and
Present Of tho Spanish Nation and
the Dangers Of the Future.
MADRID. June Is, 1879,

A heavy thunder storm came up suddenly this
evening and swept out-ofdo0r Madrid into shelter.
Out-of-d0or Madrid had taken more than usual ad-
vantage Of what at the outset was clear, glarinR
night-one Of those nights you see SO frequently In
this cloudless, open land. As pushed my way from
the Palace region to the Puerta del SOL about eight
"a the evening, the sidewalks were crowded with
citizens, gosspng, shouting, chattering, with that
sarnestness of manner which, when expressed in
what Byron might have called "the soft, bastard
tAtin,n has a musical eject, something like the
overture to "Tannhauser," or one OF Wagners
peculiar operas. All Madrid seemed to be In the
streets discussing Of the perpetually occurring
'situatiOns" which seem to be inseparabe from this
strange land On this occasion the situation was
more than usually exciting. Marshal Serrano, who
yesterday seemed to be dictator, had resigned and
Spain was without government.
THE POLITICAL SITUATION.
II fs very hard for the foreigner to appreciate the
Spanish political situation, for IN a government
verging on chaos how are we to understand that
there IL even situation Ever since young ANA
deus came to the throne the question has been,
Does the advent OF His Majesty mean dynasty or
simply an experiment In the revolution The dy-
nasty began in that crime which deprived Spain Of
her ablest citizen and threw over the new reign
shadow partly Of terror partly OF interest and SYM
pathy. IL was Prim who called Amadeus TO the
throne 1t was PRINTS arm which was to strengthen
the new sOvereign-t0 be to the young Savoyard
what Charles Martel had been to the earlier kings
Of France and the great Warwick to the later Plan
taganets. But when the new King came to his own
his warwick was lying cold and dead in the War
once, shot to death In a narrow byway as he was
returning to his home about dusk from the Cortes.
The menace, the meaning Of that event, have been
disquicting to Amadeus. The problem In all minds
Spanish men and all men who wished well
20 6pain-has been, not "Can the new King
rulef" but 'Can he reign'" Rulershlp was quite
ont OF place in the dynasty, and men called to
mind with a shudder the foreign prince who went
70 reign over the Spanish nation Of Mexico, the
bright promise and the sincerity and zeal which
attended him, his valor and princely devotion to
his duties, and how all that came Of 1t that he
should meet his fate from O corporal's guard at
Queretaro.
h quite as interesting a character as young Max
lmilian. He is In the early hush OF his manhood.
His face is pale, heavy, expressive-a kindly,
dogged face-wlth shadows Of sadness, perhaps
sternness, passing it plainly the face Of
OF nerve and will. saw him riding in the public
place this evening, as have him nearly every
evening recently. No matter what temper OF mind
the people show Amadeus goes everywhere in the
most careless manner, with fine indifference to
danger, to danger even more imminent than which
fell TO Prlm and 80 has ext0rted the admiration
Of oil classes. Everybody regards the King as a
brave, even daring man, and this trait goes far
with this high-strung people. There was suspi-
con Of Loneliness about him, as he passed swiftly
along this evening, that invoked ones sympathy,
and made even his kingship thing not to be en-
We'd. He sat back in light open carriage, with a
braided aid at his side, his hat rather pushed over
his eyes-one gaudily-appareed jockey, with a
powdered wig, riding ahead on one OF the horses
his hand twrling slight cane, carefully gloved
and rather foppish In his raiment, and receiving
scarcely any attention from the crowd In these
monarchical countries etiquette calls upon every
one TO don his hat to the King and to pause with
uncovered head as he passes. Here, of all coun-
tries the one where the Crown has been honored so
long with superstitOus generation, king drove
through wide, crowded street and none needed
him. watched his equipage, having some curiosity
on the subject, while it passed within view OF thou
sand people at east-ounging In front of the coffee
houses, going to and from the Prado and although
all saw him and knew him, not more than three or
four hats were raised In his honor. There was an
evident eagerness in the manner In which he re-
turned the salute OF an attache OF legation who
happened to pass on horseback craving, as 1t
were for that courtesy which belonged to his birth
even to kings. But he drove through the silent,
sombre crowd of high-born, courteous oyer.polite
Spanish gentlemen-of men who excel In solemn
ofncious resonant courteses-practcally unnoticed.
understood what keen observer of Spain, who has
long lived, here meant when he ended his nara
tive OF the Kings failure to root dynasty by SAYING
"Why, even the cabmen don't take OF their hats to
him ~ sad outlook surely for young King, or
for anyone in kings place, with royal duties to do
and striving to achieve them. But beyond the
King or any personal interest Of his house comes
this grave question, "what Is to become of Spain
SPAIN, PAST AND PRESENT
1t is difficult to disentangle this Spanish problem
20 as 10 make 1t In any way ineligible to the Ameri-
can mind. Nor can we understand the situation
here and the great movement that Is now going on
in Spain, without taking broad and generous view
OF IT, To do this we must abandon that tendency
" Chauvnism in which Americans ana English are
apt to indulge-the conviction that God has made
the world for the blue-eyed races; the belief that
the Latin nations, France, Italy and Spain are too
far gone In moral and political decay to have any
future but what we see In Carthage aud Egypt.
And yet IL Is very hard to take a hopeful view Of
Spain. stood In the Chamber of the Tombs in the
grand and gloomy palace monastery OF the Escurial
not long Since in the splendid apartment under
The altar, where the Kings and Queens OF Spain
for more than three centuries are buried
The room il worthy to be q royal sepulcbre
decorated with an infinite profuslon of costly
marbles and precious stones, the polished and
slippery steps, the walls lined with jasper,
the urns OF black colored marb$e trimmed with
bronze; the altar, the Italian crucidx, the play
house chandelier; the sarcophagi where the royal
bodies moulder in peace; the urns that await the
future kings If there to be any kings thought
~ stood In the ample silence and dismal splendor
OF the gloomy Pantheon Of the Spain ~ left by that
Charles V. who was first buried here, and she
Spain Of to-day whose government is 80 sore a
problem to young Amadeus. When you think OF
this you see what an almost hopeless problem lies
before the King. That empire founded by Charles
and ruled over by Philip H., was one Of the greatest
Y "A mr. IN n,,.