The Portland daily press., 1873-05-29
From the London Spectator.
The Progress Of the Spanish RevOlu-
tiOn

SPAN Is evidently in for much more than a
DIS S,.es changes of government She is un-
yerS S,nng' ,ng' nearly century later, s.mething
derwant vi. Iie same process that France un-
toIl ,vno, ~ 1, ner great throes of 1880 and the
e. ns years, but undergoing IL in a miIder
form-milder partly on acoo,,,, ~ ~ ui.uyi ey
aflty OF the mind of Eurone Wei ~ ",u esa"
acter OF the social movements III! tue chal
so much wonder, enthusiasm eu. oreaCeu ~
then, partly on account of the mnra rhIosI
matte nature Of the SDaniard, which Jos.
not seem to take the malady of susn;c;o,,
nearly so violently as the nature of the French
man. There was-as De Tocqupyllle verv
well brought out in those latest chapters Of
his book on the French Revolution which
Mr.. Henry Reeve has just added to the Sec
opd edition of his excellent translation-a
universal expectation of completely new So
cial forces and new possibilities of govern
ment, pervading Europe for years before the
French Revolution, an expectation which
added enormously to the exciting character
of that great event. Throughout Europe
men believed that they. were on the eve OF
changes in which society would be quite trans
figured, and this belief, which. curiously
enough, pervaded most completely not those
classes which were most miserable, but those
which were far above want and living in lux
ury, stimulated every wave of emotion and
passion which spread over France, and intox-
icated the actors in those great scenes.
Spain has at least the advantage that tho
changes which her political and social life
seen ed destined to unde go, are no longer
walled for with ave. as il they were the re-
suits of the inspiration of a sort ofdivine muse.
The excitement of the drama has been in
great degree discounted by the history ofthe
revolutions of 1889, 1880 and 1S48. Spain
knows that no golden era Of society IL TO be
expected from any changes. however funda-
mental; that the alternative between auar-
chy and strict taxation under some form of
government S the only alternative to be hop
ed for; that the most enthusiastic republics
have once and again been much severer suf-
ierers than even despotic states: that ii a fed
eral republic is to succeed, the federal repub-
lie must not have to restore social paradise,
but must drill its troops, impose discipline,
resist riot, adjust taxation and enfoIce JUS
tice.
There is now, thanks to France, no vast il
lusion, no rainbow of imaginary hope, to
dazzle the eyes even of ignorant Spain.
There may be great changes for the better,
or great changes for the worse-and for a
time, ,at least we fear the latter aie the more
hkely-but there will be no such wild intox-
icatiOn as alone rendered the gieat French
agony of hope and fear impossible. And for
tunately, too, Spain takes differences of po-
litical opinion easier than France. Carlists,
AHouSiSlS- TLaulcaIS anu hepuDllcdnS get on
very fairly together, except during the crisis
of physical struggle. That fear which
M. Gambeta justly tells Us is the great curse
of France does not seem to take root easily in
Spain. The danger rather is of an apathy
TOO great TO admit OF the people taking any
side definitely. so as to render organization
possible. As the French have always had
genius for ceutralization which it is pity,
by the way, they did not manage to impart
more effectually to the Spaniards during their
occupation or Spain-thp Spaniards appear to
have always had. and still to have, a taste tor
decentralization, and the fear is that this will
so favor nisorganiZation as to render the pro-
cess of new political crystallization difficult,
tardy and inadequate. The example of
Madrid has none of the fascination for the
other great cities ofSp in, for Barcelona, and
Seville, and Malaga, th t the example of
Paris has for Lyons, ,and Marseilles, ,and Bour-
deaux. This indeed is the argument for that
''federal' republic which is now apparently
in the ascendant. But this fact makes the
Political future of Spain even more uncertain
than the political future of France ever was.
SPAN is like ship built in cellular compart-
ments, less easy to wreck as whole, more
Easy IT, break up into distinct parts. Now
that the army is in active decomposition, and
that the voice of the only actual authority
left is favorable TO federalism rather than uni
ication. it becomes a very difficult matter in
deed to anticipate the course of political
change,