The New York herald., 1874-07-30
spain and spanish An.irs.


of the relations of Germany and Spain are
exaggerated. We can well understand how
any government would resent such acts as the
shooting OF the German correspondent by
Don Carlos. But We cannot understand how
Germany should seek to vindica.e her honor
through France. If the German government
desired to aid the Carlists it could adopt no
more effectual plan than to intimate to the
French people that such aid would offend the
Emperor. The statement that Seyrano has
addressed remonstrance to France on the
subject is more credible, because the course of
France even during the time of Theirs, was
certainly in violation Of treaty obligations and
international law Spain was weak and NJ.
Thiers' political necessities were urgent, and
his custom was, when he could not please the
legitimists by shooting Communist, to allow
the priests to smuggle q load of rifles and
beads and prayer books across the Pyrenees to
Don Carlos. Castelar, when he was Foreign
Minister to Figueras addressed strong remon-
STRANGE to Theirs on the subject, but beyond q
friendly note from Count R4musat no good
results ensued.
Carlism, however, has become grotesque
and appalling crime. We see no difference
between the Carlist movement as it is now
conducted by Dorregaray and hizaraga and
the Commune movement when it fell into the.
hands of Bergent and Ferry. The Com
munists burned the palaces and shot the
hostages What have the Carlists done and
what are they doing? The act Of the. one
could be excused as that Of madmen,
especially maddened by the course of Mac
Mahon's troops, who shot every Communist
found in arms on barricade and thus in
vited reprisal. The Carlists are in the field
and pretend to wage open, honorable warfare.
They have q king and vast number of
clergymen, and when not in action are sup
posed to be at prayer. What excuse have
they for their acts of brutality? What ex-
cuse indeed, for their movement at all
Carlism is simply the eleventh century doing
violence upon the nineteenth, and at its head
is young man, neither Spanish by birth nor
ancestry, who was never south Of the Ebro,
who has never lived in Spain except when
encamped in the Biscayan hills with his
bandits, and yet who, because Of an obsolete
law, claims to be absolute king and to assert
that right with arms. If murder and arson,
the destruction Of property and the violation
of order are crimes, then who is q greater
criminal than Don Carlos? We are glad to
see that this view is gathering strength in
Europe and that journals as conservative. and
influential as tho London Times support it and
feel that the time has come for the nations to
suppress the movement as . scandal to civili-
zaton.
But there are evils in Spain even moro seri-
Gus than Carlism. The other day we noticed
what appeared to be harmless item of news,
but which was really full of meaning. Cen
eral Zabala, having been appointed to COM
mand the Army of the North, several of his
subordinate generals at once resigned. The
reasons they gave for this extraordinary act,
this virtual abandonment Of their commands
in face of the enemy, was that, while Zabala
was radical, they were supporters of Alfonso,
and could not serve under general who was
not ready to join with them in betraying the
army to pretender In country like Eng
| land or the United States general who left
his command with any such purpose would
be cashiered or shot. With us the army serves
the country and the soldier serves the army
but in Spain the soldier only serves the army
SO far as it serves his ambition. If he is
bold man, like O'Donnell, he ''pronounces,"
and makes himself a Minister or when he
sees a government that means a real reform
he sends his troops, as Serrano did, to disperse
the Legislature. What can We expect of
country the public spirit and patriotism of
whose citizens are seen in acts like those of the
Alfonsist generals who, because they cannot
remain in the army and fight for the Pretender,
insist upon resigning and returning to Madrid,
to draw pay from'a bankrupt treasury and con-
spire against the government? The result is
that the standing army is the curse of Spain.
1t has generals enough to command all the
armies in the world more field marshals than
Napoleon employed. Its officers are privi-
legged, idle class, who remain in the army not
to serve the country but to serve themselves.
They can never be depended upon to preserve
order, and are really source Of weakness and
not of strength.
Amadeus the ex-klng, who Is gentleman
and was certainly good King, had a proper
estimate of these troubles. In recent note
worthy conversation on Spanish affairs, which
we find in the PaA Mall Gazette, he says truly
that the madness of parties in Spain gave the
Carlists their chief encouragement What
alarmed him, he adds, was 'the criminal
discussions among the famous saviours of
Spain and the system adopted by the gen.
erals, who accompanied every decree and
every discussion of their demands by threat
ton under the King as it is the situation now.
Amadeus conceded every demand extofsed
from him until he was asked to violate the
constitution. He declined and left Spain,
seeing in .the increasing strife Of parties'' the