New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-01-07
THE SPANISH REPUBLICANS.


The brutal appeal to arms" of the 3D. OF
January, rs CASTELAR, justly styles 1t. has Tor
the present suspended the genuine Republican
experiment in Spain. We do not mean by
this that the Republic is destroyed. The Re
public stillilives in France, although both the
Assembly and tho Government are heartily
hostile to it. 1t is not ended in Spain, be-
cause monarchical Cabinet has for the mo-
ment usurped the control of affairs. But the
Government has ceased to be Republican
Under whatever name it may choose to give
itself. the Cabinet of Marshal SerranO Is moth
ing more than the staff of a military dictator,
who has mOnarchical leanings. They will de-
eide at their leisure what course it is expe-
dent to pursue. Ii the Republican party
of the country had had time enough TO
harden into compact organization, there
would still be chance of Keeping
Serrano and his Ministers in check, just as
MacMahon and his Cabinet are held In check
by the moral power exerted by the millions OF
Republican voters in France, although they are
unrepresented In the Assembly. But 1t remains
IN ho 400. yI.otl.u, turo sumcientiy firm
organization among the Republican masses OK
Spain to prevent Marshal SerranO and his
party from following their natural tendencies.
There are several courses open to these able
and INSCRIPTIONS Adventures. One Is to Keep
the Government for themselves. preserving the
Republican name and form. With their hold
upon tho army and their command OF the
machinery of politics this would seem to be
within their power. second course might be
the restoration of the Bourbon dynasty which,
iUnn InIn al "
out of Spain. Don Alfonso stands ready to
accept the crown from the rebel who took 1t
away from his mother, and SerranO is man
of such tranquil conscience that 1t probably
would not trouble him in the least to remem-
Der that he stood embracing Prm and assent
ing when he shouted "DOwn with the BOnr-
"bonsn at their triumphal entry into Madrid,
and that he also assented when his eloquent
fellow -cOnspiratOr sOlemnly announced In the
Cortes that they would never, never, never
"cOnsent to the return" of chat execrable
family. There is still another course open TO
the ScrranO Government, to give the throne
to the Duke of MOntpensier, who is by all
means the best of the pretenders, and to at
tempt TO compromise the conflict between the
BourbOns and the revolution by marriage
between tne fTiDce Vi tuc hStuii's anu wv
daughter of the Duke
But whatever may be the resolution which
these sagaciOus and dispassionate schemers
may finally take, it will be one founded upon
careful consideration of their own interests,
and without the slightest regard for the form
of government upon which they decide. This
is the fact which marks the difference between
the present sO-callcd Republican Cabinet and
the genuine ones which have preceded 1t.
From the hour of the abdicatiOn of Amadeus
to the third of January, the men who have
succeeded each other in the government OF
rl,e Reuullc nave been statesmen OF honor,
heart, and conscience, thoroughly devoted to
the principles which they protested. There
we're no sudden converts, no professional
office-hoIders among them. Figueras, Pi
Mareall Salmeron, and CASTELAR, were and had
been for years the leading Republicans of
Spain. They were men of order also, men OF
great abilities and unbemshed moral charac-
ter. Each lost office in turn through the
ineradicablc difficulties of the situation be-
aueathed to them by the monarchy. The Carllst
instruction has been an open ulcer for half a
century, not active enough to kill the nation,
and vet too firmly rooted for the enfeebled
body politic to work off. The cantOnal lnsur-
rections were promptly met by the Government
and suppressed everywhere, except in the inn
prcgnable fortress of Cartagena, which was
about to yield when the CASTELAR, Government
fell These two internal wars kept the nation
in state of continual disquiet, and the ex-
pcnses they entaled made still worse finan-
cial condition which was already hopeless.
But when these things are considered, 1t can
not be denied that the Republican Govern
ments, while they lasted, formed a striking
contrast TO those which preceded them, and to
those which there is reason to fear will follow
them. At home they strOve to execute the
laws, and they kept exact faith with the people
and with the Legislature. In their dealings
with foreign powers they generally OBJ
served policy OF truth-telhng which
was strikingly at variance with the traditions
of the State Department of Madrid. Their
colonial policy was also creditable. Their
efforts were constantly directed, under circum
stances of the greatest difficulty and danger, to
fulfilling the pledges they had made in oppOsi-
ton, to extend to the Antilles the measures
of emancipation and reform required by the
logic of republican principles and by the
spirit of the age. They have succumbed to
evils which the monarchy left behind, a sys-
TEN of organized treason which for many years
has pervaded the army and the administra-
ton, which. while it lasts, will render the
establishment of the Republic difficult and
arduous work, but which nothing but the Re-
public can ever cure.
SENA TORIAL VINDICA1IONS
The report which gained mOmentary currency
II. h.. 4