The New York herald., 1876-02-01
The situation I'm Europe-AN Letter
from Ex-President Castelar,.


of Spain. little more than two years ago
and he was the chief of the Spanish Repub-
lie, the leader of the liberal party in Spain,
the first orator of the nation and among the
first orators of the world. A young man
orator, journalist, university professor, revo-
lutionist-whose eloquence had contributed
to the downfall of Amadeus and the emanci-
patton of slavery in Porto Rico, his infiu-
ence, which seemed absolute, began to wane
when he really attained power. For short
time he was President of the Spanish
Republic. There was everything in his
Presidency but strength. The extreme re-
publicans, who had followed him with
affectionate adulation, rebelled because
he would not overturn society in day; be-
to Spain; because he was willing to
deal with the army and the Church rs estab
! lished institutions, pillars of the State and
necessary to its safety Castelar's dream of
n republic was too bright to last. His Pres
idency had the splendor and, we regret to say,
the evanescence of Mediterranean sunset.
The republican party quarrelled and dis
solved. The Church, the army and the aris-
tocracy waited their time, and one morning
military detachment expelled the Cortes,
took possession of the capital and called to
the throne the boy Alfonso now King of
Spain.
While all who believed in liberty and re-
publican institutions mourned over the fall
of the Republic, and while stern radicals
Al 80 u,
looked with contempt upon the beautiful
| and brief experiment, Castelar, carried from
his Presidency the respect of the world. He
had sought to found practical Republic /;
! to adapt the new ideas to old conditions to
make possible even to narrow, torpid, moss
covered Spain-with traditions that had be-
come laws, with laws that represented the
power of an absolute Church and an arro-
CANT, proud aristocracy-a law-abiding Re-
public. How difficult this problem we
cannot imagine in our free and fresh
America, where we had but to throw the
seed into the virgin soil and leave the
fruit to time and the seasons. The repub
lican problem in Europe, and more espe-
cially in Spain, is surrounded with the hard
est conditions. There are old and powerful
and respected institutions to be considered
the army, the Church, the peerage. These
institutions represent the valor, the patriot
ism, the religious faith, the pride of the
people. To found a republic, which strips
the army of its honors and the Church of its
subyentions and political authority and
makes no aristocracy possible is the sorest
task that has ever been imposed upon a leg
islator We see how far France is from the
end; and yet for the better part of a cen
tury, Frenchmen, from Mirabeau to Thiers,
Frenchmen of eminent genius and patriot
ism, have tried again and again, only again
and again to fail The fact that CASTELAR, was
an unsuccessful President only means
| that he failed where Mirabeau and
Roland, Vergniaud and Lamartine had failed
before that it was for him to plant the seed,
for others to reap the harvest Republican
ism is stronger in Europe, stronger in Spain,
because of the brief poetical administration
of CASTELAR,. He shed no blood. He brought
no dishonor upon his native land, no scandal
upon liberty He might have been the
Robespierre of Spain if he had led the ir-
reconcilables, or its Bonaparte if he had
given way to the military spirit-a spirit al
ways glad to make terms with whoever will
secure its pensions and its rank. He ruled
with honor and withdrew with renown. He
returns to the Cortes one of the three repub-
lican delegates representing shrewd and pa
tient Catalonia, the New England of Spain.
The return Of CASTELAR, to public life gives
a new value to the eloquent letter to the
HERALD which takes so much of our space
this morning This letter, written in Paris,
is q review of the whole situation of Europe.
We see what Europe presents to the mind of
CASTELAR, at the outset of our new year, and
our readers will, we are sure, regard it as a
remarkable and instructive contribution to
the literature of the hour The gorgeous
rhetoric of CASTELAR, suffers somewhat when
translated from the luxuriant, ripe Castilian
into our colder and tanner Saxon but there
are passages in this letter which more than
justify its authors worldwide and enduring
fame. He begins with a glance at Asia, the
continent of monarchies America, the
continent of republics, and Europe, between
them representing various phases of consti-
tutional systems. He shows the power of
the Slav and the Saxon in the politics of the
Continent, and apostrophizes the Latin
spirit, which predominates in Italy and Spain,
and which, with Greece, have contributed
most to human culture. He shows that in
Russia there is something else besides a
Car on the throne and people in the dust
the rise of Communistic spirit, which
has taken a deep hold on the Empire, and
may in time menace the seemingly invinci-
BILE power of the Cars. The attitude of
Russia and England in Asia, the conflicts
of rival ambition in that vast and wonderful