Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1898-04-30

attention from the Evolutionary splr-
Its of the time. Some Of the new Span
ish- American nations passed through
several governmental transitions be-
fore they took the shape which they
have had In our day. All OF them
eventually became republics on The
model. theoretically at least. OF their
great northern neighbor. That neigh
Dor, whose example excited them to
strike for freedom, was the first among
the great powers of the world to recog-
nlze their Independence after indie
pendencc was physically gained and to
welcome them into the family OF ma
lions. Thus spain. even II the Cuban
rcbellions had never taken rlace.
would have had profound and eternal
hatred for the United States.
Under the rule OF what monarch did
spain lose it's American empire? Tn
der chat Of Ferdinand VII. The his
tory OF this prince has a peculiar IN
terest for Americans. AS already mem
toned, Il was during his relgn, which
began In 1905. and numlnnlly extended
to 1888, that Spain lost her colonies on
this continent II was In 1923. after
the United states had recognized the
independence Of al OF them, that the
holy alliance Russia, Austria. Prussia
and Frlnce-entered into the plot -
attack these new nations, and restore
them to Ferdinand. or perhaps to an
piNprlate some of them themselves for
their trouble, which called out from
President Monroe. In his annual mes
sage to Congress in December OF that
year, the warning to Europe to keep
It's hands off this continent, which
gives Monroe a secure place in history.
1t was this monarch who revoked the
salic law, thus putting females In the
line of succession, giving his daughter
Isabella ii the crown, and comforting
a N ~.
power This was the means of bring
Ing her son (after the revolutionary
transition Of lS6s-lSiO, Alfonzo MI.
and his son, the present l2-year-old
king, to the throne.
Like GIL Bias, Ferdinand was a foot
ball of fortune, but unlike lie Sage's
hero, he learned nothing from his re-
verses He is one of the most desplc-
able characters in history. He he
trayed his father, CharlesfV, to Bona
parte. and that potentate imprisoned
both of them and put his brother 10.
seph on the Spanish throne. When
calamity came to Bonapurte. Fsrdi-
nand was restored to power, But un-
der restraint by the Liberals among his
subjects, who compelled him to grant
a constitution, he was restored to au-
tocratic sway by a French army which
invaded Spain by order OF the holy
alliance In 1923, and was, during tn,
last years of his life. under the control
Of his fourth wife. Maria Christina OF
Naples, a sort of Spanish Messallna,
who induced him to revoke the salic
law. and thus started the civil wars
which ragged In Spain sporadically be.
tween the Carllsts and the ruling house
from 1888 until 1876. Ferdinand was
as imbecile as Philip III, as treacherous
as the second Philip, and as vindictive
as Pedro the Cruel. Only two mon
aroha Of any ability and character are
found in the long list of rulers of the
Spanish branch OF the house of Bour-
bon Philip II. and Philip III. however,
were Of the Tampsburg house,. Those
of Ferdinand's grandfather, Charles III.
and Ferdlnand's grandson, Alfonso
XII
Ferdinand's tumultuous reign was the
beginning of chain of uprisings and
revolutions which have had no parallel
in any European nation in this century,
except in It's neighbor on the other side
of the Pyrenees. From 1908 onward
Spain's political regime has been gov
eminent by cataclyism. That country
has almost as many lightning political
transformations as France. Joseph
Bonaparte displaced Ferdinand in 1908.
Ferdinand was restored In 1914, but he
was virtually dethroned subsequently
by his own subjects, and was put back
IN power by the holy alliance in 1923
At his death In 1888, his three-year-old
daughter, Isabella II, went to the
throne through the regency of her
mother Maria Christina OF Naples.
Carlos, her fathers brother who would
have been heir to the throne under the
salic law which had been revoked by
Ferdinand in her favor. raised a rebel
hon against her. and the series of I'M
successful Carlist wars, which have
ravased Spain several times since, be-
gan. lsabella's political excuses and
immoralities provoked a revolution in
1865. In which she was driven out, and
she has resided in Paris ever since.
A provisional government in various
shapes, managed affairs from 1868 to
1870, when the crown was given to
Amadeus of Italy, a younger brother of
the present King Humbert OF that
country, hut Amadeus, firing of his tur-
bulent subjects, and fearing assasslna-
ton, abdicated in 1873. Then provls-
ional regime by the cortes, republic
under CASTELAR, and Dictatorship
through Serrano followed In quick sue
ceslon. when, in the beginning of 1875,
Isabella's seventeen-ye ar-old son was
called to the throne as Alfonso XII At
his death in 1855 his infant daughter
was crowned. and n few months later
she was superseded by the present king
Alfonso Mi. born after his death, but
who, as a male, took precedence of his
elder sister, actual power in both cases
being held by the mother. Maria Chris
tina, as regent.
What are names OF Spaln's political
parties? Political parties and party gov
eminent, in the sense in which these
terms are understood in Great Britain
and the United States, are unknown in
Spain. In Isabellas time, from 1893 to
1865, as in that of her father, Ferdinand,
there were Absolutonists and Liberals.
Since Isabella's days the party names
have been Conservatives and Liberals.
But the lines between these parties are
not closely drawn, and each Is split up
into subdivisions and groups, as In Ger
many and France; but the boundaries
between them are not so well marked
as In those two countries. A Republican
party came up into prominence in 1868,
attire Isabella's overthrow. and the
oretically II was in the ascendant dur
ing the republic OF 1873. but 1t shrunk
in Importance afterward. There has
been q Carist party since 1888 but this
and the Republican party has receded
close 10 the vanishing point in recent
years. though both are liable to loom
up In prominence II the present dynasty
is overthrow.
Personal leadership and official pres
sure count for more than political prin-
cipal in SPANS party contests, and
some of the leaders carry opportunism
to lengths undreamed OF even by a Fer
rs or n Freycinet In France. Sagasta,
the present premier, has been. at one
time and another in the past forty
Years, on two sides Of almost every
great question which has that many