Year: 1875




The situation in Spain is becoming more
and more interesting, and it would not sur
prise us to see that country again command
the attention of the world A new Ministry
has been formed We suppose this Ministry
will be something like that of Sefor Gorilla,
when he was Prime Minister under Amadeus.
The reasons that have led to the change in
the Ministry do not appear in the Spanish
dispatches which we, by long experience,
have learned to discredit The tele-
graph in that country is in the hands OF
the government, and we receive not the news,
but what the ruling powers would have
the world accept as the news The truth is
that the new King has had his own share OF
troubles since he assembled the throne of his
sancestors. He has been oppressed on all
sides. The army has demanded the
restoration of its old franchises. The mon
archists insist upon the return of all the
privileges and traditions of the throne. The
aristocracy wish to be indemnifed for what
they have lost by the revolution and to be
strengthened in their titles and emoluments.
The Church has been particularly aggressive,
demanding all manner Of concessions, not
only the acknowledgment Of the Catholic
faith as the religion of the realm, but the
prohibition of every other faith. Not long
since the Papal Nuncio addressed the King
peremptory note, calling upon him
to perform his obligations to the Church
and especially to give the clergy the arrears
OF their pay. Considering that Spanish
credit is now at the lowest possible ebb and
that the King is sorely oppressed to borrow
money at usurious rates of interest this
demand seems to us unnecessarily harsh, and
has, no doubt, so impressed the country.


The London Times prints a letter from
Madrid to the effect that the liberal party
have obtained control of the King and that
politics are moving in this direction. Senior
Castelar, is quoted as having moderated his
opinions and expressed willingness to
enter the Cortes as supporter of the liberal
monarchy. In the country there is feeling
of weariness and indifference, ''little national
but plenty of provincial feeling" The
story that Senor Castelar, has become a
monarchist is doubtful, and is probably
repetition of the old story so diligently

circulated when Alfonso came TO the
throne, that the republicans were about
to accept the king. The truth is the re-
publican party in Spain is much stronger
now than it has been at any previous time in
its existence, and is growing from day to
day. The young men of the nation are re-
publicans, every college class sends out new
missionaries, and with this rising tide con-
stantly increasing from year to year, the end
must be a republic, such as we have in
France. Sehor CASTELAR, would be guilty
of political suicide to cut himself off from
his opinions and his followers in this gene
ration, and abandon his fame and the tri-
umphs of his genius to endeavor to prop
q rickety throne on which there is boy king,
who was only yesterday playing with his
tops and velocipedes at school in England.
The Republic in Spain has been arrested
postponed, not destroyed. Our hope is that
the wise men of Spain will see what MN.
Theirs and Buffet and the wise men of France
have confessed-that even the best form of a
monarchy is an impossibilty, and that re-
publicanism alone means peace.