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lice in o -ftRA -i til IiEiAIBrErR. 7&1
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¦NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. We cannot^Sr...
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Africa.
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SATUBDAY, AUGUST 2, 1856.
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There is nothing so revolutionary, becau...
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THE CONSTITUTIONAL WAR IN SPAIN. We are ...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Lice In O -Ftra -I Til Iieiaibrerr. 7&1
o -ftRA -i til IiEiAIBrErR . 7 & 1
¦Notices To Correspondents. We Cannot^Sr...
¦ NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS . We cannot ^ Srta ^ o . etur * . rtg & 'ZSSSSS ^
Africa.
Africa .
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Satubday, August 2, 1856.
SATUBDAY , AUGUST 2 , 1856 .
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There Is Nothing So Revolutionary, Becau...
There is nothing so revolutionary , because tb . ere is nothing so unnatural and convulsive , as tne strain . to keep things fixed when all the world is by tne very law of its creation m eternal progress . —De . Arnold .
The Constitutional War In Spain. We Are ...
THE CONSTITUTIONAL WAR IN SPAIN . We are unable as jet to trace with any distinctness the origin of the conspiracy -which has worked with such effect in Spain . But there are circumstances , beyond the mere similarity of methods , which appear to connect it with Lotjis Napoleon , and which confirm the idea of a deeply-laid plot , to subvert , one by one , the remaining constitutions of Europe . The suspicions attaching to the French Court are not merely surmises a . & erJitw »^ a « fc . Tk ^ . y floated in the air months
ago , exactly as tlie -warnings of Imperialism floated through Paris early in 1852 . It was said—and in some quarters openly said—that political instigations were passing from the Tuileries to the Court of Madrid , and we ourselves knoio that the disgraced Christina has been , at the same time , the confidential correspondent of the French Emperor and of the Spanish Queen—O'Donjnte : l : l ' s instrument of treason . The coup d'etat had been
elaborately prepared upon the December plan ; the Cabinet crisis was forced on by identical measures ; the same alarms were invented ; tbe secret concentration of troops was preceded by the bribes of Satory ; and Madrid , at dawn of day , stood suddenly in the presence of avast prsotorian guard , with artillery pointed down the streets and across the squares . That lesson , at least , was learned at Paris . But this is not all . No sooner was O'Don " -
nexl ' s success confirmed , than a paragraph appeared in the Mbniteur vaguely approving his acts , and almost simultaneously the French organ in London bestowed its benediction on tho saviours of Spain . "Whether or not there had been a previous conceit between tho French and Spanish Governments , it is certain that , after tho event , they were immediately at one , and that , strangely enough , a French army was ready at an hour ' s notico to march upon the Spanish frontierto " observe . " To observo what ? There is no attempt to show that tho success of a liberal reaction
in S _ pain would create a danger on tho frontier . Spanish intervention is not feared in Franco . Then with what view can Louis ISTapolhon havo placed that army of observation at Bayonno , unlesa with a view to contingencies that might induce-him to intervene actively in tho affairs of tho Peninsula ? Or is it only a net spread for refugees who may seek , by crossing tho mountains , to oscapo tho military courts established by O'Donnelx ? Tho mystery increases as wo investigate tho statements of tlio official and semiofficial prose in Paris . For several days no eounaenta on tho Madrid coup d'dtat wore
published , and , when the coup d'etat appeared to have succeeded , only an equivocal paragraph appeared in the Mbniteur . A forced reserve was maintained by the other journals . Then , when public discussion had become more safe , the imperial paper issued its manifesto , praising O'Donneii ,, and reviving all
the repulsive cant of December about bad passions , the chances of anarchy , overruling state necessities , the impossibility of governing amid the conflict of parties , and the imperious necessity of establishing confidence and order . Armed with the approval of France , O'Donnexl struggles with the remaining defenders of the constitution .
Those defenders at present seem few and feeble . Though the Cortes was transferred to Aragon , though from Madrid to the Pyrenees the friends of law and liberty combined to resist the treachery of the Court , though in other inland districts the constitutional chiefs rallied round them masses of vigorous
supporters , the conspiracy seems to have been too extensive , too systematic , to be immediately suppressed . O'DoNNEiii * reigns for the day ; but , if there be little immediate hope that his crimes will be punished , there is still less probability that he will be enabled to establish himself permanently , and alone , as master of the Spanish Court and nation .
^ m- . ^ Pt t t i T -1 . * _ T - — , -J «^ - - It is important , then , to consider under what circum stances the French Emperor might be tempted to intervene in the affairs of the Peninsula . "We cannot tell how far our own Government is inclined to collude with that of France , so that liord Paimeeston ' s declaration of confidence is not of much value . "What is infinitely more suggestive is
the circumstance already referred to , —that an army is already stationed on the line of the Pyrenees , that it cannot have been sent thither for defensive purposes , and that , therefore , it is impossible to doubt that a partial occupation of the Peninsula is among the contingent calculations of the French Cabinet .
Should O'DoiWEi / i . overpower the constitutionalists at all points and establish a dictatorship , disguised in the form of a monarchy , the French Grovernment will probably be satisfied . But if , after a , lull , the liberal reaction should revive , and give to the conflict the scope of a civil war—if the throne be
destroyed and O'DoNNELii pursued as a public criminal—if , in a word , the law triumph over violence and usurpation , will it be the policy of IiOuis Napoieok to accept that solution of the late events , or to bring the forces of one coup d'etat in aid of another ? If it be his policy , it cannot be the policy of England to iihet him .
This question is the more serious when it is considered that all the olements of a protracted civil Avar are rife in Spain—that each party has its acknowledged leader , and that the Cortes is composed of proud men not likely to brook the permanent ascondancy of such an adventurer as O'Donnelii , who has not tho same means of suppressing the political life of the Spaniards as iliouis Napoleon had of extinguishing the political life of
France . Centralization does not govorn beyond the Pyrenees . "When tho capital is in an invader ' s power , the provinces resist him . O'Donnisu , cannot dictate from Madrid to Barcelona , or to Saragossa . They , too , must bo placed in a state of siogo , and where is tho military forco that can keep them in subjection ? It was not a aimplo insurrection that broke out when the National Guard was
disbanded , tho Constitution abolished , tho press gagged , . tho Parliament dispersed , tho capital menaced with artillery . Eighty-livo members of the Cortes flying to Saragossa , hold there ft solemn session , and pronounced against the traitor who had enslaved tho Quismn , and
converted her into the . aceamplice in a public crime . This miserable creature , who scarcely possesses the attributes of a woman , has been the scandal of the European monarchies ever since the fall of her priestridden predecessor . Hissod in the Opera by her own subjects , treated as a child by her ministers , degraded , with her husband , in the sight of the whole population , she has passed through every stage of infamy , and is now a fitting mistress for the coarse and brutal soldier who has
prospered by imitating Louis ^ Napoleon- at Madrid . But the bame is not attributable to her or to G'DomsrEiiii alone . In a country possessed of a constitution , a coup d'etat is impossible unless through the connivance of some , and the stupidity and cowardice of others . Of the army and of the national guard we need not speak . A standing army has no morality . And the national guard had gradually abdicated its functions by
neglecting them , and allowed itself , in dreamy indifference , to be disarmed . But the members of the Cortez knew , or might have known , that a plot was in preparation . They had heard what was said by public rumour . They had been warned of the councils that are said to have been held in the Tuileries . They understood the character of O'Donnel , & . Then how was it that they were surprised and were overwhelmed by a coup d ' etat-when they expected only a change of ministers ?
How was it that the National Assembly in Paris was surprised , and that , in spite of suspicion and fear , Louis Napoieok became , in one night , dictator of France ? The truth is , that few nations have as yet invented safeguards against the perfidy of their rulers . England , we suppose , possesses such safeguards , though it would he unwise to trust to self-acting securities were a Marshal O'Donkell to rear his head among us . —
The story of the Spanish affair is so simple that it is scarcely dramatic . Insurrections had been forced in various provinces , in Castile especially , by the agents of O'DonnEi / l . These were made a pretext for keeping the troops under arms , and the Minister of the Interior was commissioned to inquire into the origin of the outbreaks . He had been Minister of the Interior long enough to be able to detect , immediately , the sources of trouble , but not long enough to dissimulate . Affirming , therefore , that the reactionary party , headed by O'Donne : li ,, was at the bottom of such outbreaks as that of
Palencia , he laid his views before a Cabinet Council , and advised that some check should bo put upon the Carlist and Moderado conspiracy . This advice was met by a counterproposition , to the effect that he should resign his portfolio—a proposition which at once separated O'DoNNELii from the rest of the Government . This he had probably foreseen , for , pretending to appeal to the Queen ,
lie went to the palace , after some altercation , and gave in his resignation , with that of his colleagues . Being immediately reappointed alone , ho was master of the situation ; Madrid was awod by a display of military power , and , to complete his mimicry of the Napoleonic coup d'etat , O'DoNNELii decreed that the Ladrones , or Isles of Thiovos , in the Indian Archipelago , should bo a place of deportation for political o / Toudors .
Tho French Gfovemmonfc has not concealed its ill-will towards tho Spanish constitution ^ alists , has blamed tho licence of tho Spanish press , has more than once alluded indirectly to tho feebleness of tho Cabinot of Madrid , and to tho confused state of tho provinces . It supplied , by anticipation , arguments to justify O'DoNNEiiL . But where will tho noxt coup iV 6 tat take place—in Belgium , or iu Sardinia ? "Would
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 2, 1856, page 11, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_02081856/page/11/
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