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Constitutional Government 
 in Spain 
 
 A Sketch 
 
 BY 
 
 J. L. M. CURRY, LL.D. 
 
 LATE MINISTER OF THE UNITED STATES IN SPAIN 
 
 tJNiVEKSITY 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 HARPER & BROTHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE 
 
 1889 
 
Jf^ 
 
 gin 
 .0^ 
 
 Copyright, 1889, by Harper & Brothers. 
 All rights retervtd. 
 
 /^6 /^f 
 
LOVINGLY 
 
 fi ©etrfcate Wb ILfttle Volume 
 
 TO 
 
 MARY WORTHAM THOMAS CURRY 
 
 On (he twenty-first anriiversary of our marriage. For 
 whatever I may have accomplished during this nearly quarter 
 of a century^ for any success ifi my mission at Madrid^ I am. 
 very largely indebted to her unwearied patience^ to her wise 
 and thoughtful helpfidness. 
 
PEEFACE. 
 
 A STUDY of Spain, her manners, politics, insti- 
 tutions, and people, was a necessary part of my 
 duties while residing in Madrid. What inter- 
 ested me may give some pleasure to such of my 
 countrymen as may honor this little book with 
 a perusal. American writers have done much 
 to familiarize intelligent persons with the ro- 
 mance, the history, the literature, the art, the 
 scenery of S2)ain. I have sought rather to trace 
 the history of an idea, and to help the student 
 of the science of government. Only so much 
 of history has been given as was thought essen- 
 tial to a better understanding of the progress of 
 constitutional and free government. 
 
 J. L. M. C. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Evolution of Constitutional Government Slow. — Experi- 
 ments Tentative. — The Sketch helpful in Appreciating and 
 Guarding our Republic. — Comparative Politics. — A Little 
 History to link Transition Periods Page 1 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 The Constitution of 1812. — Some of its Features. — Struggle 
 for Existence. — The Constitution of 1837 6 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Accession of Isabella. — Troublous Condition of the Country. 
 —Constitution of 1845.- — Insurrections. — Flight of Isabel- 
 la. — Constitution of 1869. — Great Advance in Political 
 Ideas. — Religious Freedom , 17 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Choice of a King. — Candidates and the Elected. — Effect of 
 calling Leopold to the Throne. — Franco-Prussian War. — 
 Election of Amadeo. — Subsequent Abdication 31 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Difficulties of the Situation. — Establishment of the Republic. 
 — Recognition by the United States 47 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Presidents and Policy. — Overthrow of the Republic. — Rapid 
 Changes 58 
 
viii Contents, 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Causes of the Fall. — Account of the Presidents. — Abrupt 
 Transition.— The Army.— False Hopes. — Madrid.. Pa^e 66 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Pronunciamento for Alfonso 84 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Constitution of 1876. — Freedom of Worship in Spain 88 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Cabinet Government 96 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Progress of Liberal Institutions in Spain. — Platform of Lib- 
 eral and Conservative Parties 100 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Policy of the Republican Party 114 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Reforms Needed. — Hope for the Future 127 
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 Sketches of Fernando, Leopold, Duke of Montpensier, and 
 Amadeo 135 
 
 APPENDIX B. 
 
 Sketches of Christina, Isabel, Alfonso XII., the Infantas, the 
 Queen-regent, and Alfonso XIII 150 
 
 APPENDIX C. 
 Present Aspect of Spain 170 
 
 APPENDIX D. 
 
 The Acquisition of Florida 186 
 
UNITEKSITY 
 A SKETCH 
 
 OF 
 
 CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 AND OF 
 
 THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Evolution of Constitutional Government Slow. — Experi- 
 ments Tentative. — The Sketch helpful in Appreciating and 
 Guarding our Republic. — Comparative Politics. — A Little 
 History to link Transition Periods. 
 
 In this sketch, Constitution is not used in 
 a vague or general sense, but as embodying, 
 in written form or exact definition, the or- 
 ganic law of the State as contradistinguished 
 from prescription, statutes, or royal decrees. 
 
 The history of the establishment and 
 
 growth of a constitutional government is 
 
 not the recital of a naked abstraction, but 
 
 an account of human progress with the fa- 
 
 1 
 
2 A Sketch of Constitutional Government 
 
 voring or hindering motives which spring 
 from the nobler or the meaner nature of 
 man. Such a government is no sudden cre- 
 ation nor easy achievement. It costs experi- 
 ments, failures, sacrifices, revolutions, wars. 
 The people fail to realize how reluctantly 
 privilege relaxes its grasp, or traditional 
 wrongs and usurpations yield to the de- 
 mands for liberty, equality, and fraternity. 
 The excesses of the French Revolution, so 
 commonly used to point censures of popular 
 rule, had their occasion in the violence of 
 popular passion, but their cause was in the 
 tyrannies and corruptions of government and 
 aristocracy and Church. The most harmful 
 and indefensible of all usurpations, a State 
 religion, contests every inch in the struggle 
 for freedom and conscience, and rallies and 
 conquers even when the victory seemed to 
 have been won by the Opposition. A debate 
 in the House of Commons in 1886 on dis- 
 establishment in Wales, conducted with zeal 
 and ability, presented the singular spectacle 
 of an entire ignoring of the real question. 
 The unanswerable argument, as drawn from 
 the teachings of Christ, from inalienable nat- 
 ural right, from freedom of worship, from 
 
in Spain and of the Republic. 3 
 
 individuality of religious duties, from the 
 illegitimacy and tyranny of governmental 
 interference with what pertains exclusively 
 to personal judgment, was npt enforced and i y^ 
 was scarcely alluded to. So in Spain the bat- 
 tle for constitutional government has been 
 waged for eighty years in the face of the 
 most formidable odds and the most persist- 
 ent and virulent antagonism^ In this period 
 there has been a litter of constitutions : that { 
 of the Cortes of Cadiz of 1812 ; that of Chris- 
 tina of 1836 ; that of Isabel of 1837 ; an- , 
 other of Isabel of 1845; that of Prim and \ 
 others in 1869 ; that of 1873, and finally that | 
 of 1876. New constitutions have superseded ) 
 the older, to be in turn disregarded or over- [ 
 thrown by the favorite of the hour. It has 
 been too often true that a body without ' 
 delegated authority therefor has made a 
 constitution which has been suspended or 
 violated at an early day, and the govern- 
 ment has been arbitrarily administered in 
 utter disregard of grants and limitations. 
 The history of these tentative and ephem- 
 eral constitutions, superficially considered, 
 is adapted to provoke ridicule, but a closer 
 examination will discover an undercurrent . 
 
4 A Sketch of Constitutional Government 
 
 \ moving onward, with many eddies and ob- 
 structions, towards a freer government and 
 a better definition and a more stable guar- 
 
 • anty of popular rights. A sketch of some 
 of the constitutions and of the Republic, 
 with some details connected with their gen- 
 esis and workings, may serve to make us 
 more charitable towards those who, in the 
 face of almost insurmountable obstacles, have 
 been striving to imitate our example and 
 secure for their unhappy country the rights 
 and liberties w^hich have made ours so great 
 
 i and prosperous. 
 
 L, If history be philosophy teaching by ex- 
 ample, an acquaintance with the experience 
 of fellow-men, closely allied to us by many 
 ties, in their oft-baffled struggles to throw 
 off oppression and attain national and per- 
 sonal freedom, should awaken within us 
 deeper gratitude for what we enjoy and 
 more constant vigilance against the ever-re- 
 curring tendencies to injustice and wrong. 
 For the elucidation of constitutional and 
 political progress it has been found neces- 
 sary to give the contemporaneous history. 
 Perhaps too much has been given, but it has 
 not been easy to resist the temptation to give 
 
171 Spain and of the Republic. 5 
 
 more when one is writing of a country where 
 truth outruns fiction. The history of a peo- 
 ple and the government of a people are too 
 inseparably allied to be understood apart. 
 Stubb's '^ Select Charters," illustrating both 
 English and American constitutional history, 
 has aided students in the study of compara- 
 tive constitutions. What Spain has done in 
 civil polity in this century is valuable in it- 
 self, and relatively as showing development 
 in government and throwing light on politi- 
 cal science. Historical facts are introduced, 
 therefore, to make the discussions more real 
 and concrete. One wishes to see how peo- 
 ple have grown, how things have been 
 brought about, and what forces, at different 
 periods in the same country, have been suc- 
 cessful in the struggle for personal and con- 
 stitutional liberty. 
 
6 A Sketch of Constitutional Government 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Constitution of 1812.- 
 
 for Existence. — The Constitution of 1837. 
 
 The Peninsular wars, growing out of the 
 restless ambition of Napoleon and the weak- 
 ness of Charles IV., threw Spain into anar- 
 chy. Charles abdicated and abandoned the 
 country. Ferdinand VII. was called to the 
 throne in 1808, the same year in which Jo- 
 seph Bonaparte,^ as a part of the policy to 
 
 * Dr. Lieber, who knew and corresponded with Joseph Bo- 
 naparte when he lived at Bordentown, New Jersey, says he 
 was an affable and lovable man, kind and gentle, and fond of 
 relating occurrences connected with his checkered life. In 
 the Life and Letters of Lieber is published a letter of the ex- 
 king, July 1, 1829, giving an ingenious defence of Napoleon- 
 ism. As a justification of his brother's singular method of 
 securing "constitutionalism" and "universal equality," Jo- 
 seph wrote : "The English Cabinet, in rekindling the war, 
 made the continuance of this despotism a necessity, for Napo- 
 leon was forced to use every means of reconciling the gov- 
 ernments of Continental Europe with France. Everything 
 that Napoleon did — his estabhshraent of an unfeudal nobility, 
 his family relations, his Legion of Honor, his new kingdoms — 
 everything was forced upon him. The English obliged him 
 
in Spain and of the Republic. 7 
 
 create a Napoleonic dynasty, was proclaimed 
 king. Overawed and deceived by Napoleon, 
 Ferdinand also soon deserted Spain. By 
 these compulsory abdications, extorted at 
 Bayonne, Spain was left without legitimate 
 authority. Local and general juntas were 
 irregularly appointed, but they failed to com- 
 mand the confidence of the Spaniards or se- 
 cure the advantage of union. To redress 
 grievances and provide for the public de- 
 fence, a Cortes was summoned and met Sep- 
 tember, 1810, at Cadiz, almost the only town 
 in the territory unoccupied by foreign sol-, 
 diers. Its composition was very popular, but 
 it was not a revolutionary body. The usual 
 civil power having been dispersed or destroy- 
 ed by conquest, the Cortes was convened to 
 give a regular government and mamtain na- 
 tional independence. As a permanent power 
 of nationality, it undertook the public de- 
 fence, continued the war against the French, 
 made provision for the absence of the execu- 
 tive head, took away the prerogatives of the 
 Crown, and converted absolutism into a con- 
 to do everything that he did by compelling him to put himself 
 fnto apparent harmony with the nations he had conquered and 
 wished to secure ajrainst the fascinations of Endand." 
 
8 A /Sketch of Constitutional Government 
 
 stitutional government. In 1812 this extraor- 
 dinary Cortes promulgated a constitution, 
 which was received as the fundamental law 
 wherever the French arms did not stifle the 
 public will. It was the first of a series in the 
 long struggle to overthrow kingly misrule, 
 and to define the rights and liberties of the 
 Spanish people. The bold and hazardous 
 step, a justifiable protest against Bourbon- 
 ism, was in imitation of American example. 
 It declares that " the sovereignty resides es- 
 sentially in the nation ; and for the same rea- 
 son, the right of establishing the fundament- 
 al laws belongs exclusively to the nation." 
 Misled by the sophisms which misled Frank- 
 lin, and which control the opinions of some 
 Spanish and English and French radicals of 
 the present day, who advocate the effacement 
 of a second body, the makers of the Constitu- 
 tion provided for only one legislative assem- 
 bly. Castelar, in 1873, said of the instrument 
 that " it formed the democratic monarchy ;" 
 in other words, it subordinated the throne to 
 the law, and partially reasserted the truth 
 embodied in our Declaration of Indepen- 
 dence, that governments derive their just 
 powers from the consent of the governed. 
 
((university yj 
 in Spain and of the J^epuhlie, 9 
 
 This constitution was overthrown by Ferdi- 
 nand at his restoration in 1814. It was 
 tiirust aside by royal usurpation, backed by 
 military force, without a pretext of legal or 
 civil forms. In 1820 it was restored by the 
 army assembled at Cadiz to be embarked 
 against the revolted American colonies. The 
 j>eople sustained the action of the soldiers, 
 and the King even gave his assent. 
 
 This first essay at formulating an organic 
 law, and introducing the popular will as a 
 substantive factor in the government of 
 Spain, deserves a fuller consideration. The 
 articles of the Constitution are distributed 
 under ten heads, treating of the nation, the 
 territory, the people, the King, religion, the 
 tribunals of justice, the interior government 
 of towns and provinces, the taxes, public in- 
 struction, the army, etc. The article on the 
 organization and attributes of the Cortes de- 
 clares that the sovereignty resides essentially 
 in the nation, and to it belongs exclusively 
 the right to establish fundamental laws, and 
 to adopt the form of government which may 
 be most expedient. The functions of execu- 
 tive power were distributed into seven de- 
 partments or ministries, and this was the 
 
10 A Sketch of Constitutional Gover^iment 
 
 origin of parliamentary government in Spain ; 
 but a further account will be given more con- 
 veniently when the Constitution of 1876 is/ 
 considered. The judicial department was de- 
 fined and its duties mapped out. The gov- 
 ernment of the towns was intrusted to the 
 inhabitants, and that of the provinces to pro- 
 vincial deputations. The deputies exercising 
 this local control are chosen for four years 
 under certain restrictions, and are presided 
 •over by the Governor. This officer, while^ 
 looking after the interests of the province, 
 represents at the same time the views of the 
 Government at ]\[adrid which appoints him, 
 and in all elections uses his influence openly 
 and without much scruple in behalf of the 
 ministerial candidates. The deputation is 
 the organ of the wishes and needs of the 
 province, and its sphere of duties embraces 
 moral and material interests, the construc- 
 tion of public works, the establishment of 
 schools, charitable institutions, etc. The Con- 
 stitution enunciated general principles in ref- 
 erence to the right of petition and freedom 
 of the press, and declared all taxes illegal un- 
 less ordered by the Cortes. To prevent en- 
 croachments during the vacation, the action 
 
^V Spain and of the Republic, 11 
 
 of the executive power was to be called in 
 question and rigidly examined at the begin- 
 ning of each session. 
 
 Provision was made for the introduction 
 of trial by jury in case it should be deemed 
 advisable; but this feature of English and 
 American jurisprudence, although partially 
 recognized in the Constitution of 1837, has 
 not yet been incorporated into Spanish law. 
 The Constitution had a preliminary discourse, 
 and was marred by minute details and other 
 defects. It was framed under most adverse 
 circumstances. Ferdinand was in captivity. 
 Contemporaneous with this effort for polit- 
 ical regeneration was the terrible struggle 
 for national independence and national ex- 
 istence. The patriotism, sagacity, ability, and 
 courage of the Constitutionalist leaders were 
 confronted by centuries of ignorance, abso- 
 lutism, and repression of thought. They de- 
 serve the gratitude of Spain and the homage 
 of all lovers of constitutional government. 
 The battle for freedom is often baffled. Fer- 
 dinand, "although he had committed him- 
 self to the Constitution by every variety of 
 gratuitous and supererogatory perjury," ea- 
 gerly violated his oaths, and used all his 
 
12 A Sketch of Constitutional Goverriment 
 
 power and influence to crush the spirit of 
 the people. 
 
 At the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle, Octo- 
 ber, 1818, at which Austria, Eussia, Great 
 Britain, France, and Spain were represented, 
 projects were entertained of engaging the 
 European AUiance in actual military opera- 
 tions against the South Americans, and a 
 plan for restoring to Spanish authority the 
 Colonies, warring for their independence, was 
 matured ; but it failed because Great Britain 
 refused to accede to the condition of employ- 
 ing force for its accomplishment. '' The 
 Powers," as the sovereigns called themselves 
 in assuming the guardianship of Europe, 
 treated the restoration of the Spanish Con- 
 stitution as a crime demanding their inter- 
 vention, and, as Nesselrode declared, '" the 
 example of an expiatory act to the people 
 of the two hemispheres," notwithstanding 
 Eussia, by solemn treaty, had previously ac- 
 knowledged " the legitimacy of the general 
 and extraordinary assembly of the Cortes 
 held at Cadiz, as well as the Constitution 
 ^vhich they have decreed and sanctioned." 
 Assembled at Troppau in 1820, these sover- 
 eigns included the Spanish revolution among 
 
in Spain and of the Republic, 13 
 
 the objects of their condemnation, although 
 an eminent English contemporary statesman 
 said that there never was an extensive polit- 
 ical change attended with less violence or 
 bloodshed. This Holy Alliance, professing 
 to act in the name and under the protection 
 of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, asserted its 
 right to interfere in every case where new 
 institutions were established not consistent 
 with " the monarchical principle, which rec- 
 ognizes no institution as legitimate that does 
 not flow spontaneously from the monarch." 
 This was tantamount to an alliance in de- 
 fence of the hereditary houses of Europe, and 
 against the right of a people to the best pos- 
 sible administration of their affairs. In 1822, 
 with the express sanction and approbation 
 of the other States, and in furtherance and 
 execution of the system which the potentates 
 at Troppau had jointly announced as the 
 rule of their conduct, and to put a stop to 
 what they termed "moral contagion," and 
 to arrest the demoralizing influence of "a 
 national assembly Avhich ventured to think 
 for itself and consult the interests of its coun- 
 try," France invaded Spain, and by armed 
 intervention put down the Constitution of 
 
14 A Sketch of Constitutional Governmeyit 
 
 1812.^ This forcible repression at the bid- 
 ding of the Holy Alliance, invited by Ferdi- 
 nand and the Spanish aristocracy, illustrated 
 the adage of the return of curses. Canning's 
 South American policy was England's re- 
 sponse to this French invasion. He rested 
 his recognition of the South American re- 
 publics on the unjustifiable pretensions of 
 Spain and the selfish ingratitude of her rulers. 
 When France, by virtue of the decree of 
 the Duke of Angouleme, signed at Andujar 
 August 8, 1823, assumed superiority over all 
 Spanish authorities, and threw an army of 
 one hundred thousand men into the country 
 to control her domestic politics and establish 
 the Bourbon king, England sought to check- 
 mate the movement by recognizing the inde- 
 pendence of Mexico, Columbia, and Buenos 
 Ayres ; and Canning, in language which has 
 become classic in diplomacy, uttered the 
 boast, " I called the New World into exist- 
 ence to redress the balance of the Old." 
 
 With the death of Ferdinand, October 2, 
 1833, the traditional monarchy may be said 
 
 * Edinburgh Review^ vols, xxxviii. and xl. ; Circulars of 
 Allied Powers, 1820 and 1821 ; Annual Register, 1809; and 
 Scboell, 120, 543. 
 
in Spain and of the EepiihUc. 15 
 
 to have fallen. His widow, Christina, became 
 regent, and, to save the throne for her daugh- 
 ter, Isabel II., against the claims and machi- 
 nations of Don Carlos and the reactionary 
 politicians, she reluctantly allied herself with 
 the Liberal party. As the result of this asso- 
 ciation, a kind of codification by a royal stat- 
 ute was made, which is often cited as a con- 
 stitution; but its creation of a chamber of 
 aristocratic peers and a chamber of procura- 
 dores^ to be selected mainly by the corpora- 
 tions of cities and towns, was regarded as a 
 mockery of representation, furnishing no ad- 
 equate security against misrule and oppres- 
 sion. Mariana, the historian, contemptuous- 
 ly dismisses it : " No limit of sovereign pow- 
 er is sought in it, no guaranty of individu- 
 al liberty, nothing relative to the judicial 
 order. " 
 
 In 1836 the soldiers compelled Christina to 
 sign a paper recognizing the Constitution of 
 1812, and she afterwards proclaimed it, giv- 
 ing to Spaniards an additional reason for 
 heeding the injunction not to put trust in 
 princes. This Avas but preliminary to a meet- 
 ing of the Constituent Cortes in 1837, which 
 adopted another organic law that had the 
 
16 A Sketch of Constitutional Goveimment 
 
 prospect of permanency in the fact that it 
 had the sanction of the Moderados and Pro^ 
 gresistas, the two divisions of the Liberal 
 party. 
 
 The Constitution of 1837 was less demo- 
 cratic than its predecessor, and therefore, in 
 the opinion of the nobility, better adapted 
 to the capabilities of the people and the in- 
 terests of the nation. It did not depart from 
 the principle that the people Avere the ulti- 
 mate source of all political power, and it re- 
 tained the responsibility of the Ministry. 
 It differed from the Constitution of 1812 in 
 having two co-legislative bodies of senators 
 and deputies, the members of each chamber 
 having a different mode of selection or con- 
 stituency, thus preserving the advantage of 
 concurrence and of a check on hasty or un- 
 wise legislation. Suffrage was restricted, 
 and in the Crown was lodged an absolute 
 veto. 
 
in Spain and of the Republic. 17 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Accession of Isabella. — Troublous Condition of the Country. 
 — Constitution of 1845. — Insurrections. — Flight of Isabel- 
 la. — Constitution of 1869. — Great Advance in Political 
 Ideas. — Religious Freedom. 
 
 On the death of Ferdinand, and during 
 the minority of Isabella II., the wicked Chris- 
 tina became regent. In consequence of a 
 popular outbreak, she renounced, in 1840, the 
 regency, and retired to France. At that 
 time the Government was Liberal, drawing 
 its power in part from the popular will, but 
 chiefly from the military influence of its 
 head. General Espartero, in whose honor as 
 a pacificator an equestrian statue was erect- 
 ed, in 1887, in Madrid. The question of a 
 regent excited much discussion and dissen- 
 sion, whether there should be one or three, 
 and who should be chosen. The Cortes, in 
 joint meeting in the Hall of the Senate, by a 
 vote of 153 to 136 decided on a single re- 
 gent, and by ballot elected Espartero, giving 
 him 179 votes. On May 10th he took the 
 2 
 
18 ^1 Sketch of Constitutional Government 
 
 prescribed oaths and presented himself be- 
 fore the Queen at the palace. It has been 
 noted as the first instance of the kind in 
 a monarchical government that when the 
 Queen in person, in December, opened the 
 Cortes, the regent read, in her name, a 
 speech which departed from the custom of 
 stating only vague generalities. Years of 
 civil war were necessary to decide the suc- 
 cession between Don Carlos, the brother, 
 and Isabel, the daughter, of Ferdinand. The 
 unhappy and disastrous reign of the Queen 
 was a poor compensation for all it cost to 
 seat her upon the throne. The memory of 
 that dreadful conflict and the vicissitudes 
 through which the country passed seem to 
 justify the remark made in 1842 by Wash- 
 ington Irving, our Minister, that '*• Spain is a 
 country accustomed to violent remedies, and 
 seems now and tlien to require a political 
 Sangrado." The turbulent population was 
 instigated to frequent outbreaks and insur- 
 rections. The Government, like some mys- 
 terious persons in every community, had an 
 inscrutable secret of subsisting without visi- 
 ble means, for resources Avere anticipated, 
 and the treasury was habitually empty. The 
 
in Spain and of the EepuUic. 19 
 
 licentiousness of the press had no bounds. 
 Patriotic feehng was lost in the violence of 
 factions. Sedition was fed by the lavish dis- 
 tribution of money. An attempt at the ab- 
 duction of the Queen came nigh being suc- 
 cessful. Ministries were fickle and fleeting. 
 The capital was besieged. A revolutionary 
 government was established. Espartero fled, 
 and the idol became an exile. On JSTovem- 
 ber 8, 1843, the Queen at thirteen was de- 
 clared of age, and was sworn in as reign- 
 ing sovereign, notwithstanding the Constitu- 
 tion fixed fourteen years as the term of the 
 royal majority. The doubtful expedient 
 brought no calm to the perturbed country. 
 Discord soon appeared in the palace and 
 spread into the streets. Eejoicings at the 
 accession were soon followed by factious 
 clamors and angry tumults, and by conspir- 
 acies to bring a constitutional monarchy into 
 disrepute, and restore absolutism. The Queen 
 became an object of party odium, was charged 
 with deceit and falsehood, and with being a 
 mere manikin in the hands of designing 
 courtiers. 
 
 These complications and disorders, and 
 others of equal seriousness, were not favor- 
 
20 A Sketch of Constitutional Government 
 
 able to improved government, but the Cor- 
 tes, under the influence of Narvaez, and shel- 
 tered by the principle of the omnipotence of 
 Parliament, and without special authoriza- 
 tion, undertook to reform the Constitution 
 of 1837. At the close of the Cortes, on May 
 22, 1845, the Queen, in person, promulgated 
 the reformed constitution. "Washington Irv- 
 ing makes this comment : " Scoffed at by 
 Absolutists and Progresistas, it is an i^stru- 
 ment which gives satisfaction to no one, for 
 its very devisers consider it a compromise 
 between their consciences and interests, with 
 which they vainly hope to beguile the peo- 
 ple. I have forborne of late to attempt to 
 trace the tortuous course of Spanish politics, 
 where everything is perplexed with mystery 
 and intrigue, where even those in power who 
 have good intentions find themselves over- 
 reached or undermined by adverse influ- 
 ences." A very able American lawyer has 
 remarked of this instrument that it did not 
 surround the exercise of absolute dominion 
 by the powers that be with any insurmount- 
 able barriers. To almost every right secured 
 to the citizen there is attached a significant 
 clause, which has the real efi*ect of setting 
 
in Spain and of the Repuhlic. 21 
 
 the whole matter at sea. For instance, a 
 Spaniard may print and publish his ideas 
 freely, hut with subjection to the laws. So as 
 to right of petition, asylum of domicile, per- 
 sonal liberty, etc. The protection is depend- 
 ent on the temper of the law-making de- 
 partment. By this constitution, which has 
 no jury clause, as had those of 1812 and 
 1837, the senators were nominated by the 
 Crown for life, and were to be taken from 
 certain functionaries or grandees enjoying 
 a fixed income from land or other stable 
 sources. In 1857 it was provided that the 
 dignity of senators should be hereditary in 
 the families of grandees, upon condition of 
 the requisite income ; and to secure this prop- 
 erty qualification the entail of estates was 
 permitted. In 1864 a new ministry succeeded 
 in carrying a law by which, in principle, the 
 hereditary right of grandees to have, under 
 certain conditions, a seat in the Senate was 
 abolished, and thus re-established, in this par- 
 ticular, the Constitution of 1845. 
 
 In January, 1866, occurred an insurrection 
 headed by General Prim, a leading officer of 
 the army, which, failing, caused his tempo- 
 rary exile. In June there originated in the 
 
22 A Sketch of Constitutional Government 
 
 barrack of San Gil, a few hundred yards 
 from the palace, a more serious revolt, which 
 extended over a great part of Madrid. In 
 October of the same year the Ministry, in a 
 public proclamation, alleged as a justifica- 
 tion for an autocratic exercise of power, that 
 " revolutionary tendencies constituted an im- 
 posing organism with dangerous pretensions ; 
 that a rebellion adverse to the fundamental 
 institutions of the country and the dynasty 
 of Isabella, such as had never been seen in 
 Spain, had obtained possession of important 
 municipalities, and triumphed in the deputa- 
 tions from all the provinces," and that it was 
 necessary to dissolve the municipalities and 
 renew the provincial deputations. As thes^ 
 "reforms" could not be effected without 
 " restoring the systematic fitness of different 
 points of law," the Government, by a decree 
 " under the royal rubric," abrogated the laws 
 on the organization and administration of 
 the municipalities and the provinces " until 
 the approbation of the Cortes should be ob- 
 tained." By this arbitrary assumption Spain 
 was under as complete a despotism as ex- 
 isted in the neighboring empire of Morocco. 
 The dissatisfaction at such maladministra- 
 
in Spain and of the Republic, 23 
 
 tion, such abuses in the government, and the 
 thinly disguised immoralities of the Queen, 
 soon found expression in audible murmurs 
 and severe criticism. These verbal protests 
 were followed by machinations for the over- 
 throw or control of a sovereign subject to 
 ambitious priests and a venal coterie. Two 
 exiles, Marshal Serrano and Marshal Prim, 
 united with Admiral Topete at Cadiz, and 
 began a revolution which soon had the sym- 
 pathy and co-operation of a large part of the 
 army and the navy. A provisional revolu- 
 tionary junta of forty-one persons — a few 
 others, notably Sagasta and Martos, were 
 afterwards added — was appointed, which 
 signed decrees and orders having the force 
 and effect of laws. In less than a month 
 Francisco Serrano was authorized by the 
 junta to form a temporary ministry to rule 
 the country until the Cortes should meet. 
 
 The defeat of the royal troops near Alco- 
 lea prevented the return of Isabella to Ma- 
 drid, and on September 30, 1868, she fled 
 across the border into France. Driven from 
 power and exiled, almost without resistance, 
 remonstrance, or regret, the fall of the Bour- 
 bons finds its only parallel in Spanish his- 
 
24 A Sketch of Co7istUutional Goveriiment 
 
 tory in the suddenness and indijfference with 
 which the subsequent dynasty of Amadeo 
 disappeared. With the flight of the Queen 
 vanished for a time the parliamentary mon- 
 archy, and, despite her impotent proclama- 
 tions from France, and offers of amnesty, a 
 provisional government was at once estab- 
 lished. 
 
 A decree of the Government to take in- 
 ventories of all the libraries, collections of 
 manuscripts, works of art, or objects of his- 
 torical value — a measure necessary to make 
 useful and available these treasures, and to 
 prevent spoliation and transfer — was peace- 
 fully executed except at Burgos. Here, un- 
 der instigation of the priests and aided by 
 them, a mob assembled, broke down the doors 
 of the cathedral, assassinated the Governor^ 
 w^ounded the chief of police, and expelled 
 those engaged in making the required ex- 
 amination and inventory. This outbreak, 
 attributed to a clerical and Carlist conspir- 
 acy, awakened opposition and horror. A 
 strong pressure was created for the imme- 
 diate establishment of freedom of w^orship. 
 The atrocious butchery at Burgos aroused 
 the inhabitants of the capital. The Nuncio 
 
in Spain a7id of the JRepublic, 25 
 
 was so imperilled by tlie excited populace 
 that the diplomatic corps interposed for the 
 safety and protection of their colleague. 
 Marshal Serrano quieted the angry multi- 
 tude gathered at his residence by saying that 
 the Government had prepared the project of 
 a constitution to be submitted to the Con- 
 stitutional Assembly, one of whose first arti- 
 cles was liberty of worship. 
 
 On February 12, 1869, the Constitutional 
 Cortes, convoked by the Provisional Govern- 
 ment, assembled with unusual pomp and cer- 
 emony and with striking demonstrations of 
 popular enthusiasm.* The Kepublican ele- 
 ment had many and strong supporters. Viva 
 la lie-puhUca! was their deafening shout. 
 Viva la Monarquia! was the response of 
 the Opposition. General Serrano, Duke de 
 la Torre, said only one viva should be given, 
 Viva the Sovereignty of the People, 
 
 * On the organization of the Cortes Constituyentes, Gen- 
 eral Serrano resigned his power into their hands, but the 
 Cortes passed a vote of thanks, and intrusted him with the 
 formation of a new ministry. He continued the cabinet 
 which four months before he had called around him at the 
 instance of the junta. In it were Prim, Figuerola, Sagasta, 
 Topete, and Zorrilla. 
 
26 A Sketch of Co7istitutional Government 
 
 The dethroned queen from France asserted 
 her royal rights, but political parties were 
 numerous. The Eepublicans, among whom 
 the eloquent Castelar was influential, were a 
 compact phalanx, and to them the indepen- 
 dent Progresistas, led by General Prim, made 
 overtures which were accepted. On Sunday, 
 June 5, 1869, the Constitution was promul- 
 gated. The whole city came out in gala 
 dress and gave itself up to hilarity and fes- 
 tivity. The palace of the Congress was elab- 
 orately ornamented, and a platform extend- 
 ing the whole length of the building was 
 occupied by the diplomatic corps and other 
 distinguished people. The Constitution was 
 read to an immense concourse, estimated at 
 one hundred thousand, and the American 
 Minister, Hon. John P. Hale, said, " Every- 
 body seemed to rejoice at the coming of a 
 new order of things." While recognizing the 
 provinces and endowing them with impor- 
 tant functions, the Cortes rejected the plan 
 of a federal republic, and adhered to the 
 monarchical form of government as corre- 
 sponding with and a concession to Spanish 
 traditions, and as most likely to secure a 
 larger measure of the liberal principles of 
 
in Spain and of the Republic. 27 
 
 the revolution. The Constitution, the lemti- 
 mate outgrowth of that popular uprisir^, 
 recognized the natural and inherent rights 
 of man, and established an elective mon- 
 archy. A monarchy harmonized with the 
 existing governments of Europe, and past 
 bitter experience had shown how readily and 
 effectively they would combine against any 
 political action which did not acknowledge 
 hereditary right and privileged classes as the 
 only proper basis of civil polity. The action 
 of the Holy Alliance at Troppau was a sig- 
 nificant and fearful claim of the right of the 
 European powers " to take a hostile attitude 
 in regard to those States in which the over- 
 throw of the Government might operate as 
 an example." Congress was chosen by uni- 
 versal suffrage. The provincial assemblies 
 and the municipal authorities were elected 
 by the people of their respective localities. 
 The ancient privileges of the aristocracy 
 were annulled, and the equality of all men 
 before the law was recognized. 
 
 The best test of the growth and establish- 
 ment of free and enlightened principles of 
 government is the freedom guaranteed to 
 worship and the abstinence of civil discrirai- 
 
28 A Sketch of Oo7istitutional Government 
 
 nation among forms of religious faith. In 
 1868, General Prim, replying to an inquiry 
 of H. Guedalla, Esq., a Hebrew, said, " I am 
 convinced that the triumph of the revolution 
 must bring about, without any restriction, 
 every religious liberty." The same person 
 having asked a formal authorization for the 
 Jews to enter Spain by means of the revoca- 
 tion of the edict of banishment of March 20, 
 1492, elicited from the Minister of Grace and 
 Justice a reply that the Provisional Govern- 
 ment was prepared to fulfil all the engage- 
 ments it had contracted respecting other 
 worship different from the Catholic. In 1869 
 Serrano wrote to Sir Moses Montefiore, the 
 distinguished Hebrew philanthropist, " This 
 government wishes to put on record once 
 more its unalterable determination that the 
 regenerating principle of liberty shall extend 
 its beneficial influence to that which is dear- 
 est and most sacred to the human conscience, 
 viz., to Eeligious Creeds." '' No disability 
 weighs in Spain upon the professors of any 
 creed whatsoever. This conduct faithfully 
 reflects the wishes of a country determined 
 to remain no longer stagnant in the midst of 
 the fruitful progress of Europe." 
 
in Spain and of the llepiiblic, 29 
 
 This great change in public opinion, tradi- 
 tions, and law was too much of an advance 
 in freedom not to meet with stubborn and 
 wicked resistance. Accordingly, the Clerical 
 party claimed the continued maintenance of 
 the Koman Catholic Church and the exclu- 
 sion of all other worship, but the country 
 had outgrown such intolerance. Mr. Hale, 
 with a large generalization from few facts, 
 exultingly wrote that Protestantism had 
 taken a firm hold, and that the Spanish 
 Protestant church in Madrid was crowded 
 every Sunday to overflowing. The Catholic 
 form of faith was retained in the organic law 
 as the religion of the State, but a larger lib- 
 erty of worship was secured to the people. 
 In Article XXI. the Catholic Apostolic Eo- 
 man religion was declared the State religion, 
 and the obligation to maintain its worship 
 and ministers was imposed. Foreigners were 
 granted toleration for public and private 
 worship under the limitations of the univer- 
 sal rules of morals and right, and Spaniards, 
 even, professing another than the Catholic 
 religion were to have the like toleration. 
 This progress is the more marked if we re- 
 member that Spain is the most intensely 
 
30 A Sketch of Constitutional Government 
 
 Catholic country in Europe ; that by the con- 
 cordat concluded with Pius IX. in 1851 the 
 Catholic religion was to be maintained as 
 " the exclusive religion of the realm in such 
 sort that the practice of all other worship 
 shall be forbidden and prevented," and that 
 she aligns herself slowly and reluctantly 
 with the modern ideas of soul liberty as 
 formulated in the American constitutions. 
 
 Spain quietly passed from the anomalous 
 condition of a provisional into a regular con- 
 stitutional government, the title of Provis- 
 ional Government having been changed to 
 that of Executive Power. In June a regen- 
 cy was established, and Serrano was chosen 
 by a vote of 193 to 45. From June 10, 1869, 
 the date of Prim's first cabinet, until Decem- 
 ber 27, 1870, when he was shot, he had four 
 separate ministries besides several changes of 
 individual ministers; and this instability is 
 characteristic of Spanish politics. In March, 
 1870, Sigismund Moret, the distinguished 
 orator and Liberal statesman, first appeared 
 in the cabinet, having the portfolio of the 
 Colonies. 
 
in Spam mid of the Republic, 31 
 
 y^ or„e ^""^^ 
 
 TJNIVEBSITY 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Choice of a King. — Candidates and the Elected. — Effect of 
 calling Leopold to the Throne. — Franco-Prussian War. — 
 Election of Amadeo. — Subsequent Abdication. 
 
 Two serious questions confronted the Gov- 
 ernment and the nation — (1) political, Who 
 shall be king ? and (2) financial, How shall 
 the exhausted treasury be replenished and 
 the ever-recurring deficit be met and pre- 
 vented? Expenditure and receipts would 
 not balance, and the sources of income Avere 
 deceptive. The difficulties and diversities of 
 opinion attending the choice of a king dis- 
 tracted the Monarchists, and gave increasing 
 vitality and efficiency to the Republican or- 
 ganization, notwithstanding the abdication 
 of the Queen in favor of her son, Alfonso. 
 In October " a federal republican insurrec- 
 tion " occurred at Valencia, and a large force 
 was needed to suppress it. In Tarrago- 
 na, Barcelona, Saragossa, Seville, and other 
 towns, there was a marked increase of demo- 
 cratic sentiment. To prevent the spread of 
 
32 A Sketch of Co7istitutional Gomrnment 
 
 this feeling, the provisions of the Constitu- 
 tion guaranteeing personal rights were sus- 
 pended, more than twenty journals were sup- 
 pressed, and the regular authorities in many 
 municipalities were dismissed. These sus- 
 pended provisions were afterwards restored, 
 but little was done towards adapting the old 
 laws to the new order. Many of the depu- 
 ties on the Government side of the chamber 
 held positions which prevented independence 
 in their legislative action, and the people 
 justly complained at their failure to realize 
 the advantages sought and expected from 
 the revolution. 
 
 The expediency of having a king being de- 
 termined on, it was thought necessary that 
 he should be a Eoman Catholic, and, under 
 the narrow worship of mere birth, that he 
 should be also of royal blood. Available per- 
 sons with these requisites were few, and thus 
 the field of selection was very limited. There 
 was not wanting much " electioneering " by 
 candidates or their adherents. The Spanish 
 succession had long been a source of interna- 
 tional strife ; and so the question of a sover- 
 eign agitated other countries besides Spain, 
 and the solicitude of Spanish statesmen to 
 
ill Spain and of the JRepiiblic. 33 
 
 find a proper solution of tliis problem had 
 irritation and perplexity from abroad. A 
 crown is such a glittering prize that it tempts 
 human ambition and cupidity. Maximilian 
 is a striking illustration of what men and 
 nations will venture for dynastic strengthen- 
 ing, for national interests, and for individual 
 aggrandizement. It was not strange that 
 other European nations, in the presence of 
 imminent Continental conflicts, should strive, 
 openly or furtively, to gain a willing ally 
 or preponderance of influence in the Penin- 
 sula. 
 
 For the vacant throne some Spaniards turn- 
 ed to the Duke of Montpensier ; some to the 
 Court of Portugal, and in default thereof to 
 the house of Savoy. The Portuguese search 
 originated in the somewhat vague but ever- 
 ardent aspiration for Iberian unity, the se- 
 cret desire of every Spanish statesman, and 
 had the active co-operation of some influen- 
 tial men w^ho solicited the assent and inter- 
 vention of INlapoleon. The negotiations with 
 Portugal were prosecuted not without diffi- 
 culty, but also not without some hope of suc- 
 cess. Ferdinand, however, declined the prof- 
 fered crown, and then, at the moment of 
 3 
 
34 A Sketch of Constitutional Government 
 
 greatest embarrassmeiit, the candidature of 
 Leopold, Prince of Hohenzollern, Avas pro- 
 posed. This was in pursuance of the desire 
 for Peninsular union, and was " a natural 
 consequence of King Ferdinand's refusal to 
 accept the crown of Spain." A distinguish- 
 ed Spaniard, a participant in the events, has 
 kindly furnished this explanation of the. ac- 
 tion of his government : " Prince Leopold 
 is married to the Infanta Antonia of Portu- 
 gal, sister of the present monarch, and for 
 this reason his candidacy responded to the 
 aspirations of the Liberal party for Iberian 
 union. It was initiated by the Duke of Sal- 
 danha, at that time in Paris, and in concert, 
 according to report, with the Princess Ma- 
 thilda, cousin of the Emperor. General Prim 
 adopted the suggestion with ardor, and sent 
 a Spanish diplomats, Senor Salazzar y Mazar- 
 redo, to Dusseldorf , the residence of the prince 
 and princess, with a letter offering the throne 
 to Prince Leopold. The prince accepted, and 
 his reply was brought to Madrid by Salazzar 
 on the last day of June. By a fatal coinci- 
 dence, it happened that General Prim, on the 
 day of the arrival, was hunting in the mount- 
 ains of Toledo. The former, satisfied with 
 
in Spain and of the Bejmhlic. 35 
 
 his mission, and believing its success as- 
 sured, prematurely read the letter which he 
 brought to various public men, among them 
 Messrs. Eivero and Zorrilla. * The result was 
 that when General Prim arrived that night 
 in Madrid everybody knew what had oc- 
 curred, and the secrecy indispensable to the 
 success of the negotiation was made impos- 
 sible." 
 
 It was the intention of General Prim, when 
 the acceptance had been once secured, to con- 
 fer with the Emperor Napoleon, whose ac- 
 quiescence he considered indispensable to the 
 establishing of the prince in Spain. His plan 
 was to have a conference in person with the 
 Emperor at Vichy, and he was preparing to 
 go to these baths as soon as he had received 
 the answer he was expecting. "The pub- 
 licity given to the candidacy not only de- 
 stroyed all this plan, but precipitated the 
 events which afterwards developed, and 
 which, being entirely public, need not be re- 
 ferred to. So impressed was General Prim 
 with the necessity of coming to an under- 
 standing with Napoleon in reference to the 
 candidacy for the Spanish throne, if the re- 
 ply of the Emperor had been negative the 
 
36 A Sketch of Constitutional Government 
 
 candidature would not have been known. If 
 the Emperor had assented, success was be- 
 yond a doubt." 
 
 " To what point the King of Prussia had 
 knowledge through his representative in 
 Madrid of the plans and intentions of Gen- 
 eral Prim, is a matter about which nothing 
 is yet known certainly. "What is beyond a 
 doubt in the minds of all those who were at 
 the time acquainted with the negotiation is 
 that it was not fostered by the King of Prus- 
 sia, nor did Bismarck believe that it could be 
 the origin or occasion of a conflict. After 
 war had been declared Napoleon informed 
 Prim that he knew the loyalty of his con- 
 duct, and did not hold him responsible for 
 what had occurred." 
 
 Early in July, 1870 (the 3d), General Prim 
 announced to the French ambassador the 
 purpose of the Council of Ministers to offer 
 the crown to Leopold. In fact, as has been 
 stated, the offer by a deputation and its ac- 
 ceptance had preceded the annunciation, and 
 the choice and the haste were to defeat the 
 schemes of Montpensier. Prim said to the 
 ambassador that he should have needed to 
 relax his hand only a little and Montpensier 
 
in Spain and of the Republic, 37 
 
 would have been chosen. The negotiation 
 and agreement, when they transpired, were 
 regarded by other Powers as an unwise dis- 
 turbance of the European equilibrium. The 
 Times characterized the election as a vulgar 
 and impudent coup-d/ etat France was in- 
 dignant, and looked upon it as a dynastic 
 intrigue, and an adroit and Machiavelian 
 scheme on the part of Bismarck to put 
 her between two fires. To place on the 
 Spanish throne a member of the reigning 
 house of Prussia and reunite two thrones in 
 the same dynasty, Duke de Gramont said, 
 was " au profit de la Prusse, un point d'appui 
 contre la France." In the case of war there 
 would be no security for the frontier of the 
 Pyrenees if a Prussian prince occupied the 
 throne of Spain, and an army to guard it 
 would be necessary. A distinguished Span- 
 iard, who knew Eugenie well before her mar- 
 riage, and preserved relations of close friend- 
 ship with her when she became empress, says 
 that she was much excited over the intelli- 
 gence, and declared that his acceptance would 
 be followed by a war with Prussia, and that 
 Spain would suffer sorely from the conflict. 
 France, finding herself in the presence of an 
 
38 A Sketch of Constitutional Government 
 
 act of political aggression, declared that she 
 would never consent to see a Prussian prince 
 seated on the throne of Spain, and explana- 
 tions were demanded from the Berlin Cab- 
 inet. Bismarck alleged that the King of 
 Prussia gave his consent to the acceptance 
 of the croAvn by the prince only as the head 
 of the HohenzoUern family, and not as an 
 act of the Government. This was a lame 
 explanation, and an effort was made through 
 Benedetti, the French Minister, to induce 
 King "William to prevent Leopold's accept- 
 ance. Acting under the secret suggestion of 
 the King, the father of Leopold, in a letter 
 to the Spanish ambassador, withdrew the 
 name of his son, as the election, under the 
 circumstances, would not have the sincerity 
 and spontaneity on which Leopold counted 
 when he accepted the candidature. This 
 note passing between Spain and the prince 
 had not one word of France or of Prussia ; 
 and, as Gramont, the French Minister for 
 Foreign Affairs, says in his " La France et 
 la Prusse," far from settling affairs, com- 
 plicated them, on the contrary, in the 
 gravest manner. Explanations and guar- 
 antees for the future were demanded and 
 
in Spam and of the Republic, 39 
 
 refused, and thus began the Franco-Prussian 
 war.^ 
 
 As a result of this terrible collision, itself 
 ''the resultant of two nearly equal forces 
 emanating from the Tuileries and the Vati- 
 can," the Napoleonic dynasty collapsed, the 
 Papal temporal jurisdiction, no longer sup- 
 ported by French bayonets, disappeared, Ita- 
 ly was unified and regenerated, the German 
 States were consolidated into an empire, and 
 King "William of Prussia was proclaimed Em- 
 peror of Germany within the Hall of Mir- 
 rors, in the palace of the French kings at 
 Versailles, in the presence of the German 
 princes, under the standards of the army be- 
 fore Paris (January 18, 1871).t 
 
 * A slab of stone at Ems contains this inscription: "13 
 Juli, 1870, 9 uhr, 10 minuten, Morgens." It was placed there 
 to designate the precise spot and moment where and when 
 Benedetti encountered the King and demanded the guaranties, 
 and where the new German empire was born. 
 
 f Without passing positive judgment on the immediate re- 
 sponsibility for the war, usually ascribed to Empress Eugenie 
 and her priestly advisers, which Jules Favre said was wicked- 
 ly precipitated by the French Government, and which Gramont 
 charges on Bismarck, one may be pardoned the remark that 
 the conflict, the Iliad of unnumbered and unfinished woes, 
 could have been very easily prevented by arbitration, or a 
 little prudence, or the slightest concern for the welfare of the 
 
40 A Sketch of Constitutional Government 
 The general opinion in Spain, at that time, 
 
 peoples of the belligerent countries. In this struggle of dy- 
 nastic ambitions and official selfishness the causes assigned 
 are insignificant pretexts, wholly inadequate to justify the 
 most momentous war of modern times. The testimony is con- 
 clusive that the Emperor Napoleon entered most reluctantly 
 into the bloody arbitrament. M. le Baron de Susbielle, a gen- 
 eral in the French army, a member of the military family of 
 the Emperor, says that in the conferences just preceding hos- 
 tilities Napoleon uniformly expressed his opposition and was 
 sceptical as to the final issue. It is thought that Susbielle's 
 memoirs, to be published after his death, will make interest- 
 ing disclosures. Mr. Washburne, in his "Recollections of a 
 Minister to France," bears concurrent testimony. *' The truth 
 is, that after eighteen years of peace the courtiers and advent- 
 urers who surrounded the Emperor seemed to think it was 
 about time to have a war to awaken the martial spirit of the 
 people. ... If the Emperor had been left to himself the war 
 would have been averted. I am quite sure his heart was never 
 in the venture." Gramont's cautious statements are in the 
 same direction. Phillimore (vol. i., p. 583) holds this lan- 
 guage: "It may safely be affirmed that in the war of 1870 
 France was the aggressor, that the immediate reason which 
 she assigned for beginning it was neither true nor adequate. 
 The choice by the Spaniards of a Hohenzollern, by whomso- 
 ever suggested, for the throne of Spain, was not an act which 
 disturbed the balance of power ; it neither threatened the gen- 
 eral liberties of Europe nor endangered the safety of France." 
 On March 1, 1871, the Sovereign Assembly at Bordeaux, the 
 organ of the national conscience and will, solemnly rendered 
 the famous decree which proclaimed Napoleon III. and his 
 dynasty " responsables de la mine, de I'invasion et du demem- 
 brement de la France." 
 
^V^ Spain and of the Republic, 41 
 
 was that France was the stronger military 
 power, and Leopold's declension Avas a wel- 
 come relief. His candidacy being removed, 
 the strife for the throne became fiercer. On 
 November 3, 1870, General Prim announced 
 to the Cortes the Duke of Aosta, son of Vic- 
 tor Emmanuel, as the Ministerial candidate 
 for the crown. Castelar impetuously de- 
 nounced the attempt to put a foreigner over 
 Spaniards. On the 15th, Amadeo was elect- 
 ed king, receiving on a vote by ballot a ma- 
 jority of seventy-one of those present and a 
 majority of eighteen in a full house. The 
 majority represented the Monarchists, who 
 had combined to accomplish the revolution 
 of September, 1868, and it was General 
 Prim's vigor and popularity which brought 
 about the election as an expedient for con- 
 ciliating the monarchical sentiments of the 
 more influential Spaniards. The desired ef- 
 fect was not produced. The choice excited 
 no enthusiasm, elicited no applause, nor was 
 a viva given by the multitude outside the 
 building where the Cortes had made a sover- 
 eign. Thirty thousand troops, discreetly 
 posted in principal thoroughfares, prevented 
 any hostile demonstration, and the leading 
 
42 A /Sketch of Constitutional Government 
 
 Eepublicans, Figueras, Castelar, and Piry ^ 
 Margall, advised against any acts of vio- 
 lence. Many journals condemned the Cor- 
 tes. Grandees protested, placards caricatured 
 and ridiculed. At theatres the dissent was 
 openly expressed and strong. Spanish pride 
 and hostility to foreigners were thoroughly 
 aroused. Nevertheless, Zorrilla went to Italy 
 to make the formal tender of the crown, and 
 on January 2, 1871, the prince reached Ma- 
 drid, and took the prescribed oaths of office 
 in the presence of the regent, the Cortes, 
 and the diplomatic corps. The ceremony 
 was brief and simple. The reception by the 
 populace was respectful and cold. The Pro- 
 visional Government resigned, and a new 
 ministry was appointed, embracing such men 
 as Serrano, Martos, Moret, Sagasta, and Zor- 
 rilla. The Cabinet was a composite struct- 
 ure, a truce among rival factions, and repre- 
 sented the three principal monarchical par- 
 ties which had been engaged in the revolu- 
 tion and which had united in the election 
 of a new king. In Spain pensioners and de- 
 pendents can easily be rallied in support of 
 the Government, but in spite of that " coin 
 d'avantage," the ministries were ephemeral 
 
in Spain and of the Republic. 43 
 
 — eight in two years, one lasting seventeen 
 days — failing in internal harmony and in 
 the necessary strength to administer the 
 government. Amadeo never had the friend- 
 ship of the Carlists nor of the simon-pure 
 Monarchists. The dynasty was offensive to 
 the adherents of Don Carlos and of Alfonso, 
 and to the Eepublicans, who were opposed 
 to any king. After the death of Isabella, in 
 1503, the Castilian nobles were averse to the 
 regency of Ferdinand, an alien to them, and 
 they incited intrigue and conspiracy. So 
 now, on the part of the old aristocracy there 
 was an ill-concealed repugnance to an Ital- 
 ian king and to the queen. The Republi- 
 cans, foreseeing the failure of the monarchy, 
 Avere often consulting, so as to be forearmed 
 and ready for the anticipated emergency. 
 Even Zorrilla, then the President of the Coun- 
 cil of Ministers and loyal to the King, on 
 December 20, 1872, speaking of the reforms 
 intended to prevent the outside world from 
 confounding Spain with Turkey, said "' they 
 had something more to do than to patch up 
 royal marriages or study Spanish interests 
 from a dynastic point of view. Foreign pow- 
 ers could no lono-er sav to our ambassadors 
 
44 A Sketch of Constitutional Government 
 
 that they merely represented the Queen's 
 personal wishes." 
 
 Becoming convinced that the Opposition 
 was irreconcilable, that factions were inev- 
 itable, that a stable ministry was impossible, 
 Amadeo resolved on the singular course of 
 abdicating the royal authority, and return- 
 ing to the nation the powers with which he 
 had been intrusted. Ferdinand resigned his 
 regency to his son-in-law Philip with reluc- 
 tance, under the pressure of immediate and 
 successful revolt, but the act of this king 
 was voluntary and against the ineflfectual 
 dissuasives of his Ministers. In a letter to 
 the Cortes, February 11, 1873, he said : " I 
 realize that my good intentions have been in 
 vain. For two long years have I worn the 
 crown of Spain, and Spain still lives in con- 
 tinual strife, departing day by day more 
 widely from that era of peace and prosperi- 
 ty for which I have so ardently yearned. . . . 
 I am to-day firmly convinced of the barren- 
 ness of my efforts and the impossibility of 
 attaining my aims. These, deputies, are the 
 reasons that move me to give back to the 
 nation, and in its name to you, the crown 
 offered to me by the national suffrage, re- 
 
in Spain and of the Republic, 45 
 
 nouncing it for myself, my children, and my 
 successors." The nation and most of the 
 leading statesmen were taken by surprise. 
 A resignation of a throne seemed incredible. 
 Changes in the ministry were habitual, but 
 such a change, great and dynastic, was not 
 looked for except through a revolution by 
 soldiers. What to do in this sudden and 
 critical emergency transcended the experi- 
 ence of the oldest, puzzled the sagacity of 
 the wisest. The two branches of the Cortes 
 assembled in one body, senators and depu- 
 ties seated promiscuously, the President of 
 the Senate occupying a place to the right of 
 the President of the Congress, but the latter 
 acting as the presiding officer of the Con- 
 gress of Spain. Amid the uncertainty and 
 confusion Castelar said, " The great problem 
 is to ally order with liberty." The resigna- 
 tion was accepted unanimously, and in an 
 address to his Majesty it was declared that 
 he had been a most faithful observer of the 
 respect due to the Chambers, and that he 
 had kept most faithfully the oath taken 
 when he accepted from the hands of the 
 people the crown of Spain. It was further 
 affirmed that the utmost efforts would have 
 
46 A Sketch of Constitutional Government 
 
 been made to induce the King to desist from 
 his purpose, but they would have been vain 
 before ''the irresistible course of events." 
 The Cortes therefore assumed " the supreme 
 power and sovereignty of the nation," in or- 
 der " to minister to the salvation of democ- 
 racy, the base of the political structure of 
 liberty, the soul of all our rights and of the 
 country." It was said to the King, Avith a 
 mixture of Spanish grandiloquence and chiv- 
 alry, " While your Majesty remains upon our 
 noble soil the Spanish people will offer you 
 every mark of respect, of loyalty, and of def- 
 erence, because it is due alike to your Maj- 
 esty, to your virtuous and noble consort, and 
 to your innocent children. The Spanish peo- 
 ple cannot offer you a crown in the future, 
 but when they have emerged from the diffi- 
 culties that attend every epoch of transition 
 and of crisis, they will then offer you another 
 dignity, the dignity of a citizen in the midst 
 of a free and independent people."* 
 
 * See Appendix A for an account of Fernando, Leopold, 
 Amadeo, and the Duke of Montpensier. 
 
in Spain and of the Republic, 47 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Difficulties of the Situation. — Establishment of the Republic. — 
 Recognition by the United States. 
 
 The abdication left the nation without 
 executive head or authority. This was a 
 casus omissus^ an exigency unforeseen by 
 the Constitution-makers. No provision had 
 been made for such an interregnum. The 
 ministry y^^^ functus officio^ and disappeared 
 with the authority of the king from whom 
 the trust was derived. The Cortes therefore 
 remained as the only legitimate and conven- 
 able source of political power. In the ab- 
 sence of Ferdinand VII. it had undertaken 
 the national defence in " the epic years " 
 from 1808 to 1814; it had abrogated the 
 rights of Don Carlos; it had hastened the 
 majority of Dona Isabel II. ; it had recog- 
 nized and sanctioned the dethronement of 
 the Bourbon dynasty. It was now the most 
 enduring power of Spanish nationality, and 
 in this crisis came to the rescue of the coun- 
 try from anarchy and chaos. The Mon- 
 
48 A Sketch of Constitutional Government 
 
 archists seemed to be wholly unprepared for 
 the perplexing condition of affairs. The Ee- 
 publicans, on the other hand, had somewhat 
 anticipated and prepared for it. Martos had 
 said publicly on the 10th, " If the king goes, 
 there is nothing else possible but the Eepub- 
 lic." General Sickles, the American Minis- 
 ter, who was in full sympathy and constant 
 consultation with the leaders, says the plans 
 were well arranged, and the contingencies 
 were provided for. As early as January 
 30th he had telegraphed to the Department 
 at Washington for instructions in case the 
 Cortes declared itself a convention, and ap- 
 pointed a new executive. Amid the dis- 
 tracted counsels, the terror, and the fearful 
 apprehensions, the Eepublicans had patiently 
 resisted all inducements to precipitate action, 
 and had proceeded with much calmness and 
 deliberation. In November, 1872, a law for 
 the conscription of forty thousand men had 
 provoked unusual opposition in the Cortes, 
 and its execution met violent resistance in 
 the provinces. Eepublican journals advised 
 the use of the occasion for a serious attempt 
 to ove*rturn the monarchy, but a general 
 convention of Eepublicans in Madrid, includ- 
 
in Spain and of the Republic, 49 
 
 ing Figueras, Castelar, and Pi y Margall, op- 
 posed any revolutionary movement. Some 
 of these were Eepublicans from study and 
 conviction, and were men of some civic ex- 
 perience and of large intellectual breadth. 
 It was by them argued that a constitutional 
 monarchy in the person of a queen by divine 
 right had been found incompatible w^th per- 
 sonal libert}^ and national progress, and that 
 the fruits of an elective monarchy were be- 
 fore them in the want of an executive. 
 What was needed was an organization to hold 
 human society together on principles of jus- 
 tice and right. Placing political power in 
 the hands of a select family was irreconcil- 
 able with the great principle of national 
 sovereignty in the people. To merge the 
 sovereignty of a nation in a dynasty was an 
 impossibility. It was necessary, therefore, 
 that the Cortes, the sole existing available 
 depositary of power, should at once proclaim 
 the Eepublic, and leave to a Constitutional 
 Convention, to be afterwards chosen, the 
 duty of giving definitive form and organi- 
 zation. The first imperative duty was to 
 organize such institutions as were needful 
 to maintain social order. The two chambers 
 4 
 
50 A Sketch of Constitutional Governynent 
 
 resolved themselves into a ISTational Assem- 
 bly in permanent session and in the exercise 
 of sovereign powers. By a vote of 258 to 
 32 this proposition was adopted. " The 
 National Assembly, assuming all powers, 
 declares the form of the government of the 
 nation to be republican, leaving the organi- 
 zation of the form to a future convention." 
 It has been objected that the establishment 
 of the Eepublic had no constitutionality of 
 origin or organization, but surely it had as 
 much as the monarchy or any other regula- 
 tion of family or class control. The old 
 superstition of divine right of kings, that 
 royalty never loses its right to reign, that 
 no prescription or statute of limitations runs 
 against royalty, can hardly claim respect or 
 sanction since the English Revolution of 
 1688, the American Declaration of Indepen- 
 dence or the French Revolution of 1789- 
 1793. Besides, a republic appeared to be the 
 only alternative, the way having been pre- 
 pared by the proclamation of the natural 
 rights of man, the denial of Bourbon or dy- 
 nastic claims to supremacy, the enlargement 
 of suffrage, the increasing freedom of wor- 
 ship, and the restriction of the powers of 
 
in Spain and of the Bepuhlic, 51 
 
 the Cliurch. The executive power was con- 
 stituted by ballot under the presidency of 
 Estanislao Figueras, whose life had been 
 consecrated to a republic. Castelar was 
 chosen Secretary of State, Salmeron, Minis- 
 ter of Grace and Justice, and Pi y Margall, 
 ' Minister of the Interior. After an election 
 of a committee of the body to exercise the 
 executive power, and of a larger committee 
 to sit during the recess, the Cortes adjourned 
 to await the meeting of the new Constitu- 
 ent Assembly. 
 
 The fall of the monarchy had not been 
 the outcome of violence. Castelar said it 
 was "without provocation from any one, 
 without the fault of any one, the people or 
 the Government, the Cortes or any public au- 
 thority, without a cloud in the sky." " No 
 one destroyed it. It died of natural causes. 
 The monarchy died by internal decomposi- 
 tion. It dies by the providence of God. 
 The Eepublic is the creation of circum- 
 stances. It comes from a conjuncture of 
 society and nature and history." The Ee- 
 public was accomplished legitimately. "It 
 was not proclaimed in the streets; it was 
 not the doing of a mob ; it was not ushered 
 
52 A Sketch of Constitutional Government 
 
 in with disorder and tumult and blood: it 
 was the work of a deliberative assembly, 
 legitimate representatives of the people, sub- 
 stituting an executive authority for that 
 which had ceased to exist by abdication of 
 the King." 
 
 Having no moral support from European 
 nations, which looked with disfavor on all 
 extension of popular rights, Spain very natu- 
 rally cast her eyes to the other side of the 
 Atlantic, to the most advanced and enlight- 
 ened of the countries which sprang from 
 her bold enterprise, for sympathy and cheer 
 in this supreme struggle. On the 12th, Gen- 
 eral Sickles had instructions from Washing- 
 ton to recognize the republican government 
 when it was fully established and in posses- 
 sion of the power of the nation. He was to 
 urge the expediency of emancipation in the 
 West Indies, and of political reforms by effi- 
 cient self-acting measures. Sickles subse- 
 quently urged the abolition of slavery in 
 Cuba and self-government, but those in pow- 
 er could not grasp such schemes, or doubted 
 their ability to carry them through. On the 
 13th, Cristino Martos, who had declined the 
 Presidency of the Council of Ministers, was 
 
i)i Spai7i and of the Republic, 53 
 
 made President of the Sovereign Assembly, 
 and General Sickles informed the Minister 
 of State of his authority to recognize the 
 Republic, and asked a public audience in his 
 official character. On the 15th, the American 
 Minister, in the uniform of a general of the 
 Union Army, with two battalions of troops 
 in line rendering military honors, the bands 
 of music playing American national airs, had 
 an imposing pageant as he went, thus escort- 
 ed, to the reception chamber where awaited 
 him the President and the Cabinet, to whom 
 he read an address of congratulation and 
 sympathy at " the establishment of a repub- 
 lic in the empire of Ferdinand and Isabella." 
 " It is," he said, " a source of profound satis- 
 faction that Spain finds in our example the 
 means by which her prosperity and povver 
 may rest on sure foundations." President 
 Figueras replied that he was deeply affected 
 " by the mighty voice of the American peo- 
 ple hailing with their benediction the ad- 
 vent of a republic, and he rejoiced in the 
 strong bond of union between Spain, which 
 carried to your shores the germs of civiliza- 
 tion, and America which now gives us by 
 her example the fruits of liberty and democ- 
 
54 A Sketch of Constitutional Government 
 
 racy." In behalf of those whose lives had 
 been " devoted to the hard problem of unit- 
 ing democracy and liberty," he expressed 
 profound gratitude that there had been men 
 who sought in the New World "a temple 
 for their unfettered conscience, and founded 
 a new order of society which has united in 
 perfect equilibrium the authority of society 
 with the inherent rights of man, the restless 
 vigor of democracy with firm stability of 
 power, the free outgrowth of all the aspira- 
 tions of the human soul w^ith respect for the 
 laws and interests of others."^ This official 
 audience was followed by a visit to the pal- 
 ace of the Cortes, where, preceded by the 
 mace -bearers and the secretaries, General 
 Sickles was led to the salon of the Presi- 
 dent and presented to the Sovereign Assem- 
 bly of Spain the fraternal salutations of the 
 United States. On the whole, this was a fit 
 and significant recognition; America hold- 
 
 * A far more conservative and orthodox declaration than 
 the sentiment of Hubert Bancroft in " Popular Tribunals," 
 which assumes the right of the governed, at all times, to in- 
 stant and arbitrary control of the Government — " a dissolute 
 principle of political ethics," which sanctions Dorrism, an- 
 archy, lynch-law, and all democratic misrule. 
 
in Spain and of the Republic. 55 
 
 ing up the hands of the infant republic in 
 the country that sent out the discoverer — 
 the daughter crowning the mother — the Gov- 
 ernment which made the contribution of soul- 
 liberty, of divorced Church and State, to the 
 science of politics, coming first and alone to 
 give sympathy, encouragement, and moral 
 support to the country of the Inquisition. 
 GaHleo may be put to death, but the world 
 moves; the scaffold may have its political 
 victims, but the cause of freedom advances. 
 Sickles telegraphs, " Order assured ; funds ris- 
 ing ; confidence established." On March 6th 
 the Congress, by joint resolution, in the name 
 and on behalf of the American people, ten- 
 ders its congratulations to the people of 
 Spain upon their recent efforts to consoli- 
 date the principles of universal liberty in a 
 republican form of government. This was 
 in conformity to the established practice of 
 the United States, to recognize foreign gov- 
 ernments by reason of the fact of their ex- 
 istence as such, independent of any consider- 
 ations of legitimacy or other political theory. 
 The policy is not to interfere in any of the 
 internal concerns of foreign powers, and to 
 consider the Government de facto as the le- 
 
56 A Sketch of Coiistitutional Government 
 
 gitimate government. Claiming for ourselves 
 the absolute right of self-constitution accord- 
 ing to the national will, we cannot deny the 
 same right to others, Avhether it be in har- 
 mony or in discord with our preferences. 
 The moral and political support of the United 
 States was helpful and opportune because the 
 proclamation of the Republic was the signal 
 and the occasion of the withdrawal of all the 
 European powers except Switzerland from 
 official relations with tke new government. 
 The executive was compelled to submit to 
 the humiliation of treating with unaccred- 
 ited agents of governments which refused to 
 grant thjs mere naked status of a govern- 
 ment. Monarchical sympathies and hostility 
 to popular institutions doubtless influenced 
 this suspension of diplomatic intercourse on 
 the part of European nations, just ks repub- 
 lican sympathies unquestionably induced the 
 United States and Switzerland to act prompt- 
 ly in the opposite direction. At the Court of 
 Madrid, Austria refuses all social and diplo- 
 matic intercourse with Mexico to-day, al- 
 though a quarter of a century has elapsed 
 since the execution of Maximilian, the alien 
 invader. Governor Fish had cautiously in- 
 
m Spain and of the Republic, 57 
 
 structed General Sickles: "It will be grate- 
 ful to know that you have regarded the con- 
 dition and prospects of the Eepubhc such as 
 to justify the discretionary power given you 
 in that regard." 
 
58 A Sketch of Constitutional Government 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Presidents and Policy. — Overthrow of the Republic. — Rapid 
 Changes. 
 
 The Monarchy having ceased from its own 
 want of vitality, the Kepublic arose of its 
 own virtue, by the law of necessity, a self- 
 evolved product from existing causes. To 
 return to the self -dethroned Amadeo was 
 obviously impossible ; to make a temporary 
 regency was inexpedient; to try again the 
 Bourbons would have been suicidal. From 
 the inception of this republican movement 
 it was uniformly declared that the assem- 
 bly which proclaimed a republic must leave 
 to a convention the duty of defining the or- 
 ganization. Opinions as to ultimate form 
 and details were prudently kept in reserve 
 until the assembling of a sovereign body 
 convened for that specific purpose. How- 
 ever competent and indispensable the action 
 of the Cortes had been, it was a temporary 
 arrangement subject to approval, to revis- 
 ion if need be, to the rejection of the more 
 
in Spain and of the Republic. 59 
 
 authoritative constitutional assembly. The 
 Government was but the delegation of the 
 will of the Cortes. Elections were held 
 in May for the Cortes Constituyentes, and 
 they resulted in the triumph of the Eepub- 
 lican party. N'early two hundred thousand 
 electors exercised the right of suffrage in or- 
 der and tranquillity, except where the Carlist 
 insurgents disturbed the peace. The people 
 sustained and confirmed the legitimacy of 
 the Government in spite of the stereotyped 
 cries so often heard in France and England 
 — Unity is destroyed ! Property is inse- 
 cure ! The Church is in danger ! 
 
 The Council of Ministers elected by the 
 Cortes had an executive head, called Presi- 
 dent of the Executive Power, and he has 
 come to be called the President of the Ke- 
 public. Estanislao Figueras, a trusted states- 
 man, was the first, but after four months of 
 unmanageable public disturbance he aban- 
 doned the office and withdrew in voluntary 
 exile into France. Francisco Pi y Margall 
 succeeded him and remained about six weeks- 
 Nicholas Salmeron had an equally brief ten- 
 ure, Avhen Emilio Castelar came into office 
 and was invested with powers that can hard- 
 
60 A Sketch of Co7i8titutional Government 
 
 \j be said to have been nominated in the 
 bond. The Eepublic had immense difficul- 
 ties to overcome, and yet there was shown 
 during its brief life some aptitude for gov- 
 ernment. Suffrage was established in a 
 wider latitude and with less interference and 
 dictation, natural rights were embodied in 
 laws, popular sovereignty was enthroned as 
 the true source of government, and religious 
 liberty, without which there can be no true 
 civil freedom, was " acclaimed in all its pu- 
 rity." The Minister of Grace and Justice, 
 with the approval of the executive power, 
 proposed to the Cortes, August 2, 1873, a 
 bill for the absolute separation of Church 
 and State. The National Assembly gave a 
 unanimous vote for the immediate emanci- 
 pation of slaves in Porto Rico, and the Ee- 
 publicans favored abolition in Cuba. De- 
 crees were issued for the abolition of titles 
 of nobility and the hereditary office of Grand 
 Chancellor of the Indies. This had been 
 created by Philip IV., and had been enjoyed 
 almost continuously by the same family for 
 two and a half centuries. The last incum- 
 bent was the Duke of Alba, brother of the 
 Empress Eugenie. The duty of the chancel- 
 
in Sjxtin and of the Repuhlic. 61 
 
 lor was to collect a fee for authenticating 
 every document, order, etc., relating to Span- 
 ish possessions in America. All previous at^ 
 tempts to get rid of the nuisance had failed. 
 The advent of the Kepublic was required to 
 accomplish the needed reform. The general 
 purpose of the Republic was to secure to the 
 people a real electoral liberty, to prevent 
 undue official and bureaucratic influence, to 
 punish with equal severity the violent press- 
 ure of political parties and of the mob, to 
 combine order, law, and liberty, to put an 
 end to African slavery in the Colonies, and 
 follow emancipation by cognate reforms as 
 the best means of restoring peace and pros- 
 perity to the islands. 
 
 Congress having rejected a proposition 
 approving the conduct of the Government 
 during the parliamentary recess. President 
 Castelar, at 5.30 a.m. on January 3, 18Y4, re- 
 signed his office. While the Cortes were 
 engaged in the election of his successor, they 
 were dispersed by troops of the garrison un- 
 der the command of General Pavia, who 
 took possession of the palace and occupied 
 the other public buildings and the principal 
 thoroughfares. In the memorandum, Jan- 
 
62 A Sketch of Constitutional Government 
 
 uary 25, 1874, signed by Sagasta, which the 
 " Executive Power of the Spanish Eepubhc " 
 -addressed to the foreign powers, it is said, 
 "The garrison of Madrid with wonderful 
 prevision seized the moment for interference, 
 rightly interpreting the wishes of the army, 
 the navy, and the whole country, thereby 
 saving in a few hours the life and honor of 
 the nation." This coup-d^etat was followed 
 by a provisional government, a dictatorship, 
 under Francisco Serrano, who used the same 
 designation of " President of the Executive 
 Power of the Eepublic." Martial law was 
 proclaimed, and the expulsion by superior 
 military authority was justified on the pre- 
 text of a " grave peril which menaced social 
 order and liberty after the vote of censure 
 passed by the Chamber against the policy of 
 the Ministry presided over by Seiior Caste- 
 lar." In two months Marshal Serrano was 
 invested with, or assumed practically, abso- 
 lute power as Chief of State. A decree of 
 the Council separated the functions of the 
 President of the Executive Power from those 
 of the President of the Council, conferred 
 an unlimited presidency upon Serrano, and 
 clothed him with extraordinary powers. 
 
in Spain and of the Republic, 63 
 
 It would be difficult if not impossible to 
 justify such an arbitrary seizure by any prin- 
 ciples having the sanction of publicists or 
 civilized public opinion, yet in Spain parties 
 and politics cannot be measured by the rules 
 which obtain elsewhere. If we refuse to 
 judge Isabella the Catholic, and her confess- 
 or, Torquemada, and the papal upholding 
 of the Inquisition by the Christianity of the 
 present day, so we are constrained to apply 
 modified or elastic standards to government- 
 al procedure in Spain. One of the chiefest 
 peculiarities in Spain, and at the same time 
 one of the main hinderances to a republic or 
 to a good government, is the wellnigh uni- 
 versal recognition of the legitimacy of a re- 
 sort to miUtary power in order to change 
 the administration or accomplish political 
 reforms. Such Republicans as Castelar re- 
 pudiate pronunciamentos and the like arbi- 
 trary agencies, but generally Conservatives 
 and Liberals, Carlists and Republicans, ac- 
 cept, apply, or submit to such expedients for 
 attaining their ends, and no party in Spain 
 can find fault with others in that respect. 
 General Cushing, in 1875, wrote, "All parties, 
 one after the other, have had recourse to 
 
64 A Sketch of Constitutional Government 
 
 conspiracy, violence, and usurpation in order 
 to attain their personal or party ends. It 
 was by military violence that Prim, Serrano, 
 and Topete overthrew Queen Isabel. It 
 was by military violence that Serrano be- 
 came President by the will of Pa via. . . . 
 So that neither the militarism nor the ille- 
 gahty of the movement tends in the least 
 degree to repel the acceptance of it in any 
 part of the country. And quite as little re- 
 pulsion is produced by the suddenness of the 
 movement or the brief time occupied in its 
 consummation. On the night of February 
 11, 1873, all Spain went to bed a Monarchy 
 and woke up a Eepublic. In like manner, 
 on January 2, 1874, the Republican dictator- 
 ship of Castelar disappeared in a night to 
 give place to the Conservative dictatorship 
 of Serrano. On the morning of December 
 31, 1874, it did not appear at all extraordi- 
 nary to the Spaniards in waking up to J3.nd 
 that the Eepublic had vanished and the Mon- 
 archy returned with the dramatic celerity of 
 a change of scenery at the opera." Those 
 who overthrew the Eepublic used the army 
 to " satisfy the instinct of self-preservation," 
 "patriotically seized a dictatorship," and 
 
in Spain and of the Hepuhlic, 65 
 
 claimed that they were identified with the 
 revolution of 1868, "with the political sig- 
 nificance of that glorious uprising," and that 
 they were united on the basis of a demo- 
 cratic code in the Constitution of 18G9, "in 
 the enjoyment of the liberties which it con- 
 cedes, and above all in the strict and vigilant 
 use of the guarantees with which it sur- 
 rounds the cause of order." Outside of Spain 
 such language seems to be the distempered 
 ravings of intoxication, and is antipodal to 
 the action it vindicates ; but in Spain politics 
 and public opinion have a rule and standard 
 of their own. Constitutional limitations 
 have no force. Supposed political necessity 
 justifies any assumption. Discretion is the 
 measure of power, and Mr. Calhoun's aphor- 
 ism finds confirmation that there is no differ- 
 ence between a government having all power 
 and a government having the right to take 
 what powers it pleases. 
 5 
 
QQ A Sketch of Constitutional Government 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Causes of the Fall. — Account of the Presidents. — Abrupt 
 Transition. — The Army. — False Hopes. — Madrid. 
 
 To one desiring the permanence of the re- 
 pubHc and thinking that form of government 
 the most successful in attaining justice and 
 freedom, it is natural to inquire anxiously 
 into the causes which led to such a sudden 
 disappointment of hopes, such a rapid col- 
 lapse of a government having promise of 
 stability in its inherent rightness and in 
 the ability of its leaders. When Prim was 
 asked why he did not establish a republic in 
 1868, he replied, " It would have been a re- 
 public without republicans." In 1873 there 
 seemed to exist a strong republican feeling, 
 but the governmental policy of Spain has 
 never been favorable to the growth of re- 
 publican practices, to the training of the 
 people for democratic institutions, to famil- 
 iarizing them with home rule, individual 
 judgment, personal independence. A re- 
 public is the highest development of civil 
 
in Spai?i and of the BepuUic, 67 
 
 government. In a monarchy a few capa- 
 ble men may rule ; in a republic the many 
 are to govern, and need to be continually 
 disciplined for their high functions. To this 
 general cause of want of training may be 
 superadded errors of leaders, divisions in 
 ranks, and still other reasons beyond the 
 control of those charged with the admin- 
 istration. For centuries Spain had had a 
 monarchy, class interests with titles and 
 privileges, and an ecclesiastical hierarchy in 
 full accord with monarchy and aristocracy, 
 and often in shameful tolerance of their vi- 
 cious practices. The traditions of the coun- 
 try, the social influence, the literature, the 
 schools, the Church presiding over infancy, 
 marriage and death, the wealth, were all ad- 
 verse to popular government. The princi- 
 ples of politics represented in a republic 
 are distasteful to royalty and to dominant 
 classes. Besides the Monarchists there were 
 the Carlists, bitter, reactionary, irreconcilable, 
 with journals, villages, and a willing priest- 
 hood at their back. The military organiza- 
 tion, compact, mobile, subordinate to ambi- 
 tious, conspiring officers, was the enemy of 
 the Kepublic. In the Peninsula revolutions 
 
68 A Sketch of Constitutional Government 
 
 have been chronic, and property always dreads 
 disorder, sudden changes, anarchy. The feu- 
 dal system had been but partially extirpated. 
 Civil and ecclesiastical jurisdiction was only 
 partially limited and defined. The revenue 
 system, with custom-houses at frontiers and 
 octroi tolls in every town, w^as then as now 
 corrupt, and the boldest and best shrank 
 from an attempt to reform the abuses. Na- 
 tional expenditures exceeded income, and pen- 
 sions and civil list and contracts made a 
 horde of greedy dependants. Bureaucracy 
 flourished in worst form. The situation was 
 environed with almost superhuman difficul- 
 ties, and obvious reforms for admitted and 
 deplored abuses seemed impossible. The 
 hostile interests and opinions became active. 
 In Great Britain and the United States we 
 see what arguments and combinations can 
 do to sustain monopolies, trusts, and legal- 
 ized wrongs. In France, in the journals and 
 utterances of public men we have an illus- 
 tration anew of the old fable of the lamb in 
 the stream below muddying the water for 
 his lupine majesty above. Everything done 
 by the Eepublic is perverted. Everything 
 favorable to regulated liberty is decried. Ev- 
 
in Spain and of the Repuhlic, 69 
 
 erything that tends to popular government 
 is discredited and opposed. Every little pop- 
 ular disturbance or lawlessness is distorted 
 and magnified and made to exceed in enor- 
 mity centuries of tyranny and cruelty and 
 horrible wrong by royalty, aristocracy, and 
 the Church, with their selfish and venal min- 
 ions, and all possible factions and divisio^js 
 are fomented. Every disorder, defeat, inter- 
 national complication, is hailed with joy. The 
 Monarchists are enemies in the camp. Pa- 
 triotism is secondary to self-aggrandizement 
 and to the restoration of a dynasty. JSToth- 
 ing is left undone to discredit the Eepublic 
 and to make it a failure, to produce crises, 
 to promote obstruction and confusion, and to 
 create an apparent necessity for the coming 
 back of the ancien regime^ and so in Spain. 
 The enemies of the new government availed 
 themselves of the army and of every agency 
 for its overthrow. It ought to be added that 
 during the Eepublic three wars were in prog- 
 ress — the Cuban war, the Federalist in the 
 South, and the Carlist. The last was so im- 
 portant and formidable as to demand for its 
 suppression the coalition of all parties, and 
 the concentration of every energy. And 
 
10 A Sketch of Constitutional Government 
 
 hence, until that object was attained, the 
 Eepubhcans felt constrained to postpone re- 
 forms in the military service, reduction in 
 public expenditures, diminution of useless of- 
 fices, reduction of the enormous pension list, 
 separation of Church and State, abolition 
 of slavery, and the adaptation of the Con- 
 stitution to a republican form of govern- 
 ment. 
 
 The fall of the Kepublic is so often used 
 as an argument conclusive against the adapt- 
 edness of such a form of government to Eu- 
 ropean peoples that a fuller consideration of 
 the causes may not be inappropriate. 
 
 {a) The first suggestion, obviously, is as to 
 the Presidents on whom the people relied 
 and to whom naturally all eyes were turned. 
 Each alternately was looked to as the Pali- 
 nurus to guide the ship of State between 
 Scylla and Charybdis and amid the storms. 
 They were not men of executive capacity 
 or constructive faculties. They had been 
 political seers, eloquent theorists, advanced 
 thinkers in the science of human rights and 
 remedies, but they were deficient in the gen- 
 ius of common-sense, in the mastery of de- 
 tails, in the rare endowment of adapting • 
 
m Spain and of the Repiihllc, 71 
 
 government and laws to novel and sudden 
 emergencies. 
 
 EsTANisLAo FiGUERAs was the first. An 
 adroit parliamentarian, a loyal Eepublican, a 
 man of integrity, a disciple of Proudhon, he 
 lacked firmness of purpose and strength of 
 will. Hesitating, irresolute, letting " I dare 
 not" wait upon " I would," he became discour- 
 aged, his heavy responsibilities confused and 
 intimidated him, and he abandoned his post. 
 For two days he was sought in vain, and af- 
 terwards "turned up" a refugee in France. 
 He had a habit, when President, of rising at 
 five o'clock in the morning, and of going at 
 that early hour to his office. The Madrilenos, 
 indignant at this overthrow of their prac- 
 tices, declared that if he thought to oblige 
 them to rise so early, he deceived himself, for 
 it would only turn out that they would retire 
 a little later. And, in fact, a number of poli- 
 ticians went to salute the President before 
 they sought their beds. 
 
 Feancisco Pi y Margall is a man of first- 
 rate ability, a writer of classical purity, an 
 historian of art, a profound lawyer, and is 
 now engaged, as is Castelar, in writing a 
 . history of Spain. He is German in his type 
 
12 A Sketch of Comtitiitional Government 
 
 of thinking, and is deficient in the arts of 
 the successful politician. Proudhon is also 
 his ideal, and he follows to the extreme his 
 economic or socialistic theories. Apparent- 
 ly he accepts his master's brochure, le prin- 
 cipe federatif^ and would organize the na- 
 tion, if not wider peoples, by a reciprocal 
 agreement among individuals and communi- 
 ties. He is a protectionist, and would be a 
 tyrant, as were those of ancient Greece, if 
 he were not restrained by his benevolence of 
 heart, which makes him incomparable as a 
 man but unsafe as a governor. At a meet- 
 ing of the Kepublicans of Madrid, in Febru- 
 ary, 1888, to celebrate the anniversary of the 
 Eepublic, he gave a programme of his views, 
 in which he said he desired freedom of work, 
 emancipation of municipalities, compulsory 
 and gratuitous education, abolition of lot- 
 teries, '^ suppression of the budget of wor- 
 ship," and the appropriation of the eight 
 million dollars paid to the clergy to the es- 
 tablishment of elementary, normal, and in- 
 dustrial schools. Obstinate in his personal 
 convictions, in the conclusions of the closet, 
 by a singular incongruity of character he 
 has much credulity and flexibility in the 
 
in Spain and of the Repuhlic. 73 
 
 presence of men. His accession to the pres- 
 idency awakened strong expectations that he 
 would develop into a broad-minded, success- 
 ful statesman, and that what Figueras from 
 inertness failed to do Pi would achieve in 
 excess. Fatal illusion ! His ephemeral ex- 
 altation contracted an horizon previously too 
 narrow. At the utmost, a good administrator 
 In peaceful times; a Cavour, a Bismarck, 
 never. General Sickles, at the beginning of 
 the Kepublic, said of him that he was in per- 
 sonal appearance and in many traits of char- 
 acter, intellectual and moral, like Mr. Cal- 
 houn, and was universally regarded as a 
 trustworthy officer and a good citizen. Some 
 months later he said that Pi y Margall aban- 
 doned power because he w^as unwilling to 
 stop disintegration by force, and unable to 
 prevent it by timely political action. 
 
 Nicolas Salmeron, now a professor in 
 the university at Madrid, is a doctrinaire, 
 a savant, a philosopher, an ideologist. It 
 seemed to him easy to transfer into practical 
 life the captivating speculations of his great 
 German masters, and he presented them, 
 first as deputy then as minister, with a man- 
 ly eloquence. He knows little of financial 
 
74 A Sketch of Constitutional Government 
 
 or economic questions, and prefers his books 
 and lecture-room to the hard realities of po- 
 litical conflicts. In 1887 he resigned as depu- 
 ty because of not being in accord with his 
 electors in their radicalism. 
 
 Emilio Castelak. — It is not easy to write 
 impartially of this eminent and excellent 
 man. In Spain, in America, in the civilized 
 world, he is renowned as a rhetorician and* 
 an orator. Even his political enemies (he 
 has no personal ones) concede immense ex- 
 cellence as an orator. His friends rank him 
 among the most distinguished speakers of all 
 time. On December 20, 1872, after a speech 
 from Castelar in favor of abolishing slavery 
 in Porto Rico, the Minister of State (Martos), 
 himself no mean orator, closed the debate 
 thus, " The debate is closed. Seilor Oastelar 
 has spoken the last word — the slaves in Por- 
 to Eico are already free. The bill the Gov- 
 ernment will bring in can only give legal 
 sanction and form to the inspired utterance 
 of the world's greatest orator." On Febru- 
 ary 7, 1888, after a speech in the Congress, 
 business was perforce suspended, the boister- 
 ous hurrahs were continued for fifteen min- 
 utes, congratulations greeted from all sides 
 
in Spain and of the Republic. 75 
 
 of the chamber, and Sagasta, the Prime-min- 
 ister — the same Sagasta who as Minister of 
 State, in an official paper in 1874, had spo- 
 ken contemptuously of "his arrogant self- 
 conceit and ill -restrained demagogism" — 
 left the Government bench, crossed the hall, 
 embraced the speaker, and warmly commend- 
 ed his patriotism and eloquence. The elo- 
 quence lacks spontaneity ; it is studied and 
 dramatic, and labors for immediate applause. 
 The day, the hour, the audience, everything 
 is prearranged. You laugh, you cry, you sur- 
 render yourself to the enchantment, but the 
 speeches are seldom embodied into political 
 acts, into laws. The god of speech is not a 
 statesman. Castelar is an egoist and very 
 vain. . The common caricature in the shop- 
 windows is a peacock with spread tail and 
 Castelar's head. The popular nickname is 
 emholado^ a bull with balls on his horns. A 
 rival said of him that he so coveted the di- 
 gito monstrari that he never saw a marriage 
 without wishing to be the bride, nor a funer- 
 al without wishing to be the corpse. 
 
 His short trial as President was a series of 
 misadventures and failures. He planned, but 
 the plans came to grief. He failed to re- 
 
76 A Sketch of Constitutional Government 
 
 model the army, was clumsy in the Virgin- 
 ius controversy, quailed before the Pope in 
 the appointment of some bishops, was not 
 courageous in executing his emancipation 
 views, and had inextricable disorder in ad- 
 ministration. I^othing was done with his 
 bill separating Church and State, and his 
 draft of a federal constitution showed little 
 acquaintance with politics and government. 
 In fact, the Spanish Eepublic had no Morris, 
 no Hamilton, no Madison, no Washington. 
 
 As a Kepublican, Castelar has lost much of 
 his following, and an invisible thread is the 
 only tie that binds him to his party. His 
 old associates say that but for the remem- 
 brances of the ancient tribune of the people 
 he would be a liberal Monarchist. This judg- 
 ment is harsh and unjust. For years he has 
 been in Europe the ablest and most conspic- 
 uous advocate of popular rights, of freedom 
 of religion, and recently, with emphasis, af- 
 firmed that he was a Republican, heart and 
 mind and soul, but favored the coming of a 
 republic by evolution instead of by revolu- 
 tion.^' By what process a republic can be 
 
 * The ill-advised mutiny of 1886 was a clear gain for Moii- 
 
in Spain and of the Republic, 17 
 
 evolved without a compact, aggressive Re- 
 publican party in the active use of the usual 
 agencies for exposing errors and wrongs and 
 enlightening public opinion, history gives us 
 no l%ht. Certainly it will never be evolved 
 by chance, nor as the outcome of, nor by ac- 
 quiescence in, the domination of royalty, class 
 interests and prerogatives, and the alliance 
 of civil and ecclesiastical power. Castelar 
 may not keep pace with some wild modern 
 iconoclasts and Nihilists and Anarchists, but 
 whoever has watched with hope and sympa- 
 thy the great unceasing, varying struggle for 
 freedom in Europe, battle-scarred, debt-op- 
 pressed. Church-crushed, conscience-enslaved, 
 
 arcliy and a serious blow to Republicanism. Castelar pub- 
 lished a letter respecting the revolt, and the tone of it shows 
 a feeling of bitterness as well as of regret. He says, 
 
 "I denounce with all the energy of my soul the last mili- 
 tary sedition, it being my firmest conviction that pronHn- 
 ciamientos^ even if they should triumph under the name and 
 advocacy of our Republic, will lead us to the CaBsarian Prae- 
 torianism of old Rome, not to liberty and democracy. I have 
 said, and I repeat it now, that events like those most deplora- 
 ble ones of Monday last justify our being denominated the 
 Turkey of the West. I reaffirm my resolution to accept the 
 tremendous responsibility of power only when the people le- 
 gally convoked, or the Cortes legally constituted, demand this 
 by an express vote." 
 
78 A Sketch of Constitutional Goveimment 
 
 royalty-ridden, class-dominated Europe, can 
 have only generous charity and exalted ad- 
 miration for one whose pure life and culti- 
 vated intelligence and large ability and 
 quenchless zeal and burning eloquence nave 
 been consecrated as the John the Baptist of 
 the gospel of universal emancipation. 
 
 A republic, the rational logic of enlight- 
 ened public authority, with agents having 
 the indecision of Figueras, the pliancy of Pi 
 y Margall, the ideologism of Salmeron, the 
 theatrical spirit of Castelar, had not a hope- 
 ful outlook. Men are but the embodiments 
 of thoughts, and nearly all great enterprises 
 and institutions crystallize around individual 
 men. In critical moments great actors have 
 the elan, the prophecy, the prestige of suc- 
 cess. In all countries, especially in those ac- 
 customed to monarchical institutions, the peo- 
 ple find the reflection of their lives, their 
 interests, their glories, in a dynastic entity 
 or in a hero. Other more potent causes 
 than the weakness, the nullity, of the chiefs 
 contributed to the failure. In the absence 
 of these the Kepublic would have survived 
 presidential incompetency ; these causes, vi- 
 tal and operative, the Kepublic would have 
 
in Spain and of the Republic, 19 
 
 perished even under the vigorous leadership 
 of such a man as Prim. 
 
 (S) As a second cause may be mentioned 
 the abrupt transition from a monarchy. The 
 people had had no preliminary training in 
 self-government, nor any sufficient demo- 
 cratic education. Amadeo leaving Spain 
 without a government, the Eepublicans pos- 
 sessed themselves of it, but did not know 
 what to do with it, and did not comprehend 
 the exigencies and responsibilities of the new 
 and sudden situation. What kind of a re- 
 public was it to be ? What the form and 
 functions of the organism ? and what kind of 
 a head of the executive power ? were serious 
 questions. Shall the President be chosen for 
 a long term and be re-eligible, or for a short 
 term ? In our Washington the monarchical 
 traditions, which sat very loosely, were easi- 
 ly broken, and the union of States was formed 
 and consolidated under a written, previously 
 adopted, organic law. In the South Ameri- 
 can republics, as remote from the monarchi- 
 cal centre as we were, but without our home- 
 rule training and our inheritance of English 
 law and liberties, there have been struggles, 
 contentions, tentative experimentations (not 
 
80 A Sketch of Constitutional Gover7iment 
 
 yet ended) before reaching tranquillity and 
 order. The measures adopted were trivial, 
 or not pushed to proper results, or not put 
 upon a high plane. The press was free, but 
 instead of serious discussions there were li- 
 cense and incendiarism. Primary schools 
 were neglected. Political associations were 
 noisy and aimless, rather than practical or 
 valuable. The wisdom that was hoped for 
 did not come, and in these un-Minerva-like 
 days had not time to come. 
 
 {c) The badly organized army remained in 
 statu quo. This instrument of peace and or- 
 der, when it is rightly controlled and disci- 
 plined, had not been taught its true position 
 of subordination, and had not the sense of 
 obedience. The time was, besides, unpropi- 
 tious for military reforms. Three wars, as 
 has been stated, were in progress against Cu- 
 ban, Carlist, and federal insurgents. Soldiers 
 and their officers were ignorant of the first 
 principles of Republicanism, and of the truo 
 duties of men organized and armed at public 
 expense. They regarded themselves as the 
 sovereigns of the nation, the true arbiters of 
 its destiny, as the saviors, and hence claimed 
 the right to rule. Inter arma silent leges. 
 
i)i Spain and of the Republic, 81 
 
 The supremacy of the civil over the miUtary 
 was a surprising and an offensive doctrine, 
 and they complained and conspired. The 
 monarchy was preferred as giving opportu- 
 nities for promotion, and they coveted the 
 decorations, the nobiliary titles, the gala fes- 
 tivities, the sudden advancements. Every 
 man educated in the military schools was a 
 Monarchist. All waited for an occasion to 
 show hostility to the Eepublic, and it was 
 not long in coming. General Pavia, who 
 himself had participated in the insurrection 
 of 1866, was selected as the wilHng agent for 
 the overthrow. Any other bold, ambitious 
 officer would have done as well. The blow 
 was struck. It was fatal. 
 
 {d) Hope disappointed' maketh the heart 
 sick. After the excitement and the disap- 
 pointment of Quixotic expectations, there en- 
 sued with the masses a lassitude of mind and 
 weariness of spirit. The change in the gov- 
 ernment did not supersede the need of labor, 
 nor take away poverty and suffering. Peo- 
 ple who were Kepublicans were disheartened, 
 and sank into apathy. Capital and credit 
 were frightened, and there were repeated an- 
 nouncements that taxes must be increased. 
 6 
 
82 A Sketch of Co7istitutional Government 
 
 Carlism was defiant and confident ; the fed- 
 eral movement was protracted; municipali- 
 ties were in rebellion; disturbances were 
 unchecked ; finances were in disorder. The 
 people were fatigued, willing for a change, 
 and would have abandoned themselves to 
 .any adventurer or usurper. The inherited 
 Mussulman fatalism reasserted itself, and the 
 act of brutal force, of positive treason, en- 
 countered no resistance. 
 
 (e) Another cause hastening the downfall 
 is the unique condition of Madrid, whose in- 
 habitants live on the Government, and by 
 whose favor they consume largely of the pub- 
 lic revenues. Bureaucracy, centralization, 
 official corruption, find theatre and stimulus 
 in the capital. The contesting parties form 
 among themselves a kind of society of mutual 
 succor, and there is a great company of pen- 
 sioners, dependants, and hungry expectants. 
 As the head and heart of the nation, Madrid 
 is the seat and focus of the conspiracy of the 
 Conservatives and the Liberals to preserve 
 the dominance of the capital and keep up 
 the source of supply of spoils and tripotage. 
 Eeforms, here as elsewhere in Spain, in the 
 civil administration are wellnigh impossible 
 
in Spam and of the Hepuhlic, 83 
 
 because the political parties and many prom- 
 inent leaders are interested directly or indi- 
 rectly in the continuance of the abuses. The 
 Eepublic threatened the trade of the image- 
 makers, and they were clamorous for its over- 
 throw. The Passion play at Ober-Ammer- 
 gau makes the money-changers, expelled with 
 cords from the temple, the active, unscrupu- 
 lous instigators of the resistance to the Sav- 
 iour, and the prompters and bribers of Judas 
 in the betrayal. To cleanse the Augean sta- 
 ble and check the infamy of life of priests 
 and prelates, even the fearless spirit of Inno- 
 cent was unable. It was easier to crush by 
 fire and sword the heresy fed by the scandals. 
 
84 A Sketch of Constitutional Government 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Pronunciamento for Alfonso. 
 
 Meanwhile the dictatorship continued to 
 administer public affairs in the name and 
 under the external forms of a republic ; but 
 there were constant croppings-out of tenden- 
 cies or purposes looking to the re-establish- 
 ment of the monarchy in the person of Don 
 Alfonso, son of Isabel, or of some foreign 
 prince. 
 
 The change from Castelar to Serrano did 
 not suspend diplomatic intercourse with the 
 United States. In accordance with the rule 
 of action in cases of change of authority, 
 General Gushing presented his credentials. 
 The European powers continued to abstain 
 from recognition. Under the initiation of 
 Germany, they came to perceive the wisdom 
 of the policy observed by the Union, but were 
 restrained by the perverse refusal of Kussia 
 to change her attitude. 
 
 Whatever may have been the intentions 
 
m Spain and of the RepuWic. 85 
 
 of Serrano's Government, there was an im- 
 possibility of action in many matters of do- 
 mestic or internal reform. The war against 
 the Carlists had been going on with various 
 fortunes when the tranquillity and apparent 
 security at Madrid were disturbed by a pro- 
 nunciamento from a detachment of the army, 
 commanded by Martinez de Campos, in fa- 
 vor of the enthronement of Don Alfonso de 
 Borbon. The great body of the Army of the 
 North was in ready sympathy with this 
 movement. The Government fell without a 
 struggle for existence. On December 31, 
 1874, there was announced a regency minis- 
 try under the presidency of the lately impris- 
 oned Antonio Canovas del Castillo, a states- 
 man of comprehensive views, high character, 
 and of great ability. The late Ministers and 
 the Eepublicans remained undisturbed in Ma- 
 drid. There was general acquiescence in the 
 change. Public authorities sent in their ad- 
 hesion. The army, the most potential of all 
 the factors in Spanish politics, gave its cord- 
 ial support. Alfonso was introduced by a 
 pronunciamento similar to General Monk's 
 action in England, and the intruding or 
 usurping government, not chosen by the 
 
86 A fS/cefch of Constitutional Government 
 
 Cortes, was accepted as legitimate. The Lib- 
 eral Constitution of 1869 was ignored as a 
 nullity, and that of 1845 was accepted be- 
 cause of the abdication of Isabel and her 
 assent in various forms to the accession of 
 -Alfonso. Universal suffrage had been a 
 distinguishing feature; Canovas suppressed 
 and substituted qualifications which exclud- 
 ed half the voters. It needs to be repeated 
 in connection with this usurpation and nulli- 
 fication of law that Spanish statesmen seem 
 to have no conception of regular constitu- 
 tional government, and expect changes, not 
 so much by orderly, prescribed processes of 
 succession or election or legislation as by the 
 means of tumultuary uprisings or the de- 
 mands of soldiers. In a published manifesto, 
 Alfonso was made to profess ideas of consti- 
 tutional administration, and yet among his 
 first political acts was the acceptance of the 
 new Syllabus of the Vatican. By royal de- 
 crees, certain real property held by the State 
 was restored to the Church, and the clergy 
 were again charged on the public treasury. 
 This favoritism towards the religious orders 
 was of a piece with the general reaction 
 
in Spain and of the Republic, 87 
 
 against the more liberal and advanced views 
 of the recent governments. 
 
 '-' The right of public assembly was abro- 
 gated, free instruction was abolished, the Jes- 
 uit schools were re-established, and liberal 
 professors were expelled " from the universi- 
 ties. 
 
 These royal ordinances, or pragmatica, so 
 alien to our notions of government, have been 
 claimed by most European sovereigns as the 
 prerogative of the supreme legislators of 
 their kingdoms. They are sometimes mere 
 executive orders, sometimes supplementary 
 to legislative enactments, but have been per- 
 verted into arbitrary acts of tyrannj^, and 
 have become " effectual levers " for thwart- 
 ing the popular or legislative will, or for 
 " overturning the liberties of the nation." 
 
88 A Sketch of Constitutional Government 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Constitution of 18*76. — Freedom of Worship in Spain. 
 
 The new Government, with deliberation, 
 undertook in 1876 the preparation of a con- 
 stitution, which was submitted and adopted, 
 and is now the Constitution of the Govern- 
 ment of Spain. Its prominent features are 
 hereditary monarchy in the person and fam- 
 ily of Don Alfonso XII., and a legislative 
 assembly of two branches, the Senate and 
 the Congress. The Senate, while not, as the 
 House of Lords, a devolving of the right to 
 a share of legislative power by mere heredi- 
 tary succession, is an aristocratic body com- 
 posed of three classes. 1. Senators in their 
 own right, such as sons of the King, gran- 
 dees of Spain having a Jfixed income of six- 
 ty thousand pesetas, captains-general of the 
 army, admirals of the navy, the Patriarch 
 of the Indies, archbishops, etc. 2. One hun- 
 dred persons nominated by the Crown for 
 life. 3. One hundred and fifty persons elect- 
 ed by the corporations and the larger tax- 
 
in Spain and of the Republic. 89 
 
 payers. Numbers 2 and 3 are to be taken 
 from certain prescribed political, military, 
 literary, titular, or proprietary classes. The 
 Congress of Deputies, founded on general 
 suffrage, regulated by the law of elections, 
 consists of persons chosen for five years by 
 electoral districts, in the proportion of one 
 deputy to every fifty thousand of the popu- 
 lation. 
 
 A step in advance was taken on the Church 
 question. Article XI. reads thus : " The Cath- 
 olic Apostolic Eoman religion is that of the 
 State. The nation obhges itself to maintain 
 the worship and its ministers. No person 
 shall be molested in the territory of Spain 
 for his religious opinions, nor for the exer- 
 cise of his particular worship, saving the re- 
 spect due to Christian morality. Neverthe- 
 less, no other ceremonies nor manifestations 
 in public will be permitted than those of the 
 religion of the State." 
 
 This cautious provision of toleration was 
 opposed vehemently in both branches of the 
 Cortes, Sefior Martinez Izquierdo (the bishop 
 who was assassinated by a priest at the vesti- 
 bule of a church in Madrid, April 18, 1886), 
 taking the lead in the opposition ; but it 
 
90 A Sketch of ConstitiUional Government 
 
 passed by a large majority, having had the 
 cordial support of Canovas. 
 
 Bergson, the French translator of Ileflfter's 
 " International Law," speaking " de les rap- 
 ports de rfighse et de I'Etat" in France, 
 says that the former exclusive protection in 
 favor of the Catholic Church has undergone 
 a profound modification, viz., that "to the 
 political principle of the unity of faith has 
 succeeded the social principle of the hberty 
 of conscience and religion." A somewhat 
 similar modification of the former exclusive 
 favor of the Koman Catholic Church has 
 occurred in Spain. The temporal power is 
 pledged to the maintenance of the Catholic 
 Apostolic Koman religion, but a protection 
 is guaranteed to all Spanish subjects against 
 ill usage from the Catholic Church or from 
 any other interfering power. The full force 
 of the last clause of the article has elicited 
 discussion from statesmen and lawyers. It 
 is ambiguous, evasive, susceptible of an op- 
 pressive interpretation, and in terms restricts 
 the liberty of all dissenting worship to pri- 
 vate houses. A recent instance of "sharp 
 practice " and of violation of parental rights 
 inVigo, shows that there is need of a clearer 
 
in Spain and of the Republic, 91 
 
 definition and of a better guarantee/'^ The 
 article is far from being en rapport with New 
 Testament or American ideas of liberty of 
 worship, but it has, under progressive states- 
 manship and the enlightenment of the nine- 
 teenth century, been so construed as to allow 
 a greatly improved measure of religious free- 
 dom. At the funeral services of the Em- 
 peror William and the Emperor Frederick in 
 the Lutheran chapel at Madrid, the diplo- 
 matic corps, the Ministry, military and civil 
 
 * The Temps of February, 1888, reproduced in the London 
 Times^ gives the case of a young lady, in possession of a 
 small fortune, who entered a convent in defiance of the wish- 
 es of her father, who alleged that his daughter was a mi- 
 nor, and in very bad health. The severities of the novitiate 
 and religious excitement increased her illness. Medical men 
 advised her immediate withdrawal from the convent. The su- 
 perior refused her consent, and the bishop declined to inter- 
 fere. An order compulsory was obtained ; but on the morn- 
 ing of the day of the removal the girl was induced to take 
 perpetual vows. This put an end to civil interference, doors 
 were shut against the father, and eight days after the girl 
 died. All the property at her disposal, 70,000 francs, was 
 bequeathed to the convent. 
 
 The Spanish Church Aid Society, in its last annual report, 
 1888, mentions the arrest and condemnation to two years and 
 four months' imprisonment of one of their pastors, Senor 
 Vila, for publishing a reply to an attack of a priest on the 
 Protestants. 
 
92 A Sketch of Constitutional Government 
 
 dignitaries, and Infante Don Antonio, were 
 present in showy uniforms. Public opinion 
 is often in advance of, and better and strong- 
 er than, law. " No system, however elabo- 
 rate, and no contrivance, however ingenious, 
 can be finally effective for the preservation of 
 personal liberty, without the constant assist- 
 ance of an enlightened, healthy, and vigorous 
 public sentiment." An estabhshed Church, 
 ex m termmi^ implies unjust discrimination 
 against other churches, governmental favor- 
 itism, inequality, usurpation, wrong. To es- 
 tablish one sect or denomination or Church 
 puts the stamp of disfavor, of inferiority, on 
 those not established. If no evils accrued, if 
 no injustice were done, still the alliance of 
 Church and State, the civil support of a re- 
 ligion, transgresses the legitimate province 
 and function of the civil power. There is 
 only one safe rule for the people, for the 
 weak, for minorities, against civil or ecclesi- 
 astical tyranny. If there be no purpose to 
 injure, let it be put beyond the power to 
 do so. The history of States and Churches 
 leaves no room for doubt as to what will 
 come of the power to suppress dissent when 
 passion or prejudice or interest dictates the 
 
in Spain and of the Republic, 93 
 
 use of force. When a religion or a church 
 is once " estabUshed," or adopted by a State, 
 intolerance and a long train of evils are 
 inevitable. There is no instance to the 
 contrary. History teaches but one lesson. 
 Bepugnance of persecution to the spirit of 
 Christ, to the teachings of the New Testa- 
 ment, has never been a hinderance ; and uni- 
 formity has been invariably sought by using 
 without scruple the means seemingly most 
 effective. Clearest intellects, kindliest tem- 
 pers, and piety have favored crudest tort- 
 ures. When the belief that persecution for 
 conscience' sake is sinful is denounced as 
 heresy, to be visited with the full penal- 
 ties of that unpardonable crime,^ then there 
 is no limit to ecclesiastical jugglery and 
 wrong ; as Henry George says, " Aggression 
 grows by what it feeds on, and the idea of 
 justice is blurred by the habitual toleration 
 of injustice." 
 
 In its general provisions the Constitution 
 corresponds in theory to the constitutions of 
 other monarchical countries. It is a com- 
 
 * Lea's " History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages," 
 vol. i., p. 224. 
 
94 A Sketch of Constitutional Government 
 
 promise seeking ^ juste milieu between reac- 
 tionary, intolerant, ultramontane Monarch- 
 ists, the absolutism of Bourbonism, on the 
 one hand, and radical democracy, on the 
 other. There is sufficient flexibility of lan- 
 guage, under Spanish precedents, to " allow 
 ample room for the healthful play of par- 
 ties;" and during the twelve years of its 
 existence Spain has had the Conservatism of 
 Canovas, and the Liberalism of Sagasta and 
 Moret, has survived several military revolts, 
 almost annihilated Carlism, and passed se- 
 curely over the crisis of a transition from a 
 Bourbon king to the regency of an Austrian 
 woman. 
 
 In the frequent changing constitutions 
 there seems to be no comprehension of the 
 fundamental distinction between the consti- 
 tution-making and the law-making poAver. 
 It is doubtful whether the ordinary Spanish 
 statesman could understand the checks and 
 balances and limitations which are discussed 
 with such consummate ability by Calhoun 
 in his " Disquisition on Government and the 
 Constitution of the United States." In 
 Spain, a royal decree, a legislative act, sus- 
 pends or abrogates the Constitution, and 
 
in Spain and of the Bepuhlic, 95 
 
 there is no remedy except by an uncertain 
 election or a military emeute. A court of 
 last resort, with original or appellate juris- 
 diction, to afford adequate relief when limits 
 of constitutional grant have been exceeded 
 by Sovereign or Cabinet or Cortes, is a need 
 yet to be supplied in Spanish jurisprudence. 
 
96 A Sketch of Constitutional Government 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Cabinet Government. 
 
 The Constitution of 1812 made the initi- 
 ative in the formation of a parliamentary 
 government, by dividing the functions of the 
 executive power into seven responsible Min- 
 istries. Each of these was made responsible 
 to the Cortes for the decrees countersigned, 
 and was not permitted to plead a command 
 of the King in excuse for official action. De- 
 cisions not so countersigned were null. The 
 highest court of justice was invested with 
 jurisdiction in the trial of Ministers and of 
 high functionaries. This Constitution was 
 abrogated by kingly usurpation and foreign 
 interference, but it is interesting as the gen- 
 esis of an effort to naturalize in Spain the 
 governmental ideas which have become so 
 valuable in Great Britain. By successive 
 trials the Government has become, in large 
 degree, a government of the Ministry sus- 
 tained by the Congress, thus in theory plac- 
 
in Spain and of the Republic, 97 
 
 ing the legislative and executive power ul- 
 timately in the hands of a majority of the 
 voters. The Sovereign is the fountain of 
 honor, the source of pardons, but has no 
 constitutional power in making or annulling 
 laws. The Queen -regent presides once a 
 week in the Council of Ministers, and takes 
 an intelligent interest in the affairs of the 
 kingdom, but acts within her limited sphere 
 of a constitutional sovereign, and carefully 
 abstains from dictation or an attempt to 
 control. The President of the Council of 
 Ministers, or Prime-minister, at present has 
 no portfolio as in England, but is the rec- 
 ognized head of the Government and has a 
 general supervision over all affairs of the 
 nation. Being invited so to do by the Sov- 
 ereign, he selects his colleagues in the Cab- 
 inet, who are officially proclaimed by royal 
 order. Each Minister must be a member of 
 the Cortes (he is not so ex officio)^ but is not 
 required on appointment to have his official 
 life renewed or confirmed by the indorse- 
 ment of a constituency. In both Houses a 
 Minister can sit, debate, introduce measures, 
 but can vote only in the body of which he 
 is a member. In Senate and in Congress 
 7 
 
/T 
 
 98 A SJcetch of Constitutional Government 
 
 a front bench to the right of the President 
 is reserved for the Ministers of the Crown, 
 and each Minister is expected to explain 
 and defend the measures emanating from, 
 or specially connected with, his department. 
 Sometimes, in a general debate or a particu- 
 lar discussion, the Prime-minister sums up 
 or concludes. The Constitution provides for 
 ''interpellation" — a method somewhat akin 
 to the questions propounded in the House of 
 Commons. Any member of the Cortes can 
 question a Minister, demand an interpella- 
 tion, or propose a vote of censure or want 
 of confidence. Such a vote, however, does 
 not, of necessity, result in a change of Gov- 
 ernment ; it has no legal effect, and the Min- 
 istry, in the face of it, may continue in office. 
 The Crown, under the Constitution, may ap- 
 point and dismiss Ministers and dissolve the 
 Cortes. The two Houses are inhibited from 
 deliberating together. The Government is 
 required to present every year to the Cortes, 
 for examination and discussion, the general 
 budget of the expenditures of the State, ac- 
 companied by the plan of taxation and the 
 proposed means of meeting the expendi- 
 tures; but the laws on taxes and public 
 
in Spain and of the llepichlic. 99 
 
 credit must be presented first to the Con- 
 gress of Deputies. As parliamentary pro- 
 cedure attracts so much attention, it may 
 be mentioned as of curious interest that 
 instead of committees at the beginning of 
 every session of the Cortes, each body is di- 
 vided by lot into sections, to which projects 
 of laws are referred. After discussion and 
 action, the sections report through commis- 
 sions. These sections, except the one hav- 
 ing charge of the Budget, are recast every 
 month or two by a new allotment. In the 
 regular debate the speakers are listed, ^ro 
 and con^ but are not limited as to time. 
 There is no hour rule nor previous question. 
 Each speaker can " rectify," and with Span- 
 ish loquaciousness this " system of oratorical 
 ramifications " makes debate tedious and an 
 issue remote. 
 
100 A Sketch of Constitutional Government 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Progress of Liberal Institutions in Spain. — Platform of Lib- 
 eral and Conservative Parties. 
 
 The American idea of the derivation of po- 
 litical power from the people has not found 
 lodgment, as an actuality, in Spanish poli- 
 tics, literature, or thought. The Constitution 
 contains no declaration of rights, no abstract 
 enunciation of fundamental truths and prin- 
 ciples. What was once, rather sneeringly, 
 ridiculed as Virginia and Carolina " abstrac- 
 tions," theoretical annunciations of essential 
 truths, inalienable rights, the bases of sound 
 government and individual liberty, is ^vhat 
 Spaniards need to comprehend and accept. 
 Carefully defined distributions and limita- 
 tions of power have not been thought nec- 
 essary to prevent encroachments. There is 
 imperative need of a sounder opinion on the 
 proper means of changing the Ministry and 
 the Constitution. All parties have resorted 
 to conspiracies, and no party can cast the first 
 
in Spain and of the Republic, 101 
 
 stone in condemnation of others. Absolute 
 monarchy, constitutional monarchy, elective 
 monarchy, a republic, a regency, civil dic- 
 tatorship, miUtary dictatorship, have come 
 and gone with suddenness and celerity. Mil- 
 itarism, usurpation, flagrant violations of 
 constitutions and laws, oscillations between 
 despotism and anarchy, have marked the un- 
 happy history of this century, and the people 
 have often quietly acquiesced in these rapid- 
 ly occurring mutations as things to be ex- 
 pected in the course of human events. Power 
 has been sought, not by legal methods or 
 through constitutional forms, but by revolts, 
 insurrections, conspiracies. The bayonet has 
 superseded the ballot - box or a vote of the 
 Cortes. The army has been a political en- 
 gine. Mihtary officers have been intriguers. 
 Castelar once said that in the crisis of every 
 party question the inquiry is. Which controls 
 the cannons f 
 
 Still, the impartial student of the science 
 of politics can see much to encourage. A 
 comparison between 1808 and 1888 will show 
 gratifying progress. Liberty is of slow 
 growth. For centuries the political systems 
 of Europe have been founded upon partial 
 
102 A Sketch of Constitutional Government 
 
 rights and privileges, but the advance is easi- 
 ly discovered. The manners, the ideas, the 
 passions moulded during past ages, do not 
 readily yield. Austria, the most feudal State, 
 has been forced into lines of constitutional 
 government, and has found it necessary to 
 modify concordats and reconstruct the em- 
 pire-kingdom in harmony with modern ideas. 
 As far back as 1861, a citizen Ministry came 
 into power, of which only three bore aristo- 
 cratic names. The Tory party in England 
 has become conservative, and is adopting 
 many liberal views and measures. The full 
 scope of the process of transformation cannot 
 be measured ; but we see reform in suffrage 
 and representation, an advance towards local 
 government in the counties, and, contempo- 
 raneously, a hopeful discussion as to the need 
 of a change in the constitution of the House 
 of Lords. A remarkable fact, similar to the 
 one mentioned in Austria, exists in Spain in 
 1888, where all the nine Ministers, the Presi- 
 dent of the Congress, and nearly all the sub- 
 secretaries are from the people. Nearly ev- 
 ery man of eminence in the dominant party, 
 and very many in the Opposition, owe their 
 elevation and influence, not to royal favor or 
 
in Spain and of the Republic. 103 
 
 aristocratic birth, but to splendid abilities and 
 the " openings " which have come from the 
 popular ideas incorporated into the govern- 
 ment — embodied in a representative consti- 
 tution. 
 
 Parties are exponents of tendencies and 
 principles when they embody, not sectional 
 hate nor dead issues, but living practical ques- 
 tions. In governments tolerating freedom 
 of opinion and discussion men divide them- 
 selves into conservative and liberal organi- 
 zations. It is difficult to make inteUigible 
 to an American the politics and parties of a 
 monarchy, and yet without an insight into 
 them one is very liable to misapprehend. 
 The Conservative party in Spain is too con- 
 tent with the present, too indisposed to look 
 far enough forward, too much wedded to 
 tradition and prescription, and with too su- 
 perstitious a devotion to monarchy ; for its 
 great leader, Canovas, in February, 1888, said 
 in the Congress, " Monarchy is anterior and 
 superior to the Constitution." This is peril- 
 ously close to the old doctrine of the divine 
 right of kings, that royalty never loses its 
 right to reign. 
 
 As to the Liberal party, I have been fort- 
 
104 A Sketch of Co7istitutional Government 
 
 unate in securing from Sefior Sagasta, the 
 Prime-minister, a paper which has the double 
 merit of being an ex cathedra declaration of 
 Liberalism, and less authoritatively a state- 
 ment of Conservatism : 
 
 "The separation and difference between 
 the Conservative and the Liberal parties 
 takes root in the Revolution of 1868. Be- 
 fore that date the lines of separation of the 
 political parties were founded neither in prin- 
 ciples nor doctrines, public men occupying 
 themselves with preparing for the downfall 
 of Isabel II., which they considered indis- 
 pensable to the establishment of a liberal and 
 parliamentary regime in Spain. After the 
 triumph of the Revolution of 1868 and the 
 proclamation of the constitutional monarchy 
 in 1869, the politics of the parties were found- 
 ed on democratic principles, which are gen- 
 erally called individual rights. Since that 
 date, the parties recognizing the constitu- 
 tional monarchy have been formulated and 
 defined, so that to-day they are not only per- 
 fectly distinguished, but each has a clear and 
 definite programme. We may, therefore, 
 classify the Conservative and Liberal parties 
 
in Spain and of the Bepuhlic, 105 
 
 as the two grand nuclei of political forces, 
 around which, as occurs in England, the dif- 
 ferent tendencies of Spanish politics are 
 grouped. In this w^ay the Conservative par- 
 ty has already absorbed a great part of the 
 Eeactionaries. Those have entered into it 
 who give more importance to religious peace 
 than to the form of government; that is, 
 those w^ho are called Ultramontanes and 
 have separated from the Carlists. Equally 
 figures within the Conservative party, or at 
 its side, the remnant of the old Moderate 
 party, which was overcome in 1868. On the 
 other hand are collected in the Liberal party 
 those Eepublicans who give preference to 
 principles over forms of government, and 
 who strive to give efficiency to those princi- 
 ples by co-operation with the Liberal party. 
 In the same attitude are found those other 
 liberal elements the advocates of which, 
 without being defined by a political organi- 
 zation, yet rely upon legal means for the tri- 
 umph of their ideas and opinions. Among 
 these may be included the Free-traders, a 
 large part of those called Socialists, and es- 
 pecially the Labor party. 
 
 "At the extremes of both the great par- 
 
106 ^ Sketch of Constitutional Government 
 
 ties are two groups of real importance in the 
 country who accept neither reforms nor le- 
 gal methods of procedure, and whose reli- 
 ance is upon force to accomplish the triumph 
 of their ideals. These are the Carlists on 
 the extreme right, and the Eed Eepublicans 
 on the extreme left. 
 
 "Conservatives and Liberals sustain the 
 constitutional monarchy with equal energy, 
 there being on this point no essential differ- 
 ence between the Constitutions of 1869 and 
 1876. Both likewise defend the rights and 
 guarantees of individual liberty, of property, 
 of free speech, of liberty of the press, and of 
 establishing associations. These rights are 
 confirmed in all the constitutions, and it is 
 in the methods of guarantees that the differ- 
 ence between the parties begins. It is the 
 aspiration of the Liberal party to commit 
 the complete guarantee of liberty and of the 
 electoral system to the courts of justice, while 
 the Conservative party is inclined to exercise 
 a guardianship over all these rights by means 
 of administrative authorities and of ministe- 
 rial power. It is in this diverse tendency 
 that the distinction between the two parties 
 originates and the difference of progmmme 
 
in Spaiii and of the EepiihUc. 107 
 
 is born. In its platform the Liberal party 
 affirms the development and accomplishment 
 not only of what are termed public liberties, 
 which are conceded by all, but the evolution 
 of democratic principles as proclaimed by the 
 Revolution of 1868. Hence a series of legis- 
 lative measures which have been proposed, 
 and may be enumerated as follows : 
 
 "1. Law establishing civil marriage, the 
 character of which is defined not only by 
 the intervention of the State at the moment 
 marriage is contracted, but by the absolute 
 right of the State to regulate all its civil ef- 
 fects in regard both to the property and 
 rights of the married couple and their chil- 
 dren. 
 
 '' 2. Law of associations, so as to shelter 
 this right from administrative authorities 
 and place it under the protection of courts. 
 The law of public meetings has been al- 
 ready made and has universal acceptance. 
 
 " 3. Law establishing the jury system. 
 
 " 4. Eeform of the penal code, in order to 
 place individual rights under the safeguard 
 of the laws, and to regulate the liberty of 
 the press by the combined action of the jury 
 and the courts of justice. 
 
108 A Sketch of Constitutional Government 
 
 " 5. Law to make the guarantee against the 
 abuses of administrative power effective by 
 suppressing the necessity of previous author- 
 ization in order to proceed against public of- 
 ficials, and by giving every one the means 
 of defence against the excesses of bureau- 
 cracy. 
 
 " 6. Law enlarging the right of suffrage to 
 the extreme limit allowed by the present 
 condition of the culture and enlightenment 
 of the Spanish people. 
 
 ^'This series of measures constitutes the 
 programme of the Liberal party, and is now 
 undergoing development. To this policy thus 
 defined there naturally corresponds another 
 series of measures of a social and administra- 
 tive character, intended to give to free ini- 
 tiative and to individual liberty all necessa- 
 ry expansion as a consequence of the political 
 programme, by intrusting the commercial life 
 of the country to the free action of the pro- 
 ducing classes when suitabl}^ organized. 
 
 " The Liberal party gives effect to its prin- 
 ciples and purposes by a series of legislative 
 and administrative regulations, which have 
 for their object — 
 
 " 1. The creation of lines of navigation. 
 
in Spain and of the JRepuhlic. 109 
 
 " 2. The organization of chambers of com- 
 merce at home and abroad. 
 
 " 3. The creation of committees of laborers 
 and of commissions of arbitration between 
 capital and labor or emplo3^ers and employes. 
 
 " 4. The regulation of the labor of women 
 and children. 
 
 *' 5. The creation of a farmers' bank. 
 
 " 6. The completion of disamortization, by 
 taking real property out of mortmain and 
 subjecting it to the rules of private property. 
 
 "7. Eevision of laws and tariffs of rail- 
 ways in the interests of trade. 
 
 " 8. The completion of a system of commu- 
 nication by ordinary roads and railways, es- 
 pecially narrow-gauge, and by combining the 
 principal routes with the harbors and fron- 
 tiers. 
 
 "9. The estabhshment of various manu- 
 facturing industries. 
 
 " The Conservative party has in reality no 
 programme confronting that of the Liberal. 
 Its attitude is expectant and, so to speak, 
 negative. It does not recognize the urgen- 
 cy of any great reforms or great legislative 
 measures, except as concern the finances, and 
 the organization of the military forces — • 
 
110 A Sketch of Constitutional Government 
 
 questions which belong to no party, and the 
 solution of which appertains specially to no 
 one political group. Given this attitude, the 
 Conservative party is reduced to opposing 
 the reforms of the Liberal party, but at the 
 same time it declares itself disposed to ac- 
 cept them if practice demonstrates their ad- 
 vantage, and in any way to respect legal so- 
 lution to which co-operation is given by an 
 intelligent and active discussion. There is 
 therefore no other difference than that of 
 grade and conduct. Essential differences and 
 opposing plans do not exist, except that in 
 the application and the development of each 
 of the questions indicated an opposition be- 
 tween the two parties may be formed at any 
 moment. What remains to be stated will 
 make clear this point. 
 
 " Although the two great lines of action 
 which constitute the policy and purpose of 
 the Liberal party have been traced, yet for 
 a fuller understanding it is necessary to call 
 attention to two points of view which, al- 
 though not formulated, define and charac- 
 terize its tendency, inasmuch as they relate 
 to the complete and historical policy of 
 Spain. 
 
in Spain mid of the JRepublic, 111 
 
 " One of these refers to the connection be- 
 tween Church and State, the basis for many 
 years of struggles and revolutionary move- 
 ments. The Liberal party, which has effect- 
 ed disamortization and the suppression of 
 tithes, has lately succeeded in marching in 
 perfect agreement with the Holy See and in 
 restoring an understanding, for a long time 
 disturbed, between the State and the Church. 
 Any idea of the separation of the two pow- 
 ers is foreign to the policy of the Liberals. 
 On the contrary, in the harmony of the two 
 powers, the party seeks the complete re-es- 
 tablishment of peace in Spain, and a change 
 in the opinions and conduct of the clergy, 
 who, after having been ultramontane, now 
 begin, under the intelligent action of Leo 
 XIIL, to separate themselves completely 
 from politics, and to devote themselves to 
 their purely spiritual mission. This trans- 
 formation of the clergy is too beneficial for 
 the Liberal party to ignore, or to allow it 
 to excite any difficulty which might repro- 
 duce the worst periods of modern Spanish 
 history.^ 
 
 * The Spanish, English, and French journals of September, 
 
112 A Sketch of Constitiitio7ial Government 
 
 " The other point of view relates to inter- 
 national policy. The Liberal party, instead 
 of being indifferent to great questions agitat- 
 ing the civilized world, aspires to give Spain 
 a place among the nations called upon and 
 expected to exert legitimate influence in the 
 adjustment of those questions. Her geo- 
 graphical position guarantees neutrality in 
 the conflicts which may arise, but likewise 
 offers to her the means, at a given moment, 
 of influencing, and perhaps of deciding, such 
 
 1888, state that the Government makes serious complaint of 
 the Catholic clergy in the canvass for the elections of pro- 
 vincial councils. The priests have advised the people to vote 
 for Carlist and Ultramontane candidates, and the Madrid and 
 local press urge the Government to interfere. A telegram 
 from Madrid to the London News of September 10, 1888, 
 says : 
 
 "Madeid. — The Liberals won large majorities in the provincial 
 conncils, which were re-elected yesterday, tliroughout the kingdom. 
 Only a few Conservatives, and fewer Kepublicaus, were returned. 
 The severest struggle took place in the old Carlist districts, where 
 the Liberals were carried with a bare majority after a most curious 
 contest, in which the Carlists fought hard, with the assistance of the 
 priests, who even on the day of the poll threatened the electors with 
 ecclesiastical penalties. The Jesuits and the monks declared from 
 the pulpits and in the streets that it was a sin against religiouand 
 the Church to vote for the Liberal candidates. Some i)riests even 
 came to blows with the Liberals. The conduct of the clergy in these 
 elections is a sufficient proof that the old spirit of intolerance and 
 the Carlist propensities of the Basque Highlanders are not extin- 
 guished." 
 
in Spain and of the Eepuhlic. 113 
 
 contests. When the different forces of Eu- 
 rope are nearly equally balanced, as they are 
 to-day, Spain can throw her weight into the 
 scale for the maintenance of peace and the 
 protection of the interests of Humanity and 
 Civilization." 
 
114 A Sketch of Coiistitutional Government 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Polic}' of the Republican Party. 
 
 This lucid statement of the Prime-minis- 
 ter, furnished at my request, can hardly be 
 over-estimated as an exposition of the prin- 
 ciples and policy of the dominant party and 
 its most formidable competitor. The unity 
 or design of this work, seeking to portray 
 the progress of the principles of free govern- 
 ment in the Peninsula, would be incomplete 
 if the policy and measures of the Eepubli- 
 cans, with whom I must confess mj^ sympa- 
 thy, were not brought somewhat into con- 
 trast with what has just been given. The 
 writings and speeches of Eepublicans have 
 been the source of information as to their 
 platform.^ The marked distinction as to 
 monarchy is omitted because of the obvious 
 
 * Large indebtedness is due to my friend, Exc'mo Seiior 
 D. Joaquin Maria Sanroma, Counsellor of Public Instruction, 
 Professor in the University, former Sub-Secretary in the For- 
 eign Office, and author of several valuable books. 
 
in Spain and of the Republic, 115 
 
 antagonism in form and essence between 
 a monarchy and a republic. Some unfort- 
 unate disagreements among Kepublicans 
 cause a segregation into at least three fac- 
 tions. Treating Republicans as a unit, and 
 passing over, except incidentally, their want 
 of coincidence of opinion on some measures 
 of administration, the separation from Liber- 
 als, to whom they are most closely related, 
 may be classified under several heads. 
 
 {a) The political question. Apart from 
 the form of government, there are such sub- 
 jects as the composition of the Legislature, 
 suffrage, the press, and the right of meeting. 
 Some Republicans do not concede the neces- 
 sity of two branches of the Legislature (as 
 some do not in England), but all hold that 
 the Senate, if it exist, should not be hered- 
 itary, nor by appointment of the Crown, nor 
 based on wealth, but should be representa- 
 tive of provinces, as in the United States, or 
 of great social interests. Republicans de- 
 mand the immediate establishment of uni- 
 versal suffrage, without any other limitation 
 than sex, age, criminality, etc. 
 
 Public opinion, to be safe, or consistent 
 Avith a proper administration, should have 
 
116 A Sketch of Constitutional GovemmeJit 
 
 some regular and judicious means of acting 
 directly and peaceably on the machine of 
 government and bearing on the public coun- 
 sels. In the present condition of society, no 
 government can be prosperous or permanent 
 which does not provide for expressing and 
 giving effect to the general sense of the 
 people. 
 
 The Conservatives, now biding their time, 
 and giving a qicasi or negative support to 
 the Liberal Government, would at once or- 
 ganize all their forces for its overthrow if 
 Sagasta were seriously to insist upon the ex- 
 tension of the franchise. Martinez Campos, 
 late Captain-general of Madrid, mentioned as 
 leading the movement to bring Alfonso to 
 the throne, is a bitter opponent of democra- 
 cy, and has frankly told Sagasta that he will 
 oppose SLTij measures that can lead to univer- 
 sal suffrage. 
 
 In Spain the Ministry of the day carries 
 the elections, and the more easily as it deals 
 with restricted suffrage. The franchise is 
 now confined, with certain exceptions, to 
 Spaniards who have the three conditions of 
 age (twenty-five years), of domicile, which 
 involves the difficulty of getting on the reg- 
 
in Spain and of the Republic. 117 
 
 ister, and of a minimum contribution of twen- 
 ty-five pesetas ($5) as real property tax, or 
 double that amount as ^4ndustrial tax." 
 Eepublicans seek to get rid of this last lim- 
 itation, and hence demand a return to the 
 Constitution of 1869. The exceptions have 
 an aristocratic or class tinge. Suffrage is 
 given to all members of academies and eccle- 
 siastical chapters, to all parish priests and 
 their curates, to all civil servants whose pay 
 is over four hundred dollars a year, to all 
 pensioners (and their name is legion), and to 
 all painters or sculptors who have obtained 
 a first or second class medal. Politicians are 
 expert in the care of the registers, and the 
 object is not to increase the list, but to keep 
 out as many voters as possible. Madrid has 
 400,000 inhabitants or more. Under the old 
 Constitution the voters should number 70,000 
 or 80,000. The actual register is about 12,000, 
 a large number of whom are public function- 
 aries or on the civil list. In the towns and 
 rural districts the elections are a farce, and 
 hence the desire of the Eepublicans for a 
 change of the law. Monarchists impose re- 
 strictions on liberty of the press so as to 
 exempt the royal family from criticism or 
 
118-4 Sketch of Constitutional Gover^iment 
 
 censure. Eepublicans are content with the 
 restrictions of the penal code, and regard the 
 freedom of the press as essential to liberty, 
 but subject always to considerations of pub- 
 lic tranquillity and order. 
 
 Q)) Administrative reforms, such as Com- 
 munes or Districts, Army, Finance, etc. 
 Monarchists favor very little the policy of 
 decentralization, and aim at the concentra- 
 tion of power under the aegis of supreme 
 central authorities. Eepublicans would dis- 
 courage the centrifugal tendencies by estab- 
 lishing local liberties, leaving to free popular 
 election all local officers, and giving to them 
 the decision of all affairs pertaining exclu- 
 sively to the district. They favor popular 
 government in local matters, would give to 
 the people a direct interest in politics and in 
 administration, and seelc something like our 
 municipal or township governments, where 
 local patriotism would be enkindled, the dis- 
 cipline of self-government acquired, and the 
 people would be knit together in daily rela- 
 tions, not as common subjects but as fellow- 
 citizens, and would find themselves to be to 
 the State not mere ciphers but intelligent 
 entities. Spain has no Irish question. Lo- 
 
in Spain and of the Repuhlic, 119 
 
 cal agitations and demands do not disturb 
 national repose. Still, the experience of 
 modern governments and the philosophy of 
 civics show the educatory, training value of 
 local organizations. There is manifest need 
 for the play of national and provincial pa- 
 triotism, for distribution of political authori- 
 ty, for habits of organization, for a training 
 which informs and raises men in intelligent, 
 self -regulated, legal freedom. As to the 
 army, the difference practically seems not to 
 be great, as all parties apparently favor, or 
 yield to, national armament, compulsory serv- 
 ice, preparedness for war, and are dazzled 
 by military glory. All Spaniards sigh for 
 the return of the position of power that their 
 country had under Charles and Philip, and 
 would have it to play some other part than 
 that of peninsular neutrality and isolation in 
 the great European questions which portend 
 early and wide-reaching results. The strain 
 of universal military service under Avhich 
 the Eastern Continent groans may be favor- 
 able to dynasties and the ambition of offi- 
 cers, but is fatal to the prosperity and liber- 
 ties of the masses. It gives the privilege, 
 little enviable, of being among the nations 
 
120 A Sketch of Constitutional Government 
 
 most heavily indebted. Pronunciamientos, 
 an untranslatable word, are uniquely Span- 
 ish, and are fostered by the deplorable mili- 
 tary organization. The army has about 
 75,000 men in active service, with more gen- 
 erals than France or Germany. The last 
 publication gives seven effective captains- 
 general, six general officers about the per- 
 son of the King, seventy -six lieutenants- 
 general, 395 brigadiers, 2800 field-officers, 
 and about 17,500 officers of lower grade. 
 As a security against escape from military 
 service, every Spaniard is required to pro- 
 vide himself with a cedilla^ an official cer- 
 tification of his birth and residence, and 
 without which he may be arrested in pass- 
 ing out of the country, or from one province 
 to another. Financial questions, as in most 
 countries, are controlled by the selfish and 
 readily combining few, and the burdens in 
 Spain, as elsewhere, are unequally distrib- 
 uted. On industrial questions no very dis- 
 tinct line of demarcation between parties 
 can be drawn, although Spain is an inviting 
 field for the political economist, offering a 
 wide scope for errors to be avoided and for ex- 
 perimental plans of reform and amelioration. 
 
171 Spam and of the Repuhlic. 121 
 
 The Conservatives, as a rule, are united in 
 favor of traditional restriction on trade, 
 while among Liberals and Eepublicans are 
 to be found partisans of free exchange and 
 fierce protectionists. Ignorance of economic 
 questions, of the fundamental ideas of pro- 
 duction, distribution, and exchange, is wide- 
 spread. 
 
 {g) a clearer divergence exists as to the 
 magistrature and judicial procedure. Dur- 
 ing the session of the Cortes, 1887-88, oral 
 procedure and jury trial have been discussed 
 in the Senate as a Government measure and 
 passed, but it has been antagonized bj^ the 
 Conservatives, and drags its slow length 
 along, the Government fearing the issue.^' 
 Eepublicans advocate jury trials, and would 
 not make the selection of a jury to rest on a 
 feudatory basis, but make all who can read 
 and write eligible to the service. Nor would 
 they exclude political trials from the jury. 
 
 * In January, 1888, at a dinner given by the Papal Nuncio, 
 speaking to the Minister of Justice of a naturalized American 
 citizen imprisoned and not furnished with specific charges, I 
 suggested the need of tlie right of habeas corpus as obtains 
 in England and the United States, and he replied, "Spain 
 moves calmlv." 
 
122 A Sketch of Constitutional Government 
 
 regarding such cases as appropriately cog- 
 nizable by such tribunals. 
 
 {d) On the colonial question the difference 
 is very wide, and properly so ; for the colo- 
 nial system is wasteful, corrupt, and irre- 
 sponsible."^^ Deputies said in the Cortes in 
 1872, " Cuba is sunk under an inundation of 
 abuses, and a plus ultra is impossible unless 
 indeed the extermination of the whole island- 
 ers be decreed ;" " Cuba is groaning under 
 the scourge of arbitrary power ; there is no 
 law, no code, no constitution ;" " Send back 
 the twelve thousand vultures who are de- 
 vouring Cuba." Of Porto Eico Froude says, 
 " The island is a nest of squalor, misery, vice, 
 and disease ;" and of Cuba, "the Government 
 is unimaginably corrupt, and the fiscal policy 
 oppressive and ruinous." There have been 
 some reforms of administration in the re- 
 
 * Spain holds Cuba, Porto Rico, the Philippine, Sooloo, Ma- 
 rianne,and Caroline islands, Ceuta, and some other possessions 
 in Africa. To these she clings with tenacity, and the more 
 firmly as her vast territories have so completely slipped from 
 her grasp. Gibraltar is a perpetual sore arid insult, and in 
 the modern scramble over, and arbitrary partition of, Africa, 
 Spain has so far been able to acquire but sterile possessions 
 or doubtful claims, which she retains only by tolerance of other 
 powers. 
 
in Spain and of the Eepuhlic. 123 
 
 mote dependencies ; but what Gladstone said 
 in May, 1887, of England and Ireland is, 
 names being changed, equally descriptive of 
 Spain and Cuba. " Every horror and every 
 shame that could disgrace the relations be- 
 tween a strong country. and a weak one is 
 written upon almost every page of our deal- 
 ings with Ireland." The Colonies are now 
 largely subordinate to military authority. 
 Senators and deputies are chosen under the 
 eye of the Government, municipalities are 
 under metropolitan control, and everything 
 is regulated by the central power. Eepubli- 
 cans are autonomists, and would concede 
 home -rule or colonial legislatures, subject 
 to the unquestionable supremacy of the Pen- 
 insular Government. They would have an 
 elective, popular, and representative authori- 
 ty in the islands, with large powers, and with 
 control over things that affect daily life, so 
 as to bring responsibility and a training in 
 politics to the door of the dweller in the cot- 
 tage. What Lord Salisbury lately said is 
 equally applicable to Spain and her colonies, 
 and in a wider sense than the Prime-minister 
 intended : "The object of local government 
 is to place in the hands of the people of the 
 
124: A Sketch of Constitutional Government 
 
 locality the power liitherto exercised by de- 
 partments ill London — departments . . . too 
 far separated, socially and locally, from those 
 with whom they have to deal to be able to 
 determine the measures which will be most 
 acceptable and useful to the locality." '^ 
 
 {e) On the religious question, as might be 
 expected, the difference is radical. Article 
 XI., previously quoted, is deceptive, and, sup- 
 plemented by the penal code, is a snare to 
 enmesh the unwary. A Protestant school 
 
 * Mr. Waddington, the French ambassador in London, in 
 the Nineteenth Century for June, gives an instructive article 
 on local government in France. By the organic law of 1871 
 the country is divided into departments, each department 
 into arrondissements, and each arrondissement into cantons. 
 The canton, an aggregate of rural communes^ or parishes, 
 is the electoral unit for the election of the conseil general^ a 
 body " wliose duties are largely concerned with the manage- 
 ment and maintenance of the wonderful net-work of roads 
 whicli is spread all over France, and to which each canton 
 
 sends a-member chosen by universal suffrage The electors 
 
 know perfectly well the candidates who canvass their votes, 
 and therefore only choose men who live among them, and 
 whom they can trust ; and that is the reason why the conseih 
 generaux^ as a whole, are more conservative, more steady than 
 the parliamentary representatives returned by the same elec- 
 tors ; consequently, although parliamentary institutions are 
 often violently attacked in France, no one ever thinks of call- 
 ing in question the efficacy of the conseih g'eneranxy 
 
in Spain and of the Bepublic, 125 
 
 or church, or a Hebrew synagogue, may be 
 opened by a Spaniard, but he would be ha- 
 ble to persecution under frivolous pretexts. 
 To reply by lecture or in print to a personal 
 attack made from a pulpit, to speak disre- 
 spectfully of dogma or clergy, to put up a 
 sign on the street or ring a bell advertising 
 worship, to march as a Sunday-school pro- 
 cession with banners or music through a 
 street, would make the persons so offending 
 liable to the penalties of the law. Clerical- 
 ism is a potential factor in Spain, and the 
 liberty of worship, in the rural districts and 
 villages remote from the capital and large 
 cities, is unquestionably dependent upon the 
 politics, the whims, the prejudices of the mag- 
 istrates, the priests, and the people. Eepub- 
 licans favor freedom of worship, full and 
 adequate, without evasions, without discrim- 
 inations, without State support of Church. 
 Instead of a timid, half-furtive inscription of 
 Catholic marriage in the civil register, they 
 would re-establish civil marriage as it exist- 
 ed during the revolutionary period. The 
 Government had reformed the bigotry and 
 despotism of the old law, and allowed vali- 
 dated marriages before a civil magistrate ; 
 
126 A Sketch of Constitutional Government 
 
 but when Alfonso became king he nullified 
 them by a royal decree. The present Liberal 
 Government has made a scary effort to get 
 back to civil marriage, but it is hampered by 
 a concordat with the Pope, and objection is 
 made in the Vatican to a measure pending in 
 the Cortes. Nothing could better illustrate 
 the mediaeval bondage of Spain, the want 
 of real national independence, the evils of 
 Church and State alliance. This assumption, 
 if recognized, would vest the hegemony of 
 Spain, of Europe, of all civil governments, 
 in the Pope or Church of Eome. As to the 
 basal question of the relation between Spain 
 and the Eoraan Catholic Church, of which 
 the concordat is the last expression, the Ee- 
 publicans would make a more liberal con- 
 cordat, or, better still, would place the Eoman 
 Catholic and the other Churches on the same 
 footing, and proclaim the independence of 
 Church and State with sufficient guarantees 
 against the encroachments of the so-called 
 spiritual power. 
 
in Spam and of the BepuhUc, 127 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Reforms Needed. — Hope for the Future. 
 
 In addition to reforms contemplated by- 
 Liberals and Kepublicans there are some 
 others which demand immediate and thor- 
 ough adoption. 
 
 {a) The rigid prohibition of bull -fights. 
 This national ^65^{^, disgusting, demoralizing, 
 cruel, brutal, bloody, is probably the most 
 distinctive characteristic of Spain. It begins 
 on Easter Sunday, is kept up on Sabbaths 
 and whenever a special religious funcion is 
 to be performed, is strangely popular, and a 
 serious effort to suppress, by Church and 
 Government combined, would provoke vio- 
 lent and revolutionary opposition. When 
 Joseph Bonaparte arrived in Madrid, the 
 populace, indifferent as to rulers, was much 
 absorbed in the question whether he would 
 grant or suppress the bull-fight. 
 
 (J) The abolition of lotteries. Such expe- 
 dients are thinly disguised gambling, and sap 
 
128 A Sketch of Constitutional Government 
 
 the foundations of good morals. To their 
 pernicious influence may probably be traced 
 the fact that nearly all card-playing by men 
 and women in Spain is connected with wa- 
 gers of money. Buying lottery tickets is al- 
 most universal, from street beggar to highest 
 official. The feverish excitement engendered 
 causes work to be neglected, encourages aim- 
 less idleness, and deludes people with the ex- 
 pectations of fortunes without labor. Spec- 
 ulation is encouraged, honest toil is dishon- 
 ored, and there is dependence for living on 
 chance instead of on industry and frugality. 
 The State legalizes, monopolizes, manages, 
 and controls, and relies upon lotteries as a 
 source of revenue in disregard of the law of 
 economics. The budget for 1887-88 estimates 
 the receipts from lotteries at $15,400,000. 
 This inclusion of receipts is a delusive attempt 
 to get something for nothing. The Avealth 
 of a State is productive labor, and the fewer 
 the number of unproductive laborers, and 
 the more productive the industry, the greater 
 will be the wealth. 
 
 A fiscal reform, not remotely foreign to 
 the abolition of lotteries, would be to reor- 
 ganize the loose system of tax collection and 
 
in Spain and of the JRepicblic, 129 
 
 get rid of the chronic deficits, of which in 
 the last three years there have been 108, 91, 
 and Y7 millions of pesetas respectively. A 
 better devised and regulated system of taxa- 
 tion, more responsibility in better-paid offi- 
 cials, exposure and punishment of thinly 
 disguised and flagrant revenue frauds, Avith- 
 drawing salaries and pensions from useless 
 officials, economy and honesty in expendi- 
 tures, would soon make possible a more fa- 
 vorable balance-sheet. Secretary Manning 
 said a treasury surplus was a standing proof 
 of bad finance. Mr. Gladstone said some peo- 
 ple appear to suppose that public economy is 
 the sole principle of sound finance. It is a 
 matter of first importance, but not the only 
 principle. The first of these principles is that 
 the revenue and expenditure should balance 
 together year by year. Each successive head 
 of the Treasury Department resorts to all 
 sorts of financial makeshifts and juggleries 
 to " square the circle," and pay debts with 
 new promises, or get revenue where the ra- 
 pacity and follies of the Government prevent 
 the accumulation and use of capital. When 
 will people learn the lesson that bad govern- 
 ment, unjust laws, favoritism to particular 
 9 
 
130-4 Sketch of Constitictional Government 
 
 interests, pensioners upon labor, repression 
 of trade, are hinderances to production and 
 wealth ? 
 
 {g) a thorough, well-organized, well-super- 
 vised, well-sustained system of public schools, 
 controlled by the Government, in which all 
 children between eight and eighteen should 
 receive gratuitous instruction from compe- 
 tent, well -trained, and well-paid teachers. 
 Diligent efforts to obtain late and accurate 
 educational statistics have proved futile. By 
 the census of 1877, of the population above 
 twelve years of age sixty per cent, could not 
 read. The illiteracy of the women is appall- 
 ing, for they made up nearly two-thirds of 
 this dark percentage. 
 
 Spain must learn lessons from her former 
 colonies, where " vast provinces, which had 
 languished for centuries under the leaden 
 sway of a stationary system," have been re- 
 vivified by the influences of an active civili- 
 zation. Freedom of worship, of speech, of 
 the press, trial by jury, representative gov- 
 ernment, " association in equality," will lift 
 up countries and peoples. The causes pre- 
 ventive of greater improvement in powers 
 and condition, of good government, are mor- 
 
in Spain and of the Republic, 131 
 
 al rather than political. Well-defined con- 
 stitutional liberties are needed, but paper 
 definitions and guarantees are inadequate to 
 create a higher standard of political morals, 
 and to free Spain of the intolerable burdens 
 which repress the energies and retard the 
 growth of a people who have made sublime 
 exhibitions, against fatal odds, to assert na- 
 tional independence and personal liberty. 
 The administration is fearfully corrupt, or, 
 what is nearly tantamount, the people have 
 lost confidence in the integrity of their pub- 
 lic men, and office is almost universally re- 
 garded as the coveted means and the favor- 
 ing opportunity for making money. Honest 
 labor for support is discouraged by Govern- 
 ment lotteries, by civil allowances, by the 
 general desire for official place and stipend. 
 Spaniards have excessive self-complacency 
 and self-sufficiency, live and rejoice in an 
 illusion that they constitute a superior race 
 of the best blood, and they nourish them- 
 selves on reminiscences of the past, on the 
 immortal deeds of a glorious ancestry. In- 
 dividuality of character needs developing, 
 for the structure of society and habits of 
 government are peculiarly unfitted to that 
 
132 A Sketch of Constitutional Goveriiinent 
 
 attainment. Women need to be educated 
 and lifted out of Moorish suspicions and sub- 
 ordination. Division of society into arti- 
 ficial classes and unmanly subservience to 
 the titled need to be reformed in law, in 
 manners, and in habits of thought. An open 
 Bible is the grand desideratum. 
 
 With all the undoubted drawbacks the 
 drift in Spain is not strong, not consistent, but 
 hopefully towards constitutional principles, 
 promoting the general good while conserv- 
 ing individual rights.^ Under the tuition 
 and guidance of Liberals and Eepublicans 
 the advance must be towards democratic 
 government, towards the recognition of that 
 *' perfect liberty which is bounded only by 
 the equal liberty of every other." Free gov- 
 ernment is not Minerva-born, not the im- 
 provisation of an inspired moment or man, 
 not usually definitely proje*cted, but is a slow 
 and gradual development, moulded step by 
 step, year by year, out of occurring exigen- 
 
 * In 1887 I heard Castelar make in the Cortes a signifi- 
 cant and triumphant reference to tlie fact that twenty years 
 before, the President of the Congress, the Prime-minister, and 
 himself were under sentence of death for their Liberal opin- 
 ions. 
 
in Spain and of the Republic, 133 
 
 cies and increasing popular insight and cour- 
 age. Great crises, in which men's minds are 
 deeply and roughly stirred, are often helpful, 
 for they jostle men from their stagnancy, 
 produce disdain of authority and boldness of 
 thinking, and awaken inquiry and doubt as 
 to things and opinions long uninquiringly 
 accepted. In periods of agitation, human 
 society and human intellect make great ad- 
 vances. Men begin to speculate and reason, 
 and their former idols, the gods of their 
 worship, tumble, like Dagon, to the ground. 
 They see the dark contrast between conduct 
 and professions, the union of immorality 
 and hypocrisy with ostentatious religion, the 
 falseness of the " divinity that doth hedge a 
 king," and at once they demand to see and 
 examine for themselves the patents of nobil- 
 ity, the alleged commissions from heaven to 
 rule over bodies, minds, and consciences of 
 men. The multitude, so aroused, cannot help 
 challenging institutions and dogmas, how- 
 ever hoary with age or sanctioned by pre- 
 scription, and Thought expresses itself in 
 protest and in overthrow of aristocracy, 
 priestcraft, and monarchy. Blind reverence 
 gives way to honest scepticism and wise 
 
134t A Sketch of Constitutional Government, etc, 
 
 unbelief, and the foundations on which Pre- 
 rogative rears its lordly and exclusive pre- 
 tensions are undermined. It was most fort- 
 unate that behind the Constitution of the 
 United States, anterior to the Federal Union, 
 as generative, formative, and " a school-mas- 
 ter," lay all the struggles and achievements 
 of our English ancestors, our colonial histo- 
 ry, the teachings of liberty-loving statesmen 
 and philosophers, and, above all, the increas- 
 ingly comprehended doctrines of the JSTew 
 Testament. 
 
APPENDIX A. 
 
 Sketches of Fernando, Leopold, Duke of Montpensier, and 
 Amadeo. 
 
 Th12 theory of hereditary royalty, exclusion 
 of the wisdom of the nation in the selection of 
 the Executive, confinement of the crown to 
 elect families, is that royal persons are care- 
 fully trained for sovereignty, and are therefore 
 better prepared for solving or understanding 
 great political problems. As helping to test 
 the theory and to elucidate the historical events 
 which have been given as links in the chain of 
 the progress of political ideas, brief summaries 
 are presented of the biographies of the men 
 who were most prominent in connection with 
 the vacant throne. 
 
 AuGusTO Francisco Antonio Fernando, 
 Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, was born in 1816, 
 and in 1836 married Dona Maria II., Queen of 
 Portugal, by whom he had five sons and two 
 daughters. On the birth of the eldest son, the 
 present king of Portugal, he received the title 
 
136 Appendix A. 
 
 of King Consort, and several times during his 
 life acted as regent of the kingdom. He ac- 
 quired general esteem by the liberality of his 
 views, a remarkable aptitude for government, 
 and his successful efforts to maintain tranquil- 
 lity in the kingdom. In 1863 he was offered 
 the throne of Greece, which he declined. His 
 refusal to accept the Spanish crown has been 
 mentioned. As justifying these declinations, 
 and, perhaps, to relieve himself of further im- 
 portunities, he made public the morganatic 
 marriage which he had contracted with an 
 American prima donna, whose maiden name 
 was Louise Hentzler. She was born in Bos- 
 ton, and was the daughter of a respectable citi- 
 zen, a German tailor. For a while she sang in 
 the choir of King's Chapel, but some wealthy 
 members of that congregation subscribed mon- 
 ey and sent her to Europe to acquire a more 
 thorough musical education. She connected 
 herself with an opera troupe, and Ferdinand, 
 seeing her, was fascinated, and they were mar- 
 ried. Husband and wife lived happily togeth- 
 er. Through her efforts and taste, with his 
 cheerful co-operation, a palace at Cintra, pur- 
 chased for $3000, was beautified and enriched, 
 and became the attractive place of Portugal. 
 She has had much trouble, with some litiga- 
 
Appendix A, 137 
 
 tion, because of the hostility of the Portuguese 
 to a marriage outside of royal blood; but she 
 is, nevertheless, a woman of rare accomplish- 
 ments, and has deported herself in a most ex- 
 emplary manner. Fernando was an enlightened 
 prince, a painter and engraver of considerable 
 merit, the President of the Royal Academy of 
 Science in Lisbon, and died near the end of 
 1885, much lamented. 
 
 Leopold, Prince of Hohenzollern, brother of 
 the King of Roumania, was born September 22, 
 1835, and on September 12, 1861, married the 
 Infanta Antonia, daughter of the above-men- 
 tioned Fernando, king of Portugal. Prim, in 
 his conference with Merci^r, the French ambas- 
 sador, when the election of Leopold as king of 
 Spain was announced, said, " He is a Catholic, 
 of royal lineage, thirty-five years old, of good 
 bearing, has two sons, and, what will predispose 
 much in his favor, is married to a Portuguese 
 princess." During the discussion of his can- 
 didature at Berlin, it was said by the Liberals 
 that his accession was doubtful, but if he shall 
 become king, the Spaniards will not have made 
 a bad choice. In the Franco-Prussian war he 
 was attached to the staff of the King; now he 
 is lieutenant-general of infantry in the German 
 army. He finds less charm in the military life 
 
138 Appe7idix A. 
 
 than in the study of the sciences. In 1887, the 
 prince, in going to and returning from Portu- 
 gal, passed through Madrid and spent several 
 days in visiting places of interest. He had an 
 audience of the Queen, and their emotions as 
 they thought of what might have been were 
 doubtless very peculiar. The prince was strict- 
 ly mcog., and his coming and going were known 
 only to a very few persons. To a member of 
 the German Legation he said he was very glad 
 that he was not the king of Spain. 
 
 The Duke of Montpensier, youngest son 
 of Louis Philippe, the last king of France, was 
 born July 21, 1824. When Queen Isabella was 
 married at the palace, October 10, 1846, at the 
 same time and place occurred the marriage of 
 the duke to the sister of the Queen, Infanta 
 Luisa. It has been often charged that the duke 
 brought about the marriage of the Queen, a 
 frail, unhealthy girl, to an imbecile cousin, in 
 the confident expectation of her early and child- 
 less death, and of the consequent succession of 
 his wife to the throne. The marriages excited 
 an angry diplomatic controversy ; and Great 
 Britain, through Mr. Bulwer, her Minister, pro- 
 tested against the projected marriage of the In- 
 fanta to the duke as a violation of the Treaty 
 of Utrecht (1713), which declared as a principle 
 
OP 7Hi 
 
 TNTVEHSITY 
 
 Ap2:>endix A. 
 
 of European policy that the kingdoms of France 
 and Spain should never be united under one 
 sceptre, and as seriously affecting the future re- 
 lations between Great Britain and Spain. Lord 
 Palmerston said that " the decision of the king 
 of the French that the Duke of Montpensier 
 should 7iot be a candidate for the hand of the 
 Queen of Spain . . . was the result of the sense 
 which the King spontaneously entertained of 
 what was due by France to the faith of the 
 transactions of the Treaty of Utrecht and to 
 the just value attached by other States to the 
 maintenance of the balance of power in Eu- 
 rope." 
 
 Guizot boasted to the French Chambers that 
 the Spanish marriages constituted the first great 
 thing France had accomplished single-handed 
 since 1830. Palmerston, annoyed at his dis- 
 comfiture, denounced them as acts of bad faith 
 and political aggrandizement. These states- 
 men, looking after the interests of dynasties, 
 did not foresee that very early the people of 
 both France and Spain would rise to the asser- 
 tion of the grand idea that kings existed for 
 the sake of the people, to whom belonged the 
 rio:ht to manaci:e their own affairs. In less than 
 two years the House of Orleans was driven 
 from the throne of France, in twelve years Isa- 
 
140 Appendix A, 
 
 bella was an exile, and the Duke of Montpen- 
 sier's chances for either throne were reduced 
 almost to nothing. 
 
 A late English review {Fortnightly) alleges 
 that it was through pressure brought to bear 
 by Montpensier that Louis Philippe abdicated 
 the throne in 1848. On October 10, 1859, the 
 duke was made and declared an Infante of 
 Spain. In 1870 he was active in his candidat- 
 ure for the crown, expended large sums of 
 money, and employed agents to advance his 
 ambitious views. It was to defeat him that 
 Prim urged the election of Leopold. 
 
 One of the duke's daughters is married to 
 the Count of Paris, the claimant of the throne 
 of France, as uniting in his person the preten- 
 sions of both branches of the House of Bourbon, 
 so well known in the United States as a soldier 
 and author. Another daughter, Mercedes, was 
 the first wife of Alfonso XII. A granddaughter, 
 Amelie, daughter of Comte de Paris, was mar- 
 ried in 1886 to the Duke of Braganza, Crown 
 Prince of Portugal; and one of the current and 
 prejudicial on dits in Spain is that the duke 
 prevented a union between the Crown Prince 
 and the Infanta Eulalia in order to secure her 
 hand for his son, the Prince Antoine. By virtue 
 of the renunciation at the Peace of Utrecht, 
 
Appendix A, 141 
 
 made by the Duke of Orleans of that day, " all 
 his descendants are excluded and incapacitated 
 from succeeding to the throne of Spain," and 
 therefore the descendants of the Duke of Mont- 
 pensier would be excluded. Such have been the 
 mutations in governments, what elicited an ear- 
 nest remonstrance in 1846 failed to awaken even 
 a curious comment in 1886. 
 
 The duke is a tall, graceful, fine-looking gen- 
 tleman, cordial and familiar in his manners, 
 pleasant and plausible in conversation, and im- 
 pressive in general demeanor. He has much 
 personal courage and determination, has killed 
 one man in a duel, as related in Hay's " Castil- 
 ian Days," and is tinged, probably as the result 
 of his checkered and agitated life, with cyni- 
 cism and distrust of his kind. He has a fine 
 palace in Seville, San Elmo, which many Amer- 
 icans have visited, and a country home near 
 San Lucar. He has an unenviable reputation 
 for intrigue, and in 1888 the Government made 
 to him a remonstrance in connection with the 
 assemblage of some supposed French conspira- 
 tors at his house. 
 
 Distrusting the account of his conduct and 
 motives given in Spanish books, I addressed a 
 note to him at the instance of the Count and 
 Countess of Paris, and received a courteous re- 
 
142 Appendix A, 
 
 ply, which it is but just to the duke I should 
 publish. 
 
 *'San Lncar de Barraraeda, 
 24 Avril^ '88. 
 
 *' Monsieur le Ministre, — J'ai ete extremement touche de 
 I'aimable pensee que vous a inspire en m'ecrivant votre lettre 
 de 22 Avril et de votre desir de retablir la justice et la ve- 
 rite en ce qui me concerne dans le livre que vous ecrivez sur 
 I'Espagne. Mais je ne puis ecrire le recit dont vous me par- 
 lez; j'ai ete poursuivi ^ propos de mon mariage en 1846 et 
 des Revolutions qui ont en lieu en Espagne en 1856 et 1868 
 et annees suivantes par des calomnies tellement iniques et 
 tellement infames que j'ai pris la forme resolution de ne leur 
 repondre que par le silence du mepris. Les faits existent ; 
 ma conscience est tranquille ; je crois n'avoir obeii dans ma 
 vie agitee qu'aux lois de I'honneur et du devoir. 
 
 " Je ne puis rien dire de plus et il ne me reste qu'^ vous 
 remercier de tout coeur de ce que vous me dites a ce sujet et 
 de vous serrer le main en restant toujours 
 
 " Yotre tr^3 aflfectionne, 
 
 " Antoine d' Orleans." 
 
 Amadeo, Duke of Aosta, Prince of Savoy, 
 son of Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy, was born 
 May 30, 1845. He is an amiable, gentlemanly 
 person, a lover of sport, a good horseman, dis- 
 inclined to study, indifferent to matters of gov- 
 ernment, and was almost coerced by his father 
 to accept the crow^n. Those who knew him in 
 Italy vaunted without stint the excellence of 
 his family relations as in striking contrast wdth 
 
Appendix A, 143 
 
 those of the Bourbons, and spoke of him as a 
 good father and a loyal husband. He was not 
 of those of vigorous determination and strong 
 convictions who change their times, and he 
 never took the initiative in politics. Of all 
 rules he preferred that of the bourgeois king, 
 and was often alone on the streets with stick in 
 hand and followed by his dog. On the day of 
 his arrival in Madrid he went alone to see Prim, 
 who was lingering in articulo mortis from the 
 assassins' attack of a few days previous. ZorriUa 
 speaks of him affectionately as being brave, 
 modest, generous, accessible to everybody, as 
 polite in his salutations of workmen as of the 
 aristocracy, indifferent to pomp and official cer- 
 emony, and having all the elements of popular- 
 ity. When he renounced the crown, believing 
 that all his efforts would be sterile, he retired 
 with the Queen and infant child to Portugal, 
 where his sister was queen. Returning to Italy 
 and surrendering the title of king, the Italian 
 Parliament voted an annual allowance of 400,- 
 000 francs, and Victor Emmanuel named him 
 lieutenant-general in the army, a position which 
 he still holds. The princess whom he had mar- 
 ried in 1867 died at San Remo in 1876, and left 
 three sons. After a widowhood of twelve years 
 he married, on September 11th, at Turin, with 
 
144 Appendix A, 
 
 magnificent parade and ceremonial, his niece, 
 the Princess Marie Letitia Bonaparte, daughter 
 of his eldest sister. Princess Clotilde, who in 
 1859 was married to Prince Jerome Bonaparte. 
 This marriage of the duke makes some queer 
 relationships. The princess is sister-in-law to 
 her own mother, step-mother to one set of cous- 
 ins, and aunt to the remainder, while the duke 
 becomes son-in-law to his sister, nephew to his 
 brother, and brother-in-law to his nephews. 
 The Bonaparte family, although as a reigning 
 dynasty its pretensions are ridiculous, is not ex- 
 cluded from the charmed circle, the elect few, 
 which European royalty reserves for its mar- 
 riages — and the duke in his selection has not 
 excluded himself from the register of "the 
 blooded and the legitimate." A dispensation 
 for a marriage within the prohibited degrees, 
 prohibited by human and divine law, the Pope 
 has granted with his blessing. Such privileges 
 are seldom accorded except to royalty. 
 
 The abdication of a king, young and not per- 
 sonally objectionable, is so unusual that perhaps 
 something in addition to what has been stated 
 may be of interest and throw light on the ex- 
 traordinary occurrence. It is well known that 
 Victor Emmanuel overcame the reluctance of 
 his son to accept the Spanish crown ; for, hav- 
 
Appendix A, 145 
 
 ing entered upon a struggle with the Pope, he 
 deemed an alliance with a Latin and Catholic 
 country of great advantage to Italy. 
 
 The prejudice against and opposition to Ama- 
 deo made it apparent that he was not taking a 
 firm hold in Spain, and that his reign at best 
 was precarious. This caused among the various 
 political parties conspiracies against the mon- 
 archy. A combination of endangered interests 
 was also formed to effect his overthrow. Among 
 the intrigues which disgusted the King and en- 
 gendered the thought of surrendering the crown 
 was a scheme for the independence of Cuba, 
 which, it was thought, with the adverse senti- 
 ment existing in the Peninsula, could not be 
 brought about except amid the disorders and 
 convulsions which would attend an abdication. 
 The demand for reforms in Porto Rico, includ- 
 ing immediate abolition of slavery, which were 
 pressed by many leading men, threw the Cor- 
 tes into a fierce excitement, and the Reactiona- 
 ries were not timid in hinting at the accession 
 of the young Prince Alfonso. The vast inter- 
 ests which had grown into being and had prof- 
 ited by despotism and slavery in Cuba and 
 Porto Rico united with any faction to post- 
 pone emancipation. When the Ministry deter- 
 mined to make colonial reform a Government 
 10 
 
146 Appendix A. 
 
 measure, a league of all the elements of opposi- 
 tion, called "A League to defend the National 
 Domain," was formed. As the reforms included 
 some municipal liberty as well as emancipation, 
 it was alleged that the concession of self-gov- 
 ernment to the Colonies would involve the loss 
 of the American possessions. The cry for the 
 integrity of the kingdom was seductive, and 
 had the formidable combination of newsj)apers, 
 which, well supplied with money, stimulated the 
 national pride and evoked the national hostility 
 to foreigners by charging that there was be- 
 tween the Cabinet and the United States a com- 
 pact degrading to Spanish honor and dangerous 
 to national interests. The League made a for- 
 mal demand upon the King for his interposition. 
 When he declined, the dynasty became the ob- 
 ject of imbittered attack. Strenuous efforts 
 were made to produce insubordination in the 
 army. Hidalgo, an officer of the artillery corps, 
 composed mainly of aristocrats and Conserva- 
 tives, had taken part in the insurrection of 1866, 
 the prelude to the revolution of 1868, and under 
 the revolutionary government had been made 
 general. Hidalgo, being assigned to the com- 
 mand of a province in the north (he had had 
 previously commands in Cuba and Catalonia), 
 the artillery corps would not consent to his com- 
 
Appendix A, 147 
 
 mand of them, and asked to be retired. To pun- 
 ish this indiscipline, the Government accepted 
 the resignations, resolved to suppress the corps, 
 and submitted a decree to the* King for that pur- 
 pose. He asked time for reflection. The Min- 
 istry feared that this boded a refusal and their 
 consequent resignation, and they determined to 
 secure his approval. The League and such not- 
 able men as Topete and Duke De la Torre be- 
 sought the King to undo the acts of his Minis- 
 ters, which had given so much dissatisfaction 
 to the army, and promised the loyal troops for 
 his defence in the event of a conflict, which no 
 one doubted if he declined to sign. As the King 
 was impressed by these representations, the Min- 
 isters adroitly secured, through an interpella- 
 tion, the submission of the matter to Congress, 
 and obtained approbation of their proceedings. 
 This conduct of the Ministry, in conspiring to 
 fetter the action of the sovereign and make him 
 dependent on them, is said to be in antagonism 
 to the theory of the Government and traitorous 
 to the King, whose ministers they were.* How- 
 ever that may be, the King, wounded in his dig- 
 nity by this vote of confidence in his Ministers, 
 was reduced to a terrible alternative. To sign, 
 
 * Lieber's Life and Letters, p. lOT. 
 
148 Appendix A, 
 
 or not to sign, meant a bloody struggle ; so he 
 summoned the Ministry and presented his abdi- 
 cation. If he had accepted the advice of either 
 party he would probably have shared the fate 
 of Louis XVI. of France, or of Maximilian in 
 Mexico. Spain should ever be grateful to him 
 for saving her from the horrors of a frightful 
 civil war. In the letter to the Chamber, from 
 which an extract has been given, he deplored 
 the infatuation of Spaniards, who " with sword 
 and pen and speech aggravated and perpetu- 
 ated the troubles of the nation. . . . Amid the 
 confused, appalling, contradictory clamor of 
 contestants, amid so many and such widely op- 
 posed manifestations of public opinion, it is 
 impossible to choose the right, and still more 
 impossible to find a remedy for such vast evils." 
 This explanation of the cause of the abdication 
 would be incomplete if the opinion of Manuel 
 Ruiz Zorrilla, the Prime-minister at the time, 
 were not given. In the little book, "A sus 
 Amigos y a sus Adversarios," published in 1877, 
 a copy of which was sent me by the author, he 
 said that he did not know and never expected 
 to know why the King renounced the throne. 
 Certainly, no prince ever cared less for the gew- 
 gaws and attractions of royalty, or resigned a 
 diadem more cheerfully and philosophically. 
 
Appendix A, 149 
 
 When lie discovered that liis reign was unsatis- 
 factory, he stepped down from the throne with- 
 out parade and with calm dignity. Although 
 fifteen years have elapsed, there is no evidence 
 that he has ever regretted his abdication, nor 
 has one word of asperity or bitterness escaped 
 his lips, notwithstanding the affronts and vexa- 
 tions he endured. 
 
APPENDIX B. 
 
 Sketches of Christina, Isabel, Alfonso XII., the Infantas, the 
 Queen Regent, and Alfonso XIII. 
 
 Royal Family since 1833. — When Ferdi- 
 nand VII. died in 1833, his widow, Christina, a 
 sister of a king of Naples, became regent and 
 guardian of the children, having been so con- 
 stituted by the will of the King. In 1836, as 
 has been recited, she was compelled, at La Gran- 
 ja, by the soldiers to restore the Constitution of 
 1812, which had been violently put down, four- 
 teen years before, by a French armed interven- 
 tion. Losing all influence in the management 
 of public affairs, she soon resigned the regency 
 and gave herself up to unworthy passions. With 
 her paramour she contracted an illicit marriage, 
 which by papal absolution and authorization was 
 afterwards validated. In 1841 she made a pil- 
 grimage to Rome, and was cleansed of her sins 
 and readmitted to the bosom of the Church. By 
 her bad conduct she was temporarily estranged 
 from her legitimate offspring, whom she cruelly 
 neglected. Her avarice was remorseless. She 
 dissipated the Crown property, stripped the pal- 
 
Appendix B, 151 
 
 ace of valuables, sent them away or converted 
 them into money, and made the royal residence 
 a house of penury. Jewellery and plate disap- 
 peared, and the baptismal robe of Isabella 11. 
 was offered for sale to the American Minister. 
 Her depraved taste substituted vulgar parvenus 
 for refined society. 
 
 In consequence of the disorganized condition 
 of the country, the Ayuntamiento of Madrid as- 
 sumed power as the Supreme Junta of the king- 
 dom, and undertook to dictate conditions to the 
 Queen. The corporations of the principal cities 
 followed the example of the capital and threw 
 off allegiance to the Queen's Government, which 
 became powerless. Yielding to the exactions 
 of the Revolutionary party, Christina invested 
 General Espartero, President of the Council, with 
 authority to form a Ministry. Abandoning the 
 country, she went to France, her departure caus- 
 ing no regret, as her errors and weaknesses had 
 made her unpopular. It was currently reported 
 at the time of her retirement from the Spanish 
 throne that she had a clear fortune of from six 
 to eight millions of dollars. 
 
 In 1844 she was again at the palace, exerting 
 much influence over her daughter, whom she 
 took to the baths for her health. In 1845 she 
 had a diplomatic intrigue at Rome, in which 
 
152 Appendix B, 
 
 the Spanish Minister, acting under secret in- 
 structions from her, took the Government by 
 surprise, and there was played a game, a distin- 
 guished contemporary being judge, "in which 
 it was doubtful whether the woman and the 
 priest would not be an overmatch for Narvaez, 
 the bold and wary soldier." In 1846, through 
 the exertions of Christina and the priests, Nar- 
 vaez was banished. By intrigues and maternal 
 domination she was a ruling spirit in Madrid, 
 and during O'Donnell's insurrection, when Es- 
 partero was invited to become Premier, he de- 
 manded, as a condition of acceptance, the imme- 
 diate banishment of the queen-mother and the 
 expulsion of her abettors. 
 
 The history of Isabel is more thrilling in 
 its facts and contrasts than a romance. Palace 
 and poverty, homage and neglect, a queen and 
 an exile, prediction of early death, and a hale, 
 fat woman of near sixty years. She was born 
 in 1830, and her father dying in 1833, left her a 
 queen, as his rightful heir to the throne. The 
 right was contested by Don Carlos, brother of 
 Ferdinand, assuming the title of Don Carlos 
 Y. ; and hence originated Carlism, which, with 
 its pretences of legitimac}^ and loyalty to the 
 Church, has been almost to the present hour the 
 fruitful source of disorder and conspiracy and 
 
Appendix B, 163 
 
 protracted and bloody civil war. Isabel and 
 her sister, Maria Louisa Fernanda, the wife of 
 the Duke of Montpensier, were the only chil- 
 dren of Ferdinand. The question of the right 
 of succession in default of male issue assumed 
 tangible form in the rival pretensions of the 
 elder daughter, supported by the queen-mother 
 and the popular party on the one side, and of 
 Don Carlos at the head of the monks and Abso- 
 lutists and many of the aristocracy on the other. 
 Caleb Cushing,in a despatch to the Government, 
 December 2, 1875, discusses the question with 
 great learning and ability. "According to the 
 ancient laws of Spain and the practice from the 
 time of the formation of the monarchies of Cas- 
 tile and Leon (but not Aragon), females suc- 
 ceeded to the crown in default of direct male 
 succession, and in preference to collaterals of 
 the male sex. . . . Although Philip V. claimed 
 through females, nevertheless, one of his earliest 
 acts was to repeal the laws of Spain respecting 
 succession, and to introduce instead the Salic 
 law of France in the form of an auto accordato, 
 or prerogative act. . . . With the first years of 
 the reign of Charles IV. (1789) the Cortes peti- 
 tioned him to repeal the auto accordato of Philip 
 and restore the immemorial custom of Castile, 
 which admitted the succession of females to the 
 
154 Appendix B, 
 
 crown. The petition was unanimous, and the 
 King assented and ordered the preparation ac- 
 cordingly of a pragmatic sanction (an old name 
 for laws of repeal) to that effect, but ordered 
 further that the whole proceeding should re- 
 main secret and confidential until such time as 
 the Crown in its wisdom might see fit to give 
 publicity to the same. That time arrived in 
 the reign of Ferdinand VII. ... He determined 
 to promulgate the pragmatic sanction of Charles 
 
 IV., March 29, 1830 That the King had the 
 
 right to revive and restore the pre-existing law 
 of Spain, a great majority of Spaniards of all 
 classes and the most accredited jurists of Eu- 
 rope are of accord, the more so, seeing that the 
 succession of females is the common law of the 
 country, . . . and accordingly Isabel and her 
 son Alfonso have enjoyed the recognition of all 
 foreign powers, while none have recognized Don 
 Carlos." * Before Ferdinand died a new Nuncio 
 had been appointed. The Pope's brief accred- 
 iting him was, however, awaiting the signature 
 of the Council of Castile when Ferdinand died. 
 The Spanish Government immediately commu- 
 nicated to the Pope the death of the King, and 
 the succession of Isabel II. by virtue of the 
 
 * Foreign Relations, 1875-76, pp. 442-445. 
 
Ap2yendix B. 155 
 
 pragmatic sanction and the universal recogni- 
 tion of lier subjects. Under such circumstances 
 international law requires the renewal of the 
 credentials of diplomatic agents. The Pope 
 declined to recognize Isabel. His claim of in- 
 terference in the political and civil affairs of a 
 foreign independent nation caused a rupture of 
 the political relations between Spain and Rome. 
 The Spanish Government nominated the new 
 bishops when vacancies occurred. The Pope 
 objected, not because of dissatisfaction with the 
 persons nominated, but because, not having rec- 
 ognized Isabel, he could not confirm her bish- 
 ops and thus imply a recognition of her title. 
 This state of affairs continued until 1848, when 
 the Pope yielded and Isabel was recognized.* 
 
 Becoming legal queen at three years of age, 
 during her minority there was a regency. Dur- 
 ing her tender years she was neglected by her 
 wicked mother, and left under tutoresses and 
 governesses who were more concerned for their 
 selfish ends than for the public good or the wel- 
 fare of the child. She did not receive the in- 
 tellectual and moral training required for a sov- 
 ereign. At ten years she was of slender frame 
 and feeble health, having from her birth been 
 
 * Pliillimore, vol. ii., P- 451. 
 
156 Appendix B. 
 
 affected with a cutaneous disease — "a sad be- 
 quest, the fruit of her father's low sensuality 
 and dissipations." Her early death was pre- 
 dicted and expected. In October, 1841 j a con- 
 spiracy was formed to seize and carry her to 
 the seat of the insurrection in the Basque Prov- 
 inces, and a fruitless attempt was made to ab- 
 duct her from the palace. The principal con- 
 spirator was arrested, tried, condemned, and 
 shot — a unique instance of summary punish- 
 ment of a political offender. 
 
 Spain was in a deplorable condition. Factions 
 flourished, people were turbulent, the treasury 
 was empty, and expenditures were three years 
 in anticipation of resources. Ephemeral Minis- 
 tries could not prevent public affairs from going 
 from bad to worse. Madrid in 1843 was in pos- 
 session of 40,000 insurgents. Three rival gen- 
 erals were in the capital. A revolutionary gov- 
 ernment was organized in the name of Isabel II. 
 The Cortes, on November 9th, by a vote of 193 
 to 16, declared her of age, and in presence of 
 State functionaries and the diplomatic corps, 
 assembled in the palace, the child of thirteen 
 was so declared, and became queen de facto as 
 well as dejure. The next year there was much 
 speculation and criticism upon the baleful in- 
 fluence and bad designs of the queen-mother, 
 
Appendix B. 157 
 
 who accompanied her to some medicinal baths. 
 There were also plots and counterplots as to the 
 marriage of Isabel, and not unnaturally, for the 
 most ambitious might covet an alliance which 
 would place on the throne of Ferdinand and Is- 
 abella. Some efforts to secure an alliance with 
 the son of Carlos were made, so as to unite the 
 two claimant families to the throne. The honor 
 was reserved for her cousin Don Francisco de 
 Assisi, and the marriage was celebrated in the 
 palace on October 10, 1846, the royal consort be- 
 ing invested, by courtesy, with the title of King 
 and His Majesty. It was an ill-fated and mis- 
 mated match. In six months there was an undis- 
 guised coolness between king and queen, which 
 soon ripened into estrangement from society and 
 bed. Two attempts were made, in the course of 
 a few years, upon the life of the young queen, 
 one of them by a priest, who was garroted, and 
 his body was burned by royal order. The Queen 
 bore several children, one of whom was bap- 
 tized with one hundred and nineteen names, but 
 it did not long survive. Before the birth of the 
 last child daily masses were said to propitiate 
 the Holy Virgin and implore her assistance in 
 the hour of trial. The Queen made her devo- 
 tions at various altars of the different Marys, such 
 as were supposed to exert a happy influence on 
 
158 Appendix B, 
 
 such events, namely, the Maria del Leche, Maria 
 del Bueno Partu, etc. Relics of saints, such as 
 legs, arms, collar-bones, etc., were sent from va- 
 rious parts of Spain to the palace, all of which 
 have high repute as efficacious in facilitating 
 parturition. The press was full of detailed ac- 
 counts of these proceedings, and the literature, 
 not very elevating or edifying, was much en- 
 joyed by the ignorant and superstitious. 
 
 In 1868 the revolution occurred, and the 
 Queen was dethroned and fled to France. Her 
 conjugal infidelity had much to do in awaken- 
 ing popular indignation. In 1870 she abdicated 
 her right to the throne in favor of Alfonso, the 
 Prince of the Asturias. The telegram announ- 
 cing the call of Alfonso to the throne reached 
 Paris at night. All were asleep at the hotel 
 except the anxious mother, who, according to a 
 sketch of Alfonso published in 1885 in the New 
 York Herald, on reading the glad news, hur- 
 ried, in the lightest of negliges^ to her son's bed- 
 room, and cried aloud, as she awoke Alfonso 
 from a sound sleep, " See ! read ! You are king 
 of Spain ! Permit me. Sire, to kiss your hand 
 as the first of your Majesty's subjects." Al- 
 fonso languidly drew his hand from under the 
 coverlet, presented it to his mother's lips, and 
 then turning over, fell asleep without having 
 
Appendix B, 169 
 
 uttered a word. With the accession of Alfonso, 
 Isabel returned to Madrid, and now she passes 
 her time there, at Seville in the Alcazar, and at 
 Paris. She receives from the Spanish Govern- 
 ment an annual pension of $150,000. Suspected 
 of intrigues for the succession and of interfer- 
 ence with domestic affairs in the palace, she has 
 had from the Government a gentle remonstrance 
 as to her indiscretions, and a request not to spend 
 too much of her time in the palace. Many per- 
 sons discredit any suspicions of personal ambi- 
 tion. She told me she detested politics. She 
 is not personally attractive nor very intelligent, 
 but has cordial manners and is very amiable and 
 generous. No one can condone her offences, 
 but there are few persons who more merit a 
 generous and merciful leniency. Her husband 
 makes his separate home in Paris. Of this hero 
 of the State policy and diplomatic intrigue, Wal- 
 lis said, "There is no risk in saying that neither 
 Lavater nor Spurzheim would hasten to select 
 him, from outward signs, as the model of a ruler 
 among men." 
 
 Alfonso XII. was born November 28, 1857. 
 When his mother was driven from the throne 
 and Spain, and found an asylum in France, her 
 children accompanied her. The young Prince 
 of Asturias was sent to school at Vienna, Paris, 
 
160 Appendix B. 
 
 and in England. He was a diligent student 
 and a good scholar. When the Republic was 
 overthrown, he was, on December 29, 1874, 
 proclaimed king, and was accepted with much 
 satisfaction by the army and the nation. At 
 seventeen he entered Madrid on horseback, bare- 
 headed, dressed as a Spanish general, and sur- 
 rounded by a brilliant cavalcade. Possessed of 
 much personal bravery, he placed himself at the 
 head of the troops against the Carlists. On two 
 occasions, when assassins tried to take his life, he 
 behaved with conspicuous coolness. The latter 
 of these attacks General Grant witnessed from 
 the window of his hotel overlooking the Puerta 
 del Sol. On January 23, 1878, the King mar- 
 ried his cousin Princess Mercedes, daughter of 
 the Duke of Montpensier. He did this against 
 public opinion and the advice of hijs Ministers. 
 It was a love-match, and deserves commenda- 
 tion, for few such occur in the history of roy- 
 alty. She lived only ^nq months, and her death 
 filled the King with a sorrow which drove him 
 into solitude from which he was with difficulty 
 withdrawn. State reasons were pressed upon 
 him for forming a new alliance, and on Novem- 
 ber 29, 1879, he married Maria Christina of Aus- 
 tria. On November 25, 1885, he died at the 
 Palace of El Pardo, a few miles outside of Ma- 
 
Appendix B, 161 
 
 drid. The funeral services were celebrated with 
 great pomp and magnificence. Arriving in Ma- 
 drid a few hours prior to the death, I saw him 
 lying in state in the palace, and as special en- 
 voy represented the Government on the occa- 
 sion of the funeral. 
 
 The King was intelligent and popular, and 
 had many qualities to make him a successful 
 ruler. Tlis private life was not such as it should 
 have been, and his early death was doubtless 
 due in part to his excesses. 
 
 Infanta Dona Isabel, sister of the King, was 
 born December 20, 1851, and made an unfortu- 
 nate marriage with Count Girgenti, brother of 
 King Francis II., of Naples. He committed 
 suicide three years afterwards, leaving no chil- 
 dren. The Infanta is popular in aristocratic 
 circles, is fond of dancing, driving, and riding 
 on horseback, and is often seen at balls and re- 
 ceptions given by ambassadors and grandees of 
 Spain. Her apartments in the palace, well fitted 
 up, are filled with paintings, engravings, photo- 
 graphs, books, bric-a-brac, rare purchases, costly 
 gifts from friends, and even her toys as a child. 
 She is a devout Catholic, and liberal in her pri- 
 vate charities and in her gifts to the Church. 
 She is a woman of much intelligence, of sound 
 discretion, of administrative capacity, a shrewd 
 11 
 
162 Appendix B. 
 
 and minute observer of people and things, talks 
 well on serious subjects, and has her full share 
 of Spanish pride and patriotism. She has acted 
 with much good-sense in sustaining the Queen- 
 regent in her difficult position. Very greatly 
 to her honor, calumny can find no ground for 
 reproaching the purity of her life. 
 
 Infanta Marie -della- Paz was married in 
 1883 to Louis Ferdinand, Prince of Bavaria. 
 Dona EuLALiA, youngest sister of the late king, 
 is attractive and pleasant, and has hosts of 
 friends. She was married on March 6, 1886, to 
 her cousin Don Antoine, son of the Duke of 
 Montpensier. At the Jubilee of Great Britain's 
 sovereign she worthily represented the Queen- 
 regent, and attracted much attention by her 
 cordial manners and pleasant conversation. 
 
 Maria Christina was born in 1858, and her 
 father was an uncle of the present Emperor of 
 Austria. Her mother, the Archduchess Eliza- 
 beth, is a stately, handsome woman of noble 
 carriage, and makes a visit once a year to Ma- 
 drid. Educated with her brothers, Christina has 
 a knowledge of many branches of literature 
 and science, and she keeps up her habits of 
 study. She speaks easily and accurately Ger- 
 man, French, Spanish, and English. She re- 
 signed the dignity of abbess of the Convent of 
 
Appendix B, 163 
 
 Noble Ladies in Prague to become Queen of 
 Spain. The marriage to Alfonso was witnessed 
 by Isabel, the Infantas, the civil and ecclesi- 
 asfical dignitaries, the Ministers of State, and 
 the diplomatic corps. Thousands of people 
 were on the streets. The balconies were hung 
 with many-colored cloths — a scenic display for 
 which Spain is so famous. The nuptial mass 
 was celebrated by the Patriarch of the Indies, a 
 cardinal, and festivals and illuminations added 
 to the auguries of a life of happiness. Christina 
 excluded herself from party politics and Court 
 intrigues, and confined herself to the duties of 
 her household. Such complete self-effacement 
 of the queen in the wife, and such abstinence 
 from complications with families and factions, 
 made her incur some ill-will, and at the death of 
 the King she had not such a hold on the nation 
 as to awaken strong hopes of a successful reign. 
 Immediately on the death of Alfonso a Cabi- 
 net meeting was held, and the widow was ap- 
 pointed regent. The Ministry, in accordance 
 with usage, tendered their resignations, but con- 
 tinued in office until their successors should be 
 appointed. Canovas, with magnanimity, loyal- 
 ty, and patriotism, advised the Queen to form a 
 Liberal Government, that in her difficult posi- 
 tion she might have the support of both Liber- 
 
164 Appendix B. 
 
 als and Conservatives. She called in Sagasta, 
 who still remains at the head of the Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 The Queen -regent, although inexperienced 
 and a foreigner, has shown much tact and de- 
 termination, has identified herself thoroughly 
 with Spanish people and interests, has no friends 
 to reward nor enemies to punish, presides every 
 Thursday over the Council of Ministers, hears 
 reports from the head of each Department, takes 
 a keen and intelligent interest in home and for- 
 eign affairs ; and the Ministers, individually and 
 in the disclosures of personal friendship, give 
 her the highest praise, and speak with surprise 
 and gratification at her prudence and wisdom 
 and knowledge of men. 
 
 Her Majesty has had but one grand reception, 
 which was very brilliant, and two State dinners, 
 one, and the more formal, of which was attended 
 by the ex-queen, infantas, damas, grandees, the 
 Ministry, and the chiefs of different legations 
 and their wives. The two queens sat vis-d-vis 
 at the table, and posts of precedence and honor 
 were relative proximity on right and left to 
 their Majesties. The salon, lighted with near 
 one thousand candles, made joyous by the clas- 
 sical music discoursed by select military bands, 
 by the uniforms and decorations of naval and 
 
Appendix B, 165 
 
 military and civil and diplomatic guests, by 
 the rich toilets and blazing jewellery of the la- 
 dies, and the glass and silver and gold service, 
 brought to mind the contrast between that brill- 
 iant scene and Isabel's first dinner at the palace 
 after she was proclaimed queen, when she was 
 served from pewter plates, because from spolia- 
 tions of her mother and others nothing better 
 was to be had in the magnificent royal resi- 
 dence. The Queen receives alone in a little 
 salon, and is most gracious and cordial with her 
 visitors. Her manners are easy. Her face wears 
 ordinarily a look of subdued sadness, but her 
 features light up when she smiles or talks with 
 animation. She is devoted to her children, often 
 rides or walks with the little infantas, watches 
 over their education, and is wrapped up in the 
 little king. I have seen her run out of the sa- 
 lon, bring in his Majesty, hold him in her arms, 
 kiss him on his cheeks, expose his arms and legs, 
 and show the most fascinating interest in his 
 health and appearance. One of the Queen's 
 loveliest traits is the frequency with which, 
 even on state occasions, the mother dominates 
 the sovereign. 
 
 In a Court not unused to slander, and where, 
 unfortunately, bad lives have prevented re- 
 proaches from being slanderous, the slightest 
 
1G6 Appendix JB, 
 
 breath of suspicion has never rested upon the 
 fair fame of this noble woman. Once, in indig- 
 nant, wifely protest against the infidelity of her 
 royal husband, she took her two children and 
 travelled to Austria, and there remained until 
 induced to return by renewed marital vows, 
 supplemented by considerations pertaining to 
 her children and by high clerical influence. 
 
 Don Alfonso left two daughters, Maeia de 
 LAS Mercedes, Princess of the Asturias, born 
 September 11, 1880, a name given by the Queen 
 to her first child in honor of the first wife, 
 whose memory she knew her husband cherished, 
 and Maria Theresa Elizabeth, born Novem- 
 ber 12, 1882. 
 
 In May, 1886, nearly six months after the 
 death of Alfonso, Alfon^so XIII. was born. He 
 was born a king — a fact unprecedented in royal 
 annals. His birth was anticipated with eager 
 anxiety and intense national concern. Great 
 as Elizabeth and Maria Theresa and Catherine 
 and Isabella the Catholic were as sovereigns, 
 it was felt that " a man child " was necessary 
 for the repose of Spain and the peaceful con- 
 tinuance of the dynasty. In Spain, with its tra- 
 ditional etiquette and adherence to antiquated 
 things, the old usage of witnesses to a royal 
 birth, to keep free from suspicion the legitimacy 
 
Appendix B, 167 
 
 of the succession, is observed with scrupulous 
 care and forethought. Several days prior to 
 the expected birth, the diplomatic corps is for- 
 mally invited by the introducer of ambassadors 
 to witness the presentation. When the event 
 is imminent a special notice is sent, and each 
 chief of a mission responds promptly, dressed 
 in full uniform. On the lYth of May, the dip- 
 lomatic corps, the members of the Government, 
 distinguished military and civil officers, assem- 
 bled in a large reception-room in the palace. 
 After an hour's waiting, Seiior Sagasta, the 
 President of the Council of Ministers, announced 
 the happy consummation and the sex by ex- 
 claiming, " Viva el Rey." The witnesses hav- 
 ing proceeded to a room adjoining the chamber 
 of the Queen-regent, profert was made of the 
 royal scion in puris naturalihus. There was 
 no aureole, nor any manifestation of the divin- 
 ity that is said to hedge a king, nor any evi- 
 dence that he was in anywise different from 
 the child of a peasant. The new king was re- 
 ceived everywhere in Spain with satisfaction 
 and cheerful declarations of support. Don Car- 
 los, from his exile, protested against the " usur- 
 pation" of the infant king, and reasserted his 
 rights as the legitimate sovereign, but his mani- 
 festo was impotent and unheeded. Five days 
 
168 Appendix B, 
 
 afterwards the baptism occurred in the royal 
 chapel. The grandees, the Ministers of the 
 Crown, deputations from the Cortes and the 
 municipality, civil, military, and clerical dig- 
 nitaries, the diplomatic corps with their wives, 
 occupied tribunes around the font, which was 
 placed in the centre of the chapel. The pre- 
 scribed mourning being suspended for that day, 
 the men mostly wore dazzling uniforms, while 
 the toilets of the ladies, enriched by the precious 
 stones for which Spain is so noted, were beauti- 
 ful and splendid. Such gorgeousness is rarely 
 seen. The ceremony was not destitute of polit- 
 ical significance ; for the Pope, yielding to the 
 request of the Queen to stand sponsor to her 
 child, had deputed the Nuncio, Monsignor Ram- 
 polla (who is now the papal Secretary of State in 
 Rome), to represent him. This concession was 
 almost a death-blow to Carlism, which claims to 
 be par excellence Catholic, and has derived its 
 principal strength from Ultramontanism. 
 
 About the time of my leaving Madrid an in- 
 cident occurred which illustrates the religious- 
 ness of the Queen and her acceptable conformity 
 to a national custom. The viaticum was borne 
 through the Puerta del Sol as the Queen, with 
 her two daughters, was passing in a carriage. 
 As soon as she saw it, ordering the coachman 
 
Appendix B. 169 
 
 to stop, she dismounted and made the priest 
 take her place, while she, with the children, fol- 
 lowed on foot. The crowd, moved by this spec- 
 tacle of humility, attended her to the church, 
 which she entered behind the priest. After 
 praying for some moments, her Majesty re- 
 tired, and the enthusiastic multitude surround- 
 ed the carriage, unwilling to let her depart. 
 
 The luxuries of royalty are furnished to Spain 
 at the annual cost of, for the King, $1,400,000 ; 
 the Princess of Asturias, $100,000 ; the Infanta 
 Isabel, $50,000 ; the Infanta Paz, $30,000 ; the 
 Infanta Eulalia, $30,000 ; the Duchess of Mont- 
 pensier, $50,000 ; the ex-Queen Isabel, $150,000 ; 
 and her husband, Francisco, $60,000. 
 
APPENDIX C. 
 
 Present Aspect of Spain. 
 
 Paper constitutions, however perfect in the- 
 ory, do not execute themselves nor make good 
 government. There must be much behind them 
 in the virility and self-reliance, in the intellect- 
 ual alertness and moral force of the people, to 
 secure material prosperity, high civilization, or 
 national greatness. That Spain has suffered 
 incalculably from bad government, civil and re- 
 ligious, cannot be denied. To give some infor- 
 mation on the present condition of the country, 
 it has seemed well to group under appropriate 
 heads what has been obtained after diligent 
 inquiry. Accurate and recent statistics it is 
 almost impossible to get, and one may well be 
 on his guard as to any statements about educa- 
 tion, commerce, revenues, population, etc. 
 
 1, Population. — Many causes, ancient and 
 modern, have prevented the increase which is 
 seen in other parts of Europe. The expulsion of 
 the Jews, the banishment of the Moors, chronic 
 revolutions, civil fratricidal wars, insecurity of 
 
Appendix C, 171 
 
 person and property, have been hinderances to 
 growth. There is no fixed period for taking 
 the census. The last was taken in 1877, and the 
 preceding one in 1864, and information which 
 may lead to taxes and conscription is reluctant- 
 ly given. At the last enumeration the actual 
 population was 16,634,345; by right, 16,753,591, 
 The latter is found by deducting immigrants 
 not permanently domiciled and adding Span- 
 iards who have left animo revertendL Of the 
 actual population, th6 males were 8,136,331 and 
 the females 8,500,014. The percentage of deaths 
 was reported at about 25 per 1000. The press 
 of Madrid, on February 1, 1887, reported 50,000 
 deaths in Spain, the preceding year, from diph- 
 theria. Dr. Ilauser, who has published, un- 
 der the auspices of the Government, a very 
 able report, says that the deaths from cholera 
 in 1885 amounted to 120,000. For April, 1888, 
 in Madrid there were 1355 births and 1276 
 deaths. 
 
 2. Value of Property and Amount of Taxa- 
 tion. — The aggregate value of real estate can 
 be ascertained only approximately and inferen- 
 tially. In the last budget the territorial tax is 
 assessed at $35,400,000, representing 16 per cent, 
 of 4he productive value of landed property, or 
 $220,000,000. There is no certain means of 
 
172 Appendix C, 
 
 knowing the value of the personal property. 
 The annual taxation, as given in the last few 
 budgets, would make it about $170,000,000. 
 The assessment of the tax on real property is 
 based on reports made by the municipal juntas. 
 There is a tax on trade and industry, based on 
 a tariff varying in proportion to the nature of 
 the trade or industry and the number of the in- 
 habitants of the town. An octroi duty — a gate- 
 tax on consumption — is levied on salt, soap, 
 coal, wax, vegetables and other provisions, and 
 is collected at the gates or the borders of the 
 town. This odious espionage tax varies ac- 
 cording to population, the minimum being 5000, 
 and gives to the numerous officers frequent 
 means for oppression and peculation. Where 
 exchange is so much fettered and government 
 is an ingenious process of squeezing, production 
 is much curtailed. American travellers, having 
 had their luggage examined at the frontier cus- 
 tom -'houses, are much surprised and grumble 
 not a little at the annoyance of examinations 
 as they enter every town ; but it does not lie in 
 the mouth of one of our people to complain of 
 the custom-house grievances of other countries. 
 Banks pay 10 per cent, on the net profits which 
 are divided among shareholders. Railways pay 
 a tax of 10 per cent, on all travellers' tickets, 
 
Appendix C. 173 
 
 and a tax of five cents on every |500 of trans- 
 portation of freight. In 1886 the taxation per 
 capita was about $9.84. The income from cus- 
 toms duties by last budget was estimated at 
 $27,000,000, and from export duty, assessed on 
 cork and argentiferous lead, at $20,000. 
 
 The revenues of the Government are badly 
 collected and at a loss of a ruinous percentage. 
 It is doubtful whether half reaches the treas- 
 ury, and the inadequacy for national obligations 
 need not therefore be surprising. No one is 
 ignorant of the corruption in the fiscal depart- 
 ment, of the bribes and frauds ; and the saying 
 of the Spaniards that money, like oil, sticks to 
 the fingers of those who handle it, is well justi- 
 fied by the collection of revenue.* Spain owes 
 more than one thousand million of dollars, and 
 in every annual budget a floating debt of 25 per 
 cent, of the budget is authorized, and this is the 
 ordinary recourse for meeting habitual deficits 
 and extraordinary expenditures. The finance 
 ofiicer has "a hard road to travel" in devising 
 
 * Ford says, " In a land where public officers are inade- 
 quately paid, where official honesty and principle are all but 
 unknown, a bribe is all sufficient ; false returns are regularly 
 made, and every trick resorted to to transfer revenue into the 
 pockets of the collectors." 
 
174 Appe7idix C, 
 
 desperate expedients, contracting usurious loans, 
 living from hand to mouth, and robbing Peter 
 to pay Paul. Smuggling is a vocation in Spain, 
 and its existence is as well known as the capital 
 of the kingdom. "The smuggler is the type 
 and channel of the really active principle of 
 trade " in a large portion of the Peninsula. 
 Making Gibraltar a free port is an act of fla- 
 grant wrong to Spain, and is a stimulus to vio- 
 lations of revenue laws. The Bank of Spain, 
 established in 1872 with a capital of $50,000,000 
 and a privilege of enlargement to $150,000,000, 
 the only bank of issue in the kingdom (until 
 lately its notes were printed by the American 
 Bank Note Company), is fast becoming the 
 manager of the finances of the nation. It has 
 now the monopoly of the sale of tobacco, and 
 collects the taxes on real estate, commerce, and 
 industry, because those taxes are mortgaged for 
 the payment of money borrowed. 
 
 3. Hallways and other Roads, — The old Ro- 
 man roads have mostly fallen into decay and 
 disuse. Prom Madrid there diverge to the prin- 
 cip"^ seaport and frontier towns good highways, 
 but intercommunications are sadly defective. 
 In the beginning of 1885 there were 5420 miles 
 of railway, and the principal towns are now em- 
 braced in the system. All belong to private 
 
Appendix (7. 175 
 
 companies, and were built by private capital, 
 aided by subventions from the Government on 
 the condition that the latter shall take posses- 
 sion in ninety-nine years. There are general- 
 ly three trains : the express, the mail, and the 
 mixed, each of which furnishes first, second, and 
 third class compartments for travellers. The 
 fast train does not carry the mail ; and on the 
 general principle that nothing is to be done in 
 a hurry, the mail which arrives at Madrid at six 
 in the morning quietly rests until eight at night 
 before starting on its southward journey. In 
 1883 there were over 10,000 miles of telegraphic 
 lines, and in the last budget the appropriation 
 for their management (they belong to the Gov- 
 ernment) was $1,564,800. 
 
 4. Marriages are allowed, with consent of 
 parents or guardians, as soon as contracting par- 
 ties are sufficiently developed. Without this 
 consent, the minimum age for the male sex is 
 twenty-three, and for the female twenty. Per- 
 mission to contract matrimony is granted on 
 application at the vicar's office, where the cer- 
 tificate of birth of both parties must be exhib- 
 ited, and a fee of $12 paid. An extra charge 
 of $30 must be paid if haste is desired by the 
 omission of the publication of the banns during 
 the fete days. The priest performing the cere- 
 
176 Appendix C, 
 
 mony receives $6. The expense and delay at- 
 tending marriage tend to the unions without 
 authorization which are so common in Spain. 
 In a purely civil marriage, seldom occurring, 
 application must be made to the municipal 
 judge. Every canonical marriage must be en- 
 tered in the Civil Register. Absolute divorces 
 a vincido matrimonii are not permitted, but 
 separations without any privilege of remarriage 
 can take place. The ecclesiastical courts have 
 jurisdiction of applications for separation. Sta- 
 tistics are very imperfect as to the legitimacy 
 of offspring. It is said that the average of ille- 
 gitimacy in the whole country is between five 
 and six per cent., and in Madrid twenty per cent. 
 M Dia of February 1, 1887, said that during 
 the January preceding there had been in Ma- 
 drid 1402 births and 1744 deaths; of the births, 
 284 were illegitimate and 1118 legitimate. In 
 April, 1888, there were 1101 legitimate and 354 
 illegitimate births. 
 
 Some amends are made for the obstacles 
 thrown in the way of marriage by the abundant 
 provision made for foundling hospitals. Most 
 cities are supplied with these institutions for 
 caring for the sinless children of sin. A rough 
 English captain said they should be labelled 
 "Adultery made easy." By law of 1822, a hos- 
 
A^ypendix C. 117 
 
 pital is required for each province, divided into 
 a compartment for lying-in women, another for 
 infants, and a third for children under six. The 
 law of 1849 turns over the duty of providing 
 foundling hospitals to the provinces, and orders 
 the provincial juntas to appoint committees of 
 women to supervise these establishments. A 
 nurse sits up at night to receive the children 
 whose parents would conceal their guilt, and 
 any examination of or interference with moth- 
 ers desiring to leave their children in these hos- 
 pitals is strictly forbidden. 
 
 During coverture a woman cannot have a 
 separate estate, sign papers, make contracts, 
 perform legal acts, without the authority of her 
 husband, but the husband only can nullify the 
 acts. 
 
 5. JOaw of Inheritance, — By will, heirs are of 
 two kinds, voluntary and involuntary {forzo- 
 sos). The latter are the direct line from testa- 
 tor; the former, collateral or strangers. The 
 testator must leave his property to his herederos 
 forzosos, or state his reasons for not so doing. 
 The legal causes for disinherison are age of 
 more than ten and a half years, grave insults, 
 attempts to kill, accusation of serious crime, 
 abandonment of testator while insane, and mar- 
 riage without his consent. These reasons, so 
 12 
 
178 Appendix C. 
 
 far as applicable, will excuse one for disinherit- 
 ing parents. In case of intestacy, children share 
 equsiWj, pe)' capita, ^yiihout distinction of age or 
 sex. Grandchildren, in case of parent's death, 
 inherit j(96r stirpes. Natural children, in default 
 of legitimate children, can inherit from their 
 mother. 
 
 As in England, the Government derives a rev- 
 enue from a tax on succession, which was esti- 
 mated in the last budget at $6,200,000. These 
 taxes on inheritance vary as to degree of rela- 
 tionship. By law of 1881, when the heir is le- 
 gitimate and in the direct line, the tax is one 
 per cent. ; when illegitimate, two per cent. Col- 
 lateral relationship is run out from second de- 
 gree at four per cent, to the fifth at seven per 
 cent., and one per cent, is added for each degree 
 from the sixth to the tenth. Strangers must 
 pay nine per cent. The Government levies a 
 tax of twelve per cent, upon money left to be 
 expended in masses for the repose of the soul 
 of the deceased. This may be to discourage 
 such bequests ; for a shrewd observer of Span- 
 ish affairs says, " More money has been expend- 
 ed in masses than would have covered Spain 
 with railroads, even on a British scale of mag- 
 nificence and extravagance." 
 
 6. Titles, — The civil titles are duke, duchess, 
 
Appendix C. 1V9 
 
 marquis, marchioness, count, countess, viscount, 
 and viscountess. These titular distinctions, di- 
 viding society into artificial classes, import no 
 official superiority, no legal prerogatives and 
 privileges beyond some functions, social and 
 ceremonial, pertaining to the palace or the sov- 
 ereign. By the law of 1820 and 1855, a title 
 follows the order of succession established in 
 the concession ; but the possessor of several 
 grandezas of Spain, or titles of Castile, may 
 distribute them among his sons as he sees fit. 
 A possessor of several titles may bestow some 
 upon brothers or relatives. In every succession 
 or bestowment, the heir or grantee must obtain 
 a letter of confirmation, and pay a tax as fol- 
 lows : grandee of Spain with title of duke, mar- 
 quis, or count, $2000; grandee with title of vis- 
 count, $1800; grandee with title of baron or 
 senor, $1600; grandeza without title, $1200; 
 title of marquis, $800 ; of viscount, $600 ; of 
 baron or seiior, $400. When there is more than 
 one title, there is an addition of two-thirds of 
 the tax for the second, and of one-half for the 
 third, or any after the third. A nobleman may 
 resign a title without its being lost or lapsed, as 
 his son can assume it on paying the sum as re- 
 quired for the succession. Titles are not pur- 
 chasable, but proceed from the sovereign. 
 
180 Appendix (7. 
 
 7. Civil Service, — By laws of 1852, 1866, and 
 1875, elaborate arrangements are provided for 
 examination, admission, and scales of promotion 
 in the civil service. The theory of the diplo- 
 matic career is that men are appointed after ex- 
 amination, trained in foreign office or as unpaid 
 attaches to legations, and are made and kept as 
 ministers and ambassadors until retired upon 
 pensions. Madrid, without commerce, without 
 industry of any importance, with scarce an ele- 
 ment of production, official Madrid is crowded 
 with civil officials, with military and naval offi- 
 cers, with expectants waiting and scheming for 
 the return of their party to power. The au- 
 thor of that clever little book, " L'Espagne telle 
 qu'elle est," affirms that the politicians of Ma- 
 drid have formed among themselves a sort of 
 society for mutual succor, and although belong- 
 ing to different parties, work harmoniously to 
 conserve the system which enables them to get 
 their support, directly or indirectly, from the 
 Government. The spoils idea has fullest and 
 most mischievous exemplification. Retiring al- 
 lowances and pensions help to foster the claims 
 to patronage and to subordinate the public good 
 to " disgraceful struggles for the possession of 
 office and public place." Civil officers and 
 judges may retire after they have attained six- 
 
Appendix C, 181 
 
 ty, or be retired on reaching sixty-five, if they 
 have had twenty years of service. An earlier 
 retirement is allowed on proof of disability. 
 The pay of retired civil officers after twenty 
 years of service is forty per cent, of active pay ; 
 after twenty-five years, sixty per cent., and after 
 thirty-five years, eighty per cent. The maxi- 
 mum of pay for retired civil officers is $2000. 
 Such civil officers as entered the service before 
 1845 have a right, when not holding office, to 
 half -pay. Crown ministers, who have as such 
 held office for two years, and diplomats who 
 have had eighteen years' service, are entitled to 
 $1500 annually. On the civil pension list of 
 1877, the latest statistics published, there were 
 9478 men and 7614 women. The amount paid 
 as pensions to civil and military officers and 
 widows and orphans of such, in 1887, was $10,- 
 041,945. 
 
 8. The Army is raised by conscription, but 
 exemption can be purchased on payment of 
 $400. The peace footing is from 80,000 to 90,- 
 000 men ; the war footing near 400,000. The 
 term of service is twelve years — three active, 
 three in active reserve, and six in the second 
 reserve. Officers are appointed from graduates 
 of military schools, in some cases from compet- 
 itive examinations. The lieutenant-general in 
 
182 Api^endix C. 
 
 command is paid per annum $5000, not in com- 
 mand, $3750; field - marshal, $2500; brigadier, 
 $1800; colonel, $1600; commandant, $1100; cap- 
 tain, $750 ; lieutenant, $400 ; sub - lieutenant, 
 $380; 1st sergeant, $182.50; 2d sergeant, $127.75; 
 corporal, $100.35 ; soldier, $91.25. Captains- 
 general, usually commanding a district, of which 
 there are fourteen, receive special allowance and 
 pay according to the dignity and importance of 
 the post. The fixed rules for promotion are 
 disregarded, and the most open favoritism is 
 practised. 
 
 Private soldiers or sailors disabled in the serv- 
 ice are cared for by the Government. They en- 
 ter the Invalid Corps, and their former pay is 
 continued. Those that have families have the 
 choice of living outside the Home. Disabled 
 ofiicers can also enter the Invalid Corps, their 
 pay being continued as in active service, and 
 promotion every fifteen years being granted 
 until the grade of colonel is reached. For he- 
 roic courage and military distinction additional 
 remuneration is provided. Privates and non- 
 commissioned officers for military distinction 
 are rewarded with the cross for military merit, 
 and fifty cents a month during active service ; 
 for special service in time of war, with the same 
 cross and $1.50 a month cTuring life; for heroic 
 
Appendix C. 183 
 
 bravery, the Cross of St. Ferdinand and from 
 $50 to $120 during life to sergeants, and $20 to 
 $80 during life to corporals and privates. Offi- 
 cers are rewarded for similar services with the 
 Cross of St. Ferdinand and during life from $75 
 to $300 for captains, $100 to $400 for superior 
 officers, and from $500 to $2000 for generals. 
 The retired pay of army and navy officers is 
 thirty per cent, of active pay after twenty years' 
 service, and proportionately until after forty 
 years' service, when ninety per cent, of active 
 pay is given. Generals are not retired, but are 
 placed on the reserve list with from $2000 to 
 $2500 a year, according to rank. 
 
 Frequent reference has been made in the 
 course of this little historj^ to the influence of 
 the army on Spanish politics, and the use of 
 that lever by all parties and leaders for the ac- 
 complishment of their patriotic ends or selfish 
 ambitions. Public opinion and popular elec- 
 tions are too slow or too uncertain agencies for 
 effecting political reforms, getting rid of objec- 
 tionable rulers, or satisfying the greed for place 
 and honors. Liberals, Progressives, and Con- 
 servatives have looked to and used the army for 
 executing their plans. When palace intrigues 
 or royal prerogatives have failed, or when the 
 tide of events lingered too long for the impa- 
 
184 Appendix C, 
 
 tient and impecunious, in the barracks have 
 been found the facile and effective means of 
 reaction and revolution. For three-quarters of 
 a century pronunciamentos have been common 
 in Spain, and the regular process of law has 
 been set aside by the prompter action of sol- 
 diers. O'Donnell, Espartero and Narvaez, Cas- 
 telar and Serrano, have yielded their places at 
 the bidding of troops. Alfonso came in on 
 bayonets, and since there have been compara- 
 tive quiet and acquiescence in the improving 
 order of things, and yet in 1883 Sagasta fell 
 after the revolutionary surprise at Badajos. 
 There was a military insurrection at Gerona in 
 1884, another at Carthagena in 1885, and still 
 another at Madrid in 1886, which came as the 
 first in the reign of Alfonso XIII. These were 
 stupid, and outwardly not very serious, and yet 
 they showed discontent and habits of indisci- 
 pline in the ranks, and a readiness on the part 
 of officers to use the forces in their command 
 for self-promotion or the overthrow of the Gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 The evil of political ambition in the army 
 and of the association of political consequences 
 with military insurrections is not easily cured. 
 The French army has always honorably ab- 
 stained from becoming an instrument of politi- 
 
Appendix C, 185 
 
 cal agitation, but in Spain the army is a recog- 
 nized agency for political revolutions ; and the 
 interference, instead of being punished sum- 
 marily and exemplarily, is accepted as legiti- 
 mate. Patriotic statesmen shrink from drastic 
 and adequate measures for the extirpation of a 
 chronic evil, the outgrowth of revolutions, civil 
 wars, political usages, mock parties and elec- 
 tions. In 18T6, 250,000 soldiers were disbanded, 
 but the officers were retained, and by degrees 
 even Carlist officers, from brigadier - general 
 downward, had their army rank recognized. 
 The vast horde of poorly paid and unemployed 
 officers are an inviting field for political in- 
 trigue, and constitute a band of ready conspir- 
 ators, who listen to the seductive voices of wily 
 men, and dream that by the turn of the wheel 
 they can become the future Prims of the coun- 
 try. The effort to reorganize the army and 
 place it on a more economical and efficient ba- 
 sis, made by the present Liberal Government, 
 has been too timid and superficia], but it has 
 encountered from the Opposition and the army 
 such resistance as to make its adoption almost 
 an impossibility. 
 
APPENDIX D. 
 
 [From Amebioan Magazine of History, April, 18SS.] 
 The Acquisition of Florida. 
 
 At the beginning of this century the relations 
 of the United States with foreign powers were 
 much complicated. At no other period of our 
 history have so many and such difficult ques- 
 tions of an international character been pre- 
 sented for discussion and settlement. The wis- 
 dom and firmness and potential influence of 
 Washington, the strong republican convictions 
 of Adams, the large and varied ability of Jef- 
 ferson, Madison, and a number of eminent di- 
 plomatists, the patriotism and integrity of all, 
 were demanded in full to adjust our new re- 
 public to her rightful position in the family of 
 nations. International jurisprudence was in an 
 unsettled condition. It has very slowly ac- 
 quired the certainty and precision now recog- 
 nized by government courts and by treatises on 
 the Law of Nations. In fact, no nation since 
 1789 has contributed more to the settlinjj: of the 
 
Appendix D. 189 
 
 principles which underlie the mutual rights and 
 duties of independent political communities than 
 the United States. In 1823, Canning, the Prime- 
 minister, distinguished for his thorough knowl- 
 edge of international law, said in the House of 
 Commons, "If I wished for a guide in a sys- 
 tem of neutrality, I should take that laid down 
 by America in the days of the presidency of 
 Washington and the secretaryship of Jefferson." 
 Phillimore, in his great work, says of the Non- 
 intercourse Act of 1809, "It w^as worthy of the 
 country which has contributed such valuable 
 materials to the edifice of International Law." 
 President J. Q. Adams, in his message, 1826, 
 speaks of our first treaty with Prussia as " mem- 
 orable in the diplomatic annals of the world, and 
 precious as a monument of the principles in re- 
 lation to commer<?e and maritime warfare with 
 which our country entered upon her career as 
 a member of the great family of independent 
 nations." The Ediiihurgh llevieio, in a notice 
 of Judge Wharton's "Digest," associating him 
 in legal literature with Kent, Story, and Whea- 
 ton, recognizes fully the indebtedness of mod- 
 ern international law to the United States, and 
 adds, " The international law of the United 
 States is characterized by a marked individual- 
 ity and independence of thought. The states- 
 
190 Appendix D, 
 
 men of the republic have not felt themselves 
 bound by theories, however venerable, or been 
 troubled by the conflicting views of eminent ju- 
 rists. They have rested their contentions on clear 
 principles which they have evolved for them- 
 selves, and they have enunciated their views 
 without obscurity and with perfect straightfor- 
 wardness." 
 
 The United States had just been admitted as 
 a coequal into the great family, but she was 
 nevertheless regarded as a parvenu, an intrud- 
 er, and the principles of her Constitution were 
 looked upon with distrust and suspicion, not to 
 say with hatred and contempt, by the crowned 
 heads and those who affirmed and practised the 
 right of coalition against any power that sought 
 to disturb the European equilibrium, or ques- 
 tioned the "right divine" of kings and nobility. 
 At this day, when our power is respected and 
 feared, and our growth and prosperity are an 
 unceasing wonder, we can hardly understand 
 how we were belittled and insulted, and what 
 constant and studied disregard and violation of 
 our equal rights were inflicted in our infancy. 
 A willingness to go to war with France for the 
 maintenance of our dignity, the punishment of 
 the pirates in the Mediterranean, a war with 
 England, extension of territory, an unwavering 
 
Appe7idix D, 191 
 
 assertion of our equality, vindicated the right 
 to an independent existence and to a participa- 
 tion in all that belonged to, or grew out of, the 
 intercourse of nations. Perhaps the friction 
 was greater, and the willingness to apply the 
 law which governs external affairs of communi- 
 ties was more reluctant, because of the early 
 avowals of Washington and Jefferson that our 
 cis-Atlantic country was not to be harassed by 
 entangling alliances with European States. Re- 
 fusing to become an integral part of the great 
 European system, to ally herself with foreign 
 governments in their dynastic wars and endless 
 disputes as to succession, balance of power, and 
 rectification of boundaries, the United States 
 found the European governments inclined to 
 ignore the rights of her citizens and her claim 
 to the freedom of the seas. 
 
 Troubles with Spain began during the admin- 
 istration of Washington, and continued up to 
 the slow acknowledgment of the independence 
 of her former colonies, sometimes verging on 
 serious hostilities. As early as 1788, with the 
 connivance and active agency of Gardogue, the 
 Spanish Minister at Washington, an effort was 
 made to detach the trans- Alleghany country 
 from the Union, and in 1792 there was a seri- 
 ous difference of opinion and discussion as io 
 
\ 
 
 192 Appendix D. 
 
 the navigation of the Mississippi. In 1801, Mr. 
 Charles Pinckney, then Minister at Madrid, was 
 instructed to urge on the Spanish Government 
 redress for sufferings from capture by priva- 
 teers unlawfully cruising out of Spanish ports, 
 and from unlawful condemnations by Spanish 
 tribunals. The spoliations committed on Amer- 
 ican commerce were so heavy, and tribunals of 
 justice and the Government failing to give re- 
 dress, a clear intimation was made that more 
 effective measures must be resorted to. The 
 importance of the question, Mr. Pinckney was 
 told, would require all his zeal, patriotism, and 
 delicacy. Some efficient effort was due to the 
 sufferers and "to the dignity of the United 
 States, which must always feel the insults of- 
 fered to the rights of individual citizens." The 
 irritations with Spain had been aggravated by 
 her possessions on our frontier, by her national 
 Xjride and sensitiveness, and by her ancient 
 claims of precedence over other States.* ^ 
 
 * In Evelyn and the Memoirs of Gramont is a curious 
 incident growing out of Spanish arrogance in 1660, at the 
 Court of Great Britain. The Spanish ambassador, on the 
 occasion of the public entry of the Swedish ambassador into 
 London, claimed precedence of the French ambassador. This 
 so offended Louis XIV. that he compelled his rival to submit 
 to the mortification of acknowledging the French superiority. 
 
Appendix D, 1 f 
 
 The purchase of Louisiana from France, 
 1803, excited a controversy between Spain and 
 the United States which continued with more or 
 less acrimony until the whole question of terri- 
 tory and boundary w^as settled by the acquisi- 
 tion of Florida. The acquisitions of Louisiana 
 and Florida were almost inseparably allied, and 
 our Government, as early as 1804, sought, but in 
 \\ vain, the influence of the French Government in 
 V favor of our construction of the treaty, and to 
 ^ help in the acquisition of territory east of the 
 Perdido River. It would be a hopeless task to 
 seek to unravel all the treaties made since that 
 of Utrecht, 1713, w^hich concern the extent and 
 the boundaries of the various territorial divis- 
 ions between Georgia and the Rio Grande. 
 
 In 1763, what was then known as Louisiana 
 was divided between Great Britain and Spain. 
 France lost by this treaty all her possessions in 
 North America. In addition to Canada, she 
 ceded to Great Britain the river and port of 
 Mobile and all her possessions on the left side 
 
 Louis caused a medal to be struck commemorative of this 
 victory, in which the Spanish ambassador was represented as 
 making the declaration to the king, "No concurrer con los 
 ambassadores de Francia," with this inscription, "Jus prjece- 
 dendi assertum," and under it, "Ilispanorum excusatio co- 
 ram XXX. legatis principium, 1662." ' 
 
 13 
 
194 Apperidix D. 
 
 of the Mississippi, except ISTew Orleans and the 
 island on which it was situated. The residue of 
 Louisiana was ceded to Spain in a separate and 
 secret treaty. The cession of Florida to Great 
 Britain was the price paid for the restoration of 
 Cuba to Spain. Great Britain divided the ter- 
 ritory into East and West Florida, and in 1783 
 ceded them to Spain, and the provinces were 
 known and governed by these names as long as 
 they remained under the dominion of His Cath- 
 olic Majesty. Spain, thus owning both banks 
 of the Mississippi at its mouth and for some 
 distance above, claimed the exclusive naviga- 
 tion below the point of the southern boundary 
 of the United States. The refusal of the use 
 of the lower river aroused much and indignant 
 feeling in the West. Kentucky and Virginia 
 made vigorous protests against a proposition to 
 concede Spain's right to close navigation. The 
 angry dispute was terminated by the treaty of 
 I'ZOo, one article of which provided that the 
 river should be open to the navigation of the 
 citizens of the United States from its source to 
 the ocean. Another article granted the right 
 of deposit in the port of New Orleans, and to 
 export thence merchandise and effects on the 
 payment of warehouse hire. By the treaty of 
 October 1, 1800, between the French Republic 
 
Appendix D, 195 
 
 and Spain, known as the St. Ildefonso treaty, 
 Spain made a retrocession to France of the 
 province of Louisiana as at that time possessed 
 by Spain, and " such as it was w^hen France pos- 
 sessed it." When this cession occurred, Great 
 Britain and the United States took alarm. Mr. 
 Jefferson in his message, December 15, 1802, said, 
 '' The cession of the Spanish province of Louisi- 
 ana to France, which took place in the course 
 of the late war, will, if carried into effect, make 
 a change in the aspect of our foreign relations, 
 which will doubtless have just weight in any de- 
 liberations of the Legislature connected with that 
 subject." With the sagacity of a statesman he 
 saw how essential the property and sovereignty 
 of the Mississippi and its waters were, to secure 
 an uncontrolled navigation and an independent 
 outlet for the produce of the Western States, 
 "free from collision with other powers and the 
 dangers to our peace from that source," and 
 therefore he authorized propositions to be made 
 for obtaining the sovereignty of New Orleans 
 and of other possessions in that quarter. 
 
 The abrupt closing in 1802 of the port of New 
 Orleans, without the assignment of any other 
 equivalent place of deposit, and the injuries sus- 
 tained until the restoration of the right of de- 
 posit, suggested naturally the expediency of 
 
196 Appendix D. 
 
 guarding against their recurrence by the acqui- 
 sition of a permanent property near the entrance 
 of the Mississippi into the Gulf. The lirst prop- 
 ositions were treated by France with decided 
 neglect. " The French Government," said Mad- 
 ison, " had manifested a repugnance to the pur- 
 chase which left no expectation of an arrange- 
 ment with France by which an acquisition was 
 to be made, unless in a favorable crisis, of which 
 advantage should be taken." The distress of 
 French finances, the unsettled posture of Eu- 
 rope, the increasing jealousy between Great 
 Britain and France, made "the favorable cri- 
 sis," and Bonaparte, on April 30, 1803, agreed 
 to sell or cede his new acquisition to the United 
 States. The words of the treaty were some- 
 what remarkable ; but it is important, in view 
 of subsequent discussions and negotiations, to 
 bear in mind that in the transfer the identical 
 language was employed that had been used in 
 1800, so that the Government of the United 
 States was subrogated, in express terms, to the 
 rights of France and of Spain. Phillimore, in 
 recording this " derivative acquisition " of ter- 
 ritory, says, " It belongs to the province of the 
 historian to record the ineffectual regret of de- 
 ceived and injured Spain, and the sagacity of 
 the United States in profiting by the troubles 
 
Appendix D. 197 
 
 of Europe, both at this period and subsequently, 
 by the acquisition of Florida." 
 
 Spain remonstrated with France against the 
 cession of Louisiana, and endeavored to prevent 
 the execution of the treaty, being not unwilling 
 to use pecuniary arguments if they promised 
 success. Mr. Cevallos, the Spanish Minister for 
 Foreign Affairs, in an interview with Mr. Charles 
 Pinckney, our Minister at Madrid, denied the 
 right of France to make such a cession, alleging 
 that in the preceding cession by Spain to France 
 there was a secret article that France should 
 never part with Louisiana except to Spain, and 
 that if she ever wished to dispose of it, Spain 
 should have the pre-emption.* 
 
 * American State Papers, 567, 568, 598. The Marquis 
 Casa Irujo, the Spanish Representative, protested against the 
 cession as a sort of crime, and Mr. Onis treated it as a just 
 cause of complaint on the part of Spain. I have applied, 
 througli the Minister of Foreign Affairs, for the evidence of 
 this secret agreement, and have been assured that it does not 
 exist in the archives. Besides, the cession by France was 
 made with the full knowledge of Spain, and no objection was 
 made until Irujo's protest. In March, 1803, the American 
 Minister in Spain was informed of the transfer of Louisiana 
 to France, and in answer to an application made by the direc- 
 tion of his Government, Don Pedro Cevallos stated " that by 
 the retrocession made to France of Louisiana that power re- 
 gained the province with the limits it had, saving the rights 
 
198 Appe7idix D. 
 
 This discontent of Spain increased her unwill- 
 ingness to make a prompt and peaceable settle- 
 ment of the vexed questions which had been 
 pending for some years between the two coun- 
 tries, and which every month's delay increased 
 in number and exasperation. In the instructions 
 to Mr. Pinckney, March 31, 1804, Mr. Madison 
 made an elaborate argument to show that the 
 eastern boundary of Louisiana extended to the 
 Perdido. For many years the controversy was 
 waged. The United States insisted that by the 
 treaty of 1800 Spain ceded the disputed terri- 
 tory, as part of Louisiana, to France, and that 
 France, in turn, in 1803, ceded it to the United 
 States. Spain, with equal earnestness and per- 
 sistence, maintained that her cession to France 
 comprehended what was at that time denomi- 
 nated Louisiana, consisting of the island of New 
 Orleans and the country west of the Mississippi. 
 
 acquired by other powers ; and that the United States could 
 address themselves to the French Government to negotiate 
 the acquisition of territories which might suit their purpose." 
 The Spanish Government was apprised of the intention of 
 the United States to negotiate for the purchase. The Span- 
 ish Ambassador witnessed the progress of the negotiation at 
 Paris, and the conclusion of the treaty was promptly known 
 and understood in Madrid. No objection was interposed at 
 the time, and no protest was then made. 
 
Appendix D. 199 
 
 C. J. Marshall, in Foster v, Neilson, 6 Peters, 306, 
 said, " Every word in that article of the treaty 
 of St. Ildefonso which ceded Louisiana to France 
 was scanned by the Ministers on both sides with 
 all the critical acumen which talents and zeal 
 could bring into their service. Every argument 
 drawn from collateral circumstances connected 
 with the subject, which could be supposed to 
 elucidate it, was exhausted." Each party ad- 
 hered to the original opinion and purposes. The 
 arguments, read after fifty years have elapsed, 
 do not, on either side, seem so conclusive as to 
 leave no loop to hang a doubt upon. The very 
 forcible contention of the United States, that 
 France having ceded the province of Louisiana 
 in full sovereignty, with all the rights which 
 belonged to her under the treaty of 1800, the 
 United States succeeded to those rights, was 
 enfeebled somewhat by the declaration of Tal- 
 leyrand, that by the treaty of St. Ildefonso Spain 
 retroceded no part of the territory east of the 
 Iberville, which had been held and known as 
 West Florida, and that, in all the negotiations 
 between the two Governments, Spain had con- 
 stantly refused to cede any part of the Floridas, 
 even from the Mississippi to the Mobile. In 
 January, 1805, Mr. Monroe arrived in Madrid, 
 having been commissioned with special author- 
 
200 Appendix D, 
 
 ity to act in conjunction with Mr. Pinckney, and 
 he remained over a year in the vain endeavor to 
 effect a settlement of the matters in controver- 
 sy. Coupled with the adjustment of the Louisi- 
 ana boundary and other matters in dispute, was 
 a proposition to purchase the whole of Florida 
 for a sum of money which was designedly left 
 indefinite. In the draft of a treaty for the ac- 
 complishment of the two principal ends and for 
 the payment of outstanding claims, was a prop- 
 osition to have, for a term of years, a neutral 
 ground between the west of Louisiana and the 
 Spanish territory, now known as Texas. The 
 neutral territory was to be so limited or defined 
 as not to deprive the United States of the wa- 
 ters flowing into the Gulf between the Missis- 
 sippi and Colorado rivers. 
 
 The voluminous correspondence shows a strong 
 desire on the part of the Government at Wash- 
 ington to terminate amicably all existing differ- 
 ences, and to place the relations between Spain 
 and the United States on a basis of permanent 
 friendship. The extraordinary nature of the 
 commission was a distinct declaration of the 
 critical state of affairs and of the importance 
 of the questions at issue. The United States 
 claimed indemnification for damages done to 
 peaceful and lawful commerce within the juris- 
 
Appendix D. 201 
 
 diction of Spain, and for the losses which ac- 
 crued from the suspension of the right of de- 
 posit at ISTew Orleans, as guaranteed by the 
 treaty of l'/95. A board of independent and 
 impartial men was suggested, with authority to 
 consider and to adjust counter-claims between • 
 the two nations. The gist of the negotiations, \ 
 however, artful as may have been the attempt j 
 not to make too conspicuous, was the settlement ; 
 of the western boundary of Louisiana and the j 
 acquisition of Florida. In the instructions to ' 
 Mr. Monroe, April 15, 1804, he was (l) to ob- 
 tain the sanction of Spain to the late cession of 
 Louisiana to the United States ; (2) to procure 
 the cession of territory held by Spain east of 
 the Mississippi ; and (3) to make provision for 
 the payment of American claims. ^ 
 
 The masterly presentation of all the points 
 mooted by our representatives is of interest 
 chiefly to the historical student, because the 
 United States has now undisputed ownership 
 of the whole coast-line from St. Mary's to the 
 Rio Grande, and no question with a foreign 
 power, based on the old contention, can possi- 
 bly arise. The cases before the Supreme Court,* 
 
 * 2 Peters, Foster v. Neilson ; 6 Peters, Arredondo; 12 
 Peters, Garcia ; 9 Howard, United States v. Reynes ; 11 Wal- 
 lace, United States v. Lynde, etc. 
 
202 Appendix B. 
 
 supplemented by the legislation of Congress, 
 have settled the land contests growing out of 
 sovereignty and ownership, which the United 
 States anticipated and tried to prevent. In the 
 progress of the negotiation, Rio Bravo vras 
 mentioned as a limit of Spanish and the Colo- 
 rado as the limit of American settlement. The 
 President was very averse to the occlusion from 
 settlement, for a long period, of a wide space of 
 territory westward of the Mississippi, and to a 
 perpetual relinquishment of any eastward of 
 the Rio Bravo, and the relinquishment, if made, 
 must be conditioned on the entire cession of the 
 Floridas. It was in arguendo suggested to 
 Messrs. Monroe and Pinckney that if Spain were 
 engaged in or threatened with war she might be 
 more willing to yield to terms which, however 
 proper in themselves, ''might otherwise be re- 
 jected by her pride or misapplied jealousy." In 
 an able letter to Cevallos our commissioners said 
 that as the United States surrounded Florida, 
 except where the ocean intervened, it was an 
 object to possess it. The acquisition of Louisi- 
 ana had minified the importance of the posses- 
 sion, but as long as Spain held it it w^ould be a 
 cause of jealousy and variance, for each nation 
 would be compelled to have a strong force, and 
 other powers would be interested in provoking 
 
Appendix JD. 203 
 
 a rupture. Florida being in the hands of the 
 United States, all cause of inquietude and mis- 
 understanding would be at an end, territories 
 and police would be distinct, military stations 
 would be removed from each other, and neither 
 power would be interested in disturbing the 
 concerns of the other. 
 
 On January 28, 1805, the commissioners sub- 
 mitted the project of a convention for the ad- 
 justment of claims and the cession of the Flori- 
 das. Florida was "known not to be fertile," 
 and no land greed actuated the United States, 
 for they had " territory enough to satisfy their 
 growing population for ages to come." Probably •, 
 this opinion, that the United States had within 
 their limits what " it will take ages to fill," was 
 caused by the fact, as stated, that "the territory 
 on both sides of the Mississippi is yet a wilder- 
 ness," and these arrangements, required by mut- 
 ual interests, were important to be made "while 
 it remained so." These sagacious men had not 
 the vaguest conception of the boundless prog- 
 ress of our people under the energy of free in- 
 stitutions. Reasons of safety and peace were 
 the predominating influence for pressing the 
 acquisitions. The "project" contained what 
 seemed to be a favorite plan in Washington, 
 and which, in the light of subsequent events. 
 
204 Appendix D, 
 
 seems to us visionary, not to say absurd. *'This 
 was the establishment of an intervening neutral 
 territory, to remain such for twenty years, and 
 give time for ulterior arrangements." The sub- 
 mission of the proposed convention led to a pro- 
 longed and somewhat acrimonious discussion. 
 At intervals, notes were interchanged. The 
 Spanish Minister of State, Don Pedro Cevallos, 
 by tone, language, utter indisposition to accom- 
 modate the business on just principles, annoy- 
 ing and studied delays, became offensive to the 
 commissioners, who, although " hurt " at the 
 treatment they received, exhibited remarkable 
 forbearance and tact. With persistency and 
 iteration, with repeated avowals of respect and 
 desire for peaceful arrangement, and with a 
 commendable abstinence from all recrimination 
 or menace, the contention and wishes of the Unit- 
 ed States were presented. On the 12th of May, 
 1805, the commissioners submitted the ultimate 
 conditions on which they were authorized to 
 adjust the points depending between the two 
 Governments, and they are here reproduced 
 with some fulness as illustrative of the points at 
 issue, and the exceeding difficulties of the pro- 
 tracted negotiations which finally added Flor- 
 ida to the Union. " On condition his Catholic 
 Majesty will concede the territory eastward of 
 
Appendix D. 205 
 
 the Mississippi, and arbitrate the claims of the 
 citizens and subjects of each power, according 
 to the convention of August 11, 1802 (which up 
 to this time Spain had refused to ratify), the 
 convention will agree to make the Colorado the 
 boundary between Louisiana and Spain, estab- 
 lish a district of territory of thirty leagues on 
 each side of the line, which should remain neu- 
 tral and unsettled forever, and relinquish the 
 claim for spoliations committed by the French 
 within the jurisdiction of Spain and the claim 
 to compensation for injuries received by the 
 suppression of the deposit at New Orleans." 
 The propositions were absolutely rejected, and 
 Mr. Monroe, considering the negotiation con- 
 cluded, asked and obtained his passports, that 
 he might repair to London, where he was the 
 Resident Minister. Before his departure from 
 Madrid, he and Mr. Pinckney gave an account 
 of their " unwearied and laborious exertions," 
 and of the utter failure of the mission in all its 
 objects. 
 
 The recapitulation of the history of the effort 
 to adjust the differences has at this day, when 
 we are quietly enjoying the fruits of this and 
 subsequent negotiations, rather a humorous as- 
 pect. Candor, conciliation, urgency, modera- 
 tion of language, patience, were met by pleas in 
 
206 Appendix D. 
 
 abatement, pleas for delays, irrelevant discus- 
 sions, imperious tone, exaggerated pretensions, 
 and a general behavior that made it incumbent 
 on commissioners to argue and protest that they 
 were not the dupes of the management of the 
 Spanish diplomat. Mr. Pinckney soon resigned 
 and returned home. In these liypercritical and 
 iconoclastic days it has become common to dis- 
 parage that eminent patriot and statesman, 
 James Monroe. An examination of his services 
 in Spain shows exceptional qualifications as a 
 diplomatist : prudence, self-restraint, courtesy, 
 dignity, tact, energy, familiarity with treaties 
 and international law, ability in argument, de- 
 votion to his country's honor and interests, 
 marked in a conspicuous manner his public life 
 in this most difficult of all courts. Judge Whar- 
 ton, more familiar than any other person with 
 our diplomatic history, says in reference to ne- 
 gotiations with England, " that in ability, can- 
 dor, and fairness, Mr. Monroe's papers stand in 
 the front rank of diplomatic documents." 
 
 The Government at Washington, deeply sen- 
 sible of the importance of the post at Madrid, 
 and of the urgency of the pending questions, 
 appointed James Bowdoin, of Boston, as Minis- 
 ter Plenipotentiary, and afterwards associated 
 General Armstrong in a special mission respect- 
 
Appendix D, 207 
 
 ing these delicate Spanish controversies. The 
 object of the United States in reference to the 
 Floridas was clearly made known to them, and 
 equally as explicitly to George W. Erving, who, 
 as secretary of legation, in the absence of his 
 chief, became charge d"" affaires, Mr. Erving 
 remained in Spain until August, 1810, when he 
 returned to the United States. From the with- 
 drawal of Monroe and Pinckney to the arrival 
 of Mr. Erving, in July, 1816, as Minister, scarce- 
 ly anything of a diplomatic character was ac- 
 complished between the two countries. The 
 distracted state of Spain, the internal convul- 
 sions, and wars with other countries, made it 
 impossible to accomplish anything in the two 
 chief matters intrusted to our representatives. 
 The hostilities between Great Britain and Spain 
 were concluded by the treaty of peace, ami- 
 ty, and alliance of January 14, 1809, when the 
 two belligerents became allies against France, a 
 common enemy, and there ensued that famous 
 Peninsular campaign of Wellington, wherein he 
 out-manoeuvred and defeated Napoleon's best 
 marshals, and the more remarkable guerilla con- 
 tests — a moder of warfare borrowed from the 
 Moors — in which the skill and experience of the 
 best-trained officers and soldiers of France found 
 more than a match in the desultory warfare of 
 
208 Appendix D. 
 
 the indomitable Spaniards. The prosecution of 
 campaigns required all resources, physical and 
 intellectual. A struggle for dynasty and exist- 
 ence left little leisure or inclination for trans- 
 atlantic questions. There could have been no 
 more unpropitious period for calm discussion 
 and parting with territory. Besides, Spain was 
 doubly irritated, the United States having been 
 compelled to occupy Florida. This forcible 
 seizure grew out of the claims for spoliations, 
 the inability of Spain to maintain her authority 
 in Florida and repress depredations and insur- 
 rections, and the intrusive occupation by Great 
 Britain of Pensacola and other portions of the 
 province. The shifting events in Europe made 
 the passing of Florida into the possession of 
 another power not improbable, and it became 
 imperative to seize and hold the country, sub- 
 ject to future and friendly negotiation. 
 
 In 1814, Mr. Anthony Morris, who had author- 
 ity to receive '*' informal communications" from 
 the Spanish Government, expressed the opinion 
 that East and West Florida could be purchased. 
 He intimated that ten thousand dollars for dou- 
 ceurs would be " indispensable," as the different 
 departments of the Spanish Government were 
 not sufficiently "regenerated" to allow great 
 hopes of success without the use of means of 
 
Appendix D, 209 
 
 this description. This suggestion elicited no 
 consideration nor reply. In 1816, January 19, 
 on the renewal of the suspended diplomatic re- 
 lations, Mr. Monroe, as Secretary of State, sug- 
 gested to Chevalier de Onis that it furnished a 
 proper occasion for the consideration of the dif- 
 ferences in relation to the purchase of Louisiana 
 and the contested limits. In March, 1816, Mr. 
 Monroe informed Mr. Erving that Onis had in- 
 timated that the Spanish Government might be 
 willing to cede its claim for territory on the 
 eastern side of the Mississippi in satisfaction of 
 claims, and in exchange for territory on the 
 western side. The United States proposed to 
 accept a cession of Florida as a basis of the re- 
 lease of claims held by citizens of the United 
 States against Spain, and offered at the same 
 time, by way of compromise, to take the Colo- 
 rado River as the western boundary of the Lou- 
 isiana purchase, although it had been previously 
 maintained that that purchase extended to the 
 Rio Grande. Mr. Monroe and Mr. J. Q. Adams 
 held very strongly that the Rio Grande was the 
 true south-western boundary. Mr. Onis declared 
 these propositions inadmissible, went into elab- 
 orate repetitions of the discussions of 1802-1805, 
 and demanded restoration of places occupied by 
 Federal troops. On July 19, 1818, Don Jose Pi- 
 14 
 
210 Appendix D, 
 
 zarro, writing to Mr. Erving, said, "In one of 
 our late conferences I had tlie honor to state to 
 you anew his Majesty's readiness to cede both 
 of the Floridas to tlie United States ... in con- 
 sideration of a suitable equivalent to be made 
 to his Majesty in a district of territory situated 
 to the westward of the Mississippi." In July 
 and August, Mr. Erving, replying to the Span- 
 ish Minister of State, refers to " his Majesty's 
 disposition to cede his possessions to the east of 
 the Mississippi for a reasonable equivalent," and 
 suggests instead of the guarantee of Spanish 
 territory by the United States — a thing which 
 could not be done — a better guarantee in the 
 form of " a desert," or unoccupied, uninhabited 
 tract of thirty leagues on the Colorado, extend- 
 ing up to 32° north latitude, as "a barrier be- 
 tween the possessions " of the two countries. 
 Negotiations between the two countries were 
 suspended, by formal notice, until satisfaction 
 should be made for the proceedings of General 
 Jackson in Florida, which his Catholic Majesty 
 denounced as outrages upon his dignity and 
 honor, and for which he demanded apology and 
 indemnity. John Quincy Adams, in papers 
 which are an enduring monument to his patriot- 
 ism and ability, "carried the war into Africa," 
 and charged and proved that it was " to the con- 
 
Appendix. D, 211 
 
 duct of her own commanding officers that Spain 
 must impute the necessity under which General 
 Jackson found himself of occupying the places 
 of their command." "The horrible combina- 
 tion of robbery, murder, and war with which 
 the frontier of the United States bordering upon 
 Florida has for several years past been visited 
 is ascribable altogether to the total and lamen- 
 table failure of Spain to fulfil the fifth article of 
 the treaty of 1795, by which she stipulated to 
 restrain by force her Indians from hostilities 
 against the citizens of the United States." 
 " Had the engagements of Spain been fulfilled, 
 the United States would have had no Seminole 
 War." Far from indemnifying the Crown of 
 Spain for losses sustained, the American Minis- 
 ter at Madrid was instructed that the Crown of 
 Spain should indemnify the United States for 
 the expenses of a war which Spain was bound 
 to prevent. 
 
 It is difficult to realize the vexatious vicissi- 
 tudes which attended this long-drawn-out nego- 
 tiation. In course of time it at last became ap- 
 parent, even to Spain, that Florida must come 
 under the sovereignty of the United States. The 
 idea of its transference to another foreign pow- 
 er was not to be tolerated for a moment. Its 
 continued retention by Spain, remote, proud, 
 
212 Appendix D, 
 
 sensitive, jealous, involved in foreign wars and 
 chronic internal turmoils, would generate cease- 
 less trouble and necessitate quasi -belligerent 
 forces on the border. Indian incursions and 
 depredations, unprevented by Spanish authori- 
 ties, made it imperative to cross the line in pur- 
 suit, and for the punishment of the savages. 
 "Masterly inactivity," a phrase borrowed by 
 Mr. Calhoun, in his Mexican War speeches, from 
 Sir James Mackintosh, was too feeble a policy. 
 The vigilance of Erving and other Ministers was 
 unceasing. Efforts to purchase were thwarted. 
 N^egotiations were begun and suspended. Pro- 
 crastination was pursued under specific instruc- 
 tions to that end. The patience and forbear- 
 ance and moderation of the United States had 
 been wonderful. Even Mr. Adams restrained 
 largely his irritability of temper and vitriol ism 
 of pen ; but this patient submission was mani- 
 festly nearing an end. Mr. Onis, seeing that 
 procrastination as a game and a policy was ex- 
 hausted, sent, on October 24, 1818, to Mr. Ad- 
 ams, a proposition to cede all the property and 
 sovereignty possessed by Spain in and over the 
 Floridas, under certain conditions. The condi- 
 tions were promptly rejected ; a " final offer " 
 on the part of the United States was made ; 
 matters grew worse, and belligerent measures 
 
Appendix D, 213 
 
 seemed imminent. Mr. Adams, October 31, 
 1818, used this significant language: "The Pres- 
 ident is deeply penetrated with the conviction 
 that further protracted discussion . . . cannot 
 terminate in a manner satisfactory to our Gov- 
 ernments. From your answer to this letter he 
 must conclude whether a final adjustment of all 
 our differences is now to be accomplished, or 
 whether all hope of such a desirable result is, 
 on the part of the United States, to be aban- 
 doned." After some letters, showing a wide 
 divergence of views, on January 11, 1819, Mr. 
 Onis announced that by a courier extraordinary 
 from his Government he was authorized to give 
 a greater extent to his proposals. On the 9th 
 he submitted his projet, and Mr. Adams on the 
 13th responded by a counter projet. At this 
 point Mr. Hyde de Meuville, the French Minis- 
 ter, at the request of Mr. Onis, " confined by in- 
 disposition," had an interview with Mr. Adams, 
 and a full and free discussion of the two projets. 
 Explanations and modifications were made, and 
 on February 22, 1819, was signed in Washing- 
 ton "a Treaty of Amity, Settlement, and Lim- 
 its," which provided for the cession of Florida 
 and "the reciprocal renunciation of certain 
 claims as adjusted by a joint commission." The 
 commissioner had power to decide conclusively 
 
214 Appendix D. 
 
 upon the amount and validity of claims, but not 
 upon the conflicting rights of parties to the 
 sums awarded by them. Comegys i;. Yasse, 
 1 Peters, 193. The spoliation claims held by 
 the United States against Spain were renounced, 
 and the United States undertook to make satis- 
 faction for the same to the amount of five mill- 
 ions of dollars. 
 
 The Rio Grande contention was given up, a 
 majority of the Cabinet overruling Mr. Adams, 
 and holding that the immediate acquisition of 
 Florida was too important to be jeoparded, or 
 "clogged by debatable demands for territory 
 to the south-west." The intervening neutral 
 territory, the uninhabited desert, the impassa- 
 ble barrier between the two countries, which 
 for so many years and so often was proposed 
 and relied upon to prevent conflict of jurisdic- 
 tion and of people, seems to have been quietly 
 ignored. The Louisiana boundary was settled 
 by following the Sabine, Red, and Arkansas riv- 
 ers as far westward as the 4 2d degree of north 
 latitude and pursuing that degree to the Pacific 
 Ocean.* In settling disputed boundaries, and, 
 
 * The conflicting claim of title to territory between Texas 
 and the United States (see President's Proclamation of De- 
 cember 30, 1887) grows out of the terms of this fixing the 
 boundary line between tlie two countries. 
 
Appendix D. 215 
 
 in fact, in making this treaty, the United States 
 did not assent to the claim of sovereignty or 
 ownership over the territory between the Mis- 
 sissippi and the Perdido. Both legislative and 
 executive departments of the Government, prior 
 to 1819, treated territory west of the Perdido as 
 part of the territory acquired from France in 
 1803, and in Pollard v. Files, the Supreme Court 
 declared as the settled doctrine of the judicial 
 department of the Government that the treaty 
 of 1819 ceded no territory west of the Perdido 
 River.* 
 
 The United States exonerated Spain from all 
 demands in the future on account of the claims 
 of her citizens, and undertook to make satisfac- 
 tion for the same to an amount not exceeding 
 five millions of dollars. It is commonly stated 
 that the United States purchased Florida for 
 that sum of money. In the negotiation the 
 Spanish Minister objected to the article stipu- 
 lating for the payment, on the ground that it 
 would appear from it that in consideration of 
 that amount Spain had ceded the two Floridas 
 and other territories, when she would not have 
 ceded them for $20,000,000 but for her desire 
 
 * 2 Howard, 591 ; Foster v. Neilson, 2 Peters, 253 ; Garcia 
 V.Lee, 2 Id., 515. 
 
216 Appendix D, 
 
 to arrange and terminate all differences with 
 the United States.* In 1805, Monroe and Pinck- 
 ney, in their proposal to the Spanish Govern- 
 ment for the cession of Florida, said that Flor- 
 ida was not valuable for its land, and suggested 
 that the sum paid " for the whole of the prov- 
 ince of Louisiana furnished a just and suitable 
 standard" as to what would be proper in pay- 
 ing for Florida. The area of Florida is 56,680 
 square miles, and Mr. Jefferson paid $15,000,000 
 for all the country west of the Mississippi not 
 occupied by Spain, as far north as the British 
 territory, and comprising, wholly or in part, the 
 present States of Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, 
 Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oregon, and Colo- 
 rado, and the Indian Territory and tlie Territo- 
 ries of Dakota, Idaho, Montana, Washington, 
 and Wyoming. 
 
 The treaty, submitted to the Senate on the 
 day it was signed, was at once unanimously rat- 
 ified, thus giving additional lustre to the birth- 
 day of Washington. Before the adjournment 
 of Congress, acts were passed authorizing the 
 
 * 111 a memoir on the negptiation, published by Onis in 
 1820, he sought to show that the treaty of cession ought to 
 be considered as a treaty of exchange of Florida for Texas, 
 a country more extensive, fertile, and valuable. 
 
Appen dix D, 217 
 
 establishing of local governments over the ac- 
 quired territory. John Forsyth, of Georgia, 
 was appointed Minister to Spain, and he carried 
 with liim a copy of the treaty and minute in- 
 structions as to the exchange of ratifications.* \ 
 So confident was the Government of early ac- ! 
 tion, the Hornet^ which carried Mr. Forsyth, was 
 ordered to remain at Cadiz a sufficient length of 
 time to carry back the ratified copy. So anx- 
 ious and so certain of speedy assent were the 
 authorities at Washington, instructions were 
 sent to Mr. Erving that it might be expedient 
 for him to exchange the ratifications, if by any 
 accident the formal reception of Forsyth should 
 be delayed " beyond a very few days." Fear- 
 ing the absence of Mr. Erving, on account of 
 the infirm state of his health, or the non-arrival 
 of Mr. Forsyth, a special messenger, with dupli- 
 cate copies of treaty and instructions, was sent 
 to Mr. Thomas L. L. Brent, the Secretary of Le- 
 gation, so that he might exchange the ratifica- 
 tions. After this twenty years of negotiation 
 
 * Mr. Forsyth was instructed to preserve the riglit of the 
 United States to the alternative of being first named and of 
 the representative to sign first. In the counterpart, the otlier 
 nation has the hlie privilege. In 1815, Great Britain claimed 
 as a precedent a previous waiver of this international practice 
 by tlie United States, but it was withdrawn. 
 
218 Appendix D. 
 
 it was supposed that the trouble was ended; but 
 he who measures a Spaniard by the ordinary 
 standard will find himself, in the end, griev- 
 ously disappointed. 
 
 Long experience has been condensed into a 
 popular proverb, Del dicho al hecho va mucho 
 trecho — From the saying to the doing is a great 
 distance. The Hornet returned in the summer, 
 not with the ratification, but with recrimina- 
 tory despatches because of the unexpected and 
 inexcusable delay. Spain did not give her as- 
 sent. She offered various evasive excuses and 
 pretexts. She might promptly have disavowed 
 the treaty as in excess of her instructions. She 
 did not. She consented to the negotiations. She 
 knew what had been done, and seven months 
 passed before she uttered a word of complaint. 
 When it became known that Spain refused to 
 confirm the contract and interposed frivolous 
 excuses for her conduct, much indignation was 
 aroused, and harsh measures had advocacy in 
 the press and in Congress. It was well said 
 the cession was no new thing, and that the 
 agreement, from preliminary steps to final con- 
 summation, was as well known in Madrid as 
 in Washington, at least so far as substance 
 was concerned. President Monroe said in his 
 message that Spain had formed a relation be- 
 
Appendix D, 219 
 
 tween the two countries which would justify- 
 any measures on the part of the United States 
 which a strong sense of injury and a proper re- 
 gard for the rights and interests of the nation 
 might dictate. Adams contended that Spain 
 was under obligations of honor and good faith ; 
 and in a letter to the chairman of the Commit- 
 tee of Foreign Relations, Mr. Lowndes, of South 
 Carolina — author of the phrase, " I had rather 
 be right than be President " — asserted the "per- 
 fect right " of the Government to compel a spe- 
 cific performance of the engagement and secure 
 indemnity for the expenses and damages which 
 grew out of the refusal of Spain to ratify. In- 
 temperance of language and proposal was met 
 by wise counsel, and the proposed immediate 
 military occupation was defeated. After weary 
 years of patience and of earnest effort to avoid 
 war, very fortunately the country was not pre- 
 cipitated into it by the hot heads and Hotspurs. 
 It was well determined to await the logic of 
 events, and not hazard the gaining of what 
 must surely, like ripe fruit, fall into our hands. 
 General Jackson once said, " Geography con- 
 trols my politics," and so the geographical po- 
 sition of Florida made it inevitably a part of 
 the Union. Count Aranda, when he was Prime- 
 minister of Spain, as far back as 1783, distinctly 
 
220 Appendix D, 
 
 foresaw and acknowledged the necessity of the 
 acquisition. 
 
 The irritation felt at the repudiation of a sol- 
 emn international compact excited general at- 
 tention, and it was felt that a war might produce 
 grave international complications, and transfer 
 not only Florida but Cuba and Texas also to 
 the United States. France and Great Britain 
 remonstrated with Spain, and she realized that 
 the temporizing and procrastinating policy must 
 give way to positive and definite action. On 
 the 24th of October, 1820, the Cortes having 
 previously authorized and advised, the King, 
 Ferdinand YIL, approved and ratified the 
 treaty. Such was the slowness of communica- 
 tion in those days, that four months elapsed 
 before the ratification w^as known in Washing- 
 ton. (I have received instructions from the 
 State Department by post in eleven days.) The 
 time fixed for joint ratification, six months, hav- 
 ing expired, the treaty was resubmitted to the 
 Senate, and ratified a second time, February 
 19, 1821. On the 22d — again connecting the 
 hallowed day with Florida — the House of Rep- 
 resentatives gave their assent to the necessary 
 legislation. 
 
 Thus an acquisition long sought for, essential 
 to our internal quiet and to save us from for- 
 
Appendix D, 221 
 
 eign intermeddlings, strifes, and conspiracies, 
 was consummated. For nearly a quarter of a 
 century the negotiations were pursued in Spain 
 or in Washington — sometimes interrupted by 
 fretful suspension of diplomatic intercourse, by 
 the revolutionary disturbances in Spain, by Eng- 
 lish and French wars, by Spanish tenacity for 
 American possessions, and the incurable pro- 
 pensity not to do to-day what can be deferred 
 until to-morrow. No one can read the corre- 
 spondence in full without a high appreciation 
 of the patriotism and ability of Madison, Mon- 
 roe, Pinckney, Adams, and Erving. Their State 
 papers show patience, forbearance, courtesy, 
 dignity, tact, power of argument, familiarity 
 with international jurisprudence, and intense 
 loyalty to our institutions. It is not easy to 
 comprehend the disadvantages under which our 
 able negotiators labored in the earlier periods 
 of our history, when our rights as a member of 
 the family of nations were ignored or grudg- 
 ingly conceded. The credit of the Florida suc- 
 cess is enhanced when we consider the personal 
 and national characteristics of the Spaniards. 
 With unquestioned courage, chivalry, scrupu- 
 lous observance of etiquette, they are vain, 
 proud, sensitive, distrustful of foreigners, obsti- 
 nate in their opinions, and possessed of a most 
 
222 Appendix D, 
 
 patience -wearing disposition to procrastinate. 
 The stoical fatalism of the Moor seems in some 
 of its forms to have been bequeathed to his con- 
 queror. 
 
 This protracted negotiation is a noble tribute 
 to American diplomacy. The general public 
 sees the external work, the fina^ result, the act- 
 ors in the last scene of the historic drama, and 
 is ignorant or unobservant of the quiet secre- 
 tary or Minister, in his office, at official inter- 
 views, in social intercourse, watching for oppor- 
 tunities, seizing propitious occasions, removing 
 prejudices, presenting arguments in every pos- 
 sible aspect, and removing Protean objections. 
 It is he who prepares for the ultimate victory. 
 George W. Erving, far away in Madrid, did 
 more to acquire Florida than every senator 
 who voted to ratify the treaty. It is a pleas- 
 ant reflection and honoring to our country and 
 civilization that although we were often on the 
 ragged edge of war, yet without a drop of blood 
 the question was settled, boundaries were de- 
 termined, conflicting claims were adjusted, and 
 a large territory was added to our national do- 
 main. 
 
 THE END. 
 
THEIR PILGEIMAGE. 
 
 By Charles Dudley Wakner. Richly Illustrated by 
 C. S. Reinhart. pp. viii., 364. 8vo, Half Leather, 
 $2 00. 
 
 Aside from the delicions etory— its wonderful portrnitnres of char- 
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 *' Their Pilgrimage" is destined, for an indefinite succession of sum- 
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 The author touches the canvas here and there with lines of color 
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 knowledgment is due Mr. Reinhart for nearly eighty finely conceived 
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 No more entertaining travelling companions for a tour of pleasure 
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 general tone is that of one glad to look on the brightest side of the 
 cheerful, pleasure-seeking world with which he mingles. ... In Mr. 
 Reinhart the author has an assistant who has done with his pencil 
 almost exactly what Mr. Warner has accomplished with his pen. — 
 Christian Union, N. Y. 
 
 Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York. 
 
 I^~ The above work sent by mail, postage prepaid, to any part of the 
 United States or Canada, on receipt of the price. 
 
BEN-HUE: A TALE OF THE CHEIST. 
 
 By Lew. Wallace. Kew Edition from New Electrotype 
 Plates, pp. 560. 16mo, Cloth, $1 50; Half Calf, $3 00. 
 
 Anything so startling, new, and distinctive as the leading feature of 
 this romance does not often appear in works of fiction. . . . Some of 
 Mr. Wallace's writing is remarkable for its pathetic eloquence. The 
 scenes described in the New Testament are re-written with the power 
 and skill of an accomplished master of style. — .V. Y. Times. 
 
 Its real basis is a description of the life of the Jews and Romans at 
 the beginning of the Christian era, and this is both forcible and brill- 
 iant. . . . We are carried through a surprising variety of scenes; we 
 witness a sea-fight, a chariot-race, the internal economy of a Roman 
 galley, domestic interiors at Antioch, at Jerusalem, and among the 
 tribes of the desert; palaces, prisons, the haunts of dissipated Roman 
 youth, the houses of pious families of Israel. There is plenty of ex- 
 citing incident; everything is animated, vivid, and glowing.— iV. Y. 
 Tribune. 
 
 From the opening of the volume to the very close the reader's in- 
 terest will be kept at the highest pitch, and the novel will be pro- 
 nounced by all one of the greatest novels of the day.— Boston Post. 
 
 It is full of poetic beauty, as though born of an Eastern sage, and 
 there is sufficient of Oriental customs, geography, nomenclature, etc., 
 to greatly strengthen the semblance. — Boston Commonwealth. 
 
 " Ben-IIur" is interesting, and its characterization is fine and strong. 
 Meanwhile it evinces careful study of the period in which the scene is 
 laid, and will help those who read it with reasonable attention to real- 
 ize the nature and conditions of Hebrew life in Jerusalem and Ro- 
 man life at Antioch at the time of our Saviour's £(^yQi\i.— Examiner, 
 N. Y. 
 
 It is really Scripture history of Christ's time, clothed gracefully and 
 delicately in the flowing and loose drapery of modern fiction. . . . Few 
 late works of fiction excel it in genuine ability and interest.— xV. Y, 
 Graphic. 
 
 One of the most remarkable and delightful books. It is as real and 
 M'arm as life itself, and as attractive as the grandest and most heroic 
 chapters of history. — Indianapolia Journal. 
 
 The book is one of unquestionable power, and will be read with un- 
 wonted interest by many readers who are weary of the conventional 
 novel and romance.— Z>oston Journal. 
 
 Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York. 
 
 ^W^ The above work sent by mail, postage prepaid, to any part of the 
 United States or Canada, on receipt of the price. 
 
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