despots to relieve him from the control of the nation. A natural calamity, the plague, unfortunately broke out at this time in Spain which made great ravages in the peninsula, and the superstitious monks purposely ascribed it to the wrath of heaven, which was averse to the constitution, and thus the ignorant Spaniards were led to believe the existing state of things to be against the will of God. Then Villele was charged by Metternich, Nesselrode, and Ancillon, to put an end to the Spanish popular constitution and to liberate the martyr king from the Cortes; and thus the unjust French invasion of 1823 took place, and Ferdinand VII. was again restored to his absolute despotism, when all those who had relied on the oaths of their king fell victims to his tyranny and revenge. This new French crusade aggravated the evils of Spain; new ruinous loans were contracted by the king to defray the expenses of his French liberators, and in con sequence the Spanish credit was greatly involved; but the monarch, his satellites, and the contracting Jews, gained immense wealth from the losses of the imprudent speculators. Aguado alone, the agent of Ferdinand, realized thirty millions of francs for his share.

When in 1830 France expelled from the throne the elder branch of Bourbon, and Paris foolishly gave the crown to the bastard branch of Valois, Ferdinand VII. was again threatened with a general reaction, and his throne was tottering under his feet, because the Spanish patriots, in imitation of the French, had decided on re-establishing their popular constitution. The frontiers of Spain were soon visited by the principal military and civil Spanish exiles, and patriotic corps of Gallo-Spanish troops were forming in order to cross the Bidossoa, and thus kindle again in the breasts of the oppressed Spaniards the sacred fire of liberty and national independence.

Louis Philippe, however, and his juste milieu tools, under the appearance of forwarding the success of the Spanish patriots, indirectly paralysed all their operations, and ultimately frustrated their most sanguine hopes. Casimir Perier, Guizot, Molé, Sebastiani, and Gerard, with the citizen-king at their head, advised Ferdinand to make some concessions, and to mitigate his tyrannical despotism, but as for their urging the turn-coat king of Spain to re-establish the constitution it was a thing not to be expected from such mediators, who, on the contrary, would have been greatly displeased had a popular government been introduced in the Spanish peninsula.

In 1832, Ferdinand having been suddenly taken very dangerously

ill, Christina, his young queen, took the government into her own hands, and apparently showed herself favourable to liberal measures, proposed several ameliorations, and certainly reformed some of the most disgusting abuses. In the meanwhile, taking advantage of her position and power, she persuaded her gouty sire to change the order of succession by re-establishing the Salic law, and thus to deprive Don Carlos from succeeding Ferdinand in case she should not have a male infant. Ferdinand accordingly granted her request, and this act may be considered as the beginning of the present civil Spanish warfare. All-powerful death having at last put an end to Ferdinand's infamous career, Spain was freed from one of its worst inhabitants and from its greatest tyrant and scourge. At the demise of Ferdinand, Christina became regent, and her infant daughter was proclaimed and acknowledged queen of Spain by all the authorities, with the exception of Don Carlos and his partisans, who publicly protested against this act, and soon after civil war openly broke out in several provinces. Shortly after this period Don Carlos with all his family retired into Portugal, whence he fomented the civil discord raised by his party. The little energy and the almost inactivity which the regent showed in adopting strong and decisive measures to extinguish the Carlists increased the evil, and 'the civil warfare made progress, and began to rage with fury and success in the Bastan and in other provinces of the north of Spain.

In these trying circumstances, Christina, like all her predecessors, was in great want of money to keep up her government and to carry on the war; consequently the rapacious Jews were again allowed to increase the debt of Spain, and to augment their wealth by making up a new loan for Christina.

However, when the Nero of Portugal, Don Miguel, was conquered and expelled from the throne which he had unjustly and sacrilegiously usurped, Don Carlos not only was obliged to leave Portugal, but became a prisoner of war, and as such was brought to England to prevent him from fomenting civil discord and civil bloodshed in the peninsula. But, although every body till then considered Don Carlos to be nothing more than a bigoted fool, he proved himself so clever as to be capable of duping Talleyrand, Palmerston, and all the French police, and it was discovered, to the surprise of all parties, that while he was thought to be in London he had been unaccount

ably smuggled, and was actually at the head of his partisans in the Bastan. From that epoch the state of Spain has been truly dreadful; for civil war has been carried on on both sides with vindictive and unparalleled cruelty. But it must be acknowledged that the Carlists have gained during the struggle both ground and strength, while the Christinos have failed in all their attempts to put down the pretender, notwithstanding the great help of the quadruple treaty and the foreign auxiliary corps which have gone to support them from Eng. land, France, Belgium, and Portugal.

This state of civil discord and warfare, the inconsistent system of juste milieu introduced from France, and the frequent changes of ministry, with their useless projects heretofore adopted to restore tranquillity and prosperity in Spain, have at last produced another revolutionary crisis, and the constitution of 1812, which had cost Spain so much blood, has been again proclaimed as the palladium of the Spanish nation, and has been prudently acknowledged by the regent and all her ministers, who have also officially convoked the Cortes for the 24th of the present month.

These are the historical events which we have thought it to be our duty to present to our readers before we undertake briefly to speak of what we think will be the result of the present Spanish crisis.

And first of all we have no hesitation in stating our belief that Maria Christina is not sincere in her apparent attachment to the constitution of 1812. Moreover, we boldly assert that, if great care be not taken, the Spanish regent will in course of time imitate the treacherous example of her perjured husband; and we assert this boldly, because the disease of perjury appears to us to be hereditary in her family, as she is the grand-daughter of the late perjured Ferdinand I., daughter of the late perjured Francis I., sister of the present perjured Ferdinand II. of Naples, and niece of the present perjured king of the French, to whom, it is confidently reported, she has secretly applied for help and advice, and therefore we say to the Cortes and to the Spanish nation: Consulite ne quid detrimenti republica capiat.

While we deeply and sincerely deplore the excesses that have occurred in Madrid and in other towns of Spain during the present crisis, we consider them as the natural consequence of a sudden pular eruption, but not as indications of a permanent disorder and

po

anarchy; besides, taught by experience, we apprehend that those excesses have been perpetrated at the secret instigation of the party opposed to the new state of affairs, and therefore we earnestly recommend those that are entrusted with the executive power to adopt strong and prompt measures in order to organize the army, to strengthen the liberal party, and to force the clergy, their sworn enemies, to follow strictly their religious profession, without interfering in the least in worldly affairs, foreign to their calling. Don Carlos could not have so long maintained his Guerillas and his position in the north of Spain without the secret intrigues and powerful aid of the church.

A general unlimited amnesty ought also to be soon proclaimed, to show to the world that regenerated and free Spain opens her arms to all her children, and wishes to see them all united under the same standard for their common happiness and prosperity, and for their national glory, freedom, and independence.

During great national difficulties, great national sacrifices must be made in order to overcome them; consequently it behoves the executive power to adopt every means temporarily to procure a sufficient supply of funds to carry on the government without having recourse to foreign loans, which necessarily ruin the nation; and, as the property of the church is immense, a great part of it must be appropriated to the general welfare of the nation, and its sale will soon fill the coffers of the Spanish treasury.

The only real domestic enemy of Spain is the civil warfare, which is, unfortunately, committing great ravages amongst its inhabitants; and it is the only enemy able, not only to paralyse, but also totally to frustrate, the good effects that would necessarily arise from its acknowledged popular constitution. It is therefore to that quarter that the Cortes must direct all their efforts; and, if conciliatory means and just and reasonable representations prove ineffectual, then brute force and speedy coercion are to be employed to save the country from destruction. And here we must remark that Spain is at present very differently situated from what it was in 1823. Then the royal despots of Austria, Prussia, and Russia, were firmly seated on their absolute thrones, and France was groaning under the restoration. Now England has a reformed parliament, and its nation is the open and sincere friend of liberty and civilization. Austria is obliged to concentrate all its military and civil strength to keep in obedience Lombardy, Gallicia, and Hun

gary. Prussia cannot rely on her oppressed Polish and Silesian possessions; and the emperor of Russia is not so powerful as he is commonly represented by those who are affected with the fashionable malady of Russo-phobia; in fact, the scantiness of the military resources of the czar was clearly proved during the late conquest of the Polish independence, where the Russian army would have been defeated by Polish valour had not Prussia and Austria helped the Muscovites, and had not bribery and treason frustrated the most sanguine hopes of Poland.

As for France, whatever may be the naturally despotic inclination of her present tyrant-king, she cannot interfere with safety and impunity against the popular constitution of Spain; and, although Louis Philippe has already shown openly to the world his utter want of principle and his infamous perfidy, he dares not condescend to the secret solicitations of his cousin despots of the north, and march an army against free Spain

It is true that the citizen-king is at present surrounded by the most unpopular and most brutal ministers that ever disgraced a constitutional cabinet, and that at the head of his council figures Count Molé (unworthy descendant of Molé in the Fronde), the avowed friend of the despot potentates, and rather averse to England; but it is also certain that Louis Philippe cannot firmly rely either on the army or his brother shop-keepers and stock-jobbers of France, and much less on the people of Paris, who alone made him what he is because they were deceived by his promises and hypocrisy; and, if he were now madly to undertake the task of Villele towards Spain, a new revolution would soon put an end, not only to his tyranny, but to the whole of his unpopular family.

However the mock-patriot king of France, seconded by his tools Molé and Guizot, 'will probably attempt to undermine the popular government of Spain by the medium of his diplomatic agents. Diplomacy we consider one of the most dangerous and most immoral inventions of civilization, and as it is founded entirely on hypocrisy, cunning, and intrigue, we very seldom may expect from its effects any real advantage for the general well-being and prosperity of mankind.

In fact, Machiavelli says that candour, honesty, and truth must be perfect strangers to a good diplomatist; and for this reason Talleyand, Pozzo di Borgo, Nesselrode, Metternich, Guiseneau, and