*">- /j/V. 
 
 EllisNewliin Wlliamson 
 
 ^ Bloomfield. New Jersey «? 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 WRITINGS 
 
 OF 
 
 SEVERN TEACKLE WALLIS 
 
 MEMORIAL EDITION 
 
 VOL. IV 
 
 SPAIN 
 
 HER INSTITUTIONS, POLITICS AND 
 PUBLIC MEN 
 
 BALTIMORE 
 
 JOHN MURPHY & CO. 
 1896
 
 SPAIN 
 
 HER 
 
 INSTITUTIONS, POLITICS 
 
 AND 
 
 PUBLIC MEN 
 
 A SKETCH 
 
 By S. T. WALLIS 
 
 AUTHOR OF " GLIMPSES OF SPAIN " 
 
 BALTIMORE 
 
 JOHN MURPHY & CO 
 1896
 
 U3 iS, 
 
 TO 
 
 THE HONORABLE JOHN GLENN, 
 
 I). S. JUDGE FOR THE DISTRICT OF MARYLAND, 
 IN 
 
 Grateful Acknowledgment of jMany Kindnesses. 

 
 PREFACE. 
 
 WHEN writing the " Glimpses of Spain," the author sup- 
 posed it scarcely possible that he should ever return to 
 that country. The work, however, was still in the press, when 
 he was honored by an invitation from the Secretary of the Interior 
 of the United States, to visit Madrid upon an important profes- 
 sional errand. The offer was too flattering to be declined, and the 
 present volume is one of the results of its acceptance. 
 
 Though the author did not occupy any recognized relation to 
 the Spanish government, the nature of his duties, and the inter- 
 course and connections resulting from his position, afforded him 
 many and excellent opportunities of knowledge and observation. 
 He does not profess to have availed himself of his advantages as 
 fully as he might, had his duties been less engrossing; but he 
 trusts it will be found that they have enabled him to give the 
 work which follows a less ephemeral character than that of an 
 ordinary book of travels. In the attempt to do this, he has sought 
 to communicate, as far as practicable, such information in regard 
 to Spain, as is not, to his knowledge, accessible elsewhere. 
 
 Much of this volume was prepared, as the whole should have 
 been, soon after the writer's return to the United States. Having 
 had no control over the circumstances which delayed its comple- 
 tion, he has endeavored to countervail them by keeping pace with 
 the intermediate progress of Spanish affairs, and is persuaded that 
 
 • • • • 
 
 11 Vll
 
 vm PREFACE. 
 
 he has thus been able to present, on the whole, a fair contemporary 
 view of his subject. The reader will, of course, make allowance for 
 the generalities of both statement and reflection which it was im- 
 possible to avoid in a sketch. The favorable reception of his 
 former work gives the author some confidence that the present 
 volume will not meet with the less consideration because he has 
 again attempted to portray the national characteristics of the 
 Spaniards, without underrating their intelligence, depreciating 
 their morals, or caricaturing their manners and religion. 
 
 It would be unpardonable to send forth the record of a most 
 agreeable sojourn in the Spanish capital, without acknowledging 
 the indebtedness of the author to the officers of the United States 
 Legation there, and especially to the Hon. Mr. Barringer, for all 
 the pleasure and advantage which courtesy and kindness could 
 give to personal and official intercourse. 
 
 BALTrMORE, January, 1853.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 I. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Journey to Madrid 1 
 
 II. 
 
 Lodging-Houses, Lodging, and Life in Madrid. — Servants, &c 4 
 
 III. 
 Foundation, Locality, Climate, Dress, Health, &c. of Madrid 12 
 
 IV. 
 
 Puerta del Sol.— Public Habits of the Madrilenos.— The Prado.— 
 
 Equipages. — Horsemen. — Atocha Walk. — Women of Madrid 20 
 
 V. 
 
 Constitutional History and Epochs. — Constitutions. — Ferdinand the 
 Seventh. — Due d'Angouleme. — Cristina. — Don Carlos.— Estatuto 
 Real. — History of Parties. — Espartero. — Narvaez 28 
 
 VI. 
 
 Constitution of 1845. — Its Provisions and Character. — The Cortes. — 
 Elections. — Pay of Members. — Executive Influence. — Its Benefits. 
 
 — Republican Propagandism 40 
 
 ix
 
 X CONTENTS. 
 
 VII. 
 
 The Executive and Judiciary.— Juries and the Trial by Jury 53 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Jurisprudence. — Codes. — Colonial System. — Administration of Justice. 
 
 — Escribanos. — Judges.— The Legal Profession 62 
 
 IX. 
 
 The Press. — Newspapers. — Sartorius. — The Puritans. — Pacheco. — 
 
 Party Organs 76 
 
 X. 
 
 Cuba and the United States.— The Cronica Newspaper.— Parties in 
 Cuba.— Public Sentiment there.— Abuses and their Remedy. — 
 Annexation 90 
 
 XL 
 
 The Chamber of Deputies.— Teatro de Oriente.— Ministers and Opposi- 
 tion.— Council of Ministers.— Seats of Ministers in the Legislature.. 105 
 
 XII. 
 
 General Narvaez.— Ministerial Profits.— Marquis of Pidal.— Asturian 
 
 Nobility.— Sr. Mon.— Prohibitive Duties and the Catalans 113 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Sr. Arrazola.— Bravo Murillo.— The Budget.— Ministerial Movement. 
 
 —The Senate.— Moderado Principles.— Bravo Murillo's Speech 127 
 
 XIV. 
 
 General Figueras.— Roca de Togores.— Alexandre Dumas.— Southern 
 Oratory. — Olozaga. — Escosura. — Benavides. — Donoso Cortes. — 
 Their Speeches ^^^
 
 CONTENTS. XI 
 
 XV. 
 
 The Senate —Alcala Galiano.— The Cortes of 1823.— The Athenaeum. 
 
 — Galiano's Lectures there 155 
 
 XVI. 
 
 The Ex-Regent Espartero and his Rival, Narvaez. — The Carlist War 
 and its Conclusion. — Downfall of Espartero, and its Causes. — Love 
 of Titles and Honors. — Orders of Knighthood 164 
 
 XVII. 
 
 Loyalty. — The Queen. — Guizot and Infante. — Regicides. — Necessity of 
 an able Prince. — The Queen's Embarazo. — Public Rejoicings and 
 Ceremonial. — Diplomatic Congratulations and Reception. — The 
 King 173 
 
 -"&• 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 Social Customs in Madrid. — Entertainments. — Society and its Spirit. — 
 Imitation of the French. — The Academy and the Press. — Socialism. 
 — Etiquette. — Social Frankness and Cordiality 184 
 
 XIX. 
 
 Theatres and Dramatic Literature. — Actors and their Style. — Romea 
 and Matilde Diaz. — Breton de los Ilerreros and his Plays. — Kubi. 
 — Isabel la Catolica. — Historical Dramas. — Theatrical Police. — 
 Literary Rewards. — Copyright. — Count of San Luis 196 
 
 XX. 
 
 Literature. — Books, Booksellers, and Book-Stalls. — Rook-Hunting in 
 Madrid. — Publishers. — Standard Works. — Historical and Geo- 
 graphical Dictionary of Madoz. — Cheap Publications. — Mr. Tick- 
 nor's History of Spanish Literature. — Its Character and Transla- 
 tion. — Gayangos. — Vedia 206
 
 xii CONTENTS. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 Quintana— The Junta Central.— Quintana's Political and Literary Life 
 and Works. — Nicasio Gallego. — His Political Career and Poems. 
 — Debates on the Inquisition. — Clerical Liberality. — Dos de Mayo. 
 —Martinez de la Rosa.— His Political and Literary Life and 
 "Works.— Estatuto Real 219 
 
 XXII. 
 
 Standing Armies. — The Spanish .\rmy, its Condition and Political In- 
 fluence. — Immense Number of Generals. — The Scientific Corps. — 
 Their Organization and Merits.— The Navy, its Improvement and 
 Personnel.— Its Organization. —The Cuban Expeditions. — Dis- 
 criminating Duties under our Act of 1 834.— Development of .Agri- 
 culture and Internal Improvements in Spain, in Consequence. — 
 Santander.— Railroads.— The Canal of Castile.— Competition 235 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 Ecclesiastical System and Reforms.— Abolition of the Inquisition.— 
 Its Character. — Llorente. — Campomanes. — Floridablanca and 
 Jovellanos.— The Monastic Orders.— Their Suppression.— Confis- 
 cation of Church Property. —Reforms of the Church System.— 
 Pay of the Clergy.— Character of the Secular Clergy.- Clerical 
 Influence.— Toleration in Spain.— Protestant Travellers and Preju- 
 dices — Exaggerations, &c 249 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 Education.— Statistics.— System of Instruction.— Schools.— Universi- 
 ties.— Census of 1803.- University of Madrid.— of AlcaU.— Com- 
 plutensian Polyglot.— Manuscripts.— Prescott's Ferdinand and 
 Isabella. — Sabau's Translation of it 274 
 
 XXV. 
 
 Taxes and Modes of Collecting them,— Reforms in Taxation.— The 
 Provincial Deputations and Ayuntamientos.— Grievances and
 
 • • • 
 
 CONTENTS. xiu 
 
 Abuses. — The Customs. — Low Salaries. — Gate Money. — Tax on 
 Consumption. — National Debt 284 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 Internal Improvements. — Agricultural and Mineral Wealth. — Natural 
 Obstacles. — Present Facilities for Travel and Transportation. — 
 Safety of the Koads. — Police. — New Roads and Canals. — Adminis- 
 tration of Roads and Canals. — Railroads projected and completed. 
 — Railroad Committee of the Cortes. — Royal Decree and Partici- 
 pation of the Government in the Management of Railroads. — 
 Influx of Capital, and its Results 295 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 Improvement in Agriculture and its Causes. — Improved Value of 
 Land. — Territorial Wealth and Production. — Practical Farmers. 
 — Espartero. — Agricultural Education. — Economical Societies. — 
 Agricultural Bureau and its Action. — Irrigation. — Geological 
 Chart. — Colonization of Waste Land. — Irish Colonists. — Dairy of 
 Madrid. — Advancement of Manufactures and Commerce. — Pro- 
 hibitory Duties. — Exports and imports. — Steam Coasters and 
 Coasting Trade. — Manufactures. — Catalan Monopolies. — Manu- 
 facturing Resources of Spain. — Modifications of the Tariff. — Silk 
 and Woollen Fabrics. — Flax, Hemp, and Iron. — National Arsenals 
 and Foundries 309 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 Fine Arts. — Galleries. — The National Museum and its Treasures. — 
 Academy of San Fernando. — Marshal Soult. — Murillo. — Archi- 
 tecture. — Public Edifices. — Domestic Architecture. — The Esco- 
 rial. — Fountains of Madrid. — Bronze Equestrian Statues. — 
 Spanish .\cademy. — Academy of History. — National Library. — 
 The Armory.— Bull-Fights of 1850.— Montes, his Exploits, Death 
 and Story 325
 
 XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 Valladolid. — Simancas and its Archives. — Blasco de Garay and the 
 Application of Steam to Navigation. — His Invention a Fable. — 
 Burgos. — Vergara. — Visit to Azpeitia. — Valley of Loyola. — Jesuit 
 College and Church. — The Basques. — Their Character, Agriculture, 
 and Institutions. — Tolosa. — Ride to Bayonne. — The Gascon 343 
 
 XXX. 
 
 Conclusion. — Political Prospects of Spain. — Effects of Peace. — Espar- 
 tero. — The Moderados. — The Queen Mother. — The Nobility. — 
 Monarchy. — Republicanism. — Independence of National Character 
 and Manners. — Loyalty. — Tendency to Federalism. — Reasons 
 therefor, and Probability of a Confederation. — Its Benefits. — The 
 Basque Fueros. — Effect of Internal Improvements and Develop- 
 ment of Industrial Resources. — Empleomania. — Reasons for Amer- 
 ican Sympathy with Spain. — Justice due Her 356 
 
 Postscript 373
 
 SPAIN. 
 I. 
 
 JouKNEY TO Madrid. 
 
 IT was in the beginning of December, 1849, that I 
 approached the Pyrenees, from Bayonne, for the first 
 time. Had it been a matter of discretion with me, I should, 
 of course, have selected a season for crossing them, in which 
 the proprieties of the barometer and thermometer would have 
 been more likely to be observed. The weather, however, was 
 not the only thing that promised disagreeable contingencies. 
 The whole gossip of the hotel population in Bayonne was 
 terrible with tales of robbery upon the highway of the Spanish 
 capital. My previous visit to the Peninsula had made me 
 rather sceptical, it is true, in such matters, but now the details 
 were so vivid and circumstantial, that they could hardly be 
 doubted without flying in the face of all road-side probabili- 
 ties. A fat gentleman, at the table d'hdte of the H6tel de 
 Commerce, assured me, — with that air of certainty not to be 
 questioned which belongs to age in its combination with the 
 apoplectic diathesis, — that to his knowledge the diligence had 
 been robbed near Lerma a few days before. The passengers, 
 
 1
 
 2 SPAIN. 
 
 he said, had been made to lie shivering in the middle of the 
 road, with their faces downwards, and with the scantiest possi- 
 ble allowance of under-clothes, until the thieves had made off 
 with their outer garments and valuables, and the best mules 
 of the team. "And so," added the old gentleman, helping 
 himself to two cutlets, " they were many hours without any 
 thing to eat ! " It was not, therefore, without some chill 
 forebodings, in spite of myself, that I surrendered my fortunes 
 to the lumbering vehicle which was to bear them. As I looked 
 at my watch, to see the time of our departure, it was tenderly 
 and sadly, I own, as at the face of an old friend, from whom 
 I soon might part in sorrow and for ever. On the 12th of 
 December, nevertheless, at four in the morning, I awoke to 
 find my journey and misgivings of seventy hours triumphantly 
 at an end. I was at Madrid, in the huge hostelry of the 
 Postas Peninsulares on the Calle de Alcala, sorely exercised 
 in mind and battered in body, but none the worse in estate, 
 beyond the usual and lawful pillage of custom-house officers, 
 landlords, and postilions. Whether the presence of two well- 
 appointed guardias civiles, who had joined us some stages from 
 the capital, had any thing to do with our safety, I am not 
 clairvoyant enough to know ; but I made up my mind, as I 
 advise all travellers in Spain to do, that thenceforward and for 
 ever no story of highwaymen — though as long and romantic 
 as the Chronicle of the Cid, and as authentic as the American 
 news in Galignani — should prevent me from pursuing my 
 business or pleasure in the Peninsula, with a light heart and 
 as heavy a purse as needful. 
 
 The greater part of what attracted my attention on the 
 journey, I saw again, in a brighter and more genial light, on
 
 SPAIN. 3 
 
 my return. Only the stern mountain passes of Pancorvo and 
 Somosierra seemed to derive a lonelier and sublimer wildness 
 from the snow and leafless trees, and the congenial, tempest- 
 laden clouds above them. As to the " entertainment for man " 
 with which we were favored, under the auspices of the Postas 
 Peninsulares in whose diligence I travelled, it is a matter of 
 duty to those who may follow me to say, that it was as detest- 
 able as can be imagined. The humblest ventorrillo on the 
 Andalusian hills, where I partook of game and salad in former 
 days, while the fleas took reprisals from me, was a palace 
 for a Sybarite, in comparison with some of the paradores 
 into which we were now compelled to burrow. A cordon 
 of such establishments would do more, I think, than martello 
 towers and floating batteries, to check the march of an invad- 
 ing army, from any land where creature comforts are prized 
 as they deserve. 
 
 But we were at Madrid, and, strange to note, in that 
 proverbially clear, transparent atmosphere, there hung over 
 the stately city what a stout curate, who dismounted with us, 
 called una niehla del Demonio, — a fog of the Devil ! If I 
 had been the author of the Pillars of Hercules, I should 
 have felt it my duty, as a Scot, to maintain, against all dia- 
 bolical pretensions whatever, that the mist was a countryman 
 of mine, and that I had seen its relations in Auld Reekie. 
 As it was, I followed the legal maxim of believing every man 
 in his business, and, on the faith of his clerical friend, gave 
 credit to the Demonio accordingly.
 
 II. 
 
 Lodging-houses, Lodging, and Life in Madrid. — Servants, &c. 
 
 THE Arcipreste de Hita — upon the principle of taking 
 the lesser evil where we have a choice — commends us 
 to the smallest women for our loves and wives : — 
 
 " Del mal, tomar lo menos, diselo el Sabidor, 
 Porende de las mugeres la menor es la mejor." 
 
 He will be a wise man who reads the principle backwards, 
 and remembers that the Fonda de las Postas Peninsulares, 
 being the largest tavern in Madrid, is of necessity the worst. 
 It is quite an imposing establishment — when seen from the 
 street, I was about to say ; but the interior will impose upon 
 you quite as much, in its way, if you will give it an oppor- 
 tunity. The edifice belongs or belonged to the Marques de 
 la Torrecilla, and is adorned, as to its front, with sundry 
 blazonries in churrigueresque, which aptly symbolize the 
 highly feudal character of what you meet within. That it 
 is considered quite a grand affair, and worthy of this attempt 
 to forewarn the unwary in regard to it, will be seen by the 
 commendation which Madoz bestows on it, in his Diccionario 
 Geogrdfico, Estadistico, Historico, a work of really great merit, 
 which I shall have occasion to speak of hereafter. "All its 
 apartments," says the patriotic Don Pascual, "which are 
 4
 
 SPAIN. 
 
 many and good, enjoy excellent light and ventilation, and 
 have just undergone notable improvement, as well in the 
 papering and painting of the walls and ceilings, as in the 
 complete array of furniture which adorns them. Its guests 
 will find the service exact, the table choicely provided, and 
 the beds and linen exquisitely neat." I should be happy if 
 I had room for the whole passage in the original, if it were 
 only to show, as a philological curiosity, how much a beauti- 
 ful language can make out of a bad, dark, mouldy caravansera. 
 The fonda, rhetoric apart, is served by Italians, whose national 
 instincts are a guaranty against cleanliness, as all the world 
 knows. The ground-floor is dedicated to the four-footed 
 servants of the company, which of course secures to the rest 
 of the mansion a liberally distributed odor of the stable and 
 a lively circulation of fleas and horse-boys. The diligences, 
 of which it is the great centre and emporium, arrive and 
 depart at all hours of the night, especially at those when 
 people with good consciences and unpacked trunks enjoy their 
 sweetest dreams ; — and let not any man with nerves delude 
 himself by thinking that the cup of tribulation has visited 
 his lips, till there has risen on his slumbers that forty-mule- 
 power chorus of shouting, cursing, and whip-cracking, for 
 which every departure or arrival is an awful signal. At the 
 table d'hote, which has considerable pretension, and which you 
 reach through long, dark passages, dreary to tread, I found 
 scarce any visitors but commis voyageurs, who, to judge from 
 their manners and conversation, were, I am sure, the worst of 
 the beasts not enumerated in the Apocalypse. 
 
 It will be readily imagined, that such quarters were not 
 long to be endured ; but, although I speedily fell among kind
 
 6 SPAIN. 
 
 friends, who appreciated the sadness of my lot, and were will- 
 ing to liberate me if they could, Madrid is not a place where 
 a man may find pleasant lodging-houses as readily as the 
 illustrious Manchegan fell upon adventures. "No es este 
 ramo en el que mas sobresale Madrid," candidly confesses 
 Mellado, in his " Traveller's Guide," — the tavern department 
 is not that in which Madrid chiefly excels ! The Spaniards 
 themselves, who are exceedingly simple in their habits, and 
 can get comfortably through the coldest winter by a dexterous 
 combination of the brasero, the cloak, and the sunshine, will 
 cheerfully stow themselves away, wherever there is a mat on 
 the tiled floor, and a large window to let in the rays. A few 
 chairs and a writing-table, with an alcove, and a plain but 
 tidy bed, are " lo que hay que desear" — all that a man could 
 wish for lodging. For diet, — be it good taste or bad, — they 
 are well content with the national puchero, more or less 
 refined, — thinking, with Governor Panza, that, " in the diver- 
 sity of things whereof the said ollas are composed, a man 
 cannot help stumbling upon something that will please him 
 and do him good." Nor is that dish altogether unworthy 
 the great Sancho's praise, which may be expanded, if you 
 will, into a compendium of natural history and botany, or 
 be decent and respectable with only bacon and garbanzos. 
 Entertainment of this sort is cheap and easy to find. You 
 have but to look at the newspapers, or cast a glance at the 
 intelligence-office which is wafered up, in manuscript, on the 
 back wall of the post-office building, and you will find para- 
 dises of the kind tempting you by the score. "No hay 
 ninos," — there are no children about the house, — say some of 
 them ; and with such a recommendation, and balconies on the 
 sunny side, what more in reason could you crave ?
 
 SPAIN. 7 
 
 Alas ! reason, like most elementary substances, is rarely to 
 be found in a pure state. Custom, somehow or other, man- 
 ages to keep up a sort of chemical combination with it. 
 People will wear boots and shoes, if they can get them, not- 
 withstanding the "annoyance and vexation, astonishment and 
 surprise," with which Mr. Urquhart regards so abnormal a 
 condition of the extremities. Travellers who have become 
 viciously accustomed to fires and carpets in cold weather, and 
 are not prepared to appreciate a mixture of the entire animal 
 and vegetable kingdoms, in one pot, for dinner, will seek to 
 accommodate their, prejudices, though ever so unreasonable. 
 I do not mean to say that they are right, and Spaniards 
 wrong; for Adam's unsophisticated palate might perhaps 
 have found in turtle-soup and path de foie gras much less 
 of the eternal fitness, than in the wildest gazpacho that 
 Iberian peasant ever supped. I only suggest it as a fact, 
 that tastes differ. 
 
 Until late years, the number of foreigners visiting Madrid 
 would hardly have justified any extensive or costly prepara- 
 tion for their special entertainment. Even now they are so 
 few, in comparison with the throngs which fill the other 
 capitals of Europe, that it would be altogether unreasonable 
 for them to expect such a reception as elsewhere is afforded 
 them. Indeed, in Spain itself I found no city, among those 
 I visited upon the coast or near it, which was not greatly in 
 advance of Madrid, in the particular referred to. Barcelona, 
 Cadiz, Seville, and especially Malaga, were beyond comparison 
 better provided. Nevertheless, with a little patience and the 
 aid of a friend's experience, one may still be comfortable in 
 Madrid, — nay, and have luxury too, if he be willing to pay
 
 8 SPAIN. 
 
 for it. At the table d'hdte of the Vizcaina, in the magnificent 
 house of Cordero, which occupies the site of the once famous 
 convent of San Felipe el Real, on the Calle Mayor, there 
 may be found excellent society for those who speak French 
 or Spanish, and a modified nationality of diet which has 
 carried comfort to the bosom of many a wayfarer. Of 
 restaurants, there are of course many, some of them indiffer- 
 ent, but the greater part very bad. The cafe of L'Hardi, 
 immortalized by Dumas for its " nourriture honorable" still 
 nourishes as honorably as in the days of the royal nuptials, 
 and the Fonda de San Luis, in the Calle de la Montera, may 
 almost be said to herald the day when, as in the land of its 
 saintly patron, cookery will be a fine art and keep a Muse 
 of its own ! 
 
 Quiet people, who propose residing at Madrid for any 
 length of time, and prefer having things more under their 
 control than the restaurant or the table d'hdte will allow, may 
 do so satisfactorily now, without much trouble. Excellent 
 apartments, with comfortable fire-places and all other desira- 
 ble appointments, are beginning to be offered for rent in the 
 most agreeable and convenient quarters of the city. With a 
 good servant, commanded at his peril to overlook the house- 
 hold and keep vigils over your flesh-pots as a knight over 
 his virgin armor, you may live and prosper, at one of these 
 establishments, as well as a man need hope to do away from 
 home. My first experience was at the corner of the Calle 
 Mayor and the Calle del Correo, with a range of five bal- 
 conies looking upon the Puerta del Sol, and in the very heart 
 of all that was lively and bright to be heard and seen. Not 
 a pageant but passed that way, — not a gallant regiment that
 
 SPAIN. 9 
 
 went to post or to parade, but favored rae with the sound of 
 its trumpets and the glitter of its arras. Work and sleep, 
 however, are sometimes as needful as hearing and seeing, and 
 in such a locality I found it somewhat difficult to pay proper 
 attention to either. The noises of the day were by no means 
 careful to close their accounts at midnight, and it was pain- 
 fully early, indeed, when the bells of the goats and the clatter 
 of the milk-vendors in the street below me would begin to 
 insist that it was morning. There were other good reasons 
 too for change, more potent than even distraction and unrest. 
 In the sketches of my former experience in Spain, I endeavored 
 to contribute something towards removing the popular preju- 
 dice that the garlic-crop is the chief staple of the Peninsula. 
 I even went so far as to say, that the esculent in question had 
 never once crossed my own particular path, during a three 
 months' excursion of no very limited range. In sack-cloth 
 and ashes I must now confess, that, having gone farther, I 
 fared worse ; and that, although my original observation was 
 correct, so far as the customs of the better classes are con- 
 cerned and the general experience of a traveller who frequents 
 the best inns in the best towns, there is, nevertheless, garlic to 
 be found within even the sacred precincts of the court ! The 
 amiable Dolores, in whose balconies I gloried, did vow and 
 plight her Andalusian faith that she despised the aromatic 
 poison, and would not suffer it to pass her threshold; but 
 there are certain of the senses which sometimes overpower 
 even faith, and I shall ever believe that, had Dolores been 
 Pandora, tocino y ajo, bacon and garlic, would have been 
 found at tiie bottom of her box. I changed my quarters 
 accordingly to No. 1 of the Calle de Pontejos, in the same 
 2
 
 10 SPAIN. 
 
 vast building, and there, on the first floor, fronting on a quiet 
 street, with all the sunshine that I needed, excellent apart- 
 ments, a good landlord, and a most desirable location, I spent 
 a pleasant winter and some portion of a bright and cheerful 
 spring. If Don Jose, the prendero of the Calle del Correo, 
 should be living when the reader arrives at Madrid, let him 
 be sent for straightways, and if there be room in his house 
 let the reader install himself at once, and ask questions after- 
 wards, if he has a mind. 
 
 There is no lack of good servants, or at all events of good 
 material for servants, anywhere in Spain. Honesty, fidelity, 
 and that best of courtesies which springs from self-respect and 
 gives dignity to the humblest station, are characteristics which 
 mark them, as a class, to an extent of which I believe no other 
 country furnishes an example. As a consequence, — perhaps, 
 in some degree, a cause, — in no country is the relation of 
 servants and their employers made so agreeable by respect- 
 ful and affectionate familiarity. This remark applies to all 
 ranks, without exception, and there is something in the 
 innate and peculiar politeness and high tone belonging to 
 the national character, among even the humblest and least 
 educated, which prevents the usual ill effects of that sort of 
 freedom elsewhere. 
 
 Madrid is too much of a capital to be without the proper 
 supply of thieving valets. Intriguing masters are abundant, 
 and "like master, like man." Nevertheless, good servants 
 may be found there readily, and at moderate wages, provided 
 the traveller be able to speak to them in their own language. 
 Those who possess any familiarity with foreign tongues are 
 very few, and of course command higher salaries. Of Eng-
 
 SPAIN. 11 
 
 lish scarce any of them know any thing. Out of Madrid 
 and the commercial cities, it is extremely difficult, indeed, to 
 find attendants whose acquirements go beyond the Castilian 
 and their native dialect, and this must be added to the 
 thousand other reasons which continually thrust themselves 
 upon a traveller of any intelligence, to convince him, that, 
 without at least a fair acquaintance with the language of the 
 country, it is utterly impossible for any one to visit it, with 
 any prospect of comprehending or enjoying it, except in the 
 most superficial and unsatisfactory manner. I am more firmly 
 impressed than ever, since my second visit to Spain, with the 
 conviction that ignorance in this particular is the chief source 
 of the thousand ridiculous and romantic misrepresentations, of 
 which that country has been made the victim, more frequently 
 than any other ; and upon which foreign — especially English 
 and American — opinion in regard to her customs and laws, 
 her morals and religion, is so largely and erroneously founded. 
 " What say you, then," says Nerissa, " to Faulconbridge, the 
 young baron of England?" "You know," replies Portia, 
 " I say nothing to him, for he understands not me, nor I 
 him ; he hath neither Latin, French, nor Italian ; and you 
 will come into the court and swear that I have a poor penny- 
 worth in the English." To this passage the learned Warburton, 
 with characteristic acuteness, appends a note, informing us that 
 it is "a satire on the ignorance of young English travellers in 
 our author's time." Alas ! Shakspeare wrote for all times, 
 and there are Faulconbridges who never saw England !
 
 III. 
 
 Foundation, Locality, Clijiate, Dkess, Health, &c. of Madrid. 
 
 IT is not easy to fathom the reasons of kings or women, — 
 at least so says an ancient, if not wise, saw. To express 
 any opinion upon the latter branch of the subject would be 
 altogether extrajudicial and unnecessary here ; but the selec- 
 tion, or rather the creation, of Madrid as the capital of Spain, 
 may be taken as a fair argument to support the anti-royal 
 phase of the proverb. Some say that Charles the Fifth laid 
 the foundation of its greatness, from a fondness he contracted 
 for it during a residence which cured him of the ague. If 
 so, posterity has certainly paid dear for what would now be 
 accomplished, probably, by a three days' course of quinine. 
 Philip the Second, whose exquisite taste in such matters is 
 further exemplified by the charming site of the Escorial, 
 inherited, it is likely, the imperial liver and predilections, for 
 he fixed his court at Madrid, in 1560. Forty years later, 
 Philip the Third translated the royal residence to Valladolid, 
 but weighty interests and influences were so wielded as to 
 compel his return after a five years' absence. From that 
 time to the present Madrid has been, emphatically, la Corte, 
 the Court, and nothing else. For its elevation to that dignity 
 there is not, nor has there ever been given, that I am aware, 
 12
 
 SPAIN. 13 
 
 one plausible reason, except that its position is, to a certain 
 degree, central. Undoubtedly this would be the best of 
 reasons, if the centrality were any thing but a matter of 
 measurement, — if the location, in reference to industry, com- 
 merce, or agriculture, exercised any centripetal or other favor- 
 able influence whatever. The top of a mountain in the midst 
 of a fertile plain would be eminently central, and the Grand 
 Lama might like it for a sacred residence ; yet it would be an 
 up-hill sort of business, to prove that it ought to be chosen, 
 for its centrality, as the site of a metropolis. 
 
 Madrid has no commerce, nor the means of any. Its 
 inhabitants must eat and wear clothing, and the materials 
 therefor must pass the 'walls, within which they must set in 
 motion, well or ill, certain departments of necessary industry. 
 Beyond this, no trade enters or abides, and there is none at 
 all that passes out. The Manzanares, which trickles by the 
 city, has scarce water enough to furnish even a court poet 
 with materials for any thing exceeding the limits of an epi- 
 gram. The surrounding country is barren and arid, sparsely 
 populated, and without attraction of any sort ; so that, on 
 the whole, whatever there is in Madrid of population, wealth, 
 industry, or power is altogether factitious. It is the capital, 
 because it was made so, and it is only populous, wealthy, 
 industrious, or powerful, because it is the capital. If it be 
 four thousand and nineteen years old, as we have the official 
 authority of the Guia de Forasteros of 1850 for saying, we 
 must admit that few places have profited as little by age ; and 
 if all the Chaldeans and PhoGuiciaus, Hebrews, Greeks, and 
 Romans, whom the antiquaries suppose to have busied them- 
 selves with its name, gave half as much attention to its edu-
 
 14 SPAIN. 
 
 cation, it has certainly a sad account to settle for neglected 
 opportunities. The advantages which it has enjoyed, within 
 the range of authentic chronology, would have made of fair 
 Seville an imperial city such as Europe scarcely knows, or 
 have built up again at Cordova the magnificence of Abder- 
 rahman's proudest day. 
 
 I have said, that when we entered Madrid it was enveloped 
 in a thick fog. This was considered extraordinary, and espe- 
 cially so because it lasted about a week, during which one 
 might have imagined himself in London, but for the fact that 
 the Madrid mists appeared to be legitimately derived from 
 pure water; whereas the corresponding commodity in the 
 British capital has, to an unfamiliar eye, the appearance and 
 density of highly vaporized molasses. Whatever defects there 
 may be in the winter atmosphere of Madrid, humidity and 
 obscurity form generally no part of them. I have nowhere 
 seen, except in the United States, and there only during the 
 prevalence of the coldest winds from the northwest, any thing 
 to equal the pervading clearness and splendor of the Madrid 
 sky, and the transparency of its air. As a general thing, it 
 lacks, like ours, the soft and genial tints of the Italian 
 heavens, yet often, when the sun was going down, I have 
 stood in the gay avenues of the Retiro, or on the high 
 grounds near the gate of Alcala, and have seen the many 
 cross-crowned spires and towers of the city bathed in a light 
 so golden, with a background of such deep and various purple, 
 roseate, and crimson, that I have almost doubted whether even 
 Naples could boast of any thing more gorgeous. 
 
 It would be well if as much could be said in favor of the 
 climate as of the sky. When Spain is spoken of with us,
 
 SPAIN. 15 
 
 most people, without any particular reflection, have an idea 
 immediately presented to them of a far southern country, with 
 clustering vines and perfumed orange-groves. I was frequently 
 congratulated, before I left home, upon the delightful oppor- 
 tunity I should have of spending my winter in so mild a 
 climate as that of Madrid. A pleasant fancy, truly ! 
 
 The Spanish capital is in a latitude two degrees or there- 
 abouts higher than that of Washington, and stands upon the 
 Platform of Castile, at an elevation (Madoz tells us) of two 
 thousand four hundred and fifty feet above the sea. The 
 rarity of the atmosphere produced by this latter cause would 
 be quite sufficient of itself, under ordinary circumstances, to 
 make new, if not unpleasant, impressions upon unfamiliar 
 lungs and nerves. I thought — though it may have been 
 fancy — that at all times I perceived a tenuity and pungency 
 about it to which I was unaccustomed. But this is not the 
 worst by a great deal. From any unobstructed point of view 
 within the city or about it, you notice that the horizon towards 
 the north and west is encircled by the high and snowy moun- 
 tains of Somosierra and Guadarrama. To the blasts which 
 roll down from these latter hills, and even more to the still 
 and subtile influence of their cold proximity, is the fatal 
 insalubrity of the situation to be chiefly traced. When the 
 wind blows from that quarter, every one is in terror, and no 
 man is deemed prudent who ventures into the street without 
 covering his chest and throat, and especially his mouth, with 
 the embozo of his cloak. You may walk for squares without 
 seeing any more of the human face divine, than a sort of 
 zone, bounded on the north at the eyebrows by a hat-brim, 
 and on the south by a horizontal strip of velvet cloak-facing,
 
 16 SPAIN. 
 
 running perpendicular to the bridge of the nose. I very early 
 satisfied myself — whether justly or not I will not dogmatically 
 say — that the frequent pulmonias (or pneumonias), which were 
 so fatal at such times, might be the result, in a great measure, 
 of this practice, by means of which the lungs were accustomed 
 only to the obstructed inhalation of warm air, and rendered 
 sensible, in a tenfold degree, to any accidental or necessary 
 exposure. That, without any particular robustness of health, 
 and certainly without having especially avoided opening my 
 mouth in any wind or weather, I am now alive and story- 
 telling, may go, as a fact, for what it is worth, to sustain my 
 notion. Fashion, I think, is fast working a practical revolu- 
 tion in the habits of the people on this point, which could not 
 be produced, one might safely swear, by a century of mere 
 medical disquisition or other manner of preaching. Cloaks 
 are going rapidly out of vogue, and the beau monde generally 
 have handed themselves over to the uudraped dominion of 
 the French overcoat. On windy days, when the pulmonia is 
 supposed to be whistling around every corner and dancing 
 in the deserted plazas, the more daringly elegant attempt a 
 compromise between their love of Paris and their fear of 
 death, by the use of a large, separate fur collar, covering the 
 whole neck and jaws, and giving a most top-heavy and ludi- 
 crous appearance to the scanty and skirt-denied paletot. Here 
 and there, one of fashion's most reckless desperadoes may be 
 seen without even this bungling and ungraceful protection, so 
 that I think the days of the embozo's popularity as a life-pre- 
 server may be fairly said to be numbered. Unless, however, 
 the police of the city be improved in sundry unsavory particu- 
 lars, to which every traveller's reminiscences will point him at
 
 SPAIN. 17 
 
 once, the popularity of the embozo may still be prolonged, by 
 transferring its protecting folds from the mouth, which needs 
 them not, to the nose, which needs them greatly. 
 
 But it is the still, small voice from the mountains, and not 
 the loud breath of the tempest, which bears the fatal message 
 oftenest. Bright and apparently bland as the weather may 
 be, during the winter or the spring, you have but to remove 
 yourself for a moment from the direct influence of the sun's 
 rays, to experience the most marked and unwholesome differ- 
 ence of temperature. Sunshine and shade, town and country, 
 day and night, seem to belong, severally, to different climates. 
 The clothing which oppresses you on your way to the Prado, 
 an hour before sunset, is too light for comfort when you 
 return in the dusk ; and as you enter the sheltered portal of 
 one of the huge houses which are now so numerous, you 
 long, at midday, for the cloak which would have nearly 
 stifled you upon the street. 
 
 Almost every one has heard of the proverb, which says 
 that " the air of Madrid will kill a man, but not put out a 
 candle." Many of the Madrilenos think that there is some- 
 thing in the composition of their atmosphere, independently 
 of its rarity and temperature, which entitles it to this bad 
 name; but the same reproach, it strikes me, would apply, 
 with greater or less force, to the air of any city so closely 
 fenced about by snowy mountains. I remember to have 
 noticed precisely the same characteristics — to a diminished 
 degree, perhaps — in the climate of Florence. It was like a 
 voyage from Indus to the Pole, to pass from the glowing 
 sunshine of the early spring, upon the Cascine or the Lungo 
 I'Arno, to the cold, still, collapsing influence of the narrow, 
 3
 
 18 SPAIN. 
 
 unsunned streets. No doubt the memories of older and better 
 travellers will shiver over similar experiences. But whether 
 Madrid be peculiar or not in the quality of its air, there can 
 be no doubt about the insalubrity of its climate. The young 
 die very young, and numerously ; the vigorous years of life 
 are in great peril, always, from every variety of inflammatory 
 disease ; and age comes on with rapid pace, and many ills, to 
 the most of those who linger. Nervous disorders are a staple 
 commodity. Apoplexies were of more frequent occurrence, it 
 seemed to me, than in any bills of mortality I had ever seen. 
 Even when the thermometer indicated but a moderate winter 
 temperature, — the freezing point or thereabouts, — there was 
 something so penetrating in the air, — so searching within 
 doors and without, — that it seemed far colder than a tempera- 
 ture many degrees lower anywhere else. The pulmonia then 
 walked alike at noonday and in darkness ; nor were its arrows 
 aimed at humanity alone. The horse-guards at the palace, 
 whose fine appointments and gallant chargers attracted so 
 much attention, were dispensed with in midwinter, — their 
 horses dying almost nightly from this terrible and rapid 
 scourge. Late in the spring, when I visited the royal stables, 
 a beautiful stallion was shivering with the death-agony, and 
 they told me his disease was pulmonia. 
 
 If I am asked how it is possible that king, minister, and 
 noble can so far overcome the inborn mortal dread of dissolu- 
 tion, as to live thus ever in the valley of its shadow, I do 
 not know that I can give a more satisfactory reply than the 
 stereotyped Spanish extinguisher upon impertinent or incon- 
 venient curiosity, — Quien sabef Who knows? In the superb 
 apartments of one of the most luxurious palaces of Europe, —
 
 SPAIN. 19 
 
 surrounded by every guard and fence which human skill and 
 care can build up against fleshly ills, — it is perhaps not diffi- 
 cult to understand how royalty can bring itself to bear the 
 risks, of which it knows and feels comparatively little. While 
 winter is still lingering in Madrid, their Majesties can seek 
 the early fragrance of an almost Audalusian spring, among 
 the groves and fountains of beautiful Araujuez. When sum- 
 mer burns the blood of all sojourners in the capital, their 
 Majesties find health and vigor in the mountain freshness of 
 La Granja. To those who have not such resources, the 
 honors and profits of their several pursuits supply some 
 compensation, I suppose, for perils such as they encounter. 
 " Where the king is," says the Castilian proverb, " there is 
 the court." Where there is grain to be trodden out, and in a 
 somewhat unmuzzled manner besides, the oxen are apt to 
 congregate. So long as Madrid shall be the fountain and 
 reservoir of favor, the pulmomas fulminantes will thunder in 
 vain, as they have thundered long, to keep the thirsty from 
 going up to drink. And who can think it strange? A 
 residence in Paris will extinguish a race in three generations, 
 and yet numberless families go there and become extinct. 
 Half a generation will usually answer the same purpose, 
 quite as effectually, among the golden Golgothas of California, 
 and yet we have not heard, for all that, that the Golgothas 
 are lacking skulls !
 
 lY. 
 
 PUERTA DEL SOL. — PUBLIC HabITS OF THE MADBILESfOS. — The PrADO. 
 
 — Equipages. — Horsemen. — Atocha Waek. — Women of Madrid. 
 
 WHOSOEVER desires to know any thing of Madrid, 
 or the people that live in it, must make himself 
 acquainted, at once, with La Puerta del Sol, — the Gate of the 
 Sun. It is not worth while to be at all mythological on the 
 subject, for the Puerta is itself no gate, nor has it any appur- 
 tenance whatever to remind you of Aurora's rosy fingers. It 
 is neither more nor less than a central, open plaza, — not very 
 large nor elegant, — into which nine or ten of the chief streets 
 discharge their crowds. A congress of cab-horses are the 
 only representatives of Apollo's radiant steeds, and the beauti- 
 ful Hours have for their sole abiding-place the dial of a large 
 clock, in the church front of Nuestra Sefiora del Buen Suceso. 
 The graceless, though fashionable, temple to which the clock 
 belongs, and the tall, stilted fa9ade of the Casa de Correos, 
 are the only and poor substitutes for the '^ flammantia mcenia 
 mundi." The sun, however, — out of gratitude, I suppose, 
 for the complimentary use of his name, — shines with peculiar 
 good-will upon his Puerta, and there is no knowing the amount 
 of fire-wood, or rather of charcoal, which is thus saved to the 
 gossips of Madrid. The Prado, though a beautiful and genial 
 20
 
 SPAIN. 21 
 
 walk, is too far out of town for lounging or midday access, 
 and too extensive for that cosy contact which your genuine 
 tattler loves. The Plaza de Oriente, down by the palace, is 
 also too far from the centre, and receives, besides, in rather 
 too direct a manner, the breezes from the Guadarrama Moun- 
 tains, whose grand white summits furnish it with so superb a 
 prospect. But the Puerta del Sol is as accessible as it is 
 warm, and no true Madrilcfio can he be, who does not bask 
 away, within its teeming precincts, the largest portion of his 
 daylight life. Even when the sun has gone down, and there 
 is no moon to take up the wondrous tales which are always 
 being told there, the tall gas-lamp, in the centre of the plaza, 
 holds a cloak-wrapped court of its own; so that to have 
 passed through the Puerta del Sol when there was no one 
 about it to speak or to listen, a man must have kept later 
 hours than her Majesty's watchmen, and more faithful vigils, 
 by far. There must, of necessity, be a great deal of gossip in 
 every capital, where there is nothing to do but to govern, to 
 intrigue, and be amused. Madrid being of that class of capi- 
 tals, preeminently, is as full of scandal as the sewing society of 
 a village in a highly moral neighborhood. The Puerta is the 
 gi-eat condenser of all its small-talk, — its mentidero general, or 
 general lie-factory, — and cannot, with such functions, afford 
 to be, for many moments, empty or disengaged. 
 
 I have taken other occasion to touch upon the fondness of 
 the Spaniards for out-door life. Madrid exhibits this, as it 
 does the most of their peculiarities, in a very extreme point of 
 view. The inhabitants — the gente fina, at all events — are no 
 very early risers. It lacks but little of noon when the most 
 of them have broken their fast and are ready for their daily
 
 22 SPAIN. 
 
 occupations, if they have any. If you call familiarly upon a 
 gentleman, about twelve, it is probable his servant will tell 
 you, — not that he has gone to his business, or indeed any- 
 where in particular, — but that " ha ido su merced d la calle" — 
 his worship has gone into the street ! The particularity of 
 this information reminds you, at first, of the testamentary 
 liberality of the Irish gentleman, who left his son a million, 
 and the wide world to make it in, but a short experience 
 teaches you that it is little less than a specific direction to the 
 Puerta del Sol. There, from an early hour, laborers in 
 search of hire have been watching for customers, — venders of 
 all manner of pet dogs and small wares have been clattering 
 and chaflPering, — newsmen have been crying their tidings, and 
 selling to all who have been fools enough to buy. There, 
 too, there are a hundred chances to one that you find your 
 friend, in the midst of a group, at the foot of the Calle de la 
 Montera, puffing with enthusiastic energy at his cigar, while 
 he devours, or pours into ears as greedy as his own, the last 
 rumors of a ministerial catastrophe or the freshest develop- 
 ments of social transgression. The length of time that he 
 will pass where you find him will depend entirely upon the 
 amount of gossip to be had. His daily labors, be they what 
 they may, and especially if he be an empleado, — a placeman, — 
 as almost every body is, are matters of but little concern, and 
 indefinite susceptibility of postponement. As, however, the 
 Puerta is not precisely fashionable until somewhat later in 
 the afternoon, it is probable he will proceed, after a moderate 
 instalment of discourse, to refresh the place of his business 
 with the light of his countenance. How much of his time, 
 if he be in a public office, will be spent in lighting and
 
 SPAIN. 23 
 
 relighting his accustomed succession of cigarritos, and increas- 
 ing his own and the official stock of exciting information, the 
 initiated can tell, and may, if they choose. Not many hours, 
 however, will have elapsed, before the foot of the Montera 
 shall see him again, in the midst of still shorter paletots and 
 yellower gloves than those that were visible in the less conse- 
 crated moments of his morning visit. 
 
 As the time for the parade upon the Prado comes on, — an 
 hour at least before the setting of the sun, when the weather 
 is moderate enough to permit it, — the Puerta del Sol begins 
 to give up its gayest and most gallant loungers. The church 
 of Buen Suceso occupies the extremity of the acute angle 
 formed by the streets of Alcala and San Geronimo, both of 
 which, issuing from the Puerta, strike the Prado at different 
 points. The larger portion of the crowd passes up the Alcala, 
 which is one of the stateliest and most noble avenues I have 
 seen, — wide at its commencement, and increasing in width 
 and beauty, until, crossing the Prado and passing alongside 
 the Retiro gardens, it reaches the city walls, at the superb 
 triumphal arch known as the Gate of Alcald. The Carrem 
 de San Geronimo, however, is the line of march for the more 
 choice and exclusive spirits, who linger for a moment, in 
 passing, at the cafe of L'Hardi, to derange their digestion 
 with dear confectionary, and fortify themselves, by a glass 
 of muscatel, against the toils of the walk and the perilous 
 onslaught of unmerciful bright eyes. 
 
 The Prado has been often described, and I shall only say 
 of it, that it extends along the whole eastern side of the city, 
 from the Gate of Recoletos, up to the Gate and Convent of 
 Atocho. In that part of it, called the Salon, which lies
 
 24 SPAIN. 
 
 between the streets of AlcaU and San Ger6nimo, directly 
 facing the monument to the heroes of the Dos de Mayo (May 
 2d, 1808), it was fashionable for all the world to congregate, 
 durino- the earlier weeks of the season. I have often seen it 
 so full, of a bright afternoon, that 
 
 " Those navigators must be able seamen " 
 
 who could find a channel through it. While the pedestrians, 
 thus packed at such close quarters, went through the pede- 
 tentous performance which is called " walking," in Spain, the 
 long broad avenue which runs through the whole Prado was 
 lined with gay equipages and equestrians. One would think, 
 from Mr. Ford's description of the " antediluvian carriages, 
 with ridiculous coachmen and grotesque footmen to match," 
 that Madrid was a sort of Pompeii of coaches, under whose 
 crust of lava or ashes there was nothing to be found, in the 
 way of a conveyance, of much later date than Pliny the elder. 
 The learned licenciate, Don Pedro Fernandez Navarrete, in 
 his Conservacion de Monarquias, expressed his fears to the 
 council of Philip the Third, that the kingdom might share 
 the fate of the house of Jacob, according to the prophet 
 Isaiah, "because the land was full of horses, neither was 
 there any end of the chariots." I should fully concur with 
 Mr. Ford in thinking, that to scourge the Peninsula generally 
 for excessive luxury in coaches would be a mysterious, and, 
 to human eyes, a rather severe dispensation. But I am bound 
 to say, on the other hand, that in the capital I think the 
 manifestation of elegance and good taste in equipages was 
 general and striking. A few days after my arrival, I witnessed 
 the funeral of the Conde de Ofiate, a grandee of Spain, which
 
 SPAIN. 26 
 
 took place from his palace in the Calle Mayor, nearly opposite 
 my lodgings. The display of coaches, horses, and liveries 
 was most ample and magnificent ; quite as much so, I am 
 sure, as any similar occasion would have elicited in London or 
 Paris. It is no great compliment, perhaps, to the Madrilefios 
 to say this, for nearly all their finest carriages are of English 
 or French manufacture, principally the latter; but be that 
 as it may, the fact is as I state it. Such, indeed, is now the 
 rage for coaches in Madrid, that sorrowful is the dame of 
 note who does not own one. They appear to think, as the 
 good Navarrete and his voucher, Trogus Pompeius, allege, 
 that " not to ride about and be seen is to confess themselves 
 ill-favored." A friend, who had certainly no wish to slander 
 his native land, informed me, that there were persons, to 
 his knowledge, in Madrid, who reduced themselves to the 
 extremity of hiring their table and bed linen, in order to 
 keep coaches for the evening ride upon the Prado ! Pride 
 and poverty, alas ! are companions, it seems, everywhere. 
 
 But whatever may be said of the vehicles, I do not wonder 
 that an Englishman should be in peril of his life from laugh- 
 ing at the horsemen. The horses, for the most part, though 
 often pretty, are under-sized, and it seems to be taken for 
 granted that, if they are fat and sleek, there is nothing more 
 required, unless it can be managed that they be spotted or 
 piebald, like the charger of INIr. Briggs, in Punch, which 
 had been taught to take a seat when he heard music. Tiieir 
 natural paces are completely destroyed by vicious education, 
 and every ribbon-tailed little fellow of them will canter, in 
 magnificent attitudes, such as a horse was never made to 
 assume, except by the Spanish picadores — and the illustrious 
 4
 
 26 SPAIN. 
 
 David, when he painted Napoleon on the Alps. Indeed no 
 class of animals, that I know of, has greater reason than the 
 Spanish riding-horses to feel under personal obligations to 
 the attraction of gravitation. But for that potent check, there 
 would be no visible reason why, between the horizontal impetus 
 communicated from behind and the perpendicular motion they 
 are taught to give to the fore legs, they should not pass off, 
 on the diagonal of forces, to meet the renowned Clavileno 
 among the Pleiades. 
 
 As the spring came on, and with it more genial weather, 
 the Salon gradually lost its popularity, and the walk between 
 the Gate and Convent of Atocha became the rendezvous of 
 all that was elegant and attractive in Madrid. There is 
 nothing very remarkable in that part of the Prado. On the 
 left, as you face the convent, there is a long, bold hill, which, 
 though surmounted by a pretty little astronomical observa- 
 tory, is barren and repulsive, like all the hills along the 
 Manzanares. On the right extends the city wall, which is 
 as graceless in appearance as it would be insignificant for any 
 serious purpose of defence. The right was the fashionable 
 side for pedestrians. Under the shadow of the wall some 
 little grass had been able to keep itself alive, and the pro- 
 prietors of chairs had taken advantage of the green carpet to 
 make the public comfortable there at a cuarto apiece. After 
 walking till you were tired, you would take a seat for a 
 while. A charity match-bearer, from the poor-house of San 
 Bernardino, would immediately present himself, with his 
 badge upon his hat to show you his authority, and his box 
 at his belt to receive your contribution. It is the privilege, 
 perhaps the monopoly, of the poor old fellows, to light cigars
 
 SPAIN. 27 
 
 upon the public walks, and it does not enter into their imagina- 
 tions to conceive that you can sit down for five minutes with- 
 out needing their services. 
 
 When you are comfortably arranged, either with or without 
 your cigarrito, you must be hard to please, if you do not find 
 blessed occupation for your eyes, as long as the daylight lasts. 
 In their handsome open carriages — moving at the slowest, 
 most convenient pace for observation, or walking, slowly, in 
 bright groups, before you, or sitting in groups just as bright 
 around you — are as many of Eve's fairest daughters as in 
 the longest day of the year you ever saw before, or are likely 
 again to see. In other parts of Spain the women, beautiful 
 as they may be, have their peculiar, unvarying, provincial 
 type. In Madrid, though the " dark side " of loveliness is 
 that which you most generally see, there is, nevertheless, in 
 that, extreme variety. Bernardin de Saint Pierre gave up 
 in despair the description of the strawberry-plant in his 
 window, because he found that at least seven-and-thirty 
 different species of gorgeous butterflies made it their beauti- 
 ful pleasure-ground. The Prado, with the fair spirits which 
 are its ministers, must remain unchronicled in loveliness, by 
 me, for reasons quite as plentiful. I may be permitted only 
 to say, by way of qualification, that I do not think beauty has 
 a much longer span in Madrid than other vitalities. At a 
 moderately middle age, there is a sad tendency towards the 
 robustious in figure ; and a young maiden at all prudential 
 should carefully keep her mother in the background, lest 
 hopeful swains might be deterred from uttering obligatory 
 vows, by the dread of avoirdupois weight to come !
 
 V. 
 
 Constitutional History and Epochs.— Constitutions.— Ferdinand 
 THE Seventh. — Due d'AngoulI:me. — Cristina. — Don Carlos. — 
 EsTATUTO Eeal.— History of Parties. — Espartero. — Narvaez. 
 
 T 
 
 ^HE Spanish government is called " a constitutional mon- 
 archy," and there is no doubt that it is entitled to the 
 appellation, if the number of organic laws that have ruled it 
 be taken as evidence. I had the pleasure of examining the 
 original of the first of these, the constitution of 1812, which 
 was reproclaimed in 1820 and 1836. It is magnificently 
 engrossed and bound, and has the interesting signatures of 
 many patriotic and illustrious men, who devoted themselves 
 during the struggle with Napoleon, and the gloomy period 
 which followed it, to the glorious work of their country's 
 political regeneration. It has been the fashion of late days, 
 in some quarters, to undervalue the efforts of these men, and 
 to reproach them with failures and follies which were but 
 the unavoidable results of political inexperience and the most 
 untoward circumstances. My occupations in Madrid made it 
 necessary for me often to recur to the proceedings of the con- 
 stituent and legislative Cortes of 1812-20, &c., and it would 
 be unjust for me to conceal how much my admiration was 
 excited by the deliberative eloquence and the political philoso- 
 28
 
 SPAIN. 29 
 
 phy which they displayed. That in tlie midst of revolution, 
 uncertainty, and novelty, — with })rejudices the most inveterate 
 to overcome, and ignorance and apathy to enlighten and stimu- 
 late, — there should have been many things evolved which were 
 ephemeral and puerile, can surely be no matter of surprise. 
 But that in a country where political discussion of every sort 
 had been unknown for centuries, — where free thought and a 
 free press had never existed, — where education had been 
 imperfect or perverted, and oratory had never stepped beyond 
 the precincts of the pulpit and a restricted forum, — there should 
 have sprung at a moment's warning, from an oppressed and 
 exhausted people, men equal to the labors which the Constitu- 
 tionalist leaders of those days did unquestionably perform, — is 
 a phenomenon well worth the notice of those who believe that 
 " benighted " and " barbarous " are the only epithets to which 
 the Spaniards are entitled. 
 
 Side by side with the first constitution, in the archives of 
 the Chamber of Deputies, is its successor of 1837, even more 
 gorgeous in vellum, velvet, and chirography. It was shown 
 to me, with just and manly pride, by a distinguished member 
 of the Progresista party who had a conspicuous share in its 
 formation, and could not avoid sighing over the departure of 
 its authority. In the same archives is the original of the con- 
 stitution now in force, which was promulgated in 1845. It 
 does not appear to have been considered as of any great dignity, 
 if one may judge from the fact that it exists only in printed 
 form, and that its garniture is by no means luxurious, — a 
 significant thing in Spain. It is probably adorned, however, 
 quite as well as it is sometimes observed, — if it be not treason 
 to say so.
 
 30 SPAIK 
 
 Every one who is familiar with the recent history of the 
 Peninsula will remember that the constitution of 1812 was 
 framed during the absence of Ferdinand the Seventh in cap- 
 tivity in France, by the men who had been most active and 
 earnest in devoting themselves and their fortunes to the 
 maintenance of the national independence. Loyal, as well as 
 patriotic, they had taken no advantage of their king's long 
 absence, to weaken his legitimate authority or sap the founda- 
 tion of his throne. They had done nothing without his de- 
 clared and apparently sincere approbation, and when, at last, 
 he was about to resume the sceptre of his ancestors, it was the 
 pride of the good and brave men who had preserved it for him, 
 that they had made him and his descendants secure in it, by 
 linking the dignity and power of the monarch with the free- 
 dom and happiness of the people. The defects of the con- 
 stitution were probably many. It was not easy to ingraft a 
 representative system — in the sense in which such systems are 
 now understood — upon the habits and traditions of the most 
 eminently monarchical country of Europe. But the Constitu- 
 tionalists of 1812 — be their errors what they may — kept con- 
 stantly before them the one great principle of making the 
 throne subordinate to the law. The Cortes were intrusted, to 
 all intents and purposes, with the government of the realm, in 
 subjection to the constitution. The personal inviolability of 
 the monarch was neutralized, so far as was proper, by the 
 direct responsibility of his ministers ; and there were guards 
 and checks which secured the rights of all classes from the 
 encroachments of prerogative and power. 
 
 During the short period of their sway, the Cortes reformed 
 many abuses, and established much that was wise, liberal, and
 
 SPAIN. 31 
 
 of hopeful promise. The first act, however, of the restored 
 king was to avail himself of the enthusiasm produced by his 
 return to overthrow the constitution, forswear the oath he had 
 voluntarily taken to support it, and repudiate and denounce 
 whatever had been done in its name. To the faithful servants 
 who had devoted themselves, through blood and fire, to their 
 country and to him, but had been guilty of the sin of constitu- 
 tionalism, dungeons and chains were the mildest testimonials of 
 his gratitude. All that was wise and eloquent, and liberal 
 and good, in the land, was sent into exile, poverty, and sorrow. 
 Despotism became more despotic than ever, for it was the des- 
 potism of a treacherous and unprincipled reaction. In 1820 
 the constitutional system was revived, and there was a brief, 
 brave struggle to maintain it ; but the suifering saint of San 
 Ildefonso called aloud to his once suffering brother of St. 
 Cloud, who hearkened mercifully to his voice. In the face of 
 all the world, and especially of constitutional England, — by 
 whose teachings the patriots had been led, and on whose succor 
 they relied in vain, — the Due d'Angouleme, in 1823, marched 
 from the Bidasoa to Cadiz, trampling down every vestige and 
 hope of rational freedom. Unhappily for Spain, those were 
 the days, in Europe, of sovereign congresses and Holy Alli- 
 ances, and the United States had not as yet been enlightened 
 on the subject of intervention by any Hungarian revelations 
 as to the meaning of the Washingtoniau policy. Riego was 
 hanged without let or hindrance of Turk or Christian, and 
 Quiroga, escaping as best he might, had not a single speech 
 made to him by a major-general or other functionary, legisla- 
 tive, judicial, or executive. 
 
 From that period down to the death of Ferdinand, in 1833, 
 the picture is all shadow. It is hard to say whether folly or
 
 32 SPAIN. 
 
 iniquity was the predominant characteristic of that very wicked 
 and foolish man. His only objects in life were power, ven- 
 geance, and the gratification of his appetites. His policy had 
 but two departments, — force and fraud. His only address 
 was falsehood, and when it was not necessary to him as an in- 
 strument, he sported with it as an accomplishment, or revelled 
 in it as a luxury. He hated constitutions, because they tram- 
 melled him. He hated reform, even when it did him no harm, 
 because the Constitutionalists were reformers, and had befriended 
 him, and he hated them. Having no idea of government 
 except as the exercise of his own will, he found the ancient 
 traditions and institutions of the kingdom as objectionable as 
 the new lights, and he loved them all the less because he 
 understood none of them. Religion — though he professed it 
 sturdily, went through its forms ostentatiously, and clung to 
 it like a bad coward when death terrified him — he practically 
 valued only as a lever of government. Education and litera- 
 ture he discouraged, because he knew nothing about them, 
 and had an indefinite idea that they were not to be trusted. 
 Men of learning and talent he drove as far away from him as 
 possible, " being as much afraid of them," to use a phrase of 
 Lord Chesterfield's, "as a woman is of a gun, which, she 
 thinks, may go off of itself, and do her a mischief." He 
 had, in fine, no sympathy with the feelings of his people, 
 because he had no heart, and none with their intellectual 
 yearnings, because he had no head. The only good thing he 
 ever did was to die ; and he did that as slowly and as unsatis- 
 factorily as possible, having never learned, in all his vicissi- 
 tudes, to submit with grace to necessity, and being opposed, 
 on principle, to gratifying his subjects, as long as he could
 
 SPAIN. 33 
 
 in any way avoid it. As a rebel poet said of his grandsire, 
 Charles the Third, — a far better and wiser man, — 
 
 " Murio de mandar harto," — 
 
 he died of a surfeit of power. We may pardon power many 
 of its enormities, for having ultimately become his executioner. 
 Upon the death of Ferdinand, his widow Cristina, the 
 Eegent, would have willingly adhered to the simple despot- 
 ism which he had taken so much trouble to establish ; but 
 Don Carlos, the brother of the late king, declared himself at 
 once the legitimate heir to the crown, and the Regent was 
 compelled to make friends, as well as she could, for her 
 infant daughter, who had been proclaimed Queen under the 
 title of Isabella the Second. Don Carlos, being a narrow- 
 minded bigot, whose chronology of ideas came down no lower 
 than the fifteenth century, rallied around him, of course, the 
 most influential politicians of the stationary and retrograde 
 schools. There was no alternative, therefore, left to Cristina, 
 but to throw herself and her daughter's cause into the arms 
 of the liberal party. It was an alliance of interest, not of 
 love, so far as the Queen Regent was concerned, and the 
 smiles of Heaven were never upon it. The first pledge of 
 it which appeared was the Estatuto Real, or Royal Statute, a 
 poor apology for a liberal system, establishing the semblance 
 of popular representation, but in reality only adding that 
 attractive and ostensible machinery to the usual conveniences 
 of absolute rule. It created a Chamber of Procet-es, or Peers, 
 who of course were to be the creatures of the government, 
 and placed the election of the popular branch substantially 
 under the same control. Such a contrivance could not please 
 5
 
 34 SPAIN, 
 
 or last. The liberal party had devoted themselves with 
 undeviating faith to the throne of Isabella ; but they were 
 too wise not to know the folly of relying upon royal gener- 
 osity or justice. They had just come home from the banish- 
 ment into which kiugly treachery had sent them, and they 
 were aware that Cristiua was of the house of Naples. The 
 Estatuto Real, therefore, could not satisfy them. The Regent, 
 being a Bourbon, was of course fated to be deaf to reason and 
 experience, and the result was, that in 1836 she found herself 
 compelled, amid the bayonets of a rebellious soldiery at La 
 Granja, to sign a decree for the promulgation, once again, of 
 the constitution of 1812-20. This was but a prelude to the 
 meeting of a constituent Cortes, — or, as we should call it, a 
 constitutional convention, — whose labors were crowned, in 
 June, 1837, by the adoption of yet another fundamental law. 
 When the constitutional system was overthrown, in 1823, 
 the liberal party had been long enough in power to be broken 
 into factions. Many of its divisions had a merely personal 
 foundation, but the absorbing question was one of principle. 
 It was the same which divides all popular parties, — the 
 question as to where progress should end, and conservatism 
 begin. Ten years of sorrow and persecution seemed but to 
 have confirmed the advocates of each set of doctrines in their 
 original convictions, and when the necessities of the Queen 
 Regent recalled them all to the responsibilities of government, 
 it was but a signal for the revival of old discords. The con- 
 servative liberals had become more than ever satisfied, that 
 they could only escape the dangers of the past by centralizing 
 the administration, strengthening constitutionally the hands 
 of the executive, and appealing to loyal and conservative
 
 SPAIN. 86 
 
 traditions. The men of progress, on the other hand, were 
 quite as thoroughly convinced, that too many concessions 
 had been already made to the monarchical idea, and they 
 believed that they could see in those concessions the true 
 secret of the downfall of former free institutions. The 
 Kegent, being a queen, of course followed but her instinct, 
 in assuming that conservative liberalism was a lesser evil 
 than the same iniquity, rampant with the spirit of change. 
 She therefore, without hesitation, united her fortunes with 
 those of the Moderados, between whom and the Progresistas 
 the breach was of course made wider daily, by personal strug- 
 gles for power. 
 
 Party names, like all other words which typify practical 
 opinions, mean much or little, according to the latitude. 
 Most things, indeed, owe a great deal of their signification to 
 the eyes with which we look at them, and the light in which 
 we see them. A Progresista, who would be deemed quite a 
 rabid and dangerous radical in Spain, would be but a pale 
 and twinkling light beside even the most subdued exhibition 
 of those democratical pyrotechnics, which, here in America, 
 we have grown to consider quite harmless at their brightest. 
 An unenterprising Moderado, on the other hand, whom our 
 Kossuthian disciples might consider altogether unrepublican, 
 and bad enough to be under "Austrian influence," would 
 perhaps be taken for quite a revolutionist in Spain, when 
 placed in contrast with those orthodox Realistas who adhered 
 to Don Carlos and the jus divinum, and would have gloried 
 in reestablishing for church and state the maxims and prac- 
 tices of Philip the Second and Antonio Perez, without a spark 
 of the intellect and energy which gave dignity and respecta-
 
 36 SPAIN. 
 
 bility to tliat grand, though gloomy despotism. The two 
 fractions of the liberal party, therefore, were not as far apart 
 as they might seem, and although, by dwelling upon their 
 peculiar points of difference, — each to defend and fortify its 
 own, — each grew more absolute and more exclusive, — the 
 Moderado more moderate, and the Progresista more progres- 
 sive, — they were near enough together still, in 1837, to find 
 some terms of compromise. The Progresistas had the Cortes 
 of that year entirely at their command, but, to the lasting 
 credit of their intelligence and patriotism, they magnani- 
 mously made concessions t© the vanquished, even in the 
 flush of victory. 
 
 The constitution of 1812, instead of being merely an organic 
 law, had more the appearance of a code or an elementary 
 treatise, in the multitude and particularity of its details. This 
 violation of the unity and brevity so essential in such instru- 
 ments arose in a great degree from the pressure of peculiar 
 circumstances. The Cortes of 1837 corrected this error, and, 
 by giving to the executive the power of convoking and dis- 
 solving the Cortes, under proper limitations, as well as a 
 substantial participation in making of the laws, removed some 
 of the most serious objections which the advocates of pre- 
 rogative had upheld against the former system. The legisla- 
 ture itself, which had consisted of a single body under the 
 constitution of 1812, was separated into two. Of the wisdom 
 of such a change, few, it is supposed, could now be found to 
 doubt. The experience of the French Republic has made 
 conspicuous what the experience of the Cortes had demon- 
 strated long before in Spain, — that a single chamber, having 
 no battles to fight with one of its own kind, is always ready,
 
 SPAIN. 37 
 
 at a moment's warning, either to serve under the banner of the 
 executive or to usurp its powers. It is invariably either 
 subservient or contumacious. An executive or a legislative 
 tyranny is thus its inevitable result, unless peculiar circum- 
 stances so equalize the strength of the contending departments, 
 that they neutralize each other, and render all government 
 impossible. At the same time that the Cortes of 1837 applied 
 the remedy to this evil, and added one more enlightened con- 
 servative element to their system, they developed the peculiar 
 principles of the Prngrcnda majority in a more liberal and 
 simple electoral machinery, an increase in the number of rep- 
 resentatives, and a series of other important popular guaran- 
 ties. The new constitution was thus made acceptable to both 
 parties, and there seemed to be in prospect, for a while, one of 
 those political millenniums, w^hich are so often prophesied, but 
 never happen, even in communities where political augury 
 ought to be a more demonstrative science than in Spain. 
 
 The famous convenio, or settlement, made at Vergara, in 
 August, 1839, between Espartero and the Carlist general 
 Maroto, virtually put an end to the bloody and protracted 
 civil Avar, and the pretensions of Don Carlos. The defeat 
 and emigration of Cabrera, his ablest general, in the following 
 year, left nothing further even for his hopes. The victorious 
 leader of the national armies, Espartero, of course became — 
 as from his many high qualities and eminent services he cer- 
 tainly deserved to be — a person of much weight in public 
 affairs. Being at the head of the Prof/re.fistaii, he naturally 
 availed himself of his influence to elevate and strengtlien the 
 position of his party, which at that moment was much 
 depressed. A Moderado majority in the Cortes had just
 
 38 SPAIN. 
 
 adopted a law adverse to the system of ayuntamientos, or 
 municipal corporations, which the liberal party had always 
 vigorously upheld, as the chief protection of provincial and 
 popular rights against the absorbing centralization to which 
 the Modefi'ado doctrines tended. To procure from the Queen 
 Regent a veto upon the obnoxious measure, and a dissolution 
 of the Cortes which had passed it, was the object of Espar- 
 tero's solicitude. Cristina refused to yield, and the result was 
 a popular outbreak, which was followed, in the autumn of 1840, 
 by her renunciation of the regency and immediate departure 
 for France. Espartero succeeded her, as was to have been 
 expected. Agustin Arguelles, the distinguished author of the 
 preliminary discourse to the constitution of 1812, and an 
 orator so graceful and impressive that he had the surname of 
 "the divine," was appointed "tutor" to the royal children. 
 The Progresistas then, for a little while, had everything in 
 their own hands. 
 
 In Calderon's beautiful drama of the Cisma de Inglaterra, 
 the melancholy Catherine of Aragon, in the depth of her 
 desertion and disgrace, calls on her maidens for a song, 
 wherein she asks the very flowers to learn from her how all 
 things fleet and fade : — 
 
 "Aprended, flores, de mi, 
 Lo que va de ayer a hoy: 
 Que ayer maravilla fui, 
 Y hoy, sombra mia no soy ! " 
 
 The chances and changes of Spanish politics might give quite 
 as serious instruction to the leaves and grass, as the vicissi- 
 tudes of Henry's victim. In the summer of 1843, Espartero,
 
 SPAIN. 39 
 
 Duke of Victory, Regent and Saviour of the Realm, found 
 himself a fugitive on board an English steamer in the Bay of 
 Cadiz, stripped of his titles, and stigmatized in a ministerial 
 degree as " bearing the mark of public execration ! " With 
 Espartero fell the friends who had clung to him, and the 
 doctrines they had espoused. In the face of the constitu- 
 tion, — which expressly provided that fourteen years should 
 be the term of the royal minority, — the Queen, a child not 
 quite thirteen, was declared to be of full age, and invested 
 with the symbols of dominion. Then commenced the pre- 
 dominant influence of Narvaez, Duke of Valencia, who from 
 that time to the period of my visit had, with occasional inter- 
 ruptions, been the ruling spirit of the Peninsula. Much, of 
 both good and evil, has been said of this remarkable man, to 
 whose position and character I shall have occasion hereafter to 
 allude. Those who praise him may perhaps do him more 
 than justice, — those who denounce him, less; but it were folly 
 to deny that he has permanently and honorably linked his 
 name with the repression of civil discord and the revival of 
 his country's prosperity in the nineteenth century. 
 
 It was under the auspices of Narvaez and the Moderado 
 party, that the constitution of 1845 was adopted, which, down 
 to the last steamer's dates from Madrid, continued to be 
 preached from as the fundamental text. It is not likely to be 
 soon changed, for all parties seem to have adopted the idea, 
 made illustrious among ourselves not long ago, of administer- 
 ing constitutions "as they understand them." In such case, 
 one form answers about as well as another.
 
 yi. 
 
 Constitution of 1845. — Its Provisions and Character. — The Cortes. 
 — Elections. — Pay op Members. — Executive Influence. — Its 
 Benefits. — Republican Propagandism. 
 
 THE fanciful theorist who thought the concoction of 
 popular songs a far more important source of power 
 than the making of laws, might, if he had lived in these 
 days, have applied his remark a fortiori to constitutions. 
 The Marseillaise has been generally found equal to the over- 
 throw of any organic establishment against which it has been 
 pitted, and I greatly doubt whether, if a popular question 
 were made between Yankee-Doodle and the best of our State 
 constitutions, there would not be large odds, and perhaps a 
 convention, in favor of the ditty. The truth is, that, where 
 there is any decided and predominant governing element in a 
 nation, experience shows that paper regulations are far more 
 apt to subserve than to thwart it. It is easy, at the worst, 
 for those who make to unmake if they please ; but the science 
 of interpretation has of late been carried to such a pitch of 
 perfection, as almost entirely to supersede the older and 
 clumsier methods of change. We certainly are not without 
 our own examples of new constitutional readings, made ortho- 
 dox at once by the very popularity of the novelty or the 
 40
 
 SPAIN, 41 
 
 expounder; and we cannot fairly express any surprise that the 
 few who have the power elsewhere should wield it, in their 
 own way, like the many who possess it here. The knowledge 
 of this mutability in fundamental laws, and of the trifling 
 resistance which they practically make to real power, has 
 destroyed a great deal of that sacredness with which people 
 used to invest such things, when society and politics were in a 
 more reverent and pastoral state. It is not worth while to 
 inquire whether such a falling-ofl' in respect for what ought to 
 be most respectable is not a sad and serious evil. It is a fact, 
 let it be what else it may. Men may differ a little as to the 
 sort and number of masters they would prefer, if they could 
 have their choice; and most men prefer being among the 
 masters themselves ; but it is now pretty generally under- 
 stood, that those who have the mastery will use it, be they few 
 or many, and that paper obstructions are not likely to prevent 
 them. 
 
 The Spanish constitution of 1845 does not surround the 
 exercise of absolute dominion by the powers that be with any 
 insurmountable barriers. It is very full, no doubt, of patriotic 
 and liberal generalities, and many of its theories and guaranties 
 are ostensibly as popular as need be. Yet while almost every 
 right is seemingly secured to the citizen, there is attached to 
 each of the provisions on which that security depends a sig- 
 nificant clause, which has the real effect of setting the whole 
 matter, to all intents and purposes, at sea. Thus, for exam- 
 ple, by "Art. 2. All Spaniards may print and publish their 
 ideas freely, without previous censorship, but with subjection 
 to the laws.^' By " Art. 3. Every Spaniard has the right to 
 direct written petitions to the Cortes and the king, as the laws 
 6
 
 42 SPAIN. 
 
 may direct." By " Art. 7. No Spaniard shall be detained or 
 imprisoned, or kept from his domicile, nor shall his house be 
 forced, except in those cases and in that manner which the laws 
 may prescribe." And by "Art. 8. If the security of the state 
 should require, under extraordinary circumstances, the tem- 
 porary suspension, in the whole or in any part of the king- 
 dom, of the provisions of the preceding article, it shall be so 
 determined by law." 
 
 It will be very obvious that the protection which the citizen 
 is to derive from these and similar provisions must depend 
 altogether upon the constitution and temper of the law-making 
 department. If, by the fundamental law, the legislature can, 
 without hindrance, be made what the people will, then the 
 constitution secures, or may be made to secure, the popular 
 immunities, and the nation will be well or ill governed 
 according to the popular capacity and disposition to govern. 
 If the throne, on the contrary, can make or manage the law- 
 givers, then there is nothing but a circumlocution and a slight 
 complication of machinery in the way of its being, to a degree, 
 absolute. This last seems to be frequently the practical work- 
 ing of the Spanish system at present. 
 
 The Cortes are composed of two chambers, the Senate and 
 the Congress of Deputies. The Senators hold office for life, 
 and — with the exception of the sons of the reigning monarch 
 and of the immediate heir to the throne, who are members of 
 the Senate, as of course, on attaining the age of twenty-five, — 
 they derive their appointments exclusively from the crown. 
 Their number is unlimited, so that a ministry can always 
 create a majority at need. To secure their conservatism, they 
 are required to have a considerable fixed income, or to pay
 
 SPAIN. 43 
 
 a specified amount of taxes. That their sympathies may be 
 upon the side of power, they can only, now, be chosen from 
 among the nobility, the higher clergy, and such individuals 
 as may have filled certain distinguished positions in the puljlic 
 service. Lest, however, it should be important for the govern- 
 ment, hereafter, in an exigency, to go beyond the enumerated 
 classes in search of friends, it is provided that the sphere of 
 selection may at any time be enlarged by law. So far, then, 
 as the control of affairs by legislation is concerned, it must be 
 a rare ministry which cannot, with such facilities, protect 
 itself against the happening of any thing inconvenient or 
 disagreeable. But the functions of the senators go farther. 
 The creatures of the throne, they are yet the constitutional 
 judges of all alleged oifences against the state and the person 
 or dignity of tiie monarch. Dependent upon the ministry for 
 the very dignities which make them eligible, or for the sena- 
 torial dignity itself, they have yet exclusive jurisdiction over 
 impeachments of ministers. It must be no small relief to a 
 statesman, in his sense of official responsibility, to know that 
 he has a check on the laws which are to govern him, and can 
 legitimately pack the tribunal which alone can try him ! 
 
 The Congress of Deputies is, to all appearance, a mere 
 popular body, though not always so in fact, as the system 
 works. Its members are chosen for five years and are indefi- 
 nitely reeligible. They need not reside in their respective 
 districts, and may, therefore, be lawfully selected, as they 
 often are, from among the hack politicians and the courtiers 
 who trade in place, at Madrid. They must be laymen, above 
 the age of twenty-five, and chosen in the pro]iortion of at 
 least one to every fifty thousand souls. The mode of election,
 
 44 SPAIN. 
 
 and the pecuniary and other qualifications required, are pre- 
 scribed, under the constitution, by the electoral laws of 1846 
 and 1849, — chiefly by that of 1846. A representative, under 
 those laws, is given to every district containing thirty-five 
 thousand inhabitants. The colonies, however, have no share 
 in this distribution, having lost, since 1837, the right of 
 representation in the Cortes, which they enjoyed under the 
 constitution of 1812-20. They are now governed by special 
 enactments, which, be they as wise as they may, can never 
 be welcome, altogether, to a people who have no voice in 
 their making. 
 
 A Deputy is required to have an annual income of at least 
 six hundred dollars from real property, or to pay fifty dollars 
 yearly in direct taxes. Captains-general, and certain other 
 specified functionaries, are declared to be ineligible, unless 
 their official duties should require their presence in Madrid ; 
 so that, if any obnoxious officer of the kind should be chosen, 
 the government has but to render his duties engrossing some- 
 where else, and there is an end of his legislative pretensions. 
 As many of the most able and influential men are likely to 
 hold the offices enumerated, this provision in an important 
 spring in the ministerial man-trap. 
 
 To vote for deputies, the elector must be at least twenty- 
 five years old, and pay, at the lowest, twenty dollars of direct 
 taxes annually. Lawyers, physicians, academicians, parish 
 priests, and persons of similar category, are allowed the right 
 of sufirage upon paying half that amount. The extent to 
 which even this moderate qualification sometimes diminishes 
 the number of electors may be inferred from an article of the 
 law, which provides for those districts in which they may be
 
 SPAIN. 45 
 
 fewer than one hundred and fifty. The Jefes Foliticos (politi- 
 cal chiefs of the provinces, who have since been superseded by 
 provincial governors) are required to make out the electoral 
 lists once in two years. From any error of omission or 
 commission upon their part, an appeal is provided to the 
 Audieneia, or court of superior jurisdiction for the province. 
 As, however, the Jefes Politicos were, as their successors, the 
 governors, continue to be, subject to removal at discretion, 
 and as judicial officers of all kinds may, under the constitu- 
 tion, be suspended at any time for trial, by a simple royal 
 order, it needs no sorcery to divine the probable complexion 
 of the electoral list, whenever the government chooses to take 
 sides. So well, indeed, is the matter understood, that, in 
 most of the special elections, the successful candidate can 
 alwavs be named at Madrid before the votes have been 
 counted. Some idea may be formed of the thorough manner 
 in which the thing can be done, even in a general canvass, 
 from the fact that, in the election which first took place after 
 my return, two hundred and thirty ministerial deputies were 
 chosen, to fourteen Progresistas ! 
 
 The coolness with which such results are canvassed, by 
 men of both parties, is quite amusing. If I had found the 
 influence of government only complained of by the unsuc- 
 cessful side and denied by the victors, I should have supposed 
 that what I heard was to be taken with the usual and proper 
 allowance for partisan facts. Nobody, however, thinks of 
 disputing the matter or expressing surprise at it. I was 
 talking one day to a friend, in regard to a prominent member 
 of the opposition, a man of distinguished abilities, who had 
 favored me with some degree of intimacy and in whose success
 
 46 SPAIN. 
 
 as a candidate for the next Cortes I felt much interest. He 
 was about to oifer himself for his native district in Andalusia. 
 " I am very sorry," said the gentleman whom I addressed, 
 "very sorry, indeed. My brother-in-law is Jefe Politico 
 there, and will have to defeat your friend or lose his place ! " 
 Upon another occasion, a senator, deep in the secrets of the 
 ruling powers, was discussing the practical operation of the 
 constitution with me. " Es un embiiste/' said he, "y un 
 embuste muy caro, el sistema representaiivo ! — The representa- 
 tive system is a humbug, and a very dear one ! It costs the 
 government, and of course the country, enormously, to get 
 the right sort of people elected, and when they are in, it costs 
 a great deal more to keep them from doing mischief. Every 
 man of them must have something for himself, his children, 
 or his friends, and unless he can get what he wants, he takes 
 advantage of a critical opportunity and goes over to the 
 opposition ! " A striking evidence that my companion made 
 no mistake in this, is furnished by a test vote which took 
 place on the 3d of January, 1850, upon a proposition which 
 the government exerted itself to defeat. Of one hundred and 
 thirty deputies who maintained the ministerial side of the 
 question, the Clamor Publico, one of the Progresista organs, 
 enumerated, by name and station, one hundred and eighteen 
 who had places, and five who were believed to have them ! 
 There was, no doubt, some little of partisan exaggeration in 
 the statement, but the ministerial papers did not succeed in 
 correcting it very materially. The Clamor promised to pre- 
 pare a subsequent table of the salaries which the gentlemen 
 of the majority were enjoying. It would have been very 
 edifying, no doubt, but I do not remember that it appeared.
 
 SPAIN. 47 
 
 It was in view of such things and their results that Gonzalez 
 Bravo, a prominent member of the Moderado section of the 
 opposition, expressed himself thus, one day, in debate : — 
 
 "I can understand the system of force, which closes the 
 door against discussion, — the absolute system which is repre- 
 sented by Russia. I can comprehend that system, on the 
 other hand, which lives with and applies the spirit of the 
 age, — which deals out prudent concessions, and does justice 
 to the national necessities, — the system, in fine, of England. 
 But what I cannot understand, and what signifies nothing 
 to be understood, is the bastard system, which is neither the 
 one thing nor the other, — which is not constitutional, because 
 it does not rest upon an honest administration of constitutional 
 principles, and is not absolute, because it lacks the dignity and 
 power of monarchical traditions ! " 
 
 Sefior Bravo is an able man, no doubt, but it was hardly 
 reasonable for him to complain that the government of her 
 Majesty was not absolute enough to be comprehended as such. 
 The Duke of Valencia and his colleagues certainly did all 
 that lay in their power to prevent themselves from being 
 justly liable to animadversion on that score. Indeed, the 
 Duke did not scruple to take the orator to task, upon that 
 very occasion, for the tone of his remarks, in a style which I 
 will not say was Russian altogether, but which would have 
 created some astonishment in the House of Commons, and 
 would certainly have elicited some elegant allusions to '' here 
 and elsewhere" in either branch of our national legislature. 
 
 Neither the senators nor deputies receive any direct com- 
 pensation, nor is the Spanish language so fortunate as to 
 possess any word corresponding to " mileage," — that pleasant
 
 48 SPAIN. 
 
 invention of the American genius, wbereby honorable gentle- 
 men are so often enabled to illustrate the proverb, that " the 
 longest way round is the shortest way home." The Peninsu- 
 lar legislators are supposed, in theory, to be amply compensated 
 by the honor of the station, the pleasure of serving their 
 country, and the felicity of making speeches. The real quid 
 pro quo, however, consists in the opportunity just alluded to, 
 of securing profitable places for themselves and their friends, 
 by the use of a little diplomacy and the advantages of posi- 
 tion. An acquaintance of mine, who had been all the winter 
 in Madrid, prelendiendo, as they call it, — office-hunting, in 
 the homely American vernacular, — called, late in the season, 
 to take leave of me. He was a worthy person, and I 
 expressed my hope that he had been able to handle his cards 
 successfully. " Not at all," he answered, " and I am tired of 
 playing the beggar. I am going home to have myself returned, 
 if possible, to the next Cortes. If I can succeed in that, I 
 think I shall be able to make my own terms ! " 
 
 It has often been a question whether the system of direct 
 compensation to members of the legislature is a wise one. 
 That it places the honors of the republic equally within the 
 reach of the wealthy and the poor, is deemed with us an 
 unanswerable argument in its favor. It is supposed, besides, 
 to secure legislative independence. If a per diem would in 
 truth prevent the members of the Cortes from surrendering 
 themselves to that subserviency which no place-hunter can 
 escape, it would certainly be both wise and economical to let 
 them name their own stipend. Unfortunately, however, it is 
 by no means absolutely certain that the result would be so 
 happy. It might be asserted, as a fact quite susceptible of
 
 SPAIN. 49 
 
 proof in our own beloved country, that members of Congress 
 have been found, — circumnavigatory to the last degree in their 
 demands for mileage, — scrupulous, to the extent of good con- 
 science, in the exaction of their pay, — and yet feeling them- 
 selves in no way precluded thereby from asking and taking 
 every scrap of official preferment to be had. Perhaps the 
 best remedy for this evil would be to make members of the 
 legislature incapable of filling any but elective offices, within 
 at least five years from the expiration of their legislative 
 terms. But even then there would be uncles and cousins to 
 provide for, besides lineal descendants and influential con- 
 stituents, so that, on the whole, it is greatly to be feared there 
 is but poor chance of any sure reform in the matter, until 
 some plan be devised for remodelling human nature. 
 
 It must not be supposed, from the tone of this chapter, that 
 I regard the decided influence of the Spanish executive over 
 the legislature as by any means an unmixed evil, in the 
 present state of the Peninsula. I shall have occasion here- 
 after to consider that point, in a more general connection. 
 There are, no doubt, those by whom it will be held marvellous 
 that a republican should entertain any question whatever on 
 the subject ; but I think it the duty of every candid man, upon 
 proper occasion, to set his face against the folly so prevalent 
 with us, of striving to fit all the world with governments 
 according to our own measure. An American, who returns 
 from European travel without an increased sense of the value 
 to us of the institutions under which we were born, and a 
 profounder feeling of gratitude to the good Providence whose 
 beneficence made them our birthright, must be as mad as the 
 most " undevout astronomer," or too silly to reach the dignity 
 7
 
 50 SPAIN. 
 
 of maduess. But, on the other hand, his intellect must be 
 very narrow, and his prejudices most absurd, if he has not 
 been able to rid himself of the superstition, that our system 
 is the best for all nations, all times, all circumstances, and 
 all stages of intelligence, merely because it happens so to be 
 for us and ours. He must be made of impenetrable stuff 
 indeed, if observation abroad has not convinced him — as 
 sanity and reflection at home might surely do — that no 
 government under popular auspices is likely to answer its 
 true purposes, unless it tally, not merely with the abstract 
 convictions and theoretical demonstrations of constitution- 
 tinkers, but with the actual necessities, the ingrained habits, 
 sentiments, and traditions, the very prejudices and weaknesses, 
 of the people whose welfare it concerns. 
 
 It is easy enough to create institutions. Mr. Burke's inven- 
 tory of what was to be found in the pigeon-holes of the Abbe 
 Sieyes, is but a trifle compared with the stock in the market 
 at present. All popular government, nevertheless, must be a 
 form and a folly, unless it be the shadow of the true, pre- 
 dominating national character, — the projection, as it were, of 
 the national mind and temper. Men are not to be dealt with 
 as right-angled triangles ; and he is a sad statesman, be he 
 ever so much a philosopher, who acts upon the notion that 
 human nature is one of the exact sciences. The best constitu- 
 tion in the world will be but a source of perpetual discord, 
 misrule, or no rule at all, unless there be the adequate amount 
 of good sense and good feeling among the people, to get them 
 practically out of the theoretical difficulties against which no 
 foresight can entirely provide. A very bad constitution, on 
 the other hand, with popular intelligence and purity, and a
 
 SPAIN. 61 
 
 compromising spirit to remedy its defects and relieve it when 
 in straits, will make a people prosperous and happy for many 
 generations, — or, to speak, perhaps, more logically, will inter- 
 pose no serious obstacle to their making themselves so. In 
 England they get along very well with a system which would 
 set all Yankeedom at loggerheads in a month. Here we 
 seem to have a passion for making ourselves uncomfortable, 
 under a constitution which ought to secure the peace and 
 felicity of any people out of Bedlam. Nowhere in the world 
 have wiser or more eloquent expositions of the true principles 
 of government been heard, than in the late French Assembly, 
 and yet they probably afford a less substantial indication of 
 rational republicanism to come, than would be furnished by 
 the existence of a single thorough-bred French Quaker, — 
 drab, broad-brimmed, earnest, and orthodox. One such fixed 
 human fact would show the possibility of self-control among 
 a people who as yet have given no proofs of it, — just as the 
 finding of a solitary fossil man or monkey would settle for 
 ever one of the problems of geology. Without that self- 
 control, who shall pretend that the legitimacy of La Roche- 
 jacquelin and Montalembert, or the coup d'etat of Louis 
 Napoleon, is of less promise for good than the drunken 
 Utopia of socialism? 
 
 The art of good government may find more profitable 
 analogies in medicine than mathematics. The man who is 
 only weak needs but a staiF; the cripple requires his crutches ; 
 he of the fractured limb must have it bandaged, splintered, 
 and put at rest. The surgeon should be hanged, without 
 benefit of clergy, who would prescribe gymnastics to them 
 all, because their neighbors, who were not halt, could dance
 
 62 SPAIN. 
 
 and be glad at a merry-making. We have quacks enough 
 among us, notwithstanding, who are always prescribing to 
 other people, in the way of government, something quite as 
 innocent and sensible. Now the fact is, — let the newspapers 
 and stump-orators say what they please, — that the sun of 
 civilization neither rises nor sets within our national limits, 
 ample though they be. The moon of Athens was no finer 
 moon than that of Corinth, though there were Athenian 
 patriots, in Plutarch's tale, who would have fought to prove 
 it so. With a good deal of political philosophy, and extra- 
 ordinary political sagacity, we yet have no monopoly of either. 
 We are not, like the friends of holy Job, " the only men," nor 
 is there any danger that " wisdom will die with " us. A fair 
 appreciation of these truths would greatly enlighten some of 
 our public men and popular oracles, who seem to be entirely 
 unaware that there is a breathing, thinking world outside the 
 happy valley which surrounds their tripods. It would save 
 us (a wise economy !) Heaven knows how much of cant and 
 fustian, which now pass, unhappily, with many, as the only 
 language of patriotism and the genuine evangely of the rights 
 of man. It would, upon occasions of national solemnity or 
 rejoicing, make teachers and counsellors of our statesmen, 
 instead of flatterers merely, as, for the most part, now they 
 are. It would have spared us the recent triumphal march 
 of Hungarian propagandism over our national dignity and 
 self-respect.
 
 VII. 
 
 The Executive: and Judiciary. — Juries and the Trial by Jury, 
 
 IN view of the substantial influence which the Spanish 
 executive has been shown to possess and exercise over 
 the legislature, and through it over all the details of govern- 
 ment, it would seem hardly worth while to analyse the func- 
 tions which, on the face of the constitution, legitimately belong 
 to the monarch. These, nevertheless, in themselves, are quite 
 as extensive and various as would seem compatible with the 
 notion of a limited monarchy. 
 
 The Queen is irresponsible, and her person is inviolable. 
 The royal dignity is hereditary in her line. She is the 
 fountain of justice, which is administered in her name. She 
 has the power to convoke the Cortes, suspend and close their 
 sessions, and dissolve the Chamber of Deputies at will, — sub- 
 ject only to the obligation, in the last case, of calling together 
 a new legislature within three months after such dissolution. 
 Through her ministers, she may introduce projects of laws 
 for the consideration of the Cortes, and she may not only 
 refuse her sanction to a law, but thereby prevent its revival 
 during the session of the legislature in whicli it mav have 
 arisen. This last result, however, can be equally well attained 
 by the dissent of either house from a law originating in the 
 
 53
 
 54 SPAI2i. 
 
 other, so that the Senate may relieve her Majesty, if need be, 
 from the necessity of interposing her prerogative in cases 
 where it would be unpopular or impolitic. The promulga- 
 tion and execution of all the laws are her especial duties, and 
 in the performance of the latter she has the right to issue such 
 orders, decrees, and instructions as may seem meet to her. 
 In practice, this enables her to explain, modify, amplify, or 
 nullify, very much at discretion. She is the arbiter of war 
 and peace, and distributes and disposes of the army at her 
 will. She directs and regulates commercial and diplomatic 
 relations ; coins money ; pardons criminals ; and has the uncon- 
 trolled disposition of all officers and honors. She needs the 
 assent of the Cortes, however, to any alienation of the national 
 territory, and she cannot, without their permission, admit 
 foreign troops into the kingdom, ratify commercial treaties 
 or offensive alliances, make any stipulations for the pay- 
 ment of subsidies, or abdicate the crown in favor of her 
 immediate successor. 
 
 The amount of the royal income is fixed by the Cortes at 
 the beginning of each reign. Her present Majesty has cer- 
 tainly no reason to complain of her loyal people in that 
 particular, since her annual endowment is thirty-four millions 
 of reals, equal to one million seven hundred thousand dollars, 
 over and above the royal patrimony, which is immense, and 
 with which the legislature has nothing to do. The King 
 Consort, whose majesty is merely titular, and who has no 
 concern whatever with the government, has a yearly stipend 
 of one hundred and twenty thousand dollars. That of the 
 Queen Mother is one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, 
 in addition to the immense private fortune which she has
 
 SPAIN. 65 
 
 acquired through her connection with the Spanish throne. 
 The rest of the royal family, embracing the Duchess of Mont- 
 pensier and the remoter collateral branches, have three hundred 
 and twenty-five thousand dollars per annum among them, 
 making two million two hundred and ninety-five thousand 
 dollars, in all, according to the official p?'esupuesto, or budget, 
 for 1850, which is lying before me. 
 
 The judicial department, by its constitutional organization, 
 is not likely to be much of a clog to the prerogatives, direct 
 and indirect, which the monarch is so liberally paid for exer- 
 cising. The judges are appointed by the crown, their number 
 and functions being regulated by law. Except in extra- 
 ordinary and enumerated cases, the determination of causes, 
 civil and criminal, is committed to the Alcaldes; the judges 
 of Primera Instancia, or primary jurisdiction ; the territorial 
 Audiencias ; and the Supreme Tribunal of Justice. An 
 appeal lies, generally speaking, from the court in which 
 proceedings are instituted, to that which stands next above 
 it, in the order in which I have enumerated them. In some 
 suits, if the litigants please and can live long enough, they 
 may chase justice through the covers and preserves of the 
 whole judicial establishment. Ecclesiastics, in many cases, 
 and those engaged in the military and naval services, have 
 their separate tribunals and fueros, or privileges. Commer- 
 cial causes are also heard by special courts, whose jurisdiction 
 and decisions are prescribed and regulated by a separate code. 
 Besides these, there are many exceptional jurisdictions and 
 privileges of forum, which are annexed to particular stations 
 and classes, so that, if legal tribunals be, as Carlyle has said, 
 but "chimnevs for the deviltry and contention of men to
 
 56 SPAIN. 
 
 escape by/' Madrid ought certainly to smoke like Birming- 
 ham. By the official report, published at the beginning of 
 1850, there were seven hundred and twenty-seven lawyers in 
 the capital, of whom five hundred and seven were candidates 
 for practice. The population of the city being but little over 
 two hundred thousand, there is every reason to believe that 
 the chimneys will not suffer for want of fuel or tending. 
 
 The constitution provides that no judicial officer shall be 
 removed, except by sentence of a competent tribunal, or sus- 
 pended, unless by due judicial action, or a royal order alleg- 
 ing sufficient cause, with a view to prosecution. As before 
 observed, this suspensory prerogative in the monarch is a 
 complete negation of all real independence ; but when it is 
 added, that the offences committed by a judge, in his official 
 capacity, are to be tried by his next superior, — save in the 
 case of the supreme tribunal, where the offender is judged by 
 his fellows, — and that the arbiter, like the accused, is the 
 appointee of the crown, and liable to similar suspension and 
 prosecution, it cannot but be obvious that the whole judiciary 
 is, for all needful purposes, under stringent executive control. 
 The noted case of Diaz Martinez, which was tried during my 
 visit, furnished very satisfactory evidence that the ermine could 
 be made to take an exceedingly ministerial hue. The prisoner 
 was charged with having addressed General Narvaez, by letter, 
 in a style which was interpreted to signify a challenge. That 
 eminent functionary cannot easily be made afraid, and has, as 
 a general thing, no particular objection to the handling of 
 deadly weapons, if it occurs to him ; but as he was altogether 
 " ego et rex meus," it fell little short of lese-majesty to com- 
 pass or contrive his bodily peril or discomfort, against his
 
 SPAIN. 57 
 
 will, — and the unhappy Martinez was dealt with accordingly. 
 His defence was conducted with characteristic manliness and 
 ability, by Don Joaquin Francisco Pacheco, a very eminent 
 jurist and advocate, and there was but little difference of 
 opinion, as far as I could collect, among professional men of 
 all parties, in regard to tiie utter illegality and anomalism 
 of the proceeding. The Juez de Primera Instancia, however, 
 who heard the cause, had no difficulty in arriving at a judg- 
 ment of conviction. I read his opinion, which certainly bore 
 both obsequiousness and absurdity upon its face. As the 
 sentence involved serious pains and penalties, the case was 
 taken to a higher tribunal ; but it, of course, is not easy to 
 foretell the result, where the ways of justice are so much in 
 the depths of the sea. 
 
 The trial by jury has never been thoroughly incorporated 
 into the judicial administration of the Peninsula. Some anti- 
 quarians have persuaded themselves that they have discovered 
 its germ in the ancient constitutions of Aragon, as well as in 
 some of the older codes and charters of Castile. Distinct evi- 
 dences of its existence are said to appear, particularly, in the 
 Fuero Juzgo of the Visigoths. It will be found, however, 
 upon examination, that the provisions which are relied on 
 as in point do not approach much nearer to establishing the 
 theory as now understood and practised on, than the initials 
 of the " lang ladle " at Monkbarns to an inscription of Agri- 
 cola's. Better proof of their insufficiency could hardly be 
 found than the very language used in the Fuero Juzgo, where 
 it directs ten assistants to be chosen as the Alcalde's coadjutors 
 in certain cases, " ex optimis, et nobilissimis, et sapientissimis." 
 Such epithets, it is clear, could never have been gravely in- 
 8
 
 58 SPAIN. 
 
 tended to designate jurymen, even in those days of primitive 
 jurisprudence and mediaeval Latinity. But let the antiquari- 
 ans be right or wrong, as they may, certain it is, that within 
 the memory of modern men nothing like the trial by jury has 
 existed in Spain, except very lately, partially, and for a brief 
 period. The constitution of 1812 provided for its future in- 
 troduction, in case it should be deemed advisable, but it was 
 not practically adopted until 1822, and then only for the trial 
 of cases arising under the laws which regulated the press. 
 Having disappeared in 1823, with the press and the consti- 
 tutional system, it was revived with them in 1836, and was 
 again recognized by the constitution of 1837, though still con- 
 fined to the same class of cases. The law of 1844, which 
 modified the freedom of the press according to the notions of 
 the Moderados, provided a hybridous sort of jury, with innu- 
 merable requisites and all manner of embarrassing parapher- 
 nalia, which must have made it unavailable as a working 
 thing and were probably intended to do so. The constitution 
 of 1845 has no jury clause whatever, and by the legislation of 
 that year all the lingering traces of the " Palladium " were 
 finally swept away. 
 
 Whatever may be the course hereafter in Spain of that 
 political amelioration which is certainly going on, it is not 
 likely, for many reasons, that the jury system will ever become 
 ingrafted upon theirs, as an institution of general scope. We, 
 whose notions have been formed by the study or by our ex- 
 perience of the common law of England, are apt to consider 
 the trial of facts by laymen as absolutely essential to the bene- 
 ficial operation of every popular or liberal form of govern- 
 ment, and there can be no doubt that we generally state our
 
 SPAIN. 69 
 
 doctrine on the subject a great deal too exclusively and broadly. 
 It of course must be conceded, that, for the trial of criminal 
 causes, the jury, on the whole, is the most satisfactory con- 
 trivance which the ingenuity of men has thus far been able 
 to devise. Without reference, moreover, to the subjects of 
 its action, the introduction of so popular an element into 
 the administration of justice must necessarily tend to diffuse 
 among the community, from whose ranks the jurors are 
 indiscriminately taken, a higher degree of confidence in the 
 tribunals of the law, and a heartier disposition to respect and 
 uphold their judgments. Nothing, of course, can contribute 
 more than such a result to the stability of society and the 
 sure enjoyment of the rights which lie at its foundation. 
 
 It is not to be questioned, on the other hand, that imme- 
 diate and frequent contact with the system, as it works, has 
 the effect of notably diminishing our reverence for it as a mode 
 of arriving at the truth. It doubtless affords admirable scope 
 for the dexterous playing of that uncertain game, the law, and 
 hence must always command many eloquent suffrages from 
 the professional players. But, with a good cause and no other 
 object but the enforcement of right, I greatly doubt whether 
 any candid man, among those who know the jury system best, 
 would hesitate about selecting, in preference to it, the inter- 
 vention of a well-trained and well-educated judge. Where 
 the object is to put the right and wrong upon a level, and to 
 take the chances of their confusion, I grant that the choice 
 would probably be different; but such cases surely afford no 
 test. Experience has taught that courts of equity are alto- 
 gether capable of dealing, justly and wisely, with the greatest 
 complications of fact, — so that issues are sent from them to
 
 60 SPAIN. 
 
 juries in but few and peculiar cases. There are, it may be 
 safely said, no tribunals in our country whose decisions are 
 more uniformly just, or more universally approved, than those 
 of the federal courts sitting in admiralty without juries. In 
 those States of the Union, too, where the judges are empow- 
 ered to try issues of fact with the consent of parties, the large 
 number of cases, both civil and criminal, in which juries are 
 willingly dispensed with, may be taken as the best evidence 
 of a public and practical conviction greatly differing from the 
 theory about which there is so much declamation. Nor is it 
 at all wonderful, that such a conviction should exist. As 
 juries are selected and constituted generally, both in England 
 and this country, their verdicts in nine cases out of ten are but 
 the results of voting by ballot or " striking an average " ; and 
 it is by no means an easy matter to determine how often a 
 wilful appetite, and an anxious desire to leave the unprofitable 
 adjustment of other men's business for the more advantageous 
 pursuit of their own, may cause the majority of the imprisoned 
 twelve to select the promptest conclusion as the best. 
 
 Perfect or imperfect, however, as the institution may be in 
 its present shape and operation, it is with us, to some extent, 
 a sacred thing. It is surrounded by so many of the holiest 
 associations, and has fought so many of the best battles of 
 freedom, that it is destined long to remain a sign of that popu- 
 lar security to which it is no longer necessary as an element 
 or a guaranty. With the Spaniards, however, it has no such 
 prestige, and as it has never been a household god to them, 
 there seems no particular reason why they should give it a 
 place in their inner worship, as we do in ours. The very 
 familiar and accurate knowledge of the laws and customs of
 
 SPAIN. 61 
 
 England, which many of their most intelligent and influential 
 statesmen have acquired during long years of exile in that 
 land of European asylum, will most probably secure, in time, 
 the introduction of the trial by jury, to such an extent and in 
 such cases as may accord with the best features of their own 
 venerable jurisprudence. They may be enabled thus to strike 
 the happy medium between the subserviency of judges to 
 power and wealth, and that dread of public passion and defer- 
 ence to popular opinion, which too often make the jury-room 
 but an echo of the press and of the voices that cry aloud in 
 the streets.
 
 yiii. 
 
 JtJBISPRUDENCE. — CODES. — CoLONIAI, SYSTEM, — ADMINISTRATION OF JUS- 
 TICE. — EscRiBANOs. — Judges. — The Legal Profession. 
 
 nVTOTWITHSTANDING the very formidable expansion 
 -i-^ which is frequently ascribed to the Spanish jurispru- 
 dence, it is really condensed within limits which appear ex- 
 tremely moderate, to one who is familiar with the ordinary 
 copiousness of popular legislation. The codes into which it 
 has been shaped are, it is true, voluminous enough, but those 
 of them which are of common and practical application can 
 easily be mastered, with reasonable industry. Let other evils 
 be what they may, the judges are not reduced to the necessity 
 of toiling through innumerable reports and the varying opin- 
 ions of judicial legislators and expounders, — sages sometimes, 
 dolts and doubters often, — in order to excogitate what they 
 can from prior cogitations, which are not the less authoritative 
 because they are in great part contradictory. It is reserved 
 for the freest and most enlightened of the nations to rejoice in 
 such judicial precision and philosophy as that amounts to, and 
 gravely to set it up for men to worship, as " the perfection of 
 reason." Since the Goddess of Reason, in the French Revo- 
 lution, there has not probably existed a deity bearing the name 
 with a less reputable character or more flimsy pretensions, 
 62
 
 SPAIN. 63 
 
 The Novisima Recopilacion, published by Charles the Fourth 
 in 1806, is the most recent digest of the Spanish law, and is 
 binding in all cases not affected by subsequent legislation. It 
 had for a nucleus the Nueva Recopilacion of Philip the Second, 
 (sometimes called the Recopilacion, simply,) and may, perhaps, 
 be more properly considered as but the latest edition of that 
 great code, with the intermediate enactments and judicial ex- 
 positions incorporated. The more ancient jurisprudence of 
 Castile is, however, the basis of these later works, and the 
 antique codes have therefore some authority still, — not merely 
 as illustrating the modern text, but as operative, of themselves, 
 in cases not otherwise provided for. The Novisima Recopila- 
 cion, by a special provision, determines the order in which the 
 codes shall bind, — giving preference, among the more ancient, 
 to the Fud'o Real, which was promulgated in 1255 by Alfonso 
 the Wise ; next admitting the Fueros Munici'pales, or munici- 
 pal charters of right, from time to time recognized or granted 
 by Saint Ferdinand and his more immediate successors; and 
 resting finally upon the Siete Pariidas, which, though pre- 
 pared under the supervision of Alfonso the Wise, were not 
 published till long after his death, during the reign of Alfonso 
 the Eleventh. 
 
 Since the promulgation of the Novisima Recopilacion, there 
 has been no collection of the laws printed, which approximates 
 or pretends to completeness. The decrees of Ferdinand the 
 Seventh and of the different Cortes are, it is true, readily ac- 
 cessible in print; but many radical changes have been wrought, 
 by special orders, resolutions, and interpretations, which lie 
 buried for the most part so deeply in the executive archives, 
 that, for all purposes of general information, they had as well
 
 64 SPAIN. 
 
 been affixed to the top of the old tyrant's column. Indeed, 
 the whole system of administration has undergone so many 
 shocks and revolutions during the present century, that it is 
 not always easy to determine the precise location even of the 
 archives themselves, through which the course of any particu- 
 lar legislation is to be traced. So many councils have been 
 modified, abolished, and recreated with new functions, and the 
 duties of all and each have been so often altered and trans- 
 ferred, that, even after ascertaining the date and origin of a 
 decree or order, it is next to impossible, often, to discover in 
 what vortex of the documentary chaos the authoritative origi- 
 nal may be revolving. Fortunately, the cases in which this 
 uncertainty and difficulty exist are for the most part adminis- 
 trative or merely political, so that the ordinary course of pub- 
 lic justice is not often obstructed or obscured thereby. 
 
 So large a portion of territory on this continent, belonging 
 once to Spain, has now become attached to the American 
 Union, that it may not be altogether out of place in this con- 
 nection to notice briefly the Spanish colonial jurisprudence. 
 The laws governing "the Indies" — by which title all the dis- 
 coveries in both hemispheres are comprehended — were always 
 wholly separate from the main body of domestic legislation. 
 In 1511 Ferdinand the Catholic created the Supreme Council 
 of the Indies, to which he gave, under the royal supervision 
 only, the entire control of the colonies, in all matters, legisla- 
 tive, executive, ecclesiastical, and judicial. Charles the Fifth, 
 in 1524, in some degree modified the form of this almost sove- 
 reign body, but the ordinances for its regulation were not 
 given to the world, with any completeness, until 1636, during 
 the reign of Philip the Fourth. In 1658 a small number of
 
 SPAIN. 65 
 
 its decrees and acts were published. In 1680 Charles the 
 Second had the glory of promulgating the gigantic work called 
 the Recopilacion de las Leyes de Indias, — a complete body of 
 jurisprudence, which, although modified from time to time, and 
 not always wisely, is still the main depository of colonial 
 right. Where, by chance, it may be silent or have become 
 inoperative, the vigorous old legislation of Castile fills up the 
 chasm. 
 
 Those who judge of the merits of the Recopilacion de Indian 
 solely from the results of the civilization which it was intended 
 to direct, will do but poor justice to the most complete and 
 comprehensive scheme of colonial government which the world 
 has ever known. Although, no doubt, greatly defective in 
 many particulars, and tinctured most prejudicially with the 
 errors in political economy which were peculiar to the times, 
 the Recopilacion bears all about it evidences of the most far- 
 seeing wisdom, the most laborious and comprehensive investi- 
 gation and management of details, and a spirit of enlightened 
 humanity not easily to be exceeded. That, with these char- 
 acteristics, it should have been practically so complete a fail- 
 ure, seems at first sight somewhat paradoxical, but historians 
 have given many good reasons for it, which are obvious 
 enough, though it would be foreign to my purpose to repeat 
 them. There was one fundamental error, — an error rather of 
 the system than of the code, — which would suffice, of itself, to 
 account for all the consequences that have ensued; I mean the 
 idea that colonies could be nursed into great nations and yet 
 preserved as colonies. It was upon this impossibility that the 
 Recopilacion was stranded. Its municipal regulations, its laws 
 controlling territorial acquisition and descent, its whole com- 
 9
 
 66 SPAIN. 
 
 mercial plan and political economy, bad but tbe single purpose 
 of building up empires, to be yet dependent upon the mother 
 country. The prosperity of the colonies, even as colonies, was 
 thus rendered impossible. If they took a step forward, it 
 was with a chain and a clog on their feet. They were kept 
 for a long time, it is true, from being independent, but they 
 were prevented, during all the time, from growing vigorous 
 or great. When they became free, at last, it was through 
 the weakness of the metropolis, and not through their own 
 strength. They escaped from being governed by others, but 
 they did not know, nor have they yet learned, how to govern 
 themselves. If it had been the order of Providence that chil- 
 dren should be children always, the Spanish system had cer- 
 tainly been successful, for it was wise to that end. As Provi- 
 dence has otherwise ordained the nature of men and nations, 
 the introduction of so unnatural a basis made all its wisdom 
 
 folly. 
 
 Of the decrees and other enactments which have been passed 
 and promulgated since the Recopilaoion de Indlas, there is no 
 collection whatever extant, and the most learned of the colo- 
 nial jurisconsults are only familiar or unfamiliar with them by 
 comparison. In the enlightened reign of Charles the Third, 
 an attempt was made to digest a new code out of all the then 
 existing materials; but although the work was prosecuted 
 nearly to its conclusion in the following reigns, and was in 
 1819 ready for the press, to which it was on the point of being 
 given, it disappeared altogether during the subsequent revo- 
 lutions, and there is now no trace whatever of the digest itself, 
 or of the multitudinous and valuable documents collected for 
 its preparation. It may be lying, for aught that the best law-
 
 SPAIN. 67 
 
 yer in Madrid can tell, among the rubbish in the garret of a 
 neglected archivo, or have been sold by the arroba to the pro- 
 prietor of a book-stall, to be retailed at a real or a dollar the 
 volume, according to the vender's theory of the purchaser's 
 curiosity and pocket. 
 
 Under the ministry of the Marquis of Sonora, in 1786, 
 there was a collection of ordinances published, for the estab- 
 lishment and regulation of Intendancies in New Spain. These 
 were in time extended to the rest of the colonies, so far as they 
 were applicable. The general ordinance for the government 
 of colonial Intendants, which saw the light in 1803, and was 
 the result of much labor and ability, was, by a strange caprice, 
 revoked almost entirely in 1804, and is now but partially ope- 
 rative in any particular. The Council of Indies was abolished 
 by the Cortes of 1812. It was too princely an establishment, 
 as it stood, for a limited monarchy. It was, however, rees- 
 tablished by Ferdinand the Seventh in 1814, but fell again 
 in 1820, upon the re-proclamation of the constitution, was re- 
 stored in 1823, and finally suppressed in 1834. Its functions 
 are now distributed among the several executive departments. 
 Those who are best informed do not hesitate to say, that, prop- 
 erly modified, the Council would have been an invaluable ad- 
 ministrative agent under any system, and that its destruction 
 has put an end for the present to that politic and comprehen- 
 sive unity, without which there cannot be much scope or effi- 
 cacy in any scheme of colonial government. 
 
 Of the administration of justice in Spain, a great deal has 
 been said by writers of all classes, foreign and domestic ; but 
 nothing particularly complimentary, that I have ever seen. 
 How far the evils of the system continue to be oppressive at
 
 68 SPAIN. 
 
 the present time, I had no opportunity of knowing, except 
 from hearsay, which did not leave any favorable impressions. 
 The escribano, the clerk or notary, — a sort of judicial go- 
 between, — is, on all hands, conceded to be the chief nuisance 
 in the details of the system. Every picture that is painted 
 of the law's delay and of the costly injustice for which men 
 
 curse it, has for its chief figure 
 
 "el escribano, 
 
 Con semblante infernal y pluma en mano." 
 
 The suitor who unhappily is forced to seek the aid of Themis 
 employs a procm^ador, a sort of inferior attorney, to prepare 
 a statement of his grievance. This passes to an escribano, 
 through whose hands it goes to the tribunal having jurisdic- 
 tion ; and when it has received the proper attention there, it 
 returns to the escribano, who gives the needful direction of 
 process or notice to the adverse party. The defendant's reply 
 passes up to the bench, through the escribano, and finds its 
 way by the same channel to the plaintiff, — whose replication, 
 in its turn, performs the same voyage. Thus the matter pro- 
 ceeds, until each party has alleged all that he has to say, — the 
 escribano of course taking toll every time that he opens the 
 gate, or allows either party to look over the fence within 
 which he keeps justice impounded. All the testimony goes 
 up in the shape of declarations made before the escribano, and 
 reduced by him to writing. Every document of record is 
 copied by some escribano from his archives. Indeed, there is 
 nothing which concerns the case, in law or in fact, of which 
 the escribano is not the conductor, from the judge to the part- 
 ies and from the parties to the judge and to each other. How 
 completely all are dependent upon his good faith, and how
 
 SPAIN. 69 
 
 conveniently he can make a fortune, — not merely out of bis 
 honest perquisites, but by an advantageous use of his good 
 will and opportunities, — the least ingenious of the sons of 
 men may readily imagine. 
 
 In further illustration of the extent to which the rights of 
 the community depend upon the honesty and pleasure of these 
 scribes, it is but necessary to state that they are the deposi- 
 taries of all testamentary records, and of all deeds and con- 
 tracts whatever which are required to be in writing. A man 
 desirous of making his will gives his instructions to any escri- 
 bano he may select, who prepares the instrument, which the 
 testator executes before him with all the formalities. The 
 escribano retains the original, which of course he is bound to 
 keep secret during the life of the testator. Whether he ob- 
 serves that obligation or not depends upon his integrity, and 
 the liberality of the parties who may desire to penetrate the 
 mysteries of the future. If he chooses to play false, he need 
 never be found out. With deeds and contracts the same mode 
 of preparation and registry is observed, — the parties being 
 furnished at the time with copies if they require them ; the 
 originals remaining with the esG7'ibano, until his death or dis- 
 qualification, and passing then to his successor. Each escri- 
 bano is, by law, required to remit to the Audiencia of his dis- 
 trict, once in each year, a copy of the index to his records 
 made during that period. The ojicio de hipotecas, or mortgage 
 office, in each district, is likewise annually furnished with ab- 
 stracts of all encumbrances affecting real property. Xo doubt 
 some check is thus provided upon the perpetration of gross 
 fraud, and yet the suppression of an occasional document, in 
 both index and abstract, could be so easily managed and might
 
 70 SPAIN. 
 
 be so profitable, that there can scarcely be said to exist any 
 real security, while the muniments of title are in so many 
 hands, and secrecy and divided responsibility afford so much 
 opportunity and temptation. 
 
 Nor must it be supposed that in any case a man can enter 
 a public or notarial archivo and search the records himself. 
 Profane hands cannot be allowed to violate the sanctity of the 
 official books or bundles, and the party who institutes an 
 inquiry is compelled to be satisfied with the accuracy and 
 fidelity of the escribanos in making the searches, and their 
 candor in communicating the result. When you have ascer- 
 tained at last the existence and location of a document with 
 which it interests you to become better acquainted, the escri- 
 bano will permit you to read it or not, according to his polite- 
 ness and your persuasiveness. If you desire a copy, you must 
 present a petition therefor to a Jaez de Primera Instancia, 
 through another escribano, and when you have procured an 
 order, — which you cannot always do without notice to other 
 parties in interest, and perhaps a contest with them of indefi- 
 nite duration, — you serve it on your original escribano, and 
 are gratified. If the record be that of a will, the juez will 
 not allow you to have a copy or an extract, unless you are an 
 heir at law or a devisee. If you are fortunate enough to fill 
 either of these characters, you are allowed a copy of the clause 
 which affects you, preceded with due solemnity by the formal 
 exordium, wherein the testator makes profession of faith, tells 
 the names and genealogy of his father and mother, and dis- 
 poses of his soul and his body. The whole instrument you 
 will not be permitted to have transcribed except under extra- 
 ordinary circumstances. You cannot need such a transcript,
 
 SPAIN. 71 
 
 they suppose, except for hostile purposes, and for such they 
 feel under no obligation to afford you facilities. This system, 
 doubtless, has many evils, but it has at least the good result, 
 that the " upsetting " of wills is not very frequent in Spain, 
 and a testator is not often declared non compos, because he 
 happens to have had some notions as to the disposition of his 
 own property differing from those of his neighbors and his 
 heirs at law. 
 
 The escribano gives his certificate under his hand and sign, 
 " signo" instead of a seal. The signo is the apex of an im- 
 mense and elaborate flourish, or rubrica, which terminates as 
 to its upper parts in a cross made with the pen ; — that sacred 
 " sign " giving solemnity to the authentication. Each notary, 
 on his appointment, writes the rubrica and signo which he 
 intends to adopt, and leaves them with the "college" to which 
 he belongs. From the specimen of his penmanship thus 
 adopted he never varies, and it is really curious to see how 
 the identity of the hieroglyphic is preserved, from the firm, 
 bold draft of it in youth, to the trembling fac-simile in that 
 old age, which notaries, like all place-holders, are sure, under 
 Providence, to reach. When any instrument, with the certifi- 
 cate of an escribano, requires to be formally proved, three 
 notaries of the " college," under their hands and signs and the 
 seal of the corporation, authenticate the signature and sign of 
 their brother. A Juez de Primei'a Instancia authenticates the 
 certificate of the three notaries ; the Regent of the Audiencia 
 certifies to the Juez; the Minister of Grace and Justice, who 
 is the chief notary of the realm, authenticates the Regent ; the 
 Secretary of Foreign Affairs indorses the ]\Iiuistcr, if the copy 
 is to be used in evidence abroad, and the diplomatic repre-
 
 72 SPAIN. 
 
 sentative of the nation for which it is intended puts the last 
 stone on the house that Jack built. By the time that the fees 
 of the certifiers, and the jproeurador who obtained the certifi- 
 cates, have been paid, the evidence may, it is true, be worth 
 nothing, but it will be sure to have cost enough. 
 
 Report says that judges in Spain are not altogether deaf to 
 those convincing arguments which have the ring of metal in 
 them, but I have no doubt that there is a great deal of exag- 
 geration in all such stories. Where a man cannot give judg- 
 ment in favor of both parties, he must needs displease one, 
 who naturally enough takes him to be in some sort a fool or 
 a knave; and as the amount and nature of a judge's folly are 
 not quite so comprehensible to the unlearned as knavery is, 
 the latter is made to bear the principal burden of the supposed 
 injustice. The publicity of all proceedings under the common 
 law, and the hourly challenge which the judgments of courts 
 receive from those who are competent to give it, are a barrier, 
 in a great degree, to such suspicions, and certainly tend to 
 prevent there being much cause for them. The comparative 
 secrecy and silence through which men walk to judgment in 
 Spain, leaves room, on the other hand, for much questioning 
 of motive, and as surely increases the possibility and conse- 
 quent likelihood of its being just. Certain it is, that the 
 Spanish judges do not hold themselves aloof, as with us judi- 
 cial delicacy prompts, from the personal influence and private 
 suggestions of parties. A well-timed present, and the judi- 
 cious application of that personal courtesy and attention, which 
 go farther with a Spaniard than with any other man, are not 
 considered as by any means unwelcome or out of place. When 
 I was in Seville, in 1847, one of my pleasantest companions
 
 SPAIN. 73 
 
 was an old gentleman from Granada, who had come down, he^ 
 told me, to superintend a j)leito, or lawsuit, of a friend of his, 
 whicli was then about to be decided. He was not a profes- 
 sional man, and his errand had nothing to do with the con- 
 duct of the case, except as to the extra-forensic part of it. 
 Every morning, after breakfast, he would make his appear- 
 ance, niuy peripuesto, well brushed, shaven, and accoutred, for 
 a visit to the judges. "Of course," I said, "you never men- 
 tion the suit to them?" "Ave Maria purisima!" was the 
 reply, "are you dreaming? Do you think I came all the way 
 from Granada, para hacer cortedas, to make bows?" He 
 then told me that, of course, he presented his views to their 
 honors very much at large. " But do you present any thing 
 else ? " " Quien sabe ? who knows ? " was the satisfactory 
 reply. If my friend's opponents were as attentive and prac- 
 tical as he, the judges may well be suspected of having been 
 like the false lawyer in the " Dance of the Dead," — 
 
 " Don falso Abogado, prevalicador, 
 Que de amas las partes levastes salario ! " 
 
 Of the members of the legal profession it would be altogether 
 unfair to judge by the current scandal, for every one knows 
 how sadly men's sorry wits have made havoc with that 
 devoted and exemplary class, in all ages and countries. It is 
 singular, too, by the way, how popular such attacks have 
 always been. The traveller who has visited Rome will of 
 course remember the depository of the dead which rises on a 
 little hill beside the Appian Way, and is called the Colum- 
 barium of Hylas and Vitalina. It is in perfect preservation 
 or restoration, and the urns and vases are probably in the 
 10
 
 74 SPAIN. 
 
 same state and positions in which they were placed, when each 
 tenant of the spot went to his home. Over each little niche 
 is the name of the proprietor, engraven on a simple slab of 
 white marble, with sometimes a posy or brief sentiment. I 
 was struck with one epitaph, which I have never seen alluded 
 to in print. It ran thus : — 
 
 "c^saeis lusok. 
 
 Mtjtus Aegutus. Imitator. Tiberi C^saeis Augttsti. 
 
 Qui Primum ustvtenit Causidicos imitari." 
 
 As it was a professional relic I copied it. The fellow, who 
 would otherwise in all probability have had his ashes funnelled 
 into a small and nameless vase, for a mere king's fool as he 
 was, was handed down to immortality because he was the 
 first " who invented imitating lawyers." Peace be to his 
 manes, notwithstanding ! There have been greater fools, since 
 his day, who have found their way into niches of their liking, 
 by turning into a text of popular morality and profitable 
 denunciation what Mutus Argutus treated as a joke ! 
 
 The members of the Spanish bar with whom I was brought 
 into personal contact were certainly for the most part men of 
 high intelligence, learning, and accomplishments. The major- 
 ity of them, it is true, were devoted to political pursuits, — 
 indeed almost all the high political positions were occupied 
 either by lawyers or military men ; but the practice of the 
 profession is conducted in a manner which gives more leisure 
 — not merely for professional accomplishment, but for general 
 cultivation and the pursuit of reputation in other walks — than 
 an American lawyer can readily conceive. All the written 
 pleadings and their conduct are the work of the procuradores,
 
 SPAIN. 75 
 
 or attorneys, who only trouble counsel for advice, relieving 
 them from all the drudgery and mechanical details of litigation, 
 and enabliuo; them thus to devote their attention to those 
 branches which are purely intellectual. Among us, as is well 
 known, without great reputation and an exceedingly elevated 
 position, few are able to select for themselves any exclusive 
 walk of the profession. A man is expected to be attorney, 
 solicitor, proctor, counsel, barrister, and conveyancer, as well 
 as property-agent and general accountant, too happy if it be 
 not his inevitable destiny to edit a newspaper, or preside over 
 a bank or a railroad company. As, in addition to all this, 
 every American, from the tendency of his nature and of our 
 " peculiar institutions," must be a member of Congress, a gov- 
 ernor, or a foreign minister, at some time of his life ; and as 
 lawyers, from the tendency of their pursuits, have these other 
 tendencies in an aggravated degree, it follows that the profes- 
 sional " mission " has its best advantages and triumphs darkly 
 mingled with painful and oppressive toil, and all the evils 
 which are sure to follow such criminal overtasking of the 
 body and the mind. Welcome be the civilization which shall 
 change these things, — yea, even if it come from Spain !
 
 IX. 
 
 The Press. — Newspapers. — Sabtobiits. — The Puritans. — Pacheco. — 
 Party Organs. 
 
 THE freedom of the press, in Spain, is guarantied, as has 
 been seen, by an express provision of the constitution, 
 which ordains that it shall suflPer no restrictions but those to 
 be imposed by law. It is a singular fact, and very illustra- 
 tive of constitutional habits in the Peninsula, that, in the face 
 of so direct and unequivocal a clause, the rights of the citizen 
 and the powers of the government in 1850 were regulated, in 
 the premises, by a succession of decrees, which had from time 
 to time been promulgated by the executive, without the shadow 
 of legitimate authority. So bold, indeed, was this assumption 
 of legislative functions considered upon all hands, that Sarto- 
 rius. Count of San Luis, then Minister of the Interior, by way 
 of concession to public opinion, had introduced a bill into the 
 Cortes, during the session of 1848, which professed to carry 
 out the spirit of the fundamental law. I did not see the pro- 
 jet, but I was credibly informed that it abounded in excellent 
 sentiments, and extended unlimited freedom to all publica- 
 tions in which there might be no discussion of religion or 
 morals, politics, manners, or legislation. Bad or imperfect as 
 the scheme was held to be, it was, nevertheless, but a tub to 
 76
 
 SPAIN. 77 
 
 the whale. The Minister spoke well of it on all occasions, 
 and referred to it as an evidence of his zelo y patnotismo, but 
 was careful to give some good reason always to the Progre- 
 sista opposition for refusing to let them make it the order of 
 the day. The Cortes were dissolved in 1850, without its 
 having been submitted to their action, and the members had 
 hardly, it seems, returned to their constituents, when an edict 
 more stringent than any which had gone before appeared in 
 the columns of the official Gaceta. A still more arbitrary 
 one has since followed. 
 
 While I was in Madrid it was a frequent occurrence for the 
 whole daily edition of an opposition paper to be seized by the 
 police, as it was upon the point of distribution, — some disa- 
 greeable expressions in an editorial article, perhaps, being the 
 offence alleged. During Holy AVeek, when there were fierce 
 rumors of dissensions at the palace and an impending minis- 
 terial crisis, four or five papers were " recogidos por orden de 
 la autoridad" as it was politely called, in the course of a 
 single day. Nobody seemed to think it at all remarkable, 
 and I will do the parties who suffered the justice to say, that 
 they did not permit it to diminish the boldness and pertinacity 
 with which they maintained and circulated their opinions. 
 These encroachments on the privileges of the fourth estate 
 were made, in due course, through the Department of the 
 Interior. Sartorius was the last man in Spain, perhaps, who 
 could, consistently, perform such functions. He had been a 
 journalist himself not long before, and had gloried in the 
 name of ponodida. He owed in a great measure to that 
 profession his elevation to the power which he so abused 
 against it. During his continuance in the ministry, it was
 
 78 SPAIN, 
 
 believed that he still retained a fondness for his former 
 calling, and there was a rumor, perhaps scandalous, but 
 certainly very current, that those articles of the Heraldo 
 which were most gracious to his own measures and his 
 parliamentary displays had a striliing resemblance to his 
 well-known style. 
 
 Sartorius is certainly a man of considerable cleverness and 
 resource, — adroit, ready, and not troubled with many scruples. 
 In the Cortes, though he was too painfully dressed and but- 
 toned, and wore gloves too tight and yellow for oratorical 
 grace, he was still a bold and efficient debater, full of point 
 and personality, and generally carrying the war into the 
 enemy's country. The haughty and magisterial tone which 
 he assumed was ill tolerated in one who was still a young 
 man, and had but recently won his nobility and station, but 
 it gave a certain force and weight to what he said, and made 
 it seeming wise, if not in fact so. Being a party man, in the 
 strict and even the oifensive sense of the term, his hand was 
 against every one who did not belong to his fold ; and the 
 consequence was, that there was no member of the cabinet 
 in regard to whom I heard expressions of such general and 
 deep ill-feeling. This was perhaps attributable somewhat to 
 the fact that his Department, among the other internal affairs 
 of the realm, was charged with the management of the elec- 
 tions ; and as the modes by which the return of the govern- 
 ment candidates was procured were often not of the choicest 
 or most scrupulous, the Minister was necessarily associated 
 with many things in the public mind which could not add 
 to his dignity or popularity. He had a great hold, however, 
 upon the confidence of Narvaez, who no doubt found him a
 
 SPAIN. 79 
 
 useful colleague, fruitful in expedients, and asking few ques- 
 tions. To his credit be it said, that, since the dissolution of 
 the Narvaez cabinet and the disfavor of the Duke, Sartorius 
 has ever been the foremost to defend his patron, and that, 
 too, with a zeal which he could not have surpassed, had the 
 Duke been still disjDenser, as of old, of place and honors. 
 The gossips of the Puerta del Sol insisted, while I was among 
 them, that the Count had grown very rich from his political 
 opportunities, and as Becky Sharp thought she could be a 
 good woman if she had five thousand a year, perhaps he feels 
 that, under the circumstances, he can afford to be magnani- 
 mous, — especially as Spanish ministers in Coventry are not 
 like the " vox riiissa," which " nescit reverti" and there is no 
 knowing the day nor the hour when the Duke of Valencia 
 may have his own again, — and that of a good many other 
 people besides. It is hardly fair, however, to deny to 
 Sartorius — until time shall prove it undeserved — the con- 
 sideration which is due to that rare virtue among politi- 
 cians, — shall I say among men? — fidelity to a fallen and 
 absent benefactor. 
 
 The lively author of a late agreeable English work on Spain ^ 
 deals rather harshly, I think, with the newspaper press of 
 Madrid. He laughs, justly enough, at the French arrange- 
 ment, type, and taste, which all the journals there display, 
 even to the ridiculous extent of devoting the bottom of every 
 sheet to a "folletin" usually crammed with a translation or a 
 paraphrase of some prurient Parisian romance. But it is 
 hardly fair, upon the other hand, to condemn the Spaniards 
 
 ^ Gazpacho : or Summer Months in Spain,
 
 80 SPAIN. 
 
 by the wholesale, because they do not rival the Times of 
 London or the Paris Presse, — or to judge of their standard of 
 intelligence by such mistakes as Mr. Clarke selects from the 
 letters of their foreign correspondents. If accuracy in the 
 details of foreign news were the criterion of newspaper excel- 
 lence, I am not sure that the English or French leaders, any 
 more than those of our own country, would have much to 
 boast of I know few things more amusing, than to read 
 some of the French and English paragraphs on American 
 politics, unless perhaps it be to take up an occasional Amer- 
 ican commentary on similar matters in the Old World. 
 
 It would be a great end gained by the Peace Congresses, if 
 they could persuade the editorial corps of all nations to learn 
 and know some little about other countries, before venturing 
 to disseminate those crude opinions — so often harsh because 
 adopted ignorantly — which are the cause of so much prejudice, 
 bad blood, and error. I do not really think that the Spanish 
 newspapers need a lesson a whit more than their contempor- 
 aries elsewhere. Except in one particular, which I shall have 
 occasion hereafter to mention, I found their errors generally 
 more amusing than serious, so far as allusions to the United 
 States were concerned. Those of us, for instance, who were 
 anxious to learn the result of the long and discreditable ballot- 
 ing for Speaker which occupied the House of Representatives 
 in 1849, were greatly surprised one day by the following 
 announcement in the Clamor Publico: — "Estados Unidos. Se 
 disputaban la Presidencia de la Camara de Diputados MM. 
 Wintrop, Whig, Mr. Crabbe, radical, y Mr. Scattering, del 
 tercer partido." This, being interpreted, signifies that "In 
 the United States, the Presidency of the Chamber of Deputies
 
 SPAIN. 81 
 
 was in dispute between Messrs. VVintrop, Whig, Mr. 
 Crobbe, radical, and Mr. Scattering, of the third party ! " 
 The same paper likewise informed us, not long after, that 
 there was prevailing in California a frightful degree of misery, 
 — so great, indeed, that the crews of the American ships of 
 war were deserting daily, " throwing their officers overboard 
 before they left ! " 
 
 Penny-a-line trifles of this sort, — of which I could repeat 
 many, were it worth the pains, — the reader will concur with 
 me in thinking, I am sure, no conclusive proof of degeneracy 
 in the press, especially where, as at Madrid, less space is given 
 to them than in the journals of any other country. In the 
 political department of many of the Madrid papers, the very 
 best abilities of the nation are enlisted, and the prominent 
 articles in the leading party organs are often the work of men 
 whose literature, learning, and statesmanship are beyond per- 
 adventure. I had occasion to know that the most distinguished 
 members of the Cortes were frequently contributors to the 
 papers which advocated their particular opinions, and with all 
 allowance for the advantages under which even commonplace 
 may appear in their gorgeous language, I do not, I am sure, 
 exaggerate in saying, that there were frequent articles which 
 for eloquence, boldness, and largeness of views would have 
 done honor to the columns of any newspaper in Europe or 
 America. 
 
 When Mr. Mackenzie was in Madrid, in 1826, to write his 
 " Year in Spain," he found but two papers, the Diario and 
 the Gaceta. The former was a daily small quarto sheet, which 
 contained, he says, "all the commercial intelligence of the 
 Spanish capital ; " to wit, the names of the saints of the day, 
 11
 
 82 SPAIN. 
 
 with those of the churches where there would be masses; 
 advertisements of Bayoune hams and Flanders butter ; with 
 the names and residence of wet-nurses fresh from the Asturias. 
 The Gaceta was a tri-weekly, and embraced " all the literary, 
 scientific, and political intelligence of the whole empire." It 
 was printed on a piece of paper " somewhat larger than a sheet 
 of foolscap," and its contents were limited to an account of the 
 health and occupations of their Majesties, extracts from foreign 
 papers selected and modified for the meridian, lists (no very 
 long ones) of state bonds to be paid, statutes about tithes, and 
 edicts punishing and damning free-masons ! The reader may 
 make up his own mind as to the fairness of supposing that the 
 intelligence and literature of the nation were properly repre- 
 sented by the organs of a despotism, which treated every 
 demonstration of either as a crime; but it is very certain, 
 that Mr. Mackenzie has hardly caricatured the journals which 
 monopolized the capital in those days. It fell within the 
 range of my duties to examine the files of those which were 
 published about the close of the constitutional dynasty in 1823, 
 when the leaders of the liberal party had carried king and 
 Cortes to Seville and Cadiz, and it is due to history to say, 
 that in regard to the quantity and quality of their matter, and 
 the style of their typography, it would be hard to fall on an 
 expression which would not be complimentary. Down to the 
 death of Ferdinand, in 1833, there was, of course, no change 
 possible for the better, and the protracted and uncertain civil 
 war, which lasted for ten years from that happy epoch, natur- 
 ally enough prevented the embarkation of capital in so novel 
 and precarious an enterprise as journalism. The Heraldo, the 
 oldest of the present political papers, was not established until
 
 SPAIN. 83 
 
 1842, and it will, I think, be justly deemed au evidence of 
 no small progress in the nation, that, in February, 1850, there 
 were thirteen daily papers in circulation in Madrid, the most 
 of them receiving such encouragement as justified their contin- 
 uance. Their daily issue, in all, was about thirty-five thousand 
 copies, according to an estimate which went the rounds during 
 ray visit ; and when it is considered that Madrid is, as has 
 been seen, entirely without commerce, and that the advertising 
 support, and the subscriptions consequent thereon, must neces- 
 sarily be very limited, the state of things cannot be regarded 
 as other than extremely satisfactory and promising. The rate 
 of subscription to the most expensive sheets is very moderate, 
 in view of their almost exclusive dependence upon it. Twelve 
 reals, or sixty cents, per month, is the maximum, and there is 
 no interruption of the issue on Sundays. The non-subscribing 
 public are tempted in the Plaza Mayor, the Puerta del Sol, 
 and all other places of resort, by news-venders as noisy as could 
 be desired, though perhaps not as industrious. Their long and 
 marvellous stories of the wonders they are selling awaken 
 strange echoes in places where, so short a while ago, it was a 
 sin to think without permission, and printing without the 
 censorship was held to be in some sort a machination of the 
 Devil. 
 
 The ministerial organ in 1850 was the Heraldo. It was 
 edited by Sefior Mora, the son of a distinguished writer, then 
 a member of the Cortes from one of the Alicante districts, 
 and an under secretary, besides, in the Department of the 
 Interior. He was believed to be the author of the principal 
 articles, but it was generally understood that they breathed 
 the inspiration and often knew the hand of his chief. Being
 
 84 SPAIN. 
 
 the mouthpiece of the government, the Heraldo could not of 
 course be expected to do otherwise than approve and defend 
 its measures ; but although this was often done with plausi- 
 bility and force, the general tone of the editorials was so 
 intensely and enthusiastically laudatory, as to destroy, in a 
 great degree, the effect that otherwise they might have had 
 on the opinion of the nation. I do not remember to have 
 read any thing more nauseously servile than some of them. 
 The principles which they invoked and enforced were of the 
 most retrograde and illiberal character, tending studiously 
 always, under the cover of monarchical reverence, towards 
 the establishment of a ministerial despotism, at the expense 
 of the crown's security and dignity, and the constitutional 
 rights of the people. It was really curious to see how the 
 organ of an administration — every member of which had 
 sprung immediately and recently from the people, and every 
 guaranty of whose ministerial power and independence had 
 been hard won by popular suffering and perseverance — could, 
 over and over, every day, devote itself to the most unlimited 
 denunciation of popular doctrines, and the most fanatical 
 advocacy of the sacred rights of prescription. It was curi- 
 ous, I say, but not astonishing ; for I had just come from 
 France, where the president of a republic which had sprung 
 from the blood of a revolution had newspapers in pay to 
 denounce revolutions, and himself rode out among his fellow- 
 citizens protected by an escort such as even Louis Philippe — 
 so often shot at — had never supposed himself to need. So 
 true it is, that every man in power is a conservative, and 
 that he whose interest it is to keep is the natural and neces- 
 sary enemy of him whose effort is to take !
 
 SPAIN. 85 
 
 The Epoca, an afternoon paper, in the interests of the 
 government, was hardly more than an echo of the Ha-aldo's 
 morning jubilations. 
 
 The chief opponents of the administration — as indeed of 
 the whole 3Ioderado system and dynasty — were the Pro- 
 gresista organs, the Clamor Piiblico and the Nacion, — the 
 former perhaps the more orthodox ; the latter representing 
 more especially the peculiar opinions of those members of the 
 Cortes who were called Progradstas Moderados, or moderate 
 Progresistas. I saw the Clamor more frequently, and read 
 it more carefully, than any other of the opposition prints. 
 Its reputed conductors were Galvez Caflero, a deputy from 
 one of the Malaga districts, and Corradia, who had consider- 
 able repute as a writer. The more authoritative articles 
 were believed to be the work of the former, but the leaders 
 generally were extremely creditable, not only in style and 
 taste, but for their boldness, information, and manly good 
 sense. The Moderadoa professed, as well as their opponents, 
 ^ desire for the maintenance of the constitutional monarchy, 
 but they regarded it always from the monarchical or con- 
 servative, as opposed to the constitutional or progressive, 
 point of view. The Clamor, on the contrary, without falling 
 into the subversive doctrines of the radical party, was the 
 steady advocate of the constitutional side of the question, and 
 inculcated the rigid enforcement of constitutional restrictions 
 and responsibilities, and the development, in a constitutional 
 way, of the more popular elements of the state. Its tone was 
 invariably resjiectful to the person and legitimate prerogatives 
 of royalty, and courteous towards the individuals in power, 
 but its spirit was perfectly independent under all circum-
 
 86 SPAIN. 
 
 stances, and nothing that it was proper to say ever lost force 
 in its columns for want of being said both fearlessly and 
 plainly. When, as would sometimes happen, an unguarded 
 paragraph would cause the suppression of the morning's 
 edition, the publishers would set themselves to work to get 
 out another forthwith, and the subscribers would find on their 
 tables, only a few hours later, the usual supply of good doc- 
 trine, made a little more piquant, perhaps, by an allusion to 
 the "law's delay," which would probably occupy, in promi- 
 nent type, the place of the confiscated article. Thus the 
 government rarely gained any thing by its usurpations but 
 the opportunity of uselessly asserting its power, losing ten 
 times as much, of course, from the moral effect of opposition 
 so indomitable and successful. 
 
 The Patria, of which the author of " Gazpacho " speaks 
 most favorably, was an opposition print, which was started 
 by some members of the Pur-itano or puritan party. These 
 gentlemen, it will be readily imagined, did not take their 
 party name from any religious notions, such as the word 
 suggests to us. They originally belonged to the Moderado 
 division, but, finding that their associates were fast becoming 
 absolutists in principle, and did little practically except to 
 keep themselves in place, — finding too, perhaps, that those 
 associates were in power, and they themselves were unlikely to 
 attain it, except upon a different basis, — they " pronounced " 
 for a return to the older and genuine Modei^ado doctrine of 
 constitutional conservatism. This assumption of an especial 
 purity of doctrine gave them their title. 
 
 The Puritanos have some eminent persons among them, 
 and their leader, Sr. Pacheco, is one of the first men in Spain.
 
 SPAIN. 87 
 
 I have referred to him as the counsel of Diaz Martinez, and 
 recur to him in this place because he was in private life when 
 I was in Madrid, and his name will hardly arise in any but 
 the present connection. He was in power in 1847 for a short 
 time during my first visit to the Peninsula, but his adminis- 
 tration, though from many causes practically a failure, has not 
 diminished his reputation as a man of integrity and thought. 
 A distinguished foreign diplomatist — whose opportunities of 
 knowledge had been ample, and whose ability to judge would 
 be immediately conceded, were I to name him — informed me 
 that he considered many of Pacheco's despatches, which had 
 passed specially under his observation, as equal to the best 
 of M. Guizot's. In his profession of the law, Sr. Pacheco 
 stands with but few rivals in Madrid. He had published 
 several works upon subjects connected with it, which are of 
 acknowledged authority. In politer letters he is also dis- 
 tinguished, — being a prominent member of the Academy, and 
 a poet of vigor, tenderness, and great purity and accuracy of 
 versification. His prose style is grave and stately, like his 
 elocution, which is very impressive. He had published a 
 portion of a History of the Regency of Maria Cristina (the 
 present Queen Mother), whiCh was regarded as a work of 
 great impartiality and merit ; but his principal reputation 
 as a prose-writer grew out of his written discourses and his 
 contributions to the periodical press. His inaugural address, 
 upon his introduction to the Academy, was on the subject of 
 journalism, and a good many years of his life were devoted 
 in some degree to that profession. It was thus that he became 
 concerned with the Pcdria, in conjunction with Benavides, a 
 member of the Cortes, of whom I shall have occasion to
 
 88 SPAIN. 
 
 speak hereafter. Pacheco, however, had retired from his con- 
 nection with the paper before I reached Madrid, and, as I 
 have said, was pursuing his avocations as a private citizen 
 when I had the good fortune to be admitted to the circle 
 which his many accomplishments rendered so attractive. He 
 proposed being a candidate for Ecija, his native town, in 
 Andalusia, at the election for Cortes which succeeded my 
 departure. Whether he undertook the canvass, I have no 
 means of knowing; but I regard it as a misfortune to the 
 nation that he was not on the list of those who were returned. 
 After the dissolution which followed the downfall of Narvaez 
 in 1851, he was a successful candidate, and is now one of the 
 leaders of the Chamber of Deputies. 
 
 It would be hardly worth while to trace, through the 
 diiferent periodicals which represented them, the varieties of 
 political opinion which circumstances and the ambition of 
 individuals and cliques had made so numerous in Madrid. 
 The Moderado opposition, who were in opposition because 
 they were out of place and wanted to get in, by making 
 themselves worth bidding for, had administered de bonis non 
 on the political estate of the defunct Puritano influence, and 
 had thus obtained possession of the Patria. The Marquis of 
 Pidal, who was Minister of State, had his personal views 
 and those of his brother-in-law, the noted finance minister, 
 Sr. Mon, put forth in the Pais. The Epoca was another 
 Moderado press, under the sway of Sr. Olivan, a deputy of 
 many hopes. Queen Cristina, too, kept herself before the 
 public, with her usual adroitness, in the pensioned columns 
 of the Espafia. The Pueblo was democratic and rampant, 
 though edited by a Marquis. The Esperanza, on the other
 
 SPAIN. 89 
 
 hand, was the echo of the high torics, and the organ of Carl- 
 ism and every thing else reactionary. That the Carlist organ 
 had one of the largest subscription lists, would have been 
 startling and significant under other circumstances. But the 
 Esperanza^s impunity was no doubt principally due to the fact, 
 that the throne had but little to fear from that quarter, and 
 the rulers of the day were very willing to hear conservatism 
 preached, when Carlism bore the burden of its obnoxiousness, 
 and the Moderados reaped the benefit. 
 
 12
 
 X. 
 
 Cuba and the United States. — The Ceonica Newspaper. — Parties 
 IN Cuba. — Public Sentiment there. — Abuses and their Kejiedy. 
 — Annexation. 
 
 I HAVE said that, in one particular, the comments of the 
 Madrid press upon American affairs were not directed 
 always by the best informed or kindest spirit. In this I had 
 reference to the Cuba question, — the proposed annexation of 
 that island, and the piratical enterprises in contemplation 
 against it, — one of which, but a short time previously, had 
 been frustrated by the vigilant good faith of General Taylor's 
 administration. Although I had full occasion to experience, 
 in the facilities afforded me for the discharge of my own 
 duties, the cordiality with which the course of the President 
 and his cabinet had inspired the Spanish government, it was 
 impossible not to see that there were circumstances surround- 
 ing the question, which of necessity created, in both ministers 
 and people, an uneasiness, and indeed distrust, as to the future. 
 The obligation of the nations to observe their treaties incon- 
 testably and obviously involves the duty of enacting laws 
 which shall compel that observance, to the letter, on the 
 part of their own citizens. When, therefore, a people who 
 are peremptory in exacting the strictest performance of treaty 
 90
 
 SPAIN. 91 
 
 stipulations from others, set up the nature of their own institu- 
 tions as a reason for their inability to keep as strictly the faith 
 which they have as positively pledged, they have no right to 
 marvel if their honesty be brought in question. Nations treat 
 as equals. In their internal government, they may be what 
 they please, — in their external aspect they are nations merely, 
 with all the faculties and duties of such. Sovereignty which 
 is responsible enough to contract and thereby obtain benefits, 
 cannot be allowed to disclaim responsibility in the matter of 
 keeping promises. It may be strong enough to disregard the 
 consequences of so doing, — bold enough to challenge them, — 
 but it must submit to be called unprincipled, or at all events 
 to be considered so. If a nation's institutions unfit it for 
 keeping treaties, it ought not to make them. It either has a 
 government, or it has not. If it has not, it ought not to 
 make pretence that it has ; if it has, that government should 
 govern. The logic of the matter is as clear as its honesty ; 
 and false pretences are as criminal under the public law as 
 under the municipal. 
 
 It must be confessed, that, in reference to the Cuba ques- 
 tion, appearances were not very favorable to our national 
 fair-dealing. That in a civilized country, in the nineteenth 
 century, it should have been seriously proposed, and openly, 
 as a scheme of public policy, to acquire, by actual or moi'al 
 force, the territory of a friendly nation, — believed to be a 
 weak one, — for no other reason and with no other pretext 
 than, simply, that the party proposing to take thought proper 
 to covet, — was quite enough to startle those plain people, all 
 the world over, who had been taught to consider good faith 
 as sacred, and rapine a crime. But when such a scheme was
 
 92 SPAIN. 
 
 advocated, boldly and constantly, in the public journals of 
 the aggressive nation, without provoking a universal, nay, 
 even a general expression of indignation and shame, — when, 
 in the ports of that nation, expeditions were set on foot and 
 men and munitions of war were got together for the purpose 
 of invading the coveted territory, and either seizing it, or 
 revolutionizing its population, with a view to its ultimate 
 acquisition, — it is hardly to be wondered that the civilized 
 world should have poured forth unanimous denunciations. 
 The people of the outraged nation had certainly a reasonable 
 apology, if they forgot the soft words and the forbearance 
 which became thera as Christians. The Spaniards have a 
 national endowment of fortitude, which is remarkable. San 
 Lorenzo, whose gridiron is immortalized in the Escorial, is 
 said to have suggested, when they were broiling him, that 
 they had better turn him on the other side, as that nearest 
 the coals was, he thought, sufficiently cooked. His descend- 
 ants, upon the present occasion, behaved as well as it was 
 reasonable to anticipate from even such an example. But 
 there are limits even to the spirit of martyrdom, and it is not 
 in human nature that men should be altogether patient and 
 philosophical, when they witness a systematic and deliberate 
 organization for the robbery and murder of their brethren. 
 Nor is their equanimity at all likely to be increased, by the 
 fact that national insult is added to private injury, and that 
 men who are carrying out, and presses which are glorifying, 
 the principles and practices of the Norse freebooters, should 
 be thanking God they are free and enlightened, and not 
 like the "ignorant, uncivilized race" which they are about 
 to plunder and slay.
 
 SPAIN. 93 
 
 While, then, it was generally conceded in Madrid, that 
 the United States executive government had done its best, 
 in view of its limited i)owers, it was equally clear that 
 those powers were more than necessarily circumscribed, — at 
 all events practically, — and there was enough in the demon- 
 strations of the American press, — enough, with shame and 
 sorrow be it said, in occasional expressions wdiich disgraced 
 the American Congress, — to satisfy the Spaniards that there 
 was danger before them from the possible action of our peo- 
 ple and the weakness and imperfection of our laws. Their 
 ideas were, besides, aiFected further by their own notions and 
 habits of government. Accustomed to the surveillance, and 
 the rapid, secret, and unscrupulous action of a detective police, 
 they could not comprehend the tardy and imperfect operation 
 of that popular, free system, which leaves so much undis- 
 covered and unpunished, least any should, })erchance, be 
 unduly suspected or oppressed. They could not understand 
 how a warlike expedition could be set on foot, in any country, 
 without its being known, immediately, to the government; 
 and it was inconceivable to them that a suspected person 
 could be left at large, without connivance on the part of 
 some of the authorities. They felt and knew that their own 
 government had the means of preventing the preparation for 
 such outrages in its ports, and that its powers would be exer- 
 cised, immediately and effectually, to suppress and punish. 
 They had some difficulty, therefore, in being persuaded that 
 they had not a right to expect what they felt themselves 
 bound and were always ready to render, and what the United 
 States, upon at least one memorable occasion, had exacted 
 from them at the point of the bayonet.
 
 94 SPAIN. 
 
 There was another cause of irritation and anxiety, which, 
 though unfortunate, was natural. Very few American news- 
 papers reach the Peninsula, and the information as to American 
 affairs which is derived from the European journals is generally 
 meagre and partial. The principal details which were received 
 and reproduced by the Madrid press were furnished by the 
 Cronica, a newspaper published at New York, in the Spanish 
 language, and commonly asserted, in Madrid, to be supported 
 by the Cuban government. It would be impossible for any 
 thing to be more elaborately and systematically unjust, than 
 the mass of that paper's editorial observations upon the 
 character and sentiments of the people of the United States, 
 — an injustice which it is difficult not to pronounce wilful, 
 in view of the general intelligence which pervades the journal, 
 and precludes the imputation of ignorance. At the time 
 referred to, the good faith of the American government was 
 constantly impeached in the Cronica, and the integrity and 
 sincerity of the Cabinet officers were systematically assailed. 
 The wholesome and honest public feeling and opinion which 
 pervaded so large a portion of the American community and 
 found such frequent utterance in the columns of its influential 
 journals, were studiously ignored, or broadly denied to exist. 
 It seemed, in fine, the whole, unscrupulous effort of the paper 
 to create and strengthen the impression that our government 
 was without faith, or power for good, and our people destitute 
 alike of truth and honesty. The tenor of my own views, as 
 already expressed, will, I think, be some guaranty to the reader, 
 that I have no sympathy — not the most remote — with the per- 
 petrators of the outrages in question, nor any national super- 
 sensibility, which would lead me into an overstatement of the 
 misrepresentations to which I am referring.
 
 SPAIN. 95 
 
 Facts and circumstances, such as the CrOnica, in the spirit 
 I have spoken of, took pains to promulgate, were published 
 for truth, as the testimony of eyewitnesses, in the newspapers 
 of Madrid. "Se lee en un periodico de Nueva York," they 
 would say, — " We read in a New York paper the follow- 
 ing," &c., &c. ; and the public, not familiar with the mys- 
 teries of journalism, took for granted that the "thrilling 
 narratives " with which they were regaled were the concurrent 
 testimonials of the indigenous press of New York, and thought 
 it astonishing that the pueblo Norte- Americano should not only 
 be so full of villany, but so barefaced in pleading guilty to it. 
 It is but proper to admit that the commentaries of the Madrid 
 papers were extremely moderate, in view of the facts which 
 they believed to be thus in their possession. A supposed 
 determination on the part of England to annex California 
 would, I am sure, condense more hard names and indignant 
 eloquence into the editorials of any one of our village news- 
 papers, than the whole Madrid press gave vent to, under 
 similar circumstances. But it will, nevertheless, be readily 
 imagined, that such things could not fail to awaken suspicion 
 and apprehension, even in those who did not credit them alto- 
 gether, and that, most naturally, there existed much question 
 of our motives and action, even among those whose politi- 
 cal principles led them to admire our institutions, and take 
 pleasure in our prosperity and greatness. It cannot be 
 denied that they had in fact much solid reason to think ill 
 of us, and plausible grounds for doing so even to a far greater 
 extent than we really deserved. 
 
 I had fortunate opportunities of meeting in Madrid with 
 many gentlemen from Cuba, of intelligence and influence, and
 
 96 SPAIN. 
 
 of all shades of political opinion. The unreserved expression 
 of their views, and the details of fact with which many of 
 them favored me, enabled me to form perhaps as accurate an 
 idea of the politics of the island, as even a visit there would 
 ordinarily afford a stranger. Parties, I was told, were, in 
 the main, but three. Among them, the uncompromising 
 friends of the existing state of things occupied the first place 
 in political power and ostensible influence. To this class 
 belonged, of course, all the government officials, with their 
 friends and dependents, — all the military men, — many of the 
 wealthier Creoles and the numerous resident Spaniards, engaged 
 in private pursuits. These last are principally Catalans or 
 Basques, — mostly the former, — with the courage and energy 
 characteristic of their respective provinces. Considering them- 
 selves still as citizens of the Peninsula, and looking forward 
 to an old age of competence, at home, from the fruits of their 
 temporary exile, they naturally incline towards maintaining 
 the predominance of the mother country against the immuni- 
 ties which the Cubans, as naturally, covet. They are most 
 of them wealthy ; almost all in promising or prosperous busi- 
 ness. If taxes are high, they thrive notwithstanding. If 
 government is arbitrary and exacting, it still leaves them 
 the means of getting rich and escaping in comfort. Their 
 acquisitions and prospects, therefore, are things far too serious 
 and substantial to be put upon the hazard of any revolution, 
 and they consequently form a conservative phalanx, which it 
 wuU be found extremely difficult at any time to break. They 
 will be ready, in any crisis, to place at the disposal of the 
 government a large portion of their wealth, for the preserva- 
 tion of the rest, and they themselves will form no trifling
 
 SPAIN. 97 
 
 accession to the military strength of the island, — the civil 
 broils of latter years in Spain having unfortunately left few 
 from the northern provinces unaccustomed to bearing arms, 
 or ignorant of military discipline. 
 
 The extreme party on the other side — that alone to which 
 immediate or forcible annexation would be tolerable — is, I 
 was told, and as subsequent events have shown, quite insig- 
 nificant in influence, character, extent, and true patriotism. 
 It of course embraces, as all parties of extreme opinion do, 
 some few sincere enthusiasts; but its principal recruits are 
 from the ranks of those wlio have nothing to lose, and those 
 who, having fallen under the ban of the government, have 
 fortunes to redeem or injuries to revenge. Its members are 
 chiefly Creoles, or strangers who have no other livelihood 
 than opening mine Ancient Pistol's oyster. In a country 
 with different political and social habits and organization, the 
 many grievances which really irritate and seriously oppress 
 would render desperate adventurers like these a possible 
 nucleus of dangerous agitation. But political abstractions 
 melt away under that burning sun, and the population is 
 neither large nor concentrated enough, nor sufficiently accus- 
 tomed to political discussion, to be easily moved by the ordi- 
 nary appeals which have so much force in popular governments 
 and colder climates. The Cubans, besides, are of too lax a 
 fibre, and too fond of pleasure, for any of those doings with 
 which "fierce democraties" are wont to thunderstrike old 
 systems. Pine-apples and cigars, — the opera, the paseo, and 
 the sea-breeze, — are far pleasanter things, even under a Cap- 
 tain-General, than the dust and blood (besides the trouble) of 
 a doubtful revolution. The enervating influences which have 
 13
 
 98 SPAIN. 
 
 made the stalwart language of Castile a lisping bastard on 
 the Creole's lips, have emasculated his character also, and 
 destroyed within him the virile independence and proud forti- 
 tude which centuries of oppression have not taken from the 
 old Castilian heart. The spirit of the radical party, there- 
 fore, is of as little practical consideration as its numbers. 
 
 The third division — if parties and principles have any thing 
 reasonable in them — should be, and I was told it was, by far 
 the most numerous, as it is certainly the most patriotic of the 
 three. It is composed, mainly, of the Cubans themselves, 
 but embraces the best elements of intelligence, enterprise, and 
 virtue to be found among them. Its members have simply 
 in view the interests of the island and its inhabitants. They 
 are wedded to no particular scheme or system, and are will- 
 ing to support any which will secure to them a rational 
 freedom, and an exemption from oppressive and unjust 
 burdens. They have no preference for independence, except 
 as a means of securing these benefits, and regarding it, under 
 the circumstances, as a perilous, and most doubtful experi- 
 ment, they are many of them anxious, and almost all of them 
 content, to continue the colonial relation. Other things being 
 equal, or, indeed, approximating equality, — it would never 
 occur to them to imagine a transfer of their dependence from 
 the mother country to the United States. All their national 
 peculiarities — the sympathy of race, a common language, 
 historical associations, family ties, and national customs and 
 tastes — incline them irresistibly towards the land of their 
 origin. The Spaniards are not of a blood that readily 
 amalgamates, and least of all with the Saxon or any mix- 
 ture of it. But the predilection of the intelligent Cubans
 
 SPAIN. 99 
 
 for the Spanish connection, though a strong one, is, never- 
 theless, not blind. They complain of bad government, and 
 are earnest in insisting, so far as they lawfully may, upon 
 having their grievances redressed. This is not the place to 
 inquire how far their complaints are well founded. That the 
 evils which produce them have been greatly overstated, both 
 as to number and aggravation, I have no doubt. This has 
 been particularly the case in the many absurd publications 
 which have been made in the United States, with a view to 
 stimulate and keep up the annexation and invasion excite- 
 ments, and which have misled so many to suffering and 
 death. But, on the other hand, it is only just to say, that, 
 among the many intelligent Cubans I have met, I do not 
 remember one — no matter what may have been his politics — 
 who has not spoken, in strong language, of grievous abuses 
 as existing. Such unanimity cannot certainly be without 
 cause. That the government of the island is neither more 
 nor less than a military despotism, all the world knows. Its 
 responsible and lucrative offices are, almost exclusively, in the 
 hands of empleados from the mother country, where, indeed, 
 Cuba is held, as Mistress Page was by her enamored knight, 
 to be " all gold and bounty." Politicians who have rendered 
 services which the coffers of the Peninsula are too empty to 
 compensate conveniently, and aspirants to place at home who 
 are needy and dangerous, are rewarded habitually, or pro- 
 pitiated, as the case may be, by a chance of picking the 
 colony. The administration of justice is admitted, on all 
 hands, to be tardy, costly, and corrupt. Nowhere, I was 
 told, does the escribano system, with all its consequences, — 
 " insani prtemia scribfe," — flourish half so gloriously. Taxa-
 
 100 SPAIN. 
 
 tion, if not so exorbitant as is sometimes pretended, is unques- 
 tionably unequal and needlessly oppressive. The restraint on 
 commerce, and the subserviency of its regulations to Peninsular 
 interests, contribute to render that oppressiveness still more 
 unwelcome, — while the fact, that all the impositions which 
 weigh so heavily upon the colonists go to the support of an 
 administration of strangers, or the maintenance of a govern- 
 ment across the ocean, suffices, of itself, to throw on the colonial 
 relation a certain shade of inevitable odium. 
 
 It is not to be concealed, that the pressure of these things is 
 made more galling, even to the most loyal of the Cubans, by 
 the proximity of this republic. They cannot avoid feeling 
 that the palpable contrast between our relative prosperity and 
 progress and theirs is mainly attributable to the diiference in 
 political institutions and their administration. Every unsuc- 
 cessful application to the home government for measures of 
 redress of course heightens the effect of that contrast, and 
 proportionally inclines them to turn from a system which 
 perpetuates misrule, to one which furnishes such practical 
 demonstration of its efficiency for good. If, therefore, all the 
 freebooters who disgrace our shores were driven from them, — 
 if the few shameless presses were silenced which proclaim as 
 honorable and patriotic the breach of our treaty faith and 
 the total abandonment of national honor, — the Cuban govern- 
 ment itself alone might give efficiency, and weight, and final 
 success to the project of annexation. A very interesting 
 pamphlet, presenting this view of the subject, was published 
 in Madrid while I was there, by Don Jose Antonio Saco, a 
 distinguished Cuban, who, although an anti -annexationist, was 
 then reaping in banishment, at Calais, the reward of his honest
 
 SPAIN. 101 
 
 but too candid zeal. The liberal newspapers adopted and ad- 
 vocated his ideas, with a great deal of freedom and force, while 
 the government organs, of course, denounced them as treason- 
 able and absurd. The columns of the latter journals were 
 filled, meanwhile, with letters from Havana, which gave 
 magnificent accounts of public displays, operatic fiestas, and 
 balls and banquets enthusiastically attended, at the palace of 
 the Captain-General, — all obviously got up as proof conclusive 
 of the splendor, happiness, and plenty which flourish under 
 the existing system. For men mad enough to think that such 
 things can long disguise the evils or retard the overthrow of a 
 bad government, there is no hellebore except the fate which 
 they invoke. Nor can that fate, in its good season, fail to 
 overtake them, if they so continue to deserve it. Now, it will 
 be comparatively easy for the Spanish government, in the 
 patriotic reaction after the defeat of Lopez, — the loyal rallying 
 of all parties and classes around the throne, — to put an end to 
 discontent and danger. The most moderate reforms, — the 
 mere foreshadowing of something better, — anything that may 
 give or seem to give, an earnest of a more liberal system to 
 come, — will suffice to revive hopes and quicken and confirm 
 allegiance. Every year of delay will render the task more 
 difficult and the result more problematic. 
 
 It requires, one would think, but ordinary forecast and 
 familiarity with human nature to perceive all this ; but men 
 in power, and especially in Spain, seem cursed with the fatal- 
 ity of thinking that the present is all of time. The pleasure 
 and pride of governing and getting rich by it appear to absorb 
 all other considerations, even with men whose capacity and 
 experience of public affairs ought to teach them that duty is
 
 102 SPAIN. 
 
 worth discharging, as a matter of policy and reputation at all 
 events, to say nothing of principle. Causes, however, will 
 not cease to operate, because politicians choose to disregard 
 them. The flood-tide of the ocean had small care for Canute. 
 Unless there be a change, and a most decided one, in the atti- 
 tude of Spain towards her chief colony, there must, sooner or 
 later, but inevitably, be a repetition of the memorable lesson, 
 ''C'esttroptard!" 
 
 But let it not for a moment be inferred from this, that 
 there is or can be any real sympathy, on the part of the 
 inhabitants of Cuba, with the expeditions of the buccaneers 
 who have given so much trouble to them, and brought so 
 much discredit on us, of late. Results have been demon- 
 strative enough on this point. What the Cubans desire is 
 improvement, not revolution, — protection to property, and 
 personal security, under a better government and better laws. 
 If they cannot obtain these things from the mother country, 
 they may be forced or tempted to seek them in the last resort, 
 as I have said, under the auspices of a powerful and freer 
 nation. But this will be in the last resort only, and peace- 
 fully, if possible. Revolt would, at the best, involve conse- 
 quences which it is horrible to contemplate. The Spanish 
 government has announced its inflexible determination, that 
 the island shall continue Spanish or be made African. "Cuba 
 ha de ser Espatlola 6 Africana." The hour in which the 
 standard of revolt should be successfully reared, would see 
 the slaves let loose upon their masters. The rapine, murder, 
 and incendiarism of a single day of servile triumph could 
 never be repaired, to the present inhabitants of the island. 
 Others might come after them and prosper, — the island itself
 
 SPAIN. 103 
 
 might become rich and great in time, under other institu- 
 tions, — but the men of this day and the things that are theirs 
 would disappear in the conflict. The power of the Union 
 might conquer, — it could not save. If, then, the Cubans 
 would have so much reason to dread the drawing of the 
 sword, with all the force of this republic on their side, it 
 presupposes madness in them to imagine that they can seri- 
 ously countenance revolt, with no other reliance than the 
 Falstaff regiments of our steamboat " patriots." There is 
 double reason for their shrinking from the struggle in that 
 shape. Success would be as bad as defeat. The motives and 
 hopes of such adventurers as would seek their shores under 
 such banners could only be based on plunder. Of necessity 
 they would be in search of better fortunes. Whence would 
 the plunder — whence would the fortunes — come? All the 
 generals and colonels, all the governors and other miscel- 
 laneous functionaries and heroes who might lead or follow 
 the liberating chivalry, would of course expect a pound of 
 pay to every ounce of glory. They would take leave to 
 dictate their own rewards, and to apportion them, if there 
 were need, at the point of the bayonet. Unhappy Cuba 
 would have cause to sigh, amid the seven devils that had 
 come to her, for the single one she had been so anxious 
 to cast out. It cannot be that the Cubans are blind to all 
 this ; and the hopes and calculations M'hich rest on the ex- 
 istence of such blindness must be frustrated. Even among 
 the Antilles there are people who have heard of ^sop, and 
 remember the fable of the horse who submitted to the rein 
 that he might take vengeance on his enemy, and was ridden 
 and driven for ever after, — the drudge and victim of his
 
 104 SPAIN, 
 
 friend ! They must have read our history but little and ill, 
 not to have learned that "annexation" is equivalent to ab- 
 sorption, and that the " proud bird " in which we glory so 
 much has claws and a beak for his own edification, as well as 
 benignant wings for the protection of dependent poultry.
 
 XI. 
 
 The CHAjrBER of Deputies. — Teatro de Okiente. — Mikistees and 
 Opposition. — Council of Ministers. — Seats of Ministers in the 
 Legislature. 
 
 ALTHOUGH legislative bodies, even under the most 
 liberal system of suffrage, do not universally (with 
 deference be it said) represent the best phases of the national 
 spirit, intelligence, or taste, they are nevertheless suflBciently 
 characteristic, always, in their deliberations, to interest a 
 stranger greatly. This is particularly true of the more popu- 
 lar branch, where there are two. The Congress of Deputies 
 in Madrid was accordingly one of my favorite places of resort. 
 The new Palace, which the Deputies now occupy, at the head 
 of the Carrera de San Geronimo, near the Prado, was not 
 finished or dedicated to its legislative uses until some months 
 after my return home. It is a large and costly building, but 
 very badly situated, it seems to me, for effect, and, although 
 rendered somewhat imposing by its size and classical preten- 
 sions, is wanting in dignity and taste. Thcophile Gautier says 
 that he doubts whether good laws can possibly be made under 
 such architecture; but a traveller from the United States must 
 needs be more hopeful, in view of the excellent legislation 
 which has now and then emanated from our own Capitol, in 
 14 105
 
 106 SPAIN. 
 
 spite of its dome and the statuary on its portico and in its 
 neighborhood. 
 
 The Congress held its sessions, during my stay, in the 
 saloon of the Teatro (theatre) de Oriente, an immense build- 
 ing, then still unfinished, but since converted, at the expense 
 of the government, into perhaps the most superb opera-house 
 in Europe. It lies at the foot of the Calle del Arenal, the 
 street which runs directly from the Puerta del Sol to the 
 Royal Palace, and obstructs, with its huge, unsightly pile of 
 bricks, the thoroughfare and view from the Puerta to the 
 beautiful Plaza de Oriente. The French, during their occu- 
 pation of Madrid, determined, with their usual good taste in 
 such matters, that the avenue between the Puerta and the 
 Palace should be direct and uninterrupted. As it cost them 
 nothing to gratify their fancy, they caused the interposing 
 buildings to be demolished accordingly. Ferdinand the Sev- 
 enth, with his proverbial want of taste, and his recklessness in 
 making all things bend to it, resolved, on his return, not to 
 remedy the private wrong which the destruction of property 
 had inflicted, but to throw away for his private amusement 
 the public good which had been purchased by the sacrifice. 
 It occurred to him, that he would like to have a theatre 
 within a stone's throw of the palace, so that he might step 
 into it by a covered way, after dinner, without danger of the 
 pulmonia or prejudice to his digestion. Straightway, there- 
 fore, arose the Teatro de Oriente, in the very course of the 
 Arenal and the very line of view from the Palace and the 
 Puerta. In order to render the exploit as acceptable as might 
 be to his people, he caused the massive foundations and ridic- 
 ulously heavy walls of the structure to be laid with an utter
 
 SPAIN. 107 
 
 contempt of cost, and provided the necessary funds by arbi- 
 imos upon the fruits of Malaga, and other equally rational 
 impositions. "Dios nos libre del despotvmio ! — May God de- 
 liver us from despotism ! " — was the fervent ejaculation, at 
 this stage of his story, of the worthy Progresista who called 
 my attention to these details. But Ferdinand did not live to 
 consummate the triumph of his caprice over popular conveni- 
 ence, the beauty of the capital, and common propriety and 
 sense. The political troubles which followed his exit were 
 two engrossing to permit even theatres to be thought of or 
 paid for, and the lumbering mass lay almost as he left it, un- 
 til 1850, when Sartorius resolved to complete it under the 
 auspices of his Department, so that the prestige of the Mode- 
 rado dynasty might be strengthened, by the popularity of 
 Alboui the singer and Fuoco the dancer. In the meantime, 
 however, what had been meant for the amusement Ferdinand 
 most loved (among those which were harmless) was applied 
 to the purposes he most hated, — those of popular legislation. 
 The saloon, a beautiful and commodious chamber, was finished 
 and elegantly fitted up, in 1841, for the Congress of Depu- 
 ties. All the necessary apartments for offices, committee- 
 rooms, library and archives, were easily provided, without 
 taxing half the capabilities of the enormous edifice, and — 
 except for the name of the thing — Spain might have been 
 spared, for at least another of her constitutional cycles, the 
 cost of yet another palace. Surely, in the state of her finances, 
 Sefior Conde de San Luis ! she might have managed to dis- 
 pense with a government opera-house. 
 
 At the head of the saloon, towards the north, upon a lofty 
 platform, was the throne, magnificent in drapery and gilding,
 
 108 SPAIN. 
 
 guarded by couchant lions, gilded also. In front of this was 
 the chair of the President, before whom the secretaries sat at 
 their table. On each side was a sort of tribune or pulpit, 
 whence orators might speak, if they chose, and from which 
 the ministers read royal edicts on occasions of great state. 
 Along the walls, upon the platform, were the diplomatic and 
 other privileged galleries. The seats to which the public were 
 admitted were at the lower extremity of the chamber. The 
 benches of the members were placed in ascending grades, par- 
 allel with the length of the saloon, down the centre of which 
 there was an open passage to where the halberdiers, in antique 
 dresses, stood at the foot. None but the ministers were sup- 
 plied with desks. Little slips or leaves of mahogany, attached 
 to the backs of the benches, and so arranged that they could 
 be raised and used by those sitting behind, for the convenience 
 of taking notes, seemed to answer all necessary purposes. The 
 ministers sat together, on the first front bench to the right, at 
 the foot of the presidential platform. Immediately behind 
 them were the seats of some of their most prominent support- 
 ers, and a little lower down, on the same side, were several of 
 the leaders of the Moderado opposition. The Progresistas 
 were principally grouped directly in front of the ministers on 
 the opposite side of the central passage. The appearance of 
 the body was, on the whole, dignified and prepossessing, and 
 although it numbered three hundred and fifty members, there 
 was, even in the most excited debates, a general observance of 
 personal and parliamentary decorum, which illustrated the 
 proverbial good-breeding of the nation. 
 
 The President of the Deputies seems to exercise a much 
 more arbitrary jurisdiction than the corresponding functionary
 
 SPAIN. 109 
 
 with us. His control over the hours of meeting and adjourn- 
 ment appears to be discretionary, and his decision, upon ques- 
 tions of order and parliamentary privilege, to carry the force 
 of law. If authority so large may sometimes (as it must) be 
 abused, — especially where the influence of government is so 
 marked, and where the Presidency must generally be within 
 its gift, — there is, on the other hand, no doubt that time and 
 disorder are greatly economized by it, and that a vast amount 
 of empty and profitless debate is superseded. Nor, indeed, 
 am I sure that the power of a partisan majority over free- 
 dom of speech is not less likely to be unscrupulously used 
 by a single and solely responsible individual, — who, although 
 elected by that majority, has yet his personal integrity and 
 intelligence directly and conspicuously at stake, — than by the 
 majority itself, in whose action responsibility is divided, and 
 individual scruples are swept off their feet by the rush of the 
 crowd. 
 
 The ministers of the crown are not ex officio members of 
 the Cortes, but, if they belong to either of the legislative 
 bodies, they may take part in the discussions of both, though 
 without the right of voting except in that of which they are 
 members. The administration is distributed into seven De- 
 partments, each of which has its Secretary. The Minister of 
 State discharges the usual duties of such a functionary. The 
 Minister of Grace and Justice is charged with the superin- 
 teudence of the legal and judicial system, — the control of 
 ecclesiastical affairs, patents of nobility, pardons, privileges, 
 and legal dispensations, — the custody and authentication of 
 the laws of the realm, — and a thousand collateral branches of 
 duty and patronage such as must necessarily belong to so com-
 
 110 SPAIN. 
 
 prebensive a Department, The Minister of Gobernacion (or 
 of the Interior), has the control of police and taxes, — the post- 
 office and the conscription, — the internal government of the 
 provinces, so far as that belongs to the central authority, — 
 the management of theatres and bull-fights, the press and the 
 prisons. His jurisdiction embraces the colonies, and his duties 
 therefore are complicated and almost incalculable. The Min- 
 ister of Commerce, Instruction, and Public Works, and the 
 Secretaries of Finance, War, and the Navy, exercise respect- 
 ively their obvious functions. The seven Secretaries form 
 what is called the Council of Ministers, which is presided over 
 by one of their number, or by an eighth minister designated 
 by the crown, in its discretion, and without any particular 
 administrative duties. Narvaez, like a sensible man, chose to 
 be President of the Council, and nothing more in name or 
 duty, though every thing in power. He was rarely absent 
 from the sessions of the Congress, and although he of course 
 left to his colleagues the labor of discussing those measures 
 which involved their particular Departments and the details 
 of the administration, he was always on the alert, like a skil- 
 ful general and brave soldier, watching the changes of the 
 fight, and ready to throw himself, sword in hand, wherever 
 the enemy pressed fiercely. 
 
 I may say in this connection, that I could not avoid being 
 frequently struck, in the Cortes, with the great advantage, in 
 many points of view, of giving seats in the legislature to the 
 chief counsellors of the executive. I do not, of course, speak 
 with regard to the convenience of the members of the Cabinet 
 themselves, — though there is no reason why that should not 
 be consulted, — but in view of the many and great facilities
 
 SPAIN. Ill 
 
 which the system gives, for the transaction of public business. 
 A thousand unimportant inquiries, gravely instituted by the 
 House of Representatives of the United States, and entailing 
 upon the heads of Departments the most wearisome and un- 
 necessary waste of that time, which, when most faithfully and 
 economically used, scarce suffices for the thorough discharge 
 of their indispensable duties, might be satisfied, in a few mo- 
 ments, or altogether superseded, by a timely word or two of 
 oral question and explanation. The gross and unbecoming 
 personal attacks which have, of late, so unfortunately tended 
 to make our executive dignities comparatively unattractive to 
 those who could wear them most worthily, would not be half 
 so frequent, I am sure, were the assailants confronted with 
 the ability and character, which, at a distance and under so 
 many disadvantages, may now be outraged with impunity. 
 Suggestions, which the experience of a Secretary and his supe- 
 rior knowledge of details might enable him constantly and 
 most advantageously to throw out, for the perfection of meas- 
 ures concerning his Department, now only, in most cases, 
 reach the legislature indirectly, and often through the medium 
 of committees whose adverse views hardly transmit them 
 fairly, and never fully. 
 
 Nor is there any evil very apparent which diminishes the 
 force of these considerations. The fear of executive influence 
 is a sorry bugbear, — for, if the executive is not present to 
 speak for itself, it must needs, in the best way it can, procure 
 others, among the legislators themselves, to speak for it, — and 
 it is not very likely that corruption will be decreased by in- 
 creasing the necessity for its application. Equally unfounded, 
 too, is the notion that the presence of those who dispense
 
 112 SPAIN. 
 
 patronage will be a restraint on legislative independence. The 
 yeas and nays are far more tyrannical than any browbeating. 
 Where every man's vote is known to his neighbor, or may be, 
 those who vote to be profited will find no compulsion more 
 stringent and domineering than that applied by their interests. 
 If people are superstitious on the subject of keeping the 
 legislative and executive functions distinctly apart, — a very 
 singular superstition, by the by, under a constitution which 
 embodies the veto power, — let them give the Secretaries the 
 right to participate in the debates, but not to vote. Let 
 each — if scrupulosity in the premises be deemed a virtue — 
 be confined to the discussion of what involves his particular 
 branch of the service, or at all events let none of them have 
 a wider range than over matters purely executive. I do not, 
 myself, see the necessity of any such restrictions. I think 
 that what is called the "one-man power" is only dangerous 
 in the newspapers. The legislature, within its constitutional 
 province, is quite able to take care of itself, and in its cus- 
 tomary practice of "platform" and President making has 
 an additional element of mastery, which renders it almost 
 omnipotent. The introduction of the change I have com- 
 mented on, instead of diminishing the legitimate or increasing 
 the illegitimate sway of Congress, would, I am sure, have a 
 contrary effect. It would make executive responsibility more 
 certain, by rendering it more direct and unavoidable, and 
 would, on the other hand, give to ability, candor, eloquence, 
 and patriotism the opportunity of preventing misrepresenta- 
 tion and injustice, by being their own immediate interpreters.
 
 XII. 
 
 General Narvaez. — Ministerial Profits. — Marquis of Pidal. — 
 AsTURiAN Nobility. — Sr. Mon. — Prohibitive Duties and the 
 Catalans. 
 
 I HAVE already spoken of the Duke of Valencia, — better 
 known as General Narvaez, — with the respect which I 
 think his ability deserves, in spite of many things, in his 
 political system and practices, which it is impossible not to 
 condemn. The controlling position which he occupied, for 
 some years, in his native country, and the remarkable energy 
 and wisdom with which he managed to carry his government 
 in peace through the stormy times which succeeded the last 
 French revolution, have attracted much attention to him from 
 the European world. Upon the Continent, his reputation, as 
 a statesman and ruler, is very high. In England — })articu- 
 larly since his dismissal of Sir Henry Bulwer — there has 
 been a disposition shown to treat him as a mere soldier of 
 fortune, to whose greatness accident has stood godfather, and 
 who could only be eminent, inter minora sidera, in Spain. 
 As the most of what we know, in reference to Continental 
 matters, comes to us from the British press, it is natural that 
 British opinions should, in the main, be the basis of ours, and 
 it thus happens that the little which is said and thought of 
 15 113
 
 114 SPAIN. 
 
 Narvaez, in the United States, is tinctured with the injustice 
 prevailing at the source from which it comes. 
 
 Entering the diplomatic gallery of the Salon de Oriente, 
 you found yourself not very far from the bench occupied by 
 the ministers. At its head there sat — or frequently stood, 
 receiving the salutations of the members as they passed — a 
 man apparently a little over fifty years of age, and rather 
 below the middle size. He was scrupulously well dressed, — 
 sometimes almost too elaborately, — his figure erect and well 
 proportioned, his bearing somewhat haughty, yet full of stu- 
 dious courtesy. But that he had place and power, which 
 ladies love, it would not have been easy to conceive what had 
 made him so proverbial a favorite with the fair daughters of 
 his country ; for his features, though striking, were hard and 
 weather-worn, and the best Paris perruquier had not been 
 able to make art as ornamental as nature. Sometimes he 
 wore a ribbon at his buttonhole, but often he was without 
 any decoration, and, save the aspect of the man himself and 
 the deference which almost insensibly waited on his pres- 
 ence, there was nothing of outward sign to tell a stranger 
 that the absolute ruler of Spain and its dependencies was 
 before him. 
 
 If you waited, however, until the order of the day was 
 called, and the discussion happened to be one of moment, it 
 soon became perceptible that the leader of the ministerial 
 phalanx was, by all odds and on all accounts, the leader of 
 the Congress. Although, as I have said, he left to his associ- 
 ates the consideration of details, he assumed absolute control 
 over the spirit of the debate on his side of the question. 
 Upon all points involving the dignity of the monarch and
 
 SPAIN. 115 
 
 the integrity of his own administration, — upon all personal 
 questions, — all occasions where there was play for that wis- 
 dom which comes of will, and, more than all things else, 
 despotically sways assemblages of men, — his mastery was 
 instantly manifest. It is true that his position, and the 
 deference of the President and the majority of the Deputies, 
 would have given great advantages to even an ordinary man ; 
 but there was that in the glancing of his fierce gray eye, in 
 his condensed and pointed thought and his impassioned utter- 
 ance, which made the parliamentary predominance of Narvaez 
 obviously his own. Sometimes he was overbearing in speech, 
 as he undoubtedly is in temper, but he would almost invaria- 
 bly make generous atonement, — often, indeed, so chivalrously, 
 as to render his very trespass an element of sympathy. Occa- 
 sionally he would fling out a stinging epigram, conceived in 
 the very happiest spirit of popular oratory. " The honorable 
 gentleman," he said one day in reply to Cortina, one of the 
 leading Progresistas, — " the honorable gentleman will have 
 it. Sir, that the administration is indebted, for its failures, to 
 itself, — for its successes, to Chance ! I give Chance joy, Sir, 
 of so eminent a votary as the gentleman ! I congratulate the 
 honorable gentleman himself upon the happy accident which, 
 when he tossed into the air the seven-and-twenty letters of 
 the alphabet, brought down the graceful combinations of his 
 eloquent discourse ! " 
 
 I was informed by a distinguished member of the opposi- 
 tion, that Narvaez lacked fluency except in passionate appeals, 
 and that his argumentative efibrts were always carefully pre- 
 pared, even to the extent of being written as they were 
 delivered. If this be correct, the Spanish statesman does
 
 116 SPAIN. 
 
 only what the greatest masters of parliamentary art have 
 done, and wisely ; but I can scarcely reconcile it with his 
 impulsive nature and fervent elocution. His graver speeches 
 were generally reserved to close the debate, — a course which 
 he was particularly justified in pursuing, as well by the force 
 . of his character and influence, as by his power of analysis and 
 condensation. He was never very long upon the floor, for he 
 is a man of few words. His mind seemed to direct itself, 
 instinctively, towards the heart of the controversy, — avoiding 
 all things collateral and extraneous. He presented the strong 
 points of his own case in the most compact, impressive way, 
 and attacked the strong points of his adversaries with a direct- 
 ness and a gallantry which were always effective, and often 
 triumphant. When he had finished his argument, his speech 
 was finished too ; and although men of finer elocution, more 
 attractive fancy, more philosophical and copious thought, 
 might, with their best ability, have gone before him, his 
 summing up seemed always to have left the question at 
 the very point whence you could see it best and judge of 
 it most justly. 
 
 What I have said of the parliamentary eiforts of Narvaez 
 is perfectly consistent with the fact that he is not a highly 
 educated or intellectually cultivated man. Although of noble 
 connection, he spent the earlier portion of his life among the 
 mountains of Andalusia, in narrow circumstances, without 
 much chance of converse with men or books. Many of his 
 first speeches, it is said, gave decided evidence of the defects 
 which so limited a career necessarily induced, and now his 
 best eiforts are but little indebted for their success to literary 
 taste, historical illustration, or other men's theories and
 
 SPAIN. 117 
 
 thoughts. His rapid perceptions, however, and rare memory, 
 have made the brilliant opportunities of his later years stand 
 practically in stead of the advantages of youth, and while, 
 even in the midst of a life of action and excitement, he has 
 been able proportionally to widen the sphere and multiply 
 the variety of his acquirements, his extraordinary tact has 
 converted him into as consummate a man of the world, as 
 one with so impetuous and proud a spirit well can be. In 
 the most polished circles of Madrid, surrounded by distin- 
 guished foreigners and the ilite of his own countrymen, he 
 would be selected at a glance for what he is, by any careful 
 observer of men ; nor would a nearer view disclose a single 
 point, in which he would appear to fall below the high social 
 standard by which his position exposes him to be tested. 
 His accent and forms of speech are decidedly Andalusian, 
 and his familiar conversation has, from this, a freshness and 
 frankness rendering it at times exceedingly attractive. On 
 the whole, however, his manners are more kingly than genial; 
 and were it not that he is loyal and abiding in his friend- 
 ship, — remembering benefits always, and rewarding services 
 at every hazard, — he would seem more likely to command 
 respect than win a warmer feeling. Nevertheless, there were 
 many around him, at that day, whose devotion scarce knew 
 bounds. His present political adversity will afford him an 
 unhappy opportunity of testing their sincerity and constancy. 
 Rumor says that Narvaez has acquired large wealth by his 
 political career. It would be strange if there were not some 
 truth in this, for what Gongora said of his own generation 
 has not gone out of fashion : — 
 
 " La corte vende su gala. 
 La guerra su valentfa."
 
 118 SPAIN. 
 
 Rare is the public servant, now-a-days, who does not hive 
 enough honey, from a summer in the gardens of the state, to 
 sweeten the remainder of his days ! I remember calling upon 
 a venerable gentleman, who had filled for several years, with 
 rare ability and punctuality, the post of Finance Minister 
 under Ferdinand the Seventh. The modest simplicity of his 
 household arrangements attracted the attention of my com- 
 panion, a practised courtier, who exclaimed as the door 
 closed on us, " How unobtrusively that old man lives ! Yet 
 he was minister ten years ! One who is minister for ten 
 days, now, is considered simple if his fortune be not made ! " 
 I could not help recalling the bitterness of an apostrophe, 
 which I had just read in a contemporary sketch of an emi- 
 nent person, who, like our host, had passed without reproach 
 through a life of temptation and opportunity. " Console not 
 thyself," said the biographer, "with the anticipation that 
 generations yet to come will bless thy memory, or name thee 
 as a model of propriety and honor ! In the unhappy country 
 where thou dwellest, and in the glorious times which thou and 
 we have fallen on, though he who steals is called a thief, he 
 who steals not is reckoned but a fool ! " 
 
 An anecdote, related to me, unreservedly, by one of the 
 parties, will show, that, although the passage just cited may 
 have slightly exaggerated the evil for the sake of the antithesis, 
 it does no great injustice to the political habits of the capital. 
 That the anecdote should be true, as I am sure it is, seems 
 strange enough. That it should have been told, without 
 hesitation, is stranger, but makes it the more characteristic, 
 as a picture of public and private morals. 
 
 " I am about to form a ministry," said a prominent Deputy 
 to a still more prominent Senator, — "will you join it?"
 
 SPAIN. 119 
 
 " No, — I am too old, and, besides, it will not last." 
 
 "Vaya hombre! Edd vmd. locof Are you mad? You 
 are surely old enough to be wiser. Take a secretaryship, and 
 pocket all you can get hold of. When you are tired, or have 
 enough, you can join issue with the administration, on the 
 popular side of some exciting question, and go out with your 
 gains, in patriotic disgust. Nobody will interfere with you, 
 if you keep quiet. You will have no rivals, because you 
 will be in nobody's way, and the people at large will venerate 
 you too much, as a martyr, to think of molesting you or 
 your money." 
 
 " Y era sabio el consejo ! — It was good advice too ! " said the 
 Senator ; " but I am too old for intrigues, now : and besides, 
 I didn't like his programme ! " 
 
 If Narvaez has, indeed, been frail enough to yield to the 
 temptations of his class and generation, he is, nevertheless, 
 entitled to the credit of having done good work for good 
 wages, — which is saying a good deal, as the ways of politi- 
 cians are ordered in our day. An Aristides or a Washington 
 is, of course, the best model for a statesman, but as that style 
 is not prevalent just now, — except, perhaps, among candidates 
 for the Presidency of the United States, — nations (in the Old 
 World at least) ought to be satisfied, if they can compromise 
 for ability, firmness, and nationality in their rulers, without 
 looking too closely into their accounts. The Hei-aldo of 
 Madi'id administered, one day, a most indignant and virtuous 
 rebuke to some curioso impertinente in the Patria, who dared 
 to suggest that the Corregidor of Madrid received a larger 
 salary than he was worth. " To sift such matters too closely," 
 said the ministerial organ, — taking the bull by the horns, in
 
 120 SPAIN. 
 
 gallant style, like a true Spaniard, — "is to trifle with the 
 proper importance of the authorities, and to take away from 
 them the prestige and moral force, without which they will 
 not be respected ! " Narvaez, even if he be grasping, is, at all 
 events, not sordid, — having all the good qualities of a soldier, 
 though he may have some of the faults which too generally 
 follow military men into the exercise of civil power. In 
 exile, as in prosperity, his generous impulses have never 
 halted at personal sacrifice. In the capital, as Prime Minis- 
 ter, he dispensed a liberal and magnificent hospitality, which 
 must have scattered his harvest almost as rapidly as it was 
 gathered. In this particular, his practice was perhaps the 
 more remarkable, from its contrast with that of his colleagues, 
 into whose houses no one was ever known to penetrate, except 
 an occasional burglar or a man with a present. 
 
 A conversation which took place before me — and to which 
 I am not precluded from referring, by its tenor or the circum- 
 stances under which I heard it — gives so fair an idea of the 
 principles of action by which Narvaez has raised himself to 
 power, that I may very properly close with it this incidental 
 review of his most salient traits. A remark was made, by 
 one of the company, in regard to the large number of robberies 
 which the newspapers had recently reported. Narvaez replied, 
 that he had no doubt there was much exaggeration in them. 
 " I have been hearing of such things, all my life," he added, 
 " and I suppose a great deal that I have heard has been true. 
 Yet I have travelled, alone, in every part of Spain, — over 
 plains and mountains, — by night and by day, — on foot and in 
 the saddle, — often without arms, and sometimes with a very 
 full purse, — without having once met a highwayman, to my
 
 SPAIN. 121 
 
 knowledge,— certainly without ever having been robbed. I 
 cannot, therefore, help thinking that I have a right to my 
 doubts, and that the reputation of the country is entitled to 
 the benefit of them." "Your Excellency's experience scarcely 
 furnishes any basis for a general rule," was the reply. " Some 
 men's fortunes {la suerte de algunos) are proof against all con- 
 tingencies, and those of your Excellency were not fashioned 
 for mishaps." " I beg your pardon," said the Duke, I have 
 no faith in any luck, except that which arises from foresight 
 and care (prevision y cuidado). Luck would run equal and 
 even to all men, in a year, on the doctrine of chances, and 
 one who wants more of it than other men must make it for 
 himself." It was natural enough that the winner of such 
 heavy stakes should be unwilling to let the cards have all the 
 credit of his game. As a loser, perhaps, he might have had 
 no objection to throw the responsibility on la suetie. His 
 life, however, has been an active illustration of his sincerity 
 in what he said, and no one can doubt the wisdom of his 
 conclusions. 
 
 Next to the President of the Council, on the ministerial 
 bench, sat the Secretary of State, the Marquis of Pidal. Like 
 the other members of the Cabinet, he was among the nobleza 
 nueva, or new nobility, having been formerly plain Don Pedro 
 Pidal, without any marquisate, and having come, report said, 
 from a very humble origin. The Asturians, however, of 
 whom he is one, are all nobles in a certain sense, nobility 
 having been gratefully and royally bestowed, by the wholesale 
 and in advance, upon all who might be born within the 
 Province, as a reward for the glorious and patriotic efforts of 
 their fathers, who fought with Don Pelayo. The distinction 
 16
 
 122 SPAIN. 
 
 is, no doubt, a very gratifying one, though its principal 
 practical benefit, I believe, consists in giving them certain 
 honorable privileges, should they happen to find themselves 
 under the band of the penal law. Before the abolition of 
 hanging, by Ferdinand the Seventh, the Asturians were 
 exempt from the degradation of that uncomfortable mode of 
 dismission. They were entitled to be garrote-d, in prefer- 
 ence, — which was always held far more satisfactory and 
 creditable. Not only that, but the law made further distinc- 
 tions in their behalf. The garrote is either vil or noble, — vile 
 or noble. The garrote vil does a gentleman to death upon a 
 bare platform of planks, without luxuries or appliances of 
 any sort. The garrote noble refreshes his eyes and consoles 
 his feet with such carpeting as he and his friends may find 
 suitable to their taste and fortunes. The Asturians were 
 exempt from the garrote vil, except only when convicted of 
 leze-majesty. For all other offences, they had the right to the 
 garrote noble, and went to their reward, like gentlefolk as they 
 were, according to the statute in such case made and provided. 
 I take it for granted that the suppression of the hangman 
 has not impaired this inestimable and inalienable privilege. 
 Indeed, to allow them still their proper and equitable rank, 
 they ought to be entitled to such an improvement in their 
 furniture, on such occasions, as would give to the Asturian 
 the precise degree of superiority over the vulgar garrote, which 
 the garrote itself, in its totality, once enjoyed over the gallows. 
 But I am wrong in saying that the privilege which I have 
 mentioned is the chief benefit the Asturians derive from their 
 provincial patent of nobility. They drive a brisk trade, it is 
 said, in entroncamientos, or family-trees, which they sell to the
 
 iyPAIN. 123 
 
 nouveaux riches from other provinces, who, like the Niger, 
 have no source. You can purchase the very best commodities 
 of that sort, in the Asturian pedigree-market, at a very 
 reasonable rate, — a fact which may not be altogether un- 
 interesting to those of our republican countrymen who are 
 in the habit of seeking their ancestral arms at the British 
 Herald's Office. To have come down from a hero who wore 
 sheepskin breeches in the days of Don Pelayo, is quite as 
 respectable as to have descended from 
 
 "An outridere who loved venerie," 
 
 in the times of the red-headed William, and, cceteris paribus, 
 cheapness ought to be a guide of a commercial people, even in 
 the matter of purchasing blue blood. 
 
 The Marquis of Pidal — who (with the reader) must pardon 
 this digression to his Province — is a large and rather heavy- 
 looking man. He might readily be taken for the grave, 
 laborious student of the legal antiquities of his country which 
 he is, — but one would hardly have imagined him to be the 
 best debater, as he was, among the Moderados. According to 
 the character I had of him, he is, by natural inclination, a 
 conservative, somewhat in the extreme, — so that he carried to 
 the discussions in the Cortes a sincerity of conviction which 
 many of his fellow-partisans could hardly have the gravity to 
 claim. Although a lawyer of eminent attainments in the 
 more recondite learning of his profession, he had not acquired, 
 by any large devotion to its practical duties, that unfitness for 
 parliamentary debate, which so many of his brethren, in other 
 countries, have illustrated by conspicuous failure. Xor had he 
 gone sufficiently beyond those fields of literature and history
 
 124 SPAIN. 
 
 which lie near his own peculiar domain of legal antiquariauism, 
 to embarrass himself with the broad views and theoretical 
 difficulties which sometimes render philosophical statesmen as 
 unready at the tribune as Athelstane in the tourney. He 
 had tact and logical adroitness, — was bold and confident, — 
 denounced the recreant, and whipped in the lagging, — asserted 
 dogmatically what he could not prove, and indignantly denied 
 what could not be proven against him. If need were, he 
 could be sarcastic ; if pleasant satire suited better, he was no 
 mean master of the weapon. Generally grave, however, he 
 managed to surround his speeches and himself with an atmos- 
 phere and earnestness and authority, which made what was 
 true the more effective, and kept the most of his opponents 
 from laying hands profane on even what was false. All who 
 know any thing of popular assemblies and the oratory which 
 impresses and controls them, will see the wisdom of the choice 
 which made Pidal, with such abilities, one of the official 
 defenders of the Ministry. 
 
 As Secretary of State, the Marquis was less of an acquisi- 
 tion. His general attainments were said to be limited, and 
 he was particularly narrow, it was reported, in his knowledge 
 of foreign countries, and his views of foreign policy. His 
 habits of business were so extremely sluggish, that they had 
 passed into a proverb. The verb pidalear, framed by a witty 
 journalist upon his name, was held to signify the utmost effi^rt 
 of possible dilly-dallying and procrastination. The influences 
 which had made him prominent were not, in the main, his 
 own ; for his manners — which do much in Spain — had some- 
 what of the rustic savor that his mountain education naturally 
 gave, and his temper was by no means of the plastic sort.
 
 SPAIN. 125 
 
 He had, however, married the sister of the former Finance 
 Secretary, Don Alejandro Mon, whose superior advantages 
 and real ability, with an excellent talent for intrigue, had 
 given him access to the springs of power. The alliance made 
 Pidal's fortune, and doubtless Mon found in him a useful 
 yoke-fellow. They went generally by the name of " the 
 brothers-in-law," and their friendsiiip was supposed to be that 
 of Damon and Pythias, rendered additionally durable and 
 affectionate by an identity of interests. They were both 
 Queen Cristina's men, and were supposed, like her Majesty, 
 to have no very sincere regard for Narvaez, who had an un- 
 pleasant will of his own, and obstinately refused to be governed 
 by that of any body else. It was for this reason that, as I 
 have said, they considered it prudent to have their own par- 
 ticular interests and opinions advocated by the Pais, instead 
 of making common cause with the Ministry, and trusting to 
 its formal organ. 
 
 ]\Ion, some time before, had left his place in the Cabinet, 
 probably not from choice ; and he was believed, when I was 
 in Madrid, to be upon such equivocal terms with the Adminis- 
 tration, as to render it probable he would be advised to visit 
 London for his health. The fiscal policy of his successor 
 being, however, but a continuation of his own, he came for- 
 ward to defend it in the Cortes during the debate on the 
 budget. His speech was announced some days beforehand, 
 and, as it was looked for with much interest, the floor was 
 surrendered to him at his discretion. I was present at its 
 delivery ; but it was one so purely of detail, that I found 
 myself without the information (or, as the Spaniards say, los 
 antecedcntes, the antecedents) necessary to a proper ap})recia- 
 tion of its quality. I have no hesitation, however, in saying
 
 126 SPAIN. 
 
 that, as a piece of elocution, it was worthy of the worst pos- 
 sible cause. The speaker's voice was thin and weak, his 
 appearance not striking, his gesture hasty and ungraceful, 
 and his articulation exactly what might have been expected 
 from Demosthenes, during his first experiments with the 
 pebbles. All parties, nevertheless, seemed to agree that the 
 discourse was an able one, and it certainly was bold, explicit, 
 and manly. I was glad to have heard it, if only to have 
 learned what the orator authoritatively declared, that the 
 Ministry intended to continue the modifications of the tariff 
 which he had begun. They had resolved, he said, to remove 
 the shackles from commerce and production, and not to protect 
 the one to the destruction of the other. The Catalan Deputies 
 of course cried aloud, in anguish of spirit, at the announce- 
 ment, but it was received with great approbation by all who 
 were not manufacturers themselves, and had no constituents to 
 whom the abuses existing gave profits of two hundred per cent. 
 There is no doubt that, if the muleteers were represented, 
 as a class, in the Cortes, there would be great indignation on 
 the part of their Deputies at the mention of a railroad, or the 
 most delicate suggestion of a turnpike. The Asturian water- 
 carriers, too, — through their honorable representatives, if they 
 had such, — would probably be vehement in their denunciation 
 of any change in the system of hydraulics, now so picturesquely 
 carried out by themselves with donkeys and jars. But neither 
 these good people nor the Catalonian monopolists have any right 
 to suppose that the onerous absurdities and clumsy customs of 
 the past will continue for ever for their benefit, or that Spain 
 will be satisfied to lie still, like a leaf in an eddy by the shore, 
 while the mighty stream of civilization and development sweeps 
 the rest of the world along.
 
 XIII. 
 
 Sb. Arrazola.— Bravo Murillo.— The Budget.— Ministerial Move- 
 ment.— The Senate.— MoDERADO Principles.— Bravo Murillo's 
 Speech. 
 
 THE parliamentary pretensions of the Count of San Luis 
 have been ah-eady referred to. Don Lorenzo Arrazola, 
 the Minister of Grace and Justice, had but little reputation as 
 an orator, although he was regarded as a sharp and subtle 
 disputant. He was said to be particularly adroit in the 
 defence of a bad cause, and as the government, his client, 
 had many such, his services were proportionably valuable. 
 Although he had not practised his profession to any great 
 extent, he certainly displayed the characteristics of a ready, 
 clever advocate, full of resource, cunning of fence, and, like 
 many of that class, not over scrupulous, — at all events, in his 
 logic. His manner was not impressive, for, though full of 
 plausibility, he seemed to want conviction. In fact, the 
 special pleading which he was frequently driven to, and 
 for which he seemed to have a natural fondness and turn, 
 impaired the substantial strength of his speeches, — as indeed 
 it necessarily must, without a miracle, destroy the vigor of 
 any mind. Don Lorenzo's aptness at finding excuses must 
 have been of singular avail to him in his particular Depart- 
 
 127
 
 128 SPAIN. 
 
 ment, — the enormous patronage of which, unless managed 
 with great adroitness, was as likely to make enemies as 
 friends. I was often interested and amused, in his ante- 
 chamber, watching the countenances of the numerous pre- 
 tendientes to whom he gave audience, — almost all of whom 
 came out with smiling faces, — many of them no doubt for 
 the hundredth time. His enemies, political and personal, of 
 whom he had many, insisted that he was muyfalso, marvel- 
 lously insincere; but that was perhaps more in the trade 
 and the circumstances than the man. In early life he was 
 reported to have been a sacristan, and afterwards a school- 
 master, both which callings, the light wits of the opposition 
 used to say, were conspicuous in his manners and conversation. 
 Be that as it may, however, he was, when I knew him, as he 
 had for some time been, a very notable person. He has since 
 been transferred to a distinguished judicial position, which I 
 have no doubt he fills with great respectability. 
 
 In his Department, Sr. Arrazola was a model of industry. 
 His duties, as has been said, were of the most various and 
 complicated kind, but his activity and energy kept pace with 
 their requirements. No one, it is true, knew better than he 
 the virtues of that " masterly inactivity," by which Spanish 
 officials put an end, without tangible offence, to solicitations 
 which they cannot directly refuse to entertain. Yet when he 
 intended to be punctual, or found it necessary, no one could 
 be more prompt and business-like. His audiences began at 
 an earlier hour, and lasted longer, than those of any of his 
 colleagues. His personal participation in the labors of his 
 bureau was greater by far than was customary among per- 
 sonages of his grade, and yet, even during the sessions of the
 
 SPAIN. 129 
 
 Cortes, which occupied him several hours daily, he found 
 leisure to contribute regularly to an encyclopaedia of political 
 and civil law, which was then published periodically in the 
 capital, with the highest approbation of the profession. AVhen 
 it is borne in mind, that the ministerial departments in Spain 
 are very paradises of the dolce far nietite, — where labor is so 
 comfortably distributed, that its stages are counted by the 
 cigarritos which young gentlemen of spirit can demolish 
 between a very late breakfast and an early dinner or earlier 
 paseo, — it will not be wondered that a man of Arrazola's 
 habits and capacity for affairs should have climbed with 
 moderate luck to the high places of the state. A genius for 
 intrigue is no doubt an excellent item of capital for a politi- 
 cian ; charlatanism, too, has frequently its miraculous uses, 
 and a fortunate hit or a happy accident will often achieve, in 
 a moment, what a lifetime of merit and toil will end in vain 
 search of. In the main, nevertheless, — though the notion 
 may seem a strange one, — the surest method of attaining 
 station is to be, in some sort, fit for it. Half the pains men 
 sometimes take to pass themselves off for what they are 
 not, would suffice, in many instances, to make them what 
 they ought to be. It must, upon the whole, be a more 
 costly and laborious process to win by cheating, than to lose 
 with unsoiled hands. Whether Sr. Arrazola embodied the 
 cardinal virtues or not, can make no difference in the truth 
 of these reflections. 
 
 Don Juan Bravo Murillo, the Minister of Finance, was 
 
 oftener heard in the Cortes than any of his colleagues. In 
 
 truth, he had no sinecure ; for money, which is only the root 
 
 of all evil elsewhere, has in Spanish politics possession of the 
 
 17
 
 130 SPAIN. 
 
 whole tree, and, to be safely intrusted with its cultivation and 
 the gathering and keeping of its golden apples, a man must 
 be of long suifering, as of sharp eyes and busy hands. It is 
 an occupation which no doubt pays well, when fairly under- 
 stood and wisely exercised, but it has its manifold tribulations, 
 notwithstanding, like all other the good things of earth. 
 Every one knows that the Spanish treasury has long been free 
 from any symptoms of plethora. Sr. Bravo Murillo conse- 
 quently found himself, like many of his predecessors, in a 
 quadruple quandary. He had to pay expenses, and if he did 
 not keep himself in funds, the mouths which he left empty 
 had no other occupation than to cry aloud and spare him not. 
 If he talked of increasing the taxes, the voices of those who 
 were to pay them, and of all the economists and calculators 
 in the Cortes, were lifted up, in chorus, against him. If, by 
 way of compromising matters, he made promises, — to the 
 hungry, to feed them when he could get the means, — and to 
 the tax-payers, to devise some scheme of raising money 
 without taxation, — he was of course called on to redeem both 
 promises at once, which he could not find other than incon- 
 venient. If, in his despair, he dared to name the only possible 
 mode of salvation, — the suppression of fiscal abuses, the aboli- 
 tion of useless offices, the reduction of overgrown salaries, the 
 introduction of strict, manly, prudent economy into all branches 
 of the public service, — the sting of every drone in the hive 
 pierced him at once, — the present and the future were in arms 
 against him, — those who had and those who hoped to have. 
 What was he to do, then ? His estimates fell below his ne- 
 cessities, and his collections were sure to fall below his esti- 
 mates. He had no alternative left, but to keep his temper,
 
 SPAIN. 131 
 
 and make speeches, — which taxed nothing but the pubh'c 
 patience. The Progreaistas besieged him in front, and he re- 
 turned their fire with his best battery. Sr. Gonzalez Bravo, 
 an enemy from the Moderado camp, gave him a shot from the 
 rear, and Sr. Bermudez de Castro, Sr. Moron, and others of 
 the same political fellowship, planted guns on his flanks. He 
 threw them back ball for ball, and shell for shell. His foes — 
 and especially those of the Moderado opposition — were not 
 satisfied with attacking his views, which were surely vulnerable 
 enough, but must needs set up theories and schemes of their 
 own, which were perhaps more so. Like a prudent man, he 
 immediately turned on the offensive, and if he did not succeed 
 in demolishing the projects of the adversary, he at least with- 
 drew attention from his own, which was quite as well. 
 
 It seems to me, that I rarely, during any of my visits to the 
 Chamber of Deputies, escaped finding Sr. Murillo, at some 
 time or other, and for a long time, on his feet. His voice and 
 manner were so exceedingly monotonous and invariable, that 
 he appeared to be always saying the same thing in the same 
 way, — and, indeed, I am hardly, to this day, sure that he was 
 not. Lord Castlereagh and Moore's pump seemed to be his 
 models of elocution, and the "cheerful, voluntary air" and 
 virtuous expression with which he took and gave his blows, 
 must have been studied from Elia's portrait of the happy 
 borrower. On one occasion, however, when he had the game 
 in his own hands, I heard him speak out, boldly, aggressively, 
 and without reserve. The occasion and his sentiments will 
 illustrate the reverence with which constitutional forms and 
 liberal principles were treated by the Moderados, when they 
 chose to give themselves the rein.
 
 132 SPAIN. 
 
 The constitution requires that the presupucstos, or financial 
 estimates, shall be presented to the Cortes, in due course, with 
 the plan and rates of taxation proposed, for consideration and 
 discussion. The government, under various pretexts, had 
 postponed the discharge of this disagreeable duty until the 
 latest possible day ; but the budget had, at the time I am about 
 to refer to, been for some short period in the possession of the 
 legislature. Several of the Deputies had given notice of their 
 intention to submit views and reports upon various interesting 
 points, and the whole policy of the administration, financial 
 and of all other sorts, had already begun to undergo able and 
 critical examination. In point of parliamentary ability, the 
 opposition had, unequivocally, the advantage, besides having 
 the right, as well as the popular, side of the principal questions 
 in controversy. The government, it is true, exercised absolute 
 control over a large and subservient majority, but, although 
 the legislative triumph of its measures was thus placed beyond 
 the reach of doubt, there was no concealing the fact, that the 
 speeches of the opposition members were producing, and were 
 likely further to produce, a most serious impression on the 
 public mind. This result — the great end and aim of free dis- 
 cussion — it became necessary for the administration to avert. 
 It could not be prevented without a violation of the spirit of 
 the constitution, but Narvaez was not a man to be balked by 
 trifles of that sort. As usual, he spared circumlocution and 
 pretence, and went directly to his point. On the 8th of 
 January, the Minister of Finance made his appearance in the 
 Cortes, in full uniform, and, ascending the tribune, read the 
 draft of a brief statute, wherein her Majesty, with the appro- 
 bation of the Cortes, declared, in a single clause, that the
 
 SPAIN. 133 
 
 whole budget was a law, in the lump, as it stood, to the same 
 eifect as if duly considered and adopted in each and all of its 
 parts. The Chamber was taken al^ack. Indignation, astonish- 
 ment, and denunciation were in the countenances and on the 
 lips of the opposition. Even the trained bands of the Ministry 
 were staggered by the downright boldness of the blow. But 
 there was no child's play meant. The decree was introduced 
 to be adopted, and it was soon understood that, when that 
 work should be done, the Cortes were to be prorogued, with a 
 view to their speedy dissolution. The project was referred to 
 a committee of ministerial partisans, who, after taking their 
 own time, reported it back to the house, precisely as it had 
 been given to them. Some of the opposition presses, which 
 took strong ground against the outrage, had the editions of 
 their papers which were most oflfensive suppressed by order 
 of the authorities. In the meantime, when the project came 
 again before the house, a few prominent Deputies of the oppo- 
 sition were allowed, for appearance' sake, to deliver speeches 
 against it. I had the good fortune to hear the most of them, 
 and some were singularly eloquent and powerful. The ablest 
 speakers on the government side rejoined, and Narvaez himself 
 concluded the debate. By the end of the month, the whole 
 ceremony was through, and the law passed by an overwhelming 
 majority. The " previous question " might have done the 
 thing with a little more despatch, and after what we are in 
 the habit of considering — but why, I know not — a more re- 
 publican manner. No process, however, which is known to 
 legislation, Eastern or Western, could have compassed its 
 object with more perfect simplicity and success. 
 
 The Deputies, having performed their functions, were 
 adjourned, from time to time, till the Senate could give its
 
 134 SPAIN. 
 
 countersign. In that august, but dutiful body, the result 
 could not be long in doubt ; but even there the government 
 pursued its usual course, and countenanced the forms of oppo- 
 sition. A few of the refractory Senators were permitted to 
 refresh themselves by saying what they thought, and the 
 coryphaei of the government did their best to counteract the 
 poison so disseminated. It was in winding up on the minis- 
 terial side of the debate, that Bravo Murillo announced the 
 views to which I have alluded. 
 
 " Senators," he said, " talked of a reduction of the army. 
 They forgot that armies were an element of primary impor- 
 tance in modern governments. All government depended for 
 its security on one of two things, — the influence of the clergy, 
 or the military power. Clerical influence, the support of the 
 late absolute government in Spain, had been destroyed, — 
 whether for good or for ill there was no need that he should 
 say ; though, so far as his own opinion was concerned, he had 
 no hesitation in saying that it was for ill. At all events, 
 however, it existed no longer, and there was nothing left in 
 its absence to protect society, to maintain order, to support 
 government, but the military arm. It was useless to talk 
 about relying on the municipalities, for they were not worthy 
 of reliance ; and as to the national militia, it was both costly 
 and unsafe. It took men from the field, from the workshop, 
 and from commerce, — paralyzing those vital departments of 
 industry, and putting arms, besides, in dangerous hands. 
 There was nothing left but standing armies, — and cuidado ! 
 let Senators bear in mind, that modern society, this society 
 of progress, and learning, and civilization, and ideas, is 
 not easily kept down. It requires a larger force than
 
 SPAIN. 135 
 
 older societies needed, and if we happen to live in such 
 a state of things, we must be content to meet the heavier 
 obligations it imposes." 
 
 He then touched upon the subject of a reduction of taxes. 
 " As to economy," he said, " it was ridiculous to ask it in the 
 manner in which it was urged. He did not and would not 
 pretend — he should be disparaging himself were he to pre- 
 tend — that he could reduce the amount of contributions a 
 single cuarto. Tliere was not one maravedi too much levied. 
 The country was quite rich enougli to bear the present taxes. 
 It ought to bear them, and ought not to complain of them. 
 He was willing and anxious to practice all possible economy 
 in the collection of the revenue, so as to make it produce 
 what it was capable of, to the utmost. But even in that par- 
 ticular very little could be done at this day, — very little dur- 
 ing this generation. He wished these things to be thoroughly 
 understood, so that he might not hereafter be reproached with 
 creating false hopes or making delusive promises." 
 
 When I looked, afterwards, at the authorized reports of 
 this speech, I found that its broad doctrines and expressions 
 had been so considerably modified, as to render them com- 
 paratively unobjectionable. The report, however, which I 
 have given above, is correct, to ray own knowledge ; for I 
 was so much startled at the bold avowal of such sentiments, 
 that I took particular note of the speech on the spot. The 
 reader will appreciate the force of those facts which refer to 
 the revenue, when he learns that the estimates for 1849-50 
 were about twelve hundred millions of reals, or sixty millions 
 of dollars ! Sr. Lopez stated in the debate, without contra- 
 diction, that the cost of collecting was about twenty-one per
 
 136 SPAIN. 
 
 cent. ; so that, to realize what the Ministry asserted was the 
 lowest amount of indispensable expenditure on the part of the 
 central government, the nation required to be taxed at least 
 seventy millions of dollars. " It was certainly consoling to 
 the present generation to know/' said Sr. Lopez, "and he 
 thanked the Minister for his kindness in telling them, that 
 things might possibly be better, after all who were now living 
 had passed away from taxes and tax-gatherers." Justice to 
 Sr. Murillo, however, makes it proper to add, that his subse- 
 quent financial measures have displayed ability and wisdom, 
 and have given a new and vigorous impulse to public confi- 
 dence and private enterprise.
 
 xiy. 
 
 General FiorEKAs.— Roca de Togores.— Alexandre Ditmas. — 
 Southern Oratory. — Olozaga. — Escosura. — Benavides. — Donoso 
 Cortes. — Their Speeches. 
 
 THE other members of the Cabinet were without any 
 particular parliamentary celebrity that I am aware of, 
 and I seldom found any of them upon the floor, except the 
 ci-devant General Figueras, Marquis of Constancia, and then 
 Secretary at War. He was a bright-looking, combustible old 
 gentleman, who made it a point to be chivalric and excited 
 whenever the sanctity of his Department was invaded by rude 
 questionings ; and as the extent and expense of the military 
 establishment were matters of daily comment in the Cortes, 
 the silken banners of his eloquence had no occasion to feed 
 the moth. A man in a passion, however, though perhaps 
 more or less dangerous in a personal point of view, is not 
 usually effective as an orator, and it consequently happened 
 that the gallant Marquis rarely rose to speak without putting 
 the house in a good humor, though he generally seemed to be 
 in a very bad one himself. Yet his discourses, though fiery, 
 were but " brief candles," and for this, at all events, his style 
 deserves to be praised a good deal more than it is likely to 
 be imitated. 
 
 18 137
 
 138 SPAIN. 
 
 The Minister of Marine Affairs, the Marquis of Molins, 
 under his original and more euphonious name of Roca de 
 Togores, had acquired considerable reputation as a poet and 
 man of letters. He had the good fortune to be a friend of 
 Alexandre Dumas, who called him " Rocca," and pronounced 
 him "one of the first poets, and most spirihiel men of Spain." 
 Nay, more, the illustrious author of the "Impressions^^ did 
 not hesitate to prophesy that " Rocca " would be a Minister 
 if he lived, — just as their common friend, the Duke of Osuna, 
 might at any time have been, had his tastes carried him that 
 way. It may be, that, from this indorsement of his merits, 
 the Marquis of Molins is known the better beyond the limits 
 of his countrv ; but as M. Dumas did not understand one 
 word of Spanish, and the Duke of Osuna (rest his soul !) had 
 no promptings from his genius to be any thing but a jockey, 
 the Marquis himself could hardly have felt much compli- 
 mented by his friend's appreciation of his abilities, literary 
 or political. The prophecy nevertheless came true, and before 
 the travels of Dumas were given to the world, " Rocca" was 
 intrusted with the control of a Department, whose ancient 
 glories might have fed his loftiest inspiration, as its actual 
 exigencies taxed his utmost ingenuity. I may have occasion 
 to speak of the impulse which the navy received under his 
 administration. His parliamentary career was without inter- 
 est, during the opportunities I had of observing it. 
 
 The reader would hardly care to know, with any particu- 
 larity, the manner or merits of the various members of the 
 Cortes, who, with more or less ability and domestic reputa- 
 tion, took part in the debates I witnessed. A traveller 
 belonging to a more impassible and less demonstrative race
 
 SPAIN. 139 
 
 can scarcely be considered a fair critic of Southern eloquence, 
 until custom has familiarized him with its peculiarities. The 
 vivacity and earnestness which an excitable nature imparts, 
 even to ordinary conversation, are of course heightened by the 
 intenser stimulus and more elevated subjects of public dis- 
 cussion, and the style and gesture of the speaker thus appear, 
 to unfamiliar eyes and ears, sometimes extravagant, if not 
 unnatural. We forget that the defect may be in our stand- 
 ard, not in the thing we judge. We forget that our nature 
 is not all of nature, — that our enthusiasm seems as cold to 
 an Italian or a Spaniard, as his lightest expression of emotion 
 seems overdone to us. Friends, parted for a little while, 
 in those more genial climates, rush, when they meet again, 
 into each other's arms, though all the world be looking on. 
 Among " the natives of the moral North," the rare caress is 
 made almost a household secret; the most sincere and deep 
 emotion seems most ashamed to show itself, sometimes even 
 to its object. It is not necessary to determine under which 
 manner lies, in general, the truer and intenser heart. It may 
 be that feelings, like odors, are wasted by diffusion ; or that, 
 like colors, they fade from too constant exposure. There is 
 no doubt, on the other hand, that the systematic restraint of 
 emotion, or of its display, has sometimes the effect of deaden- 
 ing, if not destroying, it at last. Nature has probably some 
 scheme of compensation by which she equalizes the substance 
 without reference to the forms. 
 
 But, let the thing signified be as it may, there can be no 
 doubt that the signs are constitutionally and naturally ditler- 
 ent. Every man feels it, every man under its influence is 
 prompted to pronounce unnatural what comes in conflict with
 
 140 SPAIN. 
 
 the habits of his nature, or the seeming nature given him by 
 education. The reader, who, without previous experience 
 and preparation, may have visited the Stanze of Raphael in 
 the Vatican, can scarcely fail to remember how this feeling 
 modified his first impressions of delight and wonder. The 
 lofty attitude and gesture, the gorgeous coloring, heroic mien, 
 and bold, broad drapery, seemed to him, doubtless, for a while, 
 theatrical and overwrought. It needed reflection and habit, 
 and some sympathy with the true soul of art, to teach him 
 that he was measuring by the scale of his dull organs, his 
 colder temperament, and unkindled taste, what was addressed 
 to the sensibilities of a more voluptuous fibre, to feelings of a 
 warmer birth, and minds of which imagination is the mould. 
 The same process of criticism which made him halt in his 
 admiration would take away from Oriental fancy every thing 
 but its grotesqueness, — would make Ariosto a retailer of en- 
 chanted follies, Dante a madman, and Calderou a rhapsodist. 
 The influences which fill the bright air of the South with 
 birds of various and splendid plumage, — which hang the fruit 
 of gold on the ungrafted boughs, and cover the uncultivated 
 fields with miraculous bloom and fragrance, — give to the 
 thoughts and fancies springing 'mid them the same luxuriance 
 and glow. It is not in the colder zones that we can learn to 
 sympathize with these. The hands which clipped the orange- 
 gardens at Versailles were hardly fit to paint the prodigality 
 of Cintra. 
 
 I would not by any means be understood, from the turn of 
 the preceding reflections, as meaning to institute a comparison 
 of excellence between the oratory of the Spanish legislative 
 assemblies and that of similar bodies in other nations. I
 
 SPAIN. 141 
 
 have simply designed to suggest tliat they are different things, 
 regulated by canons widely different. I merely deprecate the 
 criticism which regards their natural dissimilarity as a ground 
 of objection to that style with which the critic is least familiar. 
 It may be, perhaps, from some lack of catholicity in my own 
 taste, that I thought the Spanish speakers often weakened the 
 effect, and marred in some particulars, in the delivery, the 
 grace of their most eloquent discourses. Their utterance, for 
 example, was frequently so rapid, as to convey a painful idea 
 of effort and haste ; their gestures, almost universally, had the 
 frequency and quickness of excited conversation, rather than 
 the bold dignity of high passion. I was not, it is true, 
 fortunate enough to hear some whose reputations placed them 
 in the highest rank. Martinez de la Rosa — probably, on the 
 whole, the first orator of Spain, desi)ite his age — was absent 
 as Ambassador at Rome. His rival, Galiano, to whom I 
 shall refer hereafter, did not speak in the Cortes, to my 
 knowledge, during my residence in Madrid. Sr. Olozaga, 
 one of the heads of the Progresistas, — deemed by many the 
 most accomplished speaker among the Deputies, and certainly 
 endowed with physical and mental gifts, such as might well 
 command a senate, — took little part in the debates of the 
 session. I lost by accident the only chance I had of hearing 
 him, at any length, on an occasion which elicited his powers. 
 It was a source of the more regret to me, from the fact 
 that he is a Castilian, which few of the most prominent 
 speakers are, and not only possesses the language in its 
 utmost purity of pronunciation and construction, but in his 
 manner illustrates the gravity and dignity of the national 
 style in its best type.
 
 142 SPAIN. 
 
 Of those whom I heard in the Cortes, the most attractive 
 orator to me was Don Patricio de la Escosura, — certainly I 
 have listened to very few, anywhere, with as much gratification. 
 He had not long returned to Spain, under the amnesty of 
 1849, — having fled to France with Olozaga, under sentence 
 of banishment to the Philippine Islands, after the suppression 
 of the Madrid insurrection, in 1848. That abortive outbreak 
 the government insisted on considering as the joint work of 
 the Progresistas and Sir Henry Bulwer ; and when Narvaez 
 made bold to dismiss the plenipotentiary of one of the most 
 powerful nations of Europe, for that cause, he was not in a 
 vein to lay light hands on the leaders of his domestic oppo- 
 sition. That, with a knowledge of the parliamentary abilities 
 of the two gentlemen referred to, he should have permitted 
 them to return to their country and the public councils, speaks 
 loudly for his confidence and courage, though perhaps not less 
 for his sagacity under the circumstances. Nothing can be 
 more popular than magnanimity, with a chivalrous nation, — 
 nay, with the people at large, in any nation ; and when a ruler 
 has strength enough to practise it, he must be very unwise if 
 he permits himself to lose the opportunity. But if Narvaez 
 found the amnesty politic on the whole, Escosura's speeches 
 must certainly have satisfied him that the good was not un- 
 qualified. The tribulation through which Don Patricio had 
 passed had not bent the independence of his mind or speech. 
 His denunciations were so glittering, his satire was so keen, 
 his style so graceful, his manner so effective, that the minis- 
 terial benches often echoed the plaudits of the opposition. I 
 have seen even Narvaez smile with genuine delight, at some 
 pointed, happy hits of his, and have heard him cry out 
 '^Blen!" enthusiastically, at some eloquent apostrophe. Be-
 
 SPAIN. 143 
 
 sides being one of the most gmoeful poets and scholars of his 
 nation, Escosura had high personal gifts as a speaker. He 
 was in the prime of life, with a good figure and attractive face. 
 His voice was soft and musical, with an occasional tremor in 
 it, which carried his pathos to the heart. His bolder tones 
 were clear and ringing, and his articulation, even when most 
 rapid and excited, was perfectly distinct. His humorous and 
 histrionic powers, which were considerable, were managed with 
 great adroitness, and enabled him to barb and point an insin- 
 uation, in a manner which I have never seen surpassed. 
 Every speech that he made enhanced his reputation, and so 
 attractive were the qualities of his character esteemed, that the 
 name which he was building did not seem to cast one envious 
 shadow. 
 
 Among the Moderado opposition, although there were 
 several able men and effective speakers, the most formidable 
 to the government was Don Antonio Benavides, a deputy 
 from the district of Jaen. This gentleman had been in power 
 himself, was thoroughly conversant with the ministerial ways 
 of doing things, and possessed great familiarity with public 
 affairs. His oratorical aspirations were by no means high, 
 but he was a capital debater, in the business-like and best 
 sense of the term. He carried into the parliamentary struggle 
 a mind which was quick and versatile, at the same time that 
 it was comprehensive and well poised. He was full of histor- 
 ical philosophy, but it was of the practical sort, and he had a 
 sense of the ridiculous, which enabled him constantly to place 
 in most amusing and resistless contrast the professions and 
 practices of the administration. His cool dexterity and ad- 
 mirable temper were proof against ministerial interruptions
 
 1-14 SPAIN. 
 
 and arrogance, as well as the embarrassments which the chair 
 threw, as often as possible, iu his way. He could always 
 manage to have the last word, when he wanted it, and never 
 took it without making it tell. He could throw an argument 
 into a personal explanation, in spite of tlie rules of order and 
 the President ; and even ventured a gibe, when it served his 
 turn, at the inviolable person of the Prime Minister. His 
 pleasantry was too attractive for even the firmest of the minis- 
 terial adherents to be above its influence ; and as nothing is 
 so dangerous as laughter to pasteboard greatness, it was in 
 this point of view, perhaps, that he was most obnoxious to 
 the administration. " The honorable Deputy," said Sartorius 
 of him one day, " has caused great merriment by his obser- 
 vations. It may be a question, however, whether a gentle- 
 man has reason to congratulate himself, because his rising to 
 speak in the councils of his country is but the signal for a 
 general smile." 
 
 " Blame me not, sir," was the reply, " for the hilarity which 
 these details may have provoked in the chamber. I do not 
 invent, — I only describe. If things are ridiculous, it is the 
 fault of those who make them so. I crave your pardon, sir, 
 for the presumption of my illustration, but I have never heard 
 that Moliere was responsible for human meanness and hy- 
 pocrisy, because he made them palpable in Tartuffe and the 
 Avare." 
 
 A single ex})ressiou, in one of the speeches of Benavides, 
 did more to affect the popularity of a prominent government 
 measure than it is easy to conceive, where the appreciation and 
 influence of humor are less universal and decided than in 
 Spain. For some reason, not very comprehensible, a law was
 
 SPAIN. 145 
 
 introduced to change tlie whole system of fiscal and civil ad- 
 ministration in the provinces, by removing the Intendants and 
 Political Chiefs, and creating a class of officers called Pro- 
 vincial Governors, in their stead. For some other reason, 
 equally unintelligible, but probably much more nearly con- 
 nected with personal interests and the dispensation of patron- 
 age than with the welfare of the capital or the nation, it was 
 proposed that Madrid should be made an exception, — retain- 
 ing her Intendente and Jefe Politico after the old fashion. 
 There was a good deal of inquiry as to the cause of this anom- 
 aly, — no one appearing to understand why, if the system were 
 vicious, as the government had taken pains to demonstrate, 
 one part of it should be perpetuated any more than the rest. 
 Benavides explained. " The offices in question are to be pre- 
 served," he said, " as part of the historical monuments of the 
 capital. Posterity must learn that we have had Political 
 Chiefs in Spain, — yea, and Intendants also ! They are twin 
 unities not known to other governments, and their memory 
 should not be lost among men. The admiration of the future, 
 which would have been wasted among so many, will be con- 
 centrated now on the solitary specimens that survive. Men 
 will not speak hereafter of the Jefe Politico of Madrid, — the 
 Madrid Intendente, — but the Jefe Politico, — the Intendente! 
 They will be handed over to the grammatical treasury of 
 nouns that have no plural ! They will keep company with 
 the Holy Father and the Ship Soberauo, — the persons and 
 things whereof there is but one ! " The quiet but unequivo- 
 cal allusion in the last expression to the fact that the adminis- 
 tration had allowed the navy to remain with but one old 
 damaged ship of the line, while the treasures of the nation 
 19
 
 146 SPAIN. 
 
 were lavished in the maintenance of an army at Rome, struck 
 a chord which vibrated through the House and the whole city. 
 Sartorius endeavored to counteract its effect, by giving an 
 acrimonious and personal turn to the debate ; but Benavides 
 rejoined in a few graceful and good-humored words, which 
 fixed the laugh where he had left it. 
 
 The advantage, in point of parliamentary ability, being, as 
 has been said, on the side of the opposition, Donoso Cortes, 
 Marquis of Valdegamas, and then Minister at Berlin, was 
 allowed leave of absence from his diplomatic post, to discharge 
 his duties in the Cortes, as one of the Deputies from the dis- 
 trict of Badajoz. Besides being a poet of very distinguished 
 reputation, this gentleman had entered of late, with great suc- 
 cess, upon the career of politics, and had become one of the 
 most eminent of the Moderado orators and statesmen. He 
 was regarded, at home and in France, as a person of very 
 profound philosophy in things political, and of great sub- 
 limity in his views and theories generally. The post of honor, 
 therefore, was given to him, in the debate on the p7'esupuestos, 
 and he immediately preceded Narvaez, by whom, as has been 
 said, the discussion was concluded. Great expectations were 
 formed of his effort, and crowds went to hear it. The news- 
 papers glorified it exceedingly ; the Puerta del Sol echoed its 
 praises; and when I saw the orator, three nights afterwards, 
 at a ball, he was still receiving congratulations, like a bride- 
 groom in the first quarter of the honey moon. It was a sin- 
 gular discourse, — full of thought and power, rhapsody and 
 rant, — illustrating in itself, as well as in the sensation which 
 it produced, the reverence for French ideas, principles, and 
 forms, in which the Moderado dynasty has almost merged the 
 nationality of Spain.
 
 SPAIN. 147 
 
 Originally, with his political fortunes to seek, Donoso Cortes 
 was a liberal, in no narrow signification of the term. Created 
 a Marquis, — which seems to be a dignity specially coveted by 
 the Modei'ados, — he naturally enough took to conservatism, 
 and, being on excellent terms with those in power, he felt still 
 more deeply — as gentlemen in such case always do — the abso- 
 lute necessity of maintaining the social and established order. 
 His school of poetry, indeed, — which is the romantic, — in- 
 clined him to invest with reverent and mystic awe the sacred 
 rulers of mankind ; and that inclination was not likely to be 
 diminished by the fact, that the poet imagined he could see 
 the wand of state hidden among his own laurels. Having 
 had no practical experience in government, and but little op- 
 portunity to watch the operation of systems genuinely consti- 
 tutional, he had to seek what he could find in books. The 
 affinities of party led him towards the oracles at Paris, and 
 his own mental constitution taught him to prefer their elo- 
 quent abstractions to the practical and plainer lessons of Brit- 
 ish and American example. Even among the disciples of the 
 doctrines which he professed, his peculiar tendency was to 
 romanticize and Germanize. It was his taste to vaticinate 
 like Lamartine, and crusade with the sacerdotalism of Mon- 
 talembert, rather than follow the severe analysis and un- 
 equalled generalization of De Tocqueville and Guizot. Like 
 all abstractionists, and particularly the poetical, he frequently 
 fell into the vice of mistaking words for ideas, and of setting 
 up as philosophy what was simply phraseology. His speeches 
 and writings, however, were, as I have said, considered by the 
 mass as both profound and sublime. Philosophical forms and 
 processes are, in themselves, of great edification and refresh-
 
 148 SPAIN. 
 
 ment to many readers and hearers, and when they are accom- 
 panied by a certain warmth and earnestness of imagination 
 and expression are often none the less popular from having 
 nothing in them. The speech of Valdegamas, on the occasion 
 referred to, was so characteristic of his own peculiarities, and 
 furnishes so curious a clew to the political doctrines and ten- 
 dencies of his party, that it deserves a paragraph or two as a 
 pendant to the Senatorial effort of the Minister of Finance. 
 
 The question before the house was a very simple one. The 
 Constitution required the budget to be submitted to the Cortes, 
 for the purpose, obviously, of examination and discussion. 
 The government, however, proposed that its whole financial 
 policy and projet, thus submitted, should be indorsed and 
 adopted at once, without further debate. It was a plain ques- 
 tion of expediency, — not of constitutionality. It would have 
 been folly to suppose that the constitution intended to compel 
 inquiry, when the representatives of the people desired none ; 
 or to enforce discussion, when they found nothing to discuss. 
 It was for the legislature, under a due sense of public duty, to 
 determine as to the propriety of the thing; but, that determi- 
 nation once arrived at, there could be no rational doubt of the 
 legislative right to act on it, or of the constitutional legitimacy 
 and obligation of such action. It was to this view of the case 
 that Olozaga and Escosura directed themselves, and it was in 
 reducing and confining the controversy to this issue, after a 
 long and discursive debate, that Narvaez displayed the clear- 
 ness and directness of his acute and vigorous mind. 
 
 The Marquis of Valdegamas, on the contrary, appeared to 
 consider the whole politics of Europe as involved in the 
 question, which he chose to treat as a trial of strength between
 
 SPAIN. 149 
 
 monarchy and socialism. After the fashion of the French con- 
 servative orators, he assumed socialism and democracy to be 
 identical. Economical questions he then anathematized as 
 among the most wicked and pernicious devices which the 
 Tempter had taught the socialists ; and proceeded with great 
 gravity to prove, after his manner, that financial economy, 
 though quite an interesting matter, was still only of third or 
 fourth rate importance, — that it was too inflammatory a subject 
 to be handled at that moment, and was rather difficult to dis- 
 pose of satisfactorily at any time. The last of these proposi- 
 tions, at all events, might have been proved without any 
 unusual exertion ; but the orator had no idea of letting it 
 pass into the ranks of things established, without something 
 more than the ordinary treatment of plain truth. 
 
 " The nation is not firm," he said. " Since that epoch of 
 tremendous memory (the last French Revolution) there has 
 been nothing firm in Europe. Spain is the firmest of the 
 nations, and you see what Spain is. This Congress is the 
 best, and yet you see what this Congress is. Spaiu, wavering 
 as you behold her, is at this moment to the Continent as an 
 oasis in Zahara. I have talked with the wise, and have seen 
 how worthless is wisdom. I have listened to the valiant, and 
 have learned the insignificance of valor now. I have appealed 
 to the prudent, and have found how weak, in the emergency, 
 is prudence ! It seems as if the statesmen of Europe had lost 
 their gift of counsel. Human reason is in eclipse, — human 
 institutions tremble in the wind, — nations are precipitated into 
 sudden and mighty downfldl. ... At this day, over the whole 
 continent, all paths — even the most opposite — conduct but to 
 perdition. Here, resistance destroys; there, concession is
 
 150 SPAIN. 
 
 fatal. Where weakness is death, there are weak princes. 
 "Where ambition is ruin, there are ambitious princes. Where 
 perdition shall come of talent, there God has given ability to 
 kings. As it is with monarchs, so it is with ideas. The most 
 magnificent and the vilest have the same results. If you 
 doubt it, turn your eyes towards Paris and towards Venice, 
 and behold what has come of demagogisra, and what has come 
 of the superb idea of Italian independence ! As with ideas 
 and with monarchs, so is it with other men. Where one man 
 could save society, that man exists not ; or, if he does exist, 
 God scatters some poison for him in the air. Where one man 
 can overturn society, that man appears, — that man is borne 
 aloft upon the palms of men, — that man finds every road 
 open and level before him. Do you question it ? Look from 
 the tomb of Marshal Bugeaud to the throne of Mazzini ! 
 As it is with ideas and kings and other men, so it is with 
 parties. . . . Where the salvation of society depends on the 
 dissolution of old parties, and their amalgamation into new 
 ones, there parties refuse to be dissolved, and are not dissolved. 
 This is what happens now in France. . . . Where the salva- 
 tion of society appeals to parties, — that they cling to their old 
 banners, — that they tear not their bosoms, — that they keep 
 themselves together, and fight together, in great and noble 
 battles, — where all this is needful, as in Spain, that society 
 may live, — there — here — do parties leap to dissolution ! . . . 
 Gentlemen ! the true cause of the deep and awful evil with 
 which Europe is overwhelmed is this alone, — that the idea of 
 divine authority and of human authority has altogether dis- 
 appeared. This is what scourges Europe, — what scourges 
 society, — what afflicts the, world, — and it is from this that
 
 SPAIN. 151 
 
 nations have become ungovernable. It is this that explains 
 what I have never heard explained, and what, nevertheless, is 
 of easy explanation. . . . 
 
 "All who have travelled through France agree in saying 
 that you cannot meet a Frenchman who is a republican. I 
 can bear witness to the truth of this, for I have just passed 
 through France. Why then, and how then, is it, if there be 
 no republicans, that the republic exists? The republic exists 
 in France — nay, it will continue to exist — because the repub- 
 lican is the necessary form of government among a people who 
 are ungovernable. Where the people are not to be ruled, 
 government necessarily takes the republican shape. And this 
 is why the republic subsists and will subsist in France. Little 
 matters it whether the republic be, as it is, resisted by the will 
 of men, if it be upheld, as it is, by the very necessity of 
 things!" 
 
 Having spoken of human and divine authority as equally 
 forgotten in the world, the orator proceeded to anticipate and 
 meet the question as to the connection that exists between 
 politics and religion. He attributed to "civilization" two 
 phases, — the one affirmative and catholic, the other negative 
 and revolutionary. The former established three affirmations, 
 religious and political. The first of these was the existence 
 of a God and of a king ; the second, the dominion of God 
 over all things, and of the king over his realm ; the third, the 
 exercise of that dominion, by actual government, in both cases. 
 Civilization in its revolutionary phase, presented three nega- 
 tions : first, that of the deist, who denied the providence of 
 God, and that of the constitutional monarchist, who denied to 
 the king the exercise of his dominion ; second, that of the
 
 152 SPAIN. 
 
 pantheist, whose political correlative was the republican ; and 
 and third that of the atheist, whose yoke-fellow was of course 
 the socialist. The good and perfect Christian, it is needless 
 to say, was matched with the legitimist and the absolutist. 
 " Europe," cried the philosopher, " has entered upon the 
 second negation, and is striding towards the third, which is 
 the last, — the abyss, — beyond which is darkness only." 
 
 It would be tedious, though very curious, to follow the 
 speaker through the extraordinary processes by which he 
 showed, that, from this impending catastrophe. Catholicity 
 and standing armies were the only asylums of refuge. Russia, 
 he asserted, was at present powerless, because she had only 
 wrought on Europe heretofore through the Germanic Con- 
 federation, which had now ceased to exist, or rather passed 
 into chaos. It might be, he said, that after revolutions had 
 dissolved society and dispersed its standing armies, and after 
 Socialism had destroyed patriotism by destroying property, 
 Russia might sweep, with her Sclavonic millions, in wild tri- 
 umph over Europe. Only England could avert this, in any 
 case ; but England, alas ! lacked Catholicity, without which 
 there could be no victory in such a contest ! " I say. Sir," 
 he exclaimed, " that Catholicity is the only remedy against 
 Socialism, because Catholicity involves the only doctrine which 
 is the absolute contradiction of Socialism. What is Catho- 
 licity ? It is wisdom and humility. What is Socialism ? It 
 is pride and barbarism. Like the Babylonian king, it is at 
 once king and beast." 
 
 Then followed a demonstration of the costliness of repub- 
 lics, and the cheapness of despotisms. Standing armies, it 
 was asserted, were in fact the only cheap machinery of gov-
 
 SPAIN. 153 
 
 ernment. This led to a parallel, touching and eloquent in 
 some of its passages, between the soldier and the priest, but 
 in which I am afiaid the preference was rather given to the 
 soldier, — as under the Moderado administration was practi- 
 cally the case in Spain, both as regards consideration and pay. 
 The discourse wound up with an appeal to the Deputies, to 
 despise economy at such a crisis and not peril a great cause by 
 wasting the energies and distracting the unity of conserva- 
 tism in fruitless and discordant debate. Legislative bodies, he 
 warned them, might compass their own ruin by their imprac- 
 ticability. If they would neither govern nor let govern, but 
 only discuss, they could not stand. 
 
 " What has become of the Frankfort Assembly?" he asked 
 them ; " of that Assembly in whose ranks were sages, nobles, 
 and philosophers, the wisest, the most honored, the most pro- 
 found ? Where is it ? Whither has it gone ? Never did the 
 world behold a senate more august, — an end more lamentable ! 
 One universal shout of acclamation welcomed its birth, — it 
 died amid a hissing as universal ! Germany lodged it like a 
 goddess in a temple, — the same Germany looked on while it 
 perished like a harlot in a ditch ! " 
 
 The reader who only sees this speech, in its mere nakedness, 
 and in the imperfect shape which I have given it, — with its 
 melancholy pessimism, its hopeless distrust of human intelli- 
 gence and virtue and the providence of God, — the solemn 
 sophistry with which it would persuade men to surrender the 
 hard-won liberty of thought and action, whereof the legisla- 
 ture in which it was delivered was the offspring, and the 
 political existence of the speaker himself a triumph, — the 
 reader, I say, who sees but this, will wonder that a constitu- 
 20
 
 154 SPAIN. 
 
 tional congress should have received the discourse with any 
 demonstration but a hiss like that which said farewell to the 
 Frankfort Assembly. Bursts of disapprobation did, in fact, 
 occasionally sweep across the Chamber, — indignant denials of 
 the principles promulged, and the deductions drawn from 
 them. But still the speech was eminently successful. Its 
 forms were stately, imaginative, and oratorical, — its expres- 
 sions glowing with intense conviction. The orator had en- 
 thusiasm, grace, boldness, fire, — all the volatile elements which 
 evaporate after the moment of inspiration, yet make that mo- 
 ment glorious. When men came to read what had excited 
 them so much, there were many who thought, with an old 
 Carlist general of my acquaintance, that Donoso Cortes was 
 " a pedante, with his head in the clouds." But the mass did 
 not stop to read, and the majority of those who did, though 
 they admitted it to be " un poco metafisico," insisted, with 
 great positiveness, that it was ''muy sublime" nevertheless.
 
 XV. 
 
 The Senate.— Alcala Galiano.— The Coktes of 1823.— The Athe- 
 N^UM.— Galiano's Lectures theke. 
 
 THE Palace of the Senate is on the Plaza de los Minis- 
 terios, not far from the late chamber of the Deputies, 
 but inconveniently distant, I should think, from their present 
 place of session. It occupies the site of a church, formerly 
 belonging to an adjoining convent of Austin friars, and is 
 without any architectural merit or pretension. In front of it, 
 across the Plaza, is the palace of the Queen Mother,— a most 
 unsightly edifice, not long erected, — which might be taken for 
 an immense conservatory, were it not that the pile of window- 
 glass, which constitutes the resemblance, is of various and 
 glaring colors. 
 
 The Senate Chamber is precisely "the pleasing land of 
 drowsy-head," in which legislators with the life-tenure usu- 
 ally dream through their unagitating duties. There is little 
 that you see or hear, as you sit in the small galleries, to dis- 
 turb the calm, respectable stagnation, whose spirit broods 
 over the illustrious assemblage. Even the echoes are solemn 
 with a monotony of their own, and the graceful oval of the 
 hall— avoiding all obtrusiveness of angles — seems as if intended 
 to furnish that repose to the eye, which an assured position 
 
 155
 
 156 SPAIN. 
 
 and comfortable dignity so naturally spread over the mind. 
 The churchmen, who nod while the Marquis of is speak- 
 ing, are in the purple of extreme preferment. Why should 
 they, — or the invalid generals, the broken-down or retired 
 ministers, the gratified favorites, the pensioned placemen, the 
 effete nobility, who are around them, — why should they, whose 
 ambition has been successful, or exhausted or check-mated, 
 trouble themselves with making or listening to speeches? 
 What's Hecuba to them ? Their business is to vote with 
 the government, and to be dignified, — an easy duty and a 
 pleasant privilege ! It would be unreasonable to expect that 
 they should mar the enjoyment of the one, by travelling 
 beyond the requirements of the other. A stray Progre- 
 sista — or an impracticable young lloderado, who has not 
 arrived at years of political discretion, or lost the habits of 
 the lower house, or the hope of yet ruling in Israel — may be 
 permitted to vex the repose and crucify the spirits of the 
 elders by his discourses and his questionings. But empty 
 benches, dull ears, and extinguishing majorities will subdue 
 at last even the most burning fever of eloquence and patriot- 
 ism. Rare, therefore, in the main, is the tempest of discus- 
 sion which ever ruffles the soft plumes of the halberdiers, 
 whose dainty raiment gives an air of feudal pageantry to 
 what in fact is hardly, in its spirit or its operation, an 
 institution of the nineteenth century. Strange, that the 
 Cortes of 1820-23 held their sessions in this same hall, 
 and that many, whose hearts were warmest and whose voices 
 were loudest in the eloquent conflicts of those stormy days, 
 should be seated — conservatives among the most conserva- 
 tive — high on the benches which echo most faithfully the
 
 SPAIN. 157 
 
 mandates of the present power ! Is it the weakness or the 
 wisdom of age which so frequently changes the radical of 
 twenty-five into the high-tory of sixty? Weakness incon- 
 ceivable or wisdom inscrutable it must surely have been, 
 which brought Martinez de la Rosa and Alcala Galiano to 
 sit under the Presidency and follow the vote of the Marquis 
 of Miraflores, — the defender of Ferdinand the Seventh and 
 the eulogist of his despotism. 
 
 I have said that Galiano did not address the Senate, that I 
 am aware, during my residence in Madrid. Although allied 
 in party doctrines and association with the existing govern- 
 ment, he seemed at that time rather lukewarm in his devotion, 
 or at all events indisposed to make any display of it. A 
 brother-senator of his, not ill inclined to gossip, told me that 
 Galiano had applied to ministers, not long before, for some 
 preferment, which they had refused. " Y es natural se ofen- 
 da!" my informant added ; — " It is natural he should not be 
 pleased ! " No better evidence could be afforded of the strength 
 of the Moderados at that day, or at least of their confident 
 belief that they were strong, than their indifference to the 
 support of so distinguished and able a man, — one so remark- 
 able, especially, for those peculiar powers which are most 
 formidable in opposition. In the Chamber of Deputies it is 
 likely that the veteran tribune might have commanded almost 
 anything, in reason, that he had desired. It was his misfortune, 
 however, to be arrinconado — cornered, as they expressively 
 call it — in the upper house, the deadening vis inei'ticB of which 
 was quite enough to paralyze all the satire, sarcasm, and de- 
 nunciation he had wielded in his palmiest days. It was not, 
 therefore, worth their while to propitiate him, when his parlia-
 
 158 SPAIN. 
 
 mentary suflPocation was so easy and economical. Alas ! too, 
 he bad fallen away from the faith of his youth, and the wily 
 politicians whom he dealt with, knew that he could no longer 
 summon followers for his own revenge, with the trumpet he 
 had ceased to sound when popular institutions were in danger. 
 It was but the familiar case — so often paralleled in English 
 history — of the irresistible leader of the people ennobled into 
 the insignificant peer. 
 
 Galiano entered the Cortes, during the second constitutional 
 period, as a deputy from Cadiz, his native city. In the legis- 
 lature of that day were many able men, of large experience in 
 public affairs, some of whom had successfully improved their 
 opportunities for parliamentary distinction in the Cortes of 
 1812-14. Though comparatively young and inexpert in 
 politics and public speaking, Galiano was not long in rivalling 
 the most conspicuous of his associates, and soon established 
 for himself a national reputation, by the boldness of his doc- 
 trines and the brilliancy of his eloquence. In 1823, when the 
 Cortes were in session at Seville, and the approach of the Due 
 d'Angouleme rendered their removal necessary, the king — 
 who, although he had committed himself to the constitution 
 by every variety of gratuitous and supererogatory perjury, 
 was still in active correspondence with its enemies and the 
 chief of the invaders — refused positively to move a single stej). 
 This was an unexpected and startling blow, for Spanish loyalty 
 absurdly forbade the violation of the royal will or person, and 
 yet the presence of the executive was indispensable both to the 
 constitutional action of the legislature and the maintenance of 
 its prestige. The Cortes were in great consternation, for the 
 peril was imminent, and the briefest delay might be fatal. To
 
 SPAIN. 159 
 
 the boldest and wisest there seemed no alternative but an im- 
 mediate dissolution, wiiich involved the utter overthrow of 
 liberal institutions. At this critical moment, Galiano startled 
 the chamber by the introduction of a resolution, which as- 
 sumed that, under the provisions of the constitution, the action 
 of the king had vacated the throne. The proposition was a 
 plank in their shipwreck, and was enthusiastically welcomed. 
 Ferdinand, declared to be no longer king, was forced to con- 
 form to the will of the representatives of the nation. He was 
 directed to prepare at once for the journey, and as he was a 
 coward, he obeyed. In a very few hours he was under escort 
 to Cadiz, whither the whole government, executive and legis- 
 lative, hastened. So narrow was the escape of the Cortes, and 
 so fickle the temper of the multitude, that the next day, the 
 most important of the public archives were sacked and their 
 contents thrown into the Guadalquivir, while the people ran 
 loyally and madly through the streets, crying, " Viva el rey 
 disoluto ! " — " Long live the dissolute [absolute] king ! " 
 
 Although the measure proposed by Galiano had no other 
 eifect than to save the legislature for the moment, and to 
 prolong for yet a little while the ineffectual struggle of the 
 liberal party with domestic treachery and foreign arms, it, as 
 a matter of course, rendered liim one of the most prominent 
 marks of royal persecution. Upon the surrender of Cadiz, 
 he fled to England, where, under sentence of death at home, 
 he displayed for many years the fortitude and resignation, in 
 poverty and exile, which are the best tests of a large mind 
 and a great heart. He devoted himself for iiis support to 
 the teaching of his native language, and lightened the heavy 
 moments of his leisure by the cultivation of his intellectual
 
 160 SPAIN. 
 
 tastes. He made himself not only familiar, but learnedly 
 and critically so, with the literature of England ; and his 
 attainments in French and Italian scholarship are said to be 
 equally profound and graceful. At the death of Ferdinand, 
 he returned to his country, where his eminent services and 
 sacrifices commended him at once to public confidence. Ten 
 years of privation and reflection, however, with some practical 
 experience of popular instability and the horrors of civil strife, 
 had altogether changed his political philosophy. He attached 
 himself, with many of the ablest of his liberal contemporaries, 
 to the conservative cause, which he has since upheld with pro- 
 gressive enthusiasm, as minister, senator, and public teacher. 
 Indeed, his views are yet more ultra in their new direction 
 than formerly in their radical tendency ; so that a humorous 
 writer says, " He spent the earlier portion of his life in 
 proving that the throne was a useless form, and would now, 
 if possible, persuade the people that they ought to have two 
 at the least." A change of opinion is, to vulgar minds, so 
 sure an evidence of dishonesty, that nothing but Galiano's 
 consistent poverty could have saved his reputation from the 
 obloquy which always follows apostasy, actual or imputed. 
 After having sacrificed an independent fortune in the main- 
 tenance of his principles, he has been a minister and has not 
 repaid himself. Even political slander is forced to respect 
 the motives which have been proof against temptation, neces- 
 sity, and opportunity. Had he been less an orator and more 
 a statesman or even a demagogue, — less a man of books and 
 more a man of the world, — Galiano would probably be now, 
 with his ability and knowledge, one of the leading spirits in 
 the politics of Europe. As it is, he is a man of genius, and
 
 SPAIN. 161 
 
 lives in liurable lodgings, — all Madrid flocks to hear him at 
 the Athenaeum, yet no one wonders when a cabinet, whose 
 members might go to school to him, refuses him a petty 
 pension to mend his broken fortunes ! 
 
 The Athenreum is an excellent institution, established in a 
 convenient building on the Calle de la Montera. It has a 
 capital reading-room, where you can always find the British 
 periodicals and reviews, with the leading journals from the 
 Continent. Its library, which is quite large, is Avell selected, 
 and the collection of coins and cabinet of minerals, though 
 small, are beginning to be esteemed. It has several profes- 
 sorships for the delivery of gratuitous lectures on scientific 
 and literary subjects, and some of the chairs are filled by 
 persons of conspicuous attainments and ability. When I was 
 admitted to the privileges which are so liberally accorded by 
 its rules to strangers, Galiano was in the midst of a course on 
 modern history, and had reached the stirring times of the first 
 French Revolution. The subject, always full of interest in 
 itself, was of course doubly attractive in such hands ; and so 
 general was the desire to hear, that, but for the personal 
 kindness of the speaker, I should have been unable to find a 
 place in the overflowing hall. It is impossible for me to recall 
 the various occasions on which I thus availed myself of his 
 good offices to sit under his instruction, without feeling that 
 each gave me new and enlarged ideas of the power and 
 charm of speech. 
 
 It was said of one Romero Alpuente, a prominent Deputy 
 
 of the older constitutional days, and so justly said as to 
 
 become proverbial, that he was "feameiite feo" — " uglily 
 
 ugly ! " It would be scarcely fair to print the phrase in 
 
 21
 
 162 SPAIN. 
 
 connection with the name of Galiano, were it not constantly 
 and familiarly applied by his contemporaries to the dis- 
 advantages of feature and expression which he is able so 
 signally to overcome. His stature is short, besides, and his 
 gesture imgraceful. When I heard him, he had to struggle 
 with the additional difficulty of speaking, literally ex cathedra, 
 seated after the most orthodox professorial fashion, and with 
 a table before him. Nor was there any thing in the theme 
 which enabled the speaker to establish that personal sym- 
 pathy between himself and his audience which is the main- 
 spring of oratorical power. It was a theme for disquisition, 
 for analysis, for generalization, for high thought, but not for 
 passion. Only a plain, old man sat before us, to work what 
 wonders he could, simply with his mind and tongue. Yet, 
 if eloquence consists in the ability to sway men's under- 
 standings and lead captive their wills by speech, — to make 
 them lose themselves and their own thoughts in the orator 
 and his, — I have no hesitation in saying, that, in spite of all 
 the disadvantages under which he spoke, Galiano produced on 
 me more the effect of eloquence than any one I have ever 
 heard. I cannot imagine any thing to surpass the magnifi- 
 cence of his occasional improvisations. The gorgeous lan- 
 guage in which they were uttered may perhaps have led me 
 away by its music ; but this seemed to be their least attraction, 
 so striking were the thoughts which they embodied, so copi- 
 ous the illustrations, so full the whole of fire and light and 
 genius ! There seemed something almost miraculous in the 
 unfailing fluency, which, without the hesitation of a moment 
 or the disarrangement of a word, went steadily through the 
 most intricate phrases, the profoundest reflections, the freest
 
 SPAIN. 163 
 
 range of imagination, never leaving the sense for an instant 
 clouded, or the beauty of the diction sullied with one stain ! 
 The enthusiasm of the crowd must have been indeed irre- 
 pressible, to have overcome, so frequently and enthusiasti- 
 cally as it did, the habitual decorum and self-restraint of a 
 Spanish audience.
 
 XVI. 
 
 The Ex-Kegent Esparteeo and his Rival, Nauvaez. — The Caeeist 
 War and its Conceijsion. — Downfall op Espaktero, and its 
 Causes. — Love of Titles and Honors. — Orders of Knighthood. 
 
 THE decree which recalled the Ex-Regent Espartero from 
 banishment, in 1847, created him at the same time Sena- 
 tor of the realm. Since his return, however, he has had the 
 wisdom to take but little part in the political movements of 
 the day, and although he is still recognised as the head of the 
 Progresista party, his name is rarely mentioned in connection 
 with actual public affairs. During my whole stay in Madrid he 
 was absent from his seat in the Senate, and was devoting him- 
 self, as I understood, to the cultivation of his estate near 
 Logrono, and the improvement of agriculture in his neighbor- 
 hood. It is not singular that a man, whose experience of 
 popular fickleness and ingratitude has been so melancholy, 
 should prefer the quiet occupations and pleasures of rural life 
 to a renewal of those struggles which have already cost him 
 so much ; but it is nevertheless greatly to be lamented that 
 the nation should be deprived of services so important as those 
 which he has shown himself able to render. I believe that 
 his retirement is a source of regret to the moderate and well- 
 thinking men of all parties, for I am sure that I heard him 
 164
 
 SPAIN. 165 
 
 spoken of more frequently with personal consideration and 
 affection than any other public man in Spain. 
 
 In a former chapter, and in connection with the progress of 
 constitutional government since the death of Ferdinand, I had 
 occasion to speak of the downfall of Espartero as paving the 
 way to the rapid and brilliant career of Narvaez. The char- 
 acters of the two men are in strong contrast in almost all 
 particulars except personal bravery, and the triumph of Nar- 
 vaez over such an opponent is, of itself, as good a key to the 
 spirit of Spanish politics as any that could be furnished. 
 Down to the time of their conflict, there can be no doubt that 
 Espartero stood far before his rival in his claims upon the 
 gratitude of the country. Under circumstances of the most 
 discouraging character, he had succeeded — partly by his con- 
 duct in the field, and partly by adroit negotiation — in putting 
 an end to the cruel and desolating civil war which the adher- 
 ents of Don Carlos had kept up so long. His political oppo- 
 nents, it is true, have sneered at the Treaty of Yergara, — by 
 which the claims of the Pretender w'ere extinguished in 1839, 
 — as a bargain, corruptly purchased from the Carlist General, 
 Maroto, and involving no high exercise of civil or military 
 talent. Success is of course an uncertain criterion of merit, 
 but the tale which events tell is very apt, nevertheless, to 
 have some truth in it. For several years, the cause of the 
 Spanish Pretender had held its own, against the best efforts of 
 the government. The national treasury had been exhausted 
 in vain, the best armies had been baffled, and the most dis- 
 tinguished generals, one after another, had returned from the 
 inglorious field, unsuccessful at all events, if not disgraced. 
 The trumpets of the rebels had been sounded at the very
 
 166 SPAIN. 
 
 gates of Madrid, and their guerrillas had scoured the plains 
 of Andahisia, La Maucha, and Castile. Until the interven- 
 tion of Espartero as commander-in-chief of the national 
 forces, there was as little prospect of a termination to the 
 struggle, as when the banners of Don Carlos were first 
 planted on the stubborn hills of Biscay. That the new leader, 
 without any advantages which his predecessors had not enjoyed, 
 should have been able to consummate what they had so signally 
 failed in, is, of itself, some evidence that he had personal quali- 
 ties superior to theirs. But that conclusion becomes irresistible, 
 when it is considered that he did not assume the control of the 
 government cause until after the spirit of its supporters had 
 been broken by years of failure, — after the resources of the 
 nation had been crippled by the long and costly maintenance of 
 a large war establishment, — and after impunity, if not success, 
 had given consistency and confidence to rebellion. That, after 
 pressing the enemy so closely as to incline them from necessity 
 to compromise, he should have chosen to finish the war by 
 treaty rather than by bloodshed, would have been as honorable 
 to his wisdom as to his humanity, had the contest been between 
 strangers. But in a civil war, — a war which divided families, 
 separated provinces, arrayed friend against friend and brother 
 against brother, in which neither party could be victorious 
 without carrying desolation to the hearths of its own members, 
 as sadly as to the homes of the vanquished, — only a savage 
 would deny that the course which Espartero chose entitled him, 
 in a tenfold degree, to the love and gratitude of his country. 
 Still deeper and still stronger ought that love and gratitude to 
 be, in contemplation of the fact, that the restoration of peace, 
 by the Convenio de Vergara, removed the main impediment
 
 i;PAiN. 167 
 
 which, till that time, had arrested the progress of Spain in 
 freedom, civilization, and development. 
 
 Whatever may have been the weakness of the Ex-Regent's 
 civil administration, practically considered, I have found very 
 few who have denied to him integrity of purpose. Indeed, 
 so far as the causes of his downfall were intrinsic in his 
 character and conduct, they appear to have depended mainly 
 upon principles and feelings which do him infinite honor. It 
 is said — and probably with truth, for his friends do not 
 genemlly deny it — that physical infirmity and the luxurious 
 habits contracted during his residence in South America, 
 rendered Espartero personally inactive and indolent, when 
 not under the influence of any duty which stimulated his 
 energies. But this — though an unhappy defect in any states- 
 man, and especially in a Spanish ruler — was not by any 
 means the chief secret of his overthrow. He was unfortunate 
 enough to have a conscience. He was at heart, and in all his 
 heart's sincerity, a lover of constitutional freedom. He had 
 fought to maintain the constitutional dynasty, and had sworn 
 to support the constitution. Under no circumstances, there- 
 fore, could he be brought to violate what he felt that he owed 
 to the liberal institutions which had made him — the son of a 
 Manchegan peasant — Duke of Victory and Regent of Spain. 
 He felt the obligation of his trust, and he kept it sacred. 
 Being a ruler with but limited prerogatives, he would not go 
 beyond them, to advance the interests of his party or consoli- 
 date or preserve his own power. Throughout his whole 
 administration, history will recognize a faithful effort to 
 obey and execute the laws, in the true spirit of a liberal, 
 an enlightened, and a conscientious patriotism.
 
 168 SPAIN. 
 
 That, even with such determinations and so much manly 
 resolution to fulfil them, Espartero should have added another 
 to the number of good men exiled by national ingratitude, 
 will not surprise any one who has studied Spanish history and 
 politics. Republican France was governed by the adminis- 
 trative system and ideas of the kingdom and the empire, — 
 and constitutional Spain has not yet learned to discard the 
 machinery and aj^pliances of the despotism she has over- 
 turned. The court and the capital are still the fountains of 
 power. It is there that ministers are made and unmade ; 
 there that the springs are touched which move the army and 
 the people. The habits of centuries have not given way, and 
 cannot soon give way, before the institutions of but a few 
 years. To suppress the intrigues which assail government, 
 secretly and openly, the goverment must use despotic measures, 
 or be itself suppressed. Nothing less decided is understood or 
 felt, as yet. Public opinion connot be concentrated with suffi- 
 cient rapidity, and constitutional means cannot be directed with 
 sufficient energy and promptness, to countervail sedition. The 
 evil is a practical one, dependent on circumstances not insti- 
 tutions, and has to be met practically. This, Espartero would 
 not do. He had no talent for intrigue, and he would not usurp. 
 That he fell was not therefore his fault, in a strict sense, although 
 perhaps greatly so in the sense of that patriotism which im- 
 pels an honest man, strong in his good motives, to violate the 
 law in an emergency, in order that he may preserve the state. 
 
 But the Regent had other causes of defeat to struggle with. 
 He was favorable to a reasonable modification of the tariff on 
 imports, and this of course secured him the deadly hostility of 
 Catalonia, — that fruitful nursery of dangerous and obstinate
 
 SPAIN. 169 
 
 revolt. The apprehension of a treaty of commerce, wliicli he 
 was supposed to contemplate, with England, gave him the op- 
 position of those of the commercial class, whose affinities were 
 with France, and whose political economy was made up of 
 French ideas. He was supposed to be, to a certain extent, 
 under British influence, which animated the hostility of the 
 whole afrancesado portion of the population. His humble 
 birth and high position made him envied and hated, and his 
 successful career against the Carlists iiad enlisted the whole 
 legitimist feeling, almost undividedly, in opposition to him. 
 Private jealousies, and the desire to supplant him in influence 
 when his Regency should expire at the Queen's majority, made 
 many of the leaders in his own party his opponents likewise. 
 Against all these powerful elements in combination, what mar- 
 vel that honesty and integrity should have proved insufficient 
 to sustain him ? 
 
 It was of circumstances like these that Narvaez had the op- 
 portunity and the tact to avail himself. Bold, active, unscrupu- 
 lous, able, he was the individual, of all others, for a crisis in 
 which a man was needed rather than a constitution. He used 
 his elements, in combination, to break down Espartero, and 
 then he broke down, with the other elements, each of those 
 that separately stood in his own way. According to the 
 principles on which he obtained power, he exercised it. 
 Through those principles he kept it, and will most probably 
 return to it. Where there was an evil, he sought the appropri- 
 ate remedy, — in the constitution and the laws, if he could 
 readily find it there, but wherever else he could find it, if they 
 did not contain it. He respected constitutional forms where 
 they did not interfere with the substance of his authority, and 
 22
 
 170 SPAIN. 
 
 he was always sure to adopt them if he readily could, when he 
 found it necessary to invade the substance of the constitution. 
 That he often did wrong, no one can doubt ; that his princi- 
 ples and practices all tended towards the perpetuation of his 
 own power, is just as indisputable. But it cannot be denied, 
 I think, that he served his country far better in the main, than 
 if he had confined his government within the appointed limits 
 of the constitution. The evil of usurpation was for the time 
 a lesser one than that of anarchy. He gave strength to the 
 central power, where it was weak, and crushed almost to ex- 
 tinction the spirit of petty and local faction and insubordi- 
 nation. He repressed rivalries and suppressed revolts, which 
 indecision would have nursed into civil war. By making his 
 administration thoroughly national, he commanded respect for 
 the government at home and the nation abroad. Finally, and 
 above all things, he kept the country at peace within and with- 
 out, so that industry began to thrive, internal improvement to 
 awaken, agriculture and commerce to start into new life. For 
 the first time within the memory of man, the capitalists of the 
 nation, and even of other nations, began to feel that invest- 
 ments were safe ; that the confidence of to-day would not be 
 turned to ruin by the revolution of to-morrow. Through his 
 means the ground has thus been made more safe for constitu- 
 tional rulers to come. He has extirpated the once prevalent 
 idea, that constitutional government is only an organized license, 
 and has given the people an opportunity of seeing and feeling, 
 for themselves, that even arbitrary rule, if wise, is better than 
 no authority at all. A gentler and weaker hand may now 
 guide the wild horses which he has broken to the rein. The 
 time may not perhaps have come, as yet, when the system of
 
 SPAIN. 171 
 
 Espartero will altogether suffice for Spain ; but the vigor of 
 Narvaez has brought it much nearer than it would have been, 
 after a quarter of a century of premature republicanism. Each 
 of the rivals, in his way, has deserved well of his country ; 
 but to human eyes it would have seemed wiser had Narvaez 
 preceded Espartero. 
 
 It will have struck the reader, probably, in going over these 
 brief sketches of the men who rule the destinies or hold high 
 places in the veneration of the Spanish people, that most of 
 them have sprung from humble origin, and won their power 
 and reputation for themselves. This is a significant fact, and 
 shows, beyond dispute, that the popular element is fully at 
 work in the Peninsula, under all the shapes which political 
 opinion may take. The court and army of Don Carlos, rep- 
 resenting as they did the ultra-legitimist principle, would have 
 furnished as palpable an illustration of the same fact. In 
 speculating hereafter upon the political future of Spain, I 
 may have occasion to recur to this, as giving some clew to her 
 destiny. For the present, I only allude to it as in amusing 
 contrast with the thirst for rank and title which seems to 
 pervade all classes of political aspirants, and those, especially, 
 whose elevation is least due to the distinctions of society. In 
 the moment of triumph, the most radical party seems to forget 
 its professions and the prestige which they gave. The Pro- 
 gresista progresses straightways into a countship, if he can, 
 and the Moderado is moderate, if he asks no more than a 
 marquisute. Crosses and decorations, ribbons and buttons, are 
 sought and given without stint, — so that unlucky is the man 
 of moderate pretensions in ]SIadrid who has not a uniform, at 
 least, to wear on gala-days. Knights of the royal orders are
 
 172 SPAIN. 
 
 as plentiful as colonels in our Southern States. The list of 
 Grand Crosses in the order of Charles the Third occupies eight 
 pages of the Court Guide, — that of similar dignitaries in the 
 order of Isabella the Catholic goes somewhat over ten. In 
 the latter list the reader will be surprised to know that two 
 respectable Turkish functionaries — Fuad Effendi and Seid 
 Mohammed Emir Aali Baja — have the pleasure of seeing their 
 names enrolled ! It would be curious if the orthodox queen, 
 whose memory the order was designed to honor, could burst 
 her cerements at Granada, and behold the cross she loved and 
 worshipped resting, in her name, upon the bosom of the infidel ! 
 Almost as curious it might be to know the infidel's own 
 thoughts, as he puts on the emblem of a worship he despises, 
 and reflects that the poor creature whose name it bears had no 
 pretentions to a soul ! But whatever the Turk might think, 
 the Spaniard likes the cross exceedingly. " If we were to 
 have a democracy in Spain," said my old friend, the Carlist 
 general, "we should call each other Serenisimo ciudadano ! 
 Ciudadano principe ! (Most serene citizen ! Prince citizen !) at 
 the least."
 
 XVII. 
 
 Loyalty. — The Queen.— Gijizot and Infante. — Regicides. — ^Neces- 
 sity OF AN ABLE PrINCE. — ThE QuEEN's EmBARAZO. — PuBLIC 
 
 Rejoicings and Ceremonial. — Diplomatic Congratulations and 
 Reception. — The King. 
 
 THERE is no trait aiore prominent in the national 
 character of the Spaniards, than the loyalty with which 
 they have always borne themselves towards their kings, even 
 when it was least deserved and most ungratefully requited. 
 Certainly no prince, whom history records, did more than 
 Ferdinand the Seventh, to goad and irritate a people whom it 
 seemed the business of his life to wrong. There were men, 
 all through the nation, whom he had maddened into hatred of 
 his person by the most ingenious refinements of insult and 
 persecution. There were times, when only his personal prestige 
 — indeed his personal existence — stood between the people and 
 their permanent liberation from a despotism which shamed the 
 vilest annals of the Roman Empire. No one ever had a 
 better right than he to expect the vengeance of men, in antici- 
 pation of the justice of Heaven. But although his private 
 habits afforded the most frequent and favorable opportunities 
 for a.ssa.ssi nation, while his public conduct was perpetually 
 prompting and deserving national retribution, he passed 
 through his tyrannical and vicious life without being once in 
 
 173
 
 174 SPAIN. 
 
 peril of the dagger or the scaffold. The Spaniards are proud 
 of this, and doubtless it does credit to their patience and for- 
 bearance ; though, perhaps, it pushed these virtues almost into 
 weakness. When Quiroga was in London, after the constitu- 
 tional defeat of 1823, an eminent personage suggested to him, 
 that, if the liberal party had dealt with Ferdinand as he 
 deserved, they Avould have saved their country from oppression 
 and themselves from death or exile. " It may be true, your 
 
 ," was the lofty answer, " but killing kings has never 
 
 been a Spanish custom, — Nunca ha sido uso en Espana, 
 matar reyesJ' 
 
 But though it may have been "a large economy ... to 
 save the like," there was prudence as well as principle involved 
 in it. The spilling of their monarch's blood would have 
 precipitated on the Spaniards all the reactionary elements of 
 Europe. The intervention, which afterwards disgraced France 
 chiefly, would have been Cossack likewise. The darling pro- 
 ject of the French, to make the Ebro the boundary of their 
 dominions, would have been consummated, it may be, by the 
 concession and the guaranty, to other powers, of beautiful and 
 fertile Andalusia. Another dismemberment, like that of Pol- 
 and, would probably have brought additional reproach upon 
 the century, while all of Europe that pretended to be liberal 
 would have looked on again with folded arms. It was well, 
 therefore, for humanity and for the cause of freedom, not less 
 than for the weal of Spain, that Ferdinand was spared. Not 
 long ago the Spaniards had an opportunity of using, with no 
 small effect, the advantage which their history thus gave them 
 over their less conscientious neighbors. 
 
 In 1842, I think, but certainly while Espartero held the 
 regency, the Moderados and the French their allies attempted
 
 SPAIN. 175 
 
 to create the impression, that the Infantas — now the Queen and 
 the Duchess of Montpensier — were not personally safe in the 
 hands of the Progresistas. By way of giving currency and 
 effect to the imputation, M. Guizot took occasion to say, in the 
 Chamber of Deputies, that France would regard as a cause of 
 intervention any attempt to do violence to the royal persons. 
 The insult was exceedingly gratuitous, and excited general 
 indignation in Spain. It was especially ill-brooked at Madrid, 
 and an admirable speech in which it was retorted, by Don 
 Facundo Infante, a constitutionalist of the old school, shook 
 the capital with applause. '' The quondam Professor of Mod- 
 ern History," he said, " is ignorant, perhaps, that there is no 
 such word as ' regicide ' in our vocabulary. The thing which 
 it signifies is not known to our history, and we have had no 
 use for the name in our language.* There are, unhappily, 
 some nations whose annals supply the deficiency of ours. It 
 would be well if our neighbors would tell us, — before we 
 trust them with the guardianship of our monarchs, — how 
 many of their own they can remember, from the days of 
 Henri Quatre, who have not been the victims, or at all events 
 the aim, of violence, or banishment, or murder!" 
 
 The present Queen of Spain had obviously no dream of 
 peril from her subjects, during the period of which I write. 
 She mingled freely with them on the Prado and in the gardens 
 of the Retiro every evening, — generally in an open carriage, 
 and accompanied only by her servants, and a lady and gentle- 
 
 * Since the nbove was written, tlie attempted murder of Queen Isabella 
 by the madman Gomez has made the honest boast of the orator no longer 
 just. The outrage, however, did but elicit a burst of abhorrence so univer- 
 sal, as to show that the nation could neither have sympathy with the crime, 
 nor be corrupted by the example of the assassin.
 
 176 SPAIN. 
 
 man or two in waiting. The simplicity of her cortege was 
 strikingly in contrast with the array of cavalry and cocked 
 pistols under the protection of which the President of the 
 French Republic went out, at the same time, to fraternize with 
 his fellow-citizens. Upon the promenade, and as she passed 
 along the streets, the greeting of the people to Queen Isabella 
 was cordial and apparently sincere. Her bearing towards all 
 was full of kindness, in accordance with the thorough amiabil- 
 ity which is remarkable in her disposition. Her face, though 
 not regarded as attractive generally, has an expression of sad- 
 ness, at times, which is very touching, and it is impossible, I 
 think, to see her often, without being satisfied that palace-doors 
 have not shut sorrow from her. That her domestic relations 
 were far from being happy seemed to be generally conceded, 
 and if, after having been made the victim of state policy and 
 diplomatic intrigue, she were in fact mindless of obligations 
 which were forced on her, it would be but what has happened 
 a thousand times, where neither the temptations nor the oppor- 
 tunities of royalty were added to the recklessness of youth 
 and disappointment. From all accounts, she is entirely with- 
 out ambition, and well disposed to part with any of her 
 prerogatives as queen, which interfere with her leisure and 
 freedom as a woman. 
 
 It would be well, indeed, for Isabella the Second, and 
 signally a blessing to her people, if, even for the pride of 
 governing, she could be brought to feel a graver interest in 
 the responsibilities and duties of her station. At the present 
 stage of Spanish affairs, the monarch should be something 
 more than an estimable person or a respectable figure in a 
 pageant. Not all the ability and energy of the most vigorous
 
 SPAIN. 177 
 
 ministry can supply the absence of those qualities in the 
 individual who holds the sceptre. Men, taken from the 
 people and lifted suddenly to power, are followed necessarily 
 by envy and resentment. They may make themselves dukes 
 and marquises, but they cannot overcome the popular persua- 
 sion that the only sanction of their authority is the fact of 
 their possessing it. Their measures will be scrutinized, at the 
 best, with invidious acuteness ; their motives questioned with 
 all the distrust of rivalry. They may use the name and lean 
 on the prerogatives of the monarch, but if the people know 
 that it is the ministers who govern, not the king, the moral 
 strength of the government will fall as short of what it ought 
 to be, as the prestige of a subject falls short of a king's. 
 
 As a matter of course, this is not meant to be said of 
 all constitutional monarchies ; for where the people govern 
 through the legislature and the cabinet, the personal qualities 
 of the monarch, provided they be tolerable, are of no particular 
 importance. A responsible ministry is quite as good, in such 
 case, as a Nvise and vigorous king. But where, as in Spain, 
 constitutional government has not yet grown into a habit, — 
 wdiere the influence of the people has not learned to make 
 itself felt by concentration of opinion and unity of action, — 
 the case is very different. There, the legislature has compara- 
 tively little to do with the direction of administrative affairs, 
 and it is the executive government which actually governs. 
 In such countries and under such circumstances royalty is a 
 substantive thing, and has an opportunity of displaying itself 
 in its most effective and useful phase as an institution. But, 
 for that purpose, the individual who is invested with the royal 
 prerogatives must be able to wield them himself. His personal 
 23
 
 178 SPAIK 
 
 and known and visible participation is indispensable, to save 
 the state from those continual and embittered contests of 
 private ambition, which are apt to be the bane of popular 
 institutions in their earlier stages. Of the exercise of power 
 by the monarch, there may be question, so far as policy is 
 concerned, but there can be no complaint as to its legitimacy. 
 His dignity and superiority, being beyond cavil, cannot be the 
 cause of jealousy. Any man may intrigue to be made a 
 Secretary, in the stead of another whom he knows to have no 
 better right than he ; but no man in his sane mind — unless he 
 means to be a rebel — will endeavor to supplant his king. 
 Even if the monarch steps beyond the line of his legitimate 
 authority, his usurpation, whether for good or for evil, has at 
 all events some pretexts and prescriptions, which make it 
 comparatively respectable. A ministerial despotism, on the 
 contrary, is not only bad in what it does, but in itself. It 
 involves an insult as well as a wrong, and is hated and con- 
 spired against accordingly. In Spain, where the sense of 
 personal equality among the people is as strong as their 
 reverence for the throne and loyalty to him who fills it, this 
 is particularly true; and the personal character of the monarch, 
 and the share he takes in the government of which he is the 
 head, are proportionally more important than in countries 
 where those sentiments prevail less actively. Narvaez, born 
 king of Spain, or representing the will of a prince who was 
 known to have a will of his own, would have been able to 
 do more in a single year for the welfare of his country, than 
 in ten, perhaps, as prime minister in name, and dictator in 
 fact. He would have had no palace intrigues to make him 
 tremble for his place, no small cabals of pretendientes to
 
 SPAIN. 179 
 
 silence or suppress, no envy or repining of other subjects at 
 the power which lie — a subject only — wielded. He would 
 have gone on and would still be ruling, — sternly, and at all 
 times despotically it may be, but still consistently and ably, — 
 instead of being badgered and cross-questioned by Gonzalez 
 Bravo and supplanted by Bravo Murillo. 
 
 But whatever may be the deficiency of Isabella the Second 
 in the qualities which made illustrious the long-descended name 
 she bears, and whatever may be the tone of the court gossip 
 in regard to her conduct as a woman, she is, as I have said, 
 certainly popular among her subjects. Identified as she is 
 with the cause of free institutions, for which the nation has 
 sacrificed so much, it is not strange that — other things apart — 
 they should regard her person with something of the enthusi- 
 asm which rallied them around her rights and throne. Dur- 
 ing my visit, it was officially announced that the birth of an 
 heir to the crown might be looked for in a few months, and 
 the occasion developed a degree of earnest congratulation and 
 solicitude throughout the realm, which left no doubt of the 
 Queen's hold upon the pojnilar affection. It may give the 
 reader some notion of Spanish peculiarities, to describe the 
 public manifestations which attended and followed so interest- 
 ing a disclosure. 
 
 On the 14th of February, the Duke of Valencia, in full 
 and magnificent uuiform, arrested the attention of each branch 
 of the legislature, separately, by reading a communication he 
 had received from the proper officer of her ^lajesty's house- 
 hold, in which the state of the royal health was reported, from 
 the certificate of the chief physician of the palace. The news 
 could not have been very unexpected, for the subject had
 
 180 SPAIN. 
 
 already been discussed in the fashionable circles and the news- 
 papers. Indeed, for some time previous, the principal streets 
 leading from the palace to the Prado had been sanded carefully 
 for the comfort of her Majesty in driving, and the press had 
 alluded to the fact, and the cause of it, without any reserve. 
 The announcement, nevertheless, was received with great 
 enthusiasm by the legislature. The Chamber of Deputies 
 especially sent forth shouts of Viva la Reina ! which might 
 have been heard almost in the royal apartments. Immediate 
 steps were taken upon all sides to congratulate the Queen. 
 The Chamber of Deputies disputed for some time as to 
 whether they should present themselves in mass, or be repre- 
 sented by a committee. Sr. Olozaga, who is rather a stickler 
 for the dignity of the representative department, protested 
 against parading the whole body, in its official capacity, 
 through the streets. Narvaez had the tact to agree with him, 
 and the matter was compromised by the appointment of a com- 
 mittee, with the understanding that all the rest of the mem- 
 bers might go in company, if they chose. No one, of course, 
 was impolitic enough to be absent, even if any one desired to 
 be, which, in the general jubilee, I very much doubt. The 
 Presidents of the two houses made fine speeches, her Majesty 
 answered with great patriotism and amiability, and for the 
 moment all party distinctions seemed to have been forgotten 
 in the overflowing of loyal enthusiasm. The Cortes having 
 set the example, there seemed, for a fortnight at least, to be a 
 general descent, upon the palace, of all public bodies and func- 
 tionaries who could lay the slightest claim to congratulatory 
 privileges. Only the President of the United States, on his 
 way to the Springs or to a railroad opening, was ever so over-
 
 SPAIN. 181 
 
 whelmed with discourses; and although the subject was uot 
 one which afforded much scope, it was treated, nevertheless, in 
 all the sublime varieties of what the Spanish grammarians call 
 " figurative syntax." I was present at the demonstration made 
 by the diplomatic corps, — having but a few days before been 
 privately presented, — and although the grotesqueness of the 
 idea could not but force itself upon me during the whole cere- 
 mony, I was impressed by its magnificeuce and the cordial 
 spirit which seemed to animate all who took part in it. 
 
 Sir Henry Wotton says that " to make a complete staircase 
 is a curious piece of architecture," and I Avas never more 
 forcibly struck with the effect which that stately portion of an 
 edifice may be ma<le to produce, than when we were passing 
 up the principal stairway of the palace, on the evening in 
 question. The steps and balustrade, of exquisite white mar- 
 ble, were made more brilliant by the crimson contrast of rich 
 carpeting, and the muskets and halberds of the guard, M'ho 
 saluted us at the entrance and on every platform, had a festive 
 glitter in the flood of softened light. A few moments of easy 
 ascent carrried us to the door of the superb ante-chamber, 
 where the aids of the military personages in attendance and 
 a number of officers of the household waited, in rich uniforms. 
 In the adjoining apartment of the suite we found the principal 
 members of the diplomatic body already assembled, and it was 
 not long before we were ushered, with the usual ceremonial, 
 into the presence-chamber. Upon the opposite side of the 
 magnificent saloon to that from which we entered, stood the 
 Queen, beside a table covered with crimson velvet. TJjc King 
 was on her left, and on the other side of the table stood 
 jS'arvaez, with the Ministers of Finance and Grace and Justice.
 
 182 SPAIN. 
 
 At the head of the chamber was the Minister of State, with 
 the rest of his colleagues, and at the foot the Count of Sevilla 
 la Nueva, the Introducer of Ambassadors. Behind their 
 Majesties were some attendants of high rank. The chiefs of 
 the different legations, in the due order of ])recedence, with the 
 Pope's Nuncio at their head, arranged themselves in line 
 opposite the royal persons. Behind each minister stood his 
 secretary, and the other members of his diplomatic family. 
 When the whole pageant was in right array, it was gorgeous 
 in the extreme ; for the apartment was lofty and superbly 
 lighted, its architecture and furniture were all that taste and 
 luxury could devise, and the various splendor of the uniforms 
 and court-dresses elicited the admiration of those who were 
 most accustomed to such displays. 
 
 As soon as we had subsided into our places, the Nuncio 
 produced a congratulatory address in Spanish, on the part of 
 himself and his colleagues, which he read with great earnest- 
 ness and deliberation, but with a provokingly Italian accent, 
 which was almost too much for the gravity of more than one 
 of the dignified assemblage. When he had finished, her 
 Majesty, in a distinct tone, but very rapidly, read an expres- 
 sion of her thanks and " sweet hopes." She then proceeded 
 towards the Nuncio, whom she saluted very graciously, and, 
 after conversing with him for a few moments, passed down 
 the line of the Ambassadors, saying a few words to each in his 
 turn. The King followed her, but seemed to be in no great 
 haste to finish his part of the performance, — so that her Majes- 
 ty was compelled to wait some time for him, with the Intro- 
 ducer of Ambassadors, at the foot of the saloon. She obviously 
 did not bear the delay very patiently, — as was quite natural,
 
 SPAIN. 183 
 
 — and when the King finally joined her, she made her exit 
 with him at once, by a door opposite to us. The curious in 
 such matters may be edified by the information, that their 
 Majesties retired facing the diplomatic body, — making three 
 several bows as they moved across the apartment, and another 
 at the door, as they were in the act of passing through it. 
 
 It was the first time that I had been near the King, for a 
 sufficiently long time to observe him particularly. He is of 
 short stature, exceedingly juvenile and effeminate in his ap- 
 pearance, with a "shrill treble" in his voice, and a downy, 
 incipient moustache. Whether he deserves one half the 
 unamiable and disparaging things which are said of him may 
 well be doubted by any one who knows the reckless license of 
 court scandal ; but there is no risk, I am sure, in saying that 
 neither Lavater nor Spurzheim would hasten to select him, 
 from outward signs, as the model of a ruler among men.
 
 XVIII. 
 
 Social Customs in Madrid. — Entertainments. — Society and its 
 Spirit. — Imitation of the French. — The Academy and the 
 Press. — Socialism. — Etiquette. — Social Frankness and Cordi- 
 ality. 
 
 IN all the capitals of Europe, the general tone of society 
 among the higher classes is, of course, given by the 
 court ; but Madrid is so emphatically " la Corte,'' — the Court 
 and nothing else, — that every movement at the Palace vibrates 
 through the whole circumference of the social circle. The 
 Queen, who is as generous as she is gay, had been in the habit 
 of throwing open the royal saloons to her lieges without stint, 
 and I found that traditions of her splendid balls and routs, 
 during the preceding winters, were quite rife among the gossips 
 of fashion. Indeed, I met with a party of young noblemen 
 who had come from Belgium, all the way, in the praiseworthy 
 expectation of realizing sundry wonderful accounts which had 
 been given them by some of their luckier friends, who were 
 in Madrid the year before. Unhappily, however, the events to 
 which I have alluded disappointed the hopes and calculations 
 of the dancing world, during the season of my visit, and 
 confined the entertainments at the palace to a few operatic 
 performances. As a consequence, scarcely any one seemed 
 disposed to open or carry on the usual festive campaign, and 
 184
 
 SPAIN. 185 
 
 several of my acquaintance, who had promised me marvels 
 wlien the season opened, were careful to tell me, when it was 
 over, that they had never seen Madrid so little like itself. 
 The few general entertainments which were given were proba- 
 bly a fair type of the many which would have kept them 
 company under more favorable auspices ; but as it is no part 
 of my plan to chronicle a stranger's experience of private 
 hospitality, I must leave the reader to imagine, that wealth 
 and social cultivation have the same results in Madrid as all 
 the world over. 
 
 In telling the story of my former rambles in Spain, I took 
 occasion to say something about the rarity of invitations to 
 dinner, which some travellers complain of so bitterly. It is 
 not the custom of the country to feed the hungry after that 
 fashion, — and whether it be a fault or a virtue, Madrid, in 
 that particular, is like the rest of the kingdom. Any one who 
 makes up his mind to be a dweller in the capital must resign 
 himself to the inevitable necessity, for the most part, of casting 
 his own bread upon the waters, and finding it for himself when 
 he can. With but few exceptions, the foreigners resident at 
 Madrid are the only Amphitryons, and there are those of them, 
 no doubt, who are consequently remembered in the same spirit 
 which taught the weary pilgrims to 
 
 " drink, and pray 
 For the kind soul of Sybil Grey.'' 
 
 The prodigal abundance — which loads the tables and sup- 
 ports the medical faculty, regular and irregular, wherever 
 Anglo-Saxondom, or its remotest offshoot, stretches — forms 
 no part of Spanish social economy. The tertulias, or evening 
 24
 
 186 SPAIN. 
 
 receptions — which are so natural, so pleasant, and so free, that 
 no one can enjoy them long, without regarding them as one 
 of the most charming fashions of social intercourse — are alto- 
 gether without gastronomic embellishments. A little orchata, 
 lemonade and cake, with perhaps a cup of tea where foreign 
 tastes have been acquired, are all that a large company will 
 desire, to help them, with music and conversation, through a 
 long and agreeable evening. If cards are introduced, as they 
 frequently are, it is not often that the game gets the better of 
 prudence. In the more aristocratic saloons, where ecarie is 
 popular, the stakes are generally made up by the bystanders, — 
 and the loser invariably resigns his seat to his neighbor, as soon 
 as fate determines against him. The amusement of one is thus 
 made the amusement of all, and there is a natural and constant 
 diffusion of that social electricity, which we are too apt, in this 
 country, to suppose can only be disseminated by the ponderous 
 machinery of a supper. 
 
 Some ill-natured commentators upon Spanish customs have 
 been disposed to attribute the fast-day character of these enter- 
 tainments to the poverty of the people, or their economy, 
 rather than their moderation. I have no idea that there is 
 any foundation wliatever for that impression. People would 
 be called together less frequently, no doubt, if it were necessary 
 to tempt them by costly preparations ; and it is more than 
 probable, that the Spaniards, like all the rest of the children 
 of men, would say Ha ! ha ! among the banquets, if there were 
 any, as the war-horses are wont to, among the trumpets. Yet 
 this last would only happen from the common weakness of all 
 flesh and the superiority of temptation to human powers of 
 resistance. I am quite persuaded, in spite of it, that the present
 
 SPAIN. 187 
 
 system is the result of both taste and principle. The Spaniards 
 are notoriously an abstemious people, in the very bosom of 
 abundance; hence, to be moderate is to them natural. In the 
 midst, too, of all their distinctions of rank and class, — their 
 stars and crosses and uniforms, — they are, as I have frequently 
 repeated, more practically observant of personal equality than 
 any people I have seen. A social habit, therefore, which puts 
 rich and poor upon a level, so far as they may instrinsically 
 deserve to be, is entirely in accordance with their instincts. 
 Fond, too, as they are of pleasant intercourse, it is but reason- 
 able that they should adhere, with some pertinacity, to observ- 
 ances which remove the ban so often put by adverse fortune, 
 elsewhere, on social talents or accomplishments. Hal leek's 
 "Fanny" could never have been a poem of Spanish life. The 
 "dwelling of the proud and poor" would not have closed its 
 doors or lost its visitors, because there was no lunger a chande- 
 lier in the drawing-room. If the inmates had been worth 
 cultivating, the world would have sought and found them, as 
 usual, on the next pleasant evening after the notary had called 
 to protest the bill. Not that, in Spain, adversity is altogether 
 without the shadows which make its pathway cold and gloomy 
 everywhere; but that social pleasure is made to depend more 
 upon the men and women who enjoy and give it, than on the 
 adventitious circumstances which surround them, and these 
 may consequently take to themselves wings, without carrying 
 every thing along with them. 
 
 Madrid, however, is no very accurate or favorable type of 
 the national character antl customs, in the particulars of which 
 I have been speaking. Socially, indeed, — it is strange, but 
 it is true, — the capital is the most un-Spanish city in the
 
 188 SPAIN. 
 
 kingdom. There is less of the national freedom and frankness 
 there, more ostentation, more pretension, more servility in the 
 imitation of foreign tastes and habits, than in all the rest of 
 Spain put together. I have heard some of the Madrilefios 
 rebel sturdily against this conclusion ; but it is just, never- 
 theless, and I, for one, certainly adopt it in no unfriendly 
 spirit. The persons to whom I refer insisted that foreigners 
 visit Spain merely to enjoy its peculiarities, — the points in 
 ■^hich it differs from the more modernized countries of 
 Europe. Looking at the people merely in the picturesque 
 point of view, travellers, they said, are disappointed at finding 
 that the French bonnet and hat have superseded the mantilla 
 and calanes on the Pi-ado, — that boleros and the oh are not 
 danced in polite society, — and that well-bred men and women 
 in Madrid are dressed and bear themselves like well-bred 
 people in the other capitals of Europe. Hence it is, they 
 said, tiiat strangers pronounce Madrid un-Spanish. Going to 
 the Peninsula as to a bal de costume, they are disai){)oiuted at 
 not finding the maskers and mummers as fantastic as they 
 had expected. 
 
 There would be a good deal of force in this, if it told the 
 whole truth. No people are under an obligation to be 
 stationary for the amusement of picturesque tourists. Inter- 
 course with other nations would be of but little service, were 
 we not at liberty to learn and willing to be taught any im- 
 provement on our national usages. Though, therefore, I 
 consider it very barbarous taste to supplant the mantilla by 
 any French or English contrivance whatever, I see no reason 
 why those who think differently should not be allowed to 
 indulge their notions accordingly. With far greater readiness,
 
 SPAIN. 
 
 189 
 
 I admit both the wisdom and civilization of intrwUicing the 
 French system of cookery, to the fullest extent. Any oue 
 who prefers the puchero of his fathers ougiit of course to be 
 tolerated in adhering to it himself, provided he gives to others 
 the choice between it and something better. But, on the other 
 hand, it is entirely in accordance with the most orthodox 
 Espaflolismo, for a man to prefer what the culinary genius of 
 the Palais Royal has done for humanity, to all the combina- 
 tions of garbanzos and tocino that have come down from the 
 days of King Roderick. Neither patriotism, nor prescription, 
 nor "reverence," has any thing to do with so vital a matter. 
 - But the customs of Madrid go very far beyond these 
 reasonable limits. The dynasty and its associations have in- 
 fused the French mind, as far as possible, into the national 
 body, and the French raiment in which they have clothed the 
 latter is consequently worth noticing as a type of the inward 
 transformation. French habits have been introduced, — 
 French tastes domesticated, — French ideas, and doctrines, 
 and even prejudices, incorporated into the national stock, — 
 not because they are better than the old, but because they 
 are French. What foreigners admire most in the Spanish 
 character and manners is that which is most characteristic. 
 The Madrid theory seems to be, that to adhere to what is 
 characteristic and national is to linger behind the age. In 
 the most elevated circles — in the very palace itself — the 
 French language is spoken, not merely as a matter of diplo- 
 matic necessity or convenience, but of choice ; and Spanish is 
 hardly tolerated there, even between Spaniards. The personal 
 example of the Queen, who is especially fond of her native 
 language, has failed to check this corruption of the public
 
 190 SPAIN. 
 
 taste. It has goue so far, that not only the ephemeral pro- 
 ductions of the press, but even the best-conducted journals, 
 and the works of some of the most popular writers, are filled 
 with glaring Gallicisms. The Dictionary of the Academy 
 itself — the standard and test of purity in the Castilian — is 
 naturalizing these interpolations so steadily and progressively, 
 that a witty censor, not long back, insisted on having the last 
 edition translated into Spanish ! The discourse of a promi- 
 nent Senator of the Moderado party, delivered while I was 
 in Madrid on the occasion of his admission to the Academy, 
 was amusingly and justly criticized in detail, by a writer in 
 the Clamor Fiiblico, for its palpable introduction of un- 
 authorized French words and idioms. The thing was made 
 too plain to be above even a foreigner's appreciation. 
 
 As has been heretofore observed, in speaking of the Madrid 
 press, the newspapers have not only adopted the French form 
 and arrangement, but are mostly printed, as nearly all the best 
 books are, from French type. The French political })hil- 
 osophy which may be current at the time furnishes, in like 
 manner, to the journalists on both sides, the greater part of 
 their maxims and logic. Sometimes the effect of this is very 
 amusing. For example, if there be any thing on earth of 
 which a Spaniard is, from his moral and physical constitution, 
 incapable, that thing, it may be safely said, is socialism. Your 
 genuine Iberian may do many things both strange and wild, 
 in a political way, but his peculiarities must always have a 
 practical turn. He will "pronounce," with his shouldered 
 musket, in the plaza, — he will shoot a Jefe Politico, — hunt a 
 broken-down minister to the very frontier, — turn guerrilleroy 
 and go through five years of countermarching and starvation,
 
 SPAIN. 191 
 
 to break clown an existing dynasty or give the king of his 
 choice " his own again," — but socialist, Fourierist, communist, 
 or transcendentalist of any species, he cannot be. He has not 
 the stuff in him of which these sorts of people are made. His 
 romance, his human instalment of insanity, does not run in 
 that direction. He has excellent common sense, in the first 
 place, besides a keen perception of the ridiculous, and a con- 
 tempt for metaphysics generally. " You are metaphysical," 
 says Babieea, the horse of the Cid, to Rozinante, in one of the 
 sonnets prefixed to the first edition of Don Quixote. "'Tis 
 that I eat not ! " is the INIanchegan charger's reply. The Span- 
 iard, everywhere, is of Rozinante's opinion, that too nice spec- 
 ulation is a windy business, furnishing small entertainment 
 for man or horse. 
 
 In spite of this, — which is as indisputably a trait of the 
 Spanish character as loyalty or constancy, or any of its virtues 
 or vices, — there was not a conservative paper in all Madrid, 
 that did not daily and principally enlarge upon the horrors of 
 the socialist doctrines, and invoke the energies of the country 
 and the powers of the government to check the progress of 
 liberal politics, as involving socialism and its consequences, of 
 necessity. M. Proudhon was the great bugbear. French 
 democracy had run riot, and declared all property to be rob- 
 bery ; therefore there was no safety for any thing, in Spain, 
 that savored of concession to the people. The reasoning was 
 not very conclusive, but still it was generally adopted, and the 
 perservation of" elorden " — " order" — seemed, by general con- 
 sent, to be regarded by the whole conservative party as the 
 only purpose for which government was instituted. The party 
 of progress, on the other hand, did not fail, I must admit, to
 
 192 SPAIN. 
 
 give some color to the pretensions of the enemy. The mag- 
 nificent generalities of the French republican orators were too 
 high-sounding in Castilian for journalist nature to resist, and 
 phrases, which might perhaps, have been potent, and conse- 
 quently dangerous, at the Hdtel de Ville, were now and then 
 let loose from the columns of a liberal newspaper. It needed 
 great folly to suppose that such abstractions could be any thing 
 more than simply ridiculous in Spain. Yet it was mortifying 
 to see how frequently the political discussions, both in print 
 and in the Cortes, were made to turn, almost exclusively, upon 
 them. It will be worth while to observe the course which 
 things of the sort will take, now that France has adopted the 
 coup d'itatf which is emphatically a Spanish (or Turkish) 
 invention. 
 
 The etiquette of Madrid was, in most particulars, very 
 rational. Strangers, on arriving in the city, were expected to 
 leave cards for those persons on whose civility they had any 
 claim. The promptness or delay with which the courtesy 
 was acknowledged, furnished a pretty fair test of the cordial- 
 ity with which a more particular acquaintance was likely to 
 be encouraged. On New- Year's day, or from that to Twelfth- 
 day, every one sent cards to all his acquaintance, and a neglect 
 of that attention was construed, in the absence of explanation, 
 to indicate a wish for the suspension of visiting intercourse. 
 It was an easy civility, however, and few disregarded it. You 
 had only to make out a list, and your servant did the rest. 
 Persons about to enter upon the holy estate of matrimony, 
 announced the fact to all with whom they desired to continue 
 their social relations, by sending round a card, in their joint 
 names, giving the direction of their intended residence and an
 
 SPAIN. 193 
 
 invitation to visit them. Formal visits were generally made 
 between two and five in the afternoon, yet few persons re- 
 ceived formally, and it was generally polite to send a card, 
 always so to leave one in person, without asking to be admit- 
 ted. Most families of any social position had stated evenings 
 — once in a week or a fortnight — on which they expected 
 visitors, as a matter of course, and it was regarded as unsocial, 
 if not uncivil, for even an ordinary acquaintance to neglect 
 presenting himself, occasionally, at these unpretending re- 
 unions. 
 
 In the more fashionable houses, the evening receptions did 
 not begin before nine o'clock. They generally lasted until 
 near midnight, about which hour, if there was a ball else- 
 where, the comi)any would separate to meet again. Such 
 hours, of course, were not likely to encourage early rising, and 
 I have heard it said of some fair ladies, that, on their way 
 home from the dance of Saturday night, they would now and 
 then point the moral of earthly vanity, by hearing mass in 
 their faded flowers ! The gay and passionate, who had the 
 vigor of youth as well as its hopes and promptings, no doubt 
 found enjoyment in this, — at any rate for a while ; but there 
 were others on whom it must have imposed a melancholy servi- 
 tude. Power was to be sought, as well as pleasure, even in the 
 saloons of Madrid, and many an intrigue to overturn a ministry 
 or circumvent an opposition was planned and thwarted amid 
 festal light and music. Politicians, diplomatists, and the higher 
 order of pretendientes, were usually watchers, therefore, on such 
 occasions. Many a weary and sad Major Pendennis went 
 through a nightly tribulation, which all the honors and profits 
 of the Court would have but ill repaid. I could not help 
 25
 
 194 SPAIN. 
 
 thinking, sometimes, how natural it was that affairs should 
 occasionally go wrong, when the brains on which their con- 
 duct depended were so often throbbing, at the dawn, with the 
 fever of sleepless revelry. It was on account of such habits, 
 most probably, that the ministerial bureaus were so rarely 
 accessible, for any purposes of business, before the afternoon. 
 No one who knows, from experience, how little of the working 
 day is left when the morning is gone, can be surprised, after 
 knowing this fact, at the delays and postponements in which 
 the public offices of Spain so proverbially abound. 
 
 It was not, of course, among the polkas and mazurkas — 
 which are danced, all the world over, to the same music, well 
 or ill played — that the characteristics of Spanish society were 
 to be particularly sought, even so far as they were to be found, 
 at all, in Madrid. The quiet tertulia, among quiet people, was 
 more interesting to a stranger, on that account, than the rout 
 which followed it. The one he could see almost anywhere, 
 with perhaps some little variety in its accidents ; the other he 
 could, on the whole, find nowhere else. With respectable 
 introductions, he could have access, on almost every night of 
 the week, to tertulias, literary, political, or merely social, 
 according to his taste. A fair acquaintance with the Spanish 
 language would be necessary to his complete enjoyment and 
 appreciation of them ; for although he would seldom be without 
 some one to speak with him in his own tongue, or, at all events, 
 in French, yet the conversation — except, as I have said, in the 
 more courtly circles — was, for the most part, carried on in 
 Spanish, and its spirit and style were mainly national. The 
 unreserve with which he would hear persons and things 
 discussed, according to the predominating opinion of the
 
 SPAIN. 195 
 
 company, would surprise him a little, at first ; but he would 
 soon find iiimself regarded as having undergone a sort of 
 matriculation, which involved confidence as well as cordiality. 
 Whatever he might find to be the degree of sensibility mani- 
 fested by the Spaniards, as a people, to any impeachment of 
 their national intelligence or dignity, he would soon learn, that, 
 as individuals, they were as open as any to respectful and 
 kindly interrogation or suggestion. If he should fail to under- 
 stand them fully and appreciate them fairly, it would be his own 
 fault ; for, lack what they might in other things, they would 
 show him no want of frankness. If, in the midst of the very 
 kindness which made him at home upon the briefest acquaint- 
 ance, he should perceive an attentive politeness, approaching 
 so near to formality as now and then to embarrass him, he 
 would soon be brought to understand and admire it as the 
 expression of habitual consideration for the feelings of others. 
 He would value it the more, when he learned, from its univer- 
 sality, that what was elsewhere chiefly a thing of manners and 
 education, was there a genial instinct developed into a social 
 charity.
 
 XIX. 
 
 Theatris and Dramatic Literature. — Actors and their Styxe. — 
 
 ROMEA AND MaTILDE DiAZ. — BrETON DE LOS HeRREROS AND HIS 
 
 Plays.— RuBi.— Isabel la Catolica. — Historical Drajias.— 
 Theatrical Police. — Literary Rewards. — Copyright. — Count 
 op San Luis. 
 
 THE Teatro de Oriente, when I was in Madrid, being still 
 as Ferdinand left it, there was no theatre or opera-house 
 on a scale worthy of a capital. Indeed, with the exception of the 
 private operas at the palace, it was admitted, on all hands, that 
 the season was without musical attractions. The drama fared 
 much better, — and although the minor theatres, with ballet 
 and vaudeville, were more generally attended, the Teatro Es- 
 pafiol (known for nearly half a century as the Teatro del Prfn- 
 cipe, — the Prince's Theatre) was constantly presenting plays 
 of the best character, in quite a high style of art. This theatre 
 is the property of the Ayuntamiento of Madrid, at whose risk 
 and for whose account it was conducted ; but the worshipful 
 fathers of the city, with a discretion not usually belonging to 
 their class, had placed its management in the hands of Don 
 Julian Romea, a capital actor, — who was, besides, no mean 
 poet, and said to be one of the best dramatic critics in Spain. 
 Under his auspices and the very liberal enconragement of the 
 Count of San Luis, then Minister of the Interior, the best 
 196
 
 SPAIN. 197 
 
 poetical talent of the country was called into requisition, and 
 the Espaflol had become an excellent school of taste for both 
 actors and authors. Its audience was generally made up of 
 the most cultivated people, and evinced a discrimination in 
 applause and censure, that bespoke the habit of hearing and 
 seeing good models. The theatre itself — then the best in the 
 city, though not the largest — was very comfortably arranged 
 for the spectators, although so narrowly provided with accom- 
 modations behind the scenes, as to require the removal of the 
 more cumbrous decorations to a distance, whenever the pro- 
 duction of a novelty increased the usual supply. The ma- 
 chinery and the mise en sc^ne were, nevertheless, quite modern 
 and artistic, on the whole, so that little was left to be desired, 
 in those particulars, by such as were content to enjoy the 
 "legitimate" department. 
 
 What has been said in regard to the oratory of the Spaniards, 
 applies with equal force to the elocution of their stage. There 
 is, among the best of their tragic artists, what strikes as exag- 
 geration one who is accustomed to our standards. It is not 
 the depth of their passion, nor indeed its violence, but rather its 
 vivacity, that produces this impression. They have a quickness 
 and restlessness of manner which seems at war with dignity. 
 There is too much gesticulation, — too little repose, — an inces- 
 sant twinkle, which takes the place of both blaze and heat. As 
 the kings at some of our theatres insist upon wearing their 
 crowns and robes of state in the street and on the battle-field 
 as well as in their bed-chambers, lest they be mistaken for 
 common people, — so the Spanish tragedians seem to think 
 that a hero or heroine must say and do every thing after a 
 peculiar fashion, — if not a heroic one. Instead of holding
 
 198 SPAIN. 
 
 the mirror up to nature, they are constantly and majestically 
 watching their own looking-glasses. This criticism, I am aware, 
 may possibly be open to the reply which I have admitted may 
 be made to my observations on the kindred subject. Yet I do 
 not think it is fairly so. I am the better satisfied that it is not 
 the result of prejudice, or of my habituation to a different 
 style, from the fact that I do not think it possible for a 
 Spaniard to have enjoyed, with a keener relish than I did, the 
 excellent comic acting, and the admirable representations of 
 daily life, which were so frequent upon the Madrid stage. 
 
 Romea, who generally filled the best tragic parts, is less 
 obnoxious to the remarks just made, than any actor of his 
 nation that I have seen. If, on the contrary, he has a leading 
 defect, it is that he is too cold, — that he has chastened his style 
 into tameness. The features of the tragic mask will not bear 
 too much rounding, and from forgetting this he has made them 
 sometimes inexpressive, when seen from a spectator's distance. 
 It is a fault, however, which springs, in him, from the tastes 
 and scruples of a scholar, and is in a great degree relieved by 
 a thorough comprehension of his parts, and a nice and graceful 
 observance of all the proprieties and probabilities of his art. 
 He has a good voice and great command of it, an admirable 
 articulation, and exceeding skill in the appropriate adornment 
 of a striking person. 
 
 The wife of Romea, better known as Matilde Diaz, is re- 
 garded as the best tragic actress in the kingdom, and has 
 unbounded popularity in Madrid. An unfortunate tendency 
 to embonpoint has made her figure emphatically what Byron 
 hated, and ha8 of course greatly impaired the spirituality 
 which first gave reputation to her acting. She redeems this
 
 SPAIN. 109 
 
 misfortune, however, by a sweet, expressive face, a melodious 
 voice, and a great deal of tragic feeling and poetical apprecia- 
 tion. Her recitation of her noble native lanfriiacje is, at 
 times, the perfection of spoken music, and her tender passages 
 would indeed be perfect, altogether, were it not that, with 
 Rosalind, she sometimes "will weep for nothing, like Diana in 
 the fountain." Whether Matilde has made this excess of sweet 
 sorrow the fashion, I do not know; but it is the fashion, — and 
 her rival, Lamadrid, who likewise has a good deal of tragic 
 power, carries it to the extreme of the pocket-handkerchief 
 style, which makes the griefs of Mrs. Haller so affecting. 
 
 Breton de los Herreros is the most popular dramatic author 
 of the day in Spain, — perhaps the only writer in the annals 
 of the drama, anywhere, who has ever received the enthusi- 
 astic compliment of having a whole play encored. Though 
 his fertility is quite equal to his skill, there was nothing new 
 from him during my visit. His latest comedy then, called 
 Quien es Ella? "Who is she?" — had appeared in 1849, and 
 was occasionally performed, though without producing any 
 great sensation. It was an attempt to introduce upon the 
 stage the celebrated writer, Don Francisco de Quevedo y 
 Villegas, one of the first names in Spanish literature. To 
 make an effective character, in a work of fiction, out of a 
 literary man, is for obvious reasons no very easy task under 
 any circumstances ; and although Quevedo's connection with 
 public affairs gives some interest of a dramatic nature to his 
 history, it is as a wit, an epigrammatist, a satirist, a poet of a 
 bold and lofty genius, that he dwells chiefly in the remem- 
 brance of his countrymen. With the exception of Cervantes, 
 there is probably no writer whose sayings are as frequently
 
 200 SPAIN. 
 
 upon the lips of the people, and not even Cervantes has 
 ascribed to him one tithe of the unwritten sayings which are 
 handed down by tradition as Quevedo's. Like Swift, whom 
 he resembles in some particulars, — and those not always the 
 most creditable to either, — he is as thoroughly individualized 
 by these sayings as man can be. While, therefore, it was easy 
 enough for so facile a poet and clever an artist as Breton to 
 catch the salient points of so striking a character and mind 
 and manner, it was not so easy to fill the public idea of so re- 
 nowned a man, — to make that out of him which every one 
 knew him to have been, and desired to see reproduced. With 
 a great deal of merit, therefore, Quien es Ellaf fell short of 
 its purpose, and took but little hold of the public mind as a 
 play, — though it very deservedly added to its author's repu- 
 tation as a poet and scholar. If Breton had taken the same 
 view of his own capacity which the critics seem to have 
 adopted, he would probably not have undertaken a work of 
 the sort. His plays are considered attractive, more from the 
 grace and sprightliness of the dialogue, and their abounding 
 wit, than from their delineation of character or interest of 
 plot. Indeed, his pieces in one act are, I believe, the most 
 popular ; and that he is called the Scribe of Spain is some 
 proof of the general opinion, that the loftier walks of the 
 drama are not those which he treads most successfully. That 
 he has published some sixty plays, entitles him, however, to a 
 little consideration for the faults 
 
 " Quas aut incuria fudit, 
 Aut humana parum cavit natura." 
 
 The triumph of the season was the drama of Isabel la 
 Catolica, whose author, Don Tomas Rodriguez Rubl, a young
 
 SPAIN. 201 
 
 poet from Malaga, had already won for himself a brilliant 
 reputation. It was received with enthusiasm, night after 
 night, by crowded houses, although the length of the perform- 
 ance, which lasted nearly five hours, might well have excused 
 a more temperate display of admiration. The author was 
 called out, as is the Spanish custom, to receive wreaths and 
 bravos, and even the Queen did him the honor to make one of 
 his audience. The play, as its title indicates, is founded on 
 the eventful history of the Catholic Sovereigns, — a theme 
 which the learning and genius of Prescott give us a right to 
 be proud of, as in some degree our own. It seems to have 
 been the object of Rubl to present a succession of striking 
 historical pictures, rather than to construct a regular drama. 
 The plot — if indeed there be a definite, pervading thread to the 
 story — is at the best a rambling one, and the incidents are, 
 certainly, quite treasonable to historic truth. Ferdinand, bad 
 and morose, is thrown entirely into the shade, as king if not 
 as husband, and Isabella is made the magnanimous victim of 
 a tender and reciprocated, though innocent, passion for the 
 Great Captain, Gonzalo de C6rdova. Gonzalo is painted as a 
 showy and sentimental hero of romance, and Columbus, who 
 of course appears, is made to say and do many things, philoso- 
 phical and geographical as well as personal, which would have 
 astonished him quite as much as his predictions mystified the 
 doctors of theology. 
 
 There is, of course, no particular reason why a dramatist 
 should be held to strict account for the accuracy of all the 
 situations in which it may please him to depict historical per- 
 sonages ; nor do 1 conceive that he is under any obligation, as 
 a matter of conscience, to cling to the authentic chronicles, as 
 26
 
 202 SPAIN. 
 
 Mr. Bisset has stuck to the Annual Register. There are cer- 
 tain limits, however, beyond which a popular writer cannot 
 go, without doing some harm, — certain landmarks which 
 ought, by all means, to be left standing. It might be proved, 
 at this day, beyond the peradventure of Archbishop Whately's 
 most impregnable logic, that Richard the Third of England 
 was as erect in stature as the herald Mercury, and as good a 
 king; as Hamlet's father. Yet all the historical societies in 
 Christendom could not make him otherwise than crook-back 
 and tyrant, as long as Shakespeare should continue to be read 
 and listened to. Many good people, I am sure, have died, 
 entertaining impressions, as matters of faith, which they sup- 
 posed they had derived from the Scriptures, and so would have 
 fought for, but which had no better (and happily no worse) 
 origin than Milton's Paradise Lost. Where a play, or any 
 work of fiction, is sufficiently meritorious to become a perma- 
 nent part of the national literature, and is founded on an inter- 
 esting and important passage of the national life, it is the bet- 
 ter rule, certainly, to take as few liberties as may be with the 
 main historical fabric, and at all events not to turn the whole 
 matter upside down. The history of which posterity has the 
 luck to get possession is, at the best, but a skeleton, and a poet 
 has quite scope enough for his fancy and imagination, in cloth- 
 ing it with flesh and raiment and giving it the speech and 
 motion of a living creature. There are so many things of 
 which the story has been left untold, and may, therefore, be 
 told as one pleases, that it is hardly worth while to pervert the 
 few which have been faithfully handed down. If a man 
 wishes to make his characters pure fictions, there is no need of 
 his giving them historical names. If, on the other hand, he
 
 SPAIN. 203 
 
 professes to write a historical drama, he ought to have some- 
 thing of history in it, besides the names and the pictures. It 
 was a very classical thing in Canova, no doubt, to model a sta- 
 tue of Napoleon, naked, with a globe and Victory in his right 
 hand, — for Napoleon was a man and a conqueror, and the 
 Romans commemorated such after that fashion. But it was 
 a poor invention indeed, and a scanty genius, (with deference 
 be it said,) which could make nothing newer or better than a 
 disrobed Roman Emperor out of Bonaparte and the epics of 
 which he was the hero ! Why call the marble by the Corsi- 
 can's name, when, but for the face, it might have answered as 
 well for Titus or Augustus ? The angels in periwigs, at the 
 Caridad of Seville, may be in worse taste, but are not a whit 
 less characteristic or significant. 
 
 But whatever may be the critical objections to Isabel la 
 Catolica, as a specimen of dramatic art, it certainly has very 
 high merit as a poem, and is full of fine and striking situations. 
 Its effect was, of course, greatly assisted by the scenic accom- 
 paniments and the gorgeous pageantry for which the subject 
 gave such scope. But this was by no means all. The versi- 
 fication is stately and heroic ; the poetry, excellent throughout, 
 is, in many passages, of a high order ; and the tone and spirit 
 of the whole work are lofty and thoughtful. The author, as 
 I have said, was praised and garlanded. It will hardly be 
 believed that this must have been done by the special permis- 
 sion of the Jefe PoIUico, who, but a day or two before, had 
 published a long edict, of which the following was an article : — 
 "Sixth. It shall likewise be necessary to obtain, before- 
 hand, permission to throw verses, crowns, or flowers upon the 
 stage in honor of an artist ; it being absolutely forbidden to
 
 204 SPAIN. 
 
 throw any other thing expressive of satisfaction or censure, 
 and likewise for the audience to address words or signs to the 
 actors, as well as for the actors to direct such to the audience." 
 
 The name of the liberal and enlightened functionary who 
 waged such war upon the consecrated prerogatives of the pit 
 was Don Jose Zaragoza ! 
 
 But the good fortune of Rubi was not confined to the re- 
 laxation, in his favor, of the Jefe Politico's theatrical discipline. 
 He received a substantial remuneration for his labors, which 
 spoke as well for the public taste as for the liberality of the 
 law regarding literary property. The existing statutes on this 
 latter point prohibit the performance of any play without the 
 author's consent, and give the copyright to him during his 
 life, with remainder to his heirs or assigns for twenty-five 
 years. During all this time he and they have the right to 
 exact from the managers of all theatres where the play may be 
 performed a certain percentage on the receipts, and to occupy 
 or have the control of a certain number of places. Ten per 
 cent, is the rate allowed, where the play has three acts or more, 
 and three per cent., where there are but one or two acts ; but 
 these rates are doubled on the first three nights of performance. 
 From this source, a free benefit, and the printing of the work, 
 Rubi had realized, after the first fourteen nights, the sum of 
 thirty-six thousand reals, or eighteen hundred dollars. As 
 the author of the best work performed during the dramatic 
 year, he received, according to law, the premium of five hun- 
 dred dollars. In addition to this and to the emoluments 
 which were likely to follow from future performances, there 
 was settled on him, by the Commissary of the Crusade, a 
 yearly pension of four hundred dollars. The fund on which
 
 SPAIN. 205 
 
 the pension was fixed proceeds from the sale of dispensations, 
 which relieve the purchasers from the necessity of complying 
 with some of the minor requisitions of church discipline. The 
 Commissary-General was of opinion that the play had con- 
 tributed, by the elevation of its tone, to the advancement of 
 the cause of religion, and determined to reward it accordingly. 
 May the race of such Commissaries never become extinct ! 
 
 I give these facts, as they appeared in the newspapers at the 
 time, supposing that they will be of interest to the reader, as 
 showing the public feeling towards literature and the respect- 
 able inducements which are held out for its cultivation, at 
 least in one department. So far as such happy results are due 
 to the laws, the Count of San Luis is entitled to the credit of 
 having produced them. They do honor to his intelligence 
 and taste. If he had been as familiar with Hamlet as he is 
 with the dramatic poetry of his own country, he could not 
 have more certainly provided against that "ill report" of the 
 players, in his lifetime, than which even " a bad epitaph " is 
 better.
 
 XX. 
 
 LlTERATUBE. — BoOKS, BoOKSELIiERS, AND BoOK-StALLS. — BoOK-HuNTING 
 
 IN Madrid. — Foblishers. — Standard Works. — Historical and 
 Geographicaii Dictionary of Madoz. — Cheap Publications. — 
 Mr. Ticknor's History of Spanish Literature. — Its Character 
 AND Translation. — Gayangos. — Vedia, 
 
 WERE I called upon to choose between two cant words, 
 I should say, that, so far as Madrid afforded a criterion 
 and a stranger could judge, there was more "movement" than 
 "progress" in literature, at the time of my visit to Spain. A 
 good many works, original and translated, were issuing from 
 the press, and there seemed to be a fair demand for them and 
 a general disposition to read them ; but there was not one 
 really good bookstore in the whole city, and scarcely a pub- 
 lishing house of any enterprise or liberality. Besides this, and 
 notwithstanding the generally creditable style of the newspa- 
 pers, and their obvious disposition to cater for a certain degree 
 of literary taste among their readers, there was not in Madrid 
 a review, or magazine, or any literary periodical worthy of 
 notice. 
 
 It is not easy to imagine any thing much drearier than a 
 
 book-hunt in the Spanish capital. The established bookstores 
 
 are, in general, mere shops, very few of which are supplied 
 
 with catalogues ; the most of them being unprovided, likewise, 
 
 206
 
 SPAIN. 207 
 
 in the absence of the master, with any one wlio has even a 
 speculative idea as to what the shelves contain. You present 
 yourself at the counter, in the rear of which lie the treasures. 
 The proprietor is not at home. " Ha ido d la calk" — " He 
 has gone into the street." His representative looks around 
 after you have made your inquiry, shakes his head slowly, and 
 answers, " Creo que no ! " — " I believe not ! " It is not worth 
 while to appeal from his judgment. Your doubts will convert 
 his belief into a certainty, and you thus take your leave with 
 the most abiding conviction, that the gentleman who has given 
 you your answer has made it take the negative form, for no 
 earthlv reason but to save himself the trouble of a search. 
 This is the style in the principal bookstores on the main streets. 
 It, however, fell within the range of my duties to procure, if 
 possible, certain works which were somewhat rare, and I was 
 compelled, in pursuit of them, to make a pilgrimage to most 
 of the depositories of old and second-hand works. As a 
 general rule, the proprietors of these establishments have not 
 the remotest idea of the character or value of the books which 
 belong to them. They buy them, often, by the arroba, like 
 old iron, or rags, or paper, and arrive, as well as they can, at 
 the prices that should be asked for them, by a series of in- 
 genious experiments upon those who desire to purchase. If 
 they happen, once in their lives, to have had a casual high bid, 
 which they have refused in hope of a higher, neither time nor 
 tide will ever induce them to sell the book in question for any 
 thing less, — though it rot in waiting for a customer. The 
 theory of moderate profits and speedy sales forms no part of 
 their political economy. If a stranger presents himself, the 
 standard rises. He is presumed not to inquire for any thing
 
 208 SPAIN. 
 
 but what he wants, and to be able and willing to pay for what 
 suits him. Should he be so unfortunate as to look twice at the 
 same book, he must give up all hope of obtaining it, except on 
 the owner's terms. The matter is resolved into a question of 
 endurance in the bookseller's mind, and he regards it as settled 
 that he will secure his price, if he can keep his patience. 
 Being a Spaniard, he is quite equal to that. 
 
 A foreigner is not only troubled thus, himself, but becomes 
 a cause of trouble to others. The unhappy book-fancier who 
 follows in his wake is sure to find the market with an " up- 
 ward tendency," and to learn, by way of justification, that a 
 caballero ingles was there the day before, and was willing to 
 give greatly more than the price demanded. Having myself, 
 on several occasions, not far apart, discovered at one of these 
 establishments certain works, which I had been long looking 
 for and was anxious to obtain, — and having very cheerfully 
 paid for them what the seller regarded as a high price, though, 
 in view of my objects, it was very little, — I was amused at 
 hearing, from a friend who frequented the same stall, that books 
 on the subject to which mine related had of late become very 
 valuable, as there was a young Englishman in town, who would 
 buy them at any price. 
 
 By far the greater part of the book-stalls, where curious 
 books are to be found, are in the open air. Sometimes they 
 are arranged on shelves around a court, or on one side of a 
 plaza, or against a church, or in some entry or open passage. 
 Now and then they occupy the ground-floor of a house in some 
 by-street, — the apartments which contain them being only light- 
 ed through the doors, which are of course left always open. 
 In the latter case, you will find the proprietor, in the winter
 
 SPAIN. 209 
 
 season, with cloak and hat on, sitting over his hrasei'o, half 
 torpid with cold. He will give you good day when you enter, 
 and perhaps go through the form of removing the ashes from 
 his coals ; but he will rarely afford any other evidence that he 
 is aware of your existence, unless you ask him a question. 
 You will soon find, in most cases, that the best way of ascer- 
 taining what you desire to know is to examine for yourself, 
 and you will accordingly prosecute your inspection, until your 
 blood and curiosity fall below the freezing point. You will 
 then bid him "Remain with God !" and he will tell you, in 
 reply, to "Go with God !" so that you and your errand will 
 be to him, when you depart, the mystery you were when you 
 entered. 
 
 When the stall is entirely open to the weather, the owner 
 sometimes has a sort of small sentry-box, to hold himself and 
 his brasero with the most valuable of his properties, — some- 
 times he keeps watch and Avard from the window of his lodg- 
 ings, near the roof of an opposite tenement, — sometimes he 
 walks up and down, muy embozado, in his cloak. It is a rare 
 thing for him to manifest any more interest in your proceed- 
 ings, than a sentinel at the door of a picture-gallery. If you 
 keep the peace, and neither damage nor steal any thing, he does 
 not appear to think that he has any concern with you. I con- 
 fess that, on the whole, I was not displeased at being thus left 
 entirely to myself. The modern system of salesmanship has 
 become so much like persecution reduced to a science, that it is 
 quite a luxury to be allowed the use of your own discretion, 
 without being dragooned, by a shopkeeper's deputy, into look- 
 ing at what you do not care to see, or buying what you would not 
 have. A man in his sane mind, with the usual organs of speech, 
 27
 
 210 SPAIN. 
 
 has a right to be treated as if he knows what he wants and is 
 able to ask for it. At the same time, I am willing to admit, 
 that, when he does make a demand for information, he is en- 
 titled to receive it in a somewhat more explicit and reliable 
 shape than the mass of a Madrid librero's explanations. 
 
 It is not very likely that a mode of bookselling, so far 
 behind the locomotive style of traffic which the century has 
 brought forth, will long continue, even in the lonely by-places 
 and chilly courts of Madrid. An intelligent Catalan, at the 
 time of my visit, had already established a shop on the Calle 
 de Alcala, near the Prado, where he purchased second-hand 
 books of all sorts, to sell, not to keep. He advertised, every 
 morning, his principal acquisitions of the day before, with 
 the prices, usually moderate, at which he was prepared to 
 dispose of them. The result was, that it was necessary to be 
 early on the ground, if you desired to secure your bargains. 
 Books of rarity and value were constantly passing through his 
 hands, and I am sure that he sold, in a mouth, more than a 
 year's trade of all his cloak-wearing competitors put together. 
 His advantage consisted in knowing something about his books 
 and his business, and in being willing to put up with a small 
 advance, for the sake of turning over his capital. Time was, 
 when even Spaniards themselves were compelled to send to 
 London in search of Spanish books which were really scarce. 
 The agents of the London trade were always on the alert in 
 the Spanish cities, and if any thing worth having found its 
 way to the stalls, — as, in the changes of those days, was con- 
 stantly happening, — they had every chance to capture it, before 
 ordinary purchasers could know any thing about it. The 
 Catalan of the AlcaU will put a stop to this, if he has not
 
 SPAIN. 
 
 211 
 
 done so already. His constant demand must afford him the 
 control of the market, and the publication of his lists will 
 give the race to the swiftest. The example he has set, of 
 intelligence and enterprise, cannot fail, by its success, to open 
 the eyes of the booksellers proper, and perhaps stir them from 
 their ancient stagnation. Before I left the city, it had begun 
 to teach them lessons in the philosophy of advertising, and 
 there was an almost daily increase in the number and extent 
 of the notices of book-sales which headed the columns of the 
 Diario de Avisos. 
 
 It is not to be inferred from the unpromising picture thus 
 drawn, that the press of Madrid was altogether idle, or the 
 hunter of books entirely without resources. The best French 
 works, standard and ephemeral, together with Baudry's repub- 
 lications from the English, and a fair collection of Spanish 
 books, could be found at Monier's on the Carrera de San 
 Gerdnimo. It may be interesting to the reader to know that 
 the oily old man, with a pen in his mouth, who does the chief 
 honors of that place, is the proprietor of the night-capped 
 head and the " torso adorned with a shirt," which were thrust 
 out a window to welcome M. Dumas to Madrid, on the morn- 
 ing when the illustrious Alexandre found himself in a strange 
 court, where two women and five cats were sitting round a 
 brasei-o ! There were two or three shops, besides, on the Calle 
 de Carretas, not far from the Puerta del Sol, where the best 
 Spanish standard works, and occasionally some new publica- 
 tions, were sold, with great dignity and severity, at the most 
 inflexibly high prices. It was next to impossible, however, 
 so far as modern books were concerned, to find a copy of any 
 publication for sale, except at the shop of the publisher. Get-
 
 212 SPAIN. 
 
 ting out a work, of any size or character, was considered as 
 forming quite an epoch in the history of the house, and for 
 the pride of the thing, — as well perhaps as for the sake of 
 realizing all the profits of a limited market, — every man 
 seemed disposed to monopolize the control of his own handi- 
 work. 
 
 The publishing establishment of " La Publiddad/' on the 
 Calle de Correos, was probably the most extensive in Madrid. 
 It certainly gave greater evidences of vitality than any other, 
 in the number and style of its issues, as well as their literary 
 caste. Two series, which were well advanced in 1850, were 
 sufficient to give character to the concern. These were a 
 republication of the best standard writers, from the formation 
 of the language to the present day, — and another, of the 
 Codigos Espanoles, — the main body of Spanish written law. 
 Of the first-named series, nineteen or twenty octavo volumes, 
 out of the forty-five in preparation, have already appeared, and 
 the first edition of several of the works had been absorbed so 
 speedily, that a second was about to be issued while I was in 
 Spain. The reprint of the Codigos was far advanced, and the 
 volumes which had been printed were edited with learning and 
 care, under the direction of the most distinguished jurists and 
 legal antiquaries of Madrid. The Count of San Luis, with 
 his usual solicitude for the advancement of letters, — when 
 they did not interfere with " order," or meddle with ministers, 
 or their doings or places, — gave the Codigos the full encourage- 
 ment and support of his Department. He issued an order, 
 directing all the municipalities representing two hundred 
 householders or more to subscribe to the work, and credit 
 themselves for the subscription on their tax accounts. All the
 
 SPAIN. 213 
 
 employes, " active and passive," of the government, pensioners 
 as well as office-holders, were authorized, by royal order, to 
 have their subscriptions paid, if they should choose to make 
 them, out of the arrears of their pensions and salaries. After 
 reading the sad though humorous and graceful descriptions of 
 the '^ cesantes" and the '^ clases pasivas" by Gil y Zdrate, one 
 hardly knows whether to smile or sigh over the fate of the 
 poor people to whom the royal order was so gracious. After 
 living or starving on promises and hope, they must have found 
 great consolation, in the absence of food and fire, from being 
 permitted to refresh themselves, out of their unpaid pittances, 
 with quarto copies of the laws of the Visigoths ! The learned 
 jurisconsults of the Middle Ages should certainly not be 
 offended at finding themselves gathered together in the pawn- 
 brokers' shops, like Bible-Society bibles on the gin-counters in 
 London ! 
 
 The same sort of encouragement had been lent by the gov- 
 ernment to the eminent Progresista Deputy, Don Pascual 
 Madoz, in aid of his publication which I have already 
 mentioned, — the " Geographical, Statistical, and Historical 
 Dictionary of Spain and her Dependencies." This is not the 
 place for notices of books, but the work of Madoz well de- 
 serves to be referred to, as indicating both the existence and 
 encouragement, in Spain, of a high degree of literary energy 
 and spirit. In a country where every facility existed, — where 
 statistical details were regularly collected and made accessible, 
 — where there was constant intercourse between the various 
 districts, and where universal education and an active and 
 intelligent press had been long at work, — even there, it would 
 have been no easy matter to do justice to the promises made
 
 214 SPAIN. 
 
 on Don Pascual's title page. With scarcely any of those cir- 
 cumstances to aid him, he has nevertheless kept himself fully 
 up to the level of his task. Fifteen large octavo volumes, 
 the fruit of fifteen active and toilsome years, had already 
 appeared, when I left Spain, and but one more was wanting, 
 to complete the publication. As far as it had gone, it was, 
 with great propriety, styled, by the Madrid journals, "a 
 monumental work." There was not a village or a parish in 
 the kingdom omitted. In regard to all, the details were as 
 copious as could be desired. The historical notices were writ- 
 ten with impartiality and fulness, — the political, artistic, and 
 antiquarian dissertations, with liberality, taste, and learning. 
 Statistical information of the most varied character — collected 
 by the author himself, whose parliamentary career is notable 
 for his accuracy in such matters — was for the first time given 
 to the world. Commercial, agricultural, scientific, and pro- 
 fessional knowledge, of a high grade, made the Dictionary 
 valuable as an authority, no less than as a compendium for 
 common reference. The literary merit of the whole was as 
 considerable as its other recommendations, and it may, indeed, 
 be doubted whether any other country possesses at this day a 
 more worthy and complete epitome of itself. It is the more 
 remarkable, too, from the fact, that in the midst of duties so 
 multifarious as its preparation must have imposed, and princi- 
 pally ou himself in person, the author has been active as 
 a politician, and prominent and useful as a legislator and 
 statesman. Few orators in the Chamber of Deputies carried 
 more weight than he. None had more readiness, more energy, 
 or a larger stock of the manageable information which tells 
 in debate. He was one of the leaders of the liberal party, and
 
 SPAIN. 215 
 
 had, as he deserved, its confidence; although, as he did not 
 make a trade of politics, and was not afraid to say and do what 
 he thought right, he was occasionally regarded as "imprac- 
 ticable," — an epithet applied in Spain, as out of it, to the 
 political riders who will not jockey to win. In fine, he was 
 one of the best illustrations extant of the Catalan character, — 
 
 " Impiger, iracundus, inexorabilis, acer," — 
 
 morally, intellectually, and in action. 
 
 In the "Glimpses of Spain " I had occasion to remark that 
 the system of cheap publications, in numbers, had extended 
 itself to Spaiu, and had been the means, as with us, of flooding 
 the country with all manner of worthless and prurient trash. 
 In Madrid this was particularly conspicuous. The appetite 
 for all things French which prevailed there caused the novels 
 from Paris to be chief in demand ; and an activity of the press, 
 which might have produced an indefinite diffusion of useful 
 and elevating knowledge and have given a permanent impulse 
 to the national literature, was wasted on translations of the 
 very worst and most pernicious of the feuilletons. During the 
 discussions in the Cortes upon the subject of reducing the 
 postage on printed matter, one of the most respectable journals 
 took occasion to insist, that it was the policy of the government 
 to discourage, rather than to favor, the diflPusion of the publi- 
 cations which the measure would most affect. It was but a 
 scheme, the writer said, "to give scanty alms to hungry trans- 
 lators, — to put a premium on rendering bad French into worse 
 Spanish." Tiiere was, I think, a general concurrence of 
 opinion among the best-informed men, to the same effect. It 
 seemed to be the impression, that as long as the booksellers
 
 216 SPAIN. 
 
 could find a ready market for foreign extravagances which 
 cost them nothing, they would continue to hold back from the 
 literary labor of their own country the encouragement for 
 which it was suffering so much. The activity which was 
 displayed in the circulation of the bane, seemed to have 
 stimulated an equal zeal in the preparation of the antidote. A 
 literary friend informed me that the " Key to Paradise " was 
 perhaps the only book which divided the suffrages of the trade 
 with the " Mysteries of Paris." 
 
 When I left Madrid, the admirable " History of Spanish 
 Literature," by our countryman, Mr. George Ticknor, was in 
 the hands of Don Pascual de Gayangos, the celebrated Arabic 
 scholar and antiquarian, and his friend Don Enrique Vedia, a 
 gentleman of fine taste and accomplishments, for translation. 
 Although it was impossible for any work to have received 
 more unqualified commendation, from the whole body of 
 Spanish literati, than Mr. Ticknor's history, and although the 
 translators were men of the highest merit and reputation, there 
 was great difficulty, nevertheless, in finding a publisher with 
 sufficient spirit to take any liberal share in the enterprise. I 
 have since seen a copy of the first volume, very elegantly 
 printed, and bearing date at Madrid, but whether the publish- 
 ing houses were entitled to any of the credit of its production I 
 have not learned. Their unwillingness to engage in the ad- 
 venture was a conspicuous illustration of their want of liberality 
 and taste, — as well, perha[)S, as of a similar defect in the book- 
 buying public. There is, in the Spanish language, no thorough 
 history of the national literature. The only native work that 
 I am acquainted with, which professes to give a comprehensive 
 view of the subject, at any length, is the JResunien Historico,
 
 SPAIN. 217 
 
 forming part of the Manual de Literatura, pul^lished in 1844 
 by Gil y Zdrate, for the instruction of youth. It was not, of 
 course, at all within the scope of such a work to meet the 
 requisitions of an accurate scholarship. Sismondi's brilliant 
 though superficial treatise has been translated, and was pub- 
 lislied at Seville, some ten years ago, but is not, I believe, to be 
 readily obtained. Of the translation of Bouterwek's more 
 learned and profound, though still imperfect work, only a 
 single volume has seen the light. This was published, with 
 many valuable annotations, in 1829; an epoch at which there 
 was, unhap})lly, but little encouragement in Spain for labors 
 of the sort. The length of time which elapsed, since its cold 
 and discouraging reception, of course precludes all hope of the 
 work's being completed. Amador de los Rios, one of its 
 editors and the author of a book of some reputation, on the 
 History of the Jews in Spain, was said to be engaged in 1850, 
 on a work of his own, upon the same subject. It was generally 
 believed, however, that he was not altogether suited to the task. 
 Mr. Ticknor's History is every thing that could be desired, 
 to supply what is thus felt, in Spain, to be a pressing literary 
 want. It is a history of books, as well as of literature. The 
 variety, completeness, and accuracy of its details were — as I 
 had occasion to know — a source of gratified surprise to the 
 most learned of the Spanish literary archaeologists. The 
 acuteness and profundity of its criticisms, and its perfect com- 
 prehension and appreciation of the Spanish mind .and taste 
 and spirit, were regarded by the most eminent of the native 
 writers and thinkers as all that a Spaniard could have been 
 able to attain, and next to miraculous in a foreigner. A dis- 
 tinguished man of letters — whose opinion would be regarded 
 28
 
 218 SPAIN. 
 
 as oracular in Spain, and whose familiar acquaintance with 
 French and English literature rendered the basis of his judg- 
 ment as broad as that of almost any one — told me that he 
 regarded Mr. Ticknor's work as " the best history of a litera- 
 ture" that he had ever seen. With the prestige of all this in 
 its favor, — and the security, besides, that any accidental error 
 or omission would be certainly remedied or supplied by the 
 translators, — so that the book could, at once, pass from their 
 hands into a standard authority, — its publication was hindered, 
 nevertheless, by the difficulties to which I have referred. That 
 it should have appeared, at last, in spite of them, is certainly 
 creditable to the zeal and energy of the editors, and bespeaks 
 a confidence in the literary discernment of the community, 
 which augurs something better for the future.
 
 XXI. 
 
 QuiKTANA— The Junta. Central.— Quintana's Political and Liter- 
 ary Life and Works.— Nicasio Gallego.— His Political Career 
 AND Poems. — Debates on the Inquisition. — Clerical Liberality. 
 —Dos DE Mayo.— Martinez de la Rosa.— His Political and 
 Literary Life and Works.— Est atuto Real. 
 
 OF the eminent literary persons whose career began before 
 the revolutions of the present century, and whose 
 works are numbered among the classics of the language, there 
 survive now, in Madrid, but two, Don Manuel Josef Quin- 
 tana and Don Juan Nicasio Gallego. The one a civilian, the 
 other a priest,— both of them poets and both prominent in 
 political service, — they have the further bond of a common 
 devotion to the cause of rational liberty, and of common suffer- 
 ins: for their efforts to establish and maintain it. 
 
 Quintana was born in 1772, and educated at Salamanca, 
 under the direction of Melendez Valdez. He did not devote 
 himself long or actively to the profession of the law, though 
 it continued to be his nominal pursuit, but soon became one of 
 the little band of men of letters whose leader— and in some 
 sort patron — was the wise and accomplished Jovellanos. Of 
 his first productions, which were dramatic, the tragedy of 
 "Don Pelavo" save him earliest distinction. A volume of 
 lyric poetry, published about the same time, full of noble 
 
 219
 
 220 SPAIN. 
 
 inspiration and a burning, lofty patriotism, commended him 
 still further to the love and admiration of his countrymen. 
 These works were followed by a volume of lives of celebrated 
 Spaniards, to which, of later years, he has added several 
 biographies, remarkable for their learning, grace, and historic 
 impartiality. In 1808 he gave to the press several volumes 
 of selections from Spanish poetry, commencing at the days of 
 Juan de Mena and embracing the choicest productions of the 
 best masters, with historical and critical annotations. The 
 convulsions which followed the invasion of Napoleon drove 
 Quintana at once into the arena of active and troubled life. 
 The position of Secretary to the Junta Central, which he was 
 called to fill, was perhaps the most important civil station, at 
 that time, in the public gift, and to the ability with which 
 Quintana discharged its duties, and the eloquence and power 
 of the state papers which came from his hands, was attribu- 
 table mainly the hold of the Junta upon public confidence. 
 " It was a happy selection for that body," says the Count of 
 Toreno, in his History. " The public opinion of the Junta^ 
 and of its plans and ideas, was formed from the masterly 
 expositions of the Secretary." Certainly no writer of his day 
 was capable of addressing to the people appeals so stirring as 
 those with which, in poetry and prose, he kindled and sus- 
 tained the national enthusiasm. 
 
 With the downfall of the constitution in 1814, felt the Cortes 
 of which Quintana was a conspicuous member, and the day of 
 tribulation began for him, as for all the ablest and worthiest of 
 his countrymen. He was thrown into a cell in the fortress of 
 Pamplona, — cut off from books and friends, and even denied 
 the use of writing materials, — until the constitutional reaction
 
 SPAIN. 221 
 
 of 1820. Upon that revival of free institutions, he was at 
 once elevated to the Directorship of Public Instruction, — an 
 office created by the constitution, and, in the hands of a states- 
 man so enlightened and liberal as Quintana, one of the might- 
 iest engines of national regeneration. The public acts of those 
 days attest the wisdom and comprehensiveness of his ideas and 
 administration, and there can be no doubt that there were 
 seeds of knowledge and sound doctrine sown among the people, 
 during the short reign of his system, which have sprung up to 
 the best fruit in more recent times. The reestablishment of 
 despotism, in 1823, of course put an end to Quintana's public 
 labors. He was fortunate in being allowed to cultivate his 
 literary tastes in a quiet and distant province, where he re- 
 mained until 1833, when the death of Ferdinand the Seventh 
 recalled him to his old duties, and threw on him new honors. 
 Created a member of the House of Proceres (or Peers) under 
 the Estatuto Real, he prepared, in 1836, in conjunction with 
 Gallego and others, a plan of public instruction, which was 
 adopted by the government. In his legislative capacity he was 
 the author of many able reports upon important political and 
 economical questions, and when the present constitutional sys- 
 tem was finally adopted, he was made a Senator. During the 
 minority of Queen Isabella, he was intrusted with the direction 
 of her education, and he is now President of the Council of 
 Public Instruction. Of the distinguished positions to which 
 he has, from time to time, been called, several have been the 
 gift of administrations and parties to which he was opposed, — 
 an honorable tribute to his ability and patriotism, and to the 
 consistent integrity with which he has clung to the political prin- 
 ciples of his early manhood. The persecutions and privations
 
 222 SPAIN. 
 
 of a troubled life, and the insensible but steady change which 
 is wrought in most men by the experience of years and of 
 human affairs, have done little towards extinguishing the en- 
 thusiasm of the veteran Progresista. While others — and many 
 of them among the most conspicuous of the original constitu- 
 tionalists — have been tempted by the love of place or repose, 
 or driven by their disgust for popular fickleness and ingratitude, 
 almost into the arms of the system which they once abhorred, 
 he has remained as he began. Too able and too clear-sighted 
 to have overlooked the follies of his party, he has had the 
 wisdom to foresee and the patience to await the ultimate tri- 
 umph of the permanent over the transient. 
 
 If the bulk of Quintana's literary productions is less than 
 might have been expected from his long and industrious life, 
 it is because, during the greater part of it, he has sacrificed 
 the leisure and tastes of a scholar to the sterner duties of a 
 patriot. In the preface to an edition of his poems, in 1821, 
 he speaks of several works which he had already nearly com- 
 pleted, when the war of the Peninsula broke out. " Since 
 then," he says, "the duty of devoting myself to labors of a 
 far different kind, the necessity of moving constantly from 
 place to place, and the whirlwind of misfortune, persecution, 
 and imprisonment, which has raged around me, have scattered 
 my manuscripts, consumed the best years of my life, and set 
 my literary plans at naught. The present circumstances of 
 the country render it impossible for me to renew these last. 
 Other writers will fall uj)on calmer times, and doubtless will 
 be blessed with better fortune." In the edition of Quintana's 
 works which has recently been published as a part of the series 
 of standard authors referred to in the last chapter, there
 
 SPAIN. 223 
 
 appear, for the first time, a number of letters addrassed by him 
 to Lord Holland, in 1823 and 1824, and containing a history 
 of the curious and important political events of that day. 
 Additional value is given to them by a striking analysis of 
 the political history of Spain, from the reign of Charles the 
 Third down to the period at which the letters were written. 
 Upon this subject, and more especially in reference to the 
 incidents which passed under the author's personal observation, 
 the letters are a valuable contribution to the history of the 
 century. The epoch is one of which little is truly known out 
 of Spain, and in regard to which but little that is worth read- 
 ing has been written there. The work of the Marquis of 
 Miraflores, which is the principal source of information, is 
 executed in the most partial and illiberal spirit, as if its 
 author had but one idea in producing it, — that of recanting 
 and atoning for all his previous enthusiasm in behalf of liberal 
 and rational ideas. 
 
 In passing to and from my a})artments in the House of Cor- 
 dero, on the Calle de Pontejos, I had often given place upon 
 the stairs to a venerable gentleman, apparently in robust health, 
 of fine stature, and full of energy and vigor. The habit — 
 soon acquired abroad, if it be not natural — of meddling but 
 little with other people and their affairs, had prevented my 
 making any inquiries in regard to him, and I had been more 
 than a month in the same house with Sr. Quintana, and hear- 
 ing his footsteps at night in the apartments above me, without 
 knowing that he was my neighbor. The happy accident 
 through which I made the discovery was the means, also, of 
 giving me the honor of his acquaintance, under favorable aus- 
 pices. It was a gratification which I should ill repay, were
 
 224 SPAIN. 
 
 I to say more than that he is surrounded in his old age by all 
 the appliances which can make the enjoyment of a man of 
 taste, education, and moderate desires, — the centre of a circle 
 of quiet and cultivated friends, whose regard is dearer to him 
 than the public homage, and from whom his learning, accom- 
 plishments, and virtues wdn reverence as profound as their 
 affection. Few poets have lived to realize such pleasant dis- 
 appointment as he, — in comparing the actual decline of his 
 life witli the melancholy anticipations expressed in his " Fare- 
 well to Youth." Few public men have lived through so many 
 storms, to see the shadows fall so peacefully on so serene an 
 evening. 
 
 Though but five years the junior of Quintana, Nicasio Gal- 
 lego belongs, in a literary point of view, to a later epoch. 
 Scarcely any of his most admired poems were given to the 
 public until after Quintana's reputation had become national. 
 During the French invasion, he was too busily occupied with 
 
 public affairs to 
 
 " meditate the thankless Muse." 
 
 In the upheaving of all things old, and the confusion of things 
 new and old as well, which made that period remarkable iu 
 Spain, the Jimta Central, which had the reins of the provi- 
 sional government, was overwhelmed with projects of legal and 
 constitutional reform. All the political theorists in the land 
 had set their heads and liands industriously to work, and all 
 the subordinate juntas and pragmatical corporations sent in 
 their recipes for the preparation of Utopias, warranted to last. 
 To give to these multiform schemes the consideration to which 
 they were entitled, on the score of merit or policy, and to cull
 
 SPAIN. 225 
 
 from among them such as might be worthy to be ingrafted on 
 the permanent legislation of the country, was of course impos- 
 sible for an administrative body, in the throbs and throes of a 
 revolution. A board was accordingly constituted for that 
 purpose, and Nicasio Gallego was one of its most prominent 
 and useful members. To the Cortes of 1810 he was an active 
 and able Deputy, and distinguished himself especially by his 
 zeal in advocating and perfecting the laws which secured the 
 freedom of the press. His reported speech against the propo- 
 sition to establish a censorship is full of large ideas and a 
 manly and liberal philosophy. It is the more deserving of 
 note, as the production of an ecclesiastic, controverting the 
 narrower views which were urged, in the name of religion, 
 by others of his class. Justice, however, requires it to be 
 said, in this connection, that there was no measure before the 
 Cortes of those days, involving the popular freedom and its 
 guaranties, which did not find among the clergy who w^ere 
 Deputies some of its most able and strenuous supporters. Of 
 this fact the discussion in regard to the Inquisition furnishes 
 a curious and instructive illustration, well worthy the attention 
 of those who think and write as if the odor of a roasted 
 heretic were the only sweet-smelling savor in the Spanish 
 clerical nostrils. 
 
 Services so eminent and patriotic as those of Gallego could 
 not escape the vengeance of Ferdinand ; and upon the return 
 of his Majesty, Don Nicasio was made the victim of a state 
 prosecution which lasted eighteen months, and ended in his 
 imprisonment, for four years, in the Carthusian Convent of 
 Jerez, without even the decent formality of a judicial sentence. 
 Prom Jerez he was transferred to the Convent of Loreto, in 
 29
 
 226 SPAIN. 
 
 the midst of a wilderness not many leagues from Seville. His 
 Muse, always sluggish, was not greatly quickened by these 
 vicissitudes ; but the few poems which saw the light during 
 his confinement are among the best of his productions. 
 
 On the return of the liberal party to power, in 1820, Gal- 
 lego received a distinguished ecclesiastical preferment, of which 
 Ferdinand took the earliest occasion to deprive him, when the 
 wheel again went round. A life of trial and humiliation was 
 the lot of the poet for the next ten years, during which he 
 had an opportunity of tasting the bitterness of that exile 
 shared by so many of his countrymen, and by himself so 
 touchingly described : — 
 
 " Otros, gimiendo por su patria amada, 
 El agua beben de estranjeros rios, 
 Mil veces con sus lagrimas mezclada." 
 
 To the desire for repose, so natural after so much weary and 
 sad turmoil, is perhaps attributable, in some degree, the per- 
 tinacity with which he has resisted all attempts to bring him 
 again before the world, by the publication of his works. 
 
 When Ferdinand died, the road of advancement lay open to 
 Gallego, but he declined to accept various offers of the most 
 honorable character. He consented, nevertheless, to act with 
 Quintana, Lacanal, and Lifian in the preparation of a scheme of 
 public instruction, and was, besides, for some time, a member 
 of the Directory which had that matter in charge. Of later 
 years, he has received the appointment of Senator, and now 
 fills the distinguished station, likewise, of Perpetual Secretary 
 to the Spanish Academy. The exquisite idiomatic purity of 
 his compositions, and the almost oracular reverence in which
 
 SPAIN. 227 
 
 his critical opinion is held, render the appropriateness of his 
 selection for the last-mentioned post a matter of universal and 
 gratified recognition. 
 
 The published poems of Gallego are so few, that only the 
 highest order of excellence could give him the reputation he 
 enjoys. They are chiefly lyrical and elegiac, and remarkable, 
 according to their class, for nobleness and elevation of style 
 and thought, or for refined and plaintive tenderness. His 
 celebrated verses in commemoration of the Dos de Mayo, — the 
 consecrated 2d of May, 1808, — the day on which the patriotism 
 and self-sacrifice of Daoiz and Velarde and the enthusiasm and 
 despair of the people of Madrid raised the bloody and at last 
 triumphant standard of resistance to the aggression of the 
 French, — have become as much a portion of the literature 
 which dwells in the popular heart, as the Marseillaise in 
 France or the " Mariners of England." The poem is pub- 
 lished throughout the kingdom, as often as the years bring 
 round the proud and mournful anniversary, and so admirable 
 are both its spirit and its execution, that it challenges, at every 
 repetition, not less the admiration of the scholar and the man 
 of taste than the enthusiasm of those who have no canons of 
 criticism but their feelings. Indeed, without entering into 
 any critical analysis, I know no better idea of Gral lego's style 
 and merit, in the class of works of which I have spoken, than 
 that which is given by likening him to Campbell. The same 
 loftiness and correctness, — the same purity of taste and grace 
 of expression, — the same trumpet-like capacity to warm the 
 blood, — are conspicuous in both of them. Unfortunately, the 
 reproach for " soul-animating strains, — alas, too few ! " is 
 equally applicable. Gallego has, it is believed, a large number
 
 228 iSPAIN. 
 
 of poems, which are fated to do him only posthumous honor. 
 A friend, writing of his vigorous old age, says that " the 
 request to publish is the only thing to which he is deaf." He 
 is content, no doubt, with the regard and admiration of his 
 contemporaries already won, and is not unwilling to conciliate 
 posterity by a legacy. 
 
 It would be hardly fair to leave unnoticed, in this little 
 sketch of two of the veterans of Spanish literature, one who, 
 though somewhat their junior, still belongs, both in age and 
 eminence, to the class which they represent. I refer to Don 
 Francisco Martinez de la Rosa, admitted, I believe, on all 
 hands, to be the most accomplished belles-lettres scholar in 
 the kingdom, and, if not the most prominent in any particular 
 department of literature, remarkable, certainly, for his ability 
 and success in almost all. The vicissitudes of his political life 
 and opinions have divided the public sentiment in regard to 
 his talents as a statesman, and as this division has been accom- 
 panied with considerable feeling, such as political breaches 
 always involve, it has produced a similar diversity of senti- 
 ment in respect to the degree of his excellence as a writer. 
 Neither passion nor party spirit, however, has been able to 
 extinguish, even in his enemies, that respect for his untiring 
 industry and great attainments, which is conceded equally to 
 his personal integrity. 
 
 The first public appearance of Martinez de la Rosa was in 
 the Cortes elected in 1813, under the new constitution. He 
 was sent by his native city of Granada, was an active supporter 
 of the new system, and, though only twenty -five years of age, 
 soon ranked among the most distinguished orators of the Con- 
 gress. The vindictiveness of Ferdinand was always propor-
 
 SPAIN. 229 
 
 tionetl to the worth and ability of the rebel. Martinez was 
 accordingly prosecuted with great rigor, but although an 
 oi)portunity was offered him to adjure his opinions and be 
 free, he preferred incurring the severe penalty of confinement, 
 for ten years, in the state-prison of the Peiion in Africa. With 
 the liberal reaction of 1820, his release came, and he went back 
 to Granada, to be welcomed with triumphal arches and returned 
 again to the legislature of the kingdom. Time, however, had 
 begun to produce that change in his opinions, which in the first 
 fervor of his youth and enthusiasm the hope of royal clemency 
 could not precipitate. The constitution of 1812 had ceased to 
 seem to him the perfection of government, for which he had 
 once taken it. This change soon disclosed itself in his parlia- 
 mentary course, and, in the contests between the executive and 
 the legislature, he was generally to be found on the side of 
 ministers. On a memorable occasion in the legislative annals 
 of that epoch, he announced it as his principle, that '' defendi- 
 endo al gohiemo se defiende tambien la libertad," — the defence 
 of government is the defence of liberty also ! This, which has 
 been the maxim of his whole subsequent political career, gave 
 at the time great provocation to the liberal party, which he 
 ■was regarded as deserting, and has fixed him permanently in 
 the public mind as the adherent and advocate of power. He 
 was elevated to the Premiership in 1822, but was compelled, 
 by the pressure of circumstances and of legislative opposition, 
 to resign a post for which he had not practical qualifications or 
 administrative tact. His parliamentary defences, however, of 
 his principles and measures at that time, are among the most 
 masterly and eloquent recorded efforts of the Spanish tribune ; 
 and it may be fairly inferred that his reputation, both national
 
 230 SPAIN. 
 
 and Continental, was of some mark, when Chateaubriand 
 congratulated himself on being Prime-Minister of France, at 
 the same moment that the same high place was filled by 
 Canning in England and Martinez de la Rosa in Spain. 
 
 The return of Ferdinand to absolute power drove Martinez 
 into exile. He remained for the most part in Paris, where he 
 formed many distinguished political and literary associations, 
 the former of which contributed no doubt to confirm and fix 
 his maturer and more conservative ideas of government. 
 During his residence abroad, which continued until 1830, he 
 published many poetical, dramatic, and critical works, some of 
 them of a high order of merit, and none without the marks of 
 scholarship and taste. One of his dramas, written in French, 
 was in the course of representation with great success in Paris, 
 when the revolution of the "three days" broke out. His Art 
 of Poetry, — after the fashion of Horace and Boileau, — though 
 in itself fuller of art than poetry, like its illustrious prototypes, 
 was accompanied by a large body of copious and admirable 
 annotations, amounting almost to a critical history of Spanish 
 poetical literature, and displaying, not only a profound and 
 intimate acquaintance with the subject, but all a poet's appre- 
 ciation of its spirit. 
 
 After the death of Ferdinand, the known moderation of 
 Martinez de la Rosa in his political sentiments commended 
 him to the Queen Regent. The Estatuto Real (Royal Statute), 
 the first compromise of despotism with the new order of things, 
 was promulgated by an administration over which he presided, 
 and is admitted to have been his individual work. Allusion 
 has already been made to this hybridous constitution, and it is 
 not worth while to analyse its character here. It created a
 
 SPAIN. 231 
 
 legislature composed of two branches, — the one chosen for life 
 and eminently aristocratic in its nature and functions, — the 
 other a chamber of procuradwes, to be selected from time to 
 time, and mainly by the ayuntamientos or corporations of the 
 cities and towns. As these latter functionaries for the most 
 part were the creatures of the crown, or could at any time be 
 made so, it was felt by the mass of the constitutional party, 
 that the Cortes of the Estatuto were little better than a mockery 
 of popular representation. When the decree for tlie organiza- 
 tion of the system was read, the indignation of the liberals 
 against its authors knew no bounds. Arguelles, the cory- 
 phaeus of the old constitutional regime, cried out " Apostasy !" 
 lifting his hands to his head in despair ; and even in the first 
 legislature which the ministry convoked under the Statute, 
 there were elements of the most vigorous and determined re- 
 sistance to it. Martinez had all the oratorical ability and tact 
 which bafiSe or break down an opposition in debate, but he 
 wanted the strategy and energy to divert or overcome the 
 pressure from without. He was, besides, too scrupulous for a 
 statesman in his country and generation. He expressed opin- 
 ions because he entertained them, and adopted lines of policy 
 for no better reason than that he believed them to be right. 
 The chances of such a game as politics have become, in all 
 countries, were therefore necessarily against him, and when the 
 defects of his system and the traits of his personal character 
 were added to what a contemporary calls his " excessive recti- 
 tude," it is no marvel that his administration was troubled and 
 disastrous. It lasted, however, nearly eighteen months. The 
 equally bad success of those who followed him, under the same 
 system, might, in other circumstances, have relieved him from
 
 232 SPAIN. 
 
 the charge of being less wise than his fellows ; but, unfortu- 
 nately, he was the author of the system itself, so that, in one 
 shape or the other, he must bear the responsibility of his own 
 reverses and, it may be, of theirs. 
 
 Since the repeal of the Estatuto, and under the constitutions 
 which have succeeded it, Martinez de la Rosa has been a mem- 
 ber of the Cortes from time to time, and has maintained the 
 parliamentary reputation of his more vigorous years, under all 
 the disadvantages of age and the loss of political prestige. He 
 was a Deputy when I was in Madrid, but was absent, as I 
 have stated, as Ambassador at Rome. A warm and active 
 sympathy with the Head of the Church, in his misfortunes, 
 was certainly both natural and proper in a country so thor- 
 oughly and devotedly Catholic as Spain. The virtues of Pius 
 the Ninth entitled him, besides, to veneration and affectionate 
 regard, independent altogether of the homage which was 
 rendered to his ecclesiastical supremacy. He was undoubtedly 
 the pioneer in the liberal movement which has shaken Europe 
 during the last few years, and there can be but little question, 
 that, if he had been left to himself, to conduct with prudence 
 and moderation what he had begun with wisdom and good 
 faith, there would not now be seen the spectacle of a French 
 army keeping watch and ward in the Eternal City. The 
 presence of so distinguished a personage as Martinez de la 
 Rosa, invested with the highest powers and dignities known 
 to diplomatic custom, and following the exiled Pontiff through 
 all the stages of his pilgrimage, was therefore, in every sense, 
 appropriate and worthy of a reverent and generous people. It 
 was nevertheless a striking instance of that perpetual change 
 in men and nations, whereof all history is but the record, that
 
 SPAIN. 233 
 
 Spain herself, so frequently the victim of foreign intervention, 
 should have sent an army to intervene in the domestic affairs 
 of Rome; and that an individual who had so often denounced 
 the hateful j)i-inciple, and had himself so sufiPered from its 
 operation, should have been the bearer of his country's man- 
 date, to do unto others what she would not that others should 
 do unto her. " For my part," says Montaigne, " I am with 
 much more difficulty induced to believe in a man's consistency 
 than in any other virtue in him ; while there is nothing I so 
 readily believe as his inconsistency; and whoso will meditate 
 upon the matter, closely and abstractedly, will agree with me." 
 As to the consistency of nations, not even that universal 
 raoraliser thought it worth while to moralise. 
 
 Besides the works to which reference has already been made, 
 Martinez de la Rosa has subsequently found leisure for the 
 production of many, both in poetry and prose, and some of 
 them at least are likely to become a permanent portion of the 
 national literature. His most elaborate work in prose-fiction 
 — the historical novel called Isabel de Solis — has not been 
 received with general approbation, the better opinion being 
 that it lacks both spirit and invention. The historical biogra- 
 phy of Hernan Perez del Pulgar is, however, an admirable 
 specimen of its class, and would, in the judgment of many, be 
 sufficient to make a reputation. Critical opinion, nevertheless, 
 is divided even upon that point, and some have been found to 
 denounce the whole production as a waste of time and labor 
 on a worthless subject, — an attempt to write a chronicle of 
 knightly days, in the obsolete language that belonged to them. 
 Some time back, one of the prominent journals of Madrid was 
 polite and amiable enough to announce, that, in the judgment 
 30
 
 234 SPAIN. 
 
 of its editors, Martinez de la Rosa was little better than a 
 tonto, — in plain language, a fool ! I myself was surprised to 
 hear a distinguished political rival say, that he was a flat poet 
 and a dull novelist, \vith nothing striking about him, but large 
 acquirements and larger vanity ! In the mean time, by general 
 consent, at home, he stands among the first of the men of 
 letters of his day, and a recent sketch of his life announces his 
 elevation, abroad, to the high dignity of President of the 
 Institute of France. The balance would seem, under such 
 circumstances, to incline somewhat in his favor, but the 
 amusing diversity of opinion in regard to his literary merits 
 may well serve to illustrate the uncertainty of contemporary 
 fame, and to justify, in a new point of view, the wisdom of 
 the philosopher of old, who said that the fortune of the 
 happiest man alive was like the luck of a wrestler who was 
 still in the ring.
 
 XXII. 
 
 Standing Arihes. — The Spanish Army, its Condition and Political 
 Influence. — Immense Number of Generals. — The Scientific 
 Corps. — Their Organization and Merits. — The Navy, its Im- 
 provement AND Personnel. — Its Organization. — The Cuban 
 Expeditions. — Discriminating Duties under our Act of 1834. 
 — Development of Agriculture and Internal Improvements 
 IN Spain, in Consequence.— Santander. — Railroads. — ^The Ca- 
 nal OF Castile. — Competition. 
 
 THE organization of standing armies has always been 
 regarded as a step forward in the civilization of Europe. 
 Not that there is any thing particularly humanising in horse, 
 foot, and dragoons, of themselves or as an institution, but 
 that, as men, since the days of Cain, have had a proneness to 
 slay their brethren, it was a wise and happy thought to intrust 
 the indulgence of that human weakness to a representative 
 class, educated, equipped, and paid for the purpose, and to 
 leave the rest of society leisure and opportunity for more 
 profitable labor and gentler entertainment. No one needs be 
 told how military establishments, like all other establishments 
 clothed with public power for public purposes, have habit- 
 ually, and on principle, used that power for their own. When 
 kings grow into tyrants and priests into stipendiaries, — when 
 republican Representatives resolve the whole task of legisla- 
 
 235
 
 236 SPAIN. 
 
 tion into making themselves Presidents, or profiting by the 
 President-making of others, — it can be no matter of surprise 
 that the drum and trumpet should have taught no better les- 
 son of conscience and duty. 
 
 In Spain the weight of the army in political affairs has been 
 a crying evil, since the very commencement of the liberal 
 system. Its pronunciamientos have been always influential, 
 and often omnipotent. Its leaders have found military service 
 ^-or the rank which they have reached without it — a passport 
 to the highest places of the state. The legislature is full of 
 them, — the ministerial bench is rarely free from them. They 
 are the boldest intriguers, the most open and avowed self- 
 seekers. Where a civilian finds a pretext necessary, a brigadier- 
 general affects none. If the government displeases him, he is 
 indignant and confesses it. He represents an estate of the 
 realm, and he has no hesitation in proclaiming that he will 
 make himself feared, if the rulers will not love him. 
 
 Unfortunately, the evil of these things, though very obvious, 
 is of very difficult cure. A nation like Spain, which has been 
 for half a century in constant war, must of necessity have 
 incurred heavy obligations to her soldiery. She has debts of 
 gratitude to be paid in honors, and debts of a more substantial 
 sort to be more substantially satisfied. As a portion of her 
 wars have been dynastic, — and as in many of her political 
 contentions the bayonet has done the duty of the ballot-box, — 
 the victorious dynasty and the triumphant party have neces- 
 sarily involved themselves in pledges to their troops, which 
 must for a while not only forbid any serious reduction of the 
 military scale, so far as the officers are concerned, but render 
 it dangerous to resist the demands of popular chieftains.
 
 SPAIN. 237 
 
 There are external causes, too, at the present moment, which 
 make it almost impossible for Spain to contract her army and 
 its influence within the proper scope of a constitutional system. 
 Of these, the troubled and uncertain state of Europe is obvi- 
 ously, an important one, but the chief obstacle is to be found 
 in the proximity of France and the extent and efficacy of 
 French influence. There seems to be a sort of spiritual or 
 phreno-magnetic rapport proclaimed, if not existing, between 
 Spain and her extraordinary neighbor. It has become almost 
 a concession, that, if there is a revolution in France, there must 
 be one in Spain, with or without cause. If there is a reaction 
 at Paris, Madrid straightway becomes reactionary, whether 
 there be or be not any thing to react from. A "crisis" at the 
 one place is almost sure to produce a " crisis " at the other, 
 without the remotest regard to the existence or non-existence 
 of any thing critical. The patient smacks his lips, simply 
 because the mesmerist has a disposition to drink. I have 
 already alluded to the extent of this influence, but chiefly in 
 reference to the absurdities in which it results. Its more 
 serious consequences are quite as numerous. There was a 
 popular outbreak in Madrid after the overthrow of Louis 
 Philippe, merely because Louis Philippe had been overthrown. 
 The government strengthened itself for its own preservation 
 immediately after that outbreak, as was natural enough ; but 
 the increase of its powers was made a fixe<l political principle, 
 as soon as it was perceived that in France it had become 
 fashionable to shoot " fraternity." Since the accession of Louis 
 Napoleon to the Prince-Presidency and the Empire, there is 
 no knowing what might happen, were there any body in Madrid 
 who was nephew to an uncle. Indeed, it would not be strange,
 
 238 SPAIN. 
 
 if, before these reflections should see the light, there were a 
 temporary interruption of the constitutional progress of Spain 
 and the happiness and improvement of her people, by some 
 Gallic harlequinade or other, on the model of the coup d'etat. 
 Excluding the troops in the colonies, the Spanish army, in 
 actual service in the Peninsula and the adjacent islands, was 
 stated by Sr. Moron, in the Chamber of Deputies, to consist of 
 one hundred and four thousand men. On the first of January, 
 1849, and throwing out of the calculation all subsequent ad- 
 ditions, which were numerous, there were neither more nor less 
 than six hundred and sixty-two general officers, the most of 
 them comparatively recent promotions, distributed through 
 that army ! By the Blue Book of 1850, seventy-nine of these 
 appear to have been lieutenant-generals. The French army, 
 of about five times the number of soldiers, had about one third 
 the number of generals, and the proportion was still smaller 
 in Prussia. In Austria, with more than four times as many 
 men, there were scarcely more than half as many commanders. 
 It is true that the military system of Spain provides for the 
 enrolment and reduction into service, on occasion, of what is 
 called the reserva, or reserved division of the levies, so that the 
 enormous disproportion which the statistics show between the 
 rank and file and their superior officers, ought to be considered 
 with a trifling qualification, on that account. But taking all 
 things into the calculation, — not forgetting the troops in the 
 colonies, or overlooking the necessity of supernumerary pro- 
 motions, during the progress and at the close of a civil war of 
 protracted duration, — it must be admitted that there is little to 
 redeem the military establishment of Spain from mere absurdity 
 in the particular referred to. Even if the reserva were called
 
 SPAIN. 239 
 
 by circumstances into activity, there is not much in the history 
 of the past to induce the belief, that the opportunity would be 
 taken to make the officers deserve their honors by the laborious 
 discharge of duty. On the contrary, it is more than likely that 
 the occasion would be greedily seized to enlarge the list of gen- 
 ei-ales, &c., yet more extensively, and to decorate with new 
 ribbons and crosses, if such could be found, those who had 
 already reached the summit of actual rank. 
 
 In his guide-book, published about the middle of 1849, and 
 containing a great deal of useful compendious information, 
 Mellado states that the empleados connected with the War 
 Department amounted to about eleven thousand, exclusive of 
 soldiers. It will not thus be deemed at all remarkable that 
 the presupuesto, or budget of 1850, should have appropriated 
 nearly sixteen millions of dollars to that branch of the public 
 service. When it is considered that the ordinary provision for 
 the Naval Department, in the same year, reached about three 
 millions and a half, and that a very large increase in the navy 
 has since been rendered necessary, by the piratical plans which 
 have been agitated in the United States, it will be seen that 
 Spain would have abundant reasons for being represented in 
 the Peace-Congresses. 
 
 With whatever truth the contrary may have been said 
 twenty years ago, there can be no question that the Spanish 
 army, at the jjeriod of my visit, was in a high state of disci- 
 pline, and thoroughly instructed in the best improvements of 
 modern military science. The regiments which went to Rome 
 attracted great admiration, although the duty assigned to them 
 afforded but little opportunity for the display of their more 
 substantial qualifications. I saw some of them after their
 
 240 SPAI2i. 
 
 return, and heard ample testimony borne by competent judges, 
 witliout national bias, to the excellence of their equipment and 
 drill. The garrison of Madrid was composed of a very fine 
 body of men, — both infantry and cavalry, — lithe, active, and 
 strikingly martial in their bearing. I could not help fre- 
 quently observing, however, among the company officers of 
 the line, a manifest inferiority to the rank and file in soldierlike 
 appearance. It was mainly attributable, I thought, to the 
 comparative youth and immaturity of the captains and lieu- 
 tenants, some of whom seemed hardly fit to encounter the 
 rudeness of war's alarms. It is still but fair to say, that the 
 worst enemies of the army, as a political engine, were con- 
 strained to acknowledge the personal bravery of its officers. It 
 would indeed be hard to find a more gallant band of gentlemen, 
 and it was on that account the more to be regretted that so 
 many of them should be tempted, by a corrupting political 
 system, to hang upon the favor of a court. 
 
 Captain Widdrington ^ — whose professional pursuits, as well 
 as his long residence and opportunities of observation in Spain, 
 entitle his judgment to great respect — speaks very favorably 
 of the education and attainments of the officers attached to the 
 scientific departments. The period to which he refers was 
 about that of Ferdinand's death, and the improvement which 
 
 ^ In a review of the " Glimpses of Spain," the London Athenceum — refer- 
 ring to the favorable notice I had taken of this gentleman's admirable books 
 on Peninsular afiairs — was liberal enough to suggest, as the source of my 
 commendation, that no doubt the captain wrote " U. S." after his name ! 
 I should be glad if it were true, but as it is not, I must be content with 
 having introduced to the AthencEum an officer of whom the Royal Navy 
 ought to be proud, and an author of whose name it was scarcely reputable 
 in a literary journal to be ignorant.
 
 SPAIN. 241 
 
 has taken place, since that time, in the preparatory system, 
 would no doubt render his commendation more generally 
 applicable now. Although, however, it is true, as he observes, 
 that the artillery and engineer corps have always been remark- 
 able for the liberality of their political sentiments, and have 
 almost uuiversally encountered the greatest sacrifices in the 
 maintenance of such opinions, it is equally true, that they have 
 habitually refrained, more than any other branches of the army, 
 from intermeddling with the ordinary politics of the country. 
 No doubt the direction of their intellectual occupations has had 
 a good deal to do with tiiis, and there is even more, perhaps, 
 in the fact, that they have intellectual occupation of some sort, 
 without any particular reference to its nature. The mathe- 
 matics do not fit a man peculiarly for playing pretendiente, if 
 the inclination occurs to him ; yet it is not likely to occur to 
 him, if he has the mathematics, or any thing else, in his head, 
 by which he earns an honorable livelihood, with mental im- 
 provement and a respectable position. But that the engineers 
 and artillery officers are not politicians generally, is probably 
 owing to the particular organization of those corps, more than 
 to any other cause. Promotion, with them, follows the rigid 
 rule of seniority ; whereas, in the other divisions, he who has 
 friends, male or female, in the palace or about it, rises soonest 
 and most infallibly. The visible good effect of the stricter 
 system ought certainly to suggest to the law-makers the 
 propriety of extending it to the whole military establishment. 
 Promotion, given as the extraordinary reward of extraordinary 
 merit, in the legitimate field of a soldier's duties, is of course 
 an incentive to honorable and just ambition, and elevates the 
 character of the army, while it prejudices no other interest of 
 31
 
 242 SPAIN. 
 
 the state. But where advancement is the prize of ante-cham- 
 ber servility, political subserviency, or small intrigue, it can 
 have no beneficial public result, military or civil. Numerous 
 instances of its ridiculous and prejudicial consequences were 
 very familiar, when I was in Madrid, to all who knew any 
 thing of public men and political affairs. With us, the habit 
 of looking to military chiefs as political leaders, merely because 
 they have fought battles, is bad enough, no doubt, — and none 
 the less so, because now and then the education and habits of 
 the camp may have developed eminent executive qualities in 
 particular individuals. That must, in spite of exceptions, be 
 in the main a vicious rule, which regards any thing aside from 
 fitness, in the choice of agents for any purpose. But with us, 
 the soldier, wise or unwise, takes off his spurs when he becomes 
 a political leader. His military career may secure his eleva- 
 tion, but it ends when that begins. General Narvaez, as 
 Prime-Minister, might wear on state occasions, if it pleased 
 him, the uniform of a Captain-General. It would be odd, 
 with us, to see a President inaugurated in epaulettes. As 
 long as the Spanish system lasts, irregularity and uncertainty 
 must be looked for, and constitutional government cannot be 
 said to exist in its purity. Our system will probably give us 
 many bad rulers ; but they will be simply inferior Presidents, 
 not dangerous generals. 
 
 In the Spanish navy, promotion is likewise dependent upon 
 fixed rules, and the result is identical with that which has 
 already been adverted to, in connection with the scientific corps 
 of the land-service. It is a very rare thing for naval officers 
 to be heard of in association with political intrigues, or, indeed, 
 anything political ; although they are remarkable as a class
 
 SPAIN. 243 
 
 for their ability, and for the extent of their general, as well as 
 professional attainments. This fact illustrates the political 
 wisdom of their organization, even more decidedly than the 
 same result following the same cause in those divisions of the 
 army to which it is applicable. Until lately, the Spanish navy 
 had been for many years in a state of sad inactivity ; and the 
 opportunity for any practical exercise of the scientific acquire- 
 ments which the routine of the service prescribes, was extremely 
 insijrnificant. Sailors and naval commanders cannot be made 
 or occupied without ships, and the disasters of the preceding 
 and the present century had not only destroyed the proud 
 armaments of Spain and exhausted the means of their restora- 
 tion, but in a great degree broken the spirit which might have 
 repaired her fortunes on the sea. All the temptations which 
 leisure creates were therefore thrown in the way of the officers 
 of the navy. Ambitious, and at the same time capable and 
 well-educated, they had every inducement to seek, in the palace 
 or the halls of legislation, the command which they had no 
 quarter-decks to supply. The influence which countervailed 
 so natural a tendency must have been strong, especially when 
 they beheld field-marshals and generals changing into senators 
 and secretaries all around them, and when there was scarcely 
 a scale of power into which some one did not fling, before 
 their eyes, a sword no heavier than theirs. 
 
 I have said, that the necessity of defending her colonies 
 from the aggressive expeditions of our buccaneers has produced 
 a decided augmentation of the Spanish navy within a few years 
 past. In addition to the regular budget for 1850, a million 
 and a half of dollars were appropriated, by special decree, in 
 March of the same year, principally to the construction of
 
 244 SPAIN. 
 
 steam-ships. Considerable activity had previously been given 
 to the workshops at Ferrol and La Carraca, and the then 
 Secretary, the Marquis of Molins, had devoted himself with 
 considerable energy and enthusiasm to the renovation of his 
 Department and the increase of its efficiency. The same policy 
 has been pursued with constant vigor down to the present 
 time. Liberal and wise ajipropriations have been successively 
 granted in furtherance of it. Large purchases for the Spanish 
 arsenals have been made in our own timber-markets. The 
 naval schools have been reorganized ; the modern improve- 
 ments in naval architecture have been studiously consulted ; 
 the quiet acquisitions in nautical science, which men like 
 Navarrete had for years been hiving, have found scope for 
 their display and application. The national pride has become 
 enlisted, and the opposition but rivals the government in 
 encouraging and following its suggestions. 
 
 Independently, indeed, of the principal cause of all this, 
 which has been mentioned, the increase of the navy was 
 absolutely required by the improving commercial activity and 
 prospects of the kingdom. Not that trade has been doubled, 
 as the navy has been, — but tliat the military marine was so 
 utterly unequal to the discharge of its proper duties, as to need 
 a complete reorganization, in order to meet the most moderate 
 advance in commerce. Public measures or events are rarely 
 to be regarded in the exclusive light of cause or effect. They 
 are generally both. An increase of naval strength, suggested 
 by an increase of commerce calling for protection, must, in its 
 turn and by the very protection which it affords, give an 
 impulse to commercial development. A commercial marine, 
 upon the other hand, developed by any cause whatever, must
 
 SPAIN. 245 
 
 not only create and enforce a necessity for the increase of naval 
 power, but must furnish the means of naval growth, in a body 
 of experienced and hardy seamen and in the awakened interest 
 and sympathy of the nation. It may thus turn out, that the 
 attempts of a portion of our floating and licentious population 
 to enrich themselves at the expense of Spain and her colonies, 
 and of our national good name, may be one means of burnish- 
 ing once more the rusted trident of the Peninsula, and restoring 
 the goodly trade which once flourished under its guardianship. 
 There is a portion of our national legislation, in reference 
 to Spain, which shows how important results may sometimes 
 follow from causes apparently wide of them. It perhaps illus- 
 trates quite as well the remark just now made, as to the double 
 light in which public measures ought commonly to be regarded. 
 I refer to the matter of " discriminating duties," levied on 
 Spanish vessels from the West Indies, under the act of 1834. 
 The reader may perhaps remember an able and statesmanlike 
 communication on the subject, made by Mr. Secretary Corwin, 
 to Congress, during its last unprofitable session. The act was 
 passed as a measure of retaliation, and would, perhaps, have 
 been sufficiently just, if it had not been unwise. It very soon 
 resulted in excluding Spanish vessels from our ports, and to 
 the extent of throwing the carrying-trade between the United 
 States and the Islands into the hands of our ship-owners, it 
 answered its purpose speedily and bravely. But our legisla- 
 tors seemed to forget that a carrying-trade implies commodi- 
 ties to be carried, as well as vessels to carry them. They lost 
 sight of the fact, that the articles of merchandise which we 
 contributed to the consumption of the Islands could nearly 
 all be purchased elsewhere, and that the advantage which our
 
 246 SPAIN. 
 
 ports enjoyed, from their proximity, could readily be counter- 
 balanced by custom-house facilities and exemptions, extended 
 to importations in Spanish bottoms. These facilities and ex- 
 emptions were in fact afforded. Other nations, wiser than we, 
 were willing to produce and sell, and let the Spaniards them- 
 selves carry. The consequence followed, that a large portion 
 of the demand from the Spanish West Indies was diverted to 
 other markets, so that our trade with them is now confined in 
 a great degree to our own products, and to certain ponderous 
 articles of no very great value, which our locality enables us 
 to monopolize in spite of our legislation. The large mass of 
 foreign commodities which we formerly sold them are now 
 purchased by them, directly, from the same sources which fur- 
 nish our own supplies. Even in the articles which we con- 
 tinue to furnish, the sum of our trade bears no proportion 
 whatever to the immense increase of the West India demand. 
 The benefit, therefore, which our shipping interests may seem 
 to have reaped in some particulars from the measure in ques- 
 tion, has been most dearly paid for by sacrifices which are 
 now too obvious to escape the attention of any political econ- 
 omists, except members of Congress on the eve or in the reac- 
 tion of a Presidential campaign. 
 
 But the result, as it affects the United States, is not the 
 point to which the purposes of this work would make me 
 direct the reader's attention. Driven from our ports, by the 
 onerous duties imposed on them and the vexations with which 
 the imposition was often accompanied, the Spanish ship-own- 
 ers naturally enough sought their home-markets, whenever 
 the articles required by the colonial trade could be found there. 
 The new demand and opportunity of shipment, in their turn,
 
 SPAIN. 247 
 
 quickened production and supply. Large quantities of rice, 
 which till then had almost rotted on the Mediterranean coasts 
 of Spain, began to fill the warehouses of Cuba, in the stead of 
 our rice which was excluded. Bread-stuffs, which had found 
 no outlet from the boundless and inexhaustible grain-growing 
 regions of Castile, began to pour through the gates of Santan- 
 der. A new and extraordinary impulse was given to the trade 
 of that city. Numerous mills were erected in its vicinity; new 
 quays were built ; all commercial facilities were, as far as 
 possible, augmented. Internal improvements were begun, and 
 with vigor, for their usefulness and profit were certain. A 
 new source of wealth was in fact created, — a new development 
 given at the same moment to agriculture and commerce, and 
 all the collateral departments of both. By the last information 
 from the province, it appears that, under the direction of an 
 English company, a railway from Santauder to Alar was about 
 to be commenced at both ends of the line, and that a continua- 
 tion of the same work from Alar to Burgos and Valladolid 
 Mas already partially under contract. The Canal de Castilla, 
 originally projected by the wise foresight of the Marquis of 
 Ensanada, about the middle of the last century, was to have 
 had one of its termini at Santander, and there has been of late 
 an active movement towards its completion. Indeed, the 
 rivalry which at present exists between those who are interested 
 in the canal, and the company having in charge the Valladolid 
 branch of the railway alluded to, furnishes the best evidence 
 of the importance of the interests involved and the spirit which 
 they have awakened. 
 
 The consumption of Castiliau bread-stuffs in the West Indies 
 Las now become so general, and the improvements which have
 
 248 SPAIN. 
 
 been made in their preparation and packing have rendered 
 them so desirable, that it is much to be doubted whether any 
 change in our policy, thus late, can open the way to profitable 
 rivalry. The works of internal improvement to which I have 
 alluded, and the other enterprises connected with them, are in 
 a great degree sustained by the colossal capital of the Cuban 
 merchants and bankers, so that there is but little probability of 
 their failure from lack of liberal support. The experiment on 
 our part is nevertheless worth trying, for as political economy 
 is the science of selfishness, we had as well be scientific, like 
 the rest. If the Spaniards be wise, they will take care of 
 themselves, on the same principle, and not commit the folly of 
 starting in the race of unrestricted competition, until they 
 have trained themselves for it, like their competitors, by a 
 course of rational self-protection.
 
 XXIII. 
 
 Ecclesiastical System and Reforms. — Abolition of the Inquisi- 
 tion. — Its Character. — Llorente. — Campomanes. — Florida- 
 
 BLANCA and JovELLANOS. — ThE MONASTIC ORDERS. — ThEIR SUP- 
 PRESSION. — Confiscation of Church Property. — Reforms op the 
 Church System. — Pay of the Clergy. — Character of the Secu- 
 lar Clergy. — Clerical Influence. — Toleration in Spain. — 
 Protestant Travellers and Prejudices. — Exaggerations, &c. 
 
 NO entirely correct idea can be given of the state of Spain, 
 under her present institutions, without some reference 
 to her ecclesiastical system. The subject, nevertheless, is one 
 which it is not easy to touch without giving offence ; for all ex- 
 perience shows that the utmo.st candor and the best intentions 
 afford no security, in such matters, against the harsh judgment 
 of those whose opinions or prejudices are invaded by an effort 
 to be faithful to the truth. 
 
 Spain has long been considered and treated, by ultra-Protest- 
 ant writers, as the reduction of the Roman Catholic Church to 
 an absurdity. All the errors and follies and abominations of 
 the many despots who have reigned over her, — all the evils 
 that have been entailed on her by foreign invasion and domestic 
 broil, — all the obstacles by which nature and circumstances have 
 interrupted the march of her civilization, — have, in their turn, 
 been set down to the influence of her clergy, and the pernicious 
 32 249
 
 250 SPAIN. 
 
 doctrines they have taught. When public, or literary, or re- 
 ligious opinion has once begun to run in a particular channel, 
 observation generally takes the same direction. The foregone 
 couclusion is a sort of mould for the facts which come after it. 
 Men explain the phenomena by the theory, instead of correct- 
 ing the theory by the phenomena. The religious view to which 
 I have adverted has thus shaped the observation of nine- tenths 
 of the travellers who have visited Spain from Protestant coun- 
 tries. Almost every one of them has contributed his statement 
 of illustrative facts to the common stock, — many of them in 
 the best faith, — some of them because such things make up a 
 lively and picturesque book, — others because they have dis- 
 covered that nothing sells so well as a little piquant unchari- 
 tableness. Of this last the trade is perfectly aware, and can 
 calculate you the probabilities of the market accordingly. 
 
 While the anti-Catholic feeling thus induces a disposition to 
 resent, as too partial, the most moderately favorable view of 
 Spanish ecclesiastical matters, the Catholic sentiment, on its 
 part, is somewhat prone to censure the concessions which im- 
 partiality demands. This is natural enough, certainly. By 
 systematic denunciation of any cause, you may readily provoke 
 its advocates into admiration, or at all events into the sturdiest 
 defence, of its very errors and vices. Every one remembers 
 what a hero persecution made out of Wilkes. But although 
 the effort to write down Catholicity, by writing down Spain, 
 may account very satisfactorily for the adverse feeling and 
 effort of the Catholic press, it furnishes no reason for blindness 
 or concealment on the part of those who desire to look at the 
 field of controversy without favor or animosity. Even with 
 the profoundest respect for the faith which is professed by Spain
 
 SPAIN. 251 
 
 as a nation, and for the sincere convictions of those who main- 
 tain it, a man cannot read Spanisli history, or know the Spanish 
 nation, and ignore the fact, that the institutions witli which the 
 national religion has, until lately, been surrounded, have had 
 much to do with the decay of public prosperity. To this many 
 of the most eminent of the Peninsular divines and statesmen 
 have borne ample testimony, on solemn public occasions, and 
 among intelligent men in Spain there is, at the present day, no 
 difference of opinion in regard to it. It is a question entirely 
 outside that of faith, and is wisely and properly so regarded. 
 As to the right and prudence of the particular ecclesiastical re- 
 forms which have taken place since the inauguration of the 
 liberal system, there has been and continues to be much dispute; 
 but, that reform of some sort was needed, seems to be the con- 
 cession of all parties whose opinions are worth recording. 
 
 On the other hand, again, I am quite as well satisfied, that 
 the extreme Protestant opinion, so popular in England and 
 this country, with regard to Spain, is very much exaggerated, 
 and has grossly magnified the abuses of the Spanish Church, 
 as well as unjustly disparaged its clergy. When the various 
 ecclesiastical changes of the century were under consideration, 
 the subject was ai)proached with all the care which its impor- 
 tance suggested. Not a step was taken without full and often 
 hostile investigation ; and the members of the liberal party, 
 clerical as well as lay, brought to light, without forbearance 
 or reserve, all the details which went to show the necessity of 
 the reforms in contemplation. In a country where there is no 
 established religion, — where every denomination is under the 
 severe and constant scrutiny of those who entertain antago- 
 uistical opinions, — it may not always be easy to arrive, by
 
 252 SPAIN. 
 
 confession, at the whole truth, when its exposure would be 
 unpleasant. Men will conceal from the criticism of opponents 
 what they have no disposition to uphold themselves. But in 
 Spain there was no anti-Catholic organization to scrutinize or 
 censure. If there was no reason for exaggerating, there was 
 no temptation to soften down the truth. To use their own 
 expressive phrase, — todo se quedo en casa, — it all remained 
 within doors, — a family secret. Besides this, whatever may 
 be their habit when the national pride is involved in contro- 
 versy with strangers, the Spaniards in their domestic discussions 
 are not generally self-flatterers. They laugh at what is ridicu- 
 lous among themselves with as keen a relish, and denounce 
 what is worthy of denunciation with as healthy an earnestness, 
 as if they had no part or lot in the absurdity or the sin. Not 
 even John Bull can grumble more sturdily than they, though 
 their pride is perhaps less visible than his, through the holes 
 they pick in their mantles. I allude to these things for the 
 purpose of showing the reliance justly to be placed upon the 
 estimates made by the Spaniards themselves of their ecclesias- 
 tical abuses. I cannot but consider them far better guides 
 than the opinions formed by strangers, upon observation 
 necessarily limited, and not always had from an intelligent or 
 impartial point of view. There is a perverseness, sometimes, 
 in sectarian animosity, which would find apples of discord in 
 the very garden of Eden. 
 
 The principal changes which the revolutions of this century 
 have wrought in the Spanish ecclesiastical establishment are 
 three, — the suppression of the Inquisition, the abolition of the 
 monastic orders, and the assertion of a more direct and absolute 
 control by the government over the revenues and administrative
 
 SPAIN. 253 
 
 politv of the Church. The decree levelled bv Napoleon at the 
 Inquisition, soon after his invasion, was of comparatively small 
 practical importance, — the invasion itself having very sum- 
 marily put an end, for the time, to the power and oppressiveness 
 of the institution. The action, moreover, of a foreign and 
 intrusive government, was perhaps more likely to rally the 
 resistance than to conciliate the respect of the people, or to 
 concentrate their moral force upon any reform, no matter how 
 salutary in itself. The movement in question was nevertheless 
 a useful precursor to the action of the national Cortes, which, 
 by solemn decree, in 1813, pronounced the existence of the 
 Inquisition incompatible with the constitution. I have already 
 alluded to the discussions which preceded the adoption of this 
 measure. They were reported, at the time, in a separate 
 volume, unconnected with the ordinary debates of the Cortes, 
 and had an extensive circulation and, I have no doubt, an 
 excellent effect. I know no work, the perusal of which would 
 do more towards the removal of religious and political prejudice 
 from a candid mind. I have never turned to it without an 
 increased respect for the intelligence and liberality of the 
 Spanish clergy, as well as the political sagacity, boldness, and, 
 at the same time, moderation, of the much abused Cortes of 
 that day. 
 
 With Ferdinand the Seventh, the Holv Office resumed its 
 sway, in 1814, but having been again suppressed by the con- 
 stitutionalists, in 1820, it has never since been revived. It 
 had in fact long ceased to perform the bloodier functions which 
 made it most odious. An unhappy woman, who in 1781 was 
 burned at Seville as a witch, was the last who suffered its awful 
 ministrations. Her execution was particularly extraordinary,
 
 254 SPAIN. 
 
 when we consider the character of the reigning monarch, and 
 the great liberality which distinguished the measures of his 
 government. It excited so much abhorrence, as to prevent 
 the possibility of a repetition. 
 
 The Inquisition has been the subject of such merited execra- 
 tion from the whole civilized world, that any attempt to qualify 
 the general estimate of its enormities is not likely to receive 
 even fair consideration. It is nevertheless proper to observe, 
 that, among the most enlightened and liberal of the Spaniards, 
 the work of Llorente, on which so much historical judgment is 
 predicated, holds no very high place as a trustworthy narrative. 
 The author, his compatriots say, had all the spirit of a renegade, 
 and, after having derived from the Inquisition, in its day, all 
 the honors and profits of its secretaryship, was not unwilling to 
 reap the credit of candor and repentance, by exaggerating the 
 sins to which he had given countenance. Many of the most 
 important records, on which his statements profess to be founded, 
 were destroyed by him, under the direction of Joseph Bonaparte. 
 There may have been good reason for this, but the result of it 
 is, that the personal veracity of Llorente is the only existing 
 guaranty for the truth of much that has passed into history. 
 Unfortunately, however, for the tribunal, there is quite enough 
 known from other sources, to make its abolition a cause of just 
 delight to all who sympathize with freedom, or have an interest 
 in the progress of our race. That it was in fact a political 
 engine, quite as much as a religious institution, — at all events 
 of later years, — there is now, I believe, no doubt; and much 
 of the odium which it has thrown on the Church will, one of 
 these days, I am sure, be transferred to the State, which deserves 
 it. But no change of historical opinion upon that point can
 
 SPAIN. 255 
 
 weaken men's detestation of its principles, or palliate the ini- 
 quity of its practices. 
 
 The measures of the Cortes of 1813, in regard to the Holy 
 Office, were accompanied by corresponding legislation with 
 respect to monastic institutions. In this, as in the other case, 
 the initiative had been taken by Napoleon and the government 
 of Joseph, whose military resources, being entirely independent 
 of the popular prejudices, and unaffected by the influence of 
 the monks over the more ignorant portions of the people, 
 enabled them to take boldly, and at once, a step which would 
 have required infinite caution and delay on the part of the 
 revolutionary authorities. Even after the movement made by 
 the French, the Cortes found it necessary to deal tenderly with 
 the matter, and the provisions of their legislation in regard to 
 it looked only to the most prudent and gradual reform. Such 
 as they were, however, they were not saved by their wisdom 
 from the destruction with which the whole of the liberal system 
 was overwhelmed, on the return of Ferdinand. In 1820, the 
 reform, thus interrupted, was renewed and prosecuted in a 
 bolder spirit, and, by way of securing its permanency, the 
 possessions of the different orders were sold to private pur- 
 chasers, under the direction and with the guaranty of the 
 government. 
 
 It is not proposed to enter here into the vexed question as 
 to the right of the civil ruler, for the benefit of the whole of 
 the governed, to appropriate to the public treasury, or throw 
 into the operative hands of individuals, the property lying 
 " dead " (as the law has it) in the possession of ecclesiastical 
 communities. In the absence of any particular constitutional 
 justification of such measures, their propriety depends, perhaps,
 
 256 SPAIN. 
 
 upon the simple and fundamental inquiry, whether nations, 
 like individuals, possess the right of self-preservation. So far 
 as the laws of Spain are concerned, the whole subject under- 
 went the most learned and scrupulous examination during the 
 reign of Charles the Third. The works of Campomanes and 
 Mofiino (afterwards Count of Floridablanca) demonstrate, in 
 the fullest and most satisfactory manner, that the accumulation 
 of property in mortmain was in palpable violation of the letter 
 and spirit of the fundamental institutions of the realm. The 
 celebrated work of Jovellanos, on the Ley Agraria, published 
 in the succeeding reign, was equally demonstrative of its 
 ruinous influence upon agriculture, and the general national 
 prosperity. Whether these eminent jurists and statesmen were 
 at fault or not in their conclusions, the legislation of subse- 
 quent times has, at all events, been predicated on the assump- 
 tion of their correctness. 
 
 Upon the second overthrow of the constitutional party, in 
 1823, the monastic institutions were reestablished, and the 
 whole of the property which had belonged to them was wrested 
 from the purchasers and their alienees, to be devoted to its 
 original purposes, without any return of purchase-money or 
 allowance for improvements. Indeed, the parties in possession 
 were compelled, where the monks required it, to restore the 
 whole, at their own expense, to the condition in which they 
 had purchased it. Whatever may have been the rights of the 
 ecclesiastics, the iniquity of this proceeding, so far as the 
 government was concerned, is beyond apology. Many families 
 were ruined by it, and large numbers of innocent and indus- 
 trious persons exposed to great pecuniary loss. The deep and 
 general resentment which it provoked was, however, directed
 
 SPAIN. 257 
 
 chiefly against the monks, and was aggravated in time, and 
 by additional causes of dissatisfaction, into decided and uncom- 
 promising hostility. The final overthrow of the monastic 
 system, and the stringency of the measures which were adopted 
 with a view to it, may be in a great degree attributed to the 
 existence of this feeling and its primary cause. The first of 
 the 3Iodei'a(lo cabinets were disposed to temporise with the 
 subject, and attempted to legitimate their limited interference 
 with it, by some of the articles of the Council of Trent. But 
 the monks, in the mean time, took such active and open part 
 in the Carlist rebellion, as to leave the government no pretext 
 for casuistry, and no safety in forbearance. Self-preservation 
 and the popular pressure from without soon put an end to 
 delay and scruples. The final blow was stricken, by royal 
 decree, in the spring of 1836, under the adniinistration of 
 Mendizabal, and the Cortes, in the summer of 1837, gave to 
 the action of the Executive the deliberate and authoritative 
 sanction of the national will. All convents, colleges, and 
 communities of monks were at once suppressed, (with a few 
 temporary and special exceptions,) and the nunneries were 
 reduced to the smallest number capable of containing those of 
 their inmates who were unwilling to reenter the world. The 
 prohibition of religious vows, from that time forth, insured the 
 gradual diminution and ultimate extinction of the whole 
 monastic body. 
 
 The monks thus ejected from their cloisters {exclaustrados, 
 as they are called) passed, many of them usefully, into the 
 service of religion as parish priests. Others remained, here 
 and there, in charge of the churches belonging to their orders, 
 which were preserved as works of art, or were regarded as 
 33
 
 258 SPAIN. 
 
 essential to the religious necessities of their neighborhoods. 
 The great majority dedicated themselves to such secular 
 employment as they could procure, and many of them grew 
 into useful and excellent citizens ; while others, incapacitated 
 by the habits of long years, soon surrendered industrious pur- 
 suits for idleness and mendicancy. The decree of suppression 
 provided for the support of the exelaustrados, out of the fund 
 to be raised by the sale of conventual property. It was, 
 however, but a miserable pittance at best, — not intended, for 
 obvious reasons, to be altogether relied on, — and it has always 
 been paid with sad irregularity. In many cases, therefore, 
 where private charity has not interfered, the lot of the aged 
 and infirm monks and nuns has been cruelly destitute. A few 
 instances within my own observation satisfied me that, like 
 every sudden and sweeping change of public policy, — no mat- 
 ter how just and wise in itself, — the reformation of conventual 
 abuses has been purchased at the expense of grievous individ- 
 ual wrong and suffering. But general rules, unhappily, can 
 hardly be framed so as to avoid particular results which make 
 their application painful ; and the philanthropy of statesmen is 
 not much to be complained of, if the aggregate of good is, on 
 the whole, upon its side. 
 
 The traveller, who looks at Spain from the picturesque point 
 of view, has certainly small cause to thank the political neces- 
 sity which has removed the cord and cowl from the dim cloisters 
 where their shadows fell. Decay has commenced its work, 
 already, upon many of the magnificent temples which the care 
 of the friars kept perfect. Stately buildings, once wealthily 
 endowed, where architecture and the kindred arts accumulated 
 all their pomp, seem naked now, and are lonely and desolate,
 
 SPAIN. 259 
 
 without them. Gardens and groves wliich they tended — plan- 
 tations and vineyards which might have been the heritage of 
 princes — have been parcelled out among small proprietors, 
 until subdivision seems to have made them insignificant. 
 Green patches of forest, rare in Spain, which their intelligence 
 and taste had induced them to preserve untouched, through all 
 their trilnilations, have disappeared, in some places, before the 
 axe of the lay proprietor. Ruined walls, dismantled towers and 
 belfries, meet the eye of the wayfarer sadly, as he crosses the 
 deserted plains or the wild mountains, — making the solitude 
 and gloom of the landscape yet more impressive and severe. 
 On the streets, and in the public walks and places, the bright 
 colors of the national costume are relieved no longer, for the 
 artist's joy, by the dark groups in sombre drapery, that used 
 to be the theme of every pencil. A striking characteristic of 
 Spanish scenery and life has passed altogether away. 
 
 But men live, now-a-days, for something more than pictures. 
 The monks had lost public respect, and with it their usefulness. 
 The distribution, which has destroyed the beauty of the con- 
 vent lands, has no doubt doubled the productiveness of their 
 soil. The alms which supported the monastery, and kept its 
 architecture and its ornaments from decay, hav^e remained in 
 the peasant's hands, for the comfort of his family or the im- 
 provement of the little spot he cultivates. The spiritual in- 
 struction of the young and ignorant has become the care of 
 the secular clergy, whose education and higher gifts, intellectual 
 and moral, make the change a national blessing. The impov- 
 erished industry and neglected agriculture of the land have 
 received an accession of vigorous labor, no longer tempted into 
 sloth by the seductions of a privileged and sensual life. In
 
 260 SPAIN. 
 
 the cities and larger towns, the convent buildings have been 
 displaced, to make room for private dwellings of more or less 
 convenience and elegance, or have been appropriated as public 
 offices or repositories of works of art. The extensive grounds, 
 which were monopolized by some of the orders, in the crowded 
 midst of populous quarters, have been converted into walks or 
 squares, dedicated to the public health and recreation. In a 
 word, what was intended, in the beginning, as the object of mo- 
 nastic endowments, has been to some extent realized. What 
 was meant for the good of all, though intrusted to a few, has been 
 taken from the few who used it as their own, and distributed, 
 rudely it may be, but yet effectually, among the many who were 
 entitled to and needed it. 
 
 The number of the inmates of the monastic institutions in 
 Spain has been ridiculously exaggerated. Widdringtou speaks 
 of an extraordinary statement in the Edinburgh Review, set- 
 ting them down at four hundred thousand, some twenty years 
 ago ; and the reader will probably remember estimates, almost 
 as remarkable, in the books of statistics to which he may have 
 referred. According to the Count of Toreno, there were, in 
 1808, at the time of the French invasion, 92,727 religious in 
 Spain including monks, nuns, lay brethren and sisters, ser- 
 vants, and dependents. When the measures of suppression 
 ■were adopted, there were, by the estimate of Mellado, about 
 twenty-six hundred convents in all, being at least five hundred 
 less than at the epoch of which Toreno speaks. Their in- 
 mates, according to the best accessible information, did not 
 much exceed forty thousand in number, in 1836, and of these 
 about thirteen thousand were nuns. In his notes to the 
 translation of the statistical work of Moreau de Jonnes, pub-
 
 SPAIN. 261 
 
 lished in 1835, Don Pascual Madoz carries the number of 
 religious beyond ninety thousand ; but his estimate is founded 
 on the census of 1797, which it would seem strange that he 
 sliould have adopted, were it not that the extensive data which 
 it furnished gave additional strength to the Progresista side of 
 the then excited Church controversy. So true it is that fig- 
 ures, which according to the common proverb " cannot lie," 
 are invariably found, in political dispute, to arrive as nearly 
 at the reputed impossibility, as the purposes of the disputants 
 may require. 
 
 That, according to the most moderate and probable view 
 of the facts, there should, in a population of not more than 
 twelve millions, have been forty thousand persons withdrawn 
 from those practical and substantial duties which, in the order 
 ot" Providence, are a part of the destiny and obligation of every 
 human creature, and from which no state can safely or con- 
 sistently discharge its citizens, — is quite justification enough 
 for the legislative action which put an end to such a drain 
 on the public industry, and such a check on production, pop- 
 ulation, and wealth. The " descansada vida " of Fray Luis 
 de Leon — a life of mystic reverie and contemplation — may 
 not be inconsistent with the social uses of humanity, in the 
 few whose genius or temperament, like his, suggests it. In 
 them it may be but the nurse of lofty and poetic thought, the 
 prompter of religious musings, which may delight and teach 
 mankind. But for the most of men, the " mundanal ruido," 
 — the worldly noise, — the echo of the thoughts and feelings, 
 the labors, hopes, and sufferings of other men, — is needful to 
 prevent their hearkening only to the eternal whispering of self. 
 Contemplation, pursued as a calling in life, is apt to degenerate
 
 262 SPAIN. 
 
 into a trade. Its sphere in a Carthusian's cell cannot be a 
 very wide one, nor its objects many or healthful. It would 
 be but poor astronomy to have one's observatory in the bottom 
 of a well, — poor philosophy to suppose truth was only to be 
 found there ! When I visited the Escorial, a tottering sacris- 
 tan, who showed us the Pantheon of the kings, said, in a 
 melancholy, humble tone, — which vividly recalled Sterne's 
 old Franciscan, — that he had been thrice exdaustrado, and yet 
 trusted in the mercy of God ! A friend informed me, almost 
 
 in the same connection, that he had seen the Padre , a 
 
 distinguished and irreproachable brother of the same monas- 
 tery, dance the polka after his secularization, with all imagin- 
 able glee. Here were the two extremes, — the man of the 
 tombs and the man of the world. I could not help thinking 
 that the mercy of God was as likely to be with him who trod 
 the earth cheerfully, as with him whose thoughts, like his 
 occupation, were in the mansions of decay beneath it. 
 
 In the series of legislative measures which the ecclesiastical 
 reformation of Sj^ain required, the estates which had been 
 accumulated by the Church proper were of too great impor- 
 tance to be overlooked. Indeed, the movements which began 
 during the reign of Charles the Third were rather in regard 
 to the property held by the secular clergy, than that belonging 
 to the monastic establishments. The views of Campomanes 
 and Mofiino took this direction chiefly ; and although Jovel- 
 lanos afterwards carried out his opinions to the extent of their 
 legitimate application, it will be observed that he touched the 
 question of convent property with a somewhat lighter hand 
 than that which he laid on the domains of the Church. The 
 truth is, that the monastic orders, being in ftict the soldiers
 
 iiPAIN. 263 
 
 of the Holy Office, were most especially under its protection ; 
 and it was not prudent, if safe, even under the enlightened 
 government of Charles, to prov^oke so formidable an enemy. 
 Moderate and guarded as they were, it required all the favor 
 of the throne to protect Campomanes and Floridablanca from 
 the storm which the honesty and conclusiveness of their expo- 
 sitions had raised. Indeed, the latter of these distinguished 
 men — after the death of the monarch to the glory of whose 
 reign and the good of whose people he had contributed so 
 much — was made to taste the bitterness of persecution, im- 
 prisonment, and want. That the same fate attended Jovellanos 
 might be inferred from the customary history of his nation's 
 benefactors, even if the details of his sufferings and wrongs 
 were not a well-known portion of the annals of those davs. 
 
 A royal decree, promulgated in 1798, upon the suggestion 
 of Jovellanos in the Report of which I have spoken, had laid 
 tlie foundation of a permanent change in the administration of 
 Church property. It directed the sale of the real estate 
 belonging to hospitals, brotherhoods, &c., and the investment 
 of the proceeds in the public funds for the benefit of those 
 establishments. It likewise invited the higher clergy, as a 
 matter of policy and patriotism, to dispose of the property 
 attached to the various Church foundations under their control, 
 and to pursue the same course of investment with the moneys 
 to be realized therefrom. This decree was approved by the 
 Court of Rome, and carried into effect for a while with con- 
 siderable energy ; but the consummation of its benefits was 
 arrested by the invasion of 1808, and the policy which had 
 dictated it was not revived until the meeting of the constitu- 
 tional Cortes, in 1820. By a decree of the last-named body,
 
 264 SPAIN. 
 
 reenacted in 1836, the future acquisition of estates in mortmain, 
 under any pretext, was finally forbidden. In connection with 
 this, and with the anti-monastic legislation already referred to, 
 the property of the churches, chapters, brotherhoods, and other 
 bodies of the secular clergy, passed, in due course, into the 
 possession of the state. As a part of the same system, tithes, 
 first-fruits, and all ecclesiastical dues whatever were absolutely 
 abolished, so that the clergy were cut off from any immediate 
 reliance on the people, and from all right to enforce contribu- 
 tions. The state thus became the fountain of Church patron- 
 age, assuming the support of the altar, and taxes for culto y 
 clero (worship and clergy) were added from that time forth to 
 the list of imposts for the ordinary purposes of government. 
 In the budget of 1850, nearly seven millions of dollars were 
 appropriated to this head, besides about a million dedicated to 
 the support of the nuns who still remained in their convents. 
 When I was in Spain, there was a mixed commission, appointed 
 by the Pope and the government, whose labors have resulted 
 in the concordat of March, 1851. By that instrument, all 
 titles acquired under previous sales of Church property are 
 confirmed, but the portions remaining unsold are restored, 
 with a provision, however, for their future alienation and the 
 investment of the proceeds in stock. The right of the Church 
 proper to acquire real estate is, in some sort, revived, and 
 certain orders of nuns are reestablished. The suppression of 
 the monks is finally acquiesced in, — although the return of 
 the Jesuits has since been allowed. The settlement has not 
 been satisfactory to either of the political parties, but it has 
 compromised, at least for the present, many long-vexed 
 questions.
 
 SPAIN. 265 
 
 When the state assumed to provide for the support of the 
 clergy, their incomes were of course reduced. There was great 
 room for such reduction, — the receipts of the arclibisiiops, 
 bishops, and other prelates of high rank, being then generally 
 large, and in some cases enormous, with reference to the con- 
 dition of the country. The present scale is sufficiently high 
 for their proper and decorous support, although the irreg- 
 ularity with which the salaries were paid, particularly to the 
 lower clergy, was any thing but creditable, and tended to throw 
 upon the ecclesiastical policy of the liberal party a certain 
 amount of that unpopularity which is the proper and inevi- 
 table result of injustice. If the interests of the public demand 
 that the state should control the finances of the Church, the 
 simplest good faith of course requires that they should be 
 honestly administered. Above all, there should be fair deal- 
 ing with a dependent class, who have now no remedy but 
 patience and resignation. There is no point of view in which 
 it can be either proper or expedient that the ministers of the 
 altar should be hindered, by want, in the performance of their 
 sacred functions, or be exposed, by the faithlessness of the 
 civil power, to personal humiliation and distress. 
 
 Although the number of the secular clergy, like that of the 
 monks, has been immensely exaggerated, out of Spain, there 
 is yet no doubt that it has generally been, and still is, larger 
 than the religious necessities of the people can justify. This 
 is, in some degree, the result of a church establishment, conse- 
 crated by the universal opinion of the nation, and upheld by 
 the power and prestige of the government. It owes some- 
 thing, likewise, to the devotional tendency of the Spaniards, 
 and their disposition to surround the depository of their faith 
 34
 
 266 SPAIN. 
 
 with all the dignity and influence of a numerous clergy. As 
 a democratic institution, too, — in the midst of a monarchy, — 
 with its honors and wealth and power accessible to all, the 
 Church has necessarily attracted that extensive class whose 
 aspirations have been checked in other quarters by the lack of 
 family and fortune. But, quite as mu(;h as to these causes, 
 the overgrown service of the Church may be traced to those 
 general circumstances which have depressed the industry and 
 crippled the agriculture and commerce of the nation, — thereby 
 diminishing the sources of respectable occupation, and throw- 
 ing so many of the educated youth into the few remaining 
 channels of advancement. In this connection it may properly 
 be observed, that the suppression of the monastic orders, so 
 beneficial in so many regards, has not been altogether without 
 consequences which are temporarily hurtful. It put an end 
 to a respectable mode of subsistence for many thousands, at a 
 time when the tardy development of the national resources 
 created no sufficient demand for their labor in any other 
 department. I speak not merely of those who had already 
 assumed the monastic habit, but of the large number of young 
 men whose families looked forward to the convents as a credit- 
 able mode of providing for their future maintenance. In time, 
 and as the resources of the nation shall be developed, legitimate 
 methods of support — involving labor and not idleness, contrib- 
 uting to the national wealth, instead of consuming it — will 
 fill the void thus created. But for the present the reform has 
 greatly swollen the innumerable caravan of 'pretendientes, who 
 beset the capital and every source of public patronage. It 
 has increased the virulence of party to an unwonted extent, 
 bv rendering the bread of so many dependent upon their access
 
 SPAIN. 267 
 
 to favor. It lias diminished the chances of a regular and 
 uninterrupted system of government, by making it the interest 
 of so many to pull down whatever stands between them and 
 the treasury, and to exercise power, while they hold it, for 
 purposes exclusively personal to themselves and their friends. 
 Many a young gentleman in yellow gloves, who holds them 
 and his cigar by the tenure of two hours' dawdling in a public 
 office, and four hours' lounging on the Calle de la Montera, 
 — and many another, who among the humbler crowds in the 
 Puerta del Sol, with his threadbare cloak hiding much poverty 
 and hunger, catches the tidings of a ministerial crisis, as a 
 maiden hears love-music at midnight, — would have been Padre 
 Gi'egoriOy or Padre Benito, in former times, blessed in basket 
 and scrip. There may be some doubt whether he is not quite 
 as undesirable a functionary in his present shape, as he would 
 have been in his cowl ; but, at all events, there is nothing about 
 him too sacred to be meddled with, if need be, and there is 
 some chance of his being useful, should the future give him 
 an opi)ortunity. 
 
 Whatever may have been said, and with truth, of the in- 
 tellectual and moral estimate properly to be formed of the 
 monks, there has been, it must be admitted, but little cause to 
 complain of the secular clergy. With those exceptions which 
 the temptations and privileges of an establishment necessarily 
 produce and encourage in all countries, the Spanish Church — 
 abstracted from the monastic orders — has faithfully and ably 
 discharged its duty to religion and society. The most inde- 
 pendent and decided advocates of the reforms which have 
 corrected its abuses have borne this tribute to its merits ; and, 
 even among the most radical Progre^istas I have met, I have
 
 268 SPAIN. 
 
 never heard its justice disputed. Of the distinguished literary 
 men whom the nation has produced, — poets, historians, 
 scholars, — some of the first have sprung from the bosom of 
 the Church. In contests where freedom has been involved, 
 there have always been champions for the right among the 
 leaders of the clergy. In the Councils of the Catholic 
 Church, and among its theologians, the Spanish priesthood 
 have always occupied the first rank. How much was due 
 to them, in the infancy of European civilization, the enthu- 
 siastic commentary of M. Guizot on the Councils of Toledo 
 will illustrate. Almost all the monuments of real and lasting 
 charity to be found in the Peninsula, attest the sincerity and 
 constancy of their devotion to the practical spirit of Christi- 
 anity. Lord Clarendon, for so many years Ambassador at 
 Madrid, declared in the House of Lords, in 1839, that during 
 his residence at that capital he had heard in the Cortes, " from 
 the lips of Catholic prelates in that assembly, sentiments of 
 Christian charity as pure, and dictated by as entire a spirit 
 of toleration, as he had ever heard in their Lordships' House." 
 An English historian of reputation ^ does not hesitate to admit 
 that the Spanish secular clergy will sustain, honorably, a com- 
 parison with the priesthood of the Church of England. The 
 testimony of Widdrington, after long years of patient and 
 impartial observation in all parts of the Peninsula, is hearty 
 and comprehensive, as to the individual worth and usefulness 
 of the clergy proper, and the marked distinction between 
 them and the religious orders, in character, ability, and public 
 estimation. It is but proper for me to make these statements, 
 so that what I have said may create no unjust impression, and 
 
 ^ History of Spain, Cabinet Cyclopsedia, Vol. V, p. 258.
 
 SPAIN. 269 
 
 that the distinction may be fairly drawn between the external 
 and accidental institutions whicii have surrounded the religion 
 of Spain, and the influence which its tenets and teachers have 
 had, in tiieir legitimate province, upon the national mind 
 and heart. 
 
 The history of former times must speak for itself; but I 
 think there is very small foundation, now, for the common 
 impression, that Spain is what we are accustomed to call 
 " priest-ridden." Whatever may be the cause, — whether it be 
 the fault of the clergy, or of circumstances, or of a relapse 
 from the ancient fervor of the national enthusiasm in such 
 matters, — certain it is, that the Church has not at this moment 
 any decided control over the popular mind. In the rural 
 districts, among the more ignorant and uneducated of the 
 people, the priesthood, no doubt, exercise that sort of influence 
 with which superior intelligence and the nature of their calling 
 must of necessity clothe them, — an influence certainly legiti- 
 mate, and desirable unless abused. But there is nothing in the 
 history of the times to show that it passes, even there, beyond 
 the limits which properly belong to it. So far as the educated 
 classes are concerned, — those who control the opinion of the 
 nation and regulate its political progression, — there is as much 
 independence of clerical domination as could be desired. 
 Indeed, I am not altogether sure that there is not a jealousy 
 of it, which sometimes leads to injustice and folly. I am 
 satisfied, that in the United States, where freedom of judgment 
 on such questions is unlimited, the influence of the clergy 
 upon public opinion and the press, gives them a dominion 
 over public action, which the Church of S])ain, with all its 
 prescriptions and organizations, cannot at this day pretend to
 
 270 SPAIN. 
 
 rival. This conclusion is drawn as to Spain, not merely from 
 my own limited observation, but from what was told me by 
 those who had the amplest opportunities of knowing, and from 
 the tone and style in which ecclesiastical matters were handled 
 by the various journals of Madrid. Of course, in speaking of 
 the influence of the clergy in this country, I do not refer to 
 any supposed ability of theirs to govern the public mind for 
 sectarian purposes ; but simply of their power, as a class, over 
 public sentiment and those who move its tides. In this, I 
 repeat that I have no doubt of their advantage over the 
 Peninsular clergy. If clerical opinion had been potent, the 
 Carlist war would have had a far different conclusion, and the 
 legislative measures which have formed the principal subject 
 of this chapter would never have approached their consum- 
 mation. That the rebellion ended as it did, and that the 
 Church is now a stipendiary of the state, ought to satisfy the 
 most sceptical that ecclesiastical despotism is not a present 
 evil. The same facts may indeed suggest a serious doubt, 
 whether the Church, independently of the state and unsup- 
 ported by its power, had ever the sway which has been 
 ascribed to it, or deserves the whole of the responsibilities 
 which are commonly attached to it. 
 
 Much is said, by travellers, of religious intolerance in Spain, 
 and the matter deserves a cursory notice in this connection. 
 Toleration by law certainly does not exist there. The Catholic 
 is, by the constitution and the concordat, the religion of the 
 state, and no other form of worship is allowed. That this is 
 narrow, behind the age, and unbecoming any government 
 which wears the semblance of liberality, it is unnecessary to 
 say. But at the same time it is fair to observe, that upon the
 
 SPAIN. 271 
 
 Spaniards, such a provision works no hardship. The nation 
 is Catholic, sincerely, devotedly, and thoroughly, and a consti- 
 tution predicated upon any other idea would be regarded as an 
 imputation and an anomaly. The prohibition affects no one 
 prejudicially, except the strangers who are called to the Penin- 
 sula by business or pleasure, and their numl)er has been here- 
 tofore so small, that it is not singular they should have been 
 left out of the account. When the commerce of the nation 
 increases, and the influx of foreigners becomes greater, — as 
 from year to year it necessarily must be, — we must hope that 
 the ban will be removed, which, merely nominal as it now 
 practically is, can only be regarded as a vicious relic of bad 
 times and principles. 
 
 But though the constitution does not tolerate, the people 
 certainly do, in the most important sense of the word. A 
 stranger might pass a year in any part of Spain that I have 
 visited, without hearing a single inquiry as to his religious 
 opinions, or being troubled by one impertinent interference 
 with the entire freedom of his religious action. If a man 
 assists at any religious service or ceremonial, he is required to 
 take no more than that respectful and decorous part, which 
 good breeding, of itself, would suggest to every gentleman. 
 Whether he will assist or not, is a matter entirely within his 
 discretion. No one will notice his absence, — certainly no one 
 will remind him of it. Now and then he may meet a clergy- 
 man upon the street, with the viaticum, and he will be expected 
 to kneel, or at all events uncover, as it passes. If his piety or 
 his convictions forbid him to do this, he can get himself into 
 a doorway or a by-street, where he will find some very good 
 Catholics, doing the same thing, on account of their knees,
 
 272 SPAIN. 
 
 Avhich he is doiug for his conscience. If this is not satis- 
 factory, he ought to proceed homeward at once ; but it is to be 
 hoped that in such case he will say nothing about toleration. 
 I am sorry to record it, — but my observation of Protestant 
 travellers, generally, in Catholic countries has been, that many 
 of them claim the privilege of showing on all occasions their 
 contempt for the religion of those about them. I have seen it 
 attempted, and indeed carried out, over and over again, — by 
 persons who had every obligation to know better, — in Catho- 
 lic cathedrals, and during the most solemn acts of public 
 devotion. Being no Catholic myself, I claim to say this with- 
 out prejudice. In Spain, such things will not be permitted. 
 The people themselves generally participate in the services of 
 their Church with all solemnity, and they insist that those 
 who desire to witness their celebration should at least abstain 
 from the manifestation of irreverence. 
 
 During two visits to Spain, — not very long, it is true, but 
 quite long enough to give me some opportunities of observa- 
 tion, — I do not remember to have heard a single remark 
 made, which ought to have wounded the sensibility of any 
 sincere but rational Protestant. No one ever attempted to 
 engage me in controversy upon religious matters, or to annoy 
 me by the remotest suggestion of heresy or schism. Every 
 one seemed willing to take his own chance, and to allow me 
 the same privilege. By some, this would be set down to in- 
 difference ; but it certainly was not bigotry, and I was well 
 satisfied to take it for enlightened toleration. Some of the 
 more zealous Spaniards themselves would sometimes say that 
 the religious feeling of the nation had diminished, — that luke- 
 warmness had of late grown general among the people. I was
 
 SPAIN. 273 
 
 inclined to think that the remark was just; but I was still 
 quite willing to reciprocate the non-intervention with which I 
 was favored, and allow them to take their devotion at any 
 temperature they preferred. 
 
 35
 
 xxiy. 
 
 Education. — Statistics. — System of Instruction. — Schools. — Univer- 
 sities.— Census OP 1803. — University of Madrid — of Alcala. — 
 
 COMPLUTENSIAN PoLYGLOT. — MANUSCRIPTS. — PrESCOTT'S FeRDINAND 
 
 AND Isabella. — Sabau's Translation of it. 
 
 IF a traveller is enterprising and industrious, there are few 
 countries in which he will find it difficult to visit univer- 
 sities and schools, look over collegiate courses, and collect 
 educational statistics. Spain, however, is not a statistical land. 
 There is no organized or thorough system there for the 
 ascertainment of numerical facts, so that even the ostensible 
 illustration which those deceptive materials afford must, in a 
 great degree, be wanting to any record of Peninsular observa- 
 tion. Statistics, nevertheless, at the best, are but a poor 
 apology for real information as to the state of national 
 instruction. The diffusion and the degree of knowledge are 
 things so widely different, that the one, which figures may 
 readily express, furnishes but little clew to the other, which 
 they cannot, — though it is so much better worth the knowing. 
 The line between the man who can neither read nor write and 
 his neighbor who can barely do either, is certainly as near as 
 need be to a mathematical line, in the matter of breadth ; and 
 yet a statistical table will make its widest distinction between 
 274
 
 SPAIN. 275 
 
 these, while it will draw none between the profoundest scholar 
 and the emptiest sciolist in rudiments. It is as if, to describe 
 the condition of the arts in any nation, the annalist were to 
 divide the people into two classes, — those who could paint and 
 those who could not. The favored class might be all Raphaels 
 or Murillos, and they might be all sign-painters, quite as well. 
 
 Nor does the visitation of seminaries of learning, or an 
 examination of the routine which they profess to follow, afford 
 results that are much more valuable. Education is like war. 
 A good plan of a campaign is an excellent thing, but victories, 
 generally, are won by good fighting. A limited course, well 
 taught, makes better scholars than the amplest, not half carried 
 out. It is not in what they profess to teach, that the schools 
 of the present day are apt to be defective. If there be any 
 fault in that particular, it is that they promise too much ; and 
 indeed attempt too much, likewise. It is the execution, there- 
 fore, — not the plan, — which must be observed, if the observa- 
 tion is to be worth anything ; and only he who makes the 
 experiment can fairly know how long and constant that 
 observation must be, to entitle it to real confidence. The 
 imperfect data which follow are consequently given to the 
 reader, with the fullest persuasion of their insufficiency as a 
 basis for any accurate appreciation of the state of mental 
 culture in Spain. 
 
 It has already been said, that, by the constitution of 1812, 
 the education of the people was made obligatory on the govern- 
 ment. Title X. provided that primary schools should be 
 opened in all the towns of the realm, and that universities and 
 other institutions for instruction in literature, science, and the 
 arts, should be established wherever it might be found
 
 276 SPAIN. 
 
 expedient. The Cortes were charged with the duty of form- 
 ing a proper system, subject only to the restrictions that the 
 plan of instruction should be uniform throughout the country, 
 and that the constitution should be taught and expounded in 
 every establishment opened for public education. A Directory, 
 to be composed of suitable persons, was created to superintend 
 and regulate the working of the whole. It was of course 
 impossible that a system could mature sufficiently for bene- 
 ficial results of any extent, during the several brief reigns of 
 the constitution of 1812. Nevertheless, the work was under- 
 taken and prosecuted, in good faith, by the ablest men of the 
 country ; the Directory was organized ; plans of study were 
 prescribed, and the machinery was set in motion, as well as 
 might be, under the innumerable disadvantages which sur- 
 rounded the movement. 
 
 The system which now exists went into operation in 1847, 
 when the " Department of Commerce, Instruction, and Public 
 Works" was created by royal decree. The appropriations 
 called for by the budget of 1850 dedicated nearly seven hun- 
 dred and fifty thousand dollars to the branch of " Instruction " 
 alone. Exclusive of private establishments of all classes, there 
 are ten universities and forty-nine institutes under the direc- 
 tion of the government. The primary and other schools 
 through the whole kingdom reach the number of about sixteen 
 thousand. Besides the institutions thus devoted to general 
 and ordinary education, there are many in the cities, where 
 only particular branches are taught, — such as Commerce, 
 Drawing, Architecture, Chemistry, Mathematics, &c. Of 
 these, some are provided for by the government, and others 
 are under the direction and supported by the patronage of the
 
 SPAIN. 277 
 
 Boards of Trade, and the various literary and economical socie- 
 ties. Independently of the funds supplied by the state, a 
 moderate contribution is exacted from those pupils whose cir- 
 cumstances render it proper to call on them; but education is 
 strictly gratuitous, in all its departments, where the parties are 
 really destitute. 
 
 No impediment is thrown by law in the way of private 
 teachers, — except that they are required to produce certain 
 certificates of good character and conduct, and of having gone 
 through a prescribed course, which is more or less extensive, 
 in proportion to the rank of the institution they may desire to 
 open. It will not be easy to invent any system, by which 
 B6ranger's 
 
 "Vieux maitre d'^cole, 
 Fier d'enseigner ce qu'il ne savait pas," 
 
 can be altogether got rid of. The effort to diminish the chances 
 of his appearance is nevertheless a praiseworthy one; and 
 while priests and pilots, physicians, lawyers, and lieutenants, 
 are, for the most part, required to undergo an examination, be- 
 fore they are permitted to take the destinies of the public into 
 their keeping, it is difficult to understand upon what principle 
 the school-house, which is the nursery of all arts, should be 
 flung open to all comers. 
 
 By the best statistical estimates, it appears that, in 1850, 
 the number of pupils in the public schools alone (exclusive of 
 the universities and institutes) was in the proportion of one to 
 seventeen of the whole population. About 1,100,000 was set 
 down as the number of persons then in Spain who could read, 
 — the whole population being about 12,135,000, and the ratio 
 therefore as one to eleven. Limited as this scale may appear,
 
 278 SPAIN. 
 
 it nev^ertheless takes quite another aspect when compared with 
 the estimates of Moreau de Jonnfe, based on the census of 
 1803, and not very materially varied in 1835, if we may judge 
 from the notes of Madoz, appended to his translation of M. de 
 Jonn^s's work. Out of a population of 10,250,000, in 1803, 
 the number of students in all the educational establishments 
 of the kingdom did not exceed 30,000, or about one to every 
 340 inhabitants. This extraordinary change — for it is extra- 
 ordinary, statistical merely though its evidences be — has been 
 mainly wrought within the last twenty years, by a small 
 minority of thinking, educated men, struggling against a mass 
 comparatively ignorant and open to all the influences for 
 which ignorance paves the way. It has been wrought, under 
 institutions only partially liberal, in the midst of civil strife, 
 dynastic controversy, foreign interference, and the most serious 
 fiscal derangements. It has, happily, been the result, not of 
 a violent impulse or a moment's patriotism and enthusiasm, 
 but of a deliberate and progressive system, gaining strength 
 and comprehensiveness as it has advanced. There is there- 
 fore no exaggeration in saying, that it furnishes demonstrative 
 evidence, in its way, of solid national development already, 
 and that definite calculations for the future may, with much 
 confidence, be based upon it. 
 
 The primary or elementary schools are simply what their 
 name indicates. The studies which follow, and are called 
 estudios de segunda ensefianza, require five years, and it is only 
 at the end of that period, and after having undergone the pre- 
 scribed examinations, that the degree of Bachelor in Philoso- 
 phy can be attained. The Latin is the only ancient language 
 which this course comprehends. To become a Licentiate or
 
 SPAIN. 279 
 
 Doctor, in any of the five Faculties, — Philosophy, Tiieology, 
 Jurisprudence, Medicine, and Pharmacy, — requires an ex- 
 tended course in a university, varying, as to its length and the 
 studies involved, according to the degree and the Faculty. 
 So far as one may judge from the programme laid down and 
 the list of works which form part of it, the system of education 
 is certainly arai)le and thorough. How faithfully teachers 
 and scholars discharge their duties I do not pretend to have 
 had any means of knowing, upon which it would be candid to 
 build a judgment. It may, however, with propriety be ob- 
 served, that the good sense and liberal attainments of the 
 eminent persons who had the formation of the present system, 
 suggested to them the propriety of rendering it far less 
 scholastic and artificial than that which it superseded. As a 
 consequence, it will be found that the young men now leaving 
 college, or engaged in the higher departments of university 
 education, bring with them, or are prepared and trained to 
 bring with them, into the world, those larger ideas, which are 
 as necessary to their distinction or success, in the educated 
 society of the day, as they would have been considered 
 dangerous to the individual and the state under the regimen 
 happily extinct. 
 
 The University of Madrid, probably the most flourishing 
 now in the kingdom, is the successor of the venerable Uni- 
 versity of Alcalfi de Henares, founded by Cardinal Ximenes 
 de Cisneros, in the davs of the Catholic sovereio^ns. Its 
 transfer to the capital was begun in 1836, but it was not until 
 about 1845 tiiat the institution and its dependencies took 
 their present shape. It is now complete in its departments, 
 — its professorships filled with men of high attainments in
 
 280 SPAIN. 
 
 their respective branches, and its popularity permanently- 
 established. The name of Don Pascual de Gayangos, an 
 Arabic scholar perhaps unsurpassed in Europe, and of the 
 most accurate and extensive learning in the various depart- 
 ments of modern literature, is one of those which the Spaniards 
 are proud to refer to, as showing the grade of men who have 
 of late years taken the chairs of their universities. In 1849, 
 the students matriculated in the University of Madrid, and the 
 institutions connected with it, were more than 4,500 in number; 
 so that the good seed does not seem likely to want places in 
 which it may be sown. 
 
 Tiie mention of the University of Alcala will probably re- 
 call to the reader's recollection the celebrated edition of the 
 Bible, issued from that ancient seat of learning, under the di- 
 rection of its founder, and commonly known as the Complu- 
 tensian Polyglot. . In regard to the antiquity and authenticity 
 of the manuscripts resorted to in its preparation, and conse- 
 quently the authority of its text, as derived from them, there 
 has been a good deal of discussion in these later days of scepti- 
 cal and analytic criticism. Mr. Prescott' states, upon the au- 
 thority of a German Professor who visited Alcala in 1784, 
 that the disputed question can never be settled satisfactorily, 
 inasmuch as the librarian of that time sold the manuscripts 
 to a rocket-maker, as waste paper, and they duly passed off, in 
 squibs, like baser matter. The fact, if truly reported, would 
 certainly have been a very disgraceful one to Spain, and a sad 
 one for the cause of accurate knowledge on a most absorbing 
 subject. It however turns out happily, that Professor Mol- 
 denhauer was mistaken, having no doubt been misled by the 
 
 • Ferdinand and Isabella, Vol. Ill, p. 325, and note 45.
 
 SPAIN, 281 
 
 worthy librarian, wlio would perhaps have been willing to see 
 the Professor himself go up on a rocket, rather than furnish 
 braseros and patient attendance for his lucubrations over 
 Hebrew manuscripts. 
 
 Don Pedro Sabau y Larroya, Professor of Jurisprudence in 
 the University of Madrid, and kSecretary to the Academy of 
 History when I had the honor of assisting at its sessions, has 
 translated Mr. Prescott's work, and, in a note to the passage 
 referred to, treats the whole Moldenhauer story as a '* pure 
 calumny." The manuscripts of the Polyglot, he says, were 
 carried from Alcald, in 1837, to the University of Madrid, 
 where they are now deposited. They were examined there by 
 himself, in the presence of the Professor of Hebrew and the 
 librarians of the establishment. As the original inventories 
 (if any ever existed) are not now to be found, it remains yet 
 an open question, whether some of the manuscripts may not 
 have been mislaid or removed, and whether, indeed, some of 
 those which remain may not have suffered injury, during the 
 long years, and troubles, and many changes, which have rolled 
 over and through the Peninsula, since the Cardinal went to his 
 rest. From the description given by Sr. Sabau, which is much 
 too long for this place, it appears that the manuscripts now 
 open to inspection in Madrid are, in any event, of extreme and 
 curious value. It will be strange if some enterprising Bibli- 
 cal scholar should not undertake the revision of them, which 
 the German Professor sought so unsuccessfully to make. On 
 my way home, I gave to our intelligent countryman, Mr. 
 Henry Stevens, whom I had the pleasure to know in London, 
 a short memorandum of the manuscripts which Sr. Sabau 
 enumerates. He requested it for publication in that very 
 36
 
 282 SPAIN. 
 
 curious and useful periodical, Notes and Queries. Whether 
 it ever appeared, or the attention of those learned in such mat- 
 ters (which I do not pretend to be) was ever called to it, my 
 hasty departure prevented me from knowing. 
 
 The reader, whose curiosity may induce him to turn to 
 Sabau's Prescott, in relation to this matter, will find a good 
 deal of unnecessary indignation displayed against the memory 
 of the German Professor. I say the indignation is unneces- 
 sary, because, although the accusation which he makes is one 
 of very grievous Vandalism, it can hardly be supposed that a 
 man would travel from Germany to Spain, — and especially in 
 those days before railroads, — for the pleasure of inventing and 
 retailing a ridiculous story. The truth is, that Mr. Sabau, 
 though a person of considerable ability and reputation, is not 
 remarkable for the breadth of his views, as the notes to his 
 translation will show. Jurisprudence has obviously not been 
 a "gladsome light," though it may have been a bright one, to 
 him, for the tone of his writings, generally, is neither cheerful 
 nor charitable. He qualifies the wish expressed by Mr. 
 Prescott, in his Preface, for the " civil and religious liberty " 
 of Spain, by a note, in which he distinguishes between freedom 
 from such physical compulsion and persecution as the Inquisi- 
 tion enforced, and freedom in a general sense. The former 
 he is willing to accept for his country, the latter he protests 
 against. His comments upon other passages are in the same 
 mediaeval tone, and in some places, indeed, he has softened 
 down the manly language of his author, until it no longer 
 represents, in any way, his just and vigorous sentiments. It 
 is true, that Sr. Sabau has not done this without notifying the 
 reader, and assigning his reasons ; but the liberty is unpardon-
 
 SPAIN. 283 
 
 able, nevertheless. A translator may controvert the text, as 
 freely and as positively as he pleases, but to alter it is not one 
 of his privileges. If the original is challenged, it should at 
 least be permitted to speak for itself. Even in ordinary con- 
 troversy, it would be held no small advantage to have the 
 stating of your adversary's argument, as well as of your own 
 reply to it. A translator has his original sufficiently in his 
 power, at the best ; for it is rarely a profitable business to one 
 man's thoughts, that they should pass through the sieve of 
 another man's mind. There is no propriety, therefore, in 
 adding to a necessary evil.
 
 xxy. 
 
 Taxes and Modes of Collecting them. — Reforms in Taxation. — 
 The Provincial Deputations and Ayuntamientos. — Grievances 
 AND Abuses. — The Customs. — Low Salaries. — Gate-Money. — Tax 
 ON Consumption. — National Debt. 
 
 IT is impossible to form even a proximate idea of the total 
 amount which the Spanish people contribute to the 
 support of government. The yearly estimates which the 
 constitution requires to be presented to the Cortes contain, it 
 is true, a detailed statement of the sources from which revenue 
 is to be derived, and the objects of its application. But they 
 are necessarily confined to the income and expenditures of the 
 government, for national purposes, — leaving altogether out of 
 consideration the large sums which are collected on provincial 
 and municipal account. The comparative want of publicity 
 in the levying and disbursement of these latter imposts, of 
 course leaves room for many abuses; so that, doubtless, the 
 proportion which the minor, unreported taxes bear to the 
 whole contributions of the nation, is much larger than the 
 ordinary course of such things would lead one to suppose. 
 
 Within a few years past, the system of taxation has been 
 very much simplified. A number of special and onerous 
 burdens — which had been imposed in particular emergencies 
 284
 
 SPAIN. 285 
 
 of the state, or by occasional usurpations of the monarch, and 
 had been made permanent, though the occasions or pretexts 
 which ])roduced them had been almost forgotten — have been 
 swept away by the representatives of the people. Applying, 
 as these did, to peculiar cla&ses and property, they were neces- 
 sarily even more odious than they were oppressive; and being, 
 moreover, founded on mere prescription, in many of their 
 details, they were frequently attended by extortion and injus- 
 tice, for which there was no remedy. The present plan has, 
 at all events, the merit of being, in the main, comprehensive 
 and general, notwithstanding it gives cause for much complaint, 
 in other particulars which will be noted. 
 
 The sources of revenue at this time are not numerous. 
 They are principally regulated by the tax-laws of 1845 and 
 1847. The most important is the impost on real property, 
 agriculture and live stock {^'Inmuebles, cultivo, y ganaderia")^ 
 which in 1850 was so levied as to give a net product of 
 $15,000,000. At the beginning of every year a ratable 
 proportion of the money called for by the budget which 
 the Cortes may adopt, is assessed to each province. The 
 "duty of dividing the whole among the several munici- 
 palities, devolves upon the Diputacion Provincial, which 
 is composed, in every province, of the Jefe PolUico and 
 Intendenie (or the officers who, under more recent legislation, 
 may discharge their functions), and a certain number of Depu- 
 ties, elected by a majority of those qualified to vote for mem- 
 bers of the Cortes. The Dijmtacion is likewise clothed with 
 the power of regulating the provincial taxes and assessments, 
 — directing the internal affairs of the provinces, — managing 
 their public works and property, with subjection to existing
 
 286 SPAIN. 
 
 laws, — and proposing to the government, for its consideration, 
 such matters of provincial interest and policy as the public 
 good may from time to time suggest. The proper amount of 
 taxes having been assessed to each municipality, the appoint- 
 ment among the individual contributors is made by the several 
 ayuntamientos, and an equal number of the principal tax- 
 payers themselves. The assessments are yearly. Real estate, 
 when leased, is taxed according to its annual value to the pro- 
 prietor. If unproductive, it contril)utes nothing. Farms, 
 with their cattle and utensils, in the hands of the owner him- 
 self, are estimated by as close an approximation as possible to 
 their actual, clear profits. The valuation is never arbitrary, 
 when there are facts upon which it may be based; and indeed, 
 so far as legislation may avail to such ends, the law provides, 
 wisely and prudently, for the doing of justice in the as^sess- 
 ments to both the state and the citizen. Complaints, never- 
 theless, as to the operation of the system, were frequent and 
 serious, when I was in Spain, and they were repeated so often 
 in the Cortes, by Deputies of character and moderation, as to 
 be obviously founded on something more than the proverbial 
 unpopularity of tax-laws throughout the world. 
 
 From the best information I could obtain, Sr. Bravo Murillo 
 was certainly right, in saying that the amount of sixty millions 
 of dollars was by no means larger than Spain could readily 
 pay to the central government. The grievances, so often made 
 the subject of remonstrance, arose from the distribution and 
 collection of the taxes, and not from their amount. In spite 
 of all statutory precautions, the assessments, I was informed, 
 were very unequally and unfairly made in some of the prov- 
 inces, and there existed no sufficient accessible remedy, even in
 
 SPAIN. 287 
 
 cases of great hardship. But it was in the time and mode of 
 their collection, that the public burdens were made to weigh 
 most heavily. It was the interest of the officials to collect, if 
 possible, by execution ; the perquisites resulting to them in 
 such case being proportionally very large. The result was, 
 that, in seasons when the failure of any particular crop — per- 
 haps the chief dependence of the agricultural year — would 
 embarrass the farmers in particular districts, those districts 
 would as certainly be the mark of the tax-gatherer's utmost 
 extortion. The time within which execution might be levied, 
 in case of non-payment, was entirely too short; the proceed- 
 ings were arbitrary and summary in high degree, and there 
 was no provision for the redemption of the property sold, 
 within a definite period, no matter how great might be the 
 sacrifice in its sale. In a country like Spain, where — although 
 there is comparatively little destitution — there is a very large 
 portion of the rural population whose daily labor can produce 
 but daily bread, it will be readily seen that the severe and 
 stringent application of coercive measures must result often in 
 absolute ruin. This effect is the more likely to be general, 
 when it is produced at all, from the fact that, in many of the 
 agricultural districts, the nature of the soil, the degree of its 
 imjn'ovement, the staples and the modes and means of their 
 cultivation and production, are so entirely identical, that one 
 general cause — a drought, for example — will put it out of the 
 power of all the small farmers, alike, to contribute any thing, 
 for the time, to the expenses of the state. 
 
 Next to the tax of which I have spoken, the customs fur- 
 nish the largest item of revenue. The anticipated receipts 
 from that source, for 1850, were eight millions of dollars, an
 
 288 SPAIN. 
 
 insignificant sura enough, in view of what might be obtained 
 by a rational — one might almost say a sane — adjustment of 
 the tariff on imports. Notwithstanding its insignificance, 
 however, it was a considerable improvement on the past, — the 
 result of the improved ideas of political economy which had 
 for some time been prevailing at Madrid. It is certainly dif- 
 ficult to understand how men could be blind so long to the evils 
 and errors of the prohibitory system, whose worst absurdities 
 they were illustrating and developing daily. It is almost as 
 singular, that a favorable change, when once begun, should 
 advance so tardily. Nevertheless, it is satisfactory to know 
 that the current has set at last in the right direction, and that 
 the tendency of Spanish legislation is now as strong towards 
 the removal of commercial restrictions, as the proper protection 
 of the national interests will justify. I do not say that such 
 is the present temper of the whole nation, or that the destruc- 
 tion of long-established monopolies and prejudices can be 
 accomplished at once, and without resistance; but that the 
 thinking men of all parties, at Madrid, seem to unite in press- 
 ing such modifications of the tariff, as will finally raise it to 
 the most productive scale for the revenue, while they at the 
 same time foster most effectively the great interests of commerce 
 and manufactures. That such a result is not easily attained, 
 the experience of the United States is most ample to show. It 
 is to be hoped that the Spaniards will profit by it and by their 
 own, so as to avoid, on the one hand, the building up or the 
 maintenance of a system which has no support but legislation, 
 and the disregard, on the other, of those suggestions, by which 
 nature and the instincts and tendencies of a people point out 
 to its government the policy and limits of protection.
 
 SPAIN. 289 
 
 It would be tedious and unnecessary to dwell upon all the 
 other methods of obtaining revenue which prevail in Spain. 
 They are such as the experience of most civilized nations has 
 devised, and perhaps, on the whole, are as fair and productive 
 in themselves as any general scheme can be made. Of the 
 very large percentage which is paid for their collection, I have 
 already had occasion to speak ; but although there is no evil 
 connected with the revenue which it is more important to cure, 
 there is perhaps none in Spain whose correction will be more 
 difficult. It is not easy to persuade the public, anywhere, that 
 any system can be economical, which involves the increase of 
 salaries. Every one can perceive the difference between a 
 small and a larger sum of money ; it is not every one who will 
 appreciate the infinitely larger difference between the services 
 of an efficient and honest officer, and those of one who is will- 
 ing to work at any price, for the sake of bread and of profit- 
 ing by contingencies. There are always so many persons 
 ready to serve the state cheaply, who have never been under 
 an inquisition as idiots or sent to the penitentiary for crime, 
 and who therefore, in intendment of law, are sensible and hon- 
 est, that it is quite useless to assert that good men will not 
 accept office at low rates of compensation. Demagogues will 
 always be found to say that these excellent people can be had 
 at minimum prices, and to prove, by addition or subtraction, 
 the detriment which the commonwealth will suffer by rejecting 
 their bids. By such and similar devices, the public are 
 seduced from their propriety so far as to forget, in affairs of 
 government, the principle so universal in private experience, 
 — that a good thing is only to be had by paying for it. In 
 Spain, the inferior officers of the revenue are wretchedly paid. 
 37
 
 290 SPAIN. 
 
 To live by their salaries is out of the question, — they must of 
 course live from their offices. They must accept bribes, to 
 permit the violation of the laws, — they must oppress where 
 they dare, and can make it profitable, — they must take their 
 own share of what passes through their hands. The public 
 can never know the extent to which this is done. If the 
 revenue falls short, other reasons can be given for it, and the 
 fallacy of those reasons cannot be demonstrated. While, there- 
 fore, the popularity-hunters in the Cortes can show in a mo- 
 ment the difference to the public between a salary of one 
 peseta daily and a salary of two, the advocates of the more 
 liberal system can only rely upon probabilities and inferences, 
 which, strong as they may be, are yet not arithmetic. Thus it 
 is, that, although every man in Spain knows the existence of 
 corruption in the fiscal department and throughout many of 
 its minor details, it will be long before there will be moral 
 courage enough in the legislature, with the cry of retrench- 
 ment ringing in its ears, to commence an economical reform, 
 by a system of liberal compensation. 
 
 Perhaps the most odious of the Spanish taxes — certainly the 
 most justly odious — is that called the derecho de puertas, — an 
 octroi, or gate-duty, imitated from the French, and levied upon 
 articles which are carried into the cities and certain authorized 
 towns. Not the least among its evils are the large number of 
 custom-house officers it requires, the frequent opportunities it 
 affords for oppression and peculation, and the sort of espionage 
 under which it places all travellers and carriers. But its 
 principal vice is the restraint it puts upon the freedom of trade 
 and intercourse between different parts of the country. No 
 one can appreciate, without frequently observing, the infinite
 
 SPAIN. 291 
 
 and petty delays and vexations to which it exposes the country 
 people and small dealers, to whom time is of the utmost value, 
 and upon whom it operates, perhaps, more severely in this 
 regard, than in the mere amount of contribution which is 
 exacted from them. It is really sad to see a line of industrious, 
 poor fellows — who have travelled, from early dawn, to sell, 
 perhaps, a donkey-load of charcoal — detained at the gates, as 
 they often are, till the best hours of the morning have passed 
 away ; while the gentlemen of the customs — too few to dis- 
 charge their duties promptly, or too idle to discharge them at 
 all, except for a compensation — are quietly smoking their 
 cigaiTitos, in shade or sunshine, according to the season. The 
 patience, however, is remarkable, with which the sufferers will 
 endure all this, — too happy if they are not required to empty 
 their panniers to the very bottom, so that the official eye may 
 see, where the official hand has failed to discover, any contra- 
 band bottle of wine or aguai'diente. 
 
 Connected with the gate-tax in its unpopularity is the derecho 
 de consumo, or tax on consumption, which is levied upon all 
 articles consumed in the cities and towns. It is the more ob- 
 jectionable, since it is regarded but as a duplicate of the derecho 
 de puertas, — a doing over of what is justly considered bad 
 enough when done once. The worst of both these impositions 
 is, that they may be applied to the same articles of trade or 
 consumption a dozen times, if the owner thinks proper, or 
 finds it necessary, to give them so wide a circulation. An ac- 
 quaintance from Malaga, who was sojourning in Madrid, told 
 me one day that he had directed some fruits to be sent up from 
 home, for his own use and to be presented to his friends in the 
 capital. They had been produced on his own farm, upon which,
 
 292 SPAm 
 
 and on its stock, he had paid direct taxes proportionate to its 
 crops. They had been carried into Malaga, to be stored, and 
 he had there paid the gate-tax and the tax on consumption. 
 " I learned yesterday," he added, " that they had arrived here, 
 and when I had paid the charge of the galera for bringing 
 them, — which was no trifle, — I was called on for the derecho 
 de puertas and the derecho de consumo for Madrid, I have 
 not made up my mind whether I shall not beg the Seflor 
 carabinero who has them in charge to favor me by eating 
 them. Y que le hagan buen provecho ! May they do him 
 much good ! " 
 
 In 184<S there was a royal decree, authorizing the Secretary 
 of the Treasury to exempt from the derecho de puertas the raw 
 materials used in the various manufactures of the country, and 
 this without regard to their being of foreign or domestic origin. 
 The measure was, no doubt, an extremely wise one, and has 
 contributed its share towards the improvement which the manu- 
 facturing industry of Spain has, of late years, obviously under- 
 gone. By the law of presupuestos, in 1850, the authority was 
 extended to such other articles as might seem to require a simi- 
 lar exemption, — provided always that the revenue from gate- 
 money should not be, thereby, too seriously impaired. The lat- 
 ter clause was quite unnecessary, as it is not in the nature of 
 finance ministers anywhere, and least of all in Spain, to cut down 
 any available means of revenue, where they are allowed to exer- 
 cise a discretion. Sr. Bravo Murillo, in April, 1850, published 
 a list of about one hundred and seventy additional articles to 
 which the freedom of the gates was given. They were prin- 
 cipally drugs, medicinal plants, and vegetable and mineral 
 substances employed in the various mechanic arts. Their
 
 SPAIN. 293 
 
 exem])tion seemed but a trifle, until I reflected upon the incal- 
 culable annoyance and injustice which the levying of taxes on 
 them must previously have wrought. There were several 
 commodities, among them, which struck me as somewhat 
 singular : such, for example, as live vipers, dried do., sand 
 for scouring, human hair, do. manufactured, cantharides, 
 canary birds, leeches, &c., &c. Even if the snakes, the birds, 
 or the flies had not been permitted to enter the cities scot-free, 
 without legislation, a fellow-feeling ought to have sufficed, of 
 itself, to save the leeches, at all events, from the rude hands 
 of the tax-gatherer. 
 
 A chapter on the finances of Spain would hardly seem 
 complete, without some allusion to the national debt ; but as 
 this, unfortunately, is somewhat over nine hundred millions, 
 and is not much nearer being paid than it was when contracted, 
 it has no very practical connection with the financial interests 
 of the day. If such things be national blessings, as is some- 
 times contended, the cup of the national beatitude ought 
 certainly to be full. Every now and then some " agent of 
 the bondholders " is said to visit Madrid, with a view to an 
 arrangement for the punctual payment of interest. But this 
 announcement has been made so often, and the "arrangement" 
 is still so far from its consummation, that the " agent " is 
 now generally regarded as a newspaper fiction, and the debt 
 answers but little purpose, save as a shuttlecock for the players 
 at the Stock Exchange. Rumor occasionally alludes to large 
 fortunes, supposed to have been made from sjjeculations in it, 
 by persons high in authority, who are able to foretell, if not 
 to cause, the fluctuations of its market value. There is, no 
 doubt, truth in these reports ; for Lord Bacon has wisely said,
 
 294 SPAIN. 
 
 that " want supplieth itself of what is next, and many times 
 the next way." It may be private uncharitableness to believe 
 ill of our neighbors, but it sometimes is public wisdom not 
 to be incredulous in regard to the sins of our rulers. The 
 reader who is disposed to be amiable may see some prospect 
 of the debt's being extinguished in the fact that $160,602 
 were applied in July, 1852, to the redemption of preferred 
 securities !
 
 XXVI. 
 
 Internal Improvements. — AoRictrLTTiRAii and Mineral Wealth. — 
 Natural Obstacles. — Present Facilities for Travel and Trans- 
 portation. — Safety op the Koads. — Police. — New Roads and 
 Canals. — Administration op Eoads and Canals. — Railroads 
 projected and completed. — Railroad CoMjnTTEE op the Cortes. 
 — Royal Decree and Participation op the Government in 
 the Management op Railroads. — Influx of Capital, and its 
 Results. 
 
 IF there be any one subject of greater interest, at this 
 moment, to Spain, than all others, it is a comprehensive 
 and thorough system of internal improvements. It is a 
 matter vital to her prosperity in all points of view, — not 
 merely with reference to the development of her material 
 resources, but to the diffusion of liberal and enlightened 
 opinions, and the spread of civilization among her people. 
 During the Carlist war, it was notorious that the Pretender 
 had no strength — almost no party — in the cities and large 
 towns, and wherever intelligence was diffused. His strong- 
 holds were in the fastnesses of the hills, the almost inaccessible 
 valleys, and wherever the isolation of the people from the rest 
 of the world was most complete. I do not, of course, speak, 
 in this connection, of the footing which Don Carlos maintained 
 in the Basque Provinces. His popularity there was altogether 
 
 295
 
 296 SPAIN. 
 
 independent of any attachment to his person, or to the despotic 
 and retrograde principles of which he was the representative. 
 He was identified by the intelligent and sturdy inhabitants 
 with their fueros, or prescriptive privileges, and it was for 
 these, and not for him or his cause, as is commonly supposed, 
 that their unyielding struggle was kept up. But, elsewhere, 
 the devotion of the rural districts to the Pretender was univer- 
 sally proportioned, in its intensity and its extent, to the degree 
 of their remoteness from the sources of information, and the 
 difficulty of their intercourse with the other portions of the 
 kingdom. And so it must always be. New ideas cannot 
 enter rapidly, or be accepted with intelligent welcome, where 
 the people who are to carry or receive them have only access 
 to each other, and to the living stream of human thought and 
 movement, by mule-paths over rugged mountains. It is not 
 to be expected that men can get rid of their swaddling-clothes, 
 while they are compelled to lie in the cradles in which they 
 were rocked. I think it is Sidney Smith who says that " the 
 wisdom of our ancestors is the usual topic, whenever the folly 
 of their descendants is to be defended " ; but how are men to 
 get beyond the follies of their progenitors, if they have no 
 opportunity to acquire wisdom of their own ? When the 
 oracle foretold to Philip that he might cleave the wall with 
 his wedge of gold, it presupposed some crevice, through which 
 the work might be begun. 
 
 To see what might be done for the material wealth of Spain, 
 by a judicious system of internal improvements, it is only 
 necessary to look for a moment at her geographical position 
 and resources. Though not abounding in ports of the first 
 class, she has still enough to furnish outlets for all the possible
 
 SPAIN. 297 
 
 productions of her soil and industry. *' Her agricultural 
 products," says Loudon/ " include all those of the rest of 
 Europe and most of those of the West Indies; besides all the 
 grains ; for the production of which some provinces are more 
 celebrated than others, and most of them are known to produce 
 the best wheat in Europe." Her soil and climate are as 
 various, and the face of the country is as diversified, as so 
 unlimited a range of products could require. Mountain and 
 valley, plain and vega, vineyard, cornfield, pasture, and sheep- 
 walk, — all contribute their shares to the bounty of her agri- 
 culture. Nor are the treasures beneath the soil less varied 
 and abundant than those which spring from it. Copper and 
 lead are found in large quantities, and in the most valuable 
 combinations. The quicksilver mine of Almaden is inex- 
 haustible. Zinc abounds in La Mancha and the Asturias. 
 Black-lead of the first quality is to be had abundantly through 
 Andalusia. Alum, saltpetre, and salt are the riches of various 
 districts. Iron of the best quality, and in inexhaustible 
 deposits, is to be found throughout the whole kingdom, 
 especially in the northern and more industrious provinces, 
 and at Marbella on the Mediterranean, not far from Malaga, 
 where there is a mountain almost entirely composed of it. Of 
 the coal mines of the Asturias, Widdrington says that " the 
 quantity is inexhaustible, the quality excellent, the working 
 of extraordinary facility, and the communication easy with 
 the sea." Near Villanueva del Rio, by the Guadalquivir, 
 there is also an extensive deposit of coal, which is used for 
 steam-navigation on that river ; but it is, like the most of the 
 mines which have been referred to, only imperfectly worked. 
 
 ' Encyclopcedia of Agricidlure, Sec. 721. 
 
 38
 
 298 SPAIN. 
 
 Baron Liebig/ speaking of the extensive formation of plios- 
 phate of lime, which was explored, in Estremadura, by Dr. 
 Daubeny of Oxford, observes : " This is one of the treasures, 
 of which Spain has so many, sufficient, perhaps, at no distant 
 period, to pay a part of the national debt of that country." 
 " It is deeply to be regretted," he adds, " that the railways 
 projected seven years ago, which, crossing each other at Madrid 
 as a centre, were to unite Portugal with France, and Madrid 
 with both seas, have not been executed. These railways would 
 render Spain the richest country in Europe." 
 
 With these and similar inducements to create all possible 
 channels for internal intercourse, nature has undoubtedly min- 
 gled an infinitude of obstacles, which in some degree excuse 
 the paucity and imperfection of the facilities which at present 
 exist. It would be difficult to devise a more unfavorable 
 topographical arrangement for the construction of improve- 
 ments of all sorts. The immense central plateau of the Castiles 
 is more than two thousand feet above the level of the sea, 
 towards which the descent, in many places, is sudden and pre- 
 cipitous, — obstructed often, in the most important quarters, by 
 mountains of painful declivity and ruggedness. The chief 
 mountain ranges which cross the Peninsula do so transversely, 
 and in such a manner as to present as many lines of impedi- 
 ment as possible, in the directions which the most valuable 
 works must take. The rivers, in their upper portions, run 
 mostly in narrow channels, between high and rocky banks, 
 difficult of access, often, in an extreme degree, for the purposes 
 of canal construction. The long droughts in many districts, 
 and the paucity of streams where most desirable, present other 
 
 ^ Letters on Chemistry, p. 498, note.
 
 SPAIN. 299 
 
 difficulties in this regard, which are almost insuperable. In 
 the presence of natural obstacles so numerous and real, it is 
 not difficult to understand how a nation, sparsely peopled, 
 vexed by invasions and civil discord, — with an exhausted 
 treasury, an impoverished agriculture, and broken industry, — 
 should have shrunic from encountering what, under the most 
 favorable auspices, must be a gigantic labor, and involve an 
 enormous expenditure. 
 
 Bad, however, as the means of communication and transpor- 
 tation undoubtedly are, in many parts of Spain, the common 
 ideas of other countries in regard thereto are very much 
 exaggerated. It is gravely stated, in many respectable books 
 of reference, and believed, with a shudder, by travellers, who 
 would otherwise enjoy the pleasure and profit of visiting the 
 Peninsula, that a tourist can scarcely see any thing except from 
 his saddle, and that mules and donkeys are almost exclusively 
 the common carriers. There is no foundation whatever for 
 such notions. Through the most important parts of the 
 kingdom, and especially between the principal cities, there is 
 every facility which good carriage-roads and excellent dili- 
 gences, constantly running, can furnish to travellers ; and the 
 galeras, or wagon-lines, for the transportation of merchandise, 
 are numerous, — often very well conducted and reasonably 
 prompt, the mountainous nature of the principal routes being 
 taken into consideration. Those persons who desire to explore 
 the country, — to penetrate its romantic recesses and enjoy the 
 wildness of its most secluded scenerv, — will undoubtedlv be 
 compelled to do so on horseback, and trust their valuables to 
 the next mule-driver. But in such cases the adventurousness 
 of the journey would seem to be an attraction, rather than an
 
 300 SPAIN. 
 
 inconvenience; and one can hardly expect the appliances of 
 civilization, when expressly seeking the beauties of primitive, 
 uncultivated nature. 
 
 It may be well to say in this place, that the dangers of Span- 
 ish travel have been quite as much the subject of hyperbole as 
 its difficulties, — perhaps, indeed, more. Since the civil war 
 ended, the improved security and profit of peaceful labor, and 
 the consolidation, in a more permanent and effective form, of 
 the elements of real government, have so removed the temp- 
 tations to lawlessness and increased the probability of its 
 punishment, that robberies and murders upon the highway 
 have become of comparatively infrequent occurrence. The 
 new road-police^the guardias civiles — are an excellent and 
 effective corps, and by their numbers, activity, and energy 
 have become a great terror to evil-doers. They are to be met 
 in all directions, traversing the country on horseback and on 
 foot, well armed and accoutred. The justice to which they 
 bring the criminals whom they arrest is so decided and sum- 
 mary, as to have diffused already, when I was in Spain, that 
 salutary dread of the vigorous and active administration of 
 the laws, which is the most effectual preventive of crime, and 
 especially of open violence. 
 
 So far as the construction of carriage-roads is concerned, but 
 little could be added to the energy and industry with which 
 the system of improvements has been prosecuted, since the 
 final establishment of peace. There is a Board of Engineers 
 of Roads, — originally organized towards the close of the last 
 century, which, after having been suppressed, during the war 
 of independence and the despotical reaction of 1823, was 
 placed upon a secure and permanent footing in 1836, when a
 
 SPAIN. 301 
 
 school for the education of its future members was established. 
 The construction and improvement of thechief national and pro- 
 vincial highways is under the charge of this corps, while that of 
 the minor (or, as we might call them, country or township) roads 
 is intrusted to certain " Directors of By-roads and Canals for 
 Irrigation," who were created a board, by royal decree, in 1848. 
 The funds for the construction of the last-mentioned works 
 are raised by the i)roper provincial and municipal authorities, 
 in a manner provided by law. Those which are of a national 
 character are dependent upon the Treasury. The amount 
 designated for their support, in the budget of 1850, was 
 $\ ,452,360, over and above $84,657, appropriated to the pay of 
 the engineer board and the support of its school. Some mem- 
 bers of the opposition contended that a very undue proportion 
 of the amount applicable to the construction of highways was 
 absorbed in the personal of the service, — that is to say, the 
 perquisites, expenses, and it may be the pickings and stealings 
 of the various officials concerned in it. Doubtless there was 
 truth in the charge, — for it was made openly and responsibly ; 
 but it was equally true, that the roads in progress of constuc- 
 tion were advancing with much rapidity, to the obvious and 
 almost incalculable advantage of some of the most important 
 districts. In many places also, they were reducing the grades 
 of the old roads, with great benefit to their practicability for 
 heavy transportation. If, however, on the whole, the new 
 highways shall be constructed with the masterly skill in the 
 engineering department, and the solidity of the bridges and 
 masonry, which are conspicuous in the older works, a small 
 extra appropriation to the personal may be regarded as a 
 pardonable sin.
 
 302 SPAIN. 
 
 In the matter of railroads and canals, there is less to be said 
 for the actual improvement of Spain, although projects without 
 number, and especially of railroads, have been for some time 
 occupying public attention. 
 
 "Six are the canals for navigation which we have," says 
 Mellado, in 1849, "but none of them finished, — in accordance 
 with that sort of fatality which has always persecuted Spain, 
 and in virtue of which every thing useful is left to be done 
 (se queda por hacei')." The only one of these works really 
 worth noticing is the Canal of Castile, referred to in a preced- 
 ing chapter. Eighty-one miles only were finished ; but the 
 work was done in the most substantial and permanent manner, 
 so that its continuation, now so actively undertaken, will not 
 be embarrassed by the necessity of extensive repairs. It runs 
 through a productive country, abounding in the best bread- 
 stuffs, and can be readily and copiously supplied from the 
 Pisuerga, which washes the walls of Valladolid. Its comple- 
 tion, which is now a matter of no doubt, will give, as I have 
 said, a most important impulse to the agriculture of Castile 
 and the commerce of Santander. The canalization (as they 
 called it) of the Ebro was the subject of a good deal of interest 
 and discussion when I was in Spain, and it seemed likely then 
 to be realized; but I have not been able to learn whether any 
 actual progress has been made in the enterprise.^ It was 
 commenced during the reign of Charles the Third, and finished, 
 from the neighborhood of Tudela, nearly to Zaragoza. Tor- 
 tosa was its contemplated terminus, and such are the manifest 
 advantages which it would confer upon a most productive 
 
 ^ It is now announced that the work is in the hands of contractors for 
 speedy completion.
 
 SPAIN. 303 
 
 region, that it is liard to understand how even the most adverse 
 circumstances could have prevented its completion. A similar 
 observation may with propriety be made, in reference to the 
 lateral Canal of the Guadalquivir, a work of national and 
 consummate importance, a portion of which was under con- 
 tract, in 1850, and which seemed to have been taken up ener- 
 getically by both the government and private capitalists. How 
 far it was to be connected with a former noted, but unsuccessful, 
 scheme for deepening portions of the channel as far as C6rdova, 
 I was unable to ascertain ; but the consummation of either 
 project would make an epoch in the national prosperity. 
 When I left Spain, the railway between Barcelona and 
 , Matar6, a distance of fifteen miles, was the only one in active 
 operation. I did not pass over it, but was informed that, 
 although an excellent road, its construction had involved no 
 great difficulty or expense. I have since seen an announce- 
 ment in the journals, of its continuation to Areflys, some nine 
 miles farther. In the autumn of 1850, the railway between 
 Madrid and Aranjuez, a distance of twenty-four or five miles, 
 was opened with great magnificence, in the presence of the 
 Queen and Court. This road, of itself, is not of very great 
 usefulness to trade, because, although directly on the routes 
 between Andalucia, La Mancha, Valencia, &c. and the capital, 
 it still forms but a small portion of the immense lines which 
 it terminates. Its completion, however, must be of extreme 
 importance in another point of view, by bringing those who 
 work the springs of government at the capital in direct and 
 unavoidable contact with the wisdom, value, and practicability 
 of such enterprises. It thus may be, not only the beginning 
 of a great central work, which will unite the plains of Castile
 
 304 SPAIN. 
 
 with the shores of the Mediterranean and the wealth of the 
 West and South, but perhaps the means of giving a direction 
 to the public mind and energy, which will produce general 
 results now hardly to be anticipated. Already, its continuation 
 to Ahnansa, on the route to Alicante, is under contract and 
 rapidly advancing. 
 
 The line of Langreo in the Asturias, established for the 
 purpose of develo])ing the immense resources of the coal region 
 mentioned in the last chapter, was considerably advanced at 
 the time of my departure, and its completion was looked for 
 towards the close of 1850. The want of coal in Barcelona was 
 suggesting also, to the people of that enterprising capital, the 
 necessity of a railway to San Juan de las Abadesas, and it was 
 accordingly projected and commenced, with the usual energy 
 of the Catalans. Its construction would occupy, it was sup- 
 posed, but little over two years, so that by this time it must 
 have nearly approached its termination. During the present 
 summer (1852) the provincial deputation and the municipal 
 corporation of Barcelona have petitioned the government for 
 leave to construct a railway to Zaragoza, nearly one hundred 
 and seventy miles, — a work of great difficulty, and which 
 must of necessity be protracted and costly. If there be any 
 province in which such an enterprise could be successful, it is 
 Catalonia, and there is sufficient wealth and commercial and 
 industrial activity among the inhabitants to render it altogether 
 practicable. Recent accounts treat its consummation as certain. 
 The very desire of so shrewd and calculating a people to take 
 so heavy a responsibility on their own shoulders, is evidence 
 at once of the probable productiveness of the work, and of the 
 spirit which is awake in the nation.
 
 SPAIN. 305 
 
 I have referred, in anotlier j)lace, to the railway from Sau- 
 tander to Alar, with its projected continuation to Valladolid 
 and Burgos. Important as this must be to the whole North, 
 it will be rendered doubly so by the completion of the great 
 line now contemplated between Madrid and the frontier of the 
 Pyrenees, at Irun. The government seems to be really in 
 earnest, in regard to this latter work, — having but lately 
 decreed the sale of the communal property in the provinces 
 through which it is to pass, for the purpose of devoting their 
 proceeds to its construction. It is scarcely possible to overrate 
 the benefits with which the successful prosecution of so gigantic 
 an enterprise would be pregnant. The Pyrenees would then, 
 indeed, exist no longer, — not levelled, as the ambition of 
 Louis the Fourteenth would have had them, that Spain might 
 be an appanage of France, — but removed for ever, as a barrier 
 to European intercourse and the march of European civiliza- 
 tion. Emboldened, perhaps, by the action of the government 
 in regard to this great' Northern highway, or awakened at last 
 to a sense of their necessities and resources, the people of the 
 South have also laid their hands to the work. The authorities 
 of Seville, according to the last advices, have sought permis- 
 sion to devote the proceeds of their communal property also to 
 the construction of a railroad, which is to extend at least to the 
 Sierra Marena, at C6rdova. The nature of the country is such 
 as to present few formidable obstacles to this enterprise, and 
 its success would develop the riches and command the trade 
 of the very garden of Spain. From Cadiz to Jerez and to 
 Seville a line is in process of active construction. 
 
 It is unnecessary to mention a host of minor enterprises, 
 projected, or more or less advanced, and which, though many 
 39
 
 306 SPAIN. 
 
 of thera may fail, must nevertheless result in something, here 
 and there, of great and permanent advantage. While I was 
 yet in Madrid, a Committee on Railroads, appointed by the 
 House of Deputies, was holding its sessions during the recess 
 of the Cortes. It was headed by Don Salustiauo de Olozaga, 
 the distinguished Progresista, an able and enlightened public 
 man. Its meetings were attended by several accomplished 
 engineers, foreign and native, and by many prominent capi- 
 talists and enterprising and public-spirited citizens, who were 
 summoned for the purpose of consultation. The committee 
 was active in seeking, from them and from other trustworthy 
 sources, such practical and scientific information as would 
 enable its members to report the most judicious and promising 
 scheme of general internal improvement. What was the result 
 of its labors, in view of the dissolution of the Cortes and the 
 change of ministry which followed, I have never ascertained. 
 It was, as I learned, the first parliamentary inquisition ever 
 held in Spain, and was regarded with great favor and interest, 
 on that account and as a valuable precedent. 
 
 Pending the action of the Cortes, a royal decree was pro- 
 mulged, prescribing the mode of applying for, and the condi- 
 tions of obtaining, the privilege of railway construction. It 
 involved — as the Spanish policy in such matters, by analogy 
 to the French system, now always involves — a participation 
 by the government in the control of the companies, which is 
 foreign to all our notions of private enterprise and of a judi- 
 cious and politic laissez faire. It provided, among other things, 
 for a guaranty by the government to the companies of a 
 minimum interest of six per cent, on their investments, — to 
 commence from the completion of the works, — together with a
 
 SPAIN. 307 
 
 sinking fund of one per cent, upon certain conditions. All 
 the guaranties of the government were to be of no obligation, 
 in case the works should cease, or the operation of the roads 
 be susjjended, by the default of the stockholders. The one 
 per cent, sinking fund was to be continued, until the capital 
 should be extinguished, or, in other words, until the govern- 
 ment should become the purchaser of the works. 
 
 It is not to be denied, that the exercise of a little more 
 control, in our own country, by government, over the immense 
 corporations on which railway privileges are conferred, would 
 be exceedingly salutary, — conducive at once to the interest and 
 safety of the citizen, and not unjust or disadvantageous to the 
 corporators. But the mania which possesses the governments 
 of the Continent to mingle themselves with every public 
 enterprise, and be part and parcel of every speculation in 
 which two or three are gathered together, is one which a 
 constitutional system must counteract, if it would avail any 
 thing. It often, in the long run, works its own retribution. 
 The powers which control every thing, for their own advan- 
 tage, are often made to bear the brunt of every thing, to their 
 sorrow. The government is seen in so many things, that it is 
 believed to be in all. When the crops failed in France, the 
 peasantry of Louis Philippe could with difficulty be persuaded 
 that it was not all the fault of " ce diable de roi " .' And the 
 diable de roi, poor fellow ! paid dearly for it at last. 
 
 Although there is a great deal of disposable capital in Spain, 
 — much more than is commonly believed in other countries, — 
 the success of the railroad enterprises in contemplation must 
 depend in a great degree upon the readiness of foreign capital- 
 ists to embark in them. This, in its turn, must depend upon
 
 308 SPAIN. 
 
 their confidence in the permanency of existing institutions, and 
 in the preservation of peace. Capital cannot possibly be led 
 into channels, — no matter how tempting, — which may, at any 
 moment, be diverted or be drained by the outbreaking of 
 revolutions, or the fluctuations of civil war and an irregular 
 government. The same rule, indeed, applies to domestic as 
 well as foreign capital, for the root of all evil is not often 
 watered by patriotism, and Spanish capitalists heretofore have 
 been wise enough to know the difference, in the matter of 
 investment, between the British and the Spanish per cents. 
 Of late years, however, things have changed greatly in this 
 regard. Capital has begun to abandon its former absenteeism, 
 and now stays, for the most part, at home, to produce where 
 it is produced. The same confidence which has caused this, 
 has given the same direction to much foreign wealth. British 
 stockholders are largely interested in the works already com- 
 pleted, and many of those projected have too many probabilities 
 of success and of large returns, not to command a similar 
 support. The knowledge of this fact, — of the prosperity, the 
 development, the power it will bring, — and a conviction that 
 peace and permanent institutions, steadily administered, are 
 necessary to secure these blessings, — will, of equal necessity, 
 tend to preserve that peace and permanence. Nations, for the 
 most part, are governed by the convictions of the mass of their 
 citizens, — especially by their convictions as to matters of 
 interest ; and thus is true, for another reason, what was 
 observed in the opening of this chapter, — that the internal 
 improvement of Spain is as vital to her civilization and good 
 government, as to her material prosperity.
 
 XXVII. 
 
 ImPRO\'EMENT in AORICIJT.TrRE AND ITS CAUSES. — IMPROVED VaLUE OF 
 
 Land. — Territorial Wealth and Production. — Practical 
 Farmers. — Espartero. — Agricultural Education. — Economical 
 Societies. — Agricultural Bltieau and its Action. — Irrigation. 
 — Geological Chart. — Colonization of Waste Land. — Irish 
 Colonists. — Dairy of Madrid. — Advancement in Manufactures 
 
 AND CoMSIERCE. — PROHIBITORY DUTIES. — EXPORTS AND IMPORTS. 
 
 — Steam Coasters and Coasting Trade. — Manufactures. — 
 Catalan Monopolies. — Manufacturing Eesources of Spain. — 
 Modifications of the Tariff. — Silk and Woollen Fabrics. — 
 Flax, Hemp, and Iron. — National Arsenals and Foundries. 
 
 THE subdivision of the Church property in Spain, and its 
 passage into the hands of the laity, would alone be 
 sufficient to account for the improvement in agriculture since 
 the establishment of the constitutional system. The immense 
 tracts of land accumulated in mortmain were always regarded, 
 by the wisest agricultural economists of the kingdom, as the 
 chief cause of the torpor formerly so prevalent in that impor- 
 tant branch of public industry. Though always administered 
 considerately, and with becoming forbearance towards the 
 tenants, the estates of the Church — in addition to the other 
 evils which their possession involved — were notoriously mis- 
 managed as to productiveness. There were, of course, excep- 
 tions to the rule, but poverty and raggedness surrounded the 
 
 309
 
 310 SPAIN. 
 
 wealthiest ecclesiastical endowments so generally, that to say 
 a neighborhood was "clerical," (de cUrigos,) was, emphatically, 
 to apply to it the strongest proverbial phrase for wretchedness 
 and desolation. 
 
 Other and most serious impediments to agricultural progress 
 have been removed by the abolition of tithes and other eccle- 
 siastical dues and perquisites, as well as by the suppression of 
 the multiform prescriptive imposts formerly levied by the state 
 upon real property, and the substitution of a uniform system 
 of assessment and taxation. Notwithstanding the unequal 
 manner in which the present tax-laws occasionally operate in 
 their details, the evils which result from them are purely 
 administrative, and susceptible of practical remedy ; but the 
 old system was so vicious in all its principles, and so mani- 
 festly partial and oppressive, that its existence was altogether 
 inconsistent with the possible prosperity of the landed interest. 
 
 It will not have escaped the reader, that the internal 
 improvements referred to in the last chapter, as actually com- 
 pleted, must be an item of controlling importance in all calcu- 
 lations of agricultural promise. Those in progress, also, or 
 serious contemplation, cannot fail to give great encouragement 
 to rural labor, and increased value to real estate. In some 
 districts, it is a familiar fact, that the wine of one vintage has 
 to be emptied, in waste, in order to furnish skins for the wine 
 of the next, — the difficulty and cost of transportation to 
 market being such, as utterly to preclude the producer from 
 attempting a more profitable disposition of it. Staples of the 
 most absolute and uniform necessity — wheat, for instance — are 
 at prices absurdly different in different parts of the kingdom ; 
 the proximity to market being such as to give them their cur-
 
 SPAIN. 311 
 
 rent value in one quarter, while in another they are perhaps 
 rotting in their places of deposit, without the hope of a 
 demand. Until such a state of things shall have been cured, 
 it will be useless to improve the soil, or stimulate pro- 
 duction in the secluded districts ; and of course every cir- 
 cumstance which wears the promise of such cure must enter 
 into the calculations of the future, and avail in them, accord- 
 ing to its probabilities. 
 
 Other important pieces of legislation, which may not be 
 enumerated here, such as the abolition of entails, <fec., have, no 
 doubt, combined with those just mentioned, to give an impulse 
 to agricultural industry and the public good- will in its behalf; 
 for it is a significant fact, that, notwithstanding the immense 
 amount of land thrown into the market by the Church confis- 
 cations, the value of agricultural property, and of real estate 
 generally, has been steadily increasing throughout the greater 
 part of the kingdom, since the termination of the civil war. 
 Indeed, the Church property itself has commanded an average 
 of nearly double the price at which it was officially assessed, 
 according to the standards of value at the time of its seizure. 
 If any reliance is to be })laced upon the statistical information 
 which ISIellado has collected in his Guia del Forastero, the ter- 
 ritorial wealth of Spain was estimated in 1849 at $369,400,000, 
 being nearly $116,000,000 more than it was supposed to 
 amount to in 1803. It is stated in the same work, that the 
 yearly product of the soil is now nearly $3,000,000 greater 
 than at the last-mentioned date, while the quantity of land in 
 cultivation, which then scarcely amounted to one-ninth of the 
 whole soil, has now risen to more than two-sevenths. What 
 scope there yet is for the wisdom of the government and the
 
 312 SPAIN. 
 
 industry and enterprise of the people, the last-mentioned fact 
 will sufficiently show. 
 
 There is no better sign of a healthy national feeling, in regard 
 to agriculture, than that many persons of influence and position 
 have begun to take a personal interest and participation in the 
 superintendence and cultivation of their farms, and the adoption 
 of the improvements suggested by modern science. Of this — 
 a thing until lately altogether unknown in Spain — tiie Ex- 
 Regent Espartero is a most respectable illustration. He derived 
 from marriage an excellent estate near the venerable Castilian 
 city of Logrono, in a fertile and delightful quarter, on the 
 borders of Aragon. Having retired to it, since his return 
 from England, he has dev^oted his time and attention almost 
 exclusively to the development of its resources, and tlie appli- 
 cation of new methods of cultivation. These it is his effort to 
 make as general as possible among his neighbors, and I am 
 informed that the influence of his example has been materially 
 beneficial already. It is more than probable that he will thus 
 establish another, and a just, though modest, claim, to the title 
 of public benefactor. To that title, — where it involves the 
 outlay of private fortune, without any chance of remuneration, 
 with usury, from the public chest, — there are but few preten- 
 dlentes, and the Duke may probably flatter himself that he has 
 at last reached one position, which he may retain, — as long as 
 he is content with it, — without fear of jealousy or exile. 
 
 The existing scheme of national education makes provision 
 for the delivery of public lectures on agricultural science, and 
 the instruction of students in matters connected with that 
 branch of industry. There are other institutions, besides, 
 under the care of the various Economical Societies, in the prov-
 
 SPAIN. 313 
 
 inces, which are, perhaps, still more useful. These societies, 
 origiuating in the enlightened views of Jovellanos and men 
 like him, have been of incalculable service to the general 
 industry of the nation, since the comparative freedom of later 
 days has given scope to their investigations and reports. 
 Many papers of great ability have proceeded and continue 
 to proceed from them, and they are constantly diffusing 
 information upon all matters connected with the material 
 development of the nation. There is an excellent periodical 
 conducted, in Madrid, by the society of " Friends of the 
 Country " {Amigos del Pais), in which the most creditable 
 essays are constantly appearing, and the experience and dis- 
 coveries of more prosperous nations are applied, with great 
 industry and assiduity, to the removal of prejudices and the 
 extirpation of antiquated notions and methods. In some of 
 the other cities, I am informed that similar journals are 
 successfully dedicated to the same work. As an evidence that 
 they are not without effect, I may mention, that in Catalonia, 
 Valencia, and Murcia, where innovation was, not long ago, a 
 sin, the use of guano as a manure has been adopted, to a con- 
 siderable extent, within the last two years. I have occasion 
 to know, that its application has been so successful, and the 
 demand for it has begun so to increase, that Spain is now 
 looked to as a growing and prospectively important market, 
 by those who regulate its distribution. 
 
 The interests of agriculture, until October, 1851, were 
 protected by the same Department which presided over com- 
 merce, education, and public works. They now depend upon 
 the new Department of Fomento. About $100,000 were 
 appropriated to the agricultural branch, by the budget of 
 40
 
 314 SPAIN. 
 
 1850, — over and above the expenses of the board for the 
 superintendence of canals for irrigation, — an indispensable 
 part of the system of cultivation in some of the most fertile 
 portions of the kingdom. While I was in Spain, many 
 measures for the improvement of agriculture, in its various 
 branches, were adopted by the Department, of its own motion 
 and upon the suggestion of the Economical Societies. I re- 
 member being amused by a royal order, with a long preamble, 
 directing the Royal Academy of Sciences, at Madrid, " sin 
 levantar mano " (without lifting hand from the work), to offer 
 proposals for the best essay on the causes of the constant 
 droughts in the provinces of Murcia and Alraeria, together 
 with the means of preventing them, or counteracting their 
 effects. It was possible to understand that the consequences 
 of the droughts might, to some extent, be remedied artificially, 
 but as the preamble asserted, in round terms, that the want of 
 rain was their cause, there seemed no recourse for the Academy, 
 in the matter of prevention, except to Professor Espy or the 
 astronomer in Rasselas. The minister, however, seemed quite 
 willing to get what he could out of the weather-makers for 
 the almanacs, and, in addition to the prize, offered to compen- 
 sate liberally the author of any scheme which might turn out 
 to be effectual. I never was able to ascertain what the result 
 of the concurso was. Probably it never had any. Many of 
 the other movements of the Department were of an eminently 
 practical character. New plans of irrigation were attempted. 
 Premiums were offered for successful essays on agricultural 
 subjects, and successful efforts in cultivation. An appropria- 
 tion of $7,500 was made, in 1850, towards the completion of 
 a geological chart of the kingdom, already then in progress.
 
 SPAIN. 315 
 
 Horses and cattle were impoiied, and schemes devised for 
 the improvement of the native breeds of domestic animals. 
 Inquiries were instituted into the causes of the failure of 
 particular branches of agricultural production, once valuable 
 but now almost extinct, and plans were matured for their 
 restoration. 
 
 It was but lately that the papers of Madrid gave the details 
 of an arrangement, said to have been entered into by the 
 government with an association in London, for the establish- 
 ment of colonies of Irish Catholics on some of the waste lands 
 belonging to the crown, many of which are admirably adapted 
 to agricultural purposes. The capital of the company was said 
 to be £500,000, actually paid in, and the scheme, as reported, 
 was a very feasible one. There has always been a decided 
 sympathy between the Irish and the Spaniards ; indeed, in 
 many points, the Andalusian and the Irish character, mental 
 and moral, are strikingly alike. The movement, if successful, 
 would be of infinite importance to Spain, and would furnish 
 the colonists with a congenial asylum, and the opportunity of 
 acquiring a comfortable competence. It is, I believe, a just 
 observation, in regard to the Irish, that, although reckless and 
 improvident in poverty, and of small resource in devising 
 means to escape from it, they are industrious and energetic in 
 prosecuting what they have practically discovered to be profit- 
 able, and careful, to a singular extent, in preserving and in- 
 creasing the proceeds of successful labor. Of this their career 
 in the United States furnishes constant illustration. If the 
 Spanish government and the company having a colonial move- 
 ment in charge would be careful to bear these traits in mind, 
 and to leave no stone unturned for the establishment of the
 
 316 SPAIN. 
 
 proposed colonies, from the first movement, on a substantial 
 and permanent basis, there is every reason to believe that such 
 a plan would now have a far different result, than that which 
 attended the nuevas poblaciones of poor, persecuted Olavide, 
 in Andalucia. 
 
 The traveller visiting Madrid will be quite edified by seeing 
 on many signs, in some of the principal streets, the words 
 " Casa de Vacas^^ (House of Cows), with an accompanying 
 illustration, in oil colors, of a cow in the process of milking. 
 Additional signs will inform him, that " the cows will be 
 milked in the purchaser's presence, if desired," so that it will 
 be his own fault if he labors under the slightest uncertainty 
 as to the orthodoxy of the fluid which enters his household. 
 He will find, too, that from these establishments, or from the 
 agents of the royal dairy at Moncloa (hard by the city), he can 
 obtain fresh butter at his will, without paying a more than 
 moderately exorbitant price for it. If he desires to be eco- 
 nomical, and is not particular, he can procure excellent salted 
 butter, direct from the Asturias, at a very reasonable rate. 
 As a matter of creature comfort, he will not find these facts 
 altogether unimportant to him, but this would hardly justify 
 referring to them in a book, did they not furnish an illustration 
 of the progress making in a material department of rural 
 industry. If he should chance to have been in Spain before, 
 or to have recently sojourned in any of the districts where 
 things continue to be as they were in the beginning, he will 
 rejoice in his deliverance from goat's milk and the butter pre- 
 pared from it, or that insufferable compound, manteca de Flan- 
 des (Flemish butter). One who has been exposed to these 
 things will deserve to be pardoned, if, before looking on the
 
 SPAIN. 317 
 
 promised land as Paradise, he distinguishes in regard to the 
 milk with which it is to flow. Among many of the Spaniards, 
 however, even in Madrid, Capricornus has still a bright place 
 in the Milky Way. Towards sunset, every evening, flocks of 
 goats may be seen descending the streets which lead from the 
 gates into the heart of the city. They have been, all day, upon 
 the arid hills about the neighborhood, refreshing themselves 
 with what goats only could construe into pasture ; but their 
 distended udders illustrate the moral, of the fulness which a 
 little may bring to an easily contented spirit. As they go by 
 the houses of their customers, the maids run out with their 
 milk-vessels in search of the evening supply. The goatherd 
 seizes the nearest of his flock, and proceeds to business in the 
 middle of the street, while the rest of his company, immedi- 
 ately conscious of a pause in the march, bivouac on the stones 
 till the milking is over. A signal, which they only understand, 
 then sets their bells in a moment to tinkling, and the proces- 
 sion advances, at its leisure, until the calling of another halt. 
 It is a pleasant little rus in urbe, to look at, but, like many 
 other picturesque objects, its appearance is the best of it. 
 
 As this work in no wise pretends to give detailed informa- 
 tion of any sort, but merely to present, as generally as may be, 
 the results of the author's observation, and of such know- 
 ledge as he could acquire from sources which he had reason to 
 believe authentic, — it will not be expected that he should 
 dwell, with any particularity, upon those specific details which 
 would enable the reader to form a precise idea for himself of 
 the present state of commerce and manufactures in Spain. 
 As has before been observed, statistics do not exist which 
 would furnish trustworthy data, to any extent, and accident
 
 318 SPAIN. 
 
 avails quite as much as industry in the acquisition, by piece- 
 meal, of such facts as bear importantly on these subjects. 
 Enough, however, may be easily ascertained, to satisfy an 
 inquirer, that both the great interests referred to have 
 profited much by the impulse which the last fifteen years 
 have given to the nation. 
 
 It is a very illustrative fact, — and one which ought to have 
 made the suicidal policy of prohibitory duties as obvious as 
 light, — that, while the exportation of Spain has considerably 
 more than doubled itself since the beginning of the century, 
 the increase in imports has been but little more than one fifth. 
 Not only that, but the amount of exports, which in 1803, or 
 thereabouts, was not more than half that of the imports, ia 
 now nearly equal to the latter, with the increase which has 
 been mentioned/ It of course hardly requires to be remarked, 
 in view of these statements and of other facts which have been 
 mentioned in the chapters immediately preceding, that the 
 advancement of Spain in the value of her importation must 
 depend upon the freedom with which her ports are thrown 
 open ; and her exportation must be greatly governed by the 
 success of the schemes devised for the improvement of her 
 agriculture, and the perfecting of her facilities for internal 
 communication. That the spirit of the government, in these 
 regards, is what it should be, has been already stated ; but the 
 number and magnitude of the obstacles, both moral and 
 physical, to be overcome, and the Spanish proclivity to the 
 poco d poco (little by little) policy, in all things, will prevent 
 
 ^In 1850, the imports were about thirty millions of dollars, an increase 
 of five millions over 1849 ; the exports were about twenty-four millions, 
 an increase of about half a million.
 
 SPAIN, 319 
 
 a more than small delay from being at all remarkable. Some 
 alterations, too, will be required in the navigation laws, which 
 are now far from being liberal ; but these will necessarily fol- 
 low. A robust natural growth is very sure to burst asunder 
 almost any artificial bonds. It is only when that growth is 
 hindered at its sources, that vigorous expansion is prevented. 
 The weakness of the plant has effect in that case, not the 
 strength of the restraint. 
 
 The reader, whose interest in the facilities of travelling 
 may be blended with his curiosity as to the commercial pro- 
 gress of the Spaniards, will be gratified to know that the whole 
 coast is now visited, almost daily, in its most important points, 
 by excellent steamers, provided with all desirable accommoda- 
 tions for passengers. There is a line established between 
 Malaga and Havre, which touches regularly at Cadiz, Lisbon, 
 and Vigo, and there is constant intercourse, by other lines, 
 between Marseilles, Barcelona, Valencia, Alicante, Cartagena, 
 Almeria, Malaga, Gibraltar, and Cadiz. With Madeira and 
 Cuba there is regular steam-communication also, though of 
 course not quite so frequent. This state of things, in itself, 
 goes to show a most material improvement in the coasting- 
 trade, which cannot fail, in its turn, to develop the interests 
 that serve it. As has been observed in another connection, it 
 is both an effect and a cause, — as significant in the one point 
 of view, as it must necessarily be important in the other. 
 
 In the "Glimpses of Spain" I had occasion to note the 
 improvement in manufactures which was making itself con- 
 spicuous in 1847. It is in my power to add but few details 
 to those which were there given. The public documents fur- 
 nish but little precise information, and such matters have not
 
 320 SPAIN. 
 
 been much inquired into by writers of authority. A good 
 deal of exact and trustworthy statement might, it is true, be 
 collected from the Geographical Dictionary of Madoz, to which 
 reference has already been made ; but, from the nature of that 
 work, its details are spread over so wide a surface, as to make 
 the task of grouping them almost endless. 
 
 The Catalan cotton-manufacturers were besieging the Cortes, 
 in 1849-50, with memorials and remonstrances of a most 
 doleful character, in which it was set forth that they had been 
 compelled to close many of their factories, and had been brought, 
 generally, to the brink of ruin, by the alteration of the tariff 
 on imports. I had information from a source on which I 
 could rely, that the closing of the few factories in question 
 was a dramatic performance for the benefit of the monopolists 
 engaged in it, and that the looms were straightway set in motion 
 again, when the scheme was found ineffectual with the legisla- 
 ture. As the genuine manufactures of many of the Catalan 
 establishments are really not worth protecting, under any sys- 
 tem of political economy, and as a large quantity of the wares 
 which they sell as their own are manufactured in England, 
 and smuggled into Barcelona, with the names of the ostensible 
 makers already on the bales, it would be little short of a bless- 
 ing to the legitimate production of Spain, if such of them 
 were closed never to be opened. The large capital which the 
 Catalans have acquired, under the restrictive system of so 
 many years, gives them, in a great degree, the command of the 
 home market ; enabling them to undersell — and to smuggle 
 ad libitum for the purpose of underselling — their more honest 
 and less wealthy competitors. Many of these last, however, 
 have begun to thrive, notwithstanding, under the auspices of
 
 SPAIN. 321 
 
 the modified tariff, — restrictive as it still is; and all that any 
 of them can require to insure success, is sufficient capital to 
 sustain them against the first onslaught of the monopolists. 
 
 There is, in fact, no reason whatever, in the nature of 
 things, why domestic manufactures should not succeed in 
 Spain. Water-power may be readily commanded, in advan- 
 tageous locations. Coal is abundant, for all possible applica- 
 tions of steam. Iron is excellent and cheap, for every need of 
 the workshop. Labor can be had upon the most moderate 
 terms, and the cost of subsistence is so trifling, that the 
 operative may thrive and be happy on the limited fruits of his 
 toil. Ingenuity and industry are as accessible as elsewhere, 
 and sobriety and frugality are pervading characteristics of 
 the people. No effort, made with ordinary prudence and 
 backed by sufficient means, has yet failed in turning these 
 natural advantages to account. Should the tariff undergo a 
 thorough modification, — as sooner or later it must, — protective 
 duties, of a moderate character, will probably be necessary, for 
 a while, to enable the new establishments to take root ; but 
 legislative aid will not be long desirable. The Catalans ought 
 to be ready to encounter foreign competition at once ; for if, 
 with their capital, experience, and energy, they are not able to 
 protect themselves, after so many years of restricted importa- 
 tion, manufacturing industry must be an artificial thing with 
 them, and there is no reason why the rest of the country 
 should be taxed to encourage or maintain it. At all events, 
 the duties which will be proper to develop manuflicturing 
 production — in those parts of the kingdom where it does not 
 exist, but in which nature and circumstances indicate the 
 policy of its establishment — will be all that the Catalans can 
 41
 
 322 SPAIN. 
 
 ask, to enable them to hold their own. It is more than likely 
 that they will avail themselves of any protection, to crush 
 their rivals at home; but Spanish taxation has internal facili- 
 ties, which may meet even this difficulty, and though they 
 should not, the new establishments must be content to pay the 
 price, which one need not be a manufacturer to know that all 
 experience in this world costs. 
 
 Of late years there has been a considerable effort to extend 
 and improve the production and manufacture of silk, and the 
 result has been very favorable. The silk-worm, formerly 
 confined, in a great degree, to Valencia and Murcia, is now an 
 article of material importance in the wealth of the two Castiles, 
 Eioja, and Aragon. The silk fabrics of Talavera, Valencia, 
 and Barcelona are, many of them, admirably wrought, and are 
 sold at rates which appear very moderate. I had particular 
 occasion to note the cheapness of the damasks which are sold 
 in Madrid from the native looms. It is not easy to imagine 
 any thing more magnificent, of their kind. The woollen 
 cloths, too, of home manufacture, are, some of them, very 
 admirable, and the coarser kinds supply, I believe, a consider- 
 able part of the national demand. In cheapness, I have never 
 seen them surpassed. The finer qualities do not bear so 
 favorable a comparison with the foreign article ; but those who 
 were familiar with the subject informed me, that their recent 
 improvement had been very decided. Many laudable efforts 
 have been made to render the supply of wool more abundant, 
 and to improve its quality; and there has been a considerable 
 importation of foreign sheep, with a view to crossing on the 
 native breeds. The sheep-rearing interest is so very large in 
 Spain, that any material improvement in the quality of the
 
 SPAIN. 323 
 
 wool must add greatly to the national wealth, as well as to the 
 importance of the woollen manufacture and its ability to 
 encounter foreign competition. 
 
 In the general movement towards an increased and more 
 valuable production of the raw material for manufacture, the 
 flax of Leon and Galicia and the hemp of Granada have not 
 been forgotten. But the article in which the most decided 
 and important progress has been made, is the great staple, 
 iron. In 1832, the iron-manufacture of Spain was at so low 
 an ebb, that it was necessary to import from England the large 
 lamp-posts of cast metal, which adorn the Plaza de Armas of 
 the Palace. They bear the London mark, and tell their own 
 story. A luxury for the in-doors enjoyment or personal 
 ostentation of the monarch, would, of course, have been 
 imported from any quarter, without regard to appearances. 
 But a monument of national dependence upon foreign industry 
 would hardly have been erected upon such a spot, had there 
 been a possibility of avoiding it by any domestic recourse. In 
 1850 the state of things had so far changed, that there were in 
 the kingdom twenty-five foundries, eight furnaces of the first 
 class, with foundries attached, and twenty-five iron-factories, 
 all prosperously and constantly occupied. The specimens of 
 work from these establishments, which are to be seen in the 
 capital and the chief cities of the provinces, are such as to 
 render the independence and prospective success of the nation 
 in this particular no longer matters of question. In the 
 beginning of 1850 the Marquis of Molins, then Minister of 
 Marine Afiairs, upon the petition of the iron-manufacturers, 
 directed inquiries to be made, by a competent board, into the 
 quality of the native iron, and the extent to which the home
 
 324 SPAIN. 
 
 manufacture might be relied on for the purposes of naval 
 construction. The result was so satisfactory, that in March 
 of the same year a royal order was issued from the Department, 
 directing all future contracts to be made with the domestic 
 establishments. This, indeed, had been the case, since 1845, 
 at the arsenal of Ferrol, which had been supplied altogether 
 from the iron- works of Biscay. The government, however, 
 had determined, for the future, to be chiefly its own purveyor, 
 and national foundries at Ferrol and Trubia, constructed 
 without regard to expense, were about to go into operation 
 when the royal order was published.
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 Fink Arts. — Galleries.— The National Museum and its Treasures. 
 — Academy of San Fernando. — Marshal Soult. — Murillo. — 
 Architecture. — Public Edifices. — Domestic Architecture. — 
 The Escorial. — Fountains of Madrid. — Bronze Equestrian 
 Statues. — Spanish Academy. — Academy of History. — National 
 Library. — The Armory. — Bull-Fights of 1850. — Montes, his 
 Exploits, Death, and Story. 
 
 THE state of the fine arts in Spain, at this time, is not such 
 as to deserve particular consideration. Sculpture has 
 hardly any votaries, — none, certainly, of note, — and, with a few 
 exceptions, painting seems to lie under the same ban. The 
 Royal Academy of San Fernando, intended to be the nurse, 
 has proved — as academies will sometimes prove — to be but the 
 stepmother of art ; and the pictures of the present day, which 
 hang upon its walls, are, for the most part, as bad as if they had 
 been made so to order. The younger IMadrazo is unquestion- 
 ably a man of talent, and he and a few of his contemporaries 
 are doing what they can to elevate the national standard ; but 
 there is, nevertheless, no distinctive Spanish school now in 
 existence, and no art in any degree worthy even the decadence 
 of a people, whose earlier masters stood so near the summit. 
 
 There are several private collections in Madrid, which well 
 deserve the traveller's attention ; but the National Museum, 
 
 325
 
 326 SPAIN. 
 
 on the Prado, is such a world of art, — so full of the most 
 remarkable monuments of genius, — that, except for the grati- 
 fication of a casual curiosity, or for the purpose of visiting the 
 few great works at the Academy or the Trinidad, no man of 
 taste will care to carry his researches beyond it. Some writers 
 complain of the 3Iuseo, as imperfect in some of its departments, 
 and deficient in the works of particular epochs and painters, 
 Spanish as well as Italian. Yet the collection is so various, 
 and its wealth is so prodigal, — the gems of the masters and 
 the periods represented are so many and so precious, — that it 
 is little short of wantonness to be dissatisfied because the 
 measure of perfection, in all things, is not filled to overflowing. 
 A collection which (according to Ford's enumeration) can boast 
 of ten Raphaels, forty-three Titians, sixty-two by Rubens, 
 sixty-two by Velazquez, forty-six by Murillo, fifty-two by 
 Teniers, twenty-two by Vandyke, ten by Wouvermans, ten by 
 Claude Lorraine, and more than two thousand pictures in all, 
 — ranging through the most diversified and most exalted walks 
 of excellence, — may well deserve the title, so often conferred 
 on it, of "the finest gallery in the world." ^ It contains the 
 choicest spoil of church and convent, — the treasures of the 
 Escorial and the Palace. Its riches were gathered from Italy, 
 when Spain ruled at Naples, and from the Low Countries, 
 when she had her viceroys there. Titian and Rubens dwelt 
 at Madrid to paint for it ; Velazquez searches the repositories 
 of Italian art, to fill it, and left to it the priceless endowment 
 of his own most perfect works. All that royal munificence 
 
 * See Vol. II. of Ford's Hand-Book, p. 744, where a great deal of interest- 
 ing critical and historical matter may be found, in the author's peculiar 
 style.
 
 SPAIN. 327 
 
 could do, was done lavishly, — at times, too, when Spanish 
 kings had taste, with wealth and power to serve it. 
 
 The Academy of San Fernando has fallen heir to a few very 
 fine pictures, among which is the celebrated St. Isabel of 
 Hungary, painted by Murillo for the Hospital of La Caridad, 
 at Seville, and carried off by Marshal Soult, with the rest of 
 his precious booty. On its return from Paris, after the visit 
 of the Allies, the St. Isabel, with two other masterpieces of 
 the great Andalusian, was arrested at Madrid, by the intrigues 
 of the Academicians, whose influence with Ferdinand was 
 sufficient to prevent the restoration of all three to the sanctu- 
 aries from which they had been stolen. It was by consent of 
 his Majesty, I believe, that the free-booting Marshal was 
 allowed to retain his individual share of the spoil, and thus 
 occurred the singular spectacle, lately exhibited in Paris, of 
 the Queen of Spain bidding, at an auction, for the rescue of 
 works of art of which her country had been barbarously plun- 
 dered. 
 
 The complete and excellent treatises of Head and Stirling 
 have made the works of the Spanish painters so well known 
 to the art-loving world, that it would be idle to comment at 
 length upon the collections at Madrid, even if my familiarity 
 with the subject, or the scope of this volume, would render 
 such details appropriate. I may observe, however, that an 
 admirer of Murillo will be more than ever satisfied — after see- 
 ing his pictures at the capital — of the entire truth of the remark, 
 that this great master can only be fully understood, and appre- 
 ciated fairly, at Seville, where he won his fame. It is there 
 that by far the most exquisite of his productions still are, — 
 the most interesting subjects, most ably treated ; and it is there
 
 328 SPAIN. 
 
 only that he can be seen, in his own colors, unspoiled and 
 unpatched by Vandal or Academician. In this judgment, 
 almost every one who has visited Seville will probably concur. 
 The further conclusion of my own, with which I venture to 
 accompany it, will probably find fewer supporters, though it 
 has the countenance of some whose criticism does not lack 
 authority. It is, tliat, after using the opportunity ])resented 
 by the Museo, of contrasting Murillo's paintings directly with 
 the masterpieces of the greatest artists, — with a vivid remem- 
 brance, too, of the chefs-d'osuvre of the Italian galleries — I 
 cannot find it in me to place the Spaniard, in point of genius, 
 below the loftiest of them all, Raphael not excepted. In the 
 incarnation of beauty, ideal or merely human, — in a sublimity 
 and dignity which borrow nothing from the Grecian chisel, 
 yet have the purity and grace, without the coldness, of its 
 marble, — in simplicity and tenderness of conception, — in a 
 magic of coloring, where tints blend imperceptibly and warmly, 
 as they melt into each other in the clouds and sky, — I confess 
 that my uneducated taste gives him no equal. There are, no 
 doubt, defects which I cannot see, and details which others 
 may surpass ; but in the perfect expression of a poet's highest 
 thought, his canvas is, to me, unrivalled. 
 
 With the exception of the Royal Palace, which is certainly 
 one of the most splendid structures in Europe, Madrid has 
 little to boast in the higher walks of architecture. There is 
 not a church in the whole city, with the exception of that of 
 the Convent of Salesas RealeSj'^v^hich deserves to be mentioned 
 as an effective work of art, in a European sense, although to 
 Cisatlantic eyes many of them would seem very imposing, 
 both in style and dimensions. The Custom-House, on the
 
 SPAIN. 329 
 
 street of Alcald, and the General Post-Office, in the Puerta 
 del Sol, are large and stately buildings, but both of them, and 
 particularly the latter, derive their principal effect from their 
 size. Substantially, the same thing has already been said of 
 the new Palace of the Deputies, and it may with equal pro- 
 priety be repeated in regard to the massive edifice on the 
 street of Atocha, which is dedicated to the Facultad Medica. 
 On the roof of the portico of this latter building sits a statue 
 of -^sculapius, reminding one exceedingly, by its position 
 and ponderosity, of the effigy of Queen Victoria, mounted, in 
 like case, upon the Royal Institution at Edinburgh. The 
 crushing effect of both brought forcibly to my recollection the 
 exclamation of John Kemble to the tyro in Hamlet, who did 
 not stare sufficiently aghast at the awful words of the ghost : 
 
 " But look ! amazement on thy mother sits I " 
 
 " Imagine rae. Sir," cried the enraged tragedian, " imagine me, 
 sitting on your mother ! " 
 
 I fortunately had no familiarity with the Medical Faculty 
 of Madrid which gives me any right to know, from experi- 
 ence, what iEsculapius has done for them to show his grati- 
 tude. The medical school ought to be a good one, and the 
 number of physicians who have had all the advantages of 
 Parisian education must certainly have infused into the 
 Peninsular system the spirit of modern science. I had occa- 
 sion, however, to obtain some information in regard to the 
 death of a grandee of Spain, which took place but a little 
 while before, and could not help being struck with the extra- 
 ordinary circumstances under which he was reportetl to have 
 departed this life. " Fallecio" says the parish certificate, " de 
 42
 
 330 SPAIN. 
 
 resultas de un ataque cerebral, con asfixia del corazon, proce- 
 dente de un espasmo general, segun certificacion de dosfaculta- 
 tivos." — " He died from the result of a cerebral attack, with 
 asphyxia of the heart, proceeding from a general spasm, accord- 
 ing to the certificate of two physicians." It is the duty of 
 every man to make what humble contributions he may to the 
 cause of science, — and I report the case for the benefit of the 
 profession and the good of humanity and diagnosis. 
 
 AVithin a few years past (to return to our subject) the 
 domestic architecture of Madrid lias wonderfully improved, 
 and some of the more modern palaces, as well as private 
 buildings of less pretension, are in excellent taste and of 
 imposing appearance. I have already alluded to the stately 
 beauty of the street of Alcala, with the splendid triumphal 
 arch to which it leads ; and there are other of the public ways 
 which would do no discredit to any capital. The taste for 
 buildings of immense dimensions has taken complete posses- 
 sion of the Madrilenos, so that the number of houses is actually 
 smaller than it was some years ago, although the population 
 has increased considerably, and household facilities and com- 
 forts have multiplied, in a proportion still larger. The sites 
 of many of the suppressed monasteries have been used for the 
 erection of dwellings, and the peculiar taste referred to has 
 been illustrated, remarkably, in the magnitude of some of 
 these. The Casa de Cordero, or del Maragato, as it is some- 
 times called, is probably the most extensive of these new 
 structures. It occupies the grounds of the ancient convent of 
 San Felipe el Real, a large square on the Calle Mayor, near 
 the Puerta del Sol, and is distributed into an almost incredible 
 number of suites and establishments, public and private. Its
 
 SPAIN. 331 
 
 fronts of dressed stone are in admirable taste, and all its 
 appliances are of the most complete and highly finished char- 
 acter. Some idea may be formed of its value and extent, from 
 the fact that its daily rent exceeds two hundred and fifty 
 dollars. The owner, Sr. Cordero, belongs to the singular 
 tribe of Maragaios, in Leon, and is one of the wealthiest and 
 most enterprising capitalists of Madrid. He was a Deputy to 
 the Cortes and an ardent Progresista. His hand is in every 
 enterprise of public benefit, and no one, perhaps, has done 
 more to awaken and sustain the public spirit, of which 
 Madrid is reaping the advantages so signally. 
 
 While on the subject of architecture, I may express the 
 disappointment, in many particulars, which was the result of 
 my visit to the Escorial. That famous edifice is certainly of 
 extraordinary dimensions, but the effect of its size is almost 
 entirely lost, as you approach, in the dwarfing contrast of the 
 mountains which lie behind it ; and although, as you wander 
 through the innumerable courts and corridors and quadrangles, 
 a wearying sense of vastness creeps over you, it is not one 
 which is at all coupled with au impression of architectural 
 grandeur. Indeed, the building was never intended as a 
 triumph of ornamental art, but merely for the purposes of a 
 monastery, and with the necessary adaptations. It is, there- 
 fore, no discredit to the original architect, Juan de Toledo, 
 that he made it what it is, — nor indeed to Philip the Second, 
 that he did not cause it to be made otherwise. The gridiron, 
 it is true, might have been left out of the plan, but it may be 
 doubted whether — adopted as latitudinarily as it was — it did 
 not furnish an excellent mode of arrangement, for a building 
 which required long passages, small apartments, and many and
 
 332 SPAIN. 
 
 small windows. It is the traveller's mistake, if he looks for a 
 palace, where nothing was designed but a shelter for cenobites. 
 
 The disappointment caused by the general aspect of the 
 monastery was lost in a feeling of the deepest admiration, when 
 we entered the great chapel in its centre, — the most impressive 
 adaptation I have ever seen of classic architecture to the pur- 
 poses of Christian worship. It is, throughout, of dark gray 
 granite, of the simplest and severest Doric. Its dimensions 
 are colossal, as those of a cathedral ; the piers beneath its lofty 
 cupola as massive, in proportion, as those which uphold the 
 dome of St. Peter's. Every detail is in solemn keeping with 
 the austerity of the architect's conception, — the very light, 
 even at midday, seeming to steal with shadowy awe, as into 
 the presence of something holy. It was towards sunset of a 
 stormy evening, that we were conducted, through long galleries 
 and dreamy cloisters, into the front of the great choir. But 
 for a distant, half-heard chanting, we should have thought 
 ourselves alone with the twilight. There was no painted 
 glass, — no fretwork, — no quaint device or cunning tracery, — 
 to fill the waning light with shapes of beauty or of fantasy. 
 The sublimity about us was that of darkness and silence, in a 
 temple meet for them. 
 
 In singular contrast with the simplicity of the chapel is 
 the Panteon, — the burial-place of the Spanish kings, far 
 down beneath the high altar, — a work of later days, the 
 florid elegance of which could never have been tolerated, in 
 such a connection, by the chastened taste of Herrera or his 
 master. Every thing that is gorgeous, in bronze and gilding 
 and jasper, is lavished upon the charnel-house. The walls of 
 the descent to it throw back, like mirrors, the glimmering of
 
 SPAIN. 333 
 
 the tapers that you hold, and you are warned to be careful, 
 lest the polish of the marble that you tread, should afford no 
 security to your footsteps. Save the reverential aspect and bent 
 body of the old monk who is your guide, there is nothing in 
 the sepulchre or its appointments to wake one solemn thought 
 of death, or lift the mind towards the uncertainty beyond it. 
 Were it not for the grandeur of the temple which is above it, 
 — the fame of some few of the monarchs who occupy its urns, 
 — and the dignity and awe with which the genius of Quintana 
 has associated it, in one of the noblest efforts of the Spanish 
 Muse, — the Fanteon would be but a tinselled chamber, without 
 taste, appropriateness, or moral. 
 
 In speaking of the works of art which adorn Madrid, the 
 attention of the reader may very well be called to the sculpture 
 of the fountains in the Prado, which, though not of the 
 highest order, have, nevertheless, a great deal of merit, both 
 in composition and execution. The size of the groups and 
 figures is so colossal, that they form conspicuous features in the 
 evening view, when the great walk of the capital is crowded 
 with its cheerful thousands ; and there is beauty, as well as 
 freshness, in the glancing of the waters which they scatter so 
 copiously round them. The group of Cybele is perhaps the 
 most admired, but I was particularly struck with the great 
 fountain of Neptune, in the winter season, when the breezes 
 blew chill from the Guadarrama Mountains. There was 
 infinite spirit and effect in the gallant style in which the 
 sea-god's horses seemed to be flinging the icicles from their 
 manes and nostrils. 
 
 Of the bronzes in the public places it may, I think, with 
 justice be said, that Madrid can furnish one of the best and
 
 334 SPAIN. 
 
 one of the worst equestrian statues in the world. The latter 
 is the effigy of Philip the Third, in the wide old Plaza Mayor 
 which was the work of his reign. It seems scarcely possible 
 that the sculptor could ever have seen a horse, at all events as 
 the animal exists at present. The monarch's steed is absurdly 
 swollen, and his action, in the sort of amble to which he is 
 condemned, is ingeniously unnatural and clumsy. The whole 
 work would suggest the idea of Bacchus astride a barrel, but 
 that the attitude of the rosy god has generally a graceful aban- 
 don, of which the awkward and unknightly seat of the king 
 bears not the slightest trace. Yet the statue was modelled, 
 horse and man, by John of Bologna, who certainly knew 
 better, and was finished by Pietro Tacca, the author of the 
 admirable work with which I am about to contrast it. 
 
 The statue of Philip the Fourth, formerly in the Retiro gar- 
 dens, and now in the Plaza de Oriente, is quite another aifair ; 
 but Tacca was aided, in this task, by a drawing from the 
 hand of Velazquez, still extant, and there breathe, throughout 
 the whole production, the fire and spirit, which have made the 
 equestrian portraits of that master perhaps the finest in the 
 world. The attitude of the horse is rendered somewhat arti- 
 ficial, by its conformity with the rules of the manege ; but the 
 nostrils are distended, the fore feet beat the air, and even the 
 hind feet, on which the whole weight rests, appear to spurn 
 the earth. The seat of the rider is matchless, — light, grace- 
 ful, and yet firm as a centaur's. The touch of the bridle- 
 hand is as delicate as the best training for the lists could make 
 it, and the lace-work of the sash seems floating from the armor 
 like gossamer upon the wind. I am induced particularly to 
 refer to this work, not only because it is, beyond dispute, a
 
 SPAIN. 335 
 
 masterpiece, but because a statement has recently been going 
 the rounds of the American press, in which a projected cast, 
 by an ingenious native artist, is spoken of as the only attempt 
 to make an equestrian statue depending altogether for suj>port 
 on the hind quarters of the horse. Philip the Fourth, having 
 perhaps the dread of his predecessor's effigy before him, 
 insisted that his charger should be cast as in the gallop, and 
 availed himself of the influence of Christina of Lorraine, then 
 Grand Duchess of Tuscany, to secure the services of Tacca for 
 that purpose. It was not without some remonstrance on the 
 part of the sculptor, that the will of the king had its way. 
 A full account is given, by Ponz, of the mode in which the 
 difficulties of the subject were overcome ; and an artist of the 
 present day would doubtless find matter in it made worthy 
 his consideration by the triumphant success of the Floren- 
 tine master. The weight of the statue is eighteen thousand 
 pounds, and the tradition is, that the sculptor was aided in 
 his distribution of the mass by the suggestions of Galileo, 
 his contemporary and friend. 
 
 If it were any part of my intention to give a narrative or 
 descriptive character to this little volume, there are many 
 interesting public institutions in Madrid to which I might 
 profitably direct the reader's attention. They will all be 
 found mentioned in the guide-books, and a more particular 
 reference to them would be foreign to my present purpose. 
 Those, however, who are interested in the purity and preser- 
 vation of the Spanish language, will be pleased to know that 
 the Academia Espafiola still continues its labors, and that they 
 are about to take a more profitable shape than of late, in the 
 production of a new and complete grammar and dictionary.
 
 336 SPAIN. 
 
 The latter is not to be merely the republication, which has 
 periodically appeared for some years past, but a thorough and 
 copious work, such as signalised the learning of the Academy 
 in its earlier history. Both the grammar and dictionary are 
 imperatively called for, by the variations in orthography, syntax, 
 and the vocabulary itself, which the last few years have intro- 
 duced into the works of even the most approved writers. 
 The Academy has many members peculiarly qualified for such 
 tasks, and the result of its labors may therefore be awaited 
 with interest. 
 
 The Academy of History, to the sessions of which the un- 
 merited honor of a corresponding membership gave me admis- 
 sion, was occupied, as diligently as its moderate means would 
 allow, in the publication of historical manuscripts, — treasures 
 of which yet lie, undeveloped, on its shelves. Some of the 
 unpublished books of Oviedo's History of the Indies were in 
 a state of preparation for the press, nothing being wanting but 
 a portion of the manuscript, belonging to the Queen's private 
 library, — to which access, strange to say, is difficult, even for 
 Academicians. The Padre Baranda, a learned member of the 
 Academy, was intrusted with a continuation of the Espafia 
 Sagrada of Flores, and the publication of several volumes of 
 Villanueva's " Literary Voyage to the Churches of Spain," 
 which are yet in manuscript. To the printing of these latter 
 works a liberal contribution was made by the Commissary of 
 the Bull of the Crusade, — their ecclesiastical merit and interest 
 commending them a good deal more to such patronage, than 
 to any general acceptation in the literary world. The Academy 
 can hardly be said to be in a flourishing condition, so far as 
 concerns its capacity for the dissemination of knowledge.
 
 SPAIN. 337 
 
 The library is a good, and in some measure a rare one, but the 
 want of room renders its arrangement and classification ex- 
 tremely imperfect, so that — the catalogue being in manuscript 
 and not clear to the uninitiated— it is necessary to dejxind, 
 almost entirely, upon the personal familiarity of the worthy 
 librarian with the sheep of his pasture. Under such circum- 
 stances, and in the absence of any but the most limited 
 pecuniary resources, the institution is necessarily narrowed in 
 the sphere of its usefulness, and principally serves to keep 
 alive, in a small body of learned and indefatigable scholars, a 
 quiet devotion to the literary antiquities of their country. 
 Before I left Madrid, it was in contemplation to remove the 
 collections of the Academy to a more favorable and com- 
 modious locality ; and it may be that some impulse will thus 
 be given to its labors, which will enable it to continue worthy 
 of the days of Clemencin and Navarrete. So far as industry 
 and learning may contribute to this result, there is enough of 
 both, among the members, to insure it. 
 
 The National Library, with its collection of 130,000 
 volumes, is an excellent institution, so far as it goes, — a per- 
 fect model in its arrangement, and in the liberality with 
 which provision is made for the convenient and satisfactory 
 access of the public. The apartments are many and comfort- 
 able, and the attendants as numerous and courteous as could 
 be desired. Those who are interested in coins and medals will 
 find an extensive and admirable collection there, — probably 
 unsurpassed by any of Europe in the Arabic department, 
 which owes the beauty of its arrangement — so often praised — 
 to the skill and learning of Don Pascual de Gayangos. The 
 Library is obnoxious to the same complaint which has been 
 43
 
 338 SPAIN. 
 
 made in regard to the more limited collection of the Academy 
 of History, — the want of proper and complete indexes. 
 Those which exist are very perfect, down to their date ; but 
 they have not been systematically added to for several years. 
 Being in manuscript also, — of which there is but one copy, — 
 they furnish the most limited facilities, even where they are 
 complete ; and it is necessary to resort to the officers in charge 
 of them with a frequency which is a great obstacle to uninter- 
 rupted and elaborate investigation. The collection of books 
 also needs modernising very much. It is unequivocally 
 behind the times, and meagre in its stock of contemporary 
 literature. But every thing cannot be done at once. Material 
 necessities must be met, before intellectual cravings can be 
 satisfied. Arms must have yielded long, before the toga can 
 be worn as a familiar garment. 
 
 The lover of romantic antiquity will probably find nothing 
 in Europe to delight him more, in that regard, than the superb 
 Atmier^a (Armory) near the Palace. It is not only rich in 
 armor and weapons, the most complete, ingenious, and mag- 
 nificent, in themselves; but suggestive, at every step, of all that 
 is chivalrous and glorious in Spanish history. Suit after suit, 
 bruised in the bloodiest frays, — swords which have names in 
 song and chronicle, — shields and lances which have driven 
 back, or onward, the tide of famous battle, — are all there, as 
 they were worn, or borne, or wielded, by king and champion, 
 Moor and Christian. Blades of the Paladins, — the mail of 
 the Cid, — the halberd of Peter the Cruel, — the armor of 
 Isabella, and Boabdil, and Gonzalo of C6rdova, — the casque 
 of the captive Francis, — the harness of the great Emperor, 
 his victor,— of Columbus and "stout Cortes," — of Guzman
 
 SPAIN. 339 
 
 the Good, — of Ferdinand the Saint and Ferdinand the 
 Catholic — and sinner ! It is a place to read ballads and dream 
 dreams, and ask no questions. 
 
 As an historical memorial, I was struck with an adargay 
 or Moorish shield of dressed leather, which belonged to 
 Charles the Fifth. It is divided into four compartments, the 
 upper one of which, upon the left, contains a representation of 
 the surrender of the Alhambra. Ferdinand rides on the out- 
 side, on a white charger ; the Queen, on a white palfrey, is 
 between him and a gray-haired man, supposed to be the Cardi- 
 nal Mendoza. They are entering at one gate, followed by their 
 soldiery, while from another gate of the same tower sallies 
 Boabdil, with but one attendant. The similarity of this pic- 
 ture to the bas-relief on the altar of the Catholic Sovereigns, 
 in the Cathedral of Granada, entitles it to some consideration 
 as illustrating a point on which the chronicles diflfer. I 
 referred to the question in the Glimpses of Spain, and it is 
 hardly of sufficient importance to deserve more than the 
 present allusion. 
 
 It would be scarcely pardonable to take my leave of Madrid, 
 without some reference to the bull-fights of the famous season 
 of 1850. Not that there is any thing new to be said or sung 
 upon the subject, in the general, — nor that I propose to say 
 or sing what has been heard so often before ; but that the 
 veteran Montes, " the first sword of Spain," returned, during 
 my visit, to the scene of his triumphs which he had for six 
 years deserted, and his advent was an epoch in the annals of 
 tauromachy. When it began to be rumored that he was 
 coming, the newspapers were wild, and the people in ecstasy. 
 He brought with him his nephew, the famous Chidanero ;
 
 340 SPAIN. 
 
 and the Duke of VeraguaB, a grandee of Spain and the lineal 
 descendant of Columbus, was one of the attorneys who con- 
 tracted on their part with the directors of the Plaza. A 
 procession of the fancy, noble and gentle, went out to meet him 
 as he drew near Madrid, and, after feasting and congratulation, 
 he entered the city in triumph. His first performance was on 
 the afternoon of Easter Sunday, — a special honor to the day. 
 The Plaza was crowded to overflowing, the troupe was choice 
 and beautifully equipped, and the array of loveliness, fashion, 
 and enthusiasm not to be surpassed. The great matador was 
 received as a victor from a hard-fought field. He bore his 
 laurels modestly, and addressed himself at once, like a man, 
 to his work. 
 
 Though past the prime of life and of activity, Montes was 
 conspicuous for his athletic form and perfect composure. 
 
 He had 
 
 " The eye of the hawk, and the fire therein," — 
 
 dexterity, which nothing but long practice, courage, and com- 
 mand of nerve can give, in the presence of such terrible and 
 instant danger. When the bull came in, he would sit for a 
 few moments on the barrier and watch his motions. Appar- 
 ently satisfied as to the character of the animal by this brief 
 observation, he would descend into the arena, and place himself 
 where he pleased. He would call the bull, — attract and mock 
 him with his cloak, backwards and forwards and again, — and 
 yet not desert a circle of ten feet in diameter. Where the 
 banderilleros would fly and leap the barrier, he would avoid 
 the charge by the slightest inclination of his body, without a 
 step to the right or left. Once I saw him call the bull, and 
 as the furious animal rushed towards him, Montes confronted
 
 SPAIN. 341 
 
 him with folded arms and steady gaze. The bull turned 
 instantly aside, and attacked some other of the company. It 
 seemed, indeed, as if his mastery over the wild Ijrutes was 
 absolute, — as if, to use the language of one of the journals, 
 " they knew him and respected him." To me, I confess, 
 it was incomprehensible, — to the reader it will, I fear, be 
 incredible. 
 
 The killing of the bull by Montes was a very miracle, — 
 no butchery, no side-blow, no loss of swords, no hurry, no 
 help. In one and the same instant the sword flashed behind 
 the crimson cloak, and the matador was wiping the blood 
 from his blade, with the victim at his feet. I saw the whole 
 Plaza rise, to a man, in admiration of one such blow. The 
 newspapers were absolutely glorious in their accounts of the 
 maestro's performances ; but the details of their descriptions, 
 though no doubt interesting to the fancy, were as unintel- 
 ligible to me, as the history of a milling-match in Bell's Life 
 in London. I endeavored to educate myself up to the proper 
 level, by reading the treatise of Montes himself on Tauroma- 
 quia, — a work of considerable reputation ; but I found it as 
 scientific as a book of surgery, and as deep as one of Mr. 
 Emerson's Essays. Having had occasion, at the time, to 
 turn to Ford's Hand-Book, — which is full of knowledge and 
 admirable description in regard to the sports of the arena, — 
 I fell by chance on that singular passage, in which he gives 
 vent to his nationality, by speaking of the "quick work" 
 which " a real British bull, with his broad neck and short 
 horns, would make with the men and horses of Spain " ! I 
 could not but feel curious to know what the patriotism of 
 the writer might induce him to think of a boar-hunt, with 
 prize pigs.
 
 342 SPAIN. 
 
 Since my return from Spain, Montes has fallen before a 
 mightier matador than himself, — having died of a fever, or 
 a doctor, at home, in his bed. The account which I have 
 of his decease sets down his age at forty-six. In the ring, 
 he appeared at least ten years older. "Six bull-fighters," 
 
 says his chronicler, " bore his coffin in silent sadness 
 
 He was of noble family, but was compelled, by the reduced 
 circumstances of his father, to gain his subsistence with his 
 own hands. The destiny of a day-laborer, however, did 
 not furnish a field broad enough for the movements of his 
 soul. In his straits, he sought a door to the temple of fame, 
 — and he found it. He elevated his art to a height unknown 
 before, and the whole world beheld with awe the triumphs of 
 his skill and valor ! " 
 
 What is glory, after all? And what lacks Montes, but 
 his Homer, to live as long as Ajax ? Is not the hero thrice 
 blessed who slays only cattle ?
 
 XXIX. 
 
 Vallabolid. — SiMAxcAs AND ITS ARcni"VT:s. — Blasco de Garay and 
 THE Application of Steam to Navigation. — His In\tntion a 
 Fable. — Burgos. — Vergara. — Visit to Azpeitia. — Valley of 
 Loyola. — Jesuit College and Church. — The Basques. — Theih 
 Character, AgriculturEj and Institutions. — Tolosa. — Ride to 
 Bayonne. — The Gascon. 
 
 WHEN I left Madrid, the duty which called me home- 
 ward permitted but little deviation from the beaten 
 track by wliich I had entered Spain. I took advantage, 
 however, of a few days' leisure and the agreeable companion- 
 ship of a fellow-countryman and friend, to visit the noble old 
 city of Valladolid, and the works of art which are still so 
 splendid in Burgos. A full account of our journey would be 
 out of place here, and the objects of interest which we passed 
 in review would be unfairly dealt with, if treated otherwise 
 than in detail. 
 
 From Valladolid, an excursion to the Archives of Simancas 
 was a matter of course. A drive of two leagues or thereabouts, 
 along the banks of the Pisuerga, — which waters a beautiful 
 and highly cultivated valley, — carried us to the base of a bold 
 hill, whose summit is crowned by the village of Simancas. 
 High over all rises the stern old castle, with its round towers, 
 which once belonged to the valorous Heuriquez, — the Admirals 
 
 343
 
 344 SPAIN. 
 
 of Castille, — and in which are now deposited so many of the 
 most important records of the Spanish realm. Making our 
 way on foot up the precipitous and narrow streets of the town, 
 we at last reached a stone bridge, which occupied the place of 
 the old drawbridge and led us, across the moat, to the massive 
 gateway of the castle. The occupation of the moat was as 
 peaceful as that of the grim walls it girdled, for a harvest of 
 luxuriant grain was growing along its deep and fertile round. 
 
 The kind letters of our friends at Madrid commended us 
 so efficiently to the good offices of the courteous and learned 
 ai'chivero, Sr. Gonzalez Garcia, that we were soon introduced to 
 the most interesting of his curiosities. The French destroyed 
 many documents of value and removed others, — partly from 
 wantonness and partly to obliterate the historical traces of some 
 transactions and mischances of their own ; but the Archivo is 
 still a treasure-house of European history, and access is now 
 obtained to it with so much greater facility than of old, that 
 it is likely yet to revolutionize many received historical 
 theories and dogmas. The History of Philip the Second, now 
 in the hands of our eminent fellow-citizen, Mr. Prescott, will 
 probably affi)rd early evidence in this behalf. 
 
 The papers, throughout the whole Archivo, are capitally 
 arranged and kept, — the most precious, in queer old areas or 
 chests, which are deposited in safes or small vaulted chambers, 
 for which the solid walls affijrd excellent convenience. The 
 state apartment contains perhaps the most valuable documents, 
 in the shape of diplomatic correspondence. Some idea of the 
 copiousness of the records here may be formed from the fact, 
 that the letters of Gondomar, the Ambassador of Spain at the 
 Court of James the First of England, fill eighteen folio
 
 SPAIN. 345 
 
 volumes. Among the more curious papers may be seen the 
 wills of Isabella the Catholic and her grandson, Charles the 
 Fifth ; the autograph letter of John of Austria, written in the 
 flush of the victory of Lepanto, with a plan of the battle, 
 drawn by himself; and the memoranda made by Philip the 
 Second for the despatch to be written in reply. Philip was a 
 pragmatical man of business, and made memoranda and notes 
 of every thing, so that almost all the details of his reign may 
 be traced here after his own hand. In some of the lower 
 courts of the castle there were immense bales of papers lying, 
 which had belonged to the archives of the Inquisition at 
 Madrid. They had not been long remitted, and there was no 
 room for them. An auto de fe would be a characteristic and 
 appropriate disposition of them. 
 
 " Let the dead past bury its dead." 
 
 In the copying-room of the Archivo, we had the good 
 fortune to find Don Jose Aparici, an exceedingly interest- 
 ing person, to whom, also, we were recommended. He was 
 a colonel of engineers, a man of science, and an antiquarian 
 and scholar of no mean repute, to whom had been assigned 
 the duty of preparing materials, from the records, for a 
 history of the Engineer Department of Spain. To this task 
 he had voluntarily added that of searching the archives for 
 the annals of the artillery corps. He showed us some twenty 
 or thirty volumes of copies, the fruits of six years' investiga- 
 tions, and yet covering only the history of the sixteenth and 
 a part of the seventeenth century. He had searched, as far 
 as he had gone, all the papers in the archives of the War 
 Department, and contemplated going through all those of 
 44
 
 346 SPAIN. 
 
 later date. The number of years which his labors were still 
 likely to occupy was of course uncertain, — not less than six, 
 however, at the least. Taking us to his house, he showed us 
 a beautiful collection of fac-similes he had made of the 
 signatures of all the distinguished persons — kings, queens, 
 soldiers, statesmen, artists, and scholars — of the fifteenth, 
 sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries. Among them we noticed 
 the name of Blasco de Garay, the engineer, to whom has 
 been attributed, by many, the first application of steam, with 
 success, to the purposes of navigation. The reader who is 
 familiar with either the history of Spain or that of the 
 steam-engine, will remember that the experiment is said to 
 have been triumphantly made by Garay, in the presence of 
 Charles the Fifth, in the harbor of Barcelona, and that the 
 prosecution of the discovery was arrested by a court intrigue. 
 The details were given to the world by Don Martin Navar- 
 rete, in his Coleccion de Viages, &c., and were perhaps first 
 republished in the United States in Mr. Slidell's "Year in 
 Spain." To our surprise. Colonel Aparici informed us, that 
 the whole story was a mere fiction. The facts which he 
 related in regard to it bear so closely on a question of great 
 interest, particularly in this country, as to induce me to 
 depart from my original plan, by giving this account of my 
 visit to Simancas. 
 
 There is no doubt that Garay — who calls himself, in his 
 memorials, " un pobre hidalgo de Toledo " (a poor gentleman 
 of Toledo) — was a man of a great deal of mechanical talent 
 and proficiency in the physical sciences. The records of 
 Simancas show many projects of his, which indicate an active 
 and inventive mind. Among them is an ingenious plan for
 
 SPAIN. 347 
 
 converting salt water into fresh, at sea. The invention which 
 has given rise to his connection with the history of steam 
 navigation was nothing more nor less than the substitution of 
 wheels for oars in the royal galleys. He made four failures 
 in the harbor of Malaga. His fifth experiment, which was in 
 the port of Barcelona, was in a measure successful. With two 
 wheels, and relays of six men for each, he was able to move a 
 large galley, at the rate of something more than a league in 
 the hour. The crew of such a vessel, when moved by oars, 
 was required to number at least a hundred and fifty men. 
 The Emperor, who was to have been present at the experi- 
 ment, was called off suddenly to the Low Countries, and 
 Garay lost the benefit of his personal inspection. When the 
 result, however, was communicated to Charles, he made the 
 same objection which has been urged, in our time, to the use 
 of war-steamers. He said that a cannon-ball might destroy 
 the machinery, and render the galley unmanageable at a single 
 blow. It was this opinion of the Emperor, and no intrigue 
 of the Treasurer Ravago, as stated by Navarrete, which put 
 an end to Garay's improvement. He died poor, and there is 
 extant, in the Archivo, a memorial of his son after his death, 
 asking the allowance of a hundred ducats, for the construction 
 of another machine according to the father's plan. It was not 
 granted. 
 
 These facts, which conclusively settle the question of 
 Garay's invention, were given to me by Colonel Aparici, 
 in detail, and with an offer to refer to the copies of the proper 
 documents. They are, of course, not made public here without 
 his permission. He told us that he had looked over every 
 paper in the Archivo, having any connection with the projects
 
 348 SPAIN. 
 
 of Garay, and that there is not, in any memorial, report, or 
 ojieio relating to the subject, a single allusion to steam, or to a 
 caldera (boiler) or any thing which, directly or indirectly, 
 suggests the idea of steam as a motive-power. He added, 
 that the facts which he thus communicated to us were known 
 to a great many persons in Spain, and particularly to the 
 members of the Academy of History ; but that there was a 
 natural indisposition, on every one's part, to take the lead in 
 giving them to the world. The invention was too glorious a 
 one for the national pride to surrender without a struggle. 
 The documents, however, he said, must one day appear. He 
 himself had prepared some biographical memoranda for the 
 press, which he showed us, in which the true state of the case 
 was lightly alluded to, by way of preparing the public mind. 
 To use his own emphatic and manly language, " he could not 
 think that fame which was a lie, was worth preserving." 
 
 It is but justice to the learned and indefatigable Navarrete 
 to say, that there is not the slightest imputation upon his 
 candor or research involved in the fact of his having published 
 a statement, which now turns out to be so far unfounded. The 
 documents on which he relied were furnished to him from a 
 responsible source, and he gave the results to the press in the 
 best faith. Small portions of the latter part of Garay's cor- 
 respondence were all that he received, and the allusions to 
 steam were surreptitiously introduced, to impose on him. It 
 is not known whether he was ever informed of the imposition; 
 certainly he was not, if at all, until after his advanced age had 
 placed literary labor of any sort beyond his powers. The 
 memory of so able, pure, and accurate an historian deserves 
 this statement. In the multiplicity and scope of his painful
 
 SPAIN, 349 
 
 and protracted labors, he could not possibly see all things with 
 his own eyes. 
 
 After two or three days spent among the wonders of the 
 past and the discomforts of the present, in both of which 
 Burgos is 80 abounding, my companion was called back to 
 official duties in the capital, and I resumed my journey 
 towards the frontier, pausing only for a slight deflection into 
 Guipuzcoa (one of the Basque provinces), to visit the family 
 of a valued friend whom I had left, an exile, in America. 
 We diverged from the main road at Vergara, — the scene of 
 Espartero's famous " Convention " with Maroto, — a sweet 
 little town in a shady and romantic defile, by far too beautiful 
 to be the witness of unnatural and cruel strife. For a league 
 and a half our journey lay along the margin of the Deva, 
 which is indeed a " wizard stream." The lofty hills between 
 which it flows were cultivated almost to their summits, in 
 every variety and shade of green, to which the iron-tinted 
 soil, where freshly turned, gave charming contrast and relief. 
 Here and there, whole hill-sides, covered with the yellow 
 turnip-blossom, looked, in the sun, like fields of cloth of gold. 
 White caseinas (farm-houses) peeped out at every turn, from 
 groups of trees ; peasants were at work all round us ; horned 
 cattle, sheep, and goats, in large numbers, were cropping the 
 luxuriant grass. Every inch of ground was converted to some 
 useful purpose ; every handful of soil was made to yield its 
 double-handfuls of product. Defile came after defile, and 
 gorge after gorge, all beautiful alike. Mountain streams 
 rushed down, in foam, beside the road, and now and then 
 leaped wildly across it. The Deva was full and turbid, from 
 recent rains. The gray stone of the bridges over it was often
 
 350 SPAIN. 
 
 covered with mosses and pendent vines. The walls, along its 
 banks and on the upper side of the road, were green with ivies 
 and lichens, and fringed with fern. Wild-flowers, blue and 
 yellow, spangled the dark carpet on the lower grounds. Every- 
 thing told of moisture and sunshine. 
 
 After a while, as we advanced in our ascent, the scene 
 developed itself into wider valleys, and the hills began to wear 
 a savage look about their summits, well suited to suggest the 
 presence of those "spirits and walking devils," with which old 
 Burton, upon learned authority, has peopled the ruggedness of 
 the Cantabrian mountains. We saw none of these, however ; 
 but as we were toiling upwards, near a hill-top, our path was 
 suddenly and swiftly crossed by a party of Padego smugglers, 
 after whom the custom-house guards were in full cry. They 
 were stout, athletic fellows, — so well able to meet danger, that 
 it was no wonder they despised it. Each of them carried a 
 mountaineer's long pole, and they rushed over the rocks, and 
 up through the forest, with an agility that was astonishing. 
 My postilion wisely turned his back, so as not to see the direc- 
 tion which they took, and when the troops came up, he, of 
 course, could give them no information. I dismounted and 
 walked a half-mile with the officer in command, who was a 
 pleasant fellow and asked me no questions. He told me that 
 a party of his men were behind, with the main body of the 
 contrabandistas, whom they had captured. I saw the poor 
 Pasiegos pass along, afterwards, two by two, quite uncon- 
 cerned. At the next venta, the soldiers bound their hands 
 together, apparently with great reluctance ; but the captives 
 smoked their cigars very contentedly during the process. 
 They were superb peasants, of the manliest mould, which was
 
 SPAIN. 351 
 
 well set off by the tight, neat costume of their province. It 
 was sad to reflect tliat a system of pernicious and unreasonable 
 laws should tempt such stalwart fellows from honest labor, to 
 waste tlieir manhood in the squalid toil of the chain-gangs. 
 
 Ascent and descent, equally tedious but for the beauty of 
 the scenery and the excellence of the road, carried us, at last, 
 into the valley of Loyola, where, on the margin of a copious 
 and rapid stream, bearing the musical name Urola, lay tiie 
 delightful village of Azpeitia, the place of my destination. 
 The town is famous as the birthplace of the great founder of 
 the Society of Jesus, who, in the various colors of saint and 
 sage, bigot and madman, — according to the predilection, or 
 judgment, or prejudice of the painter, — has filled so many 
 pages of the world's most serious history. The house in 
 which he was born, with the arms of his family — two wolves, 
 at a pot suspended by a chain — rudely sculptured over the 
 entrance, is still in perfect preservation, at a short distance 
 from the town. It is now incorporated into the buildings of 
 the immense Jesuit College, whose founders once owned the 
 wide and pleasant huerta, still green and plentiful about it. 
 The church of the college is a superb rotonde, with a dome 
 and lantern in fine taste, — the most remarkable building of 
 its style in Spain. It is constructed of hard black jasper, 
 which takes an exquisite polish. The front and the grand 
 Corinthian portico look as if they were made of the costliest 
 Egyptian marble. The good priest, who was our guide, 
 showed me a magnificent block, in which the town, the smil- 
 ing valley, and the hills about it, were reflected, as in a per- 
 fect mirror. The high altar and many parts of the interior 
 of the edifice are remarkable for the variety and great beauty
 
 352 SPAIN. 
 
 of the marbles, — all of which are Spanish ; some of them 
 from the Granadian mountains, but the most from those of 
 Biscay. Some of the mosaics and inlaid work can with 
 difficulty be surpassed. The church was deserted, being 
 under the charge, for preservation only, of a solitary clergy- 
 man, once the prior of a convent in Azpeitia. The college 
 was the property of the province, and then only used as the 
 depository of the archives of Guipuzcoa. The whole estab- 
 lishment has since been restored to the Jesuit fathers. 
 
 But it was not to enjoy the beauties of architecture, art, or 
 scenery, that the reader was invited to join me in this little 
 pilgrimage. It was that he might observe the totally different 
 characteristics of the Basque provinces, as compared with the 
 rest of the kingdom, and attach the proper consideration to 
 those accounts which deal with Spain as homogeneous in its 
 physical, moral, industrial, and agricultural developments, — a 
 nation to be sketched in a paragraph, with a flourish of the 
 pen. The Basque territory is as unlike Castille, La Mancha, 
 or Andalucia, as nature and man can make it. Instead of 
 dehesas and despoblados, — wastes and depopulated places, — 
 wide fields, without fences or hedges, — scattered and poor 
 villages, — woodless plains or hill-sides, — it has small farms, 
 well wooded and inclosed, with bright cottages, and cheerful 
 little fields, not a foot of which, as I have said, but pays its 
 contribution to the farmer. Where the plough cannot pass, 
 the hoe or the hand does its work. Between the rocks, and 
 along the precipices, every slip of soil is tilled. The very 
 difficulties of the location seem to stimulate the energy of the 
 laborer. Plantations of beech and chesnut reward his toil 
 with timber and fruit. Crops of Indian corn spring up
 
 SPAIN. 353 
 
 around him, with a luxuriance whicli might shame more 
 fertile regions. On the whole, I do not remember to have 
 seen a country more resembling those delightful tracts, among 
 the Apennines, which M. de Sismondi describes with such 
 elegance and just' enthusiasm, in his Essays on Political 
 Economy. 
 
 Indeed, as far as I was able to ascertain during my brief 
 visit, the lands are held, in some sort, upon the principle of 
 the metairie which Sismondi commends so much in Tuscany. 
 The leases, for the most part, are very long, descending often 
 from father to son among the tenantry, as the freehold passes 
 in the family of the landlord. A small pecuniary rent is paid, 
 nominally for the house, and for the land a reasonable portion 
 of the crops is given. Attached to each caseria there is 
 generally a tract of woodland, often at a considerable distance, 
 upon the mountain ; but sometimes only a right is reserved 
 to cut wood for farming purposes and fuel. The relations of 
 landlord and tenant are so well understood, and in general so 
 satisfactory, that difficulties but seldom occur ; the tenant, on 
 the one hand, being beyond the risk of exorbitant exactions, 
 and the landlord, on the other, quite as secure in the receipt 
 of his moderate but sufficient income. What gives to the 
 system its chief merit is the feature which renders it so 
 attractive to M. de Sismondi, — the guaranty of the future 
 which it affi3rds the laborer. He has something before him. 
 He does not toil for present support only, preparing the land 
 for a stranger who may at any moment be put in his place. 
 Every foot that he redeems from barrenness is so much added 
 to his own stock and the heritage of his children. He labors, 
 therefore, as if the land were his own, and the spirit with 
 45
 
 354 SPAIN. 
 
 which he applies his hand to the work is as fruitful of indepen- 
 dence and content to him, as of profit to the owner of the 
 soil. He gathers his humble comforts about him with a sense 
 of security and permanence. His condition is not that of a 
 mere agricultural proletary. It is blended with the enjoy- 
 ments and surrounded by the blessings of rural competency 
 and a rural home. 
 
 As a consequence of this peculiar system, and of their 
 provincial traits of frugality and industry, the Basques, though 
 an extremely crowded population, are for the most part well 
 fed, well clad, and physically comfortable. There is very little 
 mendicancy or extreme poverty among them. By nature, they 
 are manly, frank, and hardy, like mountaineers in general ; 
 and the freedom of their political charters has developed these 
 qualities into a provincial character of the sturdiest independ- 
 ence. They are bold, active, and enterprising ; remarkable 
 throughout the kingdom for their trustworthiness and stern 
 integrity. On the other hand, their good qualities often run 
 into extremes, and they are sometimes obstinate, abrupt, close- 
 fisted, and perverse. " Larga y angosta, corao alma de Viz- 
 caino," (" Long and narrow, like the soul of a Biscayan,") is 
 the proverb in which their compatriots have caricatured their 
 peculiarities. As pretendientes, they are famous. Looking 
 over the Madrid blue-book, it will be seen, by their unequivo- 
 cable surnames, that they absorb a conspicuous portion of the 
 public patronage ; but all who are familiar with the conduct 
 of Spanish affairs will do them the justice to admire the 
 fidelity and ability with which they respond to the public 
 confidence. Upon one point they have a provincial weakness; 
 it is for the antiquity of their race and language. The latter,
 
 SPAIN. 355 
 
 they gravely contend, was the one spoken in Paradise. If it 
 was, Schlegel has omitted the strongest argument in favor of 
 the improvement of tlie human species. 
 
 When I left Azpeitia, and the cordial hospitality which had 
 welcomed me, and which gave me such regret at parting, I 
 turned my face across the mountains towards the flourishing 
 town of Tolosa, which was reached in a pleasant afternoon's 
 journey. The next morning I mounted the diligence for the 
 North. It was Sunday, — a soft and genial day, 
 
 " So calm, so pure, so bright," 
 
 that George Herbert might well have called it " the bridal of 
 the earth and sky," — or even their courtship, which is a 
 brighter thing. The roads and the village streets were lined 
 with cheerful peasants, in holiday costume, and children 
 played happily by the way-sides, in troops that would have 
 saddened a Malthusian. At last, the blue Atlantic hove in 
 sight, suggesting thoughts of the far land beyond it ; then 
 came the frontier, — the custom-houses, — France, — evening, — 
 and Bayonne. 
 
 " C'est bong, ga ! " said a fat Gascon marnhand de chevaux, 
 who rode with us, next day, towards Bordeaux. We were 
 passing through one of those stiff and formal avenues, which 
 make the landscapes so often, in the South of France, resemble 
 the first plates in Euclid's Elements. " C^est bong, ga ! c^est 
 ir^ pingtoresque ! " repeated the Gascon, leaning heavily upon 
 me and puffing his pipe in my face. Neither the sentiment 
 itself, nor the mode of its delivery, was calculated to enforce 
 conviction, in one who despised both tobacco and straight 
 lines ; but it awakened me to the first full consciousness that 
 I was out of Spain, and I date my exodus accordingly.
 
 XXX. 
 
 Conclusion. — Political, Prospects of Spain. — Effects of Peace. — 
 EspARTERO. — The Moderados. — The Queen Mother. — The Nobil- 
 ity. — Monarchy. — Republicanism. — Independence of National 
 Character and Manners. — Loyalty. — Tendency to Federalism. 
 — Reasons therefor, and Probability of a Confederation. — Its 
 Benefits. — The Basque Fueros. — Effect of Internal Improve- 
 ments AND DE\rELOPMENT OF INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES. — EmPLEO- 
 
 MANiA. — Reasons for American Sympathy with Spain. — Justice 
 
 DUE HER. 
 
 HAVING, to the best of my ability and information, 
 placed it fairly within the power of the reader to 
 draw conclusions for himself, in regard to the political future 
 of Spain, I have little to add but deductions of my own. 
 There are impressions, sometimes fixed upon the mind, when 
 in the centre and bustle of affairs, which have the force of 
 convictions, though one can scarce tell why. That such may 
 have blended themselves, in the present case, with opinions 
 which I can more readily trace and perhaps defend more 
 satisfactorily to others, is altogether probable. The conclusions 
 at which I have arrived would not seem to me less likely to be 
 accurate, on that account ; but it would be presumptuous to 
 expect that the reader should be willing to take them equally 
 upon trast. 
 356
 
 SPAIN. 357 
 
 The most obvious fact which the preceding chapters disclose, 
 and a fact not to be gainsaid, is the revival of the prosperity of 
 Spain within the last few years. The improvement may l)e 
 less thorough, and less worthy of the epoch, than it should be. 
 Its course may have been misdirected and interrupted. It 
 may yet be diverted, nay, occasionally arrested altogether. 
 Nevertheless it exists. It has been the result of causes, still 
 operative, which were deliberately set in motion to produce it; 
 of principles, which it was dangerous to broach, and which it 
 has cost time and labor, agitation and blood, to establish. It 
 has continued to go on, until its march, rapid or retarded, has 
 grown into a custom, — a thing of course. It has wrought 
 changes which it is now too late to undo, and has established 
 reforms from which a relapse is now impossible, because the 
 abuses reformed have been cut up at the roots. It has vitality, 
 therefore, and strength, and foothold, and it must advance. 
 
 Nor are the causes of this revolution less obvious than its 
 existence. Liberal institutions and peace have been the im- 
 mediate and main agents of good. Without peace, liberal 
 institutions would have availed but little; indeed, until the 
 civil war was ended, their practical results were trifling, in 
 comparison. With peace, a far less rational system than the 
 worst phase of that which has prevailed would have yielded, 
 by degrees, to popular development ; indeed, the sternest 
 despotism could hardly, at this epoch, have restrained it 
 altogether. War has been, beyond all question, the bane of 
 Spanish freedom and prosperity, as far back as history records. 
 Foreign or domestic, it has been the perpetual background of 
 the picture. To this eternal strife, more than to despotism in 
 all its varieties and combinations, the decay of the nation is
 
 358 SPAIN. 
 
 attributable ; for it was this, in fact, which gave to despotism 
 its opportunities, its pretexts, and its arms. Rest, therefore, 
 more than all things else, had grown absolutely indispensable 
 to moral and political regeneration, — even the most partial. 
 Tardy as may have seemed to us the steps of the recent revo- 
 lution we have traced, they would have been incomparably 
 more tedious and unsteady, but for the peaceful though 
 lethargic years preceding the death of Ferdinand the Seventh. 
 It was then only that the scattered elements of change took 
 form and energy, and were combined. 
 
 In view of this necessity, this paramount necessity, of 
 repose to the nation, I have commended, in their turn, the 
 "Convention" of Espartero with Maroto, and the subsequent 
 policy of the Moderado party. The one produced peace, — 
 the other has undoubtedly preserved it. In considering the 
 wisdom and effect of public measures, the motives and the 
 processes which led to them may well be left out of the 
 account. It may be true that Espartero bribed Maroto, — as 
 his enemies have said, — because he could not overcome the 
 Carlists in fair battle. If so, the money was well laid out, 
 notwithstanding. Narvaez and his compeers and successors 
 may have strengthened the arm of government, not merely to 
 save the nation from anarchy and its results, but because it 
 was their own arm, and its strength was their strength. Yet 
 if the salvation of the country was in fact the consequence, — 
 if faction and discord were thereby kept down, — if leisure and 
 opportunity were given and secured for industry and enter- 
 prise, and the prosperity and happiness that wait upon them, 
 — what matters it that a constitutional provision, here and 
 there, was, for the moment, ambitiously broken ? Prosperous
 
 SPAIN. 359 
 
 nations — confirmed in their prosperity — can afford to be 
 technical, and may stickle even for abstractions ; a prostrate 
 land must have realities, not words. There are situations in 
 which one material blessing may be worth a hundred of the 
 holiest forms. Better, a thousand fold, to Spain, a brief, nay, 
 a usurped dictatorship, with peace, than the nominal triumph 
 of liberalism, with the certainty of reaction and desolation. 
 
 Those who see force in these suggestions will not distrust 
 the reality of the good which has already been achieved in 
 Spain, nor despair of the future, because of occasional arbitrary 
 passages, and suspensions or infractions of the fundamental 
 law. A moment's comparison of what is now with what but 
 recently was, and a consideration of the obstacles which have 
 been overcome, and the limited means by which the triumph 
 has been won, will suffice to remove all doubts in regard to 
 the present, and to justify the happiest augury. But the 
 future has its own elements of promise, besides. When it is 
 remembered that almost every man of eminence, in the ruling 
 party and the opposition, has risen from the people, and owes 
 his elevation, not to royal favor, but to the popular institutions 
 which surround the throne, it is scarce possible to conceive 
 an act of such wholesale suicide, as a serious attempt to re- 
 establish an absolute government. The Queen, as has been 
 said, is without ambition, or dangerous qualities of any sort. 
 The Queen Mother, though, on the contrary, as scheming and 
 ambitious as the blood of Naples can make her, yet, in spite 
 of her large wealth, preeminent position, and talent for intrigue 
 has never been able to secure a hold upon the popular regard. 
 At this moment, though perhaps the most influential, she is 
 probably the best abused and most thoroughly detested person
 
 360 SPAIN. 
 
 in Spain. She can act only through her creatures, and they 
 have interests of their own, which forbid their serving her 
 beyond a certain point. As a class, the nobles have no 
 political influence whatever ; and as individuals, they are, 
 almost universally, without the talents which could make 
 them dreaded or useful. 
 
 But even if politicians and rulers were willing to break 
 down the constitutional system, the first overt act would 
 arouse the people to almost unanimous resistance. The lotos 
 of freedom has been tasted, and it cannot readily be stricken 
 from their lips. So long as the more important guaranties 
 are not altogether violated, — so long as the government 
 substantially dedicates itself to the public good, by originating 
 and fostering schemes of public usefulness, — it may take 
 almost any liberties with forms and non-essentials. Much 
 further it will not be permitted to go, and every day 
 diminishes the facility with which it may go even thus far. 
 Every work of internal improvement which brings men 
 closer together, enabling them to compare opinions with 
 readiness, and concentrate strength for their maintenance; 
 every new interest that is built up ; every heavy and perma- 
 nent investment of capital or industry ; every movement that 
 develops and diffuses the public intelligence and energy, — is 
 a bulwark, more or less formidable, against reaction. Nay, 
 every circumstance that makes the public wiser, richer, or 
 better, must shorten the career of arbitrary rule. The com- 
 pulsion, which was and still is a neccessary evil, for the 
 preservation of peace, must be withdrawn, when peace 
 becomes an instinct as well as a necessity. The existence of 
 a stringent system will no longer be acquiesced in, when the
 
 SPAIN. 361 
 
 people shall have grown less in need of government and 
 better able to direct it for themselves. Thus, in their season, 
 the very interests which shall be consolidated and made 
 vigorous by forced tranquillity will rise, themselves, into the 
 mastery. The stream of power, as it rolls peacefully along, 
 is daily strengthening the banks, which every day, though 
 imperceptibly, encroach on it. Sir James Mackintosh, in his 
 comment on Burke's splendid apostrophe to Chivalry, has 
 skilfully depicted a similar process and result, in the triumph 
 of commerce and intelligence over the feudal and chivalrous 
 institutions which fostered them into strength and inde- 
 pendence. Hero points the same moral, in telling of the 
 " pleached bower," 
 
 "Where honeysuckles, ripened by the sun, 
 Forbid the sun to enter, — like favorites. 
 Made proud by princes, that advance their pride 
 Against that power that bred it ! " 
 
 While, therefore, I should hardly be surprised at an 
 attempt to assimilate the constitution of Spain, in some sort, 
 to the simpler model of the " Prince-Presidency," I should 
 regard its temporary success as an evil by no means without 
 good. An enlightened despotism could not easily avoid lay- 
 ing, in the national prosperity, a solid foundation for the final 
 establishment of a permanent free system. 
 
 Of the shape which the fundamental institutions of Spain 
 will ultimately take, there is, in one particular, but little room 
 for question. The traditions, and even the prejudices, of the 
 people are monarchical altogether. In practice and from 
 conviction, they regard loyalty as a virtue and a sacred duty. 
 46
 
 362 SPAIN. 
 
 There are really, in Spain, no republicans or democrats ; or, 
 at all events, no persons seriously contemplating the establish- 
 ment of a republic or a democracy. The sense of personal 
 independence is as high and scrupulous there, as it can be 
 anywhere, — not excepting our own country. And there is a 
 republican element, too, in the character and manners of the 
 Spaniards, which I believe exists nowhere else, at the degree 
 in which they possess it. Your American citizen will concede 
 to you, if you ask him to do so, that other people are as good 
 as he. But this is not the principle which he sets chiefly 
 forth, in his life and conversation. It is the reverse of the 
 medal, — it is the conviction, the practical demonstration, that 
 he is as good as other people. He will not deny — he dares not 
 deny — the equality of others with himself; but he goes about 
 always asserting his equality with others. The Spaniard, on 
 the contrary, has a sense of equality, which blesses him who 
 gives as well as him who takes. If he requires the concession 
 from others, he demands it, chiefly and emphatically, through 
 the concessions which he makes to them. There is so much 
 self-respect involved in his respect to others, and in his mani- 
 festation of it, that reciprocity is unavoidable. To this, and 
 this mainly, is attributable the high, courteous bearing, which 
 is conspicuous in all the people, and which renders the personal 
 intercourse of the respective classes and conditions less marked 
 by strong and invidious distinctions, than in any other nation 
 with whose manners and customs I am familiar. It is this, 
 perhaps, more than any other circumstance, which has tem- 
 pered and made sufierable the oppression of unequal and 
 despotic institutions, — illustrating "the advantage to which," 
 in the words of a philosophic writer, " the manners of a
 
 iiPAIN. < 363 
 
 people may turn the most unfavorable position and the worst 
 laws." 
 
 But with this eminently republican temper, the continued 
 loyalty of the Spaniards to their monarch is perfectly com- 
 patible. There is no servility in it. It is homage paid to the 
 individual, as identified with an institution. The prince is 
 the embodiment of their nationality, — the representative of 
 past glory and present unity. They rally round the throne, 
 in spite of the frailties or crimes of him who fills it. They 
 are no worshippers of Ferdinand or Isabella, — no martyrs 
 for Carlos, — but liegemen to the person whom they believe 
 to be the rightful monarch of the Spains. It is a matter 
 of great uncertainty, therefore, — and perhaps of great in- 
 diflference, as aifecting the question of freedom, — whether 
 the most perfect system of liberal institutions which the 
 Spaniards may adopt will be without some modification of 
 the monarchical feature. 
 
 The political horoscope, in other respects, is not so easy to 
 cast. The general, though perhaps the remote tendency, is, I 
 think, towards a federative monarchy. The relations between 
 Spain and Portugal, and the feasibility of uniting the whole 
 Peninsula as one nation, were the subjects of frequent and 
 practical discussion, public and private, when I was in Madrid, 
 and have more than once furnished topics of serious diplo- 
 matical consideration. It seems difficult, indeed, to under- 
 stand how such a measure as a Peninsular Union, so forcibly 
 suggested by so many natural circumstances, has been so long 
 deferred, or can continue to be postponed, now that the public 
 good has become so controlling an element in national relations. 
 The doctrine of public policy and morals, called " geographical
 
 364 SPAIN. 
 
 necessity," has obviously not yet been expounded in Europe, 
 with the same efficacy as among ourselves. 
 
 But, leaving Portugal out of the question, the Spanish 
 kingdom has more of the federal elements than any nation 
 that I know of in Europe. The provinces, mostly segregated 
 from each other by natural barriers, are quite as much so by 
 their peculiar and respective characters, customs, and laws. 
 The sturdy Biscayan, the Switzer of the Peninsula, is as 
 different, in his personal and provincial characteristics, from 
 the stolid and uncouth Galician, — the industrious, but choleric 
 and selfish Catalan, — the witty, flippant, gallant, bull-destroy- 
 ing Andalusian, — as is the burgher of Amsterdam from the 
 sun-loving Neapolitan. And so of the other provinces. 
 Their forms, prescriptions, ideas, are all different. Their 
 interests are different, — frequently conflicting. Their costumes 
 and dialects are totally distinct. The soil they till, the pro- 
 ducts they consume, are as the soil and products of remote 
 nations. Some of them are mountaineers, — some dwellers 
 upon boundless plains, — some fishermen, or sailors, or shep- 
 herds, or manufacturers, or cultivators of the deep green vegas 
 that beautify the borders of the sea. Yet, over all, and 
 binding them and all their diversities together, is the iron 
 band of a beloved and time-honored nationality. Catalonians, 
 Biscayans, Asturians, Castilians, — they are all Spaniards. It 
 was this national sentiment which animated and sustained the 
 heroism of their resistance to Napoleon, notwithstanding the 
 local institutions, jealousies, and rivalries which deprived it of 
 unity and concentration. 
 
 Nor is the present administrative system of Spain otherwise 
 than favorable to the formation of federal habits and ideas.
 
 SPAIN. 365 
 
 The general government, as has been seen, presides directly 
 over the foreign relations of the country, and has immediate 
 control of all general and national affairs. Each province, 
 however, has its own civil governor, appointed by the crown ; 
 representing, within his sphere, the Minister of Gobe7'nacio7i 
 (the Interior), and in effect the executive ruler of the province. 
 For purposes of consultation, he has his Provincial Council, 
 of three or five persons, likewise nominated by tiie Queen. 
 The Provincial Deputation, an elective body, to which I have 
 already referred, has duties and powers of a comprehensive 
 and more active nature, — watching over the welfare, regulating 
 the contributions, and developing the resources of the province. 
 Each province, therefore, — thus taking care, in form at least, 
 of its own interests, and in a measure controlling them, — 
 concerned in the assessment and levy of its domestic taxes, — 
 having its wants and wishes represented by its own officers, 
 near the central authority, — is in many respects a separate, 
 though a dependent state. Then, too, there is the municipal 
 feature, the independent action of the ayimtamiento within its 
 allotted sphere, — as distinct as that of the provincial authori- 
 ties within their jurisdiction. In these particulars there is great 
 similarity to the political condition of the American Colonies 
 prior to the Revolution. The ingredients — the rudiraental 
 and elementary ideas — of a confederacy are all there, as devel- 
 oped in the beautiful analysis of the subject made by M. de 
 Tocqueville, in his treatise on Democracy in America. 
 
 The very existence of these various elements — so suggestive 
 of confederation, and so likely to produce i)rosperity under and 
 through it — must render it nearly impossible to uphold the' 
 present centralised and centralising system, for any length of
 
 366 SPAIN. 
 
 time, after the causes of improvement, which are now at work, 
 shall have made it as easy to carry out, as it now is to discover, 
 what the national prosperity demands. The very distinction 
 in provincial characteristics — which would be the main stay 
 of a federal union, constituted to adopt and perpetuate it, as 
 far as useful — is productive only of discord and discontent, 
 where provincial wants and interests are merged, as now, in an 
 absorbing consolidation. Centralisation — which, modified by 
 federal institutions, would be a blessing to every part, and 
 communicate to each the vigor of the whole — now crushes, of 
 necessity, what it attempts, unnaturally, to amalgamate. Two 
 things, each, in its sphere, a good, are thus linked together for 
 evil. Two healthful ingredients are combined, by bad 
 chemistry, into a poison. This cannot last, when those who 
 suffer from it grow able to reform it. There can be but one 
 true policy for a people in such a condition, and that is, to 
 give to the national and the provincial element, each, its ap- 
 propriate sphere, — to surround the throne, which shall repre- 
 sent the nation, with the guaranties which shall be drawn from 
 prosperous and independent states, confederated to form the 
 one and to defend the other. I am aware that a writer ^ — 
 whose opinions on such subjects are more justly entitled to be 
 held oracular, than those of any other reasoner upon govern- 
 ment — has pronounced a confederation, " of all systems, the 
 most complicated, the most difficult : that which demands the 
 greatest development in the intellect of men, the greatest 
 empire of general interests over particular interests, of 
 general ideas over local prejudices, of public reason over 
 individual passions." Yet the requirements of a confederacy 
 
 ' M. Guizot.
 
 SPAIN. 367 
 
 — growing up of itself, and not created by a constituent 
 assembly, — suggested by geographical and natural causes, and 
 
 • 
 
 arising spontaneously from national circumstances, in their 
 ordinary germination and development — would hardly be so 
 multiform and absolute. The causes which produced, would 
 in such case preserve. It may require art and constant outlay 
 to keep the walls of the Escorial as they came from the hands 
 of the builder ; but the mountain parapets, behind it, have 
 become a changeless part of the nature which formed them. 
 
 Taking it for granted that a future confederacy is possible 
 in Spain, there can be but little doubt that the wealth and 
 power she would draw from it would make Portugal a suitor 
 for its privileges. If not, the wealth might buy the freedom 
 of the great rivers which pass through Portugal to the Atlan- 
 tic, — or the power might give to Spain attractive views of 
 " annexation," which its present uses will scarcely suggest to 
 her. So seriously were plans of the sort which I have indi- 
 cated broached in the political circles of Madrid, that there 
 were many who believed the formation of a confederacy would 
 be the basis of the next general movement of the people. The 
 increasing tendency toward centralisation seemed to be re- 
 garded, in all quarters (except among the rulers and their 
 immediate followers), as the leading evil of the times. Dur- 
 ing the administration of Espartero, the fueros, or provincial 
 privileges of the Basque provinces, were to a great extent 
 suppressed. As a piece of national legislation, this was alto- 
 gether wise, — though the /h^'os, in themselves, were, many of 
 them, relics of the best days of early freedom. With the 
 existence of a federation they would have been eminently 
 compatible; but the obstacles were infinite which they raised
 
 368 SPAIN. 
 
 in the legitimate path of the existing system, and they were 
 the source of great discontent and much ill blood among the 
 other provinces, which could see no reason why the Basques 
 should be thus preferred. The 3£oderados have carried out 
 this portion of Espartero's policy, in the main, and the 
 inhabitants of the "Free Provinces," when 1 went among 
 them, were in no better predicament than the rest of their 
 countrymen. As a sort of prelude to a federal movement, — 
 a preparation of the public mind for it, — there was a project, 
 when I was in Madrid, to restore to the Basques the most 
 important of their fueros, and thus lead the people of the 
 other provinces to insist on similar concessions. The idea 
 was not a bad one ; but I have seen no evidence of its having 
 been carried out. It was but a means, however, and the end 
 may be attained as readily in other ways. 
 
 Whatever may be the ultimate political destiny of Spain, 
 it is certain that the development of her resources, and 
 especially the completion of her great works of internal 
 improvement, must in some measure precede its consumma- 
 tion. There are two obstacles to her entire political pros- 
 perity, which are not likely to be removed till these ends 
 shall have been, to a great extent, accomplished. The one is 
 the empleomania, or mania for place, which has already been 
 the subject of remark; the other, the advantage which the 
 government has over the people, in its greater facilities for 
 prompt communication and action. The first is mainly the 
 result of the few opportunities, hitherto offered, for the 
 profitable exercise of industry and capacity. Until the cause 
 shall have been removed, the evil must continue. But 
 although the desire of advancement in the public service,
 
 SPAIN. 3G9 
 
 whicli springs from lofty aspirations, is self-sustaining, as all 
 things noble are, — hanging for subsistence on the favor of 
 the little great, is a calling which few will consent to follow, 
 who have access to any thing worthier. Custom, it is true, 
 may demoralize men, till they feel no humiliation in that or 
 any other sort of mendicancy. Want may sometimes break 
 the proudest spirits to the degradation of dependence and 
 servility. But the young and earnest — on whom the hopes 
 of nations rest — must loathe such things, at first, though 
 they have no other refuge from starvation. Let channels but 
 be opened for industry and intelligence, — reasonable induce- 
 ments held out to honest toil, — reputable and remunerative 
 occupation given to the hands or to the mind, — and the 
 throngs which bow in the antechambers, or scowl and plot in 
 the Puerta del Sol, will soon be reduced to the few who are 
 beyond demoralisation. It would of course be going too far 
 to say that, even then, the evil will be eradicated altogether. 
 Our own national experience has sadly failed to demonstrate 
 that the utmost opportunity for the acquisition of pecuniary 
 independence will, of necessity, withdraw men from the pur- 
 suit of politics as a trade. But if the good of a diversion 
 be not absolute, it will, at all events, be a good, and Spain 
 is in no case to despise the smallest of these. The evil is 
 certainly that which retards, more than any other, the estab- 
 lishment of a free system, and its uncorrupted economical 
 administration. 
 
 Upon the other point little need be said. The government 
 
 is a vast, connected, organized system, — moved by a single 
 
 will, and working with rapidity, certainty, and concentration. 
 
 The people, broken into provinces, — without facility of access 
 
 47
 
 370 SPAIN. 
 
 to each other, — have no opportunity for the speedy formation 
 or expression of a public or national opinion, — no means 
 whatever of prompt, united action. They can be anticipated 
 and overawed, — kept apart, and crushed in detail. With all 
 needful intelligence and spirit, they cannot bring either to 
 bear, except under the greatest disadvantages. With abun- 
 dant, but scattered strength, they are unable to concentrate or 
 direct it. The difficulty is chiefly a physical one, and 
 material agencies alone can remove it. When the telegraph 
 shall flash its tidings through the whole land at the same 
 moment, and the power of steam shall be at the bidding of 
 the spirit which they may awaken, then the people and their 
 rulers will be fairly in the lists, and with an equal sun the 
 wrong must needs go down. 
 
 There may be persons to whom the views and anticipa- 
 tions expressed in the foregoing pages will seem too flattering, 
 — the result, perhaps, of partiality for a favorite nation. 
 This impression may not be altogether unfounded. The par- 
 tiality is not denied, and it may have produced its natural 
 eflPects. Insensibly too, from dwelling on a subject, the judg- 
 ment may be moulded to its shapes. " In contemplating 
 antiquities/' says Forsyth, translating from Livy, '^ the mind 
 itself becomes antique." The author has endeavored, as far 
 as possible, to guard against this, and, even if unsuccessful, 
 he is persuaded that his opinions have been afiected far less 
 by his predilections, than he has found those of many of his 
 predecessors to have been by the prejudices of creed and 
 education. Impartiality is no doubt the philosophic frame of 
 mind, but not the impartiality of indifference; indeed it may 
 be questioned, greatly, whether sympathy is not a necessary
 
 SPAIN. 371 
 
 element in all capacity for national, as well as other apprecia- 
 tion. Antipathy, at all events, is not a promising one. 
 
 But if the author should not be fortunate enough to merit 
 entire coincidence with his opinions, he trusts he has at least 
 established, that Spain should not be coupled, as she usually 
 is, with Austria and Russia, in our popular and daily denun- 
 ciations of despotism. Surely she deserves, if any nation 
 can, the encouragement and sympathy of the friends of 
 rational liberty. For half a century — through blood and fire 
 at first, and then through sad oppression and strife, and 
 through the calmer but severer trials of peaceful revolution — 
 she has been indomitably working out her gradual redemp- 
 tion. Her institutions may differ from ours. Her system may 
 be imperfect; her power may, as yet, be far below its ancient 
 scale and that of our ])resent predominance ; but the fortitude 
 and perseverance which have gone thus far will go farther, 
 
 " ever reaping something new, — 
 That which they have done but earnest of the things that they shall do." 
 
 If we are devoted to human freedom for its own sake, — 
 whatever be the shape it takes, — it becomes us to welcome a 
 constitutional monarchy which has been reared upon the ruins 
 of a despotism. That monarchy may be devoted, in appear- 
 ance, rather to the cause of order than the cause of progress ; 
 but in Europe order is the road to progress, and there liave 
 been, of late, too many unhappy illustrations of the trutli that 
 the worst of despotisms is that which follows an abortive and 
 too hasty effort to be free. All cannot be altogether like 
 oui-selves. All need not be, to flourish. To sympathize Avith 
 none but those who adopt our forms, is to reverence but the
 
 372 SPAIN. 
 
 reproduction of ourselves, — to forget that which is in us and 
 in our forms, and alone makes them and us what we are. 
 
 But whether we give or refuse sympathy, let us at all events 
 do justice. The one is our own, to dispose of as we please, — 
 the other we may not honestly withhold. There is no law 
 by which a man may be compelled to love his neighbor as 
 himself, but there is legislation on the subject of highway 
 robbery. Spain has the sorest need of her resources, in her 
 toilsome struggle for happiness, development, and freedom. 
 Let us not give it to history to say, that she was compelled to 
 waste the means of her deliverance in defending herself from 
 republican cupidity. Strange as it may appear to some of 
 our political philosophers, there are such things as right and 
 wrong, and they are not to be measured by the wants and 
 desires of a people, any more than by the ambition and 
 unscrupulousness of a prince. It is easy enough to write state 
 pai)ers, speak speeches, pass resolutions, and invent pretexts, 
 in defence of profitable usurpation. Men of great intellect, 
 and flexible temper or integrity, may be j)urchascd or flat- 
 tered by temporary popularity, or awed by general opinion 
 and the public will, into the support of any heresy. Great 
 names have never been wanting to sanction, or great abilities 
 to justify, any national iniquity that promised heavy returns. 
 Truth and justice exist, nevertheless, and magnanimity and 
 fair-dealing with the weak are still valued among men. 
 Injustice will survive the best gloss that we can put on it. 
 Campbell could not preclude the verdict of history, by all the 
 lyric splendor of the "Battle of tlie Baltic." If the annals of 
 the world show any thing, it is that national power, in its 
 utmost duration, is not so lasting as national shame.
 
 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 The changes which have taken place in Spain, since the period 
 to which the body of this volume more particularly refers, do not 
 affect, in the main, the correctness of the sketch which has been 
 given. It may be well, however, to notice the general direction 
 of those which have not been fully adverted to already. 
 
 Notwithstanding the very large majority of the Moderados in 
 the Cortes chosen in 1850, it became apparent, soon after their 
 session had begun, that the preponderance of the party furnished 
 no guaranty for the permanence of the existing administration. 
 The Count of San Luis had overshot his mark. He had controlled 
 the elections, but could not manage the elect. In December, 
 Bravo Murillo retired from the cabinet, and the dissensions which 
 followed resulted in the resignation of Narvaez himself, and the 
 dissolution of the ministry which he had formed and kept together. 
 His downfall was believed to be the work of Queen Cristina. 
 Recent events seem to indicate his return to power; and it is 
 impossible that such a man can fail, for any length of time, to 
 make his influence felt in one shape or another. 
 
 After the retirement of Narvaez, the reconstruction of the coun- 
 cil was entrusted to Bravo Murillo, who continued until recently 
 to occupy its presidency. Various cabinet changes and dissolu- 
 tions of the Cortes have taken place in the mean time, but the 
 Moderados have managed to retain the control of both departments 
 of the government. Neither of the groat parties has been without 
 its troubles and schisms. Sr. Pacheco has developed the secret of 
 these, in a single phrase. " Parties," he observes, " which were 
 
 373
 
 374 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 framed upon public principles, have split upon private interests." 
 The laborers, on both sides, arc out of proportion to the harvest, 
 and some of them are fain to turn their reaping-hooks into swords. 
 Among the Moderados, the advocates of extreme doctrines have 
 had the ascendency, as the acts of the government show. The 
 most unfortunate evidence of their predominance is to be found in 
 the restraint imposed on the press. The spirit of the enactments 
 on that subject, lately promulgated and enforced, is almost iden- 
 tical with that which has prevailed for some time past in France. 
 Indeed, upon all subjects, the tone of the Spanish officials and their 
 organs, until the recent change, had grown less and less deferential 
 to the constitution, and more avowedly and openly absolute. 
 
 The Progresistas, forgetful altogether of the obvious truth, that 
 no opposition can be effective without unity, have been wasting 
 their strength and opportunities, for the most part, in the unprofit- 
 able discussion of abstract questions. While they debated as to 
 the degree of rapidity with which progress should advance, they 
 were imperceptibly throwing away the chance and their ability to 
 secure any progress at all. Of late, they appear to have regained 
 their wisdom, and with it their organization and their strength. 
 In the Cortes recently assembled, they had a formidable array of 
 numbers and parliamentary talent. The Moderado opposition, 
 too, was full of vigor, ability, and influence, with some of the first 
 names of the nation on its lists. A combination of the opposing 
 elements resulted in the entire defeat of the ministry upon the 
 organization of the Congress of Deputies. Martinez de la Rosa 
 was elected President; but almost his first duty was to announce 
 that the Queen had been pleased to dissolve the Cortes. Before 
 taking this decided step, the government had submitted to the 
 legislature several projects of constitutional reform, — all of them 
 tending towards a reduction of the popular power, and the assimi- 
 lation of the Spanish system to that of Napoleon the Third. The 
 fate of measures so unnecessary and absurd was too obvious, in 
 the Cortes as they then stood, and there was no alternative but a 
 dissolution of the cabinet or of the legislature. The next Cortes 
 will assemble in March, 1853. The people will have the views of 
 the reactionists fully before them in the elections, and it can hardly
 
 POSTSCRIPT, 375 
 
 be doubted that the result will strengthen, more thiin ever, the 
 hands of the liberal constitutional party. Indeed, the news of the 
 dissolution of the Murillo ministry, received as these sheets are 
 going to the press, would seem to indicate that the question is 
 already substantially settled. 
 
 But for the proximity of France, and the unavoidable influence 
 of the imperial doctrines and policy, a Spanish cabinet would 
 hardly have ventured, at this day, upon the su^^gestiou of such 
 changes as I have alluded to. So obvious is this, indeed, that the 
 jrovernment or^an in Paris has felt it necessary to disavow all 
 connection of the Emperor with the matter. There is not a 
 nation in the world which has furnished fewer pretexts than 
 Spain for reactionary legislation. The Spaniards have used the 
 degree of freedom which they have enjoyed, with prudence and 
 extreme moderation. They have committed no excesses, — run 
 wild with no theories, — organized no conspiracies, — invented no 
 infernal machines. They have dedicated themselves, soberly and 
 steadfastly, to the development of their material resources, asking 
 nothing but to be protected, or at all events let alone. They 
 have not required so much as a sham-fight on the Prado, or a 
 single display of fireworks, to keep them in perfect good humor 
 with their rulers and themselves. Even a government confessing 
 itself arbitrary, would therefore be without excuse for interfering 
 with the constitution. How the idea of such a thing could occur 
 to a constitutional cabinet, — composed of men whom the consti- 
 tutional system had created, — passes all understanding. The 
 pernicious influence of the Queen Mother is probably the 
 immediate source of the movement. The progressive tendencies 
 of the people and the unequivocal revolution which old ideas and 
 systems have already undergone, may be trusted to counteract it. 
 
 It must not be denied, however, that, under the policy of the 
 Murillo cabinets, the prosperity of Spain substantially and steadily 
 advanced. This is especially true in regard to her flnancial atlairs. 
 Nothing practicable was neglected, to secure an economical ad- 
 ministration of the government and the faithful collection and 
 disbursement of the public moneys. The measures which were 
 adopted in regard to the debt were statesmanlike and earnest, —
 
 376 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 iudicating a due appreciation of the national responsibility and 
 faith, and a determination to provide, to the extent of the national 
 ability, for the payment of the interest and the gradual extinguish- 
 ment of the principal. 
 
 It would be tedious to enter into a detail of the administrative 
 reforms which the last two years have consummated. One of the 
 principal of these was the suppression of the Department of Com- 
 merce, Instruction, and Public Works. The supervision of public 
 education, which was one of the functions of this Department, 
 has passed to that of Grace and Justice. Its remaining duties 
 have been committed to a new department, called the Ministerio 
 de Fomento ; a title so peculiarly Spanish, that it can hardly be 
 better rendered into English, than as the " Department of Public 
 Encouragement." Agriculture, commerce, manufactures, internal 
 improvements, and the general industry and national resources of 
 the kingdom, are within its very comprehensive scope. 
 
 The administrative embarrassments which have been previously 
 alluded to, as resulting from the suppression of the Council of 
 Indies, seem to have suggested the necessity of a Colonial Depart- 
 ment, to be called the Ministerio de Ultramar. At the last dates 
 from Madrid, the details of its organization had not been pro- 
 mulged ; but there appears to be no doubt of its establishment 
 within a brief period. The magnitude of the colonial interests 
 which are still controlled by Spain, would seem fully to justify the 
 contemplated change. It is to be hoped that the colonial system 
 will be so far modified under its auspices, as to remove all pretext 
 for dissatisfaction with the government of the mother country. 
 In view of the creation of the Department of Ultramar, that of 
 Fomento seems likely to share the fate of its predecessor, — leaving 
 its functions to be distributed among the other departments. The 
 policy of assigning its important duties to officers whose labors 
 are already sufiliciently numerous and ill-performed, may well be 
 doubted ; but any permanent arrangement would be preferable to 
 continued variation and experiment. 
 
 The desestanco, or removal of the government monopoly from 
 salt and tobacco, — a measure of the deepest importance to the 
 public interests, — lately occupied the attention of Sr. Murillo.
 
 POSTSCRIPT. oil 
 
 Whether it was suggested merely as a bid for popularity, or was 
 really contemplated in good faith, must remain in doubt. Little 
 could have been expected from the liberality of an administration 
 which could promulgate such an edict as that recently published 
 in regard to foreigners. " No foreigner," says its third article, 
 "will be permitted to profess, in Spain, any religion but the 
 Roman Catholic and Apostolic." Fortunately, there is no obli- 
 gation imposed on strangers to profess any religion whatever, 
 except in connection with certain legal acts. The article quoted 
 is nothing new in the Spanish law, but it seems well-nigh time for 
 something better. " Of old things," some " are over old." 
 
 January, 1853.
 
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