SPAIN'S INTERNAL DANGER.

Press, Volume IV, Issue 10064, 16 June 1898, Page 2

SPAIN'S INTERNAL DANGER.

DON CARLOS AND HIS FOLLOWERS READY* TO OVERTHROW THE RULING DYNASTY.

Detroit Free Vress, April 19.

Seldom in the history of the world has a nation been beset- by so many perils as is Spain at I his present time. She is bankrupt, slip is torn by internal nissensions, Cuba is irrevocably lost to her, and war %vith our country :s a dread alternative that forces itself upon her under the circumstances. The Sagasta Government is driven to a choice of evils and the inducement to international warfare is a hope of reconciling the discordant elements at home which have so long made the ancient power the scene of volcanic politics. The one chance of salvation, of securing party interalliance and cohesion, seems to be in accepting castigation from a common foe. While there are scores of factions and mylriads of selfish intriguers plotting against existing government in Spain, the Carlist movement, with Don Carlos as its head and representative, is the most formidable and the one most likely to precipitate a trouble with a view to restoring the legitimate dynasty. The recent uprising was only an evidence of the smouldering fires and an amicable adjustment of differences with this :ountry would be certain t • inaugurate a determined movement to restore the ancient regime. To understand tlie Carlist cause makes it necessary to rej call some facts from history. Adjusting the Succession. Prior to October 6th, 1712, when Philip V., the first sovereign of the house of Bourbon to ascend the throne, was in power, there was ho clearly defined law of succession in Spain and serious .trouble had arisen from the fact. On that date a cortes, assembled for the special purpose, and after three months' deliberation, provided for the future succession. On the death of King Philip the crown was to pass to bis eldest son and to the male descendants of that son in the order of primogeniture; failing these, to the younger sons of Philip and their male descendants in the same order until all the male descendants of Philip should be extinct. In the event of that happening, the succession was to pass to the eldest daughter or nearest female relation of the last reigning male descendant of Philip, or her descenuants, the new sovereign, as the first of a new dynasty, being compelled to renew the law of succession already quoted. This settlement of a question that had been prolific of so much trouble, approved by the nobles, clergy, and repesentatives of the cities, was hailed with delight by the people as a harbinger of peace and civil accord. The good results anticipated were largely realised up to the death of Ferdinand VII., in 1833. Four years prior, and but a month or two after the death of his third queen, he was induced to marry his fourth wife in Donna Christina, of Naples. She soon had control of her. venerable hus baiid, and was backed by the Liberal party, which detested Don Carlos because of his attachment to the Catholic religion and his rigid monarchical principles. The king was pulled and hauled from one decision to another, but the queen, who won him through the birth of a daughter, prevailed, the law of 1713 was set aside so as to permit the succession of the female issue, and the lawful claims of Don Carlos, brother and next of kin to the sovereign, repudiated. Ferdinand's Usurpation. So clearly was this an act of usurpation that many of the ruling .sovereigns of Europe protested. Philip, as founder of the law, was also the founder of the dynasty, and he had convened a cortes, that the established rule of succession might be binding so long as that dynasty lasted. Ferdinand was only a tenant for life of the sovereignty, he actea without the co-oper-aion of a cortes, and at the instigation of a designing woman who waated the throne for her infant daughter, afterward Isabella IT. Don Car Los refused by act or word to resign any of his rights, and yet declined to rebel against the action of his brother wfliile he was yet alive. He accepted a decree of exile, and when Ferdinand died his three-year-old daughter war proclaimed queen, witn her ambitious mother as regent. Nine-tenths of the population of Spain were opposed to this flagrant transfer of the succession, but the queen had her party and with it the fortresses and munitions .of war. These secured to her the adherence of the army. The principal nobles and grandees were also with her, just as they had been with Joseph Bonaparte. But by the end of the year 1833 the Carlists had an army of 30,000. Then followed a notable struggle, in all the battles of which, under the superb leadership of Colonel Thomas ZuMi;ila-*arregui, the CarUsis were successful, occupying the entire northern part of the kingdom and showing an aggressive power which the Liberalists recognised it would be impossible for them to overcome in their own strength. In this emergency they brough*: about the quadruple alliance, higned in London, April, 1834, between the representatives of William IV., Louis Philippe, Maria of Portugal, and Isabella of Spain. By this combination of force and wealth the first great Carlist uprising was suppressed. Beaten by foreign intervention, Don Carlos retired to Trieste, where he died in 1856, having ten years before abdicated in favour of his sou, the Count of Montemolin, Don Carlos VI. A Bad Record. To closely follow the course of the Carlists through the interval since the first at-, tempt to regain the succession would be to recount a stoiy of baseness, trcaihery, .and scandal because of which, Spain has degenerated from one of the great powers, to which the efforts rf th" Bourbons to regain their own are but incidentally related. Don Carlos VI. led several minor uprisings prior to 1860, but only the first one ever gave any promise of success, and after a three years' struggle it had to be abandoned "because of the treachery. of officers who are charged with having sold the cause. In the. latter year Don Carlos VI. and his brother, the Infante Ferdinand, i landed at Tortosa with 3000 men under General Ortego, but were surprised and captured. Don Carlos and his brother were forced to renounce their rights. But Don Juan de Bourbon, a brother who had taken no part in the ill-fated expedition, promptly j issued-a proclamation protesting against I the renunciation, and reserving his own rights intact. Don Carlos VI. died in Jani vary, 1861, the succession passing to his i brother, Don Juan 111., who abdicated on i the 3rd of October, 1868, in favour of his son, | the Duke of Madrid, now "His Most ChrisI tian and Catholic Majesty" Don Carlos I VH.

That same year the disturbed reign of Donna Isabella came to an end, she was compelled to flee to France, and Spain was once more plurged into the horrors of civil war. During 1868, '69, and '70 there were Carlist uprisings, but the latest among those of importance came in 1872. Don Carlos VH. was himself in command. The brief provisional government under Prita, Serran, and Topete had induced Almedeus, second son of Victor Emanuel, to accept the crown, but immediately upon the Carlist outbreak ha> resigned, and the revolutionists proclaimed a republic. Following this Don Alfonso XU. was placed upon the throne by a military pronunciamento. For "five years, amid revolution and misrule, the present Don Cf rlos kept up the struggle, and success seemed within his grasp when foreign intervention again withheld the triumph. Bismarck took umbrage at the execution of a German spy, recognised the republic, induced all the powers but Russia to join him in this action, and sunt German ships to cut off the Carlist supplies. This terminated the uprising in 1876. Don Carlos is now fifty years old and one of the stronger men of the royal family. Though an exile, his pretensions have never been relinquished and his determination to become king of Spain haa never been abandoned. He had the courage of his convictions, and in his utterances, as well as in the control of those who espouse his cause, he has shown a regard for his people that does not always constrain kingly action. Wnen his father abdicated in his favour, this is what Don Carlos Vll. wrote to the sovereigns of Europe:—"X the Almighty and the course of events should place mc on the throne of Spain, I shall strive honestly to combine the useful institutions of the present age and the indispensable institutions of the past ages; leaving to the general cortes, freely chosen, the grand and arduous task of bestowing on my dear country a constitution which will, I hope, be both permanent and Spaniib ia itt cßaracUr."

There is the ring of true patriotism in this, a virtue which the degenerate Spaniard of to-day may be pardoned for failure to appreciate. And events seem to affirm the sincerity of the unthroned king. Carlists have, been industriously organising throughout the length and breadth of Spain since 1876. At any time within a decade Don Carlos need but have given the word to ensure an uprising which, if other powers withheld their hands, would restore the Bourbon dynasty. Allegiance is given him by a large majority of the. population. The opportunity to attain his en&ftbuld now seem tojlggft golden one, nrcrjgimd war with the States does not bring about a unanimity of sentiment which no other stimulant can induce in Spain. Civil anarchy is rife. Tlie resources of the nation do not extend beyond an almost ruined credit. The government haa its chief element of strength in a tyrannical police. Corruption permeates every department, and political conspiracies are carried on tlirough all the functions and departments of the government. The desperate situation seeks international war as a relief. It will at least give the existing government an extended tenure and political manipulation is depended upon to care for the future. The Chances of War. Let war come, and in the sting of defeat the people will turn more kindly to a legitimist restoration. Let war be averted, and in the bitter humiliation of a bloodless surrender, Spain will welcome a revolutionary uprising to punish the present government and restore a line of monarchs that held imperial sway when Spain was truly great. Don Carlos must at least be granted the wisdom of biding his time. "No life Bhall be lost, no blood shall" be shed in any futile rising," he has said, showing that the impetuosity of youth has given way to the cooler judgment of mature years, but the more signally indicating that when the next general uprising comes at the dictation of the lawful king, it will prove irresistible. y -■■..--■- It is charged by those opposing him that Don Carlos VII. is the champion of intolerance, bigotry and reaction; by his supporters that he is liberal, that he would not permit the church to dominate the state, save as it might do so through the moral influence of religion, that he would establish the people in constitutional privileges, and that he would seek to direct their common interest to their common advancement. He at least speaks himself fair and indulges in hone of that Spanish ferocity which just now makes her people peculiarly obnoxious to the civilised peoples of the. earth. His record has placed his bravery beyond question, and as soon as the turn of events leave Spain to herself once more, he is most likely to terminate the sway of Alphonsists.