SPAIN.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XV, Issue 80, 3 January 1857, Page 4

SPAIN.

A letter from h. ministerial source says : — " The cabinet is perfectly united ; all the ministers admit the absolute necessity of union to combat anarchy and reaction, both of which are equally dangerous. M. Patricio de la Escosura, the late Minister of the Interior, has demanded his passports ; thus he had not left Madrid, as asserted by the newspapers. Some, officers of the King's household are, it is said, to be changed, but the aides-de-camp, even including M. Barcaiztegui, formerly aide-de-camp of the Duke de la Victoria, are to remain."

A despatch from Madrid, of the 20th August, states that the Gazette publishes a royal decree, conferring the Golden Fleece on Prince Adalbert of Bavaria. M. Ranees has been named minister to the Brazils. General tranquillity prevails throughout the country. The Epoca says that the Gazette is about to publish decrees for the dissolution of the Corte3, for a regulation of the press, and for the establishment of the Council of State, promulgating the constitution of 1845. The Gazette contains decrees dismissing 1 6 civil governors of provinces, and appoint their successors; the latter are selected half from the progressist and half from the moderato parties. At Barcelona 187 persons condemned by court-martial had been embarked for Cuba and other colonies. The Captain-General of Catalonia had decreed the dissolution of all associations of workmen and masters in the province.

The Patrie publishes two letters from Madrid, addressed by the Duke de Medina Coeli and the Duke d'Albe to the Independance of Brussels, complaining of the inexact statements made by the Belgian and English press rela-

tive to the late insurrection in Spain. The letter of the Duke de Medina Cccli says : — " Allow me to tell you that your correspondent at Madrid has shamefully deceived you, and that you, in your turn, have misled the public by making yourself the echo of this tissue of calumnies against all that is most responsible in Spain, and which, nevertheless, form the theme of your daily correspondence." The letter goes on to say that the account given of the great losses the writer had sustained by the destruction of a fine gallery of pictures, and the breaking of furniture, is equally at variance with the truth, as is also the account that he had written to Marshal O'Donnell, demanding an indemnity of 9,000,000 of reals (2,500,000f.) " I have lost nothing," says the Duke ; " the only damage my house sustained was from being struck by two or three balls, and I have had no communication with the Marshal, except to congratulate him on his victory over rebellion, and to thank him for having saved society."