HISTORY AND POLITICAL CONSTITUTION.
In order to understand the present constitution, the political
condition, and the aspirations of the Spanish nation, it is absolutely
necessary to have some slight acquaintance with its previous history.
This we propose to give as briefly as possible.
In the eleventh and twelfth centuries there is no doubt that the
inhabitants of Northern Spain, under some of the petty kings, enjoyed
more constitutional liberty than any other people in Europe; that their
institutions generally, and especially their municipal privileges, were
more in accordance with the ideas of modern freedom and self-government
than those of any other nation at that date. The feudal system never
attained in Northern Spain, except in parts of Catalonia, the systematic
development, and the organized oppression of the lower classes, which it
reached in many other parts of Europe. The peculiar institution of
"_behetria_," which prevailed in Leon and the Castiles, and by which a
serf was free to go whither he would "from sea to sea," with all his
goods, and to put himself under any lord he chose, was of itself an
almost sufficient check to excessive tyranny by the nobles. The old
Roman municipal organization, of the towns had been preserved by
tradition throughout the whole of the Visigothic times down to 711, nor
had the practical working completely died out at the epoch of the early
reconquest of the north. Hence many of the charters or "_fueros_"
granted to the towns and cities by the kings are evidently founded on a
recollection of former institutions, modified according to the
necessities of the times. Thus the charter of Leon (1020) expressly
allows exemption from all arbitrary exactions, and grants the free
election of the _Alcalde_, and of the municipal council, with only the
appointment of the judges by the king. By the _fuero_ of Arganzon (1191)
it is expressly stated that if these royal officers overpassed their
duties, it would be lawful to kill them without incurring any
responsibility. Similar but still more strongly-worded clauses are found
in all the Basque _fueros_, and in the coronation oath of Aragon.
The representatives of the burgesses, "el estado llano," the low estate
in the "Cortes" or parliaments, began much earlier in Spain than in
other countries. Burgesses sat in the Cortes at Leon certainly in 1188,
if not in that of Burgos in 1169. In Aragon they were present still
earlier, in 1134, in Navarre in 1194, in Catalonia, where feudalism was
more developed than elsewhere, in 1218. These dates are simply those of
the first mention of the fact, not necessarily that of its first
institution; the records rather imply their presence at former sessions.
We find also early protests against judicial and administrative abuses
which prevailed long afterwards in other parts of Europe. In the _fuero_
of Arganzon (1191) the inhabitants claim exemption from the ordeal of
iron, hot-water, or battle. In 1152, the _fuero_ of Molina demands that
justice be done to all, and truth spoken without favour or bribery of
any kind whatever. The original capitulations granted to the Moors and
Mudejares of Castile, and especially to those of Aragon, breathe the
same liberal spirit. They are granted full liberty in the exercise of
their own religion, and to live under their own laws in their own
quarters, subject only to some fixed tribute and service. The spirit of
bigotry and of hatred between the two races commenced with the foreign
monks, with the semi-religious military orders, and with the legal
classes; afterwards it spread to the common people through envy at the
better use which the Jews, Mudejares, and Moriscos made of the
privileges granted to them, and the consequent superiority of their
condition compared with that of the serfs and lower classes of the
Christians. It is this fact which explains the rising of the population
at Saragossa in favour of the inquisition against the Mudejares and
Jews. Travellers in Spain, even to the middle of the fifteenth century,
were scandalized at the toleration of the Moors by the king and the
court. Theologians, lawyers (except the royal judges), medical men, and
traders were they who called for oppression of the Moors; the two last
classes evidently through jealousy of the superior skill and industry of
Moors and Jews as doctors and merchants; the literary class, the poets,
nobles, and kings were in favour of toleration. Afterwards indeed, in
the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries, the ravages of the
pirate ships of Algiers and Tunis roused an indignation and excited a
far more intense abhorrence than had existed in earlier times, when
Christian and Moslem knights met in fair and equal warfare.
The development of these early liberties, and the progress of the cause
of toleration and of true civilization in Spain, were checked by
circumstances which would assuredly have acted in a similar way in any
other nation. The establishment of the military orders, the conquest of
the south, especially the last campaign against Granada, put forces into
the hand of the king greater than those possessed at that time by any
other monarch. The richest half of Spain, the newly-conquered Mussulman
provinces, had not only no liberties of their own except those granted
in their respective capitulations, and which were speedily revoked, but
had neither knowledge of, nor any interest in the liberties of the
north. They were entirely at the mercy of their conquerors, Ferdinand
and Isabella, who had the control of the finest army of Christendom. The
mastership of all the great semi-monastic military orders, which had
hitherto been elective, was now granted to Ferdinand by Pope Innocent
VIII. (1492), and they were incorporated with the crown by a bull of
Adrian VI. (1523). An almost equally powerful engine in the royal hands
was the secret police of the Santa Hermandad (1476), founded to restrain
the excesses of the nobles and the practice of private war. The success
of this institution in the cause of order explains both the institution
and the popularity of the inquisition. It is easy to see what a leverage
was thus put into the royal hands to destroy the liberties of the north
of Spain. Add to this that the separate kingdoms, Navarre, Aragon,
Valencia, the Castiles, and the Basque Provinces had not yet been united
under a single head, nor had learned to work together, except in war,
for a single purpose. Catalonia and Aragon had indeed some sympathy with
each other, but they had none with Leon and Castile; their peculiar
language and habits isolated the Basque Provinces and Navarre from any
of the rest. A century of free representation and debate in a national
Cortes might have changed all this, but the opportunity was not given.
The discovery and the conquest of America, and the subsequent emigration
of the bolder spirits, turned men's thoughts away from internal reform
and the home constitution. Next the fatal election to the empire of
Charles V. threw into his hands fitting agents, in his foreign and
ecclesiastical ministers and governors, wherewith to crush any rising of
the people. Cardinal Ximenes was the only minister in Europe who at that
date could have pointed to a standing army with the proud words, "With
these I govern Castile; and with these I will govern it, until the king,
your master and mine, takes possession of his kingdom."
Yet even to the end of the seventeenth century the king swore to
preserve the ancient privileges of Aragon and Catalonia. The "_fueros_"
of Navarre were intact until 1840, and those of the Basque Provinces
till 1874. The wonder is, not that the Spanish liberties were crushed,
but that the memory of them should have continued so long, and after so
many ages of repression should yet be a living force with which every
statesman and ruler of Spain has still to make his account.
The suppression of Spanish liberty had already begun under the reign of
Ferdinand and Isabella, but the death of Francis I. and the retreat of
Charles V. into the cloister of San Juste definitely closes both the
period of chivalry and of such liberties as existed through the Middle
Ages in Europe. With Philip II. begins the era of statesmanship and of
bureaucratic centralization, when nations were really ruled from the
closet and with the pen, not with the sovereign's sword or by his
presence in the field. It is difficult for an Englishman to sympathize
with the view, but the period of Philip II. is still looked upon by the
majority of Spaniards as the golden era of the external position of
Spain. His absolutism, and his concentration in his own person of all
civil and religious rights, are condoned in their eyes by the glory of
his having made Spain the arbiter of Europe and the champion of
Catholicism. But with his successor set in that strange and progressive
decadence of intellectual power in the sovereigns of the Austrian
dynasty in Spain, which ended in the almost idiotcy of the childless
Charles II. Spain, which in the reign of Philip II. had all but imposed
the sovereign of her choice in France, in the reign of Charles II. was
ruled according to the intrigues and caprice of the court of Versailles.
Philip V., the grandson of Louis XIV., though vastly superior to the
late Austrian sovereigns, could never thoroughly emancipate himself from
the tutelage of the country to whose armies he owed his crown; and the
family degeneracy, which had shown itself in the Austrian sovereigns,
again appeared in the Bourbon family, and communicated itself to the
whole nation. The military and naval greatness of Spain disappeared, the
very wish for constitutional liberty died out, commerce and literature
were almost extinct, the population was declining in numbers and
increasing in misery, the country was daily growing poorer, and its
wealth was ebbing slowly away to other lands. The noble aristocracy of
Spain, once so full of loyal self-respect in the age of the Cid,
grovelled at the sovereign's feet, jealous only for precedence in
matters of court etiquette, or clamorous for posts in the colonies as a
means of corruption, and of enriching themselves by the plunder of the
provinces they administered. The only king who showed some royal talent,
and who intelligently endeavoured to effect the improvement of Spain,
was Charles III. (1759--1788). Unfortunately both he and his able
ministers, instead of basing their reforms on the native liberties and
constitutions of Spain, imitated almost wholly the spurious liberalism
of the encyclopaedists and doctrinaires of France. Hence few of their
reforms took root. Those that were not immediately done away with did
not grow or develope. The successors of Charles III. were still more
feeble than his immediate predecessors, and the condition of the royal
family was such that Napoleon had no difficulty in forcing them to
abdicate, and to crown his brother Joseph king of Spain; but the nation,
unlike the royal family, refused to acquiesce in this usurpation of
their rights, and rose as one man to avenge the burning wrong.
[Illustration: PORT OF CADIZ.
_Page 153._]
The modern history of Spain begins naturally with that of the War of
Liberation, May 2nd, 1808, and politically with the Cortes of Cadiz,
1812, and with the constitution then promulgated. This declares: That
the Spanish nation is not the patrimony of any family or person; that
the sovereignty resides essentially in the nation, which is the
conservator of its own liberties and rights. The sole religion is and
shall always be the Apostolic Roman. The legislative power resides in
the Cortes with the king. The suffrage was universal, and one deputy was
to be elected for every 70,000 souls. Entails and feudal privileges had
been abolished by a law of August 6th, 1811, the liberty of the press
was voted, and in 1813 the inquisition was suppressed. The French had
been expelled, chiefly through the assistance of England, and the king
had returned from captivity; all looked well for the new era. But in
1814 Ferdinand VII. violated the oath which he had sworn to observe the
constitution; the inquisition was re-established; the feudal exactions
on real property were restored; and the fatal policy of violent reaction
and of ruthless vengeance on political opponents was inaugurated which
has wrought such deadly harm to the cause of progress in Spain. After an
absolute government of six years, Riego raised the standard of revolt at
Cadiz, and again Ferdinand swore to observe the constitution of 1812:
further reforms were established. In 1820, tithes were partially
suppressed, and the Church was forbidden to acquire any more real
property. A law of May 3rd, 1823, affirmed in stronger terms the law of
1813 on the abolition of entail: the religious orders were done away
with. But in the same year, with the assistance of a French army under
the Duc d'Angouleme, Ferdinand conquered the liberals and again violated
his oath to observe the constitution. Every act of the Cortes for the
last four years was annulled. Riego, with other chiefs of the liberal
party, was put to death under circumstances of atrocious cruelty, others
were banished, and a crafty and tenacious system of persecution was
directed against every liberal for the rest of the reign. During this
reign, too, through denial of all reform or suppression of any abuse,
the whole of the vast colonial empire of Spain on the continent of the
Americas was totally lost.
On the death of Ferdinand VII., June 29, 1833, another element of
discord was introduced. The first Bourbon king, Philip V., in defiance
of ancient Spanish precedents to the contrary, had introduced the Salic
law from France, and had procured its solemn promulgation by Cortes.
Ferdinand VII., with the consent of Cortes, abrogated this law, and left
the crown to his only child, Isabella II., an infant of less than three
years old, with her mother, Christina of Naples, as regent. His
brother, Don Carlos, who, since the king's last marriage, had been
intriguing against him with the ultra-conservative party, claimed the
throne under the law of Philip V. Henceforth a dynastic question was
added to the standing constitutional one.
The Carlists declared themselves the champions of legitimacy, the divine
right, and of absolutism; and thus forced the party of Isabella, the
Christinos, to appeal for support to the liberal and constitutional
party, though they had no more real attachment to the cause, and no more
intelligent appreciation of its benefits than had their opponents. A
blunder of the liberal party in hesitating to confirm the "_fueros_" of
the Basques, the last vestige still intact of the ancient constitutional
and municipal liberties of Spain, greatly strengthened their opponents,
who at once seized the opportunity and loudly confirmed them. A war of
seven years followed, in which the older liberal generals lost all their
former military prestige against Zumalacarregui in the Basque Provinces,
and against Cabrera in Aragon. But the assistance of England, and still
more the incapacity of Don Carlos, at length enabled Espartero to finish
the war by the convention of Vergara, August 30, 1839, by which _fueros_
were confirmed to the Basques on their laying down arms. Cabrera
continued the war in Aragon and Catalonia, but two years afterwards was
forced with his followers to take refuge in France. During this period
constitutional liberty had apparently made great progress in Spain, and
several useful reforms had been set on foot. But its course had been
marred by deeds of atrocious violence, such as the massacre of the monks
and the destruction of the convents in 1835, when valuable treasures,
both in art and literature, which had been spared in the great
Peninsular War, were finally lost. All ecclesiastical and church
property had been declared national, and the sale of it had been
commenced, tithes were wholly suppressed, the _mesta_ was
abolished--with results as to the division of property detailed in a
former chapter. From the regency of Christina dates, in a great degree,
the shameless corruption, the selfish intrigues, the abuses of all kinds
among the upper _employes_, which with rare exceptions have marked every
subsequent government of Spain. A reaction set in in 1843, with Narvaez
as its real chief. To his stern administration, however, are due the
establishment of the normal and technical schools, the foundation of the
present educational system in Spain, and the institution of the
_guardias civiles_, a kind of police after the model of the French
gendarmerie or the Irish constabulary, and which has proved itself the
most trustworthy body in Spain in defence of law and order under all
changes of government. It would be a weariness to the reader to recount
all the changes from liberalism to absolutism which followed during the
reign of Isabella II. No administration succeeded in impressing on the
bulk of the nation the fact that it was honest and capable; none won
respect abroad. Perhaps that of O'Donnell (1858-63), during which
occurred the successful campaign in Morocco, was the least corrupt and
inefficient; but the indignation of the country at the shame and
corruption of both court and government broke forth at last, and a
movement, headed by Admiral Topete and the fleet at Cadiz, in 1868
overthrew the Government, forced Isabella to fly, and declared the
Bourbons incapable of ruling in Spain.
On the abdication of Isabella II. in favour of her son, and her
retirement into France, a provisional government was formed with
Serrano, Topete, and Prim as chief members, to hold the reins of power
until Cortes should elect a new sovereign. The choice proved far more
difficult than was expected. Topete and others favoured the claims of
the Duc de Montpensier, the brother-in-law of the late queen, but the
objection to any of the Bourbon family was at that time too strong;
others desired to seize the opportunity of uniting Spain and Portugal
under one head by electing a member of the Portuguese royal family; but
this was rejected by the princes of Portugal. Two years were spent in
these debates, but at last the choice of Prim prevailed, and Amadeo,
the second son of Victor Emmanuel II. of Italy, was elected sovereign,
16th November, 1870. The murder of his chief supporter, Prim, before he
reached Madrid, deprived him of the only support which might have
consolidated his dynasty. Had it not been for the deeply-rooted dislike
of all Spaniards to a foreign ruler, Amadeo would have proved by far the
best sovereign that had sat upon the throne for many generations. He
honestly respected the constitution. His court was pure and incorrupt.
He was intelligently devoted to the best interests of Spain; but he
found all his efforts at improvement and reform utterly thwarted by the
intrigues of the nobility and of the upper _employes_ of every kind, and
after a trial of two years he resigned a post which he could no longer
maintain with true dignity and self-respect, and retired to Portugal,
February 11th, 1873. Thereupon a republic was proclaimed by Cortes, with
Figueras, Castelar, and Pi y Margall as chief ministers. But the events
of the last few years, the weakening of the central authority, the
attention which the Carlist rising in the north had drawn to the ancient
"_fueros_" or constitutional privileges of Spain, on the one side, and
the incidents of the war with the Paris Commune in France, together with
the influence of those of the communists who had found refuge in the
industrial cities of the east and south, on the other, produced constant
revolts in favour of a federal or cantonalist government of the
separate provinces. On July 15th, 1873, Don Carlos (Carlos VII.) the
grandson of the Don Carlos (Carlos V.) of the seven years' war, although
both his uncles and his father had solemnly renounced their rights to
the throne, re-entered the Basque Provinces, from which he had been
quickly driven by General Moriones at Oroquieta in a former attempt, and
raised the standard of legitimacy and divine right. On the other hand,
one after the other, Alcoy, Malaga, Seville, Cadiz, and, a few months
later, Cartagena and Valencia, revolted in a communistic or cantonalist
conspiracy which threatened the dismemberment of Spain, and the
destruction of her armaments. It was only after severe fighting, which
strained the resources of the Government to the utmost, that these
cities were subdued. Meanwhile Don Carlos had established himself firmly
in the Basque Provinces, and his brother Alfonso headed considerable
forces in Aragon and Catalonia. Fortunately Barcelona held aloof from
the cantonalist and _intransigente_ movement of Cartagena and Valencia.
These events, however, had shown the necessity of tightening the reins
of discipline in the army. Salmeron, who was now at the head of the
ministry, exerted himself to restore order, and endeavoured to work the
republic in a conservative sense. A year or two after, at the
instigation of Castelar, the penalty of death for mutiny was again
enforced. After Moriones and Serrano in the north had both failed in
their attempts to raise the seige of Bilbao, Concha at last succeeded,
May 2, 1874; and Martinez Campos, who had crushed the insurrection in
Valencia, was making way against the Carlists in Aragon and Catalonia.
Between these generals, with Pavia and others, a conspiracy was formed
to restore the Bourbon monarchy under Alfonso XII., son of Isabella.
Serrano offered only a doubtful resistance, and Castelar, opposed by the
_intransigente_ party, found himself almost alone in upholding a
conservative republic. The death of Concha, before Estella, in Navarre,
June 27, 1874, delayed for some months the proclamation of Alphonso, but
at length it took place, on December 30, 1874, and the republic fell
without a struggle. Alphonso XII. landed at Barcelona in the first days
of 1875, and entered Madrid on January 14th. In spite of some checks,
caused by the incapacity of his generals, his power was quickly
augmented. Many who, through hatred of the republic and of the
cantonalist excesses, had joined the Carlist ranks, abandoned the cause
when monarchy was restored. Don Carlos had proved to be as incapable as
his grandfather had been, and much less reputable in his private life.
By the end of August, Martinez Campos had taken Urgel, in Catalonia, and
by the close of the year he was free to assist Quesada in the Basque
Provinces. The united armies were successful, and on February 28, 1876,
Don Carlos entered France, leaving his followers and the Basque
Provinces entirely at the mercy of the conquerors. The consequence to
them has been the partial loss of their _fueros_, the incorporation of
the Basque conscripts with the rest of the army, and the annexation of
the provinces for the first time to the crown of Spain.
With Alphonso XII. entered Spain, as his chief adviser, Canovas del
Castillo. Whether nominally prime minister, or out of office, he has
really held the reins of power--with the exception of the nine months'
ministry of Martinez Campos in 1879--from 1875 to February, 1881. On the
whole his exertions have been beneficial to Spain. By an arrangement
dated January 1, 1877, and by lowering the rate of interest, he saved
the public credit, which was on the verge of utter bankruptcy.
Insensibly he has detached himself from the progressive liberal
movement, and his rule has become more and more conservative. The decree
for toleration of religion, passed in the first months of the republic
of 1868, has been greatly modified, and interpreted in a sense more and
more unfavourable to religious freedom: But he has not succeeded in
breaking down the many abuses of the administration, or in putting an
end to the corruption of the upper _employes_, or in insuring freedom
and purity of parliamentary election; and until this is effected the
future of Spain must still be doubtful.
_Present Constitution and Administration of Spain._
It would be tedious and little instructive to our readers to detail the
various constitutions under which Spain has been governed since 1812. We
will give a sketch, as far as we are able, of the last only. By a
comparison of this with the constitution of Cadiz, it will be seen that,
in spite of all reactions, Spain has really progressed in the way of
freedom and good government.
The constitution of the Spanish monarchy, June 30, 1876, declares
Alphonso XII. de Bourbon to be the legitimate King of Spain. His person
is inviolable, but his ministers are responsible, and all his orders
must be countersigned by a minister. The legislative power resides in
the Cortes with the king. The Cortes is composed of two legislative
bodies, equal in power--the Senate and the Congress of Deputies.
The Senate is composed (1) of senators by their own right, who are--sons
of the kings, grandees of Spain with 3000_l._ yearly income, the
Captain-General of the Forces, the Admiral-in-Chief, the Patriarch of
the Indies, the Archbishops, the Presidents of the Council of State, of
the Supreme Tribunal, of the National Accounts, of the Council of War,
and of Marine, after two years' service; (2) of life senators, named by
the crown; (3) of senators elected by the corporations of the State, or
the richest citizens--half of these must be renewed every five years.
All senators must be thirty-five years of age, and the number of classes
(1) and (2) together must not exceed that of the elected senators, which
is fixed at 180.
The Congress of Deputies is returned by the electoral Juntas, one deputy
being elected for every 50,000 souls. Deputies are elected by universal
suffrage, and for a period of five years. The Congress meets every year
at the summons of the king, who has power to suspend or close the
session; but in the latter case, a new Congress must meet within three
months. The president and vice-presidents of the Senate are nominated by
the king, those of the Congress are elected from its own body. The
initiation of the laws belongs to the king, and to both legislative
bodies; but the budget, and all financial matters, must be first
presented every year to the Congress of Deputies. No one can be
compelled to pay any tax not voted by Congress, or by the legally
appointed corporations. The sittings are public, and the person of
deputies is inviolable. Ministers may be impeached by the deputies, but
are judged by the Senate.
Justice is administered in the king's name, and judges and magistrates
are immovable.
The provinces are administered (1) by a governor, who, with his
immediate subordinates, is nominated by the Government; (2) by a
Provincial Deputation, elected by the householders of the province. All
members must be natives of, or residents in, the province; their number
varies according to the population. (3) Five members elected from the
Provincial Deputation form a Provincial Commission to conduct business
when the deputation is not sitting. These authorities and bodies answer
nearly to the prefects and general councils of the French departments.
They are of much greater political importance in those provinces which
have preserved some of their ancient rights than in others.
Below the provincial are the municipal authorities, the Alcaldes
(mayors), Ayuntamientos (municipal councils), and the Juntas
Municipales. The internal administration of every parish is entrusted to
an Ayuntamiento or municipal council, elected by the residents, and
composed of the Alcalde or mayor, the Tenientes or assistants, the
Regidores or councillors. The Junta Municipal is composed of all the
councillors of the Ayuntamiento, and an assembly of three times their
number, and by them the municipal accounts are to be audited and
revised. The number of the Ayuntamiento varies according to the
population; one Alcalde, one Teniente, six Regidores, for 1000; and one
Alcalde, ten Tenientes, thirty-three Regidores, for 100,000. The real
independence and free action of these bodies varies much in different
provinces and in different circumstances. The smaller bodies are quite
under the thumb of the central government; the larger ones in the great
towns and in the more independent provinces are much less easily
influenced.
The Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman is declared to be the religion of the
State, and the nation is bound to maintain its worship and its
ministers. "But no one shall be molested on Spanish ground for his
religious opinions, nor for the exercise of his respective worship,
except it be against Christian morals. Nevertheless, no other ceremonies
or public manifestations shall be permitted than those of the religion
of the State." These last two articles are evidently equivocal, and
subject to great diversity of interpretation and of application.
All foreigners are free to settle in Spanish territory, and to exercise
therein their respective trades and professions, with the exception of
those which require special titles. The expression of opinion, the
press, the right of public meeting, of association, and of petition,
except from armed bodies, are respectively free. No Spaniard or
foreigner can be arrested or detained illegally. He must either be set
at liberty or be brought before a judge within twenty-four hours of his
arrest. No Spaniard can be arrested without a judge's warrant, and the
case must then be heard within seventy-two hours after his arrest;
otherwise he must be set at liberty on his own petition or on that of
any other Spaniard. Domicile is inviolable. Such are the principal
articles of the present Spanish Constitution. In spite of the excess of
some republican governments and the reaction of others, real progress
has been made, excepting only in the equivocal law on religion, and that
on marriages between Catholics and Protestants.
_Administrative Spain._
For military purposes, Spain is mapped out into five "capitanias
generales," conferring the rank of field-marshal on the possessors of
that office. The number of marshals, generals, and superior officers of
the special corps in active service is over 500. The number of the army
on a peace footing is fixed at 90,000, the infantry numbering 60,000,
the cavalry 16,000, artillery 10,000, and engineers 4000. Universal
conscription is nominally obligatory, but with the power of purchasing a
substitute for a fixed sum of 80_l._ The time of service is eight years,
four of which are spent in the active army and four in the reserve. In
the colonies the time is four years only, the whole of which must be
spent in active service. Besides the regular army in Spain are the corps
and garrisons in the Philippine Islands, in Porto Rico, and in Cuba,
where the mortality is so great that the troops need constant renewal.
In addition to the above must be reckoned the militia of the Canary
Islands, the "guardias civiles," a kind of constabulary like that of
Ireland or the gendarmerie of France. These are about 15,000 men, and
are some of the best and most trustworthy troops in Spain; the
carabineros or custom-house officers, who guard the frontiers, form
another corps of about 12,000. Towards the close of the late Carlist and
Cuban wars the actual army was far above these numbers, and it is
probable that 150,000 men were under arms on the side of the Government
in the Basque Provinces alone. The Spanish soldier is one of the best in
Europe, if properly commanded. He is sober, and has great powers of
endurance; is an excellent marcher, and a trustworthy sentinel;
persistent both in attack and defence, he still retains the steadiness
of the old Spanish "tercios," which were once the terror and admiration
of Europe. The Basques under Zumalacarregui in the first Carlist war,
and the Catalans under Martinez Campos in the last, earned high praise
from all foreign officers who saw them. But too often these fine
qualities of the private have been rendered of no avail, owing to the
utter want of skill and competency in the officers and commanders, and
still more by reckless corruption and mismanagement in all things
relating to the commissariat and supplies. Another element of
deterioration has been the use of the soldiery as mere tools of
political intrigue in the frequent revolts and _pronunciamientos_ of
ambitious generals. The scientific corps, however, the artillery and
engineers, have always stood aloof from sedition. It was an attempt to
corrupt the former and to assimilate it in this respect to the rest of
the army, which led to the abdication of King Amadeo. The generals who
have achieved the greatest reputation in the Spanish army are Quesada
and Martinez Campos. Moriones, who distinguished himself in the Basque
Provinces during the last Carlist war, has lately died. Blanco and
Jovellar acquired distinction in Cuba, and Loma as a good brigadier in
the Carlist war. Serrano, Pavia, and others are better known in the
field of politics than in that of military action.
For naval purposes the coast of Spain is divided into three
departments--Ferrol, Cadiz, and Cartagena, at each of which ports is a
naval arsenal. The jurisdiction of the marine extends as far as the tide
and seventy feet beyond. The three departments, are divided into
_tercios navales_, _partidos maritimos_, and districts. The Spanish navy
consists of 121 ships, five of which are armoured vessels of the first
class, and eleven unarmoured; eighteen belong to the second class, and
fifty-six to the third, some of which are monitors and armoured
gunboats. There are also thirty-one smaller vessels, and a few ships
employed for training and for harbour services. The whole fleet mounts
525 guns, and is over 20,000 horse-power. The sailors number 14,000,
with 504 officers of all ranks, and the marine infantry 7000, with 374
officers. The old fame of Spanish ship-building, except for small
vessels, has almost entirely passed away. In the great war at the
beginning of the century, the finest vessels of our navy were prizes
taken from Spain. Spanish navigators, too, have long lost their old
renown, though the Basques are still esteemed as mariners. The ironclad
frigates and monitors of modern Spain have been almost all constructed
in foreign dockyards. The armoured gunboats, however, built in Spain are
a good and useful model.
The merchant marine consists of 226 ocean-going steamers and 1578 ocean
sailing-vessels measuring altogether 460,000 tons. Smaller vessels make
up a total of 3000 merchant-ships, less than one-fifth of the number of
those of Great Britain.
For the administration of justice the country is divided into Audiencias
Territoriales, Provincias, and Partidos Judiciales. The Audiencias, or
courts of appeal, are fifteen, with 373 judges or procureurs. There are
also 500 judges of first instance, and there is also a justice of peace
or alcalde in each town or municipality. All pleadings are still
conducted in writing in Spain; there is no verbal examination or
cross-examination in public. Suits both civil and criminal are thus
dragged out to an inordinate length. Judges are still suspected of being
open to bribery, and confidence in the just administration of the law is
as a consequence severely shaken. It is not uncommon for witnesses to be
summoned to testify to facts which happened many years before, and it
not unfrequently happens that either the principal witnesses or the
criminal himself is dead before the case is decided. As a conspicuous
instance, we may remind our readers that General Prim was assassinated
in open day in Madrid in 1870, and the case has not yet been adjudged.
The discipline of the prisons is in general extremely lax, and many
crimes, especially forgeries, are there concocted with impunity. There
is, however, a great difference in the treatment of the prisoners in
different prisons. Up to 1840 the office of Alcaide, or governor of a
prison, was sold by the Government to the highest bidder, and the
purchasers made the most they could out of the wretched prisoners by
starving them or by accepting bribes for illicit indulgences, and for
furnishing what they were bound to provide, so that it was commonly said
"that the _bagnios_ of Algiers were less terrible than the prisons of
Spain." Perhaps the worst of them all, up to the year 1833, was the old
prison of the city of Madrid, one dark dungeon of which was termed "El
Infierno"--Hell. Almost as bad was the Prison de Corte and the famous
Saladero. There was no classification, no cleanliness, and in some of
the cells neither light nor ventilation. In some of the country prisons
the cells were like the dens of a menagerie, and the starving prisoners
thrust their hands through the bars to beg food of passers-by. At last
has arisen an ardent band of philanthropists, of whom Senors Lastres and
Vilalva are at the head, and the first stone of a new prison in Madrid,
arranged on modern principles, was laid by the king in February, 1877.
Hospitals, lunatic asylums, and asylums for the sick and aged poor, and
other charitable establishments are of very varied descriptions in
Spain. Some of them, like the famous establishments of Cadiz, Seville,
Madrid, Cartagena, Valencia, and Cordova, are admirably managed, and
yield in practical benefit to none of other lands. The first lunatic
asylum ever founded was that at Valencia by Padre Jofre Gilanext, in
1409; three others, at Saragossa, Toledo, and Seville were founded in
the fifteenth century. That of Barcelona is said to be now the best
public lunatic asylum in Spain. Many others are nearly as good, while
one or two of the private asylums near Madrid are excellent; but in
some provinces these establishments, both public and private, are still
in a very wretched state.
Since 1848 there have been a little over 4000 miles of railway laid down
in Spain. The principal lines are the two which run from the extreme
ends of the French Pyrenees to the capital, connecting Spain with the
great European communications. Next in importance are those from the
Mediterranean ports Valencia, Alicante, Cartagena, to Madrid; Malaga and
Granada are connected with the metropolis by the line from Cadiz. A
rather circuitous route by Badajoz, Ciudad Real, and Toledo is the only
line at present open to Lisbon, but a more direct one is in course of
construction. The communications with the extreme north-west are not yet
completed, but the branch of the Great Northern Company from Santander,
which brings the products of the Asturian coal-fields to Madrid, is of
great importance. Other valuable lines are those of the valley of the
Ebro, from Miranda del Ebro by Saragossa to Barcelona. Should any of the
schemes projected for a direct route from Paris to Madrid, by any of the
central passes of the Pyrenees, through Saragossa, be carried into
effect, the line from the latter place to Madrid will be one of
considerable traffic. The coast-line from Barcelona to Valencia is of
great value to one of the richest wine and fruit districts of Spain.
Shorter lines, which may have a considerable influence on the welfare
of the country, are those which connect the great mineral fields with
the chief lines of transport or with the nearest port. It has been
remarked that hitherto, with some exceptions, Spanish railways have had
less influence in developing local traffic than those of any other
European country. The Great Northern lines, too, have suffered seriously
from interruptions caused by civil war, by floods, and other accidents
since 1868.
The total length of the telegraph lines is nearly 10,000 miles. The
number of public offices is 324, of private, 12; the telegrams
despatched amounted in 1877 to 2,023,579, of which about half were
private despatches for the interior. The expenses of working were
165,076_l._, and the receipts 156,950_l._, leaving a deficit of 8126_l._
The number of post-offices in 1877 was 2530, of letters 78,446,000;
postal cards, 1,040,000; newspapers, 38,479,000; books and samples,
5,767,000. To Great Britain were despatched, in 1879: Letters and postal
cards, 1,083,000; books, &c., 317,900; total, 1,400,900. From Great
Britain: Letters and postal cards, 931,100; books, &c., 646,100; total,
1,577,200. The receipts from the post-office in 1877 were 361,704_l._,
while the expenditure was 297,412_l._, leaving a surplus of 64,292_l._
_The Finances of Spain._
The most prominent circumstance in the financial condition of Spain is
the startling increase of the public debt since the revolution of 1868.
The capital of the debt was then 212,443,600_l._, the interest of which
was 5,580,000_l._ The funds, three per cents, were then at 33. In 1880
the capital of the debt amounted to 515,000,000_l._ Since 1870, by abuse
of credit, the interest of the debt had been paid from the capital; then
one-third of the interest was paid in paper, with a promise to pay the
remaining two-thirds in coin; this engagement was soon broken, but the
paper was punctually paid until 1874, when the interest of the debt was
erased from the budget. In face of the evident bankruptcy of the
country, an arrangement was made in 1876 between the Government and the
principal foreign fund-holders, by which, from January 1, 1877, to June
30, 1881, inclusive, the interest to be paid on the three per cents was
reduced to one per cent., and that on the six per cents to two per cent.
From June 30, 1881, to June 30, 1882, one and a quarter per cent. will
be paid, and arrangements as to future payments are to be made before
the last-mentioned date, and a return to a full interest of three and
six per cent. is to follow at fixed periods. The success of the scheme
is shown by the fact that in 1876 the three per cents, still nominally
paying three per cent. interest, were at 11-1/2; in January, 1881,
paying only one per cent. interest, they were quoted at 22; and the six
per cents, paying only two per cent. interest, were at 42.
From the above statement we may gather some idea of what the civil wars
of the republic, the cantonal, Carlist, and Cuban insurrections, joined
to the expensive experiments of well-intentioned but inexperienced
financiers, in remitting taxes while the public burdens were increasing,
have cost the nation. A calm observer, Mr. Phipps, in his official
report to the British Government, calculates that from 1868 to 1876 the
addition to the debt from these causes amounted to at least
260,000,000_l._, considerably more than the total debt of Spain in 1868.
Notwithstanding the plausible balance-sheets annually submitted to
Congress, the revenue and expenditure of Spain are still far from being
in a satisfactory condition. The writer above quoted states that
"enormous deficits in the budgets (however nominally balanced) have been
the invariable rule in Spain during a long course of years, under every
sort of _regime_ and under all circumstances." In the last budget,
1879-80, the revenue is stated at 32,494,552_l._, and the expenditure at
33,129,484_l._ Supposing these figures to be correct, the deficit,
634,932_l._, would be far less than for many years past.
The principal sources of Spanish revenue are, in round numbers:--
Direct Taxes L10,500,000
Indirect ditto 5,500,000
Customs 4,500,000
Stamps and Government Monopolies 9,000,000
National Property 1,750,000
Miscellaneous. 1,000,000
----------
L32,250,000
Of these the items most foreign to an Englishman's notion of taxation
are the produce of the seven great tobacco factories, Seville, Madrid,
Santander, Gijon, Corunna, Valencia, and Alicante, of which the net
revenue is over 2,500,000_l._, the lotteries, which bring in
5000,000_l._ net, the consumo tax, a kind of octroi, and the territorial
tax, which together furnish the largest contribution to the revenue. The
national property comprises the Almaden quicksilver-mines, valued at
over 250,000_l._ per annum, the Linares mines, leased at 20,000_l._, and
other sources about 30,000_l._ annually.
The heaviest item in the expenditure is the interest on the national
debt, over 11,500,000_l._; the ministry of war and the navy exceeds
6,000,000_l._, while pensions absorb 1,750,000_l._, public works over
3,000,000_l._, finance over 5,000,000_l._, administration of justice
more than 2,000,000_l._; the ministry of the interior, Cortes, the
civil list, &c., make up the remainder.
The total imports and exports of Spain were:--
Imports. Exports.
In 1877, L16,340,672 L18,175,140
In 1878, 15,910,016 17,172,596
In 1879, 17,730,756 20,155,964
But of this increased prosperity far more than her share has fallen to
France, owing chiefly to its being put in the same category with
Germany, Italy, Belgium, and Austria, as _most favoured_ nations, who
import their goods under the customs tariff of July 17, 1877, while
England and the United States continue-under the old tariff, as
_favoured_ nations only. This disproportion will probably be still more
marked, owing to the immense importation of Spanish wines into France
required to make up for losses by the phylloxera disease; while the
exportation of sherry to England has been gradually lessening for some
years, and now we take only some 4 per cent, of the quantity, and 12 per
cent in value, of the wine exported from Spain. One of our chief imports
into Spain, coal, is likely also to diminish, owing to the development
of the native coal-fields in the Asturias and in Andalusia. Our other
chief exports from Spain in fruits and minerals largely increase. The
present wine tariff of England, by which she virtually refuses to
purchase the bulk of Spanish wines in their natural state, while
importing them largely when mixed with inferior French white wines, and
treated as clarets, &c., is felt by Spaniards to be so unfair that,
until this system is modified there is little hope of obtaining a better
tariff for English manufactures; while the making Gibraltar an immense
depot for a contraband trade is a wrong that rankles in the mind of all
southern Spaniards. The decline of the English import trade into Spain
would be much more marked but for the immense amount of English capital
employed in the larger mining and industrial enterprises.
The battle between protection and free trade is not yet fought out in
Spain. The manufacturing districts of Catalonia and the east coast
clamour loudly for protection, while the mining and agricultural and
wine-growing interests demand free trade. It is impossible to say on
which side the balance may turn. A conservative Government would
probably favour the former, while a liberal ministry might venture upon
the latter system.
Heavy as the public debt of Spain undoubtedly is, and serious as are the
charges imposed upon her by the still unsettled political condition of
the country and of its principal colony--Cuba, she might more than pay
the interest of her debts at the present rate of interest, and balance
the expenditure, but for the administrative corruption and utter want
of political morality, the fruit of long years of financial abuses, and
which has become almost a fixed habit amongst all classes of the
inhabitants. The Government seems to be a mark for fraud to every class,
from millionaire bankers and the largest landed proprietors down to the
ill-paid _employe_ who ekes out his scanty salary by accepting petty
bribes, and the labourer or fisherman on the frontier who never misses
the occasion of smuggling. It is easy to prove the truth of these
assertions. In 1877, in an official report, Mr. Phipps writes: "A few
English, French, and Spanish bankers advance money to Spain, with safe
security, on conditions as disastrous to the treasury as they are
discreditable to themselves." The territorial tax, which forms
one-fourth of the whole internal revenue is notoriously levied on only
54 per cent, of the whole area of the country. In some provinces not
two-thirds of the whole is returned at all, and much land that is
productive is returned as uncultivated. From the extent of the
contraband trade and the corruption of the custom-house officers, the
amount levied on imports and exports can hardly be above two-thirds of
their proper value. In fact, what Spain needs above everything at
present is an honest and impartial administration. The causes of her
poverty lie not so much in bad laws or a faulty constitution, but in a
corrupt and negligent administration. The system of empleomania,
whereby nearly every ill-paid _employe_ is almost forced to pillage,
the preference of this ill-paid idleness and of professional poverty to
honest toil in trade or agriculture--these are the true foes to the
prosperity of Spain. For party and political purposes, taxes are relaxed
for those who should bear their equal share of the burden, only to fall
with crushing weight on the honest workers, unconnected with, or who
refuse to bribe the administration.