SPAIN AND HER FACTIONS. 



the fall of one faction, and the ascendancy of another, afford a rich har- 

 vest of empleas to the latter. It would indeed be unfair to disguise, 

 that civil dissensions in no country can so well merit the designation of 

 a guerre d'emploies, as in Spain. This fact, which, under the actual cir- 

 cumstances, is favourable to the hopes of the liberals, as it gives to 

 their cause the strength of numberless mercenary alliances, augurs, how- 

 ever, sadly for any future pacification of party spirit. 



It may naturally be supposed, that in Spain, as in the rest of Europe, 

 the students matriculated at the universities and public colleges, are in 

 the advance of the rest of the nation, in the liberality of their ideas. 

 This is the case with those attending the schools of medicine, anatomy, 

 natural philosophy, and all sciences which superinduce original inquiry, 

 and habits of investigation. These young men ascribe, and with reason, 

 the mediocrity above which science so seldom soars in Spain, to the in- 

 veterate adherence to ancient usage, in the regulation of their studies, 

 which is completely incompatible with the spirit of modern improve- 

 ment, and to the miserable system of court favouritism, in the selection 

 of professors. Conscious that the inferiority to which they are thus 

 confined, results from the universal cause of the national decadence, 

 their youthful enthusiasm " cribbed and cabined" in the trammels which 

 encumber the pursuit of science, finds occupation in political specula- 

 tions, and a liberal bias from the inimical tendency of the existing insti- 

 tutions towards their own especial interests.* With regard to the 

 schools of law, constituted as they are on the principle of the canonical 

 institutions of the universities, of which they form part, and the semi- 

 clerical nature of their studies, the same causes cannot be referred to, to 

 account for much the same spirit prevailing among the students, though 

 certainly not to the same extent. The other public schools, and those 

 of Madrid without exception, among which the " Seminario de Nobles," 

 the " Colegio Imperial," and the " Colegio de Donna Maria de Aragon," 

 are pre-eminent, are under the direction of the Jesuits. Nobility of 

 extraction, or connection with the ruling party, are the requisite qualifi- 

 cations for admission into these schools. The royal guard is generally 

 recruited from them, from which are, from time to time, selected a cer- 

 tain number of students, to whom commissions are presented. Yet it is 

 whispered that the royal guard is not to be completely confided in ; 

 that liberalism has made inroads even among them.t 



The next great party in the state are the moderados, or moderates. 

 By the apostolicals they are branded and hated as liberals ; and the 

 liberals, in their turn, scarcely distinguish them from the apostolicals. 

 l&ll , 



(blue blood), or, at all events, to belong to the Hidalguia, used to be the requisite 

 qualifications for a cadet. Political services have, however, introduced candidates 

 from among the plebeian friends of the government, and thus a partial innovation 

 has been forced into the system, 



* At the period for opening the colleges, in the spring of 1831, M. Calomarde, 

 the late Minister of Grace and Justice, sent for the Principal of the surgical 

 school of San Carlos, at Madrid, and asked him if he could be responsible for the 

 political conduct of the students. The Professor declined, and the schools were 

 not opened. This was about the time of Torrijos' and Maaranares' attempts in 

 the south. 



not From what experience has shewn of the Spanish soldiers, Sir Robert Wai- 

 pole's aphorism may be safely consulted by the liberals. If they would commence 

 the revolution, they must buy the army. There will be no difficulty beyond pro- 

 curing the money. 



