768 



SPAIN. 



SUEZ, CANAL OF. 



in the public expenditure ; the abolition of the 

 united duties and the reform of the customs 

 tariff; decentralization and independence for 

 the municipalities and provinces ; equality be- 

 fore the law ; the modification of the conscrip- 

 tion laws ; the extension of laws prevailing in 

 Spain to Spanish possessions beyond the seas ; 

 liberty of the press and liberty of conscience ; 

 the complete secularization of education ; and 

 the constitution of 1856 as the basis for a con- 

 stitutional monarchy which would command 

 approval at home and esteem abroad. Gen. 

 Espartero (now in his 75th year) gave his ad- 

 hesion to this manifesto, emphatically declar- 

 ing : " The committee may know that it can 

 count upon my arm and my heart to defend 

 these worthies and the constitutional throne." 

 A part of the Progressist party were reported 

 to be favorable to a change of the dynasty, and a 

 union of Spain and Portugal into a new King- 

 dom of " Iberia," under the King of Portugal. 

 This question was, together with other points of 

 difference, the subject of a violent controversy 

 between two Progressist papers, the Iberia and 

 the' Soberania National, the Iberia declaring 

 that it desired the realization of its principles, 

 whoever might be the reigning monarch, and 

 accusing the Soberania of wishing, before any 

 thing else, to change the dynasty. 



On September 22d disturbances took place 

 at Saragossa, originating in the refusal of the 

 peasants to pay the octroi upon provisions en- 

 tering the city, demanding first the reduction 

 of the tax, and subsequently, its total abolition. 

 The demonstration became more serious on 

 October 2d and 3d. On the latter of these 

 days, the Captain-General of Valencia, Dtm 

 Juan Zapatero, ordered the troops to fire upon 

 the rioters, when order was reestablished. Ac- 

 cording to a report from the Progressist com- 

 mittee, six of the people were killed, and eigh- 

 teen wounded. The disturbances were once 

 more renewed on October 6th, but again speedi- 

 ly suppressed. 



In December a new democratic and military 

 conspiracy was discovered in Malaga, but the 

 Government succeeded in preventing an out- 

 break. 



In January, 1865, the ministry of Narvaez 

 proposed to the Cortes the abandonment of the 

 possession of San Domingo. The bill intro- 

 duced by the Government was adopted in both 

 houses, in the Senate by 93 votes against 39, in 

 the House of Deputies by 155 against 68 ; and 

 in May a royal decree announced the abandon- 

 ment. (See SAN DOMIXGO.) 



The war with Peru was terminated in Jan- 

 uary, but followed in September by another 

 against Chili, which in January, 1866, was again 

 joined by Peru. (See Cmu and PERU.) In 

 November (1865), the Spanish Minister for 

 Foreign Affairs addressed a circular note to the 

 representatives of Spain ift foreign courts, rel- 

 ative 1 to the war with Chili, approving the con- 

 duct of Admiral Pareja, and stating that the 

 reply of the Chilian Government to the over- 



tures of the Spanish admiral precluded the pos- 

 ibility of any further negotiations, even under 

 the mediation of the diplomatic body at Val- 

 paraiso. The note renews the assurance that 

 Spain does not aspire to the conquest of the 

 South American republics, but declares that 

 she will not permit her dignity to be outraged 

 without exacting satisfaction. 



The relations between Spain and the United 

 States continued to be of a friendly character. 

 On receiving the news of the assassination of 

 President Lincoln, the Council of Ministers de- 

 cided upon expressing to the United States Gov- 

 ernment the feeling of horror produced in 

 Spain by this event and the attempt upon the 

 life of Mr. Seward. Similar resolutions were 

 unanimously passed by the Senate and the 

 House of Deputies. 



One of the chief features of the foreign pol- 

 icy of Spain, in 1865, was the recognition of 

 the Kingdom of Italy. Marshal O'Donnell, 

 when assuming the presidency of the ministry, 

 announced the recognition of Italy as a chief 

 point in his programme. Nearly all the bishops, 

 including Father Claret (Bishop of Trajanap- 

 olis in partibus), the confessor of the Queen, 

 entered a solemn protest against this measure, 

 and Cardinal Puente, Archbishop of Bnrgos, 

 resigned his office as ecclesiastical preceptor of 

 the Prince of Asturias. The Government, 

 however, remained firm, appointed a Spanish 

 minister to Florence, and received an Italian 

 minister at Madrid. The protests of some of 

 the bishops were referred by the Government 

 to the Council of State. 



On December 27th the Queen opened in per- 

 son the new Cortes. She announced the com- 

 mencement of hostilities between Chili and 

 Spain, the conclusion of a treaty recognizing 

 the independence of San Salvador, and the rec- 

 ognition of Italy. Referring to the financial 

 difficulties, the Queen spoke of the necessity of 

 increasing certain taxes, .and reducing the ex- 

 penditures, in order to balance the expenditures 

 with the revenue. Bills would also be laid 

 before the Cortes, tending to promote munici- 

 pal liberty, and for the prevention of the slave 

 trade in the Antilles. 



SUEZ, CANAL OF.* On August 15, 1865, a 

 boat laden with coal passed through the ship- 

 canal of Suez from the Mediterranean to the 

 Red Sea, thus, for the first time, opening com- 

 munication between the two seas. The canal 

 thus opened is the small, or fresh-water one, 

 and as yet small boats drawing less than six 

 feet, can pass. At a general meeting of the 

 shareholders of the Suez Canal Company in 1865, 

 M. de Lesseps stated that the company had still 

 an available capital of 180,000,000 francs; that 

 the small canal, for navigation, would even next 

 year have an amount of traffic lucrative to the 

 company, and useful to commerce. The Grand 

 Canal, he said, would be terminated in 1868. 



* See ANNUAL CYCW>P.EDIA for 1804, p. 2 ; and AJJNUAI 

 CYCLOPEDIA for 1&63, pp. 82(5, 827. 



