SPAIN. 



641 



When the deputies were retiring, a tumult 

 broke out, consequent on the^ utterance of 

 hisses by a number of persons in the crowd. 

 The disturbance increased in spite of the efforts 

 of the troops to put down the demonstration. 

 The trouble continued for some time, until the 

 military governor of the city appeared, and 

 with great presence of mind rushed in among 

 the foremost of the rioters, shouting, " Viva 

 la Solerania National!" This changed the 

 sentiments of the mob, and the crowd took 

 up the cry and joined in loud cheers. Two 

 men, however, were killed in the disturbance, 

 and a good many persons were seriously in- 

 jured. The deputies subsequently returned to 

 the platform, when the troops outside the build- 

 ing, to the number of thirty thousand men, 

 fil ed past in marching order. Great enthusiasm 

 was manifested by the spectators who con- 

 gregated in the streets. None of the Republi- 

 can members, it was noticed, participated in 

 the ceremonies. A salute of fifty guns was 

 fired in honor of the occasion ; fireworks were 

 discharged in the evening in prominent places 

 in the city, and a great banquet was given, 

 which was attended by the notables of Madrid. 

 Fully one hundred thousand people from the 

 country poured into the city and participated 

 in the demonstration during the day. 



The Eepublicans did, however, not fail to 

 give vent to their disappointment and opposi- 

 tion to the new Constitution. Thus, on June 

 10th, a great demonstration was held in Cor- 

 dova, at which resolutions were adopted as 

 protests against a return to the monarchical 

 system of government. Deputies from all the 

 southern provinces were present. Speeches 

 of a revolutionary character were made. The 

 stands from which the speakers addressed the 

 crowds were profusely decorated with the 

 American and Spanish flags, which were en- 

 twined. Loud cheers were given for the 

 United States and President Grant. It is esti- 

 mated that there were over fifty thousand per- 

 sons present. 



The army, judges, and magistrates through- 

 out the country, took the oath to observe the 

 Constitution. The debates upon the regency 

 question, in view of the impossibility of elect- 

 ing a king, terminated in the conferring of this 

 dignity on Marshal Serrano, on June 15th, by 

 193 votes against 45. The ceremony of his 

 swearing-in took place June 18th. The motion, 

 brought in by the Eepublicans in the Cortes, of 

 expressing displeasure at the arrival of the 

 Duke de Montpensier in Spain, was rejected 

 by 113 against 67. 



General Pezuela (Count Cheste) was one 

 of the leading agitators in behalf of a restora- 

 tion of the Bourbons, who was arrested to be 

 banished to the Canary Islands. 



The opposition of the Eepublicans did not 

 relax. There was a stqrmy scene in the Cortes 

 on June 17th between the ministers and the 

 Eepublicans. General Prim, replying to a 

 question from General Pierrad. said no prose- 

 VOL. ix. 41, A 



cutions could bo laid against generals and offi- 

 cers refusing to support the Constitution, but 

 he, as Minister of War, would remove them 

 from employ, and the Government would re- 

 serve the right to strike them off the rolls. 

 The Minister Sagasta, in reply to a question 

 of Figueras respecting the Governor of Tarra- 

 gona, prohibiting a republican meeting, said 

 that republican meetings in which were used 

 banners with mottoes against monarchy would 

 be prohibited, as also " Vivas ! " in favor of 

 the republic, as being subversive of and con- 

 trary to the Constitution. Figueras replied 

 that the Eepublicans would sustain the rights 

 gained by the revolution, cost what it might, 

 Prim demanded the meaning of these words. 

 Figueras replied that he meant within legal 

 grounds, for to appeal to force while they re- 

 mained was a crime, but when they became 

 useless, and individual rights were attacked, 

 mutilated, or prohibited, it was not only a 

 right but a duty. In the sitting of the Cortes 

 on July 15th, the proposal to prorogue the 

 session until October was unanimously agreed 

 to. The Cortes thereupon nominated a per- 

 manent commission of eight members, in which 

 all the different political factions were repre- 

 sented. 



A plot for the assassination of Prim and 

 Serrano was discovered. Arrests were made 

 at Madrid, Valladolid, Barcelona, and Cordova ; 

 and Don Carlos left Paris for the Spanish fron- 

 tier. On July 24th martial law was set in 

 force in reference to conspirators against the 

 public tranquillity. On the same day an en- 

 gagement occurred near Ciudad Eeal, between 

 a band of five or six hundred Carlists under 

 Sarabuge and troops under Commandant For- 

 maseti. The Carlists were defeated and dis- 

 persed, many having been killed and wounded. 

 Don Carlos then ordered a cessation, for the 

 present, of a movement in his behalf. The 

 people seemed to become gradually more and 

 more satisfied with the new order and the 

 Government. However, the real state of things 

 was unsatisfactory, not merely to the party of 

 reaction, but to many Spaniards of good posi- 

 tion, who were by no means ill-disposed 

 toward the Government ; and the Captain- 

 General of Madrid, General Izquierdo, ad- 

 dressed a long communication to Serrano 

 and Prim, in which he made the following 

 striking declaration : " I took part in the revo- 

 lution in September in the hope of seeing 

 morality, law, and justice, succeed to the 

 former abuses. The revolution has now been 

 accomplished ten months, but my hopes have 

 been deceived, and greater abuses, extensive 

 immorality, and deplorable anarchy, prevail 

 disorders to which it is absolutely necessary 

 to put an end. The Constitution having pro- 

 claimed the monarchy, it is indispensably re- 

 quisite that a sovereign should be chosen 

 without loss of time. If the Government does 

 not shortly consider this question, I shall 

 abandon all illusion, as to the consolidation of 



