716 



SPAIN. 



General Elio, Counter-Admiral Vinalet, who, 

 under Amadeo, hftd made an insurrectionary 

 moremont near Murcia, and liad been sen- 

 tenced to death, but subsequently been par- 

 doned, Estrada, formerly secretary of the Pre- 

 tender, and Canon Vicentede Marterola. A ft > r 

 the troops of the Government had ob; 

 successes in the northern part of Catalonia, on 

 the Monsein, over the Carlists, they suffered on 

 May 5th a serious defeat, as two battalions 

 under Colonel Navarro, were nearly annihilated 

 by Uorregaray, near Estclhi. Tho Government 

 oilicially admitted that Navarro himself, tlie 

 lieutenant-colonel of the regiment, Seville, 

 and about forty men, were taken prisoners, 

 while at the same time one piece of ordnance 

 ati'l thirty-five dead and wounded had remained 

 in the hands of the victors. The Government 

 of Madrid had to send 600 men as reinforce- 

 ments to the Basque provinces and Navarro, 

 thus increasing the troops stationed in those 

 provinces to thirty-eight battalions of infantry, 

 exclusive of cavalry, artillery, gensdurmes, and 

 volunteers. In the evening of May 13th. Sa- 

 balls made an attack upon the town of Mataro. 

 and when, toward midnight, the Government 

 troops arrived from Barcelona, the Carlists had 

 already secured a forced contribution of $10,000. 

 On May 18th Tristany and Don Alfonso cap- 

 tured the town of Sanahuja, in the province of 

 I. -rida, which was bravely defended by 150 

 volunteers. Although the volunteers, before 

 surrendering, were promised that their lives 

 should be saved, eighteen of them were shot 

 in the streets. 



The Constituent Cortes was opened by the 

 prime-minister, Figneras, on June 1st. In his 

 opening speech he defended the dissolution of 

 the Standing Committee, and insisted that 

 Spain was prepared for the republican form of 

 government, and that only the maintennn 

 order was necessary to securing the recognition 

 of the republic by tin 1 foreign powers. With 

 regard to home p<>liti,-s h,- announced that the 

 Government would bring in a law on the sepa- 

 ration between Church and State, and propose 

 reforms in the administration of justice, and in 

 the financial department, as well as the aboli- 

 tion of slavery in the island of Cuba. The 

 aged Orenae, the Marquis of Albaida, long 

 known as a leader of the Republican party of 

 Spain, and now one of the spokesmen of the 

 Federal Republicans was elected President. < >n 

 June 8th the Cortes, with 210 against '2 votes, 

 resolved to establish n federal republic. After 

 Ki. 'ii.-ras and hig cabinet had resigned. Pi y 

 Margall was charged with forming anew c-nhf- 

 net; bis nominations were, however, not ac- 

 cepted, but in a secret session Figneras, with 

 hit old cabinet, was requested to remain. On 

 the next day, however, Figneras wns to form a 

 new c ihinet. one half of which consisted of 

 radios! republicans. On June llth, azain a 

 new ministry was formed, at the head of which 

 was Pi Y Margall ; most of Its members were 

 new men, and had thus far Uvn but little 



known. The new ministry declared in promi- 

 nent points of its programme a speedy reor- 

 ganization of the army and the restoration of 

 military discipline. It demanded that the divi- 

 sion of the country into Federal States bo fin- 

 ished before the l.ii'L-et. which would show 

 ficit of 2,500,000,000 reals should be 

 Nicolas Salmeron, the former President of 

 Justice, was elected President; and Castclar, 

 President of the principal committee of thu 

 Cortes. Itwasal-o resolved to appoint a Com- 

 mittee of Constitution, to consist of twelve 

 members of the majority and minority of the 

 Cortes, and of thirteen representatives of the 

 future States. Figuerns left Spain and took up 

 his residence in France. On Juno 2Sth Pi y 

 Margall appointed u new ministry, the * 

 having repealed for this case their former reso- 

 lution, according to which the ministers were 

 to bo appointed by the Cortes, and not by the 

 prime-minister. They also authorized the new 

 ministry to suspend in several provinces the 

 civil rights, and to declare a state of sieirc. 

 Soon a new ministerial crisis occurred. In 1 1 it- 

 place of Pi y Margall. who was believed to be 

 too much imbued with socialistic ideas. Nico- 

 las Salmeron was appointed prime-minister, 

 who chose his colleagues among the promi- 

 nent men of the party, appointing Toler Minis- 

 ter of Foreign Affairs; Maisonnave, Minister 

 of the Interior ; Fernando Gonzalez, Minister 

 of Finances; Moreno Rodriguez. Minister of 

 Justice; General Gonzalez, Minister of War; 

 Admiral Oviedo, Minister of the Navy ; Pa- 

 lonoa, Minister of the Colonies. The first meas- 

 ures of the new ministry indicated firmness, 

 and awakened a hope for an improvement of 

 the wretched condition of the country. In the 

 army of General Velarda a general mutiny 

 broke out at Igualada; Velarda himself had 

 to tlee, and with great difficulty a Government 

 committee sent from Barcelona to the HM6 

 of the disorders, succeeded i;i reestablishing 

 order. While from Catalonia a few insignifi- 

 cant successes of the republican troops were 

 reported, the Carlistsin Navarre surprised the 

 column of Colonel Castanon. and depersed it. 

 In the beginning of July, General Aco-t:i, 

 formerly Minister of War, was appointed Cap- 

 tain-General of Catalonia, and Brigadk-r-Gen- 

 cral Martinez Campos, commander-in -chief 

 of Oerona; Velarda assumed again his former 

 position OH Captain-General of Valencia. It 

 was resolved to send to General Nouvilas, the 

 commandcr-in-ohiefot the Army of the North, 

 a sufficient number of reinforcements for the 

 i-tVectivi- suppression of the Carlists. But. not- 

 withstanding the energy shown by President 

 Salmeron in the removal of untrustworthy 

 otlirors and in the suppression of mutinies 

 the Carlists continued to make progress. In 

 Catalonia, one of the best ofticers of the army. 

 General Cal.rinetty, whom the Government 

 had left without the asked-for roinfor.-en 

 was beaten by SabalK bis whole fore. , con- 

 sisting of about one thousand men, captured, 



