FOUNTAIN OF THE FOUR SEASONS, MADRID. Page 130.FOUNTAIN OF THE FOUR SEASONS, MADRID. (Page 130.)
It is at the museum of Madrid, which owes its existence to Ferdinand VII., that not only Spanish, but also many of the Flemish and some of the Italian painters can be best studied; and by a happy chance the royal palace, built in the eighteenth century, is one of the least faulty and most impressive structures of that age. At the west end of the city, on the banks of the Manzanares, are the royal gardens; at the opposite extremity the promenades of the Prado and the gardens of the Buen Retiro. These artificial parks and walks in some way compensate for the dreary and almost desert aspect of the country round Madrid; for there are "despoblados" and "destierros" almost within sight of the greatest city of Spain. It is now approached by rail from all sides, and the convergence of these iron roads and of the highways will probably secure its future position as the capital of the nation; but until the present century, contrary to that of most European capitals, theapproach to Madrid seemed to be an approach from civilization to barbarism. As the traveller neared the capital, whether from the north or from the east and south, the inns grew worse, the roads more impassable, and the difficulty of procuring food greater in the neighbourhood of the capital than elsewhere; the contrast of magnificence and meanness, of dirt and discomfort and formal etiquette in the city itself, until the time of Charles III., is the theme of every visitor. Of late its character has much changed; the increase of its population has not been caused by the natural growth of its inhabitants, but by the migration thither of Catalans, Gallegos, Asturians, Basques, and especially of Andalusians; and thus the Puerta del Sol, the heart of Madrid, has become, as it were, the heart of Spain, and almost every political and social movement which stirs the nation has its origin there. Though not quite to the extent with which Paris absorbs France, still Madrid collects to itself the greater part of the intellectual and literary life of the nation. It is Madrid that supplies most of the daily journals, the scientific periodicals, reviews, and literature to the rest of Spain. Here is the seat of the learned academies and of the chief literary, educational, and scientific institutions. The universities, the national and the free, the Ateneo, the great public libraries of Madrid, are the best in Spain. It is here that Cortés meets,here that the elections are arranged, all the lines of Spanish administration converge hither, and it is here that the intrigues for place or power are principally conducted, and unhappily we must add it is thus that Madrid is also the focus and example of administrative corruption for the rest of Spain.
Besides Madrid, the province contains two other royal residencies, Aranjuez to the south, at the junction of the Tagus with the Jarama, and the Escorial to the north, at the foot of the Guadarrama. The chief attractions of the former consist in its abundant supply of water, in its fountains and running streams, and in the avenues and groves of lofty trees, whose roots are fed by these waters. The Escorial is of an entirely opposite character. This vast and extraordinary structure was raised by Philip II., in pursuance of a vow made at the battle of St. Quentin, August 10 (St. Lawrence's Day), 1557; the ground-plan is that of a mighty gridiron, to recall that on which the martyr suffered. The central piece of architecture is a chapel, impressive from its grand simplicity; and however faulty the general design of the vast edifice, several details, and especially the frescoes of the ceilings and some of the paintings, are of great beauty. The whole fabric, in its severe and sombre majesty, harmonizes well with the bare and wind-swept granite mountains near which it is placed. Likemost of the other treasure-houses of Spain, it suffered severely from pillage during the French invasion.Acala de Henares(8000) was celebrated in the sixteenth century as a university under the patronage of the Cardinal Ximenes, and here the celebrated Complutensian Polyglot Bible was printed. It was also the birthplace of Cervantes. The canal of Henares is described above, pp. 18, 19.
Cuenca, one of the most thinly populated as well as one of the most mountainous provinces of Spain, stretches on two sides of the chief watershed, and the waters of the streams which rise in this province from different slopes of the Cerro de San Felipe flow to the Atlantic and to the Mediterranean. Cuenca (7000), the capital, is still untouched by railway routes, and slumbers on its lofty cliff, and emerged into temporary notoriety by its capture and sack by Alphonso, the brother of Don Carlos, in 1874.
Guadalajara(6500), on the Henares, though on the line of railway between Saragossa and Madrid, is scarcely more lively than Cuenca, but it contains the school for military engineers, the most distinguished corps in the Spanish army, and which has never stained its character by political intrigue. The province supports a slightly higher population than that of Cuenca.
OLDCASTILEwas with Leon for severalcenturies the chief of the rising kingdoms of Spain, and the one into which all the rest gradually merged. It now contains five provinces,Avila,Segovia,Soria,Logroño, andBurgos. Avila (7000), still surrounded by its mediæval walls in excellent preservation, is one of the most picturesque cities in Spain, at an altitude of nearly 3500 feet above the sea-level. The province is remarkable as the one in which the rudely-sculptured stone monuments of boars and bulls, the "Toros de Guisando," are chiefly found. They are the art remains of a population whose name, age, and ethnic affinities are totally unknown. The southern half of this province is traversed by the lofty Sierra de Gredos, and hiding in its secluded valleys are some of the most primitive peoples of Spain. There are no other large towns in the province.
Segovia(7000), another of the picturesque cities of Spain, contains fine specimens of Roman, Moorish, and Christian mediæval architecture in its wondrous aqueduct, cathedral, the Alcazar, and castle. It was formerly a place of great commercial as well as of political importance, and was the centre of a trade in woollen goods which employed 34,000 workmen, and made the cloth of Segovia celebrated throughout Europe. This commerce has now utterly departed, both from it and from the other cities, such as Avila, Medina del Campo, which shared its reputation. It is now visited by thelover of the picturesque, whose taste will be here abundantly gratified. Not far from Segovia, under the Peñalarra (7800 feet), on the northern slope of the Guadarrama range, are La Granja and San Ildefonso. At a height of 4000 feet above the level of the sea, this is the most agreeable of all the inland royal residences of Spain. Built in French taste by Philip V., it is redeemed from banality by its pleasant surroundings. But retired and peaceful as it looks, La Granja has been the scene of some of the most important political events in the modern history of Spain. The celebrated passes of Somosierra (4700 feet), and that of the Col de Guadarrama (5000), lead from this province to Madrid; the railway, too, attains at La Cañada a height of 4457 feet above the level of the sea.
Soria, on the north-eastern edge of the great plateau, is one of the poorest provinces of Spain. Leaning on the Sierra de Moncayo, the whole of the northern and central part of the province slopes gradually to the west, and is watered by the Douro, which takes its rise in the Sierra de Moncayo. The southern angle of the province contains also the sources of the Jalon, which, flowing through a break in the Idubeda range, finds its way to the Ebro, and thence to the Mediterranean, the upper courses of the two rivers completely overlapping. In spite of these two river-valleys the province is very unproductive. Soria, near the site of theKeltiberean Numantia, which held out for twenty-nine years against the Romans, contains but 6000 inhabitants. Osma, on the Douro, has barely 1000, and Agreda (4000) is celebrated only for the visions of a nun in the sixteenth century.
The province ofBurgosoverlaps the plateau, and in its northern and southern extremities embraces the valleys both of the Ebro and the Douro, with their respective towns, Miranda del Ebro and Aranda del Douro. The basins of these two rivers are separated by the Oca or Idubeda mountains, which cross the centre of the province. The difference of the elevation of the two valleys may be seen in the fact that while Miranda del Ebro is 1600 feet above the sea-level, Burgos is more than 2800. Burgos (29,000) and Aranda del Douro were formerly towns of considerable commerce, and the former had at one time a claim to be considered the chief city of Northern Spain. It has now greatly fallen, but will always be visited for the noble remains of Gothic architecture in the city and its suburbs. Miranda del Ebro (3000), when the river formed the customs line for all commerce passing from the Basque Provinces into Spain, was of great consequence, and is now the point of junction for the northern lines of railway from Bilbao and from Irun. In this province, too, is the pass of Pancorbo, through which both road and railway wind; for savage wildness it is inferioronly to that of the above-mentioned Despeña-perros in the Sierra Morena.
The whole province ofLogroñolies in the southern half of the valley of the Ebro, and leans against the mountains which form the supports of the great plateau. The Ebro forms its northern boundary, and its chief towns, Logroño (12,000) and Calahorra (7000), are both on the river. Here the traveller from the north first sees the Noria or Moorish water-wheel at work. The province is noted chiefly for its strong, rough wines, and for its agricultural products. Navarete is known in English history as the spot where the Black Prince and Bertrand du Guesclin fought out their mightiest duel, the one as the partisan of Pedro the Cruel, and the other of Henry of Trastamare.
The kingdom of LEONis divided into five provinces,Salamanca,Valladolid,Zamora,Palencia,Leon.Salamancalies along the Portuguese frontier, which is here formed by the Rivers Douro and Agueda. The city (15,000) was famous throughout the early part of the Middle Ages for its university and for its Arabic and Hebrew learning. It thus became in popular estimation the home of magic and of the black arts, and as such its name is found in the folk-lore tales of many parts of Europe; its students, poor, riotous, and witty, made it the birthplace of the peculiar, picaresque romance literature of Spain, from Lazarillo de Tormes to Gil Blas.Like all the Spanish provincial universities, it is but the shadow of its former self, nor does the city preserve any of the older features which still make Toledo a delight to the tourist. Its old bridge over the Tormes is said to date from Roman times. Bejar (8000) does a fair trade as a manufactory of cloth. Ciudad Rodrigo (5000) is one of the strongest fortresses of Spain, and guards, with Badajoz, the frontier against Portugal. The provinces of Salamanca and Zamora contain some of the most peculiar and picturesque peasantry yet remaining in Spain; even around Salamanca the festal dresses of the Charros and Charras are rich with gold and silver ornaments of Moorish type. In the valley of the Batuecas, amid the Sierra de Gata, the Hurdes, and to the west of Zamora, the Sayagos, and again, the Maragatos, to the north-west of the province, in the mountains of Leon, are all remnants of ancient races, preserving habits and tribal customs and laws, differing from their neighbours, and well worthy of the study, as survivals, of the comparative ethnologist. The contrabandistas of the province are among the boldest in Spain; they cross the Douro and its deep ravine, sometimes on rafts or on inflated skins; at others, when the river is in flood, in baskets suspended from ropes flung across the whole ravine.
Zamora(10,000), formerly a strong walled cityon the Douro, in a rich country, notwithstanding the rail which unites it to the Medina del Campo, still remains one of the decaying towns of Spain. Toro (9000), higher up the stream, is a busier town. A great impulse will probably be given to all this district, now one of the most behindhand in Spain, by the completion of the Portuguese lines of Beira-alta, connecting Lisbon and Oporto with Paris by the North Spanish lines. Benavente (5000), on the Esla, is the only other town we have to notice.
Leon, which gave its name to one of the old kingdoms of Spain before the re-conquest of the Castiles, is full of towns which recall the glories of the past, but which are of little importance in modern times. The capital (9000) is noted for its cathedral and churches, which are perhaps the purest specimens of Gothic, unmixed with Arabian art, to be found in Spain. The province is generally mountainous, especially to the north and west, and the higher lands afford excellent summer pasture for flocks from the plains, and even from Estremadura. The valley of the Esla is extremely fertile. Astorga (5000) may be considered as the Capital of the Maragatos, of whom we have spoken above; like Sahagun (3000), it is a town of ancient consequence now dwindling to insignificance. The "fuero" or charter of Sahagun, 1085, was the model of the "fueros" orconstitutional privileges of the Castiles, which were eventually lost in the war of thecomunerosin the time of Charles V.
Palencia.—Through this province passes the canal of Castile from Alar del Rey to Valladolid, borrowing its waters from the Pisuerga, and is the most useful for transport of all the canals of Spain. This waterway is less needed now, owing to the railway of the north from Valladolid to Santander, to Bilbao, and to San Sebastian, which runs parallel to it; but it will be always available for local traffic. The capital is a walled city on the banks of the Carrion, a little above its junction with the Pisuerga, an affluent of the Douro; its cathedral is remarkable for its size and simplicity, but is otherwise inferior to Leon. The valleys, watered by these rivers are very rich in cereals, which find their outlet for exportation at Santander. The great coal-field of the Asturias extends into the north of this province, and at Barruelo de Santillana is largely worked by the Northern Railway Company, and supplies Madrid with a yearly increasing quantity of coal. The villages near the mines are fast becoming populous towns.
Valladolid(52,000) was till the middle of the sixteenth century the capital of Spain, and is likely to become of great importance in the near future as the point of junction of all the Spanish and Portuguese railways of the north and west.The Douro flows through the centre of the province, and the plains of Valladolid are perhaps the most fertile of all those in North-western Spain. It is a great centre for the corn-trade of the Castiles, and the smoke from its tall chimneys tells also of manufacturing industry. There are here two colleges for Scotch and Irish students for the Roman Catholic priesthood. They were established at the time of the persecutions in England, but are much less frequented now than formerly. Medina del Campo (4500) an ancient commercial city, was ruined in the wars of thecomuneros, but may recover somewhat of its former traffic as a junction of railways. A town of similar name and standing, Medina de Rio Seco (4500), is in the north of the province; both are situated in rich corn-growing plains. Tordesillas (3500), on the Douro, owes its existence to the junction of roads which cross the river by its noble bridge. In this province is the Castle of Simancas, wherein are deposited the archives of Spain, as those of the Indies are at Seville. Long closed to the world, they are now open to the researches of scholars, and guides and inventories in aid are being published during the present year.
These islands are geologically a submarine continuation of the Valencian mountains which sink into the sea at Cape Nao. They are divided intotwo groups: (1) Minorca, Majorca, Cabrera, and a few islets; the nearest point of which to the mainland is Soller on Majorca, ninety-three miles distant; (2) Iviza and Formentera, with some smaller satellites, are within sixty miles of the Spanish coast. The whole superficies of the islands is nearly two thousand square miles. The inhabitants number about 290,000. The climate is equable but exceedingly variable within somewhat narrow limits; the average both for Minorca and Majorca being sixty-four, the highest temperature ninety, and the lowest forty-four. The average rainfall is nearly twenty inches. Majorca, the largest of the islands is about sixty miles from east to west, and fifty from north to south. The surface is very broken, but with a few fertile plains; the greatest elevation is 5000 feet. Minorca, twenty and a half miles to the east of Majorca, is twenty miles long by six broad. Iviza, the largest island of the western group is only four miles by four. The highest points of these two islands are about 1000 feet; but Iviza retains traces of volcanic action which seem to connect it geologically with the extinct Catalan volcanoes, by way of the Columbretes rocks, and the Point de la Baña at the mouth of the Ebro. Majorca and Minorca are remarkable for erections called "Talayots," similar to the "Nuraghies" of Sardinia; they are the work of one of the many prehistoric, or at least unrecordedraces whose blood mingles in the veins of the present inhabitants, and the origin of them has given rise to almost as many theories as those of the round towers of Ireland and Scotland. In the west of Majorca is the remarkable and extensive cavern of Arta. The language of the islanders is one of the purest dialects of the Provençal speech. The only separate race now in the islands is that of the "Chuetas" or converted Jews, who still keep apart notwithstanding their nominal Christianity. The population is mostly engaged in agriculture, and the islands export fruits, oil, leather, and a few cattle, to an annual value altogether of 350,000l, while the imports amount to 210,000l. The land is cultivated mostly by peasant proprietors and metayers in small holdings, and by reason of steady emigration those who remain are fairly prosperous. The people show strong aesthetic tastes, and the art school of Palma is one of the most flourishing of the whole of Spain. The chief towns on Majorca are Palma, on the east coast, of 58,000 inhabitants; Manacor, in the centre, of 12,500; Felanitz, 10,000; and Llummayor, Soller, Inca, and Pollensa, of about 8000 each. Minorca has only two towns of importance, Port Mahon, 22,000, and Ciudella, 7000, at opposite extremities of the island. Port Mahon is perhaps the finest harbour in the Mediterranean, and is also one of its strongest fortresses; during the English occupation the town attained greatprosperity. Iviza has only one town, of the same name as the island, containing 5500 inhabitants. We have noticed before that the majolica ware was not made in these islands, but at Valencia, and that it acquired the name from Balearic vessels being used for its export to Italy.
INorder 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 bywhich 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 theAlcalde, and of the municipal council, with only the appointment of the judges by the king. By thefueroof 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 Basquefueros, and in the coronation oath of Aragon.
The representatives of the burgesses, "el estado llano," the low estate in the "Cortés" or parliaments, began much earlier in Spain than in other countries. Burgesses sat in the Cortés at Leon certainly in 1188, if not in that of Burgos in 1169. In Aragonthey 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 thefueroof Arganzon (1191) the inhabitants claim exemption from the ordeal of iron, hot-water, or battle. In 1152, thefueroof 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 factwhich 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 theirown 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 Cortés might havechanged 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 suchliberties 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 itselfto 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 encyclopædists 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 thisusurpation of their rights, and rose as one man to avenge the burning wrong.
PORT OF CADIZ. Page 153.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 Cortés 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 Cortés 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'Angoulême, Ferdinand conquered the liberals and again violated his oath to observe the constitution. Every act of the Cortés 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 Cortés. Ferdinand VII., with the consent of Cortés, 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 whichfueroswere confirmed to the Basques on their laying down arms. Cabrera continued the war in Aragon and Catalonia, but two years afterwards was forced withhis 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, themestawas 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 upperemployés, 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 theguardias 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 allthe 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 Cortés 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, andAmadeo, 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 upperemployésof 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 Cortés, 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 infavour 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 andintransigentemovement 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, thepenalty 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 theintransigenteparty, 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 inthe 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 theirfueros, 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, Cánovas 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 upperemployés, or in insuring freedom andpurity of parliamentary election; and until this is effected the future of Spain must still be doubtful.
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 Cortés with the king. The Cortés 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 3000l.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. NoSpaniard 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.
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 80l.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 garrisonsin 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 Zumalacarrégui 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 recklesscorruption 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 andpronunciamientosof 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 intotercios 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 thethird, 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 thebagniosof Algiers were less terrible than theprisons 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 Corté 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. Shorterlines, 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 165,076l., and the receipts 156,950l., leaving a deficit of 8126l.
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 361,704l., while the expenditure was 297,412l., leaving a surplus of 64,292l.
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 212,443,600l., the interest of which was 5,580,000l.The funds, three per cents, were then at 33. In 1880 the capital of the debt amounted to 515,000,000l.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 nominallypaying three per cent. interest, were at 11½; 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 260,000,000l., 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 ofrégimeand under all circumstances." In the last budget, 1879-80, the revenue is stated at 32,494,552l., and the expenditure at 33,129,484l.Supposing these figures to be correct, the deficit, 634,932l., would be far less than for many years past.
The principal sources of Spanish revenue are, in round numbers:—
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 2,500,000l., the lotteries, which bring in 5000,000l.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 250,000l.per annum, the Linares mines, leased at 20,000l., and other sources about 30,000l.annually.
The heaviest item in the expenditure is the interest on the national debt, over 11,500,000l.; the ministry of war and the navy exceeds 6,000,000l., while pensions absorb 1,750,000l., public works over 3,000,000l., finance over 5,000,000l., administration of justice more than 2,000,000l.; the ministry ofthe interior, Cortés, the civil list, &c., make up the remainder.
The total imports and exports of Spain were:—
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, asmost favourednations, who import their goods under the customs tariff of July 17, 1877, while England and the United States continue-under the old tariff, asfavourednations 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 topurchase 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 depôt 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 corruptionand 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-paidemployéwho 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, wherebynearly every ill-paidemployéis 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.
THEfame of the Spanish universities has greatly fallen from what it was in the early Middle Ages, when Salamanca ranked with Bologna, Paris, and Oxford, as one of the four great universities in Europe; when its halls were thronged with thousands of eager though needy scholars, and it was the centre whence Semitic learning and civilization spread to the rest of Europe. Even in a later day, in the sixteenth century, under the patronage of Cardinal Ximenes, the university of Alcala de Henares (Complutum) flashed into sudden fame as one of the great offshoots of the Renaissance, with its 7800 students, and its noble production of the first great Polyglot Bible since primitive times. In the eighteenth century, however, this learning had all but disappeared from Spain, and the education given in its universities was all but worthless. Little was effected towards any true revival or improvement until 1845, though something had beenattempted before this in secondary education by the successive reforms of 1771, 1807, and especially of 1824 and 1836.
The universities of Spain are now ten: Madrid, with 6672 students; Barcelona with 2459; Valencia, 2118; Seville, 1382; Granada, 1225; Valladolid, 880; Santiago de Compostella, 779; Saragossa, 771; Salamanca, 372; and Oviedo with 216: making a total of 16,874 university students. The number of regular professors is 415, with 240 supernumeraries and assistants, making a total of 655; that is, one professor to every 26 students. The salary of the professors varies from 120l.to 260l.per annum, except in Madrid, where it is from 160l.to 300l.The budget of the whole universities is a little over 1,000,000l., and the expenditure slightly in excess, leaving a deficit in 1879 of 4600l.. The average cost of each student to the university is a little over 6l..
Though the above institutions are all classed as universities by the State, yet the course of instruction is by no means the same in all. At Madrid alone the whole programme of university education is followed out. This comprises the faculties of civil, canon, and administrative law, of philosophy and literature, of science, of medicine, and of pharmacy. Since 1868 theology is no longer studied in the universities, but in the seminaries, of which there is one in each diocese, under thedirection of the bishop. The total number of pupils studying in these institutions is 8562. At Valladolid are two theological colleges for English, Scotch, and Irish students, established, one at the close of the sixteenth, the other by the Jesuits at the close of the eighteenth century.
Law is studied in all the Spanish universities, and medicine in all but one—Oviedo; Madrid, Barcelona, Granada, and Compostella have faculties of pharmacy, under which head a certain amount of natural science is taught; of the exact sciences there are chairs only at Madrid, Barcelona, and Salamanca; philosophy and literature are studied in Madrid, Barcelona, Granada, Salamanca, Seville, and Saragossa. In Oviedo, Santiago, Valencia, Valladolid, only the first year's or preparatory course of law is read, this consists of Latin, general literature, and universal history.
Besides these State universities, there are several institutions supported by the provincial deputations; for instance, there is a faculty of medicine in Seville supported by the province, another in Salamanca at the joint expense of the province and of the municipality. In addition to these there are technical schools for the study of special branches of industry or of administration, such as those of roads, canals, and harbours, of mines, and of forests, in Madrid and Villa Viciosa. A school of industrial engineering, and of the application ofchemistry and mechanics, is working at Barcelona. There are technical schools of commerce at Madrid and at Barcelona. Schools or colleges of veterinary science are to be found in Madrid, Saragossa, Cordova, and Leon. Naval schools are established in Santa Cruz (Teneriffe), in Palma (Majorca), in Masnou (Barcelona), in San Sebastian, supported by the funds of the provinces; there is also one at Gijon, in the Asturias, founded by Jovellanos; two other private foundations also exist at Lequeito and Santurce in Biscay. In Madrid there is a special school of architecture, and also one of painting, sculpture, and engraving. Excellent schools of the fine arts exist in Barcelona, Cadiz, Corunna, Granada, Malaga, Oviedo, Seville, Valencia, Valladolid, Saragossa, and at Palma in the Balearic Isles; this last is remarkable for the number of its pupils and its generally flourishing condition.
In each of the forty-nine provinces of Spain are institutions of superior or secondary education. With the exception of the institutes of Cardinal Cisneros and of San Isidro at Madrid, which depend on the Government, and which hold the first and third rank as to the number of their pupils, these institutions are supported by the funds of the provinces or municipalities, but the professors are nominated by the Government; besides those in the capital of each province, there are also 11 others in various large towns in Spain. There arealso 356 colleges of secondary education affiliated to the institutes, 58 of which are under religious corporations, making a total of 417 establishments of secondary education, with 2730 professors who have all taken degrees in science or literature.
The institutes give instruction to 14,872 pupils, and the colleges to almost the same number, 14,290; home or private education absorbs 4476; making a total in 1880 of 33,638; more than three times the number in 1848, and, including the episcopal seminaries, giving one pupil to every 398 inhabitants. All these pupils are admitted to the official examinations, and take their degrees equally on passing them. It is found that 13 per cent of the candidates are rejected at the examinations, 43.8 per cent. simply pass, and 43.1 gain honours of various kinds; while 9 per cent. take the degree of Bachelor from the colleges, and 37.2 proceed to take it from the universities.
The salary of the masters is from 120l.to 180l.(except in Madrid where it is from 160l.to 220l.), with a right to a portion of the fees for matriculation and degrees. The supernumerary masters receive 60l.in Madrid and 40l.in the provinces; auxiliary masters are unpaid. Pensions of 20l.are sometimes given to poor but distinguished pupils. The cost of all the institutes is 118,935l., the income, 44,818l., leaving a deficit of 74,117l.to be supplied either by the State, the provinces, or the municipalities.
The course of instruction is two-fold, general andspecial. The general comprises: Spanish and Latin grammar, two courses; rhetoric and poetry, geography, history of Spain, universal history, psychology, logic and ethics, arithmetic and algebra, geometry and trigonometry, physics and the elements of chemistry, natural history, physiology and hygiene, and elementary agriculture. The special courses are those of agriculture, the fine arts, manufactures and commerce.