at the commencement of their Revolution. That is to say, the Spaniards were not absolutely demoralized, and any attempt to extirpate or banish the clergy, as a body, would have inevitably rebounded on the heads of its contrivers.

• It can be scarcely necessary to add, that the grandees, with very few exceptions, were as much opposed to the new system as the clergy. It wounded their pride to the quick, because it levelled them in point of rank with the lowest of the people: it gave them no privilege in lieu of this degradation; it subjected them to the performance of the duties of common constables, to service in the militia, and to enormous taxation; for their estates, already encumbered by their own or their ancestors' necessities, were charged according to their nominal value. To this it may seem an answer, that many of the nobility have taken offices under the Constitution, and have materially assisted its progress. This is true to a certain extent; but it is equally true, that several were voluntary exiles both from the country and the system; as to the rest, their sincerity has been doubted, with the exception, perhaps, of the Duke del Parque, the Duke of Frias, and the Marquis of Santa Cruz, who seem to understand and appreciate the blessings of liberty. Even these three noblemen would, perhaps, witness without displeasure the establishment of a chamber of peers.

Looking, therefore, to the Peninsula alone, it would appear that the mass of the people were indifferent with respect to the Constitution; and two very powerful classes were sincerely adverse to it. Every day new enemies to the system rose from the bosom of the country; and in point of fact it was upheld only by the army, by those enjoying public employments, and those desirous to obtain them.

The

In addition to these things, the four principal Powers of the continent had openly declared their hostility against the Constitution of Spain. The ministers of three of those Powers were already withdrawn, and their relations with the court of Madrid suspended. minister of the fourth was indeed still lingering in the capital: a curious instance of undisguised double-dealing on the part of France, and of conscious weakness on that of the Spanish Government. Was it possible, then, that under these formidable disadvantages the Constitution could march on to its consolidation?' pp. 160–62.

Certainly not. But what connexion had these external disadvantages with the merits or demerits of the Constitution? The declared hostility of the Four Great Powers was not against the Constitution simply, but against the military rebellion,'-against the revolution. And, in the estimation of the French Ministry, it is plain that the modifications' about which so much has been said, were, even as a point of honour, a matter of inferior consideration-as well they might be. M. de Chateaubriand distinctly stated to Sir Charles Stuart, that this was not the real ground on which the war was decided on. His pretext was, that while the agents of Spain admitted the

defects of their constitution, and expressed a readiness to concur in the operation of a change, their societies were actively endeavouring to organize revolt in France.

In short, he added, the enormity of the evils resulting from war, was not to be compared with the consequences which must result from the success of intrigues which the French minister had no means of preventing during the continuance of peace. This language of the French minister,' (adds Mr. Quin,) was perhaps somewhat exaggerated as to the intrigues imputed to the Spanish government and legislature for the purpose of producing revolt in France. It is not probable, from what I could learn, that either the government or Cortes, or any of their principal members, had any connexion with those intrigues.'

But if this was the temper of the French ministry, then it was clearly not the theoretical imperfections in the Spanish constitution, that necessitated or occasioned the French invasion, and thus prevented the experiment from being fairly tried, how far the constitution could march on to its consolidation.' If James the Second, instead of running away, had been able to call a foreign army to his aid, there would have been disadvantages scarcely less formidable in the way of the consolidation of English liberty. The majority of the clergy would here, as in Spain, have stood by the absolute king; and had Churchill but played the part of Ballasteros, all would have been lost. And yet, Spain is a century or two behind what England was in 1688.

Mr. Quin's chief authorities, both for the facts and the arguments relating to this question, are Sir W. A'Court's despatches. A newspaper could not have better authority: history will require something further. Sir William, it is true, talked a great deal about modifications, but that proves nothing: he is an old diplomatist.

If we cannot, however, allow the Writer all the merit which he claims on the score of political impartiality, we may safely recommend his volume as containing much acceptable and entertaining information. He gives the following account of the ex-ministers.

At the head of the new ministry is Evaristo San Miguel. He was chief of the staff in the army of the Isla, and performed his duties in a blameless manner. After this he became one of the principal members of the party of Freemasons, to which he owes his elevation. It may be here observed that this party was originally formed in Cadiz in the year 1812, and in the beginning they adopted the same system of toleration and philanthropy which is held by all the Freemasons of Europe. In 1814, upon the return of Ferdinand,

and the re-establishment of the monstrous tribunal of the Inquisition, they were persecuted with peculiar malignity. But their internal organization serving them with the means of active secret communication, they formed the design of restoring liberty, and they exerted themselves strenuously to accomplish that object. The unsuccessful conspiracies of Lacy and of Porlier were planned and supported by this association. At last they were fortunate in the famous revolution of the Isla. All the operations of the army which proclaimed the Constitution were arranged in the Lodges, and every thing done through the medium of freemasonry.

San Miguel is a young man who has acquired scarcely any political knowledge, and has not the slightest tact for diplomacy, extremely irritable, and impatient of censure, however gentle the form in which it may be conveyed. In distributing the various offices attached to his department, he has been charged with great partiality...a charge, indeed, to which every minister is liable, because he very naturally has the greatest confidence in those private friends with whose characters and abilities he is best acquainted. It is further charged against him, that he has not originated one single measure which indicates a profound and happy genius, since he has been invested with office. He gets through the routine business with sufficient industry, but there is about him no attribute of a statesman. He was one of the editors of the journal called the Espectador, immediately before his elevation to office; and it is understood that he continues to support, as well as to control, that paper by his writings.

Lopez Banos, the minister of war, was one of the generals who commanded in the army of the Isla. He evinced, however, some delay in joining the Constutional party. He is considered a good soldier, but not skilled in what may be called the scientific division of bis department.

Gasco, the Minister of the Interior, is considered to be a man of a firm and decided character. He is of active habits, and attached to liberty. He was an advocate, a profession comparatively obscure in Spain, because the Courts are not founded on a public basis; ber sides Gasco never acquired any eminence as a lawyer. It is befieved that he has a sincere love for his country. He listens with affability to the advices which are occasionally given to him, but his great defect is, that he is not up to the age

The minister of Grace and Justice, Navarro, is the declared enemy of all the usurpations and abuses of the court of Rome. He is well versed in the canon laws, of an intelligent mind, but rather backward in that general reading which is necessary to a man who would express himself in Cartes in a lucid and impressive manner. He is of an austere, unamiable character, and rather a logician than a statesman.

Probity is a rare quality in the Spanish cabinet. It is affirmed, however, that the finance minister, Egea, is scrupulously honest. He works hard, is sufficiently acquainted with the routine of his office, has good intentions, but little resolution. He considers the modern science of political economy as a mere farce.

• Not so the ultra-marine minister, Vadillo, who is well grounded in political economy, a man of literature and knowledge. He was an advocate at Cadiz. He is blamed as too docile, and incapable of firm resolution. He has written some excellent works on the necessity of a free trade, for which he is a zealous partisan. He is considered a man of moderation and virtue.

• The man who has perhaps acquired most weight in the ministry, after San Miguel, is Capaz, the minister of marine. When he was in Peru, he surrendered to Lord Cochrane the fine frigate of war the Maria Isabel, in a manner far from being honourable to his courage. It must, however, be observed, that most of the operations of this minister have been commented upon in violent, which is not always just, language. He is a decided enemy to South American indepen. dence, and to his representations is chiefly to be imputed the unfortunate policy which infects this, as well as the former governments, of sending out expeditions to the American continent. Report, perhaps calumny, says that these expeditions are not unproductive of gain to himself and his friends. Such is the preponderance which he has acquired in the state, that there are not a few of his party who desire his fall, that they may have at least a chance of succeeding him.

The treasurer-general, Yandiola, has no seat in the cabinet, but he is intimately connected with the present ministers, and generally consulted by them on all financial questions. He is rather a young man, forward, well educated; but though his manners are elegant and engaging, he has not been able to conciliate public opinion, which from the beginning has been adverse to him.

• Besides the ministers, the leading men of Cortes, Augustin and Canga Arguelles, Galiano, Isturitz, and a great majority of that body are of the party called Freemasons. It must be understood that in Spain the Society of Freemasons is chiefly of a political character. The members composing it are persons who co-operated for the restoration of the constitution in 1820; hence they were so closely connected with the troops, who assisted them with such effect on that occasion, that they naturally adopted principles which every day tended more and more to subject the country to the rule of a stratocrasy.

• The ministry of Martinez de la Rosa, and the party which supported it, was understood to be of a character rather aristocratical.

They were called Anilleros (men who wear rings), and they consisted of the higher classes of the nobility. It is believed that an opinion prevailed very generally amongst them in favour of certain modifications in the constitution, the priocipal of which was the establishment of a chamber of peers. Some hopes had been given, it is said, to the courts of Russia and France, that the modifications which this party contemplated might be effected without the aid of foreign intervention. But those expectations were effectually frustrated by the events of the 7th July, and from that period, it is added, the two powers just mentioned determined on compelling Spain by force of arms to alter her constitution.

• The impulse which was communicated to the democratic principle of the constitution by the result of the events of the 7th of July gave birth to a third party, who called themselves Communeros. The leaders of this party, Palarea, Ballasteros, Romero Alpuente, Morales, and others, who participated by their personal exertions in the victory which was obtained over the royal guards, conceived that they deserved equally well of their country for having preserved the constitution, as the Freemasons did for having restored it. They soon gathered around them a very numerous party, which assumed to itself an exclusive interest in the third article of the Constitution, that is to say, in the sovereignty of the people. Some time after the Freemasons came into office with San Miguel, the differences between them and the Communeros grew every day more prominent. The latter outstripped the former in numbers, and drew up a regular constitution, which was calculated to organise a popular confederation throughout the Peninsula. pp. 61-5.

Mr. Quin followed the government to Seville, and he made some inquiries, he says, into the feeling of the Sevillians with regard to the Constitution : the answers which he received from persons resident there was to this effect.

• That when the Constitution was first proclaimed, a number of rich proprietors, and of steady commercial men, embarked ardently in the cause, under the hope that liberal institutions would tend greatly to the amelioration of their different interests. Within the last year, however, the frequent changes of ministry produced corresponding alterations in all the offices within the reach of their power ; and the displacements and successions directed by the actual ministry soon after they came into office, were particularly peremptory and extensive. The new employes, it was said, consisted mostly of that half-educated gentry, who, after leaving school, had spent the greatest part of their lives in the coffee houses, and billiard and gamblingrooms ; and when they found themselves invested with authority, they exercised it in a rude and sometimes oppressive manner, assuming to themselves the character of exclusive and ultra zealous Constitutionalists. The early and rational friends of the Constitution frequently experienced causes of disgust in the conduct of these new men; and they found, according to their views and feelings, fifty petty tyrants, where only the influence of one was formerly distantly felt" They, in consequence, retired from the scene of public affairs altogether, and yielded it to the Exaltados—so the new men were here, as elsewhere, styled. The result of these proceedings upon the general spirit of Seville was to render it exceedingly indifferent towards the Constitution.

• One might suspect that this view of the matter had come from interested, and therefore questionable sources ; but, though I made many inquiries, I could bear no representation differing essentially from what is above stated. The frequent and ineffectual applications which the authorities were making every day for money, legally due