Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 1.djvu/234

200 put off the action of the Senate on any other matters with which Spain is concerned until my arrival at Washington. I may be able to give you useful information.

Will you have the kindness to give me your views on the state of affairs at home in reply to this letter? If you write soon and send your letter by the State Department it will reach me before my departure, and I should feel greatly indebted to you. 



&emsp; Sir: The English papers which went to America by last mail have probably already informed you that, instead of General Serrano, General Prim has been placed at the head of the Spanish expedition to Mexico. As soon as the appointment was determined upon, I endeavored to inform myself of the causes and the significance of this change of program and will give you the result of my investigations.

General Prim is a very important man in this kingdom. He occupies a high position and sustains it with considerable talent. As a military leader he excels by his address and the brilliancy of his exploits. His popularity is as great with the people as his prestige is in the army. His instincts are liberal, and the political opinions he professes identify him with the Progressista party. He is generous and frank, and his character is somewhat of the romantic turn. But he is supposed to be very impressionable and apt to shape his course according to circumstances. His elevation to the position of a grandee of Spain is said to have had some influence upon his way of thinking, as it certainly had upon his social relations. In his private