Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 18.djvu/457

* SPAIN. 393 SPAIN. sion of popular liberties by the Government, while engaged in the suppression of these revolts, gave an opportunity to O'Donnell and his party. Their control was short-liveil, and in I80G Queen Isabella appointed a Moderate ilinistry under Narvaez, which adopted a reactionary policy. In 1S5S the Queen recalled O'Donnell and he held office for five years. A war with ilorocco (1859-60) had no result except to test the efficiency of the Spanish army. Spain joined France in the ill-advised Mexican expedition, but Prim, in command of the Spanish forces, signed a convention with Juarez and refused to support the French. Napoleon 111. va.s indignant with his ally, and in Spain there was bitter discussion of Prim's course. The Progressists nuide it a handle for a partisan attack on the Government and the Moderates also took a hostile attitude. The O'Donnell Government, which had added vastly to the national debt, went down in 1803. With the passing of the Liberal Union there was a gradual return to absolutism. The Mira- flores Government, which succeeded that of O'Donnell, attempted to govern constitutionally, but the absolutist pressure in Court circles was too strong, and this Ministry gave way to suc- cessors more plialde. The Government really fell into the hands of the crimarilla. a group of per- sonal favorites wiio had influence with the Queen. The Liberal groups were forced more and more into a hostile and revolutionary attitude. Cas- telar (q.v.), then a professor in the University of JIadrid, raised his eloquent voice against the ex- travagance of the Crown and was supported by the university. The Government attempted to suppress such agitation. The Cortes was dis- solved in 1806 and Marshal Serrano (q.v.). presi- dent of the Senate, was sent into exile. Narvaez, who had represented all shades of political opin- ion at different times, was now called to the head of affairs and maintained a strong Government, which was really a military dictatorship, until his death in 1868. An open revolt, headed by Prim, failed, but a little later Prim, Serrano, and Admiral Topete (q.v.) began a better organized and better supported revolutionary movement. The fleet at Cadiz under Topete declared for na- tional sovereignty. Serrano marched toward the capital, defeated the Government forces at Al- coiea on September 28, 1808, and on October 3d entered Madrid, already in a Estate of insurrec- tion. Isabella in the meanwhile escaped into France and the revolution was accomplished. A provisional government was established by the revolutionists under the presidency of Ser- rano. A liberal monarchical constitution was put through by a comlnnation of Reiniblicans under Castelar and Progressists under Prim, and was promulgated -Tune 0, 1800. Serrano was made Regent, with Prim as Prime Minister. Carl- ists. Republicans, and Constitutional Monarcli- ists all aspired to profit by the upheaval in the government. Several foreign princes were in- vited to take the crown — among them Prince I Leopold of Hohenzollern, who.se candidacy (July, 1870) gave rise to irritation between France and Germany, and in a measure provoked the Franco- German War. At last, in December, 1870, Amadeus, Duke of Aosta, son of King Victor Emmanuel, accepted the crown (see Amadeus I.), but before his arrival in Madrid Prim, the king-maker, was assassinated. King Amadeus thus lost a strong support, and he abdicated Feb- ruarj^ 11, 1873. after a brief and uncomfortable reign, distracted at the end by a great rising in favor of the young Don Carlos (Charles VII.) and disturbed by an insurrection in Cuba, which had broken out in 1868. A republic was then de- clared. Figueras was the first president of the Ministry, with Castelar as Minister of Foreign .•ffairs. A constituent Cortes was summoned in June, and prepared a constitution making Spain a federal republic. Several Ministries attempted vainly to cope with the situation, which, in ad- dition to the Carlist insurrection in the north, was complicated by the risings of the Intran- sigentes (see Ixtr.xsige. ts ) and Interna- tionals in the cities of Andalusia, Murcia, and Valencia. On September 7th Castelar was made President of the Executive with dictatorial )iowers, and the Cortes adjourned luitil .January, 1874. The wise and positive course of Castelar in enforcing order and recognizing conservative interests displeased the extremists, and when the Cortes reassembled a vote of lack of con- fidence was passed. Castelar I'esigned, and Ser- rano became nominally President of the Execu- tive, but in reality a military dictator. He car- ried on with vigor the war against the Carlists, but he had hardly secured recognition for his Government from the European powers when Gen. Martinez Campos (q.v.) proclaimed Alfonso XII., son of Isabella, King (December, 1874). The army declared for Alfonso. The Serrano Government, of which Sagasta (q.v.) was then Prime Minister, gave way, and Cfinovas del Cas- tillo (q.v.) headed a provisional government. Alfonso, then seventeen years of .age, assumed the government on January 14, 187.5, guided by Canovas del Castillo. The Carlist revolt was completely suppressed in 1876. Don Carlos went into permanent e.xile, and Navarre and the Basqiie Provinces were deprived of their ancient privileges and fueros (q.v.). A constitution of a decitledly illiberal character was adopted in 1876, and its provisions were enforced with se- vere literalness by the ilinistry of Canovas del Castillo. By 1878 order had been reestablished throughout most of Cuba. ^Martinez Campos, wlio was sent to the island to put down the in- surrection, came back in 1879 an advocate of a reform policy toward Cuba, and attempted to form a Ministry on that issue, but failed and went into the opposition. Much of his pro- gramme, including abolition of slavery in the An- tilles, was carried out by C.lnovas del Castillo. In 1881 a more liberal regime was inaugurated under Sagasta. The government under the restored monarchy was nominally in the hands of a Ministry re- sponsible to the majority in the Cortes, but per- sonal factions and rivalries disintegrated parties to such an extent that this was not so in prac- tice. There were two leading parties — Conserva- tives, and Liberals or Constitutionalists, both upholding the constitutional monarchy. The remnant of the Carlists could do little but agi- tate. The Republicans lacked a leader, since Castelar had given up the republican programme as impracticable. CSnovas del Castillo returned to power in 1884, after having l)een out of office for three years. On November 25, 1885, Alfonso XII. died, and his widow, Christina, who was pregnant, became Regent of the kingdom, the Pre-