Universal suffrage was tried for the first time in Spain
on December 7th, the occasion being the election of the Provincial Councils-General. The result, according to a telegram in the Times of Tuesday, has been a great surprise. The Govern- ment, it is admitted on all sides, have abstained from inter- ference, but in 42 provinces out of 49, the Conservatives have a majority, and they have carried 212 candidates against 93. This is believed to presage a complete victory in the elections to the Cortes, and would seem to show that the body of the population is entirely favourable to the Monarchy. This has been suspected for many years, and, shortly after Prim's coup d'eicti, was stated in the Chamber by Senor Ayala, then Minister for the Colonies. He admitted, though himself in alliance with Marshal Prim, that a plibiscite would at once have reseated Queen Isabella. The lower classes of Spain, in fact, are monarchical, though, as the first Session of the next Cortes will show, they are bitterly hostile to the tenure of land under which whole counties are cultivated by bailiffs and labourers, and no agriculturist can rise.
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