TOPICS . ,OF 'THE DAY.
L./ • SPAIN: THE CHILD QUEEN. •
' THE constitutional monarchy of Spain is in an edifying predica- ment.' M. OLOZAGA has been dismissed, and his Cabinet broken up." The Queen, the courtiers and General NARVAEZ, assert' that this has been done because M. OLOZAGA endeavoured by violence and intimidation to force the Queen to sign a decree for the disso- lution of the Cortes. This charge M. OLOZAGA solemnly denies ; and maintains that the courtiers have trumped up the story, and persuaded the Queen to repeat it, as a pretext for his dismissal, which was in reality the consequence of a Court intrigue. On the one hand, the late Prime Minister is accused of unmanly violence to a girl, and " lesa magestad " ; on the other, the Queen is ac- cused - of lying.
This comes of declaring a child of thirteen major, and capable of • rigbig a kingdom. 'Either version of the story establishes this point. • Let us assume that her Majesty has been coaxed to utter the false- hood coined by her ladies and gentlemen of the bedchamber : what better could be looked for from a child invested with sovereign power before its reasoning faculties are matured or its character formed ? Let us assume that OLOZAGA was somewhat over-per- emptory with her little Majesty : who can blame him ? Is it to be imagined that a veteran statesman, responsible for the destinies of a nation, could tamely submit to see his policy thwarted by an ig- norant and it may be a petulant child ? The wisdom which warns against trusting " fules and bairns" with edge-tools was never bet- ter illustrated. The Spanish transformation of a child into a queen, is not unlike the mythological transformation of a cat into a woman : at the first temptation the lady relapses into her kittenish cha- racter.
• But Senor OLOZAGA, nevertheless, deserves no compassion. He has been "caught like a woodcock in his own springe.' He ob- tained office as being party to a military insurrection, or at least an accessary after the fact. He endeavoured to secure himself in office by inducing the Cortes to declare that a girl of thirteen was of mature age—to enact a legal lie, in order to preclude ESPAR- -TER° from resuming under any circumstances the office of Regent. What right has he to complain that the lawless men with whom he leagued to attain power have stripped him of it by the use of his own legal fiction ? What right has he to complain of unconstitu- tional attempts to gag him, who came into office through a viola- tion of the constitution ?
The fate of OLOZAGA is what historians, in the bits of sermon with -.which they love to wind up their chapters, _term "a' great moral lesson." It is a pity, however, that these lessons should commonly fall with greater severity on the innocent than the guilty. OLOZAGA suffers, but the Spanish nation and its Queen will suffer far more. Their future does indeed appear hopeless. If NARVAEZ retain the ascendancy, a military despotism must prevail. OLOZAGA, even were that desirable, can scarcely be restored to office; for his re- stoiation would brand the Queen with falsehood. ESPARTERO can never resume the Regency ; and as Minister, he must be subject to the girlish fancies of the Queen, influenced by her female,. at- tendants. Between the Queen, her mother, and Don Catmos or his son there seems to be little difference. A wise and energetic monarch is, for the time, unattainable. The most enthusiastic Liberal can scarcely dream of Spain being ripe for a republic ;" and yet the breach between OLOZAGA and the Court can scarcely fail to render monarchy unpopular. The question is personal between him and the Queen. His line of defence in the Cortes was, that , a knot of intriguers found his dismissal necessary to enable them to bring about a marriage between the Queen and the son of Don Cosmos; and to this end invented the story of his violence to the , Queen. , His statement implies that the Queen had so far lent her- . self to the intrigue as to utter, a falsehood to screen them ; and this assault on royal honour was loudly applauded by the galleries.
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