The Douro question seems to remain in abeyance at Madrid.
At the date of the last accounts, stormy weather on the Tagns had prevented communication with Lisbon ; and nothing certain had transpired since the acceptance of British mediation. En- deavours have been made—and not without effect—to show that if Spain has been hasty, Portugal has been shuffling and procrasti- nating.
But the novelty in the Spanish news is the rupture between the Regency and the Papal representative. S. RAMIREZ nit ARELLANO, the Nuncio from the Court of Rome, had been ordered to quit the kingdom, and his jurisdiction had been abolished. This procedure is strongly condemned, as at least premature. Three-fourths of the Spanish people, says one writer, will regard it as little short of sacrilege. And certainly; although Spain has before now shown a sort of independence of the Court of Rome in the administration of religion, yet freedom in matters ecclesiastical is not the characteristic of the bulk of the people. It may be advisable to relieve them from a bigotry which keeps them in debased ig- norance; but it seems of questionable discretion in the Government to wage a theological war while political anarchy is as yet unallayed. On the other hand, it is very possible that the Regency may have something else in view besides relief from spiritual tyranny. The priests of Spain have often interfered in active politics, and just at present their interests are too obviously involved in the same fate with the Legitimist principle for them to be unconcerned spectators of late events. Then, the same week which brings the intelligence of S. ARELLANO'S expulsion, makes known also the ar- rival of Queen CHRISTINA at his master's court, in Rome. A good spice of secular policy may well have seasoned the Regency's reckless-looking crusade against ecclesiastical rule.
