The regular Madrid despatches of the 18th instant have been
re- ceived. They do not alter but confirm the view that Ministers are em- barking in a very dangerous career of reaction against the Liberal insti- tutions of Spain, and that the country is in a state of much suppressed irritation ready to burst forth. The Eco del Contereio states that there is a majority in the Chamber decidedly opposed to the constitutional re- form ; contending that the execution of the organic law would be suffi- cient to neutralize all that is too democratic in the constitution of 1837. The question, at all events, it says, may be looked upon as a Cabinet question, which can only be resolved by a change of Ministry or a dis- solution of the Cortes. On the authority of a private letter, dated at Madrid on the 15th, the Paris National says- " It would be impossible to describe the agitation which prevails in that capital in consequence of the reactionary proceedings of the Government. The writer of the letter adds, that the greatest disunion prevails in the Cabinet, and that the most violent scenes had taken place in the Council Chamber. The day after the last decrees issued by the Minister of Finance appeared in the Ga- zette, Narvaez entered the Council and addressed M. Mon in the most furious terms. He termed him a traitor, and threw the Gazette in his face; and bad not M. Martinez de la Rosa interfered, a personal conflict would have been inevitable."
Meanwhile, rumours gain strength, both of a Progresista outbreak, (and couriers from London, Espartero's abode, have been observed on the move in Spain,) and of a Carlist insurrection, now said to be threatened because Queen Christina wants to marry her daughter to the Neapolitan Prince, Count Trapani. These rumours are evidently mixed up with much fallacy and trickery, among newsmongers as well as political intriguers; but their very conflict attests the discordant state of Spain.
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