The report from Spain is very similar to the account
last week ; but, paradoxically, the continuance implies a certain change in the state Of affairs. The "recent events," as they are politely called in the Paris Ilfoniteur, amount to a Ministerial crisis, in which the outgoing Minister carries with him the constitution, and the incoming Minister is accompanied by a total reaction in the institutions and government of the country. O'Donnell, no doubt, ehdeavours to conceal the character of the counter-revolution which he has effected ; and the organ of the French Government accompanies him in treating the occurrence as a mere change of Ministries, unattended by anything that merits the name of a coup d'etat. The endeavour of the Government is to represent the National Guard of the capital as making a riot because Espartero had left office, and certain of the country-towns as creating a revolt in sympathy with the Madrid rioters. Thus the Government at Madrid professes only to have suspended. the sittings of the Constituent Cortes, and not to intend dissolving that body until "order shall have been restored." But notwith- standing the denials, the Ministerial crisis is nothing more nor less than a change in the constitution. The dismissal of the Constituent Cortes is determined ; the members cannot meet ; they cannot carry out their plan of a new constitution. Espartero has not only retired from the Government, but is in some way concealed from sight and prevented from communicating with his friends. Martial law continues to be established throughout the entire country ; and although the organs of the Government represent " tranquillity " as having been every-where restored, it is not to be concealed that the troops of the Queen have had to parley with the insurgents at Saragossa and in Granada ; while at Jaen, General Blanco had, as the Madrid Gazette says, been "unaccountably arrested" by the insurgents. O'Donnell therefore has not attained that com- plete success at once which would have been necessary to con- summate his revolution. His position appears to be in other respects uncertain. His refusal to admit Narvaez implies that he is afraid to have even the old opponent of Espartero among his rivals at home. There are reports, not improbable, that he has not acquiesced in the demand of the Queen for the return of her mother. There is no doubt that he would be overridden by the return either of the powerful intriguing Isabella or the pow- erful soldier Narvaez ; and the precautions which he is taking imply consciousness of danger.
The French troops, recruited by the return from the Crimea, are furnishing the contingents to the "army of observation" which is daily strengthened on the Spanish frontier. The Mani- teur has published a paper to which we have already alluded, bailing O'Donnell as a Minister who has "restored order" to Spain. This article in the Maniteur professes to be inspired, like the Government of the Emperor Napoleon, by "the ideas of 1789," and the Government proposes therefore to act in the name of the democracy. There is no pretence of any such basis in the Spanish coup d'etat ; yet the sympathy between the Go- vernments of Paris and Madrid is unconcealed.
The celebration of the fetes in Belgium presents the exact con- trast with the state of Spain. In Spain, the whole kingdom is under martial law, the Government is as it were besieged or be- sieging, and the country is contested by rival soldiers ; the Queen herself Finking to a puppet, whose safety would perhaps be im- perilled if she ventured too freely among her subjects. In Bel- gium, the provinces assert their local privileges by claiming the right specially to celebrate "the three days of July," which gave liberty to the kingdom and King Leopold to the throne ; and the King, after exchanging affectionate courtesies with Brussels, is compelled to repeat the interchange of salutations with the people of Bruges. Every town in the country has its celebration ; and so thoroughly is the people in unison with its throne, that the most perfect order is maintained in every part ; such soldiers as appear simply taking their place among the decorations of the scene.
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