A NEW ARA FOR SPAIN.
London, 27th November 1856. Sm—There is a proverb in Spain that Quiets dice Espana, dice todo- " Whoever says Spam, says everything," which centuries ago was much nearer the truth than it is at present, and I now quote it as a sort of apology for addressing you again about the country. Previously I had confined myself to some mention of her great men of a bygone age, merely alluding to the present condition of the kingdom, brought so low by misgovernment in every conceivable shape,oined to a royal and I ministerial plundering, stockjobbing, and knavery. In a subsequent num- ber of your journal, I read with pleasure Mr. Bridges Adams's ideas about her people and their requirements ; also his speculations in reference to the future destiny of the country, which, as coining from an Englishman that had visited Spain, are so much the more entitled to consideration. True is it that Lisbon was intended by nature for the metropolis of the Peninsula; but Philip the Second's grand mistake in not making that city his capital when he became possessed of Portugal, is hardly now I fear, ever likely to be rectified. When his grandson, Philip the Fourth, lost that country, a far greater blow was inflicted upon Spain than the loss of her possessions in Italy and the Netherlands; for Portugal, her natural ap- panage, and where her two principal rivers have their embouchure, instead of being her strength, is now the main cause of her weakness, and a very "thorn in her side."
The rail is indeed slowly progressing, and must, when in general use, strengthen the land as the harbinger of mighty changes and of an tent of prosperity. But like as gold is the sinews of war, so is it of railroads ; and distant ma be the day ere capital is found to tunnel through all those mighty roc sierras and to lay down the iron way across those thinly-peo- pled plains at must be encountered and overcome in all the projected long lines. I cannot doubt but that eventually all will be accomplished, and that perhaps the railway, which in other countries has been always pre- ceded by good common roads, will in -Spain be followed by them. At pre- sent they are certainly few and far between, rendering communication be- tween the towns both difficult and expensive. However, if railways are more costly there than in most other lands, it is not so with canals ; which latter could be constructed without greater diffi- culty or expense than is entailed elsewhere, and thus be the means of ren- dering her such inestimable advantages, as a cheap mode of transport for her produce to the sea-coast, besides giving an impetus to her at present half-uncultivated corn-growing plains. The only one of the many canals planned by the Minister Ensefia&, that is partially completed, is the Canal de Castilla, by which, and the railway from Alar del Rey to Santander, when finished, the golden-coloured wheats of the Castilian plains will be eonveyed to the sea. Although often projected, the Tagus, Duero, and Ebro, have never been canalized. The former river might easily be made navigable;
connecting Toledo, and even Madrid, (by means of the ,) with Lisbon, and so facilitating the intercourse, now so little, between the two capitals.
Spain is essentially an agricultural country ; for notwithstanding that she is rich in mines, both of coal and iron, they are but partially worked, and her manufactures are almost confined to Catalonia. To protect them, an unwise prohibitive duty is placed upon the manufactures of this and other countries, thus encouraging an organized and most extensive system of smuggling, and inflicting the greatest evil upon her people and commerce, to the sole benefit of the contrabandista, the fancied benefit of the Catalan, and the real injury of the revenue. If the present system of government—by which one general, through the aid of a military insurrection, succeeds another—can be ever got rid of, and if some real statesman, supported by able colleagues, ever takes the helm, what a field is open before him ! To give the country a proper re- presentation, and municipal rights to the towns. To reform the army—that fruitful source of evil—which from being the best disciplined in Europe, has now fallen into a state of complete disorganization, and is always open to be tampered with by its commanding officers, for their own political purposes. Then the court—the most scandalous on the Continent—which in its present state is only powerful for evil, and which, unless reformed by some influence or other, must eventually be swept away by a revolution, and with it, most. probably, the monarchy itself. The finances too—what a state are they in the Minister that could disentangle their intricacies, and would keep faith with the foreign creditor, would do not a little to gain respect for the country in the eyes of Europe. The grandee must be induced to live on his estates. And last, not least, the clergy must be made subservient to the civil power ; for the spirit of the nineteenth century is not favourable to priestly supremacy, however it might have answered for the dark ages. From such a government, unsubjected to court, military, or clerical In- fluence, a new and liberal tariff would soon emanate : then would follow railways, canals, roads; and all the elements of wealth. Again would the banner of Spain be seen on every sea : and this time her prosperity would rest upon a surer basis than of old ; for then the possession of vast co- lonies upon which the sun never set, instead of strengthening her power, rather hastened her decline.
That she may once more take her proper place among the nations, and that such events as I have endeavoured to portray may speedily come to pass, must ever be the wish of
Yours faithfully, Emus Illse.trais.
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