As we bad reason to expect last week, Senor Castelar
has been made President of the Spanish Republic, and the ex-Presi- dent, Salmeron, has been (unanimously) removed to the Presi- dency of the Cortes. Senor Castelar was elected President of the Executive power this day week, by 133 votes against 67 given for Senor Pi-y-Margall, and he has formed a Ministry accordingly, retaining Senor Carbajal, formerly Minister of Finance, as his Minister of Foreign Affairs. Castelar's condi- tions were these :—(1), A resumption by the Government of the power of pardon and of commuting sentences which had been taken from it by the Cortes ; (2), co-operation between the chief soldiers, of whatever party, and the Government, so that his choice of soldiers might not be limited to a particular political clique ; (3), power to increase the army indefinitely, if necessary ; (4), a compulsory citizen militia, with half a million of arms at their disposal ; (5), a forced loan or other means of raising four or five millions sterling ; (6), suspension of the guarantees of personal liberty, wherever and whenever the Government thought it necessary, and the re- establishment of the military ordinances in all their vigour. "Deny me any one of these," said Castelar, "and I am irre- vocably determined not to accept power." These guarantees were all granted, and Salmeron, in taking his place as President of the Assembly, gave the new Government all the support of his moral influence. Castelar's plan seems to be to embody at once a very large army for the suppression of the Carlist invasion. But is he not relying too much on mere numbers? It is discipline, not numbers, that the Republicans want even now, and we should fear that the citizen militia, with their half-million of arms, may do more to embarrass the Government than to assist it. However, Castelar is the right man to try.
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