THE LESSON OF CARTHAGENA.
IT is a pity that in the rapid current of events all over Europe the defence of Carthagena should be so rapidly forgotten, for it presents points of most substantial interest. So far as we know, no cause for that rebellion has ever been distinctly stated by its authors, no defined grievance, no par- ticular idea. At first the citizens were supposed to be given to Communism,—that is, to be mere plunderers, or men filled with the idea that the principle of equality involves equality of property, which, of course, can only be reached, and then only for the moment, by confiscation. But, apart from a few wandering Communists who were promptly suppressed, we do not find that the leaders issued any programme of this sort, while we do find that the citizens carefully abstained from plunder, that the Junta levied regular but very moderate taxes, and only used the Government stores when actually attacked. The rich houses were not plundered, and all but the rich seem to have been quite unanimous in the defence. The men obeyed their real leaders, Gutierrez, Roque Barcia, Galvez, and a few more, quite implicitly, and to the last supported them in putting down the few soldiers of Socialism who wished to burn or blow up their city. The Junta behaved well and reasonably in all their dealings with foreigners, and though the improvised sailors were not very brave, they were as brave as the blockading squadron appeared to be ; while the landsmen stood out the siege with the utmost heroism, never abandoning their houses even when riddled with shells, acting as soldiers when ordered, and making fierce sorties upon the besieging army. At the very last, they insisted upon honourable terms, and when they were granted, insisted on the terms being accepted, met the Centralist troops cheerfully, and returned as far as possible to their ordinary occupations. They have not carried their object, whatever it was ; they have not had a pleasant time of it during the siege, and they have lost hundreds of friends and relations, yet they mix with their conquerers on a perfectly amicable footing. Apparently they regard the rebellion as an incident in their lives, disastrous, no doubt, but still an accountable and rather creditable incident. That also seems to be their conquerors' opinion. They do not hate them for having fought, they do not despise them for their cause, what- ever it was, but simply regard the whole affair as an incident which is over, and in which they have won. Even the sight of the houses ruined does not produce bitterness, and the foreigners who have returned seem as safe as if they were at home. So is the foreign hotel. It is true that the Junta is said to have been asked by the British Consul to look after it, and the British Consul was extremely respected because he objected to run away, and saw everybody out of the place, but what sort of authority was it which was so readily and completely obeyed ? Even the convicts seem to have been tractable, and the conquerors, who made no stipulation about them, are not going to inflict any punishment for rebellion, but merely to relegate them to their tasks.
All this is very unlike anything that ever takes place in France, or Italy, or indeed in Spain itself, where the cities have frequently manifested great bitterness, or even bloodthirstiness, against the authorities, and recalls to us a sentence uttered by some boatmen to a correspondent in the very middle of the siege, that they would rather be beaten by the foreigners or the Carlists than by those execrable people at Madrid. It is conceivably possible that the Carthagenians are not Communists at all, but just Communalists,—that is, people with a genuine patriotism extending only to their own Canton, not at all desirous to injure that, but wanting to keep that isolated, and resenting bitterly any attack upon its separateness. To us in England, with our strong and long-descended national life, such an idea is almost inconceivable ; but it penetrated the ancient world—witness the histories of Rome and of Jerusalem—it was almost the basis of society in the Middle Ages, especially in Italy, and it may flourish still in Spain. It will be remembered that one object of the French Revolution was to crush this sentiment out, that the charge of Federalism was the one which sent the Girondists to the guillotine, that immense separations of opinion according to geography and not according to class, still perplex military reformers in France, and that nearly every revolt in Spain has been the revolt of a city acting for itself, or of many cities all acting as separate entities. The people are not bad people, or plundering people, or idiotic people, but only limited people, to whom their city is their country, awakening all of pride or patriotism that they possess. The Spanish Army is always supposed in England to have behaved badly in the Peninsular War, but the grand feat, the suppression of Dupont's army at Baylen, was accom- plished by Spaniards alone, and several cities made the most heroic resistance on either side. It would almost seem as if an inconvenient virtue, a spirit of over-developed localism, were more injurious to Spain than even her highly-developed vices. Modern nations require centralism, because they require large armies, large revenues, large reserves, to be completely safe, and Castelar, after four months of power, has perceived that as fully as any Ring; but is it quite fair to wonder that ignorant men, shut out from the world as all Spaniards are more or leas shut out, should fail to appreciate what to them must be abstract truths ? Of course they must be compelled to see them. We are not quarrelling for a moment with a bom- bardment indispensable to protect national life, but only trying to understand the dominant idea which made it neces- sary. And not believing in men rushing into wickedness for its own sake, or perceiving that these Carthagenians sought mere plunder, we are compelled to believe that some strong feeling lay at the bottom of this revolt. If that is a correct theory, Spain may yet have a future, for an idea inconsistent with the facts of the age always dies away, and the railway, the telegraph, and the newspaper, will ultimately do their civilising work. It is not yet fifty years since Italians of one city called Italians of another Forestiere, and now Italy would fight for its unity to the death, would surrender freedom rather than nationality. The same change may occur in Spain, and if it does, from one of the weakest of States she will become, as it were in a day, one of the most powerful. However de- graded her politicians• may be—there are sound men among them yet—her people evidently can fight and endure, and be temperate in victory or defeat. We detest the cause for which Galvez fought, holding national life essential to the steady progress of national prosperity ; but if Spain has many men like that particular rebel, who cannot write, but can organise men as well as ever Dolfi, the baker of Florence, could, we cannot believe that all hope is lost for Spain. Just now she needs a Dictatorship ; but Serrano, Carlism, bank- ruptcy, and most other evils, are, after all, but incidents in the life of an enduring 'people.
Previous page
