In Spain it was at first asserted—doubtless at the suggestion
of the great Continental financiers, to whom anarchy in Spain would mean appalling losses—that the terms of peace were being accepted with composure, and even with relief, and that all the better-informed people were glad to be rid of the colonial incubus. These assertions, however, are in no way to be trusted, and in spite of a severe Press censorship, the tele- grams which reached London on Friday show many most alarming signs. The announcement that Don Carlos is pre. p‘iring a manifesto may possibly be dismissed as no great matter, but the news of sporadic risings throughout the Peninsula is most serious. The well - informed corre- spondent of the Daily Mail telegraphs from Biarritz that "small armed bands are appearing and disappearing daily in various parts of Spain,—showing a general state of fermentation born of impatience with the present condition of things." He also adds that "the Castellon Band" has largely increased in size and has become "important." Another disquieting feature is the murder of single cara- bineers, whose dead bodies are found repeatedly in isolated places. We most sincerely trust that the Conservative forces in Spain will rally loyally to the Queen-Regent—it is their best chance—but it would be idle to shut one's eyes to the possibility of a grave internal crisis arising within the next few weeks.
