The Constitutional BM for Spain has been brought forward, and
is unexpectedly good. It is the American system simply, with three changes, two of them good and one bad. The President cannot be re-elected, and consequently is under every temptation to rule in his own interest ; but he can suspend the guarantees of liberty when needful—a rule which would have abolished half Lincoln's troubles—and he is absolute over all means of communication. If the Constituent Committee, or rather Castelar, had added that none but the President could appoint or remove a Judge, the Constitution would have been excellent. Every man in Spain is to be drilled as a militiaman, but the President controls the regular army, and with Congress disposes of all direct taxation, which may include yet a land-tax as severe as the Indian one. Cuba and the Philippine Islands are to be governed as territories.
