LETTERS FROM PARIS, BY 0. P. Q. No. XXII.

AFF.afits or SPAM.

TO TIIE EDITOR OF THE SI'ErTATOR.

601 A terpt.ot 1834.

Suit—Verily, Time is a great resolver of doubts, a great clearer up of uncertainties, and a great changer of national as well as individual existence. It was

but a few years ago, that DIN A ND the Seventh refused to listen to the prayers of the refugees—to the representations of the holders of Cortes Bonds.— to the tears of widows, the sighs of orphans, and the remonstrances of the bet friends of a Constitutional Spanish Monarchy: and now Ft:ICl/INA ND is sueeeeded by a young, energetic, limit voluptuous woman, who from a love of rank, of honour, of titles, of luxuries. of p!eastires, is now induced to pl,ke herself mulct-the direction of the very mon she we: tet.itt-totilial, as wife of Fru IIINA ND, during his lifetime, to hear vilified, and to see exiha!, or sent into di grace: and that very Queen, who was taken by Frit Dia tam, as the means of raising imp a male heir to succeed him, and to follow in his steps of piety to the Virma atei impiety to Goil—of devotion to the Cliereli and blaspinimy against his Creator —of defrrence to priests and bigot' y agair.st all other religionists—of subserviency to the Jesuits and of absolute and irou tyranny against his subj.-eta; this very same Queen has no son at all—has abolished, by her intrigues and influence, the Salk law, in order to secure the Crown to her daughter—has chased the monks from the monasteries; the clergy fr,m their eathedrals, the Inquisitionjuts from their dens, and the enemies ot both God and man from the paLtee ; and has effected vast good, though not for the sake of doing good, and set-soil essentially the cause of liberty, though not at all loving freerlotn, and has gi-n fte lie to all her departed husband's hopes, and to the fondest desires of his living and

his dying hours. There is something iu all this so true and yet so trysts:limas,

that we are by it taught never to despair—no' aso

not even for Poll or for Ireland.

The affairs of Spain are at this motnent so deeply interesting and so maailesrla The affairs of Spain are at this motnent so deeply interesting and so maailesrla

important, that I do not wonder at the auxiety of London journals to receive time earliest intelligence from the scene of action. VI'llerever we go, and in whatever society, we mingle, the first question now is, " What do yon hear from Spain ?" The Dants is quite right when it repeats, as it hits done, the substance of its last week's wade and when it says, that in the Spanish question is concentrated the whole of both the political systems now at work, and now cootending for mastery in Europe. This is a positive fact. It is not a contest between Don Ca ;mos and CHRISTINA in which I am interested, for both of those individuals merit alike our indifference or contempt ; but it is the question of limited or of absolute monarchies—of sure control exercised over Kinga on the part of the people, or of no control exercised at all—of civilization or barbarism—of in:movement or reaction—of going back, and back, and back, or of going on with more or less velocity. I cannot, therefore, make this question of Spam a question of proper names, or consent to discuss the comparative merits of the rivals to the Spanish Crown : butt I must make it, as it ought to be made, one of constitutional principles and constitutional governments against absolute kings and absolute institutions. In tide light I propose to look upoo it to day ; and I fee! niy heart burn within nie with joy and hope, as I ScM arrayed for Spain, all that is popttlsr, enlightened, ameliorating, and wise ia Europe; and as I see arrayed ayainst Spain wily the timid hands, trembling hearts, and faint and dying hopys of absolute monarchs and departing systems. The cause of D011 CA RLOS is lost—absolittely and irretrievably lost. hf. nr HABER may tell me that " King Cita RLES will reach Madrid by the end of August :" I shall reply, "But he will nut rennin there till the erui of fs'epteinher." M. TA ESIN DE MESSELLY may tell me that the K:og his master "will have a large and victorious army that will overthrow 11w mm. mid his ap,,ints arta officers :" I shall reply to him, that the King his 1-ter will never again be mas,.ter of Spain—that he may have sddiers, but that lto teal no loosasr hays, sobtects. Alonsieur Ja ocE, the Freuch banker, mussy till me, " that ti'le Kiog

of sp,itt roily wants money, and that if he shall hot all he requires, he will

arrive with ease at the Spanish capital :" but I tt rtyy, 'flu: day he sloth enter Madrid will be the day which at ill precede that ISM, aratis." Alor:ey 1/01:' procure arms, troops, guns, hoists, and powder ; but nimeiy will nevta. mrake the Spaniards again perat.mcntly submissive to an abodtite us. scum y. Mr. Gowan, the Erighsli Batik Director, mussy tell mmmc, " CIA its litsilass■I ,Hi). are .6ttiug out, soldiers are being collected together, a naval force is prepariw;; and that, aided by other Governments and other powerful auxiliaries, the cause of Don CARLOS is sure of success :" I alien reply, " Don Caittoe's cause is not won when he is proclaimed King, since from that moment even the small influence he now possesses will be over, and be is lost." The arrival of Don CARLOS in Navarre is merely an incident in the Spanish drama. It neither proves his courage nor his force—the strength of his para. sans nor the excellence of hia cause. The Duke of WELLINGTON told hint, " Sir, you have one.of two plans to adopt—to throw yourself into a convent for the rest of your life, or to head your army in the four Northern provinces." He consented to the latter course—not in hope, but from shame : but he did so too late. Don CARLOS remained in Portugal, whilst the real contest ins being decided. That real contest was between the Conservatives of the ZEA and

D'Orata A party on the one band, and the Reformers or Radicals of the other side.. The latter triumphed, through the decision of LLAN DER and the Revolutionists of Catalcuia ; and it may with truth be said, that the protests of Barcelona settled the Spanish question. Give, then, most noble Dukes aml

most learned Peers, most infatuated Clergy, and most despi..ling Conservatives both Tories and Whigs—give, I 'Jay you, your shillings to the loan of Don Cantu's and your pounds to the cause of the lturi,dtion ; but assure 'ourselves,

that your money shall NOT resemble that bread thrown on the waters of the Nile,. which appearet: many days afterwards The cause of Don CARLOS quite nopeless. It uas a question between a • aanish Tory and a Spanish D'haf! aristocracy ; and for a lung period after the iecease of FERDINAND, that

question was kept in suspense. It is so no longer : for now the people have eutered as third parties—they have deseended into the arena ; the Spanish Conservatives are for ever chased away, humbled, and beaten ; and the contest is between the reforming NVIligs aud the downright Radicals. Let there be no mistake! The cause of Dun CA It LOS is a lost caose—permanently and irretrievably lost ; and all Lie little occasional Successes of ZUMALAC A It It EGU Y against Room, or of Z A BALA against EL Passim, will make no real difference as to the eventual and final result. The Spanish People not only ought not, but cannot, and will not now, put up with Don CARLOS. Ile may play at " hide and seek " in the passes of the valley of Bastan, or plav the part of " brag " and "runaway " in the valley of the Bermuda. All this is possible : and the contest may be prolonged ; and even for a moment, in the view of the ignorant and superficial, it may appear doubtful ; but there must be no mistake made between a faction in Guipuscoa, and a faction in Navarre, and a faction in Biscay, and some wanderiug bands of marauders in some of the mountains Of Catalonia, and that great mass of the Spauish nation, from the shores of the Mediterranean to the mountains of the Pyrenees, which takes no part in the contest between Cif aistiNa and CARLOS, but which is ready at a moment's notice, at a sign from their chiefs, to e3pouse the cause of liberty and

civilization against that of priesteraft and the Inquisition. Let it not, then, be imagined, that the Spaniards are indifferent spectators. They are no such thing. The Spaniards are little interested in the mere dynastic disi.etes of the rival claimants of the crown ; but they are deeply interested in the far more Minna-tint question, of whether liberty is to advauce or to retrograde in the Peninsula.

Nor should it be forgotten for a single instant, that the Northern provinces have a partial and local question which absorbs all the rest. That question is wholly independent of general Spanish interests, wishes, and hopes. The Northern provinaes have an aversion to a constitution—to the destruction of nionopolies—atul to the establishment of general and fixed institutions, not because they hold their preservation to be essential to the happiness and prosperity of Spain, but simply because they arc averse to any interference with their own local privileges. It is nothing more nor less than a repetition of the Rotten Borough opposition to the Reform Bill. No Boroughnionger dared to assert that an inhabitant of Birmingham was not as competent to be an elector, or even that he had not really as much right to be one, as himself ; but "vested interests " was firs cry ; "privileges secured by ancient engagements" was dinned into our ears ; and no, the rights of all, but the " consscrated privileges " of sonic, was used by the Anti-Reformers as their very best argument. So it is with the Northern provinces of Spain. " By this craft we get our bread," cried the manufacturers of heathen idols, and this was their argument against Christianity : so, 46 by this craft of preserving exclusive and even Republican privileges to Biscay and Navarre," the inhabitants r,f those provinces are protected and favoured whilst the rest of Spain is 'oppressed. The insurrection in the North of Spain is therefore a personal, a selfish, a partial, and an anti-national insurrection. It is the insurrection of tile privileged against the mass— of ignorance and fanaticism against truth aud justice; and therefore it cantiot possibly be successful.

Reduce, then, the Carlist insurrection to its just bounds and its true hints.

Say that th local interests of the North are defended by hardy and by daring marauders. Admit that the local privileges of the Northern provinces, which are independeut of the Crown, render a revolution, perhaps, less necessary in that portion of Spain, than in those provinces where such privileges do not exist. Say that the Navarrais and Biscayans enjoy more of a representative form of government, and are subject to less of absolute aml monarchical institutions, than the other portions of Spain Admit all this—it would be absurd to deny it. But what then? Will Spain consent to sacrifice all tile interests of all her provinces, to the supposed interests—or even, if you will, to the real benefit of only three or four provinces? It would be absurd to expect this; and such a result is not probable.

Well, then, the interests of the few must be sacrificed to those of the majority. The millions must not bow to the units, but the units to the millions. It is nut desirable or reasonable to expect that the Northern provinces should be comparatively free and the rest of Spain be enslave-I. The Biscayans and the Navarrais must, therefore, be compelled by force, as they will not by reason, to sacrifice their local interests to the general welfare.

But can the Queen of Spain, I mean the Queen Mother—the voluptuous, sensual, and characterless CHRISTINA—remain Queen Regent ? Should she be intrusted with the education of the future Queen of that country, who is herself the object of pity and contempt, of loathing and disgust ? Will the Spanish Revolution, which is still going on in that country, terminate in the mere change of Peter to Paul, or Paul to Peter; and will all the sacrifices now making of blOod and of treasure end in the mere recognition of the " rights" of ISABELLA the Second over those of the Prince Don CA RLOS ?—God forbid. No, this will not be the termination to the Spanish Revolution ; it will have a very different result. But can and ought CHRISTINA to remain Queen Regent of Spain ?—I think not. She has no guarantees to offer to the Spanish people. Iler real principles are those of ZEA 13Ell uez and D'Ova 1.1A. It may be well not to disturb or overthrow her, whilst a common enemy is at the gate, and whilst not only individual but collective efforts are necessary to repel him. But when that enemy *shall be vanquished—when Don CARLOS shall be driven back to England, niaile prisoner in France, or be shut in Spain as a disturber of the public peace— then it will be most necessary either to change the Monarchical for the Republican form of government, or else to place the young ISABELLA under the protection and subject to the superintendence of those who are real and tried friends of liberal institutions and popular governments. As to the contest with Don CARLOS, dismiss it, then, from your minds. It ie a niece episode—somewhat bloody and tragical, but in no way affecting the real point of the drama : for, in the end, nothing can prevent the moral and political regeneration of Spain. I airy Sir, your obedient servant, 0, P. Q.