both monarch and monarchy, the days of Alberoni would have been repeated before 1820.  But there was neither an honest monarch nor a great statesman in the kingdom, and Spain daily became weaker and more contemptible.  Her colonial empire disappeared, with a few exceptions, such as Cuba and the Philippines.  The sun ceased to shine constantly on that empire which had been warmed by his beams through three centuries, and transferred that honor to England.  Spanish politics became the world’s scorn; and a French army, acting as the police of the Holy Alliance, crossed the Pyrenees, and made Ferdinand VII. once more an absolute king.  After his death, a civil war raged for a long time between the Christinos and the Carlists, parties which took their names from the Queen-Mother and from Don Carlos, who claimed to be the legitimate King of the Spains.  At length that war was brought to an end, and the throne of Isabella II. appears to be as well established as was that of Isabella I.

During all those unhappy years, Spain had, to use the common phrase, been making progress.  Foreign war and civil war, and political convulsions of every kind, had been eminently useful to her.  The Arachne webs and dust of ages had been blown away by the cannon of France and England.  Old ideas were exploded.  Young Spain had displaced Old Spain.  A generation had grown up who had no sympathy with the antique world.  In spite of repeated invasions, and almost unbroken bad government, and colonial losses such as no other country ever had experienced, the material power of Spain had vastly advanced between 1808 and 1850.  Since 1850 the Spaniards have been prosperous people, and every year has seen their power increased; and they are now demanding for their country admission into the list of the Great Powers of Europe.  They have formed a numerous army, and a navy that is more than respectable.  They are constructing railways, and encouraging business in all its forms.  The public revenue is equal to about ninety millions of our money, which would liberally provide for every expenditure that the Government ought to make, but which cannot meet the wants of that Government, because the Spanish statesmen of 1862 are as unwise as were any of their predecessors, most of whom treated the dollar as if it contained twelve dimes.  “To spend half a crown out of sixpence a day” requires the possession of as much ingenuity as would, if rationally employed, serve to convert the sixpence into a crown; but Spain rarely permits common sense to govern her action, and prefers debt to prosperity, when she can fairly make her choice between the two.  As to her public morality, a very little observation proves that she is not an iota more merciful or consistent now than she was when she banished the Moriscos.  At the very time when she is engaged in making war on Mexico because of alleged wrongs received at the hands of that country, she refuses to pay her own debts, thus placing herself on the level of Mississippi,