The position of the Church, or rather what was called the “Apostolic party,” is intelligible enough, and it is easy also to understand why Carlism has been preached as a crusade to English Roman Catholics, who have been induced in both Carlist wars to provide the main part of the funds which made them possible; but to call Don Carlos “the legitimate King” is an absurd misnomer.

For the rest, as regards Spain herself and the wishes of her people, it is perhaps enough to remark that if, after the expulsion of the Bourbons in 1868, at the time of the Revolution known as “La Gloriosa,” when Prim had refused to think of a republic and declared himself once and always in favour of a monarchy, and the Crown of proud Spain went a-begging among the Courts of Europe,—­if, at that time of her national need, Don Carlos was unable to come forward in his celebrated character of “legitimate Sovereign of the Spanish people,” or to raise even two or three voices in his favour, what chance is he likely to have with a settled constitutional Government and the really legitimate Monarch on the throne?  The strongest chance he ever had of success was when the Basque Provinces were at one time disposed, it is said almost to a man, to take his side; but, in fact, the men of the mountain were fighting much more for the retention of their own fueros—­for their immunity from conscription, among others—­than for any love of Don Carlos himself.  They would have liked a king and a little kingdom all of their own, and, above all, to have held their beloved rights against all the rest of Spain.

All that, however, is over now.  In all Spain no province has profited as have those of the North by the settled advance of the country.  Bilbao, once a small trading town, twice devastated during the terrible civil wars, has forged ahead in a manner perhaps only equalled by Liverpool in the days of its first growth, and is now more important and more populous than Barcelona itself; with its charming outlet of Portugalete, it is the most flourishing of Spanish ports, and is able to compare with any in Europe for its commerce and its rapid growth.  Viscaya and Asturias want no more civil war, and the Apostolic party may look in vain for any more Carlist risings.  More to be feared now are labour troubles, or the contamination of foreign anarchist doctrines; but in this case, the Church and the nation would be on the same side—­that of order and progress.

In attempting to understand the extremely complex character of the Spaniard as we know him,—­that is to say, the Castilian, or rather the Madrileno,—­one has to take into account not only the divers races which go to make up the nationality as it is to-day, but something of the past history of this strangely interesting people.  To go back to the days when Spain was a Roman province in a high state of civilisation:  some of the greatest Romans known to fame were Spaniards—­Quintilian, Martial, Lucan, and the two Senecas.  Trajan was