A History of Spain / founded on the Historia de España y de la civilización española of Rafael Altamira

by Charles E. Chapman; Rafael Altamira

Progress of Liberalism.

Rule of Espartero.

Reactionary as Ferdinand had shown himself to be, he did not go far enough to suit the extremists in the absolutist faction headed by the king’s brother Don Carlos (Charles). This group soon formed a party, which believed that its principles could be secured only through the accession of Don Carlos to the throne, wherefore its members came to be known as Carlists. The king was childless and in feeble health, but the hopes of the Carlists received a setback when in 1829 he married again. The new queen, María Cristina of Naples, was reactionary by instinct, but was forced by Carlist opposition to lean toward the Liberal faction in order to find some element on which she could depend for support. As it soon became clear that she was about to give birth to a child, the chances of Don Carlos’ succession were gone in case the infant should prove to be a boy, but the Carlists relied upon the so-called Spanish Salic Law of Philip V to exclude the enthronement of a girl. The exigencies of the political situation in 1713 had led Philip V to declare that the male line should always succeed to the Spanish throne. In 1789 Charles IV in agreement with the Cortes abrogated the law, but the decision seems not to have been published. To meet every contingency Cristina persuaded Ferdinand in 1830 to publish the law of 1789. Henceforth the struggle turned on the question of the validity of the law of 1789. In October, 1830, Cristina gave birth to a daughter, María Isabel, who was crowned as Queen Isabel, or Isabella II, with her mother as regent, on the death of the king in 1833. This was the signal for the outbreak of the Carlist wars, fought principally in the north and east of Spain, where the party of Don Carlos had a strong following. Meanwhile, a Liberal policy had been inaugurated, but in the main it was of a half-hearted type, for Cristina was both illiberal by temperament and unreliable in government; she would promise reforms, only to withdraw them, and would perhaps re-enact them in the very next breath. Nevertheless, the period of her regency was one of distinct gain for the principle of limited monarchy. A wider and wider circle of the people came to believe in that ideal, the Cortes met frequently, Liberal legislation was passed which was not to be so lightly tossed aside as formerly, and the constitutional principle was definitely established. To be sure, the same divisions as before tore the Liberal element asunder, and even led to insurrections at the very time that the Carlist wars were in their most dangerous stage; Spain still had a long road to travel to achieve democracy. The most important piece of legislation was the constitution of 1837, overthrowing the impossible instrument of 1812, though agreeing with it in many respects, including its recognition of the sovereignty of the people, and establishing a Cortes of two houses, with an absolute veto by the crown, and a restricted suffrage,—a compromise between the position of the Moderates, or conservative element of the Liberals, and that of the Progressives, or radicals. Neither party was satisfied, and as a working instrument the constitution was not long-lived, but henceforth this, and not the idolized 1812 document, was to serve as a basis in constitution making. The year 1837 marked the first appearance in power of Espartero, who had distinguished himself as a general in the war against the Carlists, thus beginning an era in which successful military men were to be the virtual rulers of Spain, more or less under constitutional forms, but in reality depending upon the army as the only force which all elements would recognize. Espartero’s credit reached still higher when he was able to bring the Carlist war to a close in 1840, following his negotiations with the leading enemy generals. In the same year, Cristina, who had long maintained a precarious hold on the regency as a result of her insincerity and her affiliations with the Moderates, was at length compelled to abdicate. Espartero stepped into the breach, becoming regent in 1841, and for another two years maintained himself as a veritable dictator, but proclaiming Liberal principles, fighting the Moderates, defending himself against the intrigues of Cristina, and resisting the Progressives, who were dissatisfied with his policy or jealous of his preponderance. In 1843 the storm broke, and Espartero fled to England.

Isabella II and the rule of the generals.

Narváez and O’Donnell.

Rise of General Prim.

Character of the queen.

The overthrow of Espartero had been accomplished by a combination of the extreme conservative and the radical elements, which aimed to prevent the recurrence of a regency by illegally proclaiming the thirteen-year-old Isabella II to be of age. Such widely divergent groups could not long remain harmonious, and the conservatives were soon in the saddle. The twenty-five year period of Isabella’s active reign, from 1843 to 1868, was one in which reactionary forces were almost constantly in control under constitutional forms. Except for the discredited Carlists, who engaged in several minor outbreaks during these years, no party stood frankly for absolutism, although that form of government was in fact the wish of many and the virtual type of rule employed. The real master was, not the queen, but the army through its generals. The saving factor in the situation was that the latter were not united; while certain of them were ultra-reactionary, others were Liberal, though none of those who attained to power went the lengths of the radicals. In the numerous ministries of the era an occasional non-military individual was at the head of the state,—such as the reactionary González Bravo, or the clerically backed Bravo Murillo, but the terms of these and other civilian ministers were brief. The two principal rulers of the times were General Narváez and General O’Donnell. Narváez, who had won notoriety for his severity against the Carlists, was six times in office (1844-1846, 1846 again, 1847-1851, 1856-1857, 1864-1865, and 1866-1868). It became the habit of the queen to send for him whenever the monarchy was in danger, not only because he could control the army, but also because he invariably struck hard and successfully against Liberalism at the same time that he upheld constitutional government, though disregarding its mandates as suited his pleasure. Execution or exile followed swiftly where Narváez was displeased with an individual. Meanwhile, he made meritorious reforms which tended to restore good order and check anarchy, such as his success in stamping out brigandage and revolution. The ability of this despotic veteran was well displayed when he saved Spain from the storm which shook other European thrones in 1848. O’Donnell, who came into prominence in the temporarily successful Liberal revolution of 1854, was three times in office (1856, 1858-1863, 1865-1866), once holding power for five years. While far more liberal than Narváez he was a staunch supporter of the Bourbons. He sought to divert public attention from domestic affairs by laying stress upon foreign policy, as witness his well-advertised refusal to sell Cuba to the United States, his plans to join France in the latter’s intervention in Mexico, and especially his engaging in a war with Morocco (1859-1860). The chief political result of the war was to make a popular hero of General Prim, a man of Liberal tendencies and of less resolute devotion than O’Donnell to the Bourbons. Prim was the third of the great military figures who, together, explain this era. Beside them must be considered the queen. The former regent, María Cristina, had not been free from charges of immorality, but her daughter Isabella was notorious for her bad conduct. Furthermore, she was perfidious, selfish, superstitious, and lacking in principle. Withal she was devoutly religious. The result was that her opinions were swayed by her numerous transitory lovers or by her confessors, and ministries rose and fell according to the dictates of the camarilla. Even O’Donnell declared it was impossible to govern under her, for no dependence could be placed upon her word.

Constitutional changes in the reign of Isabella II.

The character of the period was reflected in the new constitutions which were drawn up. The constitution of 1845 included the following provisions: the introduction of a property qualification, narrowing the franchise of those electing deputies to the Cortes; the nomination of senators by the crown; life tenure of senators; the packing of the senate with grandees, ecclesiastics, successful soldiers, and financial magnates,—reactionary elements; emphasis on the recognition of the Catholic Church as the established religion; an assent to the theory of the sovereignty of the people, but in such an attenuated form as to deprive the right of its vitality; restrictions on the freedom of the press; and the reduction of the national militia—the hope of Liberalism—to an innocuous state by making it subject to the central executive. The church was strengthened still further upon the fall of Narváez in 1851, for, reactionary though he was, he did not go far enough in ecclesiastical matters to suit the clergy. The brief term in office of their candidate, Bravo Murillo, resulted in the restoration of part of their former endowment as a result of the concordat of 1851, but their acceptance of this document was denounced by the Carlists and absolutists in general, including the pseudo-constitutional reactionaries, as a betrayal of the cause for which the churchmen had stood. Bravo Murillo proposed a constitution in 1852 which amounted to a virtual abrogation of parliamentary government, granting the crown the right to enact the budget by royal decree and to propose legislation which must be accepted or rejected by the Cortes without amendment, together with other provisions of a like character. It was Narváez who pointed out to the queen that the Bravo constitution would result in disaster to the government, and the instrument was only productive of its proposer’s fall. During the period of Liberal control, from 1854 to 1856, at which time Espartero returned to head the ministry, a fresh constitution was presented to the Cortes in 1855. The former provision for life senators was abolished; financial control was vested in the Cortes, which was to meet at least once a year; liberty of the press was granted; and it was decided that nobody should be persecuted for his religious views contrary to the Catholic faith, provided he should not manifest them publicly. The constitution of 1855 remained an ideal only, for the Cortes separated without promulgating it. In the next year O’Donnell brought about a restoration of the constitution of 1845, with added enactments providing for the control of national finances by the Cortes and for an elected senate. When Narváez returned to power late in the same year, he caused such reform measures of the Liberals as had not already been done away with to be rescinded, and reinforced the constitution of 1845.