SPAIN.

Lyttelton Times, Volume IV, Issue 167, 18 March 1854, Page 5

SPAIN.

The Government, or rather, the Court of Spain, is involved in a crisis of an•" ugly" description. We lately had occasion to »tate that Spain was increasing her navy. This was surprising enough in the present state of European politics in general, and the politics of the 'Peninsula in particular- But a still more* surprising incident remains behjnd. A new Munoz has started up in the person of a young gentleman who is" understood to possess a closer interest in a high quarter than is altogether 'consistent with the dignity of the Crown. If this were a mere personal matter, an episode of the drawing room, it might remain unnoticed 'behind" the veil of etiquette which throws so sacred a shadow over the ''.recesses of royal "caprice. But, unfortunately, favourites of this stamp are seldom satisfied with palatial privileges, but must aspire to political power.1 For 'some time past, the ministerial difficulties of Madrid have puzzled all observers at a distance, it being by no means easy to comprehend how it was that the formation of a'Cabinet capable 'of meeting the disorganized condition of the 'finances, arid the official departments, had :become in effect an impossibility. The mystery, however, is now solved, for it appears that all these difficulties have arisen from the condition 'with which each new ministerial1 combination has been : hampered of finding an Adequate provision for the ambition of the " favourite." ;So long as this secret impediment to the administration of affairs had been confined to private negotiations between the Queen and her advisers, scandal was at least averted, whatever inconvenience may have ensued to the public service; but recently the facts have oozed out, popular indignation has been a\vakened, and general feeling has taken a shape of open violence and contempt which will not much longer endure the present state of things. The most alarming symptoms have broken out in the capital. Not content with loud demonstrations of disrespect to the Sovereign in the theatre, and hooting cries whenever she appears in the streets, the royal effigy on the coins has been opprobrionsly stamped over with epithets which convey clearly, and with a revolting coarseness, the universal odium inspired by these transactions. It will be seen, therefore, that Spain is not suffering under a ministerial, but, as we have said, under a court crisis, out of which there is no escape short of a royal palinode.— Sydney 31. Herald.