SPAIN.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VII, Issue 442, 28 January 1857, Page 8

SPAIN.

FALI. OF O'DOKTTELL. 'The'reign of the late Spanish dictator and author of the late coup d'etat that overturned the Cabinet of Espartero, has been of verybrief duration. O'Donnell has been used as the tool of tyranny—as the vile. instrument of a gang of unprincipled conspirators against the' liberties of Spain ; and, when they had attained their object, and the traitor had ruined his reputation beyond the possibility of redemption, he was contemptously thrown aside, as a piece of useless lumber, which could be of no further value to the base Camarrilla by whom Queen Isabella is surrounded. Narvaez is once more at the head of affairs, O'Donnell having acted as "bis warming-pan, and the triumph of reaction is, for the moment, complete. The Jesuits are again in the ascendant—the law for the secularisation of a portion of the church property is suspended by a royal decree—and absolution has taken the place of every vestige of free and constitutional government. Spain is again handed over to the tender mercies of the plunderers and profligates whom she cast out in 1854, and the man who has been the chief cause of all this calamity has been hurled from power with the full consciousness that he deserves neither pity nor consideration in his fall. He has received the meet reward of the blackest- treason; and as if to fill the cup of bitterness, which he has been compelled to swallow, to overflowing, his disgrace and overthrow were accompanied by every element of treachery •which his enemies could deviso for his punishment. On the 10th of Cctjber—yesterday

■week—the Queen celebrated her birthday at the palace in the most splendid style, surrounded by her late ministers,' and at the ball in the evening selected as her partner in the first dance, ths President of the Council, Marshal O'Donnell. On the following day .the fact was paraded before the public by the Government journals as a proof of the excellent understanding that existed between the Queen and her ministers, and in less than twenty-four houis afterwards, without anything having occurred in the interim to change these apparent amicable relations, O.'Donnell and his colleagues Avere ignqminiously dismissed from office, to make room for Narvaez and the other creatures of Maria Christina, who has been the principal agent in working out all these plots and counter-plots. Such is the good, faith of the true daughter of Ferdinand the. Seventh, .towards, those... who trusted in her royal word, and blasted for ever their names and characters to serve her selfish and unworthy ends. , But, though the fall of G'Donnell may have created surprise in certain quarters, it was fully expected by those who have watched the current of public affairs in Spain, and was looked upon merely as a question of time. There were a few writers to be sure, who believed, or affected to believe, that the fallen minister would have kept his place in virtue of his supposed influence over the army, and by forming a junction with some of the leaders of the Liberal party; but these opinions were not based upon a correct view of human nature, either in Spain or elsewhere,jfor who could place any sincere confidence in a person who had betrayed all causes in turn, and staked his last shred of character upon the desperate chance of becoming the undisputed master of both the Sovereign and people, whom he had in turn deceived. " Never can true reconciliation grow where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so deep," as they have in the breasts of all true Spanish patriots towards the man who, for the possession of a moment's power, sacrificed their liberties, their constitution, and the brightest hopes of their country. And as with the people, so with the Queen. The same deeply-rooted suspicion which drove from his councils all honest liberals, operated in the mind of the Queen to decree his expulsion from her Court and , Cabinet. She could not overlook the rev.olt of Yicalvaras in 1854, which drove away her favourite Sartorious, and therefore she only bided'her time to take a great revenge upon ' the leader of that memorable movement. .The consequence is that O'Donnell has fallen from his pride of power amid theuniversal contempt of Europe—without followers or friends—and even without that consolation of the brave and honest, whose only fault is misfortune—an unsullied conscience. After the disastrous "battle of Pavia the great French monarch could exclaim with truth and honesty, " All is lost, except my honour," and Esparfcero can say the same in his final retirement. But there is no such noble reflection to sooth the wounded spirit and disappointed ambition of Marshal O'Donnell. He has betrayed his friends, his principles, his Queen, and even himself, and for him. there is not in the lowest depths of degradation a lower still into which he can tumble as a punishment for his treacher - ies and crimes. What the future of Spain will be—in a country where revolutions are as rapid as the changes in the kaleidescope—it would be presumptuous to predict: but all good and true men must rejoice at one circumstance, and that is that a righteous retribution has overtaken the traitor who so scandalously sold to a corrupt and profligate faction! the 'liberties and independence of-a nation. : / ' •