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    THE SPANISH CRUSADERS.

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    THE Spanish army—a cigarette in every mouth , and a cross on every breast , according to the latest accounts still remains outside Ceuta * , in pretty much the same position that it did some weeks ago . The CiD himself was . never , we are told , so valiant as General Eciiague , the commander of their first corps—not even impassable roads check the fury of his chivalrous troops ; no African drenches of rain damp the Spanish courage ; no chilly napping of tents disturb for a moment the brave . men ' s

    sleep . Mindful of their enlightened country , their virtuous Queen , and their unpolluted faith , even raw recruits from Basque rocks and Sevillian plains leap with joy to brave the Moorish matchlocks and the ugly Moorish poniards : but still , with all its lust for victory , one stubborn fact remains to be answered , and that is that the Spanish army does not move one step forward . It sings vaunting ballads ; it brags ; it lies ; it flourishes about the crucifix , and defies the Infidel ; but it does not move on . The dog is not a cowardly dog ; but still it yelps very close to its kennel , and does not bite when it should .

    Probably two out of eveiy three of the readers of the Times ( the Spanish advocate ) do not . understand whereabouts , in Africa the Spaniards landed , or whore ' -their -forces are at present stationed .. One would , really think , to read the glowing and absurd accounts of Spanish prowess , ( of how three Ca 9 ad 0 r . slew one Moor , to wit ) , that Alfonso the Br ^ e , Cha-RLEs the Fifth , or the Great Captain were again slitting Moorish gullets , with the old chivalrous rapidity . ls-it possible that after all these feats of valour , worthy of Charlemagne and his Paladins , the Spanish army still sticks close to the little Botany-Bay town that we garrisoned lor them hi the old French war , and that they demanded from us back after the Peace with such timid and suspicious haste?— Alas ! '' as romance writers say , indeed it-is .

    Yes : there they are , the gallant crusaders , so confident of their cause , so distrustful of the Moor ; their backs to the safo port of embarkation , with no foolish thought of cutting the bridge behind them , or burning the useful transp ort , a la Julius Cjksar , iu their gallant and prudent mind . They landed in their own port , aud remain just where they landed—the brave hearts ! Tf the position of the army that vapours and squibs , but does not move on , is misunderstood by the English public , much

    more is the nature of the quarrel between the Moors and Spaniards unappreciated by pur countrymen . Talk of Napoleon and unjustifiable invasions of Spain , why this Spanish invasion of Africa is twice as iniquitous .. To say that centuries ago the Moors invaded Spain , is as ridiculous a cause of quarrel as if a . Cork pig merchant to-morrow were to break an Englishman ' s head because Sti ' ongbow , some years ngo , landed in that city , burnt a house or two , and put ' out the lire again in due time with savage drenqhes of Qcltic blood . .

    Nor was RifF piracy any just cause for the war . The Riff pirates , it is . true , are a cruel race of wreckers , who consider alL cargo that comes to their iron-bound shore lawful llotsam and jetsam sent thither by a kind Providence . But Spain , almost without commerce , is the last nation that was required to take up arms on such a quarrel , if oven indeed it were possible for any soldiers , unless they dropped from balloons to invade the 11 iff ( Raff ) men ' s inhospitable kind . ; nor is the crime of those Mnhommedan savages the fault of the ; Emperor of Morocco , who has but a nominal power amongst the wild races of the lower Atlas ; nor indeed would shelling IVtiinn vex tho Riff men one bitfor they care no inoro for Totuau than for Madrid .

    , The war , we repeat , is an unjust war , tho result of greedy national vanity and the old bigotry that tortured the Low Countries , and under the wretch , P 11 iWi . > soaked our . England with good men ' s blood . It is a fresh outburst of the old volcanic fire of Papal intolerance that ling go long dono the devil ' s work in God's name , and devastated this world to prepare men ior another . A whole herd of Papal bulls , will bo issued , no doubt ; priests declaring , as they tramplo down tho shoroa of Africa , thnt to butcher Moorish women ond children , j ; o hum tho happy / homes

    * Tho Intent rumours speak of tho advance towards lotuan . Wpjojjj tho rumour , for there are no roada : tho pholoro 19 In " , ? & ?? & « Jhldow wet houroii ooinos 0 . 1 . Tho Vallo XToffro will bo tho " vulloy of the ohaaovr of death" to flomo of those invaders if oaro to not fcukoiJ .

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    enfranchised , and the representative of middle class claims to a share in the power alleged to be unconstitutionally and mischievously , wielded by the aristocracy— -the time , the place , the office of the speaker , all conspired to give value to his titterance , and to invest it with public , interest ; in fact , to make it the manifesto and programme of the multitudes he is supposed t 6 lead . And yet what is it , but an elaborate defence of the scheme which the Cabinet is conjectured to be maturing , not on the ground of its justice or its completeness , or its expansiveness , but on account of its moderation and of its not being liable to the charge of being an extreme proposition . While intimating a willingness to subside into the arms of Lord John Russell , Mr . Bright told his hearers that the expected measure would be more moderate than his own , more moderate than Mr . Pitt ' s proposals seventy years ago , more moderate than a bill introduced by the . late Lord Grey , and supported by Mr . Fox sixty years ago ; more moderate than the ¦ bill or proposition made by Lord Durham about thirty years ago , and much on a par with the bill of Lord John Russell in 1852 . In this enumeration Mr . Bright thought proper to omit all reference to the plans of Mr . Hume , which . for several years commanded a wide support in the House of Commons , and Which -were more feasible and practicable than his own schemes . After these general remarks on the coining Bill , the speaker went on to say , that the county franchise might be regarded as settled at £ 10 , but that there might be differences about that of boroughs . He thought a £ 6 rental franchise would rather more than . double the electors of large thriving towns , such as Birmingham and Manchester ; but in quieter towns ; the augmentation would : be but small—in many cases not more than ten per cent . And this proposal he complimented as not being a very " destructive measure . " In further illustration of this scheme , he said , there were one hundred . and thirty-four , boroughs returning one hundred and ninety-eight members , so small , that no extension of the suffrage would give them an adequate constituency . But , instead of using this argument for rejecting the expected Bill unless it should be accompanied by some compensatory clauses dealing with these nests of corruption , Mr . But gut added : "lam quite sure that the men who dread a measure like this , who fancy that we are extreme in our propositions—though this , you know , is not our proposition—cannot really have examined it , or they would not say a syllable against it . " ' After'this came some arguments to show that Mr . Disraeli ought not to object to such a Bill ; then followed the praise of a residential qualification as superior to . all . others—some remarks on the evils suffered by rotten boroughs—and an intimation that Lord Derby was willing to give an d £ S suffrage ; and it therefore was not likely Lord John Russell would " -only offer , one based upon 20 s . less rent . Following this came more proofs of the moderation of a £ 6 franchise , founded upon calculations of tlie millions of male adults it would exclude ; and a comparison of h | s , own Bill with that of Lord " John Russell . Assuming that cach elector represented a family , the former would leave out twenty . millions ,, and the latter twenty-two and a-luilf millions . How false , therefore , was the charge that either Mr . Bright or Lord John Russell were immoderate men ! The speech wound up , as usual , with an attempt to persuade the country that there was no occasion for national armamentsthat tlie people in consenting to them were led away by " a red herring tied to a string , " ' and deluded by the newspapers , " who don't give you a single fact that can be relied on . " Wo confess that this speech has not in any way surprised us . It is the natural end of the peculiar course Mr . Bright has chosen . His own plans had nothing in them to rouse the hearts of the \ uienfranchised , while their reckless proposals for disfranchising small boroughs raised n host of enemies whom lie hod no power to meet . Still , it is somowhat humiliating to find a political general imitating Gorgey , and surrendering his army at discretion , and to see that after a series of field days and manoeuvres the war is to be given up . If something less is to be taken now thau Lord John Russell would have , given in 1852 , what value can we place upon tho services and leadership of Mr . Bright during the interval ? Has he only promoted reaction , and , after declaiming against aristocracy almost as vehemently as the followers of Mahomet denounced the unbelievers , is he going to settle down ns lion ' s provider for a lordly chief P We can understand that Mr . Biuoht ' s admirers might r « ad his speech as the utterance of a dream , and supposo that ho had visited Birmingham in a state of somnambulism , aud addressed his constituents under the delusion that ho was a Tory minister , bound to resist democracy and prove tlie 'extreme moderation of his views ; , nnd , it is easy to imagine tho merriment of tho opponents of Reform . That Mr . Bright will , aftqr all , bo a quiet follower of Lord

    John Russell , we do not expect ; but he seems too disjointed from- the average opinions of either aristocracy or democracy to play the part of a great leader with vigour and success . There are thousands Avho gratefully remember his services to free trade , who admire his elcquenee , and are willing to believe in . the sincerity of his . intentions ; but he lacks moral dignity in his appeals to the heart of the country , and fails to commend himself to its intellect as a statesman upon whose wisdom it can rely .

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    Jan . 14 , I 860 . ] The Leader andSaturday ' Analyst . 33

    The Spanish Crusaders.

    THE SPANISH CRUSADERS .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 14, 1860, page 33, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2329/page/5/