e it said, he was proof against the temptation; true to
his colours, to his general, and to the established constitution of his
country, he held out the fort to the very last, and only gave it up when
every hope was lost, and the new order of things completely victorious.
The Moderados had the good sense to continue so faithful an officer in
his command; but, at the time of Amettler's revolt, he refused to
bombard Barcelona, and of course resigned. His, however, was a solitary
instance of virtue; far less brilliant baits were found irresistible by
the mass of officers, who used their influence to bring over the
soldiery, a credulous and ignorant class in Spain. The men, there is no
question, were disposed to stand by the regent, and some even held out
against their officers till compelled to give in; but at last all
followed in the stream, led away partly by habits of obedience, partly
by the hopes held out to them of more regular pay and better rations,
and still more by the prospect of obtaining their discharge previous to
the legal expiration of their term of service--the latter being the
strongest argument that can be urged to Spanish soldiers.

The peasantry, with the exception, perhaps, of those around certain
towns, had neither voice nor part in the change; the nobility, sunk in
sloth and smothered by incapacity, looked on as idle spectators; and a
vast many of the restless and excitable spirits who got up the
revolution, were mere instruments in the hands of a faction, and knew
not what they did. Hear Captain Widdrington--

"The parties who began the pronunciamentos had neither the
intention nor the slightest idea, that the result of their
proceedings would be the fall of the regency. This I can most
positively assert to be fact."

The Spaniards, especially those of the south, had got a sort of Utopian
notion into their very ill-furnished heads, that all parties were to
"kiss and be friends." The projected amnesty which Espartero so
unfortunately agreed to, was the cause of this idea getting ground. It
took them upon their weak side, carried them entirely off their legs;
and, acting under the influence of this frothy enthusiasm, they ran
a-muck, as the saying is, and only awakened from their day-dream to
curse the changes that their own folly had so largely contributed to
bring about.

As to any body attempting to divine what will be the next move upon the
Spanish chessboard, it is out of