236

THE  SOCIAL/SM  OE  TO-DAY.

force  at  their  command.  General  Pavia  had  only  to  collect
some  faithful  troops  and  lead  them  to  the  attack  from  the
outside  provinces,  in  order  to  gain  the  submission,  in  a  very
short  time,  of  all  the  insurgent  cities.  At  Seville  the  Anarchists
defended  themselves  with  great  determination,  and  in  order  to
imitate  in  everything  their  brothers  of  Paris,  they  “  fired,”  by
means  of  petroleum,  the  buildings  which  they  had  to  abandon,
ro  regain  Carthagena,  a  very  strong  place,  the  naval  arsenal  of
which  supplied  formidable  means  of  defence,  a  regular  siege,
which  lasted  up  to  January,  1874,  was  found  necessary.  The
last  episode  of  the  drama,  during  the  same  month,  was  a  bloody
conflict  in  the  streets  of  Barcelona,  in  which  the  Cantonalists
fought  with  the  energy  of  despair.
The  movement  closed,  as  usual,  with  an  “  i8th  Brumaire.”
General  Pavia,  after  subduing  the  Cantonalists,  acted  in  concert
with  General  Serrano.  He  sent  a  note  to  Salmerón,  President
of  the  Cortes,  begging  him  to  dissolve  the  assembly.  The
deputies  appointed  Castelar  dictator  amid  transports  of  indescribable ­
  enthusiasm,  and  swore  to  die  in  their  seats.  A  company ­
  of  fusiliers  entered  the  hall;  shots  were  fired,  and  the
confusion  reached  its  height.  Half  an  hour  afterwards,  all  was
over  :  Serrano  was  dictator,  and  soon  King  Alphonso  mounted
the  throne  of  his  ancestors.  This  episode  is  instructive.  It
shows  once  more  how  anarchy  leads  to  a  coup  (Pétai.
Suppressed  for  some  years  in  consequence  of  the  bloody
executions  of  1873,  Socialistic  propaganda  before  long  recommenced ­
  their  subterraneous  work,  and  above  all  made  many
recruits  in  the  rural  parts  of  Andalusia,  where  there  are  the  same
agrarian  grievances  as  in  Ireland.  The  recent  discovery  in
February,  1883,  of  the  Secret  Society,  La  Mano  Neva  (“The
Black  Hand  ”),  disclosed  the  aim  pursued  by  the  anarchists.
Their  principles  are  those  of  the  International,  but  their  means
of  action  are  evidently  borrowed  from  Russian  Nihilism.  The
number  of  members  appears  to  be  very  considerable  in  all  the
towns  of  Southern  Spain.  It  will  be  useful  to  sum  up  here  the
details  given  by  the  Spanish  journals.  The  principal  centres
of  agitation  are  Xeres,  Grazelema,  Ubrique,  and  Arcos  de  la
Frontera.  There  have  been  more  than  fourteen  sentences  of