No. 291.
Mr. Adee
to Mr. Evarts.
Madrid, May 8, 1877. (Received May 23.)
Sir: The official Gazette of yesterday published an important decree, whereby, in the language of its first article, “the government and administration of the province of Vizcaya shall be adjusted to the laws and ordinances which are in force for the government of the others of the nation.” The necessity of some such measure as this has been for some time painfully evident.
The law of July 21 of last year, which, prior to its passage, formed the text of Mr. Cushing’s dispatch No. 998, on the foral question, while abolishing the fueros of the Basque Provinces in so far as they conflicted openly with the interests of the rest of the peninsula or the national unity, authorized the government to maintain, in its discretion, such of the ancient provincial uses and customs, and, in particular, so much of the peculiar municipal and administrative autonomy, as might be practicable, in order to render easier for the loyal Basques the transition from one system to the other. For this purpose the fourth article of that law authorized the government to confer with the representatives of the three provinces of Alava, Guipúzcoa, and Vizcaya, as to the extent of the needful concessions. This was accordingly done. The provincial corporations and deputations met in conference with the delegates of the nation. Victorious Spain so far waived the fruits of success as to treat on terms of almost international equality with the three provinces. With regard to Alava and Guipúzcoa, a conciliatory spirit prevailed and mutual concessions were made.
But in Vizcaya the resistance to reform was most tenacious. All classes opposed reconstruction. No public opportunity was lost of manifesting discontent. At the inauguration of the new Plaza de Toros at San Sebastian last year, the demonstration against national unity was so marked and imposing as to occasion not only comment, but distrust, approaching to alarm. Rich and poor, old and young, men and women alike wore the oak-leaf, the symbol of the tree of Guernica—the charter-oak of Biscay—the type of their foral privileges. It was, of course, [Page 509] impossible for the provincial delegates not to reflect this uncompromising tendency of the people they represented. And it was perhaps natural enough that this feeling should be so universal. The loyal element felt that they were entitled to retain the fueros as a reward for loyalty. The disloyal resented deprivation of their time-honored exemptions.
The disagreement between the foral delegations and the representatives of the government has long been a matter of public notoriety, and of concern. It seemed impossible to overcome the narrow provincialism of the Basques. They remained indifferent to the national acts performed by Spain in their behalf; at home and in the colonies they held that they were under no obligations to the commonwealth; that they were entitled to the privileges of Spanish nationality while exempt from its burdens. They even claimed that the power of sanctioning the national laws remained with the provinces; that an act of the Cortes and the King could not pass the Ebro without their consent.
This state of discordance could not long continue without disparagement of the prestige of the nation. The last hope of compromise having been abandoned, the present decree comes to put an end to the conflict. Vizcaya must hereafter share the burdens as well as the benefits of Spanish nationality. Her church establishment, her highways, her post-offices, and her schools become now a charge upon her, in proportion with the rest of the nation, instead of being a gift at the expense of the other provinces of Spain. The measure is not a sweeping one, however, and special relief from onerous taxation is to be given to those towns and communities which suffered in defense of the national interests during the recent Carlist war.
It is hardly necessary to add that the present decree gives general satisfaction to the rest of Spain, which has long chafed under the burden of paying for the privileges of the Basques, in return for their ingratitude.
I transmit copy of this decree, as also of the law of July 21, 1876, on which it is founded.
It does not seem worth while to append translation, many of the enactments being of slight or local interest.
I am, &c.,