connection with his department, and should have been addressed to some other minister, to the intendant of the palace, the captain-general of the province, or the civil governor of Madrid. Sometimes, when there were thirty or forty persons waiting at the door of his cabinet, all deaf to the remonstrances of weary _aides-de-camp_, he would come out himself, as if in despair at ever obtaining repose, despatch them all, one after the other, as quickly as might be, and then retreat with his secretary into his private room, giving orders that nobody should be admitted, to try to get two or three hours’ uninterrupted work before the usual hour for the sitting of the council arrived. And then the host of letters—nearly all prayers and petitions, setting forth the services and sufferings of the writers, and their strong claims to place or patronage! The supplicants were of all kinds and classes; from the colonel who thought his merits would not be over-rewarded by a brigadier’s embroideries, from the aspirant to some fat berth of many thousand reals a year, down to the suitor for a porter’s place or a sergeant’s stripes, and even to individuals desirous of being appointed _quitamanchas_, grease-spot extractors (fact) to the palace, and who could think of no more fitting person to apply to than the prime-minister. Ah this greedy mob pestered, and still pester, the president of the council, and in a less degree the other ministers, with their daily applications. The craving after place is disgusting to behold, and extends, with a few honourable exceptions, through all classes. As to patriotism in Spain, I have the utmost difficulty, after witnessing what has followed upon this revolution, in crediting its existence, except in the breasts of a small minority of the population. Patriotism here appears to consist in turning out one party in order that another may step into the enjoyment of the good things it possessed. It is truly sickening to hear the selfish cuckoo-song of the seekers after places, to hear them vaunt their past services, and tell of their sufferings for the liberal cause during the eleven long years that succeeded 1843—sufferings consisting, for the most part, when they come to be inquired into, simply in exclusion from those loaves and fishes for a share of which they now hungrily plead. With a certain and too-numerous class of Spaniards, a man is a patriot and a martyr by the mere fact of his drawing nothing from the treasury. There were many persons who really had done great service to the triumphant cause; men who had risked their lives, laboured hard, and been forward and most useful in the hour of danger. These men, on account both of their merits and of their abilities, had not to solicit, but were at once placed in high and responsible situations. For each one appointed, how many malcontents were made! Of these malcontents some must be conciliated; others had claims which deserved attention, and which they had not