Carson Daily Appeal

Vol. 7.

King Alfonso's Speech to the Cortes.

The Spanish Cortes was opened on Tuesday by the King in person. He addressed the Senators and Deputies from the throne and said:

The ill-advised Prince who is waging civil war has been reduced to powerlessness, and can obtain no advantages. I shall speedily proceed north to contribute to the restoration of peace. My relations with foreign powers are friendly. Negotiations being carried on with the United States in a friendly spirit, and afford reason to hope for a prompt and satisfactory settlement. The representatives of Spain at the Vatican are engaged in regulating pending questions in the manner required by the interests of Church and State. My government will lay before you a statement of the financial condition, which has been much impaired. The conclusion of peace, which is fortunately near at hand, can alone enable us to procure necessary sources of revenue in order to remedy existing evils. Through your patriotism the budget will be balanced and all public creditors be paid so far as possible without neglecting the development of the productive forces of the nation. Our honor and rights are threatened and even jeopardized in Cuba where thirty thousand troops have been sent since my accession. The Cuban war has not prevented the emancipation of seventy-six thousand slaves. We shall uphold the integrity of Cuban territory. My speech concludes as follows: Inasmuch as the provinces of Biscay and Navarre and the greater part of Navarre have been reduced to obedience, as the Carlists are hemmed in against the Pyrenees and as the Cuban insurrection daily becomes more feeble, my short but beneficent reign has not been without good to the public. The efforts of Spain to preserve her place in the world show what she will accomplish when her strength is no longer wasted in sterile combats. Heaven grant her a speedy recompense for our painful sacrifices.