Читать книгу Enemigos íntimos. España y los Estados Unidos antes de la Guerra de Cuba (1865-1898) онлайн
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Sin embargo, la oposición de la administración colonial impidió la publicación inmediata del decreto en La Habana y, por tanto, su ejecución. El gobierno Pi y Margall cayó seis días después de aprobar la medida, y el nuevo ejecutivo presidido por Nicolás Salmerón (18-VII-1873/7-IX-1873) fue desbordado por la insurrección cantonal98. En ese momento, las dimensiones del conflicto interno en España amenazaban con provocar una intervención europea para restaurar el orden en la Península99.
La satisfacción inicial de Sickles dio paso a una profunda decepción con la República100:
A Congress, with full powers, has been sitting for nearly four months, especially charged with the duty of dealing with the causes of no less than three civil wars that now afflict the Spanish dominions. The Carlist war is sustained by the priest-hood, and while the separation of Church and State has always been a dogma of the Republican party in Spain, the Church establishment still remains a dependency of the Commonwealth. The war of the Cantons is made by certain ultra partizans of a federal form of government; and although the Córtes declared, on the first day that body was organized, early in June last, that the form of the Republic was federal, all the public powers, without exception, are in the hands of the Executive at Madrid, as much so as in the time of Ferdinand the Seventh. The war in Cuba is a protest against the unqualified despotism which has for centuries oppressed that Island. The Republican party of Spain stood pledged to the abolition of slavery and the right of the people to a legitimate voice in their own self-government. No reform has been seriously begun in Cuba. To-day, the same as heretofore, the Captain General disposes as he pleases of the property, lives and rights of the inhabitants, and is not restrained in his authority by any order, decree or law of the Government at Madrid.