10 APRIL 1936, Page 2

Unsettled Spain The vote of censure on the President of

the Spanish Republic, carried in the Cortes on Tuesday in a session in which the Left polled very nearly its full vote and the Right abstained, will raise still higher the temperature of the fevered peninsula. The ostensible ground for the censure was the action of President Zamora in ordering the dissolution of the last Cortes in January, and the result of the vote is the dismissal of the President from office. President Zamora, though a Republican, is a Republican of the Right, and therefore distasteful to the Frente Popular, which constitutes the Left bloc in the Cortes. But since the result of the January dissolution was to establish the Left in firm control of the new Cortes its censure on the President for ordering the dissolution seems gratuitous. The Prime Minister, Senor Azafia, appears to have had his hand forced by the Socialist wing of his bloc. His own attitude has hitherto been wise and statesmanlike. He delivered a temperate speech last Saturday, and his decision to postpone the municipal elections to avoid possible disturbances (though they were confidently expected to result in a victory for his party) had a good effect in calming public opinion. Sefior Zamora will cease to be President as result of the Cortes vote, but it is not to be expected that the Right will refuse the challenge his removal constitutes. Sefior Gil Robles is not of the acquiescent type.