A Republic in Spain
KING ALFONSO may not have " formally" abdicated, but his departure from Spain is the equivalent of abdication. Nothing in the life of this debonair and Physically brave ruler has done him more honour than his manner of leaving his country in haste to save it from civil war. He would have been a gallant leader of a deSperate resistance ; and he had the quick wit to turn every up and down of fortune to good account. But he would not commit Spain to incalculable bloodshed and misery. The Republicans, speaking politically, may point to ignominy in his downfall, but in a new sense of the phrase King Alfonso to-day deserves well of the Republic.
It used to be said that although the Monarchy :was unpopular in Spain King Alfonso himself was popular.
Some years before the crash of this week that • had ceased to be true. The overwhelming majority for Republicanism in all the important urban centres • of Spain at the municipal elections last Sunday surprised even the Republicans. There was • an unmistakable readiness to get rid of the King.
The change from dislike of the Monarchy to mistrust of the King personally has been slow but steady. The explanation of it was the growing conviction that King Alfonso was definitely responsible for the Dictatorship of General Primo. de Rivera and that by that act he wilfully abolished the Constitution. Much flowed from that conviction. A Constitution which has been abolished obviously cannot be picked up again and put into use as though it had- been merely interrupted by consent for a short space. So the popular argument ran. And if this reasoning was accepted all talk of summoning the Cortes to discuss a new Constitution was seen to be irre- levant. There was no Constitutional power left to sum, mon the Cortes ; and even if a Cortes had met it would have had - no authority to act. Nothing, then, would serve but the summoning of a Constituent Assembly to create a new Constitution and start afresh. This policy was almost universally popular quite apart from any question of the King's abdication.
In several respects the argument did less than justice to the King and much less than justice to General Primo de Rivera. It may be said that the King was far more responsible than any other person for the ghastly pouring out of lives and money in Morocco and that he dismissed his Parliament and set up the Dictatorship of General Primo merely to avoid an inquiry into that colossal military blunder. All the same, although the King may have made his path easier by putting an end to all possi- bility of curious investigations by the Cortes, he need not be blamed overmuch for shirking a scandalous and perhaps useless report upon the past. A great fact was that General Primo called off the wild goose chase in Morocco acter.a.- well-organized victory. and turned the attention. or the Spanish peopreao the resources ofSpain herself fifich were only, awaiting development. If it be objected that 4Ve voice of General Primo was alWays the voice of the King, then the King must be allowed the more credit for the courageous turn of policy. It always requires moral strength to cut a loss.
Nor did the King choose badly when he . appointed General Primo de Rivera. The Dictator checkedif only by superseding—some of the worst futilities of the old political parties, and Spain all through the Dictatorship was feeling more and more that the road to prosperity was under her -fee t. Unfortunately, such successes as can fairly be attributed to General Pri mo's Dictatorship did not satisfy, nor could -they -have been • expected to satisfy, people who were smarting under the sense of having lost their Constitution. This is a very old story. People would rather live in confusion, feeling that .they are free, than lead a well-ordered and peaceful life knowing that they are not free. - • -- Great Britain provides no analogy to the political importance of the provincial and municipal elections in Spain. It is true that here county and borough elections have tended to become much more political since the Labour Party insisted - on forcing the issue of Socialism and the other parties felt obliged to retort ; but even so nobody here looks to the elections of - local authorities for more than a faint indirect indication of what may happen at the next Parliamentary -elections.- In Spain it is otherwise. The provincial and municipal elections have always been regarded as - a definite 'preparation for the election of the Cortes. The late Dictator, General Berenguer, who- succeeded General Primo and ruled- for about a year, proposed two months ago that there should be elections to the Cortes without any preliminary municipal elections. - This was unheard of, and it caused a good deal of anger: The Republicans even forgot for the time being that local elections would be merely a preparation—for what ? -On their own -showing, merely for a new Cortes which would have no Constitutional sanction and which, even if the old Constitution existed, would be prevented by all sorts of vetos from deciding the issue of Monarchy and Republic.
-General Berenguer suggested as a concession to popular opinion that though there should not be full municipal elections new mayors should be elected. The concession did nothing to help him. The Republicans were intent upon a Constituent Assembly which alone could decide the only issue which they cared•about. At last when even the Liberals, under the veteran -Count Rornanones, in- formed General Bcrenguer on February 13th that they would make the very first meeting of the Cortes the occasion for demanding a Constituent Assembly to consider a new - Constitution, General Berenguer saw that the game was up. -He resigned. He was succeeded by Don Juan Bautista Aznar, the Captain-General of the Fleet, who-arranged for the holding of the municipal elections in accordance with custom.
When we write the results of those elections are not known in full but they showed so clearly that Spain had become Republican that nothing short of some epoch- making change could be the answer. The disconcerted Monarchists, of course, put their own interpretation upon the voting, and on paper they could make-out a case for the Monarchy. They said that the Monarchy so far from having been condemned had really triumphed. To judge of the value of this claim it is necessary to look at the figures. The Monarchists pointed out that they had won .2%150. seats against only 5,875- seats–Won-_by--the Republicans. 'The Republicans ansiVereaVikt seas-were of no significance whatever as compared with votes. In many rural districts there are only a few hundred voters, whereas in large towns a municipal representative may have to poll thousands of votes to be returned.
The Times correspondent says that in Madrid the Republican councillors polled more than 90,000 votes against the 30,000 of the Monarchists, and that in Barcelona the Republicans polled more than 90,000 -votes as against only 28,000 for the Monarchists. Most of the fifty provincial capitals went Republican. That was really decisive, and what was curiously significant was that Republican -majorities were returned- in the towns peculiarly associated with the Royal House, such as San Sebastian, Santander, Aranjuez and the -Escurial. ... •
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