King Alfonso Outlawed The Spanish Republican Cortes has declared King
Alfonso guilty of high treason and formally outlawed him. The King's veteran Minister, Count Romanones, had the courage and good sense to defend him and to remind the hostile Assembly that King Alfonso could not be justly condemned without being heard. It may be observed that neither Charles I nor Louis XVI derived much advantage from the so-called trials at which they were compelled to attend. King Alfonso was well advised in leaving Spain and not risking an encounter with a Cortes composed of his political enemies. Senor Alcala Zamora, who proclaimed the Republic, honestly admitted that he had told the King to go at once so as to avoid bloodshed and possible complications with foreign Powers. It may be hoped that, after this slightly melo- dramatic condemnation of the absent monarch, the Cortes will settle down to business. The new Republic has yet to show that it can improve on the old regime.
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