News of the Week
The. Spanish Republic THE end of the reign of King Alfonso XIII was as spectacular as it could possibly have been, apart froin violence. This was appropriate enough for one who may prove to be the last of the Bourbons, a dynastic family of great tenacity who always made history even when they made it badly. There were times when Spain, drawing incalculable wealth from her possessions in the New World, seemed likely to rule mankind. The Upsetting of that ambition by England in the sixteenth century gives a most agreeable touch of irony to the hope, widely expressed here, that the exiled Royal Family of Spain will settle in this country. King Alfonso and his English Queen have always been popular here and if England should be their asylum the choice, we flingine, would be for the convenience of other countries. Traditionally Great Britain is sanctuary for royal exiles and even the most suspicious foreigners have almost ceased to regard Great Britain as a possibly jumping off place for a Pretender. • * -*
