The Spanish Republic and the Church The new Spanish Cabinet
under Senor Azana has encouraged the Cortes in its anti-clerical campaign, which caused the resignation last week of Senor Zamora and Senor Mama, the only experienced Republican Ministers. Not content with disestablishing the Church and authorizing the expulsion of the Jesuits—not for the first time in Spanish history—the Cortes has voted a drastic change in the marriage laws, very much on Soviet Russian lines. It is inconceivable that such violent changes in Spanish life will be accepted without demur by the nation as a whole. In the Basque provinces on Sunday there were demonstrations in favour of the Church and counter-demonstrations by Socialists, so that the police had to intervene. The Vatican has pub- licly commended Cardinal Segura for resigning his office as Primate of Spain, and thus removing any pretext for hostility on the part of the Republic towards the Church. The French Revolution of 1789 was on the whole peaceful until the Assembly interfered with the liberties of the Church in 1791 ; after that, extremists gradually gained control and went from bad to worse. It would be a pity if the Spanish revolution, which began so calmly, were to degenerate through the anti-clerical intolerance of the party in power.
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