The rumours from Spain grow serious. The idea seems to
be that the Herrera Government is unpopular, that the Liberals have grown much stronger, and that either a new Liberal Ministry will take power and try to impose impossible conditions on the King ; or, that if he forms a Conservative Administra- tion, it will be met by a military pronunciamiento, headed, it is hinted, by General Dominguez. The pivot round which the struggle turns is, nominally of course, universal suffrage, but really the discontent of the people at seeing abuses continue. There is probably exaggeration in these accounts, but there is discontent in a portion of the Army, and a malaise in the cities, where trade stops, and Government Bonds slowly lose their value. As the King is an able man, and popular with the soldiery, and does not want the " abuses "—that is, peculation by everybody with a chance to peculate—it is possible that the revolution, if it comes, may take an unexpected turn. He may assume the Dictatorship, and banish the worst officials. All, however, depends, as it always has done, upon the Army.
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