746 



SPAIN. 



to the Queen Regent, who requested him to 

 form a new ministry. In the reconstructed 

 Cabinet the Marques de la Vega de Armijo, 

 who was Minister of the Exterior in 1881-'83, 

 resumed that office, Senor Moret, who had held 

 the portfolio, exchanging it for that of the In- 

 terior. Sefiores Puigcerver, Martinez, and 

 Rodriguez, remained at the head of the Minis- 

 tries of Finance, Justice, and Marine. Seflor 

 Ruiz Oapdepon entered the Cabinet as Minister 

 of the Colonies, and Senor Canalejas y Mendez 

 as Minister of Commerce. Gen. Cassola was 

 succeeded as Minister of War by Gen. O'Ryan, 

 the director of infantry, who had never before 

 held a political office. 



The question of military reform brought the 

 generals again to the front in Spanish politics, 

 destroying the discipline which had been culti- 

 vated since the accession of Alfonso XII. A 

 Democratic reform of the army was the de- 

 mand of the progressive wing of the Ministerial 

 party, which was led by Martos, President of 

 the Chamber, and represented in the Cabinet 

 by Moret, Puigcerver, Capdepon, and Canale- 

 jas. For fiscal, as well as for political and 

 military reasons, it was desirable to reduce 

 the peace establishment which has an officer 

 for every half-dozen soldiers. Gen. Cassola 

 elaborated a plan which was under discussion 

 for a full year. It met with such opposition 

 that he was driven from office before the 

 Cortes could come to a decision. Gen. Lopez 

 Dominguez and Gen. Martinez Campos had 

 other plans of reform. The Government cre- 

 ated a dangerous situation by announcing just 

 before the separation of the Cortes in July the 

 intention of enacting reforms by royal decree 

 during the recess. Gen. O'Ryan who was ex- 

 pected to carry out Cassola's scheme, inclined 

 rather to that of Martinez Campos, which was 

 a virtual abandonment of army regeneration. 

 The army officers divided into parties support- 

 ing Cassola, Campos, Lopez Dominguez, and 

 the Government respectively. The friends of 

 Gen. Cassola^ who had never led a political 

 group before his dismissal, subscribed money 

 to have his reform project printed as a testi- 

 monial, and arranged political demonstrations 

 which the Government attempted to suppress, 

 placing officers under arrest for such breaches 

 of discipline. Gen. Cassola entered into a 

 coalition with Gen. Lopez Dominguez, whose 

 persistent agitation for army reform had com- 

 pelled Sagasta to promise such a measure, and 

 who had demanded a more radical reform than 

 was embodied in the bills of Gen. Cassola and 

 his predecessor, Gen. Castillo. The Demo- 

 cratic members of the Cabinet urged the pro- 

 mulgation of reform measures by Executive 

 orders, but were defeated in a Cabinet council 

 on October 21, when it was decided to call the 

 Cortes together in November, and re-submit 

 the project for legislative action. After the 

 opening of the Cortes, a conference was held 

 with all interested parties, at which it was 

 decided to withdraw the military reform bill, 



and bring the matter before the Cortes in a 

 revised form. But immediately afterward the 

 Premier was goaded by the Opposition into an 

 announcement that Cassola's bill and all other 

 unfinished legislation would be revised. Gen. 

 O'Ryan tendered his resignation. At the elec- 

 tion of the Budget Committee, the dissentient 

 Liberals and Protectionists who follow the 

 lead of Gamazo and Montero Rios, carried two 

 fifths of the seats, and were only prevented 

 from gaining a majority by groups of the regu- 

 lar Opposition, notably the followers of Caste- 

 lar and Romero y Robledo, who came to the 

 support of the ministry. Senor Sagasta, in 

 consequence of this moral defeat, on December 

 8 placed the resignations of all the members of 

 the Cabinet in the hands of the Queen, who 

 invited him to constitute another ministry, 

 Gen. O'Ryan and Sefiores Moret, Alonso Mar- 

 tinez, and Puigcerver, were determined not to 

 resume office. The Minister of Marine, who 

 had sustained the course of Gen. O'Ryan, also 

 retired. The 'list of the new ministry was 

 published on December 10. The Marques de 

 la Vega de Armijo, retained the portfolio of 

 Foreign Affairs, and Senor Canalejas remained 

 Minister of Commerce. Senor Ruiz Capdepon 

 took the portfolio of the Interior, being suc- 

 ceeded as Minister of the Colonies by Seflor 

 Becerra. The other new Ministers were Ve- 

 nancio Gonzalez, of the Department of Fi- 

 nance ; Count Xiquena, Minister of War ; 

 Gen. Chinchilla, Minister of War; and Ad- 

 miral Arias, Minister of Marine. 



Legislation. Among the reforms promised by 

 the Sagasta ministry were trial by jury, civil 

 marriage, and universal military service. The 

 bill introducing jury trials was passed, and was 

 signed by the Queen-Regent in March, 1888. 

 The civil-marriage law, which was framed with 

 the design of meeting all the objections of the 

 Clericals, fails entirely to satisfy the Radicals. 

 The sanction of the clergy is as necessary as 

 before for mixed marriages, and free-thinkers 

 of Catholic birth are still required to go through 

 the religious ceremony in order to be legally 

 married, since the new law prescribes that every 

 Catholic must be married in church, and that 

 this marriage is valid in all civil relations. 

 The latter provision annuls the only innovation 

 iu the new law, which provides that a Govern- 

 ment official shall be present at the ceremony, 

 whose duty it is to have the marriage properly 

 registered, because the marriage is legal even if 

 the registration is for any reason evaded. The 

 principle of the bill was agreed upon in nego- 

 tiations between the Government and the Vati- 

 can before it was presented to the Cortes, and 

 when a paragraph was added to the effect tbat 

 marriages of Spanish subjects abroad could be 

 contracted according to the custom of the coun- 

 try in which they take place the Vatican ob- 

 jected, and it was stricken out. 



The bill introducing trial by jury was agreed 

 to by both Houses on March 26. The jury law 

 withholds for the present from the juries about 



