SPAIN. 



745 



Serrano, and Sefior Martos proceeded to ques- 

 tion the Government. The President of the Cor- 

 tes refused to answer. Sefior Martos insisted 

 upon his question, when the President declared 

 that the action of the Deputy was insulting to 

 him, and left the Chamber. Great confusion 

 followed the retirement of the President, and 

 the tumult in the Chamber became general. 



On May 31st Marshal Serrano resigned as 

 generalissimo of the troops operating against 

 the Carlists in the Basque provinces, and 

 Lieutenant-General Echague was appointed 

 his successor. 



On June 3d, the Cortes, by a vote of 140 

 against 22, passed a resolution declaring valid 

 the amnesty granted by Serrano to the Car- 

 lists who voluntarily surrendered. Marshal 

 Serrano took the oath of office as President of 

 the Council and Minister of War to the new 

 ministry, which position had been occupied 

 by Admiral Topete. 



As the Carlist troubles continued, and as 

 the Radicals, whose leader, Zorilla, had re- 

 signed his seat in the Cortes, and retired, in 

 disgust, to private life, threatened to unite 

 with the Republicans, Serrano proposed to 

 the King a suspension of the guarantees of in- 

 dividual liberty ^nd popular rights contained 

 in the constitution. The King at once refused 

 to approve this measure, and not only accept- 

 ed the resignation of the ministry, but invited 

 the chief of the Radical party, Zorilla, to form 

 a new ministry. The invitation was accepted, 

 and the new ministry constituted as follows: 

 Zorilla, Prime-Minister and Minister of the In- 

 terior ; Murtos, Minister of Foreign Affairs ; 

 Cordova, Minister of War; Mantero Rios, 

 Minister of Justice ; Ruiz Gomez, Minister of 

 Finance; Beranger, Minister of the Navy; 

 Echegaray, Minister of Public Works ; Gasset, 

 Minister of the Colonies. On June 26th the 

 hew prime-minister addressed a circular to 

 the governors of the provinces, explaining the 

 course to be pursued by him. The main points 

 of this circular are as follows : Pie announces 

 the Radical programme to be the same as stated 

 in his speech of the 24th of July, and in his 

 circular of the 4th of August. The Govern- 

 ment believes that it is neither fitting nor ne- 

 cessary to take measures to save liberty : lib- 

 erty is self-reliant. Sefior Zorilla declares that 

 the Government will energetically com*bat the 

 insurrection, with the support and unwavering 

 loyalty of tfhe army and navy, and the patriotic 

 aid of the citizen-militia. Replying to the at- 

 tacks of the Conservatives, who attribute to the 

 Radicals anarchical ideas and projects, and de- 

 signs against puhlic peace, social order, religion, 

 property, and family life, Sefior Zorilla says the 

 ministry will govern according to the consti- 

 tution neither more nor less. He announces 

 the immediate establishment of trial by jury, 

 the abolition of the conscription, and the re- 

 organization of the army and navy on a basis 

 rendering them really national institutions. 

 The ministry will oppose religious intolerance, 



and secure the universal enjoyment of liberty 

 of conscience. Special care will be bestowed 

 to improve the present critical condition of 

 the finances. The Government will propose 

 means for diminishing the expenditure and in- 

 creasing the revenue, so as to establish the 

 budget upon a solid basis. With regard to the 

 enormous debt pressing upon the Treasury, the 

 Government will respect, as justice and decency 

 require, the sacred rights of the creditors of the 

 state, and will act in concert with them in 

 questions in which they are concerned. The 

 Government wishes, above all, to crush the 

 Cuban insurrection, and secure the integrity 

 of the territory at any sacrifice, and without 

 making for that end concessions repugnant to 

 patriotism and Spanish honor. When the in- 

 surrection is vanquished, the Government will 

 give the colonies the promised constitution and 

 reforms. Relative to liberty of association, 

 the circular says : 



The Government cannot persecute a state of things 

 based upon the philosophical economy of political 

 systems, even when contrary to their ideas, or pros- 

 ecute associations founded on these systems, so long 

 as they remain within the circle traced by the penal 

 laws ; but the ministry will repress any; attempt 

 manifested, by overt acts, to destroy existing in- 

 stitutions, to attack individual liberty, or obstruct 

 the free exercise of constitutional rights. 



On June 30th royal decrees were made pub- 

 lic accepting the resignation of Count Valma- 

 seda, Captain-General of Cuba, and intrusting 

 the vacant post, ad interim, to Sefior Ceballos ; 

 relieving Sefior Gomez Pulido from his func- 

 tions as Captain-General of Porto Rico, and 

 appointing Sefior Simon Latone his successor ; 

 removing Sefior Letraine Bonajo from the 

 presidency of the financial commission of 

 Spain abroad, and nominating as his successor 

 Senor Lopez Tejada. Elections for the Senate 

 and Congress were ordered in Porto Rico, in 

 conformity with the decree of the 1st of April, 

 1871. Another royal decree (dated June 30th) 

 dissolved the Cortes, ordered elections for 

 members on August 24th, and convoked the 

 new Cortes on September 15th. The Repub- 

 licans at first resolved to oppose every form 

 of monarchical government in Spain, to ac- 

 knowledge no monarchical authority, and to 

 abstain from all elections while monarchy ex- 

 isted in the country; subsequently, however, 

 this resolution was reconsidered. At the same 

 time numbers of the majority in the Cortes, 

 and former members of the ministry belong- 

 ing to the Conservative party, determined to 

 withdraw from the political arena. 



On July 17th Sefior Zorilla issued a circular 

 on the subject of the approaching elections. 

 In this circular he urged that perfect liberty 

 should be given to the voters, and recom- 

 mended the Government functionaries not to 

 interfere in any way with the elections, but to 

 abstain absolutely from lending their influence 

 to any party. Sefior Zorilla says ^hat there 

 are no official candidates, and that it is for the 

 members of the Radical party freely to choose 



