i, 3 8 SPAIN 



Justice and to repeal the Law of Jurisdictions. Sefior Canalejas maintained that the 

 Liberal government could not be held responsible for the acts of its predecessors; but a 

 cabinet crisis arose on April ist, owing to the strong feeling in Army circles that Senor 

 Canalejas had not sufficiently defended the action of the Military Judges who condemned 

 Ferrer. The king was summoned to Madrid, and the cabinet was again reconstituted. 

 Only three ministers retained their portofolios, viz: the Prime Minister, Senor Garcia 

 Prieto (Foreign Minister) and Senor Gasset (Public Works). Senor Ruiz Villarino was 

 transferred from the department of Justice to the Interior. 



On October 9, 1910, two important new bills were introduced in the Senate. The 

 first imposed compulsory military service on clerical as well as lay citizens; the second 



substituted an asseveration on the honour of a witness for the legal oath 

 Th .f. , on the crucifix. This was the government's reply to the great Roman 

 question. Catholic demonstration which had taken place a week earlier. The Cadenas 



Bill, which forbade any further religious orders to settle in Spain until the 

 Associations Bill became law, was carried December 23rd. There were at this time 

 3,007 nunneries and 794 monasteries in Spain, with 41,500 nuns and 12,800 monks; and 

 a large number of members of religious Orders had also entered the country from Portu- 

 gal. On the 2nd of March the king approved a draft of the new Associations Bill, 

 but on the same day Cardinal Merry del Val, the Papal Secretary of State, informed 

 the government that the Vatican would not be prepared to resume negotiations unless 

 all measures dealing with the religious question were first submitted for its approval. 

 To this Senor Canalejas would not agree; the Associations Bill was introduced at the end 

 of May, and compulsory military service for all classes was legalised on June 29th. Ow- 

 ing, however, to the urgency of the industrial and Moroccan questions, Senor Canalejas 

 was forced to defer the fulfilment of his anticlerical programme. 



On November 12, 1911, the Municipal elections were held throughout Spain. They 

 proved a triumph for the Monarchist Parties, which had a majority in most of the large 



towns, recovering Madrid and Valencia and winning five seats at Barcelona. 

 trial. " Cra Even Saragossa returned a Monarchist majority for the first time for twenty 



years. This was due partly to the disunion among the Republicans, but 

 still more to the success of the government in dealing with the great strike, and to the 

 reaction produced by the Cullcra murders. On January n, 1912, the Supreme Council 

 of War and Marine passed sentence of death upon 7 out of 22 persons arrested at Cullera. 

 It was alleged by the Republicans that torture had been used to secure a confession, 

 but this charge was not substantiated when a medical commission examined the prison- 

 ers. Six of these were reprieved, but the seventh, Jover, had been found guilty of 

 murder on three counts, and the government opposed the reprieve. As the king 

 insisted upon it, Senor Canalejas tendered his resignation, declaring the government 

 decision irrevocable. An attempt was made to form a new Cabinet, Senores Montero 

 Rios, Moret and Maura being summoned successively to the palace; but on the follow- 

 ing day (Jan. 15, 1912) Senor Canalejas returned to power, the royal clemency hav- 

 ing been exercised in the interval. This crisis strengthened both the Monarchy and the 

 Ministry; and on May 5, 1912, the Chamber, after an animated debate, reaffirmed its 

 confidence in Senor Canalejas by 180 to 73. 



On November 12, 1912, the Prime Minister was shot in the Puerta del Sol, Madrid, 

 as he was walking to the Ministry of the Interior to preside over a Cabinet meeting. 



The assassin, by name Manuel Pardinas Sarrato, was a native of El Grado 

 of 'scKor*' 10 " m Huesca. thirty-two years of age. Parliament immediately adjourned, 

 Canalejas. and Senor Garcia Prieto was appointed acting Premier. He was succeeded 



two days later by Count Romanones, who formed a new Liberal Ministry. 

 Senor Canalejas was fifty-eight years of age, and had been a member of the Cortes 

 for twenty-eight years. He had been very successful at the Bar, had served in the war 

 against the United States, in Cuba, and had held the portfolios of Public Works, 

 Finance and Justice, and been President of the Chamber. He was probably the ablest 

 Spanish statesman of the period which ended with the fall of Sagasta. 



