730 



SPAIN. 



Sefior Sagasta defended religious toleration, 

 which, he declared, the Vatican would never 

 consent to grant, though it would " accept ac- 

 complished facts." A few days afterward the 

 Pope sent to the Cardinal Archbishop of Tole- 

 do a protest against the proposed article of the 

 Constitution, and wrote an autograph-letter to 

 King Alfonso on the subject. In May the 

 King wrote to the Pope, assuring him that 

 Spain was thoroughly Catholic, and that no 

 danger threatened the supremacy of the Church 

 from the proposed article. He also claimed 

 that the article was not opposed to the spirit 

 of the Concordat of 1851. The article was, 

 however, generally favored by statesmen, and 

 was passed by the Deputies, May 12th, by a 

 vote of 220 to 84. The negative votes were 

 given chiefly by the Clericals and the left wing 

 of the Liberals. The Constitution of which 

 this article formed so important a part was 

 the one which was drawn up by the Commis- 

 sion of Notables in 1875, and of which a sum- 

 mary was given in the ANNUAL CYCLOPEDIA 

 for 1875. It was formally submitted to the 

 Cortes for ratification in the latter part of 

 March. The article declaring the government 

 of the country to be a monarchy, and confirm- 

 ing the title of the King and the established 

 rule of succession, was adopted before the ad- 

 journment for the Easter holidays, with only 

 four dissenting votes. In the debate which 

 preceded the vote of adoption Senor Canovas 

 del Castillo said that the King could not re- 

 ceive his legitimacy from the Cortes which he 

 had himself convoked, because his right could 

 not be called in question, being of anterior 

 origin. In May, Article XII., concerning the 

 freedom of religious institutions, and Article 

 XXVII., concerning the direct vote and the 

 reeligibility of the representatives of the peo- 

 ple, were adopted in the shape in which the 

 Government had proposed them. The oth- 

 er provisions were adopted without material 

 alteration, and the Constitution was approved 

 as a whole by the House of Deputies early in 

 June. On the 22d of June the Senate, having 

 approved Article XL, relating to religious tol- 

 eration, by a vote of 113 to 40, adopted the 

 Constitution as a whole by a vote of 127 to 11. 

 The Constitution was then approved by the 

 King, and proclaimed in the beginning of July. 

 Immediately after the suppression of the Car- 

 list rebellion, the Government was confronted 

 with formidable difficulties, growing out of the 

 special privileges possessed by the Basque prov- 

 inces and Navarre, by the operation of which 

 these districts each constituted in effect a state 

 within a state. Senor Sanchez Silva, demand- 

 ing in the Senate the suppression of those 

 privileges, charged that they had been the cause 

 of the civil war. A measure to establish unity 

 of administration in these provinces with the 

 neighboring provinces was introduced in the 

 Cortes early in March. The proposition ex- 

 cited great opposition among the people in the 

 provinces to be affected by it, not less among 



those who had been supporters of the Govern- 

 ment throughout the rebellion than among 

 those who had adhered to the Carlist cause. 

 The juntas of the principal towns in these 

 provinces adopted resolutions protesting against 

 the measure, and appointed delegations to 

 go to the capital to oppose it with the Govern- 

 ment. The threat was even made that, if the 

 fueros were curtailed, the Basque provinces 

 would seize the first favorable opportunity of 

 definitely separating from Spain and proclaim- 

 ing their independence under foreign protec- 

 tion. The minister - president held several 

 conferences with the Basque deputations, with 

 a view to devising an harmonious adjustment 

 of their claims with the objects sought by the 



BASQUES. 



Government, without satisfactory result. He 

 proposed to limit the operation of the measure 

 to the subjection of the provinces, to the gen- 

 eral imposition of taxes, and to the general law 

 of military duty, while their special democratic 

 communal constitutions should be left unaf- 

 fected. The delegates could not be reconciled 

 to the measure, and returned to their homes 

 dissatisfied. The scheme which was finally 

 proposed by the Government went further 

 than had been at first intended, and contem- 

 plated changes in the communal constitutions. 

 The bill, as finally modified, was passed by the 

 Senate late in June, by a vote of 97 to 4. 

 The bill was passed by the Deputies in July, 

 just before their adjournment for the summer. 

 The act was received with disfavor by the 

 Basque people. A few small outbreaks oc- 

 curred, which were quickly suppressed. In 

 November, General Loma issued a proclama- 

 tion, calling upon the inhabitants to deliver all 

 arms in their possession to the authorities. 



The Minister of Finance, Don Pedro Salaver- 

 ria, presented the budget in the Cortes, April 

 22d. The revenue for the year was estimated 



