740 



SPAIN. 



1881 to 1884, is the leader of the Left Center 

 party. His colleagues represent all the vari- 

 ous groups of the Monarchical Liberals except- 

 ing the Dynastic Left. Alonso Martinez, who 

 guides the policy of the Government in eccle- 

 siastical matters, is a representative of the ex- 

 treme Eight of the Liberal party, having been 

 the leader of the Centralists. Of the same 

 shade of opinions is Marshal Jovellar, who 

 was associated with Martinez Campos in the 

 coup d'etat by which the Alfonsist monarchy 

 was established. The latter general now be- 

 came commander-in-chief, and took command 

 of the Army of the North in order- to guard 

 against a possible Carlist outbreak. Gamazo, 

 the Colonial Minister, is also a moderate Lib- 

 eral. Moret y Prendergast, the brilliant orator, 

 and Montero Rios, represent the left wing of 

 the Liberals, and were identified with the Re- 

 publican party four years before, and then for 

 a time with the Dynastic Left. Moret is a zeal- 

 ous free-trader. Montero Rios, who succeeds 

 Pidal in the direction of education, is a pro- 

 nounced Radical. Admiral Beranger is like- 

 wise an advanced Liberal. ' The Prime Minis- 

 ter, who like Canovas assumed no special port- 

 folio, the Home Minister, and the Minister ot 

 Finance, represent the central and by far the 

 most numerous section of the party. Camacho 

 and Gonzalez held the same posts in the for- 

 mer ministry of Sagasta until it was reorgan- 

 ized in 1883. Sefior Camacho was an exceed- 

 ingly capable and energetic Minister of Finance, 

 who inaugurated a plan for reorganizing the 

 disordered finances and rescuing the ruined 

 credit of the country. Sefior Sagasta some 

 months before is said to have made terms with 

 the extreme Liberals of the Monarchical party, 

 and to have accepted their programme of uni- 

 versal suffrage, civil marriage, freedom of the 

 press, trial by jury, and other provisions of the 

 liberal Constitution, the abolition of which, in 

 1876, has been the cause of sore and lasting 

 discontent. Sefior Canovas del Castillo prom- 

 ised to extend to the new ministers his sup- 

 port, from the same patriotic motives that led 

 him to resign. A considerable section of the 

 Conservatives revolted against this policy, un- 

 der the lead of the shrewd politician and power- 

 ful orator Romero y Robledo. 



Dynastic Rivalries. The position of the Queen- 

 Regent was threatened by intrigues started by 

 the relatives of King Alfonso, who strove to 

 create prejudices against her as being a for- 

 eigner, unacquainted with Spain, who would 

 be likely to surround herself with Austrians 

 and Germans. The Government sought to 

 counteract these efforts and administer a 

 warning to the Bourbons by depriving mem- 

 bers of the family of certain pensions and per- 

 quisites and offices about the court. The 

 Duke of Se villa, son of the Infanta Don En- 

 rique de Bourbon and cousin of King Alfonso, 

 on Dec. 18 demanded an audience with the 

 Queen-Regent, and, when Queen Maria Chris- 

 tina refused to admit him, he insisted on his 



right to an interview as an officer of the Pal- 

 ace Guard, and angrily reviled " the Austrian," 

 saying that he would prefer Isabella II for Re- 

 gent. He was taken to prison. The cause of 

 his complaints was that he had been dismissed 

 from his command in the army and placed on 

 half-pay. 



The Queen-Regent took the oath to observe 

 the Constitution on Dec. 30. The altercation 

 between the palace officials and Queen Isabel- 

 la's nephew was one incident out of many 

 showing animosity on the part of the Regent 

 and her supporters against the Bourbons, and 

 the designs of the latter to upset the Regent. 

 Queen Isabella remained away from the cere- 

 mony of the taking of the oath. The influence 

 of the Regent's opponents was strengthened 

 by the betrothal of King Alfonso's sister, the 

 Infanta Eulalia, to the only son of the Due de 

 Montpensier. The intrigues in favor of Queen 

 Isabella gave occasion for recriminations be- 

 tween the Conservative groups, and created 

 an unpleasant sensation in the Cortes while 

 they were debating the prolongation of the 

 commercial treaties until the year 1892. Sa- 

 gasta obtained the consent of the Regent to 

 dissolve the Cortes. The new elections were 

 appointed for March, 1886. 



Failure of the Anglo-Spanish Convention. A dec- 

 laration was signed at Madrid, Dec. 21, 1884, 

 securing a commercial modus vivendi between 

 Spain and Great Britain, pending the negotia- 

 tion of a definitive treaty of commerce. The 

 arrangement was to last until June 30, 1887, 

 and from that date was terminable only upon 

 a year's notice. The general tariff of Spain is 

 prohibitive in respect to many products of 

 English manufacture, and discriminates severe- 

 ly against others. English goods are natural- 

 ized in France or Germany, and then enter 

 Spain under the conventional tariffs, after hav- 

 ing first paid the French or German duties. 

 The convention granted to England the most- 

 favored-nation treatment, in return for which 

 the English Government promised to seek from 

 Parliament the power to raise the lower half of 

 the alcoholic scale on which duties are assessed 

 from 26 to 30 degrees. This arrangement 

 would let in the bulk of Spanish wines at the 

 same low rate that is charged on French wines. 

 While Mr. Childers's budget proposals were 

 before Parliament, and the reduction of the 

 duty on Spanish wine seemed to be assured, 

 a disagreement arose as to the interpretation 

 of the convention. The Spanish Government 

 considered it to be terminable in two years' 

 time, and insisted upon excluding the colonies 

 of the two powers from its provisions. The 

 English Government thereupon, May 18, broke 

 off the negotiations. The Spanish Government 

 was accused of seeking to evade its engage- 

 ments, and in turn accused the English Gov- 

 ernment of manufacturing a pretext to defeat 

 the modus vivendi, particularly since the pro- 

 posal of a one-shilling duty on Spanish wines 

 was not included in the amended budget of Sir 



