The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1909-10-22
SPAIN'S PERIL ON
VERGE OF REVOLUTION
Spain is "a Seething Sea of Intrigue
and Revolution is Close at Hand,

trigue and revolution on which the
royal ship of state, a battered and
weakened hull, is being tossed about
in last struggle. Revolution is
inevitable. The flash may not come
within week or month. 1t may
be STAYED off for year, but there is
every reason to believe to-day, fol-
lowing the white heat engendered
by the States murder of Francisco
Ferrer, that the outbreak is very
near at hand.
! Moreover developments of the
last two days have indicated clearly
that once the fires of revolution
breaks out in Spain, there will be
the gravest danger of the confiagra-
tion spreading to every Latin coun-
try of Southern Europe.
l have just returned to London
from personal investigation of the
conditions in the Spanish peninsula.
The situation is hundred per cent.
graver than l found it at Barcelona
during the uprising last July.
At that time the disorders were
largely Socialistic and Anti-military.
Since then the Anti-Clerical factor
has become vastly larger and Anar-
chistic propaganda has been spread
throughout every district of the
peninsula. So universal has be-
come the disaffection and spirit of
revolution that in my opinion no
scheme of evolution can be made to
solve the problem.
The Spanish Cortes has been called
to meet to-day, at the instance of
Premier Maura. The call was issued
at time when the Government had
by dent of special effort created a
semblance of order and when it was
possible to issue the call without
public demand. 1t that time no
member of the Spanish royal party
was far-sighted enough to imagine
the furors that was to be created
by the execution of Ferrer. The
alarm in the Spanish capital is so
great that every Government in
Europe is on the anxious seat, lest
the opening of Parliament shall be
characterized by bomb outrage.
There is going to be trouble with
the Cortes. The Liberals have long
been in the majority over the Con-
servatives, but the former have
hitherto been split into so many fac
tions that the Conservatives have had
greater strength than any one
branch of the Liberals and Alfonso
has been able to have his own way.
Since the suspension of the con-
stitution, however, the Liberal fac
tions have united and agreed that
their first action will be to demand
an anti-clerical legislation along
lines similar to those enacted re-
Gently by the French Assembly. This
demand is apt to be the one incident
which will set the country atlame.
The church, which has for gener-
ations been a frightful burden upon
Spain, has recently become well nigh
unbearable, not because it is the Ro-
man Catholic Church, but because it
is the State Church. 1t controls an
immense unearned share of the
country's wealth and pays no taxes.
The people are inhumanely taxed to
SuppOTI IL. luuuSIlldlly, IL SOh-
petes at an unfair advantage with
Spanish workmen and is the vested
interest" of the nation.
Alfonso realizes that his hold on
his people has been broken. He
looks to the church for support and
will never consent to it's separation
from the State. If he clings to his
iS
evitable. The fall of the present
dynasty will assuredly be followed
by the establishment of a republic.
The Pretender is little known and
less liked. His party is small and
the country is sick of anarchy.
Owing to the exercise of censor
ship, the rigidity of which has never
been equaled, even in Russia, it has
been impossible to give an accurate
detailed daily account of the dis
orders in Spain. A brief size-up of
the situation may not be amiss.
At the time of the Barcelona
riots, Spain was placed under mar
tial law. This act, instead of check
ing sedition outside the Catalonian
provinces, caused it to spread
through all Spain. Premier Maura
saw the necessity of restoring the
constitution and convening the
Cortes. He must have some excuse
other than popular demand. He
ordered General Marina, command
er of the Spanish forces in Morocco,
to furnish the Government at once
with victory or something that
looked like one.
A real victory was impossible. |
The Riffs insisted on a guerilla CAM
paign. An imitation victory was
easier. General Marina began his |
widely advertised forward move
ment" on Mt. Gurugu. The Riffs
saw no advantage in holding a worth
less sand dune and retired. Only |
three rife shots were fired by the |
Riffs during the engagement. Two
days later a Spanish column under |
General Vicarto ventured a few |