Evening star., 1925-12-05
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL !. COLLINS.

The government "f spain has been
! changed within The last Nv" days
from military dictatorship To
civilisn ministry. Yet the same
Kipr, ALFONSO KID remains on the
! throne. and the constitution when
the military dictator suspended Two
wears ago remains inactive
The military dictator. Gen. frlmo
de Rivera. becomes prime minister
at the civilian cabinet. In MS
: proclamation the announcement IL
made that under the restored clNliiau u
administration the constitution VIII
he maintained inteSraHN aitnousii
ron.ininc, in suspense. In the Hght
of that promise, il is noted that the
/ dictionary explains that lnteSrailN
means "a function of VariapleS thd'
remains constant, or set OF equd :
! tiunS that remains satlsned >" ioi-
! as the differentials of the Haria hleS
! satisfy a given differential equation.
%
That definition fits the conditions
! in Spain at this date, for the tyranny
| Of the militia rists continues the abso-
mte tyranny of the civilian admin
! istration. with the same suppression
| of speech, the press and the rlSnt OF
public assemblage or protest. onlN
! three weeks before Gen. de Rivera
! had publicly stated that the MN :
/ tarv dictatorship would aSSuredlN
! last at least three years longer anu
| until certain reforms IN social con-
ditions and amendments TO the con
stitution had been completed. Wy
j the change is now made so suddenly
remains a mystery to all outside the
| inner confidence of Spanish politics.
Y
! II has been thought by many out
| side of Spain that the seizure OF
| The dictatorship in september, 1873
was an act which was antagoniStic
| TO the throne of Alfonso Nlll-a
! jnear-revolution endanSerlnG the
/ crown in an uprising To protest
against the Spanish mala dmlnlstra =
| ton of the Riff war. 1t followed soon
| after the terrible defeat OF Gen. Slt-
vester in Morocco-known as the
! "Annural disaster-when Spain
| suffered 10000 casualties and the
| commanding officer. Gen. Sylvester,
suicided in humiliation. 1t has
| transpired that the entire response
biIitv Law upon the King. This was
| proved in the investigation which
/ followed, disclosing a letter and tele-
gram from the King to Sylvester di-
| recting the tactics and secretly
overruIing all plans of the war de-
partment.
| Public grief and resentmnet rose
to such a pitch that some scapegoat
| was necessary to save the throne
| The King had long chafed under the
restrictions of the constitution, and
! in a speech at a banquet at Cordova
! shortly before the military coup, he
voiced his dissatisfaction and told
his astonished hearers that he in
| tended 10 become absolute master of
Spain.
The military juntas took their cue
from that speech. and attributed the
Moroccan disaster to the fact that the
cabinet consisted of civilians. The
King and officers thereupon proceeded
with their plans to set aside the con
stitution and set up a military dictator
to rule. under authority of the King
in absolute control.
The dictator chosen was Gen. AEui
Ilera, but he failed to rule even his
own ''unruiy member" his tongue
In the course of an exciting debate ir
the Senate. of which body he was a
member, Gen. Aguilera asserted that
1.-THE honor of an officer is much
more serious matter tnan tne nonOr ol
a civilian" Immediately a former
prime minister, Sanchez Guerra, aget
and irritable, gave the general two
resounding slaps, proving how sen
sitive Is a civilians honor. A due
followed without serious results, but
the outcome of being slapped by d
civilian was the complete elimination
of Aguilera as a prospective dictator
of Spain, and Gen. de Rivera was sub
stituted by direction of his ma jesty.
| X
The coup detat was accomplished
by the officers, alone, while all pri
Yates were kept within their barracks
The first act of the military dictator
was to suppress the free press. and tc
offer rewards to all who would volun
teer evidence against others or
charges of non-allegiance to the dicta
torship. Judges were dismissed from
the bench-even from the Supreme