SPAIN AND THE VATICAN.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 883, 1 August 1910, Page 7

SPAIN AND THE VATICAN.

ULTIMATUM RUMOURED. PREMIER THREATENS FURTHER MEASURES. : DON JAIME TAKES A HAND. ' ■'■ . ■■'■■• By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. ~'-■■.- Madrid, July 29. .' Sonor Carialejas, the new Liberal Premier, states that he will exhaust all prudent means in.his negotiations with the ..Vatican for the termination of the Concordat, made '. fifty years. ago, under which the religious '. orders are exempted from taxation. Nevertheless he is determined to keep tlio promises .made to* the country.

The paper ''EI, impartial'.', says that if King Alfonso supports Senor Canalejas s policy, Senor Canalejas will initiate measures against the Church which will.disagreeably, surprise the Vatican.

ORDINANCES MUST HE yVITH' DRAWN.-: CONDITION OF NEGOTIATION. .•;.: : .v : (Itec. July .31, 5.5: p.m.) . ;: , ;'. ' London, July;3o. ..'■, . Tho. "Daily News" reports that the Vatican will refuse further negotiations with the Spanish Government unless the. Premier, Sonor Canalejas, withdraws,or does.not apply the proposed ordinances." PRETENDER IN OPTIMISTIC . MOOD. ' ' ; ;, HIS DAY NOT FAR DISTANT; ; ' j "., ''.•.'• "•. ;"■■■ . 29.'■.: ) Don Jaime, Pretender to the Spanish Throne, has written to deputies and senators a letter of congratulation, on• Spain's 1 adherence to the Pope. ■ .'.' .The,day, he says,- is-not distant when the population .. and the. . army : "would \ rally to his (Don Jaime's) cause against. ..the enemies of liberty. .... . ,■ i .-DON JAIME AND THE CARLISTS. I Don Jaime was .last' "before' the r public during the. Barcelona troubles of. last ypar, when it was rumoured that he in--tended crossing the frontier. This' caused' him ■ to' issue, from Vienna;, a sort of .nanifesto to the Spanish Car-list'party, j In it he .'repudiated all :idea ; :of : an active Pretender Ship, !"I ; never, will kindle .civil J "war,"-he says,, "if ever I return', toSpain .at'.the head .of an army", it will.be to'restore orders not. to disturb- it." Ho .then, turned to. Moroccan. affairs,. which he.': seemed to. regard as. his opportunity, as. he expressed the opinion that the Avar would drag on and.bring about for.Spain cither Caesarism or danger of revolution. He declared that King Alfonso's".'popu-, larity was waning, and that the -Queen: was not liked.. Don..Jaime ended by stating- that ho had retired tofFrohsdorf to give' token of. his • intentions. .; Writing of Don Carlos's death in July of last .year, the London "Times" said: —"Thirty-three years have elapsed since Don Carlos finally.retired from Spanish territory, and,' although he 1 has periodically given.signs of life, by letter or telegram addressed from his Italian retreat 1 j' to the leaders of his party, he is remem-. bered.by the present generation of Spaniards'rather as a picturesque hero of legend: than as a ~l'omentor of disastrous civil war or, as a serious factor in polities.. The precarious state of latter-day Carlism is obvious. Recently when Don Carlos telegraphed appointing ~ a . new leader of the party 'in"."Succession-.:to Senor Harrio, the selection, no.less than the abi'upt manner of it, caused many' heart-searchings,in the. party, and elicited much candid criticism and nibst diverse and unrestrnined speculations as 'to the' future from such influential Carlists as Llorcns and Vasqucs de Mella, together with outspoken doubts as to Don Carlos's mental stability. "About his son and successori" added The Times," Jaime, -iittlo isknown beyond.that he lives in Paris and holds the rank of,a colonel in the Russian Army, and has long been estrungul <from_.his father. His manifesto is awaited with interest. It is generally felt that the old traditionalism has. died with Don Carlos.: The accession' of Don Jaime nerahls new developments:"

i ■: A DELICATE QUESTION. «mf k.'Unfortunate for tne Vatican (said .The Times" in a leading article of June 16) that' it should be threatened by a controversy with Ihe State in Catholic Spain almost simultaneously with ■ the agitation of opinion to which the Encyclical has led in Germany. The Kind's Speech in opening the Cortes yesterday is indeed framed in terms of courtesy and of. respect to the Holy, See. - It speaks of the filial consideration due to the J'opb and of the happy understanding which exists between Spain and- tho Vatican, and it expresses' the hope that' this understanding may. be continued. But it may he doubted, whether the tone will be regarded in Rome as compensating for the substance. The Speech intimates very, clearly th<it Senor Cahalejas "and his colleagues design" to.take ac- f lion against,the "unauthorised" religious orders and congregations..'lt announces, indeed, that negotiations are',boing ; conducted with the Vatican upon" the subject, but it does not indicate how far the ,new legislation proposed upon ,this. subject is to depend upon '.an agreement with Rome. . With' wise statesmanship and skilful diplomacy an ...agreement even upon this delicate question is not, perhaps, hopeless. The Vatican'is' generally ready—as the'whole history, of the Concordats, shows—to ; make large conces-. sions nr practice, so long as it is'ullowed' to save its theories, intact arid'-'it must be well' aware that, there, is plenty'- ol room for reform in Spain.'. '■-'■