THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 1910. SPAIN AND THE VATICAN.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10058, 4 August 1910, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 1910. SPAIN AND THE VATICAN.

The Spanish Premier, Senor Canalajas, referred to in recent cables, is pledgee? to a programme of reforms, i the general lines of which are now known and strongly approved in competent circles. He has appealed to Liberals of all classes to unite and he has by judicious appointments to the Ministry done much to insure a cohesion, which has up to the present been lacking. The religious associations question was alluded to j in the .Speech from the Throne in tarms which allow of no doubt as to the intentions of the Govern- | ment. After reiterating hta senfi- j merits of filial respect for tne Pope the King declared that hjs Govern- I ment "svill strive to give exprta-

sion to the public aspirations for j a the reduction and control of the t excessive number of orders and re- i ligious congregations, without im- \ paring their independence in spiritual i matters." Instructions have been 1 sent to the Prefects to enforce the 1 existing iuiss as to registration of I the orders, and negotiations have I been opened with Rome for the suppression of convents not needed by the different dioceses, while a reform of the law of June 30, 1887, and the framing of a new Act are announced. Meanwhile the Government, "inspired by the universal spirit of liberty of conscience," has given to Article 11 of the Constitution "the full sense of its text." The attitude adopted by the Papal Nuncio in Madrid and the formal urotest bdged by the Vatican leave no doubt as to the entire disapproval of these measures by Rome. His Holiness cannot doubt the King's desiie to bring matters to a peaceful issue, but the Spanish Government is now too deeply committed to abandon a course approved by the j majority of the educated classes and ' definitely laid down by the King in his speech. The Pope's responsibility would be great if, by an untimely rupture of relations, be were to give to the Carlist population of the north a pretext for disturbances which might result in bloodshed. The mea--1 sures announced are moderate. It cannot be said that spoliation of the religious orders is contemplated or that the Government is intending to follow in the footsteps of France. . Senor Canalejas, the Premier, states 1 that he will exhaust all prudent means in his negotiations with the Vatican, but he is determined to keep * the promises made to the country. In the meantime the Vatican refuses further negotiations unless Senor Canaljas withdraws or does not apply ) the ordinances.