REPUBLICANISM IN SPAIN

New Zealand Tablet, 20 April 1911, Page 710

REPUBLICANISM IN SPAIN

Tho recent revolution in Portugal (writes the Rev. C. J. Mullaly, S.J., in America) naturally draws the eyes of the world to Spain. A radical political upheaval in the former leads one familiar with Peninsula history to expect a like upheaval sooner or later in the latter. Similarity of temperament and condition seems to make the history of the one the history of the other, and this to such an. extent that the eminent Spanish writer . and historian, Menendez Pelayo declares that: 'A law providential and hidden, yet as evident as it is inviolable, leads by the same path the destinies of both Peninsula peoples, lifts them up or humbles them, and visits them simultaneously with the same calamities in punishment of the same errors." That a political storm, more violent than that of Portugal, is slowly gathering on the Spanish political horizon is perfectly evident to the close observer. The recent charge made in the Cortes that the Spanish Republicans are storing arms on the Portuguese frontier was but a public utterance of what everyone privately believed. Certainly, recent events in Portugal have given new impetus to the Republican propaganda in Spain. In view of probabilities within the next few years, it may not be without interest to the readers of America to understand fully the nature of Spanish Republicanism . The Irreligious Element. In Spain the irrelgious political element may be classed under two groups, the Radical Liberal and the Republican. We may prescind the Socialists, who, while their doctrines have done no little harm among the lower classes of tho great cities, have but one deputy in the Cortes. The Radical Liberal is represented by*the present Government; men of a refined type, educated but hostile to revealed religion, though at times exteriorly posing as Catholics. The average Radical Liberal is a man of the upper classes who, through loss of faith or for worldly advantage, has allied himself with Freemasonry and is eager to introduce into Snain the antiCatholic legislative programme of the French Government. From convenience or from conviction he is an upholder of the Monarchy. The second group, the Republican, is a queer medley. It is formed from the Aery lowest dregs of Spanish society; from the rough element of the slums, from tavern loafers, from discontented working-men, and from the criminals of the great cities ever ready to take to the streets and in the name of Revolution and Liberty burn and plunder wherever the opportunity offers. The horrors of '6B and of 73 and the 'Red Week ' of July 1909, in Barcelona, with its looting and burning of public and Church property, with accompanying murder and shocking criminal assaults on gentle, defenceless"■-'•• nuns caring for the orphan and the aged, show well the tvne of the average Spanish Republican, The Republican leader, unlike the Radical Liberal, is usually of a low social and intellectual type, of the vulgar class which the tourist may meet in any cheap cafe of Madrid or Barcelona. Ignorant or superficially educated and generally lacking the

polished courteous.manner of the Radical Liberal, the Republican leader, however, is endowed with a certain natural shrewdness which has taught him how to gain the discontented poorer classes. While his intellectual level is low, a wild fluency of speech and a medley of socialistic ideas, anarchy and rampant atheism permits him to play to the passions of the lower classes. In places, houses of prostitution are associated with the Republican clubs as an effective means to aid him to corrupt working-men and boys and thus find new recruits to the Republican group. He preaches openly that under the tri-eolor flag of the Republic both King and God must depart from the land. To the Republican mind both are useless. Nature and natural instincts are to rule in Spain. ' Meura Crista ! Muera Dios ! (Death to Christ! Death to God I) ' have long since become the watchword of Spanish Republicanism. Hence one can understand why God-fearing Christians in Spain look upon the word Republican as a synonym for moral depravity. With such atheistical doctrines publicly proclaimed one need not be surprised that under this rule of ' Nature and unimpeded Liberty,' there will be no room for those who preach the gospel of Christ and labor to save the lower classes from utter loss of faith. As in Portugal, so in ,Spain, the religious and nuns are charged by the Republicans with being enemies to government by the people and, consequently, the closing of their schools, the confiscation of their property, and their expulsion from their native land is to be in Spain, as it was in Portugal, the first chapter of the reign of the Republic. The priests and nuns of Spain declare that they have, no quarrel with Republicanism of a God-fearing type, founded upon justice; but they do admit that they are fighting against atheism and injustice, which to their mind is dishonestly masquerading in Spain under the honest title of ' government by the people.' . The Storm Centre. Barcelona may be termed the storm centre of Spanish Republicanism. It is there that the Republican leaders have found a fertile field for their revolutionary propaganda among the rabble of the slums and among the discontented Catalan and foreign working men of a hundred or more great factories which are found in their beautiful Mediterranean seaport. To-day the different Republican groups in Barcelona may be placed, if we may accept their election returns, at close to sixty thousand men. The Lerroux group, aided by its violently antireligious daily El Pmgreso, usually mentioned as 'anarchistic,' wields an alarming power and counts among its force more than thirty thousand of the most dangerous element in Barcelona. The revelations made in the Cortes on July 14, by Dalmacio Iglesias, the distinguished Spanish lawyer and counsel for the defence of three (f the indicted anarchists of the bomb outrages of April 8, 1908, show that it is this Lerroux group that is responsible for the continued and mysterious bomb outrages and crimes which have so badly injured the commerce of Barcelona. In Madrid the Republican element has not the strength of the Barcelona groups. Some thirty thousand men would be a liberal estimate of their forces; a number powerful enough to be reckoned with in case of a revolution. While the Madrid Republicans draw their recruits mainly fro.n the slums and the criminal classes, yet Spanish monarchists do not fear Madrid Republicans as they do those of Barcelona. The latter represent the most powerful and dangerous revolutionary group in Spain, and one which keeps the Minister of War ever on the alert. Almost every attempt, during recent years, to assassinate either the King or a Prime Minister of Spain is directly traceable to . the Barcelona Republicans. Of the other cities of Spain, Valencia, Reus and Zaragoza are especially known as centres of Republican propaganda. Taking the country at large, we find groups and clubs in almost every city and town. However, they are politically a weak minority and represent those of the • lower class hostile not only to the monarchy but to revealed religion. Opponents of Republicanism. There are two forces in Spain opposed to Republicanismnamely, the upholders of King Alfonso and the followers of Don Jaime. What the strength, of the former, composed of Liberals and Conservatives, would be in the event of a Republican uprising it is difficult to state, ' The army officers, upon whom the Government must depend, as a body are intelligent and loyal, and are openly hostile to Republicanism and its public anti-military crusade. Upon their ability to command the loyalty of the common soldiery depends the safety of the crown. '•••■■ The Carlists form the second force the Republicans will have to meet in case they should overthrow the throne. Though the followers of Don Jaime are not represented by many deputies in the Cortes, yet in ihe three Basque provinces Alava, Guipiizcoa and Vizcaya, and in Aragon, Navarra, Cataluna and Valencia, Carlist sentiment is still strong. The establishment of a weak Republic, with its immediate war on the Church, would send thousands of Catholic men into the Carlist camp and would be the signal for a Carlist uprising. The average Republican of Spain knows from experience that a Carlist is a dangerous enemy. As a rule the Carlist is a man of deep religious sentiment, ■ corteous and refined by nature, a type of the old Spanish gentleman, fearlessly brave,.and scorning danger. During

the recent Catholic manifestations against the anti-Catholic policy of the present Ministry, when the Republicans in Valencia and elsewhere attempted to break up the meeting-;, it was the Carlists who met them with shot for shot and forced them to retreat precipitously. In America of May 21, under the heading "'The Press of Madrid and Barcelona,' we pointed out the forces controlling the anti-Catholic Fabra News Agency, which Is the source of English and American information in regard to Spain. Just as Fabra sent to the foreign press false and anti-Catholic information in regard to the Jesuits and religious of Portugal, so we expect that, in the event of any Republican upheaval in Spain, it will fill the columns of our English and American press with all that will show the Catholic Church and its interests in Spain under a false news writers idle at the present moment. The Republican new writers idle at the present moment. The Republican papers of Madrid and Barcelona daily reek with vulgar calumnies against the Church, its priests and nuns. 'No sacred theme, even of Christ's life, escapes being made the subject of blasphemous parodies and cartoons. Jesuit Fortifications. A topic which at present is giving the Republican press of Barcelona plenty of matter for gallery play is that of ' The Jesuit Fortifications in the calle de Caspe.' It is well known to the readers of America that the Jesuit College and Church in the calle de Caspe, Barcelona, were marked by the Republicans, in the Red Week of July, 1909, to be plundered and burnt to the ground. The Republican plans, however, went awry; a detachment of the Civil Guard and a band of Catholic laymen, well armed, bravely defended the buildings against all attacks. Since then the Lerroux element has planned time and again to set fire to the buildings. In view of this ever threatening danger, it was suggested by Government officials that four balconies, overlooking entrances to the College and Church, and two iron fences and two brick sentry boxes, guarding against approach to the College, and Church by way of the neighboring roofs, should be constructed in order to help the police to protect the buildings the more easily in tho case of a planned attack. This suggestion was followed; application, with plans and buildings fees, being sent" to the Board of Aldermen. The College architect, having received due receipts for his building fees, and not being notified of any objection to his plans, ordered the contractor to begin work. The work was almost completed when tho Lerroux aldermen element began to cause trouble. It persuaded the Lerroux aldermen, who formed a majority in the City Council, to declare the balconies, etc., contrary to Barcelona building regulations, and to order the contractors to suspend work. This was done. Against this act ths Association or College of Architects of Barcelona, having examined the case, issued a formal protest, and during a change of city administration the work was allowed to be completed. The Lerroux element, however, were determined to continue the fight. It now persuaded the Lerroux aldermen to order, despite the protest of the College of Architects, the now completed work to be demolished. An order to this effect was issued, but only after a stormy session, in which the Lerroux aldermen and their followers, who had crowded into the Town Hall, attempted to assassinate Sr. Valles, a Catholic alderman, who declared the orded illegal, as the city had accepted the various building fees and had not rejected the architect's presented plans. The courts were now appealed to and a decision was handed down declaring the order of the Lerroux aldermen illegal. A second hearing decided that the matter was one for administrative and not judicial decision and, consequently, sent the case to the Provincial Assembly. Here a mixed political committee of eight deputies received the case and by a vote of 5 to 3 decided that the Lerroux aldermen had acted illegally and were guilty of an abuse of power. In the meantime, the orderly element of Barcelona is being immensely amused, both by the Lerroux imaginative descriptions of the ' Jesuit fortifications ' and the clamors of the Lerroux aldermen against the intrigues of lawyers and the injustice of Provincial deputies.