The salient feature of this interval was the launching of the
Reformist party by Don Melquiades Alvarez, a moderate
Republican working in close touch with Sefior Azcar-
ate and Sefior Perez Galdos. In a first speech deliv-
ered on April 7, Senor Alvarez announced the forma-
tion of a Reformist party which would reconcile the moderate
elements of the middle classes with Republican ideas. This
was but the beginning of an evolution which was destined to
bring a certain important portion of Republican opinion into
the fold of the monarchy. On May i the Cortes was reopened
and an agitated parliamentary session began, in which the main
question in debate was the bill called " De Mancomunidades."
This bill was a sop given by Senor Canalejas to Catalan opinion,
for it allowed Diputaciones (elected provincial councils) to unite
into groups for purposes of common administration,
Local a measure which, though in appearance of a general
ment'euu. character, was meant to enable the four Catalonian
provincial councils to unite into a kind of local par-
liament. The bill caused a deep cleavage in the ranks of the
Liberal party. General Weyler, Senor Montero Rios (presi-
dent of the Senate), Senor Moret, and Count Romanones
(president of the Chamber) were all emphatically against it.
Senor Canalejas' difficulties were increased by the fact that,
though the measure formed a part of a more ambitious Local
Government Bill devised by Senor Maura during his last term of
office, Senor Maura opposed it on the ground of its having been
as it were taken from its context. Yet Senor Canalejas piloted
his bill successfully through a hostile Chamber, and when, on
July 5, he had the Cortes adjourned, the bill had been virtually
passed. He, however, avoided a final vote, knowjng that, on
the bill appearing before the Senate, Senor Montero Rios would
resign. His triumph was therefore more apparent than real.
With the summer a period of strikes set in. Saragossa, Malaga and the mining and steel-smelting district of La Fel- guera (Asturias), became restive with social strife Period of (August). Reus, Madrid and Murcia also suffered Strikes. from partial strikes. But all these conflicts were soon overshadowed by a grave railway strike which affected nearly the whole country. Senor Canalejas met it by applying Art. 221 of the Recruiting Law, which in cases of danger or abnormal circumstances allows the drafting into military service of all men of military age working in industries of public importance; and this measure, combined with a really conciliatory policy, caused the collapse of the strike on Oct. 5. On Oct. 14 the autumn session of the Cortes began, and three days later the bill " De Mancomunidades " was passed in the Chamber, but the work of the session was suddenly brought to a close by the murder of Senor Canalejas on Nov. 12. The prime minister was shot dead in the Puerta del Sol CaoaJeias. (Madrid) in broad daylight, while he was inspecting the books at a book-shop window. The emotion aroused by the crime was enormous. The King, with his usual impulsiveness, hurried to the Home Office, where the body had been laid, in the first carriage which he found at his disposal; then, on the day of the funeral, he walked in person at the head of the mourners, through the streets of Madrid. This brought him great popularity. Meanwhile, Count Romanones had replaced Senor Canalejas at the head of the Government, with the definite task of passing the budget and of com- Tnaty pleting the treaty with France. On Dec. 27 this treaty was signed, after laborious negotiations which had begun on Dec. 6 1911. The discussion of the treaty occupied the remainder of the session, which Count Romanones closed at Christmas.
Having thus fulfilled the programme for which he had been entrusted with the seals of office, Count Romanones gave the King an opportunity to alter his policy by tendering Romano- the resignation of the Cabinet. The King, without consulting any of his statesmen, gave Count Roman- ones a new lease of power. This decision finally settled the question of Senor Canalejas' successorship to the direction of the Liberal party in favour of Count Romanones.
with France.
nes Qov-
ernment.
Yet, his rival, Senor Garcia Prieto, though bowing for the mo- ment to the royal pleasure, signified his intention to stand for the leadership in the future by abstaining from a seat in the Cabinet, though cooperating with Count Romanones from outside. The Liberal solution of the crisis contributed further to increase the popularity of the King. The sensational withdrawal from public life which Senor Maura announced on Jan. i 1913 worked in the same direction. In a lengthy note addressed to his followers he animadverted on the action of the King in hav- ing lent himself to a policy of cooperation between the Liberal opposition and the antidynastic Left. Senor Maura resigned his seat in the Chamber, followed by Senor La Cierva, and as these two names had symbolized reaction to the Spanish people since 1909, their withdrawal, in direct conflict with the King, enhanced the prestige of the Crown. Senor Maura's retirement was of short duration. On the 4th he saw the King; on the loth he answered a message from his followers by accepting once more the leadership of the party.
Senor Alvarez, who meditated a rapprochement with the mon- archy, made on this occasion a sensational speech, in which he had the courage to bestow great praise on the King at a public Republican meeting. Encouraged by the success of this first attempt, he spoke in the same strain in Murcia (Jan. 12) and obtained from his Republican audience an enthusiastic ovation for the King's policy. Nor did King Alphonso sleep on his laurels. On Jan. 14 he summoned to the palace for consultation the three most eminent men of Republican Spain, Senor Azcar- ate, head of the Republican-Socialist Coalition, and a respected specialist in labour questions, Prof. Cossio, a well-known ped- agogist and art critic, and Senor Ram6n y Cajal, the famous biologist. The significance of these interviews escaped no one, and least of all the Conservative Reactionaries. On Feb. n, these interviews were the main subject of speeches delivered by Senor Azcarate and Senor Alvarez at a Reformist banquet in Madrid, the net result of which was the public recognition by these gentlemen of the fact that, whatever obstacles there were to the democratization of Spain, they did not come from the Crown. The meeting, a further step towards the monarchy taken by the middle-class and intellectual section of the Repub- lican party, served to outline a scheme of conditions and con- stitutional guarantees which the Reformist party would require in order to cooperate with the Crown.
Count Romanones took a good share of whatever merit there was in this policy. The death of Senor Moret (Jan. 28) removed his most serious rival in the Liberal party. Count Romanones then endeavoured to persuade Senor Azcarate to accept the presidency of the Chamber, a clever move likely to reflect fa- vourably on the prime minister, while avoiding the elevation of any would-be rival to the post considered in Spanish politics as the stepping stone to the premiership. Senor Azcarate refused, and Senor Villanueva was at last selected. The King's official visit to Paris, on completion of the Franco-Spanish treaty, had proved a success (May 6-9), and Count Romanones, having replaced Senor Villanueva by Senor Gasset as Minister of Public Works, felt strong enough to face the Cortes. But no sooner had he appeared before Parliament (May 26) than a speech by Senor Maura (28th) forced him to hand in his resig- nation. Senor Maura had merely re-stated his position of " implacable hostilidad " to a policy of cooperation with the parties of the antidynastic Left, and Count Romanones thought that no Liberal party could govern without a properly con- stituted Opposition, willing to take office on the fall of the Government. The crisis was again solved by the Crown in favour of the Liberal party. The King ratified the policy which Senor Maura had refused to countenance, and Count Romano- nes came back at the head of the same Government. But the discussion of the bill " De Mancomunidades, " which at last had to come before the Senate, produced a still graver crisis, for it precipitated the division of the Liberal party, latent since the death of Canalejas. The group headed by Senor Montero Rios (president of the Senate), and his son-in-law, Senor Garcfa Prieto, dissented from that of Count Romanones on the prin-
