Another Chat with Mentor--A Startling Solution of the Spanish
Question--The Penalties of Popularity--The Republic another
Saturn--The New Civil Governor--The Government Bill--Outside the
Palace of the Congress--Providential Rain--Wild Rumours--Federal
Threats--The Five Civil Guards--Inside the Chamber--The Great
Debate--The Two Reports--Compromise--Minor Speechmakers--A
Pickwickian Contention--The Division--Victory for the Ministry--The
Five Civil Guards Trot to Stables.
On the morning of March 8th, I met my Anglo-Spanish Mentor in the
reading-room of the hotel. To my usual inquiry as to the condition of
health of the Republic, he replied that he thought we were nearing the
critical point.
"There is a cataclysm impending," he said. "We have got beyond the stage
of changing the names of streets and substituting the Hymn of Riego for
the Royal March. Everybody agrees that a _coup d'état_ is necessary, and
may be imminent; we want an intelligent despotism--but the despot must
always be a man of our own party. There is the hitch. Castelar probably
may have some amiable hobby, like Lamartine, of 'employment for adults
and education for the young.' Whatever be the sequel of the trial of
strength, I hope we may have a strong administration, not one like the
present, where the Minister of Grace and Justice is all grace and no
justice.
"Do you know," he added, after a pause, "I have an idea as to the
solution of this Spanish question?"
"What is it, pray?"
"SELL SPAIN TO ENGLAND!"
I roared with derisive laughter.
"I am serious," he continued. "This is the age of arbitration. Why not
of colossal international barter? We could rule the country as we rule
India, set Sikh against Hindoo, and play off Ghoorka against both."
"You do not reckon with Spanish pride," I said.
"Bah! The pride that lowered itself to the acceptance of foreign royalty
might condescend to pocket foreign gold."
"When Pedro brought me my chocolate this morning he told me there had
been demonstrations in some of the lower quarters."
"Yes; but they are easily accounted for. The populace do not see the
impracticable promises of the Republicans realized, and are impatient
for the millennium of liberty, equality, and fraternity, with no work
and lots to eat superadded. But the demonstration was very trivial, it
limited itself to the sticking of a red flag in front of a hall-door.
There are wicked slanderers who say that Figueras had something to do
with it, and passed the word that the 'people' should bring an outward
pressure to bear upon his brethren of the Assembly, so that he might get
rid of some of his ungrateful colleagues by the argument, 'See, you are
impossible, the people won't have you; better for the sake of order
leave, that you may avoid the humility of being sent away.'"
"Surely," I expostulated, "Señor Figueras would not descend to such a
base trick of democracy!"
"My innocent friend," said Mentor, "once a man binds himself to what is
falsely called the 'people' he has to put up with much inconvenience,
swallow his pride, and humour his exacting pet. Figueras knows this
already; he has been stopped by groups in the streets at various times,
and obliged to amuse them by small harangues, the same as if he were a
Punch-and-Judy showman, making his 'pitch' for ha'pence."
"Unpleasant situation," I remarked. "He must weary of that soon."
"Most likely his admirers will weary of him--and then," said Mentor,
with a chuckle--"then for a spell of chaos. The Republic, like Saturn,
has an ugly propensity for devouring its offspring. The mob fondles
Republicanism as its exclusive property, spreads palm-branches under the
feet of its prophets one week and stones them the next. Castelar,
Figueras, Pi y Margall, are the prophets to-day; they will be victimised
in the end. To them will succeed men more violent, who will make larger
promises, and then, finally, will spring up a strong reaction and a
return to something old-fashioned and stable."
Mentor was a thorough-paced Conservative and a pessimist into the
bargain. In order to draw him out I pleaded that the Government was
doing its best to conciliate all parties. For instance, it had appointed
Estévanez, Civil Governor of Madrid.
"Aye," said Mentor, "another evidence of the truth of what I advance.
That was done to please the Intransigentes. Estévanez is beloved of the
Reds, and took to the hills a few months ago in assertion of Federal
Republican principles. He held the rocky mountain pass of Despeñar
Perros in Andalusia, at the head of a handful of men, but he boasts that
he neither destroyed railways nor cut telegraphic wires, and holds
certificates to that effect from the railway companies and the
Government. He is an old soldier, a man of energy, and his influence
with his party in this province is paramount. If the Constituent Cortes
proclaim a moderate or a united Republic he may make himself
obstructive. But I must bid you good-day; I am off for my constitutional
in the Botanical Gardens."
The reference to the Constituent Cortes reminded me that this was the
date appointed for the consideration of the Government Bill for their
election, introduced into Congress on the night of the 4th of March.
This Bill consisted of eight articles, the most important of which were
that the elections should take place on the 10th of April and three
following days, and the meeting on the 1st of May; that all Spaniards
above the age of twenty should have votes; and that on the suspension of
the session of the existing Cortes a permanent committee from their
members, with consultative functions, should be appointed for the
interregnum. It was felt that this was throwing down the glove, and the
lines were now marshalling for the tug of war. The Radicals are
disquieted. They know that if they go to the country not one-third of
them will be returned, for the reason that whoever holds the Ministry of
the Gobernacion, or Interior, in this paradise of universal suffrage can
return the nominees of his party, and determine their majorities with
mathematical certainty. Ministers act illegally in the article which
provides that men of twenty may vote. The young men are the main
strength of Republicanism everywhere, and this article at a single
arbitrary scratch of the pen adds half a million electors to the rolls.
Hitherto the right of voting was restricted to males who had attained
twenty-five years. The Radicals object to this sweeping alteration in
the law, made with the distinct object of defeating their chances; and
the hatred of those half-million of young men thus sought to be
enfranchised by the new Republic will be acquired to the Radicals from
the very fact of their opposition.
When the hour for opening the Congress came, the building looked more
like a barrack than a House of Parliament. A grim Guardia Civil, in a
three-cornered hat, stood sentry, with fixed bayonet, at the side-door
in the Calle de Turco, by which the Deputies enter. At every window men
in uniform were to be seen; officers with jangling scabbards moved about
the lobbies and ante-rooms, instead of the usual moody, sallow, shabby
crowd of taciturn waiters on Providence, muffled in mantles and hidden
in smoke, who hang about for hours, and occasionally pass mysterious
slips of paper by the liveried and silver-laced ushers to Señor Don This
or That within.
What can their business be? I often puzzle myself by asking. Have they
claims on Government for ancestral property gone down in the Armada? Are
they pretenders to the succession in a licence to sell tobacco and salt
in Minorca? Or are they simply intriguing for a ticket to the House? The
problem waits for solution.
They are not here to-day. In their places are the soldiers who watch
over the safety of the representatives of the people. Luckily it is wet,
and the crowds outside cower and huddle under a camp of umbrellas. Your
persistent drizzle is a terrible enemy to revolution. There is nothing
like it for putting a damper on noisy out-of-door agitation. But the
occasion is a great one, and though the clouds seem to have been
transformed into tanks with bottoms pepper-castored with leaks, and
never tire of the weary drip-drip, the citizens of Madrid bravely
affront the weather and collect on the sloppy approaches to the Palace
of the Congress to discuss the affairs of the commonwealth. They look
resolute enough to go under a shower-bath in the interest of their
country. Patiently they stand, with knit brows, their soaked mantles
clinging to their persons, while the Deputies drive or walk up, and
enter to take part in the important discussion at hand--the discussion
which is to decide whether there are to be barricades in Madrid and in
all the great cities, and some widows the more in Spain within
four-and-twenty hours.
Denser grow the throngs and livelier the excitement, for all the rain.
Reports the most eccentric and alarming are bandied about. The people
have burned down the churches in Malaga; but Malagueño, "as everybody
knows," remarks a French journalist, "is the synonym for _méchant_." In
another knot a rumour circulates that a meeting of Radicals had been
held the evening previous, at which the German, Austrian, and Italian
ambassadors were present, and that they spoke of the necessity of a
joint intervention to assist in the restoration of peace. This senseless
rumour was believed by some fools, and the Radicals who were supposed to
be ready to open the door to the foreigner were cursed and hissed, or
howled at, as they stepped into the Palace. Word passes that the
Intransigentes are in arms in the lower quarters of the town, and have
taken up "strategic points" in view of any emergency that may arise. If
the Government is beaten they mean to raise the red flag, to occupy the
theatres as they did once before, to turn the Plaza Santa Ana and the
Plazuela de Anton Martin into head-quarters, and, if necessary, to march
on the Parliament-house and make an example of those traitorous Radicals
who would betray the people and bring back the Monarchy. Law-fearing
Madrid is in a state of wan terror, and thanks Providence for that
thrice-blessed rain. The men who compose the noisy groups belong to the
lower classes; they are not very numerous, but they are very determined.
The active demonstration is confined to a nucleus of some one hundred
and fifty persons. Delegates occasionally arrive from distant parts of
the town, whisper to comrades in the mob, and depart. It is known that
the troops are confined to barracks, that a hundred picked men of the
Guardia Civil have reinforced the garrison of the Palace of Congress,
and that Señor Martos has not quitted it since the previous night.
Try and realise to yourself a crowd from Clerkenwell Green surging and
yelling angrily in the open space before Westminster Hall, a battalion
of the Coldstreams keeping watch and ward on the faithful Commons, and
Mr. Speaker, for reasons of personal security, compelled to have a
shakedown in the House!
At half-past three o'clock the flag is run up to the head of the staff
on the roof, but it droops limp and woebegone in the wet. The Assembly
is in session. The waiting crowds increase; the windows commanding a
view of the Palace are filled, and the pavements of the streets
contiguous are black with anxious loiterers, in spite of the detestable
weather. News of what is going on inside the Chamber escapes by
driblets; as soon as a Deputy or a reporter comes out he is button-holed
and interviewed.
"The Radicals hold firm," says one, and there is a howl of rage, and the
chattering _flâneurs_, who linger on the pavement at a safe distance,
stir their heels with a rare unity of sentiment. "Devil take the
hindmost!" is the motto of these dignified burgesses of Madrid when a
cry of danger is raised; bang go the shutters against the shop-windows
in a jiffy.
At one period the attitude of the crowd immediately opposite the
entrance of the Palace boded ill; cries of "Viva la República Federal!"
and "Death to the Radicals!" were raised, and Señor Estévanez, the Civil
Governor of Madrid, was obliged to come out and speak to his pet lambs,
and pacify them with the assurance that the Federal Republic was safe.
Five mounted Civil Guards took up their stations at the mouth of the
Calle de Turco after this, and stood there silent, statue-like, with
drawn swords in their gauntleted grip, until day had melted into
twilight, and twilight into night. These five cavaliers, in their heavy
cloaks, blacker than the darkness around, had really something
supernatural in their grisly quietude as they rested stock-still in
their saddles. Their mission was ominous of evil; they were there an
ugly index of what was feared. Had they found it necessary to clap spur
to their horses and plunge upon the mob, I would not have given much for
their lives. Those five "lost sentinels" were sure to have been picked
off before their comrades on foot could have sallied from the adjacent
building to their rescue. Sinister-looking fellows, in jackets and fur
caps, with rifles slung across their shoulders, were not ensconced in
the street-corners in easy range without a purpose.
The scene inside the Chamber gave equal token that a question of vital
interest was being debated. The gallery assigned to the public was
crammed as closely as the pit of Drury Lane on Boxing Night; the press
gallery ran over with reporters; every seat available was full but those
reserved for the ambassadors. Their seats were empty; not even the
war-worn figure of General Sickles was to be distinguished. Cristinos
Martos, looking anxious but firm, was in the presidential chair; and the
halberdiers in purple and gold, with their heavy silver maces and
nodding white plumes, occupied their accustomed places to the right and
left.
The President rings his bell for business. The first operation is to
read the minutes of the previous sitting, which are approved. Then one
of those obstructive members to be encountered in every legislative
assembly--be it Reichsrath, Rigsdag, Skupstina, or Storthing--rises to
take his little innings on some petty topic that concerns none beyond
his own small circle. He is quickly bowled out, and the order of the day
is arrived at--that for which we are all waiting, that which makes this
one of the most serious and important sittings since the abdication of
the King. The reading of the reports of the committee was first
proceeded with, that of the majority taking precedence. This document
was rather long, but may be summarised into a lament that the Government
intended to make the permanent committee a purely consultative body; a
declaration that the time was unsuitable for an election, civil war
being actually carried on in Spain; and a protest that the clause
establishing twenty as the age from which the privilege of voting dated
was "an abuse and an irregularity." It concluded with a project of law,
in a single article, binding the Assembly to convoke the Cortes whenever
it considered the condition of the country such as to guarantee freedom
of suffrage and the interests of the Republic.
Primo de Rivero's report was then read. He based it on the conviction
that the transitory period should be closed in the interest of domestic
order, and that the Constituent Cortes would be the true representation
of the national will. To effect conciliation, he would submit a bill
fixing May 10th as the period of election, June 1st as that of the
meeting of the Cortes, and twenty-one as the age at which Spaniards
should have power to exercise electoral rights.
The consideration of the report of the minority, which was looked on as
an amendment, came first.
The Chief of the Executive Power, Figueras, himself opened the
discussion. The Government had presented a bill so framed that they
hoped it would satisfy the divers aspirations of the Assembly. They
thought they could go no further, but since Primo de Rivero had seen fit
to draw up his conciliatory report they had resolved to modify their
primitive proposition in certain particulars, such as the definition of
the faculties of the permanent committee and the date of the elections.
But that was the extreme limit of compromise. They would stand or fall
by the vote about to be given. If the Chamber gave them its support they
would proceed with the rude task of administration, and they were
resolved firmly to sustain order, military discipline, and the majesty
of the law. Here Señor Figueras branched off into a schoolboy digression
as to what the law was, and how it should be administered. Coming to the
real point, he said if Primo de Rivero's bill were rejected, the Cabinet
would hand in its resignation, and would ask the representatives to name
its successors on the spot, for in those critical moments a solution of
continuity in power would be attended with grave risks.
Señor Guardia then rose to deny that the existing Chamber had fulfilled
its mission, and that the opportune time had arrived for the election of
another. The very Government itself had made avowal to that effect.
Certain bills remained to be discussed and voted. Besides, had they not
other duties of greater necessity? What was the state of the country? An
armed absolutism prevailed in some provinces; Catalonia recognised no
chiefs but those of the locality (here there were interruptions). In
the cities of the South, the public forces had abandoned their arms to
persons more or less authorised in some of them, and in others the
partition of sacred property had been announced. In the heart of Castile
and Andalusia the ayuntamientos had to resign in the presence of
superior force. Under those circumstances no elections could be carried
on with liberty. And, as if this were not sufficient, there was an
article which added 400,000 electors to the register. This was an
aggravation of difficulties when mistrust was supreme everywhere. The
majority of the reporting committee (of which he formed part) believed
that the initiative of a convocation of the Cortes should come, not from
the Government, but from the Chamber. The destruction of the elements
which were not represented in the Government was what was sought by this
call for a new Chamber.
Primo de Rivero then explained his position, which was curious. He, a
member of the Radical party, disagreed with his colleagues; but his
motive was the salvation of the Republic. If his bill were not
accepted, the disasters that would fall upon the country would be
tremendous and immediate. This plump declaration created what is called
"sensation." The General next reviewed the different solutions which
offered themselves. A new Cabinet of Republicans of long standing was
not to be thought of, and a mixed Cabinet would be a calamity. One other
solution remained, the formation of a Cabinet from the Radical majority.
With all respect he would ask, Did that majority possess the moral
authority to raise the standard of Republicanism? Did they recollect
that their former chief, Ruiz Zorilla, called them cowards because they
were about to proclaim the Republic? He repudiated the accusation.
Here there was a row, which recalled to mind that famous one between Mr.
Pickwick and Mr. Blotton, of Aldgate. Señor Juan Ramon Zorilla rose to
defend his absent relative. After a call to order, and a palaver, during
which Primo de Rivero explained that he was speaking merely of Señor
Zorilla the politician, but that Señor Zorilla personally was all that
was honourable and patriotic, the discussion flowed back into its proper
channel.
The General frankly admitted that the Radicals lacked moral authority.
"Now," he said, "we are Republicans, but a month ago we were
Monarchists." He then related with an ingenuousness that was remarkable
in a professed friend, all the faults his party had committed, and
prophesied that if a Radical Cabinet were formed it would not last three
days. Who knows what might occur? Interruptions punctuated the soldier's
discourse, but he turned round and told those who did not like what he
said, that prudence was better than valour when valour was stupid and
made reckless exposure of lives. He wound up by asking the
representatives to seek inspiration in their patriotism and love of
liberty, and support his bill, which he confessed was his in spirit
only, and had not been drawn up by him but by members of the Government.
These opening orations of the champions of the two parties in the
committee, the majority of six, and the minority of one, give the pith
of the arguments _pro_ and _con_. Then followed talkee-talkee by
obscurities--speechlets of the maundering school, habitual of nights in
St. Stephen's, when wise men betake themselves to the terrace, and the
stenographers yawn and chew their pencils. A Republican editor declared
that the Republican press was all that was lovely, and a Deputy from
Barcelona affirmed that the city by the Mediterranean was a model of
tranquillity (why was there a loud "haw-haw" here?). One of the Zorilla
family rose to defend his absent namesake a second time, and Señor
Lopez, chairman of the reporting committee, asseverated that the
Radicals had no yearning for office, that the Government should be
satisfied with an Assembly so liberal and so much inclined to help it,
and that if anarchy were to be the issue, the waters of the Jordan would
not wash the men who ruled of the responsibility. Then Cristinos Martos
descended from his tribune, and said he would accept any arrangement
which would secure peace. The crisis had come. The question by which the
Ministry had elected to stand or fall was put to the test, and exactly
nineteen Radicals, less than a score out of over two hundred, voted in
the opposition.
So the Republicans retain their seats and bloodshed is averted. The
mercy is due, not to the goodness of the cause, nor to the persuasive
pleadings of its advocates, but to the intimidation of the mob. The
Radical majority were the judges, and the judges were cowed by the
rabble of the streets and their spokesmen in the Chamber. The Radical
majority had it in their power to put the Republicans off the coveted
blue benches of the Treasury; but the Radical majority, feeling that
there were no strong arms outside to back them, "caved in." That is the
plain way of putting it. Five members out of every six in the house were
Radicals, six out of seven of the sections of the house were Radical.
Those sections, or standing committees, are drawn by lot on the first of
every month, and all members must belong to one or other of them. Every
bill that is presented must be referred to a committee composed of seven
members, one selected by each section. Six of the members of the
committee to report on the bill of dissolution presented by Señor
Figueras were Radicals; one solitary member, General Primo de Rivero,
recalled from fighting the Carlists in Guipúzcoa, favoured the
Government. The Opposition stood to the Ministry as six to one. And the
Opposition being thus strong, the Ministry had beaten it! The wonder
ceases when it is recollected that the hands of the majority were tied;
every plan was tried to influence them into not ousting the
Ministry--coaxing and cajolery, appeals to their love of peace and
country, and ultimately threats. As result, when it came to the "who
shall?" they did not sustain the convictions they had openly expressed
on all previous occasions. Peradventure this was patriotism,
peradventure it was prudence.
The debate was over. It was ten o'clock. The crowd raised exultant
shouts and dispersed to their homes, to the clubs, or to the
coffee-houses, where there was soon a file-fire of hand-claps to summon
the waiters and a Babel of voluble jabber. The five ghostly cavaliers
outside the Palace of the Congress started to life, sheathed their
sabres, caught up their bridles, and returned to their stables.
The Republic had been reprieved. What a sigh of relief San Isidro
Labrador, patron of Madrid, must have heaved.