reversed the judgment of the Court of Appeal, which had decided in favour of the convents in the Ubao case; and on the 26th General Azcarraga gave in his resignation, which was accepted.

The Conservatives were surprised by the turn events had suddenly taken. The policy of extreme repression appeared no longer possible, particularly by reason of the personal disagreements between Silvela and Villaverde, the Conservative leaders. As the end of the Regency was approaching, the Queen considered that to the Liberal party should be confided the task of preparing for the accession to power of Alphonso XIII. Señor Sagasta was, therefore, charged to form the new Cabinet, which was done on March 6. He took the Premiership with no office, called to the Foreign Office the Duke of Almodovar, to the War Office General A. Weyler, to the Admiralty the Duke of Veragua, to the Office of Education and the Fine Arts the Count of Romanones; Señor Urzaïz had the Finances, the Marquis of Teverga was Minister of Worship and Justice, Señor Moret of the Interior, and Señor Villanueva of Public Works, etc. The first act of the new Ministry was to raise the state of siege, by an order which allowed the elections for the Conseils Généraux to take place on March 10, for which day they had been fixed. These electoral operations were watched by the Conservative magistrates, whom the new Government had not had time to change; but the working of the ballot was such that the number of Liberals elected was 235 against 191 Silvelists, 47 Dissentients and 28 Republicans.

The change of Ministry had as its immediate consequence a series of measures against the unauthorised religious orders. For a long time the Government of his Catholic Majesty had been deceived by the mask of political neutrality which the Pope had ordered the Spanish clergy to maintain with regard to the parties. In reality all the monks and an immense majority of the parish priests belonged to the Carlist party. The Sagasta Ministry, urged by the demands of the Liberals and Republicans, undertook to find out the real state of things. The Marquis of Teverga, Minister of Worship, announced by a circular that all the religious orders not recognised by the Concordat must submit to the surveillance of the Ministers of Finance and Education. The Finance Minister gave orders to his officers to make an exact return of all the members of religious orders who were carrying on any trade and to bring them under the usual regulations as to taxes and patents. The Minister of Education gave corresponding orders. The Archbishop of Burgos wrote to the Count of Romanones to reproach him for having sent out such an important circular without having consulted the chief Council of Education, of which that prelate was a member. This haughty demand was specially unwise, since the Concordat of 1851 had clearly not been actually observed, though it still held theoretically; by it, in fact, only four orders of women were allowed.

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Soon the religious agitation found its way into the streets. When the ceremonies of Easter week began the processions which the Spanish clergy arrange with imposing pomp were attacked by bands of the anti-Clericals; disturbances also broke out at Valladolid and Saragossa. They became more serious in the month of May. The 1st of May was a day of much trouble at Barcelona, Murcia, Valencia, Granada, and in Aragon, the religious trouble being further complicated by social and fiscal questions. At Valencia the agriculturists, after vainly protesting against the levying of taxes on the produce which they supplied to the town, had recourse to a strike and speedily reduced Valencia to famine. The Mayor was compelled to suspend the collection of the duties. At Barcelona, the Anarchists, Separatists and Republicans organised meetings and processions which degenerated into brawls. An extraordinary meeting of Ministers was summoned and gave orders to the commander-in-chief to restore order at all costs. The state of siege was again proclaimed (May 7) and five days of arrests and charges in the streets were needed to restore the passage of the tramways.

The legislative elections took place on June 19, and were another occasion of trouble and rioting. The Government having always a secure majority, the Opposition only concerned itself with these operations to impede them. At Salamanca the Clericals went to the polling stations with a "Sacred Heart in their buttonholes; at Barcelona a president of a voting division was killed; yet the Ministry had contented itself with taking 230 seats for its friends. This left only seventy for the Conservatives, but the other parties, and particularly the Republicans and the members of the National Commercial Union, were more in favour than formerly.

The opening of the session had been fixed for June 20, which, in the Spanish climate, was rather late for serious. work. The verification of the electoral returns occupied several days, and further time was lost in the election and re-election to the chair of the Chamber of the Marquis de la Vega del Armijo, who resigned and again resigned that office. In the debate on the Address, in which violent attacks were made on the Government, the only interesting feature was a great speech by Señor Moret in reply to an amendment introduced by the Regionalists (July 9). On July 15 Señor Moret was elected President of the Chamber and accepted the post. The Court had already gone to San Sebastian, and on July 18, the Address having been voted in both Houses, the session was abruptly closed. The Government had only had time to get the credits voted for the purchase of quick-firing guns, but it had been impossible for them to obtain any discussion of the financial projects which were intended to replenish the lamentably empty Treasury.

Señor Moret was succeeded as Minister of the Interior by

Señor Gonzalez, who certainly undertook arduous responsibilities. The religious question had grown envenomed, and the troubles which it excited became more and more anarchical in character. At Saragossa blood had again been shed (July 17), on the occasion of a procession, when a young and impetuous vicar had broken the handle of a banner upon some hostile demonstrators. The state of siege had been proclaimed at Seville. Some Carlist plots had been discovered at the two extremities of the Pyrenees. Nevertheless the vacation passed more quietly than there had seemed reason to hope. The division which occurred at Barcelona between Catalanists and Federalists weakened the attitude of opposition almost immemorially sustained by that town. The newspapers made great capital of an incident which occurred in the waters of Algeciras, where some Spanish Custom-house officers had confiscated a torpedo discharged in the course of manoeuvres by English sailors, and also of the two poor Spanish shepherds who were taken prisoners on the coast of Morocco by some Kabyle brigands. Such events as these, which might pass almost unnoticed in the course of a Parliamentary session, were carefully worked up during the monotonous months of summer. Carlist movement rapidly arrested in Igualada and a general strike at Seville were the other incidents of the Parliamentary vacation.

A

The session re-opened on October 21. The Ministers had tried to come to an accord on the Budget, and had arrived at an arrangement reducing expenses as much as possible. This was not until differences in the Cabinet had all but led to its disruption. The Minister of Public Works had refused to submit his Budget to Señor Urzaiz on the pretext that he was the equal of the Minister of Finance. Señor Sagasta, however, had soothed the irritated amour-propre, and the Cabinet appeared, if not very homogeneous, at least unanimous. A prolonged debate began at once in both Chambers. In the Senate the bishops. took the Count of Romanones to task with reference to the reforms introduced by him in the curriculum of secondary education. They demanded that public education in all its grades should be submitted to the inspection of the episcopate. The Minister of the Interior was attacked with equal energy by the Bishop of Oviedo. Señor Sagasta explained in a clever, energetic and successful speech that in no other country had the clergy such great immunities as in Spain; that the invasion by the French orders would result in many inconveniences, and that the heads of those orders had been formally asked not to enter the kingdom. In the Chamber the debate turned equally to the advantage of the Ministry. The majority firmly supported the Liberal Nestor, and approved the financial proposals of Señor Urzaïz. On the other hand, the elections for the municipal councils (Nov. 10) gave a majority to the Opposition at Barcelona, Valencia, Tarragona and Valladolid. Disturb

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ances of exceptional gravity agitated the University of Catalonia. The rector was dismissed by the Minister and then re-instated in his office, though the reasons for such a volte-face did not very clearly appear. This affair provoked an important discussion in the Chamber on Catalanism. The head of the newly formed party, Señor Robert, expounded in the tribune the programme of the party: the Catalanists wished to remain Spaniards, but they claimed the right to use their own dialect, to coin money, to be represented by a Parliament and governed by officials entirely Catalonian. Señor Silvela, like Señor Gonzalez, opposed these pretensions, and the Chamber ended the debate by a vote in favour of the Ministry.

The death of Pi y Margall, and the imposing obsequies which were celebrated over his body at Madrid, gave the Republicans an opportunity for a demonstration, which the Government allowed without difficulty, and which ended without disorder. The same cannot be said for the ceremonies at the christening of the Infanta of Spain, born November 30, her mother being the Countess of Caserta. The University of Madrid, in particular, was the theatre of wild and tumultuous scenes, of which the enemies of the Minister of Education sought to take advantage for the purpose of upsetting him ; this plot did not succeed any better than that which was directed against the Minister of Finance. Señor Urzaïz had brought in a bill authorising the Custom houses to exact the payment in gold of the duties imposed on goods entering and leaving the kingdom. While waiting for this sanction the Minister issued a decree (Dec. 1) ordering the collection in gold provisionally. The Opposition seized the opportunity to propose a vote of censure, which was rejected in the Chamber by 113 votes to 63, the Conservatives having refrained from voting so as to avoid a crisis. Señor Urzaiz wished to resign, but the Premier intervened personally, and arranged that the commission appointed to inquire into the bill should be composed of his own friends. This arrangement satisfied nearly everybody-the President of the Council, as showing that he still maintained supreme authority; the Opposition, because it had proved its moderation ; and the Minister of Finance, because he was able to collect his gold. The taxpayers alone thought themselves injured; but in Spain, as elsewhere, it is almost always at their expense that political quarrels are settled. Thanks to these arrangements the Budget was voted in the Chamber on December 27, and on the 30th in the Senate. It amounted to 936,000,000 pesetas of receipts and 933,000,000 pesetas expenditure. The most noticeable change was that which handed over for the future to the State the payment of the teachers of primary education, which had hitherto been a charge on the communes. Even in Spain the subject of education and technical instruction took a leading place in public attention.

VI. PORTUGAL.

The

The century opened in Portugal with an act of mercy. King granted (Jan. 1) a general amnesty to all those convicted of political and Press offences; a remission of a quarter of their penalty was granted to those convicted under the common law. On the following day the session of the Legislature opened; the King congratulated himself on the visit of the British fleet, and pointed out that in regard to the South African war Portugal had been able to maintain its neutrality, and at the same time practise those duties of hospitality which good international relations suggest. During the debate on the Address, the Deputy Fetschin, a partisan of the English alliance, vainly urged the Cortes to demand from the Government new bills aiming at that alliance. His proposal was negatived, and the neutral policy maintained; as a sequence of this vote diplomatic relations were renewed with the Low Countries, and the Count of Selir returned to his post at the Hague.

The King, who went to London on January 24 to be present at the funeral of Queen Victoria, was obliged to hurry back because of disturbances at home which were surprisingly like those in Spain. In both countries the dynastic and monastic questions are apt to become merged. A fresh instance of this was seen in the Chamber (Feb. 8) when a bill was introduced to repeal the sentence of banishment formerly pronounced against the descendants of Dom Miguel of Braganza. This proposal was rejected by a majority of 21 to 17. Such a small majority appeared alarming, and the Liberal party proclaimed the danger. Just at the same moment the Brazilian Consul at Oporto, Senhor Calmon, wished to oppose the entrance of his daughter into a convent; whereon a party of fanatics, among whom was the editor of a Catholic newspaper, tried to enter the house of the Consul and to carry off the young girl. On February 24 serious disturbances took place. The police intervened with some roughness, and, as usual, arrested chiefly the Republican demonstrators. The Council of the Industrial Institute met and urged the Government to prosecute the authors of the illegal arrests. On February 26 there were renewed disturbances; questions were asked of the Government in the Chamber, and the President of the Council announced that they were determined to make the law respected by the religious orders, and so much the more as they had no legitimate existence in the country. The Government of Brazil ordered Senhor Calmon to return to Rio de Janeiro, and demanded explanations. A fresh interpellation was made (March 5). Senhor Fernandez attributed the violence committed at Oporto to the boldness of the Ultramontanes and the weakness of the Government, which had not enforced the law of 1834 as to the congregations. The mob turned these arguments into violent action. There