CHAPTER XVI

THE PROCESS OF REGENERATION

The regeneration of Spain must necessarily be a slow process, for the causes of her degradation are deep-seated, and are not to be removed by mere legislative enactments or alteration of the machinery of government. One of the principal difficulties with which the country has to contend is the dishonesty of the bureaucracy, which paralyses any reform that may be attempted. Of what use is legislation, when the laws are not honestly administered? If what is the common talk of all classes has any foundation whatever in fact, the whole of the bureaucracy, from top to bottom, not excluding the inferior judiciary, is venal and corrupt, and until a tradition of honest administration is established amendment will be difficult, if not impossible.

The history of Spain for the last three hundred years affords an illustration of the proposition established by Lecky[28] that “the period of Catholic ascendancy was on the whole one of the most deplorable in the history of the human mind.” In no country in Western Europe has the Church of Rome been so entirely absolute and dominant, since the Reformation, as in Spain, where the Inquisition instantly and finally crushed out all freedom of thought and all opposition to theological orthodoxy. The Church in Spain to-day enjoys the unique position of holding a monopoly of the spiritual direction of the nation. Although other creeds and forms of worship are tolerated, there is no religious liberty. Everywhere else, even in Catholic countries, there is a vigilant and hostile body of opinion, of more or less weight, which necessarily contributes by its very existence to moralise the Church and to enforce on the priesthood a certain standard of duty. In Spain this check is absent. There is no rival Church, for the Spanish Protestants are too few in number and too insignificant in position to make their influence felt, and the working classes, who, as has been shown, are bitterly hostile to the priesthood, are inarticulate, and powerless as an influence corrective of abuses, while the middle classes, who might do something towards enforcing a higher standard, are generally speaking, indifferent.

To what extent the corruption of the spiritual power in Spain is responsible for the low moral standard of the laity is an exceedingly difficult question, on which I am not capable of pronouncing an opinion. There is no doubt that Spain for the last three hundred years has suffered from a succession of some of the worst, the most incompetent, and the most corrupt rulers known to history. During all this time, except perhaps during the thirty years when Charles III. was on the throne, the Church was supreme. If the clergy, the directors of the conscience of the nation, armed with the power of the confessional and supported if necessary by the secular arm, had deliberately set their faces against the system of public venality and corruption instituted by Lerma and Olivares and continued by their subordinates and successors, it is difficult to believe that the upas-tree would have grown so tall and struck its roots so deeply as it has.

The excessive centralisation of the whole administration in Madrid, coupled with the Spanish habit of writing long letters and reports about every trivial question, which reports are referred for further information from one official to another before the Minister or other authority gives his final decision, paralyses all initiative and causes infinite delays and annoyances over the simplest matters. On the other hand, if effective local self-government were given under existing conditions, the _Cacique_ would be even more powerful than he now is, and Spain would be ruled, not by a single bureaucracy, but by a number of irresponsible autocrats.

Thus before Spain can effectually reform herself there is needed a change of heart, a vital conviction that only through honest and fearless administration is redemption possible. An educated Spaniard once observed to me, when discussing this matter: “In England you act on the supposition that a person in office is an honest man, and if you find that he is not, you punish him severely. In Spain we presuppose dishonesty, and do not chastise the rogue when he is found out.” This is perfectly true. There are swarms of official inspectors who are supposed to inspect everything connected with the public administration. But the inspectors themselves are venal, and for a sufficient consideration will report that all is well when it is far from well. _Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?_ It is the rarest thing to hear of any official being punished for peculation or receiving bribes.

Every educated Spaniard is fully aware of this canker, which is rotting the whole body politic: they talk to each other and to foreigners about it with the utmost frankness, entirely recognising the greatness of the evil and usually despairing of any amendment.

To turn to another side of the same question. In a different way the bullfight is responsible for an amount of moral degradation that no one but a Spaniard can adequately estimate. It is not only that the spectacle of broken-down horses gored to death and a wild beast worried for half an hour at a stretch is in itself debasing, but the whole atmosphere created by the amusement is thoroughly vicious and degrading. This is not merely my private opinion: I repeat what has been told me by cultured and thoughtful Spaniards, who see in its popularity one of the many obstacles to the growth of a higher standard of morality. Happily there are indications that the taste for the sport is on the wane. I know numerous members of the upper middle class and many working people, both men and women, who object strongly to the institution, and never attend a bullfight, and bullrings have been closed in many of the smaller towns during the last ten years or so, for want of support. But the vested interests--the cattle-breeders who make their living by breeding the bulls, the impresarios who get up the shows, the companies who have invested millions of pesetas in building bullring’s, the thousands of men employed in them in various capacities, and the bull-fighters themselves--form together a very powerful combination with a good deal of political influence, and it will be many years yet before this blot on civilisation disappears.[29]

One deplorable fact connected with the bullfights is the extent to which they are patronised by foreign visitors, and of these the English are among the worst offenders. I have been told, though I cannot vouch for the truth of the statement, that one bullring close to Gibraltar is practically kept going by the English spectators, and that but for their support it would be closed. I know that Englishmen and English women, in scores and hundreds, every year, some of them ardent supporters at home of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, make a point, when they come to Spain, of going to see the show. “No, I daresay I shan’t like it,” they will say, “but when one is in Spain it is one of the things one ought to see.” Let us hope that they do not realise that their example goes to make the task of the Spanish social reformers even more up-hill and heart-breaking than it need be.

I may instance an University professor who was wearing himself out in the endeavour to raise the moral and intellectual standard of his pupils. He himself was educated in England, and had the highest respect for English customs and institutions and for the general code of English honour. He told me that he had lain awake all one night trying to find a reply to his lads when they said: “If the English, whom you hold up to us as an example in so many ways, support the bullfight, there can be no reason why we should condemn it.”

“And meanwhile,” said the professor bitterly, “your English ladies come out of the bullring and tell me that what they have seen there proves us to be a nation of barbarians.”

In this connection it should be remembered that Spaniards of all classes have a great admiration for England and English institutions, which has been recently increased thanks to the popularity of the Queen. One sees this in all directions. English is beginning to replace French as the first foreign language a young Spaniard learns; English games and English fashions are rapidly being introduced; and one of the leaders of the Republican party has proclaimed a democratic Monarchy on English lines to be the best compromise possible under existing conditions in Spain. So that the support which English visitors give to the bullring is probably more influential for harm than that of other foreigners.

Materially, moreover, the bullring operates in a manner prejudicial to the country. All the best land has to be given up to the bulls, which require immense space to keep them from fighting each other. Thus great estates, which, if cultivated, would employ numerous labourers and produce a rich return, are lost to the nation.

In this matter, too, the Church might exercise a good influence and does not. On the contrary, the Clericalist newspapers give at least as much space to reports of the bullfights as do any others, and one of the reproaches levelled against the clergy by the working classes is that they attend these shows disguised in lay dress, and associate with bullfighters, regardless of the prohibition of the Church. In the parish leaflet already quoted, one of the cases of conscience put is “whether it is a sin to attend a bullfight”: to which the answer returned is, “No, it is not.”

* * * * *

Setting aside the question of a moral reform, without which legislative and administrative changes can produce little or no fruit, it may be useful to consider what measures are urgently needed to contribute to the intellectual and material development of the country.

First and foremost the Church should be confined to its spiritual functions, and restrained from active interference in politics, education, and business.

In a circular issued by the Bishop of Madrid in December, 1909, on the duties of Catholics in the elections, it is laid down that the Catholic voter must not vote for a Liberal as against a Catholic, and that a Liberal is, _inter alia_, “one who refuses adhesion to the propositions and doctrines laid down by the Apostolic See, _principally in reference to the relations of the Church to the State_” (italics mine).

The attitude of Rome to what it calls “liberalism” is so well known that there is no need to dilate upon it here. It is quite certain that unless and until the Church can be excluded from intervention in the State, no progress will be possible. The struggle will, no doubt, be severe, for Spain is now the last stronghold of the Roman Church; but once the democracy can make its voice effectively heard, the end will not be doubtful.

In education the dominance of the Church is, if possible, more prejudicial, more of an obstacle to progress of the best kind, than it is in other branches of the work of the State, and the clergy in Spain, as elsewhere, are resisting with might and main every attempt to set up schools which are not under their control. A sufficiency of good and well-conducted schools is one of the crying needs of the country; the Clericalists say they are unable to finance even the Catholic schools which already exist, yet the lay schools supported by the party of progress, although trivial in number, are not only virulently attacked, but are made the basis of a campaign against the Crown and the Constitution, and every nerve is strained to rally “good Catholics” to the fight against the spread of education among the poor.

Decentralisation of the machinery of administration is badly needed, because under the present system vexatious and unnecessary delays must occur, even were there every desire for progress on the part of all concerned. But local government cannot be effective, as has already been said, until the _Cacique_ is abolished.

Among what may be called the material elements of progress may be briefly mentioned the need of improved means of communication, especially good roads. Most of the roads which do exist in Spain are very bad, and there are officially stated to be five thousand villages to which there is no road at all--nothing but a track or path, impassable for wheeled vehicles.

Much needs to be done to encourage agriculture, and to introduce improved methods. Systematic irrigation would render fertile hundreds of square miles of land, now sterile for lack of water. Phylloxera is ravaging the vineyards, and a contagious blight is devastating the orange plantations all over the southern provinces. Neither of these plagues can be effectively combated by private enterprise: public aid and public organisation are essential.

The postal service requires to be overhauled, and security taken, which now does not exist, that postal matter shall reach its destination, and that the contents be not stolen _en route_, as not infrequently happens.

Last, but not least, the conduct of elections must be reformed, so that the working classes may have an effectual, instead of, as now, a merely nominal vote. With a few notable exceptions they distrust their rulers, of whatever party; it should be made possible for them to return to the local councils and to the Cortes men in whom they have confidence, who know what they want, and who will devote themselves with singleness of mind to getting it. The hope for the future of Spain lies in the democracy. The peasantry, from whose ranks the whole of the working classes are more or less directly recruited, are sober, honest, and industrious. They work long hours for low wages without complaint, and employers--English, American, and so on--who come into contact with large numbers of them in the numerous industries established by foreign enterprise in the Peninsula, all speak in the highest terms of them as labourers. In America, too, they are highly valued, and it is said that the men who in the long run prove the most satisfactory and the best able to bear the trying conditions of work on the Panama Canal are the Spanish emigrants, of whom thousands cross the Atlantic every year.

As yet practically no member of this class, no matter what his natural gifts may have been, has ever risen to a position in which he could make his voice heard in the counsels of his nation. Many Spanish peasants have, no doubt, succeeded in Spanish South America, and some of them have come home again to spend their money and their declining years in their native land. I am not aware that such men have been encouraged to play a part in the politics of Spain, although their experience of the outside world would be of the greatest value. But the frequent instances of Spanish peasants rising to affluence abroad show that it is not their own incapacity, but the crushing burdens imposed on them by those in power, which are the cause of the miserable condition of the peasantry at home. When a Spanish peasant gets a chance, he is well able to profit by it.

Spain always seems to me like a great tree which for centuries has been allowed to go unpruned. It is half smothered with branches which bear no fruit, and the top is a mass of decay. Yet the trunk and the roots are sound and strong, so that once the barren wood which saps the life of the tree is cut away, a new and healthy growth will soon replace it. But the longer the difficult and painful process of pruning away the dead wood is delayed, the greater must grow the danger of a storm which will tear up the tree, roots and all.

Still, in spite of all the drags on the wheels of progress, in spite of ignorance, incapacity, and corruption, in spite of all the forces of reaction and all their efforts to keep Spain in the Slough of Despond from which she is struggling to emerge, one may say with Galileo, “_e pur si muove_.” Some little advance is being made, slight and slow though it be, and among the more thoughtful members of the younger generation one sees signs of a new spirit--an intelligent appreciation of the needs of the country and an honest and sincere resolve to work for their attainment, which cannot fail to spread and to bear fruit in due season. From the older generation nothing is to be hoped, but ere long they will have yielded their places to the young men--university professors, officers in the Army, journalists, and so forth, many of whom have ideas and ideals, and only lack power and opportunity to put them in practice. The little leaven is working, and though as yet it is small in amount and the lump is large, those who wish Spain well need not despair.

“For while the tired waves, vainly breaking, Seem here no painful inch to gain, Far back, through creeks and inlets making, Comes silent, flooding in, the main.

And not by eastern windows only, When daylight comes, comes in the light, In front, the sun climbs slow, how slowly! But westward, look! the land is bright.”

POSTSCRIPT

While this book was in the press, the Spanish Government took a step, the ultimate consequences of which may be of the utmost moment for the country. In June, 1910, Señor Canalejas resolved to take definite action in the matter of the Religious Orders.

The immediate cause of his determination appears to have been the general discontent created by the numerous cases of clerical corruption and intimidation alleged to have occurred in the recent elections to the Cortes. A great meeting of protest was held at Madrid, in which both Republicans and Socialists took part, and Señor Melquiades Alvarez, the Republican leader, who not many months before had expressed his willingness to compromise with the Monarchists on the lines of a democratic Monarchy like that of England, deliberately went over to the Socialists. This important _volte face_, coupled with the fact that at the elections Madrid returned an overwhelming majority of Republicans, seems to have spurred Canalejas to action.

This action consisted of a modest Royal Order requiring the fulfilment of an edict of 1902, which compels the registration of all Religious Orders established in the country since that date, and the payment of the industrial tax on the trades they carry on. This was followed by a decree permitting members of other than the State religion to display emblems and notices outside their places of worship, and to hold funeral processions, in accordance with the provision made by the law of the land for liberty of conscience.

These two decrees hardly strike one as revolutionary; but they have been enough to set the whole of the Church party in an uproar; and the Primate, the Archbishop of Toledo, has thrown down the gauntlet, defying the Government to put the decrees in force, on the ground that the Church owes obedience to Rome alone, and that the State has no power to interfere with it. At the moment of writing the Vatican is trying to bully the Government by threatening to break off relations, the Catholic Associations have telegraphed their grief and distress at the outrage inflicted upon the Pope by these Royal Orders, the ladies of the Ultramontane aristocracy have petitioned the Premier to reconsider his determination to destroy the national Church and drag Spain’s religion in the dust, and the whole clerical party are preparing a furious campaign against the Government, which, needless to say, is warmly supported by all the Liberal elements in the country. The working classes are naturally delighted, and several of them have congratulated themselves in my hearing on this excellent result of the King’s marriage.

“He has seen what religious liberty means in England, and that has given him courage to defy the Jesuits. Viva Alfonsito!”

APPENDIX

NOTES ON POLITICIANS AND PERIODICALS

LIBERAL-MONARCHISTS

When Sagasta died three men were proposed as leaders of the Liberal party, Moret, Montero Rios, and Canalejas, Montero Rios gave way in favour of Moret, in order to secure the unity of the party, but Canalejas preferred to lead a group of his own.

=Moret.=--Was a Republican until Alfonso XII. was proclaimed. He then joined the Monarchical forces, the road being opened to him and many others by the broadly liberal policy of Sagasta. He is English on the mother’s side.

=Montero Rios.=--Also was a Republican until the Monarchy was re-established. Then he also adhered to Sagasta, bringing in with him his own group, thenceforth to be known as the Radical wing of the Liberal-Monarchists.

=Rafael Gasset.=--A staunch supporter of Moret’s policy. He is the author of the great irrigation scheme which is one of the most popular features in Moret’s programme. His enthusiasm for this improvement in the conditions of agriculture is so strong that his opponents have nicknamed him “The Duke of the Reservoirs.” He is one of the strongest of the younger Liberals, and his sincerity and devotion to the interest of the working-classes have won him their confidence and respect.

The policy of the Liberal-Monarchist party is supported by the _Sociedad Editorial de España_, which publishes three daily papers, all sold at 5 cmes. per copy, or 1 peseta per month:

=El Liberal.=--This paper has by far the largest circulation of any in Spain. Its political news is edited in Madrid, and telegraphed thence twice daily, for the morning and evening editions, to branch offices at Bilbao, Murcia, Barcelona, and Seville, where the local notes and news are added. Although conducted on Liberal-Monarchical lines, it is tinged with democratic feeling. The Reactionists profess to consider it a dangerous enemy to religion, and label its readers atheists and anarchists. It is universally popular with the working classes.

=El Heraldo de Madrid.=--Edited and published in the capital on Radical-Monarchical lines. On sale all over the country, but with a comparatively small circulation among the working men outside of Madrid.

=El Imparcial.=--Edited on Liberal-Monarchical lines in the interest of the working classes, with full reports and articles on public works of every description, trades unions, schemes for social and industrial reform, &c. It is on sale everywhere, and probably has the largest circulation of any Madrid paper among the working classes in the provinces, but does not come near _El Liberal_ in popularity.

The literary style of the writers employed by the _Sociedad Editorial_ is cultivated and refined, the flying of political kites is discouraged, and personal abuse of opponents in politics finds no favour with the directors. The Society is abusively called a “Trust” by the Opposition, and reactionary journals daily publish headlines proclaiming that they do not belong to the “Trust.” As a matter of fact the _Sociedad_ is an ordinary limited liability company, well managed, and paying a good dividend, and partaking in no respect of the evils of the Trust system.

LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC GROUP

=Canalejas.=--Was a Republican, but maintained his independence, although adhering to Sagasta’s party, by proclaiming himself chief of a group of progressive Liberals with Republican sympathies. The main plank in his programme has always been a direct attack upon the Church and Religious Orders. His policy is supported by the _Diario Universal_, but it has a small sale and is hardly known by working men outside of Madrid.

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY

The three most distinguished men in this party--=Melquiades Alvarez=, =Blasco Ibañez= and =Rodrigo Soriano=,--are all celebrated for their literary and oratorical gifts, and enjoy the respect and confidence of the veteran Liberal leaders, Moret and Montero Rios. Their policy may be described as Republican in idea, but democratically Monarchical in practice, and their demands for vigorous measures of reform have materially strengthened the hands of the Liberal-Monarchists.

The organ of this party is _El Pais_, which, although its sale is very much smaller, has the largest circulation among the working classes after _El Liberal_. The paper, as might be expected from the literary renown of the leaders who direct it, is extremely well written, the staff including some of the most highly educated Progressives in Spain. It is possible, however, that the standard of intellectuality maintained in its leading articles militates against its success with the people. The numerical strength of the Republicans is small. Thus, the circulation of _El Pais_ being comparatively limited, the Reactionists are not nearly so much afraid of its influence on the country as of that of _El Liberal_, and indeed seem to treat it almost with indifference. It is sold at the same price as the papers of the _Sociedad Editorial_.

THE SOCIALIST PARTY

=Lerroux, Pablo Iglesias, Nakens.=--The Socialists in Spain have a very small following, and that confined to a few of the industrial cities, chiefly in the north. They formed a coalition with the Republicans to secure the rout of the Clericalists at the Municipal Elections of 1909, but the party is disunited, Iglesias and Lerroux seldom coming into line with each other, while neither of them goes so far as Nakens, editor of the Socialist organ _El Motin_ and a violent revolutionary. _El Motin_ has a very small circulation, and the programme of the Socialists has no serious influence in Spanish politics.

The Separatist, Regionalist, and other groups of Catalans exist solely for the political purposes of that province, and play no part in the programme of either of the national parties.

The so-called Anarchist party, of which so much has been heard abroad, is practically non-existent. Their sporadic publications have no genuine circulation and seldom live for over a month.[30]

THE REACTIONARY, CLERICALIST, OR ULTRAMONTANE PARTY

The leader of this party, =Maura=--for many years a Liberal and the intimate friend of Moret--adopted Conservative principles under Silvela, and on his death was chosen to be leader of the Conservative party. His Liberal proclivities at first influenced him in the direction of reform, and gave him a strong and united following among the true Conservatives. But as time passed he developed so much religious fervour that he has now become recognised as the protagonist of the Religious Orders and the hope of the Church in the rapidly approaching final struggle with the State. Down to July, 1909, Maura was able to hold the Conservative party together, notwithstanding the marked development of reaction in his policy. But after the events at Barcelona the Conservatives proper withdrew their support on his programme of repression, and since his Cabinet fell in October of that year, he has been universally regarded more as the tool of the Ultramontanes than the leader of the Conservative party.

The organ of Maura is _La Epoca_. It is sold in Madrid at 10 cmes., but is never seen on the bookstalls at any distance from the capital, and can only be obtained in provincial towns by paying three months’ subscription to the Madrid office in advance. Its circulation is exclusively confined to the Clericalist aristocracy and plutocracy, by whom it is subsidised.

THE CARLIST, JAIMIST, OR TRADITIONALIST PARTY

This party, which numbers many of the richest men in Spain among its adherents, besides all the Religious Orders, with their enormous wealth and influence, is directed from the Castle of Frohsdorf by =Don Jaime, Duke of Madrid=, through persons whom he appoints in every province of Spain. The name brought most frequently before the public in connection with the party, after the Pretender’s own, is that of =Llorens=, whose work in the Melilla campaign is referred to in Chapter VII. The Pretender has a complete organisation all over Spain, with _Caciques_ in a large number of provincial towns and villages, and is supported by numerous religious associations, clubs, colleges, &c., of a confessedly militant character, but confined to the upper classes.

The leading organs of the Carlists are the _Correo Español_ and the _Correo Catalan_, with offices in Madrid, Paris, and Barcelona; but practically all the reactionary Press supports the claims of the Pretender more or less openly. The Carlist papers have no sale among the working classes, and can only be obtained outside of Madrid (like _La Epoca_) by paying three months’ subscriptions in advance.

* * * * *

Among military politicians much in the public eye may be mentioned Generals =Luque=, =Weyler=, and =Lopez Dominguez=, all on the Liberal side, and all strong men, in whom the people feel confidence. =Aguilera=, twice Alcalde of Madrid under Moret, who has been referred to in Chapter XIII., is highly popular with the poor of Madrid, owing to his consistent kindness to the children, whom he takes under his special protection.

Count =Romanones=, who engineered the crisis of February, 1910, is credited by the working classes with having large interests in the mines of Beni-bu-Ifrur, and with having schemed to bring about the war in Morocco, in order to put money into his own pockets. This impression, whether well or ill founded, is sufficient to make him cordially hated by them. He is credited with aspiring to the leadership of the Liberal party, but it is hardly probable that his following would prove strong enough to give him that position.

=La Cierva=, Minister of the Interior in Maura’s Cabinet, obtained an unenviable reputation in 1909, through his share in administering Maura’s policy of repression. Since his leader went out of office La Cierva’s name has hardly been mentioned among the working classes.

THE CONSERVATIVE-MONARCHIST PARTY

=Dato=, =Sanchez Toca=, and _Gonzalez Besada_ are the three leading dissentients from Maura’s policy of reaction, and now stand for the old Conservative-Monarchical programme of peace and conciliation without sensational reforms. Their organ is the _Correspondencia de España_, an eight-paged paper, well printed and got up, containing the fullest military intelligence and the best foreign news to be found in the Spanish Press. It has a far larger circulation than any other Conservative or Clericalist paper, and is to be seen on most of the kiosks in large towns. If it were not believed by the people to be subsidised by the party opposed to electoral and social reforms, its influence in the country would doubtless be considerably stronger than it is. At present the working classes do not read it, although no other paper gives nearly as much matter for the price, which is 5 cmes.

INDEX

Aguilera, Señor, 240

_Alcalde_, the, 265 note

Alfonso XII., 112

Alfonso XIII., 122-4, 182, 318

All Souls’ Day, observation of, 46; scandal connected with Masses on, 84-6

_Ayuntamiento_, the, 265 note; 274

Baptism, 47

Barcelona, effect of riots, 17; refugees from, 90, 92; Carlist activities in, 134 ff.; stories of riots, 165-6; bombs in, theory of, 181 ff

_Beatas_, 21

“Bull of the Crusade,” 64

Bullfight, the, 307 ff

Burial, 48, 50-1

_Cacique_,the 230-3

Canalejas, Señor, 243-6, 317-9

Carlists, alleged plots of, 167, 176; army, 155-6; party, 321

“Catholic Associations,” 163

Church, attitude towards people, 31-2; illegal disposal of property, 80 ff; unique position of,in Spain, 304

Civil Guard, the, 175, 218 ff

Clergy, children of, 79-80, 106-7; arming and drilling of, 161, 164

Clerical Press, the, 28, 169, 235, 320-1

Confessional, the, 43, 73 ff

Conscription, consolidates Monarchy, 111; conditions of exemption, 209; proposals for alteration, 210

Conservatives, the, 251, 256, 322

_Consumo_, the, 15, 288

_Contribucion industrial_, 286

Convent schools, 275

_Correo Catalan_, the, 151, 172, 243, 321

_Correo Español_, the, 163, 321

_Correspondencia de España_, the, 254, 322

Crossing, modes of, 65-7

Cuban War, stories of, 200-3

Customs’ duties, 285

Demonstrations, clerical, 191-4

“ popular, 174

Education, desire for, 15, 33

_Ejercito Español_, the, 152, 238

Electoral system, 229-33

Employers and employed, relations of, 23 ff

England, misunderstanding of Spanish politics in, 227, 257; hopes of people from, 277, 318; admiration of, in Spain, 309

Ferrer, 147-9, 170, 325

Gasset, Señor, 236, 317 Governments, distrusted by working classes, 30

_Heraldo de Madrid_, the, 187, 229 note, 257, 270, 318

Honesty, 62

Hume, Major Martin, quoted, 133, 228

Illiteracy, 263, 271

Images, belief in, 52-3, 55-8

_Imparcial_, the, 114, 318

Irrigation scheme, 237

Jaime, Don, of Bourbon, 117, 153-4, 166, 170

Lay schools, the, 169; clerical campaign against, 190-1, 193

_Liberal_, the, 35, 172, 294, 317

Llorens, Señor, 152-3, 163, 321

Lottery, national, 298

Luque, General, 238

Madrid, attitude of, towards the South, 26-8

Marriage among working classes, 48-9

Matches, monopoly of, 292

Maura, Señor, 35, 115, 137-8, 144, 150, 203, 234, 245, 251-3, 256, 280, 320

Melquiades Alvarez, Señor, 259, 317, 319

Monopolies, Government, 291-2

Montero Rios, Señor, 242, 317

Moret, Señor, 137, 173, 228, 234, 237, 239, 241-3, 253, 258, 317

Morocco, war in, 200 ff

Morral, 144, 148

Moslems, mixed with Spaniards, 28-9; traditional feeling against, 207

Municipal elections, 1909, 237

_Nuevo Mundo_, the, 7

_Pais_, the, 171, 223, 319

Paz, Infanta Doña, 207

Penitential dress, 64

Penitents, 53

Police, various bodies of, 215 ff

Politics, difficulties of understanding, 228

Popular songs, 142-3

Postal service, 298

Prayers quoted, 67-8

Primo de Rivera, General, 203

Public instruction, system of, 264 ff

Purgatory, popular view of, 44

Queen, the, animus of clergy against, 120; feeling of working people towards, 121-2, 128; courage shown by, 182

Queen-Mother, the, 113, 115

Religious Orders, the, change of people’s attitude towards, 17; positions in Spain illegal, 90; relations to working classes, 93; underselling of workpeople by, 94-5, 105; people ruined by, 97-102; refusal to help at time of distress, 102; evasion of taxation by, 295; measures adopted by Government, 317-8

Republicans, the, 239, 258-60, 317, 319

Reservists, supposed protest against calling out of, 204

Romanones, Count, 240, 322

Royal Family, suppression of news about, during the Maura _régime_, 116, 123-6

Sanchez Toca, Señor, 254

School supply, facts about, 270

_Serenos_, the, 217

Socialists, the, 237

_Sociedad editorial_, the, 139, 171-2, 317

Squilache, Marquesa de, 116-7

Sugar monopoly, 291

Taxation, evasions of, 294

Tobacco monopoly, 291

Tradition, influence of, 16, 145

Truth-telling, 61

Universities, the, 268

Upper classes, general character of, 32; religion of, 40

_Vigilancia_, the, 217

War Fund, initiated by the Queen, 117 ff, 127; contributions of workpeople to, 119

Working classes, general character of, 14, 30; what they read, 34; religion of, 39 ff

Zaragoza, explosion of bombs at, 188

The Gresham Press UNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED WOKING AND LONDON

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The last edict of expulsion was issued in 1712.

[2] Isabella the Catholic made an order for the expulsion of the unconverted “Moors” in 1501, but a very large number of them, whether nominally Christian or not, remained until driven out by Philip III. After the massacres commanded by Philip II. in Granada, the Moriscos who were expelled from that kingdom did not apparently leave Spain, for two years later an edict was issued for their registration.

[3] What Lecky says about the seventh and following centuries might be applied to the religion of the upper classes in Spain to-day: “It is no exaggeration to say that to give money to the priests was for several centuries the first article of the moral code” (“History of European Morals,” ii. 216).

[4] I know several cases of lads of fourteen or fifteen who return after working from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the fields, to sit over their A B C and pot-hooks until they can keep their eyes open no longer, while the rest of the family look on and encourage the student.

[5] One of the various local terms for what the guide-books call _olla podrida_--a universal dish in Spain.

[6] Lecky, “History of European Morals,” ii. 213.

[7] Sweet cakes and _patisserie_, the foundation of which is generally finely grated stale bread.

[8] Two favourite sweetmeats.

[9] From the Basque _ama_, a mother; applied to the head servant in the house of a priest or other man living alone.

[10] Hume, “Modern Spain,” p. 550.

[11] It is said--although I repeat the statement with all reserve--that there are “parish” doctors employed by the Municipality of Madrid who refuse to prescribe for a dying child unless the mother can show her marriage certificate.

[12] “Modern Spain,” p. 563.

[13] It was stated as a fact that nineteen men in one regiment had been shot for refusing to go into action, and an Ultramontane of my acquaintance, who never reads anything but the newspapers of his own party and never travels ten miles from his own village, solemnly assured me that the tale was true!

[14] I was told at the time that many people in Madrid thought the bomb was thrown on behalf of the Pretender.

[15] The names of the monastery and of all the people concerned were given me, but I refrain for obvious reasons from publishing them.

[16] It is said that the Association of Social Defence promises its working men members a retaining fee of 3 pesetas a day should political exigencies compel them to leave their work at any time, the average labourer’s wages all over the country being from 1.50 to 2 pesetas. It has not been possible to obtain trustworthy information, either as to terms of membership or the actual numbers who have joined the league during the last twelve months, but there is evidence that it has no influence among the working classes generally.

[17] I have been told by an English friend that a Spanish acquaintance of his has, to his knowledge, lately made a substantial sum by selling arms to the Religious Orders.

[18] Most of them had been re-opened after Moret took office in October, 1909, as already mentioned.

[19] This story evidently relates to the early days of the Cuban war.

[20] This is not the only statement of the kind that I have heard.

[21] “Modern Spain,” p. 531.

[22] So clearly is this recognised on all sides, and so impossible does political honesty on the part of the rich appear to Spaniards, that the _Heraldo_, the leading moderate-Liberal paper, in the course of its comments on the rejection by the English House of Lords of the Budget of 1909, said that if the Lords permitted the people to vote as they pleased, this action on their part would have been justifiable, but that naturally they would take the usual means to secure the suffrages of those over whom they had control, and with the immense wealth at their command would easily influence the elections in the direction they desired.

[23] In Spain not only every city, but every town and nearly every village, has its _Ayuntamiento_, more or less equivalent to our town or village Council, and its Alcalde, who has a good deal more power than the Mayor of a Corporation.

[24] The peseta is the same as the franc.

[25] The sums set down in the schedules are less than those named. The tax has been increased at different times, and the additions amount in all to about 66 per cent.

[26] The Spanish dollar, value five pesetas, and counted by the poor as twenty reals.

[27] The cuarto was a little over two centimes.

[28] “History of European Morals,” Chap. IV.

[29] In a decaying town of some 15,000 inhabitants, once wealthy and prosperous, two large new buildings have been erected during the last half-century, while on all sides dwelling-houses, great and small, are falling into ruin. These are the Jesuit College and the bullring; and the people say that the one is the parent of the other.

[30] For a full account of the political parties in Spain see “The Backwardness of Spain,” by John Chamberlain. The author has an exhaustive knowledge of the country, and of many phases of society in Spain, but in my opinion he has not informed himself of the mind of the provincial and rural population. This class, if only from their numbers, cannot fail to exercise a strong influence over politics, when once they obtain the right to vote which the Constitution gives them.