The first days of the year saw the opening of an electoral campaign of a kind entirely novel in Spanish history. By a decree of January 4 the electors of the kingdom were summoned for March 4 to choose the members of the Cortes; the renewal of the Senate was fixed for a slightly later date, in conformity with a precedent dating from the period of the Sagasta Ministry. The various parties had thus two whole months for their propaganda; not too much, considering their strange complication on entering the contest. The old historic parties were irremediably broken up. The former Liberal group was divided into Romanonists and Prietists, who were violently hostile to each other; the Conservative adherents of the Prime Minister were treated by Señor Maura's supporters as renegades, and, with their leader, were advancing by imperceptible stages towards a broad conception of social progress which was destined to win them the sympathy of the King and eventually the Romanonists' support. Señor Dato did not entirely give up the advantages traditionally possessed by Spanish Ministries, but he did not desire to abuse them, and he bid for support for his cause by showing fair play, inasmuch as he allowed his opponents full freedom of speech, of the Press, and of public meeting, so far as was compatible with the preservation of order, and met them, not with prosecutions and arbitrary interferences, but with arguments and projects of reform. As a security that this judicious policy would be continued, he was bold enough to cut short the constant advance towards decentralisation, which had been retarded for years by Parliamentary trickery, by procuring the issue of a Royal decree authorising mancomunidades or combinations of local authorities for public purposes (A.R., 1912, p. 372). That the time was ripe for this reform was proved by the fact that the provinces forming the ancient Kingdom of Castile immediately combined for poor-relief and public works; their example was followed by Valencia and Catalonia. This step visibly discomfited the Opposition. The Carlists and Maurists even accused the Government of stealing other people's plans. The King loyally supported its efforts to combine order with freedom. A few brief periods of temporary difficulty were easily surmounted. The railway strike in Portugal in the middle of January occasioned a careful watch of the whole Western frontier; and through this vigilance the movement was prevented from spreading to Spain. Colonel Labrador, a Protestant, had been condemned by court martial to six months' detention in a fortress for having refused to attend a Mass of the Holy Spirit; the King pardoned him. The increasing popularity of the Ministry exasperated the Opposition to such a degree that it led them into a blunder. They decided to organise a great electoral demonstration at the very heart of the region where their leader had most influence. Don Ossorio Gallardo, who when Governor of Barcelona had mercilessly suppressed the rising of 1909, went there to preside at a great Conservative meeting and banquet. As he was proceeding to the place of meeting at the head of a very demonstrative procession, he was attacked by a band of counter-demonstrators; revolvers were fired, and one of the organisers of his campaign who was beside him was wounded. The Acting-Governor, Señor Andrade, tendered him his condolence; he refused it, and exhibited his irritation even more decidedly by declaring in public that the government of the province had been put up to auction and had gone to the least deserving bidder. These denunciations the Liberal Conservatives and their allies decided to disregard, and these tactics were successful. Order was gradually restored at Barcelona. It was disturbed at Valencia by causes which were not political but social. A general strike was set up (Feb. 25) by a fresh increase of the municipal taxes; as a precaution, all the shops, warehouses, and offices were closed; the troops had to intervene forcibly to restore order.
The result of the general election of the Chamber was considered as a victory not only for the Ministry, but also for the King. He had made himself the mediator between the parties, and it was his delight to enter into relations with all the more important personages of the Kingdom either at the great open receptions at the Royal Palace, or in private interviews, which he granted freely. According to the official figures, of the 404 members elected 356 were Liberals, Liberal Conservatives, or "Reformist" Republicans, the last named having practically come to support, not perhaps the monarchy, but at any rate the monarch. The Ministerial organs, and even the Romanonist, exulted in the success; but the figures were disputed by the Opposition, and eventually the divisions following the more important debates in the Cortes showed that the seats won by the Carlists (or rather Jaïmists), by the Ultramontanes or Integrists, and by the Maurists on the Extreme Right and the Republicans and Socialists on the Extreme Left might be estimated at a third of the total. The elections to the Senate had been completed on April 22. The results were: Conservatives ninety-two, Liberals fifty-one, Catholics ten, of whom eight were prelates, Regionalists six, Republicans seven, Integrists and Jaïmists two each. The session formally opened on April 2, when the newly elected deputies and Senators attended to hear the Royal Speech. But the Chamber adjourned almost immediately for Easter, and then proceeded leisurely to examine whether its members were duly elected; it was not definitively constituted until April 28. Señor Besada was elected President without a dissentient vote, and it was not till May 5 that the debate on the Address was begun. This policy of gaining time seemed to have quieted the Maurist ardour for attack. In the Senate three days sufficed for the debate; the Address was passed by 145 to 71. A much longer time was required in the Chamber; the Ministerial text was passed by 184 to 90 on June 18. But several debates on other subjects had taken place meantime, and had resulted in disorder. That on the interpellation on Morocco introduced by Don Gabriel Maura, son of the ex-Premier, had been especially uproarious, and had led to encounters in the lobbies between deputies and journalists, and to street fights, with bloodshed, between the supporters of the different parties, which compelled the police to take vigorous measures to restore order. Meanwhile a shipping strike was met by the owners with a lock-out, and they refused the arbitration offered by the Government. The strike lasted more than a fortnight, but ended on June 22, without the strikers' demands being satisfied. During this time the Government introduced a naval programme into the Chamber, in the shape of a Bill providing for an annual grant for nine years of 36,000,000 pesetas (1,440,000l.) for the construction of two battleships, two fast cruisers, and a number of submarines; it also secured the passing of a Treaty of Commerce with Italy.
The end of the session was comparatively calm. The Chamber adopted the Treaty of Commerce already voted by the Senate, and the Republicans, by proposing a lengthy series of amendments, prevented the discussion of the naval scheme. As soon as the only measures remaining to be considered were not purely political, the two Chambers were overcome by fatigue. But interesting questions were raised nevertheless. Thus Don Rogelio de Madariaga proposed that a Commission of experts should be appointed to study the question of reducing the gauge of the railways of the Kingdom so as to make it uniform with that of Central and Western Europe. The change became imperative in view of the impending connexion of the French system with the lines of Northern Spain by two new railways through the Pyrenees. The matter was postponed, and the Cortes separated for the recess, first, however, passing (July 9) a slight modification in the concession for the Morocco railway from Tangier to Fez in respect of the part traversing the Spanish zone.
During the recess, the question arose of the attitude to be observed by Spain in the war in Europe. This gave rise to active discussion. The geographical position of the kingdom assured it great advantages, whatever side it might take, unless indeed it should become engaged in a war with France. On July 30 Señor Dato emphatically contradicted a statement to the effect that Spain had undertaken to send an army to relieve the French expeditionary corps in Morocco, and declared that Spain was not bound to any Power whatever by either an offensive or a defensive alliance. As the various declarations of war were issued, the Government intimated its intention to remain neutral, and its behaviour up to the close of the year was in accordance with this decision. The Liberals and Republicans set up an active agitation in favour of Spanish support for the Triple Entente; but the great mass of the priesthood, the Carlists, and a section of the Maurists, demanded a benevolent neutrality towards Germany and Austria-Hungary. The King observed strict impartiality; but he combined the attitude of reserve taken up by him as monarch with a chivalrous recognition of the help given to Spain on various occasions by France. The diplomatic representatives of Spain in Germany and Austria-Hungary were instructed to undertake the protection of French subjects and interests in those countries, and fulfilled their mission with conspicuous dignity. In Spain itself economic measures had to be taken; at the beginning of August a moratorium was established by decree, and the export of cereals and cattle for slaughter prohibited. The censorship was not revived, but the President of the Press Association and the editors-in-chief of the Madrid newspapers were summoned to the Ministry of the Interior, and Don Sanchez Guerra explained to them very clearly the conditions on which the Government would allow the system of freedom for the Press to continue. It was forbidden to cause assemblages or demonstrations by announcing news through the medium of illuminated notices; to circulate false news relating to the events of the war or to diplomatic action; and to insert articles insulting to any of the belligerent Powers. At the same time an active supervision was exercised over the agencies established in Spain to support the interests of Germany, and it disclosed strange manœuvres, both at Barcelona and on the Atlantic coasts. Thus wireless stations were discovered, surreptitiously established in monasteries; they were suppressed, but people were not so optimistic as to hope that there were no others. From the middle of September, and especially after the bombardment of Reims, Spanish opinion gradually turned to open support of the Allies; but the Government remained faithful to its original determination, and the Minister of Public Instruction, Señor Bellarmin, who had gone beyond the reserve imposed on him by his office, was obliged to resign. On October 2 a decree was issued summoning the Cortes for the autumn session, which was a very busy one. The business was, in fact, the Budget of 1915, which had not been dealt with in the spring, being crowded out by the debates on Morocco. The Opposition made some attempts at obstruction, but in vain. Count Romanones loyally and effectively supported the Ministers in limiting the debates on political and diplomatic questions to a few sittings each week, so as to devote the rest of the time to the Finance Bill. The method was straightforward and its effects were happy. The Chamber and Senate approved the Ministerial declaration of neutrality, and took note of Señor Dato's promise to consult them if the course of events should necessitate exceptional measures. Meanwhile, Spain performed her duties with courtesy, and reminded her foreign guests, when necessary, of the respect due to her laws. The German Consul-General at Barcelona had the presumption to demand the prohibition in that city of the sale of all French newspapers whatever, on the pretext that they contained insults to the Emperor and the German Army; he was met with a categorical refusal. On November 15 the Chamber discussed the shooting of Spanish subjects at Liège by the Emperor's troops. The Marquis of Lerna replied for the Government that explanations had been demanded at Berlin, and that an inquiry had been promised by the Secretary of State. In the same sitting the Minister informed the Chamber that France no longer proposed to claim for her members the maintenance of the rights and privileges resulting from the capitulations in Morocco, on condition that they should be treated by the Courts on a footing of equality with subjects of Spain. Two days later the Chamber approved the proposed amnesty for political offenders, in spite of the opposition of the Right. The Maurists did not relax their hostility, but their agitation in no way helped their cause, nor that of their Germanophil allies. A Jesuit, Father Ricardos, great-grandson of the General who invaded Roussillon in 1793, undertook, in a sermon at Alicante, to defend the German Armies; he was hooted by his hearers and compelled to leave the pulpit. A newspaper started by the Hamburger Nachrichten to carry on the pro-German propaganda in Spain insulted the ex-Empress of the French; it was seized by the Spanish police and suppressed. King Alphonso XIII saw his popularity and prestige increasing daily; the Republicans themselves paid homage to his loyalty to the country and his patriotism. When the session of the Cortes closed on December 1, the political and economic situation of Spain was more satisfactory than it had been for a long time past. The rate of exchange had undergone a remarkable improvement; still, great circumspection was necessary, and the Government appealed to the Spanish capitalists who had subscribed for the Treasury Bonds, of which 250,000,000 pesetas were repayable at the end of December, urging them not to require repayment, in order that there should be no interruption in the public works undertaken to relieve unemployment.
V. PORTUGAL.
The complicated mechanism of the Republican Constitution of Portugal could only have worked regularly if a small number of parties, well organised and under strict discipline, had secured the support of the immense majority of the electorate for simple programmes, leaving the form of Government entirely outside discussion. But things did not stand thus. The Monarchists remained irreconcilable and active; the rural classes, whose ignorance was extreme, cared little about the Republic; in the great towns the syndicalist propaganda threatened even the first principles of social order; the middle-class political parties were hardly more than coteries, whose leaders struggled amid personal intrigues. Some excellent people felt anxiety at this condition of affairs, and strove to form homogeneous parties; their efforts were paralysed by the bad habits which were a legacy from traditions that were already ancient. Thus, when on January 5 the session opened, there was reason to apprehend grave complications. However, Señor Affonso Costa, the Prime Minister, made the best of a bad situation. He announced extensive schemes; a Bill forbidding members of the Cortes to hold their seats together with certain offices; reforms in the Budget, securing a surplus of 3,400 contos or 17,000,000 francs (680,000l.), of which 2,400 contos would be spent on national defence. But the majority of the Senate declared itself opposed to him, and on January 10 the Evolutionist Senator Joâo de Freïtas addressed an interpellation to the Prime Minister on a personal question, charging him with having placed his influence as a Minister at the service of clients who consulted him as a barrister. The Minister refused to reply to a calumny. His supporters opposed the nomination of a Committee of Inquiry, and left the House. Other incidents became associated with this scandal; grave Senators sent one another challenges, and for three days a tumult hitherto unheard of converted the Senate Chamber into the semblance of a revolutionary club let loose. Along with this disturbance in the Senate there was a serious strike among the men employed by the Portuguese Railways Company. Seven thousand men left work on a question of pensions. They demanded that the age limit of sixty should be lowered to fifty. Every railway service to Spain was disorganised. The movement rapidly took on a revolutionary aspect. Trains and engines were taken into Spain, and the staff refused to bring them back into Portugal. The Government had the stations occupied by troops; it protected the works of art and, after a week of vigilant efforts and of negotiations, induced the men to resume work (Jan. 21). But it was constantly harassed by the Senate, and the Prime Minister refused to appear in that body until satisfaction had been rendered for the insult offered him. He was supported by the Chamber. The Senate then appealed to the President of the Republic to intervene, by asking him, as guardian of the Republic, to invite his Ministers to observe its orders. The President declared that the settlement of this difficulty lay with the legislative power. The two Chambers met in a joint sitting to vote the adjournment of the session. The Ministerialists proposed a vote of confidence, which was adopted by 114 to 93. The Opposition Senators and deputies then withdrew, and by their withdrawal precluded the regular passage of the other measures before the House. The Ministry found its course hopelessly blocked. It resigned (Jan. 24).
The two Chambers were in conflict. The Democratic Left had the majority in the Lower House; the Unionist and Evolutionist groups of the Opposition in the Senate. Each group, by leaving the House, prevented the other from having a quorum and taking a valid division. The President of the Republic made lavish efforts at conciliation. He selected as Prime Minister Senhor Bernardino Machado, who had come back from Brazil; on February 8 a Ministry was formed, on the 9th it presented itself to the President of the Republic, and on the day following to the Cortes. Its programme comprised an amnesty for political offences, pardons, sufficiently wide in their range, for other convicted persons, the revision of the law separating Church and State, impartiality in electoral contests, and abatement of party strife. As a security that these pacific declarations would be carried out, the new Ministry met the wishes of the Senate on a subject which had brought that body into conflict with the preceding Cabinet, viz. the right of exercising a check on the appointment of Colonial Governors; in return, it obtained from the Senate the passing of a Bill re-establishing the Lisbon Labour Exchange, and, after some days of delicate negotiation, it induced both Houses to vote the proposed amnesty (Feb. 23). The day following, the railwaymen again went on strike, and for some days there was reason to expect disturbances of the gravest kind. The crisis, however, was terminated without resort to force; and, for some months, the Ministry followed a prudent policy of conciliation which diminished the violence of controversy and kept matters going till June. But this temporising method was violently attacked, especially by the Democrats. Senhor Machado decided that the time had come to obtain a new confirmation of his power. On June 20 he resigned, and, when re-appointed by the President of the Republic, he formed an entirely non-party Ministry, to proceed with complete impartiality to new elections; and it secured the passing of the Budget. The election campaign was marked by considerable disturbance, and was abruptly interrupted by the declaration of war by Great Britain on Germany. Portugal found herself involved in the conflict, and was obliged to repel German attacks on Angola. The elections were postponed; the Cortes were summoned for August 7, and were requested by the Government to empower it to take all the measures necessary to guarantee the maintenance of public order, to secure national defence, and to provide for the expenditure that would have to be undertaken in view of the international situation. The Chamber voted urgency and unanimously adopted the Bill laid before it; the day following, the Senate likewise passed the measure unanimously, and the Chambers were prorogued. It must be acknowledged that thenceforward the attitude of the Republican parties was perfectly correct. The Monarchists hesitated to follow their example, although King Manuel wrote on August 20 to his chief representative, Don Azevedo Coutinho, that he had personally placed himself at the disposal of King George V., and the Portuguese Monarchists must think first of their country and the defence of its sacred soil. In the course of October a few irreconcilables attempted a rising, which was a miserable failure; its only consequence was to cause the chief of their party, Don Joâo de Azevedo Coutinho, to write to the President of the Republic demanding permission to serve in the Army should Portugal take part in the European War. His goodwill was not put to the test. The Government contented itself with sending reinforcements to Angola; it suppressed without difficulty a disturbance at Oporto caused by the high price of provisions; and on November 25 it convoked the Chambers in extraordinary session. They unanimously and promptly passed a resolution giving the Government full power to take part in the war in conformity with the national interests and obligations. This resolution differed from that adopted in August, inasmuch as at the earlier date the question had only been one of defensive measures, while this time participation was contemplated in the war in Europe. But Great Britain did not call on her ancient ally for assistance, and it was well she did not, the more so inasmuch as the Germanophil parties in Spain were carrying on an agitation for "Iberian Union," which distinctly involved a menace to the independence of Portugal.
The Machado Ministry did not long survive its triumph. At the beginning of December it decided that its mission was fulfilled, and that party politics again claimed their rights. It therefore resigned, and on December 11 a new Cabinet took office. The Prime Minister was Dom Victor-Hugo Azevedo Coutinho, President of the Chamber, who also took the Ministry of Marine; Dom Augusto Soares took that of Foreign Affairs, Colonel Cervera de Albuquerque that of War, and Dom Alexandro Braga that of the Interior. The Ministry was dominated by the influence of the Democrats and of Dom Affonso Costa, and was commended by the alliance with Great Britain, which was indicated as part of its policy by its organs in the Press. The Ministerial declaration (Dec. 14) contained three essential articles: (1) Defence of the Republican system of government; (2) execution of the measures determined on by the vote of November 23 regarding the war; (3) a general election as soon as possible. These elections were to take place in conformity with the method established by a decree of the Provisional Government, unless the Cortes preferred rapidly to pass a law sanctioning the schemes then before it. The Chamber approved these declarations, and passed a vote of confidence in the Government by 63 to 39. The Senate passed a vote of want of confidence by 27 to 26. Thus at the close of the year the Parliamentary situation was precisely what it had been at the opening; but, given the state of things in Portugal, it was much to have gained a year without a catastrophe or a sanguinary convulsion, for a system as frail as that of the young Republic. The fact that it had lived in spite of pessimistic predictions and hostile attacks afforded some assurance that it would last.