Spain from Within

by Rafael Shaw

It is not surprising, therefore, that doubts are now expressed whether a good many of the alleged bombs may not have been as fictitious as this last. The persons who let them off, or were supposed to have let them off, in order to maintain unrest in Barcelona, could certainly have provided means to deceive the Press, as in the attempt upon the Heraldo, frustrated by the prompt action of the Civil Governor.

Two or three bombs, if they can be given so imposing a name, were exploded in Zaragoza in December, 1909, under the conditions which had become so familiar to Barcelona under the Maura regime. They were made of bits of old iron, mixed with some mild form of explosive and placed in a meat tin, the whole being wrapped in a black cotton material, said to be of the same make as that found on remains of bombs at Barcelona. The tin cans on these occasions were placed in or near the porch of a convent church, and no harm was done beyond some slight damage to the plaster on the walls. The progressive Press, freed from censorship, expressed the conviction that this affair was the work of the monks, desirous of raising disturbances in Zaragoza because they were now powerless to do so in Barcelona, with the result that the public remained entirely indifferent to the incident. One cannot but hope, therefore, that that may have been the expiring effort of the bomb-throwers, whatever their real purpose was and whoever their employers may have been.

I should like, before closing this branch of my subject, to point out once more the wide differences that exist between the methods, objects, and results of the Barcelona and Zaragoza bomb outrages and those of similar attempts elsewhere on the Continent. The murderous anarchist makes a direct attack on the personage whose death he believes to be necessary to the furtherance of his political creed, and when he lets off a bomb he takes care that it shall do as much damage as possible, regardless of risk to himself. Abhorrent though the creed of the militant anarchist is, he has at least the courage of his convictions, since he so frequently pays the penalty of his act with his life. The wretch who tried to murder the King and Queen of Spain on their wedding-day was the tool of some one working on the usual anarchist lines, and his crime bore no resemblance in detail to the work of the mysterious party interested in terrorising, without injuring, the inhabitants of Barcelona.

A volume of school statistics published in November, 1909, to which further reference is made in another chapter, shows that there are in Spain 91 protestant and 107 lay schools, 43 of which are in Barcelona. On the other hand, there are 5,000 private Catholic schools, in addition to some 25,000 Government schools, in which the rudiments of the Catholic religion are supposed to be taught. These few Protestant and lay schools are the subject of furious and unceasing abuse from the Clericalist party and Press, who make every effort to traduce and vilify them. It would not be edifying, nor is it necessary, to cull specimens of their flowers of invective: the language in which the odium theologicum is habitually expressed is tolerably well known. The schools in Barcelona, many of which were established by Ferrer, who devoted his fortune to the work of education, are the special subject of clerical hostility, and there is no doubt that they cost him his life. As far as can be learnt about these schools the teaching given in them contains absolutely nothing of the socialistic or anarchistic or other doctrines subversive of society of which their enemies so freely accuse them. They are more or less hostile to the form of religion taught by the Church in Spain, which is the chief reason for the venom with which they are attacked; but setting this on one side, there is, I am credibly informed, nothing either in the text-books used or the teaching given to which objection need be taken.

Nevertheless the Clericalist campaign against these schools is carried on without intermission, and at the end of February, 1910, about the time that Moret fell, unusual efforts were made against them. Thus in Valencia several thousands of priests and friars, ladies of the aristocracy, and members of the militant religious associations filled the great open-air theatre of Jai-Alai: a telegram giving the Papal benediction to the objects of the meeting was read, and cheers for the Pretender were raised at intervals during the afternoon. The reactionary papers asserted that twenty thousand people were present on this occasion, and although this was doubtless an exaggeration, no one attempted to deny that a very large number attended.

The number of public bodies and associations said to have sent letters and telegrams of adherence to the objects of the meeting would be alarming to any one unacquainted with the arithmetical methods employed on these occasions in Spain. The grand total was given at 280,000, “composed of 100 newspapers, 83 town councils, 135 mayors, 429 clubs, 1,714 congregations, and 272 parishes.” But no names of these parishes and congregations were given, and verification of the figures is impossible. It was also said that “9,000” ladies who had been present at the meeting subsequently left their cards on the Civil Governor.

Admission to the meeting was by ticket, and there were not wanting working men who declared that whole villages had been coerced into attending by the action of their priests and their caciques, but I give this for what it is worth. It is, however, safe to say that the great majority of those present were priests and friars, and members of the upper classes. Only one speech by a working man was mentioned in the long report published in the Correo Español, although the Clericalist papers always give prominence to the smallest indication of sympathy with their cause on the part of the people.

The really serious feature in the affair was the Papal benediction of the speakers and the audience. There is nothing in the Constitution to forbid the existence of the lay schools, to protest against which the meeting was held. Thus the Pope, by his benediction, set the seal of his approval upon an effort to subvert, in this respect, the Constitution of the country. But, further, the introduction by the speakers of the name of the Pretender and the reception given to references to him turned the whole affair into a frankly seditious gathering. The Pope’s support of the meeting was the more significant because his official reception of Don Jaime at the Vatican had been reported by the Spanish and foreign Press a few days before.

The Valencia meeting was followed by others in many of the large towns, and about this time Count Romanones, in his capacity of Minister of Education, closed a lay school[18] on the pretext that it was insanitary, but this only irritated the Liberals without conciliating the Church party, and Romanones hastily declared that the school would be re-opened as soon as certain structural alterations had been made.

On February 27th a Clericalist meeting was held at Bilbao, at which, notwithstanding the efforts of the police and Civil Guards, serious disturbances occurred. The circulars inviting people to the meeting were so inflammatory in tone that the Civil Governor found it necessary to suppress some of them. The following extracts from one of these will give an idea of the kind of language employed.