Since 1876, when the Roman Catholic Church was reestablished as the state religion of Spain, after a period of seven years of freedom of thought, of education, of burial, etc., the Liberals have been slowly regaining the liberties secured by the revolution of 1868. The church has made strenuous resistance and has pursued a reactionary policy which has finally aroused all the liberal and progressive forces. The state already provided that marriages between Roman Catholics must be recorded in the civil register in order to have legal validity, but the church contends that civil unions are valid only when they are performed according to canon law. The church has also arrayed itself against the municipal control of cemeteries, and demands that the custom of setting apart certain sections of such cemeteries for the burial of foreigners and non-Catholic Spaniards shall be discontinued. Now the Liberals, who are in power, have taken the bit in their teeth, so to speak. It is proposed to emancipate the schools from monastic teaching, and to require a state registration of all the monastic orders in Spain, of which there is a large and increasing number since the agitation began in France. In short the state will insist upon the absolute control of civil marriages, the municipal control of the cemeteries, and a strict regulation of the monastic orders.
In the meantime Gen. Dominguez will not give that dinner. One faction in the Cortes thought that some time should be devoted to a consideration of the budget, as well as to the separation act, and he was forced to resign. A new cabinet was formed which lasted just three days—including a Sunday—and resigned. The Marquis de Armijo has succeeded in forming another cabinet, with old Gen. Weyler, by the way, as minister of war, and he is endeavoring to go on—with what success remains to be seen.
Germany’s Isolation.
It is becoming very evident that the Triple Alliance, consisting of Italy, Germany and Austria, is becoming weaker every year. The feebleness with which Italy supported Germany’s pretentions in the Algeciras conference aroused the resentment of the Kaiser, who made it a point to telegraph his thanks to Austria for the part she took on that same occasion, thereby administering a silent rebuke to the kingdom beyond the Alps. This luke-warmness on the part of Italy is but one of many elements which go to establish the isolation of Germany among European powers. Prince von Buelow, the German chancellor, in an address at the opening of the Reichstag, did the best he could to convince the world that his imperial master had no sinister designs against anybody, but the powers still look upon the Kaiser with suspicion, and it is very apparent that he feels it keenly.
In the meantime France and England are drawing closer and closer together. The Anglo-Russian “understanding” is said to be very satisfactory at present. The rumor went that the basis of this understanding between the Czar and King Edward was that both governments should keep out of Tibet, that lower Persia should be given over to England as her sphere of influence, while Russia confined herself to the northern part, and finally that England should consent to the opening of the Dardanelles to the Russian Black Sea fleet. The last item discredits the whole program.
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The rumor runs that the Shah of Persia is practically dying and his son has been called to assume the regency. The Shah, before he was taken ill, granted a national parliament to his people, of which, however, little has been heard of late. What the policy of his son would be if he should succeed permanently to the throne is problematical, but behind the occupant of the Persian throne and the policy he may adopt, there is always the shadow of what is called, by acknowledged pre-eminence, “the Eastern question,” which will continue to exist until Russia can get some satisfactory port where her fleets will not be frozen up in winter and she may be free to sail the seas with her men-of-war and her merchant-men.
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The elections for the Russian duma have not yet been held, but the assembly is expected to convene by March 1. The government is improving the time disfranchising everybody who is likely to be hostile to the divine right of kings, is executing or exiling political prisoners, while the peasants are being systematically robbed of the relief sent to prevent them from starving during the prevailing famine.
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