The message to the King completed and the committee chosen for its delivery, Pi y Margall brought before the assembly of the Senate and House the following resolutions: "The National Assembly resumes all powers, and declares the Republic to be the form of government of the nation. An Executive shall be elected by the direct vote of the Assembly, and its members shall be removable by and responsible to the Cortes."

Ruiz Zorilla declared that the members of the late Government were now but simple Deputies; that the country was without a government, and that some provision should immediately be made for meeting the emergency. This speech brought out an autocratic display of temper on the part of the President of the Chamber, Rivero, who commanded the members of the late Government to return to the Blue Bench, an order which they unanimously refused to obey, and which drew forth from Martos, the late Minister of Foreign Affairs, the remark that the forms of tyranny had begun at the very moment the Monarchy ended. After a sort of funeral oration over the Democratic Monarchy from Ruiz Zorilla, who expressed his determination to retire from public life, and formal protests from a few Conservatives who denied the authority of the two Houses united or separately to discuss a resolution involving a change of government on the ground that it was in direct opposition to the Constitution, the Republic was voted by 258 votes to 32, and the following elected as members of the new Government Figueras, President; Castelar, Minister of State; Pi y Margall, of the Interior; Nicolas Salmeron, of the Department of Justice; Echegaray, of the Treasury; Cordova, of War; Beranger, of the Navy; Becerra, of Public Works; Francisco Salmeron, of the Colonies. The first four were Republicans and the rest Radicals. Cristino Martos was elected President of the Assembly against Rivero, who received only 20 votes.

Castelar's circular to the Spanish representatives abroad stated that the Republic was the necessary result of the Revolution of September, and that King Amadeo by his resignation had effected a noble and patriotic solution to a pending conflict, and had enabled the Cortes to give expression to the claims of public opinion by the establishment of the form of government desired by the nation. The change was, however, regarded with suspicion by the foreign powers, and the new Republic was recognised only by Switzerland and the United States, the latter country merely pursuing its usual policy of entering into official relations with any de facto government. The recognition of the Republic by the United States caused great satisfaction.

Foreign Reaction

The speech of General Sickles, the American Minister, was made the subject of a special report to the Cortes by Castelar, with an enthusiastic outburst. "This act," said the Minister of Foreign Affairs, "is an act of a truly religious character, and we ought to lift our minds and hearts to heaven to ask the God of Columbus and of Washington to bless our labour." 11 Now, more than ever," said President Figueras, " may we regard as dissipated the shadows and fears for the integrity of our territory which originated in a feeling of patriotism." This enthusiasm was somewhat chilled by the fact that the vote of congratulation to the Spaniards on account of the establishment of the Republic proposed in the House of Representatives of the United States was buried in the Committee on Foreign Affairs. The French Republic, which at first had seemed disposed to recognition, on finding that a ministerial crisis had occurred in the first week of the existence of the new Government, determined to await the meeting of the Constitutional Convention.

The hesitation of the European powers and their incredulity concerning the stability of the Republic was justified by the dissensions which began to appear between the Republicans and Radicals, and in the ranks of the Republicans themselves. A wide difference existed between conservative Republicans of the type of Castelar, and the irreconcilables who were in a fever of impatience to carry out their theories of government. One of the latter, Gonzalez Cherma, as early as February 19 inquired of the President whether the Government was ready to propose the reforms which the country expected. Figueras replied that these questions were to be resolved by the Constituent Cortes, and until the meeting of that body the Constitution of 1869 -- except the provision making the Monarchy the form of government - must continue to be in force. The Republicans did not even take the trouble to conceal their desire to eliminate the Radicals from any participation in the government, and to dissolve the Assembly in order to get rid of the large Radical majority. This excited alarm and irritation among the Radicals, whose experience of the efficiency of the Spanish system of election made them feel grave doubts as to their chances of re-election. The Republicans asserted that the Assembly was lacking in authority to accomplish anything, and that the uniting of the two Chambers into one Assembly infringed a number of articles of the existing Constitution.

The intrigues of the advanced section of the Republican party began to excite uneasiness in the capital. The citizens of Madrid, who distrusted the power of the Government to prevent disorder, began to take measures for their own security; and the Government regarded it as necessary to occupy the neighbourhood of the House of Deputies with civil guards. The Volunteers of the Republic, who favoured the views of the Republicans and were opposed to the Radicals, decided to bring the question to a settlement by force.

On February 24 they occupied the city in such numbers that the regular militia and the civil guards, who were charged with protecting the Chamber, would have been unable to resist them. The Radicals saw at once that the game was lost. As a matter of form, Figueras presented the resignation of the Cabinet to the Assembly. Martos, President of the Chamber, and the leader of the Radicals, recommended the formation of a homogeneous ministry, - a ministry entirely composed of men coming from the original Republican party.

"For the Radical party to remain alone in power," said he, "might mean a battle in Madrid this very night, - a short battle, which we are sure of winning, but a bloody and terrible battle, which we ought to avoid for the good of the country, for humanity, and for the love of liberty." Figueras was re-elected, and the five Radicals in the preceding cabinet gave way to Republicans. The sacrifice of Amadeo, their sudden conversion to Republicanism, their expectation of playing the part of "guide, philosopher, and friend" to the Republicans, had served to give to the Radicals a share in the Government for exactly two weeks. Martos was blamed and even charged with cowardice by his party, - an accusation which was unjust. Opposition to the determination of the Republicans would only have resulted in bloodshed, with no possibility of success.

The new Republican Ministry at once followed up the victory by bringing forward, on March 4, a bill summoning the Constituent Cortes for May 10, and fixing the elections for April 11 to 13. The National Assembly was to adjourn as soon as it had voted the abolition of slavery in Porto Rico, the suppression of conscription in naval service, and the organisation of fifty battalions to operate against the Carlists. A standing committee was to be appointed, which of its own motion or at the suggestion of the Government, could call a meeting of the Assembly if extraordinary circumstances required such a step.

Almost all the members of the committee whose duty it was to report on this bill were Radicals, and the majority made an adverse report, to the effect that the Constituent Cortes should be summoned as soon as, in the judgment of the Assembly, "the elections can be held under conditions which guarantee the freedom of the suffrage and the lofty interests of the Republic."

In opposition to this proposition for indefinite postponement of the dissolution of the Assembly was a minority report signed by General Primo de Rivera, which virtually agreed in its terms with the Government bill, except that the dates of the meeting of the Constituent Cortes and of the elections of members for that body were fixed, respectively, for a month later. The Government accepted this bill as a substitute for its own, but the President declared that it was the utmost limit of compromise that the Ministry would accept.

The passage of this bill was thus made a Cabinet question, and the Radical majority was now in a position to effect the downfall of the Ministry by defeating the bill. Again the popular excitement intimidated the Radicals. On March 8, the day of the discussion of the bill of Primo de Rivera, numerous groups formed in the neighbourhood of the House of Deputies with shouts of "Long live the Republicans ! " and " Death to the Radicals ! " These groups dissolved only on learning that the Assembly by a large majority (188 to 19) had agreed to take the bill into consideration as a substitute for the majority report. Martos declared that the announcement of the resignation of the present Government and the advent to power of a Radical Ministry would cause the cry of separation to be raised in many provinces, and would necessitate their conquest by the central government.

Rivero, whom the more determined members of the Radical party expected to show a bolder front to the enemy than had been presented by the President of the Chamber, refused to take office in a Radical administration. The bill for the adjournment was, therefore, passed without opposition, the elections were fixed for May 13 to 16, and the meeting of the Constituent Cortes appointed for June 1. The disgusted Martos immediately resigned the Presidency of the Chamber. He was succeeded by Francisco Salmeron of the same party, brother of Nicolas Salmeron, the prominent Republican and Minister of Justice.

The Assembly adjourned on March 22, after having passed the bill for the abolition of slavery in Porto Rico. Other bills approved, of a Republican tendency, were those providing for the suppression of the Council of State; declaring the crown property the property of the nation; abolishing the Royal Guards and re-establishing the " Volunteers of Liberty," who had been disbanded on account of their hostile attitude to the monarchy of Amadeo. Decrees of Castelar also suppressed the military orders of Santiago, Calatrava, and Aleantara, as well as the decorative orders of Charles III, Isabella the Catholic, and the Noble Ladies of Spain.

Army Reform

The conscription was also abolished, and volunteer service for the army substituted. Volunteers were to be paid at the rate of one peseta a day, enlistments to be for two years and re-enlistment for one year. These composed the army in active service; but service in the reserve for three years still remained obligatory on all Spaniards upon reaching the age of twenty. The members of the reserve could be called upon whenever the Government required troops in addition to those in active service, so that conscription to a certain extent might be said still to exist.

The most important act of the Assembly was the abolition of slavery in Porto Rico; an act for which the Republicans, and especially Castelar, deserved the chief credit, since they met with stern opposition from the few Conservative members and received but lukewarm support from the Radicals. Bills for the suppression of the death penalty and for the complete separation of Church and State were brought forward, but were deferred for the consideration of the succeeding Cortes. In pursuance of the law, the Assembly before adjournment elected a standing committee to represent it and to convoke it under extraordinary exigencies. This committee of twenty members was composed of eight Radicals, eight Republicans, and four Conservatives.

Left in full possession of the field, the position of the Government was still a difficult one. The Carlist war in the North had begun to assume more alarming proportions, and the provinces of the East and South were exhibiting that impatience for the establishment of independent governments which they regarded as the first step to the foundation of the Federal Republic, and which was to develop later into a series of disasters. Few Spaniards had reflected upon the exact nature of a Federal Republic, and of those few still fewer had arrived at any definite conclusions. In Catalonia, protection was in the platform; in Andalusia, free trade.

With many, the Federal Republic meant socialism and a general division of property. In the town of Montilla, in the Province of Cordova, the Republicans set fire to the houses of several rich Conservatives; from Burguillos a telegram was sent to Madrid, announcing that a general distribution of property had been effected in perfect order.

In addition to the mighty problems growing out of the state of the country with which the Government had to deal, the Ministers were overwhelmed with boisterous applications for place from the hungry and thirsty Republicans of the rank and file, who "regarded the budget as invented for their support." More disquieting than all this was the want of discipline which had begun to appear in the army. In Madrid the sergeants and soldiers published a manifesto declaring that they would obey only the Government of the Republic, and would refuse obedience to their commanders if ordered to pursue any other course. In Barcelona, on being ordered to march against the Carlists, the troops mutinied and placed themselves at the disposition of the provincial deputation.

The Government was also embarrassed by the lack of efficient military leaders in the Republican party. The generals and officers high in rank were disgusted with the condition of affairs, and devoted themselves to political intrigues. General Gaminde, Captain-General of Catalonia, on learning of the abdication of Amadeo, paid no attention to the repeated telegrams of General Cordova, who remained as Minister of War in the Republican Government, and showed little disposition to recognise the new order of things. Finding, however, that he was not sure of the support of his soldiers, who were saturated with Republicanism, Gaminde suddenly embarked for France without making any announcement of his intentions. The appointment of the rabid Federalist, General Contreras, to succeed him completed the military disorganisation of that important province. As a consequence of the instability of government, the insecurity of the country, and oppressive taxation, trade was at a complete standstill.

In this state of affairs the Radical and Conservative majority of the standing committees decided once more to join issue with the Republicans. It was determined to convoke the Cortes in accordance with the provisions of the law, and to replace the Republicans with a Conservative Ministry under Serrano or Rivero. The President of the Chamber, Francisco Salmeron, was advised to take this course at once by Don Manuel Pavia, the Captain-General of Madrid, who claimed to be a Republican, but was opposed to Federalism. Pavia assured Salmeron that he could depend upon the support of the Madrid garrison, and that he would enforce obedience to the orders of the Cortes. He recommended immediate action, but refused to turn his arms against the Government unless the Cortes was immediately summoned for the purpose of removing the Republican Ministry and giving a legal warrant to his acts.

Salmeron hesitated to adopt these extreme measures, and after a consultation with his colleagues on the committee, it was resolved to order the Ministers to present themselves before the committee on April 20, when they should be called to an account for the disquieting state of the country, and should be made to feel the urgent necessity of the immediate convocation of the Assembly. Only one Minister, Sorni, who held the Colonial Department, attended in obedience to this summons. The sole chance of success in favour of the committee was in prompt action. On the ground, however, of the death of the wife of Figueras, but really because they could arrive at no definite decision as to the course to be pursued, the committee postponed the meeting for the attendance of the Ministry until the 23rd. This gave the Government fair warning of the day and hour of the expected attack.

On the 23rd the Mayor of Madrid, the Marquis of Sardoal, who was a prominent Radical, and an outspoken defender of the prerogatives of the standing committee, on the pretext of a review, ordered out all the old militia. This body was of Conservative tendencies, and opposed to the Volunteers of Liberty, the new militia or National Guard, which sided with the Republicans. One detachment occupied the Palace of Medina Celi, opposite the Chamber of Deputies, while the remainder took up its position in the Plaza de Toros, or bull-ring. Messages kept passing to and fro between the latter position and the house of General Serrano, which was in the neighbourhood, and in which a number of Conservative officers of high rank had assembled.

The delay of the committee and knowledge of the intentions of the Radicals had enabled the Government to prepare a counter-demonstration. It had collected five or six thousand Volunteers and the civil guard from the provinces. In the meantime the standing committee had begun its session, and on this occasion the whole of the Ministry was present with the exception of Figueras. Rivero had been chosen to make the attack upon the Government.

It was believed that his speech would be short and determined; it was in reality rambling and nervous, and seemed dictated by a desire for a compromise rather than a rupture. The drift of it was that the Radicals had deserved well of the Republicans. After a reply from Castelar, the Ministry announced that the militia had taken possession of the Plaza de Toros, that there were grave dangers of disturbances, and that the meeting must be adjourned to enable the Government to subdue what might prove to be an insurrection.

The Captain-General of Madrid, disgusted by the delay and hesitation of the standing committee, after waiting in the hope that it would adopt his views and decide to convoke the Assembly, sent in his resignation. The action of General Serrano and the Conservative officers who had collected at his house, was paralysed for the same reason. They wished to appear as the representatives of law and of the Parliament against an usurping government, but the hesitation and indecision of the Radicals rendered this impossible.

The energy of the Ministry contrasted with the temporising policy of their rivals. The resignation of General Pavia was at once accepted, and General Hidalgo, the hero of the artillery question which had occasioned the abdication of Amadeo, was appointed his successor. Towards seven in the evening, by the command of the Minister of the Interior, Pi y Margall, the troops of the garrison and the battalions of the Volunteers were moved against the Plaza de Toros. The militia, who had been waiting all day for orders, seeing that resistance was useless against an overwhelming force, surrendered and were disarmed. At nine o'clock, when the committee resumed its sitting, the whole city was in the hands of the Government.

In response to the summons to attend the sitting, the Ministry advised the committee to adjourn at once, as a longer session might be dangerous to the personal safety of the members. This advice was warranted by the facts. The populace, after having assisted at the disarmament of the militia, began to rush toward the Chamber of Deputies, and with threatening shouts surrounded the building. Matters wore a dangerous aspect, not only for the members of the committee, but also for the Deputies who happened to be in the building. It was only by the personal exertion of Castelar and several of the Ministers that the members of the committee succeeded in making their escape.

The chiefs assembled at the house of General Serrano were in great danger. The Duke de la Torre himself took refuge in the British embassy, whence he escaped over the frontier disguised as a footman; the Marquis of Sardoal received the hospitality of the American legation.

As soon as it could be accomplished, the leading opponents of the Government, Conservatives and Radicals, settled themselves in France, and swelled the group of Spanish exiles, already large and disaffected. On the following day there appeared in the Official Gazette a decree dissolving not only the standing committee, but the Assembly of which it was the representative. The principal grounds alleged for the decree were that the standing committee, by its tendencies and conduct, had been converted into an element of perturbation and disorder; that it was determined to prolong the interregnum, and to convoke the Assembly when the interests of the country demanded its early conclusion and the election of the Constituent Cortes; and, finally, that it was a "constant obstacle to the Government of the Republic, against which it was continually intriguing." The Government would be responsible for its action to the Constituent Cortes.

The standing committee published from abroad a protest in response to this decree. The members declared that they had never overstepped the authority conferred on them by the Assembly, nor for a moment neglected the respect and consideration due the Executive. They expressed their determination to demand a reckoning from the Ministry before the legally qualified representatives of the nation, as well as to prosecute before the courts the authors of the illegal and scandalous violence of the night of April 23.

Republican Control

On March 23 the Republicans had eliminated their former allies, the Radicals, from the Government; on April 23 they drove them, as well as the Conservatives, from the country. These events, which seemed brilliant victories, were in reality great misfortunes. Of all governments, the republican form of government is the one which in appearance at least should rest upon public opinion and not fall into the hands of an exclusive class of politicians.

On three occasions -- first, on February 24, in order to secure the undivided control of the government; then on March 23, to effect the adjournment of the Assembly; and finally, on April 23, to dissolve the standing committee -- the Republican leaders, who in opposition had discoursed so eloquently on free institutions and the rights of man, bad not hesitated to appeal to the means of intimidation which they found at hand. It was of course claimed, in behalf of the Government, that in that turbulent period it was with government, as with individuals, a struggle for existence and the survival of the fittest; and that each government was in the case of legitimate defence. Still, it was clear that the Republic in Spain must use the same methods as any other form of government. This was felt by none more than by Republicans of a moderate and conservative temperament, like Castelar, who had voted against the suppression of the standing committee. Precedents of force had been established which would soon be turned against the Republic itself.

The elections for the new Constituent Cortes took place in May, and that body assembled on June 1. The Conservatives and Radicals held themselves severely aloof from the polls. The Constituent Cortes was, therefore, representative only of a section, and could in no way be regarded as the organ of the Spanish nation as a whole, - a defect which is characteristic in Spanish assemblies. With the exception of three or four members of the Conservative party -among whom the most eminent was Rios Rosas -- who had persisted in presenting their candidature at the polls, the Assembly was entirely Republican, and, with one exception, Federal Republican. This exception was Garcia Ruiz, who defended single-handed the centralised Republic. The Right was composed of the more conservative Republicans, who were disposed to a moderate and conciliatory policy, and followed the leadership of Castelar. The irreconcilables, such as Contreras, Roque Barcia, the old Orense, Marquis of Albaida, and a number of crazy theorists, formed the Left.

Between these two wings was the Centre, which was composed of a number of small groups following their respective leaders, and of independent Deputies who recognised no leader. The intellectual average of the Assembly was low. It was thus described by Pi y Margall, who, if any one, would be disposed to regard it in as favourable a light as possible : " They were without doubt inexperienced, and their intellectual level was not very high; their aspirations were not well determined, and their ideas not clearly fixed in regard to the principles which ought to be the basis of the federation."

The speech of President Figueras to the new Cortes explained the dissolution of the previous Assembly, and gave an account of the rupture between the Government and the standing committee, in which he asserted that the former represented legality and the latter illegality. The Republic was still viewed with suspicion by the governments of Europe; the Carlist rising was assuming ominous proportions, and, as was said, " they harass, lay waste, burn, assassinate, and commit every horror for a cause that must renounce every hope."

Against this evil the Republic must display a feverish activity. The courts must be reformed so as to bring them more in harmony with the spirit of the age, and the relations between Church and State established at an early date "upon that footing of mutual independence required by the idea of our generation and the necessity of our politics."

A gloomy account was given of the financial state of the country on the advent of the Republic; but in spite of the condition of the treasury, the Government had been able to borrow at 12 per cent, while previous Governments had been compelled to pay 25. The insurrection in Cuba was losing strength; the hopes engendered by the new form of government were calming spirits and healing wounds, while in Porto Rico the abolition of slavery had been effected in the midst of the greatest rejoicing and the most sincere enthusiasm. "Forty-three thousand blind instruments of labour have regained their personal dignity, their natural rights, without the least perturbation resulting from this radical change."

The speech closed with an eloquent description of the great works to be effected by the Constituent Cortes in the establishment of the Republic, - " a great work, which, undertaken with unselfishness and terminated with patriotism, will be the eternal admiration of future generations." Figueras then presented the resignation of the Provisional Government.

The first necessary act of the new Cortes - the appointment of Figueras's successor - showed the widely divergent views as well as the incapacity of the members. A proposition was presented to entrust Pi y Margall with the formation of the new Government. This was bitterly opposed by the Left, on the ground that the Assembly had the right to choose not only the President, but also all the other members of the Executive. The proposition was, however, carried by 142 votes to 58. On the following day the House, by 218 to 2, solemnly declared that the government of the country was the Federal Republic. The only votes in opposition were those of Garcia Ruiz and Rios Rosas. Very few of the supporters of the Federal Republic held either clear or accurate ideas as to what the term meant, or where the line of demarcation between the powers of the States and Federal Government was to fall.

In the meantime Pi y Margall was labouring with the construction of his cabinet, which he presented to the Cortes immediately after the vote on the form of government. It was an attempt at conciliation, and represented the different groups of the Chamber. No sooner were the names of the new Ministry known than the Left renewed the attack of the day before. They charged the members of the new Government with being unknown men of no political record and importance.

"Who," said Alfaro, one of the Deputies of the Extreme Left,-,,who is Pedregal? Who are Cervera and Palanca ? " Stress was also laid upon the fact that Deputies formed part of the Ministry who had supported the proposition to entrust Pi y Margall with its formation, and that these Deputies could not accept an appointment which might be regarded as the result of a bargain.

After an aimless and turbulent debate, Pi y Margall insisted on returning to the Cortes the powers which had been conferred upon him. The House then went into secret session, which lasted until four in the morning, and resulted in the acceptance of the proposition of the Left; that the members of the Executive under the presidency of Figueras had deserved well of the country for the sacrifice they had made in order to effect the meeting of this Constituent Cortes; that they deserved the confidence of the Chamber, and that they should retain their posts.

This measure proved ineffectual, because, although the members of the late Ministry consented to continue, there was a crisis on the same day on account of a disagreement regarding the plans of Tutau, the Minister of Finance. The Government therefore resigned, and its chief, Figueras, arrived at the conclusion that the establishment of the Spanish Republic was all weariness and vexation of spirit. Whether he was disgusted with the hopeless beginning, or whether he had contracted engagements with Republicans of the different groups which he found himself unable to fulfil, without saying a word to any one, without waiting for the election of his successor, and while he was still President of the Republic, he took the train and went to France.

The first that was known of this event in Madrid was a telegram from the governor of Valladolid to the Minister of the Interior, announcing the arrival at that city of the President of the Republic, and adding that the President was continuing his journey to the frontier without incident. We have here the unexampled case of the chief of a government who on the morning of June 7 received from Parliament a vote of thanks and confidence, and on the 11th disappeared from the country like a thief in the night. The voluntary ostracism from the scenes in which he had played so important a part brought to a close the political career of Figueras. His absence was passed over in silence by the Cortes, and he exerted no further influence on the course of events.

A new Ministry, with Pi y Margall as President, was elected by a vote of the House to succeed the Figueras Government. Nicolas Salmeron was elected as President of the Chamber in the place of Orense, who had shown incapacity for the position, and who had finally resigned. The programme of the new Government was laid before the Cortes in a speech by Pi y Margall on June 13. He urged the necessity of conciliation between the different factions of the Republican party; of energetic measures in opposition to the Carlists, against whom the Government would ask for extraordinary powers; of enforcing discipline in the army, and of finding some solution for the financial problem. Measures for the separation of Church and State, compulsory free schools, and abolition of slavery in Cuba were also to be proposed.

Despite the sweeping reforms heralded by the new President, the Extreme Left engaged in intrigues outside of the Chamber for the establishment of the Federal Republic. Their central committee in Madrid wished to take measures at once for founding the State of New Castile, which was to be composed of Toledo, Ciudad Real, Cuenca, and Guadalajara, the four provinces of New Castile. Movements in the same direction were observed in Barcelona and other towns of the East and West. Dissensions also began to break out in the bosom of the Cabinet. Estevanez, who had been elevated from the rank of captain to the office of Minister of War, was accused in the Chamber by General Socias, one of the Deputies of the Left, with having deserted from the army in Cuba; and the discussion, full of personalities on both sides, left him with considerable loss of prestige.

Ladico, Minister of Finance, a merchant from the Balearic Islands, confessed his inability to deal with the difficulties of his department. A disagreement arose between Gonzalez, the Minister of Justice, and Benot, the Minister of Public Works, in reference to the removal of officials. The result was that in less than a week after its formation the Ministry was in full crisis. On June 21 the President explained to the Chamber that the Government had a certain feeling of weakness; that it remembered its origin, and feared that it did not possess the necessary support of the Cortes; and that in the critical condition of affairs it ought to be composed of men who had the entire confidence of the Chamber.

In response to this declaration, a resolution was presented, under the leadership of Castelar, " that the Assembly declares that the President of the Executive Power of the Republic deserves its entire confidence, and in view of the difficult circumstances through which the country is passing and the dangers which threaten the Republic, it authorises him to solve the crises which may occur in the Cabinet presided over by him by appointing Ministers who in his opinion may best interpret the sentiments of the Republic, and may afford him the most decided support for the salvation of order, liberty, and the Federal Republic."

The speech of Castelar in support of this resolution is significant, as showing that he had begun to doubt whether the phrase "federal republic" was to be a remedy for the evils of his afflicted country. "If the Republic," said he, "triumphs over disorder, if it secures authority and justice, if it preserves the national unity, if it solves the questions of finance, if it kills the deficits which are devouring us, if it destroys monopolies, if it elevates our country, I shall desire that the gratitude of my fellow-citizens may remember my services. But if the Republic should unfortunately be the ruin, the disorder, the unchaining of all hatreds and the destruction of all liberties, oh! then may God pardon me and may history forget me. . . . Sometimes I think that I have caused much disturbance to my country, and it is my wish, in the years of life that are left to me, to erect it upon a solid basis of stability, of order, and of government; and the same campaign that I have waged without selfish motives in the press, the tribune, and the professor's chair in behalf of liberty and democracy, I am going to wage henceforth in behalf of authority, stability, and government."

By a vote of 176 to 49 the resolution was approved, and authority to select members was conferred upon the President of the Executive Power. In the face of the opposition of the Left, which had succeeded in annulling the authority at first entrusted to Pi y Margall for this purpose, and had brought about a direct election of the members of the Cabinet by the Chamber, the power of intermeddling with ministerial changes was thus withdrawn from the Cortes and placed in the hands of the man who, in the words of Castelar, " had sufficient courage to accept the tremendous responsibility of power."

On June 28 the President, who took the Interior Department in addition to the Presidency, communicated the names of the new Cabinet to the Chamber. With the exception of Suner y Capdevila, one of the more moderate members of the Left, who assumed the Colonial Department, the Ministers were all taken from the Right. The President stated that he had sought for members of the Cabinet in all sections of the Chamber except in the Extreme Left, which had opposed the granting of authority to him for forming a Ministry, and the members of which could not, therefore, form a part of his Cabinet without an appearance of inconsistency. His programme could be summed up in two words, -- order and progress; to subject all classes to the law, to make the decisions of the Assembly everywhere obeyed, and above all to bring the Revolution to a successful issue, and to realise the political and social reforms which had been promised.

The first important act of the Cabinet was to come before the House with a demand for the following bill: "In view of the state of civil war in some parts of the country, especially in the Basque Provinces and the Provinces of Navarre and Catalonia, the Government of the Republic is authorised to take all extraordinary measures which may be required by the necessities of the war, and which may contribute to the early establishment of peace." This demand was received with a violent outbreak on the part of the Left, the members of which asserted that it was directed against them, and that it was treason to Republican principles.

One of their Deputies, Diaz Quintero, called attention to the inconsistency of the leaders of the Right. "King Amadeo," said he, "in spite of the Carlist insurrection and the other insurrections with which he was threatened, would not appeal to the suspension of guaranties. Now a Republican Chamber, where the oldest and most notable members have always voted against the suspension of the constitutional guaranties, propose, not this same suspension of guaranties, which was limited by the Monarchists to certain articles, but the concession of extraordinary powers, in the abstract and absolutely, - a kind of dictatorship which has never been granted by monarchical chambers." He then read the vote in the Constituent Cortes of 1869, on the amendment offered by various Republicans to Article 71 of the Constitution, that "the Constitution cannot be suspended in whole or in part," in which figured the names of Pi y Margall, Castelar, Maissonave, and other members of the Government.

The Republican party, which under the Monarchy had fought persistently against any suspension of the individual rights guaranteed by the Constitution, now began the evolution of the Federal Republic by inaugurating a dictatorship. The leaders were not the first men who have suffered a fundamental change of views as a result of the responsibility of power. An excellent speech in support of the bill was made by Antonio Orense, the son of the old Marquis of Albaida, who was a member of the Right, while his father was one of the leaders of the Extreme Left. All through the proceedings of the Constituent Cortes of the Republic, father and son opposed each other and voted steadily against each other

.Orense painted a gloomy picture of disorder in the country and of lack of discipline in the army. "The country is going to ruin and the Republic is going to ruin, because you have demonstrated that when the Bourbons were here, when there were reactionary governments, no one ventured to raise his head. All were humble subjects; but since we have the Republic, everybody dares to rebel. There have been parties which have arisen in different places and been immediately dissolved, but this eternal contest with the established powers -- where has it ever existed?"

Extraordinary Powers

The bill conferring extraordinary powers upon the Government was approved by a vote of 137 to 17. It virtually transformed the President of the Executive Power into a dictator. No sooner was it passed than the irreconcilable Republicans seemed ready to prove by their acts the necessity of its application to them. In the capital the inhabitants were in continual alarm, and a threatened rising was prevented only by strengthening the garrison. At the end of June an insurrection began in Seville.

The governor who had been sent to that province informed the Government that he regarded the proclamation of the State of Andalusia as inevitable. By his energy, however, the attempt was suppressed before it became general. The movement in Malaga was more important, and was headed by the leader of the Volunteers, Eduardo Carvajal, who expressed himself as willing to regard the commands of the Madrid government, but only on the basis of the local independence of his province. Further disorders occurred in San Lucar de Barrameda and in San Fernando, near Cadiz.

But it was the atrocities at Alcoy which, most of all, startled and shocked the country. This town, of about 16, 000 inhabitants, is situated between Alicante and Jativa, and is one of the principal manufacturing centres of the South. The insurrection originated in a strike instigated by the International Society of Workmen. The strikers insisted upon the resignation of the mayor and town council; and they demanded the appointment of members of their own party as the successors of these officers. The mayor, a Republican member of the Constituent Cortes of 1869, refused to resign, and took refuge in the Town Hall with certain of his supporters, a few militia, and a small number of civil guards. The strikers then set fire to the building, and the inmates either perished in the flames or were killed in attempting to escape. These horrors were communicated to the House in an eloquent speech by the Minister of State, Maissonave, and a resolution was voted that "the Cortes had heard with profound indignation the relation of the horrible events of Alcoy, and ordered the Government to proceed with inexorable energy against all who, by disturbing the peace, bring dishonour upon the Republic."

Effective action against the insurgents was hampered by the theories that swayed the mind of the President of the Executive Power. It was one of the beliefs of Pi y Margall that the federal movement ought to begin by the constitution of the ancient Spanish provinces. According to his view, federation was a compact between autonomous states which unite and create a power for the defence of their common interests and common rights. The best way to establish a Federal Republic was to begin -- to use his own phrase -- from bottom to top instead of from top to bottom; or, in other words, by forming the states before a central government, instead of establishing a central government before the due amount of home rule was entrusted to the different states which were to compose the Spanish Republic.

Now, the advanced Left also held these views, and regarded the declaration of independence by the different cantons as a summary and effectual method of founding a republic from bottom to top. Pi y Margall admitted that the circumstances under which the Republic had been declared, the postponement of the organisation and definition. of the new form of government to a Constituent Cortes, had rendered impracticable the existence of the Federal Republic from bottom to top. He could not, however, help feeling a certain surreptitious sympathy for those who were determined to try the experiment.

He preferred to attempt to cool their ardour by a system of gentle persuasion rather than by force, and he had a blind confidence in the efficacy of quiet reasoning and good advice. To General Ripall, who received orders to prevent disturbances in Cordova and to restrain that province from imitating the example of Seville and Malaga, he gave the following instructions : " Do not enter Andalusia with the trumpets of war. Make the people understand that an army is formed only to guarantee the rights of all citizens and to make the decisions of the Assembly respected. Tranquillise the timid, restrain the impatient; prove to them that they are killing the Republic with their eternal conspiracies and frequent disorders. Maintain always your authority, but, in conflicts which may arise, never disdain to appeal before everything to persuasion and counsel.

When this is not sufficient, do not hesitate to fall upon the rebels with energy. The Assembly is to-day the sovereign power. Its decisions must be awaited and respected." General Velarde was ordered against Alcoy, which he entered on July 18, after the principal insurgents, to the number of five or six hundred, had escaped during the night.

The most alarming of the cantonal insurrections was that of Carthagena, which began on July 13. On that date General Centreras left Madrid, arrived at Carthagena on the following day, and placed himself at the head of the movement. The city, arsenal, forts, and frigates were all handed over to the rebels. The Canton of Murcia was proclaimed, and the revolutionary junta assumed all the powers of an independent government. In the sitting of the Chamber of the 14th, this insurrection was made the subject of an attack upon the conciliatory policy of Pi y Margall by Prefumo, a deputy from the city of Carthagena, and a member of the Right.

"The Minister of the Interior" (Pi y Margall), said he, "was informed on the morning of the 12th of the threatened movement in Carthagena. What did the President of the Executive Power do? As usual, he crossed his arms and stroked his beard. The hours advanced; the train which had left here on the night of the 11th arrived in Carthagena with a Deputy of the minority, who placed himself at the head of the movement."

He had warned the President against the character and antecedents of the governor whom he was going to send to Murcia, but the governor had been sent and was now in sympathy with the rebels. The Minister of the Colonies, Suner y Capdevila, declared that he was disposed to fight the Carlists with tooth and nail; that he was ready to chastise the incendiaries of Alcoy; "but when it is a question of fighting and shedding the blood of my friends, of members of the same party, I declare that my heroism does not reach that point."

These attacks and the lack of harmony in the Cabinet itself, where there was considerable disagreement as to the methods of dealing with the cantonists, brought on a crisis which the President, in order to carry out his theory of the peaceful suppression of insurrection, attempted to solve by composing a conciliation Ministry from all parts of the Chamber. This he soon found to be impossible. None of the Extreme Left would take office because the constitutional guaranties were suspended, nor any of the Right because they favoured a homogeneous Ministry and an energetic policy. Pi y Margall, therefore, sent in his resignation to the Chamber on July 18, in the following terms: "In view of the very grave situation of the country, and of the great dangers which threaten the Republic and the Fatherland, I thought that the only ministry possible was one which united in a common sentiment all the factions of the Chamber, in order to face the necessities of war and to restrain the movement of separation which has begun in some provinces. It has not been possible for me to realise this desire. Unsuccessful in giving effect to my views, which after all may be erroneous; exposed in the Cortes not merely to censure but to outrage and calumny; fearful that by remaining in my post I may be charged with ambition that I have never felt, and that the name of the Republic may perhaps be compromised, I renounce not only the authority to solve the crises, but also the office of President, in order that the Cortes, in eliminating my personality, which has had the misfortune to excite not only lively sympathy but profound hatred, may tranquilly constitute a government capable of remedying the present and conjuring future evils." Thus fell the second President of the Republic, leaving behind him the reputation of a man of thorough honesty and the best intentions, who was incapable of sacrificing his theories to the logic of events.

The day before the resignation of Pi y Margall and five weeks after the proclamation of the Federal Republic, the draft of the Republican Constitution was reported from the committee to the Cortes, where it was destined to perish still-born. It was mainly the work of Castelar. It divided the Peninsula and colonies into the States of Upper Andalusia, Lower Andalusia, Aragon, Asturias, the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, New Castile, Old Castile, Catalonia, Cuba, Estremadura, Galicia, Murcia, Navarre, Porto Rico, Valencia, and the Basque Provinces, - seventeen in all. It was a question whether the forty-nine provinces into which the country is now divided should be the basis of this division; but the difficulty was temporarily solved by leaving to the States the right to "retain or modify the existing provinces according to their territorial necessities."

The States were to have complete economic and administrative autonomy "compatible with the existence of the nation," and the right to make constitutions not inconsistent with the Federal Constitution. The State legislatures were to be elected by universal suffrage. The powers of the Federation were divided into legislative, executive, judicial, and the "power of relation " between these three departments.

The legislative power was to be exercised by the Cortes, the executive by the Ministers, the judicial by judges and juries, and the "power of relation" by the President of the Republic. The legislative power wa§ vested in the Cortes, which consisted of the Congress and Senate. The Congress was composed of Deputies, elected by universal suffrage, one for every 50,000 inhabitants. The Senators were to be elected by the legislatures of the respective States, four for each State, irrespective of its importance or the number of its inhabitants. The Ministers were not allowed to be either Senators or Deputies, and could appear in either House only when especially summoned. The President and Vice-President were to be elected by an electoral college composed of electors chosen in each State by universal suffrage, and equal to double the number of the Senators and Representatives sent to the Cortes by each State. Entire separation of Church and State was provided for, and the Supreme Federal Court could pass upon the constitutionality of laws enacted by the Cortes. This outline will show how closely the Constitution of the United States had been followed.

With the Republic during the dictatorship of Francesco Pi y Margall, the Revolution of September, regarded simply as revolution, may be said to have reached its utmost development. We may regard its course as a steadily descending line, gradually declining from liberty to license, and now destined to turn upward from revolution to reaction. The state of affairs at the date of the resignation of the second President was aptly and eloquently described by Don Antonio Rios Rosas, in his speech of July 19, 1873. "I perfectly agree," said the venerable statesman, in almost the last speech addressed to the Cortes before his death, "that the Government should represent here the principles, the ideas, the interests, and even the prejudices of the Republican party. Neither to-day, nor to-morrow, nor ever, do we ask you to represent anything else. But even representing this as a government from the Republican party, you are also the government of the nation, and you have duties to fulfil toward the nation. . . . Every party has its ideas, its principles, its methods; but all must discharge, so far as they extend, the duty of assuring, of representing, and uniting all the rights, all the interests of society. On this condition alone, without asking from you anything now, or to-morrow, or ever, in exchange for the support which we gave you yesterday, and which we will give you in the future, we only hope that you will govern, that you WILL GOVERN! On this sole condition we are here to support you. . . . I believe that the Government of the Republic from February 11 until to-day has not governed; I believe absolutely that there has been no government from that day until to-day. Until now the Government of the Republic has not governed for a single day or a single moment. . . . I have seen all kinds of governments succumb in turn to the superior force of their enemies; but I never before saw a government against which an insurrection rose which it did nothing to repress, nothing to combat, but everything -- absolutely everything -- in order that the insurrection might prosper, spread, and conquer. This is the history of the disturbances of Malaga, of Seville, of Granada, of Carthagena, of Cadiz, of Barcelona, of everywhere; this is even the dreadful history of the horrors of Alcoy."

First Step Back

The first step towards a healthy reaction and the extrication of the country from these evils was the election of Salmeron, the President of the Chamber, to succeed Pi y Margall as President of the Executive Power of the Republic, by 119 votes to 93. The votes cast for the former President were cast by the Left and certain members of the Centre.

Don Nicolas Salmeron y Alonso was a native of the province of Almeria. He had taken sides with Espartero against O'Donnell, and had been counted as a Democrat. Afterwards he was a powerful contributor to the Republican papers -- Rivero's La Discusion and Castelar's La Democracia.

In 1865 be was elected a member of the Democratic Republican Committee in Madrid, but held aloof from active politics until 1868. Having been sent abroad by his party on a confidential mission, he was arrested on his return to Madrid and imprisoned for five months. At the time of the pronunciamiento of Cadiz, lie was regarded as the most promising leader of the Republican party. His declaration at the first Republican meeting in Madrid in October, 1868, - that he did not believe that the country was yet ready for a republic; that he was a Republican of the future, but a Monarchist for the present, - excited great surprise and regret in the party. He took no part in the Constituent Cortes of 1869, and first appeared in the regular Cortes of 1871, in which he took his seat among the Republicans. In the Cortes of 1872, when Ruiz Zorilla was Prime Minister, he made one of the best speeches in the debate on the King's speech. On the abdication of Amadeo, he took no active part in the proclamation of the Republic. As Minister of Justice under Figueras, he obtained the remarkable reputation of not having removed a single employee of his department for political reasons. When he was elected President of the Chamber to succeed Orense, his firmness and knowledge of parliamentary law contributed much to restraining the turbulence of the Extreme Left. On being called to assume the Presidency of the Provisional Government of the Republic, he declared that he was determined to re-establish order. "This government is resolved," said he, "to be inexorable with all who attempt to infringe the law, and first - note it well - first with the Republicans."

On the entrance of the new Government into power, the aspect of the country was disheartening. The Federalists were in complete control of Carthagena, where they had even liberated the convicts and mustered them into service. On July 19 Valencia proclaimed the independence of the Valencian Canton, and compelled the authorities to retire to Alcira. Alicante and Castellon, under the lead of Deputies from the Left, followed the example of the other Eastern provinces.

On July 21 the Minister of the Interior, Maissonave, read the following telegrams, which will give an idea of the spirit in which certain Republicans approached the problem of establishing a republican government in the Peninsula: "Alicante, July 20: The Deputy Galvez Arce to the President of the Executive Power: - I arrived to-day with the frigate Victoria. The population sent commissioners on board. I disembarked with them. Alicante and its fortresses declare spontaneously for us. Committee of Public Safety constituted. Complete tranquillity."

"Castellon, July 20: The Canton of Castellon has been proclaimed. Army and civil guard fraternise with the people. Great enthusiasm. Tranquillity. GONZALEZ CHERMA." In Andalusia, Malaga was again to begin the movement. This province was in the hands of two factions, led, respectively, by the Deputy Solier and by Carvajal, who fought hand to hand in the streets for supremacy. In Seville the insurgents forced the garrison to retire, leaving a large quantity of arms and ammunition, which was used by the rebels to prepare for their defence. In Cadiz the mayor declared the independence of the canton, and the troops who remained loyal to the Government took refuge in the arsenal, where they were sorely pressed. From Cadiz and Malaga the movement spread to Granada. In the East and West the central government was now obeyed only in a few spots where the presence of loyal troops kept the population in subjection.

The first act of the new President was to substitute for the generals in command, who were disposed to temporise with the insurrection, others on whose determination to enforce discipline he could rely. General Arsenio Martinez Campos (Governor-General of Cuba in 1895) was ordered against Valencia. General Salcedo was to operate against Carthagena. The command in Andalusia was given to Don Manuel Pavia. As general-in-chief against the Carlists in the North, General Nouvilas was replaced by General Sanchez Bregua.

Martinez Campos moved at once upon Valencia, which he bombarded upon the refusal of his proposals for an accommodation. The leaders then fled, the city was entered by the troops of the Government without difficulty and tranquillity restored.

Offensive Pressed

General Pavia adopted a vigorous offensive in Andalusia. Leaving Madrid on July 21 with only a thousand troops, he proceeded to Cordova by the way of Ciudad Real, because the direct line had been cut by the insurgents. There he suppressed at once the threatened cantonal movement, and, after disarming the militia, advanced to Seville. The insurgents had made elaborate preparations for defence. They had constructed barricades, placed artillery, and taken possession of the public buildings. The peaceable part of the population remained hidden in their houses.

The attack began on July 28, and it was not until the evening of the 31st, after four days of hard fighting, that the Federalists, at whose head was the Deputy, General Pierrad, fled, leaving their arms and munitions. In many of the public buildings the walls were found to be covered with petroleum; barrels of powder had been placed in the cellars, and preparations made for a general conflagration.

General Pavia immediately ordered the disarmament of the population, re-established the civil authorities, and then proceeded against Cadiz. Two young officers of the old artillery corps persuaded the soldiers in the barracks to declare against the Federalists. The insurgents virtually made no resistance to the entrance of the Government troops. After a general disarmament and the reduction to submission of the neighbouring towns of Algeciras, Tarifa, and San Roque, General Pavia turned his attention to Granada. On August 12 he took possession of that city without resistance.

General Pavia now notified the Government of his intention to march upon Malaga, the last place in Andalusia still under the control of the Federalists. The Deputy Solier, who was at the head of the Federalist movement, had addressed an insolent letter to the commander-in-chief, and had issued a proclamation in which he gave assurances that the army would not be permitted to come to Malaga. He ventured upon this action on account of the support he received from Palanca, the Minister of the Colonies, who, as an important leader of the Centre of the Chamber, held a certain balance of power between the Right and the Left. The President of the Executive Power was, therefore, in a difficult position, and was threatened with a possibly adverse majority if the troops entered Malaga.

It is also alleged that certain wealthy citizens found the Federalist regime very profitable for contraband trading, and brought influence to bear upon the Government. Whatever the reason may be, General Pavia received orders from Madrid not to march upon Malaga, and immediately sent in his resignation. He alleged that all his success against the other cities would be without result if Malaga, the city which began the cantonal movement, should be left unpunished. The Government refused to accept his resignation. Appreciating the difficulties of the President, Pavia finally decided to continue in his command, and took up his headquarters at Cordova, where, in an attitude of observation, he awaited further orders from Madrid.

The most dangerous of all the Federalist disturbances was that of Carthagena, which, under the dictatorship of General Contreras, had developed into the importance of a government rival to that of Madrid. The dictator had distinguished himself for his bravery in the first Carlist war, and obtained the rank of field marshal when still a young man.

In politics he had begun life as one of the Moderate party, but had afterwards attached himself to General Prim, and had played an important part in the unfortunate insurrection of 1867. He brought himself into notoriety under the reign of Amadeo by refusing to take the oath of allegiance to the King. Under the Republic, he had been sent, a captaingeneral, to Catalonia, where, in order to gain popularity, he made no attempt to enforce discipline among the troops under his command, with the result that they began to assume the aspect of political clubs.

On July 13 Contreras arrived at Carthagena with the Deputy Galvez Arce, and immediately proceeded to organise the Canton of Murcia, and to address communications to the Madrid Government, beginning: "The President of the Canton of Murcia to the President of the Canton of Madrid." Taxes were levied, and wealthy inhabitants mulcted. Roque Barcia, another notorious Deputy of the Left, assumed the Portfolio of the Interior, while Contreras, Galvez, and a certain Romero formed a provisional directory with the title of the "Supreme Power of the Spanish Federation." All the cantons declaring their independence were to send delegates to this directory, and as soon as a majority of the Spanish provinces had joined the movement, the directory was to summon a federal assembly, into whose hands it was to resign its powers.

What made the insurrection of Carthagena the most dangerous and difficult to suppress of all the cantonal movements was the fact that a large portion of the Spanish navy was stationed in the port, and was immediately seized by the insurgents, with whom the crew made common cause. Airich, the Minister of Marine in the Cabinet of Pi y Margall, went to Carthagena, boarded several of the frigates, and in vain attempted to persuade them to return to their allegiance, with the sole result that he came near losing his life on board of the Almansa. The attempts of Pi y Margall himself to prevent the general movement through the province by a transfer of troops were rendered ineffective by the opposition of Gonzalez, his Minister of War, who declared that he did not have a single battalion to send to Carthagena, and who left unanswered the telegrams of General Velarde, who was still in Alcoy, and who asked repeatedly for orders to advance.

The Salmeron government published a decree in the Official Gazette, declaring the vessels of the cantonals to be pirates, and "authorising the vessels of war of friendly nations to detain said vessels, and to bring the crews to trial, while the Government reserves its property in said vessels, and will make a diplomatic presentation of its claims." This decree, which gave rise to a tumultuous debate and a proposition of the Left to declare it null and void, was supported by a vote of 110 to 90.

Naval Interdiction

In the latter part of July the Vigilante, one of the insurgent vessels carrying the Spanish flag, a red flag, and the cantonal colours (red, yellow, and violet), was approached by the German frigate Friedrich Karl.

On being asked under what flag she was sailing, the Vigilante replied that she was flying the colours of the Canton of Murcia. The commander of the German frigate answered that he had no knowledge of the existence of such a state, and inquired what use was being made of this ship of war.

"We are only making a pleasure trip," was the reply. The Vigilante was then seized by the Germans, and carried to Gibraltar, where she was afterwards delivered to the Spanish government. The commander, Werner, of the Friedrich Karl stated that he knew nothing of the decree declaring the insurgent vessels piratical, and that he acted only in accordance with maritime law.

This capture caused great excitement in Carthagena, where the German consul ran great risk, and where General Contreras threatened to declare war against the German Empire. Captain Werner was afterwards recalled by the German Government, on the ground that his action implied a recognition of the Madrid Government. It was admitted that he had the right to seize a vessel flying an unrecognised flag on the high seas, but not that it was allowable to interfere within the three-mile limit.

In view of the danger from foreign vessels, General Contreras determined to secure as soon as possible some profit from the naval forces of the Canton of Murcia. On July 29, with the frigates Victoria and Almansa, he arrived from Carthagena in the harbour of Almeria. He ordered the city to send away the soldiers quartered there, to declare the independence of the Canton of Almeria, and to pay a war tax of one hundred thousand dollars.

The population having withdrawn from the city, the authorities informed Contreras that his demands were refused; and the military governor of the province took charge of the defence, with the civil guard under his command and a small number of volunteers who placed themselves at his orders. The cantonals, in attempting to land, were driven back; and after bombarding the city for a day and injuring a number of houses, withdrew in the direction of Malaga. On the way they levied two thousand dollars on Motril, and seized all the tobacco in the place.

On arriving in Malaga, they again came in contact with the Friedrich Karl, as well as with an English and a French frigate. The Almansa and Victoria were convoyed by these vessels back to Carthagena, on the condition that they were not to leave that port. General Contreras was retained in the Friedrich Karl as a hostage, but was afterwards released. The Almansa and Victoria were delivered by the German vessel to the commander of the British squadron, who carried them to Gibraltar. There they were handed over to the Spanish Government. In spite of these losses, the naval forces of the canton were still greater than those of the Government. There yet remained in the harbour of Carthagena the Numantia, Mendez Nunez, Tetuan, and Fernando el Catolico. The Province of Murcia was destined to remain a prey to anarchy for many months in defiance of all the efforts of the Government.

While these events were taking place, the party of order in the Cortes, under the leadership of Castelar, was steadily gaining ground. Their hands were strengthened by the telegrams which the Minister of the Interior, Maissonave, daily read before the Cortes, reporting the state of the country, and showing day by day the terrible crisis through which it was passing. The influence of the Extreme Left was also reduced by the absence of about forty of its members, who were engaged in fomenting insurrection. Less than twenty of the advanced wing remained to preach their incendiary doctrines in the House.

On July 30 the Chamber passed two resolutions by large majorities, one giving thanks in the name of the country to the people of Almeria for having repulsed the barbarous aggression of the naval forces of the insurgents, and another declaring that the Assembly had seen with profound disgust the conduct of the Deputies who had risen in arms against its power and sovereignty. Both propositions gave rise to excited debates and wild vituperations on the part of Diaz Quintero, Cala, Olave, and other remnants of the Extreme Left.

The debate on these resolutions called forth a great speech from Castelar, whose voice had of late not been often heard. "Have you not noticed," said he, "this phenomenon, that the advanced Republican parties to which we belong pass like a meteor through all the horizons of Europe? They rule some months in Italy, a month in Vienna, a month and a half in Frankfort, scarcely a year in France, some time in Spain, and then disappear like a bloody comet, not put to flight by their enemies, but by their own passions, by their errors, by their intemperance, and, above all, by their mad revolutions against themselves, which cause their death. What a sad spectacle, the saddest spectacle in Europe! All that we have defended, the Conservatives have realised. Who sustained the idea of the autonomy of Hungary? A republican, Kossuth. Who realised it? A conservative, Deak. Who advanced the idea of the abolition of serfdom in Russia? Republicans. Who realised it? An Emperor, Alexander. Who preached the unity of Italy? A republican, Mazzini. Who realised it? A conservative, Cavour. Who originated the idea of the unity of Germany? The republicans of Frankfort. Who realised it? An imperialist, a Caesarist, Bismarck. Who has awakened the republican idea, three times stifled, in France, -because the First Republic was a tempest, the Second a dream, the Third nothing but a name? Who awoke the republican idea in France? A celebrated poet, Victor Hugo; a great orator, Jules Favre; another orator no less illustrious, Gambetta. Who has consolidated it? A conservative, Thiers."

Another result of the cantonal movement was that the draft of the Republican Constitution on which the debate began on August 11, was not received with much enthusiasm either by the majority or the minority. The debate was opened in a powerful speech by a young Conservative deputy from the Canary Islands, Leon y Castillo (At present (June, 1898) Spanish Ambassador in Paris), who maintained that the Federal Republic was not adapted to Spanish institutions or character; that it was impossible to impose institutions upon a people without taking into consideration its qualities and defects; and that a strong central government was necessary to restrain that tendency to revolution which existed in the provinces of Spain. " What is the history of the country for centuries," said he, "but a rude and eternal war of antagonism? First, family hatreds between tribes; then cities, then the nations which have inhabited the Peninsula. This antagonism and these hatreds have even subjected the love of country, have delivered us to the yoke of conquerors, and have prolonged our servitude."

A minority draft had been presented by the Deputies of the Left, Cala and Diaz Quintero, which provided for the establishment of the federal government from bottom to top, by the previous formation of the State governments, and limited the powers of the central government. Many of the majority had begun to have doubts of the saving powers of the Federal Republic, and the minority felt enfeebled from their loss in numbers. The signers of the minority draft withdrew their signatures, and Castelar declared that there was no need of hastening the discussion.

"Things," said he, "which are easily born and created, die easily, and we must have a solemn and ample discussion." The condition of the country, according to the same speaker, was not favourable for constitutional discussion. After the defeat of the Carlists, there would be time for voting a Republican Constitution. The debate soon lost interest, and the speech of Leon y Castillo was the only contribution of any value to the discussion, which was soon suspended without any attempt being made to revive it. The proposed Constitution was thus allowed to die a natural death.

The election of Castelar on August 26 to the Presidency of the Chamber marked another advance in the conservative tendency disclosed in that body by the elevation of Salmeron to be chief of the State, and by the support given to his energetic policy. A conscientious scruple, however, now led the President of the Executive Power himself to resign the power which had been intrusted to him. It was the question of capital punishment which induced Salmeron, to take this step. The generals in command of the forces of the Government declared that they could not answer for the maintenance of military discipline unless the law was allowed to take its course in the case of officers and soldiers whose conduct had subjected them to the death penalty; and that the decision of the court martial in certain cases was not to be interfered with. Salmeron had always been an ardent advocate of the abolition of capital punishment. He wished neither to prove false to his principles nor to obstruct the course of justice. On September 6 he communicated his resignation to the Cortes, in consequence of his inability to meet "the imperious exigencies of public opinion."

"In the debate upon the crisis caused by this retirement from office, Salmeron argued with great vigour in favour of a continuance of the policy which he had inaugurated, replying to a violent arraignment by Pi y Margall, who, as of old, was in favour of conciliation and amnesty, and who was the candidate of the Left for the presidential succession. " The Government of the Republic," said the retiring President, "has already six long months of existence, and it has not yet been elevated to the rank of a government in the appreciation of the other governments of Europe. We live in complete isolation. Almost all the nations of Europe regard us as a veritable danger. . . . It is not possible to form a conciliation ministry - to unite in a government opposing tendencies which are repugnant to each other - when what we need is unity in conception, rapidity and energy in execution.

There is one man who does not yield to any who have thus far served our country; who shines as an orator unequalled until now, not merely in Spain but in the parliamentary annals of the world; who represents the spirit of the majority of the Chamber and corresponds exactly and faithfully to the opinion of the country at this moment. This is the man who ought not to try to conciliate what cannot be conciliated. He should form a homogeneous government, the only government possible, and in my opinion the only government which can preserve the liberty and the honour of the country, and to which I confide the last supreme hope of establishing the Democracy and consolidating the Republic."

The brilliant orator whom Salmeron heralded as his successor, and as the last supreme hope of the Republic, was Emilio Castelar, who was elected to the Presidency by 133 votes to 67 for Pi y Margall, the candidate of the Left. Salmeron himself was transferred to the Presidency of the Chamber. A great transformation had taken place in the mind of Castelar since the days when he represented the most advanced Republican ideas in his journal, La Discusion, during the reign of Isabella II, or when in the Constituent Cortes of 1869 he thundered against the suspension of constitutional guaranties, and drew pathetic pictures of the suffering caused by conscription. With all his tendency to brilliant generalisation regarding the rights of man, and to the proclamation of the most radical theories of human liberty when swept along by the overwhelming torrent of his own eloquence, the temperament of Castelar is essentially conservative; a temperament which loves order, shudders at anarchy, and regards stability as the primary condition of government. It required the errors and excesses of the Spanish Republicans to bring him to an accurate knowledge of his own character.

By a gradual evolution, the vigorous opponent of a standing army had become the most energetic advocate of military discipline, and was ready to levy the largest number of troops that the country had been called upon to furnish; the most persuasive advocate of the Federal Republic, he was nevertheless determined to suppress the federal insurrection with a stern hand; the most earnest expounder of the authority of Parliament, he accepted power only on the understanding that the early adjournment of the Chamber would leave him a dictator with unlimited powers. Nor did Castelar hesitate to avow that he had sacrificed his convictions on the altar of patriotism.

"Accuse me of inconsistency if you wish," said he in his speech defining the policy of the new Government, "accuse me of inconsistency, and I will listen to the accusation and make no effort to defend myself. Have I the right to save my reputation at any cost, and to prefer it to the safety of my country? Let my name perish; let future generations abominate my name or let the present generation condemn me to abandonment and exile, it matters little; I have lived enough: but let not the Republic be destroyed by my weakness; let not the country perish in our hands. . . . I who have always defended liberty, I who have always defended the Democracy, I who have always defended the Federal Republic, and who have always felt in my heart a religious veneration for all these principles, I tell you now that what we need at this moment - because true policy is a compromise between the ideal and the necessary - what we need is order, authority, government."

The fourth President of the Executive Power of the Republic went to work with energy to carry into effect the programme of government which he had announced, and which was a continuation of the policy of his predecessor. He at once introduced a bill authorising the Government to take whatever extraordinary measures it might deem necessary in reference to the war, to mobilise the reserves, and to raise a hundred million of pesetas to be expended solely for military purposes.

On September 18 a resolution was introduced by a deputy of the Right that the Cortes adjourn on the following day until January 2, which was carried by 124 to 68 votes, in spite of vigorous opposition from the Left led by Pi y Margall. The President of the Executive Power again took occasion in this discussion to impress upon the Chamber that the only hope of the Republic rested in the re-establishment of order. " The only political problem that we have to deal with," said he, "is to demonstrate that with the Republic there is order, authority, respect for law, punishment for the criminal, war for pronunciamientos, and horror of anarchy; that the Republic can create a strong society, a state respected within the federation, and in harmony with the integrity, unity, and prosperity of the country. This is the problem. If the Republic demonstrates this, the Republic will be eternal; if the Republic gives itself over to the delirium of demagogues and cantonals, the Republic will die dishonouring the Democracy, amid the abomination of Europe and the maledictions of history."

Presidential Powers

The adjournment of the Chamber left the President a dictator with autocratic powers, untrammelled by the jarring interferences of the Deputies of the Left, who had attempted at every step to interfere with the measures of Salmeron. As far as the exhausted condition of the treasury would permit, he contracted for placing upon a better footing the arms and equipment of the armies in the field. He proceeded to raise in two levies a hundred and twenty thousand men. He called into service the best generals at his disposal, irrespective of their party affiliation. General, Moriones was again placed in command of the Army of the North. General Martinez Campos was employed against the Carlists in Catalonia, while the command of the operations against the insurgent.

Federalists of Carthagena was entrusted to General Lopez Dominguez, the nephew of Serrano. He summoned General Pavia to the capital, and persuaded him to take the post of Captain-General of Madrid. He completed the reorganisation of the officers of the artillery corps, who had adopted a more favourable attitude towards the Republic since the suppression of General Hidalgo, which was one of the last acts of Salmeron.

Although the Federalist movement in the South was the source of great danger to the Republic, the strength and resources of the Carlists had marvellously increased since the fall of Amadeo. That event had produced even greater rejoicing among the supporters of the Pretender than among the Republicans. They hoped, not without reason, that the errors and excesses which were committed in the name of the Republic would drive many into their ranks.

Don Carlos himself, on July 15, made his appearance in Spain, and on the 16th published a call for volunteers, in which he declared himself to be the sole representative of the genuine monarchy. On August 2 he aroused the wildest enthusiasm in the Basque Provinces by taking a solemn oath under the revered oak of Guernica to respect the fueros, or special privileges, so dear to the hearts of the inhabitants.

With the assumption of the command of his forces by the Pretender in person, the war entered upon a new stage, both in the increase of his army and the success of the operations. In his speech presenting the bill for extraordinary means for prosecuting the war, Castelar, on September 12, made the following statement of the Carlist forces: " Carlism has increased to truly menacing proportions. We calculate that about twenty-five thousand Carlists are scattered in the four provinces most attacked by this terrible plague. We calculate that there are two thousand men in the province of Santander who daily threaten the railway by which we communicate with. the rest of Europe. There are from six to eight thousand Carlists in Catalonia. Five thousand inundate the Maestrazgo, and threaten simultaneously Morella, Segorbe, and Castellon. There is a large number of Carlists in the provinces of Alicante and Murcia, who naturally take advantage of the insurrection of Carthagena and the situation of the troops who are occupied in the siege. There are Carlists in Galicia and quite a large number in Burgos, so that we calculate the whole number to be about fifty thousand." They had captured Estella, the ancient stronghold of Carlism, and blockaded Tolosa.

The appointment by Castelar of General Moriones in the place of General Sanchez Bregua, who had shown marked evidence of incapacity, resulted in a favourable turn of fortune for the Liberals. General Moriones attacked the enemy successfully at Santa Barbara and Monte Jurra, and by a bold and rapid march in very severe weather from Pamplona to Irun, succeeded in raising the blockade of Tolosa.

The cantonal insurrection in Carthagena, with its four forts and the frigates, still continued without any apparent hope of its early subjection. On October 11 the insurgents gained a material advantage in a naval battle with the Government squadron under Admiral Lobo. In the interior of the city the Federalist leaders attempted to embody their wild theories of government. Among other decrees of a similar character issued by the junta were two which provided that inherited property and property purchased from the State at the time of the disamortisation of church property, at a price less than its real value, should be regarded as the public property of the canton. The siege was vigorously pressed by General Lopez Dominguez, and the bombardment of the city continued without intermission during the whole of the month of December.

Cantonal movements which appeared early in the month in Cadiz, Ferrol, and different points of Catalonia, were promptly suppressed by the Government without difficulty. It was the hope of all the supporters of cantonalism that Carthagena would succeed in holding out until January 2, the date fixed for the reassembling of the Cortes, when the fall of Castelar and the condemnation of his policy by the Assembly would add new strength to the insurrection.

To the serious problems with which Castelar was grappling, there was now added a grave cause of difference which led almost to a breach with the United States, and strengthened the hands of Castelar's opponents. The Virginius left New York on October 4 with about a hundred and fifty men and a cargo of arms and supplies for the Cuban insurgents. The Spanish consul at Kingston had given notice of the expedition to General Burriel, the governor of Santiago, who sent the frigate Tornado in search of her. The frigate sighted the Virginius about eighteen miles from the coast, and caught up with her after eight hours' pursuit, just as she was about entering English waters on the coast of Jamaica.

On the return of the Tornado to Santiago, without waiting for the conclusion of the court martial which had begun an inquiry, or listening to the intersession of the foreign consuls in behalf of their citizens, and as if to anticipate a prohibition from the Central Government, General Burriel ordered fiftyseven of the prisoners to be shot at different times. Among them were the captain, who was an American, a number of other Americans, and a brother of Cespedes, the President of the "Cuban Republic."

The executions would probably have continued if a telegram from the Madrid Government forbidding further slaughter had not finally been received. It was alleged that this telegram was delayed in transmission on account of the breaking of the wires between Santiago and Havana.

Although the men who engaged in this expedition probably knew that they were taking their lives in their hands, the report of the capture of the vessel and the subsequent executions aroused the greatest excitement in the United States. The Virginius, at the time of her seizure, was on the high seas, carrying the American flag, and provided with papers in regular form. In response to public opinion, the American Government demanded the surrender of the Virginius, an indemnity for the families of the victims, the liberation of the other prisoners, and the salute of the American flag. To give emphasis to these demands, naval preparations were begun on a large scale.

In Spain, where people are always ready to show their feelings without consideration of the consequences, the excitement ran as high as in the United States. The Cuban volunteers declared themselves ready to go to war with the United States without the help of the mother country, and threatened to burn the Virginius, that there might be no further consideration of the question of her return. In Madrid the required salute of the flag caused lively indignation. To no one was the whole question a cause of such pain as to the President of the Spanish Republic himself, distinguished alike for his humanity and for his admiration of the institutions of the United States. With a civil war at home, the insurrection in Cuba, the Federalists in possession of an important part of the fleet, his Government unrecognised by any foreign power, the dictator knew that Spain was absolutely impotent in the presence of the requirements of the Washington Government, and that the truest patriotism exacted a complete sacrifice of national pride. He determined to grant all the demands of the United States, and to remove what he regarded as an excellent pretext for the seizure of Cuba.

In spite of the praiseworthy efforts of Castelar, there was no general improvement in the state of the country as the day approached for the reassembling of the Cortes. The siege of Carthagena still dragged along; the troops of the Government had made no impression upon the Carlist strongholds. But the greatest danger to the Government of the dictator was the threatening aspect of his own party, and the falling away of many of the Deputies who had supported him before the adjournment. Pi y Margall, the leader of the regular Opposition, was using every effort with the Left and the Centre to secure a majority sufficient to assure the overthrow of Castelar.

The only method of conquering these adversaries, of defending the change in his convictions and the possession of extraordinary powers, was to be able to show at the reassembling of the Cortes material and beneficent results flowing from his policy. The inherent difficulties of the situation prevented the exhibition of such results. The opponents of the President could still point to the insurgents in possession of Carthagena, and the Carlists preparing to threaten Bilbao, the home of Liberalism in the midst of the hostile Basques; they could accuse him of having sacrificed the national honour in the settlement of the Virginius question.

In addition to these threatened attacks of his natural enemies, the Federalists, who detested the dictator's cherished idea of a centralised conservative republic, the most significant circumstance was the menacing attitude of Salmeron. Differences had developed between the two eminent Republicans which had turned Salmeron from the position of enthusiastic support which he had so glowingly described in his last speech in the Cortes, - the speech in which he hailed Castelar as the future saviour of the Republic.

Salmeron was in favour of a republic constructed solely by Republicans, in which the other parties might have a share after the structure was complete; Castelar was in favour of seeking the aid of the conservativee parties during the process of construction. Salmeron believed that the Federal Constitution should be discussed and promulgated at as early a date as possible; Castelar was firmly of the opinion that the question of the Constitution should be deferred, and that the pressing issue was the establishment of a strong government and the pacification of the country.

View to the Vatican

Apart from this divergence of views on general policy, Salmeron and a number of other Republicans were dissatisfied with the attitude of the President toward the Vatican. Castelar had used the prerogatives of his office to appoint an archbishop and two bishops; and according to the ancient custom, he had requested the "enthronisation" of these dignitaries by Pope Pius IX. This act, while it appealed to a nation of religious tendencies, excited the animosity of the majority of the Republicans, who professed to hold advanced views on religion as on everything else.

As January 2, 1874, the inevitable day for the reassembling of the Cortes, drew near, the observer of the currents of politics foresaw the fall of Castelar, and the fall of Castelar meant the revival of Federalism. In the minds of many, the revival of Federalism meant the delivery of the country to anarchy.

One important personage who took this view of the result of the President's defeat, and who therefore felt the gloomiest forebodings for the future, was Don Manuel Pavia, the Captain-General of Madrid. In politics Pavia was one of the revolutionists of September, and in favour of a centralised republic. He was a strong supporter of Castelar, and he saw that while the enemies of the dictator might destroy his government, they had no idea what they could erect in its place. Some time before the meeting of the Cortes, he visited Castelar, and painted in strong colours the dangers to which the country would be exposed by the advent of the Federalists to power. He informed the President that it was the general opinion that he would be defeated by the votes of the Left and Centre, and urged him to dissolve the Assembly or prorogue it until a distant date. He assured him that he would repress any disorder which might result from such a measure.

Castelar felt no hope of escaping defeat, but he emphatically refused to accede to any violent solution. "I will not," said he, "risk an atom of legality. On January 2 I shall present myself before the Cortes. I shall explain to them my conduct, and if I am beaten I shall retire to my dwelling to mourn in bitterness the misfortunes of my country."

Pavia saw that it was hopeless to attempt to bring Castelar to his views. He therefore determined to dissolve the Cortes himself, and thus explains his motives: "Placed in the unique position in Spain of being where I could throw myself instantly upon anarchy and stifle it at its birth, without listening to any other voice than that of my conscience, and without being influenced by any other motive than my affection for my country, I decided to execute the act of violence of January 3, 1873."

To the chiefs of the different parties, exclusive of the Republican, with whom he held interviews toward the end of December, he expressed himself as follows: "If Castelar is beaten, I shall save the country by dissolving the Assembly. I alone shall suffice. I need the support of no one; I forbid the slightest manifestation. You may remain quietly at your homes. When I dissolve the Assembly, I shall summon you and turn over to you the situation just as I have taken it into my hands. I shall then ask you to form a government capable of saving the country." (A. Houghton, Les Origins de la Restauration des Bourbons en Espagne)

There was great excitement in Madrid on January 2. The streets leading to the House of Deputies were thronged with people. In the building itself the corridors and tribunes were crowded. Everything showed the importance of the crisis, and no session had excited such interest since the day that Amadeo of Savoy was elected to the Spanish throne.

The sitting began at two in the afternoon. The Ministry was on the Blue Bench, in full attendance, except the Minister of the Colonies, who was absent in Cuba. Castelar proceeded to read his message, which began with the statement that the Government had made an effective use of the unlimited powers entrusted to it. He declared that order had been sustained in all parts of the country which were not disturbed by civil war. He hoped that Carthagena, whose criminal outbreak had been encouraged by demagogic passions, would soon be subject to the Republic. The conduct of the Carlist war had become more difficult on account of disorganisation and want of discipline in the army.

Vote of Confidence

No other policy was possible than a policy based on extraordinary measures, which would necessitate for some time the sacrifice of certain liberties. The army was an absolute necessity. The Government had re-established the military code, had re-organised the artillery corps, and had appointed to command two distinguished generals representing both parties, in order to give the army a truly national character. The era of popular insurrection and military pronunciamientos must be brought to a close. The nation must recognise that it can obtain the satisfaction of just demands by universal suffrage and not by barricades. The army must learn that it existed for the purpose of upholding the laws and obeying the decision of the Cortes. The Republic represented authority, freedom, right, duty, and progress; and all liberal parties should be united in its support. To all classes of society it must be proved that the Republic meant peaceful progress, and the Republicans themselves must calm public opinion by showing the spirit of reconciliation. "And when the period of unrest and dangers are over, you can return to your homes with the consciousness of having served your country, and may expect from the judgment of history the names of conservative founders of the Spanish Republic."

With the close of the President's message, the debate began on the vote of confidence proposed by the supporters of the Government. The debate lasted until seven o'clock, when an adjournment was taken until eleven at night. On the reassembling of the House, the debate continued, and Castelar defended his policy with all the power of the splendid eloquence which had so often swayed the Assembly. He preferred, said he, "the worst republic to the best monarchy; but it must be a possible, not a theoretical republic." His arguments, his appeals, were all in vain. The Left and the Centre were determined upon his downfall. The resolution of confidence was defeated by 120 to 100 votes. The President of the Executive Power arose, and with emotion communicated the resignation of the Government, and requested that for the welfare of the Republic a new Ministry be immediately formed. The opponents of Castelar had gained the victory, but they were not agreed upon the composition of the new government.

The entire night had been spent, and day was just beginning to break on a misty wintry morning, when two aides-de-camp of the Captain-General of Madrid appeared upon the scene. With true Castilian courtesy they informed the President of the Chamber, Salmeron, that they were under the painful obligation of requesting him to inform the Deputies they must leave the building. They also added that the Captain-General of Madrid "was compelled to grant but a very short time to the Deputies of the nation to evacuate their palace."

General Pavia had kept himself informed of every step of the proceeding of the Assembly since the beginning of the session. When he received definite information of the defeat of Castelar, he ordered the troops out of their barracks, occupied all the streets leading to the House of Deputies, and surrounded the building. The captain-general himself took his position in front of the edifice, surrounded by his staff. In a speech made in the first Cortes of the restoration in which he explained and defended his action of January 3, 1874, General Pavia said that even at this moment he felt the most acute regret that a man of his liberal ideas should have to execute an act of violence against the representatives of the nation, but that his conscience ordered him to do his duty, and to prevent the delivery of the country to anarchy. To him the fall of Castelar meant the beginning of anarchy.

The President of the Assembly announced to the Deputies the message he had received from the Captain-General of Madrid. This announcement was received with the greatest excitement, which the President in vain attempted to calm. Many Deputies expressed the determination to die at their posts. Enthusiastic applause greeted the statement of the Minister of War, Sanchez Bregua, that he would immediately issue a decree depriving General Pavia of all his honours and decorations.

A resolution of confidence in Castelar was then proposed by one of the members of the Left, and would have been unanimously approved, but the President of the Executive Power declared that he should not have the necessary force and that he should not be obeyed. He was unwilling also to owe his return to power to an act of violence. This movement of repentance on the part of the Deputies of the Left and Centre was reported to General Pavia, but the captain-general had gone too far to retrace his steps. He only shook his head and said "Ya es tarde,"-"It is too late now." The period allowed for the evacuation of the building had elapsed, and the guards began to enter. On hearing the sound of musketry in the corridor the Deputies quickly left the building. According to the statement of the official report of the proceedings, "the sitting terminated immediately. It was half-past six on the morning of January 3, 1874."

Thus the good citizens of Madrid, when they awoke, found that another pronunciamiento was to be recorded in their annals, and that the attempt at a Federal Republic had gone into the limbo of the abortive experiments in governments, in which the Revolution was so fertile. The general impression was one of relief. The majority of Spaniards believed with General Pavia that the victory of the advanced Republicans meant anarchy. Castelar carried with him in his fall the respect and sympathy of the best part of his countrymen. The Republic did not fall by his fault, because, if he had remained in power, the deliberations of the Constituent Cortes of the Republic would have continued without interference from the garrison of Madrid. It ended through the fanaticism and lack of foresight of his party. In the midst of his regret at the failure of cherished hopes, the disillusion of the dreams of his youth, the greatest and noblest of the Spanish Republicans must have been more than human not to have tempered his melancholy with the thought that for him the coup d'etat of General Pavia represented "not punishment, but vengeance."

Chapter VI: Reaction and Restoration