THE PENALTIES OF DESPOTISM.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 173, 24 July 1928, Page 6

THE PENALTIES OF DESPOTISM.

There are three European countries which are at present governed by absolute despotisms —Russia, Italy and Spain—and as a naturaj consequence the recent history of all tnese countries has been constantly punctuated witn records of rebellious plots and conspiracies. No civilised human beings are long satisfied to live under a tyranny, and all that absolutism can do against discontent is to drive it underground. In Spain constitutional government has been for some years past replaced by a military despotism, and the inevitable consequence has been the recurrence of plots against the King—who is not personally unpopular— and the Dictator, General Primo de Rivera. Of course, there are specific causes of discontent —corruption, maladministration and the exhaustion of the country's resources by the endless African war. But the real malady which is eating out Spain's heart is the longing for freedom, and until the people secure a much larger measure of social and political anu intellectual liberty than they now possess, King Alfonso will have no reasonable prospect ot ending his days in safety and peace. The plot just disclosed by a "Daily Mail" correspondent may not have been so widespread and dangerous as the report indicates. But it is merely one symptom of the revolutionary impulses that are constantly working below the surface in Spain.