FERMENT IN SPAIN

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 7, 9 January 1925, Page 5

FERMENT IN SPAIN

CRITICAL CHANGES IN VIEW

MOROCCO. A! POLITICAL BATTLE-

GROUND.

. ;. The military censorship .in! Spain, ie so-absolute that the only news available is tjiat." which leaks:over the French frontier, declares. the Parisian correspondent of the "Manchester Guardian." The little that, is known; suggests, that the recent outbreak, though minimised in • telegrams, has been abortive ( ' because ill-organised by "a few ' h'ot-heade and local , leaders. The ' leading ' Repiibiican. Spaniards in' exjle in Paris repudiate it.l : "":""-;^. \-'V '•• ■;'.." ' \- < \ ' ~' : "", '

, Ne.YerthelesSjvtijere is jjo denying; that the' situation in. Spain, is' critical,: perhaps, dangerouie. '■: Public opinion 1 can liardly te iaiclto exist. A. collision,' if it comes,_ will be between two military eleinehis,, one ultra-reactionary and. attached to the King, the other," wrongheadedly desirous of reforming I'the country, . not particularly' attached "to tlie Moriarchy and representative rather bf : the riioyement among army officers riot of. the ] rank 'of general which last' year resulted in -the formation of military •juntas. /-'..' .".'.'.."' ';.".'■ ■•'■"'.■■;;

• When;, the. Directorate ; was estab-; Hshed': it.', represented an ill-assorted and, fniperriianent union between' these two forces. ;5 The Royaliet generals of Madrid,- headed by : General Berengiier, were coupled with junta - chiefs^'; from Catalonia under the.nominal headshipjof Primb de Rivera. In the internal' struggle which began at once it has been the latter or junta element that has steadily triumphed from the beginning. The Madrid generals'■ were swept away' and General Berenguer was arrested arid interned, at -Guadeloupe. Finally, at th^ end of the summer King Alfonso's chief of the Miiitary Cabinet was defeated hv a final effort to resist this evolution. : ' .

The" general impression in England of King Alfonso is that he'is an amiable, harmless spprisman of almost English type. "Nc#greater mistake could: be made. The King ; is the very opposite of an amusement-loving' figurehead. More perhaps,, than anyone he "is responsible for the Morocco adventure, arid he is bitterly opposed :to the policy; of. evac-. uation to.. the coast The struggle that has been going on all these riibnths has, in fact, been over this question of evacuation, arid it is the-ultra-Royalist Moroccan die-hard generale in' close association with the Court that Have been worsted.:; ' .'. " ' . ' ' '," "' •"-• •

.Evacuation; to' the coast zone will shortly be completed.:' Corisequeh'tly.the chief task of the Directorate, purged of Royalist, Generals; has 'bee* completed. The moment has arrived fortihe next evolution of; dictatorship. That is the second.phase. It ia significant, as the correspondent of the "Journal dcs Debats" points out,/4hat of late the Press censorship in Spam- has been' lifted slightlyjust enough.to allow under severe limitations a discussion of the new regime that should follow the assertion of naked taihtary force. -;The liquidation -of the Morocco adventure is, enabling the soldier, mast^s. of .Spain to turn to internal affairs,, and with : 'much circumspection they are Tallowing.political .ferment to bagin to; operate. ■„■ It is a critical moment for them, and for Spain; and it is not easy to forecast the outcome. ' ■■■.•Much., depends upon, the character of the men in. charge,of affairs. A Madrid correspondent the .."Temps'*. suggests that the nominal Dictator,' General Primo de Rivera,'is*a:mere'dummy, and'tilat the real Dictator behind the scenes is the, enigmatic General Nouvillas." General : Nouvillas has only'recently beeii given the rank of General. He was originally an obscure:officer in. the north who became president ; of the infantry junta.. ;He was.:summoned from : Barcelona to Madrid after the overthrow of the Berenguerißt Generals arid. became the Secretary-General of the Directorate Ihereupon he ■ became the omnipotent, hidden ■wirepuller.; inaccessible, unfathomable, in touch ,at once with officers throughout the-country and with wellknown Socialists and Republicans He is, says - the' ' 'Temps" correspondent,.the deus ex malchina who issues forth, only to enforce his will at moment^ of • crisis.* Primo de Rivera is overshadowed,by him.. He is as wil y and as secret a 8: Machiavelli's Prince:— He^ssues from the penumbra of his secretariat general . only to bury .himself at once.in the shadow of his private home, where, an affection of . the x heart keeps him always in his ' room. SfW?f^i-? 6 / near •hira confess : wf mabl^X- penetrate into his in- ;^ myster^s" 1"'1118 ilK°mi)re^nsible X^JL^^lioip.nhm-iot: he ' is , evidently Republican at Ketit-Ufres b. ZiZ I S? rt,,°f Proletarian milihave said • " T tS?am' T^olted to have said : It is only military uniforms f hf'rt'V' the POP'-«>at count; the black coats do not frighten us." And th^T wT S6S le^ mg to «rtai» men of ti»l.V •' aye disturbing; eventualities. ■ Among those eventT.alities »bolition of -the central feature, of the fcSß»tjtutl°S . a j I^^^, MttWttgti." j