UNREST IN SPAIN

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 149, 27 June 1925, Page 16

UNREST IN SPAIN

BASQUES AND CATALONIANS

DISSATISFIED,

Martial law has been abolished in Spain. ; This country, has been conspicf;TUOuslyand unpleasantly in the limelight since the government: 'was. vested."in a Directorate an September, 1923. L On'fch'o fifteenth, of-that month, Don: Primp do Rivera, who is also the Marquis, da Estella, and a : bosom friend of Alfoiiso XIII., took action which led to a Eoyal decree being issued appointing him President of a Military-Directory, and a week later Parliament was dissolved. The justification offered by, Pi-imo de Rivern,:for this coup d'etat was tho failure of the Spanish" army in "Morocco. The Director thereupon assumed , charge of tho operations, and the facts that" the Moroccan tribesmen are to-day iv possession of considerable; tracts' of country formerly undei--Spanish control besides a -vast quantity; of aimy material, and are able to turn their faces southward and oppose the French in their -zone, are eloquent that ho .too has failed. But Spain was not only concerned about happenings abroad. -There.was internal danger. : The Basques in;'tho north and the Catalcmians in the'south. 'Wero restive, and still are. -They, ai-o respectively the chief agricultural and industrial "peoples of Spain. As such they had resented tho .''bleeding" process of'the.old regime. -To judge by :;their present dissatisfaction, : they are no better pleased with the Directorate. ■': Primo do Eivera ' himself is a, Catalonian, and was formerly closely. ■identified with the movement for secession. But, as Director/he, considers that he owes a duty to the monarch,. and Al■fonso isopppsed to; any ""partitioning. of the country. '.';>'. .' ;, :.' '.] v / Since'l9l3 what is called the Mancomunidad, a sort' of;enlarged county cnuncil/ has administrated municipal affairs " in Catalonia, and - its success has: been so great that: there is -keen /jealousy in In fear that the spirit of Sep-- ; aratism will spread, /even ■ the singing of .Catalonian patriotic,songs and speak-ing-the Catalonian dialect are discour.aged; by- the Madrid authorities.. The difficulty has not been so'marked in tho .-Basque provinces,: and,there special priv-' rileges.of self-government have, been allowed. At a time when the; army is under, a cloud because of its inglorious perfor.mances.in Morocco, andV.whe.h>the Cata-; :lonian feeling against the form' of government -that emanates from \ Madrid -is at :its highest, it is ; surprisin£; .to hear that martial rule: has beeiv abolished. " -The Directorate :is essentially "government by : the army. And yet the army—or rather its -leaders, -because the; bravery of the rank' and file in .Morocco has been fre- ;? qnently: admii-e'd; during the::': operations fagainst- the ■Riffs^stands: discredited.' The abolition of martial law must ,be inl)terpreted,: therefore,'to meap.' that the Pirectbrate.is eager to .re-establish "'itself %in popular favour. '' ; •;