They realize this condition. Even the
lower classes are tired of fine talking. No people have heard more, and
none have profited less by it. The country is not like Russia, a fertile
field for the agitator; it looks coldly upon reform. Such response as
has been obtained by the radical has come from the labour centres under
the stimulus of foreign influences, and more particularly from
Barcelona, where the problem is political even before it is an
individual one.
For this reason the Spanish Republicans are in large part theorists. The
land has been disturbed sufficiently. They would hesitate to inaugurate
radical reforms, if power were to be placed in their hands, while the
possession of power itself might prove not a little embarrassing. Behind
the monarchy lies the republic of 1873, behind Canovas and Castelar, Pi
y Margall; the republic has merged into and was, in a sense, the
foundation of the constitutional system of today. Even popular leaders
such as Lerroux are quick to recognize this fact, and govern themselves
accordingly. The lack of general education today, would render any
attempt at the establishment of a thorough-going democracy insecure.
Francisco Ferrer, although idealized abroad, has been no more than a
symptom in Spain.
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