The Restoration Period in Spain: 1875-1902

Posted on Dec 15, 2024 in History

Item 5: The Scheme of Restoration. Features and Operation of Canovas

The 1868 revolution was a failure. Until 1902, the year of the beginning of the reign of Alfonso XIII, a long period led by Antonio Canovas del Castillo took place: the 1876 constitution, electoral manipulation, and chieftaincy. This stage would be severely disrupted by the shock of the war in Cuba and the disaster of 1898. In the evolution of the Restoration, we must distinguish several phases:

  • The first, which comes to the death of Alfonso XII.
  • The second, the regency of Maria Cristina of Austria, wife of Alfonso XII, during the minority of her son Alfonso XIII.

The period of Restoration may be terminated by the arrival of Alfonso XIII at the age of majority in 1902. During his reign, the Canovist system entered a crisis, only to be rid of by the dictatorship of General Primo de Rivera, ultimately leading to the beginning of the Republic.

1. The Return of the Bourbon Monarchy

After the coup of General Pavia, General Serrano headed a caretaker government, during which the Alfonsinos, led by Cánovas, prepared to return to the Bourbon monarchy in the hands of Alfonso XII (son of Isabel II). Alfonso XII signed the Manifesto of Sandhurst, which ensured a monarchy in dialogue, constitutional and with continuity of much of the political progress contained in the administration. Cánovas was preparing a return to the monarchy peacefully and without military intervention, but General Martínez Campos ruled forward in Sagunto. The government offered no resistance and Cánovas formed a Regency cabinet, informing of his proclamation of Alfonso XII as king.

2. The Canovas System

Alfonso XII, on his arrival in Spain, confirmed his confidence in Canovas, who in the following months took action. The government aimed to achieve three objectives:

1. Pacify the Country

a. Ending the Carlist War (after the defeat of the Carlists, Cánovas abolished the Basque privileges, due to the support of the Basques for the Carlists).

b. War of Cuba ended with the Peace of Zanjón (1878). This peace included a broad amnesty and promises whose default would be the source of a final war (1895).

2. Create the Foundation for a Political System

Cánovas was the key man of the Bourbon Restoration and took his time to organize and set the stage for a new political system. He suggested:

a. Remove the military from political power and bring it back to the barracks.

b. Make a synthesis between old and new: set “Mother truths” that all must admit (monarchy, freedom, private property, and the unity of Spain).

c. Take steps to control the order and the centralization of power through:

  • Senior political control.
  • Control of the press.
  • Restoring relations with the Church (Concordat of 1851), returning the few assets not yet sold and guaranteeing the church-state union.

d. Achieving political stability, the monarchy would be the cornerstone that would share sovereignty with the courts and would have broad powers. The second pillar would be a constitution. This stability, based on the monarchy and the constitution, would be completed by the organization of a party system. These two parties, considered dynastic parties, would be the Conservative Party and the Liberal Party. These two parties should take turns in power peacefully, while the rest of the political parties would remain on the sidelines.

3. 1876 Constitution

a. Establishes a “shared sovereignty” between the King and the Cortes.

b. The King is inviolable and had extensive powers:

  • He held executive power, exercised through the government, whose president he appointed and dismissed.
  • He had legislative initiative, approved and promulgated laws, and served as supreme commander of the army.
  • He had the power to summon, suspend, or dissolve the Cortes.

c. The courts are structured into two chambers: the Congress and the Senate. Members of Congress were elected by popular vote (first by census suffrage, later by universal male suffrage). The Senate was composed of senators in their own right (the major contributors), senators appointed by the King, and others elected by corporations such as the Church or the University.

d. It included a broad statement of rights (inviolability of domicile, freedom of residence, of expression, freedom of assembly and association…), but these would be further regulated by ordinary laws.

e. It declares the Catholic confessional state but is tolerant of other religions or concessions without public demonstrations, and recognizes the traditional privileges of the Catholic Church.

3. The Two-Party System and the Mechanics of Turnismo

The Canovist system was completed with a two-party system, the two dynastic parties or official parties that agreed to constitutional legality, and the government would take turns in a peaceful manner: the Conservative Party and the Liberal Party.

– The Conservative Party, led by Canovas first and then by Silvela, was composed mainly of the aristocracy, the landed gentry, and industrial and financial figures. It defended census-based suffrage, the exclusiveness of the Catholic religion, censorship, and economic protectionism.

– The Liberal Party, led by Sagasta or the fusionists, consisted of the urban petty bourgeoisie. It advocated for universal male suffrage, freedom of religion, academic freedom, freedom of the press, freedom of association, and free trade. Under its government, laws were passed such as the recognition of the right of association and universal male suffrage.

The turn was the political formula that, through manipulation, the chiefs, and electoral fraud, gave the dynastic parties the possibility of alternating in government peacefully. It was not the expression of the will of the voters, but party leaders agreed on it and set it beforehand. The mechanics were as follows:

1. The king appoints a new head of government and grants the decree dissolving parliament.

2. The new government calls completely rigged elections. The Ministry of Interior “manufactured” results through the encasillado, the pre-allocation of seats. These lists were formed by members of the gentry and the aristocracy, who formed an oligarchy that monopolized political and administrative positions and seats in the Cortes. In this way, they controlled the power, exercised for the benefit of the ruling class they represented.

3. The Civil Governors of each province were informed by the Minister of Interior of the results that “should come out” in their provinces, following the “encasillado”.

4. The chiefs, following the Civil Governor’s instructions, were in charge of implementing the agreed-upon election results. The methods used by the chieftains during elections included tax cuts, for example, or simply distorting the record of the outcome (“pucherazo”). Each party agreed to take turns to gain power, so they did not report wrongdoing by their opponents, since they would benefit from the system later.

4. The Opposition to Canovas

The Restoration was not complete for political parties not considered dynastic. The main sources of opposition were:

a. Carlists: defeated militarily and without the support of the Vatican, which had decided to support Alfonso XII, they only had influence in the Basque Country and Navarra and among very conservative Catholic circles.

b. Republicans: had three basic points:

  • The defense of the Republic as a form of state, opposing the monarchy and parliament.
  • Support for social reform.
  • An ideology that manifested a clear anti-clericalism.

Republicanism lost the support of the middle classes, frightened by the disorders of the First Republic. After the return to legality, thanks to the Liberal government of Sagasta authorizing freedom of association, it was broken into factions. Castelar founded the Possibilist Party. Salmerón went to the Republican Union. Pi y Margall led federalism. Ruiz Zorilla led radical groups in the Progressive Party. After the approval of universal suffrage (except for the possibility), the Republican Union (1903) was formed, which allowed for the first time in the courts to have a significant Republican minority.

c. Labor Movement, Socialists, and Anarchists: Socialists founded the PSOE in 1879, as recommended by the Marxists of the AIT. They advocated for the abolition of classes, the socialization of ownership, and the occupation of political power by the working class. Its founder was Pablo Iglesias. With the adoption of universal male suffrage, the party launched its election activity. In 1888, the party created the UGT union. Anarchism was introduced in Spain by Fanelli, a follower of Bakunin. It had great support and monitoring, especially among industrial workers and laborers in Catalonia, Andalusia, and Extremadura. In the early 1880s, in the Cadiz area, there were robberies, arson, and attacks on landowners. Such acts were attributed to a secret society (“The Black Hand”). The security forces launched a major crackdown on anarchists, with arrests, torture, etc. The anarchists carried out revolutionary terrorism against General Martinez Campos, in the Liceo de Barcelona, killing Cánovas or against the Church. The key moment of this spiral was the processes of Montjuic, in 1897, where five anarchists were convicted and executed. Supporters of union action and mass anti-terrorist action created the CNT union.

d. Regionalism and Nationalism: opposition movements were enhanced by the local bourgeoisie. Regionalism seeks to defend the region through administrative autonomy. Nationalism holds that each people or nation has the right to exercise sovereignty over its territory and, therefore, is responsible for forming its own independent state.

  • The origin of Catalan nationalism goes back to cultural events linked to Romanticism (“Renaixença”) that promoted the use of Catalan and the recovery of their cultural traditions. Catalanism developed to become a political movement during the Restoration, with the emergence of the Catalan Center, founded by Almirall. In 1891, Prat de la Riba founded the Catalanist Union, and the Bases de Manresa were prepared, claiming autonomous power and the restoration of traditional Catalan institutions: Generalitat, Cortes, etc. In 1901, the Regionalist League was established, with Cambó as a leader and Prat de la Riba as an ideologue.
  • Basque nationalism is a reaction against the abolition of the Basque privileges after the Third Carlist War. Its rural roots meant that the government’s policy endangered the Basque historical signs, and industrial development generated a massive influx of immigrants that threatened the identity of the Basque Country. In 1895, the PNV was founded by Sabino Arana. His theory is defined by the assertion of the superiority of the Basque race, the defense of customs, the Basque language, Catholicism, anti-Spanish sentiment, and the proclamation of independence.
  • Regionalism in Galicia began with the Rexurdimento.
  • In Andalusia, there was a first attempt at regionalism with Blas Infante.

5. The Political Dynamic. Government Action

1. The Reign of Alfonso XII (1875-1885)

The Conservative Party was in power during most of the reign of Alfonso XII. Cánovas conducted military pacification and the drafting of the Constitution of 1876. His government was marked by the adoption of measures to intensify state control and to centralize the country administratively, such as:

  • The abolition of the Basque privileges because of the support they gave to the Carlists and Cánovas’ conviction of the need to standardize the country legally.
  • Freedom of speech was curtailed (Press Law of 1879).
  • A reduction in academic freedom, this created a conflict that ended with the founding of the Free Institution of Education.
  • The election of Municipal and Provincial authorities was regulated.
  • Census-based suffrage was established.

In 1881, the Liberal Party of Sagasta came to power, thus initiating the turnismo of the two dynastic parties. The Liberals took steps to increase freedom but found the influence of the Black Hand in the Andalusian countryside and a Republican attempt at a coup. The government reacted harshly, but it was too late. The King instructed Cánovas to form a new government, and the Conservatives returned to power.

2. The Regency of Maria Cristina of Habsburg (1885-1902)

After the death of Alfonso XII, a risk to the continuity of the regime was created. Maria Cristina, the second wife of Alfonso XII, assumed the regency until the coming of age of her son Alfonso XIII, with the support of the dynastic parties. These parties signed the Pact of Pardo, whereby they agreed to keep the monarchy, to respect political shifts, and to maintain the legislative measures adopted by the respective governments. The Liberals of Sagasta ruled for a longer time and carried out a reform agenda:

  • Approved the Partnership Act, critical to the expansion of the labor movement.
  • Restored jury trials.
  • Adopted universal male suffrage.
  • A civil code was enacted.

But there remained two major problems to solve: the distortion of popular will at the hands of despotism and the social needs of the industrial working class and day laborers. The return of the Conservatives to power marked a return to protectionist economic policy and increased repressive measures (Terrorism Act of 1894) against outbreaks of social unrest. In the late 19th century, the system of the Restoration gave clear signs of weakness, exacerbated by the assassination of Canovas and the crisis of ’98, generated by the loss of Cuba, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico, which showed the need to reform the system so that it could continue to exist.