It is worth noting that the Government of Spain can be carried on for an indefinite time without the sessions of the Cortes. The Cortes adjourned for the summer recess in June, 1909, before the troubles began in Barcelona, and never met again. Throughout his tenure of office Moret tried without success to obtain the Royal decree for a dissolution. Canalejas was in office two months before he could get the decree signed, but at length, in April, 1910, it was announced that the General Election would definitely be held in May. The outgoing Cortes has a Conservative majority: what the next will be no man can say, although, having regard to the fact that a Liberal Ministry is in power, the presumption is that a Liberal majority will be returned. There is, however, no shadow of doubt that if the elections were conducted fairly and freely and the people could vote in accordance with their convictions, a Cortes would be returned with an overwhelming majority in favour of the Constitutional Monarchy, reform of abuses, and the destruction of the political influence and privileges of the Church. POLITICAL PARTIES CHAPTER XIII POLITICAL PARTIES It must not be supposed that the whole of the Conservative party shares the Carlist and Ultramontane views of the majority. The old school of Conservatives, led by Canovas, supported the Constitutional Monarchy as strongly as do the Liberals, and even now a contingent of strong constitutional Conservatives exists, although it is not easy to detect their influence on the general policy of the party with which they act. Their existence, however, was proved in October, 1909, when some of the leading men of Señor Maura’s party withdrew their adhesion to his leadership upon his declaration of “implacable hostility” towards the whole of the Liberal party. They saw, as did every one else, that the reactionary policy of the Ultramontane Premier was imperilling the existence of the Constitutional Monarchy. To appreciate the disinterestedness of men who thus cut themselves off from the acknowledged leader of their party, whether in office or in opposition, the unwritten law of an alternate share of the spoils must be borne in mind. Thus a politician who deliberately deserts his party, from whatever motive, loses all chances of a salaried appointment when that party again has power to confer these political plums. I make no apology for putting the facts thus plainly. They are spoken of with cynical frankness by all Spaniards, and it is considered a matter of course that any statesman who refuses to sell his favours to the highest bidder will be removed from place at the earliest opportunity by the intrigues of the many who live by political corruption.