Working-class opinion on the situation was quite definite. For a day or two satisfaction was expressed, because Canalejas was reputed to be devoted to the interests of the people. But no sooner was suspicion aroused that his elevation to the Premiership had been engineered by the Ultramontanes than the poor were up in arms: the mere suggestion that the Jesuits were at work being sufficient to revive all the irritation and anxiety that Moret had succeeded in allaying. “Canalejas talks a great deal, and we have long looked upon him as our friend,” a journeyman mason remarked to me. “But here we are again with everything in a state of confusion, and work in every direction waiting while our employers are busy with their politics. We shall get nothing done now till things have quieted down, so I don’t see what advantage it is to us to have Canalejas in power.” [Illustration: GENERAL MARINA. SEÑOR CANALEJAS. Commander-in-Chief at Melilla. Leader of the Liberal Democrats. [To face page 244.] “If it is true that Canalejas is in league with the Jesuits to bring Maura back, there will be trouble,” said another man. “We will not have Maura ruining the country again just when it was beginning to pick up. I would rather shoot him myself. The poor can’t live under Maura, so I should lose nothing by killing him, even if I paid for it with my life.” A woman burst out crying when she heard her husband talking about Maura. “Why does the good God let that man live?” she sobbed. “If it is true that he is coming into power again, all our sons will be sent to Melilla to be killed. And we have been so contented because we thought we had got rid of him!” The hope of the Ultramontanes was that the downfall of Moret would bring about a final and irremediable split in the Liberal party, which would facilitate the overthrow of Canalejas when the time came. And at first it seemed probable that this hope would be realised, for practically the whole of Moret’s Cabinet resigned with him, and refused to take office under Canalejas, while Canalejas himself at first acted as though he desired a permanent breach, by claiming that his appointment as Premier necessarily carried with it the leadership of the party--a proposition to which the party was by no means disposed to agree. But in time better counsels prevailed, and an interview between the Premier and his predecessor has lately been reported in the Press, in the course of which Canalejas frankly admitted the obligations of the party to Moret and the need that exists for his co-operation and advice--which Moret for his part professed himself quite ready to give, as indeed he had done ever since his resignation. So that it looks as though the danger of a breach had been avoided, at any rate for the present.