The sovereign rules for life, and appoints the Prime Minister and the Cabinet officers, who remain in office as long as they can manage the affairs of state properly. The Parliament or Congress is composed of two Houses, like ours, but the Upper House, which resembles our Senate, is composed of peers (dukes, marquises, earls, viscounts, and barons) who are not elected, but have their seat in the Upper House by right of birth. Added to these are the Bishops and Churchmen of high degree, and, in some countries, certain distinguished persons appointed by the sovereign. The members of the Lower House are elected, as our Congressmen are. In Spain they are elected for five years, in England they lose their seats every time the Ministry changes. As we have said, the Prime Minister only keeps his office while he can control affairs. When he finds that the Parliament will no longer uphold the plans and wishes of the Ministry, he goes to his sovereign, resigns his office, and a new Minister is appointed. This is just what has been happening in Spain. The people, displeased at the way the Cuban affairs were being managed, complained of the Government, and at the same time demanded that General Weyler should be recalled from the island. At first the murmurs were not heeded, but they grew louder, until finally the people demanded that the Duke of Tetuan, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, should be removed, for they supposed it was his fault that their requests were not granted. The Duke himself put the finishing touch to the matter by boxing the ears of one of the members of the opposition party with whom he got into a heated discussion over the Morgan Bill. The Spanish Parliament, the Cortes, was furious over this rude and extraordinary conduct. The opposition party absolutely refused to have anything to do with the Government party, to which the Duke belonged. No business could therefore be transacted in the Cortes, because the opposition would neither argue nor vote on the measures proposed. It was suggested that the best way out of the difficulty was for the Duke to resign, but the Prime Minister, Senor Canovas, was unwilling that he should do so while Cuban matters were in such a very unsettled condition. He thought the best thing for the country would be a change of Ministry, and so he offered his resignation to the Queen. The opposition rejoiced when the news of Senor Canovas's resignation was announced. The leader of the opposition, Senor Sagasta, was known to be in favor of giving the Cubans very liberal home rule, and also of recalling Weyler. Every one thought that he would be made Prime Minister in the place of Senor Canovas.