Sefior Sagasta has accepted the resignation of his Radical colleague,
Senor Canalejas, and has prorogued the Cortes until October. Much of the interval will be occupied, it is said, in negotiations with the Vatican, the Government having formally and officially decided in Cabinet Council upon four principles for the settlement of Church questions. These are :—" (1) No religious Order can establish itself in Spain without previous authorisation; (2) religious Orders which do establish themselves will submit in the matter of instruction to the general laws which regulate the instruction of the State ; (3) religious Orders cannot acquire or keep any landed property but that which represents their place of residence; (4) religious Orders can be dissolved for reasons of public order by the unanimous vote of the Council of Ministers." Rome will denounce those "principles," especially the second and fourth, with all its strength, and their ultimate acceptance or rejection will probably depend upon the disposition of the young King, who is supposed not to be Clerical, but who can• hardly have thought out the relation of ecclesiastical questions to the daily government of Spain. The obscure question is the influence of the country cams, which was once nearly absolute, but has for some years past been slowly dying away.
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