st
virile was that of Maura, a former Liberal, whose spirit of
conciliation and progressiveness entitled him to be considered one of
the few real statesmen of Spain in the present generation.

Following the death of Sagasta the Liberals passed through a period of
demoralization, but under the leadership of Montero Rios they
gradually recovered, and in June, 1905, the government of Villaverde
was succeeded by one presided over by Rios. At the elections of
September 10, 1905, the Ministerialists secured 227 seats and the
Conservatives of all groups but 126 (the remainder being scattered);
but discord arose and, November 29 following, the cabinet of Rios
resigned. Upon the great ecclesiastical questions of the day--civil
marriage, the law of associations, and the secularization of
education--both parties, but especially the Liberals, were disrupted
completely, and during the period of but little more than a year between
the retirement of Rios and the return to power of Maura, January 24,
1907, no fewer than five ministries sought successively to grapple (p. 624)
with the situation. Under Maura a measure of stability was restored.
The premier, although a Catholic, was moderately anti-clerical. His
principal purpose was to maintain order and to elevate the plane of
politics by a reform of the local government. At the elections of
April 21, 1907, the Conservatives won a victory so decisive that in
the Congress they secured a majority of 88 seats over all other groups
combined.[861] The fall of the Maura ministry, October 21, 1909, came
in consequence largely of the Moroccan crisis, but more immediately
by reason of embarrassment incident to the execution of the
anarchist-philosopher Senor Ferrer. The Liberal ministry of Moret,
constituted October 22, 1909, lacked substantial parliamentary support
and was short-lived. February 9, 1910, there was established under
Canalejas, leader of the democratic group, a cabinet representative of
various Liberal and Radical elements and made up almost wholly of men
new to ministerial office.[862]

[Footnote 861: The exact distribution of seats was
as follows: Conservatives, 256; Liberals, 66;
Solidarists, 53; Republicans, 32; Democrats, 9;
Independents, 8.]

[Footnote 862: November 12, 1912, Premier Canalejas
was assassinated. He was succeeded by the president