Empire Rise: Spain

Chapter 197: Reestablishing The Council, Institutional Reforms

Although the nobles and officials who participated in the rebellion numbered only around a hundred in total, the actual number of people affected far exceeded this figure, reaching over a thousand.

If one includes the armed forces annihilated during the rebellion, the number of participants was actually even larger. After being tried, all of them would be sent to the South Morocco Colony and Congo Territory in Africa for colonial development work.

They would join the local Moroccans and Congolese to become ordinary members of Spanish plantations. To ensure these people would not unite again to cause trouble, the over a thousand individuals would be dispersed across South Morocco and Congo, and strictly supervised.

Some areas in South Morocco are barren deserts, and beyond the colonial outposts in the Congo Territory, it is also uninhabited African inland.

In such places, even if they successfully escaped Spanish supervision, they would very likely perish in the wilderness.

This is no joke. Well-equipped and numerous colonial exploration teams can face life-threatening crises if not careful, let alone criminals who might luckily escape from plantations and other supervised areas.

Unless they could find sufficient food, weapons, and medicine, fleeing across the African Continent would be a torment worse than death.

Carlo did not pay much attention to the fate of these traitorous nobles and officials, but was considering whether to reestablish the Spanish Parliament.

Although Carlo had dissolved the parliament on the grounds of its poor performance and the election of an acting prime minister violating the constitution, the Spanish Parliament had by now developed sufficient influence.

Unless the political parties could be further dissolved, the parliament would eventually have to be reestablished. Carlo did not intend to establish a despotic dictatorship; reasonably utilizing the parliament also had great benefits.

However, the current Spanish Parliament’s power was too vast and needed certain restrictions, along with reorganizing the Spanish Parliament and amending the constitution, to form a more reasonable Spanish Kingdom Government.

On November 17, 1875, Carlo convened a meeting of the Spanish Senate and announced the decision to merge the Royal Council and the Senate to establish the Royal Senate.

The newly established Royal Senate instantly became a massive institution with over a hundred senators, also becoming the only existing parliamentary institution in Spain at present.

Immediately after, Carlo convened a Royal Senate meeting for an open vote on whether to restore the House of Representatives and hold new elections for members of parliament.

The final Senate vote result was in favor of restoring the House of Representatives, which also put the reestablishment of the Spanish Parliament on the agenda.

On November 19, 1875, Carlo announced the reestablishment of the Spanish House of Representatives, with new elections for its members to be held from December to January.

Unlike the previous House of Representatives, the reestablished one would have a full 298 seats, to be allocated proportionally to the Spanish regions and colonies.

Take Spain’s capital Madrid as an example: Madrid currently has a population exceeding 500,000 and will obtain 8 seats in the House of Representatives.

These eight House of Representatives seats will be openly elected in the Madrid Council, where council members are eligible to nominate other candidates or register to run.

The eight individuals with the highest votes will obtain House of Representatives seats, with a term of three years. If any accident occurs during the term preventing them from serving, the vacant regional council will hold a new election to fill it.

After the House of Representatives seats increase and are all elected by the parliaments of the regions and colonies, it can avoid the possibility of a single political party massively controlling House of Representatives seats.

Under such rules, a political party that can still occupy the majority of House of Representatives seats can to some extent prove it enjoys deep support and trust from the public.

Along with the House of Representatives seats, modifications were also made to Spain’s laws on political parties and cabinet government elections.

First is regarding Spain’s political parties.

To establish a legal political party in Spain, it must be submitted to the Royal Senate for review and voting, and only after obtaining at least 50% approval votes can it be considered a legal political party.

Otherwise, it is an illegal political party, not allowed to engage in any political activities, nor can its members participate in activities such as member of parliament elections.

The Royal Senate currently consists mostly of nobles as senators, and the nobles obey Carlo’s orders. This also means that Carlo in current Spain can determine the legality of any political party.

This greatly ensures that Spain will not give birth to large parties like the Republican Party, interfering with Spain’s parliamentary elections and government elections.

As long as Carlo is unwilling, any newly established parties in the future will be deemed illegal. Illegal parties receive no support from the government, cannot participate in any political activities, and have very slim chances of expansion.

The legal political parties currently announced by the Spanish Royal Senate are only three: the Progressive Party, the Liberal Party, and the Conservative Party.

These three parties were also Spain’s original top three parties, with a significant gap from others, so it was naturally impossible for Carlo to declare them illegal without reason.

Regarding the election of the Spanish Cabinet Government, under the expansion of House of Representatives seats, the election conditions also underwent certain modifications.

Although theoretically the cabinet government is formed by the prime minister or the ruling party, currently in the Spanish Cabinet Government, a few positions are not appointed by the prime minister, but appointed by King Carlo and elected by the Royal Senate.

The cabinet positions directly appointed by Carlo are the deputy prime minister and the Minister of Royal Affairs.

The official title of Spain’s deputy prime minister is Secretary of State, meaning a cabinet minister assisting the prime minister in handling state affairs. The deputy prime minister will play the role of the prime minister when the prime minister cannot handle political affairs, so it is still quite key.

The Minister of Royal Affairs, as the name implies, is the cabinet minister who helps the government handle affairs interfacing with the royal family. Because it requires sufficient understanding of royal affairs, this position is also directly appointed by Carlo.

In addition, the Minister of Colonial Affairs and the Minister of Justice are elected by the Senate, and the prime minister and ruling party have no power to replace or nominate them.

The Minister of Defense, as one of the most important positions in the cabinet, was also separately listed by Carlo. Of course, the Minister of Defense is neither directly appointed by Carlo nor elected by the Senate, but appointed by voting within the Spanish Defense Committee.

The members composing the Spanish Defense Committee are: the King of Spain, the current Prime Minister of Spain, the current Commander-in-Chief of the Spanish Army, the current Commander-in-Chief of the Spanish Navy, the current Chief of Staff of the Spanish Ministry of Defense Staff Department, the current Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Guard, and the current Minister of Defense, totaling seven people.

This Spanish Defense Committee of seven people votes to elect the new Minister of Defense of Spain at every cabinet government changeover, avoiding the situation where the Minister of Defense might be completely controlled by the prime minister.

For Carlo, such regulations are obviously beneficial to himself. The King of Spain, as the grand marshal of the Spanish Navy and Army, becoming a member of the Defense Committee is quite normal.

The majority of the remaining members of the Defense Committee are also high-level military figures, especially the current Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Guard, who completely obeys Carlo.

This also means that Carlo only needs to win over one person among the marshals of the navy and army, the Minister of Defense, and the Chief of Staff, and it will be hard to lose in the vote for the Minister of Defense candidate. As long as he wins over two, Carlo can have the appointment power over the Minister of Defense candidate.

Although he cannot directly decide the Minister of Defense candidate, the Spanish prime minister’s power is still very great.

The nine departments of finance, industry, agriculture, welfare, transport, public security, health, education, and diplomacy remain controlled in the hands of the prime minister, plus the prime minister himself making ten cabinet seats.

The positions not controlled by the prime minister—Secretary of State, Minister of Justice, Minister of Royal Affairs, Minister of Colonial Affairs, and Minister of Defense—add up to only five seats.

But as long as the most important military is kept in his own hands, no matter how the Spanish prime minister candidate changes next, Carlo does not need to worry about a crisis like this occurring again.

Of course, it is also impossible for Spain to produce a power-grasping figure like Prime Minister Primó next. Prime Minister Primó’s monopoly of great power was quite special, because he not only controlled the government but also controlled the Spanish Army.

It is precisely because of this that Carlo separately removed the Minister of Defense from the prime minister’s appointments and handed it to the Defense Committee for election.

Among the six seats in the Defense Committee, Carlo himself has one seat, and the Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Guard is another.

Among the remaining four positions of navy and army commanders-in-chief, Minister of Defense, and Chief of Staff, as long as any two are won over, Carlo can control the candidate for Spain’s Minister of Defense.

Controlling the candidate for Minister of Defense also allows unrestrained exertion of his own influence on the army. With the cooperation of the Guard, Carlo, who controls the army, will completely control the entire Spain and make Spain advance in the direction he points.

Although Spain’s parliament will be reestablished, Carlo does not intend to hold new elections for Spain’s Cabinet Government.

Continuing to operate with the current Cabinet Government is the most appropriate choice, after all, Carlo has considerable right to speak in the current Spanish Cabinet Government, and blind changes would be unwise.

The current Spanish cabinet positions are as follows:

Grand Duke Serrano serves as Chief Minister of Spain and concurrently Minister of Defense, nominally the person with the highest status and greatest power in the current Spanish Government.

Count Canovas serves as Secretary of State and concurrently Minister of Industry, like Grand Duke Serrano, a high official holding two cabinet seats.

Unlike Grand Duke Serrano, who is nominally prime minister but actually mainly responsible for Ministry of Defense affairs,

Canovas, although only deputy prime minister and Minister of Industry, has actually begun to shoulder the economic development of the entire Spain.

After all, Carlo had previously said that Grand Duke Serrano has sufficient status and influence but is not very skilled in economic development.

The Minister of Justice and Minister of Colonial Affairs currently have no corresponding candidates; the newly merged Royal Senate has not yet begun elections for these two cabinet seats.

For the Minister of Royal Affairs, Carlo intends to have Menotti serve. From the African exploration, it is evident that Menotti is loyal and has certain abilities, and Carlo does not mind promoting him.

The Finance Minister remains Ewald Barthel. Ewald was Prime Minister Primó’s confidant and is indeed very capable in financial management.

Since the cabinet has not held elections, there is naturally no need to replace a quite capable Finance Minister.

The Minister of Agriculture is served by Jovellar Soler. As a member of the Conservative Party, Jovellar Soler has gained Carlo’s preliminary trust and some promotion.

The Minister of Welfare is served by Karel Daniel. Karel is also a member of the Progressive Party, but unlike the quite radical Ruiz, Karel is clearly conservative-leaning.

During his tenure as Minister of Welfare, he has no great achievements but also no major faults; his political achievements can only be considered mediocre.

The Minister of Transport was originally served by Ruiz. But Ruiz, elected acting prime minister by parliament, performed extremely poorly during the workers’ parade, and Carlo abolished the then Spanish Cabinet while dissolving the parliament.

Ruiz, who had only been acting prime minister for one day, gloriously became unemployed and was arrested by the Spanish Army on charges of endangering the nation.

Carlo has no particular fondness for such a relatively radical reformer. If this guy were allowed to grasp power, Spain would probably become a republic in no time.

But the lessons of history are sufficient. Spain did become a republic during this period, but after the republic, it did not mean the internal struggles ended; instead, due to struggles between various parties and forces, the republic that lasted several years collapsed spectacularly.

From a God’s-eye view of this republican history of Spain, it began quite hastily and ended quite poorly.

Radical reformers like Ruiz have not seen the situation in Spain clearly. Current Spain does not need a republic; instead, only as a monarchy country can the nation’s unification and stability be maintained.

The seat of Minister of Transport is currently vacant, but Carlo intends to promote Carlos Montoya, deputy minister of the Transport Department.

Carlos has performed quite well in the Transport Department, even excellently. If not for Carlos blocking some of Ruiz’s more radical decisions, the Transport Department’s results this year might have been greatly discounted.

Having such a capable person familiar with the Transport Department take over would effectively reduce work stagnation caused by changes in department managers for Spain’s Transport Department.

The Minister of Public Security is served by Garcia Herrera. Garcia is a rare independent in the Spanish Cabinet Government, but he is also a member of the Spanish nobility, theoretically more leaning toward the Conservative Party.

The name of the Health Minister is unfamiliar to Carlo, which may also be related to Spain’s rather poor medical environment.

After all, the medical standards of this era are indeed very poor; Carlo’s attention to medicine is mainly focused on research in drugs and biology, with less attention to the Medical Department.

The current Health Minister is Javier Hacosen, a figure with considerable reputation in biology and medicine.

The Minister of Education continues to be served by Gerard Wilson. Gerard Wilson has made good achievements in Spain’s literacy education, and Carlo intends to further promote him.

Anyway, Spain’s cabinet ministers have no term limits; as long as they are capable enough, holding a cabinet position for decades is not an exaggeration.

Finally, there is the Foreign Secretary. The Foreign Secretary is also a member of the nobility and holds the title of marquis. Carlo is not unfamiliar with the Marquis of Everton, because the Marquis of Everton was not only the earliest Spanish noble to express goodwill to Carlo, but also one of the earliest to join the Royal Council.