Empire Rise: Spain

Chapter 199: Political Examination Bureau And Anti-corruption Bureau

At this cabinet meeting, the Spanish Government set the development theme for the new year as making steady progress, primarily pursuing stability in industry and economy, and secondarily pursuing certain progress on the existing basis.

If the second round of economic crisis erupted again, it would already be quite good for Spain to maintain its existing industry and economic scale.

If it still sought rapid development during the economic crisis, even if it could be successfully achieved, it would easily be targeted by other great powers.

From this cabinet meeting, it could be seen that Carlo’s influence in the Spanish Government was gradually deepening. One obvious signal was that after the cabinet meeting ended, Carlo signaled the Royal Senate, that is, the Upper House, to strengthen supervision over the officials, strictly review and eliminate the existence of corrupt and incompetent officials.

If Prime Minister Primó’s Official Performance Appraisal Act at that time was a relatively mild means of reviewing officials, then Carlo’s advancement of the anti-corruption process was a relatively tough measure.

The Senate had the power to supervise the cabinet government and other officials, so promoting anti-corruption actions was naturally justified.

Starting from December 1875, while Spain was conducting elections for the Lower House on one side, it was also vigorously promoting anti-corruption inspection work on the other, and verifying the rationality and accuracy of the performance appraisals of regional government officials over the past year.

Although Prime Minister Primó controlled the cabinet government, this did not mean that the officials below had no countermeasures. Under the overall trend of the Official Performance Appraisal Act being implemented across Spain, there would still be phenomena of tampering with appraisal scores, changing originally poor scores to better ones.

It must be known that the annual official performance appraisal results would be reported to the cabinet government and regional councils, and serve as an important basis for promoting officials.

Such tampering with official performance appraisal results would allow more corrupt and incompetent officials to enter the upper levels of Spanish regional governments or even the cabinet government. Carlo had a certain tolerance for corruption. But if they were both corrupt and incompetent, Carlo could not tolerate it at all.

For this group of people, what Carlo had to do was to conduct regular reviews and clearances every year. Only by making the entire Spanish Government consist of capable or non-corrupt people could the Spanish Government be vibrant, rather than lifeless as during Queen Isabella’s rule.

In order to improve the efficiency of reviewing regional officials’ performance appraisals, and to strengthen supervision over regional and cabinet government officials, at Carlo’s signal, the Upper House voted to establish the Performance Appraisal Bureau and the Anti-Corruption Bureau, specifically handling the above two matters.

The Performance Appraisal Bureau and Anti-Corruption Bureau, as important departments of the Upper House in exercising supervision over the government and officials’ powers, their importance naturally went without saying.

The directors of the Performance Appraisal Bureau and Anti-Corruption Bureau were served by the Speaker of the Upper House, with three deputy directors in total, selected by election in the Upper House, but not from the ruling party or coalition ruling party members.

The Speaker of the Upper House had only recently been elected, and the person was Duke Jacopo, whom Carlo was quite familiar with.

In fact, since a large number of nobles joined the Upper House, it was already destined that the Upper House would be controlled by the nobles. The speaker elected by the nobles would definitely be one of their own, and Duke Jacopo was not only a duke noble with a long history in Spain, but also deeply trusted by Carlo, naturally the most suitable candidate for Speaker of the Upper House.

From this, it could also be seen that Spain’s bicameral system had begun to imitate the United Kingdom, rather than being a relatively special existence as before.

The official names of Spain’s upper and lower houses were the Royal Senate and the House of Representatives. Originally, neither was controlled by the king, and parliament held considerable power.

But after Carlo dissolved parliament and announced a reorganization of parliament, this situation was immediately rewritten. The Senate, originally composed of regional representatives, was changed to the Royal Senate composed of regional representatives and nobles, transforming from something more like the U.S. Senate system to something more like the British Upper House system.

It was well known that nobles’ nobility titles were hereditary. So their seats in the Upper House were naturally also hereditary, just like the British Upper House system.

Since entering December 1875, Duke Jacopo, who concurrently served as director of the Performance Appraisal Bureau and Anti-Corruption Bureau, was so busy that he was almost impossible to see.

Since being elected as Speaker of the Upper House, Duke Jacopo had gained enormous power, and he was quite happy about that.

But because Carlo demanded a strict investigation of regional officials’ performance appraisal situations, as well as a nationwide anti-corruption campaign, he, as director of these two bureaus, naturally needed to travel across Spain.

Although the official performance appraisal system promoted by Prime Minister Primó effectively alleviated some corruption, it was only alleviating some.

For the chaotic corruption phenomena across Spain, unless extremely forceful and strict supervision and review were carried out, it would be difficult to eradicate.

In the half month that Duke Jacopo traveled across Spain, he discovered more than a dozen incidents of modifying performance appraisal scores.

This was only in the case of investigating regional governments. If the investigation went deeper into cities and even towns, the phenomena of modifying appraisal scores and corruption would definitely be more serious.

After Duke Jacopo reported such data to Carlo, he received Carlo’s brief order: deal with it seriously to set an example.

Upon receiving the order, Duke Jacopo naturally had no hesitation, but this also made him a butcher in the eyes of Spanish officials, even earning him the title of Cruel Jacobo.

In the following week or so, Duke Jacopo dealt with more than 20 regional-level officials, including high officials like the governor of the La Rioja region.

Officials who tampered with performance appraisal scores would have their 1875 appraisal scores rated as poor, and be ineligible for promotion or running for parliament for two years.

Those with more serious corruption would be dismissed from their positions and required to pay back all embezzled amounts within three months.

If unable to pay back all embezzled amounts within three months, all property would be confiscated, and they would be sentenced to at least ten years in prison.

Duke Jacopo set a bottom line of 1500 pesetas. Corruption amounts below 1500 pesetas could be considered for exemption from punishment at discretion.

Especially for those officials with certain abilities, as long as the corruption amount did not exceed 1500 pesetas, they could be given one chance.

For those whose corruption amount exceeded 1500 pesetas, if they had relatively good performance in the past, or possessed certain abilities themselves, lighter punishment could be considered, such as poor appraisal scores and recovery of embezzled funds, etc.

But if they had neither performance nor ability, and the embezzlement amount also exceeded 1500 pesetas, then they could only be dealt with seriously to deter other Spanish officials with corrupt thoughts.

Sure enough, there really were some in the Spanish regional governments who had little ability and considerable embezzlement amounts.

In the Valencian Community, an official’s corruption amount reached the exaggerated figure of over 100,000 pesetas, which was also the largest embezzler caught since the promulgation of the official performance appraisal system.

Since this tiger had been caught, there was naturally nothing more to say. After several days of searching for evidence, he was publicly executed on the streets of Valencia, and hung on an upright wooden pole.

Through confiscating the embezzler’s family property, Duke Jacopo instead recovered over 120,000 pesetas in funds. These funds would be reinvested in the construction of Valencia to compensate for the impact on Valencia’s development due to the emergence of the embezzler.

Sure enough, such large-scale review of officials and public handling of embezzlers quickly gained prestige for the Spanish provisional cabinet, allowing Carlo to receive even higher support.

Duke Jacopo’s prestige among officials was not good at all, but among the Spanish public, Duke Jacopo had been described as a Sword of Damocles hanging over the officials’ heads, receiving praise from many media.

Although much of this was due to the guidance of newspapers controlled by the royal family, the current Spanish people indeed expressed high approval and attention to the anti-corruption campaign launched by Carlo.

Duke Jacopo was a sharp sword, and the wielder of the sword was naturally Spain’s King Carlo. The public’s lavish praise for Duke Jacopo naturally did not forget the true protagonist behind him who drove this anti-corruption campaign: Carlo.

At some point, Spanish newspaper and media had begun to vigorously promote that Carlo was the wise monarch that Spain had waited a hundred years for.

At first, the Spanish people did not have too deep agreement with this view. But after more than six years of Carlo in Spain, more and more Spanish people agreed with this view, even occupying the majority of the Spanish people.

For Spaniards, whoever could lead Spain to greater glory was Spain’s true wise monarch.

Coincidentally, Carlo’s predecessor and predecessor’s predecessor were both famous incompetent rulers of Spain. Under such circumstances, Carlo, this wise monarch, quickly gaining recognition from Spaniards was naturally justified.

Taken alone, what Carlo had done might not qualify as a wise monarch. But compared to Isabel II and the irritable King Ferdinand VII, Carlo was wise beyond wise.

Why say that?

Isabel II’s incompetence and debauchery went without saying; she triggered Spain’s great revolution, ultimately burying the Bourbon Dynasty.

If Amadeo I, who succeeded her, had not lacked too much ability, and the Republic of Spain was also extremely chaotic, Spain and the Bourbon family would probably have no relationship at all.

Such a ruler who lost the country was naturally incompetent beyond incompetent.

And his father, the irritable King Ferdinand VII, although not a ruler who lost the country, directly caused Spain’s great chaos lasting decades.

Ferdinand VII’s incompetence was countless; he and his daughter Isabel II were also the culprits that directly caused Spain to fall from a great power to a second-rate country in Europe.

When Napoleon invaded Spain, Prince Ferdinand VII directly led the way for the French Army and forced his father Charles IV to abdicate, making him the new King of Spain.

But Napoleon, who controlled France, directly ended Ferdinand VII’s dream, detained him in France, and appointed his brother Joseph Bonaparte as the new King of Spain.

During the phase of French invasion, the Spanish people spontaneously resisted the French invasion and supported their detained Prince Fernando.

But after Fernando returned to Spain, he directly overturned the free constitution adopted by Spain and implemented cruel and bloody dictatorial rule, backstabbing the people who supported him.

It was also because of Ferdinand VII’s brutal dictatorial rule that during his reign, Spain lost most of its colonies in America, completely falling from a powerful colonial empire into the abyss.

During the phase when Ferdinand VII established dictatorial rule, constitutionalists and republicans in the army once launched an uprising. Ferdinand VII directly announced surrender to the army and publicly swore allegiance to the free constitution, but then went back on his word and used foreign forces to extinguish the domestic uprising.

After Napoleon’s restoration failed, France restored the Bourbon family’s rule. Ferdinand VII, also of the Bourbon family, in order to ally with France, did not hesitate to use various means to deliberately weaken Spain’s army, to reduce opposition forces in the army and facilitate French army intervention in Spain’s rebellions.

In addition, Ferdinand VII forcibly modified the inheritance law, leading to Spain facing Carlist faction rebellions lasting decades.

This rebellion caused Spain to lose excellent development opportunities and remained chaotic until before World War II. The Spanish-American War during this period caused Spain to lose its only two large colonies, directly making Spain a second-rate country in Europe with little fame in posterity.

When posterity mentions Europe’s great powers, they think of Germany that single-handedly challenged all of Europe in the world wars, the domineering British Empire in the Victorian era, France that swept Europe in the Napoleonic era, the decaying but pile-winning Russia by numbers, and the uniquely Austro-Hungarian Empire, but not Spain, the world’s first empire on which the sun never sets.

Spain’s weakness had multiple causes and could not be entirely blamed on the Bourbon family. But it was undeniable that during the decades of rule by Ferdinand VII and Queen Isabella, Spain quickly fell from a prosperous colonial empire to a second-rate country with few colonies.

Ferdinand VII and Isabel II, this outstanding father-daughter monarch duo, could absolutely compete for Europe’s most incompetent father-daughter king combination.

It was precisely because of this father-daughter pair’s poor performance that Carlo quickly gained the adoration of Spaniards. Actually, Spaniards did not ask for much; they only wanted a stable and peaceful development environment, plus a faint hope of national revival.

Since Carlo brought them this faint hope, they were also willing to hold onto this faint hope and fight for the hope of national revival, for Spain.

While conducting nationwide anti-corruption and performance appraisal major screening, Carlo also reiterated requirements regarding official performance appraisal aspects.

Actually, performance appraisal was simple, mainly examining changes in the department responsible by the official or the city managed during his term.

Whether industry, agriculture, economy, or education, as long as there was certain growth, it counted as this official’s political achievement.

Although under such indicators, officials might overly emphasize data on paper. But for current Spain, having data was better than none.

At least in the short term, vigorously developing industry, agriculture, economy, and education had more benefits than drawbacks. Spain’s development had not yet reached a bottleneck; under current conditions, great development would only make Spain stronger.

As time approached Christmas, the land seized from rebel nobles and officials who participated in the rebellion also began to be sold and rented to farmers in batches.

In different regions, the selling prices of land were completely different. In some plains with relatively fertile land, the prices of arable land were relatively expensive.

But in mountainous areas or hills where the land was not fertile or even relatively barren, the prices of arable land would be relatively low.

Land rent was the same. Rent was not fixed but would vary based on the past harvest situation of the land, combined with local grain prices and farmers’ income.

Regarding land rent, the land rental act also had relevant provisions. Whether relatively fertile land or relatively barren land, land rent must not exceed one-quarter of income.

For farmer families with income below average annual income, they could apply for agricultural tax reduction subsidies up to no more than 30%.

If they were family members of the Royal Army, they could apply for one year of land tax exemption plus three years of agricultural tax reduction subsidies not exceeding 25%. For those wounded or killed in war, agricultural tax reduction subsidies could be extended by 10 years.

The Royal Guard’s treatment was slightly better, but overall similar.

This era had no perfect pension system; the compensation soldiers’ families could get after death completely depended on whether the ruler was willing to give it.

Carlo was quite generous about this, at least willing to give certain subsidies and compensation to soldiers who sacrificed for the country and royal family.

Soldiers’ family members could also enjoy certain agricultural tax reduction subsidies and commercial tax reduction subsidies. In short, enlisting had many benefits, which was also to encourage Spaniards to enthusiastically join the army.

Under such a system, Spaniards were indeed not averse to enlisting and even hoped to join the army to earn military merit and obtain rewarded nobility titles.

Even if unable to obtain nobility titles, obtaining some land and fund subsidies was quite good. Especially for those farmer families, the more land they owned, the higher their family income.

Land rewards obtained through military merit could be exchanged for land in other locations. This allowed one’s land to be consolidated, not only convenient for planting and harvesting but also saving a lot of travel trouble.

Carlo and the Spanish Government also encouraged those who received land rewards to consolidate their land in one place through land exchanges.

Consolidated complete land was beneficial for further agricultural development in the future, whether using fertilizer technology or future mechanized agriculture cultivation, all more convenient than fragmented and scattered land.

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