OCR Text |
Show ATTITUDE OF Kli iff SURPRISES EUROPE I Alphonso Stops Talk of Re- ' S public Through Interest in ; Reform Measures. !m EUROPEAN WAR FEARED l English See Possibility of Conflict Between Germany Iffl; and Franc. w& By PHILLIP EVERETT. Wt Special Cable to Tho Tribune. , ru LONDON, Feb. S. As recently as ; tn three or four weeks ago everybody who Ey- follows lho 'events abroad felt con- C(ft' vinced that within a very short timo 'Ktt-JCiug 'Ktt-JCiug Alphonso of Spain and his Eng- ltsh-born queen would be coming over j UK here permanently to keep young ex- fj King .Munuel company, aftor having ' 5 met wilh a Bimilar fate to his. But; siuce then things have changed, and , ! Alphonso has become exceedingly popu- ' J&j hir among thc Itopublicaus dt Sjpaiu, ; . w j and is daily convincing more and more iftj of them that it is not necessary to overthrow tho monarchy iu Snafu to ? IJK secure the reforms for which they arc ' 351 sighing, and the king's throne now ap- ?'ffijl pears rather safe as far as his enemies i-iffi inside thc country arc concerned. As ' ijg 'a matter of fact, if the king dares con- l tinno as he had started republicanism Jiiffii iu Spain is sure to die out. J Jfrj Uis worst enemies are now here iu I'Sttj Loudon, where many plots against bin ? Jj&j life have been hatched by anarchists ) jSm in the east end. who have not come i'fiai under the inllucnce of the -ouraguous 'jgjjj young monarch's personal magnetism. t'fflD The plot which resulted in the murder 1 ffll of thc ate Spanish prime ministcr'vnn laid here, and although Scotland Yard r 1 J had been informed, they carelessly i:f j permitted the assassin lo get away T 1 3 from this country and the jnurder was ' I 3 committed four days later. The Spanish jj anarchists here refuse to believe in if '! Alphonso s sincerity, and are now I 1,1 j more eager to get hmi out of the way ',f than over, lint there is only slight i3 J chances, of. the success of their plans, 1 3 3s they are all knowu to thc Spanish i jiK Jiepublicans at' home, who have sworn ; j fj to protect Alphonso's life as long as j K j hc""rematns faithful to his rocont prom- j.l! G ises of reform, and anybody who ' :j.J gl would dare make au attempt to" murder '. j R him would ha toru to pieces by the poo- Mr po of Spain. I ra S Policy Changed. The conservative papors have loug ; U 8 'been trying to convince, thoir readers If C that the reason why Lloyd George's ; u I laud policy was suddenly sidetracked ' fti was that not ouly did several cabinet i;Sr ministers object to it as a too radical measure., but a number of liberal laud- ; t$ 5 owners and capitalists throatoned to F? I I withdraw their financial support if: t-M s land was really to be takeu. J J B aSTothiug could bo more wrong than Jm! 'this explanation, which not one oT the : fjj fj conservative leaders really believes in, j Tmt but which came in execodiugly handy at a timo when the Tory party was ' jK threatened with coinplctfo disintegra- , K tion because of tho quarrels over tariff i h 1 1 reform. 1 1 i The government, whose members " i 1 1 have been already once convinced of ui9 the success of Lloyd George's fiscal iji policy, which has raised all tho money tin necessary, not only to wipe out a big deficit, but to meet enormous increased j Wjj nntioual expenses without imposing an- . 2 other penny of new taxes, are all in t Wgi perfect harmony in regard to the chau- cellor's plans coucorning tho taxing of mm land, and tho rcasou why this pari of j W the liberal programme has beon post- I 88 pouod is quite different from anything f Bj connected with domestic, politics at all, j B but is a result of lho mudded Interna- ? Bj tional European situation. '9 It is quite openly said in the Na- S tioual Liboral club, where several of f' 9 the cabinet ministers' aro frequent visit- w ors, that even with tho Balkan quea- !H tiou out. of the wav, the European sit- Wm nation is approaching a crisis against j jH which England must prepare. With )Xmm thc Damocles 's sword of a great Eu- i H ropeau war hanging overhead the gov- i fl eminent could not possibly embark upon I fl a new important campaign like the tax- mBt iug of laud. MH Kaiser Has Earaches. ' H It is from France and Germany that ' mm lho danger threatens. Tho kniser is j Wml au avowed friend of peace, when in IflB his uormal mood, but even under or- mMm dinary circumstances ho is orratic, and Hi nt peseut he is- said to bo passing Hp through one of tho poriods when dread- fH fill earaches nearly drivo him insane. i EM vile has seen Franco rapidly emerg- ; 1H ing from a period of national de- iB spotidcncy aiul decadence; he has soon jH i it strengthen its dofenscs on laud and i S3 sea without ever having had troublo i HI iu raising the monev; ho has scon its guns beating those of tho famous Krunp mm factories, and now only a few weeks 1 jRj ago it has chosen for its president r j jt nian who is known not only to be a j j Hi groat patriot, but also a gifted states- MM man. who is apt lo add more defoat 'fl to those already suffered by Germau 1H statesmen at the hand of Franco. j n It ie known here that tho kaiser has H recently had several fits of heroic illu- I S sions, when he has seen himself at thc J head of a German annv riding through j WS the streets of Pnris And it is equally j flj well known that freat masses of Ger- I 91 man troops have been quiotlv conceit- J i ffl tnitod along the French frontier. 1 1 mm England's present government is not lllH blind to tho dant'er. As the ally of Wfii Franco this country is bound to come lEaH to the aid of Frimce in case sho is j HJ attacked, and in the cireumstnnce that Pfl a sudden breach of peace is by no means impossible lies tho reaBon why J. U tho cabinet suddenly postponed Lloyd ,l i George's land policy. " J |