Chapter 238: Political Parties |
After staying in France for a few days, Carlo’s visit also came to a smooth end.
France’s industrial development had already shown some signs of weakness, but it was still very strong in terms of the economy. On the premise that Spain would not lean toward Germany, the French were also happy to make more investments in Spain.
After discussions between the two governments, Carlo ultimately obtained a loan of 500 million francs from France.
Of which 100 million francs came from the French government, as a reward for Spain maintaining neutrality or even leaning toward France. This loan was interest-free; Spain only needed to repay it within 5 years, with no additional conditions.
The remaining 400 million francs in loans all came from French civilian banks and consortia, but they were also low-interest loans.
The repayment period for these low-interest loans was even longer; the Spanish government only needed to pay them off within 10 years.
Of course, just like the loans previously provided by France, these loans from French civilian banks and consortia also came with certain requirements.
For example, 60% of the funds from these 400 million francs could only be used to purchase materials in Metropolitan France, while the remaining 40% was what the Spanish government could freely allocate.
This also meant that the free funds available to the Spanish government were only 160 million francs, while the remaining 240 million francs could only be used for imports from France.
Since 240 million francs could only be spent on purchases in France, Carlo naturally did not hold back and immediately signed a large order with France.
The items procured in this purchase mainly included various industrial equipment, some technical data, and shares in some French factories and enterprises.
This large procurement cost more than 100 million francs, making French officials and the bosses of the factories and enterprises that received the orders all smile with delight.
These orders not only alleviated the economic crisis faced by these factories and enterprises but also promoted economic growth in France.
The money, after this transfer, ended up back in France, having no impact on France at all.
Spain also obtained the needed industrial equipment and related technical data through the large procurement. In short, such cooperation was not a loss for either Spain or France.
This large procurement was also the last thing Carlo did in France. After the orders for the large procurement were signed, Carlo took a group of Spanish government officials and took the train south back to Spain.
This visit took nearly two months. When Carlo left Spain, Christmas had just ended; when he returned to Spain, it was already February.
The first thing upon returning to Spain was, of course, to spend some good time with little Juan Fernando and Sophia. Of course, also with Queen Sophie and the two little maids.
After resting for a few days, Carlo turned his attention back to Spain’s development, beginning to attend meetings continuously to discuss Spain’s next development plan.
Since the proposal to exchange the Cuban Colony was raised at the last cabinet meeting, the Spanish government had established a basic strategy: to prioritize the development of African colonies.
Among Spain’s three African colonies, the South Morocco Colony had the highest priority, followed by the Congo Territory, and finally the Guinea Colony.
Apart from the South Morocco Colony, the development of the Congo Territory and the Guinea Colony both faced one problem: insufficient resident population in the colonies.
The resident population here refers to the population recognized by Spain, that is, legal citizens who have obtained Spanish nationality.
Currently, the resident population of the entire Congo Territory was less than 20,000, which was undoubtedly a drop in the bucket for the Congo Territory with an area of over a million square kilometers, and it also limited the development speed of the Congo Territory.
The same was true for the Guinea Colony. The area of the Guinea Colony was also tens of thousands of square kilometers, but its resident population was less than 10,
Therefore, the purpose of Carlo convening the cabinet meeting was to find ways to further solve the population problem of these colonies.
The efforts of the cabinet government last year were still very effective. Through trade with Russia in exchange for population, Spain obtained about 25,000 people from Russia in total, and at least half of them were distributed to various colonies.
This also allowed the populations of Spain’s major colonies to see rapid growth, and the Congo Territory began to take shape, at least no longer looking as rudimentary as before.
But obviously, this amount of population was still not enough to meet the needs of Spain’s colonies. To get the African colonies on the right track as soon as possible, the Spanish government still needed to obtain more population from other places.
Currently, the only country from which Spain could introduce large numbers of immigrants was Russia, the European country with the largest population.
For a country as populous as Russia, losing tens of thousands of immigrants every year was negligible and would not make the Russian top brass feel any pain.
Currently, the proportion of Russian population in the Congo Territory already accounted for about half. According to Carlo’s idea, the proportion of Russian population needed to be maintained at around 50%, or even reduced below 50%.
Fortunately, Spain could also obtain population from the South Morocco Colony, and combined with a small number of immigrants from domestically, it could ensure that the Russian population in the Congo Territory would not be too large, and would not affect the stability of the Congo Territory.
For the South Morocco Colony, Carlo had only one plan: to assimilate or annihilate all Moroccans in the South Morocco Colony.
These Moroccans could only face two choices: either labor to death in plantations, mines, and other labor sites in Spain as Moroccans, or go to Spanish Mainland or other colonies to live as Spanish citizens.
As long as they obtained Spanish nationality, they would gain the status of freemen and could find jobs they liked like ordinary Spaniards, instead of being forced to work in those relatively dangerous labor sites.
Currently, the Moroccan population in the South Morocco Colony was continuously decreasing, and it was estimated that the number of Moroccans had already fallen below 750,
This facilitated Spain’s assimilation progress. These Moroccans obviously could not stir up trouble; they could only obediently choose their future under the rules set by the Spanish government.
Obviously, most Moroccans were quite smart. They might not be willing to join Spanish nationality, but faced with the choice of either joining Spanish nationality or being slaves for life, they all sensibly chose the former.
If it were not for the previously overly strict audit system for Spanish nationality and the examination period of several months or even a year, the number of Moroccans joining Spanish nationality each year would probably reach tens of thousands.
After developing the Congo Territory, Spain gradually relaxed the quota for joining nationality. Currently, more than 100,000 Moroccans had entered the examination stage. If things went smoothly, Spain had hope of obtaining more than 100,000 immigrants within half a year.
Most of these 100,000 Moroccan immigrants would be sent to the Guinea Colony and the Congo Territory, with only a very small portion able to obtain the opportunity to go to Spanish Mainland.
Splitting between the Guinea Colony and the Congo Territory, each could basically get around 30,000 immigrants.
These immigrants could help Spain reclaim the colonies and territories faster, and at the same time, there was no need to dispatch large numbers of immigrants from domestically.
This was the best news for Spain, which already had insufficient population. The population development on the mainland could proceed without restrictions, and it could even achieve rapid growth through the continuous influx of immigrants.
Speaking of population, after Carlo’s visit ended and he returned to Spain, the cabinet government also reported to Carlo on the population growth situation in Spain last year.
As of January 1878, Spain’s total population had broken through 19 million, reaching 12 million. At the current population growth speed, Spain had a good chance of raising its population above 20 million by
In addition to the sharp increase in the birth rate on the mainland, a major reason for the rapid population growth was the large number of immigrants Spain obtained last year.
Just the immigrants from Russia exceeded 25,000, not to mention the immigrants from Italy and Portugal totaling around 15,
The immigrants from various European countries and regions added up to provide Spain with more than 50,000 in population growth, which was quite a good figure.
It was expected that for a long time in the future, Spain could obtain considerable immigrants from Russia and Italy every year.
Combined with Spain’s high birth rate on the mainland, it could ensure that while the proportion of the dominant ethnic group did not decrease, the population could achieve even higher growth.
Only by raising the population above 30 million would there be the qualification to compete with Europe’s five traditional great powers. Only by raising the population above 50 million would there be hope of surpassing Europe’s five traditional great powers.
In addition to more detailed planning for the population of the colonies, the Spanish government also formally began plotting against Portugal.
The history of Spain and Portugal was spent in constant love and hate. The Kingdom of Portugal was originally separated from Spain, which also led to deep ties between the two countries.
Moreover, the only countries with sovereignty on the Iberian Peninsula were Portugal and Spain, which also led to consistently poor relations between the two sides, and Spain had never given up its coveting of Portugal.
The so-called plotting against Portugal was actually some small strategies to make Portugal domestically more chaotic.
Compared to Spain, which was gradually achieving revival, Portugal, still in a period of weakness, was obviously more chaotic domestically. Chaotic order was also more prone to problems, and for Spain, it could sharpen and intensify Portugal’s domestic problems through various means.
Portugal had two large colonies in Africa, but the profits these two colonies brought to Portugal were not high.
In history, Portugal also declared bankruptcy twice in ten years precisely because maintaining too many colonies strained its domestic finances.
The economic collapse caused serious social crises and also shook the long-standing monarchical foundation of Portugal. Ultimately, King Carlos I and Crown Prince Louis were assassinated, and Portugal’s throne was overthrown a few years later.
What Carlo wanted to do was to accelerate Portugal’s economic collapse, plunge Portugal domestically into chaos, and make the public lose trust in the monarchy.
Although the 19th century was the era of the Industrial Revolution, it was also the era of great revolutions. As long as Portugal domestically fell into chaos, a great revolution was inevitable.
And history proved that the first republic established by most countries after overthrowing the monarchy was not very reliable, just like Spain in history.
In history, after overthrowing the Bourbon Dynasty, Spain established the Republic of Spain. But hastily establishing a republic did not slow Spain’s decline; instead, due to frequent changes in the republican regime, Spain domestically fell into even more serious chaos, ultimately prompting the restoration of the monarchy.
What Carlo wanted to do was to push the Portuguese to launch a revolution, overthrow the royal family, and establish the Portuguese Republic.
The republic hastily established by the Portuguese was destined to be unable to rule this country perfectly. With Spain tripping it up from the side, Portugal’s economy was bound to fall into even more serious collapse.
At that time, the Portuguese public would also remember the benefits of the monarchy. But Portugal’s own royal family had already been overthrown, so they could only restore the monarchy through king selection or electing a noble to become king.
As Portugal’s neighbor, if Spain developed rapidly during this period and entered a prosperous stage, it would definitely attract the attention of most Portuguese.
If Carlo built up goodwill in Portugal while guiding Portuguese civilian public opinion, it might not be impossible to prompt Spain and Portugal to merge again.
As long as Portugal could be annexed peacefully, the subsequent matters would become quite simple. Portugal’s population was only over 4 million after all, and assimilation would be relatively easy.
Spain could greatly disperse the Portuguese public by recruiting workers to industrial bases, while immigrating some Spaniards to Portugal.
By reducing the proportion of Portuguese in the Portugal region below 50%, it would not be so easy for Portugal to become independent from Spain again.
For this quite tempting piece of fat that was Portugal, Carlo still wanted to eat it as soon as possible. If Portugal’s over 4 million population was added, Spain’s population had hope of reaching 30 million around 1890, and rising above 40 million before World War I broke out. This way, Spain could have sufficient self-preservation power in World War I, and even determine the outcome of World War I at key moments.
There was even no need to wait until World War I; in some small-scale wars and conflicts before World War I, Spain would also have sufficient strength to intervene and fight for more interests for itself.
Some more covert means were to support some political parties existing in Portugal and use these parties to completely muddy Portugal’s political situation.
For a monarchy country, parties advocating freedom and democracy would harm its own interests. But most countries had no good way to deal with this; either they chose to yield to these parties or could only use forceful military means to suppress these parties.
No matter which handling method the Portuguese government chose, Spain could muddy Portugal’s political situation through such means.
Once Portugal adopted forceful suppression, it would inevitably provoke even more intense resistance from the Portuguese.
Then there would be a good show to watch. If a civil war broke out in Portugal because of this, Spain, as Portugal’s only neighboring country, could exert even deeper influence on Portugal’s situation.
Of course, the best was to ignite the contradictions in Portugal at a time when the British had no time for other things, such as during the Boer War.
These actions against Portugal still had to be left to the government’s people to do; at least Carlo could not participate openly.
After all, King Louis of Portugal was Carlo’s brother-in-law, and the Queen of Portugal was Carlo’s own sister. Making a move against one’s own relatives would be somewhat unacceptable on the surface.
If a rebellion broke out in Portugal domestically and overthrew the royal family, then this problem could be solved easily.
Carlo could even gain the goodwill of Portugal’s Royalist Party by providing shelter to the Portuguese royal family, which could also avoid damage to his reputation.
Mentioning supporting parties in Portugal to disrupt Portugal’s political situation, Carlo suddenly had a new idea.
Since foreign parties could be supported to disrupt the situation, why not support domestic parties to control the domestic situation?
Spain currently had three major parties: the Royalist Party was die-hard loyal to the monarchy, the Progressive Party also supported the monarchy, and only the Liberal Party had an ambiguous attitude.
Among these three major parties, there was no Workers’ Party concerning workers’ interests or the like. If Carlo created and supported a Workers’ Party, it could not only perfect Spain’s party system but also stabilize Spain’s domestic situation by controlling the parties.
As is well known, the power of workers had been a relatively strong force since the Industrial Revolution, even capable of determining a country’s destiny.
If Carlo could completely grasp this political power of the working class through creating a Workers’ Party, plus the support of the conservative peasant class, who else could destroy Spain’s monarchical system?
A Kingdom of Spain that had gained the support of the workers and peasants could be said to be invincible to a certain extent.
Once Spain’s bourgeoisie grew up, they could be controlled to oppose the working class; the royal family only needed to balance these two classes, plus the support of the aristocracy, to completely achieve the goal of stabilizing the entire country.
If the power of the working class became too strong, contradictions could also be alleviated by promoting a few capitalists. Anyway, capitalists were not good things; for the stability of the country, it was also necessary to appropriately sacrifice a few capitalists.
Thinking of this, Carlo was very satisfied with his plan and decided to execute it according to the plan to see.
Even if the effect of the plan was not as good as imagined, this Workers’ Party completely controlled by Carlo could still play a certain role.
After all, compared to letting the political power of the working class grow wildly, appropriate guidance and control could make this force sharp without harming oneself.
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