Chapter 238 Political Parties
After staying in France for a few days, Carlo's visit ended smoothly.
Although France's industrial development has been slightly declining, it is still very strong in terms of economy. On the premise of ensuring that Spain will not turn to Germany, the French are also willing to invest more in Spain.
After negotiations between the two governments, Carlo finally got another 500 million francs of loans from France.
Among them, 100 million francs came from the French government. In return for Spain's neutrality or even leaning towards France, this loan is interest-free and Spain only needs to repay it within 5 years without any additional conditions.
The remaining 400 million francs of loans all came from French private banks and consortiums, but they were all low-interest loans with lower interest rates.
These low-interest loans have a longer repayment period, and the Spanish government only needs to pay them off within 10 years.
Of course, like the loans provided by France before, these loans from French private banks and consortiums have certain requirements.
For example, 60% of the 400 million francs can only be used to purchase materials in France, and the remaining 40% of the funds can be freely allocated by the Spanish government.
This also means that the Spanish government has only 160 million francs of free funds available, and the remaining 240 million francs can only be used for imports from France.
The good news is that due to various restrictions, the interest on this loan is not high. The Spanish government only needs to repay the principal and interest of 480 million francs in ten years, and the total annual interest is only 2% of the principal.
Because 240 million francs can only be used to buy things in France, Carlo was naturally unceremonious and immediately signed a large order with France.
The purchases mainly include various industrial equipment, some technical information, and shares of some French factories and enterprises.
This large purchase cost more than 100 million francs, which made French officials and the bosses of factories and enterprises that were ordered smile.
These orders can not only alleviate the economic crisis faced by these factories and enterprises, but also promote the growth of the French economy.
After such a change of hands, the money returned to France, which had no impact on France at all.
Spain also obtained the required industrial equipment and related technical information through large-scale purchases. In short, such cooperation is not a loss for both Spain and France.
This large purchase was also the last thing Carlo did in France. After the large-scale purchase order was signed, Carlo took a group of Spanish government officials to return to Spain by train.
Such a visit took nearly two months. When Carlo left Spain, Christmas had just ended, and it was already February when he returned to Spain.
The first thing to do after returning to Spain was to spend time with Juan Fernando and Sofia. Of course, there are also Queen Sofia and two little maids.
After a few days of rest, Carlo turned his attention back to the development of Spain and began to attend meetings one after another to discuss Spain's next development plan.
Since the proposal to replace the Cuban colony was put forward at the last cabinet meeting, the Spanish government has also determined a basic strategy, which is to give priority to the development of African colonies.
Among Spain's three African colonies, the highest priority is the South Morocco colony, followed by the Congo territory, and finally the Guinea colony.
In addition to the South Morocco colony, the development of the Congo Territory and the Guinea colony faces a problem, that is, the insufficient resident population of the colonies.
The resident population here refers to the population recognized by Spain, that is, legal citizens who have obtained Spanish nationality.
At present, the resident population of the entire Congo Territory is less than 20,000, which is undoubtedly a drop in the bucket for the Congo Territory with an area of millions of square kilometers, and it also limits the development speed of the Congo Territory.
The same is true for the Guinea colony. The area of the Guinea colony is also as high as tens of thousands of square kilometers, but the resident population of the Guinea colony is less than 10,000.
Therefore, the purpose of Carlo's cabinet meeting is to find a way to further solve the population problem of these colonies.
The efforts of the cabinet government last year were still very effective. By exchanging population for trade with Russia, Spain obtained a total of about 25,000 people from Russia, and at least half of them were dispersed to various colonies.
This also ushered in a rapid growth in the population of several major Spanish colonies, and the Congo Territory has begun to take shape, at least no longer as simple as before.
But it is obvious that this population alone is not enough to meet the needs of the Spanish colonies. In order to get the African colonies back on track as soon as possible, the Spanish government needs to get more people from other places.
At present, there is only one country that can allow Spain to import a large number of immigrants, and that is Russia, the most populous country in Europe.
For Russia, a country with a large population, losing tens of thousands of immigrants every year does not matter at all, and it will not make the Russian top leaders feel distressed at all.
At present, the proportion of Russian population in the Congo territory has accounted for about half. According to Carlo's idea, the proportion of Russian population needs to be maintained at about 50%, or even reduced to below 50%.
Fortunately, Spain can also obtain population from the southern Moroccan colony, and at the same time, with a small number of immigrants in the country, it can ensure that the Russian population in the Congo territory is not too large and will not affect the stability of the Congo territory.
For the South Morocco colony, Carlo had only one plan, which was to assimilate or eliminate all Moroccans in the South Morocco colony.
These Moroccans had only two choices: either work to death in Spanish plantations and mines as Moroccans, or go to Spain or other colonies as Spanish citizens.
As long as they obtained Spanish citizenship, they would be free citizens and could find jobs of their choice like ordinary Spaniards, instead of being forced to work in more dangerous labor places.
At present, the Moroccan population in the South Morocco colony is constantly decreasing, and the number of Moroccans is expected to be less than 750,000.
This facilitated the assimilation progress of Spain. These Moroccans obviously couldn't make any waves, and they could only choose their own future under the rules set by the Spanish government.
Obviously, most Moroccans are smarter. They may not be willing to join the Spanish nationality, but faced with the choice of either joining the Spanish nationality or being a lifelong slave, they all chose the first one.
If it weren't for the previous strict review system for Spanish nationality, and the probation period of several months or even a year, I'm afraid that the number of Moroccans who joined the Spanish nationality every year would be as high as tens of thousands.
After developing the Congo territory, Spain gradually opened up the quota for naturalization. At present, more than 100,000 Moroccans have entered the inspection stage. If everything goes well, Spain is expected to obtain more than 100,000 immigrants within half a year.
Most of these 100,000 Moroccan immigrants will be sent to the Guinea colony and the Congo territory, and only a small number will have the opportunity to go to the Spanish mainland.
The Guinea colony and the Congo territory can basically obtain about 30,000 immigrants.
These immigrants can help Spain to reclaim colonies and territories faster, and at the same time, there is no need to send a large number of immigrants from the country.
This is the best news for Spain, which has an insufficient population. The local population development can be unrestricted, and can even achieve rapid growth with the continuous influx of immigrants.
Speaking of population, after Carlo returned to Spain after his visit, the cabinet government also reported to Carlo on the growth of Spain's population last year.
As of January 1878, the total population of Spain had exceeded 19 million, reaching 19.12 million. According to the current population growth rate, Spain is likely to increase its population to more than 20 million in 1880.
In addition to the sharp increase in the birth rate of the local population, another major reason for the rapid population growth is the large number of immigrants Spain received last year.
There are more than 25,000 immigrants from Russia alone, not to mention the 15,000 immigrants from Italy and Portugal.
The immigrants from various countries and regions in Europe have provided Spain with a population growth of more than 50,000, which is quite good.
It is expected that Spain will receive a considerable number of immigrants from Russia and Italy every year for a long time in the future.
Coupled with the high birth rate in Spain, it can ensure that Spain will achieve higher population growth while the proportion of the main ethnic group does not decrease.
Only by increasing the population to more than 30 million can it be qualified to challenge the five traditional European powers. Only by increasing the population to more than 50 million can it hope to surpass the five traditional European powers.
In addition to making more detailed plans for the population of the colonies, the Spanish government has also officially started planning for Portugal.
The history of Spain and Portugal is spent in constant love and hate. The Kingdom of Portugal was first separated from Spain, which also led to the deep roots of the two countries.
In addition, there are only two sovereign countries in the Iberian Peninsula, Portugal and Spain, which has led to the fact that the relationship between the two sides has not been very good, and Spain has never given up its covetousness of Portugal.
The so-called plot against Portugal is actually some small strategies to make Portugal more chaotic.
Compared with Spain, which is gradually realizing its revival, Portugal, which is still in a period of decline, is obviously more chaotic at home. Chaotic order is also more prone to problems. For Spain, various ways can be used to make the problems in Portugal more acute and intense.
Portugal has two large colonies in Africa, but these two colonies do not bring much benefits to Portugal.
In history, Portugal also declared bankruptcy twice in a row in ten years because it maintained too many colonies, which led to domestic financial tensions.
The economic collapse caused a serious social crisis and shook the foundation of Portugal's long-standing monarchy. In the end, King Carlos I of Portugal and Crown Prince Louis were assassinated, and the throne of Portugal was overthrown a few years later.
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What Carlo wants to do is to accelerate the economic collapse of Portugal, plunge Portugal into chaos, and make the people have a crisis of confidence in the monarchy.
Although the 19th century was the era of the Industrial Revolution, it was also the era of the Great Revolution. As long as Portugal fell into chaos, a great revolution was inevitable.
And history has also proved that the first republic established by most countries after overthrowing the monarchy is not so reliable, just like Spain in history.
Historically, Spain established the Spanish Republic after overthrowing the Bourbon dynasty. However, the hasty establishment of the republic did not slow down Spain's decline. On the contrary, due to the frequent changes of the republican regime, Spain fell into more serious chaos, and finally prompted the restoration of the monarchy.
What Carlo had to do was to push the Portuguese to launch a revolution to overthrow the royal family and establish the Portuguese Republic.
The republic hastily established by the Portuguese was destined to be unable to rule the country perfectly. If Spain continued to make trouble on the side, Portugal's economy was destined to fall into a more serious collapse.
At this time, the Portuguese people would also think of the good of the monarchy. But Portugal's own royal family had been overthrown, and they could only restore the monarchy by electing a king or nominating a nobleman to become king.
As a neighbor of Portugal, if Spain developed rapidly during this period and entered a prosperous stage, it would definitely attract the attention of most Portuguese people.
Carlo's goodwill in Portugal and guiding Portuguese public opinion at the same time may not be able to promote the reunification of Spain and Portugal.
As long as Portugal can be annexed in a peaceful way, the next thing will become quite simple. After all, Portugal's population is only more than 4 million, so it is relatively simple to assimilate.
Spain could have dispersed the Portuguese population by recruiting workers through industrial bases, and at the same time immigrated some Spaniards to Portugal.
If the proportion of Portuguese in Portugal is reduced to less than 50%, it will not be so easy for Portugal to be independent from Spain.
Carlo still wants to eat this tempting piece of fat meat in Portugal as soon as possible. If Portugal's population of more than 4 million is added, Spain's population is expected to increase to 30 million around 1890, and to more than 40 million before the outbreak of World War I, so that it can have enough self-protection power in World War I, and even determine the outcome of World War I at a critical moment.
Even without waiting for World War I, Spain will have enough strength to intervene in some small-scale wars and conflicts before World War I to compete for more interests for itself.
Some more covert means are to support some political parties in Portugal and use these parties to completely confuse the political situation in Portugal.
For a monarchy, parties that advocate freedom and democracy will endanger their own interests. But most countries don't have a good way to deal with this. They either choose to give in to these parties or use force to suppress them.
No matter which way the Portuguese government chooses to deal with it, Spain can use this method to confuse the political situation in Portugal.
Once Portugal adopts the means of military suppression, it will inevitably arouse more intense resistance from the Portuguese.
There will be a good show at that time. If a civil war breaks out in Portugal, Spain, as Portugal's only neighbor, can have a more far-reaching impact on the situation in Portugal.
Of course, it is best to find a time when the British have no time to ignite the contradictions in Portugal, such as the Boer War.
These actions against Portugal have to be left to the government, at least Carlo cannot participate in it openly.
After all, King Louis of Portugal is Carlo's brother-in-law, and the Queen of Portugal is Carlo's sister. It is a bit embarrassing to attack your own relatives.
If a rebellion breaks out in Portugal and overthrows the royal family, then this problem can be easily solved.
Even Carlo could avoid damage to his reputation by gaining the favor of the Portuguese royalists by providing asylum to the Portuguese royal family.
Speaking of supporting political parties in Portugal to disrupt the political situation in Portugal, Carlo suddenly had a new idea.
Since foreign political parties can be supported to disrupt the situation, why can't domestic political parties be supported to control the domestic situation?
There are currently three major parties in Spain. The royalists are loyal to the monarchy, the Progressive Party also supports the monarchy, and only the Liberal Party has an ambiguous attitude.
Among these three major parties, there is no workers' party about the interests of workers. If Carlo creates and supports a workers' party, it will not only improve the Spanish party system, but also stabilize the domestic situation in Spain by controlling the political parties.
As we all know, the power of workers has been a relatively powerful force since the Industrial Revolution, and can even determine the fate of a country.
If Carlo can completely control the political power of workers in his own hands by creating a workers' party, coupled with the support of the conservative peasant class, who else can destroy the Spanish monarchy?
A Spanish kingdom that has gained the support of the working class and peasant class can be said to be invincible to a certain extent.
When the Spanish bourgeoisie grows up, the bourgeoisie and the working class can be controlled to oppose each other. The royal family only needs to balance these two classes, and with the support of the aristocracy, it can completely achieve the goal of stabilizing the entire country.
If the working class is too powerful, it can also ease the contradiction by pushing out a few capitalists. Anyway, capitalists are not good things. For the stability of the country, it is necessary to sacrifice a few capitalists appropriately.
Thinking of this, Carlo was very satisfied with his plan and decided to try to implement it according to the plan.
Even if the effect of the plan is not as good as expected, this workers' party completely controlled by Carlo can play a certain role.
After all, compared to letting the political power of the working class grow wildly, proper guidance and control can make this power sharp without hurting oneself.
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