"Force, While Necessary!"

While 18 Royalist henchmen of Spain's late, Royalist Dictator Primo de Rivera were being tried in one end of the Cortes Building last week, Royalist Deputies roasted short, stocky Republican Premier Manuel Azana in the Cortes Chamber, called him "a second Primo de Rivera--another Dictator!"

"It's a lie!" shouted Premier Azana, bounding up from the Government bench. "It's a lie!"

While his secretaries tried to calm Senor Azana, Royalist Deputy Martin de Velasco taunted "You. Senor Premier, acting like a Dictator, have discharged judges all over Spain to substitute your own! You have. . . ."

"There is no Justice!" screamed the Premier, livid with rage. "I am not a Dictator. The proof is that I was elected! The law for the defense of the Republic [under which anti-Republican judges have been dismissed] is an absolute necessity today. I shall continue to use force while necessary!"

Abdicate? In Paris on the same day ousted King Alfonso XIII returned home from a socialite hunt to find his residence full of stickling Spanish Royalists. These sticklers reminded "His Majesty" that he never abdicated but merely left Spain (TIME, April 27, 1931). They urged him to abdicate at once in favor of his son Juan "so that a manifesto can be issued urging all Spaniards to rally to the Throne."

Annoyed by this blunt suggestion that he is persona non grata even to Spanish Royalists in Paris, large-lipped Alfonso XIII dismissed them curtly, snapped. "There has been no development in the politics of my beloved Spain which would warrant such action."

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