Eduardo Dato – An Assassinated Spanish Premier

March 8 — Spanish Premier Eduardo Dato was assassinated earlier this evening as he was bound from the Senate in a car on his way home. Dato was attacked by three people who fired a number of bullets.

The assassins were on a motorcycle, tailing the car of Dato. The numerous shots that were fired on the Plaza de la Independencia at the rear of the car penetrated the wall and upholstery, wounding Dato so terribly that he died just while entering the first aid station. The actual assassin of Dato fled the scene, and as an anonymous witness claims to have seen, the three of them used revolvers for said assassination. The assassins are said to have been recognized as Catalan anarchists Lluís Nicolau, Pere Mateu, and Ramon Casanelles, however the case is stil being investigated.

Eduardo Dato had been the Premier of Spain a few times during the difficult years of the war and the rebuilding period that subsequently followed. This was a time when Spain was fill led with displeasure, strikes and riots of a revolutionary tendency and no government was able to keep the peace. Maura men would in fact aid in the initiatives at preserving public order.

Come December elections, new signs of Dato’s weakened power were noticeable when he received only a bare majority of the members of the Lower House. It was predicted then that a crisis was to happen. There were conferences held between the King and the Dato, Maura and Cierva group leaders in January this year. These conferences aimed to heal the breach between the factions but very little was accomplished, and Dato resigned later that month.

Spanish statesmen, however, told the King that Dato was the only man who could form even a semi-stable Ministry and he was persuaded to remain, with 154 votes in the Chamber of Deputies to showcase their confidence in him. However, in the February elections this year, Dato had lost his control over the Chamber of Deputies in the Cortes, and after that his Ministry seemed to be deteriorating.

Eduardo Dato was born in La Coruna, on August 12, 1858. He studied law and passed his final examinations at the age of 19. When he entered politics, he pushed forward to the front, becoming Secretary of State for the Interior in 1891 and Minister for said department in 1899. Dato was the man who secured the passage of laws regulating workmen’s insurance and the hours of labour for women. Dato became the Minister of Justice in 1903 and was nominated for Speaker of The House of Representatives in 1907. Dato also became the Mayor of Madrid. He was first chosen as Premier in 1913, followed by a second term in 1917. He held a portfolio of Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in 1918. Dato got married in his youth and had three children. While being a Deputy, he also acted as a lawyer for a few French and English railroad and mining companies that were operating in Spain at the time and from this, he gained a considerable fortune.

An untimely death for Eduardo Dato who persevered despite several failed missions, but he shall be remembered for all that he did. Necessary changes in the Cabinet succeeded each other with quite astonishing swiftness, and sometimes the first news from a political crisis in Spain would be the announcement of a formation of a new ministry. However, even though Dato in those times found his power waning and found himself desperately fighting to maintain the power he once had, he was never truly eliminated from the government.

The Dato Cabinet that had too many of these recurring crises, resigned in October, 1917. After varying alterations, former Premier Antonio Maura who succeeded Dato, formed a new Ministry. Leaders of the Dato group of the Conservative Party that was headed by Dato himself, pledged their support. However, this government did not last long and in December of 1919, Dato had decided to agree on forming a new Cabinet. The Ministerial Council met at the palace under the Presidency of King Alfonso where Dato pledged a regime that was based upon peace and justice. The Conservative Group, headed by Maura and Juan Enrique Cierva, pledged their support to the new government even though the Ministry was made up totally of the Liberal-Conservative Group.