Fourth Capital

Figueras' existence as the fourth capital of the Spanish Republic was brief, tragic and historic. Almost from the time the ministries were established in the little town (normal pop. 14,000) Rebel bombers began smashing it. In one day's raids 300 were reported killed, 800 wounded. At its fall the city was entirely deserted.

In the old guide books, Figueras is remembered as the town where the marriage of King Philip V to Marie Louise of Savoy was ratified in 1701. In the guide books of the future, Figueras will be more vividly remembered as the meeting place of one of the strangest sessions of the Cortes, the Spanish Parliament. The Spanish Constitution requires a session of the Cortes at least every six months. Determined to be scrupulously constitutional, the Premier called a Cortes meeting despite the gravity of the military situation. In an underground, bombproof cavern of the 18th-Century Castle of San Fernando on the outskirts of the city, 62 of the 473 duly elected deputies met to hear the Government's report of the war. The walls of white-washed masonry were decorated only with the Republic's red, yellow and violet flag, and on the floor were only a few strips of red carpet. The spectators were foreign newsmen.

Paying tribute to the Army that "fought so long against such odds," Dr. Negrin attacked the European democracies (especially Great Britain) for turning their backs on Republican Spain. He revealed that his Government, forced to buy contraband munitions wherever it could, had bought some from Germany and Italy, its mortal enemies. "If we lose Catalonia, we shall continue to fight in the central part of Spain," the Premier said. "Nations live not only by victories, but also by the examples they give their people." The Premier's war aims were unanimously approved by the Cortes.

Speaker Martinez Barrio told the deputies that they were witnessing a historic meeting, that they were "writing a page of honor for the future Spanish fatherland." Historically minded Loyalists took heart by remembering that another Cortes had met in Cadiz in March 1812, in even more desperate circumstances. At that time Napoleon had invaded Spain and had set his brother Joseph on the throne at Madrid, "Loyalist" Spain had been reduced to only a small area north of Cadiz and isolated cities, far less than the approximately 50,000 square miles the Government still holds. Yet by 1814 the "Loyalists" of 1812 (with the considerable help of the Duke of Wellington's British Army) had cleared Napoleon's Army out and were again in full control of the country.

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