BAKUNIN THE APOSTLE OF NIHILISM. 235 
garrison allowed itself to be disarmed, and the barracks ^sre 
set on fire. Meanwhile newly installed republicans governed 
the Spanish Republic. Castelar, Sunar, Pi y Margall, and 
Salmerón were in power, but they were denounced as traitors. 
On the 7th of July there was a general strike in the industrial 
town of Alcoy. They came to blows. The Alcade and some 
gendarmes defended themselves for some days in the buildings 
of the municipality. The insurgents took as hostages some 
priests and some manufacturers. The Alcade and the gen 
darmes were made prisoners and then put to death by the 
crowd, and six public edifices were burnt to the ground. 
On the 12th of July the great insurrection of Carthagena 
broke out. The sailors and marines fraternized with the 
Socialists, and the ironclads fell into their hands. General 
Contreras put himself at their head and bombarded the town 
of Almeria. He would probably have got possession of the 
other seaports, had it not been for the intervention of the 
foreign fleets. By the 20th of July, the Cantonalists, with whom 
the gendarmerie and the troops had fraternized, were masters 
of the province of Castellón. A committee of public safety 
ruled at Seville. The duration of the working day was limited 
to eight hours. The relations between masters and workmen 
were to be regulated on the principle of “absolute liberty. 
In order to prepare for the “social liquidation," all rents were 
reduced by one-half, the property of the churches was confis 
cated, and all pensions were abolished. All closed factories 
and workshops, as well as all uncultivated lands, were assigned 
to those who could turn them to account. At Granada the 
Cantonalists resolved that the churches should be sold, that 
the bells should be melted and the metal made into coins, and 
that an overwhelming tax should be levied on the rich. At 
Carmona there was a battle in the streets which lasted the 
entire day. Cadiz, Murcia, San Fernando, Valencia, and 
Salamanca also joined the Cantonalist movement It seemed 
on the point of being everywhere triumphant; but these 
revolutionists, who proclaimed anarchy, through anarchy were 
destined to fall. Amid the general disorganization, the orders 
of the leaders were not obeyed. The insurgents had no real