The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-11-12
CAsTHLAR.

The following sketch of CASTELAR,, the great
Republican orator of Spain, by writer in
AppletOn's Journal, will be read with
interest,"
Emilio CASTELAR, is the Wendell Phillips of
Spain. His oratory is said to hold his hearers
breathless and spellbound. BY those who
agree with him he is adored He does not
seek Office, and, when publicly charged with
doing 80, replied that ne thought the men
who had freed Spain were fit to rule it. He
is the leader of those terrible people, those
bugbears of politicians, the radicals. He
devotes himself to publishing the truth, pure
and simple, pleasant or unpleasant without
fear, favor, or ill-temper; to criticising, from
the vantage ground of independence, the acts
of Government, pointing out the true public
policy, and showing wherein those acts differ
or square with it. He knows that the free.
dom and justice he proclaims will at last pre-
vail, and finds the education of public opinion
the noblest function of public man. In a
country where three-fourths of the people
cannot read, this duty is by no means easy.
Yet Madrid in September last had forty-fve
daily papers. In great portion of these,
every speech of his is printed, reprinted by
the country press, and read by the lettered to
the unlettered. He is Professor of History
in the University of Madrid, aud his speeches
show his mastery thereof. Years of study
and thought have prepared him for the grand
part he now plays in regenerating Spain
When he speaks in the Cortes, it is after care
full watching of events and debates; and he
marshals fact, simile, and passion with noble
aim, dramatic effect, and startling force.
Under the rule of Isabella and Narvaez, he
was editorially connected with four different
liberal journals, the DiscusS0n, the Tiibunn.
the Iberia, and the S06erdntd NdciOnaI CNa-
tional Sovereignty. Through these, as well
as his professorship, he became known to the
whole Spanish-speaking world. Several
South American republics offered him large
inducements to settle among them. He has
refused other offers to change his abode to
advantage, choosing to cling to his country.
Speaking to the people in the theatre of his
native town, showing how he preferred being
representative to more tenn mpting honors, he
exclaimed in burst of honest pride, 'sMy
name is sculptured from the Alps to the
Andes !" Before the revolution he visited
Rome He also spent some time in France.
where he was devoted attendant on the lee
lures of Edouard Laboulaye, who admired
him greatly, and predicted for him a grand
future. He was a member of the General
Peace Congress of 1867.
In the great debates of last year, on the
formation of new Constitution for Spain,
he took glorious share. Leader of party
made up of bitter partisans, and opposed by
those as bitter, lhe on more than one occasion
lifted all parties clear above the mists of pre-
judice and bigotry, and united them in gene
fous, liberal enthusiasm. On the 18th of
March he first drew notice from Americans
by quieting a mob of women who had
gathered round the Cortez building to de-
mand the abolition of conscription. On
April he sharply attacked the ministry for
allowing the Duke de Montpensier Zone of
Louis Philippe's family, whom that kingssmar-
rled thirty years ago to Isabella's sister,
<hoping thus to seat an Orleans on the Iberian
throne) to remain Captain General in the
army, and limited that it paved the way to
seat him on the vacant throne. Two days
after, opposing the clause reported by the
Committee on the Constitution which pro-
vldes that monarchy is the form of govern
ment adopted by the Spanish nation" he
delivered a tremendous speech, which placed
him among the foremost advocates of repub-
hcan institutions everywhere. Showing the
effect of kingcraft on his country, he cried:
I'VE are vast charnel-house stretching
from the Pyrenees to the Sea of Cadiz; we
have no agriculture, no industry, no trade"
On this speech even the London Times corre-
spondent commented that, 'while Senior Cas-
telar is efratic as an orator, he is incompara-
ble as gentleman, remarkable for dignity
and courtesy in discussion. In the same
speech he said "Garibaldi held crown in
his hand at Naples. Instead of destroying it,
he gave it to the house of Savoy: but the
hOuoo Oh WLoSo u0du no put u crown put
bullet into his body at Aspromonte, and a
deeper one into his heart at Mentone."
About five days later Manterola, Canon of
Nlttorla, city famous in the campaigns of
Sir John Moore and Wellington against the
French in northeastern Spain, and one of the
principal seats of intolerance and conserva-
tion in that Carlist mountain region, attacked
IN the Cortes the passages in the draft of the
constitution providing for liberation to for
eigners, and declaring that ''if any Spaniards
Catholic, these provisions shall apply to
them. He considered them as coming from
foes of religion; and the beginning of demo-
ralization CASTELAR, sprang to his feet,
and replied in that speech which rang
through the civilized world and immor
talized him. Standing in the city of the
Inquisition, the capital of the land where autos
dd te were popular amusements, aud whero
religious intolerance fingered in the law till
S6S-standipg in the crimson semi-circular
Cortes chamber where Naryaez had con.
quered Espartero, Rivero, and O'Donnell;
the statue of Philip IL, who gave his son Don
Carles (Scbillers hero to the Inquisition
for the crime of Professionalism, before him
near the Presidents chair: surrounded by
paintings of the historic glories of Spain,
this Professor of History called up the
shadows of the past, and caused them to stalk
in warning before the representatives of that
Catholic nation. He showed that great king
crushing Protestants, Moors, and Jews,
through the Inquisitions fendish means;
he showed the mind of Spain banished,
her glories fading and her wealth fed,
closing with the thrilling words, ''Great
: is Gud in Sinai. Ibe thuuder pracades Him