The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-04-25
THE NEW EXECUTIVE OF SPAIN.
The Career and Character of FIgueras
George N ToHIe in the Indenendantl

George NJ. Towle in the independently
Figueras assumes the chief seat in
the Spanish executive at 50, in the very
prime of his mental powers and physical
vigor. But, although far from being an
old man, his career has been long in
thrilling events. At Is he had become
an ardent politician, and enrolled him
self among the radicals of his native
Barcelona, and had been marked as a
dangerous parsonage by the agents of
the government. When he was 81 he
became an avowed republican, and be-
gan to perform the perilous role of con-
splratOr against the Bourbon throne.
Ever and anon from that time he reap
pears at intervals on the stormy stage of
Spanish politics, always propagating re-
publican ideas, stirring up discomfort
and resistance against the corrupt and
dcspotlc powers at Madrid, organizing
instructions, hurrying from Barcelona
to Madrid, from Madrid to TarragOna,
with messages of disloyalty and project
of revolution. In 1914, when Spain,
like Italy and Germany, caught the rev.
dictionary infection from France, Fig
ueras was in the thick of the conflict,
counseling, commanding, and acting
with all the ardor of intense conviction.
Al u he IDuQu nILSeII a deputy
COrtes, sent thither by Barcelona, and
forming with Orensi, Lozano, and Jaen
a little, but stOUt-souled phalanx of
four. Three years later the pha anx
was swelled to 81, who thought them
selves strong enough to openly propose
and vote for a republic; and after the
revolution of 1868 the party increased
To 20, who have lust achieved the long
hoped for victory. Throughout the pc
Rod between 1851 and 1872 Figueras
continued the foremost champion of the
republicans-sOmetimes as deputy In
the COrtes, sometimes as a courageous
but cautious conspirator, masking his
operations behind his advocates gown.
He has been a prisoner, an exile, and
always a suspect; and through it all
has never once recanted or even conceal
ed his opinions. An open enemy from
the first to the throne of Isabella, and
to all thrones whatevsoever, he has eX-
tOrted the respect while continually ex-
citing the fears of the monarchical
statesmen.
Meanwhile Figueras, engaging thus
actively in the most continuously tur-
bulent political drama which Europe
has witnessed since Napoleon landed at
St Helena, has not neglected the stud
les begun with zeal in early youth. His
knowledge of the law is inferior to that
of no advocate at the Madrid bar his
powers as a lawyer long ago ranked him
among its leading members. His
speeches in the COrtes betray q faInil-
iarItY with history, especially that of
Spain, which should be, but seldom is,
among the cardinal qualifications of
craftsmanship. In this department of
learning he is excelled perhaps only by
CASTELAR,, whose knowledge of English
and American political annals is, for q
Spaniard, wonderful. Unlike most
radical leaders in Europe, Senior Fig
ucras is a devOut believer in Christian
tv. On one occasion, he made so i'm
pressive a declaration of his faith, in
the Cortes, that, CASTELAR, says, he al for
the moment converted the assembly into
a temple"
EIgueras possesses qualities which are
well fitted inspire confidence and de-
votIOn. He has many and bitter enc
mics yet, in a country where SANDER is
quick to be uttered and easily stains, no
whisper has ever been heard derogatory
of his purity of character and probity
of motive. Often and again has Sagas-
Ia, the foremost of the conservative or
ators, denounced him with the fervid
violence characteristic of the Latin ma
tions but Figueras's integrity has al
ways come out unscathed from the or
deal. Added to moral attributes so ex-
allied and unquestioned, the president
of the council betTays intellectual traits
OF the first order. His colleague, Cas-
telar, who is not less a generous friend
than formidable rival for the highest
honors of the new republic, says of his
clOquence, that it is "sOber. correct,
and brilliant; earnest, courteous, calm,
and reasonable; wonderfully acute, and
at the same time persuasive. When he
seeks the sublime, he ascends to sub
Unity. y A rarer quality even than elo-
quence such rs this is the power of self
command, and of compelling the self
command Of others