The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1894-09-26
A TINY REPUBLIC.
its Notes to n mig Ore to Mind 1ts own
Business.
Especial Correspondence.1

PARIS, Sept 1.-THE message re-
ceived the other day by the republic Of
France, the largest In Europe, from the
republic Of AndorRa, the smallest in the
world. was a surprising thing. 1t was
instigated by q Spanish prelate and pos
sessed other qualities than that of being
a surprise. 1t was amusing and at the
same time significant, and while it can
not be said to have been important in
the sense that would attach to such a
communication if Andorra were a larger
state, yet there is likely TO be consider
able diplomatic correspondence before
the last word is heard about 1t.
The republic Of .Andorra has a popu-
1ation of but 8, 600 souls, and it is be-
cause of its numerical insignihcance,
coupled with the unique physical char
acteristics Of its location and territory,
that it has been able to preserve a vir-
Jual independence since the time Of the
emperor with the long beard, . Charlie
magne, who gave it its autonomy 1t is
situated in a narrow, secluded vale,
high up in the Pyrenees, that noble
range that divides France from Spain.
All about it are high rocky mountain
walls. which at points rise into impos-
ing pine clad peaks, that stand watch
and ward over the handful of men and
women who live and toll below. Over
the territories Of France and Spain the
red tide of war has surged back and
forth. Waged between the two fiery ma
tions. it has reached across the range
more than once, but through it all,
when thrones have crunbled and dynas-
ties have changed, Andorra has been at
peace
It's people, simple in their lives,
in I4afr
content to let the outside world worry
and fight, while they have attended to
their own small affairs. AS in matters
of war, SO it has been in mental and
material things Andorra has slept
while the world has rushed by, and
the Andorrans Of today transact their
affairs eat, sleep and clothe themselves
as did their ancestors of hundreds of
years ago. Only at rare intervals has
the outside world even remembered that
there was an Andorra, and then it has
almost always been only because some
writer of books or maker of pictures has
sought out the vale and made known
some of the quaint things there and no
where else existing outside the realm of
fancy.
Although possessing autonomy with
regard to internal affairs, certain of An
DORA s outside matters have always
been controlled by a sort Of joint
suzerainty between France and Spain,
the formers control being direct,
while that of Spain has been through
the bishop of Urgel. 1t is he who
put up the Andorrans to send the
message spoken of, wherein France was
notified that in future she must cease to /
mind the affairs of her small neighbor.
Its people feel now, they say, that with
III q lanIr n ryaf oil
very we'll alone. Two or three years ago /
this same bishop Of Urgel declared that
no telegraph wire could pass over Andor- /
ran territory, for he held the telegraph
to be an invention of satan. Just how
this matter turned out do not remem-
Der, and perhaps few others outside
those directly interested do either, for
hurrying men of affairs have more i'm
portant matters to think and worry and
talk about. The bishops authority, it
will be observed, is well nigh as great I
as that of monarch, and it is quite +
likely that he controls the elections In F
that case he is as much Of a boss as even (
was Mr. Croker of New York, of whom 7
Paris has heard recently. The bishops /
influence and that of his predecessors
however, must have always been salu-
tary, for we are told that crime has
been unknown in Andorra since the
close Of the seventeenth century. The
people still speak with something like
awe of the last instance. 1t was the out
come Of love affair and was not very
heinous offense.
Lawsuits seem to be almost as rare
as crime, and there are but two notaries
IN all Andorra They receive small fees
for their services, but all other public du-
ties are performed gratuitously. All able
bodied adult male Andorrans are nomi-
nally members of the army, SO that the
republic has quite a military force, but
it's martial duties are light, for the last
engagement occurred more than
], 900 years ago. The state is governed
by a select council Of "a members, elect
ed each year, and a president, chosen
for life from among the Oldest and wis
EST men. From this it will appear that
great respect is paid to age. This is rem
dered more apparent even by the fact
that the oldest member of each family
is its nominal and actual head and is
0beyed implicitly by all the others. 1t
is to be hoped that the recent action of
the council in cutting loose from France
Will not tend to destroy the almost
ideal and wholly quaint customs and
life Of the people Of the tiny state
BARON SARTOR-