The Portland daily press., 1897-08-13

he is Frenchman. If he speaks against
France he is probably an EDglishman.
But if he speaks against Spain, don't
doubt it, he is a Spaniard'
That first interview lasted more than
two hours. The Spanish ruler forgot
where he was and what he was, to become
merely the learned historian. Pacing up
and down the room, he treated me to an
interesting discourse upon the great men
of Spain in the seventeenth century ex-
planning all their good and bad sides. He
told me with the delight of connoisseur
how he had obtained for his private col
lection some ancient documents from the
old library of the Dukes of Osuna, which
came near falling into the hands of
agents of the British Museum Listen
ing to him, the old Spain of "Don
Qulxote" appeared reconstructed before
my eyes. But the pleasant lecture was
interrupted suddenly by high official
II beg your pardon, Senior Presidente, /"
the new conner said, IF interrupt you
but here is a very long cipher dispatch
from the governor of Melilla, and can
not decipher it. 1t is written neither
after the key of the ministry of war. nor
that of the ministry of state. My only
hope is that it be in the key of your ex-
cellency, kept in your desk"
Il don't know anything about it, an
swered Senior Canovas, angrily. He
looked at his watch and exclaimed:
"Great heavens, half past g." He put his
hat on, begged me to excuse him for
leaving me in the care Of the Count of
Casa Miranda, and rushed out through
the room in which many office seekers
say to the employe: 'Look here; if you
find that key and the dispatch says any
| thing of Importance send me word to the
hotel of the Marohioness Esquilache,
where l shall be dining" And he went
| out.
| Next evening read in La Correspan-
| dencia de Espana a dispatch from Lon
don, giving the news that Melilla had
been fiercely attacked by the Riff natives,
and that the Spanish governor, in most
embarrassed position, had urgently asked
achievements from Spain. 1 then I'M
derstood how well Canovas represented
his people, how truly Spaniard he was
in his reverential awe for the past glories
of his nation and his carelessness for her
present veal.
So he has ruled and so they all rule in
| Spain. For Canovas, as for every Span
lard tradition was everything, progress
nothing. AS the first conquerors OF
America ruled the colonies, SO they must
| be ruled forever. An ancient idea was
like him, while the rest of Europe has
PROGRESSED Spain is, morally, still In the
times of Philip II.
In the two volumes which ne conse-
Grated to the life of one of his relatives, q
writer of mediocrity, on Serafin Esteba.
nez Calderon, better known by his nom
de plume of SCI Solitario,'' Canovas
everywhere finds opportunity to praise
ancient times and ancient IDEAS In his
celebrated lecture against socialism and
anarchism, delivered at the Atheneum OF
Madrid his main arguments were those
of religion and tradition, the whole dis.
course being rather sermon than 9
study of one of the great social evils Of
the nineteenth century.
| To maintain all the great errors of the
past he was always ready to fight with
| fire and sword. Weyler was his favorite
captain-general because he resembles
more than any other man the first COVER.
nor of the island, Don Diego de Velas
quez. Canovas is responsible before his
tory for the murder of hundreds of thou.
sands of human beings, put to death in
pursuance of his policy in Cuba, in the
Philippines, and in Spain In spite Of
his great mental powers and of the oood
he conferred upon his country by ending
the era of military revolutions, he was
only a fanatic like the man who ended
his life at the baths Of Santa Agueda