The record-union., 1898-10-31
SPANISH TEMPERAMENT.
POSSESSES PECULIAR PRIDE,
BRAVERY AND CALLOUSNESS.
An Artistic Sense and a Dignity
Compared With the Highland
er's-The Hidden Root of Inef-
ficiency.

er's-The Hidden Root of Inef-
ficiency.
Two qualities, and only two certainly
differentiate Spaniards from the other
| Southern races Of Europe, but they are
qualities displayed in such excess that
| they appear to constitute an entirely
separate national character, which in
! hundreds of years has never changed
either in fact or in the impression which
| 1t makes upon the remainder of man
kind. One of these qualities is a pc
culiar kind of pride, and the other is
| a steely callousness. Spaniards are
about as brave as the other Latin races
| that is, they are perfectly brave, with
certain liability to panic, and re-
luctance to go on when victory seems
not to be attainable. They were sup
posed in their best period to be braver
than Frenchmen or Italians, and their
picked adventures certainly showed
In the New World audacity Of really
wonderful kind, an audacity, in fact, to
which odds made no difference, and
which suggested that they thought
themselves specially favored of heaven
but We do not know that their history
quite confirms this claim. The Romans
defeated them and the Moors defeated
them, and in their long conflict with
France they never obtained any serious
or permanent advantage. They did not
succeed against the men of the Low
Countries, they were defeated by Brit
1sh sailors, and they did not triumph
in their struggle in Mexico against in
fertor numbers Of Americans. That
they are brave is certain, and they are
probably more self-conf1dent that either
Frenchmen or Italians; but we should
not describe their courage as differen-
tiating them from any other people of
Southern Europe.
We do not know that they are more
revengeful. though they attribute that
quality to themselves. and owing to the
absence Of good legislation, rely for
vengeance more on their own efforts
nor are they in reality more passionate
They stab as readily as Italians, but
not more readily, and though they as
sasslnate more often than Frenchmen it
must be remembered that Frenchmen
have lived for ages under much more
effective laws. The Highlander of Great
Britain is to-day hardly ever an assas
sin, but he used to stick his foe with a
knife which he called a dirk very read
lily indeed. The Spaniard, again, is
supposed to be specially superstitious;
but We fancy some at least Of that idea
concerning him arises from the fact
that his superstition takes the direc-
ton usually Of strong Catholicism.
Those who really understand either
Tfo1f IL
them free from superstition. though in
both instances the quality is found COM
plned with great disposition to ire
ligion, skeptical irreligion among
Frenchmen, secularist or pagan ire
ligion among Italians.
AS to truthfulness, there is not much
TO choose between the races, though
they speak truth, or neglect truth, upon
somewhat different impulses. The
Frenchman has mathematical side to
his head, rarely lies to himself, and
tells the truth whenever it is obviously
inexpedfent, in the sense of being con-
trary to utility, to tell lies. The Span
lard tells the truth whenever the con-
trary would seem to himself to be dis
creditable, and therefore tells it or de-
clines to tell it at unexpected moments
and in ways that surprise the North
erner; while the italian tells II when
ever it will not roughen a path which
ne thinks 1t his clear business to make
smooth. He will utter a faIsehood for
your comfort as readily as for his own
thing which the Frenchman never
does unless he has an epigram to be
delivered of, and the Spaniard very sell
dom.
PROOFS OF IN ARTISTIC SENSE.
The Spaniard, too, must have some
where in him a keen artistic sense. His
language and the way he uses it show
that as well as the things he has built
and the pictures he has painted His
Is perhaps the most beautiful architec-
ture in Europe, and even in the New
World, where he was in a hurry. MOTH
ing that he built has the want of
charm and picturesqueness which dis
tinguishes everything built on that
continent by the Anglo-Saxon. In lit
erature he is as great humorist as
the Frenchman though his humor is
more sardondc. He has the capacity
Of being a great dramatist and in all
graver productions, as in all public ut
terances, he has a special gift for q
rather full ll-mouthed eloquence The
ignorance of the three peoples is about
equal, though the Frenchman's seems
the less because he wants to know
whatever he thinks pays him in any
way; and there is no great difference
in their habit Of economy Perhaps
the Spaniard carries 1t furthest be-
cause he is so Indifferent to the quail
ity Of his food but capacity for con-
tinuO1s self-denial distinguishes all
three, though as they are not eqaully
industrious the capacity enriches the
Frenchman, while 1t leaves the Italian
poor and the Spaniard almost a beg
garj.
It Is his quality of pride which dis
tinguishes the Spaniard alike from the
Italian and the Frenchman. A per-
sonal dignity, quite apart from mere
vanity, appears to be as essential to
him as freedom to the Anglo Saxon or
order to the German. This feeling
shows itself in his dress, In his bearing,
in his language, in all his acts, public
and private He cannot cringe, he
cannot brook a slight, he cannot sup
press himself when self effacement
would be convenient. He must be ac-
knowledged as gentleman ON all occa-
sions as the condition without which
business cannot be done, and he usu-
ally adds to the word gentleman the
word Spaniard. He Is gentleman of
Spain, or in his own eyes he ceases to
be anything. Our own Highlander
has precisely the same quality in the
same degree, and till a very recent peri
cd he also dressed the part. There is
something very impressive about this
feeling, particularly when it leads. as
1t OFTEN does, to the endurance Of i'm
mense risks. and it is q little perplex-