The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-08-28
SAGASTA.
The willy Old Fox Uncle Sam Must
Meet in Diplomatic Array.
From the London Sun.

From the London Sun.
Sagasta, the present prime minister, Is
a stff1y built, frog-faced man, with
strong jaw, a wide, insincere smile, and
black, filmy eyes, as of an Arab or a
gypsy. He has the glib word, the ex-
pansive manner and the exuberant ges-
ture of the South. There is one charge
which his most embittered enemies dare
not bring against him-that of cowardice.
His convictions may be conferred on him
self, but most emphatically he has the
courage of them. Over and above his
vast astuteness of thought he is a man
of action. If for many years he has prov
en- himself as supple as a serpent, his
earlier history showed him to be as brave
as a lion. He fought against ODonnell
in the streets of Madrid in 1856 at the head
of a regiment of militia.
Before that, as a lad of IS, when a stu
dent at the College of Engineers at Log
rono, his native place, he hesitated not to
withstand the behests of the dreaded Ner-
vaez. Whenever the time came for fight
ing he was ready to take his share, yet,
without impeachins that undeniable phys
ical pluck of which he has given many
proofs, 1t is not surprising to find that he
made Ii his first duty as a soldier to pre-
vent himself from being unnecessarily
killed. Hence in the summer of 1856
while many of his colleagues stuck to
their barbados in the streets of Madrid
and were massacred, Sagasta underwent
the much more convenient fate of being
condemned to the uncomfortable death of
the garrotte-in his absence
Thenceforward, for two years, London,
Paris and Ostend were the centers of his
activity, and if walls could speak a GER
tain restaurant of Bishopsgate street
could tell some strange stories. He engin-
eered the revolution of 1866 and drove Isa-
bella II. from the throne, and this time
fortune favored him. When Topete and
the fleet had been won over and most of
the army was squared the signal was Civ
en-. Sagasta and Gorilla (as pure a patriot
as ever lived but too honest and consist
ent to be a successful modern Spanish pol
itician), with Prim as a servant in livery,
sailed under assumed names in the steam
er Delta, from London to Gibraltar, early
In September of thirty years ago.
I cannot be surprised at our American
cousins loathing the very name of Sagas-
ia with the keenest of hatred-second only
TO that which they have for Gen. Weyler
1t was because of his direct action In 1873
that the Infamous Gen. Burrill shot eight
Americans in one day. and four days af-
terward shot Capt. Frye, Gen. Ryan and
IS more Indeed, of all prime ministers that
Spain has ever had, Sagasta has been the
most merciless and unreliable. He is a
Talleyrand- Bismarck, with strong flavor
OF Torquemada.
Even now the old mans astounding good
luck may be depended upon to bring him
to the surface again, although he has Just
exceeded mans allotted span. But there
Is a more patient and dOgged enemy than
the paltry politicians who are in opposi-
tion to Sagasta. This is no less a person
than Gen. Weyler himself The two men
have clashed for years, and when sa-
gasta dismissed his enemy and put Blanco
in his place as captain general OF Cuba ne
made a most unwise move for his own in
terest and for the peace OF his closing
years Weylcr has TOO much Of the slow
moving Dutch blood OF his father 10 act
waits.