BoletiÌn mercantil de Puerto Rico. (San Juan, P.R.) 18??-1918, 1901-11-21

They may all be taken with . cellarful of
last. AS much may be said of almost every
telegram that bears the postmark of Madrid.
The correspondents Of the English and
American papers flock to Madrid because it
is the capital I; they accompany the court
from Madrid to San Sebastian, and from
San Sebastian to Madrid they accept as
news whatever the ministers think it worth
while to impart; they gather material from
Spanish journals whose columns are submit.
ted to vigorous censorship and edited with
the ever.present consciousness that to reveal
the proof is to invite suppression. Madrid
is as bad guide to Spain as is New York
to America. If the correspondents of the
foreign press could only be induced to Tor.
sake the Puerta del Sol, and push their
inquiries in the provinces, the outside world
would not be Sc egregiously misinformed as
it is OF the real state of affairs in the pen.
insula. 1t would kno,o, for instance, that
nine times out of ten those Osrlist outbreaks
are manufactured by the ministers themsel.
yes, who hope. by great show of activity
in repressing them, to strengthen their own
position. remember in tie early months
of 1899 meeting in Barcelona an officer Of
the Civil Guard who bad~just been employ.
ed in qaelling what was represented in Eng.
land as Oarlist outbreak on an unusually
big scale; in fact, the first stroke of the rev.
olution. From him learned the details of
the sanguinary conflict He was one of
eight saviors of his country. An undisciplin.
ed croacd of peasants, some thirty in mum
Der, approached the guard house to sack it
by way of blind protest against the payment
~ dukia h0 1nPd
Uuurse, to be protected and the officer gave
the order to 1lre. The leader of the peasants
was shot dead, his followers broke and fled,
| flinging down their arms. Some Of them
were captured and cross examined: They
had, it seemed, been bribed to don the Car.
list emblem, but one and all absolutely
denied that they were followers of Don
Carlos, or had any idea OF revolution. They
simply wished to get rid Of the octroi duties.
This was the beginning and the end of all
hostilities, and it was Illuminating to notice
what capital the government made out Of
the incident. / 1t was gravely given out that
vast Oarlist plot had been discovered and
frustated Oy the energy of the ministers.
There followed the closing Of Oarlist clubs,
the arrest of few humble individuals and
their subsequent release and the suspension
of the constitutional guarantees-in other
soOTds, the proclamation Of martial Law
throughout the Kingdom. Some threatrical
doMiciliary visits we're also made. For
instance, the Barcelona authorities, having
first ascertained that the Duke OF Solferino
and his family ssere out of town, invaded
his palace with great force, carried off the
concierge in triumph and kept her captive
.s<~hkk Ill ska
excited and really believed something tire.
mendous was on the point of happening.
But in Spain the whole affair vas diagnosed
as . mere political and financial move.
Taere was absolute tranquility in the prov.
inces where genuine Oarlists still exist,
and 50 far a. one could discover the govern.
ment built its siry castle of revolution out of
nothing. At bottom it was probably stock
exchange speculation to depreciate values,
connived at by the government for its own
purposes.
After that experience one is necessarily
somewhat skeptical OF the rumors Of fresh
Oarlist risings. Oarlism indeed has ceased
to be cause and sunk into q mere cult.
From thirty to fifty years ago Europe had
semi Byronic attachment for the for.
tunes of the Legitimists. The hero of the
novels Of the period had usually done
little fighting for the Oarlists; the heroine
was not infrequently nurse in the Oarlist
service. Something Of romance and aris-
tocratic favor hung round the banner Of
the Pretender. 1t was the gentlemanly
and higb-bred thing to be subscriber to |
the Oarlist funds, and whenever the Pre-
tenders took the field they could always
rely on the active support Of English and |
continental free lances Of birth and stand. |
ing. All this has now vanished; the nobil. |
ity have outgrown their whim, and Carl
ism, like everything else, has fallen under
the grip Of speoulators, religious and
financial. These, with muster Of Span
ish grandees, make up the elements that
now surround Don Carlos's person, end q
very curious sight they afford to the
American who happens upon them at q
continental hotel. The duh, sensual, free
q