It is as well to be fair, even when those
who plead for fairness are hopelessly in the wrong. The Government of Selior Canovas del Castillo recently proposed, it is believed, to expel from Spain the correspondents of all hostile journals—or, in Spanish phrase, of all journals which "assailed the honour" of Spain. The measure was condemned in the Cabinet, and was rejected ; but the secret was divulged, and, of course, the combined journalism of Europe exerted itself to pour censure upon the Spanish Premier. He quite deserved it, for his proposal was grossly tyrannical and unjust; bat it is nonsense to say he had no provocation. The correspondents were evidently determined to upset him. Every fact which could discredit him in the eyes of his country was sedulously forwarded to London and Paris, and thence flashed back to Madrid, many of the statements made being secrets obtainable only from the Embassies. He was represented as yielding to Germany, as betraying the King, and as deliberately deceiving the people and affronting foreign nations. Many of the accusations, we are afraid, are true; but it was hardly to be expected that a Spanish Premier of the old type, who held journals in honest abhorrence as incendiaries, and who, in this instance, saw Ambassadors behind the journals, should be content to endure such attacks unmoved. Such fortitude is unknown among Con- tinental statesmen, and Seiior Canovas did nothing more than Prince Bismarck or M. de Giers would have done. The absurdity is that he pretends at the same time to be Constitutional, which they do not do.
Previous page
