The courage of the King and Queen of Spain through
a life of danger that would wrack the nerves of most people was proved again by their visit to Barcelona, the hotbed of Catalan separatism and of intrigues against the lives of the Monarchs and the Marquis de Estella.
We regret that miscreants who stick at nothing in the mistaken idea that violence and murder will help their political theories tried by laying a bomb on the railway- line to blow up the royal train in which the Sovereigns left Barcelona last week, and possibly to assassinate them earlier by another bomb found in the town. We rejoice that the attempt failed. We hate unconstitutional repression as much as any Spaniard can, but if Spain is to advance towards a liberal life, her people must learn to show more energy and honesty in their politics and self-administration than they have yet shown. Their political education is deplorably meagre, and they are the readier prey of subversive men of education who earn our contempt by keeping out of the country and doing all the harm they can with their scurrilous pens.
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