Correspondence
[A LETTER FROM 'MADRID.] [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sit,--Having accepted the control of the two powers behind the throne, the Army and the Church, the people of Spain look on. 'Unconcerned, they see army officers, released from the campaign in Africa, crowding into the ministerial departments. Untroubled by theological doubts and discussions, the worshippers daily' flock to their churches in numbers larger than ever before. Thousands of masses are attended daily by kneeling multitudes and the devotion to saints and ceremony
is as great as ever. Spain has no Dr. Barnes. There is calm throughout the land.
The truth is that the Spaniard is fast losing the fiery strain in his sun-tempered nature. His traditional hot-headedness is gradually being trimmed into obedience. It is not many years since your correspondent witnessed with surprise the unbounded wrath of a prominent citizen requested by a police officer to take his place in the queue outside the theatre. His denunciations of such intolerable interference filled the air. In those quite recent days the temper of the crowd was such that it registered a protest against an increase of a halfpenny fare by burning the offending company's trams ! A riot was as easy to arrange as a picnic. To-day, on the contrary, the air is full of whispers and good advice. Let tis do this, let us do that, " say the Government papers to their hopeful readers. La Nacion, in all seriousness, asks these to mend their old habits, give up going to bed at 2 a.m., and get up for an early and hearty breakfast, instead of coffee and a roll at ten. It blames the theatres, and even the cafes, mark you, for their unwholesome influence.
Polities have now their say in the world of cinematograph productions, for the Government will not allow producers to use Spanish scenery and historical monuments unchecked. They demand that nothing in the nature of anti-Spanish feeling shall show itself in any film taken in this country, a wise precaution against the demands of a sensation-loving public abroad indifferent to Spanish sensibilities. Reprisals have been taken against the Metro-Goldwyn concern, which has been warned off the cinema houses for showing a film some- where in America displeasing to the authorities. They have made it clear that they object to the perpetuation of the so-called Leyendra Negra or Black Legend of Spain. Foreign opinion has too long misjudged this nation, it is claimed, as one of bull-fighters and castanet players in modern times, and of Inquisitors in the old days.—I' am, Sir, &c., YOUR MADRID CORRESPONDENT,
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