They
Know We Are Not Jews, But Christians; Yet We Are Not Catholics; And
What, Then, Are We?
With the Protestants, as with the Catholics, there
is always religious marriage.
There is civil marriage for all, but
without the religious rite the pair are not well seen by either sect.
It is said that the editor of the ablest paper in Madrid, which
publishes a local edition at Seville, is a Protestant. The queen mother
is extremely clerical, though one of the wisest and best women who ever
ruled; the king and queen consort are as liberal as possible, and the
king is notoriously a democrat, with a dash of Haroun al Rashid. lie
likes to take his governmental subordinates unawares, and a story is
told of his dropping in at the post-office on a late visit to Seville,
and asking for the chief. He was out, and so were all the subordinate
officials down to the lowest, whom the king found at his work. The
others have since been diligent at theirs. The story is characteristic
of the king, if not of the post-office people.
Political freedom is almost grotesquely unrestricted. In our American
republic we should scarcely tolerate a party in favor of a monarchy, but
in the Spanish monarchy a republican party is recognized and
represented. It holds public meetings and counts among its members many
able and distinguished men, such as the novelist Perez Galdos, one of
the most brilliant novelists not only in Spain but in Europe.
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