A TEMPEST.
Here the sage amusingly described a Spanish-American revolution.
He said:—
“When the young men of any city become weary with the more common excitements, the theatre and the bullfight, they organise a ‘revolution.’ For this ‘outing’ they call together their friends, arm themselves, establish a camp on the outlying hills, and make ready for ‘slaughter.’ The ‘loyalists’—salaried clerks usually, with a few hangers-on—rush out to meet the belligerents, and approach to within a reasonably safe distance, when both sides ‘fall in,’ fire simultaneously—each over the others’ heads—when all break and run for the treasury.
“If the ‘loyalists’ win the race they vote themselves extra pay, smoke a cigar, and enjoy a siesta; while if the others win, the treasury is looted, a new set of clerks installed, the taxes are raised to repair the damages, and the new ‘push’ enjoy the siesta.
“The security of the public from too frequent changes rests in the fact that usually the camp of the ‘loyalists’ is taken up between that of the insurgents and the treasury, so the ‘loyalists’ have a shorter run to make in the home stretch.
“Think, my children, what civilisation would have been to-day had the British been content to remain on their Island home, or had both the Americas been permanently held by the Spanish race—or, to judge by later history, by any other than the Anglo-Saxon.
“Well, my friends, I have no interest in booming any country, but if I had owned all Spanish-America in ‘fee simple,’ and had a long lease on Hades, I would rent my freehold out, and reside on my other holding.”
(Leo remarks:—“Oh, for a laugh with Sir Marmaduke.”)
“No,” said the sage, “there is nothing worthy of imitation in Spanish-America, and there is no room under the present rule in these countries for the staid virtues of the Shadowas.”