“Yes, yes,” returned Alfonso, with his prompt acceptance of a good suggestion. “If we do not go to Catalonia, it is just as if a prelate did not visit one part of his diocese, which would mean separation from that district.”
It was in 1898 that the terrible débâcle of Cuba realized the worst fears of patriots. The Queen, who had been so badly advised in the Council by Sagasta, was overwhelmed with grief. The army and navy, and even the throne of Spain, were loudly attacked, instead of the Government which had brought them the disaster.
It was then that Figuerola Ferretti had the clever idea of having a great illustration placarded about the streets of Madrid, headed by a representation of Mercier’s picture of an angel carrying a wounded man, with the device “Gloria Victis.” For glory was due to the men who had suffered nobly and hopelessly in the struggle to which politicians had provoked the colonies by their maladministration; and leaflets, setting forth the same idea, were distributed broadcast by thousands in the streets of Madrid.
This daring protest for the prestige of the Spanish army and navy doubtless stemmed the tide of public opinion, and the Queen-Regent congratulated the chamberlain on his loyal course.
Castelar, in an article he published in La Nouvelle Revue, put all the blame of Spain’s misfortunes on Maria Cristina, even going so far as to compare her with Marie Antoinette, who was so fatal to France. But one must recollect that, as Rubio says, Castelar said in the Congress: “‘I am an historical republican, an invincible republican, a republican all my life by conviction and by conscience, and he who doubts my republicanism offends and calumniates me, and for this reason I do not wish to be anybody in any monarchy.’”
But General Blanco declares, with greater justice, that the blame of the Cuban disaster should rest on the shoulders of Sagasta; and El Liberal of that date says:
“Señor Sagasta is the one, and the only one, responsible for the terrible misfortunes which assail our country.
“It was he who advised the Queen-Regent to persist in the course which led Cuba to seek the intervention of America; and when the royal lady seemed ready to listen to the wisdom of patriots who pleaded for the autonomy of the colony, he would present himself at Court, and there once more persuade the Sovereign to his false view of the matter.”
As Rubio says in his able “History of the Regency”:
“When Sagasta, Romero Robledo, Silvela, and Gamazo spoke in the House on this burning question, their speeches seemed more like essays in polemics in an athenæum than discussions in an assembly of legislators on a matter entailing the salvation or the ruin of the country.”