MADRID AND AFTER.
On arriving at Madrid, Mr Bradlaugh waited upon Senor Castelar at the
Government Palace, Plaza de Oriente, where he was officially received,
and whence a few days later came a fairly lengthy official document,
addressed to Mr R. A. Cooper, as Chairman of the Birmingham Conference,
which was as remarkable for its eloquence as for its moderation. From
Madrid he went to Lisbon, by way of Cuidad Real and Badajoz, the
journey taking thirty-six hours by "express" train. His visit to Lisbon
was upon private business: he particularly desired to learn something
concerning a Portuguese gentleman, the Baron Geraldo F. dos Santos,
with whom he had been connected in 1867 in the Naples Colour Company,
and who had in the October of that year "gone to Lisbon," leaving "no
orders," as was tersely written upon a bill for three hundred pounds
when it became due. The noble Baron who should have met it had returned
to his native land, leaving it to be met by my father, whose name was
on the back of the bill.
My father did not stay many hours in Lisbon, but while he was there a
curious little incident happened. Going into a tobacconist's to buy
a cigar, he asked for it in French, thinking that more likely to be
understood than English. The mistress of the shop smiled, and answered
him in his own tongue, addressing him by name. She was an Englishwoman,
and knew him well, having heard him lecture at the provincial town
where she had lived in England.
About the 22nd Mr Bradlaugh was back again in Madrid; on the 23rd
he received the official reply to Mr Cooper, and also the following
unofficial communication:
"MINISTERIO DE ESTADO,
"GABINETE PARTICULAR.
"Monsieur Bradlaugh.
"MONSIEUR,--En réponse à votre lettre de ce matin je vous
prie de vouloir bien m'attendre chez vous aujourd'hui antre deux et
trois heures. J'aurai alors le plaisir de vous voir et je pourrai vous
donner des renseignments rélatifs à votre voyage.
"Agréez, Monsieur, l'assurance de ma considération distinguée.
"[Signed] EMILIO CASTELAR."[166]
"Madrid, le 23 Mai."
[Footnote 166:
"MINISTERIO DE ESTADO,
"GABINETE PARTICULAR.
"Mr Bradlaugh.
"SIR,--In reply to your letter of this morning, I would ask
you to kindly await me at your hotel to-day between two and three
o'clock. I shall then have the pleasure of seeing you, and I shall be
able to give you information relating to your journey.
"Accept, Sir, the assurance of my distinguished consideration.
"EMILIO CASTELAR.
"Madrid, May 23rd."]
On the following day (Saturday) a banquet was given by the Madrid
Republicans to Mr Bradlaugh at the Café Fornos, at which about eighty
persons, including many leading Spanish Republicans, were present.
There had been a loud demand for a banquet in the open air, and many
hundreds of applications were received for tickets. The time at Mr
Bradlaugh's disposal, however, was too short to allow of arrangements
being made for a banquet upon such an extensive scale, and it was
necessary to limit it to more modest proportions.
The invitation to this banquet was signed by the Alcade, Pedro Bernard
Orcasitas, on behalf of the City of Madrid; by Francisco Garcia
Lopez, the newly elected deputy for Madrid; by the famous Francisco
Rispa Perpina, the President of the Federal Centre; by Juan N. de
Altolaguirre, on behalf of the Republican Federal Centre; by Manuel
Folgueras on behalf of the Provincial Deputies; and by a General and a
Colonel commanding the Republican Volunteers.
At seven in the evening the Alcade came in person to Mr Bradlaugh's
hotel to escort him to the Café Fornos. At the dinner the chair was
taken by Senor Garcia Lopez, and the _New York World_ gave a full
report of the speeches delivered. Mr Bradlaugh spoke in English, but
his speech was translated by Senor Eduardo Benot, Secretary to the
Cortes, who in his official capacity had, with his colleague, Senor
Pedro Rodriguez, signed the orders, first for Isabella, and then for
Amadeus, to quit Spain. The banquet came to an end about half-past
eleven, and so great was the enthusiasm that all the guests escorted
the English Republican back to his hotel, where deputation after
deputation waited upon him until half-past two in the morning. In the
street without, a vast but orderly crowd waited patiently for a chance
to see or hear the hero of the hour, and during the whole time music
was played by the bands of the Engineers and the Artillery, specially
sent by the Minister of War. At length, after repeated entreaties, Mr
Bradlaugh said a few words in French from the balcony of the hotel to
the enormous throng below. Thanking the people of Madrid from his heart
for the great kindness shown him, he wished them peace, prosperity,
and order, winding up with the cry, "Vivad la Republica Espanola."
Then, as it was reported, "amidst loud and repeated 'Vivads,' the
crowd peacefully retired, the ladies quitted the balconies, and at
three o'clock Madrid went to bed just as the sun's first rays tried to
overclimb the line of night." Mr Bradlaugh himself went to his pillow
with the reflection that he had that night shaken hands "with at least
eight hundred people."
On Sunday he started on his return journey, but a letter from Senor
Castelar took him once more to his house before he left. Castelar
wrote:--
"MADRID, le 25 de Mai.
"MON CHER BRADLAUGH,--Je vous prie d'etre chez moi a deux
heures precis. Tout a vous,
E. CASTELAR."[167]
This note was written in Castlelar's own hand, and is--as I give
it--quite innocent of accents. The letter of the 23rd was written by
a secretary and signed by Senor Castelar. These little notes are only
important as witnesses to the friendly way in which Mr Bradlaugh was
treated whilst in Madrid, there having been many assertions to the
contrary, and Castelar himself having stated _since my father's death_
that he "sent a message by a trusty emissary, requesting him not on any
account to call on me at the Foreign Office, but to come and see me at
my house, alone, and at an early hour in the morning, rarely chosen
for visits in Madrid, where few people are early risers."[168] The
welcome given to Mr Bradlaugh in Madrid provoked a stupid exhibition
of rage and spite in certain quarters in England; and amongst the many
fictions circulated at the time it was said that Senor Castelar would
not see him at his official residence, and refused to receive the
Birmingham vote except at his private house. Mr Bradlaugh corrected
this preposterous falsehood at once.
[Footnote 167:
"MADRID, May 25th.
"MY DEAR BRADLAUGH,--I pray you to come to my house at two
o'clock precisely.--Yours,
E. CASTELAR."]
[Footnote 168: _Cardiff Weekly Mail_, February or March 1891.]
"The vote was addressed to the Minister for Foreign Affairs," he said,
"and I delivered it at the Ministry in the Palace, and received the
answer officially from the Ministry. It is perfectly true that Senor
Castelar invited me to his private residence, where I went, and passed
some hours with him on three separate occasions, and that he did me
the honour to visit me at my hotel; but these interviews, while I much
valued them and am extremely pleased they took place, were unsought by
me. The only visit I volunteered was the official one to the Ministry
of State, and there is no pretence for saying that there was any
reluctance to receive me."[169]
[Footnote 169: _National Reformer_, June 15, 1873.]
* * * * *
Mr Bradlaugh's return from Madrid occupied even longer time than the
getting there. Although he left Madrid on Sunday, it was not until late
on Friday night that he reached Paris, and in the meantime all sorts
of rumours as to his death or capture had appeared in the French and
English press. He delayed twenty-four hours in Paris in order that he
might see his elder daughter, who was there at school, and some French
friends, all of whom were in the greatest anxiety as to his fate. He
arrived in London on Sunday morning, and in the evening lectured at
the Hall of Science in reply to a speech delivered by the Bishop of
Lincoln at Gainsborough upon the Inspiration of the Bible. The audience
awaiting him had gathered together full of doubt and uneasiness, and
the relief they felt was expressed by the vehement cheering, again and
again renewed, which greeted his appearance as he entered the hall.
The story of his return journey we have in his own words.
"Favoured by Senor Castelar," he said, "with special aid in returning,
we--that is, myself and a Government courier, with despatches
for Paris and London--left Madrid for our homeward journey on the
afternoon of Sunday, May 25th. At the urgent request of many of those
who had taken part in the demonstration of Saturday, I at the last
moment determined not to return by the route I had come, and this
determination was confirmed by the certain news that all the passes,
either across the Pyrenees or by Salinas, were well occupied by the
Carlists, who did not intend to let me slip easily through their
fingers. I have no ambition to be a martyr, and determined not to be
caught if I could avoid it." His return route was now planned to go
_via_ Santander and Bordeaux. "At Palencia," he continued, "where
we arrived about three A.M., we received as escort some
three hundred men of, I think, the Thirty-sixth Regiment. They came
to parade after great delay, and in a manner showing great lack of
discipline. I noticed that Pina and Espinosa were strongly guarded,
and as soon as we passed between some of the hills near Alar del Rey,
a sharp fusilade, which was returned from the train, wakened me from
a half sleep, and gave me an occasion for smelling gunpowder, with
an almost freedom of danger. Our train only went at about ten miles
per hour, the engine-driver fearing to find the line torn up, or
obstructions upon it; but fortunately for us, the party of Carlists
by whom we were attacked were too late to hinder us, although I was
informed that they succeeded in stopping the next train. The firing,
sometimes sharp and sometimes interrupted entirely by the ravines,
lasted about three-quarters of an hour. The Carlists were seen running
down from the mountains to take part in the skirmish. The casualities
were small, one soldier on our side being wounded in the shoulder. Not
a single bullet entered the compartment in which I was seated.
"From Alar del Rey we passed through some beautiful country to
Santander, where we arrived about five hours late, and in time to find
that a steamer I had hoped to catch had left for Bayonne the night
before my arrival. I went at once in a rage to the Government Offices,
and was assured by the Captain-General of the port of Santander--who
was the perfection of civility, and who stated that he had received a
telegram from the Madrid Government to afford me every facility--that
it would be impossible to leave for Bayonne before Thursday. This
horrified me, for I was due to speak in Northampton on the 28th,
and I at once rushed to the Telegraph Office to send a message. The
clerk told me he would take my money, but he would not ensure the
delivery of my message. I was to return later to inquire. I left my
money and my despatch, and went to the hotel to dine, or breakfast,
or both in one. On returning to the Dispaccio Telegrafico, I learned
that the wires were cut in more than one place; that the post-bags to
the North were being seized by the Carlists; and that all means of
communicating with my friends in England were temporarily cut off. To
my disgust, I found that the boat for Bayonne, although advertised
for Thursday, might not start till Sunday, and here I was, a prisoner
at large in Santander, not even being able to return from thence to
Vittoria, or to communicate my whereabouts to any one.... On Monday
afternoon, while wandering about the streets, I came across a bill
outside a shipping office headed 'Para Burdeos,' and not quite sure
of my Spanish, or rather, being quite sure it would not do to trust
to it, I went inside to inquire for some one who could talk French.
The only person able to talk anything but Spanish was the principal,
who turned out to be the same gentleman employed by Mr Layard, the
English Ambassador at Madrid, to provide the steamer by which Marshal
Serrano made his escape from Spain. I could not help wondering,
when this shipowner, after closing, with an air of mystery, the
sliding window communicating with the clerk's office, showed me the
letters he had received from Mr Layard bespeaking the steamer, and
from Marshal Serrano, thanking him after his escape. What would the
English Government have said if the Spanish Ambassador in England had
furnished one of the Fenian leaders with the means of escape from
London to Southampton, and had there engaged him a steamer for Havre?
Yet this is precisely what A. H. Layard did for Marshal Serrano last
month in Spain. _Revenons à nos moutons_; I had rightly understood
there was a steamboat, and 'a fine swift one,' announced to start for
Bordeaux that evening. I wanted to embark at once, but found that some
delay had taken place in the embarkation of the cargo, and the boat
would not leave until two on Tuesday. But even this was comparative
bliss; the boat was warranted to make the passage in twenty-four
hours. I should be at Bordeaux at two on Wednesday; I should then be
able to leave by the express train for Paris, get there on Thursday
morning, perhaps catching the tidal train to London in time to
encounter Father Ignatius at the New Hall of Science on Thursday
evening. My spirits rose, and I went back to the Fonda de Europa to
sleep joyously till morning.
"Next morning I received news not so good. The captain of the vessel,
the _Pioneer_, Captain Laurent, was staying in the same Fonda as
myself; it was doubtful, he said, if he could weigh anchor before
four or five. This was driving it very close for saving the train
at Bordeaux; but worse news was to come: the boat did not start at
all until Wednesday, and instead of doing the journey in twenty-four
hours, it took nearer thirty-four hours, so that I ultimately arrived
in Bordeaux towards midnight on Thursday, and naturally not in Paris
until Friday night.... The good steamer _Pioneer_ abounded in strange
smells. The captain said it had never carried passengers before, and
for the sake of the travellers I hope that she may never carry them
again; but we (there were eight other passengers) made the best of our
position, and bivouacked somehow with tarpaulin and sailcloth spread
on the iron bottom of the hold; and except that in the Bay of Biscay
the _Pioneer_ sometimes suddenly put my head where my feet ought to
have been, and then reversed the process with alarming sharpness,
there was little to complain of."
Of course Mr Bradlaugh's journey was followed by the usual cry from
those whose mercenary minds cannot conceive of a man doing anything
he is not absolutely obliged except for the purpose of gaining some
money reward. Just as earlier it had been said that he was paid by
the Tories, or the Whigs, or the Communists, or some others equally
probable, now the story was that he was paid by--of all people in the
world--the Carlists![170]
[Footnote 170: "We are informed, on what should be the very, best
authority, nevertheless we must refrain from guaranteeing the
authenticity of the statement, that the expenses of the great
Republican deputation from England to Spain was (_sic_) entirely
defrayed by the Carlist Committee in London."--_Weekly Dispatch_, June
8th, 1873.]
What Mr Bradlaugh thought of Senor Castelar will be a point of
peculiar interest to those who have felt respect or admiration for
both men. In narrating his Spanish adventures, my father uttered
no set judgment on the Spanish statesman; he did not weigh him or
criticise him, but here and there he alluded to this or that quality.
"Of Senor Castelar himself," he said in one place, "it is difficult to
speak too highly.... As an orator, he has no equal in Spain; and as a
journalist, his pen has made itself a Transatlantic reputation." He
then went on to enumerate some of the good works which Senor Castelar
had inaugurated or in which he had taken part. Later on, speaking of
the possibility of the maintenance of the Republican Government in
Spain, Mr Bradlaugh said that there needed at the head of affairs "a
Cromwell with the purity of a Washington.... Senor Castelar feels too
deeply, and the pain and turmoil of Government will tell upon his
health if he re-assumes power. He is honest and earnest and devoted
to Republicanism, and withal so loving and lovable in his nature. I
was present at breakfast with Senor Castelar when he received the
telegraphic despatch announcing the fall of Monsieur Thiers, and the
election of Marshal MacMahon as President. The news seemed to affect
Senor Castelar very deeply. He evidently regarded it as paving the way
for the accession of the Monarchical party in France, and consequently
as giving encouragement to the Legitimist or Carlist party in Spain."
"Honest," "earnest," "loving and lovable,"[171]--all admirable
qualities, not enough to make a Cromwell or a Washington, but
nevertheless all very admirable. My father believed Senor Castelar
possessed these, and from him I learned to admire and reverence him.
Since my father's death I have had reason to doubt whether Castelar
really possessed any one of these fine traits of character. At the risk
of his life Mr Bradlaugh went to him to carry a message of sympathy
and congratulation at a critical moment in his career; Senor Castelar
received him with the utmost friendship and cordiality, and every
honour was shown him during his few days' stay in Madrid. Having thus
professed friendship to his face, Senor Castelar waited for eighteen
years, and then, a few weeks after my father's death, he wantonly
published[172] one of the most grotesque, one of the most foolishly
malicious attacks upon Mr Bradlaugh that it would be possible for a
sane man to pen.
[Footnote 171: In New York Mr Bradlaugh afterwards spoke of Castelar as
"one of the most holiest, thorough, and loyal Republicans in Europe.
Spain and the world should be proud of him."]
[Footnote 172: See _Cardiff Weekly Mail_ and other English papers of
this date.]