A KING’S LIFE
Amazing few are the people outside his kingdom who do not know him who
appreciate the unusual personality of this precocious young king.
Indeed, he must be known to be appreciated.
A tall, athletic young man of narrow but muscular physique, with a
smooth, olive skin, dartling black-brown eyes and a kaleidoscopic
expression,--Don Alfonso is one to command attention, interest and
respect. He sits a horse superbly. He excels in everything he
undertakes. He is the surest shot in Spain; the most skilful as well as
the most reckless motorist, a capable yachtsman, an efficient,
dependable polo-player,--above all he has infinite pluck and daring. The
world is familiar with his courage not only at the time of the bomb on
his wedding day but on many other occasions when he has displayed iron
nerve and superb poise. The first time I had a formal audience with His
Majesty, I gathered my real impressions of the man. After this audience,
I saw him many times and under varied circumstances, but always the
impressions of the first day were deepened and confirmed. As I entered
his study in the palace of Madrid, he came with quick, nervous step
toward me and grasping me firmly by the hand, spoke words of greeting
in the Spanish language.
“Your Majesty has no objection to English?” I asked, as he still tightly
held my hand.
“Objection? Rather not, provided you can stand for my wretched English.”
This was the only note of affectation in King Alfonso’s entire
conversation. He speaks English fluently, correctly and idiomatically.
“Put aside your hat and gloves and sit down. Let us talk,” he continued.
I placed my hat aside as he bade me and started to seat myself opposite
the chair His Majesty had already taken.
“Not there, not so far away,” he exclaimed. “Come here,” and he patted
with the palm of his hand the sofa which was in juxtaposition to his
chair.
“Have a cigarette,” he added, as I moved close to him and he held out a
silver cigarette case with a small monogram in the upper left hand
corner.
“May I smoke?” I queried, I must confess, in some surprise.
“Naturally, why not? Here”--and before I had fairly taken the cigarette,
His Majesty, with characteristic quickness had struck a wax vesta and
was holding it toward my mouth that I might get my light.
My slow wits happily returned in time for me to catch the match from the
Royal fingers, to offer it first to him and then light my own. These
were the preliminaries. They were over in a minute. After we had
lighted our cigarettes, he leaned forward, his elbows resting on his
knees and the joints of his fingers closed against each other before
him. He spoke rapidly but thoughtfully, and in his voice was the ring of
a man of enthusiasms.
Beneath the smooth, olive skin and the flashing black eyes, one _felt_ a
strong, passionate nature. One got instantly behind the glamour of
royalty and saw only the man, the man of conviction and of courage,--the
man of Destiny.
No photograph has ever portrayed King Alfonso. He is unphotographable.
The man is not in his features but in his expressions, his manners, his
atmosphere of charming manliness; above all in the scintillating glints
of his flashing eyes.
“You have come at a very interesting moment in our history,” he said,
“because it is a moment of change for Spain. We are just recovering from
our long era of costly wars, ending with the disastrous war with
America, and our recent colonial wars.” He paused and smiled genially as
he added, “In the war with America, we were badly beaten, but that is a
matter which has now passed into history and that page of our history we
have turned over. I think I can speak for everyone in Spain when I say
that not the slightest feeling of rancour remains with us; and I have
ample evidence that the American people have none but the best of wishes
for Spain.” I replied that many Americans were ready to congratulate
Spain in being well rid of Cuba and the Philippines, those frightfully
expensive drains on the resources of Spain--which are proving a by no
means light drain upon the resources of America.
His Majesty’s eyes twinkled merrily as he looked directly into my face.
After a brief pause, he went on: “However that may be, a new era for
Spain began with the close of the war. The recent war in Africa cost us
heavily--fifty-three million pesetas ($10,600,000).”
“Surely that is not much as the cost of wars go nowadays,” I
interrupted.
“No, quite true--for a modern war, it was not so expensive,” he
returned, “especially in view of the results we have obtained.”
Then he sketched the present lines of Spanish influence in Morocco and
outlined the policy of Spain for the development of this influence and
the increase of trade. Incidentally, he paid a high tribute to the
courage and marksmanship of the Moors. “They don’t fire till they see
the whites of the eyes of the approaching troops and they pick the
officers first of all with amazing accuracy.”
“That war being now over,” he went on, “we have entered a period of
peace and it is my aim to further the development of Spain in every way
possible. It would be interesting to realise all that we have already
begun, what we are about to do and what we hope to do in the next years
before us.”
I lighted another cigarette and the King, without shifting his position,
began afresh.
“First of all, we are giving our attention to each branch of the State
separately. I have my ambitions for the army, the reëstablishment of the
navy, the general education of the people and how we hope to deal with
other internal problems, the Republicans, the Socialists, the Anarchists
and others.”
During the last decade I have listened to statesmen and leaders of men
in almost every country of Europe and in America, but I have never met
any man who could say as much in an hour as did King Alfonso; I have
never met a politician or statesman who was so intimately familiar with
small details, and I have never met anyone who could talk so succinctly
to the point. He elucidated each question with graphic clearness. Each
subject that he took up in turn, he summarised. As a feat of
intellectual conversation, it was without parallel so far as my
experience extends. He expressed himself very rapidly, in clear,
incisive language, showing toward each topic an enthusiasm and personal
interest almost incredible. At the same time, he watched my expression
carefully and at the least shadow of question which I betrayed, he
delved deeper into details in order to make everything perfectly clear.
I touched upon the question of the Church in Spain and found His
Majesty’s views as liberal and as clear as they were upon the secular
subjects. He went on, however, to explain that any hasty reform was
impractical, although it was the project of his government to undertake
all of them as circumstances would permit. If he were to introduce
liberal and progressive measures at once, the opposition would throw the
whole country into a turmoil.
Politically, the attitude of the King is for all that makes for the
common weal of Spain in the platforms of all parties and movements--even
those that are opposed to his monarchy.
The amazing development of Spain during the last decade is directly due
to the extraordinary dynamic spirit which has been exhibited by this
remarkable young King. No department of national life has been neglected
by him.
The Iberian peninsula has long been regarded as a doubtful, not to say
dangerous proposition from a financial standpoint. Spain and Portugal
have been judged more or less alike. No greater mistake could ever have
been made. Portugal has long been in the hands of aristocratic
buccaneers, pirates in broadcloth, but none the less rascals of a most
desperate character. The Portugal Ship of State was looted and scuttled
by the very class who constituted her monarchy. Nowhere could one find a
dominant personality.
Spain on the other hand is well equipped with statesmen, with diplomats,
with politicians of large calibre and more so now than in any decade of
recent centuries and all because of the personal attention given to the
affairs of state by King Alfonso. Don Alfonso is the hero and the idol
of the whole Spanish army. From earliest boyhood, he devoted a large
part of his time to building and strengthening the army and increasing
its _esprit de corps_. Two forenoons of every week, he devotes to
military audiences. He never tires of reviewing troops, often leaving
the palace at six o’clock in the morning to visit some outlying
garrison. When he is caught overnight in some remote town, he is sure to
be up early the next morning to inspect any body of troops which may be
quartered in the neighbourhood. I recall once seeing the King overtake a
body of infantry in the street called Arenal, in Madrid. As soon as the
royal automobile came up even with the rear rank, the order was given to
the troops to have them swing round so as to face the sovereign in
salute as he went past. The King at once rose to his feet in the car, at
the same time uncovering, and as the car swept by the regiment, his
piercing, intelligent eyes seemed to dart an individual glance to each
soldier along the entire line. Not once did his eyes wander from the
troops, although a hurrahing crowd blocked the pavement on the other
side of the street. Ask any soldiers of the Mellila campaign who wore
the cool sun helmets that the King presented from his private purse,
speak the name of the King to any officer of the Spanish army and see
him square his shoulders.
King Alfonso does not trust entirely to military supremacy, however, for
he believes in the peaceful
[Illustration: KING ALFONSO AND HIS HEIR.]
progression of his country and appreciates to the full the necessity of
economic development. At the time of the Spanish-American war when Cuba
and the Philippines were lost to Spain, it seemed as if her greatest
markets had been taken from her, but during recent years, since Don
Alfonso has extensively taken up the reins of sovereignty, he has
stimulated commerce and trade in other parts of the world. Spain has
seaports which give her splendid natural commercial advantages. A few
years since, Spain went quietly but earnestly to work to build up an
exchange trade with the new countries of the world which seemed to offer
the greatest opportunity for large commercial expansion,--trade with the
Argentine Republic, Paraguay, Brazil, Chili, Peru and Mexico. During the
last few years, under the wise counsel of the King, these states have
been courted diplomatically and socially to the incalculable stimulus of
trade; and with what result? In ten years, Spanish bonds have doubled in
value. Spain now sends $12,000,000 worth of textiles, minerals and wines
to the Argentine while only six years ago, 1905, the amount was only
$6,000,000. In Uruguay, almost a proportionate increase has been
witnessed since 1905 when $9,000,000 worth of exports went from Spain
and it is probable that within the near future, Spain will be sending
$20,000,000 worth of stuffs to Uruguay alone.
Spain’s trade with Mexico has been particularly happy because the credit
system is practically non-existent. Of $7,000,000 worth of goods
shipped to Mexico in one recent year, 90 per cent. was paid for in cash.
To the United States, Spain sends annually approximately $8,000,000
worth of minerals, cork, olives, Malaga grapes, etc., and in return
purchases from us nearly $30,000,000 worth of goods. Raw cotton is the
chief import from the United States, but modern machinery forms a big
item. Spain, however, buys most of her goods from Great Britain and the
amount shipped annually to the Iberian Kingdom averages $80,000,000.
This is the result of long years of trade study, nursed and built up and
consequently it is less significant than the trade with South America
which has received such extraordinary stimulus, not in ten but in five
years, or in other words, since King Alfonso has been personally
concerned with this phase of the development of his kingdom. Spain is a
country in which the people went in a single bound from petroleum to
electricity and this is indicative of her entire development. She is
rapidly skipping through the gas stage of progress through which the
rest of the world has so long toiled.
The keynote of King Alfonso’s character is in his courageous
determination. Once convinced of what is right, I believe he would be as
steadfast as the rugged crags of the Pyrenees, that he could be swayed
by neither favourites nor ministers, threats nor prayers.
The sense of duty has been highly developed in him, thanks to the
careful training he received at the hands of Queen Maria Cristina, and
his sense of moral obligation is absolute.
The general idea of the King is to encourage the industrial and economic
development of the country, at the same time he is upholding the state,
and to strengthen at every point the bulwarks of the state until its
whole fibre is of the strongest character. Commercial development
without a thoroughly grounded state, he believes to be worthless.
Don Alfonso XIII believes in Spain. He glories in her proud past and he
has the conviction that greater glories and prosperity are still
awaiting her. It is toward her greater future that he is ever looking,
and with that greater future in view, so he is building. He wants the
world to know Spain. He wants tourists from every country to come and
see her natural beauties, her resources and her possibilities. To
stimulate interest abroad he is now giving special attention to the
seemingly trivial, but after all most important matter, namely, better
roads throughout the Kingdom and improved hotels. Till now, many of the
roads of Spain are utterly wretched. When Spain can vie with France in
her road beds, the Sovereign believes that many more tourists will come,
especially in view of the increasing use of automobiles. And having come
to the country he wants people made comfortable.
There are, at this time, but few first-class hotels in Spain. There is
one at Granada, built by the Duke of San Pedro, and others at Algiciras
and Ronda. The hotels of Madrid are all rather bad and excessively
expensive. The prices are paramount to the best hotels of London and
Paris and the rooms are small, poorly equipped and in general comfort
are decidedly lacking. The King manifested his interest to the extent of
asking me many minute details about the hotel where I was lodged, the
size of my room, number of windows, was there running water (which there
was not), the kind of bed, etc., etc. He knew quite well, however, the
actual conditions before he asked the questions. A new Ritz-Carlton was
therefore built in Madrid through the personal interest and influence of
the King, and it is the aim of His Majesty to make this the first of a
chain of good hotels all over Spain. This practical interest in details
of this character indicates that he is no mere dreamer of empires, no
idealist who lives in the future because he is looking forward. Like all
strong men of history, King Alfonso is a practical idealist who gives
heed to each step of the road he is travelling, conscious that on the
work of to-day the work of to-morrow must stand.
History will ultimately place him, but at twenty-four he has already
taken his place among the signal figures of his time and his promise for
the future is immeasurable.
An estimate of King Alfonso’s statecraft at so early a period is not
possible. But there is great promise in the young sovereign. Don Alfonso
does everything that he undertakes. It is a bred-in-the-bone
characteristic with him to excel in all things.
King Alfonso, like King George in England, is one of the best shots in
his kingdom. This, at least, is a matter of merit, and cannot be said as
a courtesy to the King. This year, King Alfonso came out second best at
the annual pigeon shoot, having taken nineteen birds out of twenty-one.
The high record was twenty-one out of twenty-three. Previous years, the
King has captured the first prize.
The English Princess who became a Spanish Queen, therefore, came to a
land of extraordinary activity. Spain’s development is proceeding with
greater rapidity than in any other country in Europe during the present
decade. King Alfonso is the most wideawake, alert, progressive man in
Spain and he is controlled by a tremendous ambition to bring Spain into
line with the most modern of nations. He is kept well informed as to
what all parties in his kingdom are doing--what they want and why they
want it. He is as quick to accept a plank from the platform of the
Republicans or Socialists as from the Liberals or Monarchists. By
nature, Don Alfonso is a radical. It is by virtue of his personality and
what he has accomplished for Spain that he is the most popular man in
his Kingdom. Republicans to whom I have put the question: “If a Republic
were declared in Spain, who would be the first national leader--the
first president?” The answer has been “probably Don Alfonso. He is the
most popular man in the country.”