Quoted

MM. Jerome and Jean Tharaut, brothers and writers, were granted an audience by King Alfonso of Spain. Said the King to them:

"Have you in your travels in Spain noticed that we are living in a state of siege under military oppression? The foreign papers I see declare our Directory shoots and imprisons people and spreads a reign of terror everywhere. Have you received such an impression?

"Nothing has changed in our custom ary life, and for my part I know no country where the police are less interfering than here. You can stand in the middle of the road to talk with friends without a policeman telling you to move on. You can drink whatever you like in the cafes after midnight, which I defy you to do in New York or London --those countries of liberty. In Madrid, you can sing your head off until 5 in the morning if that amuses you.

"There is only one thing changed since the Directory -- you can walk about with money in your pocket without fear of being attacked. There are no more strikes; our factories are at work and our employers no longer see their workmen arrive mornings revolver in hand to assassinate them or to impose their own will. You must admit that is something."

Then, waxing ironical, His Majesty continued:

"Oh, yes, it has to be paid far. General Primo Rivera [head of the Military Directory] has put us outside the Constitution, and that is evidently grave."

He thought that Italy had set a good example in combatting Bolshevism, an example which Spain, he concluded, had followed.

"Who knows if other nations will not be obliged to abandon legality for a time! I see the outline of the sword forming almost everywhere."