DON CARLOS AND SPAIN.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 11341, 6 October 1898, Page 1

DON CARLOS AND SPAIN.

WHAT HE WILL DO \VHKN T KINO. Don Carlos, the Spanish Pretender, has given au interview to a representative !of El Tinparcial, the leading Madrid newspapei. The main declarations made by Don j Carlos were the following :—: — • '' I will not conceal from you that when in the middle of April last I left , my resilience at Venice I was resolved to protest by means of force and arms — that is, by ordering my partisans to rise against the people who were prostituting our country by a series of unimaginable huniilations. But. when I arrived at the North Sea ('o Brussels I came later) I learneJ that war against the United States was imminent, and that it might bo declared at any moment. I then changed my resolution, and I firmly decided to obserre the most absolute impassivity. From this I have not swerved since the war began. Ido not want to create the least difficulty for my country, now that it is most important that all her children should sacrifice themselves for her. My enforced inaction puts me to despair, but I carry it to tbe extreme of depriving myse.lf evt n of expressing my opinion ou current events, T c governing statesmen of Spniu, who have committed the crimp <•>' i yi preparing the nation for a war ih»*fcjj.?ery;:,. one of us saw ta--be unavoidable lor' the last two years, will never be able to accuse me of having withdrawn a single hpauish will from the national forces in the fight with ihe United States, Ihey brought on the war by yielding continually to the American demands,' and they will have to take the responsibilities of their mistakes. This attitude of mine will last as long as the present condition of affairs endures. But when the Liour for the great settlement arrives I will make up for my present silence. I will then take my revenge, not' by means of words alone, but by means of acts, and I will do that as soon as my conscience as a Spaniard permits me to do it. I am firmly resolved to fulfil ray duty to the end, and to omit no sacrifice in order to redeem and to avenge Spain." On being questioned a? regards his programme in case of his mounting the Spanish throne, more especially with regard to the economical situation, the military problem, and the question of international policy and alliances, Don Carlos said ;—; — " I cannot answer now all your questions, though they are very interesting to me, dealing as they do with problems of capiial importance, to which I give the most minute attention. Some of them, such as the changes in fiscal policy, the encouragement of industries, mining, agriculture, and the merchant navy, the granting ofautonoay to the municipalities, and to tbe provinces, and also the necessity of voting large Bums of money for the Increase of the nayy — for Spain is bound to be a naval Power — are problems that I di-cussed at great length in Venice a year a*o with the Marquis de Cerraloo, my delegate in Madrid. Some influential members of the Carlist minority in the Cortes were present at several of these conferences. Thegenetal lines of my programme were then laid down. This has been subsequently completed in detail. You will gee when the time corned that I ana not unprepared for the task I shall haVe to fulfil, and that I know in d-tail the necessities of Spain, and am resolved with all my energies to supply them. .Regarding the military problem and the question of Spain's foreign pdlicy, they are my favourite subjects of meditation, and I have certain mature ideas of my own regarding them. I have even carried some pie.iminaries respecting alliances, which I hope will some day yield excellent fruhs. This, in my jadgment, is a capital point, because the proud isolation of Great Britain (which- practically cannot be called isolation) has 'veu and is deadly to Spain now. I must pass the Bame judgment on the policy of going about bpgging for protection and intervention. The result of sucli a policy can only be to reduce the condition of Greece or of Servia the Spanish natiou, which was once mistress of the world. ' It is a well-known fact that Don Carlos has now his eldest son and heir, Don Jaime, serving as an honorary officer in the Russian army — a fact which might, perhaps, be of usa to indicate on which side are his inclinations in the question of alliances.