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Untitled Article
described , each order monopolizing" a vast proportion of the land , the difficulties of any government must be great enough . The vices of the one existing- at the period are very forcibly described . The ministry , who had acquired the name of the " six kings of Spain , " possessed irresponsible power ; "the royal mantle , like that of charity , covering therr multitude of sins ; " their first idea
when in power being to provide as well as possible for themselves and their families ( not a very novel idea ) ; their next , to reject all the plans , however good , of their predecessors , because , as they did not originate these plans , they would get no credit for them with the public . The shoals of placemen and pensioners prove their success in the first attempt , and the numbers of grand undertakings begun and left unfinished , throughout the country , show the truth of the second assertion respecting them . In short , our author hits , and would he could disable , several birds with
one stone . " Place-hunting is carried on in this (?) country with an energy and perseverance nowhere else to be met with : if one man is turned out , another is ready immediately to step into his shoes , and they or he are so accommodating that the shoes always fit the man as if his measure had been taken for them . Afterwards he tries if he cannot shift them for a
better pair , but in the sequel he also is tripped up hy the heels : no fear of an interregnum or vacancy ; it is like the succession of the kings of France—le rot est mort ! vive le roi ! You are out , I am in ;—it is just as it should be . Long live JPepn J let flies come now ! Burst if you will ; you ' ve had your turn , now it ' s mine ; St Martin ' s day comes round to every one ; my good friend , what ' s to be done ? Patience , and put up with it . "—Vol . ii , p . 36 .
This kind of language , says the author , is very explanatory of " a Spanish view of men and things . " The minister ' s levee , crowded with expectant petitioners , is extremely well drawn ; the conversation and anecdote introduced is excellent , and the 8 ame may be said of the " exeunt omnes . " u The crowd gradually diminishes ; a few old hands , always endeavouring" to remain the last , with a generous self-denial , engaging those behind to take precedence . Convinced by long experience that his excellency does not retain a syllable of all that is said to him by the multitude , they imagine that the last speakers have a better chance of his recollecting them . It is amusing to observe the various ingenious devices put in practice to secure this supposed advantage , —some pretending to have forgotten or mislaid some important paper , for which they fumble every -pocket ; while others affect an absent fit , and keep looking fixedly out of the window untH their turn passes . Rivals for the same , or similar objiacts , insist on every body going in the same order they held in the file : perhaps the only instance where the first desire to be last , and the last are anxious to keep tlreir station . The minister receives their memorials , puts them into nis hat , or on the table against which he leans , and assures the claimants that they shall be looked to in due time and course . He
Untitled Article
£ 86 * Madrid in 1835 .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1836, page 536, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2661/page/12/
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