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Two Views of Canalejas

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 12, 1912

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 89, No. 50.

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Two Views of Canalejas

The assassination of Premier Canalejas of Spain has afforded Roman Catholic papers the opportunity, which they have improved, of saying unkind things about the man who sought to introduce a larger measure of religious liberty into Spain. The Jesuit weekly, America (Nov. 23, 1912), has this fling at him:—
“As a matter of fact, Canalejas was not a statesman at all, but a shifty and unscrupulous politician, who had resolved to hold his place at any cost.”
In marked contrast with this clerical narrowness is the estimate of the premier made by the New York Times of November 13, from which we take this extract:—
“Spain has produced no abler, stronger, nor purer statesman in this generation. Though his radicalism may have been somewhat modified, inevitably, since he assumed the responsibilities of premier in 1910, his constructive ability had not lessened. He was first conspicuous in public life in 1900, when he assumed the leadership of the Anti-Clerical Party in the Cortes, and favored the measures which led in time to the suppression of objectionable religious orders and a prospective revision of the concordat. After much remonstrance, the Vatican practically accepted the measures projected by Canalejas, but not until ten years had elapsed and the relations of Spain with the church had been severely strained. This restriction of so-called clericalism was by no means a blow at religion. Spain has suffered more than any other country in modern Europe from the baser sort of priestcraft, and it was overrun with orders the members of which lived on alms, and in return fed the natural superstition of the people. To priestcraft of this sort socialism and anarchy are the inevitable alternatives. Church and state are not yet separated in Spain, the country still being Catholic; but religion is free, Protestants enjoying larger privileges than formerly.”
No man who works for the best interest of his country, when that work requires him to oppose the Roman Catholic Church, can expect to be called a statesman by a Catholic writer. Only one course is open to the man who desires to be lauded by the representatives of the Papacy.