"
Astonishing as it may seem, the Queen obeyed.
Canovas ruled with a rod of iron. It is stated that his murder was
committed in revenge for some terrible cruelties that were practised in
Barcelona by his orders. A little over a year ago a bomb was thrown into
one of the churches in Barcelona. Four hundred people were arrested, and
it was supposed that the bomb-throwing was the outcome of an Anarchist
plot.
Numbers of the persons arrested were evidently innocent, and the
Government could not find out who was responsible for the outrage.
Canovas refused to believe that any of the people arrested were
innocent, but insisted that they knew all about it if they could only be
made to speak, and so he ordered them tortured in the most inhuman ways
to make them confess.
The man who shot Canovas declared, when he was arrested, that his
brother had been tortured in Barcelona, and that he had killed the
Minister in revenge.
Great statesman and good friend to the crown as Canovas was, he was a
bad friend to the people. He believed in force. It was he who chose
General Weyler to go to Cuba, well knowing his ferocious character, and
that he would be sure to treat the insurgents with great severity.
Now that Canovas is dead the Cubans believe that the war will soon be
brought to a close.
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