6 NOVEMBER 1909, Page 17

To listen to some Frenchmen, continued the King, one would

Imagine that Spain was a nation of savages :— "I am a Constitutional Sovereign, so Constitutional, indeed, that I have no prerogative of mercy on my own initiative. Do 'not interpret this as a regret; it is merely a statement of fact. We have military tribunals whose honour cannot be doubted. We have a legal procedure good or bad ; a Press useful or harmful. Those are facts. Let us confine ourselves to facts, and let foreigners spare nations which they know only imperfectly their criticisms and their advice. Have you not at home a case of your own ?"—" The Dreyfus case ? " put in M. de Maiziere.—" Yes, that is it," the King continued. "Well, did we meddle in that ? "