oke of submarine passages, mentioned a project of Don
Custodio's, called attention to the liberal education and wide travels
of the priest. Padre Salvi's swoon was the excessive sorrow that took
possession of the virtuous Franciscan to see the little fruit borne
among the Indians by his pious sermons, while the immobility and
fright of the other guests, among them the Countess, who "sustained"
Padre Salvi (she grabbed him), were the serenity and sang-froid of
heroes, inured to danger in the performance of their duties, beside
whom the Roman senators surprised by the Gallic invaders were nervous
schoolgirls frightened at painted cockroaches.

Afterwards, to form a contrast, the picture of the thief: fear,
madness, confusion, the fierce look, the distorted features,
and--force of moral superiority in the race--his religious awe to
see assembled there such august personages! Here came in opportunely
a long imprecation, a harangue, a diatribe against the perversion of
good customs, hence the necessity of a permanent military tribunal,
"a declaration of martial law within the limits already so declared,
special legislation, energetic and repressive, because it is in
every way needful, it is of imperative importance to impress upon the
malefactors and criminals that if the heart is generous and paternal
for those who are submissive and obedient to the law, the hand is
strong, firm, inexorable, hard, and severe for those who against all
reason fail to respect it and who insult the sacred institutions of the
fatherland. Yes, gentlemen, this is demanded not only for the welfare
of these islands, not only for the welfare of all mankind, but also
in the name of Spain, the honor of the Spanish name, the prestige of
the Iberian people, because before all things else Spaniards we are,
and the flag of Spain," etc.

He terminated the article with this farewell: "Go in peace, gallant
warrior, you who with expert hand have guided the destinies of
this country in such calamitous times! Go in peace to breathe the
balmy breezes of Manzanares! [73] We shall remain here like faithful
sentinels to venerate your memory, to admire your wise dispositions,
to avenge the infamous attempt upon your splendid gift, which we
will recover even if we have to dry up the seas! Such a precious
relic will be for this country an eternal monument to your splendor,
your presence of mind, your gallantry!"

In this rather confused way he concluded the article