ld guess, of sixty, he is extremely neat and dapper in person,
while his very handsome face has a birdlike keenness and alertness of
expression betokening not only great intelligence but high-strung
vitality. He is a copious, eloquent, and witty talker, and his
remarkable charm of manner accounts, in part at any rate, for his
immense popularity. Assuredly no monarchy could have more distinguished
representatives than this Republic.

The desire of the Republic to "play fair" was manifested in another
little trait that interested me a good deal. In the window of every
book-shop in Spain a translation from the Portuguese, entitled _Los
Escandalos de la Corte de Portugal_, is prominently displayed. It is a
ferocious lampoon upon the royal family and upon Franco; but in Lisbon
I looked for it in vain. On inquiry I learned that it had been
prohibited under the Monarchy, as it could not fail to be; but, had
there been any demand for it, no doubt it might have been reprinted
since the revolution. There was apparently no demand. The people to
whom I spoke of it evidently regarded it as "hitting below the belt."
"We do not fight with such weapons," said a leading journalist. In no
one, in fact, did I discover the slightest desire or willingness to
retail personal gossip with respect to the hated Braganzas.

THE CRUSHING OF FINLAND

A.D. 1910

JOHN JACKOL BARON VON PLEHVE
BARON SERGIUS WITTE J.N. REUTER

In the midst of progress comes reaction. The far northern European
country of Finland had for a century been progressing in advance of its
neighbors. It was a true democracy. It had even established, first of
European lands, the full suffrage for women; and numerous women sat in
its parliament. But Finland was tributary to Russia; and Russia, as far
back as 1898, began a deliberate policy of crushing Finland,
"nationalizing" it, was the Russian phrase, by which was meant
compelling it to abandon its independence, adopt the Russian language,
and become an integral part of the empire under Russian officials and
Russian autocracy.

Under pressure of this repressive policy, the Finns began leaving their
country as early as 1903, emigrating to America in despair of
successful resistance to Russia's tyranny. Many of them were exiled or
imprisoned by the Czar's Government. Then came the days of the Russian
Revolution; and the Czar and his advisers hurried to grant Finland
everything she had desired, under fear t