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Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 32, 13 October 1911, Page 4

hww „ -rung .. ««■__=____: — ■ ***** .In S^lemoriam —Francisco Ferrer.

V t . . ——-—♦— —— On October T3, 1909 —two years ago —a great soul was' murdered. His name was Francisco Ferrer. He died a hero in the real sense —died for the people and a cause. Innocent, good, and true —yet executed, strangely enough, in the name of Justice and of God. To the poet is it given to know why such things can be.. He knows, and he said :— ''Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne, Yet that scaffold SA\-ays the future"— How true of Ferrer's end! Literally •the fact that Wrong sat on the Spanish . throne; literally the fact that Truth-in-Ferrer stood on the scaffold, a hunted and branded criminal, facing a row of rifles which- shot, to kill, as the martyr's last message to mankind rang out in trumpet defiance to the boundaries of immortality. , Nevertheless, vengeance is Right's; the executed becomes the executioner. That Church whose victim Ferrer was has never been so heavily hit as since it got rid of a foe and made him a force. In the year 1909 Spain was at Avar Avith the Moor. It-was a mere filibustering expedition. . As it proceeded the people began to .say it -was unjust, and '.'Against the war" became a powerful slogan. ..Astounding VV phenomenon t — war against war! - The people revolted against their, rulers. It Avas a revolt of Liberals* Republicans, Anarchists, Socialists—a spontaneous movement of the whole people. -;,. / ■■'* ' .--... • ' *./■;-. .* .ißehold. now, Avon droits growth of rebellion/ Inertia is succeeded by action, 'Direct.Action. The indignation of tne people is deep and "violent at seeing y Spanish* blood poured put yand Spanish honour prostituted at.the beck and call of a 'few 1 -, miserable money-changers. A policy- of Home Rule .gains the ascendant. ' Spajneagerly listens to the, rally': "Spain's ;,Future; is in Spain." Outcry and Upheaval everywhere, most formidable in courageous Catalan, where the industrial Avorkers are. In the midst of this stir, the nation is shaken as if by an earthquake—from North'to South, from East to West. Shaken because the reservists are called out —blunder stupendous! Barcelona the brave leads the in revolution. A general strike is proclaimed.

Of what folloAved the reader knoAvs. Of street fighting and barricades; of comrade soldiers refusing to fire on comrade citizens (all hail, Hervc!); of the burning of convents; of GoA r ernment by aid of artillery and mounted troops gaining the upper hand; of "children murdered and homes razed; of people being shot and wounded, killed and tortured, jailed and—DEFEATED. Be still, breaking heart It AA-as ciAdl Avar—uprising of men and avomen, Avives and daughters, husbands and sons. These made war against war at the peril of their lives. -..This Avar against Avar (divine, sublime DaAvn) Avas anti-capitalist, anti- militarist, anti-clerical. In it Ferrer Avas alleged te haA-e participated. As a matter of fact, he did not. I am sorry he did not.

It is true —and. has been demonstrated —that Ferrer's presence in Barcelona simultaneously-with the general strike, riots, and risings was quite accidental —a fateful coincidence, but still coincidence. It had a special interest to mc to learn that just at the time "he had much work at his publishing, office, especially in connection with a forthcoming history of the French Revolution by Prince Kropotkin." That upon the rising rumblings of frenzied Priestcraft, and the cunniugest whisperings of his name as promoter of the riots, Ferrer should decide to "lay Ioav" for a Avhile Avas quite natural.

Let it not be forgotten that in 1906, because an anarchist Avho had once been employed by Ferrer had thrown a bomb at King and Queen, Ferrer had been jailed, Ins schools closed, and himself detained in' custody for thirteen months, to give time for the "discovery" of evidence against him. The clergy had made frantic efforts to secure' his condemnation. All Europe had become interested in the struggle —and for the first time many of us heard the honoured name of Francisco Ferrer. HoAvovcr, the stupendous and scoundrelly attempts made to secure a convictioifhad failed—in spite of forged letters, selected judges and Machiavellian incitement of populace. Ferrer had boon released. But no wonder that in 1909 —having experienced the, infamy aud cruelty of the clerical forces against him —he hid himself. After fn-e-Avceks-he could endure it no longer, and resisting the entreaties of friends he Avent forth to give himself up, and Avas arrested.

After enduring indignity upon indignity, the preliminary "trial" is oA r er. Ferrer, alone and unaided —a .month after his arrest—has to meet his accusers, Avho are also his judges. Though the 3000 people arrested for participation in the revolt are catechised, the prosecution ca.it gain nothing against Ferrer. Ferrer's protestation that he has evidence to lay before the .magistrate, including proof of police offering monoyto his servants to testify against him, is set aside.

"Military law is not civil ltiw," says 'the magistrate. The •manufactured' evidence is mountainous.. Tho ghastly court-martial looms like a hissing volcano. Ferrer is given,-a.list of oifioere -■• who iuay plead,before tho Cqurt. Hβ "chooses" by-accident a man. Eight days boforo tho trial they meet. Ferrer is thwarted "at every turn in liis endeavour to place material in the hands of'his counsel..: He sends to friends' in Paris and England. Some letters never reach his friends —they are stolen. Important letters and documents sent from England are suppressed; money i from Paris is purloined. Twenty-four hours only before the "trial" is the indictment of the prosecution put in the, hands of Ferrer's eo'imsel, Captain,. Clalce.ra.nv It. is 609- - folios in length. The counsel for the prosecution is named Jesus Mari Rafales. Jesus!—ironv iridescent. # . - ■ * . ■....#....._

And the end oi a memorable —in*deed, an historical —"trial" is sensational. Galoeran's audacity and horbesty lead to his arrest. His .subsequent fate "is wrapped up in impenetrable mystery.'' Spain, thou offal! Ferrer makes a quite protestation of innocence, and is rebuked by the President, llis'doom'is sealed. He is "plainly conscious of tho - overwhelming forces of iniquity concentrated in that room.'' Nevertheless, he adds that since the beginning of the century he has been entirely engaged in his school, and that his only aim has been to raise the level of Spanish mentality. At 6 o'clock in the evening the Court passes sentence, but it is not mado public. Ferrer remains in prison until October 11/ when at night he is* transferred by an escort of a hundred mounted soldiers to the cruel fortress of Cyclopean ' Montjuich. On October 12, Ferrer, Ba>celona, and the world hears of the death sentence.

One need not dwell on the happen-. iugs of Ferrer's last twenty-four hours. He is serene throughout. Ho writes a wonderful will. Indue time he is shot. ." M. Nacquet haS" well said: "To die like Ferrer, sacrificed to the most exalted sentiments of humanity, is to escape death in order to enter immortality."

To further the progressive evolution, of the child and to inculcate"'justice Avas the aim of Ferrer. He sought in his system of child culture to exclude sectarianism, racial hatred, re\ r enge, class feeling, and the Avar spirit. He ostracised dogma/would have no imprisonment of \the mind, and wished the brain to : guide the will. He was indeed the pioneer of Free Education in Spain, just as lie bent all his genius in behalf of Free Thought and Free Speech. He knew that the most brilliant, pages of every country's history have been written where speech is free. It may be said that lib. teaching was Mercdithian. . "Lord Ormont and His Aminta" might almost bo regarded as one of his text books —so marked is the parallel betAveen the educational ideas of this book aud the senor. In one of the documents concerning the Modern/ School this appeared: "We only put forth the solutions that are proved by facts, the theories ratified by reason and the truths confirmed by solid proofs. We labor that the truths of science, put into practice, may procure the happiness of humanity." Ferrer Avas a scientist, and therefore set himself against myth, and miracle. He saw that it had always been dangerous to growth and hurtful to humanity when a church held power presuming to speak with the lips of God. He held with Swinburne that A creed is a" rod, And a crown is of nighty But this thing is God: To be man in thy might, To groAv straight in the strength of thy Spirit, and liA r e out thy'life in the light. -z * ■ * It seems doubtful a.s to whether Ferrer was either an Anarchist or a Socialist : it is certain he AA'as a Rationalist. For this he went to his bloody grave. Church and State conspired to this end. Rationalism, simply stated, merely means that a man shall riot accept Avhat he has no scientific ground for professing to -know and believe. ■a * . - * I hope I shall not be branded irreverent if I say that Ferrer's cud was like that of Christ. Montjuich was his Calvary: a Avorld's protest and proclamation his resurrection, lie became, by virtue, of this new thing in history called International Unity, the embodiment of the people's great Avhite hope for emancipation. He became Figure symbolising Intel-nationality's coining-of-age. In the day of Regenerated Man his destroyers Avill be remembered only by their iniquities. He looms so big that he stands high thorp Avliere his enemies durst not soar. He trod the patlnvay of the martyr—died for the cause he loved dearer than life. In Ferrer a great and gifted man passed aAvay, a true patriot Avas sacrificed, .another Avas added to hi.s.ory's scroll of emancipators. M-ore effective, efficient and poAverful in death than in life is Ferrer made by the madness of his persecutors. Murdered! —and thus and yet every century will add to his lustre. As Aye grieve Aye can also be exultant. As -was said by Pericles of one avlio fell in defence of his country Aye may also say of Francisco Ferrer: "His glory shall never die; the whole wide Avorl'd is his sepulchre, his epitaph is Avritten in the hearts of mankind, aud wherever there is speech of noble deeds his name Avill be held in remembrance." THE EYE.