A SPANISH SMUGGLER.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5384, 29 June 1878, Page 1 (Supplement)

A SPANISH SMUGGLER.

(From the New York Times,)

Here is another of those occasions which cause the conscientious journalist to wish that he had never been born. The cold world little thinks of the terrible cost at which it is sometimes furnished with the news of the day. There are events of which the public must be apprised, but which cannot be told without lacerating the feelings of the earnest and sensitive narrator. An event of this nature has just happened in Madrid. It would be cowardly and dishonest to supress it. Moreover, the story comes directly from the State Department at Washington, and it is by no means certain that its suppression would not be an act of rebellion. Let us, then, go forward boldly and discharge a painful duty without murmuring.

Tho. Spaniard is not usually thought to possess inventive genius. Among all the im-t portaut inventions which have been made since the union of Castile and Arragou, tho art of “ walking Spanish” is the only one which hay been attributed to the Spanish intellect. But there has at last appeared a Spaniard who is clearly entitled to be ranked as one of. the ablest of living inventors, and it is tho history’ of his invention which must now be laid before the public. The city of Madrid is, as every one knows, a walled city. It is not, however, generally known that nearly all merchandise which is brought into the city has to pay a special duty, no matter if it is an imported article which has been already taxed at a Spanish Custom House, This is the case with petroleum. It is heavily taxed when it enters Spanish territory, and is again taxed still more heavily when it enters Madrid. Hence o, great temptation to smuggle is offered to those who supply petroleum to the inhabitants of Madrid ; and were the Spaniards an ingenious people, they would devote eo much attention to smuggling that they would have no time left to celebrate their annual revolutions.

lii the outskirts of Madrid Don Jose de Autiquedad y Vuelta-Abajo possesses a charming villa, with extensive grounds and numerous outbuildings. He has long been known as an extremely benevolent man, always ready to approve of any act, of charity, and eager to point out fields of philanthropic usefulness to other people. About six months ago he. announced that the condition of the, babies of Madrid filled him with grief, and that he was determined to alleviate their sufferings. In the course of an elaborate essay, .which he published in pamphlet form, he demonstrated that infants could not be reared without artificial aid in a crowded city. He claimed that, no matter how excellent might be the intentions of the mothers of Madrid, they could not furnish their .infants with desirable board, because their systems were affected in a deleterious manner by the nnwholesome atmosphere of the city. As for the auxiliary bottle, he, condemned, it with much, fierceness. “ Haver ..with ray consent,” said: this excellent'man, “shall the youth of Madrid undergo the humiliation of the unsympathetic and unsatisfactory bottle.” The true, solution of the problem bow to feed the babies of Madrid was, however, a simple one in his estimation. He announced that be would keep constantly on hand.a large supply of unexceptionable nurses on bis suburban estate, There is some difficulty in translating his exact descriptive phrase into English, but perhaps it will suffice to say that his nurses were warranted to bo able to supply the wants of the Madrid infants without the aid of bottles. In short, they were to be self-acting, perennial, and inexhaustible, and with their assistance Don Jose de Antiquedad y .Vuelta-Abajo undertook to supply Madrid with pure Naranjos County—well, at all events the Madrid infants were to be fed. A few weeks later and Hone Jose advertised that his establishment was in complete order, and that his nurses would enter the city daily to wait upon their customers. Apparently, he had a great many patrons, for a few days later a procession of at least a dozen extremely plump Spanish women, whoso very appearance was sufficient to awaken tire hunger of the most dainty infant, made their appearance at the city gate. The Custom House officers gazed at them with respect and admiration, and warmly congratulated the Madrid infants upon their good fortune. The praises of the benevolent Hon Jose, were in every mouth. The local press published frequent leading editorials assorting that the local infants were thriving to an extent hitherto,,unknown, and hinting that the grand regalia of the Order of St. Intrinidad had beou given, to many men who deserved it,less than did the beneficent Don Jose. For three months the procession of nup-ses;entered the city at morning, noon, and grew in number, until it was no unusual thing for

t-ixty women to present themselves at the gate at one and the same time.

On the 4lh of March last, it happened that a new Custom House office’/, Lieutenant Colorado Madmo, was on duty at tht? Zarzuela gate when the noon procession, of nurses made its appearance. He was a thoughtful, intelligent man, but he was not popular with the small boys of Madrid. Just as the -leading nurse entered tho city a stone, thrown at the officer, missed its mark and smote the nurse in the region of the lungs. To the officer’s great astonishment, the blow produced a hollow metallic sound which at once awakened his suspicious. Without a moment’s delay, .* ieutenant Maduro called out a file of soldier's, and arresting every nurse, sent for two female searchers and ordered them to do their duty. Twenty minutes later 60 exceptionally thin and sad-looking women were marched to the city prison, and 120 tin cans of a curious hemispheric shape, filled with petroleum, were lying heaped together where the female searchers had thrown them.

Hon Jose do Antiqnedad y Vuelta-Abajo was thus discovered to be an impostor. He had not furnished a single Madrid infant with pure Narenjos County—well, food. Ho was not a philanthropist, and he cared neither for nurses nor children. He was, however, an audacious and ingenious smuggler, and the long success of his artifices has so overthrown Spanish faith in woman, that none but the thinnest and most lerel of tho sox can pass a Spanish Custom House without undergoing the most rigid scrutiny.