As Denia is a
small place, the inhabitants feared for their safety, and Bonsal,
who was our _charge d'affaires_ then, was sent from Madrid to
adjust matters. Without bloodshed he got rid of the ex-consul, and
later MacIver so endeared himself to the Denians that they begged
the State Department to retain him in that place for the remainder
of his life.
Before General MacIver was appointed to a high position at the St.
Louis Fair, I saw much of him in New York. His room was in a
side street in an old-fashioned boarding-house, and overlooked his
neighbor's back yard and a typical New York City sumac tree; but
when the general talked one forgot he was within a block of the
Elevated, and roamed over all the world. On his bed he would
spread out wonderful parchments, with strange, heathenish
inscriptions, with great seals, with faded ribbons. These were
signed by Sultans, Secretaries of War, Emperors, filibusters. They
were military commissions, titles of nobility, brevets for
decorations, instructions and commands from superior officers.
Translated the phrases ran: "Imposing special confidence in," "we
appoint," or "create," or "declare," or "In recognition of services
rendered to our person," or "country," or "cause," or "For bravery
on the field of battle we bestow the Cross----"
As must a soldier, the general travels "light," and all his worldly
possessions were crowded ready for mobilization into a small
compass.
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