proclaimed neoconservative spokeswoman that “the UnitednStates should be the policeman of the world,” I am stunnednand shocked. When I read an eminent conservative and selfproclaimedntraditionalist lady exclaim that “God gave Americanthe atom bomb,” I find not the slightest trace of that Christiannhumility that should behoove a conservative, let alone antraditionalist.nI am uncomfortable, too, with the kind of fellow immigrantnwho soon becomes an unabashed American nationalist;nwhose knowledge of American history and of the Englishnlanguage is not really sufficient but who proclaims that onnthese shores he was newly born. I read one of them years agonand he made me shudder. They had asked him where he wasnborn, and he said: “I was born when I landed in the UnitednStates of America.” I am wearied as I read the writings ofn”conservative” ideologues born in Bessarabia, cheered on bynthose native neoconservative Americans whose vision of Americannhistory begins with Ellis Island. Yet I was also set back anbit a few weeks ago when I read a review of a biography of andifferent kind of immigrant, of the late Vladimir Nabokovnwith whom I have at least one thing in common, which is ournlove for the English language. His admiring biographer wrotenof Mr. and Mrs. Nabokov as they had elected to leave Americanfor good when financial success permitted them to do so.n”They would always remain proudly American, but after thisnfirst departure, they would never settle in America again.”nWell, good luck to them, and they indeed deserved some; butnan American passport does not a proud American make.nSome of you may, at this point, find that I am a difficultnman to please. I only ask you to believe me when I say thatnthis is not so, or at least I think it is not so. I am near the endnof my remarks; but there is one more matter that impingesnon the impulse of my patriotism. This is my love for the En­nThe Spanish Americas—April 1992—nRichard Estrada on the Hispanic contributionsnto American culture, Mario Vargas Llosa onnthe difficult rise of the Latin American novel,nChilton Williamson, Jr. on bullfighting innJuarez, Mexico, and poems by Jorge LuisnBorges. Plus Brad Linaweaver on Albert JaynNock, William Murchison on LBJ, and MurraynRothbard on violence in New York City.nTitlenTHE SPANISH AMERICASnLAW AND ORDERnRESTORING THE REPUBLICnGREAT TOPICS, GREAT ISSUESnDatenName AddressnAPRIL 1992nMAY 1992nJUNE 1992nLaw and Order: Crime and Punishment—nMay 1992—Thomas Fleming on the role ofnthe executioner, Phihp Jenkins on the drug warnand personal liberties, Graeme Newman onnthe case for corporal punishment, andnTheodore Pappas on vigilante justice. Plus,nMurray Rothbard on street crime, LlewellynnRockwell on vagrancy law, Richard Irving onntaxi drivers and minority crime, and a firsthandnaccount of life in prison.nBACK ISSUES ORDER FORMnEach issue $5.50 (postage and handling included)nCity Staten20/CHRONICLE5nglish language that is my language now—and not merely an acquirednlinguistic skill, or a useful instrument for the sake ofnpractical communication. I wrote about this matter in mynConfessions of an Original Sinner. It is a lifelong love affairnwith the English language. I have been married to it now,nand there can be no question of divorce, or even of a longnseparation. When I am away from an English-speaking countrynI begin to worry about the dangers of absence, of my unfaithfulnessnto that dear thing in my mind. It is a dear thing,nlike my wife. As an English writer once wrote: “our language isna sulky and inconstant beauty and at any moment it is importantnto know what liberties she will permit”—again likenmy wife.nIn the beginning, as the Bible says, is the word: not the picture,nnot the idol, not the number. I am pleased to be pairednthis evening with Mario Vargas Llosa, some of whose books Inread—not only for the sake of doing my homework for tonightnbut for the purpose of pleasure—and whose ideas of patriotismnand language I find, most agreeably, to be similar to mine. Indo not now refer only to his brave attempt in the public arena,nto defend and restore the liberties of his country. I refer tonhis constant pursuit of truthful language in his prose, to hisnpreoccupation with the mysterious beauties of language innhis excellent essays, including his book on Flaubert, reflectingnhis traditionalist addiction to the values and standards ofnWestern civilization that includes, too, his interest in historyn(of which he has given many indirect evidences and a directnone, his affectionate memory of one of his teachers, a finenhistorian, Senor Porras Barranochea). Vargas Llosa may know,nas I do, Scott Fitzgerald’s lovely phrase, that “America is thenwillingness of the heart.” Tonight Vargas Llosa and I are thengrateful beneficiaries of something as important, and perhaps,nmore rare—of an American willingness of the mind. <£>nQty.nTotal Enclosed $ -nMail with check to: Chronicles * 934 North Main Sfreet * Rockford, IL 61103nnnRestoring the Republic—June 1992—ClydenWilson on the republican approach, SamuelnFrancis on the nationalist approach, andnE. Christian Kopff on the Augustan compromise.nPlus Thomas Fleming on why we haventhe government we deserve, Theodore Pappasnon Japanese-American trade, ChiltonnWilliamson, Jr. on illegal immigration, andnMurray Rothbard on repudiating the nationalndebt.nCostnZipn