ordered the torture, including the burning of the victims' flesh, the crushing of their bones, and the cutting out of their tongues. Similar acts of brutality and barbarism had occurred during his regime in Cuba, and Canovas remained deaf to the appeals and protests of civilized conscience. His attempts to stabilize Spain's parliamentary system achieved a measure of success until World War I in which Spain was not spared the disturbances that ravaged much of the European continent. According to some views, his regime was a welcomed change from Spanish liberalism, considered by some to deny equal participation to political rivals. The restored parliamentary monarchy recognized the principle of allowing rival political opponents within the framework of a constitution. Yet, it would be decades before universal male sufferage and other typical characteristics of modern democratic systems were implemented; it was still very much an electoral system dominated by parties of established local elites. Man of letters At the same time, Cánovas remained an active man of letters. His historical writings earned him a considerable reputation, particularly his History of the Decline of Spain (Historia de la decadencia de España) for which he was elected at the young age of 32 to the Real Academia de la Historia in 1860. That was followed by elevation to other bodies of letters, including the Real Academia Española in 1867, the Academia de Ciencias Morales y Políticas in 1871 and the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in 1887. He also served as the head of the Athenaeum in Madrid (1870–74, 1882–84 and 1888–89). Assassination In 1897, he was shot dead by Michele Angiolillo, an Italian anarchist, at the spa Santa Águeda, in Mondragón, Guipúzcoa. Angiolillo invoked vengeance on Canovas on behalf of the execution of Jose Rizal and other Barcelona anarchists. He thus did not live to see Spain's loss of her final colonies to the United States after the Spanish–American War. Personal life He married María de la Concepción Espinosa de los Monteros y Rodrigo de Villamayor on 20 October 1860; he was widowed on 3 September 1863. He married Joaquina de Osma y Zavala on 14 November 1887. No progeny survived him. Ideology and thought Cánovas was the chief architect of the Restoration regime, that strived for bringing stability to the Spanish society. It has been emphasized that the two figures most influential to his political ideas were Edmund