Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1855-11-28
VOL. mo. 17-ToTAL, so.
Spain as She Was and as She Is. 3

Spain as She Was and as She Is. p
Nations. like iudividuais. are liable to ex-
traordinary changes in. power and fortune
This is clearly palpahle to all WHO glance back
at tbe ancient nations. to Rome and Greece in
their names Of glory and who then turn TO
their present comparatively powerless condi-
ton and ruin. But the history. of Spain affords
another striking instance of the decline OF
nations Macaulay, in one of his admirable
essays forcibly remarks, that whoever wish
es to be well acquainted with the morbid anatT
oIny of governments, whoever wishes 10
know how great Safes may be made feeble and
wretehed, should study the history of Spain
He says the empire of Philip the Second was
undoubtedly one Of the most powerful and
splendid that ever existed in the world, In
Europe he ruled Spain, Portugal, the Nether-
4 lands on both sides of the Rhine, Franche
Comte, Rousillon, the Milanese, any the two
! Sicilies, Tuscany, Parm1, and the other
small States OF Italy, were as completely de
pendent on him as the NizaIn and the Rsjah Of
Berar now are on the East India Company. ln
Asia the King of Spain was master of the Fiji
| lipines, and of all those rich settlements which
| the Portuguese had made on the icoast OF Ma
| labar and Coromandel, in the Peninsula OF
Malacca, and in the Spice Islands Of the Eas-
| tern Archipelago. In. America his -domipions
extended on each side of the z lnator into the
temperate zone, There is reas2n to. beiieYe
that his annual reveaue amounted IN the sea
son of his greatest power, to fonr millions
sterling a sum eight times as large as that
| which England yielded to Elizabeth lie ha
| standing army of fifty thousand excellent
! troops, at time when England had not sim
| gle-battalion in constant pay His ordinary
| naval force consisted of a hundred and forty
| galIeys. He held, what no other prince IN
modern time has held, the dominion bo;h OF
| the land and Of the sea. Daring the greater
part of his reign he was supreme on both eie-
ments. His soldiers marched up to the capt
tai of France; his ships n1enaced the shores OF
England st the same time Spain had what Na
| poleon desired in vain-shps, colonies and
| commerce. She long lhonopolized the trade
, | of America and OF. the Indian Ocean. All the
| cold of the West and all the spices OF The
East, were receirsd and distributed by her.
r But how art thou fallen from heaven, O!
Il I.ucifer, son of the morning. How art thoucu
down to the ground, that difst weaken the
, 7 nations 80 81
If we oYcrleap hundred years. and look al
Spain towards the close of the seventeenth
| century, what a change do We fnd The con
trast is as great as that which the Rome of Gal
: lenus and Honorious presents to the Rome %
Marius and Cesar. .
At the present day the condition Of Spain il
indeed deplorabie. The discoyerer of the
New World is now deprived of al her mighty
possessions on this glorious continent, while
even tho parent nation is. in a great measure,
an instrument in the hands of other European
powers. Torn and agitatcd by domestic con-
WILSON'S. she.has just passed through Several
fierce and bloody civil wars, and the last ad-
vices indicate that she is on the eve of anoth-
| er change, And what is the secret of this de-
: terioration9 Mscaulsy says that all the csus-
, es of the decay of Spain resolve themselves
into one cause-bad government What 8
lesson to nations!