Litchfield enquirer., 1875-09-09
A Conservative Kingdom.


 ian and Mahommedan more than a thou. sand years ago. The marvellous enthusi. asm of the new religion carried the con. querors over all lower Spain in their first charge; but the Highlanders of the Pyr. annees, like the Highlanders of Scotland and Wales, held their own against inva. sion. The enthusiasm of the Saracen was as short lived as it was fierce; and then, for centuries. the mountaineers, reinforced by the adventurous of all Christendom. fought their way steadily down from thei, mountains, waging. for century after cen. tury. the slow war of plucky Barbarian conquering decaying Civilization. The final conquest was indeed the work of c few years. The union of Northern Spain under one dynasty. and the discovery of gunpowder which rendered the old sys. tenn of fortifcation intellectual, combined to bring about the downfall of Granada about eight centuries after the memorable victory of Tarik over King Roderick.
 The conquest of Spain from the Moors was Reaction, Q triumph of faith," by which the thrift and intelligence of the Spanish Mshommedan was subjected to the indolence and ignorance f'the Span. ish Christian. No one can greatly regret the downfall of a civilization based on polygamy and slavery, but there can be no doubt that in nearly all that constitutes good citizenship, the Moor of the Twelfth Century was vastly superior to his Christ ian adversary.
 The martial virtues resulting from cen- turies of constant warfare; the sonsolida- tion of several kingdoms into one great monarchy; and the treasure of newly dis covered America, made Spain the imperial nation of Europe for nearly century af- ter the Conquest of Granada. But her spirit was still the spirit of Reaction. The conquerors of Granada were given Q title which really characterized their dynasty. The ''Most Catholic" Isabella is much lauded queen whereas her Most Catholic granddaughter Mary Tudor, though not . whit more bigoted, holds very different place in popular estimation.
 Progress now attacked Spain from the North. True to her Conservative history, the great nation, when the struggle be. tween Professionalism and Catholicism be- came Q contest of arms as well as of creeds, stamped out the heresy in her midst by means of the very oppressive machinery invented in the days of good Queen 1sa. bella, and threw the whole weight of her mighty power into the scale in favor of the Mother Church. In the Netherlands, in France. in Germany, the invincible Spanish infantry were the bulwark of the Papacy. A faithful descendant of Isabella, the most Catholic of German Emperors, fought the thirty years war against Ger man Professionalism. But Spain and her Most Catholic Sovereigns. on her own and other thrones, did not crush Protestant ism as she crushed Mahommedanism in Western Europe. On the contrary Spain crippled herself forever in the effort. Nevertheless the effect of that effort was to put permanent check upon Protest antism: the fire of that great reform was rolled back upon the Teutonic countries of the North. where it .crystalized into system of state churches.
 With the decay of her strength Spain has lost her power for evil abroad. She can only fight Progress on her own soil. This she does almost as fercely if not as successfully as of old. A Bourbon and 6 bigot sits on the throne of Ferdinand and and fights Carlism with it's own weapons. France no longer furnishes base of operations for the cruel and bigoted mountaineers who fought Saracen civilization thousand years ago, and Republican Progress only 0 few months since. The BOurbons who govern France will give no further assistance to @ savage Reaction. The Carlist who might have been another Gid had Le lived some seven centuries earlier, is now simply nuisance. No doubt he will eventually be abated, fo. E. sort of ''t: unph of faith" is one tha: modern civil -a:..o3 VII not permit. Still the Spanish is in many re- spects noble race and one cannot view without pity the decrepitude, anarchy. and degradation to which too much Conserva- tism has brought them.