Evening star., 1896-09-26
sPAIN,s PRESENT PROSPECTS.
Everything She Owns Pawncd to
Subdue Cuba.


nerve Of the Spanish people and their in
capacity in action. For eighteen months
they have endeavored to reconquer a re-
volted coicny 1900 miles away, and have
in the effort used and consumed resources
such as ( was hardly believed outside of
Spain that they could have called up even
to resist invasion They have actually
forwarded to Cuba 2l0.O0o regular troops
sufficiently equipped, a force near three
times great that with which this
country met and quelled the Indian mutiny
of 1857. ard more than three times as great
the white garrison which holds the In
dian empire. This army. sufficient, one
| would think, for a defensive war against
| France. accomplishes nothing, but the
| Spanish statesmen lose neither heart nor
| hope. They are wholly uncheered by VIC
| tory, they know that their soldiers die
like flies, and they are told every week
that the rich island is becoming p desert,
| that three-fourths of ii is going out of
| cultivation, that the settlers ar quitting
in thousands, while those left behind are
| joining the insurgents: that the whole ex-
| penses OF the island must be borne for
years by Spain, and that every month in
creases the chance that the American re-
| public, with its limitless resources for war.
| will intervene; and STILL with a tenacity
| which Englishmen cannot but admire. they
| refuse to relax their hold. BE the results
i till the rel els have submitted uncondition-
| ally. The fissure between parties IN Spain
| IL deeper than a political fissure ever was
| in this country, but upon this subject the
| parties act together. scarcely differing even
| as TO means. Pitt was never firmer than
| Senor Canovas, and never better supported
| by packed parliament, which, neVerthe-
| less, represents the dominant feeling of
| the country. If the conscripts die. the Span
ish premier sends more conscripts. II the
peasants or the city mobs object TO their
dispatch, both are silenced by an unhesi-
| tating appeal to the military law, which
| makes resistance to the conscription one
| of the mcst deadly of offenses. II the
Philippines rise in insurrection. the pre-
| mier offers to send an army there also.
| even an army of cavalry, IL that will be
the arm most required. If the people OF
| the United States mutter or threaten in
reference. the premier ransacks the world
| for cruisers reaoy built, or builders who
| Will build quickly. giving enormous prices,
| in two cases three-quarters of d million
per ship. for the needed vessels. If the
treasury Is harassed, he sells everything
4 that is available, monopoles to the Roth
schilds. privileges to the railways. prefer
ences TO the dealers in bonds He even
ventures TO leave the troops in the island
urpaid. ard for four months no soldier
| there has seen the color of coin. and has
been fortunate if bread and garlic have
been served with any regularity. The one
| thing which Senor Canovas will not 10 is
| listen to proposals for compromise the
time for which indeed has now a length
| passed away.
| The Spanish premier is a tough man and
there are very few Engl:shmen however
| familiar they may he with the Ellsrule
of Cuba, who will refuse him a measure Of
sympathy. more especially as IL is probable
| that his power of endurance may hc stiil
| more harshly tried. The insurrec;ion In
the Philippines may prove even a greater
| blow 10 Spain than the insurre.tion in
Cuba. They are twice as far off; they have
never been thoroughly subdued. far less
civilized; they contain tribes which have
often fought desperately against Spanish
MEASUREMENT, and they are threatened
by d foe who. though not strong as the
United States. is probably stronger at sea
than Spain, who is far more unscrupulous
than the Union. and who, instead of any
langu.d desire that the Philippines should
be free, has a passionate desire for their
possession. The Japanese believe that they
must find fresh territories somew here or
their civilization will perish for want of
land to support their growing reputation;
and as they have lest Corea and cannot OBJ
tain Australia, which, according to their
j.neoes, is their natural place of expan-
| sion, they have fixed their regard the
| Philippines, which lie. as il We're. in sight,
| which are thinly populated which are
| gior.ously fertile. though liable. Ike Japan
| itself, to earthquakes and the oi
| which, If conques, could once I've effect ed
: | would almost exactly double the area OF
, the island empire. They possess already in
Formosa the halfway house TO the Philip
, pines, and they believe that a sea they
can easily defeat the Spaniards. They
have Of late years been quietly pouring
japanese em.Erants into some of The is
lands, and there is trustworthy au;hority
for the statement that recently at Moscow
Marshal Gamagata assured American rep
rescntatives of the adhesion of Janan in
! war with Spain. adding that his govern
ment would cheerfuliy eNpend forty mill
ions sterling for sIch acquisition.
How will it all end for Spain? We can
rot reteAd to foret-E events, for We can
not even guess what line the govern nents
7 ff ash yiQ -
take: but if history is any guide. the span
iards will fight on stLbhornly against al
odds. will receive mucn sympathy for their
cl dUrarce and SouraSe, bat unless helped
lay some great ally will ultimately fail
They ought TO win. but they viii not
Some incurable vice in her organization, ol
il may lie in the tempCrament Of her ps0
pie. reutralizes all the advantages Spain
ought to derive from her stubborn hardi
hood her nearly perfect capacity Of en
durar ce. and the san.ber genius alike fo
war, for art. and for literature. which II a
SO often marked Ier sons. No race outsid
| her own borders. even If Spanish hy origin
I has ever been able permanently 10 endur
| her reign, and every race which has re
| sisted has ultimately succeeded in with
| drawing itself from her control. She coul
| | not keep Holland when Holland WAS TO he
what ireland is to England. and she los
the whole of the new world after feats o
l conquest and colonization so great and S
| successful that to this day every nativ
| of the American continent from the liio de
Il /
| speaks the Spanish tongue. processes tn
| Spanish creed, ana far as he iS cirilize
| at all is civilized in the Spanish way. w
! see no reason to suppose that she Wi
| keep Cuba any more than Mexico. or IN
| Philippines any more than Peru, and suI
l pose that after unheard-of efforts. endin
Il in some sort Of bankruptcy, she will desis
Il and sullenly fall back, to await. amid pei
| petual domestic feuds, the dav when
| competent government Will once more II
Il rect her splendid resources and the stubhor
| courage of her children 10 some end whic
i will again make her temporal .ly grc at. w
II see no evidence whatever that the popu
III lation of Spain has lost any of its his
| oric qualities, but she has lost. for som
reason beyond ken, the capacity
al success. 1t may be that, Spaniards sa,
Il Spain has never hal the government this
II suits her. 1t may be that she lacks. 4
IL Italy lacked for centuries. of all uscfl
y qualities only the political sense whi2
L would enahie her TO become great. or II ma
"a be that the refusal 10 compromise. Of whic
/, Ser or Canovas is not uniustly proud. Il
Il wolves d mercilessress which prohibits pe
} m2rent dominion. and in the end redrc,
/ discipline to mechanical obedience, whic
does not save even armies. and Will nev,