The sun., 1896-09-22
sPAIS,s PRESENT PROSPECTS.
Everything she Owns Pawred to subdue
Cuba. and the Philippines Likely to Slip
from Her Grasp-The Result OF Ty tyranny.


Everything She Owns Pawred to subdue
Cuba, and the Philippines Likely to Slip
from Her Grasp-The Result OF tyranny.
Prom the London Spectator.
Europe presents no spectacle more extraor-
dinary than the contrast between the nerve of
the Spanish people and their incapacity in ac-
tion. For eighteen months they have endeav-
ored to reconqucr q revolted colony four thou
sand miles away, and have in the effort used
and consumed resources such as It was hardly
believed outside Spain. they could have called
up even to resist invasion. They have actually
forwarded TO Cuba two hundred and ten .hou-
sand regular troops. sufficiently equipped.
force nearly three times great as that with
which this country met and quelled the Indian
mutiny Of 1857. and more than three times as
great as the white garrison which holds the In
dian empire. This army, sufficient, one would
think. for a defensive war against France, ac-
complishes nothing, but tho Spanish statesmen
lose neither heart nor hope. They are wholly
uncheered by victory. they know that
their soldiers die like flies, and they are told
every week that the rich island is becoming q
desert, that three -fourths OF 1t Ia going out of
cultivation. that the settlers are quitting in
Thousands, while those left behind joining
the insurgents, that the whole expenses of the
island must be borne for years by Spain. and
that every month increases the chance that the
American republic. with its limitless resources
for war. will intervene; and still, with to-
nacty which Englishmen cannot but admire.
they refuse to relax their hold. Be the results
what they may. they will make no terms til. me
rebels have submitted Internationally. Tho
nssure between parties in Spain is deeper than
political issure ever was in this country. but
upon this subject the parties act together.
scarcely differing even rs TO means. Pitt was
better supported by packed Parliament,
which. nevertheless. rcpresents the dominant
@ s"f tho OF saS sS0nFy Pemsr the SENDS m6r:
lnobs object, to their DESPATCH. both
the military law. which makes resistance to tho
conscriptiou one OF the most deadly Of offences.
II the Philippines rise In insurreotion. the Pre-
army OF cavalry. II that will be the arm most
mSt,er Su or threaten I Interference. the Premier
ransacks the world for cruisers ready built. or
builders who. will build quickly. giving enor-
million per ship for the needed vessels. II the
treasury is harasscd. he sells everything that is
ileges to the railways, preferences to the dealers
in bonds, He even ventures to leave the t:oops
soldier there has seen the color of coin. and has
been fortunate If bread and garlic have been
seTEsd ,s5,cS with with any rexu!sFt The one TG
proposals. FOR compromise. the time for which
indeed has now At length passed away.
The Spanish Premier is a tough maD. and
there are very few Euglishmen. however famil-
lar they may be with the misrule OF Cuba, who
especially as it is probable that his power OF en-
durance may be still moro harshly tried. Tho
insurrection in the Philippines may prove even
a greater blow to Spain than the iusurrection in
Cuba. They are twice as far of. they have never
been,thoroughly subd ued, far less civilized. they
ately against Spanish mlsgovernment, and they
are threatened by foo who, though not as
at sea than Spain, who is far more unscrupulous
than the Union, and who. instead of any lanGuid
passionate desire for their possession; TheJRp-
anese believe that they must find fresh
territories somewhere or their civilization
VIII perish for want OF land to support
their growing population; and as they
have lost Corea and cannot obtain Australia,
which. according to their Jingoes, is their natu-
raj place of expansion, they have fixed their re-
gArd on the Philippines. which lie as It were
EiorouSly % % fertiie % though iiapie, ike % JAPAN as
itself. to earthquakes. and the area OF which, II
q conquest could once be effected. would almost
They possess already In Formosa the halfway
house to the Philippines. and they believe that
They have of late years been quietly pouring
Japanese emigrants into some OF the islands.
recently at
gaia assured Amer rican representatives OF the
adhesion OF Japan in war with Spain. adding
forty millions sterling for such an acquisition.
How will It all end for ,Spain2 We cannot
guess what line the Governments OF Washing
ton and Toxic viii ultimately take; but II his
tory Is any guide the Spa &s2aniards lard. will fight on
sympathy for their endurance and courage but
unless helped by some grest ally Will ultimately
Some incurable vice in her organization, or it
may be in the temperament OF her people, neu-
rive from her stubborn hardihood, her nearly
perfect capacity OF endurance. and the sombre
Shoh has so of Often marked her sons No
outside her own borders. even IL Spanish
by origin. has ever been able permanently
which has resisted has ultimately succeeded in
Withdrawing Itself from her control. She could
Ireland Is to England, and she lost the whole OF
the New World after feats OF conquest and COL
20 na % 40 that 70 a
from the Rio del Norte to Patagonia, II not
Portuguese speaks the Spanish tongue, pro-
ilzed At all is civilized in tho spanish way. We
see no reason to suppose that she will keep Cuba
more than Peru. and suppose that after un-
heard-of efforts, ending In some sort OF bank
to await amid % perpetual domestic Domestic leu fsuds. "I the
day when u competent Government will once
more direct nor splendid resources aud the stub
born courage OF her children to some end which
will again make her temporarily great. We
SEQ no evidence whatever that the population OF
Spain has lost any OF it's historic qualities. but
she has lost, for some reason beyond our ken.
the capacity of success. II may be that, AS |
say. Spain has never had the Govern
ment that suits her. 1t may be that she lacks,
~ Italy lacked for centuries, of all useful quail
ties only tho political sense which would enable
fusal TO compromise. OF which Senior Canovaa |
Ia not unjustly proud. involves n msrcisssness |
which prohibits permanent dominion and In the
End reduces discipline TO mechanical obed ience.
which does not save even armies. and will never
save a State. The only thing certain 10 that she
aoes not succeed, even when the enterprise Ia so
apparently easy AS the reconauest of Cuba by
Lwo hundred and ten thousand Spanish soldiers |
safely encampod upon her soil.