The record-union., 1897-01-10
SOME RAMBLING THOUGHTS
BY MEMO.
(CanHriPhfedl

(Copyrighted.)
CThese Thoughts" by a 1ayman, are
| read in five hundred thousand homes, scat
| tered in every State of the Union. In this
county they will be found week by week
| in the columns of this paper only, as we
have made arrangements with the author
for their exclusive publication)
Allow me to continue and conclude a
necessarily brief consideration of Spain
| as a decaying nation. In last week 8
Thoughts" the assertion was practi
cally made that a nation must have
some ideal before it beyond the forcing
of a creed or the piling of wealth. In
both these directions Spain has been at
| fault. Three further enervating causes
have been at work undermining it's ma
t.onal strength.
The Grandee Spirit: For centuries
after the destruction of the Roman EN-
pire by the Goths and Vandals, the hui
man intellect was almost benumbed.
Until the Renaissance and the Refor-
nation a pail Of darkness was over all;
the mobiles being almost as unframed
| as their Serfs, and the serfs being ut
terly crushed by those of nobler blood
Humanity in Europe lay like a. giant
chilled by the cold. But since that time
stimulation of thought has caused the
great heart Of the world to throb with
H. creasing power, till the life of a COM
mon humanity thrills, in large measure,
even those most separated by birth and
wealth. Each age has had it's peculiar
characteristics; ours is the Peoples
Age But against the tendency of the
people to think and act, hope and ac-
complish, the proud and stubborn spirit
of Spanish grandeeism has stood forth
with fierceness. Yet just as Canute by
his word could not hold the sea in SUBJ
lection nor Mrs. Partington sweep back
the waves with her broom, SO no dy-
nasty or power, even hoar with age and
cruSted with heroic deeds, can with
stand successfully, by narrow minded
repression, the rising tide of human as
piration. If it turn deaf ear to the
cry OF the poor for life and liberty, for
education, for hope, the cry viii not die
out but its pleading tone will be turn
ed into the fierce and fateful growl Of a
cornered beast. Thus has it been with
Spain. Far more organized and danger
Gus than nihilism in Russia, is anar-
chism in Spain. The Kingdom is so
timent of lawless breaking down of
the Government. that the men in power
try constantly to divert public thought
from home affairs, and are glad of any
thing in foreign lands that will form a
safe outlet for the combative spirit.
They are under the hopeless necessity
of watching and guarding against the
home population as thoroughly as they
would have to watch an invading army.
/ believe I am safe in saying, not even
excepting Russia, that no other nation
in Europe but Spain is in this anomal-
Gus condition. 1t stands revealed be-
fore the would as a nation that has not
controlled the growth of hope and
thought but withstood it instead; with
the inevitable disaster coming nearer
every day.
Colonial Policy: / fear if we look
back at the conquests of three or four
centuries ago. when constant tidings
Of new continents wealth, etc, fired
meE 8 adventurous souls, the skirts of
no nation will be found entirely free
from innocent blood. With a few no.
table exceptions, in spots, like Rhode
Island under Williams, Pennsylvania
under Penn, and Maryland under Cal
vert, cruelty AMI illiberality have al
most universally accompanied the work
of esta ablishing new colony. But gen
tier times have brought gentler meth
DDS; and various nations seem now to
vie with each other in the liberality and
excellence of their colonial policies.
Take England, for an instance. Its illib-
eral treatment of its most valuable pos
session, now the United Statees, has
entirely passed away, so that at the
present 1t is practically true that many
small possessions in various parts are
better ruled, better prospered and
stronger as dependencies than they
would be as separate and Independent
Governments. The policy Of England
and Of other nations who try to rival
her in colonizing activity, is to look
cnly for indirect results from good
government. Internal development Is
aimed at with the confident hope that
the resulting prosperity will react ia
vorably to the home country by reason
of increasing trade, etc. But Spain's
policy has remained unchanged while
other nations have marched onward.