Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1897-02-02

fearing you may think they all SAVIOR too
much of the .dsh element, we desist.
MARTHA MAXIM.
SOME RAMBLING THOUGHTS.
BY "NEMO."
(Copyrighted.)
These Thoughts" by layman. are read In
q quarter OF million homes, scattered In every
State OF the Union. In this county they viii be
found week by week In the columns Of this paper
only, n We have made arrangements with the
author for their exclusive publication.)
Allow me to continue and conclude n
necessarily brief consideration OF Spain
as a decaying nation. In last weeks
Thoughts, the assertion was practical
ly made that nation must have some
Ideal before II beyond the. forcing Of a
creed or the piling OF wealth. In both
OF these directions Spain has been at
fault. Three further enervating causes
have been at work undermining It's ma
tionsl 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. I'm.
Ill the Renaissance and the Reformation
a pail Of darkness was over all; the
MOBILES being almost as unframed as their
serfs, and the serfs being utterly crushed
by those OF nobler blood. Humanity In
Europe lay like giant chilled by the
cold. But since that time stimulation Of
thought has caused the great heart Of
the world TO throb with increasing
power, till the life OF common human
ity thrills, In large measure, even those
most separated by birth and wealth.
Each age has had It's peculiar character
istic; ours IL the "People's Age" But
against the tendency of the people to
think and act, hope and accomplish, the
proud and stubborn spirit Of Spanish
grandeeism has stood forth with fierce
ness. Yet just rs Canute by his word
could not hold the sea 10 subsection nor
Mrs. Partington sweep back the waves
with her broom, so no dynasty or power,
even hoar with age and crusted with he
roic deeds, can Withstand successfully,
by narrow-minded repression, the rising
tide Of human aspiration. II II turn q
deaf ear to the cry Of the poor for life
and liberty, for education, for hope, the
cry will not die out but Its pleading tone
will be turned into the fierce and fateful
growl OF a cornered beast. Thus has it
been with Spain. Far more organized
and dangerous than Nihilism In Russia,
Ia Anarchism In Spain. The Kingdom is
80 thoroughly hOney-combed with the
sentiment Of q lawless breaking down OF
the government, that the men In power
try constantly to divert public thought
from home affairs, aud are glad OF any
thing In foreign lands that will form
safe outlet for the combatiye 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 anomalous
condition. 1t stands revealed before the
world as q nation that has not controlled
the growth Of hope and thought, but
withstood 1t instead; with the Inevitable
disaster coming nearer every day.
Colonial Policy: I fear II we look
back at the cOnquests Of three or four
centuries ago, when constant tldings OF
new continents, wealth, etc., fired mems
adventurous souls, the skirts Of no na-
ton will be found entirely free from in
nocent blood. With few notable ex-
ceptions, in spots, like Rhode Island un-
der williams, Pennsylvania under Penn,
and Maryland under Calvert, cruelty and
illiberslity have almost universally ac-
companied the work OF establishing
new colony. But gentler times have
brought gentler methods; 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 iliiberal treatment Of its
most valuable possession, now the
United States, has entirely passed away |;
so that at the present II is practically
true that many small possessions in vari-
Gus parts are better ruled, better pros
pered, and stronger as dependencies
than they would be as separate and inde-
pendent governments. The policy OF
England and OF other nations who try
to rival her In colonizing activity, Is to
look only for indirect results from good
government. International development
l. 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. As
said In last weeks letter, her colonies
have always been regarded as fair prey TO
be stripped Of everything valuable that
was compact and traasportable. The
fierce greed Of Cortez and Pizarro is ap-
parentl, unchanged. Whatever positions
OF power were open for filling, have
seemed to be regarded as the rightful
heritage of the Spanish nobility without
any regard as to fitness, or the benefit OF
the country they ruled ever. Indirect
gain from the development Of colony
has never been regarded with such favor
az the direct results by squeezing out
taxes and farming out productive posi-
tions. This Is simply another evidence
of the mad spirit Of self-destruction that
has possessed Spain. The inevitable re-
suit has been the loss one by one since
the end of last century Of the very jewels
Of her diadem Of empire.
Agricultural Unprogressiveness =
About the beginning Of the 10th century
Spain possessed Of . religious fury very
sdroitly mingled with greed, expelled
the Jews and the Moors and conflscated
their property. By 90 doing It inflicted
"a severe national injury to Itself 40
France did when It drove out the Hugue-
nots, stripping itself Of its best farmers
and mechanics, tradesmen and mer-
chants. In 1909, II my memory serves
me right, Spain gave = further fatal
blow to itself by expelling all the Chris
tianized Moors. As q result up TO the
present, agriculture, the necessary basi'
OF national prosperity, is very undevelop-
cd, The most primitive instruments are
still In use and great regions that the
Moors had made productive have fallen
back to wildness. Similar sh0rtsiRhted-
ness characterized her abroad. When
Pizarro landed In Peru the strip OF
land fifty and more miles wide stretching
from the ocean front to the foothills OF
the Andes, supported prosperous pop
ulstion Of about 100000. The patient
Peruvians had made this sandy desert
blossom like tho rose BY vast irrigation
works. In some cases they had con-
structed aqueducts hundreds OF miles
long, and even pierced mountains 10
order that this particular region might
be watered. Now the desert 70 again trf-
umphant. The conquer0rs seeking those
thInRs alone that could be gained By the