The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1897-01-09
POSSESSED OF A DEMON,
~ IS the,once Proud Spain rushing on
to Self-destructlon?


There Is no government SO decided
ly I'm Ter the notice Of the American
people as the Spanish. This is
because It's methods of management
in Cuba come very ear to our own
shore. OA this account it may
prove profitable and interesting to
our readers for us to spend Il short
time considering Spain as II nation.
Its desperate methods III Cuba
may then be more thoroughly UNI
derst0Od. 70 consider an individu.
al carefully, to weigh his faults and
and strength, is always interesting.
To d the same thirg to nation is
always interesting also, but more
complicated We may, therefore, be
in error in oar judgment That we
leave to our readers.
~
In The itteenth century Spain was
respected power. in Europe. AS u
nation it h1l been solidiiisdiout
of q number Of Christian elements
by Il commOa antagonisn to the
Moorish conquerors. in the six
teeuth century it had grown to an
enormous empire, with vast terri
tor IS in the richest portions of the
New Word. Streams of wealth
We're constantly pouring into its
Golfers from these conquered pos
sessions. At the close of the eigh-
teenth, and the beginning of the
nineteenth centuries, outlying
portions OF this vast nation began
one by one 70 sever all relations,
until at present it retains its hold
upon only two sections of any great
importance-Cuba in the West, and
the Phillppian Islands in the East.
Judging by the past century, and
the loss TO Spain of every posses
sion in both South and North Amer
lea, il seouS not unsafe to predict
that the beginning of the twentieth
century will see it return once
more to the actual limits of its
possessions in the fifteenth. Now
what causes have operated to bring
ON snch decay of prestage, ..-iie
other Europeon nations, like
Germany and England, Russia and
Italy, France and Austria, have
developed and in some measure
kept close together in their develop
ment-mental and moral? Briefly
we would sum the causes up
as (i) Irreligious solicitude for God 4;
(2) Greed for Gold; 60 The Gran
dee spirit; (4) A wrong colonial
poli2y; % Unprogressiveness. We
only have space to dwell on two OF
these features this week. Possibly
we may refer to the balance next.
Xxx
Altogether Spain seems to have
been possessed OF a demon of self.
destruction, demon that has taken
different forms.in four centuries, but
which, through them all, has been
forcing Spain steadily onward
toward humiliation. Its wars
with the Moors fostered strong
national spirit, and because the
wars were religious in character.
they tended also to make Spain
the stronghold of Catholicism. So
long rs there was fair fighting.
Spain was strengthened by the
conflict; for in certain stages of
human progress war, in spite of its
attendant horrors, seems to have
o been, if not necessary feature, at
any rate, an aid to civilization.
But Spain, when the conquest was
practically complete, and the re-
manning Moors had settled down
to agriculture and to trade, burn
ing with zeal for the God of their
bloody imaginings, called in TO aid
in the complete determination of
every heresy, that fiendish device
for populating Heaven and saving
souls, "The Mquisition." Their
conquests in the new world also
were in the beginning religious
conquests. Their adventures were
to win vast glory for the church
and 50 in the name of Almighty
God, most joyously did they Stay
with9ut compunction.
~
The demon Of Spain, burning
, with the lust of conquest, drunk
with the hloGd of it's best children
, personifled by Pizarro in Peru, anG
Cortez in Mexico, by treachery and
by superiority of army, by ambush
Vmd by outrage, destroyed the civ
ilizatiou of the Incas and ravished
the possessions of M0ntezuma
Eeerywhere the thought was sup.