Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1898-06-09
LOST TO sPAIN.77
RICH COLONIES WHICH SHE HAS
DRIVEN TO FREsDOM.

tine by One the Arrogant Dons Have Been
Stripped of Valuable Possessions Which
q Little Tact and Good Government
Would Have Retained.
The general rebellion of Spain's
American colonies occurred in the ear
ly years of the present century. Not
only were Spain's affairs in desperate
condition abroad, but also at home dire
dissension prevailed. In the autumn
of 1919 a considerable army had been
brought together at Cadiz for the sub
jugation of their revolted possessions
in America But the officers and troops
refused to embark, and series of
internal disruptions followed.
The revolt in Spain's Argentine colo
nies in South America broke out in
1910. In that year Chile and Para
quay successfully rebelled. The war
for Chile's independence lasted eight
years. The Argentine Republic estab-
lished its independence in 1916. Ven
ezuela Ecuador and New Granada, or
Colombia, were lost by revolt in 1919.
The revolt in these States was led by
Simon Bolivar, named Ell Libertador
for having rescued South America from
the Spanish yoke. Bolivar also led the
insurgents in Bolivia and Peru, the lat
ter State being the last of Spain's pos
sessions on the American continent to
establish its independence This was
in 1926
The Spanish conquered Peru early in
the sixteenth century. Peruvian silver
was freely poured into Spanish Golfers,
and was drained out again to meet the
expenses of the wars which the Spanish
home government maintained. At the
outbreak of the war of independence in
South America, the Spanish Govern
ment had already declined greatly in
internal strength. Spain was distract
ed with the dissensions of a regency
and was racked by civil war. Howev-
er, in 1920 the Spanish Viceroy had an
army of $4,000 men in Peru, and all
the large towns We're completely in the
hands of the Spanish officials.
Brazil belonged to Spain in 1873. In
that year it was wrested from the Por-
tugese who had discovered it at an
earlier date. During Spain's troubles
with the Netherlands, the Dutch cap
tured Brazil and from the Dutch the
State gained its independence.
AS to the States of Guiana, their I'll
ties were much in dispute for many
years. Spain owned what is now Brit
ish Guiana in $780, and lost the prov
ince in 1902 to the Dutch, from whom
it went to the English.
Mexico was the richest and most pop
ulous of all the Spanish-American col
onies. Frequent instructions occurr-
ed here during the Napoleonic wars in
Europe. Pending the war for Mexican
independence the most revolving atroc-
tiles were perpetrated on both sides.
The Spaniards conducted hostilities
with the most wanton cruelty. The
war was one of determination, the in
surgents being slaughtered like brutes.
In 1924 the independence of Mexico
was recognized by every country ex-
cept Spain.
Spain relinquished Florida to the
United States by treaty and purchase in
1921.
The Bahamas, which were Colum-
buss earliest discovery, We're depopu-
lated by the Spanish and were never
again settled by them. The English
occupied them in 1929 After the wars
with Spain and France the British Sc
cured the Bahamas by the treaty of
1888.
Jamaica, which was discovered by
Columbus on his second voyage, in
1894, was taken possession of by the
Spaniards in 1909 The inhumanity of
the conquerors was so great that fifty
years after the Spanish invasion the
native population is said to have en-
tirely disappeared. Oliver Cromwell
sent out British expedition in 1865
which captured the island, and in 1910
it was formally ceded to England by
the treaty of Madrid
Haiti's early history corresponds
with that of Jamaica. Within little
more than an age after 1892 the abo-
rhymes had been swept away by the re-
morseless cruelties of the Spaniards.
The eastern part of the island finally
wrested itself from the Spanish in 1865
and established Santo Domingo.
When Magellan, in 1919, circumnavi-
gated the world for the first time, he
claimed all the islands of the East In
dies for Spain. The Philippines alone
to-day remain under Spanish domina-
tion. The other islands of this group
fell to the French, English and Dutch
during the wars waged by Spain with
these countries from the time Of Phil