The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1898-07-08
SPAIN'S BAD PLIGHT.
Revenue Policy of the Government
Is Dragging Her Down.
Perpetual Drain of Men and Money
Has Weakened the Nation So
That Complete Disaster
Will Surely Come.

| NAICCs
1. She has governed her colonies en-
tirely and frankly for her own advan-
tage. She has always insisted upon a
| tribute. She has so managed her fis-
cal arrangements that her colonies could
| deal only with her, and has conferred
all profitable appointments in the col
onies upon her own children. Result,
the colonies have been bled, have be-
come aware of it, and have furiously re-
| sented the loss of economic strength
and ability to use their revenue to their
own advantage. This was the first
charge brought against Spain by the
South American colonies when they re-
belled, and 1t was the first that the
Cuban insurgents brought. Spain has
never repudiated this charge nor this
policy, and there is NO prospect that she
will ever abandon it while she has a
foot of colonial soil under her heel.
Her opinion, in fact, has been and is,
that it would be silly to abandon it,
since she considers the colonies as so
many estates, which are only valuable
as they pay rent, or direct profit. The
oPoh3St SolodloiS hdlC CHlS SleIu VI
arbitrary taxation. as the French peas
ant of the revolution hated the tithes
| and seignorial dues of the noblesse, and
in the long series of uprisings against
the Spanish power they have taken as
bloody a revenge as that of 1898.
2. The Spaniards from Spain are in
all colonies avery offensive caste. They
not only monopolize all power, all high
offices and great part of the revenues,
but they deliberately create an impress
sion in the minds of the colonists that
they are despised. No race in close
contact with it's rulers can endure this
condition of things, and the hatred of
creoles, half-castes, and even of egroes
or Indians toward the old Spaniards is
as bitter as that of the sansculottes of
the revolution for their tyrants. More
than anything this attitude has cos!
Spain her colonies, for it has helplessly
alienated the minds of the people. 1t
is one cause of the invariable cruelty of
local government; the colonists will
rise against oppression and they. must
be put down by torture and death.
That is Spain's only resource. Concilia-
tion or any compromise with beings of
any inferior race would outrage the
proud blood of the hidalgo-hijo de
algo-"son of somebody"
3. There is some deeply-rooted re-
ligious difficulty. 1t does not appear to
exist in Cuba, where all are Catholics,
more or less sincere, but it was one
prime cause of trouble in Spanish Amer
lea. as it is in the Philippines. Spain's
practice has always been to establish
the Catholic church as the first institu-
tion on conquered soil and to leave a
large measure of authority to the dis
trict clergy, who are controlled, or, at
least, influenced, by orders received
from the great congregation at Rome.
The clergy, lenient in every point but
one, have never tolerated the slightest
evidence of what they consider a re-
version to Paganism on the part of the
subject race. When they see that, they
persecute with all their own power and
with the aid of the secular arm, which
has always been at their disposal for
such purposes. But the colonists in
Spanish America and in the Philippines
have believed in both Catholicism and
the old superstitions at the same time,
and this has caused perpetual friction,
leading to the most savage hatred of the
church. In Spanish America the real
ultimate division of parties has always
been between clericals and liberals, and
in the Philippines during the recent ris-
ing the first objects of popular hatred
were the curas and monks, whom the
Malays put to death with horrible tor
ture.
Spain's policy of governing for rev.
enue only, by the church and the strong
hand, has not only proved complete
failure, but has reacted upon her own
institutions with complete disaster.
From the beginning of her empire,
every foot OF foreign soil has had to be
held by the sword. This has meant a
perpetual drain of men and money from
the mother country, which has exhaust
ed her. 1t has meant that Spanish
troops from the time of Alva down, have
never been fed, clothed or paid regu-
larly, and that in every case, they have
been left to prey on the country in
which they were quartered. In the
Philippines soldiers have been reduced
at times to becoming the servants of
the townspeople, or even of half castles
and negroes, in order to live. Recent
news from Cuba informs us that the
Spanish soldiers are starving as usual
there. AT ManzaniHo, where there were
10000 troops, 500 men died in one week
of neglect and want. These troops were
.quartered in the streets and slept under
verandas and in doorways. They de-
manded food and shelter of the citizens,
but when it was refused them they had
no power to enforce their demands.
They were ragged, hungry and utterly
disheartened, and they would have de-
serted to the insurgents in body, but
these would not receive them, fearing
treachery. This is happening, in our
own day, few miles from our own
coasts, and it is absolutely typical of
Spanish policy during three centuries.
Conquer or die has been the fierce
motto of Spain. She is survival of the
middle ages, just as Weyler to-day is an
incarnation<oft the cold-blooded cruelty
of Alva without the iron dukes strength
or military genius. Weyler and what
he represents are Spain's only weapon
against her refractory children, and
now the scourge has dropped from her
impotent hand. She can no longer con-
uuar and ~ onlv ramaipS for har IN die