The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1898-04-15
Ulcer on CiviIization-Spa Has Been
This Thing From the Beginning.
5. S. Yoder in Silver Knight

1
today, is, will we have war with Spain?
A question of so great importance and
| fraught with such awful consequence is
calculated to interest every one of your
readers. We can only judge the future
by the past, under similar circumstances.
But first we should know what kind of
people we have to deal with What is
the history of Spain?
my back" Spain has been an ulcer on
the back of civilization ever since the
nation had an existence. From Ataulp.
the Goth, under the reign Of Rome (who
was stabbed to death by dwarf down TO
the present rickety lad, King Alfonso
XIII, the history of Spain has been one
Of terrible torture, assassination, and i'll
famous wrongs.
Out of the first thirty-two kings of
Spain, eight were usurpers, eight were
murdered outright, four were dethroned,
and very few died a natural death.
Then came the Moorish Conquest and
so-called Christian Kings" under whose
rule for the first forty years Spain was
misgoverned by twenty different Emirs,
or half Kings, a few of whom died with
their boots on The rest were assassi-
mated or deposed.
Under the Imperial House of Hapsburg
Spain reached the height other greatness.
But this was followed by the Ruling
House of the Bourbons, with a short in
Permission by the rule of Joseph Bona
parte, followed by Ferdinand, who was
about "tle worst pill i'll the box" He
was succeeded by his daughter Isabella,
who was the embodiment of all the evil
that had been engendered in this miser-
able nation.
Armedea followed the Infamous lisa
bella. He was deposed as unfit by nature
or instinct. and was superseded by AL
fonso the XII, bringing back the House
of the Bourbons, and with it the faint of
the reprobate ex-Queen. The son of Al
fonso XII is now in training for the
throne.
The Spanish are proud of their blood,
if not of their bloody deeds; yet, ethnoio-
gists have never been able to say of what
blood they are. 1t is a conglomeration Of
all that is evil in the Franks, Goths,
Africans, and Vandals
| The history of Spain stands unequaled
in h10O6x. 1aaIe a.,
inflicted upon the poor and innocent
victims of their conquests. Who can read
the horrible, and inhuman deeds inflicted
upon the inohensive natives of Mexico,
Central and South America without the
blood curdling in his veins? But in all
that horrible recital there has nothing
been written that app caches the horrors
of infamy and savage cruelty they have
perpetrated in this enlightened and
Christian age
Within two years they have outraged
women. appropriated young girls. assassi-
mated wounded and sick soldiers in los
pitfalls, not sparing the nurses, and MUIR
dered by the slow tortures of starvation
five hundred thousand poor unoffending,
unarmed, innocent human ings. And
all this within the sound of our guns and
the sight of our flag, only ninety miles
from our shore.
They have murdered many of our cit
liens and destroyed millions of property
and commerce of our people. They blew
up the Maine and murdered our sailors,
placed the wounded i'll hospitrl with
eight yellow fever patiens, buried the
dead with mock show of sorrow, had
bull fight the next day, and a carnival of
riot and debauchery through the streets
of Havana, and printed on their bills of
fare Chicken la Maine" meaning
we'll done
You can search the annals of history
since the dawn of creation, and you will
fail to find the record of deeds so black
and diabolical. More people have been
killed in the same time, but nowhere can
you find record where half million Of
people have been premedtatedly tortured
to death by slow starvation.
The whole civilized world is looking to
this powerful nation to stop this carnival
of hell at our door 1t would have been
stopped two years ago by word from us,
and 300, 900 poor innocent non-c ombatant
concentrates lives saved The only
barrier which stood between this misery
and death and a cessation of horrors was
the $500, 600, 900 of Spanish bonds held
by stock jobbers and money gamblers.
Spain has profted by the pusillanimi,y of
our money power on previous occasions.
Spain has committed outrages on the
high sea; seized our ships, the Aspinwall,
the Powell, the Grapeshot and the Vir-
ginius; insulted our flag, and never even
apologized. No wonder they call us a
"Yaukee Nation of Shop keepers" The
almighty dollar is supreme
Our statesmen tell us that our dollar is
our honor and our honor is the sound
dollar, and that all else is anarchy.
On October 81, 1878. the Spanish gun
boat Tornado captured cur steamer Vir-
ginius OH the high sea. Her captain was
a brave, highly educated Christian gentle.
man, the gallant Captain Fry. She had
100 people OH board, Old Glory flying at
her masthead. There was not pretense