The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-09-08
SPAIN'S DECADENCE.
At One limo Its Supremacy Was the Dread
of the Nations.

At One Time Its Supremacy Was tho Dread
of the Nations.
When Charles v was obliged to re-
aounce the dream of universal mon-
trchy, and to abandon the holy Roman
empire to his brother Ferdinand, he
was still able to make over to his son
Philip II. territories which rendered
Spain the preponderating power in the
civilized world. Besides his ancestoral
lominions In the peninsula, to which,
IN 1880, he added Portugal, Philip was
master of the wealthy Netherlands, Of
Milan and Naples, of the Mediterrahe-
IN islands, and of the new world. His
'evenues far exceeded those of any
'ther monarch, his armies were admit
led to be the most formidable in Eu-
'ope, and his command of the sea was
disputed only by the Turk, whose navy
1e crushed at Lepanto, until the dtsas-
ers Of the armada gave warning that
The old methods of maritime warfare
we're becoming obsolete. In every way
the supremacy of Spain was the dread
Of the nations, and Its destruction was
he cherished object of statesmen for q
century. It was not their efforts,
however, which accomplished the re-
suit. Olivares, 1t is true, was over
matched by Richelieu, but Spain had a
vantage ground, enabling her to hold
ger own against external assault. The
causes Of her decadence were internal:
they were numerous, but may be
roughly defined as springing from
pride, conservatism, and clericalism.
To greater or less degree, all Span
Ssh colonies were fields in which cleri~
;alism rioted at will. A conspicuous
instance of this is found in the Philip
pines, where the missions of the Angus
tinian recollects acquired such power
that theannals fthat colony seem rath-
er to be the records Of the Augustinian
province of San Nicholas than those
of royal dependency.
In such community the position of
governor had few attractions for an
honest man. In 1913, new governor,
Bustamente Bustillo, found on his ar
rival that all the royal officials had
been busily embezzllng and pilfering.
leaving the treasury nearly empty.
After ascertainlng the facts, he set to
work theoretically to recover the funds.
and to punish the guilty, who there
upon, as seems to have been CUSTOM
airy in such cases, sought asylum in the
churches. One of them had carried
with him certain official records neces-
Bary for the verifcation of the &C.
counts, and these Bustillo requested
the archbishop to make him surrender.
The archbishop replied with learned
argument, drawn up for him by a
Jesuit, proving that the governors re-
quest was Illegal Bustillo lost his
Temper at this, and arrested the arch
bishop, who forthwith cast an inter-
dict over the city. Then the monks
and friars turned out in organized
bands, marching through the city with
and shouting, "Vive la fe!
Vive la Iglesia!" They speedily col
lected mob, which they led to the
palace; the doors were broken in, the
governor and his son murdered, and
when the archbishop was released, he
assumed the governorship under the
advice of an assembly consisting ex-
clusively Of ecclesiastical dignitaries.
In these perpetually recurring trou-
bles between the secular and the cler-
cal authorities, the inquisition was
not behindhand, although there was
10 organized tribunal in MANILA
Henry c Lea, in the Atlantic.