The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1898-06-28

Gibbons Decline and Fall OF the
Roman Empire is one Of the most
elaborate and voluminous Of histories,
but the main outlines Of the Decline
and Fall Of the Spanish Empire have
been graphically condensed into less
than a dozen pages OF the July Atlantic
by Henry @. Lea, the historian of the
Inquisition, and put by him into vivid
but clear-cut and dispassionate para
graphs which carry conviction with
them. Spanish clericalism, cruelty,
cupidity, and corruption are laid bare,
and especially the terrible state Of
affairs which has hitherto existed in
the Philippine Islands, but which, it is
to be hoped, Admiral Dewey has put
an end to forever.
Clericalism, Conservatism, and Cor
ruption, which, fostered by the blind
false pride that holds honest labor in
contempt as a badge of interioritY, and
in current phrase causes Africa to be-
gin at the Pyrenees, have brought
about the present weakness and i'm.
pending downfall of Spain. The history
of these three O's is ably traced and
discussed by Mr.. Lea.
Among other things MI. Lea says:
The Spaniard has qualities which, if
not counterbalanced ought to have as
sured him a maintenance of the COM
manding position which he held in the
sixteenth century. His intellect is
strong and quick, his imagination is
vivid, and before the censorship of the
Inquisition had curbed its expression
his literature was the most promising
in Europe. When fully aroused his
perseverance, is indefatigable. His cour-
age is undoubted, NOT a merely evane-
scent valor, flaming up on occasion at
the promise of success, but persistent,
obstinate, logged quality, as much to
be dreaded in defeat as in victory, and
sustained by the pride Of race which
leads him to think all other raes his in
~feriora. The ~unvielding steadfastness
OF the Spanish tericOS on the disas
trous field of Rocroy was paralleled in
the defense of Saragossa. The exploits
of the Conquistadores in the New
World display q tenacity of daring
amid unknown dangers which has
rarely been equaled, and perhaps never
surpassed. The practical efficiency of
this characteristic is heightened, more
over, by a remarkable, callous indifer.
ence as to the means to be employed in
accomplishing a given purpose. Span
ish legislation is full Of the sternest
laws, enacted in utter disregard Of their
contingent and Interior consequences
provided the immediate object in view
can be effected. Alva's reign Of blood
in the Netherlands is typical of this
fierce and cold blooded determination
to achieve a result at whatever cost Of
life and suffering, and the reconcen,
trado policy of WeyIer is only a
modern exhibition of this inherited
characteristic.
SPANISH CORRUPTION IN THE PHILIPPINES
To a greater or less degree, all Span
ish colonies were fields in which cleri.
calism rioted at will. A CONSPICUOUS
instance of this is found in the Philip.
pines, where the missions Of the Au.
gustinian Recollects acquired such
power that the annals Of that colony
seem rather TO be the records Of the
Augustinian province Of San Nicolas
than those of a royal dependency.
/. In such a community the posi-
ton of governor had feZattractione
for an honest man. In 1919, a new
Egovernor, Bustamente Bustillo, found
on his arrival that all the royal Off
/. Gals had been busily embezzling and
pilfering, leaving the treasury nearly
empty. After ascertaining the facts
he set TO work energetically to recover
the funds, and to punish the guilty,
who thereupon, as seems TO have been
customary in suchcases sought asylum
in the churches. One Of them had
carried with him certain official re-
cords necessary for the veridcati0n Of
the accounts, and these Bustillo re-
quested the archbishop to make him