Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1898-08-25
A sun THAT HAS SET.
The PathOs of the Ruin that, Has
Overtaken Poor Old Spain.
St. Louis Globe-D mi

St. Louis Globe Democrat.
Despite that nations follies
and Warehouses; there is a tinge
of pathos in the acknowledgement
of the Madrid newspaper, the
Liberal, that "Spain's mission in
the new world is completely
ended" The close of a geograph-
lcal and political connection
which has lasted for more than
four centuries is marked by the
peace stipulation which forces
the Spanish troops to- evacuate
Cuba and Porto Rico. From the
hemisphere which Spain discov-
cred, which she coloniz9d earlier
than any other nation, and on
which she once held more ter
ritory than all the other coun.
tries combined, the Spanish flag
now vanishes. The magnificent
estate which Columbus gave to
Isabella and Ferdinand, which
the great Charles thought was
the most valuable part of his
worldly possessions, and which
Philip supposed he had be-
qaeathed to his people 10 per
petuity, gradually shrunk in the
mutations of the ages. and now
the last fragment of it leaves
Spanish hands forever.
Nowhere in the thousand Of
uoorc Of ynoorlol t;poo dooc hics
tory furnish a more striking con-
trast than SPANS connection
with the new world presents.
When Philip II ordered the arrest
of Drake for his presumption 10
sailing along the west side Of
FSouth America without Philips
permission, all of South America
except Brazil, all of Central
America and the West Indies.
aid the greater part of North
America which had been
colonized by any nation belonged
to Spain, and the Pacific Ocean
was a Spanish lake. Ia the year
1900 SPANS territory stretched
from the southerly line of Oregon
down to Cape Horn. She had the
whole of the region along the
west side of the Mississippi from
the Canadian line to the Gulf OF
Mexico. a strip of territory north
of the Gulf extending east from
the Mississippi to aud including
Florida, and almost all of the
continent south Of that line.
Within the next quarter Of a cen.
fury shs had lost all of this i'm
mense domain except the Islands
of Cuba and Porto Rico, which
now drop from her hands. Par
of it she vas coerced into ceding
to France; another part, under
pressure, she gave to the United
States; and The rest of it-Mex
leo, Chill, Peru, Colombia, auc
other states of Central and South
America-brOke away from hel
and set up governments for them
selves.
Alone of all the nations which
have filled a large place in histo-
ry, Spain is feebler to day thar
she was when the century began,
OF the world empire which she
had in Philip lis time, and a
large part of which remained
down to the reign of Ferdinand
VII, nothing is now left outside
of the peninsula except part Of
the Philippines, which she will
probably have to surrender. some
territory in Africa. which has
only a handful of inhabitants
and few Isolated islands in Eu-
ropean waters and in the Pacific,
Nothing in the history of any nd,
ton of the world except the coll
lapse of Alexander's empire af>
ter the great Macedonian's death
or Rome's fall when Odoace1
overturned the shadow throne OF
the Little Augustus" equals
the swift and sweeping ruin
which has overtaken Spain since
the end of the eighteenth centu-
~. Yet in this day Of SPANS
tribulation, which her political
infamies and imbecilities have
brought upon herself. there will
be no rejoicing in this country at
her downfall. On the contrary.
what was once said of Venice
America will here Say of great.
er state than Venice:
And what if she had seen those glo-
ries fade,
Those titles vanish and that
strength decay
Yet shall some tribute of regret be
paid
When her long life hath reached
its final day,
Men are we and must grieye when
even the shade
Of that which once was great has
passed away.
THE VICTORY rests with Americas