The times., 1898-07-03
SPANS DECADEECE.
The Country Today Almost Worm
Out Land.

-
Out Land.
Or j. s. Macintosh in The Philadalrilia I.edgar.)
Several visits previously made TO Spain
had yielded to your correspondent a sin
suiarly fair knowledge OF Spain. its condi-
ton generally considered, and the various
classes OF. that failing and unha ppy king
dom. But the latest visit opened up from
the inside the desperate state Of matters
in this land OF the past. These words.
the past, are used advisedly and with
all sober. sad truth Spain is the one
country of Europe that has not yet
emerged from the ignorance. the lethargy
and the misery of the-iast-and worst days
of raediaevalism. Church and state, oil
garchy and monarchy. belong to the else
where vanished past. Time and leisure
are both demanded to carry the thought
ful student beyond the glamour of roman
tic traditions and the moving tales of
great adventures, and to lead away from
the bewitching survey of Escurial, Giral-
da and AIham5ra 10 the patient and thor
ough investigation of the actual life of
the present hour. TO the state of the cOun-
try as a visible fact, the condition of the
upper classes and the sulIen endurance
and the manifold sufferings of the masses.
among whom today are found the best
clements for a possible regeneration OF
the debased and steadily retrogading ma
ton. 4.-... ,, ,~-,r-
Studied thus quietly, and with an honest
wish to see straight and learn facts. what
is Spain. You may pack il ali into one
phrase-a wornout land.
The old impulsive and formative pow
ers and forces. not only of the glorious
days of Ferdinand and Isabella, but also
OF the much later times of the great
Peninsular wars Of Napoleon and Well
ington. are worn out The old nobility.
naughty and ceremonious. but honora-
bic and honest: the old military leaders,
brave and self-denying; the far-sighted
statesmen and the church dignitaries,
able and learned are worn out. You
ask for them in vain. Here and there
one may be heard Of but he is only a
lonely relic of the vanished order; and,
weary and Disguised, the far-separated
and self-distrusting remnant do not as
sert themselves. and would affect naught
if they did. The day of the best is gone;
the day of the bureau has come.
The old realities of life are worn out
OF course. if you are simply rushing from
point to point, on business or on pleas
ure bent you will not and you cannot
reach these facts. The business mans
hurry from town to town; the curious
tourist, seeking out "the sights the
historian. pursuing the path of the
Goth, the Saracen, the Castilian; the
artist and the virtuOso, lettering about
seductive Toledo. hoary Cordova or fas-
cinating Granada. may come and go of
tentimes, and fail to realize the deep,
far-reaching changes that have come into
the national life. But you cannot miss
this sad feature when you hear from the
lips of consuls, missionaries, teachers,
bankers. and, above all, from some of
the sad-hearted remnant, what their own
eyes have marked going on steadily, and
what they know from years of residence.
The forms of better days remain; the
reality is largely lost
The old country life. the old guardian
ship of the chieftain for his retainers
the generous sympathy between land
owner and tenant the grave but sin
csre acknowledgment of the obligations
of rank and property with the related
and produced loyalty and trust and af-
lection of the tenant and the dependent
for his chief, are now not the rule but
the very rare exception. Absenteeism
and exaction have wrought here even
worse results than the same baleful facts
did in Ireland. To a great degree the old
patriotism is worn out The literal pro-
vincialism, which has always been more
or less marked by Spain, and has ever
been cause of weakness, the active sec
tionalism which leads a man to say and
TO reef-'1 am a Nrlllclan, or L am q
ValencIan'' or "a Christian" rather
than "I am a Spanard." is strongly
marked at this time. The successive
revolutions, the dynastic changes. above
all the mercenary bureau at Madrid.
and the merciless shipments of death
doomed conscripts TO the famine and fe-
yer graves in Cuba and the Philippines
have, to a large degree, killed out the
old national spirit. The old nefgiIborIy
and social faith is worn out Man has
but little faith in man. Distrust. sus-
picion and a stern sulleress have grown
sadly common.
To drive over theaoId and now scarce
passable roads. at times to cross afoot
the hills, TO stop at the wayside inns. or
to spend a few days on an estate or a
farm. gives you the opportunity of see
ing what neglect increasing poverty and
general unrest are producing in many
portions OF land that mightube made to
TEEN with plenty. The. sum of such study
may be summed up in the two words
waste stretches" Some of us know