The Lamar register., 1898-10-05
TRAGEDY OF SPAIN.
HER RISE ONLY EXCEEDED BY
HER FALL.
Emile olivier Says Her Final Expuf-
sion From the Western Hemlsphere
L. Merely the Just Decree OF Haven
Her Past GIories.

lister of France, contributes an article
70 the Century on America, Spain. and
France. NJ. Olivier says: Few his
tories are at one and the same time
more tragic and more Instructive than
that OF the Spanish people No rule
has been wider and more brilliant.
Having prevented IslamIsm from over
flowing Europe. the Spaniards them
selves spread through the countries
which they had preserved from the Mo-
hammedan invasion. Before long they
were everywhere--in Italy in the Low
Countries by right OF conquest, in Ger
many through election. The domfna-
ton OF their arms, customs and Iitera-
ture was widely extended They were
on the point of giving king to France.
and they were represented in the gov
efanent OF Louis XIV. People dressed
as they did. thought and felt as they
did, and il was quite as much from
Spain as from Rome that our great
Corneilie drew the inspiration OF his
sublime works. Everything came to
their aid. An italian turned Spaniard
discovered rev world for them. The
virgin soil received first the print of
hANAA AfNAr anu lAts gave LutlI uEUlt u
the region. The sun never set on their
empire. There Is nothing comparable
to this magnificent development of
power, unless It be the magnitude and
rapidity OF the decay which followed
Little by little the Spauiards we're ey-
erywhere driven out OF Europe They
lost Italy. the Empire. the Low Coun-
tries. Bnt for all these successive loss
es and European checks the found
compensation in the New World, with
its treasures. its fertile soil. its fruit
ful rivers. and its two oceans which
commanded the commerce of the globe.
But here too, though more slowly, a
decline set in.
The history OF Spanish colonization
in America presents three phases. The
first is wholly warlike in its nature. We
see in 1t adventnrers and conquerors
who land on the unexplored shores.
seize them. and e1terminate the native
population. The second phase is sacer-
dotal. The priest comes along with
the captain. to convert. and also to
mitigate the cruelties of the soldier.
And then-the third phase-after the
missionaries arrive the court favorites.
sent out from the mother-country to
enrich themselves. well typified by the
Marquis of Braneiforte. who sold dec
orations sometimes at even so high
price as ten thousand dollars, and by
Iturrigarai. who trafficked in DEGREES
and Offices. The colonies. first tortured
and then converted. become prebends
for all the dissolute and begging good
tor-nothings whom Spain wishes to get
rid of. So 1t was not long before
America began to slip away from
4 Spain, as Europe had done. In 1920
the colonies rebelled. one after the
other. and at the end of heroic strug-
gle repelled the Spanish troops and
proclaimed independence. First the
United States. and then England. rec
ognized the new nations. The import
ance of the event was seen by all the
clear-sighted public men of the Old
World. Vergennes, the French minis
ter who helped to free North America,
said on the proclamation of the inde-
pendence of the English colonies: "The
Spanish colonies will some day become
the prey of the Anglo-Saxons; and as
sure as they have pushed back the In
dians, they will sooner or later drive
the Latin peoples from every part of
America" To save what remained to
her of her American colonies. to keep
Cuba and the Philippines. Spain should
have studied the best interests of the
inhabitants with redoubled zeal She
should have ruled with velvet hand.
whereas she was harder than ever.
More than ever she turned those won
derful lands into battening-felds for
her ruined mobiles. for her fortune-seek-
ing favorites. 1t was notorious that
they went to Cuba to get rich. Conse-
luently the outcry against Spanish do
mination has not ceased for an instant
since the emancipation of South Amer
ica The attentive ear has always
heard it more or less distinctly. In
1870, when l was minister, received
a deputation of Cubans, who came to
beg me to remedy their ills and to in
teryene in their behalf. And now, the
discomfort having reached the highest
degree of Intensity. Cuba revolts, and
calls for help, and the emancipative
movement begun in 1920 approaches
fruition What Spain still holds is on
the point OF being torn from her. All
America, with the exception of a few