St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1898-03-30

CASTLE. When the philosopher, the
scientist, the inventor, had gone, there
remained only the soldier and the peas
ant. From the days of Ferdinand to the
days of Weyler it has been the policy of
Spain to terrorize her subjects into sub
mission by torture and butchery. From
first to last this policy has been fail
ure.
EARLY in the sixteenth century the
Netherlands reyolted and formed the
United Provinces The sturdy Dutch
men destroyed what remnants remained
of the Spanish navy, and in l643, at
Rocroy, the Spanish infantry, hitherto
invincible, was beaten and forever
broken. Portugal and her vast posses
sions in three continents were lost i'll
1910 Naples revolted in 1913 under
Masaniello. He was assassinated by
braves in the hire of Spain, and after a
long struggle the rebellion was sup
pressed. But SPANS hold on the two
Sicilies, once loosened, was never go
strong again. France seized the prov
inces north Of the Pyrenees and Franche.
Comte. All authority in the German
states had long been lost to Spain. and
the last Spanish king of the Austrian
dynasty, at the close of the seventeenth
century, saw his realm the prey of the
great powers.
Equally disastrous were those times
in the colonies. The Dutch, French and
English seized foothold in the Guianas
and then helped themselves one after
another to the smaller islands in the
Caribbean sea. By the time Of the Dutch
war Of 1865 the pretensions of Spain tc
universal ownership in those regions
We're wholly ignored. The English
seized Jamaica. The French first took
Tortuga and thence sent out filibusters,
who presently drove the Spanish out of
Haiti-Hispaniola, Little Spain-and
made it a French province Even Ha-
vana was attacked more than once.
Drake had fruitless venture at it.
Penn and Venables, who took Jamaica,
tried to take it, but failed. England
did storm the forts in 7G0 and held the
city few years, then gave it back to
Spain. By the end Of that century Trim
idad, too, was snatched away, ard
Spain's commerce with the American
colonies substantially destroyed Eng
land came to her aid at home in the
Napoleonic wars, and then France in
turn helped Ferdinand VII to hold his
throne.
Spain Loses q Continent.
Early in the nineteenth century re-
bellions began in South America. Sc
oret societies were formed which had
for their object the throwing off of the
Spanish yoke. The chief founder and
promoter Of these was Spanish creole
of Venezuela, | ancisco Miranda by
name He had served under Washington
in the American Revolution and had be-
come thoroughly imbued with the spirit
OF liberty and with the principles of re-
publicanism. What had been done in
North America could, he thought be
done in South America He therefore
formed in London, since it could not
lowed in the same year. and the Argen-
tine confederation, after ten years war,
in 1924. Brazil had been lost to Spain
in the secession of Portugal, and Florida
was coded to the United States in 1919.
Nothing was now left to Spain in the
western hemisphere except Cuba Ind
Puerto Ritz.
Rebellious Remnants of an Empire.
Beyond the rear end of the Spanish
peninsula, q few islands adjoining her
shores aud penal colony in Africa in
which political prisoners are starved
md tortured Spain has nothing left but
Cuba and the Philippines, and both are
in revolt. Columbus declared Cuba to
be the "most beautiful land ever beheld
by human eyes" Her peaoeable natives
the Spanish exterminated with every
horror of torture Since there was no
gold in the island Cuba was neglected
and ignored for many years. But the
Spanish colonized it and ultimately
found that its sugar plantations and to-
bacco fields were more profitable than
gold mines For two centuries it has
proved the most valuable of all Spains
possessions Cuba finally grew tired of
being plundered by Spain, and rebellion
after rebellion arose, only to be ruth
lessly suppressed. Then came the ia
nous ten years war and finally the
present formidable instruction. The
smaller island of Puerto Rico, which,
with Cuba, makes up the remnant of
SPANS empire in America commands
but slight attention. Its history has
been oolorless, its individuality not sig
niiioant. 1t hangs upon the fate Of Cuba.
The Philippines form an important
link in the great volcanic mountain
range lying off the Asian coast-Kam-
ohatka, the Kurilos, Japan, Formosa,
the Philippines, Borneo, Java. There
are two largo islands, Luzon and Min
danaho, seven others of considerable
size, and uncounted hundreds Of smaller
ones, down to the merest dots of verdur-
GUS rock on the sea. They are all made
OF volcanic rock and coral and abound