Pike County press. (Milford, Pa.) 1895-1925, 1898-10-21
sPAlN's DEcADENcE.
AZ One Time Its Supremacy was the Dread
of the Nations.

of the Nations.
When Charles V was obliged to re-
nounce the dream of a universal mon
archy, and to abandon the holy Roman
empire to his brother Ferdinand, he
was still able to make over to his son
Philip II. territories which rendered
Spain the preponderatlng power in the
civilized world Besides his ancestoral
dominions in the peninsula, to which,
in 1880, he added Portugal, Philip was
master of the wealthy Netherlands, OF
Milan and Naples, of the Mediterrane-
an islands, and Of the new world. His
revenues far exceeded those of any
other monarch, his armies we're admit
ted to be the most formidable in Bu-
rope, and his command Of the sea was
disputed only by the Turk, whose navy
he crushed at Lepanto, until the disas-
ters Of the armada gave warning that
the old methods of maritime warfare
were becoming obsolete. In every way
the supremacy Of Spain was the dread
Of the nations, and Its destruction was
the cherished object Of statesmen for
century. II was not their efforts,
however. which accomplished the re-
suit Olivares, 1t is true, was over
matched by Richelieu, but Spain had
vantage ground, enabling her to hold
her own against external assault The
causes of her decadence were internal;
they were numerous, but may be
roughly defined as springing from
pride, conservatism, and clericalism.
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 Angus
tinian recollects acquired such power
that theannals ofthat colony seem rath-
er to be the records Of the Augustinian
province of San Nicholas than those
of royal dependency.
In such a community the position Of
governor had few attractions for an
honest man. In 1719, new governor,
Bustamente Bustillo, found on his ar
rival that all the royal officials had
been busily embezzling and pilfering,
leaving the treasury nearly empty.
After ascertaining the facts, he set u
work energetically to recover the funds,
and to punish the guilty, who there
| upon, as seems to have been custom
ary in such cases, sought asylum in the
churches. One of them had carried
with him certain official records neces-
sary for the verificatlon of the ac-
counts, and these Bustillo requested
the archbishop to make him surrender.
The archbishop replied with a learned
argument, drawn up for him by a
Jesuit, proving that the governors re-
quest was Illegal. Bustillo lost his
| temper at this, and arrested the arch
bishop, who forthwith cast an inter-
dict over the city. Then the monks
and friars turned out in organized
bands, marching through the city with
crufixes, and shouting, "Vive la fe!
Vive la Iglesia~ They speedily col
lected a mob which they led to the
palace; the doors were broken in, the
governor and his son murdered, and
when the archbishop was released, he
assumed the governorship under the
advice of an assembly consisting ex-
clusively of ecclesiastical dignitaries.
In these perpetually recurring trou-
bles between the secular and the cler-
ical authorities, the inquisition was
not behindhand, although there was
no organized tribunal In Manila
Henry Lea, in the Atlantic.