The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-04-29
SPANARD AND SAXON.
Hood Fued Of Centuries Between Two
Races.

Races.
In view OF the :act thai Spain Is now
assembling a feet a. th= Canary Isles
wnerewith 10 crush Angio-Saxn civili-
zaEOn IN the Now world and 70 con-
vert New York into shambles like the
interior OF Cuba i Is interesting to
recall that this time 80 years z
she collected another great fleet at
CadiZ, the same port from which the
present one is sailing. wherewith 10
crush the AngIo-Saxon civilization OF
the Old world.
The invincible Armada was utterly
destroyed, as viii be The present tor
pedo squadron, but a. the time X was
viewed as the Creates thing the world
had ever seen. 1t must have been an
imposing sight 10 b-hold thai mighty
armament, and no doubt as il began
70 stir under the airs OF heaven and
bosom thrilled both cboard aid ashore
at the though: OF the ~oStensibly piouS
object of the expedition which, in the
words Of he duke of Medina Sidonia.
the commandments was ~ re-
cover countries 10 the church oppTess-
ed by the enemies OF the faith. 1t on
sisted Of $50 or 1872 ships, seven Of them
being galleonS Of over a thousand tons
burden and sixty seven over five hun
dred- According TO the latest estimate,
they carried 2,34l guns, though they
We're, for he most part, small While
the human freight for fighting and
other purposes amounted TO over 80
OU men. OF thsSe upward of eight
| thousand We're Gamer nearly nineteen
thousand We're soldiers, and the re
mainder being made up of volunteers
galley slaves TO row the galleys and
| ga~lleasses, priests, etc. The note
worthy thing in the comparison of the
two fleets was that the Spanish almost
doubled the English in tonnage, the
figures being %, IA, as against %, 120,
while the English as greatly excelled
the enemy in the number of eamen
of whom the English had 1873 all
told, while the Spanish had only s, 766."
This IS the beginning of a brilliant
description Of the inVincible Armada,
and its disastrous failure, 10y DR.. AL
fred Thomas Story, in a new work OF
two volumes, entitled the Building of
the British Empire" L begins with
| the reign of Elizabeth AMI comes down
TO the present queen. tn auCnOr takes
these limits as truly representing the
formation Of the British empire % 90
day. BefO-- the Elizabethan period
England was in the true sense OF the
word a continental power. Al one
time she owned a major par, f France
and other pieces OF territory upon the
continent, and at no time was she
without some interest or right IN re-
| gard to the continent. from the days
of William the Norman down TO the
| present century. Il is only in the pre-
| sent century thal the British crGHn
has dropped the ancient title Of King
| of France.
AGAINST THE ANGLO-SAXCN.
1t was in the time of Elizabeth that
| +hn priEich borrow - I1r. .aoJo.
views and wiser policiec. The tirs1
step was the enlargement and extern
sion of the navy which had been begun
ON a small scale by Henry WIN. The
next was the defeat of the
Armada, and the third was the estab-
| lishment of colonies i'm other lands.
| Here the greatest obstacle to her pro-
| gross was Spain, which, says the au-
thor, "A this time was the richest
n most powerful nation in the world.
In the course of a century she a at
tanned to hat proud position of pre-
| eminence through the wisdom of her
rulers and the valOr and ability of her
people. Swiftly % the uniting of
| the two kingdoms of Castle and AragOn
| under Ferdinand and Isabella, and the
| conquest under their hands of the
kingdom of Granada, came the discOv-
| cry of America by Columbus and the
! adding of the new world to their do
| m%iniOns."
Thus 1T came about that the Spanish
| throne owned all of North and South
| America, barring Brazil and some of
| the northern Atlantic coast Of North
America; the West Indies up to the
mainland, including the ma1tchless
Philippines. Graspfng and selfish, she
| endeavored to close every port in these
vast possessions to all ships excepting
| her own. She succeeded for a time,
| during which period it loOked greatly
as if she Were to bring the entire world
under her flag. The only power which
fought her tirelessly, fearlessly. n
even recklessly, was England. Spain
tried her hardest TO injure that cOun-
try. She employed enormous wealth
to corrupt British politics and to de-
bauch British leaders. 1t is no secret
, now that Sir Walter Raleigh was be
headed as a result of a Well-conceived
and executed Spanish conspiracy,
which was started in Madrid and car
ried to a successful termination in Lon
don.
SPANS SHORT-SIGHTED POLICY.
And Yet her very course, far from
curing, tended to increase the evils
of which she complained. By confin-
ing to her own ships, she
~antagonized all other commercial ma
tions, and gave the British sea-rovers
and buccaneers a richer harvest than
they would otherwise have had To
the English naval flag fiocked the ad-
ventures of France, Portugal, Italy,
Holland, and Scandinavia.
This class was we'll illustrated by
John and Sebastian Cabot, In her de-
sire to weaken the low countries.
Spain induced through her eXaction a
protest among liberty-loVing people
which aused thousands to emigrate
across the North sea to the English
isle. The movement began in the time
the time of Charles II. In many of the
the time of CharlesII. In many of the
English towns there were half as many
foreigners as there We're English. They
brought With than what the English
did not possess at the time-raTe skill
in manufactures. and better ISM
methods. Indirectly Spain converted
England from a purely agricultural in
toam manufacturing nation. The Foreign
~