The record-union., 1898-07-25

Government, and a well-fOunded hope
of enjoying the fruits Of his toll, and
he would rise up to be the new man
of a new land, one of the finest peas
ants in the whole of Europe. But he
has not had a chance. To-day he has
not hope. The Spaniard as he was
is not, and the world will never see
him more. thoughtful German who
has lived for years in Spain declared
that the old cavalier with his haughti-
ness and his honesty, his pride and his
honor, his punctiious ceremoniousnesS
but his essential gentlemanliness has
gone forever And if Spain is to have
a national and social resurrection the
masses. not the classes, must be looked
to- The hope of the future lies with
the gentle baja," that is, the yeo-
manry and the peasantry.
It is sadly true that at this hour
these masses are fearfully, distress
ingly ignorant No power has done
anything effective to save them from
sinking lower and lower into the slough
of a semi-animal stupidity. OF course
they are poor. What other result
could years Of merciless taxation, press
ing chiefly on them. yield? OF course
they are superstitious. What full beam
of light has ever been poured around
them? OF course they are now often
passionate and stealthy What other
than this fell fruit would you look for
from the wretched culture which has
been their only care? OF course they
are lazy. But what openings have they
had? What incentive to toll?
But when all this disparagementh has
been set forth, it remains true, accord
ing to the firm belief Of a score Of COM
petent witnesses, that the peasant, the
small farmer, the workingman, is the
hope of this degraded land. And he
is the coming revolutionary. The air
is heavy with the brewing storms. The
tempest may burst in an hour. Sleeping
in these poorlpeasants, who have never
had fair show in the face Of Europe,
are great qualities. These men. now
scoffed at as soldiers because, undrilled.
unfed, unled, they have had to go from
bitter defeat to defeat, can yet prove
themselves worthy Of the praise Of
Napoleon and Wellington as the raw
material out of which might be made
the toughest infantry in the world.
These masses are strangely patient
and enduring-"sufrida." to use their
own pregnant word. They have great
pluck and heroism. They are cheerful,
grateful. affectionate and hospitable.
But they have been ground down till
the good is buried out of sight The
evil has been called out. The mobiles
have racked and spoiled them. The
Government has known them only as
patient beasts of burden on whom must
be laid the multiplied and oppressive
loads of petty taxes, till they are verify
crushed beneath the pitiless weight
For this oppression, this extortion, the
peasant gets nothing. The bad roads
grow worse and the appropriated tax
fills the pocket of some official. The
fallen bridges are not repaired, but
some engineer is benefited. The chill
dren are left without school or teacher
yet schol tax is levied. The beardless
lads are hurried off to Cuba or some
other colony and die soon, but their
pay is drawn BY the officer. The navy
is made of many phantom ships, and
yet the taxes are collected for the Ma
val Bureau. A well-informed friend
stated that the population of Spain was
somewhere about 100000: that Of
these S.O0OOOO could not write; that
COCO 600 could neither read nor write,
and that about a half of the whole
had no sure and paying occupation.
Here is, indeed, submerged half!
And over this submerged half rules a
rapacious bureaucracy, incompetent
and regardless of the obligation flow
ing from place and power and trust.
How long can this misrule last ?-Rev.
DIR. ]. S. Macintosh, in the Philadelphia
Ledger