The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1898-04-05

ed in Peru, the strip of land fifty and
more miles wide, stretching from the
! ocean front to the foothills Of the Andes
supported a prosperous population OF
many hundreds Of thousands. The pa
tient Peruvians had, by vast irrigation
works, made this sandy desert blossom
/ like the rose. In some cases they had
i constructed aqueducts hundreds OF
miles long, and even pierced mountains
in order that this region might be
watered. The desert is once more trl-
umphant The conquerorS seeking and
esteeming those things only that could
be gained by the sword, neglected the
real essentials of prosperity, and to this
/ day the evil results are felt. Mexico
| was a similar victim. The strange
creatures whom Montezuma ruled were
/ exceedingly progressive. But their
works and plans and agricultural gains
were scattered to the winds by their
! bloodthirsty conquerors, and to this day
! the spiritlesS Peon seems sunken be-
| yond all hope of revival. Thus every
! where, at home, abroad, Spain has pre-
pared the way for her own undoing.
The Grandee spirit-For centuries af
ter the destruction of the Roman En-
pre- by the Goths and Vandals, the
human intellect was practically be-
numbed. A pail of darkness was over
all; the mobiles were almost as I'M
! learned as their SerfS and the SerfS
were utterly hopeless. Aspiration lay
| like a giant chilled by the cold. But
since that time stimulation of thought
has caused the great heart of the world
! to throb with increasing power until
| the feeling of a common humanity
thrills in some degree even those most
| separated by birth and wealth. But
| against the tendency of the people to
! think and act, hope and accomplish,
the proud and stubborn spirit of Span
! ish grandeeism has stood out resolutely.
/ The rising tide of human aspiration
cannot be Withstood. If a Government
even though hoary with age or crusted
| with heI ole deeds, try to turn a deaf
ear to the cry of the poor for life and
| liberty, for education and for hope, the
! cry Will not die out, but its pleading
will be turned into the fierce and fate
| full groWl of a cOrnered beast. Thus
has it been with Spain. Far more or
! ganized than Nihilism in Russia, is an
archism in Spain. The nation is honey
combed with laWless sentiments The
men in power are under the hopeless
necessity of guarding against the home
| population as if it were an invading
army. No other Government in Eu
rope, not even Russia, is in so serious
a condition. Spain stands revealed be-
! fore the world as not having controlled
the growth of hope and thought, but as
having withstood it. The inevitable dis
aster draws nearer each day, and is
not delayed by the fact that Spanish
statesmen welcome foreign complica-
lions as Offering a favorable diversion
of the direction in which the combative
spirit seeks to expend itself.
Much more might be written, but why
multiply words? Spain is being hur-
ried to her doom by the binding forces
within her. Her brutality in peace and
in war make her unworthy of kinship
with the sisterhood of progressive peo-
pies. She is a survival of bloody times
that have for many nations long ago
passed away. 1t will indeed be a
strange historic parallel, if the Anglo
Saxon race that first curbed her ca
reer in the western world, should also
/ be the one to finally expel her!
Fallen the pride of Aragon.
The lordly might of high Castile
Mark how the closing shadows steal
| Where erst the sun of empire shone!
AS some strong seed unthinking pent
In costly vase or fragile jar,
It's sturdy roots demonstrating far
Burst outwards, seeking nourishnent:
So when new world had it's birth,
The swelling seed of wide domain
Fell on the barren soil of Spain,
1t withered there for lack Of earth.
Thus many dawning lives we see,
Closing too soon in dark despair
Too narrow-souled to rightly bear
Full-groWn RESPONSIBILITY.