The record-union., 1898-06-20
SPANISH FAILURES.
JUST WHAT MANNER OF MAN
THE SPANIARD IS.
Something of the History Whack
the Country Has Made In
the Past.


A host of writer's have tried 10 eX-
plain Just what manner Oh HAL .ile
Spaniard is. Even years ago we hhu
an adventurous French writer, bran
tome, seeking to give reasons lor the
Spanish bombast and bcasungs, winch
he called .'rodomontade." Machiavelli
speculated about the spasmodlc spirit
of enterprise in the Spaniards; and
journalists nowadays are attempting
to show how unique the Spanish char
acter is and just why 1t Is so pecuhar'
1t is surely one of the incest problems
of race ever propounded. IL mas gen
orally been admitted that as the Ger
man loved system above all, as freedom
appealed supremely to the Anglo-SaXon
so the idea of dignity was the Key
note to Spanish personality. This sense
of dignity is the result OF excruciatlhg
self-consciousness which has SO dislo-
Gated his other qualities as 10 render
the Spaniard fundamentally inefficient.
1t has made him a highly emotional or
excitable and correspondingly ira
tional creature. While he may exhibit
the child's instinct for self-denial, the
effacement when most expedient. The
consequence is the Spaniard never sue
.ceeds. With the loyalty of dog at
times, he never adheres to his plans
SO as to realize his wishes. With the
Impressive endurance and tenaclty or
the mule he never perseveres in we'll
considered directions. Doubtless the fact
that the Spaniard has always been a
pride He has the soldiers contempt
for death, his Incidence when out of
action, his techiness about grade. But
behind this is that disordered selt-con-
seriousness which explains his high eX-
rule, accompanied with Grass callous-
ness. Perhaps no people have 50 re-
ligiously pursued career of inhuman-
ity as the devotees of autos da fe ii. G.
acts of faith and bull fights.
Such explosiveness and callousness
are found only in such extreme mix
lures of race as appear in Spain. he
Iberian stock, which is purest in Bis
cay, represents a deposit of the Nor
golian and Visigothic, with a trace of
the Semitic. 1t may be this sorry ad-
mixture, after ALL which makes the
Spaniard the being who never cutie
succeeds. This may explain his strange
habit of telling falsehood and truth so
unexpectedly, his righteousness in com
parison with the French and Italians,
his sardonic humor, his surprising
Quixotry, and above all, his incapacity
manifest in the long list of his defeats
by the Romans, Moors, Dutch, Eng
lish, MexicanS, South Americans and
finally Cubans and North Americans.
In 21S Is. G. the Romans defeated the
CarthagenianS, who had made colonies
in Spain. and after 20o B. c. Spain was
regarded as a Roman province. In oOi,
after an invasion, the Visigoths estab-
lished a kingdom in the peninsula and
The typical madness of Spanish history
began OF the twenty-three NisiSothic
kings from Theudis to Roderic, nine
were deposed and seven We're muir
dered. In III the Moors, an offshoot of
the Arabian family, made conquest Of
Spain. Their rule was not harsh but
the process of driving them south
lasted until the sixteenth century.
Even then, after the repulse of the
Moors there was no common national
feeling in Spain.
Chance, not skill, added America to
the wealth of the Spanish monarchy.
Spain was now on the apex of what is
called her greatness, yet she could do
nothing but blunder and be foolish
when favored by historical accident.
She was producing a Cervantes, Lopa
da Vega, Calderon, Murillo. VelasqueZ
and almost the finest architecture in
Europe.
Through Ferdinands settlement OF
domestic problems by diplomacy, inter-
national politics, the most distinctive
feature of modern history, was estab-
1ished. Yet here occurred a colossal
failure. With her colonies in the hands
of unfit, corrupt politicians, the Span
iards at home lost completely the art
of living and the art of fighting and
retained only the art of dying accord
ing TO their tropical instinct
The industry of the tolerant Moors
their systems of irrigation, their cult
walton of sugar, cotton, rice, silk, had
been "A model to Europe, but with the
insane passion for religious unity with
the excessive taxation of the produc-
tive classes, all Spanish prestige was
wiped out. Because of Spain's intoler-
ance the Netherlands threw off the
hated yoke. Think of the splendid
anind of a Spinoza being lost TO Spain
and gained by the Dutch, Then came
the most spectacular collapse of any
nation in the modern world, the col
lapse of Philips grand scheme against
England.
There is all Spanish history in this
scene, superb pretense downright folly
and final defeat. England. under Eliz-
abeth. had aided and abetted the Dutch
in their revolt against Spain. Add tc
this that Philip IL. was piqued at not
becoming Eliza beth's husband 1t was
the arrogant grandee as always utter
1y foiled. The 132 vessels of the ''in-
Nincible armada" We're met in the Eng
lish Channel by an English fleet under
Howard and Drake and worsted Their