Arizona republican., 1898-04-07

went rapidly forward. fOHCe De Leon landed in Florida, Balboa discovered the Pacific ocean and took possession of it in the name of Spain, and not only of the ocean itself, but all the lands bordering upon it, Cortez con- Quered Mexico, Narvaez cruised along our gulf coast and De Vaca, one of his officers, discovered the Mississippi river. De Vaca himself, with three wilderness and reached the Pacific coast. Coronado, d Spanish governor in Mexico, made an expedition through what is now the United States, and may have reached a point somewhere in Kansas; De Soto's melancholy ex- petition got as far north as Arkansas and gradually the Spanish title to the southern portion of North America was confirmed by actual discovery and set
 clement. As late as the opening of the seventeenth century the only
 white towns within what is now the
 United States were the Spanish col Ony at St. Augustine and, probably. the similar colony at Santa Fe. Tue son, possibly, may contest this state
 ment. The attempts of France and
 England to get foothold on the At
 lantic coast had failed. In South
 America the Spanish held undisputed
 sway, except in Brazil, a portion of
 which extended east of the papal line of 1493. Generally speaking, the Spaniards were masters of the terri tory from Tierra del Fuego northward nearly to the Mason and Dixon line. to even later period; and in the western part of North America their possessions included what is now Cali fornia, Nevada and Utah. until the successful establishment of an inde- pendent Mexican empire in the early twenties of the present century de- prived them of this vast tract
 It is no mere untoward chance that has lost Spain her western colonies From the first revolt of Spanish set clement in this hemisphere to the latest uprising in Cuba the cause, direct or indirect, has been ignorance, greed and cruelty on the part of those in In North and South Amer ica alike intolerable Spanish admins tration has driven the inhabitants to sever their connection with the mother countrywide title is misnomer-and set up independent governments for thny i11cf fofn overlook a nation than that which has overtaken Spain in the gradual loss of her dependencies and the conse- quent restriction of her influence and wealth. In South America her rule has been succeeded by that of great company of Spanish-American repub- lies, unhappily with many of her faults, faults of temperament and of climate which it is almost too much to expect we shall see eliminated. In North America she has been followed by the French and the Anglo-Saxon, and now the latter are supreme. There never was better illustration of the survival of the fittest than in this final establishment of the English speaking peoples throughout the northern half of the hemisphere.
 Today very little remains of the original Spanish empire in the west ern half of the world. Cuba is as good as lost, and only Puerto Rico remains. How long will the power of Madrid continue in that island? No one can tell, but it is certain that unless Spain gives it a better government than it ever had before it will revolt in due time and the Spanish flag will float nowhere in all the vast space decreed to the Castilian princes in 1493 by His Holiness at Rome.