The times., 1898-04-06
HISTORIC NOTES ON SPAIN.

In order to understand what sort of
people the Spaniards are, a little re-
view Of the history of Spain may not
be bad thing. The original Spaniards
were the Basques, people of the
Pyrenees. Away back in the dawn of
civilization Spain was conquered by the
Phoenicians, who were as cruel as any
race of people of ancient times. and
whose treachery (Punic faith) passed
into a Roman proverb. They were an
enterprising people and had u talent for
exploration. but their moral qualities
We're apparently missing. There was
considerable admixture of their blood
with the original Spanish. Later. the
1berian peninsula;I came under the do
minion of the Moors. who are respon-
sble for a peculiar and most beautiful
style of architecture developed in Spain
during the Middle Ages They also
had much to do with the pre-eminence
which Spanish schools attained at
about that time. 1t is not generally
known that Columbus obtained the
maps and the theory on which he bas-
ed his voyage of discovery, from the
Moorish schools of Spain, and that in
these schools the law of gravitation. the
true form Of the earth and the theory
of the solar system, were known and
taught long before northern Europe
would admit such ideas In course OF
time, however the Moors were over
thrown and expelled from Spain, and
at about the same period the Jews.
whose commercial genius had done
much to build up the prosperity of the
Kingdom. We're also thrust out With
out any apparent idea Of developing
the resources of their own country, an
insane greed of wealth and empire sent
the most energetic men of the kingdom
to the New World. where they bullied,
threatened and tortured the natives in
order to obtain large quantities of
gold. Piracy was added to the things
for which the Spaniard was known and
feared, and the Spanish freebooter was
the terror of the seas. Meanwhile the
learning, art and industry established
by the banished Moors and Jews were
allowed to fall into decay and the
common people fell into a state of half
savage destitution, while the adven-
turers were hunting treasure and
power in a country as yet so unused to
the military engines of Europeans that
/ il was an easy prey The annals of the
two Americas are full of incidents il
Illustrating the trust which the ignorant
natives repOsed in the Spaniard and
hA I1,. i
which it was rewarded. In Mexico.
GuatemaZin. successor to Montezuma
was put to the torture by Cortes until
he consented to reveal the hiding place
of his treasure. He survived this ex-
perience but a year. He was then sus-
pected of a desire to recover his king
! dom. and was hanged. In 1928. when
Spain was, for a brief period in pos
session of Rome, it was said that not
even under the savage Goths and VAN
| dals had the Eternal City witnessed
such scenes of horror as were caused
by the Spaniards. Pizarro's barbarity
toward the Incas Of Peru is too well
known for repetition; and the story
of Peru was the history of all South
7
be had. 1t may be interesting to know
that to Spain belongs the responsibility
of introducing slavery into America
When, in 1880. Brazil became for a
time subject to Spain, it was a Span
lard who suggested the importation of
Africans for work in the mines. and
from Brazil the slave trade spread to
the West Indies.
There We're two other reasons beside
the desire for sudden wealth which
made the Spaniard the great explorer
and pirate of the sixteenth century.
/ One was that, owing TO the Moorish
schools. there was a considerable and
accurate knowledge of geography and
/ astronomy in Spain, which was ex-
tremely useful in planning such expe-
ditions. Another was, that the Span
lard has a pride which is ineradicable,
and few, indeed, are the occupations
which his dignity will allow him TO
enter. One Occupation, however, which
has always, according to his notion
been suitable for a gentleman, is that
| of warning against defenseless people
y
Spanish soldiers ever secured on the
Continent of Europe were gained in
Alva's brutal and merciless campaigns
in the Netherlands, and even there the
dogged courage of the Dutch, aided on
one or two occasions by their ally, the
sea, which drowned the invaders like
rats, finally drove the Spaniard home
I In ha
he could have things very much his
own way; and he did. His wars were
not with the IroquOis and Hurons of
the North, but against the gentler and
more peaceful tribes of the South
which had rude civilization. primi-
tive religion, and We're not in the habit
of war That is the kind of a conqueror
the Spaniard is.
Things have been said about Span
ish rule in Mexico and California. and
in one or two other places, which are
in contradiction to the general charac-
ter of the Spaniard. Under Spanish
rule, in some instances. the natives
We're kindly and humanely treated. and
the fercer instincts of the conQueror
did not appear. But there are two or
three things which will be found to
explain this. One is the influence of
the missionary priest. Some of the
Jesuits who gave their lives to peace
full work among the Indians, and to the
founding of churches in the new coun-
try, We're men of singular devotion,
wisdom, and unselishness, and their
influence naturally had something to