The pioneer press. (Miller, Hand County, S.D.) 1893-190?, 1899-08-17

card-WIi Sho ANS''S'
.s Won travel through Spain by the
.nross which carries you TO Madrid,
NO belief is forced upon you that not
W. In rumor of the war has yet reach
/, tbe remoter countryside. The peas
y, a loin-cloth girt about his waist,
~, bestrides his mule in sublime ig-
.orance Of Americas triumph. News
+rovels slowly in Spain, where the
morning paper is not more necessary
hon wine and bread; and it would be
..fe TO wager that if you encountered
vayfarer on the Sierras and spoke to
him of battles and alarms his mind
mould revert slowly to the half-known
a,ories of the peninsula. But the ig-
uorance of the country may be matched
Nv the apparent indifference of the
,ouns and for this Indifference anoth-
az exclamation must be sought. Spain
woke up one morning to find that her
oolonies had been snatched from her,
that the last link had been snapped in
the chain which once bound her to the
snlendid victories of her golden CEN
turv. And she accepted the discovery
with an admirable tranquility OF mind.
Cuba and the Philippines, alas were
hers no more Henceforth she would
lose the responsibility, as well as the
excitement, of a lingering campaign.
But with that lofty pride which refuses
to realize a humiliation, Spain put the
truth away from her, and took up her
occupations once more with a rare yet
perfect resignation to the inevitable.
Nor was the strange security unex-
pected. The Spaniards have always
shown themselves either unconscious
of, or superior to, disaster. There is
now, as there was three centuries ago,
touch of Moorish fatalism in their
character Kismet, they murmur, as
the Moors did also, who once peopled
the country; and when there is no help
for disaster they wrap themselves in a
triple cloak of arrogance, and grimly
smile at facts, as though they only half
believed Ia them. But though the war
is over and accepted Loyalty for what it
achieved, the Spaniards, in private, still
nurse a painful wound. The eternal
dislike of strangers, in which they
rival the ancient Athenians, is more
bitter, more intense than ever. Col
lectively, maybe, it finds no express
sion but you will hardly converse with
a solitary Spaniard without discover
ing the sig IS Of private resentment.
Now, this resentment is cherished
mildly against the Americans, who
have triumphed in war; more siren
uously against the English, whose SYM
pathy, says Spain, was too loudly and
expressed. But this resent
ment will soon be merged in the UNI
willing federation which Spain extends
10 all foreigners, and then the war will
have left little trace, save in a rest
rom colonial warfare and in hand
'omely replenished exchequer. And
what Of the future? Will Spain, now
the is confined forever within her own
,orders, win back something of her old
wealth and prosperity? Will she es-
ablish the peace and tranquility which
ire best suited to her character? No
is likely to come from
Without, since France, though she has
ust demanded, with threat, that the
spanish debt should be paid in full, is
90 busy cleaning her own house to
ovet the house of her neighbor. Be-
ides the Pyrenees have always proved
IN efficient rampant, and, even If they
we're not, Europe would not be likely to
witness the encroachment of France.
n truth, Spain will now be left to work
'ut her own destiny, and there is no
eason why she should not face the
lew century with hope and confidence.
The fact that she has passed through
he crisis of defeat with the merest
hreat of revolution is proof enough
hat her varied provinces are all
loyalty by the throne, and
hat there is little chance Of imme-
late dissension. Indeed, all over Eu-
ope pretenders are under a cloud, and
egitimism is wisely held an exploded
octriEe. The Carlists in Spain have
o better prospects than the royalists
r Bonapartists in France, since our
tactical age has recognized clearly
hat every country exists for the gov
rned, not for the governments; and
OF even Spain, docile though she be
historical tradition, will ever again
ccept the theory of divine right.