El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-08-08
SPANS Splendor Dimmed By
Cruel Treatment of Indians
Once Started It's Downward Trend Was Rapid
and Wealth Quickly Diminished.

ator in a considerable part of Asia and
America, Duke of Milan and the two
Burgundies. hereditary sovereign Of the
! Seventeen Netherlands and. by con-
| quest, king of Portugal, held more
power than was ever vested in a
| Spanish sovereign before or after
ward.
The immense wealth OF Peru, Chile
and Mexico that had flowed into the
treasury of Spain during the reign OF
Charles l. had not proved equal to the
financing of grossly mismanag ed
empire, and Philip inherited a decIin-
ing state and decaying fabric. Hol-
land and England drubbed Spain at
sea and destroyed its commerce. The
Netherlands were lost to her and in
surrections drained the Spanish Golfers
or prodigLous sums. The reigns of
Philip III. and Phillip ". were equally
disastrous Costly wars north of the
Pyrenees. the loss of Portugal. civil
war in Catalonia, helped to complete
the ruin of Spain.
After the unsuccessful reign of the
physical and mental weakling Charles
IL. the last Hapsburg king of Spain.
came the war of the Spanish success
sion. when Emperor Leopold l. con-
tested the bequest of the dominions to
Philip Of Anjou. grandson of the
French king, Louis XIV. This left
the Bourbon Prince. as Philip v, on
the Spanish throne after a dozen years
Of devastating war. But the Spanish
dependencies In Europe were Topped
off under the peace of Utrecht, and
England, drawn into war by the meas
ures of Louis XIV, kept Gibraltar,
completing the ignominy of Spain.
Women Add to Decline
As If nothing was to be left undone
by fate to fill Spain's cup of bitter
ness to the brim, the vices of several
Spanish queens added to her disasters
Mary Ann of Austria. wife of Philip
". added to the speed of the coun-
try's decline by allowing her lover. a
Jesuit monk, to dictate its policy
Mary Louise. wife OF Charles ". made
her lover. Manuel Godoy prime min
lister. After he had signed the treaty
OF Basel, by which a war with France
ended in SPANS losing Santo Domingo,
he was given the title Prince OF
Peace" by the unsuspecting king. And
Mary Louise at a later period drew
Charles into an alliance with France
in an effort to shield Godoy from Ma
poleon, and created the situation out
of which grew the ruin of the Span
ish naval power in the battle of Ira.
falgar.
Maria Cristina, wife of Ferdinand
VII. when acting as regent for her
daughter, Isabella II, in 1885. showed
herself a woman of ability and scored
victories over her opponents in sep
aratist and republican uprisings, but
the fact that she was the mistress Of
a soldier. whom she afterward mar
RED, forced her to resign and leave
Spain Isabella, declared of age before
reaching her real majority, in order to
fill the gap left by the enforced re-
moval of her mother proved as licen-
tiouS as Maria Cristina and wrought
her downfall by her immoraIitfes. as
well as by her unfortunate foreign
wars
She was overthrown in the revoIu-
ton headed by general Prim. which,
IN 1868 destroyed the monarchy and
resulted in short lived republic aft
er Amadeus. a son of king Hurnbert
of Italy. had accepted the Spanish
throne and then abdicated in disgust
after three years of unhappy ruler
ship over a disconnected and divided
people The republic, fighting CarIists
and separatfst uprisings, died hard but
hurr1edly. existing only a year In the
middle that ensued the Bourbon line.
represented by Alfonso XII. son of
the former queen, was reseated on the /
throne.
The destruction of Spain's navy and
the loss of its remaining American
md Asiatic colonies in the war with
Inc United States. left Spain a dim
Inished kingdom upon the Iberian
peninsula, shorn of its once vast pos
sessions with the exception of a small
amount Of territory in north and