New-York tribune., 1918-01-20
Spain Finds
Neutrality
Difficult


IN Parliament to be dissolved after
=. uprising was checked by the army
.,r,. to call attention to the increasingly
sHcult part Spain is playing as neutral
- the World War. Within the last wear
AVS has not been lacking to show the
s~..t degree of control welded in Spain
:, ne pro- Germans; that German subma-
.;.x lave been using Spanish coasts for
.,o,isioning has been charged; and
s,oug the Allies Spain is considered the
Urinary clearing house of pro-German
scents in sending to the Berlin Foreign
oxce the accumulated data of the Ger
man spy system in the Americas. In ad
Nton, times have grown increasingly
dssult in Spain and rumblings under
,lfonso's throne have not been wanting.
Some interesting light on Spain at the
.nd of the cid and the beginning of a
new year is given in an article by T. II.
pardo de Tavera, in the current issue of
The Century Magazine" Why the
Suaniapds cling to neutrality, the Ger
nanophile army of Spain, internal unrest,
snd the activities of German agents in
general, with their bearing on a possible
threat to the monarchy, all are touched
UPON. The article, in part. follows:
Spain, by the desire of almost all her citi-
z,ns has been and continues to be neutral.
What does this attitude mean? That Span
ards look with indifference upon this catas-
tropAe or feel an equal degree Of sympathy
ior each OF the heliigerent alliances? Not
1t ALL Spaniards desire to remain neutral
e,ause the majority of them are Germano-
philes, or, rather, because they are thorough
eaemies Of England and France as we'll as of
the United States. AS it is impossible for
hem to take an active and open part on the
side of the Central Empires, they wish to
psserve their neutrality at any cost, be-
cause, should they abandon it, their own field
oiaction would be to range themselves upon
ii. side Of the nations that they detest
cumming Up the Spanish Character
y In Few Words
'The Spanish people, generally speaking,
i thoroughly conservative, tradition bound
NveTent Of its past, determined to continue
wing within the confines of it's own mental
N?, which il calls the Spanish sour; hos
tile to every change, firmly convinced that
it can progress without initiating what is
thought or done abroad, and that it is suffi-
GENTLY endowed morally and intellectually
10 be genuinely national. In the eyes Of
those who think thus the mistake made by
Spain consists in not having always and
everywhere followed the policy Of the most
Spanish OF Spaniards, King Philip II.
1T is from the time Of this monarch that
the deep hatred against the Englishman
dates--a hatred founded primarily on re-
lslous and later on political, motives. E.
I'm the eyes of this majority of Spaniards,
ntished with its religion and with the mon
archy, living under that form of civilization
nown as the military and religious, France
also is detested nation.
Besides these causes for antagonism
isainst England and France, there exists in
Spain feeling of admiration for Germany
md fervid sympathy and veneration for
the autocratic and military form of her in
m'utions The Spanish nation to put it in
nutshell. wishes, like every nation, to be
rsll governed, but its political conception
good government is that of genuine pa
s.nalism, by means Of which a tutelary gov
Hament makes the nation strong, contented
Hch and powerful.
Moreover, the clergy and the monastic
nders hope that, if the Central Empires are
notorious, the Pope will again become, large
y By the will of Austria, sovereign lord
over Rome
IN general, the Spanish army is German
oFhile, and the same is probably true of the
navy.
"A minority, led by the intellectual Gle
nsnts OF high worth, is rcsoutely pro-Ally,
ana these men are ones who dare by word
and BY writing to struggle against Ccrmano-
Phiie public opinion, which is merely public
sentiment stimulated by thousands Of Ger
Aans who do every thing possible in Spain
&c Keep alive the prejudices and hatred