Year: 1874

upon what island or islands or foreign terri
tory did she give q mortgage? And our in
terest is to know whether by such an opera
ton there have arisen any complications in
the ownership of territory which, from its
proximity to us and from its important rela-
ton to our interests, should fall only into our
hands from the hands Of Spain Are we to
contemplate the possible early advent into the
waters of this hemisphere of the most am
bilious and aggressive Of all the armed
Powers?


Germany has al that Spain wants. Spain
is rich in kind of property that Germany
covets and has been curiously peering around
the world to fnd And this property has
nearly lost its value to spain, but is priceless
to Power in the position and with the am
bitions of the new Empire. Germanys most
pronounced aspiration now is to cut figure
in the world as great naval Power. And
with her customary prescience she operates
at the same time on all the points
that are implicated in her scheme. She
builds ships, she constructs havens she
mounts dockyards and arsenals and she neg
lects no opportunity to secure points of sup
port for foreign stations or to cultivate and
encourage by colonial or other foreign estab-
lishments the great commercial enterprises in
which may grow up the commercial marine
that is the only sure support Of schemes for
naval greatness. It is not the fashion of the
German government to neglect any of the pos
sible points of advantage to itself that are pre-
sented in the complications Of its dealings
with other Powers and in treating with Spain
for support, the importance of which it is
hardly possible to exaggerate, the Germans
have not overlooked the Spanish possessions
in our neighborhood.


All Spanish governments have very loudly
declared their indisposition to ALLEVIATE the
remnant Of the Spanish possessions in our
hemisphere, and the retention of these posses
sions has become with all governments sort
of point of honor-very ridiculous, no doubt,
like nearly all the other points Of Spanish
honor-but very effective against ministerial
experiments for putting territory in the mar
ket. But there ore circumstances in which
any vigorous government would venture tho
delicate step Of putting colony or piece of
colonial territory in such position that in
certain contingencies it would pass into
other hands. What Spaniard. for in
stance, would weigh colonial possessions
against the integrity Of Spain itself? Serrano
can fairly say that with the Carlist rebellion
continued indefinitely and encouraged and as
sisted by France, Spain was menaced with the
loss of the Basque provinces, at least and with
chronic civil war that might eventually
carry away in addition all the country north
of the Ebro. What Spaniard would regard q
strip Of Cuba given to Germany as too high a
price to pay for the moral and material aid
which enabled Spain to avert such threatening
disintegration of the Spanish soil? II France
had owned Cuba would it not have given it ton
times over to have saved Alsace and Lorraine?


It is not impossible that the same train Of
ideas which led the Emperor Of the French to
dream of the foundation of dependent en-
pire in Mexico may trouble some brains in
Berlin; and if it does it is obvious that solid
foothold in the Gulf of Mexico, point from
which to await near at hand the possibilities


the German Empire all the force that Spain


can possibly need in her present troubles. It


is to be hoped that our government knows


whether Cuba is in any way involved in the
negotiation between the two Powers; and it


cannot need to be told that they are too much


interested in that piece Of property to be in


different to any mortgages that may have


been given to Germany.