| Show A DYING NATION spain alone of all the nations which have filled a large place in the worlds history is weaker today than it was when the century began england and russia are more powerful than they were then austria has lost its shadowy connection with that political fiction called the roman empire which voltaire said was neither an empire nor roman nor holy and she has been driven out of the german league france has lost territory here and there and has gained some but both austria and prance france are in all essential particulars stronger than they were a century ago leaving out of view the transient dominance which bonaparte guve gave to the latter country the empire of germany and the kingdom of italy did not come into being until the last third of the present century totally different has been the record of spain in 1800 spain comprised not far from half of north america and nearly all of central and south america she had the whole of the region west went of the mississippi from the canadian line south to the gulf of at mexico and practically the whole of the continent from this point southward to cape horn and the islands adjacent belonged to her in addition she had florida and a strip of territory north of the gulf of at mexico extending from the present state of florida west to the mississippi so that she acae had the territory on both sides of that river at its southern end the boast that the sun never set on the dominions of philllp phillip if II 11 could still have been truthfully trub fully made in the days of charles IV a century ago but all of that immense domain has broken away from her since then except a few fragments of that world empire comprising the greater part of I 1 the western hemisphere which spain had years ago cuba porto rico and a few other islands too to find a place on ordinary maps are all that is left to her today nothing in the history of any other na tilon excel he collapse of alexanders alexander empire after the great macedonians Macedon ians death or the fall of rome when oada ser overturned the shadow throne of little blittle augustus equals the swift and utter ruin which has come to spain since the eighteenth cent closing years how and why did spain loose its american Ame empire the answer to this query necessitates the taking of a a glance backward farther than the time at which the break up tip in arn am erica began philip II 11 so go a spanish chronicler of his time tells us ua schooled his hia son aon philip to be an imbecile in norderto order to prevent him from ams asserting erting himself before the fathers death and the work was done so 90 thoroughly that the later philip remained dpn aai imbecile toi the day of his hii death philip phllip III I 1 surrendered the government to aa a persecutions of philip 11 II which were so ao bar barbarous barbero berous iu that motley says it wail waa beyond the power of mans mano ingenuity to add any fresh horrors to them he drove tens of thousands of jew jews and about moors moore out of th the kingdom he continued in his american provinces the hideous reign of murder and treachery which under his big predecessors had been carried by such instruments as pizarro and cortes corte here are the causes of the fall of spain from the position ot of primacy among the nations in the seventeenth century to that of a third class power in the nineteenth these causes brought this consequence because the causes have endured the case of phillip III is cited here for two reasons philip reign marks the beginning of decline and fall that monarchs defects collies and vices are repeated in an overwhelming majority of crown wear bearers wearers we arera ers they with fatal regularity and aad constancy among that count rys monarchs down almost to today god who has been gracious in giving rne me many states has not given me an heir capable of governing them the latter part ot of this observation which la ja ascribed to philip II 11 would be true of very nearly all or that kings successors the incapable and cowardly philip III who reigned from 1698 1598 to 1621 is reproduced years later in the cowardly vicious and incompetent charles IV who reigned from 1788 1789 to 1808 and in the person of charles still more despicable son fredinand VII whose sway nominally extended froni from 1808 to 1833 for philips favorit ethe duke of lerma we have the weak corrupt and unscrupulous cortier godoy religious persecutions and barbarities which philip II 11 and philip III gerpe grated in european dominions were practiced in american dominions along to the days charles IV and fredinand VIL VII these follies and enormities had driven most of european provinces outside of th the e peninsula proper into revolt which fourth charles went to the throne they erected all ot of american dependencies into nations separate from spain during chaales Oh Ch arlee axles and predl fredi bands reigns with the regime of charles IV the downfall of spanish power on the american continent began and the current of spanish affairs began to touch the stream of united states history the louisiana province which was ceded to spain by france in 1783 after frances defeat by england spain to prance france in 1800 on a promise from bonaparte which ahat that potentate prom promptly disregarded to render certain services to spain As compared with the france of bonaparte the spain of that day was as feeble in diplomacy as it was contemptible in arms charles wax was a glutton and an imbecile and the queen marie loudee of parma was a shameless profligate who elevated one of her lovers the weak and vain manuel godoy from a mental post in the kings body guard to the station of prime minister and virtually head of the government to which arrangement ran gement the imbecile king who knew the relations between the queen and godoy goday assented godoy and charles were wax in Bona partes hands when the last named personage coerced the OppA itah government into surrendering to prance he be on godowa demand promised not to give up that territory tory to any other power except to spain and to be especially careful not to lot let the united states get a foothold in it bonaparte when temptation appeared repudiated his pledge aw chaer fully as fie be did the promise to peti perform form certain spain as aa an eulva lent of the the temptation some same ah 1803 when the war between england and prance france was resumed bonaparte lona parte 10 wiio who had a a poor navy saw M or wirl blind in the w war kr m might foul Blana from him and to avert that robs and to get a little money which prance needed to carry on her war he gold eold the province to the united states for the spain of charles charlee III had a vague fear that the example of a great free nation in the new world independent of foreign influences and ideas and at liberty to work out its own destiny in its ita own way would be a menace to spanish dominion on this continent thle this fear soon transmitted itself into fact on september 16 15 1810 a revolt headed beaded by goy costilla broke out in a little mexican village that I 1 19 a fateful date nl ni the history of spain lt it marked the beginning of the end of spanish Span leih rule in worth north america A few months earlier that this the crack of doom sounded for spain in south america on new years day in 1810 a rising rifling occurred in buenos ayres the spanish governor was driven out und and that colony declared itself independent then the fires orf of revolution were kindled in almost every spanish dependency on o n the hemisphere the blaze tn n the next few years swept along the two oceans and extended from the city of mexico to cape horn varying fortunes beset the in suri auriente gents in some places spain made a powerful struggle to save daive its dominion prolonging ng the contest tor for several years in others spain was hearten beaten quickly in all of them she was beaten eventually she was utterly and eternally driven from the new world except in cuba porto rico and a few other islands which were too insignificant then to attract much from the revolutionary spir spier ifa M of the time some of the new span salem ish amerlean american nations passed through several governmental transitions before they took the shape which they have had bad in burday our day AU all of them eventually became republics on the model theoretically at least of their great northern neighbor that neigh vor to or whose example excited them to strike for freedom freedo im was waa the first among the great powers of the world to recognize their independence after independence pen dence was physically gained end and to welcome them into the family fanelly of nations eions si thus spain even it 11 the cuban rebellions had never taken place phwe would have had a profound and eternal hatred bamred for the united states spates under the rule of what monarch did spain lose its american Amerl cam empire under of ferdinand VII the history of this prince has a peculiar interest tor for americans As already mentioned it ft was during his reign which began in 1808 slid atad extended to 1833 1838 that spain lost her colonies on this continent it was in 1823 after the united abates had recognized the independence of au all of tham that the holy alliance alMi ance russia austria prussia Pru eada and france entered into the plot to t attack these new naJt natt lons and restore them to Fer ferdinand dIrand or perhaps pe to appropriate prop some of thern them themselves for their thedr trouble which called out from president monroe in his annual message ge to coless Congre aa in december of that th ait jeaa ar the waman to europe to keep RA arts hands handa off this continent which givs monroe a 91 secure place tn in history it was this monarch moni arch who revoked the balic paw law thus putting putt ting fema in the line of succession giving me his daughter iffla II 11 the crown and conferring the title on which that queen held I 1 power was the means of bring her son after the revolutionary amitton of bif 1868 1847 alfonzo alfonao XII and his son the present 12 year old 0 0 the throne e gil all lao ferdinand a was a 4 foot I 1 ot of fortune bt at lin enrike filke le safes he learned nothing from h hl re e he is one ot of the moat able characters in histora hiB tory he be brayed hie father charlesia Charie Charle sIV to bona parte and that potentate imprisoned both of them and put his brother joseph on the spanish throne when calamity came to bonaparte ferdinand was restored to power but under restraint by the liberals among hla his subjects who compelled efm to grant a constitution he was restored to au to cratic sway by a french army which invaded spain by order of the holy alliance in 1823 1828 and was during th alu last years of his life under the control of his hie fourth wife maria christina of at naples a sort eort of spanish Mes sallina who induced trad him to revoke the asaif law and thus started the civil were wars which raged in spain sporadically between the carlista Car lists fl and the ruling house from 1838 until 1876 ferdinand was as imbecile as philip III as treacherous oue as the second philip and as vindictive as pedro the cruel only two monarchs of any ability and character are found in the long list of rulers of the spanish branch of the house of bourbon philip II 11 and philip III however were of the house th those 0 o e of ferdinands grandfather charles irl III and ferdinands grandson alfonso XII ferdinands tumultuous reign was the beginning of a chain of uprisings and revolutions which have had no parallel in any Europ european ehn nation in thle this century except in its neighbor on the other side of the pyrenees Pyre nees from 1808 onward political regime has been government py by that country has almost as many lightning political transformations as prance france joseph bonaparte displaced ferdinand in 1808 1803 ferdinand was restored in 1814 but he was virtually dethroned dethroner subsequently by hi his own subjects subject Ai and was put back in power by the holy alliance in 1823 at his death in 1833 1883 his three year old daughter isabella 11 1 1 went to the throne through the regency of her mother maria christina of naples carlos her fathers brother who would have been heir to the throne under the malic laj law which had been revoked by ferdinand in her favor raised a rebellion against her and the series of un successful wars chith have ravaged spain several times since began isabellaa political excesses excess ed and immoralities provoked a revolution in 1868 in which she was driven out and she has resided in parts paris ever since A provisional government in various shapes managed affairs from 1868 to 1870 when the crown was given to amadeus of italy a younger brother of the present king humbert of that country but amadeus tiring thing of his turbulent subjects and fearing assassination abdicated in 1873 then a provisional regime by the cortes a republic under castelar Caa telar and a dictatorship through serrano followed in quick suc casion when in the beginning of 1875 isabellaa seventeen year old son was caled to the throne as altonso alfonso XII at his death in 1886 1885 his infant daughter was crowned and a few months later she was superseded by the present king alfonso XIII born after his death but who as a male took precedence of his elder sister actual power in both cases being held by the mother maria christina as am regent what wha t are names of political parties political parties and party government ern ment in the sense in which these terms are understood in great britain and the united states are unknown in spain in Isabell isabellae Ws time from 1833 to 1888 1808 as in that og of her father ferdinand there were and liberals since isabellaa days the party have been conservatives and liberals but the lines between these parties are not closely drawn and each Is split up anto subdivisions and groups aa in many and france but the boundaries boun dairies j between them are not so well marked as in those two countries 4 republican party came up anth int in 1868 affre isabellaa overthrow and theoretically oreti cally it was in the ascendant during the republic of 1873 1878 but it shrunk in importance afterward there baa been a party since 1833 but this thi and the republican party part yh has receded close cloide to the vanishing point in recent preterit years though both are liable to loom up in prominence it if the present dynasty to is overthrown personal leadership and official pressure count for more than political principal in party contests and some of the leaders carry opportunism to lengths undreamed of even by a ferry or a freycinet in france dagasto Sa gasto the present premier has been at one time and another in the past forty years on two sides aides of almost every great question which has haa that marly many sides and his late rival ganovay Gano vaa also alm boxed the political com compaan comp pase aae but not nort quite to this extent the result of the election for the cortes or Wn congress gress la 18 determined beforehand the im premier r or df the day whatever his partisan designation carrying the election held during his sway this has been the rule ever since the establishment of the present constitution of 1876 the premier allots aliota a certain trifling number of seat seal to the republicans and the carlisle gives a much larger number to U the bur porty of the opposition but keeps keels a great majority for his own side R ruptures between leaders of the same party in the ministry failures of the minis ministry tvr to carry out its avowed policy and other causes force changes of premiers and sometimes dissolutions of the cortes corte and new elections in these electious elect hm the premiers side wins and thus thu there may be frequent swings in the partisan pendulum without any material mait erial ehing in the political sentiment of the P ale |
