Show I THE SPANISH ULTIMATUM iI i I T I The Spanish Government has decided I i to send an ultimatum to Germany on the I t I question of the Gorman occupation of the I Caroline Islands The telegrams do not tate the exact nature of the ultimatum j but it is to be presumed that Spain has 1 asserted her sovereignty over those it islands and demanded that Germany I J i i > I withdraw and if the demand notcom declare The I plied with Spain will war I Caroline Islands were discovered by I Spanish voyagers in 1526 a period when Spain led all other nations in maritime enterprises Under the rule that an unknown un-known country belongs to the government of the discoverers of it these islands belong be-long to Spain But Spain has not occupied occu-pied them for many many years and whether her practical abandonment of them is a renunciation of a claim to title is a question for international jurists Can Spain plead the maxim of the common com-mon law that no time runs against the king in a European congress If she may she may yet save her sovereignty over the Caroline Islands But supposing suppos-ing she does plead this maxim and Germany Ger-many demurs who will coerce Germany I That Spain would be no match on the land for Germany all know but Germany I Ger-many would have to match Spain by water or cross France a thing that is out of the question Their fight would be on the sea and there they would be more evenly balanced although on the sea Germany is the superior of the two The most important thing connected with the whole affair of tbe Caroline Islands is the fact that Germanys action is a new indication of her purpose to become a colonizing nation the same as England It is said that Germany has a lust for the Sandwich Islands of whose trade she once had control but which she lost when the United States entered into the Reciprocity Treaty with those Islands She would certainly make a better colonizer than Spain ever has and if either nation is to control the Caroline Islands there is no doubt but that Germany Ger-many will do more to advance them than Spain The Spanish claim to the Caroline Caro-line Islands is much the same as her claim to the Congo country and Germany Ger-many is very apt to treat it in the same manner But Alfonso and his ministers must do something to appease the wrath of the Spanish populace or the King may lose his crown and the Cabinet their heads The Spanish ultimatum is very likely intended for home consumption especially in view of the fact that the Spanish minister at Berlin has promised amends to Germany for the conduct of the citizens of Madrid in attacking the German Embassy |