BRIEF OFFLINE OF THE LONG HISTORY OF SPAIN.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XX, Issue XIX, 7 May 1898, Page 567

BRIEF OFFLINE OF THE LONG HISTORY OF SPAIN.

SPLENDID MOORISH CIVILIZATION, THE PERIOD OF COLONIAL WEALTH AND LATER DECLINE. Spain, the country whose actions have become ol such vital interest to the United States in the last few weeks, has a history strikingly dissimilar to that of the free-born Republic. During the years in which the United States has been progressing towards greater material and commercial prosperity, and has been spreading the doctrine of individual freedom throughout a vast territory, Spain has been living on the decaying fruit of her past grandeur, maintaining the institutions that were in their prime three hundred years ago and falling far behind the rearguard of progress. Xhe past of Spain is not enough for her present prestige, and cannot hold for her a place among the first powers of the w-orld, but it is splendid enough to illumine the pages of history for ever. In the dark ages, when the rest of Europe was sunk in a disgraceful barbarism, the Spanish peninsula was occupied by one of the most magnificent civilizations that ever graced the worid. To the Spanish Arabs the modern world owes many of its best achievements in science and in the art of living. Everything that was elegant and gracefid in life was part of their daily routine. They lived amid a most princely luxury, yet always maintained the highest ideals of learning. Their beautiful cities and splendid palaces were as the outward temple to the spirit of knowledge and culture whicn flourished within.

Again, when the Moors had liven driven from Spain and had left only their heritage of architecture and a streak of dark blood in some Spanish veins, was Spain glorious, the mother cf a vast empire teeming with almost fabulous riches. At the beginning of the sixteenth entury Spain owned more than half the world. She claimed nearly the whole of the Western Hemisphere and had possessions in Africa and Asia. She was one of the great powers of Europe. Her history since that time has been history of decline. She has fallen into the hands of one incapable and vicious sovereign after another. Absolute monarchy has stultified her jieople. Factions, plots, conspiracies, anti insurrections have torn her in pieces. The material welfare of the country has suffered through the maladministration of riders intent on gratifying only their own personal ends. In the last two generations constitutional government has made a galk.nt effort to conquer Spain, and optimistic students of Spanish conditions spy that the reformers .must win in the end, although the way is bound to be long and hard. Scipio entered Spain in the year 210 8.C.. beginning the first great epoch of Spanish history, that of the Roman < ccapation. He was followed by Cato the eider and Camilius Scipio, who. with the Roman hosts at their command. began to Romanize the whole Spanish people. After the third Punic war, 134 8.C., and the horrible siege of Numantia, Spain was formally annexed as a province of the Roman empire. Augustus did much to strengthen the hold of the empire on this province, which was long inclined to be rebellious to her authority. He built new cities in Spain and made military colonies for his soldiers there. No provinces of the empire produced so many historians, poets, and philosophers as Baetiea. The domination of Spain by Rome lasted four centuries without a ripple. Spain has never since that period for more than a generation or two been entirely withdrawn from military history. With the Gothic conquest of Southern Europe Spain came under the sway of a dynasty of Goths. From the beginning of the fifth century to th-* beginning of the eighth they ruled the peninsula. Roderick, the last of the line, was defeated by the Mohammedans. These people had overrun the whole of Arabia.Egypt.and Northern Africa, and in less than a hundred yeais after their religion had been established had gained a foothold in Spain. Moved by a personal wrong, a powerful subret of Roderick had invited the Emir Musa, a chief of the Arabs, to attempt the conquest of Spain. The Emir’s forces entered the peninsula in 711, and after a few decisive, swiftly

victorious encounters, the Moslems were firmly settled in the country. They began at once to lay the foundation of the brilliant civilisation which has made their occupation of Spain a glory. The Khalifs of Cordova distinguished themselves as patrons of learning. offering astrong contrast to the barbarian princes who ruled in other parts of Europe. Their city administration was superior to that’of London and Paris hundreds of years later. The streets were solidly paved and lighted for miles. Their palaces were marvels of luxury and magnificence. Decorations in marble, mother-of-pearl,ivory, gold.silver,priceless jewels and mosaic made their apartments like gardens of Paradise, while nothing- that could contribute to comfort and cleanliness -—they had even hot and cold water in metal pipes—was lacking. Their libraries were bounteously supplied. The catalogue alone ofKhalif's Alhalem’s books filled forty volumes. Their pleasure gardens surpassed all others cf historv.

The architecture of the Spanish Moors was one of the greatest achievemnts of their brilliant civilization. In their own time it made their country one of the most artistic and beautiful spots of the world, and it has passed down into modern times as one of the handsomest monuments of a dead civilization now in existence. The Alhambra, the royal abode of the Moorish kings, forms part of a fortress, the walls of which, studded with towers, wind around the crest of a hill overlooking the city. It could hold 40.060 men with in its precincts. ! he great vestibule or porch of the gate is formed by an immense Arabian arch. The interior court is laid out in flower beds, and on its four sides are tight Arabian arcades of filigree work. I l.e interior decorations are jiecniiarly beautiful. The walls are covered with light relievos and fancy arabesques. I’he vaults and cupolas are wrought like honeycombs or frostwork. The lower part of the walls is encrusted with glazed tiles on which are emblazoned the escutcheons of the Moslem kings. Much gilding and saje phire colouring are used in the decorations. 1 he Giralda. the famous Moorish tower of Seville, is another monument of this wonderful architecture which travellers journeyed far to see. Some of the best habits of domestic life, especially that of clothing insuring personal cleanliness, the civilised world owes to them, and these habits they practised at a time when the people of the rest of Europe were loathsomely untidy and dirty in their personal habits. Music, literature and mathematics flourished among ’he khalifs. Their culture ill poetry, philosophy and military adventures passed rapidly across the Pyrenees, and the nobles of the South of France learned from them much of their chivalrous gallantry. Their skill with the horse, their tilts and tournaments became the fashion, and their worship of feminine fascination in the form of love-songs spreading through Italy anil Sicily was the foundation for the jiolite literature of modern Europe. As earlv as the tenth century any one having a taste for learning ami the elegant amenities of life sought the civilisation of Moorish Spain. A public school in which the children of the poor were taught to read and write was attached to every mosque. There were numerous academies for those in easier circumstances, and colleges where the greatest liberality in the. pursuit of the sciences was allowed. Many of the customs of our modern universities are derived from them. Great attention was paid to the subject of languages, the Arabs holding theirs to be the most perfect language in the world. They produced satires, odes and elegies, but no epics. They were the authors and introducers of rhyme. Their creative ability went largely to oral narration and pulpit oratory. I'.tery khalif had his own historian. The greatest attention was given to every branch of history, including even statistics. Science in every form was cultivated. Their learned men travelled from country to country assimilating and diffusing knowledge. While contemporaneous Europe was, still relying on the miracle as the cure of al! physical ills, the Moorish doctors had a remarkable skill in surgery. Their improvements in arithmetic are among the most vain-, able additions that have been made to the science of mathematics. Ben

Mum was one of the earliest author® of algebra. In astronomy they made distinguished discoveries. Almaimon discovered the obliquity of the ecliptic and the true size of the earth. The Arabs taught geography by globes, while the rest of the world laboured under the old delusion of flatness. In the practical arts of life the civilised world owes much to the Arabs. Thev introduced scientific and skilful agriculture, and they maintained an immense commerce with the other nations of the civilised world. With Constantinople alone they carried on a great trade: their commerce extended from the Blaek Sea and East Mediterranean into the interior of Asia: it reached India and China and extended along the coast of Africa to Madagascar. The Spanish Arabs reached the height of their importance in the reign of Aihakem the Second. Weak rulers and internal dissension followed. From A.D. 1031 onward the Arabian unity was broken and Moslem Spain was governed by petty' kings. The Mohammedan hosts having lieen routed by the army of Christian Crusaders, the' Moslems gave up Andalusia. and Mohammed ben Alhamai their ablest ruler, fixed his court in Grenada and established there the onlv state which survived the wreck of the African Empire. Here for more than two centuries and a half the Moslems defended themselves against the attacks of their Christians neighbours. But when Ferdinand of Arragon married Isabella of Castile, and the

kingdom of Spain was formed, the royal pair determined to root the enemies out of their country. All the chivalry of Spain was aroused to the effort, ami the time was propitious, as Grenada was more than usually divided by quarreling factions. In the spring of 149! Ferdinand and IsaItella invested the city of Grenada. It was impossible for the Moslems to hold out. and on the 2nd of January. 1492. the last act in the drama was jterformed. This ended the Arabian empire in the Peninsula, after nearly seven hundred and fifty years. The magnificent palace of the Alhambra and all the other great achievements of their civilisation were left as a heritage to Christian Spain. At the very time that the Moorish civilisation was lieing crushed out of Spain. the rapidly ascending country was acquiring vast territories in the

New World. Columbus, travelling under the (mtronage of Queen Isal>ella. discovered America on October 12. 1492. Spain acquired all lands west ami south of a line drawn from the Arctic to the Antarctic pole. 100 leagues west of the Azores. Spanish travellers and adventurers flooded the new country. Spain was omnipotent on the Western Hemisphere. New discoveries by her voyagers added to her glory and her wealth. The native

Indians in America were hunted down and exterminated with appalling atrocity. From Mexico and Peru a civilisation that might have instructed Europe was crushed out. Almost at the same time Spain crushed two civilisations. Oriental ami Occidental, and in the eml was ruined herself. The reign of Ferdinand and Isaltella. however, was the pinnacle of Spanish glory. Dominant in the New World, •he nation held one of the first places in Europe and was prosperous a* home. Isabella, a woman o£ wonderful ability and strength of character, attended the meetings of the Council herself and saw that all suits were equitably adjusted. She took pains to avail herself of foreign resources for the improvement of the army. In the military training school of her time were formed those celebrated

captains who spread the military fame of their country all over Christendom in the beginning of the sixteenth century. The discovery of America brought immense wealth into the coffers of the King. The royal house of Spain became one of the great powers of Europe, and the subjects at home were well governed and happy. Everything was <k>ne with great executive regularity and ability. The adminis-

tration of home affairs was a tribute to the sagacity and goodness of the sovereigns, and equalled in its way the splendour of the empire abroad. Ferdinand and Isabella were succeeded by their grandson. Charles I. He and the country were unequal to the prosperity which they inherited. Charles was away from home most of the time. As Charles V. of Germany, a throne he inherited through his father, the Spanish crown coming from his mother, the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, he was continually embroiled in the politics of Europe. He had no time for the administration of Spanish affairs. Spain had reached her summit in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella. From the moment of their death she declined. From the end of the reign of Charles to the constitutional government of this century, it is said

that Spain was the worst governed country in the world. Charles' absence from Spain, his duty as Emperor of Germany and arbiter of the destinies of Europe, were the beginning of the long tale of wretchedness. While he reigned, the constant wars he waged in Europe, Africa, Asia, and America drained the treasury of all the gold which poured in from the New World. The one pride of Charles' ignoble reign was the vast empire in Asia and

America which his viceroys won and held for him. They established a regular line of communication from ocean to ocean across the Isthmus of Panama. Spain regarded the Pacific Ocean as her own closed sea. The West Indies became her provinces. The Spanish flag floated over Florida, New Mexico, Mexico. Guatemala. Peru. Chile. Paraguay, and Buenos Ayres, and every island of the Caribbean Sea. Spain still owned half the world, although her fortunesat home were declining and her government turning to rottenness. For a century after Charles V.. Spain was governed by his three successors. Philip 11.. 111. ami IV. This century is known as the century of decline in Spain. Philip 11. was titular King of England. France and Jerusalem. absolute Dominator in Asia. Africa and America. Duke of Milan and both the Burgundies, and hereditary sovereign of the seventeen Netherlands. He added to these the crown of Portugal. The century of the Philips was one of many devastating wars and petty intrigues at home. Charles 11. came to the throne in 1665. He is remembered in history chiefly as the king who engaged in the wretched, disgraceful intrigues which led to the war of the Spanish succession. The next century is filled up with a line of pretty kings, engaged for the most part in the general European wars and in vile intrigues at home. The history of the quarrels of Spain in the New World and the various treaties by which she surrendered much of her vast territory there are well-known chapters of American history. The intrigues of the miserable Spanish court became more and more disgraceful and more weakening to the Spanish nation. An adventurer and trickster called Manuel Goday got possession of the King and Queen at the end of the eighteenth century and left the unhappy country too weak and spiritless to resist the coming of Napoleon. Napoleon playing on the weakness

of the Spanish sovereign and his son entered into the negotiations and assumptions which ended in his keeping them in captivity while he placed -his brother Joseph on the throne of Spain. The people rose in rebellion in every province of Spain when Joseph Bonaparte entered Madrid. The English came to the rescue finally and completely routed the French out of the Peninsula. King Joseph tied the country. Then came the fall of Napoleon. Ferdinand VII. returned to his throne, made his monarchy more absolute and despotic than ever. Conspiracies and insurrections at home added to the rebellion of the American colonies drowned the country in blood and emptied her treasury. A group of patriots gathered together and proclaimed the constitutional government which they had endeavoured in vain to get Ferdinand to accept on his return to Spain in 1812. The King was compelled "to accept it in 1820. and a French army entered Madrid, established a regency, and declared the absolute monarchy again. All credit was destroyed at home and abroad. On the death of Ferdinand his little daughter. Donna Isabella, a child of two years, was proclaimed Queen. The brother of the King. Carlos, declared that according to the Salic law he should have had the succession. In spite of many insurrections, plots and counterplots, the little Queen was generally supported, as she was held to represent the cause of liberalism. From that day to this, however, the country has been devastated by Carlist plots and insurrections, led by the representatives of Carlos, the brother of Ferdinand, and his descendants.

Guided for a time by Espartero. a military officer of great ability, the reign of Isabella was for a time prosperous. Espartero saved the capital when it was imperilled by the Carlists, and during the Queen's minority, when he acted as regent, he administered the affairs of the monarchy with dignity and ability. Isabella herself proved a wretched Queen. In the changes of party, the swing from absolute despotism to constitutional freedom and back again, she was guided only by personal intrigue and personal passion. In 1868 the nation could bear no more. A revolution broke out against her. She fled to France, and in 1870 the Cortes, finding no one in the reigning family, chose Amadeus, the second son of King Humbert of Italy, as King of Spain. The problem proved too hard for him to solve, and he abdicated in 1373. Alfonso XII.. the son of Isabella, was proclaimed King by the friends of constitutional government. He showed courage and discretion and maintained at least the forms of constitutional government. His death in 1885 was considered a great misfortune for Spain. His son is the present boy-King. Alfonso XIII. Henry Coppe. in his 'Conquest of Spain by the Moors.’ traces the decline and present weakness of Spain to the crushing weight of her past history and the great mistake in her form of government. He sums up the present character of the Spanish people as follows: 'With weakness came intrigues and conspiracies and assassinations. Thus shut up within themselves, they became suspicious. They hated strangers: they assumed a haughtiness of sentiment and demeanour. They ceased to work. because labour brought no security. And so the manufactures and public works have fallen into foreign hands, which has inade them unpopular. There has never been a nation so abused and injured as the Spanish nation. ‘The Spanish people present to-day in all parts of the peninsula excellent types of manhood and womanhood, who require only time to unlearn the lessons of centuries and to live a new life under a liberal rule, and with incentives to exertion. Even in this generation much has been done. The deposition of Isabella 11.. provisional regency of Serrano, the great mistake of crowning Amadeus, the rage of the Red Republicans, have all been steps to a constitutional government under a liberal and young Spanish monarch, whose happy fortune it may be to inaugurate the new era. and make the Spanish cities once more what they were in the palmy days of the Moslem dominion, the centres of light, learning. and energy. The great secret is work for the masses, for the worst thing among the Casas de Espana is an indolence, so ingrained in the Spanish nature that it has become a"n

organic disease, which time and the pressure ot a progressive world only can cure.' J. L. M. Curry, in his 'Constitutional Government of Spain.' gives a vivid picture of the degeneracy and sloth of the Spanish people. He says that bull-tights are the most distinctive characteristic of the nation. When Joseph Bonaparte was installed in Madrid, the question that agitated the people was not one as to his probable policy, but whether he would allow bull-fights or not. The good of Spain, he says, demands the abolition of this disgraceful and cruel pastime. The government lotteries are another causeof Spanish feebleness of character. The State legalises, monopolises. manages and controls lotteries as a source of revenue. The budget received £5,400,000 in one year from this source alone.

All card-playing is for money. The people live in a condition of feverish excitement and enervating idleness. Instead of working, they depend on chance for a living. Honest labour is absolutely discouraged by these government lotteries. The condition of the Spanish schools is shocking. A very large percentage of the people are absolutely illiterate. Fully 75 per cent, of the woman have not even a rudimentary education. The people have lost confidence in their public men. Their improvement should be along moral rather than political lines, however. They talk in a boastful way about the immortal deeds of their glorious ancestry, and take no lesson from the active civilisation about them. The administration is. at the same time, very corrupt. It is a system of bureaucracy and centralisation, eaten up with official corruption. Almost every one in the capital lives in some way off the government. The country is harrowed continually by Cuban and Carlist wars and Federal insurgents. Still the progressive Spaniards have given exhibitions of an effort to secure national independence against fatal odds. The lesson of constitutional freedom is hard for people trained for centuries under an absolute monarchy to learn, and must be a matter of slow development reaching the intelligence and eonscience of the people. Mr Curry concludes by paying a high tribute to the character of the Queen Regent. She is intelligent and popular, an ideal mother, and spotless as a woman.