BRIEF SKETCH OF SPANISH HISTORY.
The following brief sketch of Spain, its era of greatness, the causes leading thereto, and the reasons for its rapid decline, will be of interest to the reader at this point in the narrative, as it will bring into view the other side of the impending conflict:
Spain, the first in rank among the second-rate powers of Europe, by reason of her possessions in the West Indies, especially Cuba, may be regarded as quite a near neighbor, and because of her connection with the discovery and settlement of the continent, as well as the commanding part she at one time played in the world's politics, her history cannot but awaken within the breasts of Americans a most lively interest.
As a geographical and political fact, Spain dates from the earliest times, and the Spanish people gather within themselves the blood and the traditions of the three great continents of the Old World—Europe, Asia and Africa—united to produce the mighty Spaniard of the 15th and 16th centuries. It would be an interesting subject for the anthropologist to trace the construction of that people who are so often spoken of as possessing the pure blood of Castile, and as the facts should be brought to view, another proud fiction would dissipate in thin air, as we should see the Spaniard arising to take his place among the most mixed of mankind.
The Spain that we are considering now is the Spain that gradually emerged from a chaos of conflicting elements into the unity of a Christian nation. The dismal war between creeds gave way to the greater conflict between religions, when Cross and Crescent contended for supremacy, and this too had passed. The four stalwart Christian provinces of Leon, Castile, Aragon and Navarre had become the four pillars of support to a national throne and Ferdinand and Isabella were reigning. Spain has now apparently passed the narrows and is crossing the bar with prow set toward the open sea. She ends her war with the Moors at the same time that England ends her wars of the Roses, and the battle of Bosworth's field may be classed with the capitulation of Granada. Both nations confront a future of about equal promise and may be rated as on equal footing, as this new era of the world opens to view.
What was this new era? Printing had been invented, commerce had arisen, gunpowder had come into use, the feudal system was passing, royal authority had become paramount, and Spain was giving to the world its first lessons in what was early stigmatized as the "knavish calling of diplomacy."
Now began the halcyon days of Spain, and what a breed of men she produced! Read the story of their conquests in Mexico and Peru, as told with so much skill and taste by our own Prescott; or read of the grandeur of her national character, and the wonderful valor of her troops, and the almost marvelous skill of her Alexander of Parma, and her Spinola, as described by our great Motley, and you will see something of the moral and national glory of that Spain which under Charles V and Philip II awed the world into respectful silence.
Who but men of iron, under a commander of steel, could have conducted to a successful issue the awful siege of Antwerp, and by a discipline more dreadful than death, kept for so many years, armed control of the country of the brave Netherlanders? A Farnese was there, who could support and command an army, carry Philip and his puerile idiosyncrasies upon his back and meet the fury of an outraged people who were fighting on their own soil for all that man holds dear. Never was wretched cause so ably led, never were such splendid talents so unworthily employed.
Alexander of Parma, Cortez, the Pizarros, were representatives of that form of human character that Spain especially developed. Skill and daring were brought out in dazzling splendor, and success followed their movements. Take a brief survey of the Empire under Charles V: Himself Emperor of Germany; his son married to the Queen of England; Turkey repulsed; France humbled, and all Europe practically within his grasp. And what was Spain outside of Europe? In America she possessed territory covering sixty degrees of latitude, owning Mexico, Central America, Venezuela, New Granada, Peru and Chili, with vast parts of North America, and the islands of Cuba, Jamaica and St. Domingo. In Africa and Asia she had large possessions—in a word, the energies of the world were at her feet. The silver and gold of America, the manufactures and commerce of the Netherlands, combined to make her the richest of nations.