Colonies--Later History of Spain.


The signal fact that will present itself to the student of
Spanish history is that from the earliest times the country has
been in a continual state of conflict, internal, with its
colonies, and with other nations; and seldom has it been a war of
defense. In almost every instance Spain has been the aggressor.
The Spaniard has ever been perfidious, avaricious, ferocious. In
his veins still flows the blood of Ferdinand, of Torquemada, and
of Philip II. Weyler is a prototype of Alva, and in Blanco we find
another Antonio de Mendoza. Spain is the China of modern Europe.
Her spirit is still the spirit of the inquisition. Her policy is
not to conciliate, but to coerce; not to treat justly, but to rob
and enslave; and her dependence is the ignorance and superstition
of her people.

All reforms wrung from rulers must first be baptized in blood, and
it is possible that the end of the present century may see a new
nation, built on the ruins of the old, which will be a credit to
civilization, instead of a disgrace.

ROMAN RULE IN SPAIN.

Prior to the first war between Rome and Carthage, which ended 241
BC, there is little or no authentic information regarding the
history of the country now known to the world as Spain. To the
ancients it was a land of mystery and enchantment, the home of the
setting sun; and Iberia, as they called it, was but a name for an
indefinite extent of territory in the far west, peopled by